Desare screamed.
"Elsa - behind you."
Unseen up to this point, unheard, a Dahar had settled to the ground not five paces behind Elsa. It rested forward on its wing tips as though about to spring. Instead it took a shuffling step forward, it blazing yellow eyes in the grotesque half human face were fixed in an unblinking gaze on Elsa. With the speed of a dragon fly Elsa whirled and threw her spear in one motion. It buried itself deep into the chest of the creature. She took a step backward in surprise. The creature hadn't even blinked. It simply plucked the spear out and cast it aside as one would with a biting insect. A low hiss came from the beast as it inched forward.
Another settled to the ground beside it, then another. All were between the pits concealed in the road. The nets could not be slung with Elsa out in the roadway.
"Elsa, get back here. Quickly girl. The nets." Yelled Rees.
Only a heartbeat had passed. Elsa turned to flee to the safety of the roadside. She ran straight into the folding arms of another Dahar that had settled out of the night right in her path. She screamed in pain and rage. Her free arm was plunging her hunting knife repeatedly into the thing trying to crush her. It seemed not to notice the wounds.
Suddenly it simply fell away in a leathery heap as its head rolled out in the street. It's jaws could be seen still gnashing as it tried to stay alive.
Luan wiped his sword on the leathery wing and helped Elsa to her feet. The three Dahar in the street had stopped. They seemed about to lift into the air. "The nets - now." Roared Rees.
With a twang the tensioned nets sprung from the roof tops and settled over the three Dahar. They tried to get airborne but the more they thrashed about, the more entangled they became. Their struggles took them ever closer to the pit. Elsa had stopped raining arrows into them. It had no effect. The screams of rage from the beasts were terrible to hear. The hair on Rees's arms was standing on end. Desare was cowering in the door frame whimpering like a little puppy. Mei'An stood calmly. She was inspecting these beasts from legend as closely as she could. With a roar one of the traps was sprung, and the three struggling Dahar tumbled into its depths.
In the cloud of dust rising into the night air, two more Dahar settled to the ground near the pit edge. They were looking directly at Desare. They could see her clearly it seemed. They ignored the rain of stones, arrows, spears and other objects that rained down on them and inched slowly toward where Desare cowered in the doorway. A blaze of white hot light shot from the outstretched hands of Mei'An. All her power was being channelled into the fire storm she unleashed. To her utter amazement it simply washed over the Dahar leaving them unscathed. Desare's eyes were as big as saucers, she shook from head to foot with fear. Luan stepped in front of the lead Dahar and was swept aside like a dust mote before he took another step. Their enormous wings put them at an easy advantage.
"Antonin." Screamed Desare, "Antonin." She fainted. Collapsing in a heap in the doorway.
Mei'An staggered backwards as the peeling of the bell erupted in her head. A low moan of pain escaped her lips, but still she focused on the Dahar.
They were on the ground. Writhing in obvious agony. Holding their heads they staggered to their spindly legs and with a few steps like those of drunken soldiers flapped their wings and rose unsteadily into the night. They could be seen as dwindling dots against the moon, as they sped away into the distance. Judging from that reaction, they would not be back to this village. Rees peered carefully into the pit where the Dahar trapped in the net had fallen. They were showing the same signs of pain and confusion as their now departed fellows had done. It was time to destroy them. The men of the village had gathered, their burning torches casting a flickering glow into the pit.
"Quickly," cried Rees. "Anything that burns. Into the pit." He tossed his oil soaked torch into the pit. The Dahar screamed now in pain and rage. Quickly the pit became a huge pyre. The Smithy emptied a barrel of his best quenching oil into the pit. The flames roared high into the night sky. Terrified screams came from houses as the fearful blaze flicked on the curtains of village homes and the sound of it came as a roar down chimneys and through cracks in doors. Still the men piled timber, straw, brush and even furniture into the pit. Nothing could survive such heat. The ground itself all around the pit started to smoke and steam. Only men with boots on could approach as even more fuel was added to the fire. Elsa sat against the door frame and cradled the young Desare in her arms. 'The girl is really too young to be dragged into this.' She thought. Why had the Dahar singled Desare out she wondered. What of the reaction when Desare called out to Antonin.
' If that was what it meant.' Thought Elsa grimly 'then Mei'An would just have to put up with the headaches it obviously caused her.'
Mei'An glared at Elsa as if she had heard the girls thoughts. Luan stood on the roadway, his hands resting atop his grounded long sword and looked into the distance where the two Dahar had disappeared. He was not happy to have been so easily knocked aside. The Dahar he had beheaded as it attacked Elsa was now ash in the fire pit. The villages had said six had arrived that first night. It seemed only two remained. He would not be so easily brushed aside again. Of one thing he was sure, they would meet the Dahar again.
The villagers were coming on now with wagon loads of kindling. They would keep the fire burning until day break. A barricade was built around the second pit.
Mei'An would have to find out why the call of Antonin's name by Desare set off the bells. More importantly why it made her head hurt. It obviously had an even more detrimental effect on the Dahar. That there were now only two left was good news though. Nothing could survive the roaring inferno that the men fed in the pit in the middle of the street.
Perhaps Desare could take her to the Keeper of the Blue Tower. The answer could be there. Perhaps she should go herself, and call the other Wind Readers with her. It was time to pass on what she knew anyway.
Desare was in safe hands now, and the Dahar would not return here, she was sure of that.
"Luan," called Mei'An. "I go to my room. Please stand guard on my door." Without a word Luan sheathed his sword and followed Mei'An into the inn. She was going to meet with the other Wind Readers, and while in her dream state, would need guarding. As Mei'An passed Elsa and Desare she said in an aside to them both.
"And keep that girl quiet."
Elsa knew what she meant. Desare just looked at Mei'An with big dark eyes. A few minutes later Desare turned to Elsa, her arm still around the girls waist.
"Elsa, Mei'An is in the Tower now. All the Wind readers are with her."
Elsa blinked. How could Desare know this? This young girl was very important. Elsa herself had some of the power of a Wind Reader. Well hidden, but still there. She could not say though where Mei'An was at this moment, even physically. Desare was somehow linked to Antonin, and the Blue Tower. Desare and Antonin. 'The Lord of the Dragon Armies and his young Queen.' Elsa gasped as the thought flickered in her mind. "What is it?" cried a startled Desare.
"Nothing child, nothing. Just a twinge. Perhaps we should be on our way I think." Together the girls got to their feet. Rees came up from the street dusting his clothes off.
"Rees." Said Elsa. "We should depart this place now. There is no danger to the village, and there is danger to us. I say we go now." Rees was a little taken aback at Elsa's rather forceful insistence. He had been going to suggest something similar himself. Oh well. He never understood how their minds worked anyway. Antonin was the one. Rees wished he was here now. The thought made him smile. Antonin would have his hands full with Catharina and Edina. Rees had seen how Catharina looked at Antonin when she thought no one was looking. How she would take to Desare he could not even guess at.
"Fine Elsa. That's fine. What about Mei'An and Luan?"
"If she is not back when we are ready she will just have to follow on after us."
"Back?"Questioned Rees.
"Yes - back. ok? Do I have to explain everything?" She snapped. Elsa turn
ed and stamped into the inn, calling over her shoulder. "I'll be ready in just moments, even if I go alone."
A startled Desare fled into the inns' common room. She had arrived with nothing but the clothes on her back, but she wanted some bread to take on any journey. Bread and water. The master of the inn was quick to gather a leather satchel and water bags.
In only a short space of time Desare was back at the door. Elsa was already there with their horses, and an extra one for Desare. The chest was strapped to Rees's horse and provisions on the lead animals. Rees shook his head. It looked like they were leaving.
The leaders of the village came over and stood silently by the steps. One stepped forward. He addressed Rees.
"Warrior, we thank you for helping us to avenge our loved ones. Your guidance gave us the courage to face the Dark One himself. Our two friends will return from your village in good time. It is apparent that they got through with the message in time." He looked at Desare. "We bid you and your friends go in peace. You will always be welcome here." The man went back to the others, and his companions followed. With grim faces they continued to feed fuel on the fire in the pit. The light mist that spread through the village now glowed with a terrible red from the flames.
"Rees. What of Mei'An?"
"I will tell Luan now." Rees ran up the stairs to the upper rooms of the inn. Luan stood guard in the door to one of the rooms.
"Luan. We go now. You will have to follow with Mei'An. We mean to be far away along the road to the borderlands by sunup. Elsa and Desare will not stay another moment."
Luan simply nodded his head. He would inform Mei'An when she emerged. Rees looked steadily at Luan for a moment then with a nod to him, turned back down the stairs.
Swinging onto his saddle, he led the party out of town, heading east along the dusty road. Once clear of the pits and the fire, Rees nudged his horse into a canter, standing in the shortened stirrups to avoid the bone jarring movement of the horse. Once he had the other two and the string of spare horses gathered into the same pace he steadily increased speed until he was almost laying along the horses back at a near gallop. The wind streamed through his hair. The horses mane flicked his face and it breathed like the bellows of his father's forge. Would he ever see the forge again? He began to think it was part of another life. The countryside sped by in the twilight world of the moonlight. Rolling plain for the most part, low wooded hills dotted her and there. The wide road was well travelled, but there were no travellers out that night. Not this late.
Once they had raced past a train of merchant wagons drawn up by the road side. The wagon guards had shouted a challenge but the pounding hoofs of the horses had all but drowned out their words. Rees caught a fleeting glimpse of men leaping to their feet in alarm and shouting, but soon they had left the wagons far behind.
The moon was starting to sink toward the horizon again. Soon it would be pitch dark. The ribbon of road was still clearly visible though. A paler form in the darkness. The horses could see it well, and with foam streaming from their sides, and spittle from their mouths in long streams they never broke stride. Rees had in mind that the Dahar had disappeared in the same direction, but he was not worried about them.
The bands of warriors had to be caught up with in the borderlands. The delays in the village had to be made up. Desare had to be united with Antonin, and the Mare Altan were the only way through the forest of the Tharsians. Only with Desare in his presence could Antonin hope to retake the Key to the Wheel. Only then could he control the dragons. Rees gasped. Where was this coming from? He felt like there was another person in his head. His head whirled like a swirl in a fast flowing stream. He clung to his horse now to save his life. The horse sensed his riders change and began to slow. Finally it stopped in the road. The others nearby. Chests heaving, the horses gathered their strength again.
Elsa peered at Rees in the gloom. Her senses told her something was happening to Rees. Desare came up alongside Rees and touched his brow.
"Rees, it is only your ancestors. They guide you now. You must listen to them." She spoke calmly. "We are all drawn together slowly by the forces that hold the world itself in check. Our task is to reach Antonin and with him reassemble the Dragon Armies. Only then can we have any hope of retrieving the Key to the Wheel of Sara Sara, and then returning peace to the world."
Elsa kicked her horse up alongside.
"Perhaps this is a good place to rest for a while anyway. The horses need it, and so do we." She dismounted and began to tend her horse.
Rees soon had a small fire flickering to dispel the night chill, and as the horses munched a handful of oats and drank from the leather buckets, the trio rested by the fire against their saddles. Dried meat made a good light meal, and after a light sleep, they remounted and were soon flying across the landscape again like spectres in the night. The thrumming of the horses hooves seeming to rise and fall as changes in air pressure affected the sounds travel.
The moon was long gone now and the team travelled on across the plain until the sky started to show faint traces of a patchy grey, like a smudged pencil line in the blackness.
They were racing through low hills now as the sky lightened. It was time to camp and give the horses a good rest. They pounded across a bridge over a small stream and slid to a stop in a cleared area on the stream bank. The plain was desolate. There were no signs of other humans having passed this way in a long time.. Elsa took first guard. She squatted under some low bushes. Well out of sight, and waited until the sun had moved a shadow along the ground a good hand span. She shook Rees awake and dropped onto her blanket.
Rees sat under the same bush as Elsa had done, and waited out enough time to see the sun now well up and warming the land. Desare was left asleep until Rees roused her along with Elsa to the smell of cooking biscuits and herb leaves bubbling in a pot on the fire.
They ate in silence after tending the horses, then mounted up and were soon travelling east again at a steady mile burning pace. Every so often a spare horse was brought alongside, and Rees, Elsa or Desare would change horses while still keeping up the same fast pace. This rested the horses from the burden of their extra weight for a time. At this pace they would be in the borderlands in a few days. Hopefully they would have no difficulty in finding the Mare Altan. So many people should be noticeable.
By mid afternoon the horses had be walked for long spells The pace was gruelling, and they didn't want the horses dying on them or breaking down. All three were capable horse people, and knew their value. Indeed, their regular mounts were almost part of their family.
There had not been sign of another soul other than that first merchant wagon train. No farms, no camps, no travellers. This close to the border, the Tharsians left the countryside swept clean. The only exception was the fortified town at the end of this road. Right on the border. The local lord, who self styled himself king, thought to rule this land. In truth the Tharsians ruled it. They would have to be careful now. Riding full speed into a band of the green hide monsters would not help at all. All three kept a sharp lookout. There was no sign of the Mare Altan or the Asha Altan having passed this way. Rees wondered about this until Elsa pointed out the signs to him.
A small row of stones set out neatly. Yet almost hidden in the many stones of a small stream by the roadside.
Tufts of grass tied together in a certain way. A notch in tree bark, high in the tree. Rees relaxed. He should have known. If the warriors didn't want to be seen, they were as good as invisible. If there had been Tharsians in the area, the many warriors in the travelling band would have swept over them in a flood.
Rees hoped that eventually they could rid the land of the Tharsians. Opening trade between East and West would bring new life to the plains. The threat that was ever present would be gone. The warrior ranks could be reduced. It all hinged on the Lord of the Dragon Armies, the Malachite King returned. Rees's friend - Antonin.
Elsa rode alongside Rees, and leaning close to him said. ".. and
his queen." She looked from Rees to Desare and back again. With a nod she rode ahead. Rees was so speechless he couldn't even wonder how Elsa had known his thoughts. Desare rode along oblivious to the exchange. She was watching a brightly coloured butterfly that had alighted for a moment on her hand as it rested on the saddle horn.
'Desare?' Thought Rees. Where had Elsa got that idea from? Rees smiled. Antonin was in for some interesting times.
The day was drawing to a close. Rees decided they would camp a full night. The horses needed a good rest, and so did they. Elsa followed another small stream some distance from the road and found a grassy area well sheltered by trees, with grass for the horses, yet within sight of the road. The horses were unsaddled and tethered to ropes so they could graze, and the three friends settled on their ground sheets to relax away the bone wearying stress of their hard riding. Darkness fell, the moon rising above the plains, climbing steadily above the tree tops. All three took turns standing guard during the night. Their only company the night insects and the small animals that moved about in the low undercover between the trees. The night passed without event, and by daybreak the party were back on the road. The horses were held to a fast walk. There was still a long way to go, and the mad dash of the last hours had put them well on their way. Getting closer to the borderlands, they wanted their horses fresh in case of trouble.
Rees didn't expect Mei'An would be able to catch up with them, and didn't think he would see her again until some days after they arrived at the warrior camp. They would be waiting on Mei'An's arrival before pushing into the Forest of Gloom.
Many days had now passed, and Rees was beginning to worry a little. He knew that there weren't many people this far east, but he didn't expect there to be none at all. They hadn't seen a single human. No farms, nothing. No livestock indicating distant farms. The road showed no signs of traffic.
Not a wheel mark or wagon track to be seen. Surely there was some traffic, even if only soldiers about their patrols. Elsa now kept close to Desare, and kept them in the centre of the road when travelling, and went to elaborate lengths to hide Desare in night camps. Desare made no complaint. She seemed to view Elsa now as an older sister, and followed her directions without question. Elsa now moved like a warrior expecting attack at any moment. Even the movements of the small creatures of the woodlands that grew in sparse patches over the low hills that the road wound around and over, alerted her.
The Dragons of Sara Sara Page 42