Sapphire of Souls

by M. R. Mathias

  Vinston-Fret and Nixy each voiced what they’d seen. Everyone agreed Vinston-Fret should seek out a better place for them to spend the night. They also agreed one more night's rest would be enough. Cryelos assured them he could keep up and Darblin said he'd had worse injuries from his mother's skillet when he was but a dwarfling.

  Vinston-Fret started down the shoreline as he had before, but not long after passing the area where Nixy saw the troll tracks, he felt he was being followed. Being an elf, his first instinct was to go into the woods. There, he could travel more swiftly and with confidence. This was the case for wood trolls, though, as well.

  Vinston-Fret knew he was in trouble when he heard more than one pursuer lumbering swiftly through the woods behind him. Intentionally, he led them away from the others.

  Under limb and over rock, he ran as fast as he could until he came to a wide ravine he wasn't sure he could jump across. It was too late to find another route to escape for the two wood trolls pursuing him were in sight and coming through the trees with violent precision. Not slowing, they tore branch from limb and limb from trunk to get to him. Vinston-Fret ran toward one of them, but only for a few paces. He needed running room to build up enough speed to attempt a leap across the chasm. As he turned to start toward what he was sure was certain death, he found small comfort in knowing, if he didn't make it across, the trolls would be cheated of a meal for the ravine was deep. He took one long stride, then another, and just as he leapt into the air, he said a small prayer to Arbor to protect his companions. Especially the human girl, Suclair, who he'd come to love.

  To his great surprise, he cleared the gap and landed softly on the other side. It wasn't until he looked to see the closing circle of trolls in front of him that he understood it had all been for nothing.

  With teary eyed pride and rebellious defiance, he sought to cheat the trolls of their satisfaction. He pulled his bow from his shoulder and loosed half a dozen arrows into them. Some fell, but the others closed in. He dove out of one troll's grasping reach to get away, and it was of no miscalculation that he flew right into the ravine. When he impacted the rocks below, blackness instantly consumed him and Arbor took him home.

  By midday, everyone began to worry for Vinston-Fret was only supposed to have been gone a short while. By evening, Nixy and Suclair were wrapped around each other, sobbing quietly.

  Big H had helped Nixy set up trip lines with sharpened branches sticking up in front of them. The idea was that if anything tripped and fell, it would impale itself. In the more open spaces around camp, smaller branches had been sharpened like little arrows and buried point up so that the foot of any approaching troll would find them.

  It was crude, but it would be hard to sneak up and surprise the group. Even though the traps weren't guaranteed to be lethal, they would be easily painful enough to cause whatever found them to make noise.

  All the caution proved to be unnecessary. The only sound that came throughout the long torturous night were the alternating bursts of sobbing that came from the girls, and the dwarves snoring. When dawn broke without a single sign of elf, troll, or human, everyone knew that something terrible had happened to Vinston-Fret.

  It was decided, after a short meal of broth and hard bread, they had to move on. Silently, Suclair wrote a lengthy note and tacked it to a tree. Then they broke camp and moved parallel to the lakeshore, just inside the tree line.

  By midday, Cryelos seemed to have worked the soreness out of his ankles. He took charge of the group. Luckily, they had Vinston-Fret's things, all save for his bow, and after looking over Vinston-Fret’s father's maps and notes, Cryelos wanted Suclair to point out where she was feeling the magic of the sapphire again.

  To her and everyone else's surprise, she pointed directly across the lake. This meant that their prize had moved from where she last felt it, and according to the notes Cryelos read, this meant that it still might be in the belly of some giant, wingless wood dragon.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After the high wizard Jorvan left them, Braxton sat on the fallen tree in the land of Ormandin. Chureal had fallen asleep, leaving him wide awake and wondering. He knew he had to get back to the Wilderkind, but no matter how many times, or how hard he tried, he could not. From not so far away, the sudden flash of bright lightning lit up the night. He could hear the battle being fought, and with the thunder that followed the flash, came the cries of men who were too close to where it struck.

  The sound of the men faded as did the brightness, leaving him once again in the red-washed light from the small moon. It was now on its downward journey after passing directly over them. He'd spent a long time staring aimlessly at the swirling clouds that rolled across its pockmarked surface, wondering where he was to see it at such an angle. From Narvoza, the small moon appeared on the southern horizon and barely lifted itself into the sky before it began to set. From where he was now, the larger moon, and its more familiar yellow glow, was absent. He'd not seen it at all.

  Even the sound of the forest was different here, but Braxton figured the clanking of steel and the soft thumping of war drums had a lot to do with that. He still had the charcoal sticks that Master Bee had given him to copy his maps with so he decided to write the names of the two warring kingdoms and the wizard on one of the blank pages in the back of Taerak's journal.

  When he was done, he flipped through it using the jewel and was surprised that a passage presented itself.

  It read:

  To summon a High Dracus, find the void and speak these words, COUTHAL MISPRAN ORMITH DRACI, but understand that this summoning must only be done in times of great need. If you are fortunate, someday, one of them will bond to you and your jewel. It is of great importance that you not misuse this summoning, for to anger the High Dracus is to anger the jewel itself.

  After reading the passage, he was certain that he was supposed to do this summoning, but the ominous warning caused him not to. He was lost, and very far from his homeland with a child who apparently knew less about the power of the jewel she wore than he did. Even still, the situation didn't seem that dire.

  As he sat there lost in thoughts of Taerak and the medallion, he wondered who and where the third person that bore a jewel was. He figured that was who he needed to find, for both he and Chureal's sake. To learn about his power from a person had to be better than learning from a journal. The idea that maybe this other warrior of righteousness might hear him, if he spoke the words of the summoning, came to him. After putting Taerak's book away, he laid down beside Chureal and sought the void.

  It all came so easy now. It was like moving his arm to scratch an itch or saying hello. After he spoke the words, "COUTHAL MISPRAN ORMITH DRACI," he waited so long for something to happen that he drifted into slumber while in the void.

  The blackened silence was broken by a trickling sound and a cool breeze. The whistling song of a forest bird filled his ears, and there was a rustling of leaves. He looked down from where he was standing and saw the surface of the familiar lake back home. From not so far below his wavering reflection, the creature that almost killed Davvy spoke to him.

  "You've come far, Braxton Bray, and learned much, but things unforeseen have transpired. Skyla-Veltin passed from this world and her jewel was taken up by the girl. This is a very dangerous time for you, and especially for her. Separately, you are vulnerable, but together, the power of both jewels combined might shelter you both. You must protect each other and stay together and continue your quest to destroy the Sapphire of Souls. Your third, Zyken Whay, has responsibilities of his own, and once the sapphire is destroyed, you must still send Pharark back to his prison or destroy him. It is a substance known as blood crystal that saps his demonic power. Only by piercing his black heart with such a shard can he be fully destroyed."

  "But where can I find a blood crystal?" Braxton asked. "And how do I even get back to where I'm supposed to be?"

  The visage of the lake creature let out what might have been a laugh of conte
mpt. "In the northern most reaches of your homeland, as bold as blood on the white icy plains beyond the mountains. There is no need to try and get back. For now, you are exactly where you are supposed to be."

  "But-but-but how do I…how do we get back to resume the quest?"

  The creature looked past Braxton and what might've been fear, or alarm, flashed across its features.

  "The one you summoned comes." With a splash, the creature was gone, and just before Braxton came out of his dream, he caught a glimpse of what had scared it away. It was a band of trolls carving its way through the innocent people of Uppervale.

  Braxton woke and sat up. Thoughts of the danger his family might be in pressed on him, but all of that was forgotten when his mind registered the depth and proximity of the voice hissing from only paces away.

  A cold shock swept through his body when he realized that Chureal wasn't at his side and that the sun had already pinkened the sky. Jumping to his feet, he started to call out her name, but heard her voice coming from the other side of a thick cops of trees.

  "But I don't know what a summoning is," Chureal said, sounding like she was trying to convince her mother she didn't take a cookie from the jar.

  "Someone summoned me, little girl," came a deep hissing reply. The sound of the voice filled Braxton with dread, but something about it was oddly familiar.

  "Well, I didn’t," Chureal replied matter-of-factly. "Anyway, I thought you were dead."

  "Stunned and broken, but not dead," the voice replied. "My rider was not so fortunate."

  "I know," Chureal said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry."

  Braxton saw her and stepped into the clearing she was in. His knees nearly buckled when he saw the massive head of a green dragon lowered to the ground so that it could speak to her. The wyrm's eyes were giant but not menacing. They gleamed with curiosity, not malice, and Braxton immediately knew where he recognized the voice from. The dragon he'd spoken to on the Isle of Jolin had much the same deep hissing tone, though this wyrm was plainly larger and more masculine.

  "You summoned me?" The dragon hissed at him, its breath smelled of fresh meat and blew Braxton's hair back like a stiff breeze might.

  "Yes, I did." Braxton shook, trying very hard not to let his fear show. It was one thing to speak with a giant wyrm as a bird in a dream. Being five paces away from one in person was something else altogether. Its nostrils alone were so big that he could've crawled right into one of them. The vertical slit of its pupil held Braxton's full reflection in its blackness. Seeing himself caused him to remember what he was about.

  "I think we need a ride," he finally said.

  "Where do you wish to go?" the dragon asked.

  "To the Wilderkind Forest, near the Kingdom of Narvoza."

  A short while later after Braxton stupidly explained that Narvoza was a place that he might be able to recognize from above, and that it had to be far enough north that the small red moon barely broke the southern horizon, the dragon agreed to take them. The dragon and Chureal, though, had a more immediate stop to make before the true journey began.

  "Why are we going to this farm?" Braxton asked Chureal, who sat in front of him on the saddle strapped to the dragon's back. It leapt into the sky from the forest clearing and the back of her head slung into his chest so hard that the breath was knocked from him.

  Chureal was so caught up in hanging on that Braxton didn't know if she even answered. Both were clinging to the fancy leather seat. Once they were in the air, Chureal told him the dragon's name was Emerald, and that his rider, Skyla-Veltin, was killed when a magical blast of some sort had knocked him unconscious midflight. It was Skyla's jewel that Chureal wore. She told him she'd thought Emerald was dead when she left them days ago.

  The dragon joined the conversation then, more in their minds than with an audible voice. He told them that the last few years, Skyla had been fighting mannish things called darkonians and their master, and that without her to stop them, terrible things would surely come about. Braxton understood then what Taerak's journal meant when it described those who bore the jewel as warriors of the righteous. He would probably have to deal with these darkonians sooner or later. He decided to tell Emerald about Pharark and, after some consideration, the dragon agreed that the demon posed a more immediate threat.

  Soon, the initial terror of meeting and flying on a dragon's back was washed away. The invigorating morning air rushed over them, and the world swept by below their feet. Braxton felt like this before, in the dream where he'd flown over the ocean, but though it wasn't a completely new sensation, it was no less exhilarating. He laughed out loud, and Chureal shivered with glee while hollering for joy to the world.

  Braxton's happiness faded somewhat as Emerald carried them over the battlefield. War was still raging, and what was once probably a beautiful green meadow, was now black and red and littered with so many dead and dying bodies that, from above, it looked like a scab on the surface of the world.

  He decided he had enough to worry about so he looked ahead into the bright blue sky and forced the scene from his mind. Chureal's squirming delight was infectious. She was pointing at a flock of white and yellow birds that flew alongside the mighty dragon in a V formation. The tips of their wings were orange and slowly turned to a brighter yellow where they met their fat feathery bodies. The birds had long black, banded yellow necks that bobbed in concert with the beats of their wings.

  "Why the farm?" Braxton asked again. He was less interested in the answer than he had been before.

  "So I can get my things," Chureal said over her shoulder. "And I think Emerald wants to eat the rest of the cows."

  She shivered and giggled again. "This is wonderful."

  "Yes, it is." Braxton agreed, but he had to fight to keep thoughts of Nixy and his companions, as well as Pharark, and now the darkonians, from creeping into his mind.

  Chureal didn't have much, just a small sack of clothes and a few things that most little girls had: a brush, a coat, a doll that she discarded, and a small blanket. She was correct in that Emerald wanted to feed before undertaking such a long and dangerous flight that would undoubtedly be mostly over water. Braxton realized he and Chureal would be stuck in Skyla-Veltin's saddle for days and days. Once Chureal made it in and out of the crumbling ruins of the farmhouse, Braxton braved his way in and found the kitchen. From there, he located the cool room that was dug into the earth underneath and was pleased to find a large wax covered wheel of cheese and some salted meat that might have been goat or lamb, but was definitely not the flavor of beef he was used to. After careful consideration, he discarded the meat. Its smell just didn't agree with his stomach. He still had plenty of rations left, and with the cheese, he figured it would be enough for he and Chureal to survive on for quite a while.

  He took a canteen and a few water skins from some of the bodies strewn about and filled them all with water from the well. After he did, he stood over the corpse of one of the darkonians. They had sharp, fang-like teeth and elongated skulls. He wondered what sort of creatures they were, for their bodies were human in build and size, as were their weapons and armor. Only the abnormal shape of their head, their gritty skin, and their teeth were different. These features gave them a menacing look that fit the name darkonian well.

  Emerald reappeared after a while, looking glossy eyed and sated. He curled up in the pasture behind the farmhouse and fell asleep, leaving Braxton and Chureal looking at each other stupidly. Braxton decided to bundle Chureal's things, the food and water, and anything else they might need in one of the large side bags built into the saddle. Emerald didn't seem to mind, or even notice the little humans crawling over his glittering hide, and he didn't wake while they went about it.

  Braxton had a strong sense of urgency building inside of him, but knew it would be wise to ride on the back of a well-rested dragon while flying over the vast expanse of ocean that surely lay between wherever this place was and Narvoza.

  After finishing
the preparations, he also rested. Chureal was chasing a butterfly across the field, giggling as she went, and Braxton wondered how she could still feel so much joy after losing so much in her short life. He was glad when she grew tired and joined him, and they both fell asleep against Emerald's warm, scaly side.

  The first half day on the dragon's strong back was as exhilarating and wondrous as the first time they’d ridden him. But after the comforting sight of green and brown below gave way to the plain, empty blue of the sea, the excitement dissipated. Already, Braxton regretted not having had the foresight to find extra clothing or a cloak for himself. It wasn't even full dark yet and already he was feeling the chill of the cold air of the higher altitudes where they were flying.

  After she made him dig out her wool-lined coat, Chureal seemed warm enough. He'd nearly tumbled feet over head out of the saddle when he leaned down to get into the bag and it was only a slight twitch of Emerald's giant wing that had saved him. A long bellowing lecture from the dragon followed, but Braxton only heard bits and pieces of it due to the sound of the rushing wind and the dragon's hissing speech. He gathered enough to know he should alert Emerald before attempting such a reach again.

  As darkness crept over them, Braxton found that it wasn't that much colder flying at night. He held Chureal close and absorbed her warmth. The air over the sea held a consistent temperature the dragon explained, except during the heat of the day when it reflected the sun back from underneath. The exception to this would be if they came across a storm, Emerald told him while soaring through the darkness.

  "The air can get so cold in some storms that it can freeze my wings. The wind can blow so powerfully that I might be swept away like a leaf in a gale, but the worst thing that comes with the storms is the hail."