Chapter Fifty-four

The Mountain Pass

We headed north the next morning, starting through the forest, going northwest towards the mountains. After four days, the trees cleared, and we were traveling through low shrubs and grass along the mountainside. Along our left, the mountains rose high above us. To our right, the desert spread out as far as the eye could see. The temperature rose as soon as we came out from under the trees. There were a few travelers on the path ahead of us, coming back towards Vasselheim.

The mountainside was nearly barren, there were a few outcroppings of rocks around that we could hide behind if needed, but no trees, and barely any shrubs.

When I started getting hot, I'd fly up to where there was cooler air. The air didn't grow cooler until I was around one-hundred stories high, which made me nervous, but I reminded myself that I was securely tied to my broom and would be able to catch myself long before I hit the ground if I were to fall off.

Being that high up gave me good vantage on the path ahead of us as well. The blue-gray mountains were a stark contrast to the yellow desert. Sometimes I saw something blueish crawling along the sides of the mountains, almost like centipedes, but with as high up as I was, it would have to be massive for me to see at all. There may have been more than one, but they stayed pretty far from the path that we were traveling.

The path moved closer to the desert before turning towards the mountains, to where I figured the pass must be. A gap grew between the mountains, and as we got closer to them, the walls became more sheer. Some of it was naturally cut, and some of it looked like it had been cut away by tools.

As we were walking through, I saw something moving along the northern cliff face, about ten storeys up. It slithered along, then stopped. It looked like it could be one of the same things I'd seen while I was up on my broom. "There's something on the cliff face. Keep moving, but be prepared to run, or fight."

Everyone acknowledged me, and we kept moving. I watched the rock formations and saw a spot that didn't follow the same pattern as the rest of the rock. Melima pointed out a face to me, and I could see the rest of the creature. It was moving down the rocks towards us, super stealthily. It was incredible how much its blue and gray skin blended in with the rock.

I knew it could be a danger to us, but I also didn't want to kill it if it would do us no harm. Things had been so much simpler before meeting the sphinx. Melima wanted me to fly up and kill it, but I wasn't going to do it any harm unless it attacked first.

I held my quarterstaff at the end of my broom, then charged towards the creature. I knew I would cause it to react, and hopefully run away from the sudden and aggressive movement.

When I was about half a stone's throw away, I could begin to see how big this thing actually was. It was a lizard-like creature, almost like a snake, but it had five or six pairs of legs along its body. It opened its eyes and mouth, and a bolt of lightning shot out from its mouth.

I dived away from the lightning, but the surge of energy still caught me as I flew away. Instead of chasing after me, it started charging towards my friends.

It climbed to the bottom of the ravine, then paused in front of my friends, blocking their path. Keothi ran towards it, swinging his hammer. The monster dodged both of his swings with incredible speed.

Naidaroe swirled her hands, and storm clouds gathered above it. She pulled her hand down and a bolt of lightning came down and struck the monster's tail. The lightning moved up its body and into its mouth. It didn't flinch or react at all. Lightning wasn't going to hurt this thing.

Jörgen cast a spell, and the beast seemed to be slower in its movements to dodge. Ari'yasa pushed her hands towards it, and the ground beneath it broke up into large chunks of earth.

Melima cast a spell, and the monster started to shrink, but quickly returned to its original size. This wasn't going to be an easy fight. I flew behind it, higher into the air, and whispered my spell to mark it as my quarry, "taithfarna."

I let off an arrow, which the monster dodged, but my next arrow struck it in the side. The creature swiped at Keothi, hitting him with its claws and wrapping around him, then biting into his shoulder.

Keothi hit it with his hammer twice in the neck, forcing its attention on him. It shook its head, dropped Keothi, and tried to get away, but Keothi cracked it over the head with his hammer, keeping it from escaping.

Naidaroe shouted. "Jörgen, you fight like my grandma!"

Jörgen moved his hands out, and acid fell onto the creature. The wizard also started shimmering. Ari'yasa walked forward and stretched her hand out, casting a spell. The skin on the huge beast started to wither away.

Melima threw a ball of acid at the monster, then scrambled up the wall to the next landing. I let off a couple more arrows, planting arrows where the skin was withering away on its neck and body.

The monster shot out lightning at Keothi, striking him square in the chest. It hissed at him, then climbed up the cliff and started moving towards Melima.

Keothi scrambled up the cliff to get between it and Melima. He pounded it with three quick strikes, missing a fourth one only because it backed away from him. The monster screeched out, as if it were calling for help. I kept my eyes open for another one that might be nearby.

The slithering beast shook its head as Naidaroe called to Keothi. "With my captain, you wouldn't have missed that last strike!"

Keothi gripped his hammer tighter and scowled. The beast writhed in pain as more acid fell on it from Jörgen's fingers.

Another screech echoed from the direction we had come, and another one of the creatures came from behind Jörgen, biting him and encasing him in its claws. It couldn't get a hold on him though, and it released its grip. Ari'yasa turned and threw up a bunch of vines to hold it to the ground.

Melima threw a ball of acid at the one in front of Keothi, and it collapsed to the ground. She ran out of reach of the newcomer, which screeched and started clawing at the vines.

I mentally moved my mark from the dead beast to the one that just showed up and fired a couple of arrows at it, planting one in after the other, deep into its side. "If you all get away, I can take care of it from up here on my broom!"

Keothi jumped from the ridge he was on, charging the monster trapped in the vines and landing two solid strikes in its neck. Naidaroe spun around, throwing a spell and creating a cloud of spinning daggers on the serpentine beast. She looked at Melima. "The world needs you alive, so kick its butt!"

Jörgen backed away from the beast and the vines, casting a spell. The monster started thrashing more violently. It lashed out and bit Keothi under his raised arm. He landed his hammer on its arm as it reached out for him.

Ari'yasa sprayed poison at it, but it just snorted the poison away. Melima hurled a ball of poison at it, which made it shudder and convulse.

I shot more arrows, landing them deep into its other side, one after another. Keothi continued his barrage of hammer strikes, enraging the beast even further. The goliath was wearing down, but wasn't stopping.

Naidaroe stepped towards Keothi with a glowing hand, touching him and running away from the monster. It reached out and grabbed her, pulling her in towards itself. Keothi swung at its arm, but his aim was off and he nearly hit Naidaroe in the head.

Jörgen ran forward, then puffed into a mist, reappearing on the other side of the beast. He spread out his hands, fire erupting from his fingertips.

The beast broke out of the vines holding it down and started to climb up the cliff, with Naidaroe in its claws. I nocked an arrow, but Jörgen swung his staff at its hind legs, causing it to lose its grip on the wall. It dropped Naidaroe as it tried to regain its balance.

Naidaroe landed safely, but the beast toppled over itself, landing on one of its claws, right on a wound from Keothi's hammer. It stopped moving.

I took a second to check for any other immediate danger, then flew high above the road to see if there was anything up higher that might be attracted to the huge carcasses.

The walls got steeper and more rocky the higher up I got, and I could see no creatures at all. I flew back down to see if there was anything useful we might be able to get off of the creatures.

The tissue was tough, not good for meat, and the teeth were so small we wouldn't be able to use them for anything. The claws might be useful, and Jörgen asked Keothi to get one off for him. After a struggle, he was able to get it off for him.

There was a blue-black blood coming from the flesh that was still on it, and it stunk. I'd been considering making a dagger out of one, but after smelling it, I decided I didn't need another dagger that badly. Jörgen smiled and painted some of the blood onto his staff.

We moved out of the area and soon came to the top of the pass. There was a grassy area that would be good to camp, but it was still mid-afternoon. I scouted ahead on my broom to see if there would be a better spot to camp so we could keep moving, or if the top of the pass was going to be our best option for the night.

Coming down the pass, the mountainside was covered with dense trees, with not many places to rest. I couldn't really see the road from the air. At the base of the mountain it opened into a grassy plain, but we wouldn't be able to make it there before dark, and we needed some time to rest and recover from our battle.

I returned and let my friends know what I'd seen. "This is the most clear, probably safest area. It gets pretty dense forest after this. I don't know what's in the forest, we could keep going, but this might just be a good spot to rest for a while."

We decided to camp there for the night, but waited to have Naidaroe make her protection dome until after dark, so the spell didn't end in the middle of the night. As night came upon us, sounds of creatures started around us, but there weren't any that I recognized. Even once Naidaroe created the dome, I was on alert for what might be around, though there was nothing close. It was good to know that we were safe in the dome, and I was able to sleep restfully.

. . .

I was jarred awake in the night, something had shaken the ground. It felt like a boulder had fallen, or something very large had stepped down. About three seconds later I felt it again, hearing something faint out in the distance as well, but I wasn't able to tell what direction it was coming from. Whatever it was, it was much larger than a treant.

I woke Keothi. Since he was from the mountains, he might have a better idea of what it might be. "Hey, do you know what this sound is? It woke me up."

I moved my hand each time I heard it. Ari'yasa was awake too, just lying with her eyes open. Keothi listened for a moment. "There's something very big out here. I vote we avoid it, whatever it is."

I nodded. "I concur."

After about ten minutes, the sound stopped, and I felt that it was safe for me to go back to sleep.