by Andi Van
“Vashk is a big fan of ‘things are not always as they appear,’” Tasis said with a nod. “So I’m going to say yeah, Denekk’s advice is probably good for more than people’s interactions with others. If nothing else, it might help us be a little more prepared the next time we have some huge bird-lion thing come charging at us.”
Reikos huffed, his eyes still not leaving Zaree’s prone form. “I want to know how Zaree knew what to do to get it to back off.”
“I’m not sure she does either,” Tasis said, his worry apparent in his frown. “She was as surprised as us before she fainted. That bothers me.”
Kelwin wrapped an arm behind Tasis’s back and held him to his side. He needed the comfort as much as Tasis did. “It’s okay,” he said as reassuringly as he could. “We can ask her about it when she’s conscious again, and I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“You?” Reikos asked, his agitation still gripping him tightly if his tone was any indication. “What can you do?”
K’yerin hissed, and Tasis took a deep breath before giving the guard a withering look. “You’re one of my friends, so I’d rather not have to smack you,” he said calmly. “Given the nature of their studies, herbalists are also healers. So how about not being a jerk?”
Reikos stared at him, his face going red when the words sank in. “Sorry,” he had the grace to mutter under his breath. “It’s just….”
“I know,” Kelwin assured him when his words failed him. “She’ll be fine.”
“We may not be, if we stay,” Lifit reminded them. “Can we stop with the chatter and get moving, please? We managed to make it out of this one without any of us getting hurt, but the faster we resume our walk, the happier I’ll be.”
“Right,” Tasis said after taking another deep breath. “Let’s walk, shall we?”
Chapter 12
CALLING THE trip a walk might have been simplifying things, in Jorget’s opinion. The word walk gave it some hint of a beautiful spring day with blooming flowers in a meadow, and a picnic was probably involved. But no, what he got was a grueling climb he was pretty sure was almost straight up at some places along the trail. The giants didn’t appear to have an issue with it, of course, but an hour after they’d left the gryphon behind, Jorget was panting for air and sweating so hard he couldn’t see clearly through the salty streams running down his face and making his eyes burn. In fact, he’d already nearly walked off the edge of the trail once, and of course it had been at a point where the trail hugged a steep drop that would have turned him into nothing more than a smear on the ground far below if he’d fallen. Luckily for him Daro seemed to have been paying attention, because the wolf had grabbed a leg of his trousers and yanked him back to safety. He’d earned a belly rub for that, providing Jorget a moment to rest as he rewarded the wolf, whose tongue had hung ridiculously out of his mouth as he enjoyed the petting.
Zaree had woken up, but Lifit firmly denied her demands that she be set down to walk on her own. It had gotten quite loud, but that was about when Jorget nearly took his plunge, and the girl had stopped arguing then. Another hour later, and Tasis was being carried piggyback by Whogs, Rin draped lazily over one of the elf’s shoulders. The guards had slowed considerably, and even Kelwin was looking exhausted.
“Not to be a nuisance,” Shan wheezed after they successfully scaled another particularly steep bit, “but are we there yet?”
Emlynn, who looked not quite as relaxed as the two full-size giants but considerably less disgusting than the rest of them, looked him over. “Do you need to stop?”
“I might die,” the guard said with more than a hint of a whine in his voice.
“Everyone dies,” Jorget panted. “Even if some people apparently don’t know how to stay dead.”
“Comforting,” Reikos ground out. “Thanks for that inspirational bit of philosophy.”
Emlynn rolled her eyes at them and turned her attention back to the trail.
“We’re nearly there,” Lifit said, answering Shan’s question. “That was the last of the steep climbs.”
“Oh thank the Maker,” Jorget rasped. “And this is the easier way?”
Emlynn let out a snort. “Quite. I assure you climbing without a trail is much harder.”
Right. Jorget had forgotten the giantess had actually done that, and recently. “Sorry,” he said, feeling more than a little defensive. “But it’s not like I was ever able to leave the palace and do things like this. I mean, sure, I could have physically picked up and walked out, but then what? Spend the rest of my life as another street urchin? Yeah, and then I’d have either gotten killed for stealing from the wrong merchant or died at the hands of the king when my magic came to light. So I get that we sound like whining children right now, but I, for one, am not used to this.”
Emlynn stopped and turned around to look at him. Jorget cringed, expecting to get yelled at, but Em looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to give that impression. That’s not what’s bothering me.”
“Then what is it?” Tasis asked. “If there’s something you think is wrong….”
“No,” she said shortly. “It’s just….” She paused, then sighed heavily before continuing. “It feels wrong. If there is a guild in this mountain, it feels like tramping over and through it to find an ancient artifact is a bit sacrilegious.”
“You feel like we’re disturbing something that shouldn’t be disturbed.” It wasn’t a question. The guild leader’s sea-blue eyes were fixed on Emlynn’s face as if he were trying to discern her very thoughts.
Jorget half wondered if he actually could. Tasis usually seemed so gentle and unassuming that Jorget tended to forget this was also the same person who’d brought an entire castle back from ruins. Despite what he’d told Jorget about the spell stored in the pendant doing most of the work, it still had to take a great deal of power to make the thing work, and when Tasis got that look on his face, Jorget could almost see the magic swirling in the leader’s aura. “So do you,” he piped up suddenly, speaking before he could stop the words from coming. “Right? At least that’s how it sounds.”
“We’ve got a mountain covered in plants Kel has never seen, gryphons showing up, a bird that should have gone back to where it came from over a thousand years ago, and a dragon saying it’s dangerous for me to be here,” Tasis pointed out. “I thought I didn’t like the idea of parting from Kel, but now I’m wondering if it’s something else. The only problem is, we can’t turn back. If we don’t figure out what’s going on, the king will.”
“We’ll be careful, Tas,” Kelwin promised.
“And you might feel better after talking to the bird,” Zaree said softly. She hadn’t spoken much since she’d woken up and protested being carried. Jorget hoped she was okay. Zaree was acerbic, but Jorget had realized it was the armor she wore to protect herself. The longer he was around her, the more he realized she loved deeply when she bestowed her affection on someone.
Or not, a voice muttered to itself in Jorget’s head. Bahz was never known for being warm and fuzzy.
“Rin,” Tasis said delightedly.
Oh good, you can finally hear me. I’ve been trying off and on for the last hour. The cat nuzzled against Tasis’s cheek, his purrs audible even from where Jorget stood.
“We can all hear you,” Kelwin noted, amused. “Nice to have you back.”
Jorget blinked, then stared at the elf. “That’s Rin?”
“We warned you he never shuts up,” Zaree grumbled, though Jorget couldn’t help but think he heard relief in her words.
“Wait,” Reikos said, looking somewhat disturbed as he stood by an equally shaken Shan. “You’re telling us the cat can talk?”
You know very well I can, Rin said with a disdainful snort. It’s not like they haven’t told you before. Welcome to the world of magic users. Now pull up your big-boy britches and stop looking like you’re going to wet yourself.
Jorget let out a laugh before he could stop himse
lf. Reikos gave him a withering look, but he shrugged. The cat’s comment had been funny.
“That answers one question, I suppose,” Tasis said as he slid down from Whogs’s back, K’yerin riding on his shoulder. “If Rin can talk to us again, there’s definitely a magic source.” He sighed heavily and looked around. “I wish I could go down there and see it for myself.”
“No,” Kelwin and Zaree said as one, with Rin chiming in directly in their heads. Jorget found the cat’s method of communication more than a little weird.
You’ll get used to it.
Jorget frowned at K’yerin, who gave him a wink. Again, weird. But the familiar was probably right. If that was how all familiars communicated, he’d have no choice but to get used to it.
“I know,” Tasis was saying when Jorget focused on the conversation again. “I can’t help but wish I could see it, though. You know how it is. But hey, let’s go find the bird, have a talk, and do what we need to do.”
Tasis stepped in front of Lifit, much to the giant’s irritation. He’d started to bluster about needing to keep Tasis safe, but it fell on deaf ears as the elf continued to march up the path, and they were forced to follow behind. The trees seemed to thicken all of a sudden, and what had been a mountainside with trees here and there seemed to turn into a dense forest. The sunlight was halved as it shone through the branches, leaving lacelike patterns on the ground. It was as if…. “It’s as if the trees are guarding something,” Jorget said, continuing the thought aloud.
A bird of prey’s shriek rang overhead. They are.
The voice was not K’yerin’s.
“Spirit bird,” Emlynn called out as she lifted her head, trying to find the source of the cry. “I apologize for disturbing you, but we have brought travelers who must speak with you.”
I know who they are, the voice said.
There was a rustle from somewhere overhead, and Jorget cried out when he saw a massive white blur heading straight for them. Tasis threw out an arm protectively on reflex, and the thing actually landed on it. When his panic settled, Jorget realized the massive white-and-black falcon was resting easily on Tasis’s arm. He wasn’t sure how the elf was keeping his arm up, considering the bird was nearly half his size, but Tasis merely stared at it in shock.
My lady Trivintaie, you cannot be here, the bird said gravely, his sharp eyes focused directly on Tasis. She’s here. If she discovers you, she’ll kill you.
Tasis let out a sigh, looking skyward in irritation before answering. “I’m not Triv,” he said calmly. “I’m her direct descendant. My name is Tasis. Are you Bahz?”
The bird tilted his head, looking Tasis over before turning his attention to K’yerin. Is this true, old friend?
Much has happened since you left, K’yerin replied. Have none of the visiting giants told you?
“We didn’t know he was a familiar,” Whogs reminded the cat gently. “So no one would have thought to mention it.”
Jorget would have sworn the look on Rin’s face turned pained. Oh, Bahz. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, then. The guild was destroyed long ago, not long after Falcon left and took you with her. Most died. Not all stayed that way. It’s a long story. How is it you’re still here?
Bahz clacked his beak in what Jorget assumed was frustration, much the way the gryphon had done so in anger. Oddly, the similarity made Jorget wonder if they knew each other. When Falcon left, she was not ready to return home to the chains of her status. One of the older tomes she’d stumbled across in the library hinted at other guilds. She decided she’d look for them, and if any of them were still active without the isle knowing, she’d join them. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to learn, she just….
“Couldn’t be around Triv,” Jorget finished, letting his mouth run away from him again. He winced a little, but the bird nodded in agreement. At least, he assumed that’s what the bobbing of the head meant. For all he knew, it could have meant the predator was going to make a meal of him.
But clearly that was not what Bahz had in mind, because he merely continued his story. At the time, the east lands were not a part of Archai, though they were related. Falcon had most of the east lands committed to memory because of her particular position, so we started there.
“Wait,” Jorget said, interrupting the monologue. “I don’t understand, and I have a feeling I’m not the only one.”
Whogs, who had taken a seat on the forest floor, chuckled. “Sometimes I forget how young you all are. Well, I may not be as old as Brolt, but he’s old enough to make sure we don’t forget how things used to be. Before the king lost his grip on reality, what is now Archai was actually two kingdoms, Archai and Chadar. Chadar’s monarchy was unusual in that, instead of the succession being handed down to the heir, it was handed to one of Archai’s children. Any heir the ruler of Chadar may have had was granted a title and land, but never the throne.”
“That makes no sense,” Tasis said, frowning deeply as he pondered the information. “What if Archai had only one child?”
“Then he’d adopt one,” Lifit said as he gently set Zaree on her feet and took a seat next to Whogs. “Come, sit down, the lot of you. I have a feeling this will take a while, and you could use the rest.”
There was a nearly palpable wave of relief that ran through them at the giant’s words, and for his part Jorget dropped to the ground where he was, not wanting to move another step. As his rear made contact with the leaf-strewn ground, he let out a loud groan, making the others laugh. And when they eventually let out similar noises of relief, it was Jorget’s turn to chuckle.
Once they were seated—or, in Bahz’s case, perched on a tree branch—and at least moderately comfortable, Whogs began to talk again. “A long time ago, Chadar’s people suffered a plague. Most of the population died, including the bulk of the royal family. The only one who was fit to rule by the time it had passed was the queen, who happened to be the daughter of the king of Archai. Her illness had made her unable to have a child, so she made an arrangement with her father and her brother that, once it was time to pass on the throne, it would go to her brother’s second child.”
“And the people didn’t take issue with this?” Tasis asked from where he leaned against Kelwin. Kelwin’s arm was around him, and Tasis looked so pleased with the position that Jorget had to bury a grin. “Because that’s far too much power for one family to have, if you ask me.”
“Most of Chadar was dead,” Lifit reminded him. “They were too busy picking up the pieces of their own lives to care about what the royal family did.”
“So what does this have to do with Falcon?” Jorget asked, leaning back against the tree he’d parked himself in front of and sighing in relief when he felt his back pop. He could already tell he was going to be in a world of hurt the next day after such an incredible hike.
Falcon was the king’s daughter, of course, K’yerin said. I mentioned that before, remember?
“No,” Tasis said with a frown, “you said the king’s daughter studied at the guild, but you never said it was Falcon. That kind of puts a new spin on things. Are you sure Archai didn’t go nuts trying to avenge his daughter?”
Archai was already beginning to lose his hold on his sanity, though Falcon didn’t see it that way at the time, Bahz remarked as he spread one enormous wing and began to groom the feathers. He began plans to annex Chadar right before she left for the guild, though she kept that knowledge to herself. That’s why she didn’t want to return. She felt her father would see her as a problem to get rid of, because she’d been raised to eventually rule over Chadar. Never mind that she was glad to be free of that responsibility. She’d never wanted to rule in the first place.
She didn’t have the patience or the tact for it, K’yerin added. No offense intended toward your mage, Bahz. But she did have a temper.
The bird let out a squawk that sounded suspiciously like a laugh and turned his gaze away from grooming and toward the cat looking up at him. You’re not wrong. It would hav
e been a disaster. Anyway, we headed for the east lands, stopping at Chadar’s old castle first. It had since been abandoned, but only for a few years, so things were still in good shape. Falcon spent a few weeks poring over the library there, and found hints of a guild on an island in the middle of the lake near the castle. So we went there, only to discover ruins. It had been gone for a long time, and there were signs it had not been abandoned peacefully. Wanting to know more about what happened, we returned to the castle’s library. Eventually, with the aid of a few more clues from the books, we made it here.
“Then there really is a guild in this mountain,” Tasis said, sucking in a breath. “Oh, now I regret saying I’d go back to the village.”
You of all people can’t enter, Bahz replied quickly. If I mistook you for Triv, so would Falcon, and she’s…. She’s not in her right mind. Or her right body.
There was a pregnant silence, and it was Emlynn who finally found her voice. “What do you mean by that, exactly? What happened to her body?”
At the lowest part of the guild, there’s a box, Bahz said, the words hushed and edged with pain. It’s reinforced with steel and bound in chains. I told her not to touch it, but—The falcon let out a cry, the devastation in it so thick Jorget found himself swallowing down a lump in his throat.
“What happened to her?” Zaree asked in a whisper.
There was a flash of light, and screams of pain. And when I could see again, Falcon was no longer Falcon. She was a harpy.
“A harpy?” Tasis asked. “But they’re a myth.” He looked at Jorget, and went pale.
Jorget nodded, knowing what Tasis was thinking. “Keep an open mind,” he said in a low voice, remembering what they’d talked about after leaving the gryphon.
“Oh Maker.” The words were nearly inaudible, but Jorget was able to read the elf’s lips. Tasis had gone white as a ghost, and Jorget couldn’t blame him. Harpies of legend were said to be a monstrous amalgamation of human and bird, grotesque in appearance and savage in personality. There were stories of lone harpies tearing apart their human prey slowly, so that the victim would remain alive and screaming as long as possible. They reveled in torture and blood, living off other creatures’ pain as surely as they survived on the flesh of their victims. The stories were always said to be myths, things to read to small children to scare them into behaving, but now Jorget had to wonder if the accounts weren’t fiction after all. And if that were the case, he wondered if they’d even survive if they encountered Falcon in the mountain.