And in the distance, what was that?
He squinted through the mist, and then his mouth gapped open.
Mile after mile of staggering high walls of jagged rock filled the horizon. He shivered, yet his lungs burned. It didn’t make sense. Down in this valley the air seemed unbelievably desert hot for the environment to be so very mind-numbingly cold.
He scrambled up one slick hill before tumbling hard down the other side. Sharp splinters of debris nicked his shins and ankles, but he welcomed the warmth of his own blood seeping out and coating his skin with its heat. The bright red splotches of liquid were the only source of escape from the never-ending chills running up and down his spine.
Cold, he was so very cold. His fingers had long ago lost all sensation, and so had his feet. But he couldn’t stop. He was getting close. He could feel it. He could feel her presence and her fear. Mia needed him.
He gathered his courage, picked up his frozen feet, and ran on sheer desperation and determination alone.
Pearl followed fast on his heels, her breath hot on his neck and her screams echoing throughout his mind. “It’s coming, master. Faster, we must go faster. I can see it in my mind. It’s almost upon her. Hurry, we really must hurry.”
Fear for Mia out-weighed his fatigue, and furiously Talon pumped his legs. Every step and every breath he took burned deeper and deeper throughout his entire body, and he recognized it for what it was. An ice burn. And if he didn’t find Mia and shelter soon, they’d both be lost.
It wasn’t wise to ignore an ice burn. He remembered them well from growing up in Bane. An ice burn was a cold so cold the tiny air pockets in ones lungs froze solid the moment the chill, icy winds accosted them. It was a burning cold, a numbing cold, a freezing solid cold, a cold unto death.
He paused a moment to get his bearings. Odd. Though this place was undoubtedly covered with thick sheets of ice like his homeland, wherever he was, it certainly wasn’t Bane.
Bane was flat, Bane was wide open spaces, Bane was beautiful in its simplicity, and Bane was bright blue skies and even bluer water. This place was horrid and rocky and mountainous and dark and dreary and lonely and lost, so very, very lost.
So where was he, and more importantly where was Mia? He had to find her. It was coming for her. It was coming for them all.
A heaviness of spirit filled him, and wearily he sank to his knees.
“You mustn’t give into the despair,” Pearl whispered. “Remember what we were told? Fight it, master. Fight the darkness for her if you can’t find the strength to fight it for yourself.”
He forced himself to rise and trudged onward, though every step caused his entire being to ache, and the wind threatened to rip his limbs from his body. “I’ll get there before it does this time. I won’t fail her again. I can’t. I mustn’t.”
Warm fingers nudged his shoulder and breathed life giving heat upon the bare skin of his face. He was transported, and wherever he was smelled of the wildflowers found growing only in the high meadows above Alaria.
“No,” he moaned. “Not again.” He’d been so close this time. Who or what could’ve pulled him away from his destination before he was ready? Who was responsible this time for preventing him from saving Mia? He’d kill the man with his bare hands the moment he could see him.
Talon’s eyes snapped open.
“Wake up, Barbarian.” Mia smiled. “I’ve been summoned to face the council. Ready or not, it seems quest number two is about to begin.”
A dream. It had been a stupid dream. Again. She was alive. He hadn’t failed her yet. There was still time.
Talon grabbed Mia and kissed her. She tasted of sunshine and honey, honor and freedom. She snuggled into his embrace, and his hand sought a plump, warm breast and tweaked its nipple. She sighed, and he wrapped a leg around her ass, gathering her in even closer.
The last vestiges of the cold lingering in his bones raced from his body, leaving only sweet warmth in its wake. His cock roared to life, and he pressed it hard against her softness. He wanted nothing more in all of Albrath this moment than to show Princess Mia Hammerstrike how very happy he was to see her this morning. Even if he had been doing his best to keep his distance since they’d returned to The Academy. Now was a time for celebration. She was alive and safe. There’d be time later to put the much needed distance between them once more.
“Whoa there big guy,” she laughed. “Trust me, I’m glad you’re in a good mood this morning, but did you hear what I said? We need to get up and get going. I don’t dare keep the council waiting this time.”
He held her gaze for a moment, drinking in every aspect of the woman he loved with every fiber of his being, and then slowly nodded. There would be time later to show her with his body what his mouth could no longer speak. Wouldn’t there be?
God Draka, there simply had to be. For there was no other way to ensure himself the here and now was truly real instead of the horrible dream he’d just awakened from without delving deep within Mia Hammerstrike’s warmth. Without feeling her heartbeat right through the sensitive head of his cock. Without listening to her sigh in his arms.
Perhaps they could once more consummate their very temporary union sometime between the packing for wherever they were to go and the gathering of those who would be accompanying them. Or if nothing else, possibly later this evening when camped and when they were snuggled together under the same fur.
Talon shivered. God Draka please don’t let them be heading somewhere freezing cold. And not somewhere mountainous either or somewhere dark and filled with the horrid creatures he’d witnessed in his nightmares of late.
He shuddered.
And as long as he was wishing, he’d ask for warmth this time. But not too hot either. And possibly, if he were very, very lucky, maybe this time, when he did lay her down and enter her, she wouldn’t gaze up at him as if she expected him to declare his love with words, for he couldn’t, not ever again, not out loud anyway. For speaking such a thing the first time had been a horrible mistake. One he wouldn’t make again.
Now that he’d said what he should never have, she had expectations of him he couldn’t ever begin to fulfill. He was the great-grandson of a well-known traitor, for God Draka’s sake. What on Albrath could she be thinking?
But still she had them, dreams that was, like marriage and babies and all that happily-ever-after rot. Hopes that could never come to fruition. Not with him anyway.
****
The simple fact that Duke Algen Daggertoss was smiling was enough to sober any feelings of excitement Mia might’ve had concerning her next quest. Instead, she shivered, even though the overfilled assembly hall was stifling hot.
She told herself not to fidget, not to look away or up or down or side to side, no matter how wide and devious and evil the duke’s grin became. She was a princess, after all. The daughter of King Adan and Queen Lizbeth Hammerstrike. A future queen in her own right. She would stand straight and proud and not flinch when the council laid down its latest rulings, even if it killed her to do so.
“Ahh, my lady,” the duke cooed. “What a lovely spring day it is for the start of a new quest. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Mia nodded.
The duke’s grin widened even further if possible. “This council has deliberated long and hard over this next little contest of your skill, and we do believe we’ve come up with something worthy of the eight-times removed great granddaughter of Queen Adrina herself.”
Algen Daggertoss chuckled, and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck rose, and so did her hackles. “Just say it, Your Grace. You’re wasting daylight, all of these people’s time, and my patience.”
The crowd laughed, but the duke didn’t. And even though he did lose his smile, his eyes still twinkled with mischief or madness. Mia wasn’t sure which, and she really didn’t care. She just wanted this travesty of a council meeting over so she could get on with her quest.
The duke cleared his throat and the hall quieted. “Very
well, my dear. The council asks only that you travel south to Oreeghan, retrieve your queenly ancestor’s well known spear, and present it before this council within a week’s time.”
Unlike the last time when shouts of “that’s impossible” rang out, this time there was only stunned silence. A suffocating closeness threatened to overcome Mia. She felt faint.
Travel to Oreeghan? The homeland of the ogres?
And not only go where no barbarian had been welcome since the days of Adrina, but to take away the spear she gave them? The council couldn’t possibly mean this. How was she to take the fabled Queen Adrina’s Spear from a horde of angry ogres?
The same magical spear that was now and had been for almost nine-hundred years rumored to be holding back the molten lave of Mooktar, the great volcano? The one and only thing standing between the ogres being consumed by a horrible, fiery death and living long prosperous lives?
Tears of frustration stung her eyes. Perhaps the whole, holding back the lava thing was legend, or perhaps it was fact, but it didn’t matter. Either way, the quest was still an impossible one.
There was no way in VoT the leaders of the ogre tribes would ever agree to give up the token of peace presented to them by Queen Adrina herself over nine-hundred years ago. Not for an hour, not for a day, and certainly not for a week. Even if the thing wasn’t really magic at all or infused with ice so cold it kept the lava of a giant volcano frozen solid, they would still never agree to part with it.
The possession of such a rare barbarian artifact by the ogre people had long been a bone of contention among her people. Diplomats on both sides had argued, skirmishes had been fought, lives had been lost, leaders had even been dethroned, and still the ogres possessed the spear.
Ogres!
Mia shuddered. Dirty, uncivilized, barbaric, uneducated, ogres.
She’d been raised a princess and had traveled to many kingdoms all over Albrath and had met many races of people, yet she’d never stepped a single toe, let alone an entire foot into Oreeghan, and for good reason. But then, there weren’t many barbarians who’d dared attempt the trek to the ogre’s capital city, let alone, live long enough to boast of their exploits.
Barbarians lived in the high mountains, where it was cold most of the year, and they liked it that way. They weren’t smelly, gross ogres, stupid enough to make their homes in the middle of a blazing hot dessert, and especially not right on the rim of The Valley of Torment and at the base of a huge, friggin’ volcano.
And anyway, it was a well-known fact that ogres hated barbarians, all barbarians, except perhaps for the long ago now dead Queen Adrina. And there wasn’t an ogre ever born who trusted anyone, not even another ogre. How was she, a barbarian princess, to even make it through the front gate of Oreeghan, let alone talk them out of the spear?
Mia sighed. It wasn’t possible. No ogre leader would ever even listen to let alone trust a barbarian, any barbarian, and especially not one they’d undoubtedly see as a silly little princess.
Not that the barbarian race had ever given the ogres reason to feel differently. After all, her people had been trying to steal back Queen Adrina’s Spear on a very regular basis for almost as long as the ogres had possessed it.
How was she, a fledgling diplomat at best, equipped to convince the simple-minded leaders of the ogre nation to part with something they felt so important to their very existence? If even for a short while? And what, if anything, did she have to use as collateral until she could return it to its rightful place?
She turned and caught Talon’s eye. He stood between Uncle Leeky and Wally. His eyes told her what no number of words ever could. He’d follow wherever she led, and he’d do it without question or complaint. He’d once more put himself at risk for her dream and ask nothing for himself in return. He’d simply do it because he’d given Zander his word and he was an honorable man.
Mia shook her head.
Not this time. She couldn’t put him at risk. She wouldn’t. She loved him too much. So much more than even her dream of someday becoming the queen of the barbarians, more than her next breath, more than her own life.
So what then? What to do.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell the council she’d changed her mind and withdrew her right to complete the challenge when out of the corner of her eye she saw Ray jump up and down as he started waving his arms about.
“Ray loves cock,” he yelled. “Ray loves cock. Ray loves cock.”
Mia rubbed her temples where an ache was beginning.
Headmistress Seychelle smiled and patted Ray’s hand affectionately. “Later pet, I promise. But do sit down and be a good boy until the assembly is over. Then you shall have all the cock your little heart desires.”
The crowd roared.
Duke Algen Daggertoss finally lost what was left of his smile, banged down his gavel, and shouted, “Meeting adjourned.”
Mia sighed. It appeared it was too late to back out of the quest, so she’d better come up with a plan to convince a thousand angry ogres to hand over their most prized possession, and she had to do without putting Talon at risk.
The inklings of a plan began forming in her mind, and she headed off down the hall without a glance at Talon or Uncle Leeky or Wally or Pierced or Alistair or anybody else. There was one person she hadn’t seen at the council meeting this morning, and that was the one person who might be able to offer even a crumb of help.
If the ogres refused to listen or trust a barbarian, then perhaps they would be willing to at least hear what she had to say if the words came from one of their own.
Mia knew only one ogre. Well, half ogre really, but that didn’t matter. A half ogre was better than no ogre at all. Wasn’t it?
She made a bee-line for the Shortz residence deep in the bowels of The Academy. It was time to have a little chat with Miss Ohfeelya Upz. Even though the girl probably didn’t realize she really and truly was as much ogre as she was gnome, perhaps those big-boned genes of hers could at least get them all through the front gates of Oreeghan alive.
Chapter Seventeen
Talon stood in the corner of Leeky Shortz’s living room and simply listened to the various, loud conversations going on around him. But then what else was there to do right this moment but listen? The time for him to speak up would come eventually. Was there really anything wrong with putting off the inevitable as long as possible? Especially when the inevitable was bound to be extremely unpleasant?
And after all, hadn’t he given Leeky Shortz his word he’d first give the little gnome a chance to change his niece’s mind? And if that didn’t work, he’d at least listen with an open mind to all Mia had to say on the subject before inserting his own opinion? So listen he would, because Talon was nothing if not a man of honor, and VoT would freeze over before he broke his word.
For a moment, he wondered if his silence made him appear cowardly. He shrugged. If not wanting to see the hurt on Mia’s face a grain of sand sooner than need be, then so be it. For that was precisely what was going to happen the moment he made his dictates known to her. Her stormy gray-blue eyes would glaze over with pain, and tears would form around their edges.
And though he knew deep down in his heart he really and truly was being a tad cowardly by not speaking up and getting this debacle of an argument over with, he also knew, in the end, he’d still do his duty. And his duty was first and foremost to keep Princess Mia Hammerstrike safe.
And anyway, wouldn’t it be better for all involved if he bided his time and first heard exactly what crazy scheme Mia was in the process of hatching? For without a doubt, she had one. He could see it in the gleam of her eye.
Yes, he definitely needed to keep his mouth shut for the moment and pay attention to what she had to say before he burst her bubble and forbade her going through with it? For that was exactly what he intended to do.
He knew Mia Hammerstrike better than he had any right to. Probably better than anyone else in all of Albrath. But he also knew wha
t he’d promised Zander. There was no way in VoT he’d ever allow her to travel to Oreeghan. It was much too dangerous for a full grown man, let alone a slip of a girl.
He may not like the council, and he might actually despise Duke Algen Daggertoss, but he had to give the man credit where credit was due, and by all rights, he should thank the duke for ultimately making his job easier. For this time, the duke truly had devised an impossible quest. Anyone who was anybody knew the ogre nation would never give up Queen Adrina’s Spear. Not to anyone, and not for any reason or for any price.
And no matter how much Mia might yell or scream or throw a royal hissy fit, it was his job first and foremost to protect the Alarian princess and keep her safe and sound. Even from herself if necessary.
Still, he couldn’t help but be proud of her as Mia raised her chin a notch and stared down Leeky Shortz as if she were already queen.
“I didn’t come down here to cause trouble or to fight, Uncle Leeky,” she sniffed. “I came to simply ask Ohfeelya what she knows about ogres, if anything, and if she’d possibly like to accompany me on this upcoming quest.”
Leeky Shortz’s face was so red Talon feared the little gnome was about to have a seizure. “What—what—what the well-deserved fat lip on a rude dwarf dandy after he had the gall ta insult a dark-elf lady of the evening do ya mean ya want ta ask Ohfeelya about ogres? What the VoT would our sweet little gnome niece know about nasty, old ogres? And—and allow ya ta drag her ta Oreeghan with ya? I don’t think so.”
He gestured wildly toward the room at large. “I want ya ta know, we men already discussed this whole second quest nonsense on the way down here, little missy. Neither Talon, nor Pierced, nor myself, nor anybody else with half a brain is going anywhere near Oreeghan, and neither are ya. So ya might as well get this silly quest stuff out of ya head once and for all.”
Mia placed her hands on her hips. “I’m going, with or without any of you, and nobody is going to stop me.”
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