“It’s called a golem. It is—”
The old man breathed out heavily. “I know what a golem is.”
“Have you ever faced one before?” Fes asked.
“We have never been called upon to face a golem.” He looked over at the nearest warrior, and the man nodded before turning away and disappearing into the darkness. “There are techniques that are required to disable a golem.”
“Techniques? I don’t think you understand. This thing tore through a band of soldiers. This thing is hard enough that even dragonglass can’t cut through it.”
“No. A golem must be stopped by stopping the one who holds control over it. Only then can it be destroyed.”
“Good luck stopping this fire mage, then.”
“We have experience facing the fire mages. We will not need luck.”
“Are you certain? From what I can tell, you have soldiers, but against a fire mage, soldiers might not be enough.”
“And what would you suggest?”
“Let me come with you.”
He shouldn’t even offer, and Fes knew better than to risk himself traveling with soldiers of Toulen when he didn’t know what they might do. But in order to keep his promise to Indra, he needed to do this.
“Those of the empire are not welcome in Toulen.”
“Obviously, but seeing as how I am not of the empire…”
The old man continued to stare at him. “If this is permitted, you will help rescue Indra and then you will leave the Toulen lands.”
“Gladly.”
The old man had started to turn away when Fes cleared his throat.
“I need that sword back,” he said.
“You said it was not yours.”
“It wasn’t mine. The sword was stolen, but it was stolen with purpose. I needed to see if it would be powerful enough to help me cut through the spells the fire mage might use.”
“You can cut through spells?”
Fes shrugged. “I don’t understand it, either, and the people I’ve been traveling with believe that it’s because I’m descended from the Deshazl—”
Several people gasped near him.
Fes looked over but could see no sign of who had made the sound. Was it because he claimed to be Deshazl? He recognized that was uncommon and recognized that he might not even be Deshazl.
“Why would you make such a claim?” the old man asked.
“I don’t know that I would, but enough people that I’ve traveled with recently seem to believe it, so it might be true.” Fes shrugged. “Either way, I know that I have been successful in cutting through a fire mage’s spells. Whether it’s me or whether it’s the daggers or whether the dragonglass sword will work, I think I need to be with you so that I can help protect Indra.”
“You may have the sword.” The old man started to turn before pausing. What he said next troubled Fes, mostly because of the strange tone he used as he spoke. “If you are Deshazl, you would be welcome in Toulen.”
For some reason, Fes wasn’t sure if he really was welcome.
When they handed the sword over to him, he held it carefully, worried that he’d made a serious mistake. It wouldn’t be his first mistake, and he thought it probably wouldn’t be the last, either.
Chapter Twenty-One
They headed north.
Fes clung to the reins of the horse, galloping at a speed faster than when he had been riding alone. The stallion seemed more relaxed, unmindful of the fact that they were surrounded by fifty Toulen warriors riding horses much larger than it was. Those horses were powerful and moved with speed and grace that his stallion couldn’t match. It was almost as if Fes’s horse tried to prove himself.
He had stopped asking why they headed north. There was no point in continuing to question, much as there was no point in trying to get any additional answers out of the old man. He seemed reluctant to share anything more, and Fes decided that he would be content with the fact that they allowed him to travel with them. If nothing else, he was determined to see this through, determined to get Indra to safety, and then he could return to the capital and figure out what Azithan might have done with Griffin. One task at a time, Fes decided.
Near midday, the lead rider—the Toulen warrior Fes had argued with—guided them to a stop. He wasn’t certain what to expect, but as they waited, another fifty or so Toulen warriors raced toward them. They were dressed in animal skins and bones much like the warriors that Fes rode with.
“What is this about?” Fes asked the old man, nudging his horse forward to join him.
“This is one of the other clans.”
“Are you going to fight?”
“Fight?” the old man asked. “They are approaching because they carry word. We might be separate clans, but we are united as a people of Toulen.”
“What kind of word would they carry?”
“The kind we have need of.”
Fes waited, and a solid-looking man with a wide chin rode forward. Blue paint that reminded Fes of the indigo-scaled dragon of his dreams was painted on his head. “It is gone,” the man said. He had a rough voice and a hint of an accent, and there was anger blazing in his eyes. When he turned his gaze to Fes, he reached for his spear.
Fes sat completely still, almost afraid to move.
“He is with us, Ulesn.”
“He rides an empire stallion. After what has happened—”
“He came here for her.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because he claims to be Deshazl,” the old man said.
Ulesn stared at him for a long moment. “He is not Deshazl. We would know were there any Deshazl remaining.”
“We think we would know, much as we think that we would know whether the empire would sneak a fire mage into our lands.” Words hung in the air for a moment. “And he carries with him a powerful totem, one carved by Indra herself.”
“What kind of totem?”
“One of him.”
Ulesn turned his attention to Fes, now staring at him with a different type of interest. “Are you Deshazl?”
Fes shrugged. “That’s what they tell me.”
“What they?”
“Priests, mostly. I don’t know what to make of it.”
The man stared at Fes for a while before turning his attention back to the old man. “He is not Deshazl.”
“Perhaps not, but he intends to confront the fire mage.”
“We will handle the fire mage if it comes to it.”
“Even with a golem?” Fes asked. They didn’t seem impressed by it, but maybe that was because they had never faced one before. Fes had seen how indestructible the creature was, how there was virtually nothing that he could do to counter it. There was reason to fear something like that. Had he not managed to escape…
Ulesn narrowed his eyes. “A golem?”
Fes nodded.
“That would explain why Thynad was completely destroyed.”
“Completely?” the old man asked. “There had to have been a thousand people living there.”
“Many still lived, but the city itself is gone. Destroyed. And the—”
The old man shook his head. “It’s gone, too, isn’t it?”
Ulesn nodded. “It is gone.”
The old man sighed. “It should not be so easy for a fire mage to claim these things. They have been in our possession for nearly a thousand years, and for one fire mage to come in and take them?”
“If Indra is with them…” he started before trailing off.
“Even if Indra was with them, they shouldn’t have been able to move so easily through here.”
“It’s because she has a golem,” Fes said. “I don’t know what it is that you think shouldn’t be able to happen, but this creature… I’ve seen it. I’ve fought it.”
“If you had fought it, you would be dead,” Ulesn said.
“Maybe. Or maybe I got lucky. I’m not dead, so I assume that it was luck or skill or…” Fes shrugged. He didn’t
know what it was, only that somehow he still lived after facing a golem more than once.
And from what the Toulen warriors were saying, that creature was now tearing through Toulen, leaving destroyed cities and people. Was that what Elizabeth had intended to do?
Maybe she wasn’t after a dragon skull at all. Maybe she was after the destruction of Toulen, but why?
The empire had not warred with Toulen in a long time. There was no reason since Toulen was well equipped to defend itself. They had managed to fend off the fire mages and they had proven that their warriors were more than capable. The empire had supposedly decided that it wasn’t worth the effort to continue battling them.
Instead, trade had been established, and it had been beneficial for both nations. Fes himself had bought many Toulen items over the years—particularly the cloth they made. And Toulen had been more than willing to purchase dragon relic replicas. Then again, most people were willing to purchase dragon relic replicas since no one other than the empire had many.
The warriors continued talking amongst themselves, and Fes ignored them. What choice did he have? There wasn’t anything that he could offer as he still didn’t entirely know what had happened.
“Do you have a dragon skull in Toulen?” Fes spoke, interrupting them.
The old man looked over at him. “What is that?”
“A rumor. I heard that the people of Toulen have a dragon skull. Is that true?”
Ulesn and the old man exchanged a glance before looking over at Fes. “I don’t know where you’ve heard that, but…”
Fes shook his head. “Fine. If it’s not true, then it’s not true. I was told that Elizabeth might be coming after a dragon skull. And considering the village that I went through that was empty—”
The old man looked over at Fes. “What village was this?”
“It was one only a few days away from the river. I rode through it on my way south, thinking that I could catch up to her. The village was empty, and at the center of the village was a deep hole in the ground.”
The two men looked at each other again. “How many do you think she has acquired?” the old man said.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know that someone from the empire had even reached Toulen before you sent word.”
The old man pressed his lips together in a tight line. “We have to stop her. If she manages to bring those items to the empire, there will be no telling what will happen.”
“What items? Is this about dragon relics?”
“If you were Deshazl, you would know the answer to this already,” Ulesn said.
“And as I told you, I had no idea I was Deshazl until recently. So if there’s something I’m supposed to know, it’s simply a matter of my ignorance.”
Ulesn glared at him. Fes looked back, but as he did, he felt a hint of heat tingling against his skin. Was it imagined? He didn’t think that it was, and the more that he focused, the more certain he was that he did pick up on the sense of heat.
It was a familiar sense… and he recognized it as the same as what he’d felt the last time he’d detected a fire mage using their magic.
“She’s nearby,” Fes said. He spoke softly, not certain whether he was right or not, but that had to be the case, didn’t it? Elizabeth had to be near somewhere.
The old man looked at him. “What is that?”
“I can feel the beginning of magic.” He looked over, scanning the horizon, but there was nothing other than the Toulen warriors. “I don’t know where, but I feel it. She’s nearby.”
“What do you mean you can feel it?” Ulesn asked.
“I mean that there is fire mage magic being used somewhere. It’s weak, but…” Fes closed his eyes, wishing that he could pick up on the directionality of the magic, but he could not. It could be anywhere. It could be deeper into the Toulen territory, or it could be farther to the north or even south, the way they had come. He doubted that he picked it up across the river, but maybe that was where he was detecting it. Maybe it was in the empire rather than in Toulen.
“Do you really think that we should listen to him, Adoran?” Ulesn asked.
The old man—Adoran—looked over at Fes. Worry wrinkled his brow. “Are you telling the truth?”
“Why would I lie about this?” Fes asked.
“We have had others from the empire come to our lands, and many times they have tried to gain our trust, and each time they have betrayed it. It’s why we only allow our traders to go to the empire, and not the reverse. You ask why you would lie, and I tell you that it is to gain access to what has been long forbidden to the empire.”
“No. I don’t lie. And if you are keeping some sort of dragon relic here that the empire’s after, I don’t care,” Fes said. “All I care about is fulfilling that promise.”
Adoran studied Fes for a long moment before nodding. “I believe you.”
“If you believe me, then you need to be prepared for the possibility that Elizabeth will be heading in this direction.”
If it was all about a dragon relic, he believed she would be after something of great power that she would return to the empire. Something that would give her strength and status and a way to continue to challenge the people of Toulen.
“Be ready,” Adoran said to Ulesn.
“We are always ready,” he said.
“Are you always ready for a golem? Are you always ready to face a powerful fire mage?” Fes asked.
Ulesn met his gaze. There was heaviness in the way that he looked at Fes. “We are always ready.”
Fes almost shivered. There was strength in the other man, and it was the kind of strength that Fes could appreciate.
As he sat the horse, he felt the heat continue to build, growing increasingly unmistakable. Whatever was coming was happening more quickly than he had first believed. If it was Elizabeth, then he needed to be ready.
He unsheathed the sword strapped to his back.
Ulesn looked at him. “What is it?”
Fes ignored him, holding the long blade between both hands. The hilt of the sword was longer than he could manage one handed, and the sword itself was awkward. He was much more comfortable with his daggers, but perhaps the dragonglass sword might grant him an easier time cutting through this much fire magic. It seemed as if he would soon find out.
Fes closed his eyes, keeping them squeezed shut as he focused on the heat building around him. As he did, he felt a stirring, almost one that reminded him of when the rage boiled through him as he was fighting. It reminded him of the heat he felt in his dream.
Fes held onto that heat, focusing on it.
As he did, there came a distinct pressure upon him.
“North,” he whispered.
“How do you know?” Adoran asked.
“I can feel it,” Fes said, opening his eyes. “I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but it’s there, and I know that it is.”
Adoran nodded. “The Deshazl were long rumored to have the ability to detect the fire mages. It was how they managed to withstand the attacks as long as they did.”
“It didn’t seem to work out for them, did it?” Fes asked.
Adoran stared at him, seeming as if he were trying to figure out whether Fes was making a joke or not. After a while, he shook his head. “No. It did not work out for them. Eventually, the empire managed to overwhelm them. Eventually, the power of the fire magic was too much for the Deshazl. And the dragons.”
“Maybe when this is all over, you can tell me what you know of the Deshazl,” Fes said.
Adoran nodded. “I would be willing to share with you what I know, but I will tell you that it is not much.”
They started off to the north, keeping a steady pace, not moving with nearly the same swiftness that they had before. Every so often, Fes would close his eyes, focusing on the sense of the heat, that of the fire magic, before opening them. They continued to head in the right direction.
As he focused on it, Adoran watched him, almost as if he were tryin
g to decide whether or not Fes was attempting to deceive them. For his part, Fes didn’t know what it meant that he could detect what he could. The pressure he sensed was distinct, and there was no questioning that it was real. And it definitely had a particular directionality to it, something that he’d never been able to pick up on before. Maybe it was nothing more than the sword, or maybe it was simply Fes learning to focus on the source of the magic.
Gradually, the heat began to build, rising to the point where Fes wasn’t able to ignore it. Every so often, he would look at Adoran or Ulesn, but neither man seemed to notice it. Maybe it really was something that only he could feel.
“We’re getting closer,” Fes said. “I can feel the heat of her spell working more and more as we travel.”
Adoran’s eyes began to take on a tightness. Every so often, he would lean over to one of the men riding alongside him and whisper to him. When he did, the man would ride off, sometimes northerly, sometimes to the south, and always he would come racing back and whisper to Adoran.
Fes wondered what they were looking for. Was it signs of Elizabeth? Or was it something else?
They were barely more than a hundred warriors. That should be enough. When it came to confronting Elizabeth, Carter, and the golem, for some reason, Fes wondered whether or not they would have enough people with them. It was possible that the golem would tear through the line of soldiers, and if that happened, there might be nothing that could be done. It would leave Fes attempting to stop Elizabeth alone.
Would he be strong enough?
Perhaps the better question was whether or not the sword would be powerful enough. Fes didn’t know the answer to that, either.
Near dusk, the pressure got to the point where he could feel it squeezing, reminding him of what he had detected when Elizabeth had placed the dragon pearls on either side of him, attempting to constrict him with the power of her fire magic.
He continued to look at the others who traveled with him, but no one else seemed bothered by the sensation. Maybe it really was only him.
If that were the case, how was it that Elizabeth targeted him? Unless she didn’t. Unless it was simply the sense of her fire magic pushing against him.
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