Exiles From The Sacred Land (Book 2) (34 page)

Chapter 20: Friends and Enemies

By the time Mount Urieus came into view, Morgoran could see the smoke rising up from Draegodor, and he realized that one of his most dreaded fears had already come true. Dorenn did not wait to attack Draegodor but instead had gone there directly from By’temog. Morgoran briefly wondered if Dorenn had been smart enough to plan for his involvement in getting the amulet or if it was just a coincidence. It was of no matter; the boy already had two of the four keys and was closing in on his third.

The ship lurched to a stop before it passed over Mount Urieus. Sanmir joined Morgoran on the deck from the bridge. “Kyrie has disappeared again.”

Morgoran nodded. “He gets bored hanging around. He’ll turn up again somewhere down the road, when it suits him.”

“What do you wish to do now? If we get much closer to Draegodor, the dragons will burn this wooden ship out of the sky with all of us on it.”

“Just hold here for a moment, Sanmir.”

“Aye.” He watched Morgoran as he scanned the skies above Draegodor. Beads of sweat pooled and ran down his forehead. “What are you up to? For whom are we waiting?” Morgoran curled his upper lip and gave Sanmir a wink.

“You sly dog, that’s why you sent Kimala,” Sanmir said.

“There!” Morgoran pointed to a snow-white figure weaving around two green dragons. “Turn the ship around, Sanmir, and put as much wind in those sails as she can take.”

“Aye, Morgoran,” he replied. As soon as he got to the wheel, he realized it did absolutely nothing to turn the ship. He concentrated on the sails as Ianthill and Lady Shey concentrated on getting the ship maneuvered into position. The ship creaked and groaned as Sanmir commanded the wind to fill the sails. It lumbered off through the skies.

In the distance, Shadesilver flew as fast as her young drake wings would carry her. Morgoran could see that she strained a bit carrying three passengers, but he knew she could manage. She came crashing down on the deck just as
The Shooting Star
was picking up speed. She stopped to let down Kimala, Tatrice, and Bren, and then she whirled around and fired a stream of searing-hot flame on the last pursuing green dragon, who dived in flames.

“Do you have it?” Morgoran asked.

Kimala took off her pack and rummaged around in it for a moment before producing a golden serpent. It was about the length of her elbow to wrist with emerald eyes, its body in a zig-zag pattern. Morgoran took the key and tucked it away in a pouch on his side.

Kimala’s dazed expression triggered him to look up. A fireball streaked through the sky and took out the mainsail in a fiery blaze; pieces of burning sail fabric blew down onto the deck and overboard amidships.
The Shooting Star
slowed. Morgoran summoned essence and pushed the ship onward so violently that he stumbled, and Kimala fell to the deck. As soon as he regained his footing, he hurried aft. Two black dragons trailed the ship.

Sanmir left the bridge to Gondrial and joined Morgoran at the aft railings. “It appears your plan did not go off without a hitch.”

“If you came over here just to tell me that, you can march yourself right back to the bridge.”

“I only meant that Shadesilver must have been seen leaving Draegodor.”

“A number of things
could
have happened, but I am only interested in the here and now.” He squinted. “Do they look like they are gaining on us, or is it just me?”

“They are closing in; of course, they are not hampered by weight as we are.”

Morgoran stammered. “Sometimes when you say fool things like that, I forget your magic works differently than mine. This ship is being held aloft and pushed along by essence; weight has nothing to do with it. We could be on an enormous flying boulder just as well.” He inspected the rest of the sails. “Still, your wind isn’t doing much for us anymore without that mainsail. You can stop sending it now.” He mumbled a fire spell and set it in motion with essence. The remaining sails burned away. “This is a ludicrous way to travel anyway,” he grumbled. “I can think of a dozen better ways to get from here to there. Flying a damned ship was always a silly novelty, even in the old days.”

“Here comes another fireball. I’ll handle it.” Sanmir pulled in his right fist and pushed out the palm of his left hand at the same moment. The resulting blast of wind sent the fireball back toward the dragons in a hail of sparks.

“That’s enough of that. It’s time to teach those dragons not to follow behind a ship full of master wielders,” Morgoran said. “Do me a favor and go fetch Shey, Ianthill, and Gondrial.”

Sanmir took off, and a few moments later, Lady Shey and Gondrial appeared. A few moments more and Ianthill appeared with Enowene. Shadesilver also showed up in the form of an elf maiden. Angry, she started to transform.

“No! Stay onboard,” Ianthill told her. “Those drakes out there will tear you apart in your true form. They have both size and ruthlessness over you. If you want to help, use your dragon magic from here.”

“I can’t be sure, but from the looks of the mountains, we are nearing Tyr Raganough. We still have quite a ways to go,” Morgoran said. “None of the old portals still function in Symboria east of the Vale. If we need to, we can travel to my tower in the Vale instead of flying directly to Symbor. I have a Migarath Portal there, and we can use it to bridge the rest of the distance since I found the portal in Symbor will connect.”

“I’m sure we would all be fine with a stopover at the Vale of Morgoran, but first we might need to survive.” Gondrial pointed aft. “I think two more dragons just joined the chase.”

Morgoran grabbed ahold of the wooden railing. “What! How? No dragon can fly that fast.” His fingers were stiff from the bitter cold. He let go of the railing and rubbed them together. “Something unnatural is spurring them along.”

Several fireballs and a crackling ball of lightning closed in on the ship. Lady Shey and Enowene countered with essence and managed to dissipate two of the balls of fire. Sanmir used lightning against the closest drakes, and they dipped out of formation but soon recovered. Morgoran made sure the ball of lightning didn’t hit the ship, but two of the errant fireballs met their marks. The ship jilted forward, and shards of ice that had been forming on the outer hull came loose and sailed like daggers back to the drakes, who rolled left and right to avoid them.

“That’s it,” Morgoran yelled, “clear the ice!”

The ship jolted and then began to descend. Morgoran almost fell overboard. Something was forcing them out of the sky and negating their magic.

Lady Shey went to Morgoran’s aid. “We need a plan.”

Morgoran strengthened his resolve and regained his footing. “We cannot fend off the attack and keep the ship from crashing to the ground. Someone over there is trying to countermand the enchantment. I need two of us working to keep us from crashing to the ground and the rest counterattacking the pursuers.”

“Enowene and I can keep the ship’s enchantment,” Lady Shey volunteered.

“Good, Shey, you know the way to the Vale; get us there!” He stumbled over to Gondrial, Ianthill, and Sanmir. “Sending small amounts of magic at four dragons is getting us nowhere. We need something big. I think that ice breaking loose has given me an idea. Sanmir, if you can draw a bunch of ice from the air and give them some sharp edges, the rest of us can shoot them so fast at the dragons, they wouldn’t be able to avoid them all! Make as many as you can, as big as you can, Sanmir.”

Sanmir used his abilities. As if they were merely hidden, hundreds of ice spears the size of tree trunks appeared around the aft of the ship. The wielders released them in a deadly barrage. The ice hit its targets, and the dragons scattered, but it merely slowed them down. Their rugged scales were still too hard for the ice to penetrate, even at the great speeds. The ship dipped again, and Morgoran whirled around to check on Shey and Enowene. They were both struggling to keep the ship enchanted. The magic would negate and they would re-enchant, but the magic was negating almost faster than they could re-enchant. Morgoran dared not talk to them for fear of breaking their concentration. He knew they were losing the battle; he just hoped they could make it to the Vale. “Those dragons have help.”

Gondrial snickered. “Aye, they all have riders, probably all wielders.” Morgoran’s expression reminded Gondrial that he was unable to see as far. “Sorry, Morgoran, I forget sometimes that my half-elven eyes can see farther than yours.”

“It’s quite all right, although a quick word to let me know important information would be nice, if you could remember my sight limitations, that is.”

“Aye, I will remember.”

“Are you able to see a face? Is it Dorenn?”

“I don’t know. I can’t quite see that far.”

The ship finally cleared the Jagged Mountains and flew over grassland. Morgoran noted the warmer air. “We just cleared the last of the mountains; we aren’t even to Shadehollow yet. We will not make it to the Vale. Sanmir, when you get the chance, go below and tell the others to prepare for a possible ground assault.”

Tatrice let out a slight yelp as the ship bucked and dropped again. Each time it lurched felt like it was going to free fall and crash into the ground. Trendan still could not get used to the idea of Tatrice being married to Bren. He knew that they planned to get the marriage annulled, but they sure were cozy now, with Bren holding her and comforting her after every waver and groan of the ship. He tried to keep his eyes away from Fayne, who had managed to get Vesperin—shy, ridged, disciplined Vesperin—to hold her and keep her safe. Trendan knew that she could keep
him
safe just as easily; it was just a ploy. Kimala sat alone, beside Fayne, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and it wasn’t too long before he realized that she was staring at him. After a moment, she moved to sit next to him.

“I forgive you.”

“What?” Trendan was taken by surprise.

“I forgive you for trying to poison me. I know you were only trying to protect your friends. You thought I was evil and that I would be an instrument of destruction for your cause. I get it; I really do.”

“It was nothing personal.”

“I have seen you looking over at them, you know.” She indicated both couples across the hold. “It’s an interesting duality. Tatrice and Bren are fierce warriors and can hold their own on a battlefield, but she is frightened to be up here with seemingly nothing holding us up, nothing keeping us from plunging to our deaths. It will be seasons before she learns enough of the dragon magic from Shadesilver to understand it. The two of them only stay down here because Shadesilver commanded them to. And then there is Fayne and Vesperin. I don’t think she’s said anything to him about marriage or love; she has just made sure she is there to capitalize on any opportunity to get close to him. He resisted at first, but he is slowly getting the hint, especially after she joined him in his daily prayers. Both of them are healers and deadly warriors. Both of them pray and have faith that Loracia’s will keeps them safe or orders their deaths. Either way, they are prepared to accept it.”

“Everyone is the good guy with the belief that what they are doing is just and important, Kimala. No one starts out believing they are evil and misguided. At least, not at first.”

“Is that how you think Dorenn is feeling right now, like he is justified?”

“Of course I do. He very well may be, did you ever think of that? Why are we trying to keep him from getting to the Tome of Enlightenment? Maybe he has better reason than we know.”

“Is that what you believe?”

“I believe it’s possible.”

Sanmir entered the hold as the ship swayed and dipped again. “Morgoran wanted me to convey that we may need to leave the ship. Make preparations to take the fight to ground. We may need to make a stand.”

“What is happening to the ship?” Tatrice asked.

“The dragons are still pursuing us. Lady Shey and Lady Enowene are constantly enchanting the hull to keep us in the air. We are getting closer and closer to the ground now.”

Bren stood. “I will put on my armor. Where are we?”

“Over the grasslands, near Shadehollow.” Sanmir went back above deck.

Bren and Tatrice both found their armor and hastily donned it.