The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(65)
The dragon led them west, towards the Sea of Tian Xia, following the descent of the sun. They stopped for a couple of hours in the foothills where trolls lived and the myrkestra and Charlie hunted rabbits, which they cooked over a fire and shared. Jalo kept watch while the others slept all too briefly. Before it was light he woke them again to continue the journey. The dragon seemed impatient to carry on, certain of its destination. Beyond the land of the Giants the earth was webbed with thousands upon thousands of glittering rivers. Long graceful boats plied the rivers but Nell could not make out what kind of beings guided the boats. They passed over the rivers, which eventually merged into several large rivers, over dramatic waterfalls and twisted rock formations, until they reached a thick forest of black trees. Over this was the Sea of Tian Xia, clear as glass.
They veered north and were flying along miles of rocky coastline when a thick purplish fog closed about them, eclipsing everything, sound as well as sight. Nell could not see her own hands clutching the spiked neck of the dragon, nor could she hear the wings of the dragon beating the air anymore. She called out to the others but her voice was swallowed by the fog. The dragon cried out then and though its plaintive cry was also muted it carried a little further. Nell assumed at first that the dragon’s cry was to help the others follow what they could not see. It continued to cry out for a long time, until there came a returning cry, a shrill and terrible sound from somewhere ahead of them. The fog parted like curtains, revealing the grey, ridged sea below and the wooded coast. A dragon twice the size of the one Nell rode was circling above a windy bluff, screaming. A white-haired figure stood on the bluff holding a glittering spear.
~~~
The dragons landed on the bluff, soon followed by the gryphon and the myrkestra. Swarn came striding to meet them. Although Nell did not know it, the witch was changed. Her strong, dark face was hollow and gaunt and her eyes burned even more fiercely than before. She looked mistrustfully at the little group, then said to Charlie, “Where is Eliza?”
“We thought she was with you,” said Charlie. Nell’s heart plummeted.
Swarn looked around. “We cannot talk here. Come, among the trees.” She stopped and pointed at the Faery. “You cannot enter the witches’ forest.”
“No,” said the Faery, looking in alarm at the trees.
“Why cannay you?” asked Nell.
“It was Faeries that Cursed the witches who make up the trees of this wood,” said Swarn, her voice steely. “But they retain a power of their own and no Faery may enter.”
“Lah, you just wait here,” said Charlie to Jalo cheerfully.
“Wait!” said Nell. “He’s helped a lot. He should be part of any discussion, aye. Why do we need to go in the forest?” She didn’t much like the look of the dark trees either.
“It is not safe out in the open,” said Swarn. She thought for only a bit, then gestured for them all to follow. “I invite you, Faery, and you are under my protection for the moment.”
Jalo didn’t seem to find this very comforting, but he followed Swarn and the others in among the trees. The mist fell behind them like a wall and the trees formed a tight circle around them. It was as if they stood at the center of a fortress made out of forest and fog.
“Tell me what has happened, Shade,” said Swarn.
“The Mancers have been turned to stone,” said Charlie. “Praps you already know that. Eliza and I found Nia in the Citadel, draining all the books. And she made this...monster. To keep Eliza busy, out of the way, she said. The monster was going to find Eliza’s mother. I was hurt and I couldnay help her. I thought she’d come find you, aye. I didnay think she’d be crazy enough to go after it by herself, but if you havenay seen her, I spec that’s what she’s done.”
“By herself?” echoed Nell faintly. “Why would she do that?”
Charlie shrugged unhappily. “You know how she is about her family.”
“You say Nia Made a monster?” Swarn asked.
Charlie looked puzzled. “Lah...it came out of her mouth. It was disgusting, actually. Will you come back to Di Shang with us? We’ve got to find Eliza, help her.”
“Eliza will be safe until Nia returns to Di Shang for her,” said Swarn. “Nia would not wish her dead, not yet. We can help her best by stopping Nia, though I confess I am at a loss. Tell me how you came to be in the company of a Faery and one of my dragons.”
The Faery stepped forward at this. “I am Jalo, second son of Nikias,” he introduced himself. He described his own meeting with Nell and the scene of slaughter they had encountered in the Marsh. Swarn listened with an impassive face but Nell saw her knuckles whiten around the spear. “The King of the Faeries awaits you in the Realm of the Faeries, that you may join forces against Nia,” he concluded.
“I sought the King,” said Swarn tersely. “He has hidden himself behind a great wall of Illusion. I thought he did not mean to fight.”
“He is protecting his people,” said Jalo. “But he has sent out a number of his best soldiers to find his allies and bring them to him. The Oracle is dead, the Mancers incapacitated, but I have found you. I can take you to him. We should not scatter our force but rather work together in an organized fashion. The Curse on the Mancers must be broken and they and the Shang Sorceress must all be brought to the Realm of the Faeries. Our kingdom is impenetrable; we can fight the Sorceress from there.”