Tiberius knew he would have to deal with this situation immediately. That being said, he did not wish to worry his family any more than they already were. For their sake he said, “I wouldn’t worry about this too much. Even in the best of times, governments have their detractors. I will investigate of course, but neither of you should be concerned with any of it.”
Jelénna nodded reluctantly, but Adrias continued to frown so Tiberius addressed him directly. “Young man, you should be studying and playing, not worrying about having grand adventures. There will be plenty of time for you to take on the world in the future, but for now be patient. Your day will come.”
Adrias continued to pout, but nodded as if he understood. Knowing that children, as well as adults, needed time to recover from the inevitable disappointments of life, Tiberius dropped the matter. He finished the rest of his tea, and put the cup back on the table. “Perhaps we can go play in the snow later. How does that sound?”
Adrias nodded, his face brightening at the thought. Tiberius rustled his hair again and smiled.
Jelénna stood and wiped her lips on a white linen napkin. “Do you still trust…King Gilmoure?”
Tiberius nodded, exhaling a lopsided smoke ring. “As I’ve said, I have spent a great deal of time with him, and I trust him. Aldrick trusts him as well. Don’t worry my dear, everything will be fine.”
Jelénna nodded. “I pray the All Father sees them home safely.”
“Of course.”
“You will investigate this rebellion?”
“I will have Paden look into it,” Tiberius nodded. “If you see Jarvus on your way out, please tell him I wish to speak with him.”
Gormond burped, and wiped his plump fingers on a napkin. “And please ask him to bring more biscuits. I ate them all.”
Jelénna pushed her chair back into place and beckoned to her son. “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.”
Tiberius chortled and waved goodbye. Turning to gaze at the marble lions standing guard over the waning fire, he listened as their footsteps faded off into the distance. He considered adding another log to the fire, but he was feeling his age this morning and was too comfortable to get up just yet. If only those stately lions could lend him the strength to guard the country as well as they did the fireplace; or better yet, take over the job altogether.
The idea brought a smile to his face, although it faltered when he noticed Jarvus approaching.
“You commanded my presence, oh great one?”
“Yes Jarvus,” Tiberius said with a sigh. “Would you summon Paden for me?”
“I shall inform him of your dire need to investigate this alleged rebellion.”
Tiberius looked startled. “You heard us talking?”
“I may be a lowly servant, but I do have ears,” Jarvus replied with a smirk.
“Indeed.”
Gormond grinned. “I have ears too!”
Jarvus gave the overweight noble a flat look. “I certainly don’t mean to intrude on matters best left to my...superiors, but do you completely trust Paden?”
“There are precious few people in this world that I trust completely. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no matter,” the cantankerous servant replied in an offhand manner. “I’m sure you have matters well in hand. Right, I’ll leave you to it.”
“Don’t forget the biscuits,” Gormond said hopefully.
Jarvus sighed and bowed, shuffling off before Tiberius could question him further. An odd question from the vexatious old servant, but then he was an odd fellow. The question of whom he could trust was an important one however, Tiberius thought to himself. The list was short; quite short.
Chapter 11
The dim glow of the torches revealed the ferocious visage of the enormous creature before them. Although it was not the blue scaled, fire-breathing serpent they had encountered in the mountains, this foe did not appear much easier to defeat. Looking to Aldrick like nothing more than the offspring of a giant carnivorous lizard and a rabid dog, the monster stood taller than a horse and more than twice as long.
It roared predatorily, revealing rows of enormous teeth in a gaping maw of a mouth large enough to fit a child. Dark leathery scales protected its flanks and long tail, and those gleaming yellow eyes spoke of an insatiable hunger. It seemed impossible the All Father could create a creature so savage and primitive, and yet here it was; the product of a nightmare. There was a rudimentary intelligence gleaming behind those glowing, hate-filled eyes as it sized up its quarry.
“Any ideas?” Aldrick asked.
“Survive?” Garrick suggested.
“Good idea,” Aldrick replied in a dry tone.
“It’s gonna bloody attack!” Dathan warned, as rippling muscles tensed beneath armored scales.
“Get ready,” Aldrick said, moving into a fighting stance as the creature leaned back on its haunches, muscles flexing.
The monstrosity leapt with a ravening growl, and for all of his combat training, Aldrick found he was not fully prepared for the ferocity and savagery of the beast. The sheer immensity of the creature before them was staggering.
Time slowed as Aldrick braced for the impact, and his only thought was to wonder how they could ever survive this deadly beast.
Something whistled past his left ear, and a white-feathered arrow abruptly appeared in the right eye of the creature. Out of the corner of one eye, Aldrick saw Aelianna nock another arrow. The creature howled in shock and pain, and roughly slammed into the ground while Aldrick and Garrick jumped clear, rolling on the wet ground.
Aelianna let fly another arrow, but the creature turned its head at the last moment, and the second shaft bounced harmlessly off a tough leathery scale. The creature had that much in common with the flying serpent, which was not a comforting thought.
The creature wheeled its head back towards the archer, and it growled in a mixture of pain and malice. The remaining golden eye gleamed with a deep hatred. It began to skulk forward, stalking her, while she backpedaled to create room for another shot.
Garrick and Aldrick recovered, and began hacking at the flanks of the monster, one on each side. Their blades made small cuts, but seemed to have little impact on its tough defensive scales. Crazed from the wound to its eye, the beast ignored them and leapt after Aelianna. The warrior, knowing that neither her bone-white bow nor her daggers would be particularly useful, turned and ran.
She bolted past Warren and Dathan who stood behind the group, torches held in one hand and swords in the other. They watched her fleeing form as it was swallowed by the shadows of the dark forest, and then turned back to the ravenous beast. The look of surprise on Warren’s face transformed into something more closely resembling terror, when he realized the monster was almost on top of them.
Dathan leapt forward and swung his sword wildly at the head of the creature, while trying to keep hold of his torch. The creature knocked him aside with a massive front paw, without so much as slowing its forward onslaught. Warren instinctively raised his sword in a futile gesture to protect himself. The creature was blind to everything except the one who had wounded it, and as it leapt after Aelianna, it struck Warren squarely with its bulk. The squire cried out in surprise and pain, as he was hurtled to the wet ground with a thud.
“Warren!” Garrick cried as he and Aldrick ran after the beast. When the monster landed with a squelch on the moist earth it roared again in anguish. It shambled after the warrior, but its gait was uneven, and it was visibly limping.
Aldrick assisted Dathan, while Garrick stopped to pull Warren upright. “Are you alright?”
Warren cried out in pain and grabbed his right leg. His torch had extinguished in the mud, but in the flickering light of the single torch Dathan still held, they could see a small patch of blood spreading on his thigh.
“I’m not sure,” Warren winced. “I don’t think it’s too bad, but it hurts.”
“Where’s your sword?”
Warren scanned the ground around their feet
in surprise. “I had it a moment ago.”
Dathan examined his leg. “You need a bloody tourniquet.”
Warren grimaced. “Very funny.”
Garrick grabbed Dathan on the arm. “Take care of him.”
Dathan nodded and ran to rummage through one of the packs for supplies. Garrick turned to Aldrick and said, “Let’s go.”
They ran after the fleeing warrior and wounded abomination, and were quickly swallowed by the darkness of the forest. Warren plopped down on a rotting log. “I have to be honest Dathan; I’ve had about enough of this damn forest.”
Aldrick could see neither the creature, nor its prey in the darkness of the dense, humid forest but they followed the intermittent roars of the injured beast and the echoes of it splashing across the wet ground. Running was extremely difficult in the darkness, and they were constantly slowed by mud and standing water, often stumbling over hidden branches and rocks. Garrick was clearly recovering from his shock over the incident at the bat’lagh pit, if his plethora of curses from tripping on hidden roots and submerged stones were any indication.
Both men were breathing hard and sweating profusely when they abruptly heard an agitated roar directly before them. They slowly approached, circling around a wide tree trunk. The scene before them was dimly lit by a single moonbeam, which by chance streamed down through a break in the thick canopy overhead.
The beast was still, facing its helpless prey across a wide stretch of open ground. Aelianna had also stopped, with her back to the crumbling wall of an ancient ruin. The remains of the collapsed barrier that blocked her escape stretched off out of sight into the darkness of the swampy forest.
The wounded creature, moonlight glinting off its myriad reptilian scales, howled in a mixture of pain, hunger and fury before it began to advance on its prey.
“Aelianna!” Aldrick called out.
“Stay!” the warrior shouted, a hand out motioning them to come no closer.
“She’s trapped,” Garrick noted.
She let fly another arrow, which pierced a small soft area near the snout of the creature. The beast paused, snorting and shaking its head, howling in rage. Aldrick admired her skill with the bow, but it did not seem that her arrows would be enough to stop the unrelenting attack of the predator. Those protective scales had successfully turned their blades and several arrows thus far. What would stop this nightmare creature?
Aldrick took a step forward. “We’re coming Aelianna!”
“I say stay, stupid men!” She yelled in response.
Aldrick and the king paused, but he could not understand her request. Why did she not want their help with the beast?
The creature growled and tensed its muscles, preparing to pounce; strength rippled underneath its armored plating.
“Run, you foolish woman!” Garrick called out in desperation.
Without warning, the creature leapt as Aelianna loosed a final arrow. With a whistle, the feathered shaft drove into the remaining eye of the predator. Off balance, blinded and possibly in shock, the monster fell short of her by several paces and struck the open ground with a muffled splash. Rather than scrambling forward to attack, the creature flailed and struggled, sinking out of sight amidst a storm of muddy splashes and desperate growls. Several agonizing moments later, the howling predator slipped under the surface of the mud with a final plop.
“Thank you, bat’lagh,” Aelianna whispered before leaving the ruined wall to rejoin them, climbing over roots to circumvent the deadly mud pit.
Garrick grimaced as he stared out at the final resting spot of the creature, but said nothing. They waited in silence until the warrior rejoined them.
Aldrick sheathed his swords. “How did you know the mud pit was here?”
“I see sign of bat’lagh. Trees dead, big open space. In Kemett I escape animal once like this.”
Garrick spoke slowly; his eyes focused somewhere far away. “I never thought…I would be thankful for one.”
“We learn of bat’lagh as a child. Only stupid people fall in.”
Aldrick nodded, but he could see the pained look reflected on Garrick’s face in the pale moonlight. He clapped a hand on the shoulder of the king. “Let’s go back and check on the others.”
Garrick nodded absently, but said nothing. They plunged back into the consummate darkness of the humid forest and slowly made their way back towards Warren, Dathan and the horses.
The standing water and hidden obstacles made for treacherous travel in the dark, but they soon spotted dual beacons of warm glowing torchlight, and followed. Warren had relit his torch, and Dathan had cleaned and bandaged the gash on his leg as well as he could under the circumstances. Dathan said he believed the wound could have been serious if left untreated, but was unlikely to be life threatening.
The soldier had received only a scratch on one arm from his encounter with the beast, which he had already wrapped using supplies provided to them by Merrek. He and Warren listened in astonishment as Aldrick recounted the victory of the warrior over the ferocious predator. She interjected a minor correction to the story once or twice, mainly without too much embellishment.
Like an epilogue to his tale, a distant roar split the relative quiet of the dark humid forest.
“It’s coming back!” Warren blurted.
“Not a chance,” Garrick said to assuage his fears. “That cry came from the north. We left our mutual friend to the south.”
“Obviously there is more than one of these creatures out here,” Aldrick said. “We should leave this forest as soon as possible.”
“I second that idea,” Warren added with enthusiasm.
A second, louder howl made up their minds, if indeed there had ever been any doubt. They quickly cleaned and packed their weapons and supplies, and remounted. With Warren behind Aelianna once more, they were soon on their way. The warrior led the way, claiming the Clavis still showed her their true destination, because she wanted it to.
Not wishing to camp in the dangerous swampy forest, they traveled on through the night and into the following day. By afternoon the dense dark canopy, which choked out the warming rays of the sun, began to thin, allowing increasingly numerous shafts of golden sunlight to pierce the thick overhead veil of branches. Having traveled throughout the night, they were practically falling asleep in the saddle, but the sunshine reinvigorated them, and they continued on with renewed energy.
By late afternoon the infamous Haunted Forest of Melkor began to give way to rolling hills, and the immense moss covered trees grew smaller, and were less abundant. They left behind the heavy humid air of the dense inner forest, along with the ravenous cries of reptilian predators.
Later, they arrived at a picturesque hidden copse of young trees next to a bubbling stream, and as if on cue, came to a halt. The horses were weak, their heads hanging and their knees shaking from exhaustion, and their riders were not in much better shape. Fighting exhaustion, they worked quickly to set up a makeshift camp while Warren and Dathan curried the horses.
After a quick dinner from their dwindling supplies, it was decided that even though they were exhausted, keeping two on watch was the best course of action. This close to the inner forest, the risk of discovery by the reptilian creatures was simply too great, and they did not wish to risk a single guard falling asleep.
Aldrick and Garrick took first watch, as darkness began to fall. They stared at the dying embers of the campfire long after the others had drifted off to sleep. Garrick poked the glowing coals with a stick, and their reddish glow reflected eerily in his eyes.
Several times Aldrick was certain Garrick was about to say something, but the king remained silent for a long time. Finally, he spoke. “I want to…thank you once again for…saving Warren.”
“Of course,” Aldrick replied. Garrick nodded, but said nothing more, so he added, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Garrick looked at him, and in the glowing firelight his eyes looked wet. Turning back to the fire, the king w
as quiet for some time. When he did finally speak, it was in a soft, hesitant voice. “I froze…as I did once before. Long ago.”
“What happened?”
There was suffering in his sigh as Garrick spoke. “I’ve not spoken of this to anyone before. I thought I never would, but…you have become a good friend, Aldrick. I truly feel you are a good, and just man. Nor will you pander to me because I’m a prince…or a king,” Garrick added with a thin smile.
“True,” Aldrick said honestly, curious where Garrick was going with his explanation.
The Key of Creation: Book 03 - The Temple of Kian Page 9