Authors: Kevin Outlaw
‘Your priorities are whatever I tell you they are, Captain.’
‘I work for the village. Not for you.’
‘I am the village,’ the mayor screamed, stamping his foot as his face went bright red. ‘You will do what I say, or I can assure you I will be filing a report of your conduct at Crystal Shine, and I will make sure you can’t even get a job cleaning stables on this side of the Grey Mountains. Understood?’
Captain Obsidian sighed, glancing out of the window at the quiet village. When he finally spoke, he did his very best to sound civil. ‘If you put it like that, I’m sure I can spare a few men to hunt down your horse. Why don’t you start by telling me exactly what happened?’
The mayor returned to his seat, and cleared his throat again. ‘He went missing during the night. He was there last thing before I went to bed. I took him in to the stable and shut the gate.’
‘Did you lock it?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. This is Landmark. We don’t have to lock our doors here.’
‘Recent events would suggest otherwise.’
‘Are you making fun?’
‘No.’ Obsidian shook his head. ‘I lost my sense of humour right about the time you knocked on my door.’
‘Good.’ The mayor puffed out his chest with self–importance. ‘I’m sure you have more sense than to make fun of an elected official.’
‘I normally have more sense than to talk to one too.’
‘Are you attempting to insult me?’
‘I was actually hoping I’d succeeded.’
The remaining soldiers came back in from the bunk room. This time they were in light leather armour with chain link vests.
Private Silver saluted. ‘First company await your orders, Captain,’ he said.
‘Excellent,’ Obsidian said. ‘Ready the horses immediately. I need five men to come with me. The rest are to resume yesterday’s unfinished business along the beaches.’
The soldiers exited the garrison in an orderly manner, leaving Obsidian with the mayor.
‘Who do you think has taken your horse?’ Obsidian asked.
‘How would I know?’
‘You must have some idea? Have there been any suspicious people hanging around lately? Or have you made any enemies who might want to teach you a lesson?’
The mayor removed a handkerchief from his coat pocket and wiped his forehead. ‘I’m a good man, Captain. I don’t have enemies.’
‘Everybody has enemies.’
‘Not me. But there were two sets of footprints in the stable. Like the footprints of children.’
‘You do let children ride the horse.’
‘Not at night, and never unsupervised.’
Obsidian nodded understandingly. There were sounds of hooves and voices outside; the general noise of a war party readying itself for a fight. ‘The men are prepared,’ he said. ‘Which way did the horse’s tracks lead?’
‘Into the West, towards Flint Lock Fort.’
Obsidian pulled a pair of riding gloves out of his belt and wriggled his fingers into them. ‘Don’t worry, Mr Mayor,’ he said, heading for the door. ‘We’ll find your precious horse.’
‘What about the thieves?’
‘What about them?’
‘What will you do with them?’
Obsidian stopped with his hand on the door latch. ‘Capture them. Or failing that, kill them.’
***
Obsidian’s search party picked up Nimbus’s trail just outside of the village.
‘So what are we looking for?’ Private Silver asked.
‘Two horse thieves,’ Obsidian replied. ‘They took the horse some time during the night, so they could have a good few hours head start on us by now.’
‘Two riders on one horse won’t be travelling at speed. There’s a good chance we can catch them before they hit the Western Borders.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure. Onyx is the fastest horse I’ve ever seen.’ Obsidian pulled on the reins to bring his horse to a sudden stop. He dismounted, sucking his teeth thoughtfully. ‘And there’s something else too.’
‘What?’
He knelt by one of Onyx’s hoof prints, examining it carefully. ‘The prints here are faint, considering they’re only a few hours old.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means the two riders are light. They probably weigh less than one of us. And that’s going to be a big advantage to them.’
‘Why would they weigh less?’
‘Because they’re children.’ He turned his gaze to the horizon, watching for any signs of the horse thieves. ‘They could be in the Sanguine Mountains by now. If that’s the case, we’ll never find them. You could hide an army of men up there.’
He shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand as he squinted into the distance. Two soldiers on horseback came into view, galloping over the plains.
‘Riders,’ Silver said. ‘Could be trouble.’
Obsidian jumped up on his horse. ‘Follow me,’ he said, riding off. Silver gestured for the rest of the party to wait where they were and then set off after his captain.
As the riders drew nearer, Obsidian could see they were wearing the black and gold armour and insignias of the Crystal Shine palace guards: Lord Citrine’s personal bodyguard. Obsidian himself had trained for a position in this elite unit, but even with all his skill and cunning he had been unable to prove himself worthy, and had ended up at Landmark instead.
He stopped his horse and removed his helmet, wiping the hair and sweat out of his face. He sat straight in his saddle and attempted to look as significant as possible. ‘Good day to you,’ he shouted, as the palace guards reined in their snorting horses with a clatter of hooves on the stony ground.
‘Good day it is not,’ one of the guards said, lifting his helmet’s visor and looking at the sky dubiously. ‘I must ask you to turn back.’
‘Why? There has always been passage this way to the fort.’
‘No longer. My name is Claw, and this is my colleague and brother, Tooth. It is our duty to inform you that all ways into the West are under the guardianship of Lord Citrine’s military elite. None may pass.’
‘We are soldiers from the village of Landmark,’ Obsidian explained. ‘I am Captain Obsidian. My companion is Private Silver, my most loyal friend and bravest of all my garrison. We are tracking two criminals who came this way by horse. We must have passage.’
‘And I repeat to you that none may pass.’
‘You are obstructing official business.’ Obsidian’s voice was as hard and unforgiving as the mountainside. ‘It is my duty to bring these criminals to justice.’
‘And we are honour–bound to allow you no farther.’
‘It would appear our orders conflict.’
‘But our orders come from Lord Citrine himself. Our orders are the law of the land.’
Obsidian nodded. ‘Then we must abide by your orders and turn back. But perhaps we can be allowed to know why. What has happened that makes the West so dangerous?’
Claw looked at his brother. He spoke reluctantly. ‘The fort has fallen.’
‘Impossible.’ Obsidian could not keep the disbelief from his tone.
‘It’s true. An evil creature came out of the night and reduced it to nothing more than broken rock,’ Tooth said, excitedly. ‘A black cloud hangs over the ruin and all of the soldiers are sick, too weak to be moved. They have a disease that has sapped their strength and filled their brains with nightmares.’
‘What kind of creature could cause such destruction?’ Obsidian asked.
‘We don’t know,’ Claw said. ‘Not yet. We have attempted to question the survivors, but all we get is nonsense about dragons. Stupid children’s fairie stories.’
‘They all say the same thing?’
‘The entire fort seems to have suffered from some kind of mass hallucination, seeing something that just couldn’t possibly be real, yet believing it is.’
‘You don’t believe the story then?’
‘No,’ Claw said. ‘I cannot believe a dragon has returned into the world. The soldiers have gone mad.’ There seemed to be little conviction behind his words.
‘Then how do you explain it?’
‘I don’t know. That’s why we’re out here. We’re looking for someone who can tell us what really happened.’
‘Is there such a person?’
‘One of the victims we questioned says there were two other witnesses, two people who were not under the influence of the disease. They were seen at the fort during the night. They headed east. We are tracking them.’
Obsidian looked at Silver. ‘What do you think?’ he asked.
Silver shrugged. ‘Could be them.’
‘Could be who?’ Claw asked.
‘These people you are tracking. They are two, on just one horse?’
‘Yes.’
‘A great black horse? Very powerful? Very fast?’
‘So we have heard. And also...’
Obsidian smiled knowingly. ‘And they are children?’
‘Yes. A boy and a girl.’
‘It seems our orders may not be as conflicting as we first thought.’
‘Are you trying to tell me the two villains you have been sent here to capture are these same two children?’ Tooth laughed. ‘They must truly be fearsome bandits.’
‘You may laugh,’ Obsidian said, ‘yet these two children committed a crime punishable by death. Then they came to your fort this very morning, and now your fort lies in ruins.’
Tooth stopped laughing. ‘You mean to say these children could have been responsible for what happened at Flint Lock?’
‘I don’t know. But they must have wanted to come here very urgently if they were prepared to steal a horse to do it. They would have known that to be caught would mean their deaths.’
‘That would make sense if not for one thing. We received word of the destruction late last night, before the arrival of the children at the fort. They couldn’t have been involved.’
‘But they did come here. They must have had a reason for that.’
‘Perhaps they knew what was going to happen and came to make sure it had,’ Tooth said.
‘Of course,’ Claw said. ‘Perhaps these two children may appear innocent, but are actually the ones who plotted the fall of the keep. They are conspirators, planning the ruin of our country.’
‘We must capture them immediately and question them before anything else happens,’ Silver said.
‘I agree,’ Obsidian said. His horse snorted and stamped one hoof, shaking its mane agitatedly. A small rabbit emerged from a patch of briers, twitching its nose and watching the soldiers interestedly.
‘Will you join us?’ Claw asked. ‘We could use the extra manpower if these children are as dangerous as they appear to be.’
‘It is our duty to bring them to Landmark to stand trial for their crime,’ Obsidian said. ‘We will travel with you as long as you allow us to do our duty.’
‘That seems fair, Captain. But you will not be allowed to execute the children... I mean, thieves... until the palace guards have spoken with them and established if they are in some way responsible for all this madness at the keep.’
‘I understand. Do you know where they were heading?’
‘We thought at first they may have been heading to your village of Landmark, but their tracks have skirted around the borders of the farmlands. We believe they are going to the Forbidden Woods.’
‘Those are dangerous woods these days. We have recently lost three men to their dark depths. We would be searching for them now if it were not for these young villains.’
‘Then we must catch them before they get that far.’
Obsidian turned his horse around. ‘Let’s waste no more time,’ he said.
The rabbit, who went by the rather unfortunate name of Bunnykins, sniffed the air carefully. He scratched his nose with one paw, and watched until all of the soldiers and horses were nothing more than dust on the horizon.
‘Silly humans,’ he said to himself.
If they had only thought to ask him, he would have told them about the evil dragon; about its huge black wings and its terrible appetite for death and destruction.
But humans never thought to ask rabbits anything. Most humans didn’t even know rabbits could talk.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Of course, Nimbus had absolutely no idea the mayor had sent a search party after him, and he had no idea he had become the prime suspect in a conspiracy.
All Nimbus knew was there was a dragon on the loose, and not the nice Cumulo type of dragon. This was the type that was massive and evil and terrifying: A monstrous winged demon with the strength to uproot mountains and smash castles to dust. A wicked and cruel beast with a thirst for misery.
There was no doubt, the dragon was the dark power Cumulo had spoken of, the black magic that knew of Nimbus’s existence and had only one aim in life: to hunt him down and kill him.
His only possible chance to survive was to get back to Cumulo, to seek his protection. Without Cumulo, Nimbus was totally defenceless.
***
After riding for three or four hours, Onyx was beginning to look tired and was breathing heavily. Nimbus, despite his desperate urge to reach the safety of Cumulo’s lair, stopped by one of the many streams that fed into the Forbidden River. By his reckoning, they were only a few miles north of Landmark.
He dismounted, helped Glass out of the saddle, and then went and washed his face and hair. The sun was hot, and he could feel the dirt in the creases of his neck.
‘What was that thing at the fort?’ Glass asked, sitting on the bank of the stream and dipping her toes in the water.
Nimbus scooped water up in his hands to drink. He was hungry, and wished he had thought to bring some food. ‘It was a dragon,’ he said.
‘A real dragon?’
‘Yes, a real dragon.’
Onyx lowered his head and chewed some grass, glad to take a break from galloping.
‘I didn’t think there were any real dragons any more,’ Glass said.
‘Well, it would appear there are.’ Nimbus stood, examining the sky carefully. There was no sign of it yet, but who knew when it would decide to attack?
‘Was the thing in the river a dragon?’
Nimbus sat next to Glass. She continued to splash her feet in the water, wiggling her toes like worm bait for the silvery fish darting around them. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what that was, but I don’t think dragons live in the water.’
‘Where do they live?’
‘Maybe on mountaintops, maybe in caves. Anywhere where there are no people, I suppose.’