She jumped. “You do? How do you know who I am?”
He let his eye rove over her strange clothes. “Ye’re Carmen’s friend. An’t ye?”
She stared at him in shock. “Carmen! How do you know about Carmen?”
“I ken all aboot Carmen. Ye dinnae need tae trouble yerself aboot that.” He struggled to his feet and rested his hands on his knees. His head spun, but at least he was up. That was the first step. “She told us aboot her friends comin’ through wi’ her, but we ne’er found any o’ ‘em. Yer one o’ ‘em, an’t ye?”
The woman, Elle, blinked at him. “Yes, I am. Then you must know where we are and how I can get back to…where I came from.”
He shook his head. “I cinnae tell ye that. I dinnae ken where we are, and I kens e’en less how ye can get back. Alls I ken is ye’re a laing way from home, lass, and so am I. We’re…somewhere beyond the borderline between ‘ere and there. That’s all I ken.”
“This is impossible,” she murmured. “Our friend, Hazel—she tried to send us to King Arthur’s court. If we’re not there, where are we?”
He ran his wrist across his mouth and walked up to her. He hated to think what he looked like to her. He ran his fingers through his hair to comb it off his forehead. “Listen tae me, lass. I could say we’re in the Highlands, but we’re not. We’re somewhere beyond that. I cinnae tell you where. We started in the Highlands, but that’s so far away from where we are, I dinnae licht tae say where we may be. I wisht I could tell ye. I really do, but I dinnae ken meself. I only ken we mun’ move alaing and get back tae there.”
“Where? Where will we get back to?”
“Tae me brothers and Carmen. It’s the ainly answer.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand any of this.”
He took a deep breath. The only way to get her to understand was to explain it to her. “Listen, lass. Ye’ll no understand it, but here’s she goes all the same. We got a curse on us, me brothers and me. A wizard—his name be Ross—he told us tae go tae this certain castle tae break the curse. He told Carmen she would get sent back tae where she came from as soon as the curse lifted. Do ye ken now? Carmen and the others are back there. They’re workin’ tae lift the curse. We mun’ get back there, too. We mun’ help them lift the curse if we can. That’s the way I’ll get where I’m goin’, and that’s the way ye’ll get where ye’re goin’. Understand?”
“All right. If you say so, I guess that’s what we have to do. So how do we get there?”
He looked around him one more time. “I ha’e no idea.”
“So you have no idea where we are or how you got here?”
He approached one of the columns. “I can ainly imagine it’s the fire demons’ way o’ holdin’ their captives for some reason.”
“What fire demons?”
“They captured me in the castle.” He sighed. “Awricht. Ye wanna ken? Here i’tis. We entered the castle Ross told us aboot. Aw, what’s the use? Ye’ll ne’er understand no matter what I say. Ye dinnae need tae understand any o’ that.”
“Try me. You might be surprised.”
He waved his hand. “The Phoenix Throne. That’s all ye need tae ken. That castle held the Phoenix Throne, and me brother Angus was meant tae be King. That’s all I can tell ye.”
Elle regarded him for a moment. “All right. I guess we better get going. We just don’t know where we’re going.”
“No. We don’t.”
The two of them looked all around them at the glade and the columns and the frozen people. Their eyes migrated around to look at each other. They measured each other from head to foot.
Elle’s flashing eyes gave Robbie a queer feeling in his guts. Carmen had the same look in her eyes. No one could pull one over on her, but this woman struck him as different. As strong and wiry as she was under those curious clothes of hers, she was more feminine than Carmen. Carmen attacked Angus the moment he found her in the forest. Elle hadn’t reacted like that. She was softer, more circumspect, more reserved.
A well of soft, deep emotion gleamed in her eyes. Her hair, her voice, her skin, and her body all oozed soft, sweet femininity. No amount of muscle could hide it.
Elle lowered her eyes before his stare, and a bloom of pink colored her cheeks. She looked around the glade one more time. “So which way do we go?”
Now that she broke the spell by speaking, he looked around, too. Since they didn’t know where they were going, one direction was as good as any other. He waved his hand, and they continued on the path, out of the glade, and into the forest.
Chapter 3
Elle walked down the path behind the strange man. Robbie, he called himself, or Rob. Whatever he was, he certainly didn’t come from King Arthur’s Camelot. He was Scottish, and he said he came from the Highlands.
She checked him over from behind while they walked. His kilt swung around his knees with his steady gate. His sword clinked in its scabbard to the rhythm, and the leather pouch around his waist bounced back and forth from one thigh to another.
She never saw any man so masculine before. Everything about him screamed masculinity. Whatever he was, he fought a lot. She saw that plain as day. Cuts and scrapes and bruises marked him all over. Some had scarred over, so he must have faced danger for a long time.
That story he told about the curse and the wizard and the Phoenix Throne and everything made no sense whatsoever, but she didn’t try to argue. He believed it, and if he was right about Carmen being somewhere around here, Elle would go along with it for a chance to get back where she belonged.
He glanced over his shoulder at her every now and then. He had no more idea where they were going than she did, but at least she was going there with someone else. Facing this unknown country by herself wasn’t her idea of a good time.
“What time do you think it is? I can’t see the sun anywhere.”
He didn’t look up at the sky. “I dinnae ken. It’s daytime. That’s all I ken aboot it. This country doesnae work the same as the other place, as I’m sure ye’ve learned by now.”
Indeed. It didn’t. She should understand that by now. “So tell me about this Phoenix Throne.”
“It’s a throne licht any other, I suppose,” he replied, “except it has a giant black dragon sitting behind it. It stares down on any poor soul who happens tae come before the King.”
“And it’s your brother who’s supposed to sit on it?”
“Weel, he won’t sit on’t until he lifts the curse, and who can say if he’ll e’er do that. Perhaps we’ll allus wander in this strange country until the wraiths and demons and witches consume us all.”
“What about this Ross character you told me about? Can’t he help you?”
“Oh, he’s helpin’ us, awricht. He’s helpin’ us as much as any mortal soul can help us, but it’s we who’ll ha’e tae lift the curse. That’s clear, if naught else is. He cinnae lift the curse for us, as it’s our family as carries it.”
“You must miss your brothers a lot. I can understand why you want to get back to them.”
“Oh, I dinnae miss ‘em, as it’s ainly a few minutes since I seen ‘em all in the living flesh. I was wi’ ‘em. The next minute, I was here wi’ ye. I ne’er had time tae miss ‘em, and now I’m on me way tae meet ‘em again.”
Elle fell silent. She hadn’t been gone from her own world more than a few minutes. She hadn’t realized that until he mentioned it. Why did it seem like a hundred years? In the short time since Hazel transported her to this strange place, her mind erased everything that went before it. Elle could hardly remember her old life. She remembered every detail of her business and daily life, but that whole experience existed so far away from her, Elle couldn’t remember it.
She spoke up one more time. “Don’t you think we ought to find out where we’re going before we just start bashing our way through these woods? We could be moving away from our destination instead of towards it.”
He called over his shoulder while he walke
d. “How do ye propose we find out where we’re goin’ when we don’t know where we’re goin’? The only way to get there is tae go there.”
He chuckled over his own joke and kept on walking. Elle fell farther behind while she considered the whole situation. He was just as strange as this country. She had no reason to believe a word he said about his brothers and the Phoenix Throne and all that. He could have made the whole thing up to convince her to come with him.
No, he couldn’t have made up Carmen. He knew about Carmen and Elle and the others coming through on a magic spell. He must have told the truth about that.
Why would he make up the other stuff? What could he possibly stand to gain by it? As sturdy and domineering as he was, he didn’t impress her as a particularly controlling or manipulative type.
He was used to giving orders and seeing them followed. He was a leader, and he didn’t seem all that concerned if she came with him or not. He was on his way to wherever he was going. If she came with him, that was her business. If she wanted to stay in the forest, he didn’t much mind.
She walked along behind him in her own reverie when, all of a sudden, out of the dense undergrowth next to the path, a tan shape rocketed across her view. She tensed all over, but before she could react, it collided with Robbie and knocked him sideways. A resounding thunk echoed down the path when they hit, and Robbie jolted off the path with the thing still stuck to him.
Elle launched herself forward. Robbie tumbled over and over across the ground entangled in the thing. It snarled and snapped ferocious teeth in his face. He wrestled its head back to stop it biting him. He strapped his thick fingers around its throat and fought it off, but it still managed to gain the upper hand.
The thing bowled him over onto his back and pounced on top of him. It curled its hind legs under it to dig curved claws into his midsection. Elle couldn’t watch this. She jumped on the thing with her teeth bared. She grabbed it under the chin and yanked its head back away from Robbie’s face.
He reacted to the reprieve on sheer instinct. He heaved his legs up, planted his feet against the creature’s chest, and kicked with all his might. The thing and Elle flew off him and landed in the path where the pair just walked. Elle landed on her back. The momentum of their flight ripped the thing out of her grasp, and she helped it on its way by giving it an extra shove.
It sailed several feet to the other side of the path. It crashed against a tree trunk and slid to the ground. Elle and Robbie hopped to their feet. They both whirled around to face the thing, but it cowered in submission at the base of the tree.
Robbie approached Elle. “I’m sorry aboot that. I didnae mean tae hit it so hard. I didnae mean tae…I mean, I overreacted. Are ye hurt?”
“I’m okay,” she breathed. “You did what you had to do to get rid of that thing.”
They both turned to look at the creature that attacked him. Elle found herself staring at the strangest being she ever laid eyes on. It looked something like a wolf, with shaggy striped fur all over its body, but she could see pink skin under the hair. It walked on all fours, but not like any animal she ever saw. It looked like a person walking around on its hands and feet, not crawling.
The face looked like a cross between a person and some canine animal. It had a regular human nose, eyes, and forehead, but its mouth and lower jaw jutted out into a snout with a black nose. Furry hair covered its head, face, and neck.
In front of her eyes, the thing cringed in circles around the trees exposed roots. It whimpered and whined in a clear voice. “The Phoenix Throne! The Phoenix Throne!”
Robbie froze. “What do ye ken aboot the Phoenix Throne?”
The thing didn’t answer. It kept whimpering and moaning, “The Phoenix Throne! The Phoenix Throne!”
While it crouched and moaned and whined, it inched away from the tree. It crept parallel to the path. Robbie took a step forward. “Stop richt there! What do ye ken aboot the Phoenix Throne?”
Before he could say another word, the creature’s foot touched the path and it bolted into the trees, still crying in piteous tones, “The Phoenix Throne! The Phoenix Throne!”
Elle and Robbie looked at each other in stunned astonishment. They went so long without seeing a living creature. Then this amazing being attacked them before mentioning the Phoenix Throne in a clear, human voice. It was all too much to comprehend.
They both burst out of their trance at the same instant. Without any visible signal, they both took off running after the thing at full speed. Elle raced down the path, but the creature ducked into the trees and disappeared.
Robbie rocketed ahead, and Elle strained her muscles to keep up with him. They charged into the undergrowth after the creature and caught up with it down in a little ravine. The creature glanced over its shoulder at them and exploded out of sight faster than ever.
Elle’s legs burned, but she wouldn’t stop now. She tailed Robbie down the ravine and up the other side. They climbed knee-deep in rotting leaves, over branches in their path, and onto a rocky outcrop at the top of the hill.
Robbie ran along the ridge and looked down on all sides for any sign of the thing. Elle went the other way to cover more ground. All at once, she saw a branch sway down in the forest’s dark heart. “Over here!”
She plunged into the trees and vanished before Robbie could catch up. He thrashed and cursed before he found her gaining on the creature in the shadows. Elle spotted a quick movement of stripes and fawn fur heading downhill toward a different river.
She couldn’t keep this up much longer. They had to catch the thing and find out what it knew about the Phoenix Throne. They couldn’t miss this chance to find out where they could locate their friends.
The creature loped along the ground going a lot faster than any human could run along the ground on hands and feet together. It streaked between the trees so fast Elle despaired of ever catching it. All it had to do was tire them out, and it would break into the dense foliage and disappear. She and Robbie would never learn its secrets.
Robbie appeared behind her. The trees parted up ahead, and the creature broke out of the forest onto the river bank. The water tumbled over rocks and waterfalls and into deep pools. Elle couldn’t see any visible bank where a person could cross.
She pushed her way through the last thorny branches. The creature got far enough ahead of her it could jump the river and get away. To her surprise, it didn’t jump. It didn’t go anywhere near the water. It ran along the bank parallel to the water, but it made no effort to cross.
Elle gave chase. As long as it didn’t cross the river, she could catch it. Robbie emerged from the trees, and he gauged the situation in one glance. He veered sideways to hem the creature in.
Elle ran up behind it. The creature—or whatever it was—made one wild dash for the safety of the forest. It tried to cut between Elle and Robbie. Elle danced on her left foot to herd the thing back toward Robbie. He adjusted his course at the same moment. The creature dived and weaved, but they kept up with it.
Robbie closed in from one side. The creature saw its last avenue of escape fading before its eyes. It made one last wild dive to scoot past Elle. Her lungs exploded from the effort, but at the last second, she launched herself a few feet ahead of the thing. It tried to correct, but it was too late.
Their bodies met in mid-air, and Elle braced herself for the impact. The creature let out a feral shriek of terror and rage. Elle flung her arms around the thing, and they both fell to earth.
Chapter 4
Robbie planted his feet wide and glared down at the creature who attacked him on the trail. He balled his hands into fists and narrowed his eyes at the thing. “Ye better start talkin’ if ye ken what’s healthy. I’m in no mind tae listen tae any o’ yer moanin’ and groanin’. Start talkin’, and I mean quick. What do ye ken aboot the Phoenix Throne? Where did ye hear aboot it? Tell me.”
The thing curled itself in circles at his feet. It fought the twine Robbie made out of tree fiber from the f
orest to tie the thing’s hands and feet so it couldn’t run away. It cast its pathetic eyes, first up at Robbie’s smoldering face, then over Robbie’s shoulder at Elle standing back out of the way.
“I don’t know anything about the Phoenix Throne! I swear it,” the thing whimpered.
The more it crouched and submitted at his feet, the more enraged Robbie became. He wanted to crush the life out of this thing and leave it dead and bloody for the rats to gnaw. “Where did ye hear that name? Ye mun’ ha’e heard it somewhere.”
The creature nodded into the forest. “Ask Obus. He knows about the Phoenix Throne.”
Robbie dropped to his knee and seized the thing by the throat. He clenched all his rage into his fingers to squeeze the life’s breath out of this pathetic hound. “I’m no askin’ any Obus nor anybody else. I’m askin’ ye. Where did ye hear aboot the Phoenix Throne? Ye better tell me now afore I kill ye where ye lie.”
The thing choked and spluttered. It couldn’t get a sound out with him choking it like that. He knew that, but he couldn’t stop himself. This thing tried to kill him. It would have succeeded if Elle hadn’t intervened, and he never would have caught it if she hadn’t helped him.
The creature’s face bulged, and its tongue lolled out of its mouth. He tightened his grip to break its neck when Elle’s soft hand appeared on his shoulder. “Leave it alone. You won’t get any answer out of it if you kill it.”
That was the first time she touched him, and it drained all the fight out of him. She needed an answer out of this creature as much as he did. They wouldn’t get it anywhere else.
He flung the thing as hard as he could on the ground. He spun away and strode across the clearing where they dragged the thing into the trees. The creature coughed and spat and cried.
Robbie stormed across the clearing and stood with his back to the creature while he got his temper under control. Why did he have to let that thing get under his skin? That wooly prison where the fire demons stuck him must have affected his thinking.
Dragon Quest Page 2
