The Hero's Peril (The Sorcerer's Saga Book 5)
Page 9
I also heard the voice again. I ignored it. The throbbing in my head grew worse until I couldn’t hear them over it. Yuri pulled me to my feet and into the portal, which was still open.
Chapter 6
The gust of cold air helped me to clear my mind. I touched the back of my head, winced in pain, and checked my fingers. My skin was still gray, but my blood was red, which was gruesome in contrast. Before I had a chance to fear that I would always be gray, my hand started gaining color from the blood outward. I wiped the blood off on the snow, noticing how much it stood out.
“Ayden, we have to go,” Merlin said.
“I’m tired,” I said in his mind.
“No, you are concussed.”
“I need a mage.” I closed my eyes.
“Ayden, open your eyes and get up!” Merlin said out loud, sounding more like my father than I was comfortable with. I opened my eyes, though, and struggled to my feet. Yuri had his sword in one hand and my staff in his other.
“Whatever this creature is, it’s getting impatient,” Yuri said, holding out my staff for me to take.
I took it and braced myself on it. “If you could put a ward over us… I don’t think I can do anything.”
“You have to. I’ll fight it off with a sword.”
“I’m more likely to throw up than to cast a ward.”
After a moment, he grabbed my arm. “Then we’ll have to run.” He started dragging me along without giving me a chance to argue.
And I definitely wanted to argue.
I made a mental note to throw up in his shoes the first chance I got, but I was too dizzy and forgot what I was thinking.
I fell and the next thing I knew, Yuri was carrying me over his shoulder and behind us… massive footprints were following. Not just following, though; they were gaining on us.
I saw the prints veer to the side and was about to warn Yuri, but I was too late; something crashed into Yuri and sent both of us flying into the snow. Merlin growled and bit the creature, but it was able to lift him off the ground and shake him. He let go.
Yuri smacked my arm and made me sit up. “Don’t go to sleep. You heard what Alice said.”
“I’m trying not to, but my eyes won’t listen.”
He pulled me to my feet. “Cast some magic to help us.”
“You do it,” I insisted.
“I can’t.”
I tried to look at him, but the world spun and made me nauseous. “Why not?”
“I don’t have… I… I lost my wand,” he finally whispered.
The last person that told me he lost his wand turned out to be a liar who wanted to hand me over to my mother. Despite that, I didn’t hesitate to take my wand from my pocket and hold it out for him. “You can use mine.” It was bonded to me and therefor couldn’t be used against me.
“No. I don’t use other people’s wands.”
“What, you think I spit on it or something?”
“No. I just don’t use other people’s wands.”
I groaned and pointed the wand upward. “I bet I can use it better than you, anyway.” I focused my mind and magic on what I wanted and said, “Make Yuri, Merlin, and me impenetrable.” My magic engulfed us… and then returned to me unsuccessful. “I can’t focus.”
“You mean, you could have done that earlier and you didn’t?”
“It would not have helped,” Merlin said, backing up to us.
“It only protects against scratches and small bites. It basically protects our skin. It’s not extremely useful.” I was low on energy and it was getting harder to focus. I fell back into the snow.
“Let me switch us,” Merlin said. “It will help you to heal and I can do magic to defend us.”
“Okay.” I didn’t look forward to the pain or itching even if it did help with the pain in my head.
“Open your eyes.”
“Oh, I forgot.”
“Open them.”
I opened my eyes and they immediately closed again.
“There’s no time,” Yuri said. He pulled me back up and took my staff. “We have to go now, before he falls asleep and gets himself trapped here.”
And then he was carrying me again. I dropped my wand, but Merlin snatched it up on the way. The creature was not far behind us. I pointed my hand and focused my magic as best as I could, knowing it wasn’t going to work. I was counting on it not working. “Distraction,” I said.
My energy couldn’t find a focal tool, but I pushed it out anyway. A flash of light and explosion disorientated me so that I couldn’t tell if I was successful or not.
We fell through a mirror and hit a rock floor. It was dark and warm and I couldn’t hold on any longer. Just as I passed out, I heard a woman scream.
* * *
In my dream, I was in the crystal cave, standing in front of the crystal I had used to find Vokirex’s egg. Baltezore was there in his dragon form and wanted me to find Merlin. “What do you want with him?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s not me who is after him now. Any one of your brothers would have killed you given half the chance, yet you wouldn’t do the same to them. Why?”
“Because I don’t want to be a killer. I don’t have the right to take their lives and I don’t want it.”
“What a waste of power. You don’t want power over life and death, yet your world has mages to heal the sick. How is that not the same thing? You even have necromancers.”
“You wouldn’t understand. You’re immortal. Or, at least, you were. Dragons can live forever and they’re nearly indestructible… but you can still be killed? Doesn’t that mean you’re not immortal?”
He laughed, causing smoke to fill the cavern. “Now you’re beginning to understand what I have been trying to tell you for months.”
“No, I don’t think I am.”
“Dragons are immortal.”
“But you can be killed.”
“Not in the way you think. Death is such a fickle thing.”
“No, it isn’t. This is just a nightmare. You’re dead. The female dragon destroyed you. You can’t scare me.”
The dragon laughed again. “How simple your mortal minds are that you cannot see what is right in front of you.”
* * *
When I woke, it was to a cold wet cloth on my forehead and the sound of people whispering softly. “Merlin?” I asked.
“I am here.” I felt his paw touch my hand gently.
“Baltezore was…”
“It was just a dream. You should rest more.”
I ignored his recommendation and opened my eyes. My head still throbbed badly. Healing potions had the downside of making me lethargic, but at least they made the pain go away.
We were in a cave. The air was warm, which I didn’t like because it reminded me of the volcano we faced Baltezore in. The walls were dark and slick with jagged stalactites and stalagmites like the teeth of a massive creature.
I was on a bed. To my right was a metal bookshelf, full of tiny, colored glass bottles. I was pretty sure they were potion bottles, except they were extremely decorative. Beside them on the shelves were devices made of metal and glass. Some of them appeared to be leather and glass boxes with gears and latches on them. There were a lot of gears. One object looked similar to a boat, except it was as long as my arm, covered in metal, and had wings out to the side as well as sails.
Along the walls and ceiling was a network of pipes. Three balls that were attached to the pipes glowed bright white and provided all the light in the cavern. Yuri was in another bed, asleep, and Merlin was beside me, his rear paws on the floor and his front paws on the side of the bed.
We were not alone, either. Between the beds, a woman was mixing a substance in a mug. She wore a brown leather corset with brown velvet sleeves that attached to a frilled collar around her neck. It left her chest exposed.
She also wore an extremely short brown skirt… over matching, skin-tight leggings. Her knee-high boots had tall, pointed heels and were made of thin, shiny
, black leather that I suspected was more for accenting her outfit than protection. Her hands were protected with black gloves, but the fingertips were cut out of them, which defeated the purpose in my mind. Finally, a small, black, decorative hat topped her perfectly curled blond hair.
Another woman and man whispered to each other on the other side of the cave. The woman was dressed similarly to her kin, except she didn’t wear leggings under her short skirt and her hair was dark brown.
The man was dressed more conservatively; he wore a brown vest, lighter brown trousers, dark brown boots, a black, fitted robe, brown gloves, and a black hat. All three of them were a strange blend of elegance and functionality. Since I had spoken only in Merlin’s mind, they hadn’t realized I was awake yet.
“Where are we?”
“I am not sure where we are. I have not seen the outside of this cave yet,” Merlin said.
“Do these people know anything?”
“Not much. Yuri explained to them that we were trying to find and defeat a sorcerer. They were not particularly frightened to see world travelers, and immediately began treating your wound. I have not spoken to them because I do not want to be responsible for giving them a heart attack. Furthermore, I have seen them do no magic, so it could be that this world does not have any. For the moment, I suggest we avoid any mention of magic unless they bring it up.”
I sat up, which only made my headache worse. A wet cloth fell off my forehead, yet I still felt something there, so I reached up. A bandage was wrapped around my head. My movement also got the attention of the woman with a mug in her hand. “Go slow,” she said gently. She approached me cautiously, as if I was an easily startled animal, and held out the mug for me. “Drink this. It will help you heal.”
Her face was quite pretty. Her skin was flawless with slightly pink cheeks, her eyes were almost glowing blue, and her lips were painted red. If she were on Caldaca, I would have pegged her for a witch, so I automatically wanted to appear less like a sorcerer. Of course, we weren’t on Caldaca, and I didn’t look anything like a sorcerer anyway.
I took the mug politely, although my hand was shaking as I did. The pain in my head was worse than hunger, but both made me feel weak. The mug was actually made of bone, which had clearly been pounded into shape. Inside was a light yellow liquid. I held it out for Merlin to smell and after he did, he nodded.
“It is green tea. Not as effective on your injuries as a healing potion, but it will do wonders for your state of mind.”
“We’re not going to hurt you,” the woman said. While her accent was different than the one people on the black-and-white world used, the words were perfectly understandable.
I couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t have been rude, so I said nothing.
“My name is Adel Thatcher.”
“I’m Ayden. This is Merlin and he’s Yuri.”
“Your brother explained that you were following a sorcerer.”
I didn’t bother to correct her, because explaining that we were unrelated, completely identical people was even harder than explaining magic to someone who had none. I still really wanted to find out why we were so identical.
“Zuras is a bad guy. We’re not here to cause trouble; we followed him to stop him from hurting others and take back what he stole.”
“What did he steal?”
I looked to Merlin and he nodded. “A dragon egg. Do you know what dragons are?” Adel frowned at the other two and they returned it, all of them suddenly anxious. “Are you enemies of dragons?”
“No,” she said, turning back to me. “We just never thought we would see one again, let alone help save one. The man you seek did come through here. He attacked us, but he wasn’t prepared for our defenses. He didn’t stick around long enough for us to retaliate.”
“Did he go back through the mirror?”
“No. He left the cave. I doubt he’s still alive. We will send our best scouts immediately to look for the egg. If it made it, we’ll bring it back.”
“What do you mean? He’s a powerful sorcerer with magic. Why would he not be alive?”
“Ask about their defenses.”
“What do you need defenses for?”
“It is easier to show you.” She stood and extended her hand to help me out of the bed.
I let her and gulped down the rest of the tea to hide the fact that I was extremely dizzy. “Is Zuras the one who gave you the head wound?”
“I tried to stop him from getting off world, but he had some kind of exploding box.” I checked the pocket of my robe and found my wand still there. She grabbed my staff and handed it to me before leading Merlin and me out of the cavity. There were no doors, only tunnels and other open caverns.
“Your wolf hasn’t left your side since your arrival; I’m surprised he let anyone else catch you unaware.”
Merlin growled.
“It was my fault. Yuri can’t fight, so I had Merlin stay with him.”
“That was foolish.”
“I know. Yuri has a sword.” I didn’t see the need to explain that Yuri couldn’t fight with magic, because he only had wizardry.
“That’s not what I mean. I can see how deeply the wolf cares for you, and he doesn’t feel the same for your brother.”
“Yes, but---”
Adel continued as if I hadn’t started speaking. “Separating you two is always the wrong choice.”
I shut up and listened.
“I suspect he would fight ten times harder to save you than he would if your life was not directly in danger. I also suspect that if you were killed without him there to at least try to protect you, he would forever blame himself.”
“I hadn’t really thought about it that way.”
“She is refreshingly wise,” Merlin added.
At that point, we stopped and she pointed into a cavern. It was full of large chests and in the far corner were three floor mirrors, which were arranged to see a person’s attire from every angle. “This is where you came through.”
“Which reminds me… I heard someone scream.”
“Oh, you were awake, were you? You three happened to come through at the moment Bridge was changing and I’m afraid you gave her quite the scare.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine.” With that, she walked away, so we followed her.
We saw into some cave rooms that were empty, some that were full of storage, some that were living quarters, and some that housed machines. These machines were massive and mostly made of metal with levers, gears, and glass windows to see into them. Most of them pumped out steam, which was sucked into holes in the ceilings above them. They were stunning, brilliant, and horrifying all at the same time.
In some rooms, people were building them. One such contraption I recognized was the boat with wings. Most of the people who were in these machine and building rooms had huge, bulging eyes with metal around them. They were frightening, but I didn’t want to be rude by bringing attention to them.
I did, however, ask Merlin about them. “They are a fashion statement,” he said. “When babies are born, they implant a special metal that grows as they do. The bigger they are, the more attractive they are considered. The only problem is that they get squeaky and have to be lubricated regularly, which requires removing the eyes to reach behind them. That is why they appear to bulge; they never fit right after the first removal.”
I was horrified. “Are you serious?! That’s disgusting!”
Merlin laughed. He laughed so hard he had to lean against the wall.
That told me he wasn’t serious.
“Good day, Adel,” a man said, stopping in front of her. He had the same eyes… which he reached for right in front of me. His fingers closed over the metal part and pulled.
“No! Don’t take out your eyes in front of me!” I shrieked. Only then did I see his eyes were fine and the bulging metal part was something that had fitted over them. They were both staring at me in shock.
Merlin was on the ground, laughing so hard I could feel it echoing off the walls of my head.
“I’m sorry,” I said. My face had to be redder than a tomato, as I could feel myself blush down to my toes.
“Who’s he?” the man asked Adel.
“A newcomer from another world.”
“Yeah? Make sure he doesn’t go near the engine room. We don’t need him distracting the crew.” He left and I glared at Merlin.
Finally, Merlin got himself under control and stood. “Those were goggles,” he said, as if that explained anything.
“I will get you back for that.”
That sent him laughing again. “Whatever you come up with, young sorcerer, I have already thought of it. Furthermore, nothing will make me regret that when the timing was so perfect. The look on your face when you thought he was taking out his eyes…”
Completely unaware of our conversation or my embarrassment, Adel continued where she had left off before we had reached the mirror room.
“What surprises me is that your brother doesn’t seem to care about you the same way your wolf does. He seemed to be more concerned with fighting the sorcerer than getting you treatment.”
The change in subject was a little too abrupt when I still hadn’t fully recovered from getting my head bashed into a wall. “Oh… well, I just met him yesterday, so… I think it was yesterday. I don’t even know, because just now was the first chance I’ve had to sleep since I met him.”
She didn’t seem to know what to say about that.
“Anyway, I did have a big family, but they all hated me, except for my father and one of my brothers, and now my brother is living with me and my father is off doing whatever he is doing, which is really kind of sad, because I’m sure he’s up to no good, but---”
“Ayden, enough,” Merlin said.