The Cursed Lands

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  “This is awful,” said Rothel. He was watching the cart bearing Misma’s corpse be taken away. “I wish we had been fast enough to save her.”

  Sarzen nodded. He was thinking of Helnia now, who had been the first person to enter Misma’s room after him. She had thrown up upon seeing Misma’s corpse and was now back in her room, though Sarzen had assigned one of the Warrior Priests to watch over her. He didn’t think she was in danger of being killed, but he hadn’t believed Misma was, either, and look what happened. He hated seeing Helnia like that, which made him all the more determined to catch the killer, whoever he was.

  “I wonder who did it,” said Sarzen. He could not get the sight of Misma’s corpse out of his eyes. “Who could have sneaked into her room and murdered her like that and escaped without being seen?”

  “Maybe the Draymens?” said Rothel. “They’ve already displayed an ability to sneak in and out of any room via the shadows. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them did that to Misma.”

  “That’s a likely explanation,” said Sarzen. He rubbed the back of his neck. “But why her? She’s not in charge of this mission. I am. I’m a more logical target for assassination.”

  “Because she’s a powerful mage and a subordinate of the Elect, I guess,” said Rothel. “Draymens don’t like human magic. Wouldn’t surprise me if they want to pick off all our mages so we’ll be easy for them to crush.”

  “Do you think that means that they are going to attack Helnia next?” said Sarzen, glancing up at the second floor of the inn, where Helnia’s room was located. “She’s a powerful mage, too, albeit not as powerful as Misma.”

  “Who knows?” said Rothel. “Whatever is going to happen next, we will need to keep our guard up. The Draymens will use whatever they can to take us down.”

  “You’re right,” said Sarzen, resting a hand on the hilt of his golden sword. Then he looked around again. “By the way, where is Misma’s Raugian? You know, the little monkey?”

  Rothel frowned. “I don’t know. I didn’t see it in her room. Maybe it ran away when she was killed?”

  “Where could it have gone, though?” said Sarzen. “The window to her room was closed. And I didn’t see it escape through the door that we forced open, either.”

  “Maybe she let it out before she died,” Rothel suggested. “You know, to let it get some exercise and stuff.”

  “I doubt it,” said Sarzen. “I’m no expert on Raugians, but Helnia made it seem like a mage never parts with their Raugian very easily.”

  “Maybe the assassin stole Misma’s monkey,” said Rothel. “Raugians are pretty rare, after all. They might try to sell it on the market, get a good price. Raugians are in high demand on the black market.”

  Sarzen looked at Rothel curiously. “How do you know that Raugians are in high demand on the black market?”

  “I have my, uh, ways,” said Rothel, though Sarzen noticed that Rothel was deliberately not looking him in the eyes. “But seriously, the monkey could be anywhere and I don’t see why we need to find it.”

  “It might hold a clue to the identity of Misma’s murderer,” said Sarzen.

  “Do you think it can talk or something?” said Rothel, looking at Sarzen skeptically.

  “No,” said Sarzen, shaking his head. “But the fact that it is missing is significant, in my opinion. If we can find it, we might be able to figure out who killed Misma and why.”

  “Are we just going to stay here in Sinmo until we find her murderer?” said Rothel, scratching the back of his head. “I’m not against bringing a murderer to justice, but we still have our own quest to fulfill; you know, finding the Dragon Gods so we can save our country and our people from destruction.”

  “Yes, we will still have to leave tomorrow, no doubt,” said Sarzen. “But we will also need to contact the Elect and let them know about Misma’s murder. If we cannot investigate it, then maybe they can, at least.”

  “Wasn’t Misma writing a letter to them when she died?” said Rothel. “Or, at least, she was supposed to write a letter, wasn’t she?”

  “She was,” said Sarzen. “But I don’t think she finished it. She was killed while holding her pen. The paper was covered in her blood, so whatever she might have written was totally ruined.”

  “Do you think the killer murdered her so that she could not finish that letter to the Elect?” said Rothel. “She was supposed to ask for reinforcements for Sinmo in the letter, after all. If the Draymens killed her, I can certainly see why.”

  Sarzen’s eyes widened. “You’re right. But if the Draymens don’t want us calling in reinforcements, then does that mean that they are going to—”

  Sarzen was interrupted by the sudden ringing of bells in the streets. He and Rothel looked around wildly for a moment before they spotted an armored man, riding a horse, running through the streets ringing a large brass bell. The man was also shouting, but it was hard to understand what he was shouting at first, due to his distance and the visor covering his face, but as he drew closer, Sarzen could understand what the man was shouting.

  “Draymens!” the man shouted as he rode past them, the bell ringing wildly as he passed. “Draymens spotted at the northern gates! Everyone get into your houses and await further orders from the Mayor!”

  All of the people in the street—of which there were few, due to how late it was—immediately went back into their houses or into the nearest building, which told Sarzen that this was a standard procedure for the people who lived here when Draymens attacked. A handful of the men, however, drew their swords and ran after the man on the horse, probably to go join the defenders at the gates.

  Sarzen looked at Rothel. “Rothel, get the others. We need to go to the gates and help defend the town from the Draymens before they can enter the town and kill everyone.”

  -

  Rothel gathered everyone else on the caravan team, except for Helnia (who was still too ill to help) and a Warrior Priest and a mage, who Sarzen ordered to stay at the inn to protect Helnia. Even though they needed every help they could get, Sarzen didn’t want to leave his sister undefended, not after the murder of Misma.

  After that, Sarzen and Rothel led the team to the northern gates, which were closed shut, but they could hear the sounds of battle on the other side. They climbed up the walls, where they found a soldier—most likely the captain, based on the red collar of his armor—watching a battle brewing below.

  Down by the gates were dozens of Draymens. They looked kind of like humans, except with flesh like leather and short, stubby bat-like wings. But they didn’t move like humans; they moved more like beasts, crawling on all fours and only standing up on two feet to attack the men who were beating them away from the gates. Watching all of these Draymens gave Sarzen flashbacks to the time when Iswor, his hometown, had been destroyed; he recalled seeing a group of Draymens very much like these ones attack the village’s defenders.

  The men below were fighting valiantly, slashing and stabbing at every Draymens they could reach, but Sarzen could tell that the men were having a difficult time fighting in the dark. In sharp contrast, the Draymens had little difficulty moving around and attacking; as Sarzen watched, one Draymens gouged out the eyes of an unlucky soldier, while another Draymens stabbed the soldier it fought in the chest.

  But Sarzen didn’t join the fight just yet. He ran up to the captain and said, “Sir, what is going on here?”

  “It’s the Draymens,” the captain explained, running a hand through his hair as he looked at the battle below. “They just appeared out of nowhere five or ten minutes ago. We don’t know where they came from, but we’re trying to fight them off.”

  “Let us help fight them off,” Sarzen said, gesturing at himself and his teammates. “We have some mages who can use their magic to take down multiple Draymens at once.”

  “But aren’t you with the party meant to find the Dragon Gods?” said the captain. “You should be back at the inn where you’re staying so you don’t risk your own li
ves to defend a town that isn’t yours.”

  “We’ll be fine,” said Sarzen. “This is clearly a planned attack, which means you are going to need all the help you can get to stop it before they overrun you. Just let us help.”

  The captain hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, “All right. You can help. But be careful; the Draymens are cunning foes and they will cut you down without hesitation.”

  “We know,” said Sarzen.

  He turned around to face his party. “All right. Mages, you stay up here and attack the Draymens from a distance with your spells. My fellow Warrior Priests, you join me down on the battlefield. And everyone, fight without fear, for the Dragon Gods are on our side today!”

  The mages immediately took up spots on the walls, while Sarzen and his fellow Warrior Priests ran down the stairs to the street below.

  They burst through the gates, which were then slammed shut behind them before any Draymens could sneak through, and ran toward the scene of the raging battle. Sarzen, being in the lead, reached the battle first, coming upon a Draymens that did not seem to notice him until he swung his sword at it and slashed through its skin.

  The Draymens let out a roar of pain and fell, but before it could get back up, Sarzen stabbed his sword straight through its head.

  Pulling his sword out of the now-dead Draymens, Sarzen was about to go and search for more when another Draymens ran at him. It jumped toward him, forcing Sarzen to jump to the side to avoid its claws. As soon as the Draymens landed, Sarzen attempted to stab it, but it moved out of the range of his sword quickly and avoided his blade.

  But Sarzen was not about to let it get away. He ran after the Draymens, which had stopped and was now facing him. He slashed at it, but it dodged his sword and swiped at him with its claws. Sarzen tried to dodge, but its claws still scrapped against his armor anyway, the impact sending him staggering backwards in surprise before he regained his balance in time to block its next blow with his sword.

  Then Sarzen pushed back against the Draymens, sending it staggering backwards. He slashed at its chest, but it fell onto its back, causing his sword to miss. The momentum of his sword caused Sarzen to stagger forward and he tripped on the Draymens’ outstretched foot, crashing face first onto the ground.

  Instantly, the Draymens was on top of him, clawing at his armor and trying to tear apart his back. Sarzen couldn’t reach it, but he did roll to the side, causing the Draymens to fall off his back. He got back to his feet, snatching his sword as he rose, and turned to face the Draymens as it retreated away from him. He almost thought it was running away, but then he heard a shriek and looked over his shoulder in time to see another Draymens jumping toward him.

  Sarzen slashed at it, hitting the Draymens in the face and causing it to crash into the ground. But then he heard yet another shriek and had to jump to the side to avoid the first Draymens he had been fighting.

  Backing up, Sarzen watched as the two Draymens rose to their feet and turned to face him. They started to advance on him, causing Sarzen to say, “Two on one? Now that’s just not fair.”

  But the two Draymens clearly didn’t care about fairness, so Sarzen redoubled his grip on his sword and was just about to fight the Draymens when he felt something grab his ankle.

  Looking down, Sarzen saw that it was a third Draymens, this one lying close to the ground. It had somehow sneaked up on him without him noticing, but as soon as he looked down at it, it yanked him to the ground and he fell on his side, though he managed to maintain his grip on his sword before he hit the ground.

  Still, the fall had taken Sarzen by surprise and the other two Draymens let out shrieks of triumph and dashed toward him like mad beasts. They quickly surrounded Sarzen, slashing and clawing at his face, forcing him to cover his face with his arms in order to protect it. Not that it did him much good, however, because he was now in a defensive position, rather than an offensive one, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the Draymens killed him.

  All of a sudden, however, a loud, burning fire came out of nowhere and struck one of the Draymens in the face. The Draymens let out a cry of pain as it staggered away, while its two comrades also ran away, no doubt scared by the fire based on how quickly they fled.

  Sarzen lowered his arms, confused, before he looked up at the walls and noticed one of the mages waving at him. He gave the mage a thumbs up before he realized that Rothel was not standing among the other mages, even though Rothel was a mage himself.

  Rising to his feet, Sarzen looked around the battlefield, trying to find Rothel. But it was too dark; while bursts of magical energy from the mages on the walls occasionally lit up the area, by and large Sarzen couldn’t see much of anything, much less Rothel. But of what he could see, he realized that they weren’t winning. He spotted a lot of corpses on the ground, corpses that looked mostly human, while spotting only a handful of Draymens corpses.

  Not good, Sarzen thought. These bastards must have brought reinforcements to bolster their ranks. They knew the town wouldn’t be able to provide enough fighters to beat them off at this time and they also knew that this was their only chance to destroy Sinmo before the town got reinforcements from the Elect.

  Despite the meager odds of success that Sarzen and his allies faced, he knew they had no choice but to fight, so he raised his sword and was about to run into battle again before he heard a flap of huge wings, followed by a roar that did not belong to any of the Draymens.

  Looking up at the sky, Sarzen saw a large creature flying toward them. Its white scales reflected the light of the moon, revealing a jaw full of sharp, knife-like teeth, wings like snow, and claws that looked capable of shredding flesh as easily as paper.

  At first, Sarzen was not sure what he was looking at until it was close enough for him to see:

  It was a dragon, one that looked just like the Dragon Gods themselves.

  ***

  Chapter Fourteen

  The dragon swooped down into the battlefield. Sarzen was going to go and fight it, thinking it a threat to the humans, but he stopped when saw the dragon pick up a Draymens with its mouth and chomp it in half before spitting out its remains from its jaws. It then swiped at another Draymens with its claws, instantly tearing off its head in one blow.

  The sudden appearance of the dragon had captured the attention of the other fighters on the battlefield. The human fighters just stared at the dragon in amazement, while the Draymens either fled into the shadows or moved to fight it. The Draymens that fled were the smart ones; every Draymens that attempted to fight the dragon ended up getting killed in short order.

  Sarzen just stood there, his sword in hand, staring at the dragon as it tore through the ranks of the Draymens. He wasn’t sure if it was going to come after him and the other humans next or if it was actually on their side. He wished he knew where it had come from; that way, he could have determined whether it was a friend or foe.

  As a result, Sarzen was too distracted by the dragon’s sudden appearance to notice a Draymens sneaking up on him, at least until he heard a screech behind him and turned around in time to see the Draymens slashing at him with its claws.

  Belatedly, Sarzen raised his sword to defend himself, but the Draymens slashed his arm. Its claws cut through his skin, causing him to drop his sword as he cried out in pain. Blood flowed freely from his arm, but he did not have the luxury of feeling the pain because the Draymens slammed its shoulder against his chest, knocking him onto his back.

  Then the Draymens hopped on him, its weight pinning him to the ground. He smelled its awful, hot breath in his face, which made him gag, but the Draymens wrapped its claws around his throat and started to squeeze. He suddenly found that he couldn’t breathe, and even worse, he was unable to push the Draymens off of him or rise to his feet. He looked into the Draymens’ dead gray eyes and saw nothing but hate and knew his life was about to end.

  But then a dragon roar exploded overhead and the white claw of the dragon swooped out of
nowhere and slammed its claw into the Draymens. The Draymens flew off of Sarzen’s body, its claws scratching across his neck as it let go of him. Sarzen gasped in pain and felt his neck, which was now bloody, but it felt like a flesh wound.

  Sitting up, Sarzen looked over his shoulder. The dragon now stood above him, towering over him like a giant, and it held in its claws the Draymens that had been trying to kill Sarzen. The dragon grabbed the struggling Draymens in both claws and tore it in two and then tossed both bloody halves aside.

  Gasping for breath, Sarzen scrambled to his feet, picking up his golden sword again as he did so, and turning to face the dragon. He thought, for a moment, that the dragon was going to try to kill him next, so he wanted to be ready to protect himself if necessary.

  But to his surprise, the dragon did not attack him. It just stared down at him with its silver eyes, its wings rising out behind it and reflecting the moonlight streaming down from above. When Sarzen looked into the dragon’s eyes, he saw an intelligence that he had not been expecting to see. In fact, there was something very familiar about the way the dragon looked down at him, like he had seen this particular dragon before, but Sarzen was sure that he had never seen this dragon in the past because he had never seen a dragon in person in his life before.

  “Who are you?” said Sarzen. “Are you a servant of the Dragon Gods? Have you come to deliver a message to us? Did they send you to aid us? Please answer.”

  The dragon just stared at Sarzen for a few seconds before suddenly flapping its wings and taking off into the sky above. Sarzen looked up to follow its course, to see where it would go, but when the dragon flew into the moon, it disappeared into the moonlight, like it had never existed at all.