After three days of moving forward, her stolen horse refused to move. Artemia cursed and screamed, but still the horse did not move. Guards and monsters alike watched her in shock as she kicked, cursed, and punched the horse while atop it. Furious, she dismounted and pulled her sword out, prepared to kill the animal that had gotten her that far.
It only made her more enraged when she did just that and the horse galloped off, having the good sense to stay alive instead of remaining next to the deranged, maddened woman who had ridden it.
“Where is Bahamut?!?” she shrieked. She looked to the five soldiers. She looked to her monsters. She looked to the heavens. No one had the answer. “You would think after all this time, it would want a fight. Two hundred years! Where is it? I must know! I must know now!”
As much as she had lost a grip on her mind and as much as the hunt for Bahamut as a solo journey had ravaged her critical thinking, it had not destroyed one of the most crucial traits for the success of her journey. In fact, it had enhanced it—her determination.
She would not quit. Normal concerns which would have stopped her in a rational state, such as lack of sleep, allies, or food did not slow her down. She ignored them. She slept only because the men genuinely could not keep up, and even then, over the three days, she had not slept more than six hours total.
Nothing mattered but defeating Bahamut. Nothing mattered but gaining that power and holding it over the empire. And then, nothing mattered more than returning to Caia and killing Kara to get the essence of Indica. Nothing mattered more than gaining all her power and wiping out anything that opposed her.
In her current frame of mind, that meant everything. Every man, every animal, every dragon, every demon—save for the ones she controlled with the essence of Ragnor.
All who surrounded her sensed her insanity. The soldiers did not dare to speak to her. Even her own monsters did not speak to her. She saw Ifrit and Shiva casting her glances from afar. Artemia questioned their intentions, and when they affirmed their loyalty to her, she demanded they repeat it multiple times. They acknowledged it every time as a good puppet should.
She did the same with the five soldiers every day and every night. They swore allegiance to her, even as their cheeks hollowed, their legs trembled, and their muscle faded. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t real. Even in her present state, Artemia knew that. An instrument didn’t need to feel like playing or enjoy playing, it just had to play. Even as they came closer and closer to the point of discarding.
So when no one answered her question about Bahamut, it drove her even more insane.
“How could no one know where Bahamut is?!?”
She started her rage at the humans but quickly turned her attention. Humans provided nothing of use. She would need to destroy them when she had Bahamut’s power. And that went for more than just the humans in front of her. If she could, she would change herself into a monster befitting her soul.
“Ifrit! Here, now!”
The monster, which had moved ahead a few hundred feet to scour the terrain, bounded back within seconds, soaring through the air at a speed that belied its size and lack of wings.
“Yes, my master,” it said. Master, indeed, for you are my slave and I am the master of all.
“Where in the name of Hydor is Bahamut?” she said, deliberately slowing her speech so that she would underscore her control. “You will tell me where Bahamut is. Surely, you would know.”
But to her rage, Ifrit shook his head.
“We fought against Bahamut millenia ago. We fought it across the lands of Hydor. I know only that its base is somewhere here to the north. A dragon as powerful as Bahamut may use magic to dispel any being with magic from sensing it.”
“Can you not see it? Or smell it? Surely as a creature of your capabilities you would have that power. Surely, I did not allow you to leave the temple of Ragnor just to waste my time.”
“I cannot,” Ifrit said. “I can control fire better than any being in this world, including Bahamut and Ragnor. I have great physical attributes. But I cannot sense the presence of another being, especially one with as much control as Bahamut. I must use my perception to locate it.”
Artemia grunted, kicked the ground, and spat on it. What had she done to deserve such uncertainty as this? She executed all her plans with a degree of certainty that would make the most organized and attentive of men jealous, and now she had to operate without even having a clue other than she headed in the right direction? What had she done anything for?
Perhaps Auron was right. No! He was… perhaps, no! Not right!
“I see that Hydor has seen fit to make our lives miserable,” Artemia said. “It takes my horse. It gives me no answers. And it gives me subordinates who are as useless as leaves falling from the nearby trees.”
No one dared respond.
She looked to the west and saw the usual mountains upon which her guild had hunted. She looked east and saw a lush forest, one in which most of her men had never gone except during a hunt, and even then, they had never gone particularly deep into the forest. A few dragons emerged from the distance, but none of them even approaching a gamely hunt, let alone a legendary dragon.
While some degree of curiosity made her wonder if the answer lay in the forest, she suspected that was not the case. She wouldn’t move north heading into that forest. And already, she’d reached the edges of where her hunters had mapped. Once they reached a small river—one that barely qualified as such, looking more like a creek—she would’ve reached the limits of known land. Not only would she achieve newfound glory as a hunter, she’d receive it as an explorer.
“Very well,” she sneered. “If the horses of Hydor would rather flee than assist us on our path to glory, then we shall blaze our own trail with our feet. Move!”
Ifrit, Shiva, Odin, and the phoenix all roared in anger as they moved. The men just huddled together and kept their mouths shut.
And so, for yet another two days, Artemia led the men and the monsters on a hike. She felt her own soreness and fatigue, but they became like background noise to her.
Just a few hours before sunset, she reached the river. She waded across with ease and stood at the riverbank on the other side, perhaps barely a hundred feet across, as she waited for the five men to get to her.
Three of them made it with relative ease, though they moved embarrassingly slow. The other two struggled, though one seemed to drag the other down with his fatigue and uselessness.
“Leave him,” Artemia spat.
But then she saw he still carried a hefty bag of supplies and reconsidered. She allowed for the man to ignore her commands and waited for them to cross.
Finally, after another two minutes—which to Artemia felt like an inexcusable delay which might prevent her from fulfilling her destiny—the men collapsed on the side of the river.
“It took you long enough.”
The man who had stayed back to help quickly formed rank with the other three game hunters. But the one who had struggled coughed up water and remained on all fours, struggling to move.
“Please, Artemia,” he said. “We cannot move at this pace. We need rest! Food! Water is here!”
He coughed some more. Artemia crossed her arms, interested to see how many reasons this man could pile up for her to kill him.
“Not even the emperor would push us so hard,” he said. “We are the strongest soldiers of the land, but we are still men. With a night to rest, a meal to eat, and water to quench our thirst, we would become like your monsters. We would not fall before anything. Instead, we struggle and fall because of the inhumane march north. We weaken our chances of success by not resting.”
“Hmm,” Artemia said, mockingly. “What is your name?”
“My name,” he said. “Is Eric.”
Rage filled her heart at the sound of that name. Normally one to keep her emotions hidden, she didn’t bother to contain the anger that appeared across her face. Why would she? She had no more covert
operations. She reached her hand for her sword.
But she held back. It almost felt fun to see how deep his grave would go. Let the man bury himself to the depths of the planet.
“And Eric,” Artemia said. “I see you have a bag of supplies there. Perhaps you obtained it while in Mathos.”
“I… I took it from the ship,” he said. “I knew we would need some on the journey.”
“You planned well,” Artemia said. “What remains?”
“Food for two days. An extra dagger. A—”
Artemia quickly pulled out her blade and drove it through the man. He stared wide-eyed at her, gurgling and grimacing as life faded from him.
“I’ll tell you what remains,” she sneered. “Supplies for me. I am the most essential part of this mission, Eric. And unfortunately for you, not only did you pick the wrong name—a name I consider a curse upon this world—you picked the wrong time to fall behind.”
She twisted the blade before pushing him back with her boot into the river.
“No!”
Artemia turned in curiosity as the soldier who had helped the dead man unsheathed his sword. I suppose his name is Abraham, isn’t it?
“I tire of this madness!” the man said. “You are a monster! He was a man who would have served you until the end, and you killed him! Die, Artemia!”
Artemia lifted her own blade up and pointed it at the soldier as he staggered forward.
“You will die in the same way your friend did,” she said, the idea of losing to a man as fatigued as the one before her laughable.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ifrit flying through the air.
“I retract my statement,” she said, but before she could finish what she intended to say, Ifrit landed with a violent quake on the ground, knocking the rebellious soldier down to his knees. “You will die a much worse death than your friend.”
The soldier turned, still holding his sword, and screamed in defiance. He tried to slice at the demon, but with a single fist, the monster sent the sword flying about fifty feet down the riverbank. He could barely scream before a rush of fire incinerated the traitor, leaving nothing but ash where he had knelt just seconds before.
Artemia nodded to Ifrit in thanks before asking him to move. She had to address the remaining men lest they try and betray her too. After all, she could no longer trust their kind for the betrayal they had brought to her and the incompetence they had showed in slowing the journey now.
“We started this journey with four ships,” Artemia said, making sure to make eye contact with all three men at different points. “Each ship had several men, save for ours. We are now down to fewer men than ships we started. But do not see this as a sign of anything other than your own strength.”
She gave a moment’s thought to falsely apologizing, but even that seemed like too much.
“I am impressed that three of you still stand. Frankly, by now, I would’ve expected none of you to stand. None of you should be. None!”
She tried to analyze if they believed her or not. She couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter. This whole exercise was just a game to her anyways, a means of creating some fun before she fought Bahamut.
“If the three of you make it through, you will become the human generals in my army,” she said. “Durability and toughness cannot be ignored. My monsters may rule the world, but humans will not listen to them. They will run from them. They will not run from you.”
She smiled. The guards did not smile back. She thought of asking for their names, but decided she didn’t want to get too invested into this game. She was already wasting time. And so help me if I hear a name like Eric, Abe, or Auron ever again.
“Let us move forward,” she said. “We cannot stop. Not with what lies ahead. Do you all understand?”
The three men nodded. They had just a tad more vigor to their movements than from before. Not a lot. Not enough to make her believe that she had their full cooperation. They had, truly, suffered too much for one night to allow them to recover.
But enough to believe they wouldn’t try and assassinate her in the middle of the night.
Still, it might behoove her to have one monster rest by her side in the evening.
“Then let us continue.”
“Artemia… wait.”
One of the guards spoke those two words with such nerves that he shook. Artemia cranked her head to the side.
“Yes?”
“The water made us so cold, we need some warmth,” he said. “Can we… can we get a fire and rest for a bit?”
She knew what he meant. A campfire, some logs to sit on, and a chance to sleep. A chance to sleep until dawn the next day.
Only because she had felt exhausted as well would she give them some rest. Not an entire evening’s worth, though.
“Ifrit!”
The great beast bounded to the east about two hundred yards. It lit up an area of about a dozen trees, igniting a fire that raged far beyond a normal forest fire.
“Stand by that fire,” Artemia said. “I grant you half an hour before we move. Do not ask for more, expecting plenty of rest. Bahamut will not let us rest.”
“Thank you,” the guard said as they hurried over.
Artemia just smirked. No, thank you. You just made our trip more interesting.
***
By the next evening, however, Artemia’s words had become hollow promises, in large part because the terrain became unforgiving and less filled with prey. The mountains became steeper, the woods thinned out, and the plains had little vegetation to them. In fact, a layer of frost had covered what little plants and grass filled the area before them.
Artemia kept wondering if she’d missed the valley already. They hadn’t gone up the mountains to make their path easier, but the result may have been that they missed Bahamut. She knew even for someone like her, she could not continue on this journey for an indefinite period of time.
At the risk of an uprising, she sent her monsters ahead to scout the area while they continued moving north. She ordered her men to take the lead, the better to prevent them from stabbing her in the back. They did so without much concern, though with the little food and supplies they had, it seemed unlikely they had the energy to express any concern.
Artemia wondered if the effects of the red crystal would break if her monsters got over a certain distance away. She sure hoped not. She would still fight Bahamut, if for no other reason than to have resolution to the conflict that had spurred her at such a young age, but she at least wanted a fighting chance.
Just as the sun had set and the stars appeared, the phoenix returned. It hovered gently down in front of Artemia, its majestic orange, red, and yellow feathers rustling gently in the night breeze.
“Well?” Artemia asked.
“To the north rises a mountain that goes so high, it seems to dwarf the mountains that our great former leader Ragnor dwelt in,” it said. Its voice sounded like an all-encompassing aura, one that came from all sides and all angles. It sounded angelic, but that just masked the potential the phoenix had to enact severe damage. “Down below that lies a cave. I cannot say for sure if this cave holds Bahamut. But I can say that as I approached, I saw a massive tail pull inside, a tail too large to be that of any ordinary being. If I had to take a chance, this is where I would do it.”
“Excellent,” Artemia said. “We will wait to see what the other monsters say. If Ifrit, Shiva, and Odin say nothing, then we shall move forward with your report.”
“This mountain lies straight to the north and slightly west,” it said. “We will have to scale the mountains at some point to reach it.”
“So be it.”
Ifrit, Shiva, and Odin returned within the hour, reporting that they had found nothing. But that only made Artemia more excited. She didn’t have conflicting reports about the locations of the dragon. She only had one.
The planning had ended. Now, it was all about the execution of the march and then the triumph of the greates
t battle the world would ever see.
CHAPTER 17: ZELDA
Just about a hundred feet from the river that marked the furthest any human had gone before, the group of magi and dragon hunters came to a stop as the sun set. They kept their horses well-fed and well-rested, and a little magic from the magi also enabled them to move quickly through land not even Eric or Abe said they had traveled through. While Zelda suspected that Artemia had quite the head start on them, she could not imagine that she had kept the same distance away since they began the journey.
At the very least, Zelda did not witness any monstrous battles in the sky that would shake Hydor to its very core. As long as she didn’t see Bahamut flying in the sky against the beasts of Artemia, she could breathe easy—relatively speaking. Plus, it didn’t seem like the great dragon would appear out of nowhere just for the sake of battle. If it had dodged all of humanity for two hundred years, she didn’t see how it would start right now.
The six fighters gathered wood for a fire, everyone pitching in to help as they could. Even Tetra, as old and debilitated as time had made her, carried logs from a nearby decayed tree. Zelda thought of teasing her for being minutes away from dying in Caia to now having the strength to carry wood for a fire, but she said nothing. She could only imagine the tension inside all of them. She knew she carried a great deal of weight in so many areas, it was a wonder she hadn’t just collapsed. I already have before. The essence of Indica keeps me going.
When they had all of the wood necessary to keep them warm through the night, Zelda and Yeva stood on opposite sides. They counted to three before shooting off a small fire spell to get the flames going. Yeva had to exert a little more energy, but neither spell took anything out of either girl, and within seconds, the fire ignited to levels that forced Zelda to take a small step back.
Going left, the circle comprised of her, Tetra, Romarus, Yeva, Eric, and Abe. Eric and Abe traded stories about hunts and how far north they had gone before, stories which at first dominated the conversation at the campfire. As the lone two people who had gone anywhere close to this far north, the magi had many questions about the land in this area, and Eric and Abe seemed happy to comply.
Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3) Page 21
