The day of our journey to meet with Lak’Ashara had arrived. Since we already had weapons and armor, our benefactor didn’t see the need to give us anything more. We supplied ourselves with extra supplies like food, water, bows and arrows. We could have attempted to escape into the wilderness, but if they found us before they would do so again, if we even made it beyond the main gates in the first place.
I gathered everyone downstairs at the inn before we joined Ankarama's forces. There was however one person who was not there. Cao Tzu was absent from the group. I told everyone else to wait downstairs while I fetched her. I knocked on the door, yet there was no answer. I knocked again, slower yet firmer. I checked the door handle. It was unlocked, and I opened the door. What I saw shocked me.
Sitting in the middle of the floor was Cao Tzu in meditation. Her eyes were closed and her hands were palm up, her thumbs and index fingers looped in a particular stance. Sitting in the exact same pose directly facing her was the mysterious woman. Once again she had appeared when I least expected.
“What is the meaning of this?”
I spoke out with anger and shock, both at the woman and Cao Tzu. She had never once in all the time I knew her to go over my head.
“It's called meditation.”
The woman finally spoke since I first encountered her. Her voice held a type of power and authority that would make lesser men kneel. I however was not lesser in any way. I strode over to her and knelt beside her.
“You come here to meditate with her? Why?”
“She has a gift locked away inside her. I intend to unlock her potential. You can consider this a gift if you’d like.”
“A gift? It's not a gift when you expect something in return.”
“Would I expect anything?”
She let the silence hang in the air for a moment.
“Then again, you really shouldn’t complain. Your assistant here has a power within her that has been severed, and I am trying to fix the connection.”
“Why?” I asked her with a firm tone and stared at her.
She opened her violet eyes and turned to look at me. A mischievous smile hid under that mask of hers.
“Because you need all the help that you can get.”
I huffed and sat down next to her. I rested my hand on my knee and looked at her firmly.
“And I suppose you’re doing this out of the kindness of your own heart?”
“Look at you. So hostile, and we’ve barely spoken a word to each other. How about we finally bridge that gap?”
She reached behind her head to unravel the silk that shrouded her face. At long last, she revealed herself to me. To match her violet eyes she had long, pale blonde hair that was in a fishtail braid that reached all the way down to her lower back. Her neck was painted black in an intricate and detailed way. Around the edges below her neck and up to just under her the base of the head was a border of strange runes I could not understand. Their purpose was not lost on me, however. She was a Sorceress. Judging by her presence there, She was training Cao Tzu to become one as well.
She was incredibly beautiful. That much I was unable to ignore. She flashed her pearly white teeth at me with a smile.
“I am Lady Cora.”
I knew I didn’t have to introduce myself —seeing as how she already knew my name— but it felt like the polite thing to do.
“Hadrian Damoclesian. At least we can finally know each other.”
“Agreed. It was getting very tiresome not speaking to you. I wish we could do it longer but alas, I can't.”
She stood up and helped Cao Tzu to stand. Cao Tzu bowed her head to both of us and then left the room, leaving Cora and I alone. Cora turned to face me.
“We can speak more after you arrive at Lak’Asharas palace.”
“You think we’ll make it that far?”
I had no doubt in my own abilities, but she surprised me with her confidence. She looked at me before she wrapped her head up in the silk to hide herself once more.
“You’ve surprised me before. Perhaps you’ll do so again.”
She gave me a sly wink before she left the room. Just like that, she was gone again and I found myself lingering. A small nugget of truth was given to me. I finally had her name. The small morsel of information was like bait at the end of a hook, and it was getting harder to resist each time she flashed those eyes at me. And those soft lips…
I shook my head to regain my senses. Here I was acting like a boy with his first crush. I couldn’t afford to let any distractions come my way. For all I knew, she wished nothing but harm for me, and I was walking right into her trap. I had to tell myself not to become entranced by her.
I left the room with a furrowed brow and my weapons close beside me. We left the inn, and made our way towards the meeting place where Ankarama was waiting. Outside the city walls we stood alongside a detachment of the royal guards, yet no queen to be found.
“Was this a trap? Had we been double crossed?” These were questions I asked myself silently.
We suddenly felt something. The ground rumbled lightly and increased at a steady pace. I looked down at my feet and saw the small stones on the ground jump in the air, higher with each time the earth shook. In the distance we began to hear what sounded like thunder rolling across the sky, yet there was not a cloud in the sky.
It was then that in the distance we saw it. A massive hulking creature slowly lumbered its way towards us. Every step it took caused the earth to rumble under our feet. The closer it came the greater the quakes became. By the time the beast arrived, every step was like a miniature earthquake that brought me to my knees. This beast was a large turtle like creature that strode across the blasted lands with few rivals. The great creature towered over us like an ancient statue. Its scales resembled mossy cobblestone and its large shell was like a mighty plateau. On the shell rested a large man made structure that rested on the creature's back.
The thing on the animal’s back was a small fortress that was made to look luxurious. The creature stood with little to no regard for us as the Queen arrived with Cora at her side. She smiled like the cat that swallowed the canary and waited for the beast to slowly lay down.
“Magnificent, isn't it?” She said with a grin as her servants pulled up a large portable set of stairs for her to climb up on. I said nothing and watched as she ascended. Subtlety was clearly not her forte. Cora gave me a look that suggested a mild irritation towards Ankarama’s actions. Nevertheless she climbed up the stairs, leaving us on the ground. While the queen was safe in her gigantic fortress, my fellows had the undesirable position of walking. Not that the turtle could outpace us of course, but we were not even given the luxury of horses.
As the turtle creature lifted its massive body up to begin walking towards its destination, I and my companions could feel our legs aching before our trek had even begun. It was either that or most likely be executed in the most painful way imaginable, so we resigned ourselves to our fates and we continued our journey.
The passage to Lak’Ashara’s dwelling took us to the rocky canyons that were labyrinthine in nature. The path was wide enough for the turtle beast —what we later learned were called Land Striders— to go through without much trouble. Throughout most of the morning the canyon was quite cool in the dry air. Nights were freezing, and most of us had to huddle to our fires for warmth. Yet everything changed when high noon rolled in. The sun would eliminate all shade besides the turtle. If we lagged behind while under the turtle in any way, it would crush us as one would squash a bug with his foot. It was better to roast in the heat, yet even so, this was a hard passage.
Combined with the slow pace of the land strider and the maze-like canyon walls, it took us twelve days to get through the path. Each day and night was the same repetitive motions again and again and again. Every day was the same thing: we woke up, ate, walked, ate, walked, survived the damning heat; walked again, and finally when night came we slept. All the while, Ankharama lounged about in her fortress above us enjoying luxury even in that godsforsaken place.
All the while we noticed that around the fourth day we were being watched. We each saw shadowy figures high up upon the canyon ridge and had the overall feeling of eyes keeping track of us. We could never get a good glimpse of our stalkers other than sprinting silhouettes of figures high above us whenever we checked to see if the sun was about to hang overhead and expose us to the unrelenting heat, or if we tried to take a quick glance at the stars and moon at night. We knew that they were there, yet we couldn’t do anything about it. The queen’s guards were on edge. They feared a coming attack from any and all sides. I sensed that this was the enemy's plan all along.
To make us paranoid and constantly looking over our shoulders. Fear was a powerful weapon, and it made men into nothing more than quivering children. I was aware of such ambush tactics, because in my days in the legion, we did something not unlike that. We stalked our enemy for days (even weeks at a time) to cause as much paranoia as possible. In a way, we were not too dissimilar to ancient huntsmen who practiced persistence hunting. It was a remarkable method where the hunter would relentlessly stalk the prey and never let the animal rest long enough to regain its energy. At that point when the beast was utterly exhausted, either the hunter let the exhaustion claim it or put it out of its misery.
Recognizing these tactics, I made sure to keep a watchful eye for an attack. Once our troop looked weak enough, they would come for the kill. This however did not concern Queen Ankharama. While her men were paranoid, she was arrogant enough to believe that her fortress was the key to her victory. While Cora had the decency to come down and train Cao Tzu in the ways of sorcery, Ankharama enjoyed the good life up in her fortress. She enjoyed sweet fruits and shelter, a comfortable bed that was able to sway when the turtle moved, not unlike a hammock on a ship but more relaxing. She ate fine food and sipped fine wine. She even had the gall to sunbathe while the rest of us suffered in the heat.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
There were moments where I thought about quitting that entire venture, climbing up to the fortress, fighting my way through her royal guards, and then throwing her under the massive foot of the turtle to watch her get crushed. Alas, I was unable to. As much as I desired to kill her at that moment, I confess that if I had, we would have been trapped in that canyon pass with no way of knowing where the exit was. It was maddening.
On the tenth day, we were reaching a boiling point. The midday sun was particularly scorching. The heat radiating off of the rocks could cook an egg. With no shade in sight save for the underside of the turtle. At that point we believed it was better to be crushed under the creature's weight than to slowly be baked by the unforgiving sun. We went under the beast and enjoyed our shade. Little did we know that this simple act to save ourselves from the hateful sun saved our lives.
At that moment, the guards on the turtle fortress were shot with arrows from above the canyon ridge. Some managed to duck behind their shields but others fell. The attack had finally begun. While the guards were scrambling to figure out what exactly was going on, we who were under the turtle took a moment to assess the situation. Atop the turtle, Cora unleashed her arcane powers against the enemy. She made gestures with her hands and her eyes began to glow brightly. One of the barbarians that repelled down to the turtle struck at her, and she dodged it effortlessly. She enchanted her eyes to be able to see almost exactly what he was going to do. He swung with his sword at her right, she blocked it. He tried to thrust his sword into her throat, and she crouched down moments before the blade could touch her, and returned his strike with her own sword that she conjured out of thin air. She pierced right through the man's belly and he fell down off the turtle’s side.
Distracted for a moment, a lucky archer managed to hit her shoulder. She glared and then used an alternative method. She placed both of her arms together as if to block an attack coming towards her face. She then went as stiff as a board and fell backwards onto the hard stone that paved the way to the fortress. The rock clung to her body, and when she arose she was covered in a thick layer of armor. It slowed her down, but arrows wouldn’t find any purchase with her.
We knew that the top part of the turtle was where most of the fighting took place, so we decided to climb. Fortunately for us, the spaces between the beast’s massive scales looked like they were perfect for climbing. We had to be careful where we placed our fingers, for if we didn’t move our hands away from scales where the skin stretched the most, either it would crush our fingers or not give us any space to grab on. This was the gamble we had on our plates, yet still we pressed onward.
I was the first to climb while the others went behind me. It was a slow ascent, but not entirely impossible. High above the cliff side was the leader of these barbarians. The leader of these barbarians wore armor made from the hides of many beasts. Scaly leather taken from the backs of animals not unlike the turtle. He painted the armor with black stripes and decorated it with spikes made from the teeth of the beasts. His shoulder pads were adorned with the largest of the teeth. The only thing that was entirely made of metal was his helmet. A black iron helmet with large horns pointing inwards. This was the Bull of the Blasted Lands. Like the others of his war band, he repelled down the mountain side and onto the turtle.
We were nearly to the top, though as the turtle continued to move —completely indifferent to what was going on its back— we found it difficult to continue upwards. The scales clamped down against one another for the longest time. I thought I had my timing mapped out perfectly, though as I reached out to grab one of the scales, something must have happened. A slight muscle spasm maybe? Perhaps someone on the shell did something to cause the creature a moment of pain? Whatever it was, the creature limped for a moment and crushed my fingers. The pain was excruciating and as soon as the beast let go, I almost fell down to my death. My hand hurt like fire, but I persisted onward. Despite the pain, I continued to climb, and my comrades followed me. Eventually we made it to the top to engage with our enemy.
I pulled my sword out, but felt my hand burning. My sword hand was injured, but I still had to fight. As we engaged the enemy, everyone showed their skills. Octavian was a man of my own heart. His weapons of choice at that point were a shortsword and an axe. He used the axe to block incoming enemy strikes as well as catching the enemy’s weapon in order to disarm them. He’d then use the sword to finish them.
Straden and Mil’Tuk used bows for this engagement. Mil’Tuk’s shots were quicker, but Straden’s aim was better. Mil’Tuk peppered enemies with arrows and kept them down while Straden fired calculated shots and found his marks. The two almost seemed to make a game out of it, keeping score over how many one of them killed. Straden had the lead.
Cao Tzu first attempted to use her new sorcery and tried to remember what Cora taught her, but under the pressure, she was underperforming. She pointed at a man with two fingers and attempted to produce a small flame, yet it fizzled out as if it were a candle. She tried again, but before she could use the spell the man rammed into her and stabbed her leg. She let out a hoarse, guttural noise in pain before the man raised his sword and attempted to strike at her. She placed her fingers in front of her mouth and then breathed out, sticking her tongue out as if breathing fire. Fortunately her attempts finally bore fruit, and she unleashed a blast of flame right at the man's face. He grabbed his face and dropped his sword. She then picked the sword up and stabbed him through the heart, throwing him off the edge of the turtle. She hissed in pain and grabbed her leg. She placed her hands on her wound and burned it to stop the bleeding. She then attempted to do more cover firing using her spells. They were like small bolts of fire that shot out like arrows. Perhaps it was not what she was going for, but it was effective.
Brutus showed off his magnificent strength by taking on multiple men at once. With no sorcerers to play tricks on him, he was able to fight them off. One man tried to run him through with a spear, but he grabbed the spear, and then used his free hand to strike at the weapon, breaking it in two. He took the spearhead and then thrusted it into the man’s throat and then threw him off the turtle. Another man shot him with arrows, but they were a minor inconvenience to him. He laughed loudly as he unleashed his might upon the enemy. He was busy for a while, and couldn’t help anyone else. He became the focus of the attacking warriors.
Cora meanwhile was facing the Bull on her own, still covered in thick stony armor. She punched the Bull in the stomach, yet he didn’t even flinch. She tried again, but this beast of a man was far more brutal than we thought. He grabbed her shoulder and punched her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Without her concentration, the stone armor fell off of her. She spat up drool as she coughed and clutched her stomach tightly. He then attempted to kick her, but at the last moment she grabbed his leg and her hands began to glow like a red hot poker. He growled before kicking her off of him. She stood up defiantly. She was down, but not out. The Bull was done playing and pulled out a greatsword and slashed it at her. She dodged just in time for only a few strands of hair to be cut.
She kicked him in his knee to try to bring him down before conjuring two ethereal swords in her hands. She blocked his oncoming strike with her blades. The sheer strength of the Bull was enough to push her back. He slammed his forehead into hers and knocked her back. She stumbled in a daze, bells ringing in her ears before he kicked her right in the chest, sending her flying backwards. Still dazed, the Bull didn’t waste a single moment as he lifted his mighty blade in the air to try to cleave her in two. Yet before the blade could cut through her skin, I jumped in and hit the Bull in the head with the hard metal rim of my shield.
He was sent back reeling from the pain. I looked at Cora and shouted at her.
“You owe me one!”
Before she could return any banter, the Bull charged at me and nearly knocked me down as I was distracted for a single moment. I swung my blade at him but he grabbed my arm. As quick as I could, I thrusted my knee into his belly. It took several kicks before he finally let go. I placed my shield in front of me to block most of his attacks. I stepped closer, he blocked and I retaliated. I thrust my blade at him yet he deflected or dodged. I tried to stab him again, but he grabbed my hand and twisted my arm. The sudden jolt of pain on my already injured hand caused me to drop my weapon.
The queen was hiding in her fortress. She had her elite guard barring the doors as the attackers began to storm the fortress. One of them had a large and heavy axe. With a mighty swing he hacked into the door. With much of the guards having been killed by the initial arrow fire, she had a small handful of guards. Her forces were outnumbered. They must have known that as the “mighty” queen hid in her closet. That was when Straden and Mil’Tuk let loose their arrows and shot the man with the axe. They covered the door, making sure that the queen was protected. While we did indeed desire to throw her off of the turtle ourselves, it was in our best interest to keep her alive.
The Bull swung his greatsword at me, but before he could sever a limb or worse, I raised my shield up. His sword bit into my shield with enough force to cut deeply into it, and even cut through my arm. Fortunately, my shield was thick enough that my arm wasn’t severed. More importantly, I caught his sword and twisted my shield to wrestle his weapon away from him. He had a tight grip on his weapon, but couldn’t pull the blade out. I quickly kicked his leg and made him stumble. I had to be quick in order to get my sword. I reached for it, but the Bull saw my intention and pulled me away. He ripped the shield right from its leather straps, almost ripping my arm off in the process.
Before I could run for my sword, he punched me in the stomach repeatedly and forced me against the wall. I was unprepared for such a level of brutality. He came at me like a wild animal from the most violent pits of hell itself. The only thing that stopped him was Cora slashing him with her conjured weapons.
He turned to her and went to assault her once again. She gave me enough time to grab my sword. Suddenly we had the advantage. She flung balls of white fire at him as I tried to stab him. He managed to pick Cora up and was about to throw her off of the turtle when I plunged my blade in him from behind. Yet he didn’t die. To this day I still don’t know if I had missed something vital, or if he was something other than human. He simply turned to face me and stared angrily into my eyes with his own. I couldn’t see his face behind that black helmet. The eyes as far as I knew were as black as coal. He looked down at the sword poking through him. He then threw Cora at me. We both tumbled backwards. He effortlessly pulled the sword out of his body and threw it aside over the turtle.
I would be lying if I said I did not know fear. I was utterly terrified. This man was clearly not human. I pushed Cora away from me so I could take the brunt of the Bull’s horns when he came for me. With shaking knees, I stood up defiantly. I was afraid, but I would not die a coward. Before we could continue our engagement however, we heard a loud roar that gave pause to even the landstrider. The bull glared and then retreated with his brethren, repelling down from the beast and moving away. Brutus himself was annoyed that the fight ended so soon, but there was a new enemy that appeared. It crawled down from high up the canyon ridge. It smelled the blood that was spilled and found a meal. It was only a little shorter than the Landstrider itself.
It resembled that of a large lizard. It was heavy with a single row of spikes trailing down from the back of its neck all the way down to its tail. Its forward facing eyes and sharp teeth meant one thing. This was a predator, and the turtle (and by extension us) were the prey. It had green scaly skin like a crocodile, and claws that were as large as a fully grown man.
The beast ran up and bit the turtle creature on its neck. The landstrider was not quick enough to pull its head in the shell. It bit down hard on the beast and thrashed. Cora and I were injured from the Bull, so Cao Tzu thankfully thought quickly. She placed her hands together and twirled them around one another and produced an orb of fire like a miniature sun. The massive predator was trying to put the land strider on its back. The last thing we needed was to have the entire weight of this animal crash down on us.
Cao Tzu hurried as fast as she could, but we felt the ground shift under us. The beast was slowly lifting the turtle up on its hind legs and we were close to falling off. Yet at the last moment, Cao Tzu hurled the large ball of flame at the attacking creature and hit its eye. It let go of the strider and unleashed an ear splitting shriek of pain. We covered our ears as the large animal retreated up the cliff side and slowly vanished. The earth trembled as the turtle landed on its front feet again. It ducked into its shell to hide itself away.
Battered, but not broken, we sat down and let the moment pass to catch our breath. Between panting breaths I looked at Cora and asked her “What the hell was that thing?”
“Rhaedasaur.” She replied simply, obviously feeling lightheaded herself.
“They’re brutal creatures when hungry.”
I nodded and then laid back, feeling the weight of the world crash down on me. I closed my eyes and trembled. The battle was won, just barely.
Ankarama sheepishly opened a window in her room and poked her head out.
“Is it over? Have we won?”
I could only nod in reply. She shook her head and retreated back into the fortress. Cao Tzu felt Octavian pat her on the back and congratulated her on a job well done. We sat down and waited for the turtle to climb out of its shell. After a few minutes, the land strider stood up once again and then began to move on its own accord.
With many of her elite guards now dead, Ankarama “graciously” allowed us to enter the fortress and guard her. It was a nice change of pace for us, and we were ready to reap the benefits.
Guarding both the queen and the tribute that was to be delivered to Lak’Ashara, we continued on our way. The next few days passed uneventfully, and we were finally free of the canyon. There was nothing left between us and Lak’Ashara’s city. As the time began to creep in on us ever more, we looked at each other with bated breaths. The time where we would be face to face with the most powerful person in the Blasted Lands was drawing ever closer. I had no idea what to expect. If I could go back and tell myself what I know now, I assure you, I would not have been anticipating the meeting as I did on the final days of our journey.