Flight of the Phoenix (12 page)

Tures had flatly refused to help Bryn find her lover. With Tomlinson, the Commodore and Fingle back at Stanley Falls Station working on the strange aircraft, their numbers had seriously dwindled.

“Can you sense him?” Fenix asked.

“I don't think he's too far ahead. When we get to the bottom of the falls, I hope to be able to see him or pick up a trail.”

Fenix suddenly stopped. “Look, see this?”

She pointed to a broken twig completely stripped of leaves and hanging off a stunted tree precariously attached to a small deposit of dirt in a crevice. A narrow ledge led right into the falling water. “It looks as though Quinn walked into the water.”

Bryn dropped to examine the stony path. She saw a scuff mark and stood up. “You're right. He went into the water. Why would he do that?” She leaned over the edge to stare down into the pool far below. “I don't think he went over the falls. He'd be floating.”

Fenix shrugged.

Draak Priest pulled himself onto the ledge. He reached his hands toward the water. “There's a chamber behind the water.”

Fenix nodded. “I think he's right.”

Bryn groaned. “Fine, I shall check.”

She inched along the ledge until the spray of water grew so heavy she was afraid of being swept away. A sudden gust of air blew the spray away from the cliff side and Bryn clearly saw a dark shadow appear in the rock face. There was a cave. She turned and waved Fenix and Priest forward, then leaped into the darkness.

She landed on a slippery, slime-coated rock floor, slid forward and fell, scraping her leg. Fenix jumped in after her followed by Priest, who teetered on the brink screaming for help. Fenix reached through the water and snagged him before he tumbled over the falls.

They paused in the huge entrance of the cave staring around in wonder. It was obviously man-made. Tool marks were apparent on the ceiling, walls and even the floor. This cave had once been either inhabited or used by humans for some important purpose.

“Look,” Bryn knelt in the slime and pointed at a sliding foot print in the algae. “Quinn was here.”

Fenix shook her head and stared long and hard into the darkness. “Why did he come this way? Surely he didn't just stumble up the side of a waterfall and into this cave. Something or someone must have led him here.”

“He's mad with fever,” Bryn said. “It can't be anything more. He's not a sensitive. He can't read minds or feel spirits.”

“I'm sorry,” Fenix mumbled. “But there's no way he just wandered in here. Something is pulling him or he'd stop and rest. He feels driven. Like he's on a mission, but not one of his own making.”

Bryn sighed. “Perhaps.”

She began following Quinn's tracks. They led toward an arched entrance into the very heart of the mountain. “It's dark in there. We need a light.”

“Like this?” Priest held up an old torch.

“Where did you get that?” Bryn took the torch. It had a wooden handle topped by linen strips soaked in fragrant tree sap. “This thing is ancient.”

Priest pointed to a rack set against the wall with dozens of the torches. Fenix gathered two and handed one to Priest. “I suggest we only light one. There's no telling how deep this tunnel is or how far we will have to walk to find Quinn.”

“I guess he doesn't need to see,” Bryn said. “You must be right, Fenix. He's being driven somewhere, called by something. Concentrate and see if you can discern a call or a telepathic signal or voice.”

Bryn tapped the end of the torch with the end of one finger and lit it. The sudden flare illuminated writing over the arched doorway into the rock face of the mountain. “Can you read that?” She asked Fenix.

Fenix shook her head. “It's not like any writing I've ever seen. How about you Draak?”

She turned and saw Priest staring at the writing with wide open horrified eyes. Bryn groaned. “I guess he can. What does it say, Draak?”

“Those who enter live only to serve and feed Sakarabru. All hail Sakarabru.”

Bryn gasped. “That's the demon of darkness, the exact opposite of Ra. He was said to live in the Mountains of the Moon.”

Fenix nodded. “And that is where we are. Draak. What's Sakarabru supposed to look like?”

Draak shook his head. “I've heard he's huge, with an enormous nose, big teeth and skin like leather. He has clawed hands and feet and lives in the deepest depths of the mountain. His chin is rumored to be pointed and he wears a goatee but has no hair on his head.”

Bryn walked to the entrance and glared into the darkness. “Perfect. And he's hungry as well. Quinn, what have you gotten us into this time?”

* * * *

They entered the tunnel system beneath the terrifying words, walking into an arched passageway carved out of the living rock. The air was cool and damp. Every once in a while a strange breeze wafted up from below. The draft smelled like rotten meat. “There's something dead down there,” Fenix said.

Bryn kept walking in front of their small column, keeping a brisk pace. “I don't think it's just one dead thing,” she said. “It smells like a charnel house.”

“I sense great power below us,” Priest said in a mournful tone. “Power such as we have never known. Do we really have to go this way? I thought we needed to follow Cardinal Malenfant and the dagger.”

“We do,” Bryn snapped. “But not until we have Quinn.” She stopped and grabbed Priest by the front of his cassock. Fenix had to dive out of the way. “You may leave at any time. No one invited you to accompany us.”

“I have nowhere else to go. I can't wander around the jungle by myself.”

“You can turn into a dragon and go anywhere.”

“That's one of my problems. I'm having difficulty transforming into my dragon form. You of course, can still become the crow, but I am stuck in this hideous old body. We must find the dagger so I can regain my youth. When Malenfant left me, I returned to being a seventy-year-old man. I loved being young, and seeing life through his evil eyes changed me. I'm good now. I swear.”

Bryn let him go and began trekking down the dark passage again. “That remains to be seen,” she said over her shoulder. “Good is much more than just a word. You'll have to prove to me you've changed.”

The tunnel began to abruptly drop. The floor slanted down at a steep angle. Water flowed out of the rock, creating a stream bed on the trail making it slippery, slimy and dangerous. Priest suddenly fell onto his face and belly. Fenix leaped out of the way as he took off sliding down the steep decline. Bryn didn't dodge in time. Priest knocked her over. She landed on her back and took off after him, sliding down into the darkness. Her torch dropped to the floor and sputtered.

Fenix grabbed the torch keeping the flame alive and carefully followed them. Far below, she heard a splash and cursing followed by another splash. There must be a pool of water at the bottom. She hurried as fast as she could down the dangerous trail. When she hit water, she cautiously waded down the submerged path. Bryn abruptly appeared out of the darkness. She was dripping wet and angry. “That ass tried to kill me.”

Fenix stifled a giggle. There was nothing funny about where they were. She reached out and twitched a lock of Bryn's hair out of her face. “He didn't mean to fall, dear one. The path was slippery.”

Bryn wanted no comforting. She brushed Fenix's hand away and waded into the dark. “Come with me. The pool is deep. I think we need to cross it.”

“Can you see if Quinn was here or not?”

Bryn said nothing, just held up a scrap of leather. Fenix recognized the piece as belonging to Quinn's breeches. Priest surged out of the water on the far bank of the pool, and Fenix started swimming behind Bryn, carefully holding the torch out of the water. It was the only one they had now. The remaining two were lost.

On the other side of the pool, the stench became stronger. The cavern ceiling was high above their heads. Priest was visibly shivering. “I'm so cold,” he moaned. “My bones ache. Oh, how I miss my youth. Curse you, Malenfant. I'll find you if it's the last thing I do.”

“Hush,” Bryn snapped. “I hear something.”

A sudden scream halted them for a second and then Bryn began running. “That was Quinn!”

Quinn's eyes fluttered open. Where was he? Inside his mouth, a terrible pain had blossomed into an all-consuming agony. He fought the scream that welled up in his throat. His clothes were soaked and all around him rose a miasma of stinking, rotting flesh. A claw reached down and poked him. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into golden orbs the size of dinner plates with a black pupil running from the top to the bottom like a cat's. A huge maw opened and Quinn saw row after row of sharp teeth. The golden dragon's breath rolled over him, stinking of sulfur and death. He closed his eyes. Maybe the dragon would eat him and then the pain in his mouth and throat would end.

Inside his head, a deep voice bellowed. “Open your mouth.”

Afraid to disobey, Quinn did as he was ordered. Even this tiny movement cause him more agony and he shrieked. The dragon reached the tip of its claw into his mouth. It pulled a fat white grub out of his throat, popped it into its mouth and chewed with great satisfaction. “Loa loa,” he heard echoing through his brain. “So rare, so tasty and delicious.”

With the pain gone, shock and fear filled Quinn and he passed out.

* * * *

“Did you hear that?” Bryn gasped.

“Sounded like Quinn,” Fenix said. She was wet and cold and so tired of this quest. Why had Lazarus demanded she follow Bryn on this endless journey?

Bryn turned in a circle. “I think it came from over there.”

“By all means, let us follow the sound.”

Priest had his head tilted. “Did either of you hear anything else?”

“No, Draak, we didn't. Why don't you be quiet?”

“The voice might have been in my head. I think it said open your mouth.”

Bryn didn't have time for Priest's imaginings. “You're clearly going insane. Malenfant's habitation of your brain has destroyed what little grasp on reality you ever had.”

She grabbed Fenix's hand. “Let's follow the sound.”

Fenix stumbled along behind Bryn as they skirted the pool and headed deeper into the cavern. The stench grew stronger. Then they heard a horrible roar and more screaming.

“Quinn is in trouble!” Bryn dropped Fenix's hand and started running.

“That's a dragon,” Priest said and Fenix stopped dead in her tracks.

“Bryn! Priest says there's a dragon. Stop.”

But Bryn ignored her and ran on, quickly disappearing into the darkness. “Come on.” Fenix grabbed the sleeve of Priest's cassock. Touching his skin was simply out of the question.

“The torch is dead and I can't see as well as you. Slow down.”

Fenix growled. “Keep up or I'll throw you in the water and hold you down.”

“I'm not completely without power,” he grumbled and suddenly a ball of fire bounced along in front of them lighting their way. Fenix grinned. “I can do better.” She tossed several fire balls into the air and suddenly they saw the chamber lit up like daytime.

“Oh God, we're going to die,” Priest moaned.

The surface of the water shimmered blood red while bones littered every shelf and crevasse of the huge chamber. “Something's lived here a long time and killed a lot of animals. Something really big. Take heart, Priest, they're all animal bones.”

“I wish I could change into my dragon form. I'd fly out of here so fast.” He moaned. “Malenfant ruined my life. He destroyed everything.”

Fenix ran lightly along a rocky ledge that traced the pool of bloody water. “I'm sad for you, truly. Maybe it'll come back. Keep trying.”

The balls of fire Fenix kept throwing illuminated Bryn. She stood at the entrance to another chamber of this underground maze, staring at something with her hand over her mouth. When they caught up to her, Fenix saw why she was transfixed. A huge golden dragon sat on top of a pile of treasure; coins, chests of jewels, old books, and antique furnishings. Scrolls, statues and ancient carvings vied for space with bolts of cloth and ancient weapons. Between the dragon's huge forearms, Quinn slumped unconscious. When the dragon saw them, she opened her mouth and roared.

“She just said, 'He's mine.'” Priest moaned. “I can hear her in my head, just like Malenfant.”

“Tell him we need him back.”

“It's not a him. It's a her.”

Bryn snarled. “Then tell her.”

“Why me?” Priest moaned. “Why do I have to be the one to talk to her?”

Bryn grabbed the front of his cassock and pulled his face to within inches of hers. “Because you can talk to her, idiot. And, you're a dragon yourself.”

“But I seem to have lost the ability to become one,” he hissed, and then froze. “Oh no, she heard you.”

Bryn spotted Quinn sitting atop a pile of gold coins between the dragon's forelegs. She was probably saving him for a snack. He looked dazed and exhausted. She shoved Draak Priest toward the dragon. “Distract her.”

He stumbled forward, cast one frightened look back at her and approached the monstrous golden creature. Her scales glistened in flickering light emitted from their one remaining torch. She seemed larger than the dragon Priest morphed into but it could be an illusion created by the small space which she filled. A dragon-sized tunnel on the far side of the enormous chamber looked like it must be her exit from the underground. Light glowed dimly from the tunnel. It might lead outside providing them with a way out of this strange world.

Bryn grabbed Fenix's hand and dragged her away from Priest. “Let's snatch Quinn and get out of here.”

Her sister seemed dazed. “No, Lazarus says there is some artifact in the dragon's keeping we must have to end our curse.”