Chapter 3
1797 Words
3
"Ow. Ow. Ow."
My assessment of the hadab's movements wasn't far off. The beast I rode rocked me in four different directions, and sometimes all at the same time. My posterior was sore from the hard saddle, and the hump at my back was as comfortable as a bag of bricks.
My mantra made my dragon lord smile. "I still offer you my lap if you wish for greater comfort."
I glared at him and tightened my grip on the reins. "I said I was going to ride one of these things on my own, and I mean it."
The said creature added its comment with a heavy spit as it rocked back and forth in its quick trot. I glared down at the strange beast that I burdened. It leisurely looked ahead of us with its sharp canine eyes.
Spiros laughed. "It is said the hadab keeps its friends and remembers its enemies. Perhaps it considers you an enemy."
I looked ahead and raised my chin in the air. "Maybe the spitting means the opposite." The animal snorted. The party laughed. I shrank down in my saddle and glared at the beast. "Thanks a bunch. . ."
Tillit followed behind our group. He leaned forward in his saddle and raised his jolly voice. "So, My Lord, you know what brings me to the Temple, but what of you and your merry band?"
Xander didn't look around when he replied. "Miriam must see the world."
The sus snorted. "You're more secretive than usual, My Lord." His eyes flickered to Spiros. "What say you, captain? Do you need to see the world, too?"
Spiros smiled and shook his head. "No, Master Merchant, the world needs to see me. I cannot hide this wonderful face from the world forever." Darda and I rolled our eyes.
Tillit laughed and slapped the horn of his saddle. "I applaud you, captain. That's at least a better lie than the one your lord gave me."
"What I said was not a lie," Xander insisted.
Tillit wagged his finger at Xander. "Then you should know better than to tell half a truth, My Lord. What will your Maiden think?"
I frowned at Xander. "I think he needs to tell his Maiden why she can't talk about certain things."
The sus leaned to one side to catch Xander's gaze. "We are out in the desert. No one can hear you but us and the desert scorpions."
I glanced down at the sand. A breeze swept over the small grains and shifted them. "And maybe the thieves. . ." I murmured.
Xander pursed his lips and I noticed his hands clenched his reins until the knuckles were white. Finally he sighed. "Very well, since we are alone."
Tillit grinned. "That's the lord I know! Now what have you got for Tillit?"
Xander stopped his hadab and half-turned so he could look Tillit in the eyes. "Miriam visited Valtameri in his ocean domain and he allowed her to glimpse her earliest memories."
Tillit grinned and winked at me. "Good for you!"
"One of them was of her father creating a portal."
Tillit's eyes widened and his face drooped. He whipped his head back to Xander. "You're pulling my tail!"
Xander closed his eyes and shook his head. "If only that were true, but you see why this must be kept a secret."
Tillit whistled and nodded. "Yeah. If that got out she'd be in big trouble."
I whipped my head from one to the other. "Why would I be in big trouble?"
Xander turned his attention to me and pursed his lips. "If what you glimpsed was true then your father committed the gravest of sins of our world. The justice demanded of such an act would invariably be demanded from his daughter."
I frowned. "But I didn't do anything! I couldn't even talk to tell him not to do it!"
"That's the rub with the portal," Tillit spoke up. His face was tense as he looked at me. "The priests get to be the ones to investigate, and they don't like having competition."
"Or anyone ending the world," Darda spoke up.
Tillit's eyes flickered to her. "If that's what you think would happen, you go on believing that. I'm a pessimist by nature, but that huge portal the lords have used-pardon me for saying, My Lord-it hasn't done a dang thing to destroy our world, and that thing's been around a long time."
Darda glared at him. "The Portal is well-maintained under the watchful eye of the priests. If anything was to go wrong they would have the ability to close the Portal."
He jerked his head at me. "I'm not saying I don't trust Apuleius with Miriam, but because she's Xander's Maiden he wouldn't get a say in all this. The same might be said of Cayden's guy, so would you trust her to the rest of the big priests and their underlings? Especially the Inquisitors?" Darda pursed her lips, but said nothing. Tillit leaned back and furrowed his brow. "That's my sentiments exactly, so I'm not going to be arguing with My Lord's request to keep my mouth shut about it."
I turned to Xander. "What exactly would they do to me if they found out?"
Xander sighed. "They would investigate the matter, and during the investigation they would capture and use your memories as evidence."
I started back. "They would what?"
Tillit leaned on his saddle horn to be closer to me. "The priests have a nasty habit of using their magic to delve into peoples' minds for information."
"Without their permission?" I guessed.
He nodded. "Yep, and whatever you felt with Valtameri browsing through you, you wouldn't like it if someone started rummaging around in there-" he nodded at my head, "-without your permission."
"I will not allow such an assault," Darda spoke up. She straightened in her saddle and glowered at Tillit. "They shall not touch My Lady."
He held up his hands and smiled at her. "And I agree with you there. I'm just telling Miriam what they'd do to her if they found out."
Xander lifted his reins as he looked over our small group. "I do not believe the danger would come from anyone here, but we must all be vigilant. The Bestia Draconis have followed ahead of us through a number of our adventures, and we must assumed that they have already arrived at the Temple."
He turned his hadab forward and we continued onward. The mood was soured by our dour conversation. I would have brooded if it was in my nature, but there was no sense letting possibilities get me down.
I pulled up beside Xander and looked up into his tense face. "So back there with those two guys, one of them said something about a 'jam' thing that was going on right now at the Temple. What's that about?"
"Jame is the pilgrimage of the faithful to the Temple," Xander told me.
I wrinkled my nose. "Then they're what? Worshiping the portal priests or something?"
Xander smiled and shook his head. "No. They worship a goddess who predates the portal priests."
Tillit lifted one of his water skeins and raised it in a toast to the desert. "Good ol' Alihat Dhahabia. She hasn't failed me yet."
I blinked at him. "Who?"
He winked at me. "She's the big girl around here. Alumu Aleazima rules over the desert, but without Alihat Dhahabia there wouldn't be anybody around here. Her names means the Gold Goddess, and she's the one in charge of water and life. The locals pray to her so their wells never to run dry and they get lots of kids." He drank a little water and poured a few drops out onto the desert floor. "As I always say, a little praying to the local god never hurt anyone."
I turned to Xander. "So is she a fae?"
Xander shook his head. "I cannot say. There are tales of the faithful meeting a radiant woman who blesses them with water, but no one I know has personally met her. If she is a fae than she is very ancient for her worship goes back into the times before dragons ruled this area. The humans were said to worship her, as well."
"And the dragons decided she wasn't so bad and adopted her as their own," Tillit chimed in as he trotted up to my side.
"So how did the priests get the Temple?" I asked them.
Tillit chuckled. "They didn't ask for it, that's for sure. Apuleius and the rest of 'em are nice guys, but some of their predecessors weren't so polite."
Both of my eyebrows shot up and I whipped my head to Xander. "They stole it?"
The dragon lord pursed his lips as he stared ahead of us. "It is a blemish on our history, but yes, the priests with the aid of their dragon lords took the Temple and the city."
"But they didn't get their library," Tillit reminded him.
"Was it that great?" I wondered.
He nodded. "Some of the legends say it was almost as good as the Mallus Library."
I furrowed my brow. "That sounds familiar."
"That is the same library you found in the castle," Darda reminded me.
I looked over my shoulder and grinned at her. "The one you led me to, right?"
She smiled in return. "The very same."
"Can I finish my story?" Tillit spoke up.
"Continue on with your story of woe, Storyteller," Spiros teased him.
Tillit sat straight and cleared his throat. "As I was saying, the dragon lords besieged the Temple. Since neither side could fly it was a war of archers and hadab cavalry. Those in the Temple dug themselves in for a long fight and lasted for a month before their supplies began to run low. They feared the lords would find their water source and thirst them out, so one of them came up with a brilliant plan. They would lose their Temple, but in revenge the priests would never have the books."
I cringed. "Fire?"
Tillit grinned and shook his head. "No, something far more cunning. One of the men, a former sailor in his early youth, devised a-" Xander made a sudden stop. Our party stopped with him.
We stood at the top of a small sand hill. Below us stretched an endless floor of glistening yellow desert. To the far right and many miles away was a long row of orange cliffs. To our right and in front of us was nothing.
I looked at Xander. "What's wrong?"
He nodded at the distance. I leaned forward and squinted into the distance. Tall shadows skidded across the length of the bowl. I pointed at them. "What's that?"
Xander looked past me and at Tillit. There was a devilish grin on the dragon's lips. "The end to Tillit's story." The sus's shoulders drooped and he frowned. Xander returned his attention to me. "Would you like to see?"
"Does it mean I can get off these things when we get there?"
"Yes."
A grin slid onto my lips as I leaned forward over the animal's neck. "Then let's hurry up."
- Writer
