Cinnabar the Morgoth stepped through, his clawed feet clicking on the floor like a huge insect. From deep in the hood of his cape his eyes glittered. The man with the severed arm and leg wound fell into the bright doorway and disappeared. The other one was run through with the glittering sword of Cinnabar before he could react. Cinnabar didn't even look at him. His eyes were locked on Luan, who's back was still turned as he dealt with the serving girl.
Rees leapt to confront the Morgoth, and was still off balance as Cinnabar swept him aside with a dismissive blow from his forearm. The steel gauntlets leaving stinging razor cuts across Rees cheek. Luan heard Rees yell, at the same time as he heard the slap of arrows being nocked, and the whistle of spears streaking past him.
One glance told him the maidens were in the room, the second glance located Cinnabar almost upon him. He spun into attack, cutting low with his sword, both hands on the long hilt. Cinnabar staggered, but the sword glanced off his leg armour. His chuckle was like stones rattling in a tin cup as he advanced on Luan. He seemed not to notice the arrow through his shoulder, and swatted aside the spears though they were no more than wasps. Luan had his balance and engaged. The fight flowed around the now almost empty room. Neither could gain any advantage. A trickle of blood ran from the arrow wound in Cinnabar's shoulder, and Luan had a long slash across his left cheek that glistened with blood. He must have damaged the fastening of the leg armour where he had first struck Cinnabar, because the leg part was now starting to flap loose. It would soon be hampering Cinnabar considerably. Luan's expression now changed. He was deep in the void where true warriors dwelt during battle. Cinnabar's chuckles had turned to grunts as Luan pushed him hard.
Rees could not help, and the maidens now stood watching the fight intently. They didn't use swords, but were keen to see how the enemy fought. They would not interfere unless Luan fell, or called for help. Which he would never do. His hatred of the Morgoth, and especially Cinnabar ran very deep and he would fight him to the death.
Rees was studying the doorway of light that Cinnabar had created. Mei'An appeared beside him. She showed no interest in the fight. She was confident her companion would win the day. She reached out to the doorway, stopping just short of the opaque shimmering surface. She closed her eyes and a blue haze surrounded her hand, Small sparks crackled between the haze and the doorway. Cinnabar stumbled backwards, distracted. Luan pressed him sorely. Suddenly Cinnabar was on the defensive.
"Mei'An," yelled Rees in her ear. "Touch the surface again as you just did." Mei'An pressed closer, sparks skittering all across the shimmering surface. Rees had a momentary glimpse of a dark and forbidding landscape, a bleak castle in the distance built on a smoking mountain as black as obsidian. Its tall towers topped by long banners curling and writhing in the wind. Cinnabar was backing to the doorway now, intent only on holding Luan at bay. He was having trouble. Luan pressed him even harder.
Rees grabbed Mei'An by the arm and pulled her aside. Moments later Cinnabar backed through the shimmering doorway, and with a rasping defiant curse swore to see Luan dead. A hail of arrows followed him through the doorway as the maidens now had a clear shot. As the door winked out, Mei'An stood, wyes still shut, breathing deeply. Slowly she opened her eyes.
"Luan?" She asked. Luan just nodded. He was fine. Why waste words. Rees just shook his head. The man was hard. Very hard.
"I think I understand how he does that with the door. It is interesting that he remains linked with it somehow. That is a real weakness. That one is tuned to the power of the Dark One himself. The ripples from the Dark One killing that wagon guard drew him here as surely as flies to garbage."
The maidens were deep in discussion. Sidelong looks at Rees and Mei'An were cast as they stood grouped in a circle. It was only then that Rees realized that some of them were only partly clad. Some with wet hair dripping pools at their feet. Rees went as bright red as a spring field flower. He studiously faced away from the girls.
"Mei'An," he stammered. "Tell them, ask them, please, take them back upstairs." He swallowed. He didn't need to ask. The girls chuckled and ran lightly back up to the top floor. One called back down. "We'll be back down for a dance shortly Master Rees, and perhaps a game of Maiden Hands." He could hear them all laughing now. Women. Girls. He would never figure them out. Blood and gore all over the room and they talked of dancing. Why, only moments before they had struck at the Morgoth like coiled snakes. He had best remember that they were just as deadly. Still, there was one he had noticed before embarrassment had forced him to turn away. Maybe a year or two younger than he, she was perhaps only recently joined the warrior group. Her smile had been wide, and reached her eyes as she turned that smile full on him. He could not help notice her smooth skin and lithe figure. She was clad only in a small white waist cloth, apparently an undergarment of some sort. He knew nothing of such things. Her legs were long and finely shaped from much exercise. She had been watching him over the heads of the others as they had been discussing whatever it had been they were discussing in the tight group. She was a very attractive young woman, but it was her smile that reflected in her eyes as though her soul was shining through, that caught at his breathing now.
Mei'An watched his face with a tiny smile at the corners of her mouth.
"Master Tallbar, have this poor fellow taken away. Perhaps you should, umm, take up the floor just there and retrieve the other half. Perhaps they had families. The Dark One grows strong now. That is the first time I have seen him able to take direct vengeance on one who cursed him in name."
The innkeeper had his two burly assistants bundle the remains on to litters and carry them out to the stables. they returned and set to work on the floor. The lower half of the once noisy wagon guard was withdrawn from the cavity and the area washed. Within an hour there was little sign of the mayhem other than dark stains, and scorch marks from the doorway of Cinnabar
There was also little sign of returning trade. Word of the events was spreading like a plains fire. Embellishment being piled upon embellishment upon speculation with each telling.
Mei'An suggested to the innkeeper that they find elsewhere to stay.
"You must not my lady." Had been his reply. "It is written, that as the wheel turns, so events shall begin, with the Inn of the Blind Man at the hub. As it is written, so it shall be done my lady."
Master Tallbar paced back and forth and wrung his hands. The Inn of the Blind Man, in the city of Har Hu, north of the Dragon Spine mountains looked like the hub of a great wheel. Streams of people heading out in all directions like the spokes of that wheel. There were many smaller villages and farming communities scattered across the high plateau, and the Great North Road continued on into the Sandy Blight. People streamed north and south along the strange black road. Refugees who would carry the tale and the rumour all across the land. Through Dubai Springs far out in the Waste, or into Sanai, the country that stretched all the way to the Frozen Land. High mountains that seemed to reach to the sky it was said. A mysterious country held fast in snow and ice, the Frozen Land had no other name. It was said that its rugged ranges and deep valleys reached half way around the world. Very few ever left the trails that led into the interior. Sanai had held its place on the southern border of the Frozen Land. Skirmishes often carved shifts in the borders, but never for long. The rulers of Sanai and the Frozen Land would not welcome refugees, if they made it that far. Those who survived the journey across the Sandy Blight would be in no shape to help themselves. There was little contact between those of Sanai and Annafel because of the impenetrable Sandy Blight, the vast wastes of shifting sands. The rulers of Annafel made their home in Har Hu and kept a vast palace that dominated the city. It's towers could be seen even from the mountain passes.
Lord Bornale was a member of the House of Artap, the leading house of Annafel, and closely aligned with the current royal house. The House Hurran, the Queen who ruled here was descended from a line that stretched back into the mists of time.
> There had not been a king since the last age had broken upon the battles to imprison the Dark Lord. The high king had been slain on the battle field, and his body had been dragged about behind wild horses for days until survivors of the battle brought down the horses with arrows. His remains had been entombed in the palace crypt.
A girl child was raised to the throne, and proclaimed Queen. There had been a Queen ruling ever since.
Far in the East, many miles, the edges of a great forest began. This was Mordos Gloom. The country of Tharkan. Mordos was undisputed ruler of the Tharsians here. None passed through Tharkan. Not even Traders. Any who entered the deep forests of Mordos Gloom never came out. There were ruins of cities deep in the forest, and it was said that there yet lived an ancient one, an immortal, secure in a blue tower. This being was the only thing that the Tharsians feared. None would even go within sight of the tower. To do so was to meet a death that kept the intruders in a lingering death so painful that even Tharsians feared it.
All the various tribes that made up the Tharsian Horde had tried at one time or another to penetrate the Blue Tower. Those trying had been seen to flee back into the encircling ranks, their screams echoing for days as they continued to run though the deep forests trying to escape their torment. Eventually their very bones softened and melted. Their green hide scales fell off. They could no longer stand. Their bones dissolved and they became a wailing mound of green flesh quivering on the forest floor. Even the wild animals of the place would not touch them. Gradually life would still and the deep gloom would settle on the forest again. All Tharsians knew where these hapless victims lay. Each death left a circle some five paces across in the forest where nothing would grow. Not a blade of grass. Just the bare stained ground that had an odour straight from the Dark One's pit. The Tharsians now gave the Blue Tower a very wide berth.
On the other side of Tharkan lay Hua Guo. The almost mythical city. None visited there except for a few Traders who braved the crossing of the Sandy Blight, through the farm lands and on into Hua Guo, a journey that took years. The only other way was by ship. The sea folk rarely went there, the journey was long and perilous, and few ever returned to speak of it.
Refugees now streamed out of the great city of Har Hu, out of the country of Annafel. Little had happened that could cause such panic really. Everyone had heard the rumours of approaching Mare Altan though. Everyone had heard rumours of Tharsians being seen in the very city. Everyone had heard rumours, and some had even seen Morgoth warriors in the Old Square itself. It was also rumoured that whatever inhabited the deep caverns was stirring. There was a battle coming as surely as day followed night. Men gathered up their possessions, their families, and left the city. Most were going south along the Great Road. A life on the lower plains, perhaps as far as the oceans, would be, must be, better than staying to be caught up in the centre of the coming storm.
The last time the Mare Altan had come over the Dragon Spine had been to drive back the Lords of Darkness.
Annafel had lost a king in those battles, and the population had been decimated it was said. Stories were told of those battles, and songs sung. Wandering story tellers made great show of acting out the battles in mime as they retold the tales. Whenever storytellers paused people would gather to listen. Some were said to be gifted from the Well of Spirit, the same source from which the Wind Readers drew their power.
The common room was now almost empty. Only the innkeeper, Mei'An, her Guard Companion and Rees, and the girls were left. Even the street outside was quiet. No wagons moved. No crack of whips nor shouted curses as drivers manoeuvred the lumbering wagons through the pedestrians. No shouts from sedan chair carriers forcing a way through the throng. No stall merchants shouting their wares. It seemed even the flies were not buzzing now.
Rees pushed back his chair and said with some zest in his voice.
"Well, that was ... interesting. Master Tallbar, a jug of cool ale if you please. And where is your fiddler? If we are going to be interrupted by the Dark One every time I dice with friends then let it be on my terms. I warrant Cinnabar will use a little more caution now that we have found his weakness."
Rees banged the table and roared.
"Serving girls - ale!" Even the innkeeper jumped. Rees strode to the front door of the inn an peered outside. 'Not many people about' he thought. Only late afternoon and the street was quiet. He was somewhat taken aback to see an old Storyteller lounging against one of the horse rails, watching him. His hat brim shaded his eyes, but they never left Reese's face. He had a battered leather case with a fiddle in it strapped to his back, and his long dusty coat flapped lazily in the faint breeze. Rees called out to him,
"Ho. Storyteller. Play us a tune. You play, I'll pay. This place grows grimmer by the moment. Come. Inside if you would."
The Storyteller said nothing for a long moment. Rees was just about to shrug and turn away when the Storyteller spoke.
"For a Lord of the Malachites, a friend of the Dragon himself, and one trained by my friend Jardine, you will have music."
He stepped up to the inn door and was unpacking the fiddle as he crossed into the common room. Rees stood in the door, mouth agape.
"Master Tallbar," he called. "Prepare your barrels. Your inn will not hold the people who will come to hear me play." With that he mounted the small stage at one end of the room and within moments had the room full of sound. Rees was sure he could hear the pace of battle in that first tune, changing rapidly to a light ripple that reminded him of the wind as it breezed across the spring flowers of the Star Field Plain. He would ask later how the Storyteller knew so much of home. How did he know Jardine, of the Stone Lion Asha Altan?
The tune changed to a rollicking jig. Mei'An was tapping her foot in time, and Rees contemplated inviting her to dance. Only for a second though. Invite a Wind Reader to dance? Had he lost his wits altogether?
Within moments the room echoed to the bantering laughter of the Mare Altan girls who came in through the door. To Rees's eyes they looked like long lost friends. These girls were from home after all. He knew most of them by sight. To his surprise the youngest, Neenah grabbed him by the hand and spun him onto the dance floor. A small square in front of the stage was all the room needed, but the others soon had the tables and chairs pushed even further back as the girls formed a circle and danced in turns with Rees. He laughed and cheered and let himself be led. He only faltered once as he spun around the circle and found himself with his arm steadying Mei'An. She laughed at this surprise and spun him away.
It didn't take long, and the music began to attract passers by. Everyone may be leaving town, but someone was staying and having fun. Why not join in. It would do no harm to stay an hour or two longer. Soon the common room was packed with laughing shouting people again, even spilling out onto the steps and the street. The music drew people in from the streets, seemingly against their wills. All of the mayhem and horror of a few hours earlier was forgotten. New sawdust on the floor hid the dark stains, and the Maidens provided a lively distraction. The serving girls were as keen to dance as anyone else, and eventually Tallbar gave up trying to stop them, and just served where he could. The battles would come soon enough. For now let people enjoy themselves. The Storyteller and his music played on, showing no sign of tiring.
Mei'An had been able to discover a weakness in the shielding of the doorway that Cinnabar had made. She set a ward on the room, and would know the instant that Cinnabar tried to form another gateway. She could no block it, but she could now give warning. With Antonin's help, she might be able to follow him through into his own domain. From Rees's description it sounded very much like it was in the blasted lands beyond Sara Sara. It was something to plan for the future. The most pressing problem now was to locate Antonin. He must return. The huge force of the Spears of Da Altan would be over the pass in days. They would need a leader. Would expect one indeed. They expected to find the returned King of the Malachites, the Lord of the Dragon Armies. Mei'An had
still not located him, nor his two companions.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the small statue in the box would help her find him by focusing her own thought flows. She would need Rees though, and he didn't look like he was ready for any more adventure this day. She had to reach other Wind Readers. Perhaps a link could be made to those scattered in far distant lands.
"Guard me well my companion." Said Mei'An to Luan. He nodded slightly and Mei'An closed her eyes and slid into the dream world where Wind Readers travelled. Only here could she meet with others and plan the link. This was a strange place where strange things happened, and time itself was altered. Others would know she was there. Her entry caused a sound like a muted brass bell to toll in the hearing of all Wind Readers. Where they could, they would also enter this Dream World. Only the first to enter sets off the tolling of the bell.
Luan didn't shift in his seat. He knew what Mei'An was doing. She was vulnerable like this. A child could overpower her. Here in a crowded room, attack could come from any quarter. Luan sat like a coiled snake, he would strike at anything that gave the slightest threat.
------
Away to the south, the daughter of Daga Domain, innkeeper of Xu Gui awoke with a start in the early mornings grey light. It was too early even for the roosters in the stable yard. Her shift clung to her, dripping with sweat. Her long hair was stuck in a knotted mat to her head, the sweat trickling into her eyes. What dreams! Her face flushed crimson at the memories still visible in her mind. She nibbled at her lower lip. She realized she had been dreaming of her and Antonin. She in the bright yellow silk dress, and Antonin in the robes and garments of a high lord. People bowed to him and called him Lord this and Lord that. More surprising, they were calling her Lady this and Lady that. Her, the daughter of a Star Field Plain village innkeeper a Lady. As funny as Antonin, a farmer's son being a Lord. She giggled a moment until she remembered that they had been celebrating their wedding day. She was sure she was lighting up the room, her cheeks felt so hot.
The Dragons of Sara Sara Page 32