by Toni Cox
The nights, and days, were getting colder with every passing day. They had hoped to be further to the south by now, where it would be warmer, but after the incident at the river they had followed this path, which led them west, and sometimes even north.
While Blaid went to gather wood for their fire, Maia took the bags off Lilith’s back. The mare had come to accept Maia and now nudged her gently in the side, looking for a treat.
“I will cook you some grain as soon as the fire is going,” Maia said to the black mare and gently patted her on the neck. Lilith snorted.
Maia piled the bags against the wall of the overhang and then busied herself with taking out their sleeping mats and blankets. They would not need the tent tonight, sheltered underneath the cliff as they were.
By the black smoke stains on the roof of the overhang, it was evident that this place had been used before, but it must have been a long time ago, as there were no signs of a fire pit, or anything else, on the ground.
Selecting a place for the fire, Maia moved stones to form a circle and, when Blaid returned with the wood, helped him pile it in the centre. With a flick of her hand, the wood ignited and the logs were soon engulfed in flickering, orange flames.
Rocky. Cliffs. Sheer drops and dead ends.
The images of Midnight’s thoughts played out in their minds as they heard him settle on top of their overhang. Dislodged by his claws, loose pebbles dropped over the cliff and bounced on the springy forest floor.
Blaid frowned. “Is there no way around? Surely this path must lead to somewhere.”
Again, Midnight showed them the images of what he had seen as he had flown over the mountains that lay before them. The path they followed from the river ended at a sheer cliff. Metal handholds had been driven into the rock and, although the cliff appeared almost insignificant through Midnight’s eyes, Maia could tell it was at least five hundred paces high. Their path carried on from the top of the cliff, turning in a north-westerly direction.
“How do we get Lilith up the cliff?” Maia asked.
Blaid remained silent, thinking. The worry he felt reverberated within Maia and she could think of nothing else as she prepared food that night. He was markedly quiet after eating too, even when she wrote the new discoveries of the day into her book. Usually he asked her about it.
In the morning, they packed in silence and resumed their march along the path. Midnight saw no paths or crevasses that led off from the main path
By noon, they reached the cliff and it was as Maia feared; a five hundred paces sheer wall, the path coming to a dead end at the foot of it. To their left and right, thick forest hemmed in the path, but Midnight assured them there was no way through the forest on either side, as the cliff curved around, blocking their way.
Midnight settled on the edge of the cliff and they looked up at the huge, black dragon looking down at them. Maia and Blaid had discussed turning back towards the river, but that would set them back many days and there was no clear path leading the other way either. They had dismissed the idea, hoping another solution presented itself.
Blaid could, of course, shadow travel to the top of the cliff, but Maia would have to climb. Lilith, on the other hand, would be stranded at the bottom and neither Blaid nor Maia was willing to abandon her.
Now, with Midnight looking down at them, he projected his vision and thoughts to them, again suggesting that he lift Lilith. The area they stood in was a large panhandle; an open space before the cliff more than a hundred paces across, large enough for Midnight to hover over without him hurting his wings or the trees to the left and right.
“No,” Blaid shook his head. “She will be terrified.”
“Not if you go with her.” Maia laid a calming hand on his shoulder. “It is the best solution. It would only take a moment.”
“What if his talons pierce her belly?”
“They won’t,” Maia said, stepping closer to Blaid. “Midnight has carried Fire in a similar fashion before. His talons are long enough to hold her gently within them and he will be careful when he sets her down on top of the cliff. Trust me, this will work.”
Blaid looked at her sceptically, and then looked towards his mare grazing on the sparse grass along the edge of the forest.
Maia understood his concerns. The horse would be scared if the dragon came down from the cliff to pick her up, but it would be the fastest way to get them out of their current situation. Fire had not been happy with Midnight picking him up either, but the stallion had been none the worse for it afterwards.
“Let us give it a try,” she coaxed him. “I promise Midnight knows what he is doing. Stand at her head and climb onto Midnights talon as he picks her up, then you can keep her calm as he flies her to the top.”
Blaid kept quiet as he walked over to Lilith and draped his arm around her neck. She turned to rub her head against his leg. Once more, Blaid looked up at the dragon sitting atop of the cliff. Once more, he looked back down the path they had travelled and the forest around them.
“What about you?” he finally asked.
“Midnight can hold me with his other talon. It will only take a moment for him to fly to the top. Lilith trusts you. If you remain with her, no harm will come to her.”
The muscles in Blaid’s jaw worked as he thought about it. “All right. Let us get this over with.”
They positioned Lilith in the centre of the clearing before the cliff. Blaid stood at her head, talking to her softly. The worry in Blaid’s eye broke Maia’s heart, but she knew this was their best option and trusted her dragon not to hurt the horse.
Once Lilith stood calmly, Midnight dropped down from the cliff. As his shadow became larger, the clearing darkened and Lilith raised her head to look up. Gently, Blaid pulled her head down again before she saw the dragon descending on her.
For once, Midnight’s mind was completely silent. Although Midnight could communicate with any sentient being, communicating with Lilith in a situation like this would only make it worse. For Lilith, despite the fact that she was not usually afraid in his presence, Midnight would always be a predator, and no matter what the dragon said to her, she would not believe that he only meant to pick her up and not eat her.
Maia felt Blaid use his Earth magic to calm Lilith as the dragon came down from above. Blaid’s magic was so strong, even Maia felt almost hypnotised into calmness. She had to shake herself to clear her fuzzy mind as Midnight reached out to drape his talons around the horse beside her.
Lilith’s eyes widened as she became aware of the predator’s smell and then his claws around her, but Blaid held her head and kept talking to her. Climbing onto Midnight’s other foot, Maia watched as Blaid held on tightly to his horse as Midnight lifted them all off the ground.
Kicking her legs in thin air, Lilith’s terrified scream reverberated off the cliff. Maia felt her fear and sent out her own thoughts to calm her. Blaid intensified his efforts as well and by the time they were half way, Lilith’s screams stopped and she looked around in wonder.
With four more flaps of Midnight’s wings, they reached the top. Maia thought he would set them down at the edge of the cliff and prepared to jump down. The hilly plains beyond the cliff came into view; rolling hills, rocky outcroppings and a patchwork of forests covered the area and, in the far distance, Maia could just make out the vague shape of a mountain range larger than she had ever seen before.
Wind whipped in Maia’s face as Midnight’s flight changed from a vertical rise to a horizontal flight. The ground sped by beneath them as he flew with them over the hilly countryside below them. Maia probed her dragon’s mind to find out what he was doing, but his mind remained shut tight not to frighten the horse.
Blaid looked across at her, but Lilith rested calmly within the safe confines of Midnight’s talon. Maia shrugged, unsure of what Midnight had in mind, and both hung on as the dragon flew fast and low in a south-westerly direction. After a few miles, Midnight rose higher and banked left, avoiding a small mountai
n top covered in pines.
Vampyres.
Maia and Blaid strained their eyes. They were now flying so high that from the ground they would look like nothing more than a bird, so they were unable to see the Vampyres. Midnight, who had opened his mind to speak to them, now showed them the Vampyre camp at the base of the small mountain.
Midnight flew them another fifty miles before he deemed it safe to set them down. Hovering, he lowered himself and then gently opened his claw to release Lilith. Blaid jumped to the ground as her hooves touched down, but she simply stood, snorted and then looked up at the dragon as he flew off again.
Maia ran to them, grinning broadly. “Such a good girl,” she cooed, and stroked the mare’s gleaming black coat.
“That went surprisingly well.” Blaid said. “And the flight cut off at least a day’s worth of travel. Over there,” he pointed to a spot far to the east, “is where we would have come out if the dock had not been overrun and we took the normal route through Bron. We wasted a lot of days within that forest, but now we are but a day’s march from the border of Serengate.”
“Then let us not waste more time,” Maia smiled. “I cannot wait to see your homeland. How long to travel across Serengate?”
After checking Lilith was all right and their bags were still securely strapped to her back, Blaid took her reins and turned her head towards the south. Maia fell into step beside them.
“I expected our journey to take us at least two Moons. Travelling back with an army would take us even longer,” Blaid said with a thoughtful look on his face. “I had fears we might not get back before spring, but I did not want to worry you with it unnecessarily. Now, however …” he paused, stroking Lilith across her nose, “… we may be able to get there a lot faster.”
Indeed. Midnight sent images of him holding Lilith and them flying together over the towering mountains barely visible in the distance.
Maia turned to Blaid, astonished at his change of heart. “Are you saying you will allow Midnight to fly us there?”
“Midnight has offered and I think I can keep Lilith calm enough to allow him to carry her for longer periods. If we land to eat, sleep and feed Lilith, and fly the rest of the time, we should reach Elbendal within a Quarter.”
Four days. Five days, Midnight corrected.
Maia’s body tingled with excitement at the prospect of reaching Blaid’s country so soon. Midnight said from the onset it would be faster to fly, but because of Lilith they had decided to make the journey on foot.
Getting to Elbendal sooner meant they could spend more time there and Maia could get to know his family better, but it also meant, if the king of Elbendal agreed to send his army to Grildor, it would have more time to march.
With the weather turning ever colder, the Vampyres were little threat to her country right now. Whatever raiding parties the Vampyres sent during the cold Moons of winter, the Regiments of Grildor could deal with. Once the seasons turned, however, chances were that the attacks became more frequent until the Vampyres were ready for another war.
With Frost Moon almost over, three Moons of winter lay before them. After that were the three Moons of spring, notoriously unpredictable. They often had snow as late as Victory Moon. Maia hoped this would be a particularly long and harsh winter, as it gave them more time. But, even if they only had the three winter Moons, with Midnight flying them to Elbendal, they now had enough time to bring their army to Grildor.
Safe. Midnight’s thoughts broke into hers. Make camp. Will fly later.
“Can we not fly now?” Maia asked.
“We have already travelled far today,” Blaid said, “and have not stopped to eat. Let us make camp, feed Lilith, and rest for a while. We can fly on into the evening, even after dark, and only make camp to sleep. Do not fret, Maia, we will reach Elbendal soon enough.” He laughed.
Grudgingly, Maia admitted they were right and helped Blaid take the bags off Lilith. Once she was free, the mare trotted off to graze while Blaid went to look for wood.
As Maia glanced, she was glad Midnight had told them it was safe to camp here, as she felt ill at ease amongst the uneven hills and rocky outcroppings of the plains of Bron. She watched as Lilith wandered underneath some trees to doze in their shade.
“Please, let us not linger here longer than necessary,” she said to Blaid when he came back with the wood. “I do not feel safe here.”
“Midnight has scouted the area,” Blaid replied. “There are no Vampyres near.”
“It isn’t that.” Distractedly, she flicked her wrist as Blaid put the wood in a pile on the ground and the flames that suddenly sprang up from the logs almost burned him. She did not notice. “Something seems odd about this place. Let us eat and be gone.”
Stepping away from the fire, Blaid glanced around. “It must be a Life Elemental sense, for I cannot feel it.”
Maia shook herself, trying to get rid of the feeling of unease. Lilith still stood peacefully underneath the trees; she did not seem affected by whatever it was Maia was feeling either.
“All right,” she finally said, “I suppose Lilith needs her rest and we need to eat. Do you want to hunt, or can I use some of the dried meat for you?”
“The dried meat will suffice,” Blaid answered, thoughtful. He watched Maia for a while as she prepared the food. “After everything you have told me, I believe Silas is right. You have exceptional instincts that warn you, or guide you, and you should pay them more heed. I think Kanarel had them, too, which is how he managed to go unnoticed for so long.”
“Kanarel?” Maia asked, finally distracted from her pensive mood.
“Yes. The man was extraordinary. I know he had power over Air and Water, as well as Earth. His connection to animals was strong, which was how he managed to get Shard to do his bidding. Thinking about everything Kanarel accomplished, I now even believe he could control Fire.”
“That would have made him a Prime,” Maia said, adding another ingredient to the pot boiling over the fire. “Why would he have tried to hide that fact? The people would have adored him just for being a Prime. Why go to such lengths as the Vampyres exterminating our kind to be recognised by our people as someone special?”
“Kanarel did not just want recognition. Kanarel wanted to rule. He wanted to be king of all kings. To rule all of Elveron. But, yes, I think he might have been a Prime. He had his reasons for hiding the fact. But, as I said, I think he had the same, intense intuition as you do, which is how he managed to get by for so long. It is your training and your moral compass that makes you ignore it most of the time, but you should listen to it more often. I cannot sense anything untoward in this place, but I believe you when you say there is something here you are not comfortable with. We will eat and then we will leave. Can you tell me what you feel?”
Maia shuddered as she thought about it. “It is difficult to explain. I only feel that we should not be here. Something repels me from this place. The feeling is faint, but it is there.”
“Would it make you feel safer if I scouted the area?”
“The food will take a while.” She stirred the pot, and rose. “We can take a walk together. I do not want to be alone here.”
“As you wish.”
On my way, Midnight let them know. He had taken off to hunt after dropping them off earlier.
Knowing Midnight would be there soon calmed Maia and, with Blaid walking beside her, they crossed the open ground to the treeline and then scouted the forest hugging the hill to their left.
Under other circumstances, Maia would have thought the area beautiful. Autumn had turned the leaves all shades of gold and red. Some still clung to their trees, but most carpeted the forest floor, crunching as they walked over them.
A narrow river ran down the hill to flow off in an easterly direction. They stopped there to refill their water bottles, before circling back towards their fire.
Just before they reached the treeline again, Maia noticed movement to her right.
“W
hat was that?” she asked.
“Where?”
Taking a step closer to Blaid, she said, “There.”
Blaid looked to where she pointed and she felt the exact moment his Eläm changed from relaxed to alert.
“I feel it now,” he whispered in her ear. “There is something there. It does not want us here.”
“Let us go.”
Together, they took a step back. With them shifting their positions, they both saw it this time, and halted.
“What is it?” Blaid now asked.
Maia tilted her head. “I think it’s a house.” She squinted and took a step closer. Blaid grabbed her arm to stop her. “I really think it is a house, a tree house,” she continued, “but it is cloaked.”
“Hidden? With magic?”
“Yes, as I bend the air around me to make myself invisible.”
“Maia, would that not mean a vast amount of energy to hide such a large object for such a length of time?”
“It would, but not if Air was your main power and you knew how to wield it well. Come,” she took his hand, “I don’t think whoever lives there means us harm.”
Blaid glanced at her. “What about your feeling of unease?”
“I am curious now,” she replied. “Belura also frightens people away by projecting fear. I believe this to be the same kind of magic. Maybe another Riven lives here.”
“In a house?”
“All right, maybe not a Riven, but who else can project a feeling like that? Don’t you want to know?”
“I do,” Blaid admitted. “Let us take a look then”
Together, they stepped forwards again. Midnight circled high above them, ready if they needed him.
The cloaked tree house shimmered in and out of their vision as they approached. The area around it appeared well used. A broom leaned against a tree not far away and they could clearly see the clothes line strung between two trees.
