The Wizard and the Warlord wt-3

by Michael Robb Mathias

  “Don’t get it so close to the camp,” she said into the night.

  “Yes m’lady.”

  It baffled her as to why males always felt the urge to display their kills. In the elven towns of the Evermore Forest the hunters felt obligated to show off the prey they had tracked and killed. Maybe it was to impress their mates, or to feel superior, or maybe it was just to let people know who had supplied the food. Corva would have brought the carcass right into camp, she knew, but this was no village in the Evermore. The scent of fresh blood and gore might attract something they couldn’t handle. Besides, she would rather not know what she ate out here.

  A few moments later Corva returned, carrying a fat, bloody chunk of meat. He gave Telgra a forced smile, and then with a wave of his hand caused the soft blue flames of the fire to flare yellow and red. He carefully cut strips of the flesh and arranged them on the rocks around the flames. Within moments the savory smell of roasting meat filled the air.

  “What happened?” Telgra asked. She hugged her knees to her chest, readying herself for the answer.

  “Like you, lady,” Corva started, looking at her sadly, “I was overwhelmed by Brevan’s great spell. When I came to my senses, they were-they were…” he looked away.

  “I’m no sapling that needs sheltering, Corva,” she said. “Out with it.”

  “We were set upon by those dark things. Wyvern I think, by the way the bodies were corroded.” He looked at her, unashamed of the tears that were trailing down his cheeks. “A larger creature, a Choska maybe, grabbed hold of you. Your father, Brevan, and most of the monks that were outside were killed.” He looked at Dostin sleeping soundly beside them. “Dostin found you. You’d fallen a good distance and were in bad shape. He prayed over you for a very long time, keeping you alive. After he brought you back to the monastery, it took several attempts to stabilize your body.”

  Tears streamed freely down his face now, and had she not been drawn up into such a tight ball, Telgra’s trembling might have been violent.

  “Why are we out here?” she asked.

  “The King of Salaya sent men up the mountain, many men, to investigate the attack and to protect the monastery. We managed to-” he sobbed and looked grateful when Telgra uncurled herself and moved to his side. “We were not to be seen by the kingdom folk. Those were our orders. So I helped the monks quickly bury them.”

  He hugged her close, trying not to get any of the sticky blood from his hands on her. She sobbed and shuddered into his chest as he continued.

  “The monks gave us the little craft,” he said. “Dostin, I think, came without his brothers’ permission, but he did so because of his loyalty to you.”

  For a long while they were silent, then the wind kicked up and sent a whiff of the now charring meat into their faces. Telgra relaxed her grip around Corva and let him tend the food. While he was turning the meat she asked, “What of the fiery trees?”

  “Those that were inside the spell circle are alive and thriving.” He dropped his head. “The rest of them withered to their deaths.”

  “We have to get home and organize a party to do something.” She sniffled and tried to gather herself.

  “I wish it were that easy,” he said. “The Queen Mother will not allow us to interfere or interact with the kingdom people. She will say that this is a human problem, and that the humans should deal with it.”

  “The fiery trees, and those dark things that killed our people…neither are humans,” she replied.

  “I agree,” Corva said. “But I don’t think the Queen Mother will. You know her heart better than any other. She may listen to her daughter, but we still have to get ourselves all the way back to the Evermore before we can even begin to try to convince her.”

  “That may take too long, I fear,” she said, standing. She took in a deep breath. “I will have to go to this High King Mikahl for help.”

  “We cannot disobey the Queen Mother,” Corva argued. “We are not to meddle with the humans at all.”

  “Dostin is a human,” she said. “And I’m ordering you to do this, so the responsibility of it falls on me. I’ll deal with my mother.”

  “Yes, m’lady.” Corva handed her an arrow with a piece of cooked meat speared on its tip. She saw that his gaze was full of respect. But deeper in his eyes she saw a want for vengeance. The feeling that the decision she had just made might determine his fate made her uneasy, but she didn’t let it stifle her resolve.

  The next morning they set out for the human city of O’Dakahn. The port there was the closest to Oktin, where the High King was supposedly having his new palace built. Princess Telgra, heiress to the ruling seat of the entire race of elves, had made up her mind.

  Late that afternoon, while they were skirting the marsh delta of the eastern branch of the Leif Greyn River, the sky began to darken. Within minutes the wind had gone from slightly breezy to a savage, blasting gust. The boat was forced away from the marshes and soon darkness overcame them. All sight of land was lost. Wild, jagged lightning bolts split the sky and thunder exploded as rain began to pour down. The waves grew from three- and four-foot rollers into huge, breaking beasts that threatened to crush the boat with every swell. The sky was so black that even the elves’ keen eyes couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead of them.

  “Hold on,” Corva yelled as a wave broke over them with terrible force. It felt like the boat was under a great waterfall for a moment, but then the sensation passed.

  “Princess Telgra, Dostin,” Corva yelled. “Bail out the water. Another wave is-” He bit back his words as lightning struck a few feet away. In its brilliant flash he saw that Dostin was no longer in the boat. Telgra saw too and immediately began scanning the water.

  “Broaaash!” the monk bellowed as he broke the surface and gasped for air. “Haaaaalp meee!”

  “Give me the end of that rope,” Telgra ordered.

  Corva froze. He wasn’t about to let his princess risk her life for a human monk. He would do it. He reached down to grab the line at his feet, but found it already uncoiling. He looked up just in time to see Telgra leaping over the side into the stormy sea. A few moments passed before another flash of lightning revealed her paddling deftly beside the flailing monk.

  She tied the rope around Dostin then waved back at the boat. “Pull!” she yelled. “Corva! Pull us in!”

  Another wave crashed over the craft. The rope slipped from Corva’s hands and he was forced to cling to the sides or be thrown overboard. When the boat smacked back down into the sea he was battered about the hull, but managed to grab the rope again. With all his might he hauled them in, heave after heave, until finally he saw Dostin’s terrified eyes through the darkness. It took all the strength Corva had left in him to drag the monk up into the boat. Though about to give out, he turned back to pull Telgra in, but was overcome with dread. She wasn’t there. A distant lightning flash confirmed it. Nowhere could she be seen.

  “Telgra!” he screamed at the top of his lungs. He turned to the other side of the boat and yelled again, “Princess Telgra!”

  When the next lightning struck he peered into the night as far as his keen vision could see. He cast a light spell but the storm suffocated its illumination like a shroud. For long hours, and to no avail, Corva fought the storm and called for his princess, while all around the boat the storm raged relentlessly.

  Phen felt like he was being rolled down a rocky hill inside a barrel keg. Luckily his hard skin kept the serpent’s teeth from piercing into him. Through his terror, he was worried that one of his legs might be broken off as they were hanging out of the creature’s maw. With all the determination he had, he used Oarly’s dagger to stab at the inside of the serpent’s mouth. Already he was coated in slimy blood. It was the awful fishy smell of the creature’s breath that threatened to render him helpless, though. He had to fight not to be consumed by a fit of gagging heaves, something he wasn’t sure his body could handle. He hoped Oarly would hurry and save him. The idea that th
e half-drunken dwarf couldn’t manage the task never even crossed his mind.

  Oarly’s battle cry echoed around the chamber as the serpent reared its head up and tried to chug Phen down its throat. Oarly, inebriated or not, wasn’t about to let that happen. He was far too fond of the lad to allow it. He darted out from the wall and ran right up under the serpent, then took a massive hacking swing at the beast’s neck. He felt the axe bite deep and had to roll back against his momentum to pull the blade free.

  The monster hissed through its half-open maw, spraying blood in a mist across the cavern wall. Oarly shuddered, hoping it wasn’t Phen’s blood. With a roar, he brought the axe back around and finished his chop. A piece of the serpent’s neck, a chunk shaped like a wedge of fruit, fell to the floor. Oarly had to run under the creature’s head as it turned to attack him. He saw Phen’s legs hanging out of its mouth. They were drenched in blood. He went into a rage at the sight and tore into the serpent’s side with a berserker’s frenzy. His axe went back and forth, slicing deep gouges into the foul-smelling monster. Suddenly the thing lurched and sprayed a gout of blood across the cavern. Then it wormed sideways and pressed Oarly tight against the wall with its side. In a fury of its own it dropped Phen into the sea pool with a plop then turned its attention on its attacker.

  Oarly froze in wide-eyed terror as the beast held its big viper-like head up over him. A long, flickering, black tongue preceded the rank fishy spray of slimy, bloody breath.

  “Bah, your breath smells like a fish-house trash barrel,” Oarly spat through his fear. Then he closed his eyes and said a prayer. “Doon save me from this foul creature. I uh, uh, uh…”

  Phen righted himself. Thankfully he’d landed in the part of the pool that was only waist deep. He immediately saw Oarly’s predicament and charged up out of the water, racing through the words of the first spell that came to mind. He put his hands out above the serpent’s scaly body as a lightning bolt erupted through them. He felt the dragon’s tear at his neck once again add its power to the flow. For a long moment, he heard Oarly sputter with the jolts. “Uh, uh, uh, uh…”

  Phen stepped up even closer, while beneath his hands the serpent took the brunt of the damage. No sooner had the spell ended than the creature darted its head into the larger of the tunnels and began squirming down the passage as quickly as it could.

  Oarly fell away from the wall, still jittering from the power of the spell. His mop of hair was smoking slightly, and he howled out wildly. The serpent was almost down the shaft when Oarly rolled up like an acrobat and brought his axe down. He cleaved what was remaining in the main cavern from the beast’s tail.

  “Haw,” Oarly said, pointing to the seven feet of glowing serpent curling and uncurling on the cavern floor. “I cut the fargin serpent in half, I did!”

  Phen cast his light spell, and Oarly looked at him crazily. Both of them were drenched in disgusting spew.

  “Aye.” Phen cringed at his wild-looking friend. He wasn’t about to argue with that. “Now let us be on our way before the other half comes back. The tide turned a while ago. I think I can wade us out of here.”

  Oarly hurried over to the boat and untied it. He climbed in, looking at the large tunnel with a mixture of fear and bravado on his gore-covered face. A few moments later they were working their way out of the Serpent’s Eye cavern. Around them a storm was raging violently. It was all Phen could do to climb the rocky shore and tumble himself into the boat. His great weight kept the craft glued to the sea as gale force winds carried them into the darkness. It wasn’t long before all memories of the serpent and the emerald were cast aside so they could concentrate on the one thing they had to do to keep Phen from sinking to the bottom of the sea. Frantically, they bailed and bailed and bailed.

  When that was done they bailed some more.

  Chapter 7

  Phen woke to an insistent tugging at his leg. He sat up quickly, looked down at it and was overcome with terror. A fair-size snapper, probably twelve feet from nose to tail, was gnawing on his marbled foot. He flung himself back, and with his other boot stomped the creature right in its snout. It let out a breathy gasp of surprise and darted away with a splash.

  Phen crab-walked backward until he was no longer half in, half out of the water. Instinctively, he checked to see if Hyden Hawk’s medallion was still around his neck. It was.

  He was surrounded by high grass. Rising to his feet he saw he was in a sea of the stuff. Some of the grass was swaying oddly, as if it were rooted in water. The green carpet went on and on in all directions as far as he could see. The grass was high enough that finding Oarly might be a problem. He began calling out for the dwarf as he started working his way around the mostly invisible water line.

  When he paused to catch his breath, Phen looked at the scratches the snapper’s powerful jaws had gouged down his legs. They didn’t hurt. His nerve endings were deadened. He couldn’t really define the way he felt. He was weary, heavy, and he was mostly hungry, but he wasn’t complaining now. Had he still been of flesh and bone his leg would be a ruin.

  Phen remembered he and Oarly clinging to the dinghy, riding a huge wave right into the marshes. He hoped Oarly was on this same rise of land because he didn’t want to go wading through the treacherous swamp looking for his friend. To punctuate that thought, Phen stepped forward and sank to his knee in soft, sucking mud. He wasn’t light enough to be traipsing around this sort of terrain. He did well to keep from panicking as he slowly worried his leg free. As he did, a new idea came to him.

  He worked his way back to where he’d awakened. He began pulling up clumps of the long marsh grass. After stomping down a broad area, he made a pile in the middle. He used his fire finger spell to light the bundle. It took a while for the green grass to catch, but when it did, it sent up a roiling cloud of smoke. After gathering enough grass to keep the beacon rising into the air for a while, he sat down and made himself comfortable. Occasionally he called out for the dwarf, but he didn’t get excited and wear his voice out. Oarly was as well trained as any ranger, and if anyone could survive out here, it was him. The dwarf probably couldn’t see three feet around him in that tall marsh grass though, Phen thought with a laugh. He heaped some more grass onto the fire so that the smoke pillar rising into the still air became unmistakable. Confident now that his friend had something he could see to guide him, Phen lay back and closed his eyes.

  Oarly woke to total darkness and a terrible throbbing in his hip. He wiggled the rock that was digging into him into a more comfortable position, then he closed his eyes again. No sense stumbling around in the dark, he grumbled to himself. Besides, his head was pounding from all the cheap brandy he’d stolen from the Royal Seawander.

  The next time he woke he was sweltering hot. It was still dark outside, but he felt like he was suffocating. He raised himself up and something banged into his head. He dropped back down to the ground in a crouch. He was wide awake now. His heart was hammering through his chest like a forge hammer. Glancing around in the darkness, he saw a sliver of light a few feet away. It was the strangest thing he’d ever seen, a bright greenish-brown line barely a hair’s breadth wide. He studied it for a long time before realization came to him. He was glad he was alone. Hyden Hawk and Phen would never let him live this episode down.

  With a huff he stood up and pushed the upside-down dinghy off of him. The air wasn’t much cooler out from under the boat, but it was fresh, and the sun was shining brightly. He dropped the dinghy back on the ground and rubbed his head where he’d knotted it against the floorboards.

  The smell of something burning was strong in the air, but he wasn’t tall enough to see over the grass that surrounded him. Without hesitation, he climbed up onto the bottom of the little rowboat and peered around. He glanced at the sun to get a sense of direction and two things came to his attention right away. The pillar of smoke rising out of the trampled-down clearing was about a quarter-mile away to the south. He was sure it was Phen, but a bit to the west of tha
t, and not so far away from the fire, was another trampled-down area. He wasn’t sure what it was about that spot that drew his attention, but it did. He studied its position in relation to the smoke and started off.

  It took about ten feet of struggling through the thick grass for him to pull his axe off of his back and begin swinging it ahead of him. It was tiresome labor, but he was sure it would make it easier to find the boat later. Besides that, he told himself, he needed to sweat the drink from his blood. He had no brandy to put back in him, and until he worked the poison from his body, he knew he would be miserable.

  About halfway between the dinghy and the source of the smoke, something huge and brown shot across his path. It was moving toward the other trampled place he’d seen. He figured it might be a snapper’s nest. Or maybe it was a swamp dactyl’s nest and the snapper was just going for the eggs. He remembered that marsh and swamp creatures liked to laze in the heat of the day. He’d never actually been in the marshes, save for that trip up the Leif Greyn on a pirate ship with Lord Gregory and Lady Trella. The idea that the flattened grass he was seeing was actually a big creature creeping up on Phen came to him and he quickened his pace.

  “Oarly!” Phen’s voice called out.

  “I’m coming, lad,” Oarly called back with relief. “Stay put now.”

  Phen stood and quickly spotted the line of Oarly’s travel through the grass. A moment later the wild-looking, breathless dwarf came stumbling into the clearing.

  “Something big is in the grass, yon way, about a stone’s throw.” Oarly pointed. “Might be trouble.”

  “Get your wind back and then we will go see about it,” Phen said. “There’s water right over there. I can’t drink any, so I didn’t check to see if it was fresh.” He pointed to where the low-lying land fell away into the shore. “I tried to look for you, but I sank in the mud.” He indicated his dark-caked legs.