The Gems of Raga-Tor (Elemental Legends Book 1) (34 page)

“Riza’s pits!” he swore.

The platform swayed and pieces of the walls went crashing to the ground nearly twenty spans below. He looked for something sturdy to grab hold of, but saw nothing. The platform shuddered again and began to twist askew. No stepping to one side or the other would balance the floor and steady it.

Eris screwed his eyes shut as the floor collapsed and the girl let out a piercing shriek. He held on to her writhing form as they tumbled down in a mass of planks, moss and pine needles. The candle went out and they landed hard on the ground.

Eris blanched away from the crystal wings that fluttered briefly in his face as she now lay on top of him. The girl sobbed in terror, but didn’t seem to be hurt. Without losing his grip and feeling bruised from head to foot, Eris kicked the rubble of the mossy roof off of them. Rolling over, he used his knee to pin her hands to the small of her back. She struggled in vain against his strength and in short order she was bound hand and foot.

Erisa’s voice shrieked at him, demanding to know why he was treating her worse than the slaver who had beaten Pashtine on the palace steps. Why did he protect one and hunt the other with a vengeance?

Leaving her lying in the snow, Eris stood and surveyed the glade to see if she had somehow summoned her glowing defenses. Nothing moved or grew to a disproportionate size, which relieved him greatly. He left her where she was and went back to retrieve his cloak. It would be dark and cold by the time he walked back to the horses, and colder yet when they reached the cave.

Returning to the glade, Eris saw the girl had sat up and was scooting toward the rubble of her home. Seeing Eris striding toward her, she stopped next to a glowing, yellow sunflower and looked mournfully up at him. Eris stopped as well wondering if the sunflower was about to grow. The flower's light made her skin appear even more golden than it did in the daylight.

“Why did you do this to me?” she asked, as pink tears rolled from her sapphire eyes.

“There is someone who wishes to see you. As you wouldn’t cooperate when asked politely, you will come my way,” Eris answered with ill temper.

“Who? No one even knows I’m here,” she cried, afraid of the dark man who held her captive.

Eris refused to answer and glared down at her. He was not about to look at her pitiful face all the way back to the horse. He bent and easily hoisted her over his shoulder, then covered them both with the fur.

“Please, I beg you, let me go!” she cried as Eris began to move away from the ruin of her home. “Wait! Stop! I must have my palette. You can’t leave it behind. Please, I beg you! I will die without it.”

Eris paused. Having come this far and at such risk, he decided that true or not, he would give in to her plea and Erisa’s fury abated by a fraction of a degree. He turned back and kicked through the ruin of the little shelter. With every step Erisa haunted him, accused him of disavowing his honor to become nothing more than a Reshan slave peddler. He found the two halves of the palette and retrieved his dagger. Holding the palette in his hands, it appeared to be nothing more than a simple, much-used painter’s palette. Tiny bits of moss and pine needles sticking to the tacky paint spots made it seem much less sinister than it had before.

“Give them to me. I must have them,” she begged.

“Quiet, wench. You’ve caused enough trouble for one day,” Eris growled. He tucked the palette pieces inside his tunic and tossed the fur around his shoulders to cover them both.

Following his own tracks by the faint light of a rising moon, his long, striding gait brought them quickly back to the pockmarked battle site. He kicked the snow off of a fallen log and sat the girl on it. He made a quick search for Raga, but only found his tracks heading back to where the whole incident had begun.

“Please, whoever you are, I’ve done nothing to anyone to be attacked and treated this way.”

Eris glared at her. The frightened face of Pashtine cowering beside Erisa on the palace steps flashed again in his memories. Now he was the brutal slaver standing behind Pashtine, and now standing before this girl, who had done no one harm. It’s destiny, not cruelty, Eris thought again and drove the images away. But maybe it wasn't and who could say, really? He was guilty in his own eyes and certainly in hers.

“Who sent you? Who knows I am here? Tell me. No one comes into this forest. They’re all afraid,” she said, struggling against her bonds.

“Someone you’ve probably never heard of,” Eris answered.

“Who?” she shrieked at him.

“Morengoth, High King of the Tamori,” he answered, but didn’t meet her eyes.

The girl stared at him and mumbled something he couldn’t hear. He watched as she redoubled her efforts against his knots and screamed at him. He didn’t understand a word she shrieked, but there was no mistaking the anger that trembled through her.

Fearing another onslaught of magic, Eris cut off a piece of his sash that wasn’t too bloody or dirty and gagged her with it. Then, none too gently, he put her back over his shoulder and hurried to the bridge where the horse was tethered.

In the distance, he saw the cave’s mouth illuminated by the light of a warm fire. His belly growled and he hoped Raga had prepared a meal.

Refusing the girl any amount of comfort, but most especially not wanting to see her face, he put her face down across the saddle and mounted up behind her. The horse, glad to be free, ran briskly along the trail of moonlit hoof prints left by Raga’s horse.

Reaching the cave, Eris reined in. Reluctant to stop, the horse reared and gave a disgruntled snort. The animal pawed and stamped the ground as Eris watched Raga rise from the fire pit and amble toward them.

“That animal has distemper just like you,” Raga said as the horse turned with a pounce and snorted in his direction. “But, at least, you managed to capture her.”

“No thanks to you,” Eris grumbled. He tugged the reins again to quiet the animal. With his free hand, he helped Raga pull the girl from the saddle.

She teetered from dizziness and a sudden imbalance by not being able to move her feet. Raga caught her before she toppled over and saw the rope at her ankles.

“Was that really necessary?” Raga asked as Eris dismounted.

“Do you want to chase her through the forest the next time?” Eris asked.

Again, he hoisted her over his shoulder and took her inside. He put her down a little more gently this time, then, as an afterthought, put his fur around her shoulders. It would hide her unnatural wings.

“Eris, you’re not treating the poor child well at all,” Raga said, shaking his head as he went to her. He bent down to untie the sash that Eris has tied much too tightly around her mouth.

“Leave her be. I have no wish to hear any more of her crying and screeching.”

Raga shot him a disgusted glance and continued to untie the knot.

“I said, leave her be,” Eris said angrily. He took several steps back toward them. The girl cringed away from his towering form and Raga saw his hand move to the hilt of his sword.

“But, Eris—"

“No! I’ll have no more trouble out of her, or you either,” he said and waited until Raga moved away from her and then went outside to see to his horse.

Reluctantly, Raga left the girl by the fire and followed Eris back outside.

“You’re being unreasonable. She’s just a frightened child,” Raga said reproachfully.

“Child? Witch is more like it,” Eris said. The horse seemed to snort in agreement as he pulled the saddle from its back. “It’s easy for you to come to her defense. Like defends like. You don’t have the right to complain to me about anything. You didn’t take her dagger in your flesh and you certainly did nothing to help me fight that horror of hers.”

Raga tried to argue, but Eris was already too absorbed with the animal and well on a rant for him to get a word in.

“I chased her at least a league into that forest, climbed the trees to get her, then the whole damned mess crashed to the ground. We’re lucky we didn’t get impaled on the rubble that had already fallen. Not to mention falling from at least twenty spans up without breaking something. I wonder how you’d fare if I dropped you from that height? I should just break your neck here and now and save you the fall."

“I could boil a poultice. I’m sure the right plants are around here somewhere,” Raga offered, trying to appease the hateful anger seething in Eris.

“Dead leaves buried under snow. Not very useful,” Eris said. “Forget it. I’ll just see about using Morengoth’s pool when we get back. Too bad it won’t get rid of you.”

“At least the pool will get rid of this damnable temper of yours. What’s her name?

“How should I know? All she does is whine and scream at me."

The horse didn’t object, when Eris put the oat bag around its head.

“Does she know where we’re taking her?”

“More or less and that just made her scream all the more.”

“Didn’t you tell her why she’s going there?”

“Will you stop babbling at me,” Eris growled. “If you want her to know these things then by all means tell her, but first you have some explaining to do.”

By the angry look on his face, Raga had no doubt what he wanted answered.

“Well, I—" Raga began then stopped. Eris' increasingly fierce stance troubled him. The fact that he was growing weaker and more vulnerable by the day made him shift uneasily before Eris’ malevolent stare. “Well, I was just as surprised as you to see the creature. This new form of magic was rather fascinating.”

“And while you were being fascinated, the thing was trying to cleave me in two. I can’t believe a fireball was the best you could do. Where is this great elemental power of yours?”

“That’s about all I have left and even that was a struggle. But it was amazing to see how fast you figured out how to destroy it,” Raga said, trying to placate him.

Eris only scowled at him. “It was pure chance it worked at all, given that I had no time to think and no
expert
advice to help me.”

“It worked, and that’s what counts, but I surely never expected those cones to fly off the tree,” Raga said and rubbed a spot on his forehead. “I guess I shouldn’t have been as curious about those. One knocked me in the head and I fell into some bushes. By the time the stun wore off, you’d already gone. There was no use in trying to follow, so I came here.”

“I see,” Eris said coldly. He turned back to take the bag from the horse. Raga couldn’t see the satisfied, if not trifle amused, smile that came briefly to his face. It was fair enough payment for his uselessness. Without another word, he walked away from Raga and ignored him.

For once, Raga was relieved to be ignored and was glad the subject was dropped. He hurried back inside the cave to be with their captive. Pink tears rolled down her face as he approached.

“Poor child,” Raga whispered. He knelt quietly behind her to work the gag's knot.

“If she screams one more time, I’ll tie you up with her,” Eris warned unexpectedly and startled Raga. Was there nothing that escaped his attention?

Raga decided to remove it anyway and held a cup of water to her lips, which she eagerly accepted.

“Thank you,” she whispered and Raga smiled kindly at her.

“Do you have a name, child?”

“Anya.”

“Well then, Anya, I’d like to apologize for Eris’ unkind treatment of you. I know he’s frightened you near to death, but there’s a reason why we needed to find you and have you come with us,” Raga said.

“I know. He said you were going to give me to that…that beast man…Morengoth,” she whispered. A fearful tremor shook her. “Does he wish to have me for his dinner, or kill me on his altar?”

“Neither, Anya. There is nothing to fear. The man is not the beast of the old legends. He has heard your songs and wishes to meet you. Let me go back to the beginning, then you’ll understand,” Raga suggested. He glanced over to where Eris sat and saw that he had fallen asleep.

Eris woke with a start as the morning sun sent a bright streak of light into the mouth of the cave. He heard Raga moving about in his usual noisy way as he packed their supplies. Rolling over to face the fire, he saw Anya still sleeping by the faintly glowing coals.

“The night passed without further incident,” Raga said quietly and hoped Eris’ black mood had as well.

Eris sat up stiffly.

“So, what did you tell her?” he asked.

“Everything I thought she needed to know.”

“And?”

“She doesn’t like it, but what can she do? What can we do?” Raga answered with a shrug. There was a hint of sadness, perhaps regret in his voice.

“Nothing, but get her back to Morengoth so we can be on our way. None of us has any control over this matter so why fret about it? I didn’t think sorcerers had it in them to feel regret,” Eris said. He winced as he got to his feet and put weight on his leg.

“A little sensitivity wouldn’t hurt you in the least.”

“You have no idea what I’ve been through,” Eris muttered crossly. He hoped the night’s dreams, his nightmares of Erisa and her multiple revenge scenarios would fade in the sun's bright light. “So what kind of creature is she anyway?”