by C. K. Rieke
“What do you think?” she asked. “Feels nice to be free of all that sand? Don’t you feel lighter?”
Kera nodded.
“You forget about all the places it can go until you’re free of it,” Fewn said, and began rubbing her ankle. “It’s amazing how you get used to the constant rashes.”
“Why don’t people live out here?” Kera asked. “Why live in the cities on the Great Oasi? It's so beautiful out here.”
“You know why.”
“I guess I do,” Kera said.
“You see it?” Fewn asked, looking to sea, southeast. “It’s faint, but on a clear day like this, you can vaguely see it out there.” Kera looked at Fewn glaring out at the sea then. Her skin seemed that much paler to be clear of the gritty sand. Her long, sleek black hair fell flat against her cheeks and down before her chest, her widow’s peak pulled down slightly above her eye line. She saw the deep scar on chin, perhaps from a blade, or a fight in her past. Her dark eyes stared at the sea with an expression Kera hadn’t seen on her before. It was almost as if she was afraid.
Kera looked out in the direction she was looking. Far out was a misty shape, barely visible and hard to spot unless you were looking for it. “Yes, I see it.”
“You think they’re there now?” Fewn asked, her voice sounded weak.
Kera stared long and hard at the misty island looming in the distance, and the sea sent its waters rushing past them. “Yes . . . At least most of them. But they don’t see us here, they don’t expect us to get this close.”
Fewn looked down at Kera sitting to her left. “Why do you say that? How do you know?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Just a guess . . . I guess.”
They sat there in silence then, for the better part of an hour. Listening to the roar of the waves in the distance, feeling the wet sand squish between their fingers and toes. The felt the salty air blow through their hair. And they watched the island loom out there, ominous and eerie. The island of Arralyn was not a place visited by mere men and women, and neither Kera nor Fewn wished to ever see the place any closer than they did at that moment.
Once their hair was almost completely dry again from the warm sun and sea-breeze, Fewn finally rose with a sigh and her hands on her knees. “Ready?”
Kera looked up at her unsure of what she meant. “Ready for what? What do we do now?”
“You want answers, don’t you?”
Kera nodded.
“Well, up there somewhere is that box, with its secret contents,” Fewn said, and then looked up at the sky-reaching mountain behind them. On its backside facing the sea, the dragon’s wings wrapped fully around it, and its twisted, headless neck, wrapped to the side, as if the missing head would’ve turned to face directly at the island of the gods. “It’s getting up there that’s going to be the tricky part.”
“What do you expect us to do? Surely you don’t think climbing up that is an option,” Kera said.
“Well, you’re welcome to sit here by the sea and relax, but one of us needs to go up there. You’ll be all alone down here if you decide to stay.”
“I’d rather stay down here than try to climb that,” Kera said, scanning the cliff’s face. “I don’t even see how one would make it up there. It goes straight up. Are you really going to try?”
“I don’t really want to, but, somehow we have to make it up there. I can’t leave you down here alone, the Scaethers could come, or the Reevins, or whatever else the sands want to throw at us next. Sooner or later, wherever we go, they’ll find us. The gods aren’t going to give us much more time. After all, that’s what the Scaethers are for. They’re hunters.”
“So are you,” Kera said. “So is Lilaci.”
Fewn sighed. “You know Lilaci is probably dead, right? If she were alive don’t you think she would’ve come by now? And she wouldn’t be pleased with me. You know it would’ve turned to a fight between us, right?”
“That’s not true, I would talk to her. I’d tell her that you regret what you did and that you helped me— are helping me. She’d forgive you. I know she would.”
“Well, I don’t think we’re going to see the answer to that question. I hate to say it, because you cared for her so much, but I think she’s just another part of your past. Now . . . let me go and catch you some food like I promised, then I’ll figure out a way for us to get up there, together.”
Chapter Nineteen
“What do you mean Burr—?” Roren said, “—So are we . . . You’re saying we’re cursed now because of the pixies?”
“Yes, Burr,” Lilaci added, leaning in towards him. “Tell us what you know. Those . . . Pixies . . . They knew things. Were they telling the truth? Where did they come from?”
“We should keep going,” Burr said, his voice bereft of sympathy. “We’re almost there.”
“We can walk and talk,” Roren said. “You can’t just say something like that, and not go on. The pixies, did they speak to you as well?”
“Listen, we can talk about it later,” Burr said, not meeting Roren’s stare. “I have much to think about. Let’s just continue on a bit. I’ll tell you about what that was all about once we reach the mountain. Is that agreeable to you?”
“Let’s just move on,” Lilaci said, taking long strides forward.
The Dune of the Last Dragon had grown to a massive height in the sky as close as they were then. The three of them walked next to each other on the long plains of yellowish, red rocks littered with sparse, dying grass and sweeping sands that blew from side to side. Lilaci walked in the middle, her black hair neatly pulled back with the wooden pick holding it up in a bun, with the rest falling down the length of her back. Her tan tunic’s hood framed her pale face and covered her widow’s peak just slightly. Her sword hung at her hip in its dark leather scabbard with crimson inlay, and she felt the Reevin’s black dagger at her back.
Roren walked to her left. His dark skin was laced with a layer of thin sand and dirt. He’d freshly shaved his head and face the day before, and a shadow of a beard and hair were already beginning to form once again. His tan tunic and hood matched almost perfectly Lilaci’s, and almost every other souls out on the sands. His eyes stared heavily at the mountain before them, they glimmered a brilliant blue hue. The bone necklace of tooth and claw hung around his neck, clacking together as he walked. Lilaci had noticed over the previous weeks a tattoo on the inside of his forearm. It was a tattoo of the mountain itself, yet it was not an exact drawing, as it showed the Dune of the Last Dragon with Kôrran on it yes, but Kôrran wasn’t headless, he was full, and brimming with fire.
Demetrius Burr, one of the last of his kin, seemed curious to Lilaci. She couldn’t help but wonder what the life had been like for a Knight of the Whiteblade over the long centuries. Hiding in the shadows, cultivating, or rather struggling to maintain a culture to a losing side of the most deadly and impacting war, possibly ever in the Arr. A war that spawned the Sisen Era. He seemed to be a man fraught with sorrow, yet a hardened determination. She was eager to learn more from the old man with the light-tan eye-patch and the gnarled scar crossing this forehead, but she assumed it would take time for him to open up about his ancient knowledge— and past.
I’ve come far to reach you Kera. And now, here I am, but hours away from the Dune. I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t find you there— I assume we’ll come up with another plan. But time is running out. We are all refugees hunted out here now, and there’s no going back. I’m lost in life now, except for all we have planned together. We were to be a family, that’s all I want. To hell with the gods, and the dragons, to these prophecies older than us, to Fewn, to everything except us. I just want to hold you in my arms once again and tell you that everything is going to be okay. I want us to find a place to finally call home— as unlikely as that is. Please be there, please . . . Just as Lilaci was thinking that and walking towards the dune, she stopped in her tracks and looked around at the sky, and then at her hands, and then sh
e smiled widely. That’s it! I can feel the spell being lifted from me. We’re getting closer. I can feel her.
“What is it?” Roren asked. “What’s wrong?”
“My head,” Lilaci said. “The fog is clearing.”
Burr gave her a confused stare, and then looked over to Roren. “What’s she stammering on about?”
“Kera,” Lilaci said. “I can feel Kera lifting away the webs in my mind. She’s close.”
Roren’s gaze shot once again to the great mountain before them. “We going the right way. Kera is there. Kera is there! Hurry, come on!” Without looking back, Roren set off at a brisk sprint, his pack and sword bustling as he did so.
“After you,” Burr said to Lilaci with a grin. “I’ve someone to meet ahead, but it looks like you have a long-awaited reunion.”
“Yes,” Lilaci said. “And I’m dying to be reunited with Fewn again.”
“She’ll probably be expecting you,” Burr said. “You expect she’ll be ready for a fight. After all, she’s a Scaether, but so are you.”
“Just leave her to me,” she said. “You two stay out of it. Fewn is mine.”
Lilaci was quickly off after Roren, and as the cobwebs from the mages’ spell slowly faded in her mind, she caught brief glimpses of her family from when she was young; a loving father and mother, and a brother and sister, whose innocence brought a warmth to her heart. I’m coming, Kera. I’m coming.
Light salty winds swept under the ominous peaks of the mountain. A crisp chill crept through her freshly dried hair, slightly stiff from the seawater. Kera sunk her teeth eagerly into another bite of the flaky, salty, white flesh of the fish hot off the fire. She chewed hastily and licked her fingers clean one by one.
“I didn’t believe it could be this good,” Kera said with her cheeks still bulging from a mouth full of fresh fish. “This may be the best thing I’ve had in ages.”
Fewn, having eaten a couple bites from one of the four fish she’d caught in the salty sea before, went to inspecting the mountain cliff. She inspected the rock for holds big enough to support her weight and tried to find if there were enough holds for Kera’s smaller body.
“How are we going to do this?” she asked herself. “This is far too dangerous for a little girl. But we can’t just stay here, and I can’t leave her here by herself . . .”
“Seriously, Fewn, this is unbelievable. Far better than grubs and cactus.”
Fewn looked back at her and smiled. “Good, keep eating then. Gather your strength.” Then she looked back up to the seemingly endless sheer cliff above. “How in the name of Kôrran am I going to get a child up this?”
Then, a frightful sensation came to Fewn. Her muscles tensed, and a shiver shot down her back. She turned to look at Fewn, chomping her way into another of the cooked fish. Kera then looked up and saw the panic in Fewn’s eyes.
“Fewn . . .?” Kera said through a mouth full of fish.
“Kera, hide!” Fewn said, as she began to draw her sword, but stopped from pulling it fully from its sheath once she heard the bowstrings run taught and looked up to see the sharp tips of arrowheads pointing directly at Kera.
“Put the sword down,” a strong man’s voice called from the brush. “If you want the girl to live, drop the sword.”
Fewn undid her sheath from her hip and dropped it to her side. “Kera, it’s going to be alright. Just come over to me, slowly.”
“No,” the voice said. “You both stay right where you are. We’ve come a long way to meet you, and now that you’re here, I’d hate to have to kill the infamous Dragon’s Breath without proper introductions.”
“Don’t touch her,” Fewn said. “Don’t even think about harming her.”
The burly man walked out from the bush, his pale skin and widow’s peak showed Kera instantly who they were. “Scaethers . . .” she whispered. “Lilaci, help us.”
“Lilaci,” the man said. “That’s a name I know all too well. You wish for her to come to your aid? That’s something I want too. I want her to come. She’s taken so much from me. I want to watch the misery and pain in her eyes, when I take what she cares for most from her.”
Chapter Twenty
She should be right up there, I can feel the mage’s spell completely gone from my mind. “Kera! Kera!” She’s got to be around here somewhere. “Kera! Where are you? Kera!” She must be on the other side of the mountain. Come on, come on, hear my voice. Where are you?
Lilaci had been running at full sprint since hitting the last stretch before the mountain, and Roren and Burr lagged far behind as they couldn’t match her speed. She panted heavily with deep breaths as she called out for Kera. Her fingers clasped onto the side of the mountain as she wound around its massive base.
“Kera! I’m here. Where are you? It’s Lilaci, call back to me!” Then she stopped running and at a stretch of grass at the mountain’s base and looked up slowly to the high rising peaks above. She couldn’t have . . . I don’t know if I could easily do it, mind that she’s a child still. No . . . Keep looking, she’s around here somewhere. “Kera! Kera?”
Her heart beat like a drum, it thumped swiftly in her chest. Thud-dump, thud-dump, thud-dump. “Kera! Kera!” Her voice strained as she called out into the sea winds, blowing into her face as she walked. “Kera! Call back! It’s me! I’m here!” Her feet and legs, fatigued, fumbled over the loose rocks scattered around, and as her boot stepped onto a round rock, Lilaci stumbled to her side. Quickly, she was back on her feet, her hands scratched from her tumble, and her hands stung as small droplets of blood gathered on her weathered skin.
“Kera! Kera, where are you? Kera!” Her voice cracked from screaming. She once again looked up the rock-face. “Could you have?” she asked herself. “I’d be damned if she could climb that.” Her head lowered back to the rocky ground, slightly hidden by the tall grass swaying in the wind. She looked down to the sea, past the mountain and beach. “Kera,” she yelled down.
Lilaci put both hands up over her eyes and onto her brow to survey the beach just before the blinding sea waves. Where the hell is she? I know she’s here. I know it. She stopped and looked once more up at the mountain, and the massive detailed carving of the headless Kôrran on its face, as it wrapped all the way around from its front to back. I know you’re here. Just keep going around, maybe she’s on the other side and can’t hear you. Maybe she’s . . .”
Then the answer to Lilaci’s question came to her like a strong fist square in the nose. Lilaci’s world just shifted in that instant. Her hopes and dreams were all about to come true, until she finally saw her. “Kera . . .” Lilaci whispered.
“Lilaci!” Kera screamed out in a voice full of fear.
“Kera, are you all right?” Lilaci said, her voice slightly quivering even as she tried to keep a strong tone. “It’s going to be all right, I’m here. I’m here baby.”
“Yes, you are here,” a man’s voice said. “But . . . A little late.”
“Garenond,” Lilaci stammered. “Let her go. This is between you and me.”
Lilaci was standing on a bed of loose rock looking up at Kera with a curved dagger at her throat— Garenond’s dagger. His face was cold, frightening even behind his beard. Lilaci saw his eyes were different. They weren’t the same eyes she saw days before. No, these were a hard-worn man’s eyes full of rage and grief.
“Throw down your blade, the dagger too,” he said. “Now!” His eyes burning red. She could see the veins in his arms and hands thick and twisting as he gripped Kera tightly by her arm.
Lilaci unbuckled the leather scabbard at her side without hesitation and threw it and her sword to the rocks. It landed with a clang from the hilt of her sword. She pulled the black dagger from the scabbard at the small of her back and let it fall next. “There,” she said with her pale palms held out together. “I’m unarmed, let her go Garenond. She’s just a girl.”
“Don’t try anything,” he said, his lips twisted, and his yellow teeth showing. The two Scaethers
came out from the back side of the mountain, one with an arrow pulled tightly into his bow, the other . . . holding Fewn tightly to him, her hands tied at her back, and his dagger at her throat. There you are, Fewn. I’d love nothing more than to send an arrow through your chest into the man behind you, but for Kera. I’ve got to save her first.
The Scaether’s sharp arrowhead was fixed squarely on her, pulled taught. The tip looked like a diamond. “I know what you’re thinking,” Garenond said, “but don’t . . . It won’t take me but a split second to cut her in two.”
“No kids,” Lilaci said. “You know that.”
“She’s not a kid,” he said back, “she’s the enemy. The gods made the rules, and the gods made her the target. She’s not coming back to Voru to be one of us, she’s going back so that her evil tongue will be cut from her lying mouth. What she is, is no girl. She’s the biggest threat in the lands. She’s even poisoned you against us.”
“Garenond, I’m sorry for what happened back there . . . With Dellanor. This has all gone too far. We were once comrades, just let her go.”
Tears welled up in Garenond’s bloodshot eyes, making them glossy, and he lifted the dagger from Kera’s throat to wipe away the tears with the back of his hand. Lilaci then saw the thin pink line forming on her throat from the blade’s mark. The worry flowing throughout Lilaci was quickly turning to rage as she clenched her teeth.
“It’s too late, Lilaci. I’m not going back to Voru empty-handed, and we’re definitely not joining you on your suicide mission,” Garenond said. The Scaether with the sword scowled and twisted his blade at Fewn’s throat.”, the other spit in Lilaci’s direction.
“I’m sorry,” Fewn said, her eyes streaming with tears.
“Don’t,” Lilaci said through her teeth. “I’ll deal with you later . . .”
“We’re taking her back to Queen Lezeral Serinaas,” Garenond said.
