A Land Of Fire (Book 12) (13 page)

There came a shout, followed by Conven’s
cry, and they all chased after him, on his heels.

Thor and the others burst into a small
clearing, and as he did, he stopped short, shocked by what he saw.

It was like something out of a
nightmare. There was a gigantic spider, grotesquely large, five times taller
than Thor, with eight hairy, thick legs, fifty feet long. Thor was horrified to
see that one of them was wrapped around Conven, lifting him, examining him, and
squeezing him as it opened its huge jaws and raised him toward it.

O’Connor stepped forward boldly and
fired off three arrows at the spider’s gigantic, purple eyes. One was a direct
hit, and the creature shrieked and dropped Conven; he fell through the air and
landed on the soft forest floor.

The spider, enraged, reached down and
swiped O’Connor before he could react; O’Connor shrieked, a gash in his arm from
the spider’s razor-sharp claws. O’Connor sank to his knees, clutching his arm
as it gushed blood, and as he did, the spider leaned down to eat him.

Elden rushed forward, raised his ax, and
chopped the end of the spider’s leg right before it could grasp Conven. The
spider shrieked, gushing a green pus, and it swung around with one of its other
legs and wrapped it around Elden. Elden cried out as it squeezed him,
constraining his arms, and lifted him up to its mouth.

Thor rushed forward, the others beside
him, and raised his sword high and reached up and stabbed the spider in the
chest; it shrieked. Beside him, Indra threw her dagger, lodging it in the
spider’s eyes and Matus charged forward and sliced one of the spider’s other
legs. It dropped Elden and buckled, as if about to fall.

Yet as they watched, the spider, to
Thor’s shock, grew a brand new leg. It hissed, an awful sound, and as it opened
its mouth wide, there suddenly emerged a massive silk web, shooting out and
entangling them all. It was the stickiest thing Thor had ever felt, and as the
spider wrapped it around them again and again, soon Thor found himself unable
to move, completely restricted.

The spider hoisted them all up into the
air, dangling before it, and examined them all, as if deciding which to eat
first. It seemed to settle on Reece, and it leaned forward, opened its jaws,
and prepared to eat him.

Thorgrin, helpless as the others, closed
his eyes and summoned his inner power.

Please, God. Do not abandon me. Not
here, in this place. Do not allow my friends to die.

Thor gradually felt a warmth rise up within
him. He felt his inner power returning, recalling his time in the Land of the Druids;
he began to feel the power of the spider, to feel the very fabric of the web,
and inside him there grew an ancient and unmistakable power, stronger than any weapon,
stronger than any man or any creature. He felt his mother’s bracelet buzzing on
his wrist, and he opened his eyes and looked.

A hole began burning right through the
web, emanating from the diamond in his bracelet. It widened, and Thor felt his
arm freed up. Soon, the hole burned even greater, and he felt himself freed
from the web.

Thor turned and leapt for the spider’s
mouth, right before it could eat Reece, throwing himself inside it, planting
his hands on its upper jaw and pushing higher and higher until the spider
screeched and dropped Reece to the ground.

Thor spun out of the spider’s jaw, and
as he did, the spider snapped its mouth shut, barely missing killing him. In
the same motion, Thor leapt upward and jumped onto the spider’s back, raising
his sword and plunging it in the back of its neck.

The spider’s legs buckled, and it
collapsed down to the ground, on its belly, shrieking.

One by one his Legion brothers disentangled
themselves from the spider’s web, and as they did, Thor used his power to move
the web, to wrap the spider in it, again and again, until the spider was
immobile, helpless, flailing in rage. Thor reached down and grabbed the web,
spun it around with superhuman strength, then hurled it.

The spider went flying over the trees, through
the air, until it finally landed far out into the ocean with a splash. It
hissed and flailed, and they all watched as it slowly sank down into the sea.

The boys all exchanged a look of wonder,
realizing how lucky they all were to be alive, how close they had come to
death. As they all made their way back to the boats, Thor realized that, even
in this empty sea, they could never again assume any place was safe.

Gwen, having handed off the baby to
Illepra, knelt on the deck of the ship beside Argon, laying a gentle hand on
his wrist. It was cold to the touch, as it had been ever since they had
departed for this journey, and he still lay in the position in which she had
left him. Gwen was heartbroken to see him like this, lying on his back, looking
so frail, so weak, his eyes moving beneath his closed eyelids, as if he were
living some dream, off in some other world.

“Argon, are you there?” she asked. “Come
back to me.”

He did not reply; he did not even
flinch. Gwen felt that a part of Argon was still with her, but that another
part was far away. She wondered if he would ever come back to her. He had given
so much of himself to enable them all to survive, and Gwen felt guilty for it. She
wanted now, more than ever, to be able to turn to him with questions, needing
answers more than ever. Here she was, a Queen leading a nation in exile,
heading to the most unlikely of places, right into the heart of the Empire. Gwen
wondered if it was an insane plan, if they were all on their final death voyage
as the currents pulled them further and further east, away from the Ring, away
from the Upper Isles, and most of all, away from Guwayne and Thor.

Gwendolyn closed her eyes and felt a
tear. She thought of Thor and Guwayne, out there in the sea somewhere, searching
for each other, so far from her. It was a quest, she knew, from which they
might not ever return. She wondered how fate could be so cruel to take Thorgrin
away from her just at the moment she had seen him again. Were they ever
destined to be together, in one place? Would they ever wed? Would they ever
settle down together?

Gwen opened her eyes and saw that Argon
would not be able to answer her now. She was on her own, and she would have to
be strong, for all of her people.

Gwendolyn rose to her feet and walked to
the side of the deck, looking out at the exotic creatures in this part of the
sea, noticing all of her people standing at the edge of the railing, watching
and wondering. She followed their gaze and looked up to the sky, and she blinked
in surprise. Perhaps a hundred yards overhead, instead of clouds, there was an
ocean, just like the ocean beneath him. At first she thought it was a
reflection. But then she realized it was a real ocean, floating in the sky. Out
of it fish leapt, upside down, then went back in.

It was the strangest thing she’d ever
seen, and she could not fathom how it was possible.

Gwen scanned the horizon, and she saw
rainbows—not just one, but hundreds of them. They were not shaped in arcs, but in
circular cones, rising straight up from the ocean to the sky. There were cones
of color everywhere, lighting up the sea.

Gwen heard a strange noise and looked up
to see a huge bird, with a wing span perhaps twenty yards wide and a huge,
grotesque head, circling above and shrieking. There appeared several more, swooping
down, grabbing strange creatures out of the water, glowing, orange squid-like
creatures, then swallowing them as they flew off.

The deeper into this sea they sailed,
the more foreign everything became. The air smelled different here; the wind
felt different. They were sailing deeper into a land Gwen had never known, a
land she had never wished to know. She found herself missing home, missing the
familiar, wanting to turn back, wanting everything just to be the way it was.
But she forced herself to realize that the past was gone forever.

Gwen thought again of Guwayne, out there
on the water, and her thoughts turned to Thorgrin. The farther away from them
she sailed, the more she felt a heaviness in her chest, felt the likelihood
increasing that she would never see them again. As she leaned over the rail,
she extracted a quill and scroll of parchment from her waist, and she leaned against
the wide, smooth rail and began to write:

My dearest Thorgrin:

My love for you has not waned, nor shall
it ever. I love you more than I can ever say, and I know you shall reunite us
with our son. I want you to know the place you hold in my heart. I think of you
and dream of you, and you are right here by my side. You are the only one I’ve
ever loved, and I shall never stop loving you.

Your love forever,

Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn took the scroll and rolled it
up tight. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a small glass, took the
cork off, put the letter inside, and sealed it back up. A tear rolling down her
cheeks, she reached back and threw it. It went spinning through the air and
landed with a soft splash in the sea.

As her unlikely message in a bottle
floated on the waves, Gwendolyn half expected it to sink. She knew, of course,
that there was no way that Thor would ever get it. And yet, she liked to think
that somehow, by its entering the waters, he sensed it.

As Gwen watched the small bottle, she suddenly
heard a screech high above, different from the other birds. She looked up, and her
heart warmed to see her old friend, Estopheles, diving down low, zeroing in on
the glass bottle. She dove down and rescued Gwen’s message from the waters,
swooping up the glass in her beak. She screeched as she flipped her great wings
and carried it off, westward into the sky.

As Gwendolyn watched her go, her heart
filled with wonder and hope.

Estopheles,
she thought.
Find
Thorgrin, and carry my message to him.

Gwen heard a strange noise coming from a
few feet away, on the other side of the deck. She looked over to see Sandara
leaning over the rail, sprinkling flowers and ashes into the waters, and chanting
in a strange language. Somehow, at the sight of her, Gwendolyn felt better.
There was something about her, a healing quality, that made Gwendolyn feel at
peace around her.

Sandara turned to look at her with her
large black soulful eyes, and Gwendolyn quickly wiped away her tears, ashamed.

Sandara smiled and walked toward her, laying
a hand on her shoulder. As she did, Gwendolyn felt a warmth seep into her, felt
that somehow, despite everything, all would be okay.

*

Sandara laid her hands on Queen
Gwendolyn’s shoulders, and she closed her eyes, chanting softly. She
concentrated on sending her healing energy, and as she did, she could feel Gwendolyn’s
wounded spirit. She could feel all of the sadness within Gwendolyn, could feel
her devastation at not being with her son, with her husband, Thorgrin. She
could feel her uncertainty about the future, and she could also sense something
else. She was not sure what. It felt like…regret about a decision she’d made.
Something she had done in another world, a choice she’d had to make, having to
do with sacrifice. She felt Gwen’s tremendous guilt and uncertainty over the
fate of her husband and her son.

Sandara felt tremendous heat leaving her
palms and entering Gwendolyn as she focused on healing her. She opened her
eyes, and as she did, she saw Gwendolyn wipe away her tears, and watched her
expression lighten. She realized that her healing had worked; she had taken
Gwen’s sadness away. She shook her palms, which were burning her.

“I feel better around you,” Gwen said. “Where
did you learn your craft?”

Sandara smiled back.

“I am just another healer, my lady.”

Gwendolyn shook her head and laid a hand
on Sandara’s shoulder.

“No,” she replied. “You’re far more than
that. You have a gift.”

Sandara smiled and looked away.

“My people,” Sandara said, “they have
different customs, different ways of healing. I come from a long line of
healers. Seers, my people call them.”

“Those flowers you dropped into the
water earlier,” Gwendolyn said. “What were they?”

“They were prayers for your husband and
your son,” Sandara said. “It is an ancient custom among my people. I prayed that
the flowers would be carried on the tide, just as your boy and husband be
carried on the tides back to you.”

Sandara could see by Gwen’s face how
touched she was.

“I am looking forward to meeting your
people,” Gwendolyn said. “What are they like?”

Sandara sighed as she turned and looked
out at the sea.

“My people are a very proud people. It
is something of a paradox, as they have been slaves their entire lives. Yet
they carry the pride of kings. They live with this paradox, each day.”

“Sometimes the greatest pride lies
within those who are subjugated,” Gwen replied.

“Your words are true, my lady,” Sandara
said. “Just because one is a slave does not mean one is weak—it simply means
they are outnumbered. But numbers change, and one day my people will rise up
again.”

“Will your people shelter us?” Gwen
asked, concern in her voice.

Sandara sighed, wondering the same
thing.

“My people take the laws of hospitality
very seriously,” she said. “And yet, the Empire is cruel, barbaric. If my
people are caught harboring you, it will be death for them and their families.”

A flash of concern crossed Gwendolyn’s
face.

“Perhaps we should go elsewhere in the
Empire?”

Sandara shook her head.

“There is nowhere else,” she said. “Not
on this side of the empire. There are other places within the empire, other
places of rebellion, but they will be longer and harder to get to—and in other
places, the slaves are subjugated worse than us.”

Gwendolyn looked at her meaningfully and
nodded.

“Thank you,” she said. “Whatever happens,
thank you. You have helped us. You have given us a direction. Even if it does
not work.”

Sandara smiled, her eyes welling up; she
felt so grateful toward Gwendolyn, who had taken her in from the start, and who
had always been so kind to her.

“One day we might be sisters,” Gwen
added, with a smile.

Sandara blushed, recalling all of
Kendrick’s talk of marriage.

“I will do whatever I can, my lady,”
Sandara said, “to convince my people. You shall have my loyalty, whatever
happens.”

Several of Gwen’s councilors approached
and pulled her away, needing her attention on other matters, and Sandara soon
found herself standing alone, looking out at the sea. She leaned over the
railing, and wondered, trying to imagine the future that lay ahead of her. It
would be so strange to be back home after all this time. How would her people
receive her? Surely, they would be happy to see her; and yet, she would be arm
in arm with Kendrick, a man of white skin. How would her people react? They
could be very judgmental, she knew. More importantly, how would they react to
her arriving with the ships? Would they turn them away?

As Sandara stood there, wondering, she
felt a presence beside her, and she turned to see Kendrick coming up beside
her, smiling down at her, draping an arm around her waist. She leaned in as he
hugged her, and as always, she felt so comfortable in his arms.

“So we get to be together after all,” he
said.

Sandara smiled back.

“All that time in the Ring,” he added,
“you planned your return to the Empire, without me. And yet here we are,
returning together. I suspect that if we hadn’t all been exiled, you would have
left without me.”

Sandara nodded.

“Indeed I would have,” she said. “Not because
I do not love you, but because my people need me.”

Kendrick nodded.

“Then at least,” he said, “I shall be
thankful for the one good thing the great war brought me.”

Sandara studied his face, so noble, so beautiful,
and she could see his love for her, and she felt a flash of concern.

“Kendrick, I love you deeply,” she said.
“I would like to think our love will withstand any obstacle, especially now
that we shall be together in my homeland.”

She fell silent, and he studied her,
confusion written on his face.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Sandara paused, wondering how to phrase
it.

“My people,” she explained, “they do not
marry those of other races. Ours will be a first. Assuming, of course, you are
even thinking of marriage.”

Kendrick reached over and took her hand
and looked her in the eyes.

“I’ve asked for your hand in marriage
many times—and I would still like it now as much as ever.”

Sandara smiled back up at him, feeling
for the first time that maybe it was not a dream, that maybe it could really
happen. And that scared her.

“What I am trying to say,” she said, “is
that I don’t know how my people will react to you.”

He looked at her carefully.

“I did not take you to be one who bows to
the will of her people,” he said.

Sandara reddened, indignant.

“I am my own person,” she replied. “I
bow to no one. And yet, my people are very close to one another. The disapproval
of the elders is not something easily tolerated. I do not wish to be an outcast
among my family.”