Deltora Quest 4/2: Cry Of The Pyralis

OMG guys, I'm back! Does victory dance sorry I took so long, I had a plot outline but I needed to make more sense of it before I went plunging in headfirst and all. So sorry about that... at least I'm back, yes? And do you like the title? Cry of the Pyralis... you'll find out what it means soon. Hopefully. My third fic... second on this fandom... yay! I need more help from people though... ideas will be greatly appreciated...

Advertisement (This will be my last; I'll be taking them off in a week or so!): my story is up! Go to h t t p / w w w . f i c t i o n p r e s s . c o m / r e a d . p h p ? s t o r y i d 1 8 6 9 5 5 7 , deleting the spaces in between. It'll be really confusing, I know, but please read and review.

Disclaimer: Hurroks aren't mine (they're Tamora Pierce's) and DQ is DEFINITELY not mine. I think you'd know whom they belong to, don't you?

Prologue: Mixed Bags

Barda stopped and squinted into the sunrise, shielding his eyes against the blinding glare. One of his Hand-Chosen stood guard behind him, arms at the ready. There was no telling when a hurrok would attack again. Of course, Barda could defend himself, but this time he was armed with only a dagger – scant protection against the flying horse-creatures. "How long?" he grunted at the guard.

"I'm not sure, Barda. It was about two to three hours ago – there was only one witness, and he went gibbering down the road in that direction." He pointed vaguely towards the north of where they stood.

A faint stench of blood hung in the air, and patches of blood were spattered around the small fenced-in area. The local watchmen had found another hurrok-attack victim in the closed area, slashed from head to stomach like Kree.

Kree.

Flashback

There is a foreign mineral here, the first voice proclaimed, staring at something half-buried in the mud.

Of course, it could just be an unknown substance, the second voice piped up.

No, it's not. I'm sure it's some sort of - third voice entrance.

I suggest informing Vulcan. The second voice wavered with fear. Will he welcome the news?

It is a plausible idea. I am not sure... First voice again.

I will go. Third voice, always the brave one.

Always the brave one of our pack...

Which is why I am going.

"You were saying?" The Vulcan.

There is a foreign mineral just at the door, All-Seeing.

She tells the truth: There is a jagged remnant of what seems to be a crystal of high diamond substance buried in the mud just slightly crossing the Second Sacred Barrier, facing the west. A High Pyralis.

"I will see."

End Flashback

Jasmine yawned, sitting down. "Morning," she greeted the others at the table: Lief, Barda, Marilen and Ranesh. The others greeted her in their different customs as they sat down to breakfast together.

"Is there any more information?" Barda asked the librarians. "I found something of my own as well."

"Why don't you go first, Barda?" Lief invited. "I heard it was another hurrok attack."

"It was," Barda confirmed. "The guards found the body this morning, on the dawn watch. It was slashed... like Kree's had been." He stopped, mentioning a touchy subject.

Jasmine looked unfazed; she knew Kree was still with her in heart and soul. "Carry on," she said, nibbling away at her warm bread.

"The body was that of a young man's – it had been slashed from head to stomach, just like Kree's had been. By the looks of things, he had died in about an hour from blood loss and rupture of about two to three main arteries. (A/N: I know nothing about main arteries and stuff – I read up on it once last year, but I can't remember any of it now, sorry! A little help?) The guards saw the hurrok flying in the direction of the west. This was all we could find out – I only spent an hour there, since the markets were open and the roads would be jammed with wagons and such." He bent his head and carried on eating.

Lief stopped, laying his spoon down to one side. "Marilen, Ranesh?" he asked, looking at the librarians. They laid down their spoons too and looked at him.

"There is no more information about the crystal, I'm afraid," Ranesh began gravely, "but Marilen has found a small article in the Wilderness Records about hurroks. They are purely magical creatures, and are very powerful" –

"Yeah, we've seen that first-hand," Barda muttered under his breath. "The sight of him!"

Ranesh carried on, not heeding Barda's comment. "They can only be summoned from the Underworlds by a necromancer – I have suspicions the Shadow Lord is the one – with extremely powerful spells. They are usually summoned in fours" –

"The number of death," Jasmine gasped, spoon clattering against her plate. "The number of Death!"

"They are relevant; they are, after all, birds of killing," Marilen added calmly. "It was expected."

"As I was saying, the creatures are summoned in fours, and tied by invisible bonds to the summoner. Hurroks also have a tendency to die easily – we have an advantage over them with that little fact – all we have to do is to –"

"Barda!" a guard rushed in, sending everyone at the table into a state of shock. The doors slammed open, and a red-faced, almost choking guard sprinted in. "The hurrok's just attacked again, near the West Gate! A little child was caught this time. She" – he swallowed a choke here – "didn't survive – the creature attacked in exactly the same pattern." They were supposed to be strong, but a few too many sights of blood could do that to you. But Hyatt was loyal – perhaps the most loyal in Barda's Hand-Chosen, which was why he had come, and not the others.

Barda, Lief and the others shot up from the table, sending the chairs smashing against the floor. "Let's go," Lief ordered his companions, running out, followed by the others.

"How old was she, what in the world was she doing there, and why would she be targeted?" Barda fired at Hyatt as he led the small group down a narrow passageway, leading to the West Gate.

"We're not sure," the man replied, pausing slightly. "But we do know this: she was barely eight, she was running errands – I'm not sure what – and for the last question... I have no idea."

"When did you see the hurrok, and what brought you to the scene of the crime?" Jasmine asked, targeting the felony itself.

"We saw the hurrok about thirty minutes earlier on – it was flying northwards, so we could only imagine it had come from the south. We were coming down from the north then, so we didn't know it was near the West Gate. One of the men from the nearby villages raised an alarm, finding the girl abandoned outside. We ran all the way there, and on finding the body, we knew what had happened. I took a horse and rode all the way to the marketplace, but I couldn't get through from there – there was a spat on and I didn't have time to break it up. We've left it behind now." He paused for a breath, gasping air into his lungs.

"You've done well," Barda congratulated, clapping him one on the back. "You deserve to be one of the Hand-Chosen."

"Ah, but nobody could ever be as good as you," Jasmine panted, the toll of running through countless streets finally showing. Marilen and Ranesh had long been left behind, but they would be perfectly fine – they knew the way to the palace.

Barda grew red. "No need for those kinds of remarks," he muttered, running on ahead.

Finally they reached a roped-off area, just in front of the West Gate. "We left a little passageway through that end" – Hyatt pointed down to the far end – "To let people out of the city. In the meantime, I told the men to mark an area as small as possible so it would not hinder the people. It turned out that this was the smallest area possible." He grinned ironically. "The hurrok had left trails and blood everywhere."

Jasmine grew pale. "And the girl?" she asked, panting slightly.

"She has been removed, but the position of her body and such has been preserved." He pointed to an area sprinkled with what looked like a white, almost filmy powder. "Only the Truth-Spell can unlock it."

"Great thinking, Hyatt," Barda congratulated, looking grim. "This will give us an advantage against the Shadow Lord."

"And... what gives you that idea?" one of the guards stood between them, hands on his sabre.

"The fact that the hurrok would have turned in a circle before flying off to its direction. The claw marks in the ground will point to the direction it was heading, as well as its aim: to defend or to attack – again." Hyatt looked pleased with himself. "Am I wrong?"

"No," Jasmine said. "You are perfectly right – this will aid us greatly."

Lief smiled. They had a bitter end, but a great beginning.

So, do you guys like it? It's the first chapter of the DQ4 series' second fic(my edition!) and I'm really looking forward to writing this... hahah! I'll be on a happiness high for the rest of the day!