Two Renegade Realms (Realm Walkers Book 2) (41 page)
T
he invasion riveted Cantor’s attention, but he knew when the ladies withdrew and left the viewing of slaughter to the men. He had experience with Bixby in battle and counted her as reliable in the middle of bloody chaos. But as the Lymen slashed through everything in their path, he sympathized with her need to turn away.
Cantor, Dukmee, Rollygon, Tegan, and Chomountain sat in chairs provided from Chomountain’s vast hamper that no one could see. Occasionally one or the other of the men would get up and peer more closely at a particular scene being played out. The conversation between them was sparse.
As far as Cantor could tell, Chomountain was the only one among the six males who wasn’t being dragged down by despair. In the two hours they had been watching, Cantor had not seen one Lymen killed by someone from their planes. A few invaders had met their end at the hands of other Lymen, usually over spoils from their pillaging.
Tegan crossed his arms over his chest and kept most of his emotion from his face, though muscles in his jaw tightened, and his mouth pressed into one hard line.
Bridger had turned part of himself into a chair and sat with his chin in his hand, his elbow resting on a conveniently padded armrest. “Maybe fire,” he said. “Perhaps fire-breathing dragons could hold them back.”
Dukmee rubbed the base of his skull, rotated his shoulders, and moved his head from side to side before he spoke. “I wonder how many fire-breathing dragons are available.”
Bridger gestured to himself and the other dragons in the room. “You have five here. There should be mor dragons still in service to realm walkers. And on Algore, there’s a whole tribe of fire-breathing dragons.”
Rollygon shook his head. “The gorus dragons are an unreliable bunch. I hear there are over five hundred of them, but they don’t play well with others.”
Dukmee clapped a hand on Bridger’s shoulder. “They fight well, and that’s what we need.”
Cantor knew about the dragons from his studies, both with Odem and at the guild. They were reportedly a vile, lazy, selfish bunch. “What will motivate them to come to our aid?”
Chomountain lifted an eyebrow. “I shall be persuasive. Being the right hand of Primen does have advantages.”
Cantor heard Bixby cry out, “There they are!” The strength of her joy reached him as well and sent him running to her side.
He looked at the image of Ahma and Odem, Ahma’s constant, Tom, in his dog form, and Odem’s Nahzy in his donkey form. “They’re alive!” He grabbed Bixby by the waist and spun around.
When he set her down, he examined the image more closely. “Where are they?”
Totobee-Rodolow clicked her tongue. “I believe they’re in the old mines of Richra.”
Bixby gasped. “They are. I recognize that geological formation. It exists only in those caverns. Why are they there?”
Lupatzey pulled a disapproving face. “They don’t look healthy.”
“And they’re dirty,” Ethelmin added. “I think they’re being held against their wishes.”
The vision grew smaller, as if the watchers had stepped away, but now they could see more of the area around Ahma and Odem.
“They aren’t alone,” Lupatzey said.
Ethelmin blinked her eyes rapidly. “There must be fifty people in that cavern. And look at all those animals. Do you suppose they’re all mor dragons?”
“I think they are. Dozens of realm walkers and their constants. And that’s just those we can see.” Lupatzey tore her gaze away from the scene and looked at her friends. “What’s going on?”
Totobee-Rodolow scowled. “Those are almost all seasoned realm walkers. Some might say they are beyond their prime, but the collective wisdom in that stony room is phenomenal.”
Ethelmin’s voice reflected her disbelief. “Then why don’t they escape?”
Chomountain and Dukmee joined them. Dukmee gave Ethelmin a scathing glance. “I was trapped in a walled city, and I’m a pretty clever fellow. Sometimes your talents need the assistance of others.”
“There’s plenty of others,” Ethelmin objected.
“Yes, but the others are just as trapped. Probably their gifts have been harnessed in some way.”
Chomountain added his opinion. “And I was trapped in a valley. As you dragons were in the cave. There will be a simple key to unlock whatever holds them. Once they know they are free, it doesn’t take but a second to revert. You see, deep in their being, they know they belong to Primen.”
The right hand of Primen rubbed his hands together, and his face beamed with enthusiasm. “This is just what we need. Bixby, Totobee-Rodolow, Cantor, Bridger, Rollygon, and Tegan will go to Richra and free these realm walkers. Explain our peril and bring them to the western edge of Derson. Ethelmin and Lupatzey will go with Dukmee and me to Gilead and solicit a list of all active realm walkers. Inactive as well. They might come in handy.”
Jesha let out a sharp cry from where she sat, still in the middle of the floor. Cho turned to look at her. “Yes, you’re going. With Bridger, naturally.”
Cantor felt doubt surfacing to quell any plans. “The guild has their own plans for massacre on that day. I doubt they’ll be interested in cooperating with us.”
Chomountain tilted his head back and looked down his nose at Cantor. He looked every inch the right hand of Primen, haughty and uncompromising. “I doubt they will choose to countermand a direct order from me.”
He paused as if waiting for another objection. With their silence, he went on. “I’ll send out messengers to gather the realm walkers.”
“What runners would be fast enough and able to leap through portal after portal?” Ethelmin nodded at Lupatzey. “You can’t think we’ll do it. We’re not fast enough or strong
enough or smart enough in geography. We’d be lost in an hour.”
“Thankfully, I do not require your assistance at this point.” He surveyed his audience to be sure everyone listened. “I will send Primen’s warriors. A desperate time requires desperate measures. Primen probably has them on standby.
“After our work in Gilead is done, we’ll go to Algore to recruit the gorus dragons.” Chomountain looked pleased with himself. “Everything is falling into place nicely. We’ll just watch the end of this bit of mayhem and then be on our way. Must see the ending, you know. How they get off the plane when their pods only go straight or down. Bound to be something clever at play.”
C
antor, Bridger, Dukmee, and Chomountain resumed their seats. When Cantor saw that Rollygon aimed to stick to the mysterious realm walker, he didn’t object to Tegan wandering away. The newest member of their team pushed a chair over to an unoccupied side of their enclosure. There he sat with Rollygon right behind him. They watched something other than the invasion.
Cantor knew he should investigate, but he liked having a break from Tegan’s company. And at least the man was leaving Bixby alone.
At another segment of the enclosure, Bixby and Totobee-Rodolow studied the area of Richra where Ahma and Odem were held captive. The two other female dragons watched as well but didn’t seem as interested in the problem of setting his two mentors free.
Cantor left the battle to join them.
Bixby immediately gave him a welcoming smile. A weak smile due to the circumstances, but nevertheless he felt encouraged in seeing it. Her smile proved they weren’t mired in the hopelessness of their cause. Not yet, anyway.
Ethelmin sidled closer at the sight of Cantor bending over Bixby’s chair. “How do we know what time it is when we look at something?” She waved at the scene before them. “This could be your Mama and Oder ten years ago or fifty years in the future.”
Totobee-Rodolow gave the younger dragon a critical look. “Their names are Ahma and Odem, Ethelmin-Tahbeedow.” She lifted a fabricated eyebrow and continued in a syrupy tone with just an edge of pepper. “And had you been listening to Chomountain’s explanation, darling, you would have heard him say that we see what we are thinking about. We are not thinking about ten years ago or fifty years in the future. And frankly, young one, I doubt that you are thinking at all.”
Cantor heard grinding of teeth as Ethelmin clamped her lips together. He wasn’t all that familiar with the hierarchy of mor dragon authority, but he did know that Totobee-Rodolow dwelt at the top of the ladder.
The chastised dragon flounced off. Lupatzey looked as if she might follow, perhaps to offer sympathy, but one glance at Totobee-Rodolow changed her mind. Lupatzey edged forward.
Cantor recognized she was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible and at the same time show how willing she was to pay more attention. He caught her eye and gave her an encouraging smile. Bixby’s smile had made him feel better. Perhaps he could do the same for Lupatzey.
Cantor stayed long enough to get a good idea of the layout of the prison. Whoever had overseen its construction had
connected unused mines and natural caverns. Guards stood at the entrances to the mountain and at checkpoints underground. Barracks above provided living space for off-duty men. One mess hall served them all. The guards carried prepared food down to the prisoners.
“What’s keeping them there?” he wondered aloud. He focused on Totobee-Rodolow. “I have no idea how powerful the other realm walkers are, but both Ahma and Odem should be able to leave without much strain on their skills.”
“There must be a ward around them. Or perhaps someone has taken their memories.” She looked over her shoulder at Chomountain and Tegan.
Bixby nodded. “And on our first adventure together, Cantor and I rescued young men on Effram. They’d been forced into service to the king.”
“Only we got there before they’d been put through the ritual that took away the lessons learned at their parents’ knees.”
Totobee-Rodolow grinned. “My brother would not thank you for that.”
Cantor frowned, but Bixby laughed. Her eyes squinted into half moons as they always did when amusement took over her face. “You’re right; Bridger was there. And so was Dukmee. They helped.”
Bixby’s comment poked him in his antipathy for Bridger as a constant. To tell the truth, he no longer felt strongly about the dragon pushing himself into that position. On occasion, Bridger came in handy. Very handy. On quite a few occasions.
He grunted, not willing to concede. Then Bixby’d quit harassing him, and he actually enjoyed her taunts. He gave her the response she expected. “I remember Bridger in a drugged sleep. That wasn’t very helpful.”
Bixby scoffed. “Now who has selective memory?”
Cantor watched with them for a while longer, then drifted over to Rollygon and Tegan.
He stood beside the dragon and asked softly, “What are you looking at?”
“This is Tegan’s life. He’s being very clever about retrieving information about his past.”
“And?” Cantor nudged the dragon with his elbow.
“Tegan remembers something, then pushes to what happened just before that. It’s amazing. Then he goes to the beginning of that memory and pushes back to what happened just before that.”
“What have you learned?”
“He’s not a spy.” The look Rollygon gave Cantor held a bit of reproach. “He’s a victim. And Errd Tos did the mind sweeping. However” — now the dragon looked proudly at Tegan — “it appears our Tegan has a very strong will, and most of their stuff didn’t work.”
Cantor looked at the view before them. “Those are the same caverns where Ahma and Odem are being held.”
“We’ve already been through his escape. He’s going backward now, bit by bit. I assume he wants to remember how he got in there.”
“He’ll be an asset when we rescue my mentors.”
“As will I.” Rollygon’s chest puffed out. “His memories are in my head as well. And I think he’ll take me as a constant. So far, it doesn’t look like he’s had one.”
“Cantor,” said Dukmee. “You’ll want to see this.”
He returned to his chair between Chomountain and Dukmee. Even before he settled, he saw why he’d been called over.
The Lymen still marched across Derson and Zonvaner, but without the speed and with far less pillaging.
“What’s happened?”
Chomountain chortled. “I believe it’s gravity.”
“I don’t understand.”
Cho pointed to a group of people on one side of a hill. They sorted through an odd assortment of items. Cantor decided it was a rummage sale. The marauders approached from the other side, and the citizens did not know their peril.
Dukmee clasped his hands together and propped his chin on the knuckles. He made no effort to contain his grin. “Watch what happens when they run.”
The enemy crested the rise and swarmed down the slope. The startled people stood frozen for a moment, then ran helter-skelter. Earlier, no one had been able to outrun the invaders. These villagers sprinted away, taking huge leaps with each stride. The Lymen, bodies bloated with overeating, stumbled in their efforts to catch up.
Dukmee leaned forward. “At first, my thought was that it’s as if the Lymen carried a load. But it isn’t ‘as if,’ they do! They’ve gorged themselves every step of the way.”
Cantor shook his head. The sight of the once fleet-footed Lymen barely keeping on their feet relieved some of the tension in his neck and shoulders. The sight was humorous, but also it showed the enemy had weaknesses. They’d discovered one.