Karn sat patiently under the shade of the only tree in sight as Alec and the lioness Lyra continued their heated discussion. It was hard to keep up with the conversation but from what Karn could gauge whoever these lion people were, there were different from what Alec remembered. The Lioness or Felren as she called herself looked as frustrated by the turn of events as Alec.
At least she’s stopped trying to kill me, Karn thought.
Alec's eyes widened with disbelief as he absorbed the shocking revelation. "So, you're telling me that BalDrakkus died nearly a thousand years ago?" he queried, still clearly in shock. “And this new King. Lorthac, you say rules Brancourt?” he asked.
Lyra, annoyed by Alec's questions, nodded curtly, as if the fact should have been obvious. But Alec couldn't wrap his head around it. "But we were on Earth for only a few decades. How is this even possible?" he mused aloud, more to himself than to the lioness before him. He scratched his chin and mumbled to himself, “that mean’s Earth’s time runs differently than our world.”
Perplexed, Lyra shrugged, clearly grappling with a similar conundrum. Alec's curiosity wasn't sated yet. His gaze locked onto Lyra's eyes as he inquired further, "And the new King?"
In an instant, Lyra's expression turned cold, her features hardening with disdain. "We don’t serve that man. Nor any human," she declared with a look of defiance.
Alec leaned in, sensing there was more to the story. He waited patiently as Lyra studied his stony face, her eyes flickering with annoyance. Finally, she made up her mind and decided to share the information.
"The King has lived for many years," Lyra began, her voice laced with a mixture of anger and sorrow. "For far longer than any mortal should. In the past, he’s ordered the destruction of many of my kind. Our villages suffer from the affliction of poisons crafted by his alchemists, with no cure in sight. He wages wars on distant nations while leaving his own people impoverished and destitute."
The more Alec and Karn heard about this man, the worse he sounded. Alec looked completely appalled. Seeking further clarity, he pressed on, "And what did you say his name was?"
"Lorthac, the lesser," she spat, the contempt palpable in her voice.
Alec exchanged a glance with Karn, silently acknowledging the gravity of the situation. Then, turning his attention back to the frustrated Felren, he questioned her, "So, why are you out here, then?"
The Felren stood, apparently reminded of something. “I couldn’t smell her on you, but perhaps you’ve seen her.” She spoke low, eyeing their surroundings cautiously. “I seek a young Felren female in the area. It’s import that I find her.”
“Honestly, you’re the only person we’ve met so far out here,” Karn said. “Was this Felren travelling with you?”
“No.” Lyra shook her head and slumped her shoulders. “I’ve been searching for weeks.” She snarled, muttering the words. “How could her tracks just disappear?”
“There are many streams in the area,” he suggested. “Is it likely she followed one of those?”
The Felren stared at him then tapped her nose. “I don’t just follow footprints, human, but scent as well,” she said, then absently stared at her clenched fist. The claws on her fingertips elongated to sharp points, then back again as she fidgeted.
“If you see a young female Felren on her own, by the name of Ralina, please tell her I’m heading northwest and to light a green wood fire so that I can find her.”
Alec nodded.
Her head turned swiftly, betraying her hidden instincts, as her nostrils flared. “There’s a strange scent on the wind. Be careful out there.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Karn said.
She bowed her head slightly. "May you travel with honour and in safety.”
“You too, friend,” Alec replied.
Lyra squinted suspiciously, then softened her expression and nodded. With feline grace, Lyra turned crouching low and slinked away through the tall grass while transforming into her lioness form. Two bounds later and she had vanished silently from view.
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“You handled that well,” Alec said. “Although it’s a shame, we couldn’t find more about our surroundings. And now I’ve spent almost of my energy on stopping that girl from killing you.”
Karn let out a breath as the tension left his body and a sudden exhaustion overtook him. His heavy eyes then looked towards the small elementlet.
"Alec, I'm dead tired. Can we stop for the night?"
Alec looked up at the fading light and patted Karn on the knee. "Certainly. This tree will provide a decent enough shelter for the night,” he said. “The wind will blow from the south most of the night and change in the early morning. So, it would be best to rest on the north side for cover.”
Karn looked taken aback. “How could you possibly know that?”
“You probably think it’s magic, but it’s not. As an Elementlet, I can naturally feel the elemental patterns on the wind and through the earth.”
Karn smiled pretending that he understood and dropped his pack subsequently collapsing under the spreading limbs of the tree. Gathering armfuls of leaves into a pile, he lay atop and stretched his limbs.
“Ah, I’ll also need to rest,” Alec mumbled as Karn nestle into his sleeping position. “I’ll need more energy if we are to continue.”
“So, you sleep too?” Karn asked as he yawned.
Alec chuckled, “Yes, we Elementlets sleep. But it’s called core hibernation. If morning comes and I don’t wake keep heading north. Without magic in the air, my hibernation may take its time, even with the power leaking from your book.”
With his pack acting as a pillow, he stared up at the patches of sky. He could just make out the stars through the fading light of the day. When he closed his eyes, he pictured his friends Charles and Ellie, wondering if they were safe as he drifted to sleep.
⚔
Images danced within Karn’s mind as his dreams floated in and out of focus in a torrent of ever-changing colours. Burning flames roared around a book, suspended in mid-air — shadows of men dancing helplessly in the heat of an ever-hungry inferno. Charles appeared and was shouting; his voice echoed louder and louder.
"The girls are coming! Get more corn!"
Then Karn looked around. He was standing. No, he was floating in his uncle's living room. An invisible force propelled Karn into the centre of the space. The room twisted as a thunderous crash forced the walls inward. Water burst through tight seams and quickly flooded the confined room. Karn flailed about in a panic, trying to grab hold of reality.
The harder he tried, the more hopeless it became. He was drowning in a mixture of spinning liquid. As countless bubbles surged past his face, an image of Ellie materialised. Her hands were clasped over her ears. She was screaming hysterically. A rumble below forced Karn to look down.
Suddenly, the water vanished. The room was empty, and the book now lay closed in his open hands. A silvery green seedling sprouted from under his bare feet and covered the floor in metallic weeds. A large lioness-like creature bounded in amongst the furniture carrying a bleeding heart in its jaws.
The Felren's body was sleek, sharp, and deadly. Two slender curved horns sprouted from the top of its skull. It threw the bleeding heart on the floor and lowered its head ready to charge.
"Where’s the Drakon?" snarled a deep, savage voice. The lioness knelt forward and bowed. Its shape dissolved and reformed into the shadowy figure of a woman. Karn was lowered to her eye level. Long hair obscured her face. He could hardly see anything in the darkness. Gingerly, he held out his hand and with the back of a finger moved a lock of hair then paused.
A shadow of a gigantic beast loomed as large white wings enveloped him. Determined to see the beast, Karn spun around, but what met him was only his uncles’ empty room.
Suddenly, a peculiar scent burned the inside of Karn’s nostrils.
"What? Two in one morning?" a stranger's voice echoed.
Karn jolted awake as a rope slid over his head.
Three men stood above him wearing dirty travelling clothes. One of them, a bald, heavyset man, was holding his pack with one hand. A small impression bashed against the side of the cloth in protest. But the man hadn't noticed, as he was too intent on his prey. Karn kicked frantically as the men tied more knotted rope around his ankles and wrists. A man knelt and scooped a small smoking bundle, the source of the peculiar smell.
"Get off of me!" Shouted Karn as he struggled up fighting to get free of the bindings.
The men chuckled as they gripped the ropes. A fourth man appeared from behind a tree and moved into the fray. He was much taller and dirtier than the rest. A large animal skin draped over his left shoulder, and a crude axe hung from his belt. A thick brown beard covered his entire front, topped with an open, greedy sneer lined with black teeth.
Karn could smell the large man even before he approached. His large muscular arm pushed two of the men aside and grasped all the ropes with one giant hand.
"We found this one under the tree alone and completely defenceless," laughed the man, holding his bag. Karn looked up frantically at Alec who was trapped inside still under the effects of his core hibernation. They hadn't noticed him or the book. For now, they both were out of sight.
"What should we do Rudnick?" the man laughed again. “Do we have enough room in the wagon?”
"Shut it Stumpy," said Rudnick, as he hefted the ropes. “We always have room. Just start Chopin’ up the sick ones.”
Karn was yanked off the ground like a rag doll and landed heavily on the side of his face. Small specs of light flickered in front of his eyes and pain exploded through the back of his head, then felt his stomach lurch as he was hefted on a sticky, muscular shoulder covered in lifeless fur.
The ropes bound him so tightly he could scarcely breathe. Time flew by in a painful rush until he felt the soft pelt leave his skin, only to be replaced by a hard wooden surface. Dim visions of slouching men flashed before him as they ripped at the bindings.
When the world around Karn corrected itself, he realised that the ropes around his arms and legs had gone. He was sitting in a large wooden enclosure, and he wasn't alone.