Yesterday's Magic (14 page)

Waved? At Morgan?
Heather had questioned.

I wanted her to think I was just a dumb friendly native, curious about odd stuff in the sky. Really, I was never so scared in my life. It was like looking up into a great flock of vultures. Only they were uglier. Claws and fangs and ghastly demon faces. Their flapping wings sounded like dried bones clacking. In the middle of it all, a woman rode on a red beast even stranger than your dragon. She was beautiful.

Morgan,
Heather thought with a shiver.

At first she ignored me, then she wheeled back and landed be side me. My horse nearly threw me in panic, then he just stood quivering with fear. Black hair, green eyes, very beautiful. But I could feel the poison under it.

“Oh, y-you are more wonderful even than the others,” I stammered with this foolish grin on my face. “Are you a friend of theirs?”

Her voice was like bells. “I and the others have known each other for a long time. I am trying to join up with them again. Do you know where they’ve gone?”

“Yes, they went to the sacred mountain, but I don’t know where after that. The mountain spirit will know. It is a very powerful spirit. If you call on it, it will surely answer you since you are clearly a magnificent spirit yourself.”

“And how do I call on it?”

“You must go very close to it and yell out its secret name three times.”

That seemed to annoy her. “And how do I learn this secret name?”

“My grandfather is a local wise man—he knows spirit names. Once I heard him whisper the Mountain’s.”

“Tell me!”

“I dare only whisper it,” I said, stepping close to her. She bent down from that terrible beast. That close, she smelled of cold and death. I turned my back on the Mountain and spoke its name very softly.

She laughed like a raven and spurred her beast into the air. “Now, with its true name, I will force this spirit to tell me what I need.” She surged up to join that flapping black flock, and like a storm cloud, they rolled off your way.

If she uses that name…?
Heather questioned.

The Mountain’s anger may be great. But if she doesn’t, she will find you easily. Either way, you are in danger where you are. Flee!

Heather jumped to her feet and ran to join the others. “Hurry, Morgan is coming! Badrack told me, and you can see her just there.” She pointed to the growing smudge of black in the southern sky.

“Quickly, down the other side of the mountain!” Merlin yelled.

Heather was about to follow, then remembered the pot of yogurt she was supposed to sacrifice. Hurrying back for it, she ripped off the leather lid. She ran three times around the pile of stones, sprinkling white liquid as she went, praying for deliverance with every breath. Placing the empty pot at the base of the pile, she ran after the others—but not before turning and looking again at the nearing cloud.

Cold and fear seemed to blow from it like an approaching storm.

B
RIDGE

T
he late-afternoon sky had turned to faded gray, and the mountain’s rocks and shadows blurred into a confusing jumble. It seemed that they stumbled and slid down the slope more than they ran.

“I never thought I’d miss that cranky dragon,” Welly panted, running beside Heather. “But fleeing on foot from Morgan and her nasty flock is not going to be easy.”

“Well, at least it’ll be night soon,” Heather offered. “But there sure aren’t many places to hide out here.”

As at last they neared the bottom, Merlin raised a hand to halt them. Below were clustered gray shapes. They might have been boulders or tuffets of grass, but they moved.

Heather peered into the thickening dusk. The shapes were animals, large and shaggy, with great back-sweeping horns. She’d seen pictures of something like them once. Deer? No, not plain deer. Reindeer.

The four walked down slowly now. The animals milled about but didn’t flee. Then Heather saw that a man was riding one. As they reached more-level ground, the bearded man directed his reindeer toward Merlin.

“You need swift mounts,” he said simply. “Take some of my herd, some to ride and some as cover.”

“How…?” Merlin began, then dropped the question. Their offerings had been accepted.

Four reindeer were selected and the travelers were helped to mount. The herdsman cut off another half dozen from his herd and with a shout sent them all galloping northeast.

Surrounded by a moving sea of reindeer, Heather lay low on the shaggy back of hers and tightly gripped its antlers. Her mount gave an annoyed shake of its head, and Heather held the antlers more loosely. She didn’t know where to steer it anyway. Obviously it was following some directions—but not hers.

Behind them, the sky darkened, but with more than evening. Heather shuddered at the thought of what must be in that black cloud she’d seen approaching. She craned to look behind them. Blackness hung over the mountain—and not simply the blackness of storm.

With a suddenness that shook the earth and sky, lightning cracked over the mountain. A tremendous wind swirled over its peak. It was as if titanic anger was suddenly unleashed. With a jolt, Heather realized what it was. Morgan, unaware of the taboo, must have spoken the secret name!

Their little party rushed on while behind them rain, wind, and thunder battered the far side of the mountain. Again and again lightning silhouetted the peak, dark and beautiful in its anger. Even at this distance, the earth shook with the volleys of thunder. Not even a supernatural army, Heather realized, could withstand the Mountain’s supernatural fury.

Their small herd ran on and on until dawn showed they had come to a land of sparse dark trees. For a few hours, the herd rested under their cover, scratching aside dusted snow with their hooves to graze on the crackly grass. Gratefully the riders slipped off their mounts. Slumping at the base of rough tree trunks, they shared provisions. Even the hard smelly goat cheese didn’t seem so repellent.

Heather felt she had just drifted off to sleep when an animal voice, a reindeer voice, scratched at her.
Time to go on.

Where?

Where we’re told. To the Bridge. Will take you there but not over.

Heather repeated this to the others as they stiffly mounted up.

Troll was excited. “Bridge! Trolls love bridges. Maybe meet lady troll there. Oh. Or bigger nasty troll. Great Wizard protect us, okay?”

“I’ll try,” Merlin laughed. “Though I’m having trouble keeping up with the surprises this world’s still throwing at us.”

They rode through that day, into the night, and through many more days and nights. The reindeer seemed tireless, but the exhausted travelers managed to sleep in fitful snatches with hands tightly wound into their mounts’ shaggy pelts. The ground was all white now with snow. Against it, the dark twisted trees they rode past looked like ancient guardians.

Sleepily, one morning, Heather had realized the sky was beginning to pale when a terrified cry jolted her fully awake. Huge winged shapes swooped down on them, grabbed a fleeing reindeer each, then soared away, scattering blood as they went. The rest of the reindeer panicked, breaking in all directions. Merlin struggled to control his mount and to light the air with his upheld staff. Heather tried to concentrate on calming reindeer minds, but her own mind was far from calm.

Merlin was pointing his staff at one of the great flying shapes when a voice cut down toward them. “Hold it, boy! We’ve just grabbed a quick bite. So leave off the fireworks. We’re the good guys, here to rescue you—again.”

“Blanche?” all four of them cried from the backs of their flinching reindeer.

“Me and my sweetie. You may call him Hei Se if you want. That means ‘black’ in his language. He’s decided to play along with our heroic honor game for a while. There’s not much doing for a dragon in a land where most folk that believed in him are long dead.”

The sky was lightening now. Against its sooty pink, the great black dragon hovered like a storm cloud. While Heather mentally worked at herding the reindeer together again, the two circling dragons finished their snacks, then settled onto a snowy slope, rolling around to clean themselves. The snow was left streaked with blood.

The reindeer now huddled close together, and abruptly Heather’s mount announced to her,
You’re near enough to the Bridge. Get off. We’re going back.

Heather wanted to protest that the dragons wouldn’t hurt them now, but she couldn’t. Who knew when their ravenous appetites would kick in again?

Right. You’ve been great. I’m awfully sorry about the other two. We’ll be all right from here.

Quickly Heather told her companions to climb off before their restive mounts threw them off. Then the diminished herd wheeled about and charged back the way they had come, keeping closely to the cover of trees.

The four travelers were left alone looking at the two dragons. Having finished preening, both dragons were looking at them. Twice the size of Blanche but with a more slender build, the black dragon’s snout was longer and ended in drooping golden whiskers. His horns pointed backward like gold-tipped daggers instead of curving inward like Blanche’s. But they were both undeniably dragons, and Welly felt totally intimidated. He knew he wasn’t alone when Troll clambered up his legs and tried to crawl under his loose jacket.

Merlin was the first to recover. He stepped forward and bowed. “Welcome back, Blanche. And we are most honored to make your acquaintance, mighty Hei Se. If indeed you wish to accompany us, we would be doubly honored.”

The black dragon’s voice was sharp and grating. “It has been so long since I interacted with mortals, I might find this amusing. My dear Blanche tells me you are aiming to return to your home on the other side of the world. I could never bring myself to leave my own home for long even after the fools who lived there managed to destroy it. But the thought of a brief vacation is most intriguing—particularly accompanied by such a charming lady.”

Heather could have sworn she saw their dragon’s white scales briefly blush pink.

“Then we should be under way,” Merlin said, “now that you have dined. I am sure you are aware that we are pursued. A benevolent mountain spirit attacked our pursuers but may have only temporarily delayed them. We were being sent to some sort of bridge. Is that how you recommend going?”

The black dragon laughed, producing not smoke but a swirling gust of wind. “The Bridge, yes. The Land Bridge. It was there eons ago when I was a mere dragonling, and some of my humans crossed it. But then it vanished under the waves and only lately has risen again. It would not be a swift matter to walk it because mostly it is covered in ice and snow. But it would be a good route to fly over. Crossing hundreds of miles of open ocean is not to my taste. Snatching up a quick seal or a dolphin is no easy matter, and there would be no perch to rest weary wings.”

Again Merlin bowed. “We will follow your advice, mighty Hei Se, and if you would permit two of us to ride on your back, it will ease the burden on Blanche.”

The white dragon snorted. “Don’t presume, boy. I’m strong enough to carry twice your number.” Then, turning to the other dragon, she added, “But I am happy to share the adventure with dearest Hei Se, if that suits you, my dear.”

Merlin suggested that there be a magic worker on each dragon, and Heather quickly chose Blanche. Welly immediately joined her. Troll practically fainted from fear, and Merlin had to carry him up onto Hei Se’s back and wedge him into a fold in the scales in front of him.

Soon they were again in the air, soaring toward the newly risen sun. Before long, they saw the gray expanse of ocean approaching to their right. But to their left the land continued in a narrow arch, its surface white with snow that here and there opened into grassy tundra. Small herds of reindeer and other shaggy animals grazed there.

For days, they skimmed over the land bridge, resting briefly when they saw patches of open tundra. Sometimes the dragons would find a herd to snack on, and other times they would sail out over the open sea and return with something slick and blubbery. There were times too when after leaving their riders on land, they simply played in the sky, diving and circling, shooting fire and storms at each other like children playing ball.

As rations picked up at various stops ran low, Merlin reluctantly asked the dragons’ aid in supplying food. The result one night was a dead two-headed rabbit dropped beside their fire. Heather was sorry to see it lying there but couldn’t resist the enticing smell of roasting rabbit once Merlin and Welly had managed to skin and cook it.

When the last scrap of meat was finished and the greasy fingers were licked, Welly asked Merlin about the black dragon. “From what he said about the land bridge, he sounds really ancient. Can dragons live that long?”

Merlin nodded, collecting the rabbit bones and giving them to Troll to crack for marrow. “Dragons are creatures of Faerie, so they’re as close to immortal as anything can be. They can be killed, of course. For a time, in Britain, heroes went around doing that. That’s one reason many dragons returned to their Otherworlds even before the Devastation. This Chinese dragon must have a tremendous attachment to his land for him to have stayed with no one left to tell stories about him.”

Troll threw aside the last of his cracked bones. “That sad. Humans can be big bother. But tell good stories. Make even small trolls feel big.”

Heather laughed. “You mean creatures from the Otherworlds like humans because we tell stories about them, making them out as heroes—or villains?”

“Or gods,” Merlin added. “Kali is a goddess, and her power is of a whole different type. Worship is vital to them, and no doubt she was once worshiped as a bringer of both life and death. But the world is badly out of balance now, and she retains power through fear and human sacrifices.”

Suddenly Heather went pale. “Was that what Morgan was trying to do, become immortal by drinking my blood?”

Merlin scowled. “Morgan is part human, part Eldritch. Same as I am. But mixed-bloods are mortal. We can use magic to prolong our lives, and Morgan has chosen to do so with the darkest magic.”

Gently grabbing Heather’s hand, Merlin said, “I foolishly told her about you, about the strength of the new magic. That’s why she wanted your blood particularly. And now that she has met you, she might suspect even more about your powers. That army that was beaten back by the Mountain—it was full of demons, demons Kali probably called up for her. I think they’re following us now not just for vengeance or even to keep us from revealing their plans to Arthur. They must realize how much power you have and how much threat you pose to them.”

“Threat? All I can do is a little animal magic and talk in my mind to a few people.”

“But you do it in a different way. Magic based on life, on human relationships, and on communication—that is a threat to them. Their magic depends on fear and hate. That’s how they want to unite the world. But if, as the world gradually recovers, people learn to communicate instead of hate and their growing magic feeds on life instead of death—then this new world could develop differently.”

“Ah, what a wise sage you are, boy.” The black dragon had silently crept up and been listening. He laughed when they all jumped and looked around. “That is another reason, besides the undeniable charms of my beloved, that made me throw my lot in with you. I can feel the hate of those pursuing you. It rises from the same sources that drove humans to destroy their world. Anything I can do to thwart those forces would give me infinite pleasure.”

Merlin bowed. “Thank you. We are honored by your support.”

“Are they still pursuing us?” Welly asked nervously.

“Of course they are, boy,” Blanche snorted. “So if you’ve all finished philosophizing, mount up. Dear Hei Se says we haven’t much farther to go.”

“And what will we find when we get there?” Heather asked, trying to keep her voice steady. The great black dragon still made her jumpy.

“Who knows?” He laughed gustily. “It’s my first trip beyond China. But if there are human survivors anywhere, there will still be openings to their Otherworlds. This is a voyage of discovery.”