As they approached the clearing in front of the hill, Aldrick began to notice that the horses scattered about the area appeared to be standing still. Moving closer to one of them, it became obvious that something was wrong. From a distance, the animals had all appeared dark haired in the shade of the hill and trees. Now that they were closer, he could see they were too uniformly dark, and that their coloration was completely unnatural.
He slowly walked towards one of the animals. The horse did not react to his approach, and when he touched the strange looking creature, it began to crumble into dust.
“What in the name of the All Father?” Aldrick exclaimed, stepping back as the remains of the animal collapsed into a growing pile of dark residue.
“These horses have been turned to ash,” Garrick noted, studying the remains.
“What could do this?” Aelianna asked in a mystified tone.
“I don’t know,” the king admitted. “But I’m getting a feeling that we should get out of here.”
An odd scraping noise issued from inside the mouth of the nearby abandoned mine, and they whirled to face the sudden sound.
Out of the dark recesses of the cavernous opening shone a single pair of yellow, gleaming eyes. Aldrick stood hypnotized by the chilling power of that golden gaze. The eyes stared out at them for the space of several stuttering heartbeats, and then blinked, breaking the trance.
Aldrick retrieved his swords in a flash. Whatever was in the mouth of the abandoned mine was clearly powerful. He could not imagine what could possess a gaze as unnerving as what he had just seen, but he would be prepared for it.
There was another sudden scraping sound, louder than before, and he felt a tremor in the ground beneath them. The mysterious eyes in the mine entrance disappeared, and Aldrick thought he detected an unusual movement in the inky blackness. He gripped his swords a bit tighter, preparing for the attack. After a tense moment, he was certain he saw movement, and then a figure stepped out of the darkness.
To his surprise, the figure appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary man. He was dressed in a long, dark blue coat that came down almost to his knees, and the rest of his outfit was nearly identical in color. His dark hair was cropped short, and his features were delicate. His face was well structured, and almost pretty; Aldrick might have thought he was a woman, were it not for his build and attire.
He moved with confidence as he approached them from the dark maw of the abandoned mine, but he appeared calm. He came to a stop and smiled, bowing before them with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Greetings interlopers,” he said in a silken voice.
“Who are you?” the king demanded.
“I am here to make certain that Ra’jahankar is not bothered in his quest for Khodara, and dominion over the Clavis.”
“Is that so,” Garrick retorted.
“You must turn back now, if you have any desire to remain with the living.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” Aldrick replied. “The Clavis belongs to us.”
“That is none of my concern,” the mysterious blue-clad man said. He was still smiling, but the expression never touched his eyes. “You meddle with forces far beyond you, and you would do well to return home immediately.”
“Look ‘smiles’,” Garrick interjected. “Clearly you have no idea of who I am, or what we are capable of. So unless you have a whole group of pretty men in blue suits hidden in that mine of yours, I think we’ll be on our way.” With that, the king abruptly turned and started walking towards the hill.
Aldrick did not think that the king was quite as confident as he sounded. He was also fairly certain that he was not a man to turn his back on a possible adversary, unless he thought there was no danger at all…or he felt the need to get away as quickly as possible.
Sensing that perhaps the latter was more likely in this situation, he grabbed Aelianna by the arm and started after the king without another word.
The strange man dressed all in blue sighed loudly. “Consider this my final plea. I have no particular wish to harm you, but if you persist, I will have no choice but to stop you by any means necessary.”
The king ignored the fair-faced man, and quickened his pace towards the hill and the faint trail that he believed Jahann had used to continue into the mountains. Sensing his anxiety, Aldrick followed behind, dragging the warrior with him.
“Have it your way,” The man sighed.
Aldrick felt a tremor and risked a glance towards the stranger still standing in front of the entrance to the mine. The man had not moved, but his eyes were now closed. He could see a strange disturbance in the air surrounding the man in blue; it was more like a sense of something unusual than an actual phenomenon. He paused, thinking he had slipped into one of his peculiar visions, and tried to reason out what he was seeing. After a few moments however, he realized that the sight before him was no vision at all, but was instead taking place right there in front of them.
Throughout his life, Aldrick had seen many strange things. Before the attack on his family prior to the Tournament, he had found a rational explanation for everything that he had ever witnessed. As much as he had tried to deny it, that unfortunate incident had begun a series of events for which he could find no logical explanation, other than the possibility of the resurfacing of magic. The Triad of assassins appearing as children; the trick Brodan had used to cheat at the Joust; even his own prescient visions, which had saved him on more than one occasion.
He had tried to discount the existence of magic his entire life, preferring to believe in the safe and familiar reality of the ‘normal’ world that he was accustomed to and comfortable with. He would have greatly preferred that anything remotely related to the fantastical world of magic and sorcery live only in his books, or far off in the past. Not here, not now.
But even he, a man who had embraced logic and reason his entire life, could not ignore the ramifications of what he was seeing take place in front of them. His eyes bulged as he watched; this was straight out of a dream. A nightmare.
He stared as the man in the blue suit began to change. The body of the stranger shimmered as he began to experience some type of strange metamorphosis. The blue in his coat sparkled in a prism of colors as he slowly grew in size. He seemed to grin at them as he expanded, moving forward to stand on all fours as he continued to grow larger. Protrusions slowly grew out of his back as his grinning face stretched into a snout. His blue clothing shimmered and glittered as it merged with his skin, until transforming into a single scale-like membrane covering his whole body. Horns appeared, stretching gracefully from his forehead as he grew even larger, and his hands and feet extended into claws. His four limbs now rippled with muscles, and the growths on his back extended and unfolded into massive wings.
Although he knew he should run, Aldrick stood transfixed at the beauty of the transformation. Translucent colors swam across his vision, and he held his breath as the creature continued to morph.
The alteration complete, the handsome man, now changed to a beautiful but deadly creature of unknown origin, was the size of a house. His entire body was covered with a protective layer of azure scales. The creature grinned, displaying several rows of gleaming teeth, before slamming its newly formed tail into the ground, setting off a tremor that nearly knocked them off their feet.
The king yelled, “RUN!” wrenching Aldrick out of his astonished daze. He bolted towards the hill as the beast let loose a fiery blaze, which cooked the ground near where he had been standing. The scorching blast was so intense he could almost feel his clothes melting from the heat.
The beast slammed its tail into the ground once more, this time knocking them off their feet. Struggling to recover from the fall, they were buffeted by an abrupt gust as the creature flapped its mighty wings. They scrambled to their feet as the great beast slowly rose off the ground and into the air.
As the scaled creature ascended, Aldrick had a sudden illogical thought that it meant to fly
away and leave them be. His false hope was immediately dashed as the beast swooped around and flew straight for them.
“Move!” Garrick shouted, once more heading for the hill. Aelianna loosed a single arrow, but the azure scaled monstrosity saw the shaft and adjusted its flight so that the projectile bounced harmlessly off its protected flank.
The king scrambled up the gently sloping hillside, which was strewn with boulders both large and small, and trees hearty enough to survive this far north, mostly pine, birch and aspen. Aldrick glanced at the inky entrance to the mine, but discounted it as a hiding place almost immediately; there was not likely to be another outlet, and if the creature trapped them inside, they would have no means of escape.
Aldrick raced after the king, with Aelianna close on his heels. His heart leapt into his throat as he heard the flap of giant leathery wings directly behind him. He braced himself for death by a flame so intense, it would rival the blast from the blazing furnace of a blacksmith. Aldrick sensed his death in the intake of breath from the massive creature, and then Garrick grabbed him by the arm and yanked him and Aelianna into a small crevice behind a giant boulder.
Fire blasted the far side of the rock as they huddled behind it, panting. The beast roared as it tore past, flying over the top of the hill.
“That is one foe I do not wish to fight,” Garrick panted with a grimace.
Aldrick nodded, trying to catch his breath. “I agree. What is that thing?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the king managed.
Aelianna retrieved an arrow from her quiver. “It look like Aej’dehus, a great serpent. My people tell stories of such a creature at night around fire, but I think they are only stories. Not real!”
“It seems real enough to me!” Garrick spat.
“We need to make a run for it,” Aldrick suggested.
“No!” Aelianna shouted. “We run, it kill us!”
“What choice do we have?”
“We fight!” the warrior replied with a determined look.
“How do you propose we do that?” Garrick demanded. “Have you seen what it can do?”
“I’m with Garrick on this one,” Aldrick admitted. “We can’t fight this thing. I haven’t seen a weakness yet, if it even has one.”
They heard an approaching roar, and then the flap of wings. Aelianna scowled, but instead of replying, she darted out from the crevice and knocked an arrow in the blink of an eye. As the great beast thundered closer, she steeled herself and let loose three consecutive shafts. The first bounced harmlessly off the protective scales of the monstrous creature, but the second and third found their marks, sinking deep into less protected areas of the undercarriage of the winged horror.
The beast roared in pain as Aelianna dove back into the crevice. They crouched low in the crevice created by the boulder as a wave of fire blasted the air over their heads; the heat so intense it scorched their hair and clothing.
The creature landed at the bottom of the hill with a resounding crash, shaking the ground around them. It recovered from its fall and turned around, starting up the hill towards them roaring again in pain and frustration. They remained huddled behind the boulder as the beast blasted the far side of their boulder once more with a raging burst of fire.
So intense was the heat from the discharge that the boulder split with a loud crack. The weight of the stone shifted downhill, and almost without thinking Garrick spun around and began pushing against the rock with all his might. Aldrick immediately comprehended his plan and while dubious of its success, joined him, calling for Aelianna to help.
They pushed against the stone as the beast approached their position, but the massive rock did not budge. The creature reached the far side of the boulder and began to climb over it in an attempt to reach their hiding place. Its weight proved to be too much, and the immense stone finally broke loose and began to roll down the hill, taking the flailing body of the azure scaled behemoth with it.
Both crashed down to the bottom of the hill in a tangle of cracking stone and scaled limbs. When the dust settled, they could see that the beast was still alive, but one of its wings and legs was trapped underneath the largest remaining piece of boulder, which was nearly as large as the creature itself. The creature screeched from the pain of its injuries and trapped appendages, as it struggled against the weight of the stone.
The beast twisted its head and let loose a roaring fireball at the boulder, but his position was such that he could not hit the rock directly. Roaring in frustration, the creature swung its tail to break the boulder, but again found its actions thwarted by its awkward position. Clearly the creature was trapped for the moment, but for how long?
“I think that’s our cue to get out of here,” Garrick said.
They turned and scrambled up the slope, with the cries and moans of the beast fading into the distance behind them. Near the top, the hill became steeper, and they pulled themselves up using rough outcroppings of rock and stunted trees. At the top they spotted signs of recent passage, and followed the trail left by Jahann for the remainder of the day. The trail alternated between steep sections which required scrambling over boulders and loose rock, and more level areas where northern and long-leaf pines flourished along with stunted birch and broad leaf trees.
They climbed and hiked well into the afternoon, without stopping to rest. Their desire to catch Jahann was punctuated by the fear of the deadly azure serpent escaping from its rocky misfortune and chasing after them with a rage-filled vengeance. As they climbed, Aldrick often found himself scanning the rocky slope behind them, as well as the sky above for any sign of pursuit by the fiery beast.
As the afternoon wore on, they ascended higher into the mountains, staying on the trail left by Jahann and his men. The air started to become thinner as they gained elevation, and it was not long before Aldrick found himself sweating and laboring for breath. Deadly creature or no, by that afternoon he was exhausted and needed a break. Yet Aelianna appeared to be unperturbed by the arduous climb, and from the look on his face, Garrick seemed determined to keep up with her, no matter what. Aldrick gritted his teeth and continued, summoning an inner strength he did not know he had.
Finally the king called a halt, under the pretense of examining the tracks left by the sorcerer and his men. “The tracks are still fresh,” Garrick huffed. “But we don’t seem to be gaining any ground. I’m not sure how long we can keep this up.”
“Wizard use magic to go fast,” Aelianna speculated. “But he not escape. I need Clavis to save my people.”
“Magic…” Aldrick began shaking his head, but he could not find the strength to argue, and as much as he hated to admit it, with what he had experienced of late he was beginning to question his own life-long arguments against the existence of magic.
They resumed their trek, reaching an area where they were forced to scramble up a steep slope. A cold wind whistled through the stunted trees as the sun began to dip below the jagged peaks to the west. Aldrick felt a shiver down his spine when he heard the cry of a wolf echo off the ragged outcroppings of rock and boulders surrounding them. He maintained his pace behind the others by sheer will alone; he was in no shape to confront another enemy, whether it be fire-breathing serpent, or lone wolf. He needed rest. From their labored breathing and weary looks, he could see that the others did as well. The king and the warrior kept pace, often glancing at each other as if the climb had become a contest of wills; a battle of wits between them to see who would be the first to concede and call for a break.
Darkness descended over the mountain as Aldrick realized how ridiculous their stubborn behavior had become. Even if they did manage to catch the sorcerer, they would be completely exhausted and unable to do anything about it. Someone had to give in and be the first to call a real break; clearly that someone was going to have to be him.
“We must rest,” Aldrick gasped, coming to a complete stop. “We cannot continue like this!”
The others came to a
halt, as Aelianna said, “No time.” She was taking deep breaths, but did not seem nearly as exhausted as he was. The king looked as tired as he was however. Aldrick felt annoyed rather than impressed by her obvious stamina. From the look in his eyes, Garrick agreed with him, but Aldrick knew that his competiveness would not allow him to say so.
“You’re going to have to make…” Aldrick began, but fell silent after a quick signal for quiet by the king. Garrick motioned ahead, indicating for them to listen.
The sun was nearly fully hidden behind the horizon. They strained to listen for anything unusual among the whistling wind and the night sounds of the mountain. Aldrick was about to give up when he heard what sounded like voices somewhere ahead. A sudden burst of emotion filled him; was it the transformed man in the blue coat, and were there others like him? Or could they have finally, against all odds, found the men they had been searching for this whole time?
Nodding to the others, he followed as they cautiously crept forward towards the source of the sound. Before long they saw dim figures moving through the shadowed trees. The faint murmuring coalesced into one man berating another in respect to finding something on a map.
The Key of Creation: Book 02 - Journey to Khodara Page 16
