The Dragon Sands Box Set: Books 1 - 3

by C. K. Rieke

  “Lilaci, look,” Fewn said, grabbing her arm. “The wind.”

  Lilaci looked back at her at the entrance, and she could see the rippling effect of the winds were beginning to diminish. Holding her hand out, the winds still pushed her hand back, but not nearly by as much as before. Her arm could hold her hand in place as the winds rushed into it. She looked back at Burr who was shaking as he whispered. And as the winds were beginning to fade, she could hear his words. “Absolutem Ven, Au Vorum Iselthetoq.” Again, he said louder. “Absolutem Ven, Au Vorum Iselthetoq!”

  Behind her, Lilaci could feel the winds dissipating further. “He’s doing it.”

  “Hurry,” Fewn said. “We could run in now, quickly, let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Lilaci said. “We should stay with Burr.”

  They both stood there watching him as beads of sweat poured down his head and his shaking began to subside, and his whispers faded. The light of the dagger dimmed, and the winds that had been rushing behind them stopped. They watched as Burr fell to his side, dropping the dagger as specks of blood flung from it to the rocks.

  Lilaci went and grabbed him by the arm, to help him sit up against the rock. It was at that moment she saw his age in him, as he gasped for breath. She reached down and undid her watersack from her belt, but he refused with a wave of his hand. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said. “Just let me catch my breath.”

  “Well done, old man,” Fewn said, picking up his dagger and wiping the blood from it with a rag from her belt.

  “You sure you’re alright?” Lilaci asked.

  He wiped the sweat from his brow with his forearm, smudging blood onto his face, seemingly not remembering he was still bleeding from his arm. “I’ve never felt magic so old. It was like being in a different world, it was as if it was speaking to me. The words it spoke, it sounded like an old language, like something I’d understand in a past life.”

  “What’re you saying? The winds spoke to you?” Fewn asked.

  “In a sense, yes. Yes, I suppose you could say that. But the winds were just a symptom of the spell placed here many lifetimes ago.”

  “Burr,” Lilaci said. “The words you spoke to the dagger— What did they mean?”

  “Translated, it means something like, “Pure wind, our blood is the key to the door. Really, we should go now, the winds will return, and I dare say we don’t want to be inside when they do.”

  Lilaci and Fewn went and grabbed his arms, helping Burr to his feet. “Let’s move,” Lilaci said.

  The three entered the cave, all marveling at the intricate decorative entrance as they passed. Creeping into the darkness, none of them brought a torch or flint to start the fire. But they didn’t need it. With a gentle glow, Lilaci hands began to emit the distinct purple flames of the Sanzoral, and the cave’s walls glowed. They walked down the cave as it wound up and to the right. They walked hesitantly with their daggers firmly in their hands, but they also kept a brisk pace, as Burr didn’t seem to know exactly when the spell would resume itself. They knew they stood little chance from being forced off the mountainside, falling and tumbling to certain death.

  The cave seemed to wind in a corkscrew pattern up and to the right, every new step revealing a new section of wall as the cave gradually began to get steeper and steeper. “We should hurry,” Fewn said. Without hesitation the other two began to hustle up the cave with her, all eager to find what lies higher up, if anything. In the purple light the cave appeared to grow in brightness up around the curves ahead. Lilaci let her Sanzoral fade as they approached the white glow ahead, and their pace slowed.

  “What is it?” Fewn asked Burr, watching him as he inspected the cave’s walls, now visible.

  “Not sure,” he said. “Honestly it just looks like sunlight.”

  With their weapons still held in their ready hands, they walked low, forward. Ready for anything. Lilaci’s heart beat wildly in her chest. Not from worry of what lay ahead, but anxiousness. They’d come far to see what lie at the heart of the Duen Utülm Drakon. The source of the light appeared to be coming from the next bend in the corking cave, and as they wrapped around that final wall, they found themselves entering an enormous clearing with its ceiling twenty times Lilaci’s height, with a large circular hole at the very top, letting in fresh, warm sunlight.

  As their eyes adjusted to the new, bright light, all seemed to be in shock at what lay before them.

  “Is this what you thought was here?” Fewn asked Burr.

  “Something like this,” he responded, a sound of awe and wonder in his voice. “But then again— this is extraordinary. This is where Kôrran dwelled?”

  Lilaci stepped forward, marveling at the splendor before them. In the sunlight, it glimmered in a golden hue, and now that their eyes were adjusted, the entire cave was lit in a warm golden color.

  “This is what the treasury in one of the three kingdoms must be like, more even,” Fewn said, her eyes wide, glowing in the golden light.

  “This must be the greatest treasure in all of the Arr,” Lilaci said, bending down and reaching out to the vast hills of golden coins, dashing emeralds and sapphires, and an array of lavish jewelry and decorations. She lifted a single coin and flipped it over in her hand. “These are from a different age. I’ve never seen them before. The markings on them though. They're in Artonic, which I can’t read, but I know these dates. 8365 Dôren.”

  “Why, that’s even before the gods themselves. Before the last era of Orn,” Fewn said. “How old is this place?” She spun around slowly, looking up at the high walls of the cave.

  “It’s ancient,” Burr said. “Korran’s lineage was as old as the sands themselves. This is their horde. This is where he slept.” A faint whisper of wind crept past Lilaci’s ear, wafting her black hair back. Burr seemed to notice. “Let’s hurry, we must find the box of Whitewood with gold hinges.”

  At that, the three of them ran into the pile of treasure far taller than themselves. They went into a fury of digging through the mountain of coins, searching for something that stood out. Anything that might seem to be of special importance. Coins would weigh them down as they climbed back down, so they’d only take a handful each. Lilaci shoved piles of coins aside, she dug through collections of hundreds of rare gems of red, blue, silver and even black. She threw aside crowns of jewels, gauntlets of silver, and as she moved a shield of a strange bronze metal, she uncovered something that made her eyes glow. She threw the shield to the side, and sat up straight, inspecting her new find.

  She reached down, gripping her fingers around it, and it had an unusual warmth to it. Its grip and pommel was a black metal she didn’t know the name of, with white specks of ivory inlaid down both sides. Its guard was a golden metal, but much denser than gold itself. It was like a light iron. The blade was as silver as any metal she’d ever seen. It curved back slightly like a scimitar, but it was light like a sword. She hefted it in her hand, it was lighter than any sword she’d ever held, and sharper too. Rustling down into the golden coins beneath where the sword lay, she found a matching dagger. No, not one dagger, but two. She quickly put both in her belt and looked to the others.

  Spotting Burr, she ran over to him, piles of coins and jewels rustled down the mound, like sands rolling down a long dune. “Find anything?”

  He laughed, “Yes, I found quite a lot. Enough to make me the richest man in the Arr.”

  “The box, any sign of it?” she said. “We aren’t here for treasure.”

  “No, no sign of it. There’s something else I’m searching for too. I’m looking for something in particular,” he said, digging through the treasure horde. “I’ve heard rumors of it, although I never heard it was here in particular. It was said to have been lost around the time Gorg and the Six killed the last of the dragons.”

  “What is it?” Lilaci said.

  “Hey,” Fewn yelled over from another side of the treasure. Only the tip of her black hair was visible from their point of view. “Come see this.”
Burr and Lilaci both began to climb instantly. They pulled themselves over the pile and saw Fewn straddling something that took Lilaci a few moments to realize what it was.

  “Is that it?” Lilaci asked Burr, who was in a hard gaze at it.

  “Is it what?” Fewn asked. Lilaci noticed another gust of wind blow through, causing Fewn’s hair to rustle, which she also noticed.

  “That’s the mythical Headdress of the Borendúr,” Burr said in a tone of splendor and awe.

  Fewn was standing over an elongated structure the shape of the head of a massive dragon. Along it was plates of fine metals held together by straps of leather with black studs. Each plate of metal was lined with sharp, curved spikes like claws, and above its two eye holes were three stones of brilliant light. One glowing red, one shining white, and one a deep blue. Fewn walked up the sharp headdress carefully to inspect the three stones closely.

  “What is this thing?” Lilaci asked. “Did a dragon once wear this?”

  “Yes,” Burr said.

  “It’s funny that a dragon made of dragonscales as tough as the best armor, would need a helmet,” Fewn laughed, reaching down and letting her fingers glide along the three orbs, each smaller than the size of an apple.

  Another gust of wind blew through, this time rustling all three of them. “We’ve got to make haste,” Lilaci said.

  “Fewn,” Burr said to her urgently. “Pluck the three stones from the headdress and give them to me. Quickly!”

  Another gust of wind, this one stronger.

  Fewn, with a worried look in her eyes, went to prying the orbs out with her dagger. “Lilaci, come help me.”

  “The box,” Lilaci said, looking around anxiously. “We’ve got to find the box.”

  A howling of wind began to grow over them in the hole above, and winds began to creep in and started to blow down towards the exit.

  “Hurry!” Burr yelled.

  Fewn went to prying even harder. With a labored grunt, she put all her weight onto the hilt of the dagger, and the black jewel popped out from its socket. “Got one!” Then she quickly freed the red, and just as a gust blew in that nearly knocked her over. Lilaci meanwhile was digging frantically through the heaping mounds of gold. Fewn extracted the last white orb from its socket and she ran down the golden hill towards Burr, handing each of the stones to him, which he threw into a bag at his side.

  “We’ve worn out our welcome,” Burr said. “Let’s go, run!”

  “Not yet,” Lilaci yelled. “We have to find it.”

  “Lilaci,” Burr said. “We’ve stayed too long, we are going to die if we linger further.”

  “Come on,” Fewn yelled to her as another strong gust of wind roared down from the open inlet above. “Run!”

  Lilaci burrowed deeper into the gold, beads of sweat rolling down her forward. Where is it. Come on, it’s got to be here somewhere! Then, Lilaci caught a glow coming from underneath the hill of gold coin and jewels, two meters to her right. She rushed over and dug her hands into the hill, digging deep into the heavy coins. Come on, hurry. This is my last chance. Please, be here.

  One after the other her hands plunged deeper towards the faint, glowing light. She could hear the other two yelling for her to run to them, but she was almost there. The glow was growing brighter, a bright white light. Then, as she moved one last handful of gold to reveal a shimmering white wood, she gripped it with her hand and plucked it from the hill.

  “Lilaci!” Fewn yelled out as the winds roared down on them. “Come, now! We’ve stayed too long!” Lilaci stood and ran to them as quickly as she could. As the three ran down the hill of coin and treasure, Lilaci and Fewn both grabbed what they could as they rushed by, anything with a handle was quickly scooped up. As they neared the bottom of the pile, a wind rushed in at their back and shoved them forward with great force, sending all three of them flat onto their stomachs.

  “Run!” Burr yelled, and they got to their feet and ran as fast as their legs could carry them down the winding shaft. As the blowing winds blew down, it carried their strides slightly further. They tried to huddle against the wall to avoid the oncoming winds, but they knew their only safety was down at the crevasse.

  “We’re not going to make it,” Fewn yelled as the howling winds made the tunnel echo with winds beginning to roar like thunder.

  “Keep going,” Lilaci yelled. “Run like you’ve never run before!”

  The light of the crevasse began to appear before them, but a roaring wave of winds rushed down onto them, sending Burr to his side, and as Lilaci and Fewn held onto the wall next to them for support, they watched as he began to be blown down tunnel, helplessly, desperately trying to latch his fingers onto something.

  “He’s going to be blown off the side, Lilaci, you’ve got to do something!” Fewn said.

  Fewn and Lilaci hurried down the last stretch of tunnel, their fingers and boots grabbing hold of whatever they could. In a quick instant, Lilaci summoned the Sanzoral, and her world turned a brilliant violet color. She reached down deep inside, and as no sand was around that high up on the mountain, she reached further. Further than seemed possible to her, reaching out her mind like a finger extended to the heavens. Stretching, reaching out— until she finally felt the ragged ridges of grains of sand. She summoned them forth, ripping them from their place of rest. She needed them then, Burr needed them.

  “Lilaci!” Burr yelled out as he slid onto the floor of the crevasse at a rushing pace.

  “Lilaci,” Fewn screamed as the two of them ran from the cave to the safety of the crevasse wall. “He’s going to fall!”

  Feeling the sands move with the speed and force of the greatest of sandstorms, she could feel the Sanzoral ripping through her, like a spirit birthing inside of her.

  “Lila—” Burr yelled out as his feet slid off the crevasse floor, and the winds shoved him off. His fingers disappearing from view as he fell.

  “Demetrius!” Fewn yelled.

  As Fewn rushed over to the wall closest to where he was, she was taken aback, and even landed on her rear as his head appeared before her. He gently floated up, back slowly towards her, and back towards the crevasse. His long gray hair rustled in the winds. He looked like a one-eyed god flying up from the desert floor. As a mass of sand that looked like a sandstorm rising up from the desert far below carried him upward. It carried him forward in a flowing cloud of sand, towards them and the crevasse floor, and he needed only take one large step forward and he was safely back on solid ground, as he avoided certain death from the fall.

  Once both his boots were squarely in solid ground again. He landed on his knees, put both palms on the ground, and kissed the rocky ground. Then he looked up. “You saved my life, for that I am eternally grateful. Thank you, Lilaci.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The gentle sea-breeze rolled inland, its salty breath tussling at the long blades of dry grass. The sun was just beginning to slip its last light under the horizon of the desert to the west, and thin clouds streaked the sky, lit in magnificent magenta and rose colors. Over the sea, a half-crescent moon hung over the island of Arralyn, and the dim light of torches flickered there. It looked as if one by one the stars faded into the darkness of the night sky as the sun dipped beneath the sands once again. The sea-breeze seemed to instantly cool once the sunlight had faded.

  Her boots landed back on solid ground with a tuft of sand bellowing up to her knees, and Lilaci slunk her back to the mountain and sighed with a sense of relief that the climb was finally over. Before she knew it, she soon had a pair of arms wrapped around her tightly from an enthusiastic young girl.

  “Yes, I’m back,” Lilaci said into Kera’s ear. She could feel her wide smile as she hugged her.

  “You were gone all day,” Kera scoffed. “What took you so long? You had me worried.”

  “No need to worry,” Lilaci responded. “Everything went fine.”

  “Oh yeah?” Kera leaned back, with a scornful look. “What about that explosion
of sand that shot up the mountain out of nowhere a few hours ago? Everything went fine?”

  Lilaci smiled in a joking manner. “Yes, everything turned out fine. Burr almost had a spill, but we are here now. Speaking of— Is he down here yet? What about Fewn?”

  “Fewn is resting, she came down fifteen minutes ago, give or take. Burr, I think, is a half-hour away still if I had to guess. But he’s old.”

  “Was it good catching up with Roren after all this time? He was down in the cave by himself longer than I’d care to. You know you mean everything to him, to all of the Order. When you sent him down into the cave and told him to wait— he did so without question. I’m sure he’s over the world being with you again, being able to watch over you once again.”

  “Yes, I’ve missed him,” Kera said. “I miss all of them. They were my family.”

  “They can still be your family,” Lilaci said, standing back up and brushing the sand from the back of her pants.

  “You’re right, things just seem . . . Different now. The Order seems more like my guardians or something like that. You and Fewn feel more like a normal family than the others. Roren is so . . . Worried when he’s around me. It’s like he’s always looking out, scanning the horizon. I care for him, I care for all of them, but the older I get, the more I realize what people’s roles really are. And I’m beginning to see what my role really is.”

  “Oh yeah, and what is that?” Lilaci asked. Kera seems like she’s growing so fast, every day she seems more mature than the last, even with so much pressure on her. She really is inspiring. “How has that changed?”