Authors: Colleen Montague
“I know I have given you a lot to think about, but could you try to keep your attention on the now?
”
Calla nodded,
turning her eyes on the green grass ahead of them.
Mai smiled and waved for her to follow. “Come on—
it would be best if we did not dawdle here.” It didn’t take them long to leave the trees behind them. In a few minutes they stood in knee-high grass gazing out over rolling hills.
Calla
craned her neck back as she tilted her face up into the warm sunshine. “Warmth,” she said, drawing out the word. “I thought it felt kind of cold back there.”
“Enjoy
this now while you can,” replied Mai. “After a while you will love it as much as you loved the trees these past few days.”
They set off through the tall grass.
Mai encouraged her companion to keep up at a fast pace; she’d feel better if they covered a few more miles before resting, even though the sun was dropping quickly towards the horizon. The Plains of Kaltin were at least a hundred miles across if not more, and ended at the feet of a mountain chain her people called Rhaniad Rhewllyd, the Icy Divide; the two of them would have plenty of chances to rest after they reached the mountains, as finding a safe passage through would be difficult. Dusk had settled around them by the time they finally stopped, leaving the trees quite a distance behind them already. Other than bidding each other goodnight the two said nothing to each other as they stretched out on the ground to sleep, exhausted from all the walking they had been doing. Mai stayed up for most of the night and watched Calla while she slept, worried that she might be terrorized by another dream like the one from last night. The girl slept soundly for hours, so Mai finally gave in to her own exhaustion.
The next morning they were woken up by the rising sun.
Eating quickly they set off again, leaving a trail of slightly tramped-down grass behind them. For much of the day the sky was perfectly clear, making the walk more enjoyable for both of them. But by midday the clouds kept rolling in, until the sky had turned a solid gray in the afternoon. Both Calla and Mai glanced upwards on occasion, as if waiting for the heavens to open up on them.
As they walked
Mai could sense Calla looking back behind them, quite often, as though she felt something was following them. Stretching her mind out behind her, Mai thought she could sense some other presence that seemed to follow, hovering just at the edge of her range where it was difficult to identify. That didn’t make her feel much better. She pushed them on faster, wanting to cover as much more distance as they possibly could. Something wasn’t right—she could feel it in the air around her. The faint scent of danger seemed to hang in the air.
The sun was just passing noon when she abruptly stopped. Every hair
on her scalp was prickling, her heart was racing, and she had a painful tingling in her fingertips when she reached out to touch the air. She felt her eyes widen with fear—something here was very wrong.
Ca
lla noticed her stop, the sound of her footsteps in the grass behind her ending. “What is it Mai?” she asked, concerned.
Mai was about to answer when a loud, deep roar sounded from somewhere off to their left. Start
led, the two girls froze. Mai felt her eyes widen in fear—that sound…
No
, she thought,
please, no. Do not let it be…
Not a moment later the source of that roar rose from the grass on the hill next to them.
The hairs on the back of Mai’s neck stood straight up
at the sight of it.
The creature glaring down at them was huge, at least twice the
height of any man of the mortal world and much broader across the shoulders. It looked like some kind of lizard, its skin covered in large, hard-looking scales, spines rising from the top of its head down to the tip of its long, spade-shaped tail. Its hands and feet had long, sharp claws. Its head was clearly reptilian, long, narrow, and rather flat like an alligator’s with several long tusks rising from its lower jaw. Its eyes glowed bright orange.
Mai thought her heart had
stopped beating. “Oh gods,” she whispered faintly while Calla jumped behind her, clinging to her arm. “This far? How have they penetrated this far unaided, without our noticing?”
There was a loud
growling from behind them. Turning, the girls were horrified to see a second creature standing a little too close to them at the bottom of the hill, the only difference with this one being a broken tusk on the right side of its mouth. But even more of them were coming, walking towards them to stand behind each of the first two and cut off any escape routes.
“There’s too many…” Cal
la’s voice trailed off.
Mai was already calling her magic to her
, the earth already rumbling beneath her feet. Without looking she reached up to yank at a gold chain around her neck; it came off easily, and she pushed it into Calla’s hand. “Take this with you,” she said, her voice shaking. “When I tell you, run in the direction we were going. Do not stop running, do not look back, and do not wait for me—no matter what happens.”
“Mai…”
The look on Calla’s face was a mix of confusion and horror all at once; she had a faint idea of what was about to happen.
“Whatever happens, you must
come to my Lady’s throne. She will understand what will have happened.”
“But—“
“Go now!” Mai shoved Calla hard in the back to make her run before focusing on the monsters around them, her power surging so that the ground erupted into a series of vines and brambles; only after this did she finally hear the girl take off, her feet pounding against the ground as she raced to get away. She drew a shaky breath. She still had a duty to perform, to protect the girl from these creatures and their masters—she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She lashed out at the first two creatures with the brambles, wrapping them as tightly around the monsters’ scaly hides as she could manage; the thorns sank in deep in spite of the creatures’ thick scales.
A
s she searched for her next opponent a massive shadow loomed up over her. She turned and was just bringing her arm up but it was too late; she screamed as the beast plunged its claws through her midsection, twisting its hand around, tearing at the flesh and what lay underneath. As her eyes travelled around the plain desperately she heard someone scream her name. Mai saw Calla standing off several yards away, watching in horror.
She could not see the monster coming up behind her.
Mai had failed—it was all over now, the world’s hope was now lost. It was her last thought before she felt a sharp pain in her neck, and the world around her went dark.
XII
Dranl
How much longer before the world is mine?
Dranl thought as he stared out over the gray plains of his kingdom. He couldn’t believe this war was still going on—it had waged on since long before his lifetime for reasons no longer remembered. The priests in his city all kept telling him of the ancient prophecy, how he, a servant of the Dark One—their master—would face the Forest Child chosen by their enemy to decide the course creation would follow, and that all the signs they read showed that he would be the victor; if he did indeed claim such a victory then he would be the greatest human to ever live, and he and his people could help shape the rest of the world. But the only greatness he had achieved so far was a greatness of patience, which even now was starting to wear thinner. The Malc, the ancient people that still managed to hold their own against him, believed in that same prophecy, and that their Champion was the favored in that final battle to come.
He wanted that final battle to be here already—he was getting tired of waiting.
And he was starting to grow weary of practicing the same tricks of black magic over and over again on stones and prisoners.
Dranl turned away from the
single window and walked back to his throne, a large, ornately carved piece of black stone made even darker by the dim light of the hall. He flopped down on it with a huff and rested his chin on one hand. Today he was bored—he needed something to grab his interest, something different and new. Lately everything else just made him feel tired.
The screeching of metal
against stone pulled him out of his thoughts. He sat up a little straighter in his chair, stretching his neck up as he tried to see through the darkness to the other end of the hall. For a moment nothing happened, leaving the high-pitched echoes to bounce off the walls for several minutes. Dranl scoffed and was about to voice his annoyance to the silence when he heard a series of heavy footfalls coming towards him, along with the scratching of claws on the hard surface. Out of the gloom emerged one of his Brilken foot soldiers, its massive reptilian head partially illuminated by the flickering yellow torchlight. Two others appeared behind it, one of them carrying some kind of bundle over its shoulder. They stopped several feet from the throne.
He looked at them with a bored expression on his face. “
Well?
” he asked in their language. “
What have you brought me this time? Another bag of gold or one of bones?
”
The first of the Brilken shook its head, snapping its jaws as it did so. “
Neither, my lord,
” it said in a deep, snarling voice. “
We found a girl on unconquered plains while we were scouting. A Nymph was with her. We think this one to be the Malc Champion foretold in the prophecy—your foe.
”
Dranl raised one eyebrow.
“
The Malc Champion? I sent you to the wrong part of our borders for you to have caught one of the Malc.
”
“
She is not Malc, but she was following a Nymph; she is a Woods Daughter, we think.
” Without another word the lead Brilken gestured to the one behind him holding the “sack”; the other creature promptly stepped forward and dumped its burden on the floor before them, then bowed and returned to its previous place. Intrigued, Dranl stood up and walked over to look.
It was no sack that now lay on the floor by his feet but a girl—she was somewhere around sixteen years of age at least, maybe a little older. The Brilken had tied her hands behind her back. Her face was hidden by a mane of long, wild hair, but he was still able to see her gracefully pointed ears
poking out from among the strands. He stopped; that wasn’t right, unless…
She gave a low moan and started stirring; she was coming around. He stared down at her as she slowly raised her head off the floor, first noticing her secured hands and then turning her head to stare at his feet. While she started to tilt her head up Dranl reached down and clamped one hand on the back of her neck; his grip firm, he pulled her up off the floor onto her feet
, ignoring her small whimpers of pain. As soon as he took his hand away she stood perfectly straight, her body going completely rigid. He stood in front of her for a little longer while she took in his appearance, noting how her skin grew paler with each second even in this dim light.
He started pacing around her, leaving her to tremble in fear while he looked her over. She was beautiful,
her body perfectly slender with just the right curves. The entire time he studied her she didn’t move a muscle, keeping as still as she could. Dranl felt himself smile. A creature he had heard of only in legend, a woman so fair she could have come straight from his dreams—regardless of whether she fit into the prophecy or not, he suddenly wanted her. Badly.
“Such beauty,” he said softly; she flinched just from hearing two words. “Strange creatures come through here rarely, yet out of
them all I have never seen one such as you.” He reached up with one pale hand to stroke her hair. “I heard once that the Elven lines still ran strong, but thought it to be just a rumor, something from ancient legend. It seems I have not paid as much attention to old folklore as I should have.” He brushed his fingers along her cheek.
The girl shied away from his touch. He smirked and started walking away from her back towards his throne. He didn’t look at her again until he turned to sit down. He watched her face as he casually draped one leg over the arm of the chair. She was taking the time to notice her surroundings, trying hard but with difficulty not to look
in his direction. He gave a small chuckle that went unheard by everyone else; he could have some fun with her.
A loud growling interrupted his thoughts. His eyes flicked up to look—that one Brilken was staring hard at him, low snarls coming from its throat. He rolled his eyes at it in annoyance.
“
My lord, shall we resume our patrol?
” it asked impatiently. Its fellows scraped at the floor impatiently with their claws.
“
You may return, but increase the watch. If any others like her turn up bring them to me alive; if there are any other Nymphs, kill them on sight. We don’t need those spies interfering any more than they are already.
”
For the entire exchange the girl just looked away from all of them. The command given, all three of the Brilken bowed and slowly backed out of the room. Dranl started playing with the onyx ring on his right hand as they left, still watching the girl out of the corner of his eye. Even with his Brilken soldiers gone, she seemed to shrink.