by Ania Bo
“It is now time for you to leave. We’ve prepared some food and water for you as you start your journey to find the Zaends.” Raiju pointed to the brown sacks tied onto the horses’ saddles.
“Thank you, Raiju,” Violen said. “Pirusi oken pia keh malanhen arash.”
“Ken zenem abaren. Hopefully, you will reach your destination safely. May the Balance guide you and protect you.”
Shasta came closer to Raiju and gave him a graceful bow. “Thank you for your kindness, and I am sorry your gift has caused some dissension among your people. As soon as the war is over, I will bring your neckband back to you. I promise to protect it at the cost of my life.”
Raiju bowed in gratitude. He whistled loudly calling Skoll and Hati. The wolves ran to the group, and Raiju patted them on their heads and whispered something into their ears. “Follow Skoll and Hati. They will take you safely to the border.” The wolves stood taller, appearing more than ready to follow the command of their king and trusted friend. They threw their heads back and howled long and loud then led the way out of the courtyard.
While the horses followed the wolves, Dwade thought about how good of a leader Raiju was. Under his scary appearance, there was a large, kind heart and Dwade was thankful to the Balance for letting him know such a King.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Skoll and Hati ran as if they were flying over the earth, and the horses had trouble keeping up as they navigated narrow paths between the chasms littering the land. The wolves did not let them stop all day, and the horses looked as if they might collapse if they ran even a mile more.
By sunset, they reached the border where a vast forest stretched out in front of them. The wolves stayed under the shelter of the trees and drank water from a nearby stream while the horses followed suit. After their thirst was quenched, Skoll and Hati laid down and watched with soulful eyes as though to tell the others that they would not be going any further that night. The travelers relented and untied the packs Raiju had given them. Inside there were a variety of dried fruits, a strange mush wrapped in palm fronds, and a few strips of dried meat. The Readers took a liking to the mush and the dried fruits, while Dwade shared the strips of meat with the wolves.
When the wolves had eaten, Skoll and Hati positioned themselves on either side of the group, keeping guard. The night grew colder, and the wind blowing through the trees didn’t help. Dwade started a fire with difficulty as he battled the wind seeming determined to stop the flames from bursting to life. It was clear that the Readers, who huddled around the fire as close as they could without burning themselves, were not as resistant to the cold as he was.
Dwade sat slightly away from the group. He had many questions on his mind, and while he dug up dirt with a stick, he wondered how to start.
“What’s on your mind, Protector? Say it.” Violen could tell from his fidgeting something bothered him.
Shasta and Han were aware of his discomfort, but they were still too focused on the morning incident.
Dwade lifted his head to look at Violen’s pretty but cold face. “I find it strange what the Hikar soldiers said, the ones at the border. They said that anyone who tried to venture to Zaend lands would not return. If that were so, how will we be able to enter and why are we taking the Regenerator away to Atlantis? It seems the Zaends have already developed a pretty effective defense strategy that we may not be able to get passed or escape.”
“Readers have never been there, so I’m not entirely sure, but the Zaends have made their home in an uninhabitable area. It’s quite cold with flat lands and unforgiving blizzards. Maybe the Hikars were referring to the inhospitable landscape.” Violen paused and stared at the fire. She knew she had to answer Dwade’s question about Atlantis, but she didn’t know the answer. Han was watching her, and she was fully aware of that. She answered as every loyal soldier of Atlantis would. “The Chancellor told us the Regenerator will be safer so she will be.”
Something about Violen’s response just didn’t sound right to Dwade. “But why does everyone keep saying that entering Zaend lands will be difficult? Shouldn’t the Zaends be helping us to complete our mission?”
“They will welcome us,” Violen assured him.
Dwade frowned, guessing he was asking too much from the Readers to give him straight answers. He learned in his short time here it was against a Reader’s nature to be suspicious, and there was no reason for it since they never lied. Trust was in their blood. Dwade gave up, stretching out beneath a blanket he got from one of the sacks.
The eyelids of the travelers closed despite the cold, exhaustion taking over, while the wolves remained in place. Clearly, they would see the night through without sleep. It was not long before Shasta became uneasy as she lay close to Dwade. As soon as she fell asleep, her visions flowed as if someone forgot to turn off the faucet. She found herself in the freezing snow in a place she never set foot before. It was white all around her, and she had no idea which direction to run, but she had an overpowering feeling that something was chasing her. Then she saw a white hawk fly above her and she started running to follow it. She climbed a sloping hill, slipping through the snow as she tried to keep up with the bird. When she reached the hill’s crest, she found herself looking down on a small Zaend village. There was no one there, but the white snow had turned a bright red. She looked around to see where the blood was coming from and realized it was her body that bled. She held a Hikar sword in her tight grip. She panicked and looked at her body to see her wound. But there was no wound. The blood was running down her chest as if a knife had stabbed her in the heart. She couldn’t breathe and fell to the snow. While lying there, her eyes saw the Zaend village was covered with her blood. She was weak, too weak to even be scared.
Then the vision abruptly stopped. Shasta returned to the forest with her friends asleep around her. She reached to wake Han but remembered what happened earlier in the Hikar castle. As she looked longingly at the man she loved, Shasta curled back up on the forest floor and tried to fall asleep.
As her eyes shut, she had another vision. She returned to the blood-soaked Zaend village, and she was throwing one of the swords produced by the Hikar diamond. Upon her final toss, the sword flew over the entire village and returned to pierce Shasta through the heart. Falling to her knees, the Visionary Reader saw the snow in the village turn white again. With her last breath, her vision ended.
Shasta bolted upright, her eyes wide with fear. Two visions in a row were telling her the same thing. I will die, she thought resolutely as she played the dream back in her head. She recalled the white snow as the blood retreated upon her death.
Nobody could explain the meaning of her visions. I wished the Chancellor was here to make me understand what I’m seeing. She stood quietly and walked sadly to the small stream, patting Skoll on the head as she passed him. She bent down and splashed water on her face despite the cold. When she had calmed down, she gazed at her reflection in the moonlit water. Fatigue and stress-filled her eyes, and she touched her flushed cheeks.
Dwade’s reflection appeared in the water beside hers, and he put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it softly. “I saw it too,” he said, referring to the dream.
Shasta was astounded. Their connection was growing stronger by the day. “What do you think it means?” she asked, hoping he knew the answer.
He shook his head. “I have no idea. All I know is we must be careful once we reach the Zaends.”
The sun began to stream through the tree branches overhead. “We better head back. Violen and Han should be up by now.”
They left the stream and trudged through the forest. At their campsite, their companions were already preparing to leave.
“There you are,” Violen said exasperatedly while Han gave them both a piercing look. “We need to hurry.” Skoll and Hati bounded around the campsite as if confirming Violen’s statement while she gracefully leaped onto her horse.
“Let’s go then,” Dwade said, and they all mounted their ho
rses, ready to ride.
They obediently followed the wolves and headed further into the dense forest. It was amazing how quickly the terrain changed from the Hikar’s land to this one. The forest was humid, and Dwade desperately wanted to take off his shirt to combat the heat, but that wouldn’t be wise. The Readers struggled even worse than him as the sweat started to give their white robes a travel-stained look and though it was hard to see the sweat with Han’s black robes, he constantly wiped it from his forehead.
While the companions could only think about the exhausting heat, they almost didn’t notice when Skoll and Hati stopped before a large boulder. The rock looked ordinary at first, albeit large, until they noticed a faint lightning bolt scratched on its surface. The wolves remained seated and refused to move as they looked up at their charges.
“This must be the end of Hikar territory,” Han said. The wolves bowed in affirmation and turned to look deeper into the forest. “We must continue on alone.”
“Damn unreliable wolves, I thought they would show us the way to Zaend lands,” Violen muttered.
Han and Shasta were surprised the way she talked. Those words and aggravation were very out of character for a Reader.
Violen brushed off their confused looks with a shrug. “Very well. Let’s be off then, and let our guides return to Raiju.” She led the way, and the wolves sat like statues as they watched the four of them disappear through the trees.
“What is this place if it doesn’t belong to the Hikar?” Shasta asked.
“A not so safe place,” Violen answered in hushed tones. “There are creatures here that are just as dangerous as any Kree or Dvay. We must pass through here as quickly and quietly as possible.”
Violen looked at Han for approval, and he nodded. Dwade frowned, wondering what they weren’t telling him or Shasta. Another secret of Reader soldiers.
With Violen’s warning in mind, the others eyed the forest with apprehension, and Shasta started to see things, shadows that moved through the limbs of the trees. Unsure if they were real or figments of her imagination, she cast her eyes toward her horse’s mane, hoping her fear would subside.
After about an hour of traipsing through the woods, they came upon a valley. Here the trees had grown sparser, and the warmth of the sun beat down with even greater strength. As Violen and Han searched the valley for any signs of danger, a noise reached their ears, a kind of thumping that gradually grew in intensity.
“Get down,” Violen hissed.
They jumped off their horses and squatted low behind some bushes as a herd of giant deer broke through the tree line and sprinted through the middle of the valley. Dwade watched in awe. They were even larger than their horses. They thrust and jabbed their colossal antlers at the air as they bolted.
Violen turned anxiously to the others. “Something’s wrong. They were panicked. We need to hide now.” Her eyes sought a place to take shelter from whatever predator had spooked the deer.
“What are we hiding from?” Shasta asked in a panic.
“Not sure. It could be a number of things, but our current position is far from—”
A loud noise drowned out Violen’s words. It was a high piercing shriek that ended in a guttural growl. The forest fell eerily silent; even the birds that had been chirping in the branches were nowhere to be found.
“I know that sound,” Han said as he looked to Violen for confirmation.
“Agilens,” Violen whispered then cursed.
It was the first time Dwade saw fear in her eyes. Finding a place to hide proved difficult; they were in an open area. Running wouldn’t be an option, Dwade knew that very well from hunts. If it was a beast similar to a Kree, then it would take only a few seconds for it to catch them even if they had run like hell.
“Lie down on the ground quietly. Don’t move,” Han ordered as he took out his sword.
Dwade didn’t argue and focused his eyes on the valley floor. A massive shadow appeared first and then the great beast itself flew into view. An Agilen. It landed in the valley, its entrance silent as its clawed feet touched the ground. Although Han and Violen backed away in fear, Dwade couldn’t help but crane his neck forward attempting to get a better look at the creature.
Kil utsu holema ogene, he thought. Praying was the only thing to do, and the Balance was the only force that could save them.
The Agilen was by far one of the most magnificent creatures of the ancient lands. They were one of the smaller species of dragons, much like a pterodactyl, but their size didn’t make them any less dangerous. They lacked the ability to breathe fire, but they tended to fly in packs, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. Though some species of the dragon had been tamed, the Agilen had a rebellious nature with only one purpose on their minds: to feed.
In the light of the valley, the Agilen’s scales shimmered with a dull green color, perfect camouflage for the forest. Dwade was shocked they hadn’t been picked off and eaten earlier during their noisy trek. The Agilen turned its head left and right as if searching and sniffed the air. A gust of wind disturbed the trees, and two more beasts landed next to the first. They made the same guttural noise to one another as if they were communicating.
“Back up slowly, they are gathering. If we don’t run now, we never will,” Han warned.
They followed his lead, keeping their eyes on the Agilens as they crawled backward. Oh, my Balance, I was just a teacher a few days ago! Shasta thought. And now she was trying to run from dangerous beasts in lands she had no idea existed. The Agilens seemed preoccupied for the moment, looking in the direction the deer had run, but then their heads snapped in the group’s direction, and they shrieked, flapping their wings as they ran toward their new prey.
“Run!” Dwade shouted. He knew that attack very well. Agilens would hunt them down soon, just like Kree eagles. They stood and started to run as fast as they could. “Try to stay among the trees!”
Shasta was so afraid that she was ready to create a sword. Thanks to Raiju she had something to protect herself with. The three Agilens launched themselves into the sky above the treetops.
“I can’t see them!” Han yelled to Violen as she pulled out her sword.
“We’ll see them soon enough,” Dwade replied.
The forest became unnaturally quiet, and the group could no longer hear the screeching of the Agilens.
“Maybe they left,” Shasta said hopefully.
“No,” Violen said, “they’re stalking us, Dwade is right.”
The leaves rustled overhead, and a pair of sharp talons dove down from the canopy. Dwade tumbled to the left, the claws just missing him, but the second Agilen waited for him. It swooped down as he recovered and caught him by his cloak.
Shasta watched with horrified eyes as the Agilen lifted Dwade into the air, its claws digging into his shoulders. “Dwade!” she screamed as he disappeared above the canopy. Hearing her voice, the remaining two Agilens rushed her, their sharp teeth visible as their jaws yawned open wide.
Violen and Han rushed to Shasta’s aid, engaging the two Agilens hoping to buy her time as she raced after the dragon carrying Dwade away. Violen aimed her leather covered hand at the creatures, and a light appeared in the center of her palm. As the weapon charged, the light grew brighter until it fired at the Agilens.
“That won’t work!” Han called out. “It will only dent their scales.” And he was right. The Agilens shook their heads in annoyance and trained their red eyes on their attacker.
One snapped at her as she twirled away and sliced at its snout with her sword. “Then what do we do?”
“We don’t have the weapons to kill these beasts. We have to escape before these three are joined by more.”
“What about the Protector?”
“No idea. We have to get rid of these two Agilens first!”
The two continued to defend themselves against the Agilens, but they grew tired as each blow of their swords took its toll. Sensing Violen’s weakness, one of the beasts launched itsel
f at her, its teeth biting into her arm. She let out an anguished scream as blood soaked her cloak.
“No!” Han furiously slashed at the Agilen’s eyes. It backed off slightly as it tried to protect itself, and Violen used her uninjured arm to crawl to the safety of the bushes. They were in trouble. Han and Violen were trapped by the dragons while Shasta was in a panic trying to save Dwade.
Twenty meters away, Shasta was still running after the Agilen to rescue Dwade. To free him from the dragon, she dropped her right hand to retrieve a knife. She aimed it skyward nervously. She was afraid she’d kill Dwade if her knife didn’t reach the target she aimed for, but she had no choice. She took a deep breath, remembering Raiju told her never to hesitate. She couldn’t do that now. She released the knife on her next breath, and it hit its mark, striking the dragon’s wing. Although the Agilen screamed in pain, it barely flinched. It looked down at Shasta with its red eyes glaring. She tried again, but her next knife fell short. Shasta fell to her knees, feeling defeated and lost.
Raiju’s words echoed in her head. The diamond will decode you. Close your eyes. Let it take over your energy. Shasta concentrated, hoping she could find the strength within herself to throw the sword with enough force to kill the dragon. But she was seconds too late.
When she opened her eyes, another form appeared in the sky, heading toward the Agilen that held Dwade captive. It was a dragon, its wingspan three times the size of the smaller Agilen. The smaller one screamed more as it saw the dragon flying toward it. Other Agilens shrieked as they heard its warning. They were scared. Shasta watched as this large dragon swooped from the skies and took out the Agilen with one swift bite to the neck, Dwade still dangling from its claws. Shasta watched as the dragon dropped the Agilen from its mouth along with Dwade. She heard Dwade’s shout as he fell, but before he reached the ground, the dragon opened its large jaws and closed them around Dwade’s body.
Shasta let out a scream, catching the attention of the monstrous dragon, and it flew toward her. She was sure Dwade was already dead. She had no idea what to do. The dragon aimed for her. A few trees wouldn’t be able to protect her from this massive beast. Self-preservation kicking in, Shasta fled from this new enemy, running back to Han and Violen, tears burning in her eyes as she pictured Dwade’s body between the bloody jaws of the dragon.
