by Skyler Andra
My gaze turned to my escort, who nodded reluctantly. We had to ensure the safety of the griffin people and their resources.
“Oh, thank you.” The guard lifted his head. “Her safety is all I care about.”
Talk about sacrifice. A true hero.
I smiled as I strode off, trailed by my escort. Better to deal with a hero than a villain. But now I had a clue how to catch our little villainous centaur.
When we were out of hearing range, I asked my escort, “What do the Nascal need with Valancian Quartz?”
“For gentle light in their cave system,” he replied.
That made sense. “What other species utilize it?”
The escort thought for a moment. “At least ten others that I can think of.”
Holy mother of…ten! That’d take days to investigate. Time we didn’t have. The Guild had given us three days to arrest the centaur. Not enough. But perhaps the Guild might accept clues that would lead to the apprehension of the thief. Kind of like in a school math test where you didn’t solve the problem, but demonstrated how to work the formula to lead to a solution. I sure hoped so.
Knoxe would lay an egg when he heard this. The guy wanted out of here just as much as me. I imagined the stick up his butt sinking deeper making him even more of a hard ass.
“All right,” I said. “Hit me with the species.”
“Er, let me think,” the escort mumbled. “Lycans, merfolk, sylphs, fae, unicorns, orcs, djinn, Quetzalcoatls, insectazoids and the humans. Many use it in rituals. Some for jewelry.”
Quetzalcoatls. Flying snakes depicted in Aztec cultures. God, we didn’t want to deal with those spitball shooting little slitheries.
“Right,” I said, heat charging up the back of my neck. “So pretty much everyone in the galaxy. Great.”
I took this news to the group who were busy discussing their findings with the two griffin escorts. When I laid out the details supplied by the guard and my escort, Knoxe’s glare intensified at the number of potential worlds to investigate.
He rubbed his temple. “Raze found a clue to track the centaur. We just have to figure out which world he went to.”
“Which world?” I said, exasperated at the mounting task ahead of us and the ticking clock. “Out of ten?”
“Calm down, dude,” Jaz said from beside him. “Freaking out won’t get us anywhere.”
Good old Jaz. The voice of reason. Always the calm one. If I got to handpick my team, he’d be the first on it. Knoxe was lucky to have him. I bet the Gildrons assigned them to the same team to get the best out of both of them. Smart move. Like pairing Captain Victorius with The Amazing Blaster in a comic crossover to hunt down the epic villain Galacticus who was causing all sorts of strife across the galaxy.
Knoxe sighed with impatience as if explaining to me was beneath him. “Pascal talked to the rocks and picked up a signal.”
“Wait.” I glanced at Pascal, the weird and bloody handsome dude hovering behind me. “What?”
We hadn’t had much to do with each other over the last year of training and studying. With his mental composition, I didn’t think he had what it took to make it through the training. But the guy kept surprising me. He had a quiet resilience and an inner strength. Every test the Guild threw at him, he made it through. But it took it out of him. Poor dude went straight to his room afterward, blaring music, and thumping around. But at dinner he’d emerge, looking fresh and ready to blast anyone to hell. Turned him into somewhat of an enigma around the guild. Everyone wanted to know what he did in his room.
Pascal shuffled forward, fingering his musical bars. “Everything emits a frequency,” he mumbled an explanation. “I tuned into the vibration of the rock. It holds memory of all that has passed over millions of years.”
I laughed, not in amusement, but out of amazement. This was incredible. “Reminds me of the time The Silver Strand communicated with the Earth’s volcanic core.”
Everyone, except Pascal, stared at me like I was a freak as I shook my head.
“You like The Silver Strand?” he asked.
“Hell, yeah.” I kicked my foot.
“Me, too.” We smiled at each other. The first time I’d seen the shy guy smile. All it took was finding some common ground. I could see, from this small piece of information, we’d get along well from now on. Finally, I had something to communicate with him.
I reached out and put an arm around Pascal. “What did the rock tell you, little buddy?”
He pushed me away. “Don’t touch me!”
“Hey,” I said, holding my palms up. “Easy there.”
Jaz moved in front of Pascal. “It’s okay. Tor’s happy at your news. Like the Valedictorians singing under the stars.”
They had this weird song communication thing going on that I didn’t always follow. Jaz had an amazing memory of song lyrics, and so did Pascal.
“Tor’s happy?” Pascal glanced at me, his body relaxing and his voice calmer.
“Yeah, bud,” I said, using a soothing tone, the one I used on my sister’s kids when they threw a tantrum about losing a toy. “I’m happy that the rocks can talk. I want to know what they said. To find the Longrider.”
Pascal nodded, tapping his music tone bars. “I can find the Longrider now that I found the frequency of the moonrock.”
Hallelujah! An awesome clue. “You did good, bud. Real good.”
Pascal’s back straightened, a half-smile almost touching his lips.
I clapped my hands together. “Let’s go find that moonrock.”
Knoxe glared at me, as if I’d stolen the words from his mouth. Too slow, buddy.
His forefinger traced the shapes of magical runes in the air. Symbols that opened a portal to another world. “Let’s tackle the Nascal world first.”
Chapter 5
Raze
The spotlight trained in on me to track this centaur. But I wasn't able to harness my full gift with the others around. It was too dangerous.
For over twenty years, my family had helped me hide it. They needed me to get into the Guild to help them locate their missing animal spirit. Without it, demons haunted their watering holes, campsites, and ritual locations in caves, clearings, and the forests. I belonged to the Wiradjuri tribe of Indigenous Australian. We harnessed the old ways. Passing down our history and culture from generation to generation through song, dance, and stories.
Casting my gaze over the cave systems of the Nascal, I observed the dim light provided by glowing moss and plants growing from the walls. A beautiful place. One of mysteries, darkness and secrets. Much like the caves belonging to my people. Many spirits dwelled here. I felt their energy, their call to connect. They wished to speak, and pass on their messages. But I didn’t have time for that.
While Knoxe liaised with the elven folk, explaining our unannounced arrival in their world, I lifted my nose to sniff for a trail. For a moment, I separated the familiar scents of my team members from those in the cave—water mingled with dirt, the metallic scent of the rock, and the watery smell of the moss. Above it all, I detected a stale earthen aroma blended with horsehair.
When Knoxe returned to the group, I told him and the team, “The scent’s very faint. Several days old. It’s starting to dissipate.”
In my real form, I could pick up their scent for miles. They didn’t need to know that. And if they did, they’d cast me out, and never let me into the Guild.
Tor leaned over and sniffed the walls. “I don’t smell anything but damp and soggy moss. How do you do it, mate?”
Wouldn’t he like to know?
“I’ve always had a sensitive sense of smell,” I explained, walking away, following the scent.
The team followed as I made my way deeper into the cavern, walking a good few miles before I lost all trace of the thief.
“I don’t think he’s here anymore,” I announced.
“Dammit,” Knoxe muttered. “Pascal, can you do a scan? Tell me what the rocks say.”
No
please. No thank you. This guy had a lot to learn about respect.
Where I was from, we valued everything, even down to the smallest seed. From a seed grew a plant that fed our people. Everything mattered. We paid our respects by holding dances to encourage rain, by burning the forest litter to encourage new growth, by pleasing the nature spirits to avoid chaos in our environment. If we didn’t respect the land, the water, the sky, the fire, then we didn’t have a home, food, shelter, family.
Pascal chimed on his little musical devices. Pulses of energy flowed through the cavern. The glowing plants responded by flicking from a pale blue to a light green for a split second. Elves glanced at us with curious eyes.
“The Longrider’s gone,” he said. “He left a selection of moonrock. But the rocks said he took two cart loads to the next world.”
“How the heck did he remove two cart loads by himself?” Tor asked.
Good question.
“Let’s get out of here,” Knoxe ordered.
“Thanks, Pascal.” Jaz touched Pascal lightly on the elbow, and he nodded. In passing, he pressed a hand to my arm, and nodded.
Respect. Gratitude. Things I highly valued. Something Knoxe must learn if he wanted to be a good leader.
I bowed my head at Pascal out of respect for his gift and discovery.
We moved through another three portals, finding the same thing. Stale trails of the thief. We stayed the night back at the Guild before picking up early the next morning, venturing to the world of the Quetzalcoatls.
Flying snakes fluttered through the air in the distance beyond a South American style pyramid. Drums thumped in a steady beat. Decorations like flags, lamps, and candles all brightened the meadow surrounding the structure. We’d stumbled upon a ceremony or procession.
Wary of their aggression and territorialness, Knoxe had ordered us to crouch low in the meadow, hiding in the long grass.
“Anything?” Knoxe asked me.
I inhaled deep, a strong muddy scent, mixed with excrement hit my nostrils. Oh yeah. He was here, all right.
“Found him,” I advised the team. “His scent is fresh.”
Tor cracked his knuckles, ready for a fight.
Jaz and Knoxe both widened their stances.
Pascal distributed a few blasts of frequency. “The rock is here.” He pointed right at the celebrations occurring deeper into the meadow.
Fantastic news.
“What about the Longrider?” Knoxe asked him. “Can you tell where he is?”
Pascal shrugged. “I need more practice.”
“That’s okay.” Knoxe glanced at me. “Think you can find him?”
I scanned the meadow for signs of movement. Fifty feet to the north grass lie in spots against the earth, trampled. I bent low and wandered over to it. There, I found hoofprints. No sign of the carts though. No ruts in the grass from the wheels, no larger flat spots where it might have stopped. I followed the trail, leading closer to the procession, and up to the steps of the temple. Statues made from stone and polished crystal sat on each step.
Chunks of moonrock were laid out in patterns at the base of the pyramid.
The poor fools thought it the real deal. They conducted their ceremony with fake stones. Probably infuriated their gods.
But I wasn’t interested in that. My keen gaze caught the faint smudges of dirt on the pyramid’s steps. Dirt from the centaur’s hooves.
Aware of fire spitting snakes in the vicinity, I kept low, crawling through the grass slowly. I crossed the meadow to the side of the pyramid. The centaur. What looked like the head snake crowned the thief with a woven crown. Other beasts fluttered about him, hissing, in a strange enchanting song. The centaur smiled, accepting the gifts, a smug smile on his face. The devil deceived them.
Burning with rage, I crept back to the team and reported what I’d found. When I finished, the team stared at Knoxe for our next orders. He picked at his hands, thinking, analyzing too much. Poor guy was a little out of his depth and comfort zone. But so were we all. This was what we’d trained so hard for. In time, his confidence and leadership would blossom.
After a few moments, Jaz nudged his friend.
“Right,” Knoxe said, blinking as if shaking himself out of a daze. “We need to create a diversion to separate the snakes.”
“I got it.” Tor climbed to one knee, before Knoxe yanked him back down into the concealment of the grass.
“Don’t be so hasty there, pal,” Knoxe said with an edge of warning.
“The early bird gets the worm,” Tor challenged.
“The idiot walks into a firestorm,” Knoxe countered.
I wanted to smack them both on the back of the heads. Pound the ego out of them both so we could get on with it, catch the centaur, and get back to the Guild. The pissing competition was getting us nowhere. In my culture, we respected out elders and leaders, and only spoke our grievances where invited. While these two numbnuts annoyed me, no one had asked and I wasn’t at the point yet to ignore my heritage.
Besides, this might have been a test for me, too. A way for the Guild to make sure I could stay in line. Obey orders. That was what Tollens did.
Jaz sighed. “Can we just get on with it?”
See? I didn’t have to say a thing.
“Pascal,” Knoxe turned to the shy one. “Can you create a noise to distract the Quetzalcoatl?”
He nodded.
“Why?” Tor asked. “That ruins the element of surprise. I say we sneak up there, blast the centaur with a stun ray, and sneak him through a portal.”
“There’s hundreds of fireball spitting snakes over there,” I reminded him.
Tor crossed his arms. “Fine. We’ll go with Knoxe’s plans. But if the snake, sorry, I mean the thief, sneaks away, it’s on you, pal.”
He had a point. Either way was risky. “What about a third option. Wait for the ceremony to conclude and the snakes to disperse?”
Knoxe glared at him. “Pascal,” he hissed, and the shy one retrieved his devices.
But before he had the opportunity to clang them, something hissed behind us. We all turned slowly. Four snakes hovered from the side of a patch of tall grass.
“Guardians,” the translation device rasped.
The first opened its mouth and spat a ball of fire at my feet. I leapt backwards, crashing into Tor.
Damn. The element of surprise had been stolen from us.
Chapter 6
Knoxe
I raised a shield of veil energy. “We have no quarrel with you, Quetzalcoatl.” The translation blared from the device on my wrist. “We’re here for the centaur. He stole from the griffins. Just give us the criminal, and we’ll be on our way.”
Instead of reasoning with me, they hissed fire from their open mouths, fire rising in their throats.
Okay. If that’s what you want.
“Weapons ready,” I ordered, plucking a gin and tonic grenade out of my weapons belt.
“You don’t have to tell us twice,” Tor quipped, expanding his own shield.
The rest of the team readied. Only Pascal faced the beasts head-on without any protection. Brave, but crazy. But then again, I’d seen him in action, and he possessed mad skills. He flicked his tuning fork, and it chimed with a strange tune, one that rattled through me, instilling courage and daring in my soul.
The instance I caught the fire flickering from deep in their throats ready to rain down on my team, I hurled a grenade. It hit the closest gantii, and the shell exploded. Clear liquid released a blast over its skin. Smoke curled off it, burning the first layer of epidermis. The flying snake hissed and recoiled.
“Protect the Fingara,” the snake rasped.
What the hell was that? “Translation,” I barked at my device. “Fingara.”
“Respected one,” the device replied.
Shit. I glanced at Jaz. We weren’t getting to the centaur without a fight.
Balls of fire burst from the gantii, showering us. Tor deflected a blow with his shie
ld, and the blast hit the ground, setting the grass alight. Jaz opened up a portal, sucking the glow through it, slamming it out another end, and hitting the Quetzalcoatl in the tail. It shrieked with surprise and spun on him.
In front of me, Pascal swiped away blows with a fearlessness I’d not seen in him before. Flaming balls crashed to the ground. The gantii struck harder, spitting fire like a bloody video game wizard. Each one hit an invisible frequency barrier, splaying out in every direction, like a cone of water waves.
Two of the gantii shut their mouths and retreated.
“Don’t let them get away,” I shouted.
Pascal struck his force, releasing an almighty sound that radiated outwards, another wave of power. Gantii flew through the air, hitting trees, the ground and a rock.
“All right, Pascal my man!” Tor went to clap him on the back but stopped.
Pascal smiled shyly.
Heat fired along the back of my neck.
Dammit.
If the Quetzalcoatls didn’t know we were here, they did now.
I stormed forward, glowering at Pascal. “Not so much force next time.”
He winced like a kid who’d been told off by his parents.
Raze shook his head. Tor’s cheek indented as he poked the other side with his tongue. Jaz was at Pascal’s side, giving him a congratulatory shake, scowling at me as if I’d been the one who’d blown our element of surprise.
Everyone but Pascal glared at me. What? I didn’t have time to baby one of my team members. Pascal needed to learn right from wrong.
Body tight, I kept up my march, headed for the pyramid. “Move forward,” I commanded my team.
Jaz rushed to catch up. “Go easy on him.”
But I was too mad to hear his counsel right now. “We lost the element of surprise now. We’ll have a whole army of gantii to fight.”
I gave him a minute to digest the news. Except Jaz didn’t worry like I did. He was a glass-half-full kind of guy. Veil energy flickered in his hands. “Makes for an awesome battle then.”
“I’m up for it,” Tor piped in from behind. “This is probably an easy mission compared to what we’ll face as Tollens.”
