Chapter 20: Race to the Riada Swamp

Dulgard

         May and Erik rode for three hours without a break. The difficulties of the murderous journey proved to be too much for the farmer’s horse – the poor animal wasn’t used to the constant gallop and was already worn out, stumbling all the time. Erik was desperately clutching the back of May’s robe, but she could feel the child’s grip get weaker.

         When they were passing by a larger town, May took the chance to purchase a better horse and ask for the directions. The people seemed to be surprised that someone willingly traveled to the Riada Swamp, but answered her questions, nevertheless; it turned out that she didn’t cover one-fourth of the distance yet. May didn’t even want to know what would happen if Aedain caught them.

         “May!” Erik shrieked all of a sudden as a large bird landed on the saddle of the new steed.

         The horse neighed and tried to shake the intruder off, but the bird kept sitting calmly.

         “Shoo!” May shouted, waving with her hand to scare the animal off, but it didn’t move.

         Instead, the large bird let out a miserable squeak and lifted the clawed paw, showing the leather pouch, that was tied to it.

         “Eh?” May mumbled, confused.

         What was with that bird? Hesitantly, she reached for the pouch and untied it. The balding eagle didn’t move; it patiently waited for May to finish. She took a look inside the pouch and retrieved two objects – a folded piece of paper and some plant.

         Hurriedly, she unfolded the piece of paper. The letters were crooked and uneven, as though someone was writing in a hurry, not bothering to waste time on calligraphy. Not without difficulty May managed to decipher the brief letter. The writing seemed strangely familiar, as though she had seen it before.

I know who you are, traveler. Don’t be afraid – I’ll return you to your home world.

Feed the eagle with the herb from the pouch so that you could swiftly fly to my tower. Do not take anything with you, as my familiar can’t carry more weight than of a single person.

Hurry.

Lavena of the Riada Swamp

         May gasped for air, as she didn’t even realize that she was holding her breath all the time when she was reading the letter. She couldn’t believe her luck – she wasn’t alone on this one; the witch was on her side! She had absolutely no idea why, but it was enough for her that Lavena wanted to return her home. It explained half of the lucky coincidences. Not only had the opportunity to escape presented itself, but also a chance to get home, to her parents and Hailey… the unexpected help was like a blessing from heavens, but there was one problem left.

         She looked at the nearly featherless eagle, as she fed it the herbs. The bird skipped out of the saddle, squeaked miserably and began growing, not much though – it was of a size of a really big dog, but there was still a long way to Aedain’s original form of a dragon. According to Lavena’s letter, the eagle couldn’t carry more than one person.

         “Erik,” May said to the child. “Get on that bird.”

         The child stared at her blankly, as though not understanding what she meant.

         “May?” Erik asked unsurely.

         May kneeled by the little boy and grabbed his shoulders, looking him in the eye seriously.

         “Listen to me,” she said sternly. “We can’t fly both on that bird, so we have to part for a while.”

         “But,” Erik began, but Mai shushed him.

         “I’ll ride on the horse right behind you. Now, listen. The bird will take you to Lavena, the good witch, who’ll help us. When you get to see her, tell her that I’m coming and that Aedain will be following us. Do you understand?” May looked at Erik expectedly.

         The child bit his lower lip, hesitating to answer, but then nodded, tears welling in his honey-colored eyes. May smiled encouragingly.

         “Good, now get on that ugly thing.”

         Erik’s eyes were damp, as the eagle took off, leaving May behind. She did her best to keep her brave façade in front of the boy, but the truth was, she was scared out of her wits. She was sure, that Aedain and Baltar would get her sometime soon, possibly very soon. But it was a risk she had to take.

         May climbed onto the brand-new  steed and galloped out of the town after the eagle, which quickly vanished into the clouds.

         May kept forcing the horse to keep up the murderous pace. The rush of the air made her eyes teary, but she kept them open to follow the road, afraid to get lost and waste precious time. Her ultimate goal - to get home – was at reach of her hand, and she didn’t want to lose the once in a lifetime chance. She kicked the animal again, not letting it slow down. She had to get to the witch Lavena before Aedain got to her.

         She felt more and more drops of water falling on her. As she looked up, she saw, that the sky was covered with thick rain clouds. Then the downpour came, soaking May to the bone. Her hair was plastered to the face, and she barely saw where she was going. The horse’s steps were unsure now, as it was sliding on the slippery mud. She cursed, but was determined to move forward. She tried to think about the rain more of an ally than an enemy. It made the ride more difficult, but it also washed her tracks and scent away, what would hinder the chase.

         She managed to gallop for a couple of hours more in the heavy rain. How many, May didn’t know, as she didn’t see the sun. The horse grew weary, but still galloped, rushed by her. The animal’s hooves were splashing mud. She wiped the water from her eyes the best she could and saw the bridge, one of the townspeople told her about. She estimated that she had already covered two-thirds of the distance to the Riada Swamp now; quite a good pace, considering the weather conditions.

         She kicked the horse’s sides again to make it go faster. The animal tried to speed up, but suddenly stumbled. May swayed in the saddle, but gripped the mane and held herself on with her thighs. However, the animal didn’t manage to regain balance. It neighed and fell on the side, crushing May’s leg. She struggled with the horse to free her limb. Thankfully, she did it after a while, mainly thanks to the slippery mud. She was now covered in mud from heads to toes. She stood up and tried to encourage the horse to get up. Something was wrong. The animal was thrashing and neighing without a break, but wouldn’t get up. Then, she noticed, that one of the horse’s legs was twisted at a strange angle, white bone protruding from the skin. May cursed, as she realized the horse had a broken leg. She felt pity for the pained animal and decided on the act of mercy – she owed that to the animal, which carried her all the way here.

         She reached inside her dress and pulled out a knife the farmer gave her. She kneeled by the horse’s head and unsheathed the blade. She pointed it towards the bottom of the jaw. May’s hands were trembling and a sob shook her body. She knew that if she left here, the poor animal with suffer in agony for hours before slow death and ending his life was a right thing to do, but still… May clenched her teeth and steadied her hands.

         “I’m sorry,” she muttered, before thrusting with all of the might she had.

         The animal squeaked and trashed more, but stilled, as the knife pierced its brain. May pulled the blade out and wiped it with her dress, as her tears mixed with the rain on her face. Being not able to afford to waste time, she stood up, sheathing her knife and sliding it under her sash.

In the vicinity of the ruins of Dulgard, Dulheim Dukedom

         Aedain roared from fury, as the mysterious scent vanished once again. He sharply looked sideways, but the adversary was nowhere to be seen. It appeared as though he had been chasing shadows for past few hours. If not the fact that Baltar sensed some powerful presence before too, Aedain would begin to doubt if the mysterious opponent was never there to begin with.

         “There!” the dragon muttered, when the odd presence appeared again, materializing in clouds barely meters from him. Aedain squinted his eyes, trying to discern the shape of his opponent, but it was strangely blurry. He cursed in his mind and began waving his wings faster. Aedain leapt forward, but the ethereal shape gracefully eluded capture, vanishing into the thin air again.

         The Laismaran began shaking with frustration; rarely did he encounter such an evasive opponent. Who was the creature?

         “That’s it,” he hissed, swishing his tail.

         One powerful bat with his wings and the majestic dragon darted back into the clouds, moving with a surprising speed for such a massive creature. Aedain waited for his opponent to show; the next time the presence appears, he would simply fry it.

         The dragon was lingering in the air for some time until he finally felt someone approaching. He turned in the air gracefully and charged, the clouds obscuring his view. He opened his teeth-filled jaws, about to spit fire at the opponent…

         Aedain barely managed to change the trajectory of the fireball when he saw the shape emerging from behind the clouds – it was a dragon with gray scales, which he recognized as his idiotic comrade Baltar. What was he even doing here?

         The crimson dragon didn’t have the chance to inquire further as the elusive adversary from before appeared right next to both comrades. Not waiting for it to escape again, Aedain leapt onto it. The unrecognizable shape changed the direction of movement, but Baltar cut out its escape route as though reading Aedain’s mind. Using the moment when the creature was distracted, the crimson dragon slashed it with his talon. However, he felt nothing: no resistance of the living tissue, the shape dissolved like it was a ghost. An illusion. Aedain realized that it must have been an illusion, which was supposed to draw his attention away from his goal and stall.

         The crimson beast doved toward the ground; the blood in his veins felt like liquid fire. Baltar followed his superior, and the both dragons glided toward the rocky ground.

         Aedain stared his comrade down.

         “I thought I told you to stay with the wretched woman and the boy,” he said strangely calmly.

         Baltar set his gaze on his paws like a naughty child caught head-handed by his mother. He scratched the rocky ground.

         “I… I just thought… I thought you may need my help with the fight,” the huge gray dragon uttered in an oddly coy voice for him.

         Aedain narrowed his eyes at his companion, not saying anything for a longer while, his face blank.

         “Was it your own thought or that damnable woman thought it out for you?” he asked rhetorically. Baltar’s sheepish laughter only confirmed his suspicions. Aedain stared at the other dragon indifferently, too exhausted by his stupidity to even get furious. “Congratulations, you miserable excuse of a dragon, you just got fooled by a human woman who got away with my Key and my Guardian.”

         Baltar didn’t answer, too ashamed to utter a word. He gasped, when his superior jumped into the air.

         “Wait, where…” the gray dragon began.

         “To hunt that plotting woman down,” Aedain interrupted him; the crimson beast let out a displeased growl and set off, leaving Baltar far behind.

Riada Swamp

         Erik squeezed his eyes shut when the balding eagle suddenly dove, landing. However, falling would be a far better word to describe the creature’s maneuver – batting his almost featherless wings frantically, the bird struggled not to crash. Erik lifted an eyelid, but almost immediately regretted it as he saw that the eagle was aiming at a small window in the witch’s tower.

         Sweet Illiana, help me, the boy prayed, hoping that this moment wouldn’t be his last. His knee brushed against a window frame when the bird flew into the window. Erik opened his eyes, relieved; the landing was safe, but his joy was premature.

         “No,” the boy managed to whimper just before the eagle slammed against the wall opposite to the window. Erik shrieked when he felt the impact softened by the bird’s body, and afterwards landed on the floor. Rubbing his aching backside, he pulled himself up.

         “You are not the traveler.” Erik spun around, hearing a female voice. He took a step back, staring at a tall elderly woman, presumably the owner of the tower. The witch was glaring at him with her sharp gray eyes, a displeased grimace on her wrinkled face. Erik thought that she was on his and May’s side, but now he wasn’t so sure anymore. The sorceress furrowed her brows. “Where is the girl, who traveled with you?”

         Erik swallowed a lump in his throat.

         “You mean May?” he asked, his voice shaking and unsure. “She… she’ll come later.”

         The witch snorted humorlessly and covered her eyes with her palm in a gesture of dismay. She leaned heavily against a chest of drawers, sighing.

         “I was so foolish to think she would come willingly,” she muttered.

         Erik shifted the weight of his body to the other foot. He was aware that with every passing moment, May’s life was in greater danger. It wouldn’t be long until Aedain caught up with her. She had orchestrated their escape, and she even sacrificed her own sake for Erik’s life – now it was his turn to help his friend out.

         With a sudden surge of determination, the boy stepped forward, clenching his small fists.

         “You wanted to help us escape Aedain, didn’t you? That’s why you sent that ugly bird,” he said, overcoming his fear of the witch’s magic and coming closer to her. “Then help May, please. She had to stay behind, because she wanted me to be safe. Help her! Please, she’s my friend!”

         The witch’s gray eyes widened when Erik clutched her sleeve and refused to let go of it. He set his pleading gaze on her, desperate to get help for May.

         “Please! If Aedain catches May, he’ll kill her for sure!” the boy exclaimed as the tears streamed down his cheeks.

         Lavena broke the eye contact and tugged her sleeve, but Erik was holding the fabric firmly.

         “I doubt Prince Aedain would kill someone as precious as her,” the witch replied. “After all, she’s the traveler. Her life and the secrets she knows hold too much value.”

         Erik blinked, surprise and confusion reflecting in his honey-colored eyes.

         “What are you talking about?” he asked the witch, dropping all the informalities and forgetting about being polite. “Aedain only keeps her alive to blackmail me; without me around, she’ll become useless to him.”

         Now it was Lavena’s turn to stare at Erik blankly. She tilted her head, the gaze of her hawk-like eyes boring into the boy.

         “I thought Prince Aedain kidnapped her to learn the secrets of the world beyond the Veil,” the witch whispered.

         Erik furrowed his brows – he had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. What possibly could link May to the world beyond the Veil. Erik distantly remembered his mother’s tales about this place and grandfather’s stories. According to them, it was a dark, mythical land, full of unimaginable dangers and numerous foes. His mother used to say that if he were a bad boy, he would be sent there.

         “The world beyond the Veil?” he asked. “That’s a fairly tale, right?”

         Lavena was staring at him for a longer while, as though trying to read his mind. With each passing moment, the frown on her face deepened.

         “The prince knows nothing about the girl’s origin then?” the witch made sure.

         “Of course he knows that May is Duke Thoen’s daughter,” Erik responded.

         “But what…” Lavena was about to ask another question, but it seemed that she changed her mind. “Why did Prince Aedain kidnap her?”

         Erik let go off the witch’s sleeve.

         “I told you already – to blackmail me with her life. Because she’s my friend,” the boy said. “And I promised to help him in return for not hurting her.”

         As Lavena was considering Erik’s words, the wrinkles on her forehead were deepening. She bit on her lower lip and looked outside the window, at the lush fields on the edge of the forest.

         “I see,” she said quietly, a quizzical expression on her face. Then, she looked at Erik again. “What help did prince Aedain require of you, young one?”

         Erik didn’t break the eye contact.

         “He wanted me to help him find the Dragonslayer’s Spear,” he answered and reached for the golden chain of his sapphire pendant, which was hidden underneath his tunic. Erik lifted the chain so that the gem would sparkle in the light seeping through the window. An eerie fire lit within the sapphire, reflecting in Lavena’s eyes.

         The witch gasped, recognizing the gem.

         “The Key,” she whispered. With difficulty, she tore her gaze off the alluring sapphire and focused it on Erik. “And you are the new Guardian, the child, who survived the massacre.”

         Erik nodded and hid his sapphire necklace underneath the old tunic. He observed Lavena’s troubled face – a wide range of emotions passed through it, from surprise to bewilderment. The elderly woman dashed to the window and set her gaze at the horizon, as though expecting someone to invade the peaceful heart of the Riada Swamp. Then, she whirled around and hastily stepped toward the exit from the chamber. The wooden door hit the wall, when Lavena swung it open forcefully. Before Erik could react, the witch grabbed his hand and dragged him outside.

         “We don’t have time to waste, boy,” Lavena said to him as she was leading him down the spiral staircase. “I need your help with the spell.”

         “What spell? What do you want to do?” Erik kept asking, but the witch didn’t answer him until they climbed down to the cellar underneath the tower.

         “Your friend will point Prince Aedain right in this direction, and I can’t have him get neither the girl nor the Spear,” Lavena answered. “I was planning on stealing her from him and perhaps hiding her somewhere, far from the people who would want to use her knowledge, but it looks like I’d be forced to send her back from where she came.”

         Erik stumbled when Lavena let go off his hand. He squinted his eyes as the witch lit the candles with a flick of her thin finger. The warm glint of the fire illuminated the spacious chamber filled with numerous chests, books and a huge variety of magical items. However, neither of the objects caught Erik’s interest – the boy was entirely focused on the frantic witch and the strange things she was saying.

         “Lady, what do you mean by sending May back from where she came?”

         Lavena didn’t answer Erik. The boy was watching her bustling around the chamber, gathering some supplies, probably needed for weaving the spell. He closed his palm on the sapphire necklace, feeling overwhelmed by the nerve-wracking situation and the mystery of his friend. Could May hide a secret of her own?

         “Who is May? Please, tell me!” he exclaimed.