The Chronicles of Lumineia: Book 02 - The Gathering

by Ben Hale

  Without waiting for a response she crouched and took a deep breath. Taryn took his place but threw his sister surreptitious glances as the air around her began to shimmer. Without warning she blew out her breath and spun in a circle, her arms extended. Instantly the wind changed direction, spinning from the Oracle like a tornado. Air compressed and popped as it was manipulated by Siarra, exploding outward into an expanding dome of protective wind magic. Inside the magical shield the remaining snow settled to the ground, and gradually the air cleared until Taryn could see for two hundred yards. He caught a glimpse of empty whiteness before he heard Trin and Mae cry out in alarm.

  Whirling east, he saw a massive beast spring from the snow. Just as Jack had described, it looked like a tiger, only much, much larger. Broken by black stripes, its white body surged across the snow in effortless power. Bounding towards them, it snarled as it blew through snowdrifts with ease.

  Taryn leapt towards it as Liri shouted, “East side!”

  Taryn, Kell, and Jack reformed between the charging animal and their friends just as the animal roared, a blood curdling sound that shook the very ground. In a flash Taryn morphed his bow and drew back an enchanted arrow. From behind him, a bowstring twanged and he glanced back to see Liri on the ground with her bow in hand. He released his at the same time Liri sent her second missile. The two arrows streaked towards the fearsome cat—but missed. Impossibly, the Tigron dodged each arrow. In less than five seconds the beast had crossed a hundred yards, and had closed the gap enough to strike.

  Taryn morphed his mothers bow back into a sword and braced his feet—but the tigron shifted direction, and lunged past him. Unbelievably agile, the great cat carved a path between Taryn and Jack, knocking them aside before they could bring their weapons to bear. Tumbling to the ground, Taryn twisted his body and landed in a crouch in time to see the beast wrap its huge paws around Siarra’s tiny form—and carry her out of sight.

  “NO!” Taryn cried, his heart stuttering at the thought of losing his sister. With icy veins he sprinted towards where they had disappeared, praying he made it in time.

  “Siarra!” Taryn yelled, plowing up a pile of snow. Picking up speed he leapt over the top and skidded to a halt, dumfounded.

  In front of him Siarra stood petting and soothing the fearsome cat while it sat back on its haunches. Her short elven form couldn't reach his shoulder, and the tigron had to stoop down so she could touch his enormous head. Behind Taryn the others tumbled into view, while Kell bull-rushed right through the drift, sending snow cascading in every direction. All of them came to a halt beside Taryn.

  “What in Skorn’s name are you doing!?” Jack bellowed.

  “I tried to tell you there was no cause for concern, but no one was paying attention to me,” Siarra said.

  “But it pounced on you!” Liri exclaimed. “I thought you were dead!”

  Siarra shook her head and hugged the head of the huge cat, eliciting a deep purr. “No, she wasn’t trying to kill me, she was just so excited to see me.”

  “Wait . . .” Mae asked in shock. “Excited?”

  Siarra sighed. “Tigraes is her name, and at first she meant to kill us, but when I spoke to her, she seemed very happy. Apparently she knew my mother.” Her eyes met Taryn's, “And your father.”

  Taryn blinked. “When did Tigraes know them?”

  Siarra shrugged. “She says that Ianna healed her once, and that a red-haired man was with her. They told Tigraes that we would need her help, and tasked her with waiting for us.”

  Taryn blew out the breath he'd been holding, dumbfounded at another glimpse into his parents’ lives. Once again he found more about his parents, yet for some reason he felt irked. Why hadn't they left more for him? A letter, or a journal perhaps?

  “She says there is a cavern not far from here that we can take shelter in.” Siarra said, and the great cat purred at her words. Siarra looked at Taryn and opened her mouth, but hesitated, glancing at the others before closing her mouth without voicing the thought. After a final pat from Siarra, Tigraes stood and padded past them, but stopped twenty feet away and looked back.

  “Of course she would be friends with deadly animals, and to think I was worried about . . .” Jack grumbled, but the rest of his words were lost as he stalked away and headed north.

  Trin growled. “Well, I guess our new guide is a cat.”

  “You don’t like cats?” Mae asked, sheathing her short sword and picking up her pack.

  “I’m more of a dog person myself,” Trin snorted. “Dog's have uses.”

  Siarra interrupted whatever sarcastic comment Jack was about to say. “We have to get moving. The storm is getting worse and I don’t want to drain my energy unnecessarily.”

  “Getting tired already?” Jack said, his tone sardonic.

  Taryn missed Siarra’s scathing response, his body moving to collect his pack. Woodenly he fell into line behind his friends as they trudged into the drifts of snow. Although Siarra turned the wind to sweep the air clear, they still had to hike through the effects.

  How much did my mother know? Taryn asked himself, feeling a shiver run down his spine. Did she know everything about me? The questions about his parents seemed to be compounding faster than answers were appearing. His mother must have known about their quest, or at least enough to know what they would need to complete it. A sudden pang of regret stabbed his heart. I guess everyone knew my mother better than I do.

  His thoughts were cut short as Siarra’s magic revealed a low cave. Slipping into the recess, the huge cat padded into the entrance and reclined near the opening. Despite Siarra’s assurances that Tigraes meant them no harm, Taryn wasn’t the only one to give the striped cat a wide berth as he entered the gloomy cave. Kell unloaded some of the wood that he’d been carrying in his pack and placed it in front of Siarra, who lit a fire. Within minutes the icy walls of the small space radiated the heat back, taking the edge off the chill.

  Throughout their dinner, Taryn’s mind buzzed, and he said little to questions directed at him. Volunteering for the watch, he moved towards the cave entrance and took a seat inside a small alcove. Situated across from the white tigron, the spot provided a good view without letting the arctic wind reach him.

  As comfortable as the situation allowed, his friends spoke little and one by one fell asleep. Soon after, he heard light footfalls and turned to see Liri striding towards him. He smiled as she sat down next to him.

  "Blasted snow," she muttered.

  "I don't think it's so bad," Taryn said, extending his cloak to include her. "It's . . . peaceful."

  She snuggled closer to him, and he tightened his arm around her shoulders. "Perhaps, but my toes disagree."

  He grinned but didn't respond. The warmth he felt repelled the chill, and he watched the snow curl and twist as it fell. After a few minutes, Liri said, "Your parents obviously knew much about this quest. Why do you think they didn't leave you more?"

  He shrugged, troubled by the question yet grateful she had voiced it. "I wish I knew."

  "They could have written you a letter, or even left you a memory orb," she said, her tone becoming indignant.

  He gave a slow sigh. "They prepared so much for our journey, but couldn't find the time to tell me why?"

  "It's because she was the Oracle," Siarra answered, sliding into a seat next to Liri. "We tend to hold information longer than we should."

  "Why?" Taryn asked. "When does guarding the truth ever help?"

  She sparked a flame in her hand and played with it for a moment, and then replied with a sigh, "We see so much about people, their lives and their problems, their dreams and their fears. If we shared everything we saw . . . it would rob them of choice."

  "Even in the face of something like Draeken?" Liri asked. "Isn't the price worth it?"

  "Even then," Siarra said, extinguishing the fire in her hand. "The ability to choose is mankind's greatest gift, and it is not right to take it from them."

  The sadness i
n Siarra's eyes was bitter, causing Taryn to ask, "What have you been keeping from us?"

  She swallowed and looked away. When she looked back, her eyes were bleak. "I am losing my sight."

  "Is that possible?" Liri spoke at the same time as Taryn.

  "What do you mean?" Taryn asked.

  "It's becoming clouded," Siarra said, her voice small. "The presence of so many fiends is limiting my ability to see. It hasn't impacted anything nearby . . . but my longer range senses are almost gone."

  Fear flooded Liri's face. "Did something happen?"

  The shrill wind gave a chilling backdrop to Siarra's answer. "Talinor has been destroyed."

  "Is there nothing left?" Liri asked, her body rigid against Taryn.

  Siarra shrugged and wrapped her arms around her knees. "It was invaded before we talked to the gnomes. Most evacuated in time, but the ones who remained . . . didn't survive. The darkness is thick enough now that I can't see there anymore."

  "What about our future?" Liri asked, her eyes flicking to Taryn's. "Can we do it?"

  She shook her head and wouldn't look at them. "I don't know. Before I could sense some things . . . but now I can't see anything beyond a few days."

  The tremor in her voice caused Liri to frown. "What's the last thing you saw?" Siarra's silence hit her hard, so she spoke again, anger creeping into her voice. "Who dies?"

  Siarra gestured to herself, and then hesitated. Then she jerked her head towards Taryn.

  Liri discarded Taryn's cloak and rose to her feet. "I don't believe it," She said. "You are wrong."

  Spinning on her heels she stalked to the fire. Climbing into her blankets, she pointedly rolled away from them.

  Siarra blew out her breath. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, Taryn, but I didn't realize the extent of my blindness until recently. If it's any consolation, I don't really know what is going to happen to us. An oracle's sight is rarely exact."

  The faint howling of the wind was the only sound for several seconds until Siarra said, "There's more."

  "What else is there?" he asked, feeling betrayed, and not caring if his sister heard it in his voice.

  "Tigraes knows where Israke is, and can take you to him."

  Taryn looked at the great cat, and she raised her head in response. “How far away?” he asked.

  Siarra hesitated before saying, “A few hours.”

  “A few hours for who?”

  Siarra grunted and leaned back. “For you and Tigraes.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She says the terrain is . . . rough, but by her tone I gather it to be more like deadly—and steep. I might be able to keep up with you if I use magic, but I will tire and it will slow us down. The others will just get fatigued, and we are running out of time. Even Jack and Kell wouldn’t make it as quickly as you will have to—especially with this storm, and Trin needs to find out about his father. While you are gone, I can search for evidence that his family survived.” Her voice became small. "You will have to do this alone Taryn. The choice is yours."

  “When would I go?” Taryn asked, trying to contain his mixture of emotions. The information he could learn might be crucial in defeating Draeken. Siarra’s news had made him feel . . . mortal. Would the white dragon be able to tell him the fate of Lakonus? Would he know what Taryn would have to face?

  Siarra touched his arm. "Please don't go, Taryn. I don’t want to lose my only family.”

  For the first time he saw her as a person, as his sister, and not as the Oracle of the world. Since he'd found her, she had been strong, confident, and sure of herself. Now as she sat beside him in the icy cave, she looked vulnerable and weak. It felt unsettling to see her like this.

  What if she wasn't strong enough to survive this war?

  The idea made him hesitate. Then he placed his hand on hers. "And I don’t want to lose my sister, so promise me when we get to Draeken that you will find a way to survive.”

  “But I can’t see that,” she protested, but he cut her off with a jerk of his head.

  “I don’t want you to promise me as the Oracle, I want you to promise me as my sister. Find a way to live, and I will do the same.”

  She gave him a sad smile. "So are you going?"

  "I have to," he replied. "Defeating Draeken is everything now. If I fail in that . . . Liri dies anyway—and so do the rest of you."

  “You had better go then. The storm is going to slow you down, and the longer you wait the deeper the snow is going to get.”

  Taryn rose to his feet. Careful to not disturb Liri, he grabbed his pack. Ready, he embraced his sister and followed Tigraes into the driving snow. Striding into the storm he looked back to see Siarra standing in the cave entrance. Then the snow obscured her from view.

  “I guess it’s just you and me, right girl?” he said to the white tigron at his side. Tigraes swiveled her huge head to look at him and he got the feeling she was smiling. Lengthening his stride he broke into a trot that would absorb the distance without tiring him and would keep him warm. “Let’s go find ourselves a dragon.”

  The huge cat bounded forward, and Taryn grinned to himself. He wasn’t the only one feeling eager.

  It was time to get some answers.

  Chapter 27: The White Dragon

  In Taryn’s life he could recall few times that he had felt tested. Among the short list he would place the Acabi ceremony, climbing the Giant’s Shelf, fighting Death, and battling Tryton. Each had forced him to draw from deep within to overcome something impossible—and now he would add climbing the ice cliffs of Israke’s lair during a blizzard.

  By the time Taryn had reached the mountain range, the cold had penetrated to his bones. Shifting his feet to stay warm, he blinked through the flurries of snow and peered at the towering peaks. Strung together like links in a chain, each mountain pierced the clouds on their way to the heavens. Shorter than the rest, but no less broad, the one he faced lay shrouded in snow and ice.

  Shivering, Taryn followed Tigraes around its base to the northern side, where the storm slammed into the mountain as if it had the power to crush the stone. Rounding snow-topped boulders the size of houses, the huge white cat came to a halt in front of an icy wall that stretched upward into the dark. Because the cliff faced north, layer upon layer of ice and snow had crusted the face as each storm added to it. Driving winds had smoothed the ice in patches of treacherous ledges, cracks, and dangerously deceptive handholds.

  Soon into the climb, Taryn took a short break on one of the wider shelves. Easing his cold muscles, he had to admit that without the cat the ascent would have been impossible. Tigraes, possessing enormous strength, would leap from one ledge to the next, and somehow seemed to know which ledges were safe. Taryn would then do his best to climb to the higher position, using smooth cracks and tiny holds. Ten seconds was too long to stay in one place, or he risked plunging to his death.

  Taryn had learned the hard way to follow the tigron. Only twenty feet off the ground, Taryn had chosen a different route than the one she had taken. Grabbing onto what had looked to be a strong section of ice jutting out from the cliff, he’d felt an unseen crack give way. Then the whole shelf snapped, sending him tumbling back to the base. Fortunately he’d landed in a snowdrift, but the lesson had been a chilling reminder that this was not his territory, a lesson reinforced by the irritated growl emanating from Tigraes as she returned to the base to find him.

  After that, he’d followed her without hesitation, even onto sections of the cliff that he would have sworn were too frail to carry his weight. The very piece on which he now sat had looked to be a thin film of ice from below, but had proved to be solid enough to support Taryn as well as the far heavier cat. Shaking his head, Taryn nodded at Tigraes and stood, once again ready to continue.

  Although his face burned from the unrelenting wind, and his whole body felt numb, he forced himself to continue. Sliding out onto a forked section protruding from the cliff, he reached up for a crack and found a grip
. As he climbed, he thought of Liri, Siarra, and the rest of his friends. Attempting such a dangerous feat with millions of lives riding on his success was too much to bear. In the end, the ones he cared about were the ones he was doing this for, and Liri’s face held a prominent place in his thoughts.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Taryn rolled onto a broad ledge that turned out to be an enormous opening in the cliff. Looking upward, he could barely discern the top of the cave a few hundred feet above. Next to him he heard a throaty cough from Tigraes that he hoped he understood. Whatever the cat feared, he should fear as well.

  “It’s OK girl,” he said, patting her flank. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

  A snarl in reply left no doubt that she would remain at his side. He rubbed his cold fingers inside his gloves, grateful for her presence. Somewhere in the dangerous climb, he’d come to think of her as a friend—a thought he hoped was reciprocated now that they had reached the dragon’s lair. The change had been subtle, but Tigraes now sat on her haunches closer to him than before, and also seemed more patient. Perhaps she had doubted that he would make it this far.

  He sighed, and realized his voice sounded hoarse from the wind. “Well, let’s go see what's in there.”

  Tigraes padded forward, her back as tall as Taryn’s shoulder, and Taryn stepped into the large cave behind her. On silent steps the two of them followed the massive winding corridor as it wound into the cliff. After a few minutes, the twisting and turning killed the wind and darkened the view. The silence and the ice tunnel caused every sound to be amplified, and Taryn cringed each time he scuffed a boot.

  Turning one last time, Taryn stopped as he saw a light further down the tunnel. Slowing, he slid to the wall and ducked under a large overhang that would allow him to observe without being seen. Tigraes glided next to him, filling the rest of the space.