He was rocked from his slumber.
But not the kind of rocking that puts you to sleep or gently woke you up, it was the kind of rocking that shook you awake, uneven and loud.
His eyes slowly opened and the first thing he saw was the roof of a carriage, a carriage he was in. He groaned and sat up, his head ached and his body trembled from the inside. He opened his palms upward and noticed his trembling fingers, slowly he clenched them into fists and took a deep breath in. The sun was up and very bright, shining in hot through the windows but it came with a chill in the wind, promising of an early winter season. He sat a while in the carriage, trying to gather whatever strength he could conjure from within him before he pounded his fist on the side of the carriage twice.
It came to a halt almost immediately and Xanth ran to the carriage door, just as Ryder flung it open. His body was weak, he could tell and Xanth could sense that too, he placed a hand on Ryder’
She slept still and her breathing was calm.All night Ryder had remained awake, watching over her and pacing, a lot of things swimming through his unsettled mind; the dreams, the visions, the woman he kept on seeing that troubled him, and now, seeing Lyra in his dreams only added to his confusion. He knew there was something wrong with him that triggered these visions, they had started the year his parents had gone to war against the kingdom of Erstonia and they had been frequent ever since but never had they been this disturbing, and it never weakened him. Just a bad dream.And the dreams had stopped, up until thirty eight years ago when it came. And then now, again.“Still nothing?” He asked Xanth for the umpteenth time, coming into the room. It was now way past noon and Lyra had not woken up since last night.Xanth shook his head. He stood, leaning a shoulder on the wall while watching the maids clean her face and arms with moist towels. &l
She was back in Dragonsbane.She knew this because she recognized the castle, it was a place she had grown up in and lived for most of her life. She was back in that strange, dark hallway and had the cringe that she was not alone. It made her shiver, and caused a chill to run down her spine. She hated this feeling.“Lyra…”The voice that called to her was masculine but she saw no one in the hall, it was just a long and empty passage way that echoed every sound that it could pick up. She stretched out her hand and reached for the stone walls in the darkness, they were cold to the feel but she still held on to it as she could not see a single thing in here.“Red is a dangerous color on you, Lyra…”That voice again. It sounded all too familiar and it caused her to feel a prickly sensation in crook of her neck. She placed her hand which had caught on the coolness from resting on the stone walls, there to soothe it.
“It’s time.”The study was always kept dimly lit, there was a reason he had not allowed windows to be cut in the walls, and it was because he never wanted the knowledge of whatever was in here to get out, and although smaller windows that could not fit a person would do just the thing, still, he had his own way as to how he wanted his things to be run. But more so, because the darkness was comfortable, and it hid him. And it welcomed him.The study was like his get away place, his sanctuary and his safe haven and save for Xanth, no one else was allowed in here. No one else.Xanth put down the book in his hands and turned to Ryder sitting uncomfortably on the only table in the small room. “Time for what?”Ryder took a deep breath in and then focused his attention on Xanth. “Time to go in search, for another Khione.”Xanth gave him a puzzled look, although he was sure that Ryder might not be able to read his
Almost a month.It had been almost a month since a princess of Dragonsbane was forcefully taken from the kingdom, it had been almost a month of continuous deliberation and persuasion, with only a handful of them willing to risk going into the kingdom of Astaroth to rescue back princess Lyra. King Kade weighed his options, the queen, Gwyn, offered little or no input, and Jenny made her own choice clear that they just let everything be. But to let everything be was to allow Astaroth do as they wanted and be free, to let everything be was to give permission for other kingdoms to do the same if they so wished to.But then, the will to ensure the people of their safety within Dragonsbane dominated the King’s thought of peace, and he had no choice but to give his blessing. Finally, the plan to go rescue the Dragonsbane princess was being debated on and finalized, and no one could be more excited than Eris himself.He stood at the head of the table, surrounded by
It was getting dark quicker here.She stood by the window, looking out into the darkening orange sky, past the horizon and she rubbed her fore arm with both hands, hugging herself as she did. It was getting dark and it was getting cold and it was about this time of the day that people would be retiring to their homes to rest and sleep, preparing for the next day, but Lyra could not sleep. She could not bring herself to be calm either, and she could not sit in one place.She turned away from the window and paced a little in the room. The only thought in her head was the thing that that man had told her about; the year of Osyron. What did he mean when he had told her to find her truth? She let out a breath and looked to the ceiling, walking back and forth in front of the extremely large window. The curtains swayed in the breeze, reaching out to her like they wanted to wrap her up and cuddle her in their soft silkiness.She paused. To find her truth she would first
It had been a month.A month and counting since she last saw her mother and father, a month and counting since the last time she was in Dragonsbane. A month and counting since she had gotten here. They said she was important to the kingdom of Astaroth but they had not told her anything more than that, not the reason she was here or how and why she was important, just that she was.At least now she had the freedom to move about with the castle grounds, maybe because they knew she would not escape, or that she could not escape. The castle was not fully guarded when ever Ryder was around, that was something she had observed, he was probable capable of protecting himself and the people in the castle, and just like Tezani had told her, he had killed three soldiers with a wave of his hand instantly, chopping them into large pieces. Lyra had listened to her for the sake of her company, not that she believed it.“I’m telling you that it happened.” Teza
The ride was anything but boring.Tezani was happy that her Lady had allowed her go on the ride with her as she could not remember the last time she had been able to leave the castle’s grounds, she was excited, but clearly not as excited as Lyra. Lyra could not sit still in the carriage and she kept looking from one window to the other, asking Tezani what this was and what that was. She liked Kilead, it was a busy village once they had gotten far away from the castle and unlike what she had imagined the people to be like; frustrated and abused and malnourished and hungered, it turned out that the opposite was the case.The people here were living in affluence and prosperity and she wondered how having a cold ruler such as Ryder, could not affect the people. Or did he treat them differently? Could not be so, but still, she felt like she had come to a totally different place.“Isn’t it strange?” She asked the question to Tezani but kept her
She ran.The forest was dense, and thick with darkness, and although she could see no light ahead or could not tell why she was running, still she could not stop, so she kept on running. Her feet were bare and her cloak was heavier, it restricted her and she felt like someone was constantly pulling on it, causing it to choke her whenever it was pulled. She should unclasp it, yes, but she didn’t. all she wanted to do was run.“It comes for you, Lyra of Dragonsbane.”Someone pulled at it again and she choked. She gasped and panted.“Your destruction calls for you, Lyra.”Another pull, and then she felt something pierce into her foot. She screamed in absolute pain and tumbled to the ground. Her foot was stuck and she could not move, but the urge to keep going was too great to ignore and so she started crawling, but her foot would not move.“Osyron calls for you.”And she screamed.She bolt
“Lord Dixon and lady Annora won’t be staying, they wish to travel the lands, and maybe find settlement somewhere unclaimed.” Xanth said to Ryder as he joined him on the balcony. He had dismissed the elders and generals, taken Iris body to be prepared for burial, settled with Lady and Lord Axeris d’Croix, Ryder’s parents, and arranged with Syrana for her stay and departure the next morning. “They have been away too long,” he sighed. “I can understand that they would feel strange in this place which they once considered to be their home.” “Iris’ body will be buried tomorrow.” he said and then sighed. “Her mother can not be consoled, she was hacking away at Mavrek’s body down in the courtyard outside the castle doors.” Ryder frowned in unbelief and looked at Xanth. “Hacking away?” “With a sword,” He nodded. “It is a mess down there, Ryder.” He looked away from Xanth and leaned on the railing with his elbows, then lowered his head. “Mavrek’s body was never going to be buried anyway,
“He’s killed her too.”He allowed the talk spread around the room without saying a single word as he watched the men talk and whisper among themselves, picking out with his eyes those who believed and those who doubted by the way they reacted to the talk spreading around the room. “How many of you in this very room knew of Mavrek’s journey to Fang Peek and the reason he was going?” he spoke up and everyone hushed.The room fell silent and nobody was willing to give him a reply as they all feared what he might do. He looked around the room once more, studying the expression on their faces, none of them had their heads lifted to meet his gaze and he was beginning to get impatient. He gripped the reins of the horse and whipped it so the animal neighed loudly, stood up on its hind legs, and fell back down on all fours.“How many of you knew?!” he asked again, this time in a louder voice.“All of us knew,” Ulric spoke up. “He had called for a meeting to announce it, but he had known of th
“That’s Iris’ body in the snow over there,” Tezani said to Xanth in a whisper. It had been a day and a half since they moved from Mavrek’s camp, the warriors journeyed with them as they made their way back to Astaroth. The cold here was minimal but the snow was still thick on the ground. Mavrek shivered in the cold, his body and feet were bare and Ryder had not for once stopped to rest. They didn’t run the horses, Ryder didn’t seem to be in a hurry, and all through the journey, he had kept to himself, even Xanth knew to keep a distance because he knew this ruler of Astaroth was troubled and in pain and anger, but he would have to disturb him now as Tezani had just shown him something.He lifted and fist up in the air, signaling for the troop to stop which they did, then he snapped the reins on his horse, hurrying it up to get to Ryder.“Ryder,” he called out, fishing him out of his thoughts and drawing his attention away.“Hmm?” he hummed and turned his head to face Xanth. He was ti
"Xanth and I will enter the tent, the rest of you, wait outside, where he cannot see you."They sat on their horses afar off, where Mavrek’s camp was now visible to them, Tezani had led them here and they had found his camp to be exactly where she had predicted it would be. The general journeyed slowly, and it was not just the size of the warriors that slowed him down. He had already spent weeks on a journey of just a few days, it was the general’s pride, to think he could make it to Fang Peek before Ryder would.“His tent would be the one positioned close to the forefront,” Tezani said to Ryder. “And it would be the largest too.”“Good,” Ryder hummed and kicked his horse in the side. “That should give us the advantage of surprising him.”* * * * * * *“General?” a warrior positioned at the tent’s entrance as a guard called out to Mavrek from outside. “You have a er…”Mavrek frowned, struggling to take off his armor. “I have a what?!” he yelled out in frustration, nothing
“Ryder…” Xanth called calmly as he quietly approached Ryder who was kneeling down by the edge of the ledge. The fiery pit had grown cold and was quiet now and the cave was slowly losing the heat, welcoming the cold.“She is gone,” Ryder said softly and lifted his head up to the cave ceiling. He let out a sigh, folded his lips, and raised his eyebrows, his eyeballs darting from left to right as he felt tears coming. His heart ached terribly and his body shivered. “She is gone,” he repeated with another sigh.Xanth turned around when he heard footsteps running, only to see Syrana and Tezani. Syrana looked at him asking him questions with her gaze, but he just blinked once and looked away from her. She sucked in a breath and her body crashed into the cave wall, she clutched on to her dress around her chest area and slowly fell to the floor as tears pooled out of her eyes.“Lyra…” she sobbed. “My baby girl.”Ryder turned his head to see who had just come into the cave and he saw the white
His wound refused to heal and he was losing blood fast, he groaned and leaned on the horse as it slowed down to a gallop, approaching the mouth of the cave. His body felt extremely weak and he wondered what indie must have applied on that sword she stabbed him with that was stopping his body from regenerating.He groaned as he fell off the horse and onto the hard, hot ground. Never in his life had he felt this way, and he hated it, the feeling of being vulnerable as he was now. He knew that if anyone was to come for him, to kill him, they would succeed in that, he couldn’t even muster the strength to use his powers.He managed to get on his feet, leaning against the cave walls, he stumbled further into the cave where he found Borox, sitting up and propped against the cave wall with a small knife wedged into the side of his neck.“Borox,” Ryder called and went to him, crashing on the ground on his knee beside him, he took the man’s hand and had genuine pain in his eyes. The pain of see
They had all heard the noise, the loud bang from far behind, toward their far left and they had turned just in time to see a mushroom of fire rise up and then die out. The noise had spooked the horses and they stopped riding.“What was that?” Tezani asked no one in particular.“The wizard maybe,” Xanth replied. “But a blast of such magnitude? What is he doing?”“Practicing spells?” Syrana chipped in. “Prepping for a battle.”They both turned to look at her and Xanth’s heart fell, if they could not find Ryder in time and get him to perform the sacrifice with Tezani, then Osyron would break free of his prison and it would be bye-bye to the world as they knew it to be.“What if we can’t get to Ryder in time?” Tezani asked Xanth as if she had been reading his mind.He let out a breath. “Can you go back to Mavrek?”She shook her head and looked down at her horse, she didn’t want to go back to him. She couldn’t. She hated herself for still loving him when all he had ever done was lie to her
“They are close now,” Vixra said as she galloped on her horse. She had Pythias riding beside her, Royn and the rest of the warriors rode just behind. “I can sense the girl.”She pulled out the bow hanging on the horse behind her and an arrow, she let go of the horse’s reins but still managed to stay perfectly positioned on the horse. She positioned the arrow in the bow and drew it as far back as she could, closed her eyes and whispered a spell then released the arrow to fly. Without delay, she drew another arrow, whispered the same spell, and let it fly as well.She flung the bow to the side and gripped the horse’s reins, taking control of the animal’s movements. Within seconds, Ryder and his team were within sight. Vixra smirked when she saw that Lyra had been knocked down to the ground, one of the arrows had pierced the horse she had been on, and the other arrow had struck Ryder in the shoulder, causing him to fall off his horse as well.“Do not let them escape!” she yelled out the c
The group traveled in silence with Lyra at the forefront, Ryder just tagging behind her, Borox and the rest of his men followed behind. They had ridden way past the city of Beor and were far away from the Erstonian castle so it was safe for them to just allow the horses to walk for a bit.The landscape was slowly changing the further they journeyed, the snow here was lesser, and from a distance, she could see mountains different from the ones she had been used to seeing in Erstonia, these had no snow covering them and nothing grew in the ground around them.“Fang Peek,” she whispered and felt a chill run down her spine. Fear engulfed her as the weight of what she had agreed to do rested on her heavily. In only a couple of hours, she would be dead, Ryder would head on back to Astaroth and life would continue for them just as normal.She thought of Xanth, the man was softer than Ryder, and a lot more understanding, and yes she would miss him dearly. The last time she had seen him was we