by A. J. Walker
“You felt that too?” Anders exclaimed! The dragon nodded.
When I heard the other members of your group trying to reach you, I decided to leave. I haven’t had any close encounters with humans before. The humans I have seen were different. They did not exhibit the same love for nature that I felt when I saw you. Anyway, I was so curious about the warm feeling I felt when we touched that I had to follow you. When I saw you come down here to the beach, I decided that I would come and properly introduce myself. The dragon sat up tall and said, My name is Zahara. What’s yours?
“I am Anders,” he said looking up the dragon. “Judging by the sound of your voice, you’re female?” Anders said, hoping this wouldn’t offend her.
That is correct. I am a girl, Zahara said.
“I don’t mean to pry, but there’s so much I’d like to ask you. From what I was told as a child, I thought dragons would be much bigger,” Anders said.
Zahara laughed, That’s true that members of my species can grow to enormous sizes, but I’m not yet fully grown. I’m only two years old.
Anders was surprised to find out that such a young creature could be so intelligent. “What are you doing this far from Nagano? That is what your homeland is called, isn’t it?” he asked.
Yes, Nagano is home to us dragons, she said. I got separated from my group. I’ve been searching for them, but this land is all new to me and actually I’m very lost.
“How did you happen to become separated?”
We were flying away from our home because a human my elders called ‘the destroyer’ came to Nagano on the back of a black dragon. The destroyer summoned forth anyone who’d aligned with him several decades ago. When nobody answered his summoning, he began killing and torturing those who wouldn’t answer his call to action. It wasn’t safe for us to live there so we left to find the elves and stay in their realm, but a storm arose out of nowhere. My wings weren’t strong enough to keep up with the group. I have never met an elf, so I didn’t know where to look. I just began to wander, trying to keep out of sight while I searched for my family, she said.
“How terrible. I think I might know someone who could help you. He has stayed with the elves before.”
You mean the man you were following through the tall grass? she asked.
“Yes, his name is Ivan.”
I have a funny feeling about him. He’s hiding something and I don’t want to put my life in the hands of a stranger who’s keeping secrets. I trust you. I have felt you and seen you with my mind, Anders could hear the fear growing in her tone. I don’t want to go with that man. Zahara shifted her weight uncomfortably from one side to the other. Ruffling her wings she said, I have to go now. Spreading her wings, she took several steps back and took flight. Meet me tomorrow night, Anders heard her voice in his head as she flew off into the night. Just make sure you’re alone, I’ll find you. With that she was gone.
Anders shook his head to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Then he stood up and walked back to camp. He crawled back into his blankets and fell asleep, eager for their next encounter.
The next morning, the Rollo Island warriors’ leaders announced their plan to continue sailing east along the coast and around the Bareback Peninsula. From there, they would enter the Marauder Sea and begin to search each bay, cove, and inlet for any sign of the enemy’s ships. Once word of their decision spread, Anders was surprised to see how efficient the warriors, as a collective group, were at taking down their camp. They were ready to sail within an hour.
Anders and Max found the group of warriors they’d eaten dinner with the night before and climbed aboard their ship. They didn’t want to travel under Red’s command again, after he’d sailed them into a storm that wrecked their ship. To his surprise, Britt, the woman he’d spoken with by the fire was their crew’s captain.
“You two,” she said, pointing a dark finger at them when she saw the two on the deck of her ship. Anders worried that she planned to send them away to another ship given the tone she used to address them. “Grab an oar and help us paddle out to open water, then you can help out with the rigging and sail work,” she instructed. Anders and Max seemed surprised that she’d given them working orders instead of sending them away. Seeing their hesitation, she added, “If you’re going to sail under my command, you’re going to work just like the rest of us. Now get to it.”
Anders and Max did as they were told and rowed alongside the others as Britt barked out the rowing cadence. They stayed in time with the others rowing on each count. If the crew didn’t all row in sync, they wouldn’t gain enough speed to make it past the breaking waves just offshore. Anders pulled against the oar as their ship plowed through the six-foot-tall waves, sending the bow of their small ship careening over and out into the open ocean. Anders watched as the other remaining ships did the same. They had to time their launches just right or a wave would crash over the bow and easily turn the whole vessel sideways in the surf. If that happened, it would be hard to stop the boat from flipping. He was impressed that all of the other warships made it out of the break.
These people clearly know how to sail, Anders thought to himself.
Anders and Max were happy to be in new company. They had begun to grow tired of Red’s bullheadedness and Anders didn’t know if he wanted to be around Ivan after seeing him sneak away from camp for a secret conversation in the middle of the night. It had seemed as though Ivan was beginning to open up to him and he thought Ivan could be trusted, but after seeing what he was up to last night and noting the apprehensiveness Zahara felt toward him, Anders was no longer sure whether Ivan could be trusted.
Being on the new boat with new faces felt different, in a good way. It wasn’t long before they broke from rowing and dropped their sail. Britt took control of the ship from the stern. Her black skin beaded with sweat as she stoically looked ahead, gripping the ship’s tiller.
“Where exactly are we heading?” Anders asked her.
Wiping her forehead with her sleeve, she said, “East, past the grass-lands and up the Marauder Sea. Once there, we’ll begin to search every inlet and cove for the soldiers who killed and kidnapped so many of our people.”
“And when we find them?” Max asked.
“We will repay them the revenge they are owed, recapture our loved ones, sail home, and drink till we drop,” she said looking at them with her piercing brown eyes.
Max turned to Anders and whispered, “She scares me. In a good way.”
When evening came and they didn’t beach and make camp, Anders began to worry. Zahara had told him to meet her that night. If he couldn’t get off the ship, then she wouldn’t be able to talk to him. He asked Britt, “Will we be staying on the ship every night?”
Britt nodded, “It takes too much time to camp onshore every night. We need to keep a fast pace if we’re going to have a chance at catching the enemy’s ships.”
Anders looked over the edge of the ship at the passing shoreline. He hoped Zahara would follow him even though he couldn’t meet with her as they’d planned. What if something happens to her and she can’t find me when we do land? He wondered. Then, pushing away such negative thoughts, he decided, she’s an intelligent creature. If she found me twice, she can find me again.
Chapter Eleven
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Merglan’s Fortress
THOMAS AND KIRSTEN ONCE again found themselves in separate cells, while Kirsten and Maija shared one for a second time. Kirsten found this one to be a little bit nicer than the cell on the dingy ship where they’d spent the last week. This one had a dirt floor and was above ground; in Kirsten’s eyes that was an improvement. Still no toilet, but at least she could look out the doors and see the sky again. Theirs was among a line of cells that ran along the side of the large tower, built in the center of the compound. Large cliff walls surrounded the outskirts of the structures. Several other tall buildings sat within the walls, but the prisoners only had the luxury of observing them ou
t of the corners of their eyes during their forced march into the fortress. The cell doors faced a courtyard and beyond that a path that wound downhill into an enormous pit. Entrances to shafts lined the steep sides of the pit; the prisoners could see it was being mined for something.
“What do they want with us?” Kirsten asked Maija when they were out of earshot of the guards.
“Forced labor it looks like” she said, hands gripped around the iron bars of their cell as she peered out at the large pit. “What is this place?” she asked Kirsten, not really expecting an answer.
“It’s some kind of fortress,” Kirsten said eyeing the cliff walls. “The man in the dark cloak had us locked in some kind of spell or something?”
“He must be a sorcerer,” Maija said.
“I was told that all the sorcerers were dead and gone, but I guess that isn’t true. I saw a man fight Thargon using magic just before he captured us and now this guy in the dark cloak can just wave his wrist and we have to obey his commands. I have never seen anything like it,” Kirsten said, frustrated.
“I’ve seen one once before,” Maija said.
“When?” Kirsten asked.
“It was when I was little,” she began. “I don’t remember much about who they were or what they did. I just remember sitting in a house that looked like a tree. A man there could make plants grow from nothing, make things move with his mind, and even control someone else’s thoughts. I try sometimes to remember more but I can’t.”
“How old were you?” Kirsten asked.
“It was when I lived with my birth parents. I don’t know how old I was exactly, maybe six?” She said bringing her eyebrows together and curling her lip.
“I can remember most things with great clarity going all the way back to when I was a toddler,” Kirsten said. “How is it that you don’t know if you lived with your parents when you were as old as six?”
Maija seemed to be straining through the cobwebs of her memories, “I can’t remember much before I was twelve years old.” she said, unsure of herself. “I just woke up one day and everything around me was different. I was in someone else’s home. I came out of the bedroom I woke up in to find an old man and woman cooking breakfast. When I asked them what had happened to me, they told me I had lived there for years and they were my grandparents. The strange thing was I did not recognize them and had no memory of anything they said. It took me several months to come to terms with what was happening. They had to be telling me the truth; they were so nice and knew everything about me. They were wonderful people, too.”
“So you don’t remember anything about your life before you woke up in the house of strangers who claimed to be your grandparents?” Kirsten asked trying to imagine what that would be like.
“Yes,” she said.
“What about your birth parents? What happened to them?” Kirsten asked.
“My grandparents told me that it wasn’t safe for me to be with them and I wasn’t allowed to see them ever again,” Maija said sadly. “I can sometimes remember their voices, but that’s it.”
“So you grew up not knowing your parents or what happened to them? That must’ve been hard,” Kirsten said.
“It was. It looks like I’ll never find out now,” Maija said looking around at their current situation.
“Don’t say that,” Kirsten said. “We’re going to get out of this.” She looked at the iron bars locking them in the darkened cell. “Somehow…”
Kirsten spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying to make sense of what that man wanted with her family.
Had Theodor been involved in something dangerous that no one knew about, she wondered. Did it have something to do with the man she saw fight Thargon during the attack?
It all seemed very strange to her. She couldn’t make sense of it, no matter how she tried to piece it together. All she knew was that a sorcerer, with malice in his heart, sent an army of evil men led by a beastly-looking monster to wreck her life. She hated it, she hated them all and what they’d done to her and her family. They’d killed her father and hurt her brother.
I’m not going to give up on my escape just because my original plan of taking over the ship didn’t come to fruition, she promised herself.
That night Kirsten lay on the dirt floor plotting and scheming ways to escape this hell she had been forced into.
A loud banging on their cell doors woke the two girls before sunrise. It was the coldest and darkest hour of the night, just before the sun rose.
Kirsten shivered and rubbed her hands along her cold arms. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking over to Maija who was already on her feet.
“I’m not sure,” she said, her teeth chattering. “A guard just walked by banging a wooden stick on all of the cells shouting to us to wake up.”
By the time Kirsten had mustered the strength to stand up, the guard had returned to open the locked door.
“Out,” he said firmly and pointed toward the courtyard.
They staggered out, along with all of the others who’d already been ordered to stand in the dark space. Just as Kirsten was about to ask someone what was happening, loud footsteps came stomping along the fortress hallway. Thargon, the beast that had captured them, moved swiftly toward them. He stood much taller than the average man. Kirsten thought he looked hideous with dark hair that covered his body and gnarled fangs stained yellow and brown, as if they were rotten and about to fall out of his head at any moment.
“Form a line,” he bellowed angrily at them as he walked out in front of them. “Stand tall.” He walked up and down the line they had made facing him. He violently corrected their form if they were at all off from his expectations. “I have been granted the task of sorting you worthless pieces of slime into the services you will be providing for your new master, the honorable Merglan.”
Thargon took a second look at everyone, walking up and down the line. He started on the far side away from Kirsten and Maija. “Mine, mine, castle chambers, grounds, mine, kitchen,” he went down the line assigning the prisoners one by one.
Kirsten bent her head just slightly but not enough to be noticed by the guards or Thargon would’ve rushed over to violently correct her position as he did with others who’d made the mistake of relaxing their bodies or turning their heads to see what was happening down the line. She could see out of the corner of her eye Thomas’ head sticking up over those next to him. He was five or six people down the line to her right, but it was hard to tell exactly in the darkness. When Thargon got to him, Kirsten noticed he stopped and looked at him with a truly hateful glare. He said in a growl, “Mine.” Then he continued toward Kirsten and Maija.
When he got to Maija, he paused for a moment, sniffed the air around her and grumbled. “You smell, different. Not like the others.” Then he said, “Castle chambers,” and continued to Kirsten, dismissing the scent he’d smelled on Maija. Kirsten stared right into his black eyes as he looked her up and down, deciding her fate. “Castle chambers,” he said. Kirsten was surprised he didn’t put her in the mine with her brother; of course he had no idea she was his sister, but at least she got to be in the same workforce as her new friend and cellmate, Maija.
Stepping back out in front of them, Thargon announced, “You’ll be taken to your stations and the other slaves will show you your new tasks. Do not bother trying to escape. These walls surrounding the fortress are laced with magic stronger than anything you will be able to get past. Those who attempt to escape will be reprimanded accordingly. Those who do not perform their duties to expectation will be disciplined accordingly. You will be at your workstations at this time every day; tardiness will be met with reprimand. When your work is complete for the day you will be led back to your cells.” When he had finished, Thargon turned and walked out of the courtyard and back up the hallway. Armed guards dressed in uniforms lacking any insignia or recognizable allegiance came to escort them to their new stations.
“Ki
tchen staff, with me,” one of the guards shouted. Another yelled, “Grounds workers, here.” A third and fourth shouted, “Miners,” and “castle chambers.”
Kirsten and Maija walked toward the guard calling castle chambers. As they pushed through the crowd of prisoners assembled in the courtyard, Kirsten found her brother and grabbed him by the arm to get his attention.
“Kirsten,” he said, glad to see her. “Where are you going?”
“With the chamber slaves,” she said drearily. “I heard they put you in the mine. Listen, tonight when we’re back here we should talk.”
Thomas looked around, noticing the guards were watching the two talking to each other. “Okay, we’ll talk tonight,” he said, then wished her good luck and a safe day. They went their separate ways.
“Follow me,” the expressionless guard said. He led them out of the courtyard and into the hallway where Thargon had departed. Wooden torches lit the walls illuminating the darkened hallway. Entering through a narrow passageway, the guard led them up a staircase. They climbed high into the towering building. Stopping at a landing, the guard pointed to a small wooden door next to the stairs and said, “Through this door and you will be with the other maids. Go on, git!” And he pushed them along through the door. As he pushed Kirsten past, he muttered to himself, “Stupid Westlanders.” Kirsten raised her arm to hit the guard for the insult, but Maija caught her arm and shook her head, telling her not to react. The guard noticed the two had stopped. Shooing them with his hands, he said, “Go on then, through the door you go, with the other slaves.” Kirsten fumed with rage and Maija pushed her through the door into the room with the others.
“I’m going to kill that guard before this is over,” Kirsten said to Maija as they gathered around one of the head maids.
All of the others who had come into the room before them were listening to the shrill voice of a tall thin woman. She wore a white dress and gray apron covered in stains. She spoke clear Landish but her silver hair and ghostly pale complexion was more severe than the most fair Westland people. She shouted for them to gather round and pay attention.
