"It is time for the green gem to rise once more," the young man said as Iliana prepared to mount the mare.
Iliana snapped her head around to stare at the man. He pulled his long black tunic over his head and held it out to her. "The night is bitter cold," he said. Even though he wore a blank expression, she sensed intelligence behind his eyes. Iliana accepted the tunic and quickly pulled it down over her head.
"What do you mean about the gem rising?" Quickly, she mounted her horse.
"It has been over a century in time -- the gem must see daylight before the harvest moon. If you do not bring it into the light, it will not be found for another hundred years or more and by then we shall all be lost."
"That is only two days," Iliana said desperately, wheeling the horse around as the animal pranced nervously.
"The hills are silent tonight because the fighter dragons have been called into their master."
"Who is the master?" she asked, trying to follow his meaning.
"The sorcerer. It amuses him that you are coming."
"Thank you," she said. Iliana touched her slippered heels to the mare's sides, and they trotted out into the night, the moon was weak but better than a black night as she rode out of the courtyard and across the small moat. The saints help her, she would need her wits fully about her if she was to survive this night and the next. The abbess had said she'd come full circle, but a circle really had no beginning or end.
¤¤
Ulrich heard the buzz above his head before he saw the first fighter dragon. He looked down at the child, and saw the child looking up at him in the dim light as the sun began to come up over the hills.
"William, I believe the sorcerer knows I have flown," Ulrich said grimly. His horse walked, and he could ask no more of the animal. They had run most of the night, trying to put distance between the sorcerer and themselves. He felt a deep churning in his gut, a feeling he had not had since he was a boy going into his first battle. For whom did he fear -- himself or the child? Death for the child and the depths of Hades for him. Ulrich gave a deep chuckle, despair something he had long ago stopped feeling.
He knew it would be a gruesome death, and he could not welcome it for the child. He pulled his dagger from its sheath, looked down at the child. Surely it would be easier for the child if he killed him quickly than let him suffer the horrendous tearing apart by the fighter dragons? A small hope began to rise as he saw they were close to where the red soil ended. Perhaps they could make it that far.
The dragons began to dive, hitting him on the shoulder. Ulrich sheathed his dagger, tightened the linen which held the child to him and untied his shield from his shoulder. He used the shield to keep the dragons from their heads. His mount ambled along as if in no hurry to go in any particular direction. The fighter dragons were buzzing all around them, diving, and he held up his shield again and again.
The lightening sky was thick with their sour breath, their wings beating, the din filling his ears.
A grouping of rocks was in front of him. His horse stopped, fell to its knees and Ulrich threw his leg over the saddle and with the child jumped to the ground and out of the way as the poor horse fell dead.
Ferociously, the fighter dragons descended in one big swarm. William seemed to look at the sky in wonder, his green eyes wide.
Ulrich tried to run to the rocks for shelter, but the fighter dragons were now at his legs, ripping the boots from his feet. He walked the last few yards to the rocks on feet raw from bites, his leather chausses sheared from him from the knee down. They attacked his back, dug into his flesh. Ulrich used the shield to protect the boy, wishing now he had used his knife to end the child's life quickly. Damnation, how had he failed in this!
He climbed through the rocks, falling to one knee.
The linen binding the boy tore apart under gnashing teeth, and William came free, tumbling to the red sandy soil, mercifully landing in a small depression between the rocks. Unable to bear any more, Ulrich fell forward upon the rocks, William beneath him. He let out a last great roar to the heavens above, the new morning sky dense with a dark swarm of fighter dragons.
¤¤
Erik followed the curiously illumined path, eyes straining not to lose the little sparkling grains of light beneath his horse's feet. The sun arose suddenly in this world, stealing hot and bright across the red soil, its brilliance winking at him, almost blinding him. Upon large rocks lay a bloody remnant of a body with arms and legs splayed. The only reason he suspected it to be Ulrich were the remnants of wild black hair still clinging to the scalp.
With terrible dread Erik looked around, dismounted, walked among the rock, into a small crevice, hoping to God to find William.
As far as he could see...empty red soil, the hills ahead, rising against the sky. A great depth of emotion ripped through him, his chest tight as frantically he continued walking, searching for something, a clue. Where was the boy?
"William!"
Nothing. Everything was empty, save the carnage before him.
Moisture burned behind Erik's eyes. Ulrich died unjustly.
Was William gone then? Air heaved from his chest, turned into shuddering gasps of breath. A child gone...Iliana would be devastated.
A child's cry. Again.
Erik fell to his knees, lay down beside what remained of Ulrich, and heard the whimper. Ulrich's shield lay beneath him. Carefully, he rolled Ulrich to the side, wiping the blood from his hands, and lifted the wide shield which rested upon the rocks.
William looked up, blinking in the sudden light. He held his arms up. "Da, da, da."
Erik took a shuddering breath and lifted the boy, held him securely in his arms and came to his feet, eyes burning as his chest heaved again.
"William!" Iliana's scream made him turn to see her gallop toward them across the arid red soil.
Erik carried William and moved away from the rocks. "The path!" he shouted in warning. "Stay on the path. The ground is unstable."
One moment Iliana was there, the next she and her horse disappeared, as if swallowed whole by the red earth. A cavern had fractured in the precariously dangerous ground around them, leaving a gaping hole.
¤¤
Iliana coughed, spit the dust from her mouth, sneezing as it went up her nose. She rubbed her palms over her eyes, trying to clear the grit so she could see. The mare lay beside her, sat up, shook her head and came to her feet. Iliana looked up from the dark hole she had fallen into. She could see Erik's silhouette above her, William in his arms.
"Erik! My darling Erik!" she cried. "You've found William." She started laughing. "You found him."
"Yes, he is found and now we must make haste to leave this place. Are you hurt?" he called down.
"I am fine." She laughed again, feeling giddy. She used her mare's legs to pull herself upright, then leaned against the horse's shoulder. She let out a small moan of pain.
"My ankle," she said.
"Have you broken it?" he asked.
"I do not think so."
"Can you see light at all?" Erik asked. "Is it possible it's an old cavern that might lead out? There are many caves up here."
Iliana looked around her, her eyes adjusting to the dark. "Yes, there is a light. Shall I follow it?"
"Be careful. Can you mount your horse?"
Iliana gritted her teeth as she tried to mount, the weight on her ankle putting dark circles before her eyes. She tried again, and managed to lay across the saddle, then swing her leg over the horse's hindquarter.
"I will follow the light," she called up to Erik. It no longer mattered about the ankle. They had found William. She would endure any pain.
Iliana followed the cavern down, because that seemed to be where the light led. However, going down further and further made her increasingly uneasy. What if after all this, she was buried alive in the red soil hills? What if she came out into a cavern where fighter dragons lived? They would rip her apart.
Suddenly, she saw a twinkling of lig
ht along the dirt floor. She recalled the words of the young man from the monastery; tread carefully along the edge of the red soil until you see the path.
Iliana followed the light, and suddenly emerged into a large cavern with an eerie green luminosity. Transfixed, she stared at the ground below her mounts hooves.
¤¤
Erik rode through the short hills, searching each cavern opening close to where Iliana had fallen into the collapsed ground.
Suddenly he heard her calling him and she rode toward him with her beautiful smile, her hair a dark banner behind her. William, in the saddle in front of him, began to bounce up and down in excitement as he saw his mother.
Erik rode to meet her, dismounted and lifted her wriggling son into her waiting arms.
"William, you are a little knight," she exclaimed, kissing him again and again. She put her face down into his dark curls, tears spilling onto her cheeks.
Iliana looked at Erik, traced his cheek with her fingertips. "You love my son," she said with wonder. "It is in your eyes and in your deeds. This is a treasure to me. How can I thank you?" she whispered.
"Love me."
"It is done," she said, lifting her face to the sky and laughing. She looked down at him. "We must leave this place now, Erik," she said swiftly. "I have found the green gem."
"Touching," said a mocking voice. "And I would see the gem."
Erik turned. "Devanesque."
"LaTour," the sorcerer said mockingly.
"Mandrak!" Iliana exclaimed in anger.
The sorcerer bowed. "John Moses Devanesque at your service, my lady Iliana. You have led me a chase, but you have found the rare treasure -- excellent. It is useless in the hands of those who do not understand its power. Now I will have it," he exclaimed triumphantly.
"I thought I was rid of you when the sharks made a meal of you," Erik said, stepping closer to the man, but halted as the man's skin changed to rotting flesh, then reverted back to normal skin. "My God, man, you've lost the looks which used to charm the ladies!"
"Do not mock me, LaTour. It is a minor thing, and when I have the gem, all this old flesh will revert to eternal youth. Now where is it?"
Iliana looked at Erik.
"Do not look to your lover," the sorcerer sneered. "If you value all you have just found, bring me to the gem now."
Iliana nodded toward the cavern she had just exited. "It is in that cavern. Half buried in the red soil."
"Then we shall unbury it," the sorcerer said. "Lead the way."
¤¤
They entered the coolness of the cavern, and it was several moments before Erik's eyes adjusted to the shadowy interior. But then he began to notice the strange green glow inside the cavern walls. High above their heads were red and blue paintings of hands in the ceiling of the cavern. Thousands of palms.
Iliana still sat atop her horse in the cavern aperture, William in the saddle before her.
"Come," Devanesque snapped. "Show me where I will find the gem."
"There." She pointed toward the ground inside the cave.
Erik saw the wink of the green stone. He pushed his shoe against the sandy soil, and the edge of the gem was revealed. It was easily three inches across. He knelt and gently pushed the sandy grains away, revealing the stone as it lay in the ground. He noticed a much smaller gem lay half concealed beside it, and turning in a half circle, he saw the ground littered with similar emeralds.
Devanesque knelt on the ground and hurriedly scraped his hands through the soil. Erik moved more sand back and Devanesque pushed him back with one hand.
"Nay, do not touch the gem."
Erik stood, looking at the rest of the cavern, amazed at the gems embedded in the stone walls.
"You have the gem," Erik said, "now we are leaving."
Devanesque looked up from digging up the gem. "That was not part of the bargain."
"There is no bargain." Erik tightened his jaw. "And no reason for us to remain. You have the treasure, we will be on our way."
Devanesque did not look up. He pulled the gem from the ground and stroked it with reverence. "The power of this gem is unrealized. I can move heaven and earth if I choose, and perhaps a bit of hell." He laughed, and looked up at Erik. His skin was rejuvenated and youthful once more. He touched a hand to his eye, which had shown part of his skull bone when Erik first saw him. "Aye, go then. I have what I need."
Erik moved toward Iliana and the mouth of the cave.
He led Iliana's horse down the small hill to where his own horse awaited. "We have to get out of here as quickly as possible," he muttered.
"I agree," she said, hugging William in front of her.
"Before he changes his mind," Erik said. He turned to her, held out his arms. "Let me take the child, it will make easier riding for you."
Iliana handed William to Erik. Erik mounted his horse, the child in the saddle before him, his arm securely around William.
"Poor Ulrich," Iliana said softly, seeing the scavenger birds in the sky. "I wish we could bury him."
"It cannot be," Erik said. Ulrich had saved William at a great cost to himself. "I dare not linger. Devanesque is a madman at best. We return to the monastery for fresh horses and then on to Dutton keep."
Iliana nodded.
"Is your ankle paining you?"
"It is bearable. I agree we must hurry."
Something in her voice alerted him. Iliana touched the saddle sack behind her, briefly lifted the cover and then let it drop, but not before Erik had seen the green stone as large as a platter, winking green sparks.
"Please, we must bury Ulrich first. I cannot bear to remember him strewn upon the rocks when he went to such risk to save William."
"We must hurry then," he said, and they urged their horses back to the rocks whereupon lay poor Ulrich.
Using Ulrich's shield, Erik dug a hole as best he could, glad the red soil was like fine beach sand. There was not much left of Ulrich to bury and with a few words of prayer he was laid to rest, his bones were covered and his shield placed above his makeshift grave.
They set off for the monastery.
¤¤
Iliana was glad to finally see the red walls of the monastery ahead. She was incredibly tired, having slept not at all in the last twenty-four hours. Fear for her son had drained her, and as they dismounted their horses outside the stable, she took William back in her arms once more. She pressed her nose gently to the top of his head. Even dirty, his scent intoxicated her.
"I will saddle our fresh horses," Erik said, "and we'll continue on."
He untied the leather thongs of the saddle sack. "You already had the treasure," he said, gazing in wonder at the large emerald.
"Yes. And then when Mandrak demanded it, I knew there were other stones in the cave that might satisfy him so we could escape."
"Our problem lies in the fact he will eventually find out he has the wrong stone."
"But I hope to have the gem secured by then within the sacred circle. We must ride swiftly to the keep."
As they led the fresh horses out, the young monk from the night previous peered at them through an iron gate leading to the inner courtyard. She waved at them.
"You may tell the abbess we have young William," Erik told the monk. "We have exchanged horses and will be on our way."
"Her ladyship and her brother have fled," the young girl blurted.
Erik turned back. "What do you mean?"
"She was shamed that the lady here has sacrificed so much. She declared she must finally step outside the comfort of these walls."
"What brother?" Iliana asked.
"Desryn."
Iliana put a hand to her mouth. "By all the saints -- where have they gone?"
"They did not say."
Iliana looked at him. "Let us go quickly."
They were on their way once again.
¤¤
Iliana no longer tried to keep pace with Erik's horse. The destrier was considerably larger, and his legs allowed f
or a longer stride. "Erik, I know you will arrive faster if you ride ahead."
He looked at her incredulously. "My dear Iliana, do you think I would leave you? We will get there in time enough." She understood he feared letting her out of his sight.
William rode with Erik once more and they galloped for some distance, then let the horses slow their gait and recoup their energy, before riding hard the remainder of the way to the keep.
For the first time in three years, Iliana was overjoyed to see the dark stone fortress against the red sky.
They cantered across the wooden plank and through the open portcullis and into the courtyard. Iliana was surprised to see what appeared to be most of the village gathered inside the courtyard.
As they drew to a stop beside the stables, all eyes turned on them, and then smiles and happy expressions were seen.
"My lady!" Someone called out.
"Young William is returned."
They rode to the second courtyard and right up to the sacred circle of trees. With William in one arm, Erik helped her dismount as she carefully placed weight on her ankle.
They both stared at the strange light emanating outward from the sacred circle, haloing out from the trees, shooting straight up into the red sky. Red clouds churned and swirled in the sky above.
She bit her lip. "I have never seen the light move in this manner. I must place the stone within, but what if I am trapped on the other side?" With the saddle pack in her hands, Iliana paused at the edge of the trees. "This is not as I left it. Mandrak has invaded the sacred circle. Has he turned it into an evil thing?"
"Is it possible the power of the gem can correct the damage he may have wreaked upon it?" Erik said hopefully.
"I do not know." Once she walked inside, there would be no retreat.
"I will bring the emerald into the circle," he said, holding out his hand.
Iliana's ankle began to throb. She shook her head. "I must do it." She looked at him. "I pray I do not lose both you and William."
Wind swirled around them. Erik gripped her waist, William in his arms as they were pulled into the trees, the limbs unfolding and opening to receive them. They stood in the center of the maelstrom, light of all colors swirling around their heads as gently, their feet were once more on the ground.
Treasure So Rare (Women of Strength Time Travel Trilogy) Page 19
