“We’re coming up on the face now,” one of the rowers said.
Bzorch turned and looked up at the western face of the fang. The sun was on it now; midday had come and gone. He realized that his shadow would be a long, drooping line on the rock. He would have to hurry. If the Choska came around and caught him halfway up, clinging like a lizard, he would surely be killed.
“Get me directly under that hole up there,” Bzorch commanded again. When the oarsmen had him in position, he checked to see where the Choska was. It was well to the west, circling slowly over the captain’s group. He didn’t hesitate. Like some big, lumbering gorilla, he began moving upward. Three hundred feet was a long way to climb, but Bzorch went about it with a purpose.
About a third of the way up, a shadow sped across him and made his heart blast through his chest. Looking up and craning his neck, he saw that it was only the shadow of a big dactyl, not the Choska. Still, the creature showed him its bright pink maw and hissed at his trespass. After checking to see where the Choska was once more, he resumed his climb. Luckily, the demon was still focused on what was going on with Captain Hodge’s group.
Bzorch couldn’t believe it when he finally pulled himself into the wormhole of the old red dragon’s layer. After he caught his breath, he pulled the looking glass from his belt and looked out westwardly to see what the Choska was so intently circling. The sun reflected back up at him in a bright coppery ray, making it hard to pick out details, but what had happened was clear. From his vantage point he could see a swath of marsh water littered with debris and stained red with blood. One of the three barges was half submerged, the others completely under water. The long, loggish shapes of several snappers eased about the pools searching for more men to eat. Bzorch swore under his breath. He saw that the Choska was now moving toward the camouflaged barges where his men were hiding. He had to move across to the eastern opening to see where they were hidden. As he went, he noticed that there was no sign of anything living in the cavernous hollow that opened up off of the wormhole. All he saw were bones from ancient meals and some hardened chunks of grizzly pelt piled in the spaces between. He wasn’t sure now if the Choska was roosting here.
To his horror, and anger, a monstrous swarm of dactyls was clouding around the concealed boats. The men weren’t able to stay hidden. The big, sharp-beaked birds were diving and slashing at them. The shadow of the Choska swept across the dark green collage of marsh below. Bzorch’s head shot up and located it in the sky. He nearly tumbled out of the wormhole when he saw her on its back.
Was it her?
Holding his breath and willing his heart to keep beating, Bzorch put his looking glass to his eye and found her in it. He wasn’t sure if he should feel relief or not when he saw the face. There was no patch of scorched flesh over her ear, no pink teardrop scar on her cheek, but he knew in his primitive heart that it was somehow Shaella.
He decided then that killing the Choska might not be as important as warning the High King of this discovery. A glance down at his men put a knot in his stomach. A plethora of life was swarming over the boats. Snakes, dactyls, and some huge, tentacled thing that was only half in the water, were all attacking. The dark channel took on a crimson sheen and, after only a few heartbeats, was only a churning mass of death.
He was alone now.
Bzorch found the Choska again and growled. He would survive, he told himself. He would wade back to Westland and tell King Mikahl of this bloody attack if he had to. The High King had to know that Shaella, or something very much like her, was alive.
He decided to use the time he had before darkness to make a plan. Alone, with no boat, it was all he could think to do.
Chapter 37
Once inside the huge island castle of Afdeon it was hard to judge how massive it really was. The sections of the lower floors the party was able to see were plain in appearance, other than the overproportionate size of everything. The lower floors were crude and square, and looked to be carved into the natural rock. The walls were thick and the hallways narrow. Hyden figured that this was the foundation for the towering construction above, its function obviously more important than form.
They rode up on a disk-shaped lift. The large platform had several divans and benches. One was even built for human-sized folk.
“Look, Hyden,” Phen whispered as they marveled at it all. “Next to the giants and their furniture, Oarly looks like a bearded toddler.”
Both Phen and Hyden were disappointed when they learned that the elevating disk was a mechanical device and not magical. Cade explained that it worked by way of a system of counter weights and pulleys powered by shafts and chambers that vented natural steam from the Cauldron.
They passed hundreds of floors on the half-day ride, but they were only given glimpses of the vast variety of things that were on them. Some lower floors held cavernous pillared rooms full of livestock, bundled bales of grain, crated vegetables, and all sorts of goods and stores. Most of the floors opened up on long hallways with doors on either side. A few held similar corridors with merchant shops. On one of these floors, about an hour into the ride, a young hawker presented them with meals of devil goat meat wrapped in flat bread. The offerings were so large that no one could manage more than half of the meal, save for Jicks, who stuffed himself full.
“How far up are we going?” Princess Telgra finally asked after they had eaten.
“The royal apartments and the quarters for distinguished guests are above the steam cloud, Your Highness,” Cade answered her formally. “That is where we will exit the lift.”
“You said that King Aldar is expecting us this evening?” Hyden asked, fishing for information.
“He is,” Cade said.
“Will we be given time to wash the road off of us?” Hyden asked, thinking as much about Telgra as he was anyone. “And our cleanest clothes are down with our things.”
“Actually, your things are already being delivered to your rooms,” Cade informed them. “This isn’t the only way up to the royal chambers. And yes, Sir Hyden Hawk, I believe that you will have at least a few hours to wash and recover before King Aldar summons you.”
It was like sitting in a room where the open entryways changed every few moments. For a time, worked stone was all that was visible, and then an opening would seemingly slide down the wall, revealing a corridor full of closed doors, or a floor full of giants working leather, or another vast expanse of stored goods. Even though they had seen as much space as any human city offers, it was apparent that they were seeing very little of Afdeon.
Once, the giantess storyteller, Berda, had told the Skyler Clan a tale about a forest inside a castle. Hyden remembered Gerard asking, “You mean a forest inside the castle’s protective wall?”
“No,” she’d replied. “I mean a forest that is high above the ground, growing in a room in a great castle.”
The idea of it had boggled Hyden’s mind back then. He often wondered about such a forest, about where the rain and the sunlight the trees needed to grow would come from. Now, sensing an infinite largeness around him, it wasn’t so unbelievable.
“Slanted holes in the walls let steam in. It condenses on the ceiling of the cavern and then drops down like rain,” Cade explained when Hyden finally asked about it. The giant didn’t explain how the trees got sunlight, and Hyden was too busy thinking to ask.
“I just realized that this bench wasn’t made for humans,” Lieutenant Welch said, as if he’d made some great revelation.
“Who else would they be for?” Phen asked.
“For the children,” Princess Telgra grinned.
“True,” Cade said with a smile over at Oarly whose feet dangled a good foot above the floor. “My four-year- old son is at least a hand taller than Master Oarly.”
“I hope he’s not as ugly,” Phen joked.
“Or as hairy,” added Hyden.
“Bah!” Oarly grumbled, while everyone laughed. “How much longer are we going up?”
Cade peered at the passing floor, a ribbed hallway like the one they had traversed down to the Cauldron barge. The sconces holding the lamp flames along the walls here were gauntleted fists holding knife hilts. The flames rose up like short, wavering dagger blades.
