The Way of Ancient Power

by Ben Wolf

  He lay his head down and listened to Kanton and Calum talk about the shifts, with Magnus interjecting every now and then, and his smirk stretched into a smile. Good to finally have friends, even if they didn’t all like each other, and even if he didn’t like Axel.

  “Which route are we taking to the Blood Mountains?” Falcroné asked. “Do you intend to cross the Desert of the Forgotten?”

  Riley’s ears perked up at that. They weren’t seriously considering going through that horrible place, were they?

  “That is the most direct route.” Magnus nodded to Calum. “Let me see the map.”

  Calum pulled it from his pack and handed it to Magnus, who studied it for a moment.

  Falcroné hovered over to him and stared at it over Magnus’s shoulder. “The only other route is through the Green Highlands to the east and then up the main road that connects farther south near Trader’s Pass.”

  Magnus shook his head. “That path is circuitous and would take almost twice as long. We have enough supplies and water to take the desert path. That’s what we’ll do.”

  “No,” Riley barked from the darkness.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  All eyes looked toward Riley, but he knew they couldn’t see him.

  “Riley? Where are you?” Calum stood and looked out over the fire.

  Riley sighed, and he reluctantly emerged from the shadows and stood next to Axel. Then he thought better of it and took a few steps farther away from him. “Here.”

  “Why don’t you want us to go through the desert?” Magnus asked.

  “It’s—” Riley growled. He really didn’t want to have to explain everything that had happened between him and Rhaza. “—not safe. That’s where my kind live.”

  “What’s a few Wolves?” Axel waved his hand in dismissal. “If they’re all like you, we should be fine.”

  Riley leaped at Axel with his front paws extended and pushed him down onto his back. The impact sent pain shooting through his torso, but it was worth it to pin a wide-eyed, unarmed Axel to the ground and snarl in his face. “They’re worse than me, Axel. They’re faster, stronger, and a whole lot meaner than I am.”

  “Get off me!” Axel shoved him to the side, and Riley couldn’t help but collapse. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Riley stifled a whimper as he pushed himself back onto all fours and growled again. “Making a point.”

  Axel brushed himself off and stood up. “Well, don’t make it anymore.”

  “Wolves are merciless. We hunt to kill. If we’re gonna rob you, we’ll tear you apart, too, if the numbers are in our favor.” Riley eyed Axel. “And the numbers are always in our favor. We make sure of it. We’re pack creatures, and our highest concentration is in that desert. No one passes through without us knowing.”

  “How do the Saurians get across, then?” Calum reached for the map, and Magnus handed it back to him.

  “They travel in large groups, and Wolves typically don’t attack Saurians to kill them anyway. Too difficult, usually, and not worth the effort.” Riley sat down and nodded to Magnus. “Especially when they’re Sobeks like Magnus. Our teeth can’t usually penetrate their scales. Instead, we just rob them in the night while they sleep. They’re slower, so it’s not hard.”

  Magnus grunted and folded his arms.

  Riley shrugged. “No offense. You actually move pretty well.”

  “For a Saurian?” Magnus asked.

  “In general, actually. The only more adept Saurian I’ve seen is Vandorian.”

  Magnus grunted again.

  “Anyway, we need to avoid the desert. With this group, we don’t stand a chance against a pack of seventeen Wolves and nine Werewolves, or whatever assortment may come up against us out there.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with him,” Falcroné said. “Windgales can fly, so we don’t have to worry about the Wolves when we cross, but with more than half our party on foot, the risk of attack is heightened.”

  “No, no. Don’t look at it as a risk. It’s not.” Riley stared at Falcroné. “It’s a certainty. If we go to the Desert of the Forgotten, we’ll be ambushed, attacked, scattered, and hunted down until we’re all killed, with the possible exception of the Windgales who could fly away.”

  “What’s more, based on what Riley is saying, Vandorian and his entourage will probably take that route as well,” Lilly said. “If we go that way but can’t make it through, and we need to go back, we could run into them. Then we’d be caught between Wolves and Saurians with no way to escape.”

  “Exactly,” Riley said. “It’s a losing scenario, and frankly, I don’t want to die. Tried it once. Didn’t take, but it wasn’t any fun. So we need to take the long way.”

  Magnus turned to Calum, who looked back at him, then they both turned to Falcroné. Axel rolled his eyes, Lilly held Falcroné’s hand in hers, and Kanton shrugged.

  “Then we’ll take the long way, starting tomorrow,” Calum said.

  The Green Highlands were unlike any place Axel had ever seen, though it vaguely reminded him of the quarry, but with infinitely more grass and vegetation. He liked it for what it was, but he couldn’t see how anyone would want to live there—not if they meant to do any farming, anyway.

  They’d been traveling for three weeks, with Calum leading the group along one of the many paths that cut between the tall green hills and mounds that the Green Highlands were named for. Along the way, they’d encountered a mixture of rocky terrain, lush valleys, sparse forests, and the occasional jagged ravine with a shallow river flowing through.

  Falcroné soared above the group in wide arcs and scouted ahead while Kanton hovered at the rear of the group to make sure no one crept up behind them.

  Magnus, Riley, and Lilly filled in the center of the group, and Axel brought up the rear at Calum’s order. Well, Calum had phrased it as a request, but it felt more like an order to Axel.

  Either way, it meant Axel had no one to talk to except for Kanton, and half the time he just babbled on and on about how he used to shepherd the Premier’s flocks, and how he’d saved the life of an albino sabertooth cat once, and how he’d lost his first cape. The other half of the time he had to ascend higher into the air to check their surroundings.

  Axel preferred the half when Kanton wasn’t around.

  As he walked, he noticed a crystalline pebble on the path, and he scooped it into his hands. Not worth anything, but maybe…

  He tossed it at Lilly and it plunked off the back of her left calf armor. She turned back and glared at him, then she faced forward again and resumed her conversation with Riley. Axel found and chucked another pebble at her, but this time she didn’t even turn around.

  “Lilly,” he half-hissed, half-whispered.

  She still didn’t turn back.

  “Lilly.” This time he called for her with his regular voice, firmly. Maybe too firmly, in hindsight.

  She looked back at him with the same glare.

  “Mind if I talk to you for a moment?”

  Lilly glanced at Riley, who nodded without looking at Axel, and then she stopped so he could catch up. “Yes?”

  “Hi.” Axel smiled at her.

  Lilly rolled her eyes and accelerated her walk to catch up with Riley again, but Axel caught her by her arm. She gave him a look that could melt mountains, and he let go and held up his hands in surrender.

  “Sorry.” He’d learned his lesson the first time—no question there.

  “Do you have something to say or not?”

  “I wanted to apologize for what happened back at the Sky Fortress. I was out of line, I admit, and I acted foolishly. I’m sorry.” Axel stared at her, but she continued to face forward as they walked. “And I wanted to thank you for doing what you did before the council. It’s more than I deserved. Far more. So, thank you.”

  Lilly exhaled a sigh through her nose—her cute little nose. “I don’t think I want to talk about this with you.”

  “Come on, Lilly,” Axel said. �
��I’m trying to make amends here. Give me a chance.”

  “It’s going to take more than an apology for you to make amends.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Axel leaned close her and whispered, “Another kiss?”

  Her livid blue eyes locked on his. “You’re hopeless.”

  That wasn’t a no. “Lilly, I—”

  She started to pull ahead again, so Axel grabbed the end of her cape and tugged her backward. Lilly whirled around and smacked his jaw with her fist, then kicked his chest. He dropped to the dirt on his back and glared up at her.

  “Don’t touch me anymore, Axel.” She turned and kept walking.

  Kanton dropped out of the sky and landed beside him with his hand extended. “You alright, son?”

  “I’m fine.” Axel scrambled to his feet without Kanton’s help, only to find Magnus and Riley staring back at him. “What are you lookin’ at?”

  They, too, faced forward and began walking once Lilly had caught up.

  “Saw what happened.” Kanton patted Axel’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, son. Plenty of girls in this world will break both your heart and your bones. She’s one of them. I remember one time there was this girl named Calraia. She—”

  “Thanks.” Axel shrugged Kanton’s hand away. “Shouldn’t you be scouting?”

  Kanton pursed his lips and squinted at him. His voice flat, he said, “Yeah. Suppose I should.”

  Axel rubbed his jaw as Kanton took to the sky again. Somehow Lilly had managed to hit almost the exact spot where she’d kicked him about three weeks earlier. The original bruise had long since healed, but the familiar pain had returned with Lilly’s punch.

  He found another pebble as he walked, took aim, and lobbed it at Lilly’s head. It bounced off the back of her head and skittered to a stop on the ground, and she turned back to face him again with rage on her face. “What?”

  “I wasn’t done talking to you,” Axel said.

  “Too bad. I’m done talking to you.”

  “I learned my lesson—again. Please, just two more minutes?” Axel didn’t want to sound like he was begging, but he figured a little groveling might get her to come back. “Please?”

  Lilly sighed, but she waited for him to catch up.

  “Thanks.” Axel grunted. “You didn’t have to hit me, you know. You definitely didn’t have to kick me, either.”

  “See, that’s what you don’t understand, Axel. I did have to do those things. Both of them, because you don’t understand what I’ve been telling you.” Lilly stared at him. “We’re never going to happen, Axel. I’m marrying Falcroné, and that’s the end of it. You don’t have a chance.”

  Axel clenched his teeth, ignoring the arrows she’d just shot into his heart and his gut. “I don’t believe that.”

  “Well, you’d better start.”

  “Lilly, I love you.”

  She faced him and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Her eyes fixed on something in the hills above them, and she stopped walking entirely.

  Axel stopped too and followed her line of sight. “What is it?”

  “I thought I saw something.”

  “Like what?”

  “Movement.” Lilly shielded the sun from her eyes with her hand. “I don’t know.”

  “What kind of movement?”

  “I said I don’t know.” Lilly’s tone hardened. “I’m going to go take a look.”

  Before Axel could say anything else, Lilly burst into the sky toward the hill. Convenient excuse to get out of the conversation. He’d mention that when she returned.

  High above, Lilly looped around the hill with her bow in hand and an arrow nocked, but not drawn back. Good for show, but Axel wasn’t fooled.

  Until she pulled the drawstring back and launched an arrow downward. From behind the hill, a green form reared up and writhed, then it hurled a boulder at Lilly. She barrel-rolled out of its trajectory and nocked another arrow.

  A roar reverberated through the valley, and the group stopped.

  “Weapons!” Magnus called. “Form up!”

  Calum fell back to the rest of the group, and Axel charged toward his spot in their formation, his eyes on Lilly the whole time. He drew his sword and watched her shoot another arrow at the thing. A thick tail lashed through the air and a loud hiss sounded.

  It was a Saurian.

  Falcroné and Kanton landed among the group, which formed a loose circle, until Falcroné noticed Lilly engaging the Saurian. He shot away from the ground and drew his sword.

  “Falcroné!” Calum tried to call after him, but Falcroné kept flying.

  He executed a loop and zoomed down toward the Saurian, who now faced Lilly. In one brutal blow Falcroné jammed his blade through the back of the Saurian’s head, and it fell behind the hillcrest out of Axel’s sight.

  Falcroné and Lilly darted back down to the group and took their places in the formation as reptilian silhouettes materialized around them at the tops of the highlands and then started down toward them. Saurians, all of them armored, except for one Sobek who wore only a leather breastplate and gripped a large double-bladed battle-axe in his hands. Their leader.

  Hissing and growling, they constricted around the group like a noose on a condemned man’s neck. They likely weren’t part of Vandorian’s group; that much became clear as Axel noticed their mismatched and weatherworn armor. They were the Saurian version of bandits, apparently.

  Then again, Vandorian still might have sent them or alerted them to the group’s approach. Axel didn’t know for sure.

  Either way, this wouldn’t make for an easy fight. Axel counted ten of them, including the Sobek.

  The Sobek stepped to within fifteen feet of Magnus and displayed his jagged smile. “Well, well. If it ain’t seven stragglers just waitin’ to be snapped up. The lot of ya will make a nice haul for sure. Now lay down your weapons, an’ we won’t gotta cut nothin’ off ya while we tie ya up.”

  The Sobek’s odd manner of speech reminded Axel of the way Oren had talked. Perhaps they knew each other, or they’d come from the same town in the Blood Mountains.

  “The only hauling you can expect to do if you refuse to let us pass is hauling your own carcasses out of this valley.” Magnus straightened to his full height, at least six inches taller than the enemy Sobek. “Now stand aside.”

  “Can’t do it, bub.” The Sobek’s tail swished back and forth in the gravel on the path. “Livelihood’s at stake, an’ all. You’ll be slaves ‘fore the week’s out.”

  “Forget your livelihood, Saurian,” Falcroné warned. “You forfeit your life if you so much as lay a hand on any of us. We’ve already killed one of your number, and we’ll do it again if we must.”

  Axel raised an eyebrow. Regardless of what he thought of the pretty Wisp captain, Axel couldn’t deny that Falcroné could back up his haughty talk—so far, anyway.

  “Talk all ya want. We’ll see ’oo’s standin’ an’ ’oo ain’t by the end o’ this.” The Sobek motioned toward them with his arm, and the Saurians advanced forward.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Scaly green monsters surrounded Riley. Green monsters that he’d have to fight if he wanted to survive. Green monsters with swords, spears, and axes.

  The wound he’d taken from Condor in his side had healed substantially in the three weeks since they’d left the Sky Fortress, but the damage remained nonetheless—both to his body and to his mind.

  Ten against seven. Ten Saurians, all but impossible to kill with his teeth, much less his claws. Bigger than humans, far more difficult to knock down. And even if he could knock them down, he couldn’t get to their throats easily thanks to their armor, makeshift though it may be.

  They would catch him. Stop him from biting them. Then they’d take their swords and run him through, just as Condor had.

  Only this time it wouldn’t just happen once, but twice. Three times. Four. Five.

  They might never stop.

  Pain flared in Riley’s sid
e, then spread throughout his body. He knew most of it was artificial, contrived, imagined, but it still hurt anyway.

  He had to run, had to escape. Had to find shadows and hide.

  He wouldn’t let them get him. He had to run.

  Pebbles sprayed into the air and clinked against the armor plates on the side of Calum’s left leg. He stole a look and saw Riley bounding away from the fight, away from the Saurians and toward a gorge up ahead.

  “Riley?” he called, but Riley kept running. “Where are you going?”

  Two of the Saurians reached for him as he ran past, but he eluded them and darted down the path until he disappeared entirely behind some rocks in the gorge.

  “Stay in formation,” Magnus growled. “Tighten up and take his place. He can no longer help us.”

  “What do we do?” Calum asked, only loud enough for Magnus and Falcroné to hear.

  “We fight.” Falcroné nudged Calum with his elbow. “We kill as many of them as we have to until they leave us alone.”

  “You got that right,” Axel said.

  Well, at least they agreed on something.

  “No. We run. Make for that gorge where Riley disappeared. Not everyone can fly away when they encounter trouble, so we need to adjust our strategy.” Magnus nodded. “Falcroné, Kanton, and I will clear a path. Calum and Axel, run for the gorge. We will fight them there, where we can use the terrain to our advantage. Lilly, cover them with your bow. Ready?”

  Calum nodded. “Ready.”

  The Sobek lunged forward and flailed his battle-ax at Magnus, who parried the attack with his sword then jammed his fist into the Sobek’s armored gut. The blow stunned him for a second, and Magnus whirled around and whacked the Sobek’s shoulder with his tail, sending the Sobek skidding along the gravel away from them.

  “Go!” Magnus roared.

  Falcroné, Kanton, and Lilly took to the sky, and Calum and Axel charged behind Magnus. Calum ran hard until one of the Saurians lurched toward him and lashed his sword. Calum ducked under the blow, but lost his footing and tripped. He slid to a stop in the gravel on his side, and when he looked up, the Saurian towered over him, sword raised.