Chapter 12
Guided by Jason's vision from the gods D'ana drove the four of them across the desert towards a port city Jason had seen in his vision in the temple, the port of Kilikar, the great city by the sea.
Nightly, while he slept, Jason was haunted by dreams of a great battle, him in the armour, then a dual between him and some black Deamon in a tower and a scene in a familiar clearing.
It was the place in the Digital World where he gave Marie her crest, he could see her standing there, he walked over to her and embraced her. He sensed something and whirled away from Marie as a black shape sprang from the bushes. He yelled something as the world seemed to slow down, the shadow came closer, Jason reached for his sword, but too slowly, the shadow's sword was pointed at him and it was moving faster now, it hit his chest and the world seem ed to fast forward. He was pinned to a tree by the sword, his cloths dyed red in his own blood and the shadow changed, it began to morph into someone…
Jason sat up sharply, bathed in his own cold sweat, he looked about and saw two pairs of dragon eyes staring at him, Ruth's and Asheth's, D'ana was also staring at him, looking concerned,
"Are you okay?" she asked, tying the drive to straight and climbing into the back of the cargo skiff they had rode out on from Sihn Baran
"Y…Yeah, I'm fine, just fine" Jason replied, "just a bad dream"
"Some dream, you were convulsing and thrashing around and yelling, then you stopped and shot up, you sure you're okay?" D'ana said, one hand scratching Asheth's head to calm him down
"I'm fine, you should get back to driving" he told her, lying back down in the bed set up in the cargo truck, "I should get some sleep, I'm driving soon"
It was Jason who drove them into the port city of Kilikar just as the wind died out leaving the cargo freighter coasting to a stop. Jason climbed to the back and shook D'ana's sleeping form,
"D'ana, D'ana wake up, we're there," He said as she woke up
They got down from the cargo truck and walked into the city with the dragons, Jason searching for the ship he saw in his vision, the gleaming white, three masted Triamaran that would take him back to the central continent and the Dragon, Sethneth.
They reached the city's centre at about lunchtime and sat at a tavern and had a drink and a lunch, they had been causing a crowd where they went and there was no exception here, everyone wanted to see the strange outsiders with the odd swords. Jason felt a pinch at his side and looked down to see his money bag, a gift from the people of Sin Baran, gone, he could see the perpetrator squirming away through the crowd, that bag had a necklace Marie had given him in it.
He gave a roar of anger and leapt after the thief, chasing him through the crowd, the thief turned and twisted through the press of onlookers as an angry Jason stayed one step behind him until they were out of the crowd then he Deamanad and sprang at the thief, sword drawn and grabbed his throat, slamming him against the wall
"Give it back you piece of scum!" he growled into the thief's face, brandishing Janto
"I…I don't…It's mine now, I took it, It's mine" Said the thief, brandishing the bag, Wrong move
Jason sliced the thief's hand off and threw him away, obtaining his bag and walking back to the tavern to pick up D'ana
The Thief was screaming, cradling the stump of his hand in his robes, "You'll pay for that!" he yelled at Jason "You'll pay!" then he dashed off into the shadows
"I think we best be going now" he said, un-fusing back to human form
They set off towards the port leaving the wounded thief behind.
On the Docks Jason spotted the ship and walked over to the man sat beside its moorings,
"You the captain of this ship?" he asked the man"Yeah, I'm captain Koran of the Wave Cutter, who wants to know?"
"I'm Jason, this is D'ana, we need passage to Centranda for us and two Dragons" Jason told the captain, indicating the others
"Fine enough, costs ya 15 Creel each, that 's 60 Creel total, I sail tonight at sundown with or without you" Replied Captain Koran, taking their money
"See you at sundown then" D'ana said, turning to go back into the city, none of them saw the one handed thief watching, waiting until the best moment for revenge.
Jason and D'ana left the Dragons on the ship and went for a walk around the markets, they had a few Creel each left to spend and the market was cheaper than any stores would be. In the shadows the one pair of eyes was joined by more of its clan, ready for the opportunity to strike.
Jason had found a weapon-smith's stall and was eyeing the weapons on sale when the clan struck, they shot with their blowpipes, sending darts full of sleeping drug into their target, who crumbled to the floor, falling into the arms of a thief who had positioned himself beside the target, pulling the body into the shadows.
Jason looked around for D'ana, but couldn't see her anywhere, he thought she had just walked off somewhere, but they were due to leave at sundown so she would probably re-appear then. An hour later D'ana still hadn't appeared anywhere, Jason hadn't actually seen her anywhere.
"You Jason?" asked a voice behind him, Jason turned and saw a man in black robes, similar to ones he'd seen before, on the thief who's hand he cut off, Jason's eyes narrowed as he remembered the thief's words, "I'll get you for this! I'll get you!"
"Yeah, I'm Jason, What do you want?" he said, his voice less than welcoming
"The thief Clan Eshin has your friend held captive, our leader wishes your acquaintance to straighten out a matter that happened earlier today" he said, starting to back away
Jason's hand shot out and grabbed the thief, "Where is she?" he growled into the thief's face, lifting him off the ground, then checking the sun, it was nearing sundown.
"I'll show you, honestly this don't sit well with me, if he had a complaint he shouldn't have kidnapped your friend, he should've taken up with you" replied the thief, Jason placing him back on the ground, and he set off towards the tunnel network of the thief clan.
He led Jason straight to the leader of the clan, who was in an amphitheatre sitting in a throne, made of the bones of a strange creature.
"So you are the Jason that Agrin was ranting about, you seem well armed for these parts" he said,
Jason was still fuming about D'ana's kidnapping, but he could see that the clan leader didn't seem to have had any part in the incident, "Yeah, I'm Jason, and I'm not from around these parts, now where's D'ana?" he said, managing to refrain from yelling
"I honestly don't know, but I know who does, AGRIN!!!!" he yelled, calling the thief to him, Agrin saw Jason and waved a metal hand at him, the fingers were talons.
"Yes Master, what do you wish me to do to him?" he asked, rubbing the back of the metal hand attached to his stump
"Nothing Agrin, fetch his friend" the Master ordered, Agrin looked disgusted as he left to fetch D'ana, "So Jason, why has Agrin abducted your friend?"
"He stole a pouch that contained something precious to me, I caught him and he refused to give it up so I removed the hand holding the pouch" Jason told him, the necklace now hanging round his neck, as Agrin walked in wheeling a sheet of metal, attached to the metal was D'ana, manacled at her ankles, wrists and across her middle.
"What do you wish me to do to her master?" Agrin asked, his slimy voice crackling with anticipation
"Release her at once" the master ordered
"WHAT!? WHY!?" Agrin yelled at the master
"Because you were obviously in the wrong"
"But he removed ny HAND!!" Agrin yelled disbelieving what his master was telling him, he undid D'ana's bonds, she took a swipe at him but missed as he ran off away from the chamber, D'ana running over to Jason, Embracing him
"Thank you, thank you for coming to get me" she said, tightening her hug then releasing him
"Of course I came, Friend's don't abandon each other, here" Jason gave her his Atlas sword, she had had hers removed
There came a strange noise from the tunnel Agrin had left down, like a wolf howl, only a wolf trying to howl through it's teeth, as if they were getting in the way. The master went very white.
"He has released the Jaw-Hound, what is he doing, the fool!" The master yelled, jumping from his throne and opening a trapdoor, "If you value your lives, flee this place" he told them as he jumped down the hole
The Jaw-Hound rounded the corner, it was an immense dog, the size of a lion, with an oversized mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, a thief ran past and the Hound's jaw leapt off it's face on a strange spring of muscle and bone, the jaw almost engulfing the thief, and snapping closed, the thief's legs hanging out of the thing's mouth. Jason and D'ana looked at each other, and ran, they ran as fast as they could through the labyrinth that was the thief tunnels, they could hear the Jaw-Hound behind them.
"D'ana, can you Deamana?" asked Jason, preparing his transformation
"Yeah"
"Then do it, now"
Jason became the Ice lion and he looked at D'ana, who fused as a huge lizard, like a wingless dragon, who was mainly black but had a huge red stripe from her snout to her tail.
Their Deamana forms moved faster and kept them ahead of the Jaw-Hound as they burst from the tunnel entrance and scattered the crowd before the Jaw-Hound smashed its way free of the narrow tunnels, the enraged beast spotted the pair just before a ball of black fire smashed into it's face.
"What was that?" Jason asked as they turned from the enraged beast
"That is Darkfire, it burns but leaves no marks" she said as an explanation, "To the boat"
They dashed towards the boat as the extremely angry Jaw-Hound tore after them; they saw Captain Koran standing on the ship.
The captain saw their plight and knew what had to be done, they couldn't out run the Monster, and the Dragons were asleep in the hold, so he looked that no one was watching and pulled a rifle from the case on the crate beside him. He took aim on the Jaw-Hound's head, following it, he controlled his breathing, trying not to be tense, in and out, in and out, he slid his finger around the trigger, the Hound was gaining on the pair trying to reach the ship, he zoomed onto the spot he needed to hit, all three of them were nearing the ship, the crowd would see the weapon soon, in and out, in and out, as he breathed out he squeezed the trigger, the muzzle flashed, disgorging the slug from the chamber, sending it flying towards the creature, the slug impacted in the creature's head, and exploded, killing the creature instantly.
The two fugitives threw themselves onto the ship as Koran stored the gun, casting off.
"Thanks…for that...where'd the gun…come from?" Jason said, panting
"You know about the rifle? Who are you?" Koran asked, feeling suspicious of the youth
Jason sat down and told them the whole story…