Serpentine Risen

by C. K. Rieke

  Then Dânoz finally spoke. “Veranor has not turned as you thought, no, he’s bringing your Kera to us as we speak. Your gods have given too much power to man, so we’ve returned to our great cities to rule. That is where Veranor will take the Dragon’s Breath. He is bringing her to us.”

  “No!” Lilaci yelled. “You’re wrong, he’s changed!”

  “He killed Gorlen,” Roren said. “She’s dead because of him.”

  Again, another pause from the gods.

  “His betrayal will not be forgiven,” Eyr said. “But so that he is not sent to the fires below, he will repent by bringing us the girl, so that although his life is forfeit, his eternal life will be spent with those he cared for. You see, that’s the way of man, selfish in nature.”

  “You’re wrong,” Fewn yelled. “He won’t take her to you. He’s sworn to protect her. She trusts him. We trust him.”

  “Enough!” Dânoz said in a voice that shook the ground at their feet and sent a rippling roar that coursed through the air, nearly knocking them to their feet.

  At that moment, Lilaci felt another surge of fear run through her. The voice of the Great God was enough to humble her to a sense of what a rat must feel like to a venomous sand snake, hungry and poised to strike. He could turn us to stone, with his mere touch he could turn us to dust. Kera’s not here to protect us from their might, we are utterly helpless out here on the sands . . . Alone. Veranor took her from us. Is she safer or at more danger with him out on the sands?

  “I didn’t come here to speak with mortals of the way of the sands,” Dânoz said, his beard whipping in the mad winds swirling around him. “I’m here to stop this foolish war before it starts. Where you stand, is where you die.”

  In the raging storm that whipped its bitter winds down on them and let loose the fury of lightning, inching its way toward them, the Great God summoned the glowing strands of lightning to his fingertips. His eyes grew from a blue to a pure, white light as he stared down at them.

  “Kera,” Lilaci yelled up into the storm. “You can kill us today, Dânoz, but you’re scared of her, aren’t you? That’s why you sent me out, then Veranor and even your own, one of true evil—the Witch Queen. Ha! I’m surprised you even came out yourself. Makes me think you wouldn’t even be here if Kera was with us. All of your strength is for nothing when she’s around.”

  “Lilaci . . .” Fewn whispered, “you’re making him madder.”

  Dânoz and Eyr stood with the lightning flowing through them and around them.

  “Go on then!” Lilaci yelled, her wet black hair whipping across her face as she yelled up at the gods. She stood tall and straight with her shoulders back. “Do it, you cowards! You can kill everything and everyone in the Arr, but she’s still coming after you, and you’ve got nothing to stop her! Send out the Scaethers, but you want to know something—eventually they’re all going to realize that Kera is so much more like them than you are. The sands are starting to shift. All are going to see you for what you truly are. You’re just a pack of murderers and torturers, and you know what we all now know and see about you? You can die, just like everything else in these lands!”

  Dânoz’s eyes and powers flared up in an explosion of heat and light. His temper was legendary, but in that moment, even Lilaci’s eyes watered from the sheer might of the god. She could feel the lightning approaching like an inferno, sizzling and seething everything in its path.

  Suddenly a roar ripped through the sky that pierced through the whirling storm, through the lightning and thunder, and through the mighty god's rage. Then another roar, a menacing blast that rippled through the air. Lilaci opened her eyes just in time to see a great pair of wings outstretched above her, flapping its mighty wings as it hovered in the air above them, Lilaci dropped to a knee from the brushing winds that blew down on them.

  “Herradax!” Roren yelled up.

  “Blessed dragon!” Burr said. “You see that, you bastard? I bet she knows of you, of what you did to her family too.”

  The gray dragon with the three red stripes that ran down her sharp dragonscales let out another roar. Lilaci thought she caught an inkling of fear in the gods up above, although they showed none.

  “A puny, single dragon is all you have,” Dânoz said, his mouth was crooked at one corner, and his tone was low with spite. “That’s not enough to save you, you will meet your end soon enough. There is another that’s more important to me than any of you maggots. Lilaci, I see now what you see in the girl.” Dânoz laughed then, and a bitter hatred roared up in her at that. “You care for her out of some pathetic feeling to care for someone, to protect her. But know this,” his eyes flared up once more, “she’s going to die, and it is going to be your fault, for not being there to protect her. You let her down, just as you let down your parents, and your little brother and sister. I never kill the children, I always give them a chance to survive, so that the strong may live. But your Elka and Darig were not of the strong breed, they died of thirst and heat. Kera will die a slow death too, and you let it happen to her. Veranor will bring her to us, and when she comes to Firen-ar, and looks up at us with eyes full of fear, I’ll tell her you let her die, that Lilaci was the one who let you down.”

  “You monster,” she said, pointing her sword straight out at the god, it’s sharp metal glowing in the light of the god’s presence. “You devil! Darig and Elka weren’t weak, they were only children. What kind of god would kill innocent children? What kind of god do you pretend to be? Behind those blue eyes lies a shadow, a nightmare disguised as a dream. As long as I draw breath I’m going to find her, to the ends of the world, and I’m going to hunt you down. I’m coming for you, monster!”

  “Yeah, me too!” Fewn yelled, holding her own sword up. “I’m coming, too!”

  “Fools,” Eyr said. “You’re pathetic, you have no strength against us. The gift of the Sanzoral can’t be summoned against us.”

  “We have the first dragon to fly these skies in hundreds of years,” Burr said. “That’s what we’ve got.”

  Lilaci took a couple of steps forward, but then she heard a sharp breaking sound, and stepped back. A rumbling shook the ground at her feet and she ran back to the others. The sands before them poured down into the earth like the sand of an hourglass. The ground trembled, and the party struggled to remain on their feet. The breaking grew louder, rock crumbled before them, and then Lilaci noticed that the gods were getting further away. Wait, no, the gods aren’t moving farther away, we are!

  The crumbling rock from the earthquake had created a divide between them and the gods. Lilaci turned to look on both north and south and saw the gap was being created as far as she could see. “No!”

  “Instead of the release of death,” Dânoz said. “I banish you to deserts, and let me tell you this, Kera is not on your side of this division. You may make it to this side, but by the time you do make it, the Dragon’s Breath will be safely in my grasp.”

  The canyon shook and broke as the desert was stretched in a great divide as the party watched helplessly, and the dragon above could only watch.

  “What are you waiting for?” Fewn said up to Herradax, who didn’t look down at her, she only continued to hover over them like a mother bird protecting her young from a prowling snake.

  “No,” Lilaci said again. “Kera, don’t leave me again.”

  “Kera . . .” Roren said, in disbelief. “No, she can’t be left alone with him.”

  “Dânoz,” Lilaci said. “I’m going to kill you for this.”

  “You’re welcome to try, little girl,” he said. “You know where I am. Though, I’m quite certain you won’t see me again. If it is a war you wish to wage, then a war you will have. Yet I have armies of men and beast, what do you have? One puny dragon, an aging man with one eye, a traitor, and a weak man? That’s your army?”

  “Yes,” she said. “And that’s all I’m gonna need.”

  “We will see,” the Great God said. “We will see.” Then in a flash lik
e the bright light of staring at the afternoon sun, the gods were gone, and Lilaci watched as the storm uncurled back into a light storm with soft, pattering rain. She walked straight to the cliff before them and looked down. She saw the high sheer rock cliffs on either side of the massive canyon formed before them. At the bottom of which lay a heavy black fog. Lilaci couldn’t tell how deep the canyon was because of the darkness. Herradax flew off then, rising high as she glided over the canyon.

  “Can you see the bottom?” Fewn asked.

  “I, I think so,” Lilaci said. “But I’m not sure.”

  “We’ve got to find a way across,” Roren said. “Kera’s alone over there.”

  “Not alone,” Fewn said.

  “No, worse,” Burr said.

  “The canyon goes on for miles north and south,” Fewn said. “We will have to take the Ioxi for days to go around, if there is an ‘around.’ Who knows, they may have split the Arr in half.”

  “We will find a way,” Lilaci said. “When it comes to Kera, we have nothing left. If Kera falls into their hands—they win. We can’t let that happen. Dânoz cannot win. Not again. Not this time. This time’s going to be different. He’s not going to take what we love. We are going to take from him what he loves most.”

  “What, what is that?” Roren asked.

  “Power.”

  Part III

  Ripples of the Past

  Chapter Fourteen

  The cool, bitter bite of harsh winds swept through the canyon, bellowing out with strong gusts, as if the massive crack in the Arr was telling all to stay away. A long day had passed as Lilaci, Roren, Fewn and Burr took their caravan of Ioxi along the high cliff of the canyon. They’d been heading north, looking for any sort of way across, or down. Lilaci walked north after their encounter with Dânoz and Eyr, for north was toward the city of Voru, and her fear of death was gone. She didn’t fear the gods anymore, she only feared for Kera’s safety. Again, nothing mattered more to her than that.

  As they rode atop their Ioxi, none of them talked. Roren’s shoulders swayed from side to side, slumped over. Fewn sniffled as she rode behind. Burr hadn’t returned to the barrel of wine, instead his gaze was upon the canyon’s cliffs. Lilaci’s heart and mind were heavy with burden and sorrow. Every part of her just wanted to tuck her knees into her chest and cry. She hadn’t felt that helpless since the time the sandworms in the cave almost killed her.

  Does it never end? Will this damned canyon go on forever? At least I can finally feel the Sanzoral returning to me, although that’s bittersweet. It just means the gods have made their way back to Erodoran. I could try to use its magic to take me across the gorge, but I can feel it’s weak. Where a fist of power once was, the Sanzoral helped me move a great dune, now feels like but a tip of my smallest finger. I control wisps of sand, I hope it will return. Until it does, I’ve got to keep moving, find a way down the cliff.

  “I hate to be the one to mention it,” Burr said then, his gray hair whipping in the winds from under his hood, “but night is coming, we should rest to be strong for tomorrow’s light, and continue our search.”

  “No,” Lilaci said, “We’ve got to keep looking, Kera’s out there.”

  “I want to find the girl too,” he said. “But even if we found a way across, what chance would we have at night?”

  “My Sanzoral could produce enough light for me to make it down,” she said. “If you want to make camp, go ahead.”

  Burr looked over at Roren, and then Fewn.

  “Lilaci . . .” Fewn said.

  “What?”

  “She’ll be safe for now,” Fewn said. “He won’t betray her. I’m sure they’re sitting around a small fire right as we speak. He’ll protect her.”

  A sharp churning sensation welled up in Lilaci’s stomach. I should’ve been quicker, I should have sensed Veranor was going to take her. It should be me out there with her now, not him. Not him.

  “I can’t . . .” Lilaci said, but she couldn’t help her voice from quivering. She wiped the tears from her eyes. She jumped down from her Iox and went over to Fewn. “He’s still got evil in him, Fewn. He planned to take her this whole time, I bet you. I don’t trust him like you do.” Again, wiping away more tears, she turned away and cried out into the desert. The grief and sadness were too much for her to contain within her, with her heart squeezed yet again from despair. “Aghhh!” It was a high-pitched, throat-cracked scream that echoed out in the desert. “Kera! Where are you? I’m sorry! I failed you . . .”

  She felt a pair of hands then fall onto her shoulders from behind. It briefly reminded her of her time under the moonlight with the boy Gogenanth years ago. Back when she felt safe with his touch.

  “It’s OK,” the man said. “You can let it out.”

  She screamed again, an ear-splitting, gut-wrenching scream that shot through the hearts of her companions. She turned and looked into the blue eyes of the man standing before her, only inches away. “It’s OK, I feel the same. I feel like we let her down too,” Roren said.

  Lilaci, looking into his sad eyes, felt her lips and jaw shake and quiver, and a tear dropped from the corner of his eye. “I should’ve known, I should have fought harder to keep her. I feel like I’m not worthy to protect her. No matter how hard I try, it’s never going to be enough, and she’s the one who is going to get hurt.”

  Roren dipped his hands around Lilaci’s waist and pulled her toward him. At first, she was startled by the movement, but feeling his body pulled against hers, she felt a sense of relief she didn’t expect, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and let her tears fall onto his shoulder. She sobbed gushing tears and pulled him in tightly. She let her fingers dig into the back of his tunic.

  “It’s OK,” he said. “I feel the same way.”

  Sniffling, and wiping her nose Lilaci lifted her head up from Roren’s shoulder. She looked up at him, into his sad blue eyes reflecting the setting sun behind her. She saw his eyes dancing with streaks of bright oranges and reds, as they were glazed over from sadness. Then, she seemed to snap back to herself and took a step back from him, dropping her hands to her side. She wiped the tears from her face hastily and looked up to see Fewn watching them with her mouth hanging open, and Burr looking at her with a suspicious, yet somber gaze.

  “Fine, let’s set up a quick camp for the night,” she said. “But we’re moving out before first light. I don’t want Kera out there another night alone.” She walked back to her Iox and began to unpack her things. Fewn leaped down, but Burr looked over at Roren, who let out a sigh and stared at the setting sun before him for several moments. The red sun dipped down below the high dunes in the distance, it looked like the sky was on fire as the clouds burned like dragonfire.

  “A blood sun, signaling the return of Dânoz to the sands,” Burr said. “Things are only sure to get tougher from here out. Come on Roren, occupy your mind, let us get a fire together, and wet your tongue with some wine.”

  The long tails of the fire whipped and cracked as they rose high into the night sky. The glowing embers of the fire smoldered like the insides of a dragon as Lilaci stared at the fire. An Ioxi let out a gruff, mucousy snore as they slept, huddling tight into each other. Then she leaned back onto her hands behind her, a thin blanket lapped over her crossed legs. She looked up at the shimmering stars, feeling the last remnants of the rain in the drying sand.

  Those stars, those must be the same stars that looked down on me when Kera was last taken from me by the gods. Now again, they’re probably laughing at me. I bet they’re the same stars that watched as the Scaethers swept into my camp and killed my family. I wonder what they thought that night . . . Did they watch in horror, longing to help those innocent children, or did they watch in pleasure as the gods did whatever they wanted? No matter how violent? No— they’re just stars.

  Dânoz remembered my family. He remembered my brother and sister. He even enjoyed talking about them—dying—on the sands, alone. I want nothing more than to sli
de my dagger into his throat and tear his head from his shoulders, throwing it down into the canyon. Do I have any chance of wreaking my revenge on him, though? Now I know the Sanzoral is useless on them, what use is a sword?

  My only chance is Kera, but we can’t get close enough from down here . . .

  She looked over at Fewn and Roren as they slept next to the fire. Roren had embarked on a quick journey with Burr that evening full of flowing wine, tears, anger, and then heavy sleep. Lilaci didn’t taste the wine, as she wanted to stay alert for her watch. The way he embraced me . . . It felt like there was something there, I can’t quite tell what it was, but I’ll admit it felt better than almost anything. There is something about the touch of another that is more warming than anything else. It only makes me want to wrap my arms around Kera again, though.

  Oh, Kera, where are you? She looked up at the stars as they glittered through the sky like candlelight on a fine silk. Are you looking up at these same sad stars right now? I hope not, I hope you are sound asleep dreaming of better times. Maybe you’re dreaming of us together again, I wish for you to have hope that we will be together again. I love you Kera, wherever you are. Sleep soundly dear princess and know that I’m thinking of you.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Let me go! Let me go!” Kera yelled. With a clumsy tumble, she fell from the back of the thick hide of the Iox onto the soft sand. She stood up quickly with an angry stare.

  “Are you finished?” Commander Veranor asked, still atop the Iox. “We need to keep moving, we’ve got many miles to go still, get back up here.” The commander’s long cape tails rustled in the blowing sands behind him. Ever since they’d left Lilaci and the others, making it to the eastern side of the newly formed canyon, the winds hadn’t calmed.

  “No!” Kera cried. “I want to go back to Lilaci and Roren. Take me back to them, we need to stay together.”