by J. P. Rice
An erratic buzzing modulated into a snoring sound. Of course, the nocturnal creatures were napping.
The cockatrices were hanging upside down by their tails, which looked like green vines wrapped around the branch. The animals had the head and body of a rooster with reptilian wings. They were rumored to possess poisonous breath, so I needed to keep my distance.
The griffins slept on the bigger branches toward the bottom of the trees, sprawled out lengthwise. The rear body was leonine in appearance and blended into an aquiline head, wings and front legs. The hybrid lion-eagles were much bigger than the cockatrices, but fewer in number.
My pounding hangover coupled with the powerful sunlight emerging over the horizon increased the difficulty level of an already harrowing adventure. The snoring supernatural creatures that could spring into action at any moment didn’t exactly calm my nerves either.
Steeling my nerves, I took a few deep breaths, trying to remain silent. Bringing my magic to the surface, I visualized the mission. I thought about what magic to use and scanned the ground for obstructions.
A light fog obscured the field of apple trees, but I could see the dark rune stone. It sat right in the middle, just as Alayna had explained. I located the closest tree with green apples hanging from the branches.
All I needed to do was take seventeen paces from the stone to the tree. Panning the area, I still didn’t see my amigos and decided quickly that waiting was a bad idea. I walked with my head down so I wouldn’t break any twigs or step on anything that would work as an alarm for the griffins and cockatrices.
Not being able to keep my eyes on the killers in the trees was quite unnerving. I continued the awkward march toward the rune stone. Quietly, I pulled my hood up over my head. The suit had been blessed by the Celtic Gods and the material could withstand gunshots. However, it had never been tested against the claws of a griffin or cockatrice.
Thinking the best defense was offense, I cast a protection shield to surround myself. The invisible bubble moved with me as I took a few more steps. As I made my way toward the rune stone, I effectively allowed myself to be surrounded on all sides.
The rune stone sat in the center of the grassy field and the apple trees housing the mythical monsters were scattered all around it. I stopped in my tracks as a light bulb went off in my head. The sound of the Dragon Horn would wake up all the sleeping creatures.
Would the dragons show up immediately? I’d never discussed that with my mentor. With my head down, I noticed that the shade of the green blades below became darker. Lifting my eyes, I saw some huge gray storm clouds rolling in front of the emerging sun, sending the day back into a dull dusk. I hoped this would help keep the griffins and cockatrices’ eyelids closed.
I shook the nerves out of my arms and continued. The uneven stone with ancient rune symbols carved into it stood taller than me. As I neared the immense object, I didn’t recognize the symbols, and my carelessness caused me to crunch two twigs.
My eyes widened, darting immediately to the closest apple tree. My knees threatened to give out, but I straightened myself and prepared for battle. The heavy sleepers didn’t budge and the sound of the twigs breaking didn’t seem to have impeded their snoozing.
My heart was in my throat. I swallowed and sent it back down into my chest. I maneuvered around the stone to position myself toward the closest apple tree. Placing my back firmly against the huge rune stone, I felt a surge of magic run through me. Holy shit. This stone had some secret power. The beasts were protecting this baby, not the Dragon Horn.
I didn’t have time to think about that now. Concentrating on the task at hand, I tried to fight off my hangover and a stroke of brilliance hit me. Instead of taking seventeen full step paces, I needed to keep in mind that Alayna had done it after she had shrunk.
I took her reduced height into consideration as I started my first few steps. A grumbling of thunder sounded in the distance and my eyes shot toward the closest tree. The snoring stopped momentarily and I conjured up a fireball in preparation for action.
After a few seconds of rustling, the snoring started back up again. After nearly exploding, I assumed my heart was in the process of writing a letter of resignation, and I couldn’t blame it. Continuing the straight-line path to the apple tree, I forgot which step I was on.
I settled on a number and took the final two paces to arrive at the destination of the Dragon Horn. Without a shovel or digging tools, I cupped my hands and dug into the grass. I had a little trouble with the compact soil, but I was too close to our goal to worry about any of that.
I kept digging in silence, and of course, another strike of thunder louder than the first filled my ears. It grated against my oxygen-deprived brain and caused me to freeze in place. I looked up hesitantly. The beasts were beginning to stir.
I didn’t hear any loud yawning, but the upside-down cockatrices were lifting themselves upright on the branches of the apple tree. The griffins rumbled and stretched out their wings.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo,” cried one of the cockatrices. Okay, it wasn’t exactly like that, but close. The creatures began to stretch and I knew my time was limited.
My hands turned into shovels, digging into the soil, desperate to find the Dragon Horn. A few shrieks of anger came from the animals, and it modulated into a troubling scream. I heard and felt the wings beating as the monsters sprang into action.
As I scooped out some more dirt, a terrible realization hit me. Alayna had been my size when she buried the Horn. She’d shrunk after she left here on her way to the Deep Burrow. I was in the wrong spot. The oncoming griffins and cockatrices rammed into my defense shield and bounced away.
Like birds running into a window, they continued to fly at me full speed, most breaking their necks upon impact. I wasn’t sure how long my shield would hold up against this type of onslaught. I hurriedly scurried back to the rune stone.
Walking into the constant onslaught of deadly predators was surreal. Some were flying directly at my face and running into the shield, which was only six inches in front of my nose. My head kept instinctively snapping back and to the side to avoid the contact as I put my back against the ancient stone again.
A few harrowing moments later, I took my seventeenth pace and dropped to my knees. My battered and aching hands got to work again. As I made it about a foot below, I realized my shield was being compromised. I tried to cast another spell to fix the affected areas, but the constant battering wouldn’t allow it.
I stopped worrying about the hole and the Dragon Horn. My focus shifted to survival. Surveying the situation, I was fucked. Plain and simple. I was surrounded by a small army of predators. For whom were they protecting the rune stone?
I took my fireball and stretched it into a ten-foot-long staff. It pierced and dissolved my shield, which was basically useless at this point. I grabbed the middle of the staff. Whirling around like a maniac, I sliced through anything that stood in my way.
The flames ripped through the bodies of the griffins and cockatrices, leaving some lion fur and rooster feathers on fire as they fell to the grass. Painful squealing struck my ears as I grew increasingly dizzy but continued spinning around in a compact circle.
An idea struck me. It was a longshot, but worth a try. Keeping one hand on the flaming staff, I unzipped my suit and buried my hand inside. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to keep up under this constant onslaught, I plucked out the last gold coin. Fake gold coin, but she sure was shiny.
Almost falling down from the equilibrium imbalance, I heaved the coin as far as I could. It only traveled about twenty feet away, but the glittering object captured the attention of the beasts. As fast as they had attacked me, the predators took off after the gold coin.
To my amazement, all the animals stopped attacking me and went after the coin. A civil war broke out as the griffins and cockatrices battled viciously for the fake gold. I dropped back down to my knees and scooped out more dirt to get about two feet underground.
&nb
sp; The sounds of the supernatural battle taking place only twenty feet away gave me plenty of incentive to hurry. I made it three feet under and the dirt took on the consistency of a brick. I tried to chop at it with a straight hand to no avail.
A few more attempts proved futile and I broke off a few of my long nails that I hadn’t had the chance to clip on this adventure. Looking down at my target, I noticed two golden streaks of dirt.
My fingernails had uncovered the treasure.
From behind, a bullhorn ripped through the early morning air, scattering the cockatrices and griffins in all directions. Ignoring the ominous sound, I used my numb fingers to pry a golden object from the ground. With one sharp pulling motion, I unearthed the treasure we had come for.
Half the problem had been solved. I feverishly swiped at the Dragon Horn, trying to get all the dirt out of it so I could take it to Alayna. With the prize in my hands, I turned around to a sight of pure horror.
A large band of the sidhe led by the Warden of the East charged toward me on horseback. As they neared, I noticed Alayna and Burn had been captured. Apparently, it was up to me to save the day.
Our best bet was getting the dragons on our side. I finally got all the dirt out of the opening of the Dragon Horn and didn’t have any more options. I held the narrow end up to my lips as I made eye contact with Alayna.
The posse came to a sudden halt and Alayna screamed, “Do it. Blow into it.”
The Warden backhanded her, making my blood boil. I inhaled and blew into the Horn as hard as I could.
Nothing.
Not even the slightest fucking whistle.
No sound whatsoever.
I tried again.
I inhaled with the Horn in my mouth and a powerful sensation rushed into my lungs. Perhaps this was the trick. I exhaled. No sound.
Apparently, I wasn’t deemed acceptable by the dragons. Giving it one more attempt, I looked up at the sky, hoping it was a silent horn and the dragons would show up in a few moments.
That didn’t happen.
I wondered why the Warden and his crew weren’t coming after me as I tried to get more dirt out of the Horn. Perhaps that was the problem?
As I stared at Alayna and Burn with desperation in my eyes, a blunt objected crushed the back of my cranium and the world went dark.
Chapter 33
My eyelids opened slowly. The first thing I felt was a lingering pain trapped inside my skull and running down my neck. Next, I discovered my wrists and ankles were strapped to the chair in which I was sitting. An unmasked Alayna and Burn were sitting across from me, bound in the same manner as me.
A musty smell filled my nostrils and the moss-speckled stone walls in the room led me to believe that we were in a castle. A table holding all our belongings and the Dragon Horn sat behind the women. The Warden of the East was checking out our stock.
I wanted to tell Burn how sorry I was and make her understand my true feelings. Under the circumstances, all I could do was mouth, “I’m sorry.” I wanted to ask the ladies how they’d been captured. Most importantly, I wanted Alayna to explain why I wasn’t deemed worthy of the dragons.
This trip had been demoralizing on many levels and now it appeared that death was imminent. At least they didn’t know Alayna’s true identity.
Staring at my friends and coming to grips with the situation, I blurted, “Kill me. You all can kill me, but let the women go. Act with honor. We can settle this like men.”
Alayna objected, using a deep voice, “No. We are only visitors. There’s no need for any killing.”
The Warden guffawed, sweeping his nest of hair away from his ugly face. “I may only have one eye, but I recognize a queen when I see one. I never thought this day would come.” He circled around us, keeping his attention on Alayna.
The Warden put his index and middle finger under Alayna’s chin and lifted it, forcing her to look him in the face. “I remember the day after you were gone. Many people died that day because of you. Did you forget how many beings relied on the crops for their daily diets? They wanted nothing more but to eat, and you deprived your citizens of that. All to carry out a grudge against the king.”
Alayna didn’t attempt to hide her identity anymore. “In my defense...”
“You have no defense,” the Warden blew up, spit flying out of his mouth as he yelled, “You have no honor. And on top of that, you took all the honor of this land with you when you left. You turned the sidhe into cannibals. What choice had they, truly? You cursed our food supply. Not just for me and the king, but for all those beings and creatures you pretended to care about.”
I wasn’t going to sit by the wayside. “You tried to kill her. What did you expect?”
The Warden made eye contact with a man in tan leather riding gear and the leader gestured with his head toward me. The man nodded and drew a knife from his hip. He approached me rapidly and swiped the big bowie knife across the back of my hand.
Mother mercy that fucking hurt.
Thick red blood seeped from the cut and dripped down both sides of my hand. Two light trickles hit the seat and the stone floor as I tried not to scream in pain. The cut wasn’t deep, but the gushing didn’t seem like it was going to stop any time soon. I also hoped that he hadn’t sliced through anything like a ligament or vein.
I buttoned my lips and the Warden started up again. “That was a warning. The next person to interrupt me or open their mouth in general, shall face a harsher treatment. I am a man of honor. I wrestled with the decision about you. The King had commanded me to kill his wife, a woman.”
“Duty or honor,” he said rhetorically and continued to circle our chairs. “The two often clash. I hadn’t a problem with killing a woman, it was killing my queen. I wrestled with it mightily and even considered killing the king instead.”
He smiled an ugly smile, showing off a few missing teeth. “But now, I can gain control of this entire land if I can get you to break the curse. I’ll be revered wide and far for restoring our crops. Our civilization can thrive again. You will follow my orders. You won’t do it for me or for the king, that much is certain. You will do it for all those whom you claimed to care about when you served as queen.”
“And if I refuse?” Alayna asked casually, seemingly resigned to the worst possible outcome.
“Torture, my dear.” He chuckled. “You have one chance to walk out of here alive, and one chance only. You break the curse, I break those bonds and you are free to leave this land. Refuse, and you can experience the wonderful sensation of having your eyeballs gouged out. Take it from someone who knows, it’s not great fun.”
Alayna proposed an idea, “If I break the curse, will you let all of us go free?”
I wasn’t sure about this. My naivety told her to go for it and get us the hell out of here, but my skepticism didn’t want to trust the Warden. My cynical side expected Alayna to break the curse and the Warden to kill all of us. At that point, we wouldn’t have any leverage in the situation.
The Warden dipped his head slightly. “I will. And that is word you can count on. I’ll have no need for you after the curse is broken. I’ll have a land to rule.”
I didn’t like his wording and wondered how he would rule over the king.
A man in boiled leather armor entered the room and rushed over to the Warden. He whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “The king is on his way. He says keep her alive until he arrives.”
I knew the Warden had cleverly worded his promise. If he allowed us to go free, as soon as we left the castle, the king would have his other men round us up. Technically, he would be true to his word, effectively absolving himself from the matter.
The Warden seemed to want everyone to perceive him as honorable. The man appeared perturbed by the order of the king, the corners of his smug mouth suddenly slouching. His power had been put in check. He glided across the uneven stone floor and stopped at the table behind Burn and Alayna.
The Warden of the East held up the vial of
return potion. “What have we here?”
I lied, “Magic mist. It’s an invisibility potion.” I was pretty sure that they didn’t have access to anything like this around here.
His eye widened with excitement as he held the vial right in front of his haggard face. “You don’t say.” He tried to open the vial, but became frustrated after about twenty seconds. “Why won’t it open?”
I answered, “It has a defense ward holding it shut. Only Alayna or I can open it.”
“Alayna? Ha.” He stared at the tiny vial, and said, “You couldn’t keep Al out of your name even after your ousting. How pathetic. I will not fall for this ruse, either. Tell me how to open it, or we shall start up the torture.” He turned toward the man who’d cut me. I assumed that was the Warden’s enforcer. The bodyguard of the bodyguard.
My mind churned, thinking of a plan for escape. “Just let my hands loose. Keep my feet tied and have your guards surround me if it will make you feel safer. Just imagine the possibilities of having a lifetime supply of invisibility potion. You could sell it or hoard it.”
The Warden paced around the circle of our chairs, contemplating his next action. He seemed to be weighing whether he should wait for the king. A gleam soaked in avarice sparkled in his dull eye. “Call in Rober and Shengus. Untether his hands, but keep close watch on him. Any false movement, kill him.”
The Warden said the words in the same offhand manner someone would order a meal from a restaurant, devoid of any emotion. His two assistants worked to remove the leather straps around my wrists.
I had developed a plan, but I needed to bring Alayna in on it. We shared a certain level of telepathy that allowed us to communicate without speaking. We both had to be on the same page for it to work effectively. As I stared at her, trying to make eye contact, her attention stayed on the Warden.
I sniffed loudly, hoping she would take the hint. Her icy blue eyes drifted around, finally landing on me. I winked with my left eye twice, praying that nobody else would see the signal. She blinked three times, then kept her eyes closed, alerting me that she was down with the plan.