Ryder led the group as their horses came to a stop in front of the city, tucked away by the mountains and buried in the snow.“We cannot go in there, Ryder,” Borox said to him, his horse bobbed its head continuously, unable to keep still. “That is the city of Beor, within it is the Erstonian castle where the witch and the wizard live.”Ryder took a long look at the city. “I am yet to see a place where I cannot get into, even if I am not allowed or invited,” he said and urged his horse forward into the city. “I will see what this witch and wizard has to say to that.”The city was cold, desolate, and quiet. It bothered Borox and his group of men but it didn’t seem to faze Ryder as he rode on with determination. He could sense that they were not alone and that they were being watched, but they were not being attacked. At least not yet.“Be on your guard,” he said to the men behind him. “We are not alone out here.”* * * * * * *Royn pushed the large doors open and rushed into
“Vixra tells me we are to leave for Dragonsbane?” she asked Pythias as he stepped into the room that had been assigned to her. She had been provided a red dress, boots, and a black cloak, it had fit like it had been made for her. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror as she admired it.“I should thank the queen for the clothes,” she added, speaking mostly to herself than to the wizard who stared at her through the mirror.“You do not seem pleased,” he said.“I am, ecstatic even!” she beamed and turned around to face him. “But you had said I wouldn’t be able to leave for another week or so, because of Ryder.”“Well, things happen and plans change. Ryder was here yesterday looking for you.”Her smile faded. “He came here? How would he know to come here?”“He is a desperate man and desperate men do desperate things.”She could feel her heart beating rapidly. “Does he know I am here?”Pythias shook his head. “No, but we have to leave now.” he tapped his staff on the floor once. “Are
She shook her head, not wanting to believe it. “No, I don’t…”“If Ryder were to sacrifice you to that god, it would quiet the rumbling and quakes for another six hundred years,” he said to her. She pulled on the reins of her horse and eased it to a stop just a few feet away from Pythias’ horse.“The quakes are caused by this Osyron?”“And he is not dead, Lyra, he is very much alive. Just trapped by the blood of Khione women sacrificed in the years before.”“But what would happen if Osyron were to be set free? Would that not spell doom on Astaroth? He would seek vengeance!”“I am a worshiper and believer of Osyron, and it is my duty to see him rise again, so I cannot let the sacrifice happen.”“That is why you have taken me, that is why I have come to you. For protection, to be kept away from Ryder and the sacrifice.”“Yes, but it seems that is not enough anymore,” he said with a sigh.She fidgeted. “What do you mean?”He looked her straight in the eye and responded. “I know Ryder, of
He knew Lyra could not have gotten very far on her own, though she was Khione, she was an inexperienced one, and the only magic she could do was the healing magic, she had not even mastered the ability to summon and control fire.She was still within Erstonia, that much he knew, but where?Somehow, something about the Erstonian castle worried him. He had the ability to pinpoint Lyra’s exact location but he could not, it could have been because she was not in the castle but he knew that was not it, because while in that very room with the queen and Pythias, he could not sense them even though he could see them. He knew his senses had been blocked.Blocked to keep him from locating a certain someone. He just had not realized it then.“Every female that is not a citizen of Erstonia, with white or silver hair should be killed on the spot, and I want her body brought back here to me.” - He knew the wizard had said that to throw him off, Lyra was already in the castle before he came, Pythia
“It’s been a day,” Iris spoke out. The blizzard was gone now but the snow still fell somewhat heavy so the horses could not run in the deep pile up of snow.“Fang Peek is not a stone’s throw from Erstonia,” Xanth replied to her from the front of the line where he led the group. He turned slightly to face her. “You should know this.”She rolled her eyes at him, wondering how it had come to be that she would be taking orders from him, even when Ryder was here, she still did as she pleased.“Plus there are tons of snow covering the ground, the horses can only go so fast.” Kye chipped in. “But it is time-wasting.”“If any one of you has a flying contraption you can pull out of your pocket, I would absolutely love the change of style right about now,” Xanth replied, he was already getting impatient with those two.“You don’t have to be sarcastic about it,” Kye said and rolled his eyes. “Our complaints are completely justifiable.”“Our?” Xanth asked and turned to face Kye and Iris. “Our? An
She felt pain, and then fear, an extreme amount of fear that caused her heart to shudder and her bones to freeze. She found herself alone in a dark place, an unknown place, and she could hear nothing. It was absolutely silent here.She got down on her knees and hugged herself, shut her eyes, and crashed to the floor, whimpering and crying silently. Then the voices came, at first they sounded far, like from a distance, but they got close quickly and it was not voices she was familiar with.The fear gripped her strongly again, she brought her hands to her ears to block out the voices that were now screaming at her, and she screamed back that they be quiet. She screamed and shook and trashed and bolted up…“No!” she screamed and held her hands against her ears, eyes tightly shut, she snapped her head from left to right, trashing about on the bed. “Quiet! No!”Ryder rushed to her side and held her hand, prying them away from her ears as he tried to calm her down. “Lyra! Easy Lyra, I’m rig
“It has been five days since we got here, and yet, no sign of Ryder, don’t you think he should have gotten here before now?” Syrana asked Xanth.They had arrived at Fang Peek five days ago and had taken shelter in the warm caves of the mountains. Fang Peek was just past the cold Zagaroth mountains of Erstonia but they differed with sharp contrast in temperatures.The place, Fang Peek, had gotten its name from the tooth-like structures that had been affixed to the roof of most of its caves by nature, and underneath its mountains was silent hot lava that kept the place hot and prevented snow from staying on its ground. The lowest of the caves was the hottest, and it was in there the sacrifice would take place, for it was within the boiling lava, that Osyron and his army of undead warriors had been trapped and sealed off.“He will come,” Xanth replied to Syrana, sounding very assured. “And he will come with Lyra.”“He’s not coming,” Iris said. Her expression was cold and her heart held n
“There has not been any earth tremor for days now, has Ryder completed the sacrifice?” General Mavrek asked Iris as she crashed into a chair in his tent, gulping down cup after cup of water. A day’s journey in the cold and snow-covered land had nothing on her, as her body could withstand some levels of extreme temperatures, but her body could not go on without water. She had not thought of that really.She had stumbled into Mavrek’s camp as they were making their way up to Fang Peek, and Mavrek had been shaken, expecting to see Ryder coming up a distance away with Xanth. But after a couple of hours with no sign of either men, he began to relax a bit.Iris looked away after her last cup of water, she had heard his question but what could she say in reply? That the girl they had all their hopes on was dead? That they should go home and prepare for war, promising death by the hand of the bloodthirsty god, Osyron? “We encountered some complications on the way.”“Complications?” that conf