Dark Moon Rising (The Prophecies of Zanufey)

by A. Evermore

  The ship lurched to the side and water flooded in. Asaph’s grip on her arm tightened and it was all she could do to cling to him white-knuckled, all the while fighting the nausea, fighting the longing.

  ‘This storm is Keteth’s doing, it is not natural,’ Coronos screamed over the howling wind.

  Black clouds closed in around them. White-tipped, ink-coloured waves reached towards them from all directions, lifting and tossing the boat like a toy. Asaph’s face was white, though he gave a weak smile.

  ‘Try to look at the horizon,’ he shouted over the wind, and passed her a pouch from inside his tunic, ‘and smell this if you feel queasy, it is hessel leaf.’ Issa took the pouch with a shaking hand and breathed in its pungent aroma deeply. They had such a plant on Little Kammy but she knew it could not quell this kind of sickness, for it was not caused by the sea but by the touch of a corrupt and powerful mind.

  Asaph slowly released his grip on her, as if reluctant to let her go, and turned to bail out the water pouring into the boat, only to see it refill as quickly as he worked. She reached to help but her stomach lurched and another mournful grating call drove all sense from her mind. She sagged back against the side of the boat and glanced at the others.

  Murlonius’s face was unreadable as he struggled to maintain the course; how he knew the direction they were headed in this storm was beyond her. Beside her Coronos gripped his staff. His grey eyes were clouded as he stared at the empty space before him, stillness surrounding him like an invisible shield, removing him from the lashing wind and surging sea, and she felt energy gather.

  The only light came from the wildly swinging lantern and the flashes of lightning that snaked across the sky. The wind blew in great gusts that tried to pick them up bodily from the boat. Angry white-tipped waves rose up around them trying to smash the boat in two. Above her she could see the raven struggling against the wind, but he refused to leave her side and she prayed he would not.

  ‘Keteth does not want you to reach your destination for then he will lose you,’ Murlonius said in a low voice. ‘It seems it is not to the Unchartered Lands that we go, but to Frayon. This boat is moved by fate and destiny, I but steer it.’

  Asaph and Coronos looked at each other in bafflement. As Issa watched, deep lines began to appear on the boatman’s face and his hands were once again old and wrinkled. ‘We are close now but soon I will no longer be with you,’ Murlonius said with a grimace. ‘Keteth will do all he can to prevent me reaching the shore, he knows I have but a short time to get there.’

  Asaph looked from Coronos to the boatman. Murlonius shrugged, ‘There is nothing I can do, such is my curse.’

  Coronos began to chant in a low monotonous voice, barely audible in the howling wind. His eyes were far away and every now and then there came a tiny spark of violet light around him. Calm settled around the boat and the waves ceased their crashing. Sweat formed on the old man’s brow and his chanting quickened.

  Issa glanced from Coronos back to Murlonius. He had grown even older and, though his face was now hidden in his hood, it seemed a corpse rowed the boat for his back was bent double and his knuckles were bones draped in wrinkled, veiny flesh. The boat suddenly pitched violently and Coronos’s chanting faltered.

  ‘We should turn back!’ she gasped.

  ‘There is no turning back,’ Asaph said ‘We couldn’t if we wanted to, not even with Murlonius.’

  Murlonius lifted his hood over his skeletal features; his eyes beheld her sorrowfully and then his form wavered and became indistinct, until he disappeared all together. The boat was no longer ornately carved, but simply constructed of basic timber, and there was no longer any lantern to light their way. Any protection that Murlonius and his boat had offered was gone.

  Keteth rose like a giant white balloon beneath their boat, the water sliding off his slick bulbous body as he lifted them high into the air. There came a deafening crack as the hull heaved, cracked, and then splintered. Issa heard herself scream a terrible sound as they soared into the sky and then were tumbling back into the ocean. The boat creaked loudly under the strain and then the force of the impact knocked the breath from her.

  A crack snaked across the hull at their feet, swiftly followed by another, and then the boat splintered apart, unable to keep together under such forces. Issa was hurled forwards as Asaph and Coronos were thrown backwards, leaving each to cling to their own bit of wreckage. Asaph lunged towards her but a wave drove him back forcing them further apart.

  Issa struggled to pull herself out of the water, the sharp wood piercing her hands with splinters. Despite her efforts the wreckage was sinking. Very soon it only kept her head and shoulders above the waves. Her bleeding hands stung with sea salt. It was all she could do just to keep her head above the water.

  She glimpsed Coronos in the distance. He was waist high in water upon a bigger piece of wreckage. Though, in just a glance, she could see that his, too, was sinking fast. He held aloft a glowing white orb and was shouting words of power that made the air tingle with energy. Asaph shouted to Coronos from a little way away, she could just see him but did not hear what he said, and then he dived into the water and a wave lost them from view.

  ‘Issa’, the White Beast whispered, the word was a caress drawing her towards it. She could not tell if it was spoken aloud or in her own mind. ‘Why do you run from me?’ She shook her head and tried to shut out his voice. ‘Issa, come to me, there is no other who can understand you like I do. I can bring you peace... I can give you power.’

  ‘How can you?’ Issa gasped aloud and immediately choked on sea water, ‘what do you know of power?’

  ‘Issa... I can save you from the darkness that hunts you, it hunts me too. Let us fight it, together.’

  The wreckage she clung to finally slipped beneath the surface and she was forced to let go or sink with it. ‘Don’t sink,’ she sobbed, shaking with fear. Her limbs were like leaden objects struggling against the swell of a freezing ocean. Asaph’s cloak, once a welcome gift, was now dragging her under, and she grappled with the knot. A wave crashed over her and dragged her down. The knot finally came loose and she let it go. She fought to find the surface for what seemed like hours, her lungs burning for air and in the swell she could not tell which way was up or down.

  Issa saw him then in the darkness, a white monstrosity rising up from the depths towards her, she froze, her heart pounding like a drum, lungs ready to explode. She tried to look away but could not. Those pitch-black coals for eyes ensnared her. He smiled revealing a blood red mouth lined with hundreds of needle-like teeth glistening in the gloom.

  Issa burst through the surface gasping, every cell in her body screaming for air. As she rasped and coughed, she saw another monster move towards her. This one was not white and deformed but covered in huge golden scales that shone like the sun, even in the darkness. It was as big as Keteth but sleek and long; huge wings folded close against its body as it snaked with uncanny ease through the water. Briefly it raised its awesome reptilian head, and in that instance she saw its eyes shone blue like sapphires, reminding her of the Dragon in her ring. It was warm upon her finger, the only warm thing in her whole body.

  It was Keteth who reached her first, a tentacle of pure muscle wound about her waist. He raised the tentacle lifting her high into the air to show to the world his prize. She tried in vain to loosen the slippery white flesh that made her own skin crawl. Keteth sunk back into the water dragging her with him. Down and down they went where the pressure was crushing and it was completely dark. Yet still deeper he dived until the surface was far away.

  It was from beneath them, in the pitch black, that the golden serpent came and struck, surging into Keteth with such force that they hurtled back towards the surface. The crushing pressure went and her lungs filled again with the compressed air of her final breath. She felt Keteth’s grip loosen in the struggle and confusion, and managed to wriggle free. All that she thought of was air, breathe, air. It was with the hel
pful push of a long golden tail that she shot to the surface once more.

  Issa gulped again that sweet life-giving air, but her strength was gone, her limbs spent. She tried to focus on the raven circling just above her but her mind was growing foggy and the raven was a blur in her vision.

  Suddenly a dozen purple shining lights appeared out of nowhere and surrounded her like stars in the darkness. They darted around her like fireflies and then her consciousness dimmed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  A Secret Revealed

  Issa was drowning and Asaph could not reach her. It was through fear of loosing her again, after so much, that Asaph did what he thought he would never be able to do; he called the Dragon within. He stopped swimming and focused his mind, channelling his emotions into a pinpoint of intense rage. The Dragon within stirred, opened one eye, then the other, raised its golden head and a surge of ancient power flooded through him, bringing with it his Dragon form, encompassing and becoming his whole being.

  Wings folded flat, tail whipping behind, fury rumbling as fire in his belly, Asaph lunged after Keteth, diving down through the black waters following where the White Beast had gone, the sea proving no obstacle to his smooth snaking reptilian body. A white mass appeared below, descending rapidly with a limp Issa in one tentacle. Asaph strained harder, arching beneath Keteth and twisting powerfully up.

  In seconds he was upon Keteth, claws as sharp and long as daggers, reached forth and tore deep into muscle. Keteth screamed a terrible gurgling sound and blackish blood spewed around them like ink. He writhed in a furied agony, struggling to be free of the Dragon that was forcing them all upwards.

  Asaph saw Issa wriggle free and with a flick of his tail pushed her towards the surface. She moved limply. Soon the sea would claim her if Keteth did not. Keteth was strong, almost unstoppable, as he fought to reclaim his prize. With all his strength Asaph heaved his bulk through the water, placing himself between Keteth and Issa. They struggled and rolled, two behemoths locked in a vicious bloody battle, turning the sea dark red with their blood.

  Magic suddenly shone in rays of silvery-purple all around them. Asaph did not recognise the magic as Keteth’s or Coronos’s, this was a wilder almost purer force. Then the source of it emerged from the gloom. Brilliant purple lights flashed and whirled beneath them in a beautiful light display that Asaph was momentarily mesmerised by them.

  Then Keteth’s needle sharp teeth sunk into his side, piercing through thick golden scales, and the purple lights were forgotten as white hot pain bolted through him. Asaph screamed bubbles of fire and soot as Keteth wrenched and bit again.

  Each bite brought with it a searing burning sting from poisoned fangs, poison that was soon flowing into his veins. His limbs started to stiffen in paralysis. Keteth’s corrupt mind touched his own, filling his thoughts with dark maddening shadows and he fought to shield his mind against it.

  Asaph focused on the lights that appeared again and amongst them he saw her, his beloved Issa, deathly-faced and unconscious. He looked upon her limp and lifeless form and howled another bout of fiery bubbles in despair. The lights were conscious beings but not fish, silvery fins like great wings spread out around them. Their intelligent minds pressed gently upon his.

  ‘Fear not for her life, brother, we have watched for her coming with the rising of the dark moon,’ they said, and then they were gone, and Issa along with them.

  A blood-curdling howl cut through the water and Keteth whirled to face him in full fury for the loss of his prize. Now Issa was gone Asaph feared for his own life. The poison was as lead in his veins and his mind could no longer think to fight. Keteth’s snaking tail cracked down upon his skull and his vision blurred.

  Another blow strengthened by magic sent static convulsions down Asaph’s body, loosening his grip. Keteth jerked free, coiled his white body around him and slowly tightened his tentacles in a crushing embrace as he dragged Asaph down into the darkness.

  Asaph’s consciousness wavered and his lungs began to burn for air but he could not fight, his muscles were paralyzed by Keteth’s poison. Dimly he felt the familiar signature of Coronos’s magic and he called to it. The magic reached downwards as pastel pink rays of light from the surface far above and engulfed him.

  There came a rushing sound and then Asaph was no longer ensnared in Keteth’s coils, sinking in the ocean, but spinning free through grey and white clouds, gasping in great lungfuls of air. Magic crackled and lightning flashed as he spun in the swirling clouds.

  Asaph looked on in astonishment for in the centre of the maelstrom stood Coronos calmly holding the glowing white orb, his eyes were closed and he was speaking words of magic. Asaph must have passed out then for he could remember no more.

  Asaph could not have killed Keteth, he knew that for certain, and the knowledge plagued him as he dozed, reliving the battle over and again in his mind. All he had done was slow the White Beast down in his pursuit of Issa, buying Coronos precious time to harness the magic of the orb. Why did Keteth want her so? Asaph wondered. Did he know of the things he himself knew of her? Had the Goddess or Yisufalni revealed their secrets to others beside him? The questions burned in his mind but remained without answers.

  Some part of him told him it would hurt when he awoke fully, but he could cling to fleeting sleep no more and, with a sigh, he opened his eyes. The sky was filled with heavy, racing clouds and the ground was hard and lumpy beneath him, but he welcomed its solidness after so long in the ocean. Though it was not cold he was filled with a deathly chill that ate into his bones. He tried to sit, sending waves of pain radiating out from his wounds all over his body and his vision blurred.

  ‘Do not move, my son, or you will undo the bindings,’ Coronos said, and gently placed his own cloak over Asaph’s shivering body. ‘You have no idea how happy I am to see you awake. Rest whilst I cook,’ he added, and set about collecting wood to build a fire.

  But Asaph could not relax; his mind was filled with thoughts of her. Behind closed lids he could still see her limp pale form floating in the darkness.

  ‘Issa,’ he whispered aloud, as if by speaking her name he could reach her.

  Coronos squeezed his shoulder. ‘The Wykiry came, Asaph, they will not harm her,’ he said. Asaph detected wonder in his voice and thought of those strange silvery light beings surrounding her until a dreamless sleep slipped over him.

  An hour or so later the smell of food drifted down into Asaph’s slumber and he awoke with a rumbling belly. The wind had dropped and the clouds were white and no longer racing across the sky. He struggled against the pain to sit up and took in his surroundings. They were a little way inland, beside the mouth of a very wide but shallow river bordered on both sides by thick forest. He could sense no danger and relaxed a little.

  ‘Where in Maioria are we? This is not Kuapoh land,’ Asaph asked looking around at the cold damp place. The trees were not tall and filled with fruit and many had thin needles for leaves. Heavy clouds covered the sky and there was a chill in the air he had not felt before.

  ‘Indeed,’ Coronos sighed with raised eyebrows. ‘We have been here all day and luckily I had some strength left to help you with the orb, such were your wounds. Anyway, I am pretty certain this is Frayon and that river is the Arin Flow, the widest and longest river in Frayon for it runs from its source within the great city of Carvon, hundreds of miles to the east, before emptying itself into the Lost Sea.’

  ‘Frayon? The Old World?’ Asaph asked excitedly, forgetting his aching body.

  ‘Yes, though I had thought we were to return where we left off, it seems the Goddess has other plans for us for it is fate that guides Murlonius’s boat,’ Coronos replied, ‘but in truth I am not disappointed to be here,’ he added to himself.

  ‘Perhaps coming here was the only place to escape Keteth. But what of Issa? Is she here?’ Asaph started to get up but the pain drove him back down.

  ‘Stay still and rest, Asaph,’ Coronos scolded, ‘she is not close but
the Wykiry will have gotten her to safety and I am sure we lost the boat in the seas off the coast of Frayon.’

  Asaph tried to relax but his stomach was in knots and Coronos’s words were not much comfort. He knew little about the Wykiry, only that they were once gentle magical beings now cursed to remain in the sea.

  ‘Luckily we still have our packs but all the rolls were soaked through with sea water, though still good enough to put in a stew, and I found some healthy blue seaweed,’ Coronos said as he passed him a steaming pot rich with the colour of blue seaweed.

  ‘If I cannot feed myself then I, surely, would rather be dead,’ Asaph said, putting a hand up in protest as Coronos bent to help him. Coronos sighed and stood again. Asaph winked at him and then grimaced as he tried to raise the dripping spoon to his mouth.

  ‘It’s not the tastiest meal but it is rich and nutritious and, with the few spices I have and the herbs I could forage, it really isn’t too bad,’ Coronos said.

  Asaph tried not to splutter. It was certainly pungently nutritious but after another few mouthfuls he grew a taste for it and was so hungry he finished two more bowls. As soon as he was done his wounds complained with a vengeance, forcing him to lie back down.

  Coronos seated himself by the small fire and stuffed purple lintel weed into his long pipe. He lit it and puffed deeply upon it, thick tendrils of smoke rising above him like elegant white snakes. Asaph glanced at Coronos and saw the worry in the older man’s eyes. They both knew an unholy poison infected the wounds he carried.

  ‘You cannot heal these wounds,’ Asaph said, it was a statement that he did not want to admit to. Coronos gave a so-so nod but said nothing. After half an hour of silence the older man spoke, taking Asaph completely by surprise.

  ‘So you truly are a Dragon Lord, I had always suspected as much, but now we have the truth of it. How long have you known of your gift?’ Coronos asked, searching the young man’s face. ‘It seems you have kept this a secret from me, for I have always suspected it. I would be lying if I said I was not saddened by your silence.’