Crossroads 04 - The Dragon Isles (16 page)

 
          
“If
you make it through,” added Shimmer.

 
          
“We?”
asked Trip. “Aren’t you coming?”

 
          
“The
Veil is designed to keep unwanted visitors out,” Shimmer replied, ignoring his
question. “If you are not born of this place, if you are not meant to be here,
if you do not have the secret of passage, then you will go no further.”

 
          
In
Mik’s mind, the image formed of an immense blue- white diamond waiting
somewhere beyond the Veil. He couldn’t believe that he’d come so far, only to
fail. Somehow, they
would
pass the
Veil.

 
          
As
they swam cautiously over a rise in the tunnel, the barrier appeared before
them. The Veil glittered like diamonds in the moonlight—a whirling phantasm of
pale colors. The enchantment reached from the tunnel’s floor to the ceiling.
The magic seeped down through the reef into the earth below and high into the
heavens above. The Veil permeated the isles, insulating it from the world
outside.

 
          
Being
so close to the barrier made the fugitives’ skin tingle and the hair on the
backs of their necks stand up.

 
          
Karista
swayed woozily as though she might faint. Mik and Trip took her arms and guided
her forward.

 
          
“Sleek!”
Trip gasped.

 
          
Even
Ula and Shimmer seemed affected as they drew near the enchantment. The sea elf
blinked,
the glow of the Veil reflecting off her green eyes.
The bronze knight appeared to shrink slightly as he approached the barrier.

 
          
Mik
rubbed his head, trying to remember where he was going or why he’d come to this
place. He looked at Trip, wide-eyed and fascinated, then at Karista, more
drowsy and confused-looking than either of them.

 
          
He
felt a burning sensation in his palm and realized that he was still holding the
artifact. Opening his fingers, he saw the black diamond glittering brightly
within. Its radiance almost matched that of the Veil now.

 
          
The
diamond’s light grew in his mind. He felt his head clear. His resolve to go
forward grew firm once more.

 
          
“The
artifact!” he gasped. “It fights the barrier’s effects!” He held the black
diamond out before his friends’ befuddled faces.

 
          
The
light of the diamond gleamed in Trip and Karista’s staring eyes. The blue-white
light danced across their blank faces. The two light forms whirled around each
other, finally merging to become pure white brilliance. The Veil’s enchantment
slipped from the faces of the kender and the aristocrat. They rubbed their
heads as though awaking from a deep sleep.

 
          
“Beautiful,”
Karista said.

 
          
Trip
looked puzzled. “Didn’t see it from die ship,” he said, then paused to gasp for
breath.

 
          
“The
Veil is only visible when you’re very close,” Ula replied.
“And
sometimes, not even then.”
Mik noticed she kept her eyes averted as she
approached the glistening shield.

 
          
Shimmer
held out one armored palm to the others. “Link hands,” he said.
“I maybe able to lead you through.”

 
          
Ula
took his hand, and Trip took hers. Mik grasped the kender’s palm, and Meinor
laced her fingers around Mik’s hand.

 
          
Shimanloreth
stepped into the Veil. As he did, a jolt shot through the bodies of the entire
group. As the magic surrounded him, the bronze knight flickered and changed—
first large, then small, scaly, then spiky. For a moment, he barely looked
human,
then
he appeared as a perfect, glittering
knight. He passed through and vanished from the sight of the rest.

 
          
Ula
followed quickly behind, fighting the barrier's distorting effects. She looked
oddly fish-like, before vanishing as she passed through. Trip grew tall and
thin, laurels decorating his hair—like a young god returned to Krynn. He pushed
beyond the swirling lights and disappeared.

 
          
Mik
felt the magic assaulting him as he entered. Unseen winds pulled at his hair,
and fire burned in his breast. His skin tingled as though he had touched an
electric ray. He wondered if his appearance had changed; wondered what he
looked like to the others. The kender's strong grip kept pulling him through
the barrier. Then something went wrong.

 
          
A
jolt shot up Mik's arm and he stopped, frozen, in the middle of the Veil. The
magic howled around him. Looking back, he saw Karista, wide-eyed and afraid. A
huge ball of white fire engulfed their clasped hands.

 
          
Mik
felt his trapped hand, hot and tingling, but it seemed a very long distance
away. In his mind, he heard Karista screaming—though no sound escaped her lips.
Her voice sounded shrill and inhuman.

 
          
Summoning
all his strength, he pushed forward one final time, dragging Karista Meinor
with him.

 
          
The
barrier gave way. Karista surged through the magical eddy, crashing hard into
Mik, and they both tumbled out of the Veil on the far side.

 
          
They
floated there a moment, dazed and exhausted. Karista gasped for breath.

 
          
“What
happened?” Shimanloreth snapped. “What did you do?”

 
          
Behind
them, the Veil wavered and rippled, like the surface of a glassy pond into
which a large stone has been dropped. In the center of the ripples, the magic
seemed to have vanished altogether—though it was slowly reforming at the edges.

 
          
“I
used the diamond to push my way through,” Mik panted. He opened his fingers,
revealing the dark form of the diamond artifact.

 
          
Shimmer
glowered. “None of you were meant to be here,” he said.

 
          
“We
...
got through
, ”
Trip burbled cheerfully.

 
          
Mik
took a deep breath of enchanted air and felt another scale fall from his
necklace. “Trip’s right...” he said. “The fact that we’re here ... means we’re
meant
to be.”

 
          
The
bronze knight crossed his arms over his broad chest, and his eyes narrowed.
“Perhaps.”

 
          
“Lady
Meinor is having trouble breathing,” Ula said, a touch of concern in her voice.

 
          
“Me,
too!” blurted Trip.

 
          
“The
seaweed magic’s fading,” Mik said.

 
          
“The
surface can’t be far,” Ula replied.

 
          
“Hurry!”
Karista gasped.

 
          
They
turned and swam quickly upward, Ula, Mik, and Shimmer helping Trip and Karista
Meinor.

 
          
* * * *

 
          
Mog’s
brain ached. He’d followed the fugitives through the tunnels for what seemed
like hours. Several times, he became confused and almost lost sight of them
before his keen nose set him straight again.

 
          
The
water around him surged with unexpected currents. The sides of the passages
wavered. Once he found himself turned completely around and realized his
mistake only just in time to avoid losing his prey.

 
          
The
problem grew steadily worse as he went. The tides roared in his ears, tiny
glittering fish danced before his eyes, and his skin crawled with even more
worms than usual. The Turbidus leech attached to his spine—his
connection to Tempest—burned like
a molten sword.

 
          
He
almost turned back, but the thought of the sea dragon’s wrath spurred him on.
Ahead, he dimly saw the shapes of his quarry. They had stopped at some kind of
glowing barrier. Mog tried to swim closer but found he couldn’t. He bumped into
one of the coral walls and clung there, dizzy and sick to his stomach.

 
          
A
jolt shot through the water. Mog bit his tongue to keep from screaming. He
looked up just as Karista Meinor passed through the Veil.

 
          
His
mind suddenly cleared, and the dragonspawn swam cautiously forward as his prey
disappeared into the distance. Ahead, the Veil wavered and rippled around a
rapidly contracting hole in its enchantment.

 
          
Mog
shot forward, swimming as quickly as he knew how. He thrust his scaly body
toward the opening, but it shrank even as he did so.

 
          
His
head slammed into the shimmering barrier. Fire shot down his spine, and his
limbs twitched uncontrollably. His mouth felt as though it were full of sea
urchins. Every scale on his body throbbed; his red eyes ached as though he’d
rubbed them with sand.

 
          
He
blinked back the pain and saw the Veil closing before him.

 
          
Summoning
every iota of energy in his scaly flesh, he transformed into a sea snake and
slithered through the hole just as it snapped shut.

 
          
Exhausted,
he became Mog once more and settled into the sand at the bottom of the tunnel
beyond the enchanted barrier.

 
          
His
head felt clearer now, though his body ached as though a reef had fallen on top
of him. The Turbidus leech burrowed into his mind howled with pain and indignation.
It called to its dark mistress. Vaguely, like an echo in a typhoon, Mog heard
Tempest respond.

 
          
For
once, he ignored her and simply passed out.

 
 
          
Pure
blue-white illumination flooded the tunnel ahead of them.

 
          
“Moonlight!”
Trip bubbled.
“For sure!”

 
          
The
light rekindled the hopes of the weary fugitives, and they swam quickly toward
it. An opening in the coral, distant and wavering, beckoned before them.

 
          
The
tunnel leveled out and they walked up, out of the brine, onto a sandy-floored
passageway.

 
          
Karista
knelt at the water’s edge and spat the seaweed from her mouth. She sputtered
and gasped for breath. “At last!” she said. “Thank the lost gods we made it!”

 
          
Trip
pulled the magical seaweed out of his mouth and stuffed it into one of the pockets
of his snake skin vest. “Hope I won’t need
that
again anytime soon,” he said.

 
          
“C’mon,”
Mik said, leaning wearily against one wall of the tunnel. “It’s not much
farther.” He glanced from his shipmates toward the sea elf and the knight.

 
          
Shimanloreth
stood solidly on his bronze legs at the front of the group, waiting for the
others to catch up. Ula leaned on her borrowed spear, taking a moment to catch
her wind. Mik noticed that a circle of dolphins tattooed on her smooth, blue
shoulder glittered slightly in the moonlight.

 
          
“Where
do we go from here?” he silently wondered. An image of the huge blue-white
diamond appeared in his mind, but he pushed it aside.

 
          
He
and Trip helped Karista to her feet, and the three of them staggered after the
sea dwellers and toward the light. It took them only a few moments to walk up,
out of the tunnel and into the fresh air once more.