Antonin strode forward to greet his friends. Within arm's reach, Ellenaria called
"Stop my Lord, you must not touch me. I am not actually - here."
Antonin looked at Rees, who simply shrugged his shoulders.
The Keeper looked at Rees.
"My Lord. Rees. You must now place me again between the Disk of the Sun, and the Orb of the Moon Gate. The Wind Readers await me, and I must return to the Tower. I have been too long away. Hurry now my Lord."
With one step she slid out of Rees's hold. She drew a sharp breath as though in pain.
"Hurry my Lord. The Sun and the Moon." The gauzy haze about her started to fade. Rees leapt at the trunk on the pack horse, ripping it from its fastenings. He flung back the lid and scattered the contents on the grass. The Disk and the Orb he placed at either side of Ellenaria's feet. Her shimmering colours steadied, and with a last smile at Rees her image became once more the small statue that fitted in the treasure chest.
A chill wind whistled across the hill top. Antonin realized he could now hear the small sounds from the camp all about him.
Rees righted the trunk, and carefully replaced the objects in their proper places. He worked quietly, occasionally glancing at Antonin.
Antonin had changed since they had last been together. Rees couldn't put a finger on it, but there was something.
Finally the trunk was tied securely onto the pack horse again. Catharina was the first to speak.
"Rees my friend, it is good to see you again. You must tell us how this," she swept her arms in an all embracing gesture "came to be here?"
"It is the doing of the Keeper of The Blue Tower, Ellenaria. We got into some trouble with Tharsians who were determined to take Desare." Rees paused and swallowed.
"In desperation we tried to use the treasures that we carry, and it seems to have worked."
It was obvious Rees was avoiding something, and Antonin spoke up.
"Rees. Where is Desare? Where is Elsa?"
"Antonin, this is the strange thing. After Ellenaria healed Desare, she took us all to a windswept ice filled valley where she commanded the two girls to go to a cave to wait for you. She then returned to the camp of the warriors and gathered all together, to being us here. Exactly where that ice field is I do not know Antonin."
Antonin was delighted. He knew exactly where it was. He knew exactly where the girls were. They could not be left alone. Antonin cast a glance at the sky. The moon shone nearly full in a cloudless sky. It was low on the horizon, and the light was weak, but it was enough.
"Rees, Catharina, Nareena, we move on to the valley tonight. What these warriors want to do I do not know, but we go now."
He was in action as he spoke. Gathering up his blanket and saddle and readying his horse. The others needed no second telling. In minutes all were mounted and ready to ride out. The vast camp surrounding them was now buzzing with activity. No sooner had Antonin mounted his horse than Jardine appeared within the stone circle.
He reminded Antonin of a rock himself. Antonin leant down to speak quietly with Jardine. He hesitated a moment then turned and ran back into the encircling camp, gathering a trail of warriors behind him as he went. Antonin said nothing to the others, just spurred his horse down the slope and headed west toward the distant valley where his friends waited. He hoped they were still safe.
It didn't take long to clear the camp of the warriors. Clear lines were visible between various groups and although they received a good deal of attention in passing, no one tried to stop them, or challenge them. Soon the three riders were away into the darkness, only the weak moonlight to light the way. The horses could not be pushed too hard. The trio settled into a steady pace across the rough terrain. They began to climb, and Antonin led the way. He remembered the mountain that guarded the icy wastes beyond and recalled that they had a long way to go yet.
Nareena rode close by his horse's right flank. She knew this country like the back of her hand, and although she let Antonin take the lead, occasionally she called quietly with corrections to their course. Antonin was no fool, and he knew full well Nareena was the guide, but for safety's sake he did not want her in the lead.
As they climbed steadily into the mountains, the air grew colder and colder. They were all wrapped in the heavy furs that Nareena insisted they wear. The moon was setting behind the distant mountains, and the night grew colder and colder. Antonin did not want to stop. They topped a rocky spine and Antonin turned in his saddle to look behind the way they had just come. Darkness and gloom gripped the barren landscape. Only the occasional ice or snow patch glittering in the weak starlight.
Nareena started. her keen eyes had seen a darker shadow on the landmark behind them. They were being followed, but by whom she didn't know. She nudged her horse over the ridge and clattered down the far slope. Rock and shale skittered away from the horses hooves, and then Antonin and Catharina were following. Their noisy progress echoing back from the rocky slopes around them.
The trail was easy for Nareena to follow. She had been this way many times on the hunt. It was little more than a line across the rocky ground where the stones had been kicked aside by the horses of the few hunters who passed this way over the years. It was said that a road had been built in another age. One that led through the depths of the ground itself. Carved through the heart of the mountains, so deep that it lay beneath the mythical city at the bottom of the ice lake. No one had ever found the road though, nor any sign of it. No one had even actually seen the city in the ice. Nareena thought it was all just legend, told by the story tellers to encourage more generosity from their listeners.
Both Antonin and Catharina had seen the followers now. A dark mass flowing over the landscape behind them. Getting no closer, no further away. Antonin thought he knew who it was, but if it wasn't, then it was something to worry about later. If they were to be attacked, it would have happened by now. Antonin thought it could only be their warrior escort.
They rode all through the night. Stopping now and then to spell themselves and the horses. The sky was starting to lighten in the East, and they were so high in the ranges that the air was getting very thin. The horses were covered with frost from the clouds of steam they breathed. The fur capes and hoods of the riders crackled with it. The edges of the fur hoods and the cloth masks over their faces were coated with ice crystals. They dare not stop now. The cold would kill them all in minutes if they let their own temperatures drop through inactivity. They had the horses covered in furs, and the constant activity was serving to keep them warm as well. When the sun finally climbed high above the peaks all around them, there was no warmth in it. During the night their long ride had taken them steadily into the depth of the ice zone. Their destination, the valley of ice was still a long way ahead.
The day wore on in an endless cycle of ridge and valley. Stone and ice. Every now and then the sharp report of a stone cracking under pressure from ice or sun. They passed cliff faces that had been carved into the likeness of men in some age past. Now weathered and worn, they seem eerily aloof to the riders passing below them. Antonin didn't remember seeing them when he had come this way, nor did Catharina and Edina. Perhaps the snow had covered them then.
Nareena turned her horse and stopped a little way ahead. The world dropped away at their feet. She seemed to be standing right on the edge of the sky. Antonin drew his breath in sharply. Edging toward where Nareena stood, Antonin could see that they were on the very rim of the ice valley. The sheer drop to the valley floor took his breath away. Catharina and Edina weren't going anywhere near that rocky lip.
Nareena smiled. "You all came up this cliff, surely you are not worried about going down it again?"
"I don't remember it being so high." Said Catharina softly. "Nareena, get down off your horse. Please." She added.
"Of course." replied Nareena. "Anyway, the path down is this way a little, and we should probably leave the horses up here. Perhaps if we build a bit of shelter for them?"
Antonin hoped they would not be long away. Any delay, and someone would have to come up and get the horses. Nareena led the way to the edge of the cliff, and to the narrow path leading down to the valley floor. She started down without delay, Antonin behind her, the others following. The going was easy, if dangerous and soon they reached the valley floor. Antonin calculated they had about two hours to sundown. They would have to be on their way out by then.
The cave entrance was only a little way off along the wall, and Antonin set out from it immediately. He had forgotten how harsh the valley was. The wind that howled along the icy stone wall seemed to be alive and full of malice.
Snow swirled in huge clouds as it rode the wind. Suddenly it stopped completely and everyone fell over face first at the sudden lack of pressure against them. Antonin was first up, cursing a bruised shin and the snow covered rock he had hit it on. The air was dead calm now. Nareena looked about in alarm.
"Quickly." She shouted. "Run for your life, get in the cave. A wind demon is forming. Quickly, run, run, run." She screamed as she struggled to her feet and ran stumbling and clawing over rocks toward the cave entrance.
The panic in her voice set the others into frantic motion. They didn't know what she was talking about, but anything that set that sort of panic off was best avoided. Time for questions later.
As they scrambled to get to the cave they could hear a dull roar coming from out in the icy haze on the lake. It was getting louder. The air around them started to buffet in little eddies.
"'This is not good.' Thought Antonin. Moments later they all tumbled into the cave together as a wall of solid snow driven by a howling gale slammed into the cliff. The sudden increase in air pressure in the cave hurt their ears. From the depths of the cave the group looked out at where they had been. Huge boulders were actually rolling by the entrance. If they had been out in that they would have been swept away like autumn leaves, or worse, crushed under tumbling boulders as big as houses. Now Antonin understood why the cliff base was littered randomly with boulders. They had been blown there by past wind storms.
"Nareena, you could have warned us of such events!" Said Edina, shaking a little. Her voice trembled as she spoke, and she was red with embarrassment. She was as brave as any warrior, but the thought of being crushed and swirled away like a leaf unnerved her when she thought of how close they had come to just such a fate.
The shaken companions squatted own and leant against the rocky walls getting their breath back and watching the mayhem outside their safe haven.
"This cave is well placed Nareena, another hundred paces away and we would have disappeared in the storm." Antonin rubbed his gloved hands together and stood. He turned into the cave. It was then he noticed the thin wisps of smoke trailing up from the dying embers of a fire deep in the main cavern. There was very little light now, and Antonin stood cautiously in the entrance to the main cavern. The others crowded close behind him.
Nareena walked in and retrieved some brush torches dipped in tar. These were soon blazing, the flickering light and spitting sound of the hot pitch reflecting around the cave. There didn't seem to be anyone here. There was the huge pile of old furs near the remains of the fire, and a soft snicker revealed two horses in the shadows against one wall. The horses were almost hidden by a huge chunk of rock that looked as though it had fallen from the roof in time past. Antonin began to worry that the two girls they had come to meet had met their deaths in the storm still raging outside in the icy wastes of the valley. The others had spread out through the cave, and suddenly Catharina let out a giggle, then shouted with joy. "Elsa." As everyone looked at her, she flung back the pile of furs to reveal Elsa, struggling to her feet with a stunned look on her face. In a moment Catharina had unearthed Desare from the pile of furs. She sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Elsa had quickly recovered her poise as a warrior should, but Desare was only a child, for all her keenness to go adventuring. The recent events had exhausted her, and she was slow to awaken. She had been warm and safe in her cocoon of furs and felt as though she could have slept for a week. As she struggled to focus on those about her, a clear voice came to her. "Desare, it is time for Antonin to awake the dragons." Desare recognised the voice as her friend, The Keeper of the Blue Tower.
"These instructions you must give him. As soon as the storm abates, he must go to the cavern mouth. There he will find the symbol of the dragon carved in the rock. He must strike this three times with the heel of his clenched fist. He must call out across the wastes, 'Nesathara, Omgorion, Dadahar, the time has come.' He must then strike the carved image again three times, while intoning the word 'Gardan' each time.
Do not venture outside the cave after this. The dragons will come, and all must be known to them or you will surely be destroyed." The voice of the Keeper left Desare slightly stunned. She had been half up on one knee, and had stopped. The others stared at her, not knowing what was happening. Desare blinked a few times, and pushed herself to her feet. She straightened her dishevelled skirt and the soft leather vest she wore. There was no time for worrying about appearances.
"Antonin." She said. She looked at the faces of the others. There was no bell reverberating that she could hear. Good. She continued. "Antonin, the Keeper has just given me instructions to pass on to you." Without further ado Desare repeated word for word what she had been told.
Antonin looked out of the cave. The storm showed no sign of abating. It could be a long wait. There was nothing to do but make themselves comfortable. They hadn't eaten properly in days, and had taken very little rest. It was certain that no one could creep up on them through that storm, so the companions settled down around the rebuilt fire and put together a good meal out of the various frozen stores that they carried, and that Nareena had stockpiled in the cave.
Antonin found the dragon symbol carved into the rock face near the cave entrance. It didn't appear to be anything significant, and he was sure he had seen the same symbol in a thousand different places over the years. The hours passed, and darkness had fallen outside. The horses they had left at the cliff top were a worry, but there was little they could do. The wind still raged across the wastes, rolling huge boulders before it. Even in the darkness, they could be heard thundering by, loud cracks echoing in the cave as they crashed into each other. Unknown to Antonin and his friends they had been followed by a large group of warriors from the first camp, and now the horses were being cared for, even as those on the cliff top peered down into the maelstrom that swirled in the valley. For those in the cave, the time of peace and relaxation was very welcome. All the news that they had for each other was caught up on, and Desare being the youngest was enjoying the attention of the older girls as they did her hair for her, and fussed over her clothes. Desare didn't realize it, but the others were relaxing her, making her feel secure in their presence. The two Mare Altan well knew the fear and uncertainty of their first days as warriors, a long way from the security of their home camps.
Nareena was more of the village girl, yet as a hunter she had spent long months away on her own. All three well knew that they had been much older than Desare though when they had first left their mothers side. Indeed, they were proud of their young friend, and admired her courage. She had not been forced into this adventure, but had it seemed, undertaken her quest willingly. Even against her mother's wishes.
Antonin lay flat on his back on a pile of furs, hands clasped across his broad chest, and half dozing, watched the firelight flickering on the roof far overhead. He listened to the murmur of the girls talking. A smile flicked on his lips. It seemed that warrior or princess, girl of the plains, or girl of the distant east, all had an endless interest in cloths, hair, the
antics of men, whom they seemed to find generally amusing, and took an endless delight in discussing possible matches for their friends. Rees squatted on his heels by the fire and dozed.
There were drawings on the distant roof of the cave Antonin noticed. Strange animals with huge tusks marched across the roof. Stick figures of men and women hunting them. Other scenes of camp life and activities that seemed vaguely familiar yet looked quite different to what could be seen in the world today. How did they get painted up there? When? It must have been a very long time ago. Antonin had never seen animals like those depicted in the drawings, not weapons like those used. He mused over the possibilities of those spears used by the long dead warriors.
Antonin tried to work out what he was going to do if the dragons did come to his call. The instructions seemed to indicate that there were only three. That didn't seem right though. Lord of the dragon Armies indicated just that. An army. Armies. Three dragons didn't make an army. Well, he'd see soon enough. He listened to the wind howling outside the cave.
It should be light again in a couple of hours. Antonin dozed, only a part of his mind tuned to the sounds around him. The girls were curled up together under the furs again, and the fire danced and crackled with a good supply of fuel. Only Catharina still prowled about the cavern. She was wide awake now, and would take the watch during the small hours. She had found a seam of pitch black rock in the cave wall and had brought some of the strange crumbly rock back to the fire to investigate it. To her utter amazement the pieces she placed right by the fire started to smoke then with a flicker started to actually burn. This was amazing. Rock that burned. She thought of waking the others to show them but instead collected a pile of the rocky stuff and began to bank the fire with it. It slowly caught alight and burnt with flames of blue and green. It was very hot, much hotter than burning wood. The smoke was acrid, and tended to be sooty and black, but Catharina found that if she fanned the flames to a fierce burn, a lot of the smoke disappeared. She tested a spear tip in the hottest part of the fire, and in moments it was white hot. The rock itself took ages to burn away to a fine white ash. This was very useful stuff she decided, and could be used by anyone. Especially where firewood was scarce, as out on the Star Field Plain. Catharina began to think about whether she had ever noticed similar outcroppings anywhere in her travels.
The Dragons of Sara Sara Page 45