Chapter 7

“You’re going with them?”

Perditus smirked slightly, as unstrapped his supply bags from the Thornatus. Morning had dawned.

“Just seeing them safely past Roxtus. Once they are past, I’ll start back south. Of course, you are welcome to stay here or return home if you wish. But Crotesius says he hasn’t found anything of worth under the Dark Falls.”

Kirbraz and Scodonius exchanged glances.

“But you’re leaving your Thornatus here?” asked Kirbraz.

“The Thornatus in the mountains? Not only impractical, but the reverberation would just invite Skrall attacks. Crotesius has agreed to stay here to guard it.”

Scodonius grabbed Kirbraz’s arm and pulled him away.

“I took a poke around the Dark Falls and the Cendox last night and I couldn’t find any Exsidian. If there is any, I doubt it’s worth the effort of recovering.”

“You’re saying you want to go?”

“Might as well. We’ve come this far already. And it will make sure Vulcanus doesn’t get anything out of this trip that we don’t.”

“True…”

The two Agori returned to Perditus.

“We’re coming too, Scodonius announced.

The Fire Glatorian shrugged. “Suit yourself. You’ll have to leave the Kaxium here, though. With Crotesius.”

Again, the Water Agori exchanged glances. Although they weren’t enthusiastic about abandoning the Kaxium, they’d known Crotesius for ages and trusted him well enough.

“Eh, whatever.”

“I guess.”

With these dramatic words, the Twin Hurricanes of Tajun bound themselves and their fate to Perditus and the foreign Agori. They did not know where the rest of the journey might take them, but they knew they would see it through to the end.

✴        ✴        ✴

“Can we go back? My feet are hurting.”

“I’m a little hungry.”

“Did we leave the Kaxium running?”

“We could always do this tomorrow.”

Perditus rolled his eyes as he stepped up the steep trail, determined to ignore the complaints of the two Water Agori. Part of him wanted to sympathize with the Tajun villagers, whose legs and stature made ascent far more difficult for them than it was for him. But one glance at the Rock Agori, who were scrambling upward even ahead of him dispelled this consideration.

He whispered a quiet prayer that there weren’t any Skrall patrols out nearby.

Vocta threw a glance back at the Water Agori, then looked at Kaldii. “These are some of Tajun’s greatest warriors?”

“Shocking, I know,” smirked Perditus.

Kaldii shrugged.

Vocta looked back again. “Perhaps they have just lived so long behind their wheels that their legs don’t work anymore.”

Scodonius stopped as he processed this.

“Don’t wor… I’ll have you know, Vocta,” he said with a crooked grin. “My legs are the envy of Bara Magna. These legs run with greater grace and elegance than a Dune Gazelle, I’ll have you know.”

“In other words, they are impractical.”

Kirbraz snickered helplessly. “There is no better word to sum up Scodonius.”

Scodonius shot his partner a death glare. “I suppose you can face Telluris alone next time then, huh?”

“I suppose I can. As she said—‘impractical.’”

Kirbraz erupted in a fit of youthful giggling. Perditus snorted, Vocta laughed, and Kaldii smiled. As Scodonius looked around each of them, he realized nobody actually sympathized with his position.

“Fine then. I suppose I can turn back around and it wouldn’t make a difference, would it?” he growled wrathfully. “I’m just weighing us down, huh. Just another—”

“Hush,” hissed Perditus.

The Agori quieted instantly, all stopping at once. They listened closely.

But there was nothing.

Vocta looked at Perditus. “What did you—”

Perditus shook his head.

The Skrall Agori frowned and concentrated.

Now there was a faint rattling of metal.

And it was coming in their direction.

“Go,” Perditus whispered, directing the Agori forward. The five travelers scrambled over logs and around boulders, moving with as much stealth as they could afford. To be caught in the open by a Skrall patrol would be to invite death.

But the Black Spike Mountains would not make it easy. The minimal overgrowth and barren landscape failed to muffle much noise, and even as Perditus could hear the clanging coming in their direction, he was sure the Skrall patrol would be likely to hear them as well. As he ran, his eyes scanned the landscape for something that could be used to turn the tide. In his mind’s eye, he was back in the Core War, battling for the supremacy of the fire tribe.

Just as he was spying an outcropping from which boulders could be thrown, a shout rang out behind him. He whirled, horrified.

Kirbraz had fallen to the ground, he leg caught between two fallen logs.

Vocta and Kaldii scrambled over to him to examine the wound.

“We can get it healing,” Vocta announced, “But it will take time.

Perditus stared at the four Agori, then looked at the outcropping he had spotted.

“Stay here,” he ordered the Agori, as he started to run in its direction.

“Where’s he going?” asked Vocta.

Scodonius glanced at the groaning Kirbraz. “Who’s the impractical one now?”

✴        ✴        ✴

Perditus scrambled atop the stone platform that jutted out from the mountain just to the side of the path. Pulling a few rocks from the dirt, he observed them and weighed them. They weren’t Thornax, and his throwing arm wasn’t nearly what it used to be. But perhaps it just might work.

Crouching down, he observed the four Agori where they sat. Kirbraz fought to muffle his pain, but every time he moved slightly, it seemed the agony would flare up. In spite of this, Vocta went to work gently freeing him from the snare while Kaldii stood guard and Scodonius watched awkwardly.

As he crouched and waited, he was struck by the tranquility of the mountain pass. He hadn’t visited the Black Spikes since the Shattering, as far as he could remember. Setting aside the noises of the Agori down below, the pass was surprisingly quiet. There were some far-off sounds likely coming from the city of Roxtus itself, but birds and roaming creatures seemed abnormally muted among the mountains.

In spite of this, there was no denying the spectacular sight of land so jagged in its rising and falling. Having lived in Bara Magna so long, seeing such uneven mountain country was awe-inspiring and perhaps even vertigo-inducing in places. To stare over a ledge and not see the bottom was nauseating, and unlike anything seen even among the rocky canyons near Vulcanus.

Perditus’ musings were interrupted for in that moment, he picked out the metal clanging once again.

And it was right down the path from them.