With Rowyn, Hoddie and Yarden at his side, Niro followed the trail deeper into Eventide. They were being followed every since they crossed the border into Eventide. The way was clear, but somewhere out there, something was watching them. Hoddie and the Princess rode along on Sima's back as she scented the air for a clue as to who was following them. Hoodie had an idea, but until he saw their mystery tail.
"How long are we going to wait to see who's back there?" Hoddie asked.
"Not that much longer." Niro said. "We can't lead whoever it is to Eventide."
"Not if we want any hope to be welcome in Eventide." Hoddie said as he looked back hoping to spot whoever was back there. Thought the trail looked clear, Hoodie noticed Yarden and Myor was missing. Surely they could turn the spy out.
On the left Yarden in his beast form dashed through the forest. On the other side, Myor with his flames held close to him advanced on the spy from behind. From tree to tree Myor hopped silently. In his darker form, Myor moved silently. His wings were sharp as they cut quietly through the forest. With a quiet nod, he ordered Yarden on for the attack. Yarden attacked. He moved like white lighting as he leaped out of the forest with his claws ready for battle. Yarden slashed out then dived back down into the ground. The beast was big and covered with dirt. As Yarden swung at it, small pieces of its body were tossed off to the side. Whatever it was, made a loud grunt as it reached its long arm out the grab the Yeti. As the hand closed over an empty place, Yarden dived down into the ground. His fingers became solid for a second as he dragged himself through the liquid soil. He moved slowly, he picked his way out of the ground, Yarden watched Myor drop in and slammed his solid wing into the creature. The creatures body exploded as Myor’s wing made contact with its body. As mud it laid there on the ground after the attack. As Niro and Hoddie rode up. Its started to bubble and get hard as it pulled itself back together to attack.
“What is this thing?” Hoddie yelled as he jumped from Sima’s back.
“It's another one of Bram’ elemental things.” Rowyn said as she darted up and blasted the thing with her stinger. “We have to destroy it fast or it will pull pieces of the ground into itself.”
As Niro rode up, he jumped from the saddle and pulled his hammer from his side and hit the thing blowing it to pieces that rained down all over the area.
“Is that it?” Hoddie asked.
“We’re not that lucky.” Niro said as the mud thing started to pull itself back together. “Blast it with cold.”
Yarden leaped out of the ground and blew a blast of frigid air at the mud monster. As it grew, the muddy dirt in the creature started to freeze. Icicles form all over the monster. It moved slower and slower still pulling chunks of frozen ground into itself.
“NOW!” Niro shouted.
As white hot flames blew out from Myor, Niro spun his hammer in the air than struck the
Monster a mighty blow that blew it into dust that full all over the forest. Shaking the dirt and ice out of hair,Yarden shifted back to his human form and picked mud off his coat.
“I think we’re getting good at this.”
The spring season was on but it wasn’t easy to see. First of all the Snow cactus were in bloom. The pretty white flowers were budding from the tops of the thorny plants. That means the harvest season was on. Snow cactus were very important to the Torcians. It was the main ingredient needed for making the numbing salve used in all surgical procedures. It was important to put patients to sleep, but without the salve every cut the.surgeons would make would be agony.
Torcin had fields of cactus to harvest. It would take the whole season to gather what they would need to satisfy what they would sell as a pain reliever. Snow cacti only grew in one place, that was what made Torcin so important to the south. The country's main export item was the production of numb salve and message stones and the training of the people’s healers.
As Zander March made his way out of Torcin’s main gate of Torcin, he called for Torchy to meet him at the sledyard where he would be saddled or fitted for his harness. He heard Torchy’s mental call. The had been together since the day the Snowdoy was born. Snowdogs are extremely loyal to their Human partners. They are presented at born to a partner then bonded for life. In fact there was only one case known where a Snowdog abandoned his partner. But that was special and the Snowdogs were abused by their partner and attached to a dragon who from then on raised them with loyalty.
Zander had a busy day planned. He worked all day in the Snow cactus fields picking cactus blades. Now he was on his way to the lab to start this years salve brewing.Today he measured out the cactus and the oils to be mixed. This was the hard part. If he got the measurements wrong, he could be stuck with a mixture he couldn’t use.
As Zander stepped from the path to the gate, he headed into the kennel. Snowdogs lay all around him in separate stalls. Touchy had two stalls in the front where Zander could get in and out in a hurry. He never knew how his day was gonna until he got the salve brewing.
From the gate to the kennel, Zander said good morning to Penna, Touchy’s kennel mate.
[Aiya Pretty one.] Zander sent. [I hope your morning is good.]
[Good day Zan.] Penna sent as she moved over to let him scratch her bark [No pups yet. Touchy is nervous. Eager is he to have pups.]
[Not as eager as I am.] Zander sent. [I love Snow pups.]
Penna didn’t understand. Everyone loves her pups. He would get many favors when he passed them out. Zander chuckled at her curious mood, he loved explaining things to her. Her curiosity always made him laugh.
As he passed her stall, Touchy’s empty stall came into view. In the corner of the stall, Zander found Touchy’ collar. It must be to tight because he kept taking it off.
[No like collar.]
Zander turned as Touchy came trotting into the stall. His tail wagged as he licked at his face. Zander put his arms around his Snowdogs neck and sent feelings of affection to him. Touchy bared his throat to his partner. Zander knew the Snowdog loved him and would always be there.
As Zander rubbed Touchy’s back, he felt a strange notion go through the Snowdogs mind. This had never happened before. He could tell the Snowdog things but Touchy had never even tried anything like this before. It must be important he thought if Touchy wanted him to see it.
Zander took the saddle off the stall wall and put it on Touchy’s back. The Snowdog sent a picture to picture to Zander’s mind.
[OK. show me.]
Grabbing the saddle horn, Zander pulled himself up into the seat. With a mental push he had the Snowdog take him out into the frozen tundra. With blowing in his scarf wrapped face, Zander asked Touchy where they were gonna. Again he got the same picture in his mind. That meant Touchy didn’t know how to explain. He got that whatever it was, there was magic there.
“That will have to do.”
Zander sat back and let Touchy take him wherever he wanted. They passed the frozen lake of C’larriss Zander started to feel the magic. It was like a constant buzz that went threw his mind getting stronger and stronger, After the forest, Touchy ran out into the Snow cactus fields. For a quick second, Zander looked back and saw a trio of Snowmen run out onto the Snow Cactus field after them. Turning back, Zander sent the picture of the Snowmen to Touchy to warn him of the danger. With a grunt, Touchy bore down picking up speed. Behind them, one of the snowmen grabbed a mound of snow and launched it at them. Dashing to the left, Touchy started a zig zag pattern across the field of special plants. As the snowball flew at them, Zander pulled a blaststone from his coat and took off a shot over his shoulder. The shot sped out through the cold air with perfect aim and hit the snowball dead center. It blew up and rained snow down on the field. As Touchy jumped off the cactus field, he dropped down near a cave. Suddenly Zanders ears started to ring. He looked at the cave and realized this was where Touchy had been trying to take him.
[Stay.]
Zander jumped from Touchy’s back and ran into the cave. There was something here that Touchy thought he should see. Zander didn’t know how much time he had, so he ran in hoping whatever it was, he would have no problem finding it.
The cave was dark and cold. Zander could hear the screeching of bat coming from deep in the back. Zander couldn’t see very much in the cave, but he had something with him that would provide all the light he would need. In his inner breast pocket, Zander had something the northern Dwarves made that would be very important to his search. Taking off his gloves, he reached in and took a clear crystal stone out of his pocket. Cupping the blaststone in the warmth of his hand, Zander activated the stone and light flared out to cover everything within a few feet of Zander.
As he started out on his search, there was an invisible flash of light just a step ahead of where Zander was standing. Invisible to him, Aramis, the god of life popped in to walk in front of Zander. Aramis smiled as he turned and said something to the medic.
“There is something I need for you to do for me.” Aramis said. “Something I want you to give to a friend.”
As the sun rose over the eastern mountains, Quyyn slipped out from the clouds heading for Torcin in the Kensi glacier. Ranjer and Quyyn were here looking for the last two rings from Bram Thorne’s collection. Bram’s collection wasn’t exactly right. These two rings had never really been in the warlocks collection.They were all made by the same warlock, but these rings had been hidden so no one ever had the chance to use them. These rings were made for Vitale and his wife. Muerte. They were very special rings meant to give the gods more power over their subjects than they were meant to have. Vitale thought the rings should be destroyed and never used, but it wasn’t possible to destroy them. Vitale had tried for years, but he never could destroy them. Instead he was going to hide them somewhere they would never be found.
First he hid them somewhere deep under the ocean. But they were found by a Mer and brought to the surface. Vitale got his ring back, the problem was, so did Muerte. She got her ring and used it before Vitale could get it from her. Now, there are places on Keanna that would never be able to support life again, but that was Muerte’s crime, and he would always feel guilty about that. Vitale found the rings again. This time he put them somewhere that no mortal would ever be able to find. The bottom of the ocean would not do. But there was somewhere he could put them to be safe.
As Quyyn dropped down out of the sky, he felt a familiar call ringing out in his mind. It was Tug, the lead dog in the Torcin kennel. He sensed Quyyn coming north and was eager to meet a brother of the dragon Alpha.
As Quyyn circled the kennel, Tug came out to stand in front to greet him when they came down to land. It only took a few minutes for Quyyn to land. Once he did, Ranjer came down off his back and waved as Quyyn made his shift.
Tug sat patient as the two came walking out to the kennel. They’re smell was the same and he hadn’t smelled them in a few years.He hadn’t seen the two Keannians since he had returned home to lead the pack.
Anxious, Tug kneeled than pawed at the ground happy to see his friends. As they came over, Tug gave off a short bark sat back and stumped in greeting. Quyyn rubbed his head and neck.
“Aiya.” Quyyn smiled as Tug hopped in recognition. “It's good to see you again.”
Tug huffed than licked his hand. They were here to see Xander Corden, the governor of Torcin.
Tug recognized that mental picture and turned in to lead them into the city.
From the city gates, Tug pawed at the Snowdog key to the city. The gate recognized his print and opened gate. The outer hall was well lite and warm. Quyyn and Ranjer hopped out of their travelling coats and hung them on the spacious rack that lined the wall by the entrance.
[Xander.] sent with a picture of the young governor. Tug nodded and led them into the city.
The outer halls on Torcin were lined with pictures of the governors in the past from Xander and his brother Drew to Janos Roja, Smith Harper and Lakor Medgar governor’s from the past. As they came out of the tunnel at the main gate, Quyyn was surprised at all the new editions of the city. The market distract was huge now. Many had gave their support for the building. They not only granted their support, but they gave their time for all the building. There were at least eight blocks added to the market distract and four to the citizen caverns.
As Tug led them in, Xander came out of his office to greet them.
“Aiya.” Xander said as he hugged them. “I see Tug has taken you on a tour of the new stuff. I’ll bet he didn’t show you the new kennels or the new pups.
They all looked over to the embarrassed Snowdog. He didn’t understand what made the kennels important enough that they should be shown. Snowdogs didn’t have pride, but they did know the differences of one dog to the next.
“What brings you here?” Xander asked.
“There is something here we have to retrieve,” Ranjer said. “It's very important.”
“And you don’t want to discuss it with us?”
“No.” Quyyn said as they walked through the market distract. “We have no problem with telling you anything you want to know.Last time Uncle Jayce was here, he was looking for a Dragon talisman. What we’re looking for is much older and incredibly more powerful. I’m not sure if you even know it’s here. It’s called the Ring of Life and Death. It's one of Bram Thorne’s elemental rings.”
At the mention of Bram Thorne, Xander’s eyes opened in shock.
“You know it?” Ranjer asked.
“We never heard of the rings, but we do know Bram Thorne.” Xander said. “He has been up here not that long ago.”
“Something bad happened?” Quyyn said.
“Yeah.” Xander said with a terrible look. “He came up here looking for something and killed a whole tribe of Kensi. We only found out when three Kensi came to our city really badly injured. We took them in and went back to investigate what they told us. The tribe was a city of Yetians in Mada Mountains. The warlock destroyed the whole cavern they lived and killed the entire tribe. Only a female and two of her children survived.”
“Were they named Pek?” Ranjer asked with crossed fingers. He knew the answer before Xander could answer. It had to be Yarden’s family.
“Why yes it is.” Xander said with questing eyes. How could they possibly know that?
“Two of our friends are from up here.” Quyyn said. “We’ve heard this story already. A Yetians and a Phoenix. I’m glad Yarden’s family is safe. He will be relieved to hear the news.”
“They have been cared for.” Xander said. “But what of the rings?”
“Bram got one ring.” Xander said. “I’m sure he had no idea there were more than one ring. Do you know where to find it?”
“No.” Quyyn told them. “All I know is that it will find us.”
They stopped at a bench and table next to a food vendor. The smells here were incredible. They could smell fresh Dera roasting with vegetables and some kind of biscuit. Ranjer just remembered that he hadn’t eaten since yesterday. But would Torcin have where he ate?
Xander looked up at Ranjer and saw how he was looking at the vendor.
“Hold on a minute.” He said as he turned and walked over to the vendor. Xander talked with him for a few minutes.
“What’s going on?” Quyyn asked.
“No idea.” Ranjer said.
A later minute later Xander came back and took a seat at the picnic table with utensils rolled in napkins. Xander passed out the rolled flatware.
“What’s this for?”
“You eat with them.” Xander said. “We call them forks and spoons.”
Ranjer looked at him as if he was joking.
“Its to eat with.” Xander got up and went to the vendor and came back with a tray of drinks and passed them out. As he sat back down, Ranjer tapped his arm.
“How did you know?”
“The Dera.” He said. “Misko is one of the best cooks in Torcin. His dera is known from here all the way down into Afee. “Your hungry. I could tell that just with a look. Dinner will here in a minute.”
As dinner was served, Zander and Touchy arrived back at the kennels. Zander was tired. He had been in the caves searching in the cave for hours.Zander thought he had been in the caves for hours. He had wondered back and forth through what looked to him to be an endless maze.Everytime he thought he was lost, he would pass something that told his exactly where he was. These caves had to have been in three floors. There was fresh water and mushrooms that were delicious. At one point he thought he was exhausted. He laid down and thought he had a nap, but when he finally left the cave, Touchy told him it had only been a few minutes. How that was possible, Zander had no idea, but since he still had to brew the potion, he was glad,
After what felt to Zander like four hours, he found himself in a huge cavern that had a pool of ice water with a clear waterfall. Zander sat down and cooled himself off. He dipped his hands in the water and came up with the sweetest water he had ever drank. It made him feel completely rested. Like he could go on here for another six hours if he had to.
As he walked around the cavern something twinkled under the waterfall. He almost didn’t see it through all the light and gold pieces that sparkled in the pool. Zander untied his pants and took off the gray cotton shirt he was wearing. He sat at the pools side and pulled his pants off. With his clothes neatly folded and put away from getting wet, he stepped into the water and dived into the pool. At first he thought the water was cold. It was when he was drinking it, but now it was as warm as his body heat. Comfortable, Zander swam out to the middle of the pool and dived down to the bottom. Though it should be dark, somehow the pool was lit up like a beach cove. There was coral in many different shapes. Seaweed and water plants hung out like plants and vegetation on the grounds and in the forest. There were clownfish and angelfish swimming beside him. Zander smiled as a three foot rainbowfish swam past him. Fish weren’t the only things in the water. There were turtles and clams and shrimp here too. As he floated around in the pool, Zander saw a small shark swim past him. The pool was amazing. It had to have channels that ran down under the ice and out to the ocean. But how was it being warmed? It had to be some kind of magic.
Looking around, Zander saw what at first he thought were small bright fish swimming all through the pool. But now that he was in the water he recognized the gold and silver chunks spread all through the pool. There must be a fortune in treasure here. As he looked around, Zander saw a flash of color coming from under the waterfall. He wondered what it was. Swimming up, Zander broke the surface, took a few deep breaths and dived down again. The falls were just a few feet ahead of him. Zander swam under the water until he was right under the falls. Looking around he saw the purple flash again. As he pushed himself up onto a shelf under the falls, Zander saw it, the purple thing. It wasn’t a fish or a colorful stone, it was the gem of a ring. He reached out and picked it up. As soon as he touched it, he could feel its magic. It was very powerful and it was old. Zander had no idea how old. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to know. It wasn’t here for him. He knew that right away. He was supposed to pass it on to someone. And that was just what he would do.
Up here in the north the days run long, almost 96 hours long. The people of Torcin kept busy doing repairs, setting traps and taking care of the Snowdogs. Doing repairs was necessary, that's just the way it was up here. Snowdogs were needed up here. They did search parties, delivered anything that came up there by dragon or boat. They were used to hunt and for any and all travelling. The last thing on that list was trapping. Traps were used to get fur That means food and clothing. Everyone up here has one fur coat or two. There are a few ways to get fur. You could hunt for it. But that takes time. One could use Snowdog fur. And if your not squeamish, there's Snowmen. Though its best, it's not easy to shave Snowmen, or kill them.
Once Zander met his contact, he got the info and Tug swept them all away. With the ring concealed in his pocket went out to the main gate. There he helped bring in a herd of dera. Once that was done he heard the call of a dragon he rushed over to see who it was.
As Zandar stepped out of the gate, a blast of fire shot out from somewhere and almost burned his eyes out. Zandar knew now it would be better if he knew who was out there before he dived in. Standing to the side, Zandar opened his mind it see if he knew was here fighting. With his mind opened, Zander sent a probe out to see what was going on. Like a burning arrow, Zandar’s probe shot out from the wall he was using as a shield.There was a burning man out there firing lightning bolts at anything that moved. The other combatant shot firebolts at him and the bright man. They were both tall, one had a flaming halo over his head while the other had a nest of lightning showing over his shoulder. As Heatwave lay there in the fire he saw visions shot in and out of the flames. Fire pixies danced in flames while fireflies stole bits and pieces of Heatwaves magic. Though he was not awake, Heatwaves directed the flame. They burned higher and higher forcing the elemental to back away. Lightning had no power over the heat. Energy tried but the flames never lost much heat. What it did was turned the hot flames into cold blue heat.
As Quyyn launched himself high in the flames, cool heat danced all over his body. Quyyn had done this once before while his father directed his flames into a long straight beam of frigid energy. Quyyn didn’t understand. His father was a red dragon. A heat dragon. How did Quyyn end up with bold energy? Could it have something to do with his mate, Sky? Sky was a Snow Phoenix. Could that have influenced his magic?
As Drygyn blasted the elementals, Ranger spun his own spell.
“From dark to light and back again.
From weak to strong with pain again,
I triple the power of Drygyn’s cold.
To make him strong and fast again.”
As Drygyn’s cold shot out at the flaming creature, Flame focussed his magic into a web of fire. The flame in the cold heat reached out and touched Quyyn’s magic. He shot blast after blast at Damir, but it didn’t seem to matter to Damir. He looked as if he were at home in the cold. Maybe that’s it. Maybe he should switch up and use heat. In Drygyn’s brain a switch closed and his cold energy closed. Drygyn took a deep breath and fired. Flamed shot with such power that Quyyn was almost knocked over. As his shock faded away, intense with hot heat blated out at
Damir. With a terrible scream of pain, The elementals shot up into the sky and vanished.
“What just happened?” Quyyn asked. They were gone. All that was left was a scorched spot in the grass.
“What did you do?” Ranjer asked.
“Me? I didn’t do anything. It was your spell that did all this.”
Ranjer had to admit it probably was his magic.
“We should get back.” Ranjer said. “We need someone with a better understanding of my magic to solve this one.”
“You mean my Father?” Ranjer looked at him as if he was crazy. “OK, Get the ring and let’s go”” DO TO FACT THAT BLOGGER IS NOT POSTING CORRECTLY. ALL MY STORIES WILL FIND A NEW HOME. ONCE I FIGURE OUT WHERE THAT WILL , I'LL LET YOU ALL KNOW.
THANKS FOR BEING HERE FOR ALL THE YEARS. JANDAR TYR
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