Bricrui (The Forgotten: Book 2) (11 page)

The old woman widened her eyes to two round
orbs and mouthed ‘oops’. Several children giggled once more.

“Zuzka was worried, and asked ‘why does that
matter to the dragons? They are the most powerful creatures in the
world, anything you can do, they can do better.’ The worm looked at
her with blind eyes, his features accustomed to digging. ‘They
cannot,’ he told her, ‘the area makes it impossible to use magic to
accomplish and they are much too big to physically dig it with the
detail it requires. I do not think they even realize the
significance of what I do, and wouldn’t even know to try. I fear
that with the next rain, their homes will be destroyed.’ Zuzka was
truly worried now, and surprised herself by her first thinking of
what would happen to the children before worrying about her own
possessions. It was nesting season and there were many young
dragons in nests who would be harmed by a sudden flood. ‘What can
we do?’ Zuzka asked the worm serpent. The worm wriggled around to
the edge of the ledge it was trapped upon and twitched part of its
body towards the earth far below. ‘I need to get back to my holes,
over there,’ he said, ‘if I can get back to them quickly enough, I
will be able to make the tunnels to save their homes. But I can
feel the rain coming, we may already be too late.’”

The woman looked up into the sky, which in
reality was clear, but she continued saying, “As Zuzka looked to
the sky, she saw that indeed, rainclouds were rolling in quickly.
She guessed that the rain would begin within the hour. If only she
hadn’t teased the little worm serpent, the dragons wouldn’t be in
danger! And now that she was a useless tiny thing, there was
nothing she could do about it. In her natural form, she could
simply pick him up and put him back in his rightful place.”

The woman paced back and forth, clasping her
hands together and pressing them to her mouth as if in deep
thought. The children watched with wide eyes, enthralled, and
several of their mouths were hanging open in fear for the
dragons.

The woman stopped her pacing and took up the
story once more, saying, “A bird suddenly lighted on a branch next
to their ledge and greeted them. ‘I couldn’t help but overhear your
predicament,’ it said, ‘perhaps I can help.’ Zuzka’s first reaction
was that this tiny bird couldn’t do anything, but then an idea
struck her. ‘You can go ask the dragons for help!’ she exclaimed.
‘They are the only ones who can fix this.’ The bird looked at her,
and then up at the sky. ‘I would not be able to reach their homes
and return with them in time. We will have to do it
ourselves.’”

The old woman threw up her arms in a gesture
of Zuzka’s impatience. “‘How can we do anything? It is hopeless if
we cannot reach the dragons in time,’ Zuzka cried, sure that the
dragons’ homes were doomed. A tiny bird, a worm serpent, and her in
her current useless form were certain to fail. The little bird eyed
her. ‘It sounds like you’ve been spending too much time with that
conceited little dragon whelp that comes around the forest,
ordering us around. She may think that we’re nothing because of our
size, or our appearance, or our abilities, but don’t let her
convince you that you are nothing. We all have things that are
special about us. Just like the worm serpent here; he can do
something that the dragons cannot.’ Zuzka scoffed at her. She went
on, ‘Can dragons turn nectar from flowers in honey like the bees?
Can they swim underneath the water without breath like the fish?
Can they all work together like a group of ants, carrying ten times
their weight and knowing, as a single mind, where to dig to create
their intricate cities in the earth?’ The little bird paused, and
Zuzka was forced to admit that dragons could not do any of these
things. For the first time in her life, she thought about all the
other creatures in the world for a change.”

The storyteller looked skywards, her hand to
her chin as in contemplation. “‘Alright,’ Zuzka declared, ‘let’s
figure out a way to get this wonderful creature down there!’
Together, she and the little bird tried to find a way to get a hold
on him to move him safely off the ledge. But his skin was too slimy
for her claws to get a grip on without hurting him, and he kept
sliding off Zuzka’s back when they tried. Another little bird
joined them and asked what was going on. The first bird explained
quickly, ‘that bully of a dragon left this worm serpent up here
where he’s unable to get back to his work. As soon as those
rainclouds blow in, the river will flood out the dragons’ homes.’
The second bird snorted, ‘It would serve that trouble-maker right
for everything she’s put us through. As if we all don’t have better
things to do with our time than buff her stupid claws. If it wasn’t
for the rest of the dragons doing so much for us…’ he trailed off
and the hint of his intentions of what he’d like to do with her
made Zuzka’s face flush. She was surprised by how embarrassed the
realization of what the forest creatures actually thought of her
made her feel.”

The old woman hung her head momentarily.

“More and more little birds came to help, and
eventually, they got Zuzka to wrap her legs around the worm and
each of them held onto one of her limbs. Normally, she would have
dreaded contact with a creature so far beneath herself, but she was
beginning to realize just how important he was. With a bird holding
on to each leg, and two on her tail, they were finally able to get
the worm up off the ground. They made slow progress towards the
holes below, with the storm looming ever closer. Finally, they
reached the spot, and the worm serpent set right to work, tunneling
into the ground. Zuzka sat with the birds, huddling together,
awaiting the rain to see if they had gotten him here in time. As
droplets fell to the earth, harder and harder, they all watched in
trepidation, to see if the river would be properly diverted. The
water levels rose quickly with the sudden downpour, threatening to
overflow the riverbed, and then suddenly leveled out, the excess
water abruptly allowed to drain elsewhere. The little worm had done
it! Zuzka cheered with the rest of the audience of creatures, which
had tripled since their flight had drawn attention. Then, out of
nowhere, the elder dragon appeared. Zuzka tried to hide behind the
birds, sure he was going to take something else away from her for
having created the almost-disaster.”

The woman hurried forward into the throng of
children and pulled several of them around her, as though trying to
hide, amidst their laughter.

“But the elder just smiled at her. ‘Finally,
Zuzka, you have learned the importance of the other creatures, and
seen that they can accomplish what we dragons cannot. You have
earned the right to your natural form again.’ Zuzka tried to stop
him, embarrassed to sudden turn into the dragon that these
creatures had been talking of so unkindly, but he was too fast. The
creatures all watched in shocked surprise, and Zuzka hung her head.
‘I don’t know what to say,’ she said, looking at the ground. Then,
the worm serpent, his job finished, stuck his head out of a nearby
hole and wriggled over to her, laying his body over her fore-claws.
‘I hope that you learned something here today,’ he said to her and
she looked down at him gratefully. The other animals, though still
wary of her, did not move to leave and she immediately went about
to apologize to them each personally, vowing to never again be a
bully among them.”’

The old woman wove through the crowd of
children, shaking hands with them as she went, before making her
way back to the front. She stood there silently a moment before she
wrapped up her tale with, “And the elder created the lizard to
remind Zuzka and those like her about the importance of all
creatures, and what one can accomplish even when they don’t have
all the things she used to think made her the most important
creature in the world.” The woman clapped her hands together in
finality. “And that, my dears, is where lizards come from.”

Katya found that she had been transfixed
along with the children and had to tear herself away from the group
even as the old woman began another tale. It was all well and good
that she was learning the fables of the Dena’ina people, but she
needed to find where they kept this artifact so she could steal it
from them. Hunter’s life depended on it.

So far, she didn’t see any indication of
where it was. Aside from the fact that the tribe was fairly spread
out, there was also the high level of paranoia prevalent in all
areas. They were ready for an attack at all times. Even the
children were always armed. There were quite a few
dangerous-looking beasts that Katya had encountered on her journey
here that could possibly account for this, especially when they
were on ground level, but that didn’t quite seem to make sense.
Katya couldn’t put her finger on it.

There was quite a bit of sentry activity and
she decided that this might be a good place to start. So after
tearing herself away from the story-telling, she picked a group to
follow for the night. It was bound to be a boring few nights as she
learned the routines of all of the guards.

*

Lorcan slunk around the edge of the Chamber.
He was beginning to enjoy his new game, spying on the dealings of
the Elders, although what he was finding out was more than a bit
disturbing. Since the Arrival when the baby had been brought here
from the Lost Lands, they had all been acting strangely. The
visitors from the other tribes had returned home soon after the
event, but the members of the circle from the Myaamia continued to
meet almost daily, even after the child was returned to its
parents. Lorcan was also confused by the rumors spreading through
the tribe that Katya had supposedly attacked one of the strangers,
the man they had moved from the cell to the infirmary, and had then
been banished. Since he knew that that’s not what really happened,
he was insatiably curious to find out what was going on.

He crept up to his hiding spot, proud that he
could so easily listen in to the secrets that the Elders thought
were so carefully guarded. He had even been able to create a tiny
hole in their magical barrier through which to send in a tiny probe
of his own. They had not detected a thing. He puffed out his chest
in pride. He longed to tell the other children of his feat, but
knew that none of them could be trusted to keep a secret. So
instead, he teased them with bits of knowledge that only he knew,
pretending that he picked the tidbits up from Slade.

Adjusting himself on his familiar perch, he
leaned forward to listen to the current dealings. Kali was calling
for quiet.

“Our spells to monitor the progress in the
Lost Lands have been detected and currently disabled. For the
moment, we will be flying blind. But not to worry,” she assured the
murmuring crowd, “in the last moments leading up to the event while
we could still scry into the palace, there was still no indication
that they have any clue as to what’s really going on. They still
believe that we were thwarted in our attempt and are now regrouping
for another. They do not realize that our plan is still in
motion.”

“And their actions are carrying it out,”
snickered another.

“Indeed,” Kali agreed, “And furthermore, they
have so many other problems at the moment, they will find it
impossible to worry about us.”

“What kind of problems?” someone asked
curiously, mirroring Lorcan’s own thoughts.

Kali humored her, “Their Council members are
all under mind control of one who is currently going mad from a
spell-gone-wrong. The evil man was dabbling in the forbidden arts
and wound up turning himself into a raving beast. Unfortunately for
them, he’s bringing down those he’s controlling as well.”

“When will we get to see the results of our
spell?” asked a man eagerly, changing the subject. Lorcan found it
difficult to identify all of the Elders simply by their voices,
although he was getting more and more practice. This one sounded
like Teverick.

Though Lorcan was curious to hear more about
the other problems the Lost Ones were dealing with, he too was also
more curious about those which may have been caused by his people.
The way they were talking about what had been done to the child did
not sound benevolent.

“Due to the design and purpose, it may take
years before we have confirmation of its success. As you might
imagine, there will be no observable symptoms for some time from
our vantage.” There was a strange undertone in Kali’s answer,
indicating that whatever its design was, it was not exactly what
she had wanted to do. “But I have no doubt that it was successful.
The wait will just make it that much more satisfying to see the
results, don’t you think?”

“And you’re sure they won’t detect the spell
emanating from the child? They did discover your scrying.”

“I’m sure of it,” Kali answered confidently,
“we buried it so deeply within her, they won’t ever have any clue
that she’s enchanted at all, much less detect the spell that she is
spreading to all those around her. And once everyone in the palace
is enchanted with it, they will then pass it along to everyone they
come across, and so on and so forth, and soon everyone in the Lost
Lands who has an ounce of the Dark King’s blood in them will be
unable to pass it on. We will stop the spread of the Dark King’s
seed by cutting it off at the root!”

“We’ll finally be rid of the Dark King’s
curse!” Maliki exclaimed.

Lorcan was horrified. What had they done?
Their tone made it clear that whatever the spell’s purpose, it was
not for the good of the child as they had told the tribe, but
rather to carry out whatever twisted agenda they had. Something
that would result in the complete annihilation of anyone in the
Dark King’s bloodline. Lorcan listened to the rest of the
conversation below, but it consisted mostly of reassuring one
another that their plan had worked.