Silver Road (The Shifting Tides Book 2)

by James Maxwell

  The dragon and the giant collided. A heavy thump told Dion that the contact was powerful enough to throw the giant onto its back. Roars and groans accompanied the sounds of struggle, and then a sharp crack ended the fight.

  Rolling over, Dion saw the giant lying with its head at an angle, nearly severed from its body. The huge eyes stared sightlessly at him, making him shudder. As the sea was carried in with the tide, the frothing waves washed the crimson blood back and forth.

  Closer by, a hawk-nosed eldran was bent in the water, washing his face and hair. Slowly climbing to his feet, Dion drew in a deep breath. He waited for his legs to stop shaking before he approached his friend.

  ‘Giant doesn’t taste as good as you might think,’ Eiric said, glancing at Dion and scowling. He spat into the sea. ‘I’ll never get it out of my mouth.’

  The eldran looked up to the higher ground, where the beach became rocky and dotted with wizened trees and shrubs, eventually climbing in cliffs that loomed over the shoreline. The long escarpment guarded the interior but could be climbed, something Dion knew from the last time he’d traveled in this land with Chloe. Black clouds hung over the long range of mountain peaks, even though it was a bright day and the rest of the sky was clear.

  The eldran’s eyes finally settled on the distant cavern Dion had been working in, a deep depression at the base of the cliff. ‘How are your repairs going?’

  ‘Almost done,’ Dion wheezed, hands on his hips as he recovered.

  ‘Good. As much as I’ve enjoyed keeping you safe while you polish your vessel’s timbers, I came here to look for my father. Instead I’m spending all my time watching your back.’ Eiric shook his head. ‘One day there’s going to be too many for me.’

  ‘I understand,’ Dion said. He coughed. ‘And thank you. Trust me, I don’t plan to spend a moment longer here than I need to. Let me show you.’ He motioned for Eiric to follow.

  They climbed the shore together, and soon they were leaping from rock to rock and passing under the gnarled trees that grew in this place. Dion led Eiric to the cave, and then he forgot all about the giant as his eyes roved over the Calypso.

  Though the vessel was small, she was sleek and well proportioned, able to be sailed in the strongest seas. Horizontal blue and yellow stripes decorated her exterior, curving with her body, but her interior was more beautiful still, unpainted and displaying the grain of the wood for all to see. The mast was lowered, resting on the floor of the cave, which made her appear unfinished, like a statue of a shapely woman missing a limb.

  ‘I can see you are in love,’ Eiric said, lifting an eyebrow. ‘But don’t expect me to have the interest you do.’

  Dion grinned. ‘You’re not the first. I understand.’

  ‘So what’s left to do?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Nothing? I thought you said you were almost done.’

  ‘I am. We just need to carry it down to the shore. I was checking the tide a moment ago when . . .’

  Realization dawned in Eiric’s eyes. ‘You’re leaving? Look,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean . . .’

  ‘No, it’s time for me to go. Cinder Fen wasn’t meant for humans.’

  ‘For humans,’ Eiric repeated. ‘You’re turning your back on us, then?’

  ‘Not turning away,’ Dion said. ‘Finding a new path, and hopefully a new place to call home. I thought I sensed you, back in the Wilds, but just now when you saved me, again I felt nothing. I couldn’t change my form to save my own life. This bond you say you feel with this place.’ He shrugged. ‘I feel nothing.’

  ‘That’s because you’ve focused again on your human heritage.’ Eiric’s eyes flickered to the vessel and back. ‘I can feel you growing distant.’

  ‘Whatever it is, it feels right.’

  ‘Where will you go?’

  ‘Sarsica,’ Dion said. ‘It’s as good a place as any to make a start, and I’ll need supplies if I plan on traveling for a while.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘I want to find out what I can about the Aleutheans. If their civilization sank beneath the waves, how did the ark end up in Phalesia? What happened to them?’

  ‘My father always told me that for humans, everything comes at a price, even information,’ Eiric said. ‘Put out your hand.’ Dion frowned as Eiric untied a leather pouch from his waist. The tall eldran placed the pouch in his open palm and then spoke again. ‘Open it.’

  Untying the string, Dion poured the contents into his hand and gasped when he saw a pile of shimmering gemstones ranging from the size of a tooth to as big as a knucklebone. Some were clear but most were fanciful colors: rose and pale green, the light blue of shallow water and the deep blue of the ocean.

  ‘Several are diamonds,’ Eiric said. ‘The stories your people tell each other are true, you just need to know where to look.’ He smiled. ‘Enough to help you on your way?’

  ‘Eiric . . .’ Dion said, lifting his gaze. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I hope you find your place in the world.’

  ‘Before I go . . . I have to ask.’ Dion hoped he wouldn’t say the wrong thing; there was still so much he had to learn about the eldren. ‘Can you sense your father?’

  Eiric’s smile faded. ‘When I try to sense him, I sense animal urges. But they may simply stem from the feel of this place.’

  ‘And what will you do if he’s lost to you?’ Dion persisted. ‘We’re not far from the Waste. Tell me the truth.’

  ‘I won’t return to my people until both Jonas and Triton are dead,’ Eiric said grimly.

  ‘Be careful,’ Dion said, embracing Zachary’s son. ‘Remember, your people need a leader.’

  Eiric nodded, but his eyes were still distant. ‘I know.’

  24

  ‘Here,’ Chloe said, panting as she passed Liana the skin. ‘Water.’

  The sun blazed overhead, but as the Phalesian Way climbed ever higher, the winds off the looming peaks made the air turn cool. They were still in the region of hills and forests, not even halfway to Tanus, and had a long journey ahead of them. The path would lead up into the mountains and it would grow colder still. Chloe wondered how Liana would hold up; they had blankets, but at nighttime she was shivering already.

  ‘Can we rest again?’ Liana asked as they walked, looking hopefully at Chloe.

  ‘Not yet.’ Chloe shook her head. ‘We have to keep moving if we’re going to stay ahead of Nikolas. There’s a way station.’ She pointed to a distant structure, a stone hut a couple of miles ahead. ‘There should be fresh water. We can rest and drink our fill when we get there.’

  Liana gave a resigned nod.

  The two travelers continued in silence, with Chloe thinking about her father, hoping that she would find him alive and well in Tanus. She thought about Nikolas also. If he caught her, he wouldn’t take her flight lightly. Danger was ever present.

  They finally reached the way station and Liana seated herself gratefully on the bench of stone under the roof of thatch, shoulders slumped as she recovered her strength. Glancing down at her slight companion, Chloe wondered again what it was that Liana wanted to speak with her father about. The more she’d pressed, the more tight-lipped Liana had become. She was bearing some burden, a secret, something that weighed on her so much that she wouldn’t even talk about it.

  Chloe went around the back of the way station, where she found a stone basin filled from a natural spring, the cool water trickling in a thin stream from an overhang. She filled the skin and returned to Liana, who was even now still panting.

  ‘I’ll fill your skin,’ Chloe said sympathetically. But when she bent down and reached for Liana’s satchel the girl suddenly lunged forward.

  ‘No!’ Liana cried. Her eyes were wide as she grabbed hold of Chloe’s wrist. ‘Don’t touch it!’

  ‘Why not?’ Chloe’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Please,’ Liana said softly, and now her eyes were pleading. ‘I’ll fill my own water. Just . . . Just don’t touch it.’ She released Chloe�
�s hand and, with a frown, finally Chloe relented. ‘I don’t like people touching my things,’ Liana said, staring at the ground.

  Chloe straightened and immediately forgave her, instead taking a seat on the bench beside the eldran. Liana had lost her parents and then she’d lost Zachary and Aella. Eiric had spurned her. She didn’t have anyone.

  ‘How did you get your necklace?’ Chloe asked, changing the subject. ‘I thought eldren couldn’t touch metal.’

  ‘We can’t willingly touch pure metal,’ Liana corrected. ‘A man . . . He put it on me.’ She looked away and darkness crossed her face. ‘It’s not pure copper but it still hurts.’ She met Chloe’s eyes. ‘I can remove it if I have to, but I’m going to keep it on.’

  ‘That takes strength,’ Chloe said. ‘To endure suffering in order to belong.’

  ‘Your people do it all the time,’ said Liana. ‘You make every father spend his days toiling to earn enough money that his son or daughter can wear a necklace like this. Your men pit themselves against each other in contests so that they can prove their worth to the group. Your women spend their lives married to men they don’t love because their fathers tell them to, and it is the custom. Everyone does things they don’t want to in order to become part of something greater. Sometimes those things are courageous; other times they are wrong.’

  Chloe’s mouth dropped open. Not for the first time, Liana had surprised her.

  ‘Even you married a man you do not love,’ Liana said.

  Chloe’s lips thinned. ‘He said he would kill my father. I had no choice.’

  ‘You didn’t?’ Liana asked. ‘From what I have seen you are a strong woman, and from what I have heard your father loves you dearly, and would not force you. So why did you agree to it in the first place?’

  ‘At one time there was a purpose to it. My father thought it would bring him and Nikolas closer together, and result in a stronger bond between our two nations.’

  ‘I didn’t ask why your father wanted it. I asked why you went along with it.’

  ‘I suppose I wanted to make my father happy. I wanted an end to the fighting. Neither nation is strong enough to survive alone. With an alliance—’

  ‘Chloe of Phalesia,’ Liana interrupted. ‘You are lying.’

  Chloe scowled. ‘I am not—’

  ‘You are. I was watching you with Dion. I saw what passed between you. You may think he rejected you but when you turned your back on him, I saw the desire in his eyes. And I saw you cry. Are you telling me you gave up your chance of happiness because you wanted to make your father happy? Why didn’t you tell your father no, from the very beginning? You say he is a wise man. He would have found another way to bring your two nations closer together. Or perhaps’—Liana arched an eyebrow—‘it was the marriage that emboldened the king of Xanthos to take action in the first place. Perhaps your father is where he is now because of your refusal to be brave and follow your heart.’

  Chloe looked down at the ground. Everything Liana was saying made sense. There was only one piece of the puzzle that the eldran wasn’t aware of.

  ‘There was a prophecy,’ Chloe said softly. She met Liana’s eyes. ‘Do you know of the Oracle of Athos?’

  ‘I have heard stories.’

  ‘The Seer’s prophecies always come true. She prophesied that the king of Ilea would die in the thirty-first year of his reign and he did.’

  ‘And what did she say to you?’

  ‘She gave me three prophecies. She said I would kill a man I pitied.’ Chloe thought of Tomarys, writhing on the stake. ‘She said I would fear a man I loved.’

  ‘Dion,’ Liana said. ‘You fear him?’

  ‘I did,’ Chloe said. ‘Now?’ She looked away.

  ‘He is more human than eldran,’ said Liana. She spread her hands. ‘Unlike me,’ she said in a wry voice, ‘he has a good reason for being unable to change.’

  ‘You also have a good reason,’ Chloe said. ‘You are afraid. I understand why.’

  Liana looked away, pensive for a time, but she persisted. ‘And what was the third prophecy?’

  ‘The Seer said I would marry a man I do not love.’

  Liana tilted her head. She waited for a time and then opened her mouth. ‘I am waiting for the rest of it.’

  ‘That is what she said.’

  Liana leaned forward, staring at Chloe intently, her head tilted and an expression of shock and surprise on her face. ‘There was no prophecy to marry Nikolas, king of Xanthos?’

  Chloe frowned. ‘No.’

  ‘And you decided that you would interpret this prophecy yourself? That you were destined to follow the path laid out in front of you without deviation?’

  ‘But the Seer’s prophecies—’

  ‘Always come true,’ Liana said. ‘I was listening. But until you and Nikolas were wed, you didn’t know what events would come to pass. You should have chosen your own destiny . . . Acted as if there was no prophecy. In future, never accept with resignation a fate that is not set in stone.’

  Chloe could now understand how Liana had had the courage to dye her hair, wear a metal necklace, and enter human society.

  ‘You talk about being afraid,’ Chloe said, ‘and you say that I’m brave. But I think you have it the wrong way around.’

  Liana smiled. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We should keep moving.’

  Chloe saw that the road ahead bisected a thick forest of evergreens, tall trees that loomed over the very edge of the path and blocked the afternoon light, forming long, tapering shadows. A brook trickled alongside the path, filled with smooth stones and flowing water, enabling the two travelers to fill their skins again before moving on. They were following the floor of a wide valley, with hills on both sides and mountains beyond. The air smelled of pine and dew.

  Chloe was anxious. She’d known that on foot they wouldn’t make as much time as on horseback, but she hadn’t accounted for an eldran’s frailty. While in another form they could face down any beast or warrior, but she realized the truth of the maxim that humans were generally stronger.

  She glanced at her companion, who looked wistfully into the depths of the forest as she inhaled deeply. ‘Perhaps tonight we could rest in the woods—’

  Chloe held up a hand and stopped in her tracks. ‘What’s that sound?’

  Liana immediately went silent. Frowning, she tilted her head as she listened, and for a moment there was silence, broken only by the occasional tweet of a bird or chirp of an insect.

  Suddenly Liana’s eyes widened. She exchanged glances with Chloe. ‘It sounds like many footsteps, moving as one.’

  Chloe caught the sound again, at the edge of her hearing. The heavy rolling patter of marching men grew louder, until she could easily hear it. The sound grew in volume until it was bouncing around the hills, filling the valley.

  ‘It’s an army.’ Chloe paled. She frantically wondered what to do. ‘It must be Nikolas. They’ll have scouts. We’re too late!’

  A horse whinnied. Hooves clattered on the ground.

  Frozen in place, the two travelers looked back the way they’d come as a pair of riders rounded a corner. Chloe recognized the light armor and crimson cloak of a Xanthian mounted scout, and then four more riders joined them. Seeing the two women, the scouts dug in their heels and moved into an immediate gallop.

  Chloe clutched hold of Liana’s arm. ‘This way!’ She tried to pull her, but stopped when she felt resistance.

  ‘Not that way,’ Liana said. ‘That is south, toward Cinder Fen. We must go north.’

  Chloe glanced back at the galloping scouts and gave a sharp nod. She and Liana sprinted back across the road, plunging into the trees as the riders gained on them. Men’s voices called out, telling them to stop.

  It was dark under the shade of the evergreens. Rocks and fallen logs provided obstacles but Chloe knew that the scouts were trained to ride through difficult terrain and to track hiding enemies. Though their mountain ponies were smaller than cavalry horses, they were
hardy creatures, and the two women in their pale colors would stand out against the browns and greens. She and Liana had to keep moving until they were far from pursuit.

  Chloe’s chest heaved as she ran, weaving around the lower shrubs, warding off the clinging branches with her arm, heedless of the scratches to her skin. A horse ran straight across her vision ahead, but the rider plunged back into the trees; he hadn’t seen her. She never let go of Liana, even when the girl’s gasping breath ran ragged. If questioned, it would soon become apparent she was an eldran, posing as a human. Chloe didn’t know what Nikolas would do to her, but she didn’t want to find out.

  A man’s voice shouted something in the distance, and a comrade replied from further away. Heading away from their cries, Chloe and Liana ran until the ground climbed; they were approaching the edge of the valley, where the hills rose to overlook the forest below. Now the ground sloped and Chloe knew it was unlikely that the scouts would pursue this far. She helped Liana climb over the rocky ground, leading the way until they reached a flat place. When she turned around she could see the forest spread below her.

  ‘Stop,’ Chloe panted. ‘Rest.’

  Liana fell to hands and knees as she fought to regain her breath. Chloe looked back and searched for signs of pursuit, hands on her hips as she coughed and wheezed.

  As the sound of marching filled the valley with thunderous noise, Chloe decided to climb higher. She hopped from rock to rock, feet scrabbling at the steep slope, bending forward and using her hands as much as her feet as she ascended. Finally she pulled herself onto a ledge, throwing her body up and then standing. From her height she could now see the entire valley. Scanning the break in the forest where the path split it into two equal-sized pieces, she saw the army come into view.

  She first saw more mounted scouts, riding ahead of the main force. Next came the cavalry: hundreds of horses in a long file. Officers clustered up front, near a standard bearer carrying a crimson flag bordered with black: Nikolas’s personal markings. Most of the other standards were Xanthian, but there were blue cloaks dotted among the red, and even mounted archers on ponies, wild-looking men wearing skins and furs. Nikolas had recruited some northern tribesmen to his cause.