by Sam Ferguson
Feberik winced and his eyes looked pained. His hand slowly fell to his side and he looked out the window again. “Tell your friend that he owes me a horse,” Feberik said out the corner of his mouth before leaving the library. “Also, you should give the vial of werewolf ashes to Headmaster Herion.”
Kyra held her breath. She hadn’t told anyone about hunting the werewolf, and she knew that Lepkin hadn’t either. She was a more than a little surprised by Feberik’s reaction, and had no way of knowing exactly when he had figured it all out. She stood there, watching the empty doorway for some time after the large warrior had left. As much as she hated the idea of him as her fiancé, she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the man. She had never before seen him so crushed and defeated.
Fortunately for her, Lepkin came through the doorway, rushing in and smiling as he always did.
“I thought I might find you here,” Lepkin said.
Kyra smiled wide. “Njar is back, and he found a garunda!”
Lepkin stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened as his brows shot up. “And you’re sure it isn’t another werewolf?” he teased.
“Njar doesn’t make mistakes like that,” Kyra fired back.
“Ah yes, it was an amateur mistake on my part, I see that now,” Lepkin said as he folded his arms and feigned insult.
“So, are you ready?” Kyra asked.
“Now?” Lepkin asked.
She nodded. “It’s a long way from here, so we will need to ride Leatherback.”
Lepkin nodded nonchalantly and then the words sank in and his face lit up and his eyes danced above the biggest smile Kyra had ever seen. “Wait, I get to ride on a dragon?!”
Kyra nodded again. “Meet me at the nest, and I will bring him to you.”
Lepkin clapped his hands together and nodded enthusiastically. “This is going to be amazing,” he said as he turned around. “I’ll gather my things and head out now!”
Kyra smiled and watched him run out from the library. The young sorceress then opened a portal to the aspen wood and stepped through. She found Njar and Leatherback waiting for her patiently.
“Is he back?” Njar asked.
Kyra nodded. “We need to give him some time, but he will be at the nest fairly soon.”
Njar nodded. He tossed Kyra’s staff to her. “Make sure to take this. We are going after dark creatures today. We shouldn’t take any chances.”
Kyra nodded and examined the staff. She could feel it vibrating slightly and hear the hum of the power inside. “Did you augment it again?” she asked.
Njar nodded. “Leatherback has been out of the grove much more than before. I want to be sure he is kept safe.”
Kyra smiled and looked to Leatherback. The large dragon peered back at her with his sky-blue eye and then winked at her.
“I have an idea,” she said suddenly. “We have some time before Lepkin will be at the nest, so why don’t we go back to that pool?”
“A pool?” Njar said.
Kyra didn’t give the satyr time to reject the idea. She quickly moved toward Leatherback and hopped up on his neck. She then looked down expectantly at Njar. “You coming?”
Njar pointed to his leg. “Better to not get the wound wet. It isn’t fully healed yet.”
Kyra shrugged and then patted Leatherback on the side of the neck. “Let’s go,” she said.
Leatherback launched them into the air and within a few short minutes they were back at the pool they had made together. Kyra instructed him to land nearby, but Leatherback only grinned and dropped them both directly into the pool, splashing a great amount of water out onto the nearby trees.
Kyra slapped Leatherback and then let go to fall into the water. The two played in the pool for a long time. She would swim side to side, and he would twirl about in the middle. He even found a fish that had been trapped in the pool and snatched it up for a quick snack.
The two played for roughly an hour before Kyra clambered out over the side and took her clothes off to dry, laying them out in the sun as she sat in the grass nearby and watched Leatherback continue to play. He was fun to watch as he dipped below the surface and tried to spin about in the pool. It was just large enough of an area that he could float along the length of the pool so long as he kept his legs tucked up under himself.
Kyra had only barely dried off in the sun when Leatherback dipped below the water, came up with a mouth full of liquid, and spurted it all out at Kyra, soaking her to the bone and knocking her backward.
“Leatherback!” she cried out as she slung her hands out to the side. “I was warm already!”
The dragon sniggered and let out a puff of smoke as he twirled around, pretending not to hear her complaints.
Once she was dry for the second time, she gathered her clothes up and put them on. They were still a bit damp, but it wasn’t anything a short flight wouldn’t take care of. Getting Leatherback out of the pool, however, proved to be a feat all its own.
“Time to go,” Kyra said.
“No,” Leatherback replied evenly. “I am swimming, like Gorliad.”
Kyra had to remind herself that despite his size, Leatherback was still very much a child. Njar’s magic had amplified Leatherback’s growth, but the truth of the matter was that he hadn’t even reached his first anniversary yet. By all accounts, he was in fact a baby. She had to ask him three more times before Leatherback finally responded, and even then she had to tap her foot impatiently while the dragon pretended to slip back into the pool twice.
When they were finally back in the grove, they were met with an impatient Njar, who was sitting upon the boulder and stamping his staff into the ground.
“Ready?” he asked gruffly.
Kyra nodded. “We’re ready if you are,” she replied.
Leatherback bent his neck toward Njar and the satyr scrambled atop the beast as best he could. Njar then summoned a cloud to hide them as they flew up and made their way to the old rock nest where Kyra had first found Leatherback’s egg.
They found Lepkin waiting for them, pacing back and forth upon the gray rocks. He looked up with eyes filled with wonder and mouth hanging open as the cloud dissipated and he saw Leatherback.
“He’s huge!” Lepkin said. “What have you been feeding him?”
Leatherback smiled. “Elk,” he said happily.
“You ready?” Kyra asked.
Lepkin nodded, and then looked to the satyr. “You must be Njar,” he said.
The satyr nodded. “And you must be the young boy who mistook a werewolf for a garunda,” Njar said.
Lepkin frowned and looked to Kyra. “You told him about that?”
Kyra sniggered. “We had to talk about something on the ride over here.”
Lepkin shook his head. “Where do I sit?” he asked.
“Behind me,” Njar replied evenly.
Kathair Lepkin nodded and rushed over to climb up onto Leatherback’s neck.
“Hang on,” Kyra cautioned. Everyone was thrown back a bit as Leatherback leapt into the air. Lepkin shouted and hollered all the way up, giggling and laughing so loudly that Njar had to put his ears down. The cloud reformed around them and they sailed, hidden in the sky toward the lair where Njar had found the garunda.
The flight was nearly three hours long, and Lepkin was laughing for all of it but the last half hour. He probably would have continued laughing the entire trip, but Njar had threatened him that it was either silence, or he was going to be thrown off from the dragon’s back. Lepkin chose silence.
Kyra felt her stomach twist into knots as they approached the lair. A copse of pines grew atop a small hill overlooking the entrance to a dark cave. Leatherback landed upon the hill and the three riders dismounted. Lepkin reached up to help steady Njar while Kyra walked toward the cave and surveyed the area.
She couldn’t see any sign of the garunda beast, but she had expected that. She knew from her reading that they were nocturnal creatures. It was likely inside the cave sleeping until th
e sun set. What was odd, however, was the lack of other life in the vicinity. There didn’t appear to be any birds or squirrels in the trees. All was silent. It was something both strange and familiar. The feeling of death hung in the air. She looked around and realized that if they waited for the beast to come out, then it would be stronger, for the darkness of the night would empower it.
She knew they would have to go in after the creature. Kyra turned to the others and motioned for them to catch up. When they approached she announced her decision.
“We should go in now,” she said.
“We should wait,” Njar countered. “It will come out during the night, and then we can attack.” Njar turned and pointed to Leatherback. “He could kill the beast himself.”
Kyra shook her head. “Something is wrong,” she said. “What if it’s a trap?”
“What do you mean?” Njar said.
“You said the shade laid a trap for me at the manor. Maybe it knows we are hunting it. It knows we have a dragon. Now it knows that you are on our side, which means he might know about the Pools of Fate. What if he set this up so he could ambush us at night?”
Njar shook his head. “No, that isn’t possible, he would have to be able to tamper with the Pools of Fate. Even he is not that strong.”
Kyra frowned. “What if he is?”
Lepkin stepped forward and pulled his sword. “If it were me, that’s what I would do. He already nearly killed you once, Kyra.” Lepkin glanced down to Njar’s leg. “And, by the looks of it, he fared well against you also.”
Njar sighed and nodded. “Very well. Stay behind me. We’ll go in after it.”
The group moved into the cave, Njar leading, Lepkin in the middle, and Kyra bringing up the rear. She had tried to be second, but Lepkin wouldn’t let her. He insisted on standing in front of her. They wound their way down through the cave until they rounded a curve and lost the light of the sun.
Njar summoned a great orb of white light that hovered in the air above them. They continued walking through the cave. There were scratch marks along the walls, but no signs of life anywhere. It wasn’t until they came to an eerie staircase that any of them heard the rhythmic breathing coming from further in the cave.
They descended the stairs slowly, watching for the beast. The tunnel around them changed from being a simple shaft in the ground to a grand cavern meticulously carved from stone. The floor was cracked and the place had seen better days, but even now it was impressive to look upon.
As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they again pressed forward, but they fanned out instead of walking in a single line. They passed over strange bones, noting spiders and centipedes that crawled away from the orb of light as they passed.
Suddenly a roar was heard. Kyra saw the beast, but not until after it stood on its hind legs and let loose with a strange spell that sent a shockwave through the air. Njar tried to fend it off, but wasn’t fast enough. He was launched through the air and tumbled across the stone floor, screaming in pain.
The garunda charged like black lightning, zig-zagging as it ran so as to avoid Kyra’s spells.
Lepkin stepped close to Kyra, his sword at the ready. The black, gigantic cat-like creature leapt the final fifteen feet between them as if it were a short hop. Lepkin pushed Kyra aside and then somersaulted forward, ducking and rolling under the great beast. He then shot up to his feet and reached for his mini-crossbow. He fired the weapon and the bolt struck the beast in the chest.
The garunda appeared to smile as it stalked toward him, unfazed by the crossbow attack.
Kyra launched a fireball, but the garunda turned and knocked the spell away with a psionic blast that redirected the fireball toward Lepkin. The young swordsman was forced to dodge out to the side.
The garunda then turned and shrieked in a scream so loud and so shrill that Kyra backed away, covering her ears with her hands. She barely saw Njar push himself up to his feet and rain magical hail upon the garunda, for her head was pounding furiously and she reflexively closed her eyes. Only when the garunda stopped screaming, could she open her eyes once more and try to focus.
The beast was now facing Njar, hunkering down as if preparing to leap toward him.
Kyra saw Lepkin charge in from behind. The young man shouted loudly, distracting the garunda from Njar.
“Now!” Lepkin yelled.
Everyone attacked simultaneously. Njar fashioned a spear of ice and hurled it toward the beast with magical precision. Meanwhile, Kyra lifted the garunda with a cyclone that she formed directly under the monster. The garunda spun up into the air and the magical ice-spear corrected its trajectory and flew up to pierce its flank just as Lepkin ran in below it and shoved his sword deep into the garunda’s chest. Njar sent two smaller ice-spears toward the garunda, one catching it in the neck and the other going straight into its skull. The garunda then fell to the ground dead.
Lepkin smote off its head, just to be sure it was dead, and then Kyra quickly filled three vials with the beast’s blood, careful not to spill any of the green liquid on herself. When they had what they needed, Njar burned the body.
“You’re hurt,” Kyra said as she noticed that Njar’s wound had reopened. Blood was oozing down his leg.
“It isn’t as bad as last time, he said quickly. “Come, we need to get out of here.”
“Let’s get back to the grove,” Kyra said. “We can drop Lepkin off at the rock nest on the way back, then you can get back to Viverandon.”
Njar nodded.
Lepkin put Njar’s left arm over his shoulders and helped the satyr hobble his way out of the cave. Exiting the shaft took considerably longer, given that they had to stop every few paces for Njar to catch his breath. Yet, even as his legs grew weaker, Njar refused to rest until they were out of the cave. Only then did he use any magic to help reclose the wound. His healing spells took several minutes to complete, but once they were done, the blood had stopped trickling out and Njar seemed to be in better spirits.
“I’m afraid I won’t be any good for the fight with the shade,” Njar said.
Kyra nodded. “That’s all right. I think we have what we need.”
Lepkin shook his head. “We don’t have any dwarven armor or weapons yet,” he said.
Njar looked at him curiously. “What do you need those for?”
Lepkin replied, “In the accounts we read about defeating shades, the dwarven items help protect against the shade’s magic.”
Njar nodded. “Do either of you know where to get something like that?”
Lepkin nodded. “I know of a place,” he said.
“All right, then it’s settled. We’ll go tonight and get the rest of what we need, then tomorrow night we will attack the shade.”
Njar shook his head. “No, you can’t go after the shade, not without me. He’ll overpower you. He is too strong.”
Kyra grinned slyly. “No, I have a plan.”
Lepkin returned her smile and his eyes twinkled. “Setting a trap for the shade?”
Kyra nodded. “Precisely.”
Chapter 15
Leatherback huddled down low to the grass. Kathair checked the forest around them while Kyra petted Leatherback’s snout reassuringly.
“I’ll be back soon,” Kyra promised.
Leatherback purred and tried to settle in even lower into the ground. The tall pines would conceal him, exactly as Kathair had promised, but there were no aspens nearby. Kyra placed her staff next to the dragon, and then hurried to catch up with Kathair.
“I don’t see anyone around,” he said with a dutiful nod. “Leatherback should be safe here.”
Kyra offered a half smile and then glanced back over her shoulder. “He would have told us if anyone was around before we landed,” she informed Kathair. She looked up at the night sky. “We need to hurry so we can make it back before dawn. We can’t risk being seen.”
Kathair nodded. “Let’s go.”
Neither of them spoke again until they reached the g
ates of Buktah. Kyra watched the walls seemingly grow in the darkness as the two of them came nearer. The towers loomed over them, with guards inside each one. The orange light of the torches reflected off their armor and cast shadows over their faces. The gatehouse was simple, but formidable. With the light shining from a set of large braziers on either side of the road leading in, and sconces along the walls flanking the gates themselves, Kyra noticed that large spikes protruded out from the center of each iron gate.
“How do we get in at night?” Kyra asked.
“Like I said,” Kathair began, “I know the guards.”
Kathair took her up toward the gate and stopped in place when one of the guards from the wall commanded them to identify themselves.
“I am Kathair Lepkin,” Kathair said.
Before Kyra could even open her mouth, a guard approached quickly from the gatehouse and held his arms out wide.
“I didn’t think I would see you back so soon!” the guard said. The large man turned and waved to the archers above. “It’s all right, he’s one of the good guys,” he called out.
“He must not know about your habit of breaking into other people’s offices and stealing things,” Kyra whispered out the corner of her mouth.
Kathair didn’t miss a beat. “Anything to help a damsel in distress,” he said cockily.
“Damsel?” Kyra echoed.
Kathair was already moving away and shaking hands with the guard.
“What are you doing walking around outside in the dark?” the guard asked.
“I came to see you, Berklin,” Kathair replied. “Can we come in for a bit?”
“Uh-huh, sure you did. I remember the last time you were here. Running another errand for the dragon slayers are you?”
Kathair nodded. “Something like that. I need to see Al.”
“Ah,” Berklin said with a grin. “Well I am sure he is still awake and working hard as usual.”
The guard nodded and motioned for Kyra to come with them as he turned and led them to the gate. He knocked twice, banging the bottom of his fist on the solid iron gate.
Rattling chains filled the air with their song and then the doors began to swing inward toward the town. Teams of oxen, attached to long, thick chains that creaked and groaned at the strain of the heavy doors pulled the portal open.