Elf Saga: Bloodlines (Part 1: Curse of the Jaguar) (12 page)

“No, not really. There was a boy, a while
ago.” I shrug. I try to smile as I touch my scarred cheek below my
blind eye. “But I’m sure I’ll be beating them off with a stick when
I get back.”

“Your poor face…” Rajani pouts. “I’m so
sorry.”

“For what? I’m the idiot who tried to fight a
dragon with my bare hands. That’s on me, not you. You didn’t scar
me, Raj. You saved me. Remember that.”

She nods, looking less than completely
convinced.

Hours later, they’re both asleep and the fire
is down to embers, and I’m sitting watch alone, listening to the
ocean caressing the pale sand of the beach and watching a hundred
thousand stars float across the dark heavens, and for a moment I
forget to be angry or depressed or worried. The universe parades
above me, and the ocean hums to me, and the forest rustles quietly
with the adventures of unseen little creatures, all so soft and
gentle and harmless. No yelling, no running, no shooting. Just
sitting and watching and listening...

So I let them sleep. I don’t need it as much
as they do. I just want this beautiful night to go on and on, quiet
and serene. I can think about something good, something useful. I
want to make a canoe like that crystal ship we saw in Kanero, the
one Rajani’s parents use. I want to see those lines sculpted in
warm, beautiful wood, maybe with twin hulls...

And then I hear voices.

I sit very still, listening. Two elves, a man
and a woman. The woman speaks, the man laughs. And then I see them
in the distance, two dark figures in the starlight, coming closer,
walking along the water’s edge. I quickly scan the beach, wondering
where they’re going or what they’re doing, and then I see
something, a long dark shape at the edge of the forest poking out
of a heap of rotting bark and banana leaves. It could be a small
boat. Are they pirates? Or just fishermen? My gut says pirates.

The couple comes closer and I see that the
man is wearing a loose white shirt and dark trousers, not unlike
the two pirates Amara killed, but the woman is wearing a strangely
woven dress with a pattern that alternates violently between light
and dark shapes, so that it seems to shiver and dance as she moves.
And her hair is piled up on the center of her head in a style I saw
once among the people of the plains back home, making her sharp
ears look wonderfully long and slender.

I take my hatchet in hand, but stay still and
silent, watching them. The fire is all but dead now, and I don’t
fear they will see or smell it, not here, so close to the salty sea
breeze.

They stride up to the dark shape and begin to
strip away the piles of bark and leaves, revealing the low shape of
a shallow canoe, but instead of dragging it toward the water, they
pull out tools from inside it.

Shovels.

“Do you know where we’re going tonight?” the
woman asks.

“You know, I do. I have the perfect little
spot all picked out. It has absolutely everything, even moonlight,”
the man says. By his tone, I’d say he’s trying to make the woman
laugh. By her face, I’d say he’s never going to succeed.

“Where?” she asks.

“Out across the lower path,” he says. “I
spotted it last week. There’s a charming little ledge there with a
bare minimum of big pointy rocks where the ground looks nice and
soft. Perfect for treasure hunting.”

“Mm hm.”

They shoulder their tools and start walking
again. Straight toward me.

Damn.

If Amara was the one on watch, I’m sure she’d
have shot them both by now, so it’s their lucky night, isn’t it? I
stand up and call out, “Stop right there, folks. Tools on the
ground, hands where I can see them, or… bad things will
happen.”

The couple freezes.

“Holy crap, the trees are bossing me around
now,” the man says as he peers at the jungle. “Not to mention the
fact that the trees sound an awful lot like a lady-type person from
the Union.”

The woman keeps her shovel on her shoulder as
she calls back to me, “Hello, mysterious person. We don’t have any
money, assuming that’s what you want. But if you’d like to wait a
few hours, you might have better luck robbing us on our way
back.”

Rajani and Amara both start to mumble and
move in their blankets on the ground. I step away from them and
into the starlight at the edge of the beach. “No robbers here. Just
travelers.”

“Oh. Excellent.” The woman flashes me a
ridiculously wide smile, and I see that her lips are jet black, and
she has some sort of black tattoo on her chin, and similar swirling
patterns inked into the shaved sides of her head between her dark
hair and her slender ears. “We’re not robbers either. Pleasure to
not-be-robbed by you. But if you’ll excuse us, we do have work to
do.”

She starts walking past me and her friend
follows her, but he casts me a much more worried look.

“Whoa, not so fast. Where’s your ship?” I
ask. “Where’s the rest of your crew?”

“I left mine,” the man says with a shrug.
“Not a very dramatic parting of ways. It was them, not me. They
were needy, I was more needy, you know how that goes.”

“And I never had any,” the woman says
cheerily. “Crew, that is.”

“Well, you’ve got one now,” the man says,
raising his hand sheepishly.

“You and I are not a crew,” she says. “We’re…
partners. Sort of. Accidentally, and temporarily.”

They’re still walking across the beach and
seem to be looking for a path into the woods. I glance back at
Rajani just as she wipes her eyes and mumbles something. “Stay
here,” I tell her, and I stride after the two strangers. I’m not
getting a dangerous vibe from them, but I don’t need any pirates
coming after us either.

“Hey, hold on.” I catch up to them. “What’s
this treasure you’re looking for? Is it near here?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” The man holds up one
hand. “That would be privileged information, missy, and you don’t
have the privilege… of… being privileged. Whatever. It’s
private.”

“Are there more of you?” I glance back down
the beach. “More partners?”

“Why would I want more partners?” he asks
incredulously. “That’s more people to share the wealth, and despite
my disarming nature and beguiling smile, I’m really not a sharing
kind of guy.”

“It’s true, he’s not,” the woman says, giving
him a critical look. “Still, he’s smarter than he looks, and that’s
saying something.”

“Hey.” He frowns at her.

She shrugs. “Just being honest.”

“Wait, you heard us talking about the
treasure?” The man frowns at me. “You heard me say where we’re
going?”

“Uhm… no.” I shake my head and take a step
back.

“You did, didn’t you?” The man sighs and says
to his partner, “Well, now we have to tie her up.”

I turn and run back to camp, yelling,
“Rajani! Amara! Wake up!”

They’re both on their feet when I dash up to
the warm ashes of our fire. Rajani has her dragon bone knife out,
and Amara has both pistols raised when the two strangers jog into
the clearing behind me. I hold out my arms, separating my
companions from the treasure hunters, and say, “Now look, no one
wants to die and no one has to die, so let’s just talk about
this.”

“Holy crab, that’s a… a flying ship!” The man
lets his shovel drop to the ground as he stares up at the Valkyrie
hovering above the sand and grass.

The woman with the tattoos looks at me with
this strange expression of extreme concern and distrust, her lips
and brows wrinkling intensely. “Who are you people?”

“If I may interject,” Amara says, “You will
note that I have the firearms, and so I will be asking the
questions. Who are you? And please don’t lie. I’d hate to waste my
ammunition convincing you to be forthcoming.”

The man blinks at the twin golden guns, and
then he shrugs in an utterly unconcerned manner. “Xiang Dae, dealer
in exotic antiquities and devilishly charming appropriator of
things that don’t exactly belong to me. Pleased to meet you all on
this lovely evening.” He winks at Rajani.

The tattooed woman goes on frowning at me,
and then at the ship, and then at Amara. “Nahina.”

Amara thumbs one pistol hammer back.

“Nahina Nakaroa,” she says testily. “I fish
for things. Mostly fish.”

“And how did you come to discover our camp?”
the princess asks.

“We didn’t come to discover anything,” Xiang
says. “You're the ones who parked your flying ship right next to
our tools.”

“It’s true, I saw them take the shovels from
a canoe a moment ago,” I tell Amara.

Xiang is still gaping at the Valkyrie. "That
ship really is flying, isn’t it?"

“Why do you have a flying ship?” Nahina asks
sternly. “Where did you get that?”

“My mom gave it to me,” Rajani says. “You
know, so I can go places. Shopping. Sight-seeing. Picking up
boys.”

“Your mother? Who is your mother?” Nahina
looks grimly at the green-haired girl. “Is she the woman who
crashed on the mountain?”

“On the mountain?” I turn to peer up at the
black shape of the volcano as if I’ll see Lozen fighting a small
army up there in the darkness. “You’ve seen her? Where is she?
What’s she doing?”

Nahina glances at the mountain. “She’s
ruining our life’s work, that’s what she’s doing.”

“Oh, well that sounds like her.” I nod.

“Sounds like who?” Nahina demands. “Who is
she?”

“My mother. She’s my mother, all right?” I
frown at her. “So… can you take me to her?”

“Why?” Nahina’s face is so stony now that I
can’t remember what her huge smile looked like a minute ago. “So
you can join her? Help her?”

I sigh. “Not even a little bit. She walked on
out my family years ago and left a pretty broad wake of misery and
pain behind her. I just want to talk to her for a minute. That’s
all.”

“Really? That’s a sad little story, and I
don’t like sad little stories. I’ve heard too many,” Nahina says
softly. “But that’s not important right now. Right now, what’s
important is whether you can get rid of that woman. So, can
you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Why?”

Nahina’s eyes harden. “Because we’d like to
be rid of her.”

Xiang smiles and pats Nahina on the shoulder.
“What my lovely partner is trying to say is that we would both
sincerely appreciate it if you could convince your mother to move
on. She’s, well, she’s been here a couple weeks now, and she’s got
us all a bit scared.”

“Scared?” Rajani asks.

“She’s killed a dozen men, and crippled three
dozen more.” Nahina goes on frowning at me. “And since she’s
sitting on fifty kegs of rum, we’re not hoping to see her sober any
time this month.”

“She’s drunk?” I don’t remember Dad ever
saying that she drank much. I shake my head. “Fine. Whatever. Where
is she?”

“In the best seat in the house.” Xiang points
up to the broken bowl of the dead volcano. “She’s right there, at
the Yagari Gate.”

“Yagari?” Amara slowly holsters one of her
guns and approaches Xiang, and rests one long-fingered hand on the
back of the treasure hunter’s neck. “My friend, I’d very much like
you to tell me everything you know about Yas Yagaroth.”

“Sorry, friend, but I don’t think we have
time for that,” Xiang says as he tries to wriggle out of the
princess’s grip.

Amara gently taps him on the chest with the
barrel of her second pistol. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of
how we use our time?”

“Well, it’s a long walk up to the Gate, if
that’s where we’re going tonight.” Xiang eyes the gun on his chest.
“Friend.”

“Not to worry.” Amara flashes a cold smile.
“We’re not going to walk there.”

Minutes later we’re all in the Valkyrie and
rising up above the dark forest. There’s a faint pinkish haze on
the eastern edge of the world, but dawn is still more than an hour
away, at least. So while Rajani takes us up toward the sheer cliff
of the shattered mountain, Xiang hastily explains that Moa Taka is
rumored to be the only remaining part of the lost city of Yas
Yagaroth, which is why the island is so popular with treasure
hunters and pirates, because every few months some digger or diver
finds a cache of ancient gold or silver somewhere around the
island.

“But where did the rest of Yas Yagaroth go?”
Rajani asks.

Xiang shrugs. “Well, that’s the mystery,
sweetheart. Legend says the island and the city just sank one
night. Earthquake, volcano, dragon fire, constipated unicorns, who
can say?”

“And what exactly is the Yagari Gate?” Amara
asks. “I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”

“A ruin. It’s nothing, really. It’s been
picked over a hundred times. Nothing there but broken stones and a
couple creepy pillars, like the leftover bits of a temple,” Xiang
says. “Trust me, if there was ever anything there, it got scooped
up a long time ago.”

“Indeed?” Amara frowns and stares up at the
mountain.

‘So what’s your interest?” Xiang asks. “You
look like a gal who isn’t hurting for money, what with your hair
being full of gold, and your guns being covered in gold, and your
fingers dripping with gold.”

“I seek the lost city itself,” the princess
says airily. “My reasons are my own, but rest assured, I have no
interest in your petty coins or jewels. I am a princess of Oyera,
after all.”

The treasure hunter nods. “Princess, eh? Good
to know.” And he claps the princess heavily on the shoulder as if
they were old drinking buddies. “Very good to know.”

When we reach the lip of the dead volcano, a
strange scene emerges from the shadows before us. The ground itself
is a haphazard collection of ancient ash and burned rock, with
dusty paths winding around the jagged spears of basalt and diorite,
glinting with flecks of obsidian. But there are also the ruins,
pale stone blocks and pillars stamped across the small plateau in
rows and lying in pieces in the dust. Greatest among the ruins is a
raised platform about ten steps high, lined with strange twisting
pillars, that extends right to the edge of the cliff and ends in a
broken line, as though some grand temple shattered and fell from
here along with the rest of the missing mountain.