“How do I know she’s not a spy?” Urtzi said. “Or worse, a Calagian sorceress.”
Fizzle sighed. “Do you really think I’d bring an enemy sorceress to Misho? I’ve known you since you were running around behind your mother’s skirt. You don’t trust me?”
“I trust you Fizzle, but I don’t trust her.” He nodded toward Danielle. “Or her friend.”
“Leave me your atter stick, and I’ll let you in,” Urtzi said.
Fizzle’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy? Do you know how long it took me to earn this atter stick?” He tucked his walking stick behind his back. “How do I know you’ll give it back?”
Urtzi smiled. “You’ll have to trust me.”
“Fizzle, what’s an atter stick?” Danielle said.
Urtzi frowned at Danielle. “How does this woman not know about atter sticks?”
Fizzle shot Danielle a pleading look. “An atter struck her a few years ago, and it went untreated. That’s another reason we need to see Ajahn Brees.”
Danielle decided to shut her mouth before she brought more trouble down on herself or Fizzle.
Fizzle handed over a long stone rod with a large jagged crystal attached to the end. He shook his finger at Urtzi and glared. “If I find even the tiniest scratch on it, you’ll hear from the emperor himself.”
Urtzi shook his head and laughed. “I’m shaking in my boots.”
Danielle had thought Fizzle used the stone rod to aid his travels across the desert. But, it finally dawned on her that he used it to control atters.
Urtzi faced the second guard who had remained silent during the brief exchange. “Edrig, take them to the healing pool, and don’t let them out of your sight.”
Edrig nodded and tightened his grip on a sinister looking red crystal blade. He turned from Urtzi and disappeared down the dragon’s throat into Misho’s shadows.
Danielle and Fizzle fell in behind Edrig trailing him by a few yards.
Danielle lowered her voice and leaned into Fizzle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to give away your atter stick.”
Fizzle waved her off. “It’s okay. I’m sorry my atter hurt your friend. Urtzi will return it.” Doubt lingered behind his worried eyes.
“Fizzle, why do you herd the atters?”
Fizzle raised an eyebrow. “For the diamonds of course.”
Edrig glanced over his shoulder and glared.
Danielle fell silent as her eyes adjusted to the dim surroundings.
The ground beneath Danielle's feet changed into a hard-packed dirt. As they moved deeper into Misho, the temperature dropped thirty degrees. Overhead, the dragon’s spine stretched outward. Its rounded ribs curled twenty feet in each direction. Nestled between the ribs, hard packed mud and crystal rock allowed a surprising amount of light inside the village. Every few feet, fist-sized air holes appeared circulating a cool breeze throughout the village.
Small homes made of blue, green, red, and clear crystal rested along Misho's abdominal wall.
The villagers gawked in silence from doorways and open windows. Some had strange tattoos inscribed on their arms and face while others dabbled in odd piercings.
Danielle and Fizzle followed Edrig along the dusty road beneath the dragon’s spine.
Edrig stopped before the village’s largest building.
A two-story crystalline building gleamed under bright sunlight filtering through clear crystal overhead.
“Your paka can’t enter the temple,” Edrig said.
Fizzle nodded. “Come on Danielle, we’ll talk to Ajahn Brees and come back for Keely.”
Danielle’s jaw clenched, and she gripped Fizzle’s wrist. “I can’t leave Keely alone. What if he hurts her?”
“He won’t touch her Danielle. Not with Ajahn Brees here. And, we can watch her the whole time. The Ajahn is just inside by the healing pool.”
Danielle searched Fizzle’s eyes and decided to trust him. She nodded.
“Take care of her Karli,” Fizzle said. “If anything happens, I’ll hold you responsible.”
The paka snorted and shook her head in protest.
Danielle followed Fizzle into the temple.
Inside, an old man sat perched on the edge of a wide circular pool shaped like a bowl its edge raised a few feet above the ground. The pool's clear water glistened beneath dazzling sunlight shining through the crystalline rock overhead.
A white-robed figure knelt before an old man with a bald head and weathered brown skin seated on the pool’s rim.
The old man glanced up as Danielle entered the temple and stared at her in wide-eyed astonishment.
“Hello.” Danielle half-waved and bowed awkwardly before the old man. “An atter struck my friend, and I’m hoping you might offer aid.”
The old man smiled and nodded showcasing a toothless grin.
Fizzle yanked on Danielle’s sleeve and shook his head.
Danielle jerked her head toward Fizzle, and he tipped his head toward the white robed figure kneeling on the ground.
Heat spread across Danielle’s cheeks as she realized her mistake.
The robed man sighed. “I’ll be with you in a minute. Can’t you see I’m with someone?”
The old man’s smile widened, and a raspy wheezing chuckle bubbled up from his bony chest.
“Ander, unless you want these blisters to burst, keep still,” the robed man said. He dipped his hands in the pool and spread his palm under the old man’s gnarled feet. A warm orange glow blossomed under the old man’s feet, and his shoulders eased. The robed man stood and offered Ander a hand. “Do you have a pair of shoes? I can’t keep healing your feet every time I come to Misho.”
Ander shook his head as he stood. “They wore out last spring Ajahn Brees.”
Brees dipped into his pocket and pulled free a gleaming diamond. “Here. Buy some shoes. I’m going to check with Arossa before I leave the village. If I find out you spent that money on anything other than shoes, it’ll be the last time I heal you. Do you understand?”
Ander bowed low and took Brees’s hand kissing it as tears welled in his brown eyes. “Thank you, Ajahn.”
Brees pulled Anders upright. “There’s no need for the bowing and scraping. Just get yourself some shoes. Okay?”
Ander slipped the diamond into his dusty brown robe and scuttled out the temple door.
Brees faced Danielle, and his expression soured. He pushed ruffled light brown hair away from his face and glared at Danielle through piercing hazel eyes. “Aren’t you a little old for a sorceress?”
Danielle’s face flushed as adrenaline swept through her arms and legs. His golden skin tone matched her own. Other than his strange accent, he could’ve passed for any fair-haired Ayralen man. “Excuse me?”
Fizzle stepped forward and bowed. “I apologize for the intrusion Ajahn. Despite her appearance, she’s no sorceress.”
“I’m sorry Fizzle, but I have a hard time believing that. Her hair has lost its color. She’s clearly taken the hood.” Brees cocked his head and stared at Danielle beneath a furrowed brow. “Although she doesn’t appear to be particularly strong at her craft.”
A seed of anger swelled in Danielle’s chest as she returned the shaman’s glare. “You don’t have to speak as if I’m not here.”
Brees’s eyes widened. “I don’t recognize your accent. Are you Calagian?”
“I don’t have time to go into my life history,” Danielle said. “My friend is sick.” She pointed toward the temple door. “An atter struck my friend, and she needs healing. Can you help me?”
Fizzle let go a nervous chuckle. “I’m sorry Ajahn. She’s a foreigner and doesn’t understand our customs.” Fizzle pulled Danielle’s sleeve and whispered in a low urgent tone. “Miss Danielle, you must address the shaman as Ajahn. It’s rude to speak to him with such familiarity.”
Brees waved off Fizzle. “It’s okay Fizzle.” He glanced over Danielle’s shoulder at Keely lying motionless atop Karli. “An atter strike is it?”
“Yes Ajahn. I’m afraid they strayed into my farm without realizing it.” Fizzle pointed toward Keely. “She took a point-blank shot in the rear end.”
Brees cringed and shook his head. “Are you or your friend suffering from any mental disability? Dehydration perhaps?”
“Mental disability?” Danielle glared. “They were motionless heaps of rock in the middle of an empty desert. A few signs might help you know.”
Brees held up a callused hand. “Relax. I didn’t mean to stir you up. Let’s take a look at her, okay?”
Danielle nodded. “Thank you.”
Brees left the temple followed by Danielle and Fizzle. His expression grew concerned as he circled Karli and opened Keely’s closed eyelid. “Hmm….” He moved behind the paka and examined the dark, clotted wound in Keely’s rear end before nodding and facing Danielle. “Your friend needs healing.”
Danielle raised an eyebrow. “What gave it away? The blackened hole in her buttocks? Or her total unconsciousness?”
“Miss Danielle, please,” Fizzle said.
“I can fix her, but it’ll cost you ten diamonds,” Brees said.
“Ten diamonds. Are you mad?” Danielle said. “From where I come from, we consider one diamond a fortune. But, you people seem to grow them like weeds.”
Fizzle turned a pleading expression on Brees. “Ajahn, that price does seem somewhat… steep. Even I wouldn’t carry such a large amount without guards.”
Brees shrugged. “I don’t know what games this sorceress is playing, but she’s led you astray. Even the weakest sorcerers can afford ten diamonds.”
“But, I don’t have it. You can’t just let her die!”
Brees shrugged. “I’m leaving tomorrow. If you come up with the stones, you’ll find me here at the temple. Good day sorceress.” He tipped his head, turned, and disappeared inside the temple.
***
Thick clouds hung low over the churning seas along Meranthia’s southeastern coast. Pockets of blue sky dotted the cloud bank allowing shafts of golden sunlight through. The light bounced off the churning whitecaps hammering the shoreline below. Lightning flashed behind the darkening clouds followed by a thunderclap and a steady downpour of cold rain. The mixture of ominous storm clouds and bright sunlight made an unnerving seascape.
Ronan and Rika glided thirty feet above the half-frozen coastline. To their right, the Adris Mountain’s jagged cliffs loomed over the crashing waves.
Pellets of icy sleet pinged off Ronan’s spirit shield. Intermingled raindrops turned to steam as they sizzled against the deadly spirit energy. They’d spent the last three days scouring the southern coastal waters for any sign of Tara’s ship. They’d searched the open sea and the occasional rocky inlet, but found nothing.
Many expeditions had explored Meranthia’s far southern coast without a single one returning. With death a near certainty, scant few volunteered to lead new excursions.
“We must’ve crossed a hundred and fifty miles by now Rika,” Ronan said. “We should turn back and help Devery search for Tara north of Porthleven.”
Rika drifted on the southern wind gliding in the form of a giant snow eagle. “Just a few more minutes. I thought I saw a glimmer over the ocean a few miles ahead.”
Ronan channeled enhancement magic and heightened his vision. He scanned the horizon to his left where Rika had indicated.
Dark rolling ocean stretched out for hundreds of miles beneath looming gray skies.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Be patient,” Rika said. “Keep looking.”
Ronan squinted searching the choppy whitecaps for any strange movement.
A patch of sunlight opened, shining on a distant stretch of open ocean. A bright pinpoint of light flashed, then faded as black storm clouds sealed the patch of open sky.
“I saw it! How high can you fly against this headwind?” Ronan said.
“Another thirty feet, maybe higher. Hang on.” Rika beat her wings faster climbing to her left battling the freezing headwind.
Ronan clung to the saddle mounted atop Rika’s back.
She struggled, climbing higher against the developing storm. Fifty feet separated Rika from the churning sea while she closed within a stone’s throw of their final destination. Swirling wind tossed her left and right as she struggled to preserve altitude against the vicious storm front.
“One more minute Rika,” Ronan said. “If that’s Tara’s ship, I want plenty of distance between us and her.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You aren’t fighting this storm,” Rika said. “I can’t stay out here much longer Ronan. I’m going to have to land and rest soon.”
Behind them, the Adris Mountain’s jagged cliffs appeared as a faraway strip of land. Ahead, freezing cold water stretched out forever touching the world’s edge.
Fifty feet below, bobbing on the ten-foot swells, a large gray blob floated on the ocean’s surface.
“I don’t see a ship, but there’s something floating on the water,” Ronan said.
“I’ll go lower. I can’t fight this wind anymore.” Rika flattened her wings and the wind pushed her downward toward the ocean surface.
Ronan stared, jaw agape, when the creature floating atop the water came into view.
A dead fifty-foot long sea creature bobbed amid the white froth turned red with the beast’s blood. Eight long tentacles accounted for most of its length. A dead, glassy eye located on its tubular shaped torso stared skyward without focus. Blood flowed from jagged rips in its gray skin inches above its enormous eye. A red pool of blood spread outward flowing from its mortal wounds at an alarming rate. One of its tentacles appeared torn, hanging loose attached by a thin sliver of flesh.
“What in the name of Elan is that?” Ronan said.
Rika swooped over the dead beast coming within six inches of its unfocused glassy eye. She climbed and flew in a slow arc circling the sea where the creature floated. “I don’t know, but I wonder what creature could’ve torn it apart.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Ronan said. “Stop it. A whale or shark probably killed it.”
Beneath the dead creature, dark outlines moved beneath the murky surface. The largest creature, thirty feet long, edged near the surface as if investigating the carcass. As it inched nearer, smaller, nimble shapes darted away, moving deeper into the ocean’s depths.
Rika rose fifteen feet over the waves and hovered, watching the battle beneath the surface unfold. “Is that a whale?”
Ronan’s shoulders relaxed as his muscle tension faded. He’d let Montgomery’s story conjure visions of dragons. But, they hadn’t seen any sign of the mythical beasts during their entire journey southward. “I think so. Maybe it killed the creature.”
“It looks like the sharks have arrived for an easy meal,” Rika said.
“They can have at it. Let’s go.”
From the swirling clouds overhead, a screeching howl split the air.
The short hair on Ronan’s neck bristled, and he snapped his head skyward.
A massive beast with a hundred foot wingspan descended. Its glistening black talons extended toward Ronan.
Rika screeched darting away in time to avoid the dragon’s talons by inches.
Cold dread washed along Ronan’s spine as he slipped free the sheba blade strapped to his shoulder. The blade felt heavy and cold in his numb hands. “Dear God, it can’t be. Rika fly!”
Rika didn’t need prompting as she beat her wings with furious abandon and flew at breakneck speed toward shore.
Behind them, a shrill screech preceded the furious sounds of splashing and tearing.
Ronan’s heart pounded in his ears, and his legs turned to mush leaving him barely able to hang onto Rika’s saddle. He spared a quick glimpse over his shoulder, and his body stiffened as primal fear soaked deep into his bones.
A dragon with thick golden scales clutched the sea creature in its talons carrying it like a child’s toy. Its enormous jaw opened, r
evealing row after row of razor sharp teeth each a foot long. The dragon’s ears perked, and it snapped its massive neck downward. With a violent splash, the beast’s armored head disappeared beneath the rolling waves. A moment later, its head reappeared holding a wriggling great white shark like a minnow in its powerful jaws. The dragon tipped its head backward, opened its jaws, and let the floundering shark slide down its gullet.
Ronan channeled more power into the spirit shields surrounding him and Rika. He tapped enhancement energy and sent a charge through his sheba blade’s core.
The dragon twisted its neck toward Rika, opened its massive jaws, and screeched. Bits of tattered shark flesh and bone blew in a wide arc across the open sea.
Rika flew faster opening fifty feet of distance between her and the dragon while she let loose a high-pitched wail.
Ronan spun to face the dragon while securing his body to Rika’s with two leather straps dangling from her saddle. “Fly Rika and don’t stop! Elan save us don’t stop!”
As the dragon beat its golden wings, undulating waves rippled across the sea. It launched itself forward, jaws gaping.
The rain’s intensity increased, and the storm clouds thickened into a dark black mass.
Streaks of rain sizzled off Ronan and Rika’s shields. Ronan prayed they’d reach the shoreline before the dragon overtook them. He pushed a ball of blue spirit energy into his outstretched palm and readied his arm for attack.
The dragon closed the distance with ease opening its jaws wider as it moved within feet of Rika’s tail feathers.
Ronan pitched the spirit collected in his palm directing it toward the dragon’s open mouth.
The spirit attack blazed forward and slammed into the dragon’s face scoring a direct hit. An energy barrier surrounding the dragon rippled. Ronan’s attack scattered across a spirit shield surrounding the dragon.
A sick knot of fear twisted in Ronan’s stomach while he looked on horror-stricken. Without slowing, the dragon had ignored a spirit attack meant to dissolve a man under normal conditions. “Up! Fly up Rika!”
Rika screeched and pitched her snow eagle’s body upward. The dragon's oncoming snout nudged Rika's spirit shield.
She careened backward tumbling over the dragon’s snout.
King Of Souls (Book 2) Page 9
