Malediction (Scars of the Sundering Book 1) (6 page)

“Logical
arguments are not particularly comforting, Pancras.” Sarvesh laughed. The two
friends sat for a few hours and reminisced about the days the elders would have
called better times but which Pancras and Sarvesh knew were just fleeting
snippets of their lives.

* * *

Delilah
tapped her foot as she leaned against the rock wall and waited. Kale paced in
front of her. The sun warmed the morning air around the entrance of Drak-Anor
as it crept across the sky, ascending toward its zenith. Two minotaur guards
stood by the forged gates and chatted, leaning on their halberds.

Looking at
her brother, Delilah noticed a strange new mark on her brother's chest
"What's that? On your chest?"

Kale looked
down and rubbed the sigil branded on his chest. "Oh, Terrakaptis put it
there, in case we happen across any dragons. Since he's sleeping and we can't
go with him to wake his kin until after we get back, he thought it was a good
idea to mark me as a friend so they don't try to eat me."

"Do you
think we'll run into any dragons?" Delilah scratched the back of her neck.
"The plains don't seem like a good place to hide and sleep for a thousand
years."

"There’s
plenty of hills and gullies to hide in. Besides, I stopped trying to figure out
Terrakaptis years ago. When he's half-asleep, it seems he talks in riddles. I
don't know." Kale stopped pacing and faced his sister. "Where is
he?"

Glancing
back toward the city's entrance, Delilah peered into the darkness. She
shrugged. "I don't know. Do you think he left without us?" She didn't
think that was minotaur's style, but she realized she didn't know him half as
well as she should.

"He
wouldn't do that." Kale looked toward the city entrance with his sister.
She saw minotaurs and draks meandering about but no one who looked like
Pancras. Delilah adjusted the straps on her backpack where they dug into her
shoulders. The grimoire Terrakaptis gave her was indeed a precious gift. She
leafed through the weighty tome the night prior and reveled the opportunity to
further explore the secrets within, but it felt as if she carried a boulder.

Hearing the
sound of jingling bells from the mountain trail, Delilah turned her attention
away from Drak-Anor's entrance. A pair of elves approached, riding in a cart
pulled by a shaggy horse. The animal was larger than any of the horses or mules
the dwarves used, standing twice as tall as Delilah at its withers.

"Hail,
Drak-Anor!" One of the elves raised his hand and waved at the minotaurs
guarding the gate. He shouted in the common trade language that gave Delilah
such trouble, although basic greetings she understood. The tips of his ears
peeked out from locks of wind-blown hair. The teal skin of his face was as
smooth as porcelain, and he appeared frail enough that a minotaur could snap
him in half like a twig. Elves were the most commonly seen of the fae people
who returned in droves to Calliome.

While
holding the reins, the other elf waved. "Hail! We bring autumn ale and
wine from Celtangate!"

"Any
elf bearing wine and ale is welcome here." One of the minotaurs approached
the merchants. The other guard shouted up at the guard tower flanking the city
entrance to summon some laborers to unload the cart.

"Dammit,
Deli! A new delivery of wine and ale, and we're going to miss it!" Kale
gazed with longing at the barrels of ale. He sighed, like a drak saying goodbye
to a lover seen only in fleeting glimpses across a crowd.

"I'm
sure there's ale in Muncifer, Kale." Delilah looked to the city entrance
again. She saw Pancras trudging toward them, carrying a pack on his back large enough
for one of the draks to ride in.

Pancras
trotted to the drak twins. "Sarvesh is busy with a council meeting. Suri
and Glykeria are dealing with some minor disaster at The Bloody Spike involving
golguthrons, a barrel of soggy bread, a drak, and a minotaur; I didn't ask for
details. Some things are best left unexplained. At least Kale has come to see
us off."

"Not
hardly. I'm coming with you!"

Delilah
grinned and hugged Kale. "Won't this be great, Pancras? The three of us,
together!" Truth be known, Delilah was worried. Most of her friends hadn't
even heard of Muncifer, let alone knew where it lay in relation to Drak-Anor.

"What?
Why? You're not recovered nearly enough from that business with the chaos
rift."

Mere mention
of the rift seemed to cause Kale pain, and he winced, pulling himself away from
Delilah's hug. "I'm not leaving my sister."

Nodding in
agreement, Delilah looked up at Pancras. "And I'm not leaving my
brother."
If I'm going into the unknown, it will be with him at my
side.

Pancras
sighed and slumped, appearing as if someone added more weight to his pack.

"Come
on, Pancras. Kale grabbed the minotaur's hand. "This will be a great
adventure!"

Blowing a
raspberry, Pancras shook his hand from Kale's grip. "Adventure means
discomfort, danger, and desperation. These are not things I willingly seek
out." He pushed past the drak twins and side-stepped the elven traders'
cart.

Delilah
pointed and opened her mouth to reply but then decided any retort would be
fruitless. She followed Pancras and nearly bumped into him when he stopped and
turned to admire Drak-Anor one last time.

"It has
been my home for so long. Now, I feel like I may never see it again."

"We'll
be coming home soon, Pancras." Delilah took his hand. He looked down at
her and shook his head.

Kale trotted
up to them. "Yeah, it's just a trip to Muncifer and back, right?"

"For
you, perhaps. I don't know what awaits me there. It was my home before I came
here. I left for a reason." The minotaur's face twitched, and he stared
with unfocused eyes into the distance. Pancras rubbed his right horn and shook
his head.

"I
don't want to go."

Delilah
studied his face and then regarded Drak-Anor. It was the only home she'd ever
known. She lived there all her life, visiting Ironkrag only once, ten years
ago. The world lay ahead, a great unknown, and like Kale, she eagerly
anticipated the adventure, despite her anxieties. The two guard towers stood on
either side of the forged gates, spires piercing the sky, monuments to the day
Sarvesh truly took control and named the city Drak-Anor. Most minotaurs still
grumbled in their ales about living in a city called "Home of the Draks.

Pancras
slumped and gazed toward the city gates. His ears drooped as he shuffled his
feet. Sunlight flashed off his earrings of gold and silver. His fur-trimmed
purple robes ruffled in the breeze.

Delilah
tugged at his hand. "We're with you, Pancras. We'll make this journey
together, the three of us, and we'll stick together. You're not alone out
here."

* * *

Pancras
regarded Delilah and her brother as they looked up at him and held his hands.
Drak
twins of crimson and ebony, black and red, and—odd, I don't remember Kale
having a tattoo on his chest. It looks draconic.
He chuckled and nodded,
deciding to let the questions he had about Kale's new symbol lie.
My
friends.

"Yes,
yes, thank you. Let's be on our way. We should reach Bramblevale Keep in a
week." He pulled his hands away from the draks, wiped his nose, and hefted
his pack. With a deep breath Pancras turned away from Drak-Anor and set out
along the road that would take them to within a day of Ironkrag before it
turned east and down out of the Dragon Spine Mountains.

Kale and
Delilah followed, and Pancras took comfort in the knowledge that no matter
where he went, as long as they were with him, some part of home would be with
him, too.

As they
strode, the sun continued its journey across the sky, bringing warmth to the
cool mountain air. Below, the plains of Etrunia were shrouded in mist, and the
bright colors in the forests blazed forth in unparalleled glory, heralding the
slow change from summer to autumn. The drak twins sang songs to pass the time,
and once the bone-aching chill burned away, Pancras hummed along, too.

"This
fresh air is great." Delilah inhaled deeply. "It's been too long
since I've been outside the city. Too many stinky minotaurs in there."

"Hey!"

"Sorry,
Pancras, but it's true. You don't bathe enough."

Pancras
considered himself fastidious, more so than his brethren. "I reckon I
bathe as often as you." He glanced back at Kale and Delilah

"I'm
sure she didn't mean you, Pancras." Kale gave his sister a playful shove.

"We don't
have fur stinky things can stick to." Delilah returned her brother's
shove.

Sniffing
himself, Pancras shrugged. "Well, I don't smell anything offensive."

"You're
probably the best-smelling minotaur in the city, Pancras."

"Someone's
coming!" Kale pointed to the road ahead.

Pancras
shielded his eyes. A diminutive figure trudged up the road toward them. He
thought it looked like a dwarf. As it approached, Pancras realized that it was,
indeed, a sole dwarf in traveling gear.

"It's a
dwarf for sure, but I don't think it's a trader. An envoy, perhaps?" They
stopped and waited for the dwarf to reach them.

"It's
Edric!" Kale waved at the familiar dwarf. Pancras saw that he was correct.
The dwarf, alongside whom they fought a few days earlier, nodded in recognition
of Kale and Pancras. His formerly unkempt beard was neat with brass beads
braided into it. Pancras supposed the beads gave the beard weight so it
wouldn't blow around in the wind and noticed the dwarf wore a belt equipped with
more pouches than could be practical.

"What
brings you to Drak-Anor?" Kale greeted the dwarf in Dwarvish and offered
Edric his hand.

The dwarf
ignored it. "The elders weren't pleased I survived our little adventure.
They decided to follow my family’s lead and just outright banished me this
time." He spat on the ground. "Aita take them all." He regarded
the three travelers. "Where are you three off to? Back to Ironkrag?"

Pancras
shook his head. "I have an errand in Muncifer."

Delilah
tugged at Pancras's sleeve. She switched to Drak. "Let's go. We don't need
a smelly dwarf hanging around with us."

The minotaur
looked down at Edric. "Why come to Drak-Anor? Wouldn't Celtangate be
better for you?"

"It's a
home for misfits, right?"

Frowning,
Pancras resisted the urge to pick up the dwarf and toss him off the mountain.
"We do not think of ourselves as misfits. Most citizens of Drak-Anor are
minotaurs and draks. You would be the only resident dwarf." It was
impossible to know everyone in the city, particularly with the recent
population explosion, but the only dwarves Pancras remembered seeing were
traders passing through.

"Oh.
Well, maybe I should come with you to Muncifer."

Delilah
tugged at Pancras's sleeve again and shook her head. Pancras shook her off and
replied to her in Drak. "Look, he's probably just going to follow us if we
don't let him tag along."

"Fine!"
Delilah huffed and threw up her hands in resignation. She burst past Pancras,
grabbing Kale as she did so.

Pancras
watched them for a moment and then noticed Edric looking up at him, awaiting a
response. "Sure, I guess. But I'm in charge of this expedition,
understand?"

"In
charge? Of going to Muncifer on an errand?" Edric snorted and shook his
head. "I'll try to keep my ambition in check."

Pancras
followed after Kale and Delilah.
Great, sarcasm from a dwarf. All I need now
is a blizzard before we are clear of the mountains.

* * *

"Hey,
why are you so set against Edric joining us?" Kale wrenched his hand from
his sister's grip as she dragged him down the mountain road. "He helped
Pancras and me with those ghouls." Delilah again noticed Kale wince at the
mention of his latest adventure with Pancras, although his grimace lasted only
a fraction of a second. She decided to keep an eye on her brother.

"Look,
it's going to be hard enough, the three of us going to Etrunia. From what I
hear, no one outside of Muncifer likes minotaurs, they barely tolerate draks,
and everyone thinks dwarves are greedy little thieves. If an elf or a human, or
even that werewolf, Aeryn, wanted to tag along, I wouldn't have a problem with
it. At least they could be helpful." Delilah looked over her shoulder,
toward Pancras and Edric.

"You've
never had a problem with dwarves before."

Delilah
pursed her lips and frowned at her brother. She pulled him further away from
Pancras and Edric and tried to stay out of earshot. "I'm scared,
okay?"

"Of
Edric?" Kale scratched his head.

"No. Do
you even know where Muncifer is? Now that we've started, it's a great unknown
before us." Delilah hated admitting she was scared of what she didn't know
and abhorred thought of anyone else knowing of her fear.