Sapphire of Souls

by M. R. Mathias

  It wasn't long before Braxton couldn't even see the tiny island behind them, and all that remained of his dream was a faint memory. Before them, the day was calm and clear, and so uniformly blue, he couldn't even tell where the ocean met the sky.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The loud thump of Big H's hammer hitting the huge rock at the bottom of the dam echoed through the rocky gorge. He was connected to a tree that was up on the higher edges of the crevasse by a rope that was tied around his waist. Nixy was sad and confused. She had been down there earlier, observing the two dwarves while they studied the rock, trying to determine exactly where Big H should focus his blows, but the ominous presence of all that water towering over her was too much. Nothing but a jumble of mud, wood, and the rocks that the dwarves were pounding on was keeping it from washing down the narrow ravine the river had carved over the centuries. Now back at the top, where an equally dejected, but firmly resolved, Suclair sat meditating, she watched Big H strike the boulder again.

  Cryelos had been gone scouting the area all morning and hadn’t yet returned. All Nixy had to keep her company was the sound of Big H's labors and Darblin's loud, aggravated voice shouting down new instructions from a higher elevation near the tree the rope holding Big H was tied to.

  As always, Big H complied with his prince without comment or argument, and he started pounding his mighty war hammer in a new spot that resounded a slightly higher tone than the last area he'd been striking.

  It was warm, very warm under the sun that was now high overhead. Even the rock she sat on was getting hot, and what little breeze made its way into the canyon was cool, but scarce. Nixy decided to climb the short hill that was shielding the wind from her and said so to the unresponsive Suclair. She knew better than to wait for acknowledgment from her bald-headed friend. Ever since Sue had the vision, or dream, or whatever her father had done to communicate to her, she'd been distant, anxious, and less concerned with Nixy than she had ever been before.

  Nixy knew it was selfish to be angry at Suclair for her withdrawal but, nevertheless, she was. Luckily, a soft push of cold air blew away her thoughts when she topped the hill and was once again surrounded by the brilliant array of the forests changing colors. The rustling of the leaves and the scent of wood and pollen filled her nose. It was like entering a different world. She wondered how stepping out of a rocky canyon into an autumn wilderness a few paces away could be as dissimilar as night and day. Even the sounds were different. Up here, the birds sang, and small creatures chattered. Added to the hum of insect life, it almost drowned out Big H's steady hammer strokes, which now sounded like tiny little ticks in the distance.

  She felt her heart stop in her chest when something shook the trees not very far to her right. It was big. Nervously, she looked around. To her left, the surface of the lake rippled with the breeze, and directly in front of her the shoreline met the woods. The only place to run was back down the hill into the canyon.

  She squinted toward the area where she saw the movement, reached to her hip, and found the hilt of her sword. She nervously drew it, trying very hard not to let the blade ring against the sheath. Whatever was there was very still. She knew it hadn't moved away because it was far too large to do so without being heard or seen.

  She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she cautiously crept forward across the grassy area that lay between her and the tree line. All she could make out was a shape somewhat lighter in color than the dark browns and greens around it. It was bigger than a horse but lower to the ground, and as she got closer, she saw a long thick neck supporting a head that was large, but mostly hidden.

  The thing bolted away shaking leaves from trees and crushing undergrowth loudly as it went. Her thundering heart nearly stopped when Cryelos stumbled out of the same trees with a terrified look on his face.

  Gasping for breath as if he'd been holding it for a long time, the elf asked her, "Did you see it?"

  "Sort of." Nixy was overcome with relief, but still rattled. "What was it?"

  "I…don't…know—," Cryelos answered between heaving breaths. "But if you…hadn't scared it…away, I might have been its lunch." He smiled and rolled his yellow eyes with a look of cringing relief. "All I know for sure…is that it had big teeth and eyes that were as yellow as mine."

  Just then, a troubled shout came from the canyon, and they both hurried down the hill to where Suclair sat to see what was going on.

  "But what if it gives all the way?" Big H called up to Darblin nervously. Cryelos and Nixy came to stand beside Suclair, and all three of them looked at the dwarf at the bottom of the dam. Water was spraying from a fracture he'd hammered into the stone and the stream was getting bigger with each passing moment.

  "Just hit it a few more times Hannival," Darblin commanded. "Break it up a bit more, then I'll haul ye up."

  "Yes, yeer highness." Big H nodded and got into position to make another swing.

  "Hannival?" asked Cryelos.

  "His real name is Hannival Hammerhead, or something like that," Nixy said. "Did you think his given name was Big H?"

  "No." Cryelos scratched his head. "But he doesn't look like a Hannival."

  "Oh my," said Suclair pointing, causing the other two to look back down at what was happening.

  With his next hammer blow, Big H crumbled the giant granite rock into fist sized chunks, and a large blast of water shot out across the canyon.

  "Haul me up, me prince," Big H called up nervously. "It be coming apart down here."

  All they could see of Darblin was his mossy green head farther down the ledge they were standing on.

  Big H was right. The whole bottom of the dam broke apart. For a time, it looked as if the sudden blasting wash had swept the dwarf away, but Darblin's loud grunting and heaving soon produced their soaking wet companion.

  He was clutching his war hammer in one hand and had his arm wrapped around the rope with the other.

  No sooner was he pulled to his feet did the whole dam disintegrate and with a loud, crashing roar. A tidal wave of lake water raced away down the gorge.

  Chapter Eighteen

  They'd only left the island with the strange tower a day ago and already Braxton's legs and buttocks felt like they'd been in the dragon's saddle for weeks. He was tired and sore, but pleased he'd solved the mystery of one of Taerak's maps. While Emerald soared high and effortlessly on the warm air the sun reflected off the calm surface of the sea, Braxton found the void and the sparkling jewel within. In this state of deep concentration, he was able to picture the scroll tube that held Taerak's maps and the maps of Narvoza that Master Bee had given him. He was studying the map shape of the kingdom, so that when they found it, he would be able to direct Emerald to the right area of the Wilderkind Forest where hopefully they would be able to find Nixy and his friends.

  While doing this, one of the other maps, a map of an island with a square in the middle of it, brought itself to his attention. It was much bigger than the island they'd spent the night on, but it didn't take him long to realize that the square was actually the tower, as seen from above. Since he'd figured this out, he'd asked Emerald dozens of questions, some about the location of stars and the moon in the sky, so that he might locate the island again if it ever became necessary. He also asked the dragon how he'd found it. Emerald wasn't much help, saying that dragons traveled on instinct not star patterns. There were six similar towers equally spaced around the world and Emerald could feel them, and use them to locate where he was. The more questions Braxton asked, the more confused he became. He sensed the dragon starting to feel like he did when Suclair grilled him, so he stopped.

  He really wanted to try and use the jewel to translate the text on the map of the little island, but he didn't dare pull the map out of the scroll tube while on the back of the dragon, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out how to translate the text while in the void.

  He studied the other maps and wished he knew how long ago they had been
made so that he could make an educated guess on how much the water had risen since then. He wondered if it would it ever stop? Or would all the lands eventually be swallowed up? He had a strange feeling that someday he would have to answer these questions. It was the same sort of feeling he'd had when Emerald told him of the darkonians that he and Skyla-Veltin, former Warrior of the Void, had been battling back in Chureal's homeland. The idea that he might now be responsible for these things, in the sense that he would have to resume Skyla's battle someday, at least until Chureal was able to handle things on her own, was troubling.

  If the oceans were rising then, someday, they would have to be stopped by someone.

  It was all very disturbing, and no less confusing, to think about these kinds of responsibilities. He was glad when Chureal's excited voice snapped him out of his void like the crack of a whip.

  "Look," she squealed. She was pointing at a grayish brown and green place at the edge of the horizon. It took Braxton a moment to regain his wits from, but when he did, he knew it was land she was pointing at.

  "Is that it?" she asked over her shoulder. He could see that the freckles across her nose had darkened, and that her skin had tanned from their time in the unrestricted sunlight.

  "I hope so," he answered with a smile. "But probably not. Still, we can look and let Emerald fill his belly when we get there."

  "Emerald is always hungry," Chureal said loudly. "Aren't you?"

  "Yesss," the dragon hissed back at them. "Always hungry." He made a guttural sound that might have been a laugh and changed directions from a northern course to a more westerly bearing that would take them more directly to the land Chureal pointed out.

  The approach seemed to take forever. The line on the horizon slowly grew larger with each beat of Emearld's great wings until they could see definition and contour in the colors. Braxton was speechless when he saw that the whole southern edge of the land mass was one long jagged cliff, and he instantly thought about Whiskle and the story he'd been told back in Camberly. He also considered the ancient elf, Xuniper. He wondered if this was her homeland, and if Scarlee existed in this cliff somewhere, or if it was already underwater. He decided to make careful mental notes about the location of the little moon in the sky and its relation to the stars, and any other things he could think of while they were here. When he had the chance he would write them in the back of Taerak’s journal with the rest of his findings.

  Emerald picked out an area close to the top of the cliff that had several crags and fissures for Braxton and Chureal to hide in. As they drew closer, Emerald spotted a city and remembered it from a previous visit with Skyla. Badordan was what the dragon called it, and he assured them that they would be better off staying hidden while he fed. He said the creatures that roamed this land had little respect for humankind, and those humans that did manage to survive here were powerful and brutal. Furthermore, the dragon told them, since there was still plenty of daylight left, they wouldn't be staying through the night.

  Braxton wondered why the dragon didn't seem to feel safe here. After thinking about it, he decided not to argue. If his ancestors had to live in a city, thousands of feet below the surface, at the edge of the sea, he was sure he didn't want to spend the night here anyway.

  He would just have to watch the sun and pay attention to how long the dragon flew, and in what direction, and hope that Debain or Xuniper could figure out the way back, if that is was what they wanted to do.

  Braxton and Chureal didn't stay huddled in the rocks very long. Emerald was still chewing his meal, with a bloody froth dripping from his maw, when he returned and hurried them onto his back. No sooner did Braxton get himself situated behind Chureal on the saddle, did he have to duck from an arrow that went whizzing by his face. Emerald leapt off the cliff into the air, and the wind lifted them up quickly forcing them back over the land. Braxton saw a few dozen heavily armored men on horseback below. They were shouting and loosing arrows pointlessly into the sky. He noticed that they were riding under a light-blue banner, boasting a white bird with its wings spread wide, and a deep red horizontal band that split the flag like a bloody gash.

  A short while later, after finally swallowing his meal, Emerald informed them that he thought the humans might have taken back some control of the land they’d just left. The city known as Badordan was flying the same flag as the soldiers who had so rudely chased him out of the herd of cattle he'd been devouring.

  After a few more questions, Braxton figured out that it had been almost a hundred years since Emerald and Skyla-Veltin had been there. After telling him that part, the dragon grew quiet and seemingly sad as he carried them north and west, trying to get back on their original course.

  Night came, and Braxton kept warm by huddling behind Chureal as best as he could. She was heavily bundled and didn’t complain. It seemed the air was far cooler in this part of the world, and he remembered that winter was creeping up on Narvoza. Autumn was almost half over, and if they didn't get back and help find the Sapphire of Souls soon, they would have to wait out the winter.

  Braxton thought they might need the cold weather gear to find and retrieve the blood crystals from the frozen plains in the far north that Taerak had spoken of. He decided to discuss the possibility of Emerald carrying him there and wondered if the dragon would stay and help them, or if his service to Skyla and the jewel was finished.

  Braxton figured he was aiding them now because he had been summoned. So far, Emerald had been very helpful. As the night wore on, Braxton thought about what he wanted to know and what would be the proper way to ask it of a dragon.

  The next morning, while Chureal still slept, Braxton stretched and shivered, trying to shake off the night's chill without waking her. After collecting his thoughts, he spoke to the wyrm.

  "How long did you fly with Skyla?" he asked cautiously.

  "More than four hundred years," the dragon replied without looking back.

  "Can you fly over the snow and ice?" Braxton asked, then added clumsily, "I mean, without freezing your wings or anything."

  "You wish to go to the ice fields?" the dragon asked.

  "I wish to find the vein of blood crystal before I have to face the demon." Braxton took a deep breath and continued. "I also must find my companions who are seeking the Sapphire of Souls in the Wilderkind Forest of my homeland."

  "These ice fields and the blood crystal can be found in the frozen north of your homeland?" It was clearly a question.

  "Yes," answered Braxton.

  "I know the ice fields. I will take you there before I take you to your companions," the dragon agreed.

  "There's one more thing," Braxton felt he was pushing his luck. "A quick stop once we reach my homeland so that I can get warm clothes for Chureal and I. I know a place where you can fill your belly again with little effort. There are herds of sheep and cattle in pens nearby." The last he added to entice the wyrm.

  "I am too old and tired to do much more," the dragon said after some time. "This journey, after the impact I survived when Skyla died, has taken its toll on me. But yes, I will stop if I can sate my hunger. Though sheep are tasty, they are too shaggy to enjoy. I would prefer elk or cows."

  Braxton tried to imagine eating a sheep, and decided that all that wool would make the meat hard to enjoy.

  Sometime later that afternoon, Emerald spoke. “I smell death. Old death. Dragon death.”

  Braxton hoped that it was the rotting corpse of the once mighty red wyrm that was killed on the Isle of Jolin. He told Emerald and a wide-eyed Chureal all about the elve’s little island, and the battle he had witnessed there. He told them about the blue wyrm defending her nest and hatchling from the intruding fire dragon that had most likely been stirred from the mountains by the gothicans who were under the influence of the evil demon.

  Chureal asked question after question, and Braxton did his best to answer. Emerald snorted his dislike of trolls and his hatred of the many demons that plagued the lands. In a roundabout
way, the old wyrm informed Braxton and Chureal that they were now Warriors of the Void and that they had no true homeland anymore. They served no king or kingdom, and all they had left in life was duty, part of which was to seek out and destroy or imprison things like Pharark.

  It turned out that Braxton was correct. The smell was that of the decaying corpse the blue had killed. As they passed high over the small island, Braxton could see the line of fallen trees across the forest. It looked like a scar.

  It was late, well past midnight, when the dragon finally set them down outside the village of New Scarlee and went to feed. They agreed to meet at the same place at dawn, which gave Braxton and Chureal just enough time to sneak into the village and retrieve the bundles of cold weather gear Vinston-Fret had stored at the home of the man who rowed them across the bay.

  Braxton saw no sign of the old fisherman who'd lost his entire family to the trolls, but he quickly found the bundles of things in the barn. All the while, Chureal asked him question after question about the elves and dwarves. She said that she'd seen elves before, but had never met one. Never had she seen a dwarf. She was very curious about Nixy and the bald lady that did magic. She said she could tell by Braxton's voice, and how he made a certain face when he talked about her, that he was in love with Nixy.

  “You are a very smart and perceptive little girl,” he told her. It was clear she had a far greater grasp of the jewel's magic than he did.

  Emerald was already there sleeping soundly when they returned, and Braxton spent some time stretching and working his tired muscles while they waited for him to wake.

  Dawn broke, and the old dragon slept on. Neither Braxton nor Chureal were in a hurry to get back in the saddle since they knew where they were and had a good idea what was ahead of them. Eventually, they fell asleep, too. They woke in the early afternoon when Emerald told them it was time to go.

  Braxton followed the snaking river from his vantage and easily found where it widened into the lake. He also noticed the lake was sizably smaller than he'd remembered. The water seemed a lot further away from the tree line than it had been before, and he pondered this as he searched for some sign of his companions. Emerald was too high in the sky and flying to fast for him to make out much detail, and Braxton's thoughts turned to the wellbeing of Nixy and his friends as the lake faded from view behind them.