"It will get the supply boat first," said Hunter, clearly trying to keep his voice from getting too excited. "Pull in the slack, and I'll hop over and fetch my bow."
"Are you insane?" asked Cryelos. "Pull in the supply boat and let it get eaten right behind us?" Cryelos looked at Braxton. The last ordeal they'd shared on the water was clearly fresh on the elf's mind.
Braxton sympathized with his friend, but he wasn't about to give up and let their supplies drift off. "We made it through last time, Cryelos," Braxton tried to smile reassuringly. "We will make it again."
"Arbor protect us," Cryelos said loudly, and as if by magic, his timid demeanor turned purposeful, and he began hauling in the supply raft.
Hunter hopped his way past the knights to the back of the boat nearly flipping them over sideways just as the elf got the raft up behind them. The agile plainsman didn't waste time and leapt across open water onto the little tipsy boat. He began rummaging through the bundles for his bow. He seemed completely startled when he looked up and found Cryelos on the raft with him, handing him what he was after. Braxton doubted he'd even felt the graceful elf land, and none of them expected Cryelos to go, but there he was holding his own bow in his other hand and patiently waiting for Hunter to take his so that they could string them.
No sooner were the weapons ready did they both begin loosing arrows at the thing in the water. The elf let four fly to each one of Hunter's, but neither stopped to count. The dark hulking thing was almost on them, and Braxton suddenly realized that if it attacked, he might have to let go of the rope keeping the raft and the two archers close.
Braxton felt helpless and frustrated as he played the rope back away from them a little bit. He felt as if he was abandoning Cryelos but knew he could not fail to get to the island and retrieve the Staff of Aevilin.
Noticing that everyone in the fishing boat was watching Cryelos and Hunter wide-eyed and slack-jawed sent a shiver of rage through him, and Braxton turned and lashed out at the two knights. "Row, damn you," he yelled through clenched teeth. "Row your hearts out." And row they did.
Cryelos stopped letting arrows fly, and so did Hunter, when the tug of the rope lurched the little raft into motion. Some of the arrow must've struck the beast, for it sank back into the water and disappeared.
"Is it gone?" asked Hunter.
Cryelos turned a quick circle. "I think so." Cryelos smiled at the plainsman. "I think we ran it off."
"It's gone!" Hunter yelled back over the water to the others. Cryelos saw the relief in Braxton's eyes across the twenty paces of open water that now separated them. Cryelos understood his friend's dilemma and started for the rope to begin hauling them back toward the fishing boat, but the rapidly approaching darkness of a shadow caught his eyes. For an instant, he thought that Chureal and Cobalt had flown over them, but to his horror, he realized the shadow was coming up from underneath the water, not from overhead.
"Blessed Arbor, hold on, boy," was all he managed to get out before a cavernous, toothy mouth exploded out of the lake and snapped shut just behind Braxton and the others. The taut rope nearly took off Cryelos's head when it snapped and shot back at him. He felt a tumbling sensation as he went over backwards, and then all he could see was water.
Chapter Twenty-One
Braxton saw the creature's maw snap shut and sever the rope he and Cryelos were both pulling on. He saw the elf go over backwards and tumble into Hunter in the smaller boat before the creature came back down with a massive splash.
Oddly, he sensed the thing wasn't intent on doing anything more than separating them. Had it wanted to eat them, it could have crunched either boat to splinters.
The fishing boat tilted forward so sharply that his end of the rope shot over him and cracked like a whip high above Sneak's head. He let go of the rudder and grabbed the gunwale with a vice-like grip. The wave the creature's body made when it came back down sent them careening forward, just ahead of a rising, rolling crest. The oars were ripped from the knights' hands, and they and the locks were torn from the boat. Braxton was glad they had the sense to huddle down and hold on. Sneak didn't get that choice. When the front of the boat seemingly fell out from under him, the small man tumbled backwards and ended up lodged against a crossmember at Sir Jory's feet.
Braxton felt how fast the wave was carrying them, hurling them really, toward the Island. It would have been exhilarating were a terrible crash not imminent, and the sun about to leave the sky. The island was coming at them so fast that they were suddenly amid the tops of the trees along that part of an otherwise rocky shore.
Sneak's scream, and Sir Monster's yell, were lost in a gurgling whoosh below him. Then the bow stopped completely, catapulting the stern. Braxton was launched inland into the dusky wooded darkness. Thinner branches whipped at his face and tore at his clothes. Had he not been so concerned with Cryelos and Hunter, he might have sought the void, but he wasn't able to think, much less concentrate. He knew it would have been a wasted effort anyway, because his instinct would have been to turn into the white hawk, but that part of him had been ripped away by the mannish thing he had to kill. Just before he smashed headlong into the thick trunk of an old tree, he felt the medallion tingling against his chest. The power of the jewel swelled around him, and then there was a sickening crunch, followed by blackness.
Cryelos looked up to see dark blue scales and leathery wings fluttering heavily above the little boat. He and Hunter were in a tangle of limbs, and the plainsman was so quiet that he feared he might have accidentally ran one of his arrows into the young man. The little boat lurched, but not in the direction the wave was pushing them. For a few moments, it felt as if they were rising and about to tumble over sideways, then they were falling, and he followed the tightened length of rope tied to the boat afraid of what he would see at the other end.
To his great relief, it wasn't the water beast pulling them across the lake's surface, but Cobalt. The sun had all but left the sky, but he could still see Chureal craning her head from the dragon's back, looking at them. She looked over to where Braxton and the others had just been, and he saw her wince. Her expression was a mixture of concentration and panic. She leaned forward then and said something to Cobalt, which caused him to ease lower to the lakes surface and tuck his wings into a streaking glide that had the little boat skipping along behind him in a way that forced Cryelos to pay attention, keeping himself and Hunter's limp body in the craft.
The hull slapped down hard and caused his face to nearly smash into his knees, then his neck was whipped back, and he saw that, though the light hadn't faded all the way from the evening, there were already a million stars in the cloudless sky.
Hunter squirmed beside him, and he put a protective arm over him to keep him from flipping over the side, then he felt the rope go slack and heard Chureal yell something.
"Hold on," he thought she'd said. He never had the chance to get a better grip because the boat made a terrible scraping sound, and then suddenly stopped. Cryelos thought for sure the beast had gotten them, but he and Hunter and all the gear kept moving forward while the boat ground to a halt. The elf didn't know what to expect, and was surprised when his shoulder impacted solid ground. The shore wasn't sandy, like a sea beach, or covered in growth as his home island, Jolin was. It was rough, hard and jagged, and the only thing that kept Hunter's wide-eyed head from cracking like a dropped egg was Cryelos's chest.
Instead of breaking against the rocks, Hunter's skull smashed the breath from Cryelos, and he was left floundering on the rocks like a landed fish, trying to refill his emptied lungs. It took a few attempts, but then precious air filled him. Hunter, now lucid, and only scratched and bruised, was at his side.
"What happened?" he asked. "Are you alright? Where are the others?"
Cryelos only knew the answer to one of the three questions, but the sight of one of the casks of rations, or maybe ale, bobbing in the waves caused him to think in the moment.
"I'm fine," he sat up. "Le
t's gather the gear before it floats back out into the lake."
"And the boat," Hunter was up and running.
Cryelos was glad when he saw the plainsman find the rope and start hauling the boat in. He had no idea what happened to the others, and if the fishing boat was damaged, the little boat might be their only way off the island. He had no intentions of getting into it again, though. He would ride Cobalt back across with Chureal, or stay there forever.
Luckily, the bundle of torches and most of the rations were still in the boat. Even better thought Cryelos, was that the bundles of armor the knights had stowed, were intact. Of the three casks they'd brought, only one had busted, but the two of them righted that barrel and salvaged most of the watered ale inside.
By then the small red moon was above the horizon, casting an eerie glow and long shadows across the shore. Cobalt came thumping down to the landward side of where the two had sat down. The look on Chureal's face alarmed Cryelos to the point that he stood and started running to her before she was all the way off Cobalt's back.
"He's gone." She sobbed when she met him. She leapt into his arms and hugged him so tight that it hurt. "Sir Jory and Sir Monster are okay. And Sneak hurt his arm, but I healed him. But-but-but Braxton is gone, Cryelos. We can't find him anywhere."
"How far are the others from here?" Cryelos tried to sooth her by running his hand through her hair and gently squeezing her back. He was glad when she relaxed her grip on him a little. "I need to know what happened and maybe we can figure out where he's gotten off to."
"They don't know anything," she blurted and started crying in earnest. "I can't feel him in the void, and me and Cobalt searched all over. It ate him Cryelos. That thing ate him."
"Oh, I doubt that, dear." Cryelos hugged her tightly again. He did doubt it. Braxton had disappeared before, from the Wilderkind Forest in the middle of a quest. He returned with Chureal on the back of the ancient green scaled dragon called Emerald a few days later. He’d disappeared after the prince was murdered, too. A lot of things might have happened to his friend, but ending up in the belly of that thing in the lake was the least likely Cryelos could imagine. Convincing the distraught little girl of that was another matter, however. "Can you tell me how far away the others are?"
"Half of half of an easy day's ride that way." She sniffled and wiped the clear mucus from under her nose on his shoulder, and then pointed. "They'll be glad you saved the skiff." She seemed to cheer up a bit. "The fishing boat is all busted apart."
"When we leave here, I'm riding with you," Cryelos said with a sheepish grin that caused Chureal to let out a half-giggle.
"Do you really think he is alright?" she asked of Braxton.
"Of course, he is," Cryelos said with all the confidence he could portray. "He is probably off looking for the staff or the Rokkan. No stupid lake beast could get the better of Lord Braxton Bray."
"If he was here, I would sense his medallion," Chureal said. "I guess if the thing ate him, I'd sense it in its belly, but I don't sense it at all, Cryelos." She squirmed, letting him know she wanted to be set back down. But tears were welling in her eyes again, so he gave her another squeeze before he let get to her feet. "Where could he be?"
"We either need to get to the others or have them come here," Cryelos said. "Once I talk with them about what happened, we can figure out what to do next."
"They used part of the fishing boat to make a pretty neat shelter," she said. "I can have Cobalt carry the bundles over. It's not that far. Come on, I'll show you."
She didn't have to say anything to her growing dragon. He simply lifted into the air, came to a hover over the pile of gear Cryelos and Hunter had made, grasped two claws full, and lifted into the crimson moonlight. As soon as Cobalt neared the pile, Hunter was running their way, and the three of them started picking through the vegetation in the direction Chureal indicated.
Chapter Twenty-Two
"What do you mean he just vanished?" Cryelos asked Sir Jory, trying to gather the details of Braxton's disappearance.
"He hit the tree, then he was gone. We were flipping over ourselves, but that is what I saw." The knight made a gesture with his hand over his heart. Cryelos figured it was some sort of indication that he was swearing his words to be the truth.
"I wonder where he went," Hunter said. "You told me the three of you disappeared." He paused and indicated Chureal. She was sleeping in Cobalt's curled tail, tired from worrying about Braxton, and healing the minor wounds the shipwreck had caused the group in the fishing vessel. Hunter pointed at Cryelos next, and then up in the direction the knight said they'd seen Braxton impact the trunk and vanish. "Well, the four of you, counting the dragon, and from a battlefield no less. Then you appeared in the Green Sea. He is probably back at your battlefield somewhere."
"No doubt." Cryelos scratched his head, remembering Braxton disappearing from the Wilderkind Forest and returning on dragon back with Chureal. "How long do we have before midsummer?"
"Ten days," Hunter answered. "And it will take six of them to get you to Mount Preal."
"If we can even get back across the lake in the little skiff," added Sneak.
Sir Monster mumbled something, and Sir Jory translated. He says, "Without Lord Braxton, we are doomed."
"We are not doomed," Cryelos offered, trying hard to sound hopeful. "The staff we came here to find is an elven artifact. We don't need him for that. We will begin our search at first light. If we come across this Rokkan creature, I think we may miss Braxton's ability, but I've found that is she who always comes through in a pinch, not him." He indicated Chureal. "We have enough deadfall and ship pieces to keep the fire through the night. I will take first watch. The rest of you can sort out your order."
Behind him, Cobalt let out a snort of what sounded like disdain, or maybe contempt. Cryelos understood the sentiment. They didn't need a watch with a dragon amongst them. Nothing could get near Chureal with Cobalt there. Still, Cryelos liked the idea of the group staying on guard.
Braxton saw something charging at him through the darkness of the void. It was the scar-headed mannish thing that had smacked him before. It was different than it had been then, and he remembered exactly now, who it had once been before that.
It was the captain that had mistakenly kidnapped Sir Jory and the handmaiden instead of Prince Trovin and Princess Trava. Braxton was the one who'd scarred his head before Sir Jory took out his eye out in the grasslands. He'd been just a man then. At Grey Rock, he was more than a man, and the missing eye and his wounds had been healed by something malevolent.
Now he had two, black glossy orbs instead of one, and a trio of black claw marks raked down from each eye socket, wounds Braxton's falcon had caused the second time they'd crossed paths. A third encounter was inevitable, but Braxton wasn't sure he would have the upper hand since he could no longer swoop on him from the sky and rip at his flesh with his talons.
Zyken-Whey told him he'd helped create what it was now, and that it was now a creature of the void. Braxton wasn't sure how the latter had happened, but he knew he'd given the man most of those wounds. Man wasn't the word for him now, Braxton decided, for he was bulkier, his body almost as big as an ogre's and thrice as muscled. In the center of each of his pitiless eyeballs, Braxton saw a tiny crimson pupil, and they were focused directly on him.
When Scarhead was about a hundred paces away, an unidentifiable shape that was as dark as the void itself swooped between them. What it was, Braxton had no idea, but it scared him far more than Scarhead did. When it passed, Scarhead was no longer there, and Braxton knew the void had shifted somewhat. He also knew that even though Scarhead was gone, he wasn't alone.
"Who— What are you?" Braxton asked, as much with his mind, as with his voice.
"I am the Rokkan, boy," came the response. The voice was so deep and low that it vibrated Braxton's spine as it spoke "Shall I kill your friends all at once, or should I do it slowly, one at a time? The choice is yours."
"You
shouldn't kill them at all," Braxton said, trying hard not to sound as afraid as he felt. "What have they done to you?"
The Rokkan let out a growl that rattled Braxton's ribcage.
"Do not question me." It said, clearly angered by his question. "This is my island, and they have trespassed. That is reason enough. I will ask you again. Shall I kill them all at once, or should I do it slowly, one at a time? The choice is yours."
"What if I do not choose?" Braxton asked, knowing that his question would only anger the thing further. He could feel the power of the jewel radiating from his medallion, and it emboldened him. "What if I choose to kill you instead?"
"ROOAAAAR," the Rokkan responded. From out of the void's blackness, a slightly snouted head formed before him. It was only a few shades lighter than the void itself, but Braxton could see it plainly enough. It was huge. With its chin near his feet, its eyes were still high enough that he had to look up to see them. It was the thing that had attacked them in the lake.
"Who dares threaten the Rokkan?" it asked. Braxton noticed that the menace in the Rokkan's voice had lessened slightly, and had been replaced by curiosity, or possibly even fear.
"I am Braxton Bray, Warrior of the Void, and you will not harm my companions." Braxton answered. "If you do, you will feel the full might of my wrath, and if that is not enough, I will summon the others and we will be rid of you once and for all."
"You've not the power, boy," the Rokkan replied. "You've no wyrm, and no understanding. Your puny abilit—"
It was about to say more, but something welled up inside of Braxton, an energy from the jewel he had never felt before. In that instant, he understood something. Chureal simply willed the power of her jewel to do what she wanted. She didn't think about it or try to analyze it. She willed it, and it just happened. Now, his jewel was responding in somewhat the same way. He willed this thing called the Rokkan to feel his might, and from his chest, a streak of sizzling blue energy erupted. For the briefest of moments, he saw the Rokkan's features. It was massive, a gargantuan the size of the statue called The Ancestor's Dream back home, but its half-human, half-serpent head was attached to a long snaking neck, long enough that its body was towering over him, but its face was right before him. There was a tail, too, and black triangular plates ran the length of its spine, but the brightness of his power never revealed its full length.
Warrior of the Void (Fantastica Book 4) Page 19
