by C. K. Rieke
“What would you have me do? Order him to leave his friend to rot under the sun until some other creature comes to finish the job? Or let the buzzards pick his bones clean once he’s succumbed to thirst?”
Fewn thought for a second. “—Maybe.”
“Well, let's thank the gods you’re not in charge,” Lilaci said.
“You are so mean!” Fewn said and walked back hurriedly back towards the camp, her fists in balls.
What is with that girl? She still acts like the same child that I fought with so many times back then. That is interesting what she said about the purple smoke though. The gods said that someday I’d be able to move the dunes themselves. Maybe this is only the beginning of my power. Yet, Veranor said I’m destined to be their sacrificial prize after the girl is in their possession. But what choice do I have? I have to obey the will of the gods, the will of my king and queen, and the will of Veranor. It's my sole purpose in this life. Maybe my next life I’ll live a normal, boring life. Maybe I’ll have a family, maybe there will be people in my life who look out for me, and I could do the same. Ugh— that’s just a fantasy. This is my family now; a girl who hates me but strangely likes me, and a group of three Scaethers, and we’re all out here in the middle of the sands, together. Is this the closest thing I’ll have to a family? All of this because I was born of light skin. My life could’ve been so different, had I been born differently. Useless to think of, but I can’t help the thought of it. In a different life, I could’ve had a child of my own, and innocent life to take care of, to care for. But the gods chose differently for me. Funny how everything comes back to the gods.
The following morning, just before the sun began to creep up over the dune to the east, Lilaci sensed someone walking towards her. She’d decided to sleep under the stars, and she heard the rustle of the grains of sand under footsteps. She reached instinctively for the Reevin’s dagger.
“Easy,” Foro said with his palms lifted.
Lilaci relaxed. “Foro,” she said. “What is it? Have you reached a decision?”
“Aye,” he said. “Pains me to say it, but Garenond is going to have to take him back to the city. He won’t make it out here, and he’ll slow us down by half at least.”
“I think that’s a wise decision,” she said. “And it pleases me that you’ve decided to accompany us the rest of the way to find the girl. The gods will look upon you favorably.”
“It’s my duty,” he said. “I hate to leave Garenond, and he won’t be pleased to have to leave, but I can’t sacrifice one of us.”
“Just make sure we’re ready to be off again by midday,” Lilaci said. “We’ve already lost too much time.”
“Will do,” he said, and began to walk back to his tent, but then turned back around look into Lilaci’s eyes. “I don’t think I got the chance to tell you thanks for yesterday. We’d be dead without what you did. So— thanks.” He turned and trailed back off into his tent.
Once the sun fully rose, Foro knelt and had the conversation with the other two Scaethers, and Garenond’s head sunk and put his palm up to his forehead in dismay. Dellanor felt a deal of shame, not only that he wouldn’t be continuing on, but that his friend would miss out on the hunt as well. Neither of them had an argument against Foro’s decision however and sullenly, after their goodbyes, they headed back off southeast to Voru.
Lilaci, Fewn and Foro watched as the two trailed up the winding dune and disappeared over its sharp ridge.
Fewn looked at Foro and Lilaci. “And then there were three.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Eleven Days Later
Climbing down the backside of the Zont-ils proved to be much more difficult than their ascension on the other side. The mountain range was full of loose sand that made finding sure-footing a time-consuming necessity. Hot winds blew down on their backs as they trailed their way down the high peak in a sweeping, back and forth pattern for their descent.
The clouds hung low above them, and the sun lay bright and hot just beneath them. It was beginning to arc down to twilight in only a few hours time, and Lilaci felt the pressure to climb down to a safer spot on the sandy rock. She turned her head back and upwards. The hot winds blew her shall wildly across her face, and she brought up a hand to settle its movement. She yelled up into the winds, “See anything?”
Fewn paused her climbing and after a quick survey of the area, shook her head. Foro did the same, scanning the lower rock cliffs for a flat position in which they could rest. He also shook his head.
Lilaci turned, and not seeing anything herself, continued her descent, at as quick a pace that she could manage. The supplies upon her back were heavy, and they’d all missed their downed Iox, yet she knew the large animal wouldn’t have been able to traverse the Zont-ils. They would have needed to find a spot in which to circumnavigate around the mountains, and that would take time. There was only one goal— find the girl, the Dragon’s Breath, and bring her back to Dânoz and the other gods.
“What’s the plan?” Fewn yelled down from above to Lilaci.
Lilaci looked around as the sun began to dip behind the western horizon. “We keep going,” she said.
Fewn seemed to not approve of climbing down the rest of the way in the dark, but she offered no other idea. Foro continued down after Fewn. One of his feet slipped, and he caught himself quickly but it sent tiny rocks and pebbles falling down the cliff. A couple of them landed on Fewn’s head, and she tucked herself closer to the rock wall.
“Watch it up there!” she yelled. Foro continued climbing down carefully. Lilaci had to examine each new step carefully as the light of the sun began to fade, and night crept in. The sandy surface of the mountain turned dark, and she found herself having to feel around for a flat surface to place a foot upon. They had slowed to a near crawl.
“I can’t find any damned footing,” Foro called out.
“We’re going to be stuck clinging to this rock the whole night,” Fewn said. “We’ve got to . . .”
Lilaci was listening to the others and trying to think of what to do next when a shimmer of light peaked through the thick clouds above. Its brilliant white light flickered onto the rock’s surface as the clouds floated by. It took only a few minutes for the light to cascade down onto the entire side of the mountain.
“Thanks be to the gods,” Lilaci whispered. The Six do shed light on us in the darkness. They are showing us the way forward.
“A full moon,” Fewn said. “What luck.”
“I doubt luck has much to do with it,” Foro said. “This is a gift.”
They continued making their way down the cliffs with the light of the moon shining on their paths. Throughout the night their spirits rose as the clouds vanished and they were left with enough of the rocks visible that they found a flat embankment just large enough for them to rest on. Lilaci sat and removed her packs, then Fewn, and then Foro leapt down and sat with a grunt. The first thing he did was remove his boots and begin to rub his feet.
“Aye, this’ll do for the evening,” he said. “My feet feel like they’ve been held over a fire for the better part of the day.”
Lilaci looked over at him and laughed. Fewn looked over and did the same.
“What’re you two getting on about?” he said.
“You’ve got something on your face,” Fewn said.
He reached up and felt a string of snot that went from the side of his nose into his dark hair. He wiped it down and brushed it off onto the side of his pants. “What do you expect of me? To keep prim on a climb like this? How did I know I was to be left with you two girls to scoff at me?”
Lilaci motioned up to his face again, and into his hair that was frayed from the wind, and she smirked.
He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair to find the droppings of some bird had dried on his head.
“You’ve got a little collection up there,” Fewn said. “Got anything useful in there?”
He began to pull the droppings from his
hair and flicked them to the ground.
“I could use a needle and thread,” Lilaci said. “If you’ve got one stashed up there. Better yet, how about something to make a fire with.”
He continued to rummage through his thick hair, and plumes of dust floated off his head and it flickered in the moonlight. “I’ll give you something to make a fire with . . .”
They heard the sounds of bats flying above in a high-pitched chirping. Lilaci looked up to see their sporadic flying above. Foro looked up to see what they were looking at. A plop of droppings landed directly on his forehead, and he looked slowly down at the others, wiping it from his brow with a sigh.
Lilaci tried hard not to laugh, but Fewn let it out and she laughed so hard she fell to her side.
“Yeah, very funny,” he said. “Please, enjoy yourself at my expense.”
“You—” Fewn laughed. “I’ve never known such a collector of feces before.”
Lilaci started laughing again, while covering her mouth.
“You’re the carrier of crap,” Fewn laughed.
“The envoy of excrement,” Lilaci laughed.
“No, no—” Fewn said. “He’s the Scaether of shite!”
The two girls laughed loudly into the night.
“Alright, alright,” he said. “Enough is enough. I get it.”
Lilaci wiped her eyes dry, and caught her breath. “I’m going to get some rest, we’ll finish our way down at daybreak.”
“You think you can make it that long with another—” Fewn said.
“Choose your next words carefully . . .” Foro said.
With the rising of the warm sun in the morning, they gathered their things and pulled their packs up upon their backs and made their way down the last stretch of the mountain’s base. It took another five hours before their boots hit the hard, flat ground. Before them was a bleak, flat outstretch of desert. Lilaci had never been to that part of the Arr before, although she’d studied it back in Sorock. Knowing the outlay of the lands from maps she knew what should be visible to the northeast from there.
She turned to face that direction and saw the majestic top peaks of the tallest mountain in all of the Arr in the distance. Fewn and Foro turned to see the mountain that shot up to the heavens like a stalagmite you would see in a deep cave, only it stood higher than anything else any of them had ever seen.
“Incredible,” Foro said.
Fewn looked up in awe, not responding.
“Every time I see it, is like the first time,” he said.
Lilaci looked over at it, like a finger reaching up to the tips of the sky, almost touching the clouds above. “This is the first time I’ve laid my eyes on it.”
“Duen Utülm Drakon,” Foro said. “The Dune of the Last Dragon.”
“That was the home of Kôrran,” Lilaci said.
“I’m sure glad that monster isn’t around anymore,” Fewn said.
“As monstrous as the tales say he was, or she—” Lilaci said, “—I bet it was a magnificent beast. It took the Knight of the Whiteblade, the most legendary soldiers of the last age, two full weeks of fighting to kill it. The gods even granted Gorg their powers to slay it. The dragon was ever as fierce.”
“Good riddance,” Fewn said.
“Can you imagine a dragon that size floating around that mountain?” Lilaci said. “It’s wing stretched out as they glide through the air. They say it was as big as the grandest of the dunes, thousands of times bigger than any of us. Something that big and powerful with the ability to fly through the air, spewing fire hotter than anything in existence.”
“Like I said, good riddance,” Fewn said again. “Who would want to run into something like that?”
“Those were the days when the gods themselves were fearful,” Foro said. “Those were the days when water flowed throughout the lands, not just in the Great Oasi. Would you rather have water and be fearful of dragons, or thirsty with no dragons? That seems to be what it came down to, perhaps that's what the gods had to decide.”
“Stupid question—” Fewn said.
“Water and dragons,” Lilaci said. “Water is always better than none.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
As they walked into the desolate Bompart region, the Dune of the Last Dragon and the Zont-ils behind them faded back into the sand. Lilaci looked around at this new stretch of land that she’d never seen, but heard tales of its uninhabitable. I’ve never seen anything so bleak. It’s just scorched earth and light sand. There are dead plants scattered sparsely throughout, but no animals, no birds, just the howling wind. Waters going to be tough to find in these lands. It’d be best to find the girl quickly.
Over the last couple of days Fewn had begun to warm up to Lilaci, albeit littered with fits of anger or resentment, and Lilaci was beginning to expect her to throw a tantrum every now and then. Foro seemed to be enjoying their hunt, although Lilaci could tell he missed the other Scaethers. He was much quieter and reserved without them to banter with, or perhaps it was just that he was now with two young women, something he may not have been accustomed to.
“I’m going to go out for a walk,” Lilaci said in the early evening light.
“Where’r you going?” Foro asked, as he was setting up the kindling for a fire.
“I’m going to head north and scout a bit before nightfall,” she replied.
Foro went back to setting the fire, as he seemed unconcerned for her wish to walk alone.
“Can I come with you?” Fewn asked, standing quickly.
“I’m going to go alone,” Lilaci said, and lifted her shawl up over her head as she turned and left the group.
The sands blew in from the east and stung at her skin. It bit her arms and chest, and she pulled her shawl just above her eye line as she peered out into the vast desert of Bompart. She’s out there somewhere. The girl the Old Serpentine Prophecies tell of. The girl with the birthmark of a dragon’s tooth on her shoulder, the girl with the pale grey eyes. The Dragon’s Breath. She’s out there somewhere. I wonder if she knows the gods are after her? Does she know they are after her? Veranor seemed to feel that this mission was everything, the greatest honor I could be bestowed, and that he’d been given a high honor in the light of the god’s favor. Yet, she’s just a girl— was it necessary to give me the Sanzoral just to find a girl? Sure, it saved us when we needed it back there, but does this girl have a magic of her own? What is it the gods really want— or fear— in her? I guess I’ll find out when I ask her just that.
She looked down to see the sands swirling at her feet in the gusting winds, and she stopped walking. She stared at the sand as it spun in a clockwise direction at her ankles. As it twirled and spun it formed a tight funnel that drifted back and forth. That is peculiar. Then she felt it. There was something else, something new, something getting close— something very near. No, it was on top of her.
She rolled to her side, and with a thud landed on the cracked ground. She opened her eyes to see the shadow-laden figure above her, its long, gnarled mace being brought up above its head, ready to come down with a fury onto her head. The figure brought it down with a crack onto the dry ground as Lilaci rolled away quickly again, narrowly missing its sharp spikes.
Looking up again, she saw a strong, broad-shouldered figure covered in a coarse fur with sinister yellow and amber eyes, and long, crooked teeth. She rolled away quickly once more and rose to a defensive position, unsheathing her sword and squaring off against the beast. What is this new monster? It looks like a sandwolf bred with a man. Whatever it is, it picked the wrong woman to hunt.
The beast that stood a full two heads taller than her let out a savage howl. A howl no sandwolf could muster. Lilaci felt her sword rustle in her hands from its ear-splitting roar. With the beast before her snarling and howling, Lilaci felt another presence behind her and turned sharply to see the dirt moving quickly towards her. Wait, no. That’s not the ground, but it's getting close, fast. She watched as the approaching wave of ground slither
ed towards her. What in the Eternal Fires are those? Are those—? The snakes flew from the sand as hastily as they slithered towards her. They were hungry to sink their fangs deep into her flesh, and they moved as silently as the night.
Lilaci let out a frantic swipe of her sword, slicing the head off one snake and knocking the others away. Without hesitation, she turned and began to run. As she ran, she heard the hefty breathing of the sandwolf creature as it ran like a man towards her. This is a planned attack, this is no coincidental run-in with these monsters. They are working with each other, coordinating this. I can already see their plan, once the sandwolf catches up to me, I’ll have no choice but to square off with it, and the snakes will make their assault, and I’ll surely be in deep trouble with their venom in my veins. I have to make it back to the camp— or— find a way to kill it or the snakes quickly.
As she ran, the beast’s hind legs carried it much faster than she thought possible— faster than any man— and it was soon next to her. Its curled mouth was brimming with spit and foam as it breathed heavily, its yellow teeth glowing dully in the moonlight. Its eyes were fixed on her, heavy like a wolf’s eyes at the brink of starvation. With a loud grunt, it heaved its sharp-spiked mace at her chest, attempting to crush her lungs and heart. With a swift slash of her sword she brushed the mace above her as she ducked and rolled forward, then back up to her feet, pressing forward away from the long, slick brown snakes that trailed after her, every second gaining on her.
I’ve got to keep moving. Can’t slow down, have to keep distance between me and them. I have to make it to Foro and Fewn. Her lungs burned as she ran at full sprint, blood coursing through her legs and chest. Looking over her shoulder, she looked to see the snakes were mere feet from her heels, and their color had transitioned from that of the light brown to a dark black, with long red streaks along their long slithering bodies. Their eyes are cold and fixed on me. I’ve never seen or heard of snakes such as these. They’re not native to the desert. There is some darkness at work in these creatures. Something evil is after me.