Rise of the Spider Goddess (12 page)

Nakor watched as one of the two guards jerked back, clutching his throat. The other swiftly followed.

Oh no! The bad guys' embroidery dream has come to a sad and sudden end.

He looked at his companions. “Teamwork,” he commented. As one, the trio raced up to the river.

There had been a sturdy wooden bridge that spanned the river. Now, all that remained were two posts on either bank where Nakor had anchored the bridge.

“Apparently they don't want to make it easy for us,” Nakor commented. With that, he slipped off his boots and prepared to swim across.

Galadrion grabbed his arm. “Nakor, I can't cross that,” she said, looking at the deep water ahead.

Nakor and Jenn looked at her.

“You can't cross running water?” Nakor asked, remembering something he had once heard about vampires.

Galadrion rolled her eyes. “I can't swim.”

I kind of like that reversal of expectations there.

With a laugh, Nakor turned back to the river. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the water. His brow wrinkled. Water was not the easiest of the elements to manipulate.

After a short time, he opened his eyes. A bridge of ice stood where Nakor had frozen a strip of the water. “After you, Galadrion,” he said gallantly.

Nakor's magic can do
anything
the plot requires!

“You just want me to be the one to fall through if your bridge isn't strong enough,” she accused. But she led them across to the castle anyway.

There, Nakor found that the heavy oaken door had been smashed. With a sigh, he led the others inside. Whoo followed, after taking a moment to unstring his bow.

Whoo read ahead and knew there was nobody else lurking inside, so there's no need for weapons. He's clever that way.

Once inside, Nakor moved swiftly. He opened a small door, then gave a quiet prayer of thanks. Olara's men had been so busy trying to find him that they hadn't bothered to steal anything.

He grabbed a coil of rope and shoved it in his backpack. As he grabbed other assorted supplies, he took a moment to glance back at Jenn.

Thank the gods! There's nowhere else we possibly could have gone for
rope
.

“Do you need anything?”

Surprised, she shook her head. Nakor turned back and grabbed a few other items, then shut the door. Then he pursed his lips and whistled loudly.

A moment later, there was a flapping of wings as Flame flew out of another room to land on his shoulder.

“Wonder where he's been hiding?” Galadrion said.

Wherever all good characters go when the author forgets about them for a few chapters. Also, the whole whistling thing? They really aren't worried about the remaining bad guys that ran off after illusory Nakor, are they?

“There are plenty of good hiding places around here,” Nakor answered, ruffling Flame's feathers. “Lots of good mice,” he added with a grin.

“Yeah, they ate most of your food while we were away,” Galadrion commented. “I grabbed what was left, though.”

“Great,” Nakor said. He grabbed some leather cord from his pack and cut off a small piece. He used that to tie his blond hair back into a long braid.

The elf's tying his hair back. It's on, now!

Reaching into a closet and pulled out a long brown cloak and tossed it over his shoulders.

Wait, what?

“How do I look?” he asked once he fastened the cloak shut.

Galadrion raised an eyebrow.

Raised eyebrow count: 12

“It's the best I can do for a disguise,” he said defensively.

Moving quickly, they left the castle. Galadrion and Nakor each grabbed one of the dead guards, dumping them in the river as they re-crossed the bridge of ice. Once they reached the other side, Nakor stopped and looked back at the river. He waved his hand, and there was a loud cracking sound. Slowly, the ice bridge began to break apart and float downriver, melting as it went.

“Pynne said she'd meet us at the tree you fell out of,” Whoo said as they ran.

“Tree you fell out of?” asked Galadrion.

It pains me to read Galadrion's line with no response from anyone. It's like she went for a high five, and the rest of the party just left her hanging.

* * *

Pynne flew swiftly through the woods, sending her phantom Nakor darting between the trees. She paused to glance behind, making sure the others were still following. Seeing the three men crashing through the undergrowth, she began moving again.

To the right she could hear the river flowing. It had been about five minutes since she first started this chase. She figured Nakor and the others would need at least another ten.

Pynne has a digital watch for keeping track of time so precisely. It's a pixie thing.

She ducked, narrowly avoiding a large tree branch. It was becoming more difficult to fly and maintain her illusion at the same time.

Breathing heavily now, she continued to lead the men further from the castle. They were slowly beginning to gain, as she was unable to fly at her usual rate.

Worried, Pynne looked around for some way of prolonging the chase. Perhaps there would be some sort of rough terrain over which she could lead them. If not, they would soon catch up to her illusion. Once that happened, Pynne didn't know what she would do.

As she flew, she passed two baby bears playing under the close supervision of their mother. Pynne grinned briefly, remembering Nakor's story about the bear family he had disrupted.

To the right lay the river. Up ahead, the forest seemed to stretch on forever. It was the most obliging forest Pynne had ever seen. Nice, even ground with trees spaced far enough apart to allow for easy movement among them. Nothing seemed to offer a promising route to prolong the chase.

“Maybe I could send them into the river,” she muttered to herself. It wasn't a very promising idea, but it was the only thing she could think of to keep her pursuers occupied.

Suddenly she had an idea. She concentrated, and Nakor began to veer to the left, coming around in a wide circle.

Minutes later, she dropped the illusion and landed gracefully on a high tree branch.

“He disappeared behind those bushes!” the priest called to his men.

Putting on an extra burst of speed, the three men crashed through the bushes, then came to an abrupt halt. Nakor was nowhere to be seen. Up ahead, two tiny bears peered curiously at these intruders. They looked around nervously.

“He's supposed to be a wizard or something, right?” asked one of the mercenaries.

“Maybe he changed into one of the bears,” offered the other.

“Can he do that?” asked the first.

“Well he couldn't just vanish!” insisted the priest. “Spread out, and start…”

He was interrupted by a loud growling from behind. As one, they turned around to see the mother bear rear up to her full height of nine feet. Angrily, the mother bear advanced, seeking to protect its young.

Pynne flew back in the direction she had come. She winced sympathetically, hearing the first scream from behind her.

“Silly footerlings.”

And they all shared a hearty chuckle as their enemies were mauled and mutilated by an angry bear.

Nakor jumped, startled, as a small pinecone bounced off his head.

“That's for this morning,” Pynne commented, coming into view in front of him.

“What happened to the others?” asked Whoo.

“Well,” Pynne started, “the bear had the advantage of surprise, so they probably didn't do too well.”

She landed on the ground and folded her wings behind her. “Never get between a mother and her young,” she commented to herself.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a mean streak?” asked Nakor.

Pynne grinned. Then she studied him closely for a moment. “I liked the other cloak better.”

“Me too,” Nakor said.

“So now what?” Whoo asked.

“I think we should try and find the scroll Thomas was talking about,” Nakor commented.

You think? I didn't write all of that exposition and plot-bait for nothing, you know!

“You don't even know if that exists,” Pynne protested. “And even if it does, all he said was that it was ‘safe from her.' How are we supposed to find it?”

“In the temple,” Jenn said quietly, without looking up.

Everyone stared at her. “Beg your pardon?” Whoo said.

Jenn looked at Nakor. “You said Olara couldn't stay inside the temple, right?”

Suddenly an enormous grin spread across Nakor's face. “Right,” he answered.

Jenn shifted position, uncomfortable at being the center of attention. “So what better place to hide something from her?”

“I don't suppose you could tell us where inside the temple Averlon would have hidden it?” asked Whoo.

Jenn shook her head.

Something was tugging at the back of Nakor's mind. It felt as if there was some fact he was forgetting, some little bit of information he was overlooking. He closed his eyes, trying to remember.

“I guess we could just explore the whole thing,” Pynne said. “How big can a temple be, anyway?”

“They were in there exploring for several days,” Galadrion commented.

“So how many days are we going to have to spend looking for this thing, once we get to the temple?” Whoo asked.

Pynne turned to look at Nakor. “I don't suppose you could narrow down where in the temple this scroll might be hidden?”

Nakor's eyes widened. “Not in the temple, underneath it.”

“Excuse me?” asked Pynne.

He turned excitedly to Galadrion. “Do you remember when I was talking about the dreams I had last night? The ones where I was back in the temple?”

Galadrion nodded.

“The events in my dream really happened, two years ago,” he continued. “I was wounded by skeletons, and crawled off into a hidden room to heal the wound in my side.”

He looked around. “Your point being…” Whoo ventured.

“Magic doesn't work in Olara's temple.”

Comprehension dawned on Galadrion. “You cast a healing spell, and it worked!”

“Which means I wasn't in the temple anymore, or else I couldn't have healed myself.” Nakor finished.

He beamed at Jenn. “You were right, the temple would keep Olara from finding the scroll. But her priests could still go in and out of the temple, and so they would have found it years ago. Unless it was somewhere secret, someplace you need to go
through
the temple to find.”

“That room I stumbled into was designed to be hidden. I bet even Olara doesn't know it's there. And there were other doors leading out of the room. So there are probably some underground tunnels that aren't a part of Olara's temple.”

“The temple would keep Olara from getting to those tunnels. By making them secret, it would keep her priests from finding them as well. If Averlon hid his scroll anywhere in the temple, that's where it would be.”

“So let's get to the temple, find the scroll, and finish this whole mess!” said Whoo impatiently.

“Where is this temple at?” asked Jenn.

Nakor pointed at the mountains in the west. “There's a cliff about a hundred or so miles from here. Olara's temple is built into that cliff.”

“We can get horses in town.” He looked at Jenn. “Can you ride?”

“Ride? As in a horse?” she asked dubiously.

“Don't worry, it's easy,” Nakor said with a grin.

Jenn just looked at him.

* * *

“You want three horses now? On such short notice?” the dealer demanded, looking pained.

“That's correct,” answered Nakor.

“Alas, you have come at a bad time for Abu-Jaheem,” said the horse dealer. “I used to be the most famous dealer of horses this side of the Serpent Mountains.” He shook his head sadly. “My customers have swindled me, taken advantage of my kind-hearted nature, until now I am left with next to nothing. Every day my family lives in fear of starvation.”

I'm sorry. Someone bring me a TARDIS. I'm going back in time to smack the stupid out of 1995 Jim.

“Saddles too,” added Nakor.

Abu-Jaheem stared at him. “These horses are all that I have, my only means to survive. Surely you can understand that. I could not bear to part with three of them for less than…”

His voice trailed off as Nakor drew his rapier.

“There is no need for that, kind sir!” Abu-Jaheem said, backing away.

Handing the sword to Galadrion, Nakor took the scabbard and held it upside down over his hand. He shook it once, and a small, thin leather packet slid into his hand. Nakor carefully unrolled the packet and selected a pair of small red rubies from among the gleaming gems. He held the jewels up to the light, then handed them to the horse dealer.

“I don't have time to bargain,” Nakor said, rolling the remaining gems back into a tight bundle. He slid the gems back into the scabbard, followed by his rapier.

Nakor glanced up to see Galadrion and Jenn staring at him. “I figure it's safest this way. You never know when someone will try to pick your pocket.”

Jenn rolled her eyes.

“Where did you get that kind of money?” Galadrion asked.

“Here and there,” he answered evasively. “After a hundred and twenty seven years, money starts to add up.”

“A hundred and twenty seven years?” Jenn demanded.

Nakor grinned and tapped a pointed ear with one finger. “One of the advantages of being an elf.”

We also have a great dental plan.

Within minutes, they sat upon three of Abu-Jaheem's horses, complete with saddles and a two-day supply of grain.

“You have the thanks of Lucas Stephanson,” Nakor called back as they rode into the forest.

“Lucas Stephanson?” Galadrion asked from her horse.

“First thing that came to mind,” Nakor replied with a shrug. “Besides, it might confuse anyone who tries to follow us.”