by Dave Skinner
“There is too much sky,” he said quietly to the little sylph.
“I agree,” she said. “There are far too many large birds. I am getting a crick in my neck from watching them.”
“I doubt they will attack you while you are riding my shoulder, but if you want, you can stand in the hood of my cloak. It will keep you hidden.” He felt Flitter slide down his back.
“This is nice,” she told him. “I may ride like this all the time. I can even take a nap if I like.”
“What, and miss this interesting scenery?” Brayson asked. Flitter just snorted.
By the end of the second day, the farms became fewer while sabretooth sightings became more frequent, although they had not been attacked. They built large fires at night and surrounded their camp and their mounts with a protective barrier created by Andoo and maintained by the three apprentices who shared the duty throughout the night. A couple of times, the barrier fizzled and sparked when cats tested it, but nothing passed through.
Midway through the third day, they saw some burnt out buildings. The grouping had clearly been a small community. The stones used for the footings and parts of fireplaces were all that remained.
“This is where the Destroyer’s army came through the rift,” Jory explained. “This village was destroyed before they knew what was happening. The remains of a farmhouse and a barn can be seen on that rise over there.” He pointed out over the grasslands.
The next day the terrain changed slightly. The grasses became thicker, and the few trees that were scattered sparsely over the landscape were larger and more developed. Up to this point, the trees had been new growth beside burnt out husks.
“The Destroyer’s army blighted everything it came across as it marched towards Point,” Jory explained. “They did not come this way. We are entering the area where the cats have become more abundant, so keep a good lookout.”
Andoo’s protective barrier was tested four times that night, and they were attacked as they set out the next morning by one cat, but the hunters dispensed with it easily. Shortly after the midday meal, Brayson saw something happening around a tree a ways ahead. As they drew closer, they saw three sabretooth tigers circling the trunk.
“I think something has taken shelter there,” Brayson said. His vision was better than his companions. “It looks like a man.”
They made their way towards the tree expecting the cats to leave. The sabretooths watched them approach but showed no sign of backing off.
“Make a line,” Jory ordered. “Lances at the ready.”
The hunters spread out in a line. Brayson saw Nails and Reese pull their swords and did the same.
“Hold on tight, Flitter,” he warned. “The ride may get bumpy.”
They stopped their advance less than a stone’s throw from the tree. The cats had stopped their circling and were now standing, waiting.
“Can you startle them, Andoo?” Jory asked. “Perhaps scare them off.”
“Why don’t you take care of that, Feenatay,” Andoo suggested.
Feenatay nodded and then stood in her stirrups. She made a circular motion with both arms and pointed them at the tigers. Light shot from her hands and landed a step in front of the cats. All three sabretooths jumped straight into the air and then raced off, but not far. Feenatay sent another blast after them and they disappeared into the grasses.
“The cats are gone,” Andoo called to the man. “We can see you home safely.”
The man’s head came out from behind the tree trunk and Brayson stared.
“What is that?” Flitter asked.
“It is an ogre,” Andoo said.
The ogre climbed down the tree and came forward. “Thank you,” it said in a slightly accented version of the lake country’s common language. “The farmer I work for sent me for help, but the big cats treed me. Do you have water? I finished mine yesterday.”
When no one moved, Brayson rode Patches forward and threw his waterskin to the creature. He estimated that Nails was larger than the ogre, but not by much. He had muscular arms, neck, and chest and long brown hair that hung down his back in braids. His lower body was clothed in heavy pants sporting several patches, and his feet were bare, with long sharpened toenails. Short tusks poked up over his upper lip and when he spoke, Brayson saw large sharp teeth. The ogre finished squirting water into his mouth and walked forward.
“That is close enough,” Brayson said. “Just toss the skin back.” He thought the ogre looked disappointed for a moment. “Actually, keep the skin for now. You will need a lot of water for the next few days.”
“Thank you,” the ogre said.
Andoo rode his horse up beside Brayson. “Were you part of the Destroyer’s army?” he asked.
“Yes. Three of us escaped the dragon’s fire. I was the only one who survived our journey. I helped a farmer who was being attacked by a sabretooth, and he gave me a job and a place to live.”
“You said you were sent for help,” Andoo said.
“Yes. A large snake-like creature is attacking the farms in our area and killing livestock. It killed the horses, so the farmer could not get his family away. I offered to go for help. Will you help?”
“Yes of course.”
“Good, but we should go. I have been away for too many days.”
Chapter 34
Nails let his eyes roam over the grassland as they rode. Eventually, they settled on the woman riding beside him and stayed there. Reese was wonderful. Every time he looked at her, he felt good. She had inherited some of Ran’s magnetism, that something that marked her father as a hero. For Reese, it manifested as a glow that drew and held an observer’s eyes. Before they travelled to Little Point, he had been talking with Feenatay about Reese and mentioned it. Feenatay had told him she felt sorry for Reese because of that glow.
“It is hard enough on her being as tall as she is,” Feenatay had said. “Not many men like women who are bigger than them, not to mention stronger, faster and better with a blade. Add the glow to that, and it is a rare man who will even talk to her. I have seen men try, only to have their tongues tie themselves in knots before they could get a word out. It has made her shy and uncertain with the opposite sex.”
Nails was happy that there weren’t other men in Reese’s life. They were getting along well, much better than on the trip to Lower Thesia. He thought back to that and understood what Feenatay meant about one’s tongue getting tied up. He had not been able to talk to her back then, let alone break through her barriers, but now their relationship was different. She seemed to prefer his company. She even placed her bedroll beside his at night. That had caused him a few sleepless nights when it first happened, but he got used to having her close. Now, he could not think of having it any other way. He even thought that Reese had moved her bed a little closer to him since the ogre had joined them. She was obvious about her distrust of the creature, until the third day after they had saved him.
They were riding beside a deep gully, one of the many that crisscrossed the grasslands. He and Reese were riding side by side when a sabretooth had shot out of the ditch to attack his mount. His charger’s scales had saved it, but his mount spun around and slammed into Reese’s horse, sending Reese and the horse to the ground. Before Nails could jump from his saddle, the ogre sprinted by him and threw himself on the cat as it sprang at Reese. The weight of the ogre on its back toppled the sabretooth, and Reese, who was already up with her sword in hand, skewered it. Everyone, Reese included, treated the ogre with respect after that.
That evening Nails and the ogre, whose name was Nag, had shared a haunch of sabretooth that the ogre had sliced away and carried with him. Nails found the meat tough and stringy, and the ogre said it wasn’t the best cat he had tasted either. They had talked until late; actually the ogre had done all the talking. He wouldn’t talk about the War of the Crystals, as he called it, except to say that demons were terrible, cruel, masters. He talked mostly about his lif
e as a farmhand. He enjoyed the work, and the family treated him well, but he was lonely. Nails thought about it later. The ogre was the only one of his kind in the whole world. He could never return home and would never have a mate. Nails could relate to him. Thoughts like that had crossed his mind at times. If he failed to control his magic, being around people would not be wise, not to mention the fact that he could bring a building down on Brayson.
They arrived at the farm as the sun started down on the ninth day. As they crested a hill that allowed them to look down on the farmstead, Nails saw a look of relief on Nag’s face. The farmstead was a simple affair: a small sod house with a lean-to back room. A large barn also made of sod had two corrals beside it, although Nails saw no large animals. All taken by the snake creature, he assumed. From the hilltop, he saw a man and a woman working beside the house. A small child was helping the woman in the garden while the man chopped firewood. As the companions left the hilltop and were noticed, the work stopped, and the man went to stand beside the woman and child, keeping the axe at hand. When Nails could make out the features of the family, he saw smiles break out on their faces as Nag trotted forward. The man clasped the ogre’s arm and Nag bowed to the woman as the child ran forward and hugged his leg. The travelers dismounted and Nag introduced the farmer as Manny, the woman as Shay and the little boy was Tomlin.
“I hope you have come to save us from the snake,” Manny said.
Andoo stepped forward and bowed to them. “My name is Andoo Toran,” he said. “I am Master of the Wizard’s Council, and we have come to help. May we put our animals in the corral?”
“In the barn would be better,” Manny advised. “This is the fourth night since the last attack. I believe you have arrived just in time.”
They unsaddled their mounts, leaving the livery sitting on the rail of the corral. After being brushed down, the animals were sequestered in the barn. Nails took care of Andoo’s horse while the wizard talked with Manny. One of the hunters had killed an antelope that morning and he had carried it slung across his saddle. Now, it was roasting over an open-pit fire. After everyone had eaten, and the family had secured a few fine roasts for the cold cellar, the rest of the cooked meat was hung as bait from a post erected in the farmyard about halfway between the house and the barn. Andoo hoped it would distract the snake long enough for the hunters to attack. As the light of day passed, the hunters brought their livery into the barn and saddled their horses again. A plan had been agreed to during dinner.
Reese and Feenatay would be in the house to protect the family in case the creature went there. The horses and the men would be in the barn with the doors closed. Nag would keep watch from the loft of the barn. Unfortunately, his vantage point at the side of the barn only allowed him to see the post where the meat hung. When the creature went for the meat, Nag would signal, Nails and Brayson would sweep the barn doors open, and the sabretooth hunters would ride out and attack with their lances. Andoo would add his magic to the attack as needed. It wasn’t expected that the snake would go to the house. The family said it never had before, but Reese and Feenatay would be there if the unforeseen happened. As night came, they all took their places and the wait began.
Nails and Brayson were seated at the barn doors with their backs leaning against it, and most of the sabretooth riders were perched beside their horses while others stood. Andoo sat leaning against a support post in the centre of the barn close to the doors.
“I would have volunteered to fly to the barn roof and watch from there,” Nails heard Flitter tell Brayson. “But there are too many owls around. They feed on the rodents, but they like an occasional sylph as a treat.”
“I fully understand,” Brayson said.
“Make sure you stay by the door, my love. I will swoop out as soon as the riders are through.”
A horse neighed and then another. More of the beasts moved nervously. The sabretooth hunters were all on their feet now, soothing their mounts.
“It comes,” Nag called from above.
Nails and Brayson climbed to their feet and took their positions by the doors while Flitter flew to a cross beam and perched there. Nails heard a sound like something heavy being pulled along the ground. The horses were stomping and neighing, and suddenly, the sound of wood breaking cracked through the air. Nails looked around the barn and then realization hit him.
“It went for the house!” he screamed as he threw his weight against the door and raced out of the barn. Something large had broken through the door of the house, and Nails saw its white, snake-like body filling the doorway. A section of it, about as long as he was tall, lay stretched into the yard. He heard someone yell “no” from inside the house and raced forward. He was sure it was Reese who had screamed. The body was twitching back and forth. Swinging his sword with two hands, he brought it down on the thing and a roar sounded from inside. The snake swung around, tearing the doorjamb and part of the wall away as it turned on him. Nails saw a mouth full of teeth coming at him and raised his sword.
“Stop! Leave her alone,” Reese screamed at him, as she ran out of the house. “Everyone stop. She means us no harm.”
Horses and riders were charging out of the barn as Nails was face to face with a mouth large enough to swallow Brayson whole. The thing had stopped when Reese screamed. A flash of light and a crack of thunder accentuated her protest and all movement stopped, except for Reese who charged up beside the creature and placed a protective arm across it.
“Missica, he will not hurt you,” Reese said. “Nails, put your sword down. Everyone relax. Put those lances down. This is Missica. She is a young dragon and she is hungry.”
Chapter 35
Tamican lay quietly while Airis ran her hand over his stomach.
“When did it start?” the old, wise woman asked.
“I first felt it perhaps six seven-days ago,” Tamican said. “It might be longer. It feels like hunger, so I am not really sure. The voice in my head started the same time.”
“When did you notice it, Ara?” Airis asked his mother.
“I started to notice it five seven-days ago,” Ara said.
“Tamican has never been a big eater,” she reminisced, “at least, not since he returned from the war. He was eating the same amount of food, but I would find him back at the larder shortly after we finished. If he was younger, I would have said he was just a growing boy, but he had his thirty-second name day this year. He is no longer a boy, despite the fact that he is still unwed and living with his parents.”
Tamican rolled his eyes. He had been hearing this complaint more often over the last few years. Especially since his younger brother married and started a family.
“I am not ready, Mother.”
Airis finished her inspection and sat back. “I feel nothing wrong in your stomach,” she said with a frown. “Can you feel it anywhere else?”
“Sometimes I feel it in my chest.”
“Pull your shirt off,” Airis said. Tamican sat up, pulled the shirt over his head and lay back.
“I see you still wear your pendant,” Airis observed.
“It is a keepsake from another time,” Tamican said. Usually, only Skyriders wore the magical pendants. They were part of a Skyrider’s uniform, along with the special insulated flying outfits they wore so proudly. Every hopeful Skyrider owned an outfit and a pendant. If they were not selected as riders, they usually kept them and passed them along to sons and daughters. Tamican had not been selected to fly the large territone birds the Skyriders used, and it had broken his heart until he had ridden Ichaca the dragon for the first time. He turned his thoughts away from that. He accepted the fact that he would never ride the skies again, or at least that was what he told himself and everyone else. Airis was running her hands over Tamican’s chest, checking it the same way she had checked his belly. As she reached to move his pendant aside, she suddenly jerked her hand away, then reached out slowly and placed her hand on it.
“The
re is more magic in this than what I added to it,” Airis observed.
“A wizard added a spell that allowed Ran and me to speak with the dragons while we were flying,” Tamican said. He sat up as a thought jumped to his mind and looked at Airis.
“Try it,” she said.
Tamican took the leather thong that held the pendant in his hands and lifted it off his body and over his head. The voice stopped. The pangs of hunger faded away.
“It is coming from the pendant,” he whispered. “How can that be?”
“It is only a guess,” Airis said, “but you said the wizard put a spell on Ran’s pendant as well. Perhaps you are hearing him?”
“No, this is not Ran’s voice. I would recognize him in the same way I would recognize Ichaca’s voice. This voice feels different.” Tamican wrapped a hand around the pendant. The feeling of hunger and the whisper of a voice came back. “I must go south,” he said.
***
“Feel it,” Tamican said, as he held the pendant out to Dominic.
“It does not matter if I can feel it or not,” Dominic said. “I do not have a bird and rider I can spare.” He did not add it, but Tamican believed he said, on some leather worker’s fever dream, to himself.
Tamican turned to Airis for support. “I am sorry, Tamican, but Dominic is in charge of the Skyriders. I will not override his decision.”
Tamican looked around the room. His friend, Shanic, stood behind Dominic but lowered his eyes when Tamican looked his way. Dominic was studying a document on his desk as if he had already dismissed Tamican’s request, and Airis just stared back at him.
“Fine,” Tamican said. “I will walk.”
Dominic looked up. “It will take you many moons to walk to Gore, even using the Quiet.”
“It is better than sticking my head under a territone wing.”
It was an insult used on a coward, but Tamican was beyond caring. Dominic sprang to his feet.
“Get out of my office, leatherworker,” he barked.