Dark Sahale

by Sam Ferguson

  He craned his neck up to look at the peak looming high above him now. He could see Lady Arkyn and Rafe coming to his aid, but they were at least a quarter mile from him, and it would take time for them to reach his position.

  “Erik,” Marlin called as he emerged from the mists once more. “You must change back into your human form. If you remain as a dragon, Vodklyk’s venom will kill you.”

  Erik was too weak to argue or ask any questions. He simply obeyed his trusted friend. His dragon form shrank away, taking the pain of the broken wing along with it, as well as the burning in his blood from Vodklyk’s venom. As he lay there, naked and exhausted, his vision closed in around him, and he succumbed to absolute fatigue.

  CHAPTER 15

  Erik opened his eyes to find that the sky was dark. A roaring fire was popping and clacking nearby. He turned over and felt something tug at his legs. He looked down and saw some sort of strange patchwork pants covering his lower body, the legs stopping midway down his calves.

  “Where did I get clothes?” Erik asked absently, remembering that he had been in his dragon form and the boat with their supplies had been destroyed.

  “From my shirt,” Rafe said as he walked around the fire, holding a plank of wood with roasted chunks of meat on it. “I figured you needed it more than I did.”

  Erik nodded. “Thank you,” he said.

  “How do you feel?” Lady Arkyn asked. “I have been monitoring you for fever, but you haven’t had one, and I can’t find any sign of the poison in your system. No swelling, no necrosis, nothing.”

  “Marlin said I would be fine once I changed back,” Erik said, not realizing how it would sound to talk of a ghost.

  “Who’s that now?” Rafe asked as he set the plank of wood in front of Erik.

  Erik glanced to Lady Arkyn. “I saw Marlin, in the mist,” he explained.

  Lady Arkyn sighed and looked to Rafe. “Marlin was the Prelate of Valtuu Temple. He died at Fort Drake several years ago.”

  Rafe nodded in understanding. “Many people see ghosts out here. Best not to trust them, the Natchy Moors are known for tricking even the strongest of minds.”

  “No, it was him, I know it,” Erik said.

  “Just, don’t be so sure,” Rafe suggested. “Maybe it was your friend, maybe it wasn’t, but the next time you see him, it might not be him.”

  Erik reached out and took one of the pieces of meat. He plopped it into his mouth and chewed. It tasted like juicy, soft chicken. “What is this?”

  “Found a moor croc while you were sleeping,” Rafe said. “He and I had an argument about who was going to have dinner and who was going to be dinner.” Rafe then patted a large, wide-bladed knife at his belt. “I won the argument.”

  Erik smiled. It was nice to see that Rafe had quickly rediscovered his courage after being chased by Vodklyk. Erik glanced around, seeing they were nestled in a grove of tall pines, and then looked to Lady Arkyn. “And Vodklyk? Any sign of the monster?”

  Lady Arkyn shook her head and pointed toward the south. “After we crash landed, he did try to follow us, but we found a cave and hid inside. When he finally realized he couldn’t get at us, he left and went back for the giant octopus carcass.”

  “Good thing you killed that other monster, gave Vodklyk something else to chew on,” Rafe said as he took one of the pieces of meat off of Erik’s plate. “That cave was the worst. We were all huddled inside for a day and a half, just hoping he wouldn’t shoot one of his cursed spikes down into the hole at us—or spit that stinking acid stuff at us.” Rafe’s eyes went wide for a moment as he stopped everything and looked into the distance, obviously considering how close they had come to a horrible death. A moment later he shrugged it off and continued chewing his bite.

  “A day and a half?” Erik asked. “Where was I?”

  “We took you with us,” Lady Arkyn said. “We couldn’t very well leave you out in the open.”

  “Vodklyk came around the base of the mountain a few hours after we got to you. He was a lot slower on land, but still fairly deadly,” Rafe said.

  “Rafe carried you on his shoulders and I found the cave,” Lady Arkyn explained.

  “Thank you,” Erik offered.

  “You would have done the same for us,” Lady Arkyn replied with a smile. “Now eat your food, you need your strength.”

  “Tomorrow we’ll find our way out of this mess,” Rafe added.

  Erik ate another piece and then glanced at the trees around them. “Why are we out in the open now?” Erik asked. “What if Vodklyk returns?”

  “Unlikely,” Arkyn replied. “After eating the giant octopus, it is likely satisfied enough for now. Large snakes can live weeks on a single meal, I see no reason to believe Vodklyk is any different,” she said.

  “Except he is large enough to destroy ships in a single bite and guards the second level of hell,” Erik replied evenly. “He isn’t exactly a normal large snake.”

  Lady Arkyn shrugged, but didn’t argue the point. “We were in the cave for a day and a half, but we have been traveling northward for another day. We have seen no sign of him, and we are within a couple days’ travel of the northern beach.”

  “From there, we can try to make a raft and get across the channel to the northern territory,” Rafe said. “Should be smooth sailing once we leave this place behind.”

  A shrill howl split the night air.

  “Wolves?” Erik asked.

  Rafe shook his head. “Banshees, but don’t worry, they won’t come near the fire.”

  Erik nodded and plopped another piece of meat in his mouth. He then dropped down onto his back once more and swallowed the food in his mouth. He closed his eyes, only intending to rest for a moment, but the next time he opened his eyes, it was morning.

  The sun couldn’t be seen through the thick fog, but the light did make it possible for them to see about twenty yards ahead of themselves. Lady Arkyn checked her bow and arrows while Rafe stomped out the last of the campfire embers.

  “Morning sunshine!” Rafe said cheerily. “I should have warned you, moor croc can make you sleepy. Best not to eat too much at a time.”

  Erik pushed himself up and looked around for his sword. He was about to ask where it was when Lady Arkyn approached him and held it out.

  “Looking for this?” she asked.

  Erik nodded and took the weapon in hand. He strapped it around his waist and then checked it by pulling on the handle just enough to ensure it wouldn’t stick in case he needed it. He took a couple of steps and realized that his naked toes were sinking into the spongy grass beneath his feet.

  “I was going to make you some shoes,” Rafe began, “but I don’t have the right tools. The moor croc skin takes too long to cure, and I don’t have equipment to work pine wood with.”

  “It’s all right,” Erik said. “I’m just happy to have some pants,” he added as he lifted a knee and patted it for emphasis. “Which way?”

  Rafe pointed to the north. “We make as straight a line as possible,” he said. “If we’re lucky, we can make the northern shore of this wretched place in two days, and then we can skip across the channel and happily find ourselves in the northern territory.”

  Without another word, the three began marching across the marshy ground, with Rafe in the lead, Erik in the middle, and Lady Arkyn bringing up the rear.

  The fog made it so that Erik couldn’t get much of a feel for the land. They occasionally came across sparse copses of trees, but there were not thick forests or expanses of undergrowth. Just wet, murky grass clumps separated by boggy mud and patches of murky water. Strange howls and cries cut the silence, but they sounded far off. Erik was about to ask if they needed a torch during the day to keep banshees at bay, but Rafe offered the explanation that such creatures slept during the day and would not bother them until nightfall without ever being asked.

  After about three hours of walking, they crossed an odd section of ground that appeared to be made of sand and small bi
ts of stone. The grains crunched under foot similarly to the way sea shells crack on stone when walked upon along a beach. Erik looked down at the sand and realized that the sand was, in fact, made of tiny bits of sea shells that had been crushed and ground down over time. The longer he studied the ground, the more shell fragments he started to see clearly. As they continued walking north, the fragments became larger and more frequent. Finally, they came to an incline made almost entirely of large shell fragments.

  “Rafe,” Erik said. “I think we should go around.”

  “Why?” Rafe asked.

  Erik pointed to the ground. “Look, it’s made of shells.”

  Rafe stopped and stared at the ground for a moment, and then his mouth went slack. “We’re walking into a feeding ground.” The three of them turned to go the other way, but they found a pair of large, blue-feathered birds as tall as Erik standing in the sand behind them.

  “I didn’t even hear them,” Lady Arkyn said.

  “Are they real?” Erik asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Rafe answered. “The monsters in the sea are fake, but the ones on this island are as real as they come.”

  “The ones we fought in the sea didn’t seem so fake to me,” Erik pointed out sourly as he slowly drew his sword.

  “Well, the giant bats, octopus, and leviathan were all very real, but the ones that were attacking the ship before I called you up were fake, illusions brought about by our fears,” Rafe clarified.

  Each of the birds had an exceedingly long middle toe, tipped with a thick, curved claw that looked capable of slicing through a man as easily as a hot knife through butter. They were large, nearly as tall as Erik and Rafe from head to foot, with big, thick bodies covered in blue feathers. They had wings, but they were stunted, and appeared to have left these birds flightless. Large, red flaps of skin hung over the back of their heads, and a strong, yellow beak came to a fine point in the front. The birds eyed the group warily for a moment, then, seemingly disinterested, turned and walked away into the mist.

  “That went about as well as we could have hoped for,” Lady Arkyn said as she relaxed the tension in her bow string.

  A chattering click came from behind. The group turned around to see an odd looking mammal creeping toward them on all fours. It was somewhat like an otter in shape and size, but longer in the body and with spikes along its spine. It clicked and clacked with its mouth, and then stood up on its back feet and let out a series of short, loud, clicks.

  The mound of sea shells stirred beneath their feet as several more of the creatures burrowed up from under the surface all around them.

  “This is not good,” Rafe said calmly. He drew his sword and took a step backward, scanning the group of thirteen animals as they slowly advanced in on the trio. Lady Arkyn pulled back on her string again, but Erik had the distinct impression these animals were far too quick to go down easily. He drew his sword and summoned the raging white flames as he let out a yell and charged the nearest spined creature. He swung his sword at the animal and it turned tail and sprinted away, loping up the slope and disappearing in the fog. The others clicked and chattered for a moment or two, and then did as the first had done.

  “Nice call with the fire,” Rafe said. “Looks like it scared them off.”

  “We should hurry before they return,” Lady Arkyn said.

  Erik and the others quickly made their way out to the west, not slowing their pace until they had found marshy grass once more. By then, the fog had thickened so much that it was difficult to see more than ten feet in any direction, and sometimes it was impossible to see even that far. The trio had to move slowly, using their ears to scan for danger more than their eyes. They persevered in a northerly direction until they came to a long, bubbling stream of black goo. Round bubbles forced their way to the surface, slowly pushing the viscous ooze out of the way and bursting above the stream with a release of green smoke.

  “Don’t use your flaming sword here,” Rafe cautioned. “I have heard of this before. It’s like a peat bog, but the gasses it emits are flammable.”

  “How do you know?” Erik asked.

  “Family secret, if we live to reach the northern territory, I’ll tell you.”

  Erik shrugged and looked to Lady Arkyn. She returned the gesture and scanned around. “We should look for a way to go around it,” she said. “It’s too wide to jump.”

  Rafe nodded. “We go east, then,” he said.

  “That’s going to take us closer to those strange animals with spikes,” Erik reminded him.

  Rafe smiled. “Well, if they come after us, then you have my permission to light them, and the gas, on fire so we can all go out quickly and as painlessly as possible.”

  “Comforting,” Erik replied.

  Something caught the young warrior’s eye a short ways off in the fog. He peered at the movement and reached for the hilt of his sword, but he relaxed when he saw Marlin standing in the mist. The departed prelate waved to Erik.

  “Come this way,” Marlin said.

  Erik nodded and started to walk toward him, but then thought better of it. Rafe had warned him about this place playing tricks, and so far he had seen very little here to show him that anything was docile. Erik called upon his power as the Champion of Truth. He reached out with his innate gift and inspected Marlin. During training, Erik had been taught how to handle precisely this predicament. Marlin had once created doubles and illusions of himself and forced Erik to find the real Marlin. It had been difficult at first, but as Erik had grown comfortable with his powers, he had been able to tell the difference between illusions and the real Marlin with complete accuracy, regardless of whether there was only one illusion, or one hundred.

  In this instance, Erik felt confident that this was the real Marlin he knew and loved. How it was possible, he didn’t know, but if this place was accessible by demons from Hammenfein, then perhaps a good spirit could make their way to this place as well, and help the weary wanderer lost in the fog.

  “Come,” Marlin said. “Danger approaches. Come quickly.”

  Erik nodded, but thinking back on Rafe’s warning he decided to use another test just to be sure before following Marlin. “What was the name of Valtuu Temple’s librarian?” Erik asked.

  Marlin cocked his head to the side and looked at Erik with his dull, gray eyes that he had had in life. Erik was a little confused to see that the man’s natural color had not been restored after death, but then, he knew little of what happened to a person after their mortal life ended. “Tatev,” Marlin said. “He had red, curly hair, and a love for books.”

  “And what were the special glasses he used?” Erik asked, referring to a magical instrument.

  “The Eyes of Dowr,” Marlin replied. “Now please, Erik, we must hurry.”

  Erik smiled and nodded. It had to be Marlin. No island could conjure up illusions that could both read minds and trick Erik’s powers of discernment. This was Marlin, the same man who had helped him so many times in life. Erik reached out to stop Rafe as the sailor began walking toward the east. “We go the other way,” Erik said confidently.

  Rafe drew his brow into a knot. “No, we go this way. At least we know what awaits us if we find the sea shells again. If we go west, we could be walking into more dangerous territory.”

  Lady Arkyn stepped in close and agreed with Rafe. “If the spiked otters have built a home for themselves, then they are likely the most dangerous predators in that area, and possibly those strange birds we saw. If we go the other way, we might find whatever scares them enough to keep them in the east.”

  Erik shook his head. “But Marlin is here, he is telling us to go west. Look.” Erik pointed toward Marlin. The others turned and looked, and then glanced at each other before Rafe shook his head and sighed.

  “There is nothing there,” Lady Arkyn said.

  “Well,” Erik began, “I can see him. Maybe he only appears to me. Come on, I used my power, I know it’s him.”

  “Whatever powers y
ou think you have, you should understand they won’t work correctly here,” Rafe said. “Wizards have come to conquer this place only to find their spells impotent and their powers absolutely defunct. Come on, let’s go.”

  Erik started toward the west. “No, we must follow Marlin.” The ghost of the prelate was still waving him on, but it had turned and was now fading into the mist. “It’s him, I know it is. He helped me when Vodklyk broke my wing and poisoned me, and he is helping us now.”

  “Rafe, perhaps we should listen to Erik,” Lady Arkyn said. “If he says that he can see him…”

  “Erik, don’t go into the mist,” Rafe warned.

  “Come on,” Erik said. The mist closed in around them. Rafe walked a bit to the east, and Erik tried to run a few steps to catch Marlin. Lady Arkyn stood in the middle, glancing between the two men. “Marlin, wait up!” Erik shouted. He had only gone three steps when the fog turned icy cold and thick as soup. He could still breathe, but with each inhalation came not only air, but a palpable amount of moisture. He spun around and rubbed his bare shoulders.

  Lady Arkyn and Rafe were gone.

  “Can you see me?” Erik shouted into the mists.

  No answer.

  “Rafe?” Erik shouted.

  “We’re here!” Lady Arkyn answered. She should have been only a few feet away, but her voice sounded distant, at least two hundred feet away. “Where are you? We can’t see you.”

  Erik reached down to pull his sword free. He could light the flames and use it as a beacon for them, but he stopped short. He was still close to the odd stream of black goo with flammable gasses. If he lit his sword, he might inadvertently light the gas.