Warrior (3 page)

As a breeze kicked up, Jason inhaled the air, moister than before and carrying a variety of odors—grass, mold, and … and something else, something wild and bestial. Closing his eyes, he allowed his sense of smell to hone in on the wild odor’s source—to the east, out in the field, maybe a stone’s throw away. If only he had his father’s amazing sense of smell. He and Adrian had inherited a portion of it, but no one could identify a scent as well as Edison Masters could.

Jason opened his eyes and looked in the odor’s direction. Now darkening with each passing second, the field resembled a dim ocean, with the tops of the grass stalks undulating in the wind. Dozens of small trees dotted the landscape, and many of them swayed as well. Any one of the stationary shadows could be the stalker. Perhaps a carnivorous beast lay low in the grass, relishing the opportunity to taste human flesh.

Jason grasped the hilt of his sword with one hand and reached for Koren with the other. “Let’s go,” he whispered. “We’ll get as far as we can while it’s still light enough to see.”

With the river on his left and the field on his right, Jason hurried toward the north. His sword whipped his leg, and the food bundle bounced, forcing him to travel slowly. After a minute or so, he released Koren’s hand, hoping to secure his baggage and quicken his pace, but she soon began to fall back, limping.

He halted at a copse of bushy trees and waited for her to catch up. Although she was only a few steps behind, if not for her white dress and flowing cloak she would have been invisible in the failing moonlight.

The river’s roar increased, signaling their nearness to the waterfall and forcing him to speak above a whisper. “Are you hurt?”

She lifted a leg and showed him her bare foot. “There are sharp stones in the grass. I think it’s bleeding.”

“That’s not good.” He knelt and held her foot, small and narrow, with rough calluses on the sole. Blood oozed near her heel from a thumbnail-length cut, but its depth was impossible to determine. “I’d let you wear my shoes,” he said, “but they’re way too big. Maybe I could wrap it with something.”

“That would be helpful.”

“Let’s duck under the trees.” He led her into the copse, nothing more than a tight semicircle of tall shrubs.

She sat on a patch of grass, her leg extended. “What do we have to wrap it with?”

Jason scanned the field beyond the shrubs. If a predator crept out there, it could approach without being seen. “We have this.” He unfastened the food bundle from his belt and sat next to her. As he spread the cloth out on the grass, he kept glancing at the field. Maybe if they ate their fill and left some for the creature, it would be satisfied. Then again, it might follow them in search of more. Perhaps it could track the scent of Koren’s blood.

“Let’s go ahead and eat,” he said, trying to keep his voice confident. “We need the energy, and I can use the cloth to wrap your foot.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She winced, as if her own words scraped her senses.

“What’s wrong?”

“Taushin. His call is more urgent. He says I’m in mortal danger. If I come back to the great boundary wall, a wolf pack will guide me safely to him. Then I can choose an attendant and give her an easy life. I will live as a princess in the Basilica without any labors.”

Jason kept his focus on the cloth as he spread out an assortment of fruits, raw vegetables, and dried meats. “Did he mention me?”

Koren shook her head. “I don’t know why. Zena knows you’re with me, so he probably knows, too.”

“He plans to cook me at the stake. That’s why. He doesn’t want you to know.”

She laid her hands over her ears. “He’s getting so loud I can barely hear you.”

“Can you use your gift to drown him out? Maybe tell a story?”

“That might work.”

“Go ahead and eat first.” Jason drew out his sword and laid it next to the food. “Choose what you want, and when you finish, I’ll bind your wound while you tell a story — that is, if you can wait that long to squelch the prince.”

“I think I can,” she said as she lowered her hands. “It’s already a little better.”

While they ate, Jason glanced between Koren and the field beyond the shrubs. With clouds fully enveloping the moon, and trees blocking its muted light, her green eyes seemed to be the only visible objects, like little emeralds floating in the dark air.

Jason concentrated on their surroundings, again tuning out the river’s noise. Outside their refuge, the grass rustled in the breeze, and every creaking sound and popping noise gave Jason a start. It seemed that the stalker lay just beyond the copse, watching with hungry eyes.

Jason picked up his sword and the cloth, leaving a few meat strips on the ground. “Let’s go to the river and wash the cut before I wrap it.”

“Good idea.” She rose and brushed off her dress.

“Is Tau-what’s-his-name still talking?”

“Taushin. Yes, the same message over and over.”

“Have you tried talking back to him?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure if I can, and I don’t want to give him the satisfaction. Maybe he doesn’t know he’s been able to reach me.”

“True. But if you decide to answer, tell him I said to go back into his shell and shut up. It’ll take a lot more than a scaly parrot to get you away from me.”

Koren covered a smile with her fingers. “I’ll think about it.”

Following the sound of falling water, they passed through the tree boundary and walked to the river. As they stood at the edge, Jason surveyed the scene, barely visible in the veiled moonlight. The river rushed past their feet and, about ten paces downstream, tumbled over a cliff and fell into depths unknown. Beyond the falls and to the left, the spilled water flowed westward. To the right, the grassy field extended eastward and northward, acting as a precipice for the gorge.

Koren sat at the river’s edge and hiked up her dress, revealing short trousers underneath. “I can wash it myself.”

“No. Let me.” Jason set a knee on the sand and a boot in the shallows. He moistened a corner of the cloth and swabbed the sole of her foot. As he continued dipping and washing, she winced with every touch. “Is Prince Persistent still bothering you?” he asked.

She cocked her head. “That’s strange. I don’t hear him anymore.”

“Good. Maybe not answering was the right decision.” He wrapped the cloth around her foot and tied it at her ankle. “Let’s see how it feels.”

Holding her hand as well as his sword, he helped her limp toward the trees. “What’s the verdict?” he asked.

“I can walk but probably not very fast.”

When they arrived at the center of the copse, Jason stooped and felt for the meat. It was gone. He sniffed the air. The wild scent had returned, stronger than ever.

“Koren,” he whispered, still crouching. “Don’t ask why. Just climb up on my back. Do it now.”

“Okay.” Her hands gripped his shoulders, and her trousers brushed his sides. Soon, she had mounted and settled on his back.

“Are you ready?”

“I think so.”

Jason slowly straightened, holding her wrist with his free hand. “Just hang on.” Leading with his sword, he burst from the trees and ran into the field, heading northward and keeping the river and waterfall to his left. As long grass whipped his legs, he listened for a pursuer, but the river drowned out all other sounds.

He couldn’t look back. Every step held a potential trap—a hole, a gulley, or even a plunge into the river’s gorge. With only a few feet illuminated in front of him, even one second of carelessness could cost them their lives, or at least a painful tumble.

“Jason!” Koren yelled. “Something’s following us!”

With his own heavy footfalls shaking his voice, he shouted, “What does it look like?”

“A man!”

“A man?” Jason slowed to a halt and turned to face the pursuer. As he stared at a dark form creeping toward them, he readied his sword, whispering, “Get down.”

Koren slid off his back and stood at his side. “He’s slowing.”

“Who are you?” Jason shouted.

The form stopped. As Trisarian peeked through a gap in the clouds, the human frame clarified. He stood with a hand on his hip and something long and pointed in his other hand. “I had planned to ask you the same thing.” The man’s voice was gravelly, yet dignified in tone.

Jason inhaled through his nose. Yes, the stranger carried the bestial odor. “If you are a friend who will help us,” Jason said, “we will introduce ourselves. If you are here to harm us, I will introduce you to the point of a sword.”

The man let out a genial laugh. “Since you left food on the ground, I assumed it was for me and that you considered me a friend. Perhaps it was an ill-advised assumption, but my stomach said otherwise. I have not had meat in a long time. In fact, I had been thinking about trying to catch a fish in the shallows. The roots, berries, and field potatoes in this land are not very filling.”

As the man drew closer, the moon shone on his face, dirty and covered with a thick, choppy white beard. He halted within striking distance and dropped a sharpened stick. “You talk as a free man would. Where are you from?”

Jason sheathed his sword. “I am Jason Masters. I have come from Major Four—”

Koren jerked on his sleeve and hissed, “Don’t tell him everything! We don’t know him yet.”

“It’s all right,” Jason said. “He’s human, not a dragon.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You can’t trust every human, especially one who isn’t a slave.”

“If he was an ally of the dragons,” Jason replied, also in a whisper, “he probably wouldn’t look like a homeless beggar.”

Koren’s skeptical expression softened. “Do what you think is right.”

“As I said,” Jason continued, turning back to the man, “I have come from Major Four, the world of humans, in order to rescue the slaves and take them home.” He nodded at Koren. “And this is Koren, one of the slaves.”

The man pointed in the direction they had been running. “If you think home is that way, you had better think again. You will find only snow, ice, and a castle filled with ghosts.”

“Ghosts?” Jason half closed an eye. “As in disembodied spirits?”

“Exactly, young man. I have seen them myself.”

Koren stepped forward and offered a half curtsy. “Pardon me, sir. Jason told you our names. Will you tell us yours?”

“I apologize for my rudeness, Miss.” The man gave her a formal bow. “I am Uriel Blackstone.”

E
lyssa skulked along a deserted street, following Wallace, the one-eyed boy who had promised to be her guide in the dragon village. Cloud-obscured moonlight spilled over the landscape, and an occasional lantern illuminated the small, one-story structures. Towering over them, enormous cathedral-like edifices—spires, domes, and a belfry—cast an array of long shadows.

Wallace used his borrowed sword to point at one of the larger buildings. “That’s the Zodiac.” With a dozen spires encircling a domed roof and marble columns supporting a portico in front of massive double doors, the Zodiac emanated white radiance, as if energized by a land-bound moon harnessed within. The spires shone with a silvery paint that glowed in spite of the lack of outside light.

Keeping his back bent, Wallace scurried toward the closest column. Elyssa shadowed him step for step. When they reached the column, they stooped behind it, out of sight of any human or dragon who might pass by on the cobblestone street.

“What’s the Zodiac?” Elyssa asked.

Wallace looked at her, his single eye blinking as he brushed an insect from his chest, visible through his open shirt. Although he was probably only twelve or thirteen years old, slave labor had sculpted the muscles of an older teen. “It’s where the priests study the stars and get prophecies. One of the priests is Arxad, a dragon who might be willing to help us find Jason and Koren.”

“
Might
be willing?” Elyssa sighed. “If we have a choice that doesn’t include trusting a dragon, I’d like to hear it.”

“No other choice comes to mind.” Wallace nodded toward the empty street. “It’s strange. Normally the night-duty slaves go from place to place in preparation for morning, to get meals ready for their masters or to collect supplies for daytime laborers. Between this and what we saw at the cattle camp, it looks like something terrible has happened. Everyone must be in lockdown.”

Elyssa gave Wallace a questioning glance.

“A lockdown,” he said, “means that all slaves are supposed to stay in their homes. If any are caught outside, they are killed. The dragons do it when they’re searching for an escaped slave.”

“I see.”

“So we’ll have to watch for Wardens,” Wallace added.

“Wardens?”

He set his hand about a foot from the ground. “They’re like round little dogs, and they spit out a strange light like a dragon shoots flames. It feels like a million needle pricks, and it will knock you flat. Wardens can even hurt dragons, so they don’t use them very often. Maybe they didn’t have time to get them out of the kennels.”

“If I see one, I’ll stay as far away from it as I can.” Elyssa laid a hand on the cool, smooth column and leaned toward the street. A shop of some kind lay to the right, dark and void of activity. Far to the left, a cactus-adorned patio separated them from a much larger building, one with a fence of black iron bars guarding its massive inner courtyard. Something large moved within the dark railing, perhaps a dragon.

Earlier in the evening, when she and Wallace journeyed to the cattle camp, she had expected to see such a guard within the camp’s stone walls, but nothing stirred inside. All lay still, as if death itself had stalked the grounds. In fact, from their vantage point atop the wall, it seemed that a dead dragon lay on the ground near a stream. A shudder rippled through her body. Something wicked had left its mark.

Before their visit to the camp, she and Wallace had sent a group of slaves home to Major Four, accompanied by Randall and Tibalt. To that point, everything seemed to be progressing well. Now with the specter of death hanging over the world of dragons, her spirits sagged.

She reached into the pocket of the trousers she had borrowed from the lumber camp house at the beginning of her journey and felt the crystal, a two-finger-length peg she had found in the mining pit, the key that opened the portal leading home. Its smooth surface eased her anxiety. As long as it stayed in her possession, she always had a way to escape this horrible place.