Despite its single focus, Cliffport was more cosmopolitan than Curton. Traders came from all races: dwarves, elves, minotaurs, draks, and humans. Gisella saw a handful of cathar, bird-folk from the Western Wastes, on her last visit. Far from home, they were eager to bring back all manner of goods from more fertile lands.
Qaliah bounced in her saddle like a boggin at a roast, excited at the prospect of visiting a new city. Gisella hoped the lure of decadence there did not land the fiendling in trouble. Once they paid their way on a ship and boarded, they would be months without landfall. If they were being chased by the law, there would be nowhere to run.
* * *
The nailtooths’ sharp claws, ill-suited for the trail through the foothills, slipped on the smooth, sheer stone. The jagged peaks of the Iron Gate Mountains lay ahead, but the road was already treacherous and rocky. Delilah feared they would be forced to turn their mounts loose and proceed on foot.
They continued onward, albeit slowly. By midmorning, Katka lost her grip on a scrabbling Taavi and fell. Kali maintained her death-grip hold as the lizard leaped and scratched at the stones. When Taavi finally found her footing, Kali slid out of the saddle and helped Katka to her feet.
“They’re having a hard time, Deli.” Kale hopped off Blackclaw and helped Kali steady her mount.
Delilah dismounted Fang. “Turn them loose.” She rubbed Fang’s neck as she unbuckled the lizard’s harness.
“Only take what you need off of them; leave the tack and saddles.” Katka drew her wand. “I have an idea. Kale, Kali, gather our things from the lizards. Delilah, do you have any parchment and ink? I’ll write a note explaining that we’re all right and need someone to tend our mounts.”
Delilah rummaged through her saddle bag for a piece of parchment and found a stick of charcoal. She handed the implements to Katka. The young woman scribbled the message. When she finished, Katka pulled the three nailtooths together at the edge of the trail. She rolled up the note and secured it on the pommel horn of one of the lizards.
Green tendrils formed at the tip of her wand. She tapped each lizard in turn with the glowing tip. “Zoe’oh goe’tia.” Wisps of emerald aether swirled around each Nailtooth’s head. “Go to the Cervenak farm. They will feed and care for you. Run swiftly!”
The three lizards hissed and chirped and then bounded down the mountain. Katka put away her wand. “My parents have space at their farm. We’ll probably need to pay them something for boarding and feeding them when we return, but it’s better than setting three Nailtooth lizards loose in the western farmlands.”
Delilah nodded in appreciation and squeezed Katka’s arm. “Good thinking.” A flash of light near the bottom of the trail caught her eye. “Did you see that?”
“What?” Katka peered in the direction Delilah pointed.
“I thought I saw a flicker or a flash. Down there, at the bottom of the trail.”
Kale and Kali joined Katka, but also saw nothing. After searching every nook and cranny visible from their vantage point, Delilah was forced to admit nothing was there.
“Keep your eyes open, though, all right? There’s something funny about this whole business. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if we’re being followed.”
“By who?” Katka brushed her hair out of her eyes. “The archduke or the archmage?”
“Either. Both.” Delilah shrugged. Perhaps she was just being paranoid. “Who knows? Let’s get going.”
* * *
The wind howled, whipping Kali’s cloak into Kale’s face. He grunted and pushed it away before glancing over his shoulder at his sister. His fingers ached from gripping the rocks as he climbed. “Maybe the archduke and the archmage are just trying to get rid of us.”
“I don’t know about the archduke, but I could believe that of the archmage. I’m glad to be away from him, though, so I don’t really care.” Delilah pulled herself up onto a ledge alongside her brother. “After this is done, I plan to spend as much time as I can decoding those runes on that moon gate thing we found. It’s important, Kale. I know it.”
Kale grabbed his sister’s shoulder. “No, I mean, they’re trying to get us killed. These giants aren’t going to listen to us.” He regarded Kali and Katka below them. “Three draks and a human? I’ve been thinking about it, Deli. They’re going to smash us to pulp and grind our bones to dust.”
Kale learned everything he knew about giants from listening to minotaurs and oroqs trade stories in Drak-Anor. Kazi and Meriz could tell him nothing about their own kin; the two-headed giant cared only for three things: smashing, sleeping, and eating. Nothing in the stories led him to believe any giant would look upon a drak more charitably than it would a human. If these giants behaved like the ones in the stories or Kazi and Meriz, they would be eager to dispose of any draks who invaded their homes.
He clambered up onto the ledge, offered his sister a hand up, and then waited for Kali and Katka. Titan’s Staircase was a winding series of cut-rock ledges leading away from the main trail. According to Delilah’s information, it led directly to the giant’s valley.
“We should cut and run while we have the chance.” Kale didn’t want to risk antagonizing a city full of draks, minotaurs, and humans if something went horribly wrong with their visit to the giants. Pancras should be here. He should be doing this.
Katka huffed and puffed as she sat on the ledge. “Can we take a breather? I’m not used to this much climbing.” She shaded her eyes and gazed at the mountains behind them near Muncifer. “Wow, I’ve never been this high up.”
Kale stood next to her, hands on his hips. “Quite a view. Sort of reminds me of home. It almost makes you forget why we came up here, huh?” He always enjoyed the view overlooking the Celtan Forest from his vantage point in Drak-Anor, but those were the Dragon Spine Mountains. These, the Iron Gate Mountains, were rockier, with more jagged peaks.
“Do you really think there’s a dragon sleeping under these mountains?” Kale rubbed the mark on his chest left by Terrakaptis. It was mostly faded, but the edges still felt raised under his fingers. He figured dragons would sense it, regardless. If what Delilah told him was true, the mark would prove beneficial.
The young woman faced him. “I’d love to see a real dragon up close.”
“Too bad Terrakaptis couldn’t bring us, huh, Kale?” Delilah sat next to Katka. “We’d be finished with all of this business and back home by now.”
“Who’s Terrakaptis?” Katka flicked a pebble off the edge of the cliff and watched it fall. “Another wizard from Drak-Anor?”
“Do you want to tell her, Kale?” Delilah grinned at her brother.
“You two are awful!” Kali paced behind them.
“Terrakaptis is a Firstborne, the Earth Dragon, son of Rannos and Gaia.” Kale put his arm around Katka’s shoulders and swept his free hand across the horizon, as if to show the young woman the world for the very first time. “His lair is at the base of the world tree at Drak-Anor.”
Katka’s eyes widened, and she gasped. Kali smacked Kale on the top of his head. “Don’t tease her.”
“What? It’s true!” Kale rubbed the top of his head as he regarded his mate.
Delilah scooted away from the edge and stood. “All right, let’s go. We have to be nearing the trail by now. This mountain isn’t going to climb itself.”
Kale wished his wings were strong enough to fly them all up to the next ledge. For a giant, these were little more than steep stairs. He supposed they did a fine job keeping all the shorter peoples of Calliome away from their village, though. Upon reflection, his sister’s decision to send their mounts away was the correct one. The nailtooth lizards would never have been able to climb here.
The setting sun warmed their backs as they reached the top of the Titan’s Staircase. A short trail led to the crevasse marked on their map. Deep shadows gave the impression they entered a cave, despite the clear sky above. Strange markings on the walls of the fissure reminded Kale of claw marks, like the idle scrat
chings Terrakaptis made as he paced back and forth and regaled Kale with stories of ages past. In the distance, he heard a faint roar, like water cascading down a steep course of rocks.
Delilah and Katka gasped as the crevasse opened up into a valley. At the far end, water plummeted from a series of falls into a lake. A group of skin-and-stone huts at one end of the lake matched the location of the village on the map. From their position, the huts appeared to be typical dwellings. Smoke drifted up in lazy ribbons from their chimneys, and people scurried about, visible from across the valley. Carved out of one of the cliff walls near the lake stood a citadel, a stone fortification that, even at this distance, dwarfed the monolithic structures of the giants.
At the overlook, they took a moment to gaze across the top of a pine forest and contemplate a scene as far removed from the politics of Muncifer as the moons were removed from Calliome. The trumpeting bellow of an animal drew their attention to the trail before them. A long-necked creature emerged from the forest, its legs the diameter of trees themselves. It was a giant, grey-skinned creature, upon which sat an equally giant man. He held a spear aloft, ready to hurl it at the first sign of aggression from the invaders to his home.
The giant was clad in leather and furs, with plates of stone serving as greaves and pauldrons. Kale glanced at his bandoleer of daggers and realized if there was a fight, fleeing would be his only option. Their skin is probably thicker than the blades of any of my daggers!
“Draks! Human! You will come no farther. This place is forbidden to you!”
Delilah motioned for everyone else to remain still and stepped forward. She crossed her arm over her chest and bowed. “Our mission is one of peace. Archduke Fyodar of Muncifer wishes to clear up the recent misunderstandings.”
The giant flicked the top of Delilah’s staff with the tip of his spear, sending her focus clattering across the path. “You come bearing magic. The archduke has a strange idea of peace. We know what the archmage did to our envoys.”
“But the archduke does not agree with the archmage. He sent us to speak to you about Pyraclannaseous.” She peeked over her shoulder at her brother and waved him forward. The giant’s spear swung around to point at Kale.
“I come bearing a message from Terrakaptis, the Earth Dragon, for Pyraclannaseous.” Kale stepped forward, pulling down his bandoleer to give the giant an unobstructed view of the markings seared into his chest. He hoped Delilah’s plan worked. The giant’s spear was long enough to skewer him before he’d have a chance to dodge it.
He considered Kale and Delilah’s words and then pulled back his spear. “You will wait here. I will return.” The giant coaxed his mount to turn and stomped off into the forest.
Delilah’s shoulders slumped as she released her breath. She sat down on a nearby boulder. “Now we wait.”
* * *
As dawn broke over the valley, mist kissed the tops of the trees. Throughout the night, Delilah neither saw nor heard any sign of the giants, though the firelight from their village winked across the valley. She was tempted to ignore the giant’s warning and proceed into the valley on her own. Surely, three draks and a small human would pass unnoticed in the dense forest.
She readied her pack and prepared to lead her friends to the giant village. A distant stomping noise, growing closer with each stomp, alerted Delilah to the giant’s return. The giant who visited them the previous day emerged from the trees riding his massive, long-necked beast.
“I am to take you to the Citadel of Fire and Stone.” He reached behind him and pulled a rope. A ladder unraveled from the basket behind his saddle. “You will ride with me.”
Katka gawked at the giant and whimpered. Delilah touched her arm for reassurance as she passed the human girl and climbed the ladder. The beast’s skin felt leathery and cool to the touch. Its texture felt like pebbles on the shore of a lake.
Delilah gripped the top of the basket’s wall and peered over the side. “Well, come on up. Best to get this over with.”
Kale climbed up next, followed by his mate, and Katka, bringing up the rear. Delilah helped the human girl over the edge. They all gasped and fell into a pile as the giant clicked his tongue, and the beast lumbered in a circle and headed into the forested valley. The giant’s massive hands reeled up the ladder, and he twisted around to secure it. The basket on the creature’s back pitched and bounced with each step, abating only after they reached the relatively level floor of the valley.
The canopy of the forest, lush and thick, shrouded the valley floor in darkness, allowing only scant rays of light to pass through. In the distance, Delilah heard a wolf howl, and as the giant creature tromped through the forest, the swaying basket lulled her to sleep, despite her efforts to remain awake and remember their path.
Delilah awoke to her brother kicking her leg from across the basket. “Wake up, Deli! We’ve arrived.”
The giant lowered the ladder once more and pointed to the citadel across the lake. “Morlon will ferry you across.”
Katka was first to descend, jumping off the ladder before she reached the bottom and landing in crumpled pile of her own arms and legs. She stood and brushed off her robes and then steadied the ladder for Kali, Kale, and Delilah as they each descended. Her skin appeared to be paler than Delilah remembered.
“Are you all right?”
The human girl nodded and swallowed. “The swaying motion made me sick. I’ll be all right now that I’m on my feet again.”
“Don’t get too used to it.” Kali pointed to the boat on the shore of the lake. “Looks like we’ve some more riding to do.”
Katka turned green and raced into the scrub at the edge of the forest. Delilah heard some of the giants in attendance snicker at the girl’s discomfort. The giants resembled tall, massive humans. Like the one who brought them to the village, they were all dressed in leathers and furs. Most chopped wood or chiseled stone, but a few leaned on weapons and regarded the draks, sneering down their bulbous noses at the strangers in their midst.
The village was similar to stories of settlements Delilah heard about from traders in Drak-Anor, albeit on a larger scale. Round and square huts with thatched rooves were clustered around a central bonfire. Children laughed and shrieked as they ran and played. Others pointed at the draks and clutched at their mother’s legs, fearful of the newcomers.
“These hardly seem like the sort of people to send emissaries back in pieces, eh?”
Kale shrugged. “The guards might.”
Delilah stepped toward the lake, ignoring a child who shuffled along behind the draks, chewing on his finger as he watched the diminutive creatures. She found it difficult to regard him as a child, considering the top of her head reached only his waist. The drak sorceress noticed a giant standing knee-deep in the lake and holding a rope that guided the ferry in the direction of the citadel. She approached him, allowing the cool waters of the valley lake to lap over her feet.
“Are you Morlon?”
The giant pointed at himself. “Morlon vosta ka nook. Bala fu kanoo pok turock.” He pointed at the citadel.
Delilah assumed he spoke the language of giants; it was a tongue she’d never heard before. She waved Kale and Kali over, peering into the forest in the direction Katka ran and emptied her stomach. The human girl emerged, wiping her mouth on her sleeve and trotted to the shore.
“Sorry. The thought of getting in a boat at that moment was too much. I’m better now.”
“Are you sure?” Delilah brushed Katka’s arm “You can stay here.”
The color drained from Katka’s face again as she glanced at all the giants watching them. She shook her head. “No. No, I don’t think I can do that.”
“Let’s go then.” Kali climbed into the boat and helped Kale over the side. The draks gripped the planks that served as seats, as their feet dangled over the bottom of the boat. Katka’s toes, barely touching the bottom of the boat, provided more stability than the draks enjoyed. Morlon grunted and pulled the rope, sending
the ferry gliding across the water.
Chapter 23
Leaving Dawnwatch Keep behind them, Gisella led Pancras and Qaliah to the road as dusk fell. Her overland route shaved days off their journey, and it was a simple matter of following the road and river past the southern edge of Raven’s Forest to Cliffport.
It was widely rumored the elves of Raven’s Forest watched the banks of the river day and night, jealously guarding their border. Lush with thick, deciduous growth, shrubs, and bushes lining both the northern and southern sides of the Copper Run River could easily conceal elven archers. Travelers along the river were exposed with nowhere to hide during an attack.
From his seat atop Stormheart, Pancras saw no signs of watchful elves. Pancras found most rumors were mere stories made up by bored folk trying to one-up each other while they shared ales at the tavern. He decided the stories were fabrications, and it was very unlikely they were being watched.
Qaliah rode next to Pancras. “The Icymist always looks so inviting. Even if you know it’s too cold to go swimming, you want to. This thing looks like it would drown you in mud.”
The minotaur nodded and curled his lip at the thought of a refreshing dip in the muddy river. The Copper Run was a rushing, uniform-brown sludge, racing downhill to escape itself.
“It runs downstream from the industry of Curton, where the mudders churn up clay and gods know what else.” Pancras steadied Stormheart as the horse snorted and tossed his head. “You couldn’t pay me to go swimming in that.”
“I bet the elves love it.” Gisella gestured to the forest on the opposite bank.
“No doubt.” Pancras scratched his chin. “I wonder if the roots of Syl’drasil reach this far.”
“What’s that?” Qaliah regarded the river as they rode.
“The World Tree of Raven’s Forest. Said to be at least a mile tall. It would have very far-reaching roots.” Its location was a closely guarded secret, and though the city of Raven’s Forest was built on and around the World Tree, they welcomed no visitors.
Lament (Scars of the Sundering Book 2) Page 34
