Forty miles to the northwest, deep in the Karn Mountains, winter has come early as an inch of snow blankets the forest floor. The Drykan teen Briev and his rescuer, Anabel, continue the final leg of their journey. They are about thirty miles south of a remote village known as Deer-Run. Anabel’s aunt and uncle live just a few miles outside the village. Although she had originally planned on heading to the Shorelands, her unexpected company detoured her route. She knows that the only place he would be safe in the realm of Kain was that of her family’s home. Deer-Run was the perfect place for outsiders, and he would be able to integrate just fine, at least until he finds a way to get home to his native land.
“So, how do you know these people you are taking me to?” asked Briev as the two walked through the newly white forest.
Anabel, though reluctant to talk about her past, replied, “They are my dad’s brother and his wife, my aunt. They are decent people. They raised me, and look how I turned out.”
Briev smiled as he said, “Well, I can’t say that I know you very well, so it’s hard for me to know, but if I had to go off what I do, then they must be pretty good people.”
Anabel felt touched by the teen’s nice words, and even started to show the slight resemblance of a smile.
After a moment, Briev asked, “So, what happened to your parents? Why did your uncle raise you?”
Anabel has long been able to think about her tragic past without losing composure over her emotions, but is still reserved when talking about it. The little other people know about her, the better.
“They died,” she bluntly replied.
Clearly getting the message, Briev said, “Ok.” After a moment, he added, “I’m sorry, that must have been hard on you. I lost my own mother at a very young age. I don’t remember much about her, but certain smells or sounds make me think of her. I never know what they mean, and they don’t last long, especially with my screwed-up brain.”
Anabel couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, as she quickly controlled herself, and said, “I’m sorry, that wasn’t very sensitive of me.”
“No, no, I’m fine with it,” replied the teen, “I’ve accepted it a long time ago. In fact, sometimes I’m glad for it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it allows me to block out the pain.” Subtle tears began to form in his eyes, as he continued, “especially now.”
They were both silent for a moment, before Anabel said, “You know, it’s alright to grieve, everyone has to at some point.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” replied Briev as he wiped his eyes, “it’s just… anytime I start to feel like crying, I hear my father say, ‘Now son, is this something you shouldn’t be crying over? Crying is for when you hit your shin.’”
Anabel smiled as she said, “Well, he is right about that.”
Briev then stopped and looked at her, “Do you think they will accept me?”
Anabel turned to face him as she replied, “Yes. My uncle has never turned down a stranger in need. It’s kind of his thing, you know? And my aunt, well, she makes him look like the grump.”
“They sound nice,” said Briev as she smiled, “I never expected the Kain to care about my people the way you have. Well, at least towards me.”
Just then, their moment of bonding was interrupted by Anabel’s dog Cami suddenly taking off into the woods ahead of them, barking ever so loudly and aggressively.
“Ugh, damn dog,” said Anabel in annoyance, “she’s always doing that. Wait here, I’ll go get her.” She turned and started to follow Cami, but stopped and turned back around, and said, “It was nice talking about, you know, those kinds of things.” She then jogged after her dog as she yelled her name.
After at least a hundred yards, Anabel was about to lose her patience as she yelled, “CAMI! Dammit, get over here! Where are you? Cam…”
She was frozen, while in front of her, not twenty yards away, rested an Irondrake of the Dragonkin. It was mostly gray in color, with a bit of black here and there. Anabel didn’t know what to do, for she has never encountered a drake from the southeast. She remained motionless, but the beast still locked its gaze on her, though it didn’t move. Upon further investigation, Anabel could see that the drakes left wings was torn in the middle, and at the tip. It also had dried blood coming from a wound in his chest, possibly caused by a spear or a lance of some kind. As she looked further down the drake’s body, she saw that its wings were chained to its legs. Then, another two chains stretched out on either side, connected to nearby trees. The cufflinks around its legs were spiked, and would pierce into the its legs if it moved. The drake, clearly aware of the cufflinks, barely moved a muscle. It was as still as a statue, and you would think it was so if it wasn’t for its chest slowly inhaling and exhaling. And there, sitting perfectly still in front of the drake was Cami, panting heavily.
“Cami,” urgently whispered Anabel, “come here girl, come on… get over here!”
Cami once again ignored her master as she continued to pant and stare at the massive Irondrake. Growing even more impatient at her consistently disobedient dog, Anabel started to slowly make her way over to her. The drake could easily snatch Cami up in her jaws in the blink of an eye, but only changed glares from Anabel to the dog, back and forth.
Briev began to worry that she wasn’t coming back as he yelled, “Anabel?”
He listened closely for a response, and in doing so, he heard the subtle sound of someone approaching from behind. He froze as he readied himself. He could hear the steps stalking closer, closer, and closer, until he could almost feel the stalker’s breath. As soon as he heard the movement of arms preparing to grab him from behind, Briev suddenly sunk down in a crouch, then expertly rolled to his right. The intruder, a rough looking man of Kain stumbled on his own feet.
Briev took a step back as he said to the stranger, “Who are you? What do you want?!”
The musty brigand smiled, revealing a mouth full of rotten and chipped teeth. He licked his upper lip as he responded, “Well looky what we ‘av here, a littl’ Dragon boy!”
Before Briev could respond, about eight more men started walking in from a dense nearby cluster of trees. They all shared the same unmanicured and ill-educated appearance.
“I am nobody, just a wanderer,” quickly replied Briev as he discretely studied his surroundings and approaching opponents.
“Yur not alone, are ya’?” grinned the brigand.
“No,” replied Briev calmly and collectively, “Anabel is my dog, she ran off. That’s it, I assure you, I am alone.”
“Well good, then you wouldn’ mind comin’ with us then, would ya? A little Dragon boy would fetch a good price, heard they be payin’ ten gold for yur kind, dead… or dead!”
Briev never took his eyes off the man as he said, “I think you misunderstood me sir, but I never said that I’d be going with you.” As he said this, he slowly moved a mound of dirt onto his right foot.
“Nah, boy,” replied the man as he took out a rusty dagger and began walking towards him, “that’s where yur wrong!”
Briev waited until he was two steps from him. He can see out the side of his eyes that the other eight were also closing in. Briev then smiled at the man, right before he kicked the mound of dirt off his foot into the man’s eyes. The brigand cries out in pain as dust and rocks hit his eyes. He shakes his head, but before he knows it, Briev unarms him of his dagger, and then expertly takes him to the ground. The other men, a little more cautious now, charge the teen. Briev grabs the dagger, and throws it at the closest brigand, which pierces right through his sternum and into his heart. The brigand grabs the dagger as he slowly falls to the ground and starts to convulse. The others, however do not deter, and continue to charge the Drykan teen.
Back at the drake, Anabel heard the faraway commotion coming from where Briev was. She looked at her dog Cami, who was still staring at the drake, and decided she had to help the teen.
“Stay RIGHT where you are
young lady, and DON’T move until I come back!”
Anabel then took off running through the woods back to the teen.
Briev takes on the next attacker with ease as he blocks the swipe of his blade, then kicks in his knee. The man screams in agony and drops his blade, as Briev then takes his wrist and twists it around, causing it to break, and the man to fall over. Briev then jumps over the disabled attacker, but before he gets there, a dagger is precisely thrown into his temple, instantly dropping him dead. Briev turns right to the direction of the dagger, and sees Anabel pull out another. Before he can even react, she throws it right into another’s skull. Briev is stunned by her accuracy, and willingness to easily kill another man. She and Briev then charge the remaining brigands, who at this point decided to run away in utter fear. After the remaining men are disabled by Briev, Anabel comes right behind him, and slits each one of their surviving throats. Briev is stunned and doesn’t know what to say, or how to react, and can do nothing but stare at Anabel as blood gushed out of the last man’s throat, spraying her with warm red blood. What surprises and scares him most is how calm she is while she is doing it, like it was her job and mission in life to kill. He can see in her eyes the countless lives that she must have taken to have such calmness, something Briev has yet to achieve.
She takes a deep breath as she wipes blood from her face, then looks at Briev and says, “Don’t look at me like that, they were going to kill you, I did what WE had to do.”
“No, no,” said Briev, “I killed the first one. If anything, I thought you would abandon me after you found out what I did.”
“So, this doesn’t bother you?” asked Anabel. “Most people don’t take kindly to a women who…” She paused as she realized she was giving too much away about her secret life, and said, “…who do what I do.”
Briev smiled as he said, “Not me, I think that it’s amazing! The way you took them out, I mean, I’ve never seen such accuracy! You were incredible!”
Anabel could feel herself becoming closer to the teen as his relatable words penetrated her heart.
Briev continued, “Like the way you took that man’s arm, and just…”
He could no longer say any more as he stares at Anabel for a moment, then looks down, only to see the end of an arrow sticking out of his chest. Before he can give even the slightest reaction, another arrow suddenly appears, sticking out of his stomach. All sound left his ears and the world around began to spin. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he felt Anabel’s body tackle him to the ground. Once there, he could barely make out the sight of Anabel reaching for her dagger without standing up. After she grabbed it, she stood up and threw it with all her strength. Off in the distance, a brigand holding a bow dropped dead. That’s when it started to go black. He could hear her screaming his name as she rushed back to him.
“Oh no you don’t!” yelled Anabel with panicked words as she grabbed him, and placed him in her lap. “You don’t get to die on me, you HEAR ME?! I have done too much for you to just die, OK?!” His eyes started to close as she slapped his cheek, and said, “No, NO! Don’t go to sleep, you have to stay awake, you have to stay with me! Now… this… this is going to hurt, but I have to do it.”
She firmly grips the first arrow and gives it a slight pull towards her. It was as if his heart was electrified, and his eyes opened wide as he screamed.
“Dammit, it’s barbed. Ok, I am going to have to push it the rest of the way through. It didn’t hit your heart, so you should be… ok… here we go!”
She then gave the arrow a quick hard thrush. Luckily, it missed his bones and pierced all the way through. The pain was simply unbearable, and he blacked out. She then reached behind him and snapped off the arrowhead, as well as the other end, leaving the portion that was in his body. She then did the same with the one in his gut. The blood coming out was much darker than at the top, meaning the arrow pierced through his liver, but this did not stop her. Even though her reason told her that he will probably die within an hour, she broke off the arrowhead, and left the same amount where it was. She knew if she was to pull either one out, he would bleed to death in a matter of minutes.
Slapping his face again, she yelled, “Come on Briev, STAY WITH ME! Don’t go to sleep, come on, wake up!” Briev barely opened his eyes and let out a quiet groan, as Anabel said, “That’s good enough, now, come on, we have to go!”
Anabel set him down as she stood up. The sudden realization that she didn’t know what to do now caused her to freeze in panic. She circled a few times as she tried to clear her mind, and think with a calm and collective sense of reason. She wasn’t familiar with the surrounding area, and did not know of any houses nearby. The nearest village, Deer-Run, was still thirty miles away, and he would never make it that far on foot. None of the brigands had any horses, or any nearby that she could tell. Time was sensitive, and all options were quickly fading away, then she thought of her dog… and the drake.
She then said to the teen, who was slipping in and out of consciousness, “I have an idea, but it’s a crazy one. Come on, you have to get on your feet.” She bent down and started to help him up. She could tell that the pain was excruciating, but Briev was still willing to try. Once he was on his feet, she placed his right arm around her shoulder and said, “Good, now, I need you to help me by walking. We don’t have to go far. It has to see you.”
Briev was in too much pain to respond, but gritted his teeth, and began to walk with her. It took what seemed like a lifetime to walk a hundred yards to where the drake was chained. Once they were close enough, Briev’s cloudy sight struggled to focus.
Once his vision was steady enough to see clearly, he said with painfilled and faint words, “Finn? Is that you?”
Not surprised, Anabel, “Makes sense that you two would know each other, now, wait here. Is it going to let me unchain it?”
The drake belonged to the teen, and was lost after the hermit Bill gassed them with Killweed. As soon as Finn saw the teen, he let out an intimidating and boisterous roar.
Briev then said, “HE, not it.”
“I’m sorry,” said Anabel, “but ‘he’ is not going to eat me…, right?!”
Briev laughed slightly, though it hurt to do so. He started to feel himself fading again as he said, “Just… hurry, I’m, not, going…” He could say no more as he blacked out.
Anabel helped him down as she took in a deep breath, and said, “I can’t believe what I am about to do.” She then slowly started to walk towards the previously calm drake, that is until he saw his master. Cami gave up her post and ran over to the teen, and laid down next to him. As Anabel got closer, she then said to the drake, “Hi there, um, Finn, my name is Anabel. Your master is dying, and I need to get him to my… I can’t believe I’m talking to a drake. Do you understand me? Briev is dying, so I am going to unchain you… please don’t eat me.”
She was now close enough to feel the drake’s hot breath on her body. Finn moved as little as he could, and allowed Anabel to unfasten the cufflinks. She ever so carefully removed chain after chain, until the drake was completely free of his confines. Anabel quickly backed away as Finn stretched his wings out wide, which was over forty feet from tip to tip. He then looked at Anabel, and even though drakes don’t have the most expressive eyes, he gave her a look of appreciation, as if he was thanking her. He then walked over to his master, and slouched down… and waited. Anabel got the clue that Finn wanted her to put him on her back. Still a little cautious, she walked up and carefully helped Briev onto his back. Once he was on Finn’s back, the drake then looked at Anabel as if to say, ‘get on.’
“Oh, no, I could never… you would just…” but before she could say more, Cami jumped right on up in front of Briev. There was plenty of room on the drake’s back, and Cami had no problem settling in. Anabel just shook her head as she said, “I swear dog, you are going to be the death of me.” She could see that Finn’s wings were too damaged to fly, but he could walk, much faster than she could. She
knew she had no way to tell the drake where to go, or how to control him in any way, for it wasn’t like she was getting on a horse. She then pointed first, and said, “I need you to go that way, ok? Just keep going that way until I tell you to stop.” As she placed her foot on the drake’s folded wing, she said, “I can’t believe I’m doing this, but looks like I have no other choice.”
Anabel then climbed the rest of the way on. She could not describe with words how it felt to be on the back of an Irondrake. She felt so much respect for the immense and powerful beast. And just like she asked, Finn started walking in the direction she pointed. Though drakes are much more comfortable in the skies, they can walk very fast, and surprisingly smooth. She needed to get Briev to her uncle if he was going to have any chance of surviving. If anyone could save his life, it was her uncle, who was himself, a very qualified doctor, or at least that’s what he plays during the day. Either way, she has little time and no other options, and together, Cami, Briev, Finn, and her, walked with all haste through the Karn Mountains towards the remote village of Deer-Run. The teen could die at any moment from his severe wounds, and only time will tell if they can make it in time.
It took Biix, Ethan, and Dathian eight hours to walk from the ruins of Greenglen to the Cleft, where hopefully the army is by now. None of them barely said a word, and walked in complete silence, for what was there to talk about? Would they talk about Ethan’s family, and how their bodies are most likely charred beyond a crow’s appetite? Or how the murderer of Dathian’s mother was within his grasp, yet he was helpless, and could do nothing, for they were all at the Red Dragon’s mercy. No, silence seemed the more appropriate sentiment.
As Dathian reaches the top of a hill, he recognizes the entrance to the Cleft.
The Reclaiming: The Keepers Saga: Volume Two Page 31
