Fireclaws - Search for the Golden (19 page)

Only they weren’t there; in fact, the entire wagon was gone!

With a snarl worthy of any Jag’uri, I whipped around and spotted my prey. The wagon was careening down the steep side of the knoll, flames and embers spewing behind it. It was picking up speed, bumping and jerking along the uneven ground without direction of any kind. Stung into action, I launched myself into scared-kitty mode and tore after it. Over short distances, there are few natural creatures faster than a motivated cat.

I caught up and, once I gained the relatively unburned back deck of the wagon, started my transformation. The fiery juggernaut had reached its maximum velocity and was roaring across the bottom of the amphitheatre headed for the massive wooden cathedral. Fighting the heat and the smoke, I felt the flesh on my hands heat up painfully as I yanked back the heavy iron bolt and whipped the door open.

“Oh, this is just pathetic!” I coughed. There sitting on the floor of the bouncing wagon was Kerrik, with Naurakka, all twelve feet of her, attempting to get as much of her body on his lap as possible. To his credit, the wizard was doing an admirable job of keeping my four-footed girl calm, but it was well past time to leave. “Come on, you two, we’ve got three seconds before this ride comes to a bad end.”

Naurakka didn’t have to be told twice. She launched herself off Kerrik, not being too careful where she put her feet in the process, and I saw Andi’s brother wince in pain. Out the door and off the wagon, the Jag’uri shot into the cool outside air. Holding my breath against the stifling smoke, I crouched low and dragged Kerrik to the door with me.

“
Jump, Ryliss, now!”
Rakka commanded.

With no time to prepare, I just wrapped my arms around Kerrik and the two of us fell out the back in more or less a ball form. We hit the ground hard and I took most of the impact on my back, but I made sure I kept us rolling away from the fire. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I didn’t feel any pain from my skin scraping the rocks or the chunks of flaming wood I landed on. By now, the wagon was using all its velocity to climb up and over the wall of the bowl-shaped amphitheatre. At least where we landed, gravity was still pulling us down the slope and away from the fire.

I bounced to my feet just in time to see the wagon gain the top rim of the bowl and rocket across the last thirty or so feet to the Canna’s cathedral. Several ton of wagon noisily impacted the still open doorway and the doors were blasted off their hinges as it attempted to plow all the way into the structure. The first few iron bars sticking up from the cage body bent over nicely as they crossed the threshold. The slowing momentum caused the rest of the bars to hold their own, effectively wedging the conflagration on wheels in place blocking the entrance.

With all the structural twisting and bending, and the shock of impact, the wooden ceiling of the prison cage finally collapsed into the now-engulfed interior, dumping all the bundles of dead pine saplings into the fire. The effect was instantaneous; a rippling, crackling sound like shredding cloth rent the air as they torched off, and the flames exploded thirty feet into the air along the outer and inner walls of the cathedral. The carved, wooden planking of the structure welcomed the flames like long-lost lovers. Heat begat heat, flame begat flame, and suddenly the fire was running wild, attacking the monumental structure itself. Given the shape and height of the grand building, it was doomed; no bucket brigade would put this out.

I dusted myself off and helped Kerrik, who was still having trouble breathing, to his feet. He bent over, hands on his knees, to steady himself.

“Ryliss, you’re alive,” he said hoarsely.

“More or less. Where’s Andi?”

“Captured by Verledn’s men this morning. That’s why I was here; I was hoping to enlist their aid…” he gasped, still choking from the smoke.

I growled out some elf phrases that should never be repeated in polite company, human or elf. Kerrik seemed to recognize much of what I said and his eyes widened as he nodded in agreement. “What do we do now, Ryliss?”

“We find her, Kerrik, we find her. But first, I need to have a talk with Chief Aegone of the Canna.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kerrik

Before Ryliss could turn and walk away, a black, long-haired goat burst out of the trees and crossed the distance in an instant. By now, I could recognize Daffi in any of her forms. At first it had bothered me, this animalistic side of her personality, but the more I became exposed to it, the less it seemed to matter.

Still on the run, she transformed back into her human form, her naked human form, as her clothes hadn’t had time to reconstitute yet. Without even a glance at Ryliss, she threw herself into my arms and brought my face down for a quick tearful kiss. “Kerrik! I was so worried,” she babbled, looking me over frantically for any signs of injury. Other than a few burns, I was fine, and she again melted into my arms and lifted her lips to mine.

Part of my brain was very cognizant of the fact that Ryliss was standing right there watching all this, and I had a brief flash of warring emotions. I had promised to treat Daphne as a sister, and I failed. I also had some unresolved attraction to Ryliss locked up somewhere behind a stout door in my mind. Plus, my duty should be to think of rescuing my sister above all things. But after looking into Daffi’s dark, loving eyes, all of that seemed to get pushed aside as I returned her kiss and crushed her to my chest. I buried my face in her hair and whispered words of comfort. She leaned away and sniffled.

“You need a bath, my love.”

“Ahem,” we heard from behind us, and there was Ryliss, standing with her arms crossed and a strange look of confusion and disappointment on her face.

“Lady Ryliss?” Daffi exclaimed, seeing her as a dark elf for the first time. The pooka’s clothes had finished reforming, but she still self-consciously fidgeted with pulling down her overshirt and trying to smooth out the wrinkles in her hose. This completed, she went down on one knee and bowed her head. “Mistress, I am pleased to see that you are alive and so very beautiful!” The last part was spoken with a fearful look in my direction.

Ryliss pulled the dark-haired, half-nymph to her feet and embraced her warmly. “I missed you too, Daffi. I can see we have much to catch up on later around the campfire,” she said, giving me a meaningful glance. “But right now, I need you to watch over Kerrik and get him out of here if things turn ugly with the Canna. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes, Mistress, I will guard him with my life.”

With that Ryliss spun around and marched determinedly back in the direction of Chief Aegone. I looked around cautiously and whispered, “Daffi, change back into one of your forms, right now!”

“But why?”

“Because you are vulnerable in your human form, remember? The Canna could regroup and come back blazing away with arrows any second, and I don’t want to lose you!”

The pooka lowered her eyes shyly and put her hands flat on my chest. “Does this mean you have come to care in some way or form, Oh Great Wizard?”

“Care?” I asked blankly, “of course, I care.”

“Care enough that if the beautiful Lady Ryliss decided that she wanted you for her own, you wouldn’t fall all over yourself to rush to her side?”

“Daffi, what kind of a question is that? Ryliss and I barely know each other.”

“Kerrik, I saw how intrigued you were with the mysterious Lady Ryliss when we first met. She saved your life several times and that has to mean much to a man like you. And now to see her as gorgeous as she really is…well, it’s a fair question, isn’t it?” Daffi licked her lips nervously and looked up at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

I took a few seconds to really think about it. Finally, I drew her back into my arms and whispered in her ear, “Look, Daffi, I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We need to get out of this mess with the Canna and rescue Andi before I can even begin to plan for the future. But know this, there is no one I would rather be with than you right now. Besides, I still owe you a formal dance when we get to Xarparion. Now, if you aren’t a horse, goat or rabbit in thirty seconds or less, I’m going to go over and start making time with that donkey over there!”

Daffi squealed with delight and wrapped her arms around my neck for a quick kiss before her skin darkened and began to sprout hair, hands broadened to hoofs, and she dropped to stand on all fours. A few moments later, I was being nuzzled by a medium-sized black horse, with a very luxurious mane and tail. Together, the two of us walked over to follow Ryliss.

When we got there, a very wrathful dark elf was standing with crossed arms in front of her stone twin. Diori had Chief Aegone’s wrist held firmly in one hand, while the other hand encircled the meatier wrist of Irenth, the Canna’s military commander. A shattered long sword and a dagger lay on the ground near his feet. I hadn’t gotten to know Irenth well in the few days I stayed with the Canna, but he had a reputation for being hard, but fair with his men. He was also the green elf commander who had brought us in originally when we first entered Canna land. The statue hadn’t moved or spoken a word since we approached, and the two elves knew by now that it was pointless to struggle against her. Aegone appeared beside himself with rage while Irenth merely looked resigned to his fate.

Finally, Ryliss spoke, “Thank you, Diori; your help is very much appreciated.”

The stone girl’s features suddenly became animated and she smiled pleasantly as if someone had complimented her on her dress or commented on the fine weather. “You are most welcome, Ryliss. I know your instructions were to detain only this elf.” She stopped and nodded at Aegone, then swiveled to gaze upon the warrior. “But this one was very insistent that he not be excluded, so I thought it best to detain him, as well, before he injured himself.”

“Well done and exactly right, Diori. Please continue to hold onto them until we have finished our conversation.”

“As you wish,” she said and returned to being statue-like. I was beginning to notice that many of the Canna civilians and guards had returned cautiously to the edge of the tree lines and were watching both us and the burning cathedral with mute horror. Ryliss saw them as well, as did the prisoners. A dozen or so archers seemed to be readying their weapons and thinking about moving toward us.

“Don’t just stand there; shoot the witch and her companions!” Aegone screamed hoarsely.

“No!” Irenth called out to his troops even louder. “You will take no action! Violence thus far has not worked to our benefit, and I, for one, wish to see words exchanged instead of arrows!”

“You are not chief of the Canna, Irenth!” Aegone spat.

“I stand by my decision, Aegone. You are free to ask for my sword at any time,” the warrior said with a self-depreciating smile as he gestured to the broken weapons on the ground.

Ryliss nodded and then raised her hands and voice, gesturing to the elves hiding in the woods. “Please come forth; I wish to speak so that you all can hear. My hand is open; I offer no violence if none is directed at me. Please, gather around.” A few of the braver ones marched forward and sat cross-legged on the ground, but the bulk of them held back, whispering in fear.

Ryliss smiled and resumed her speech, “First, I am not a witch and everything I told you the first time I was here is true.” She made a small hand gesture and blew a kiss toward the trees on the far side of the amphitheatre where few if any elves gathered. Almost immediately, a few small deer poked their heads out of the trees and, heads down and tails wagging side to side, they shyly trotted across the opening to stand at her side. They were followed by raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, and a couple of gray fox kits. From the air, several jays landed on Ryliss’ outstretched arms and preened themselves self-consciously, vying for her attention, as did a number of finches and sparrows. Naurakka even came out of hiding and stalked across the grounds to lie down calmly at the dark elf’s feet.

None of the animals evinced any fear or mistrust of her or each other in her presence; they just seemed overjoyed to be near her. She caressed several of them, her broad smile lingering over them like sunshine. The ground parted next to her and a quartet of huge, gnarly tree roots surfaced, flattened out, and then dove back into the sandy soil, leaving a natural platform for her to step up on. I was close enough to take note of her reaction as she looked at the ground and mouthed the words, “Thank you, Earth Mother.” Leaping up onto her natural stage, she addressed the growing gathering. “My name is Ryliss Tancreek. I am a servant of the Earth Mother.”

The elves closest to me were chattering animatedly, “By the gods…she really is a Druid!” Almost immediately, most of the Canna still crouched fearfully in the woods stood up with serene smiles on their faces and gravitated closer. Like small children answering their mother’s voice, they filled in the seating in a large circle around us all. They were still giving the Jag’uri a wide amount of distance, though.

Ryliss continued, “The other thing I told you was that I work for the enchanter, Rosa, from Sky Raven Fortress. The same fortress where the Lifebane met his end five years ago; I was there for the great battle, and Sky Raven is still my home to this day. Again, all true! I also told you that I was trained, not as a dark elf assassin, nor a spy, nor even a warrior, but as a librarian; this is also exactly correct.

“Five years ago at the battle for our world, defending the walls of Sky Raven there were dark elves fighting alongside humans, fighting alongside dwarves, fighting alongside dragons, wizards, and pixies. And in the entire fortress, there was but one green elf!” Some in the crowd grumbled slightly at the implied slight to their honor. “I say this, not to shame you in any way; your warriors are as good as any on the planet. But what I am saying is that five years ago, you insulated yourselves in fear in your deep forests like this one, and five years later - today, you are still here hiding.