The Lord Of Lightning (Book 3) (10 page)

The animal ignored the Archer and continued pawing and growling at the rocks.

The Archer, arrow high, cautiously walked towards the animal. He felt confident, despite the animal's size, he could pierce its heart, and kill it in an instant.

The Kaprk-Uusshu was four times the size of a horse. Its colossal head was shaped like a ram, but covered in large, reptilian scales, some scales a purplish hue, some a rich cream color. The rack of its horns was as wide as three men, and covered with vicious bony spikes. Its body was long and unnaturally snaking. Its front feet were great, crushing hooves, but its rear feet were large, webbed orange claws. Its long, thick muscular tail whipped back and forth, with a fish-like fluke at the end. Its body was covered in a white, shaggy fur, but a series of thick scales ran down the center of its back.

It was said, in whispered legends, that the Kaprk-Uusshu was  the offspring of the crossing of a dragon with a mountain goat, and it certainly looked the part.

As the Archer neared, he understood that the beast was actually talking, and not merely grunting, speaking in a deep, creaking guttural voice.

"Kaprk-Uusshu!" The Archer called again.

The Archer could see, as the animal turned to look at him, that the beast had rectangular pupils in its colossal yellow eyes.

"Help me," the animal deeply creaked.

The Archer lowered his bow. The beast was pleading for help. Derragen was momentarily confused. Then he quickly raised his bow.

"Why should I help you?" Derragen challenged. "You serve the Dark One."

"No," the animal growled with some difficulty. "He force me. My sister."

Then the beast returned to stalking back and forth over the boulders.

"Is- is she in there?" The Archer said with instant comprehension.

"Trapped," the Kaprk-Uusshu moaned with a pain that touched the Archer. The animal rubbed its head between the cracks in the boulders as if it wanted to force its head into the space below. It certainly had the strength to push right through the boulders. What prevented it? The Archer wondered.

"Sometimes you have to just jump in," the Archer wryly breathed to himself. He quivered his arrow, and flipped his bow over his shoulder. "Let me see," the Derragen said as he slowly climbed up on the rocks, keeping a wary eye on the Kaprk-Uusshu.

He could hear a heavy breathing coming up from the space beneath the dome of carefully placed boulders. In the blackest shadows, below the boulders, a huge form paced, turning in a confined space below the colossal rocks.

"You can move these," the Archer said, then caught himself. "No," he said as he turned his head, and surveyed the prison of gigantic stones. "They will fall in if you do it wrong. The stones will kill it- her."

"Yes," the huge beast creaked. "Help, please. Save her." The great sorrow in the animal's voice was all too clear.

"Of course I will," the Archer said with a sudden conviction. "I am Derragen," the Archer said to introduce himself.

"I Grisn," the Kaprk-Uusshu said. "Down there, Josr," the beast said with a tilt of its enormous head.

"Help me," a faint, yet deep voice called from below the megaliths. The voice was filled with despair and weak from imprisonment. The sound of the wretched, trapped animal filled the Archer's heart with an even greater hatred for Deifol Hroth and pity for the huge beast below.

"We will get you out, Josr," the Archer called down to the dark void beneath the stones, with a sudden fierce conviction. A person, or beast, that was hurt, overwhelmed, or trapped always brought the Archer's blood up.

The Archer paced over the pile of boulders. They had been cleverly stacked as a tenuous dome. Pull the wrong one and the whole weight would crush the animal underneath. And it was a considerable construction of titanic rocks, a perfect prison for so magnificent a beast.

The Archer tapped on a granite boulder with his bow.

"Josr, can you push on this one when I give the order?" The Archer called down to the dark.

"I weak, but try," the deep voice echoed up.

Derragen leapt to the third boulder over.

"Now, Grisn," the Archer said, "Strike this one from the side, here, when I give the order. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Grisn deeply rasped, nodding his colossal head.

The Archer climbed to the crowning boulder in the center. He drew Bravilc, the elvish sword given to him by Iounelle, the last elf of Lanis.

"I'll pry here," the Archer said, "and try to move this group of stones so they fall to the side. "Josr," the Archer called down to the shadows, "watch your tail."

"Understand," the feeble voice called up from the dark.

"You have Bravilc," Grisn said pointedly to Derragen.

"Yes," the Archer stuttered, surprised that the beast recognized the sword. "It was a gift from Iounelle of Lanis."

The Kaprk-Uusshu said nothing more, so the Archer let the matter drop.

The Archer looked about and made sure he was in the right spot. He took a couple of breaths to steady himself.

"Get ready," Derragen said as he wedged his blade under a boulder. "And... Now!"

As the Archer strained on the lever he had made of his sword, he looked up to see Grisn raise his colossal head as he lifted up on his hind legs, the beasts long, long body stretched out, hooves tucked under. The massive rack of curled horns seemed to hold in the air, until it boomed down onto the rock. The Archer saw the boulders Grisn hit shudder sideways, as the boulder he told Josr to lift rumbled upwards.

The Archer leaned on his sword, gritting his teeth and pulling down on Bravilc with all his might. In that moment, he felt the terror and despair of the beast trapped below, and the desperation of her brother. A flash of light and loud crash surprised the Archer as the boulder he was leveraging crumbled. Josr exploded from her prison.

Grisn quickly grabbed Josr by the nape of the neck and dragged her away from the lethal trap.

The Archer fell with the massive boulders, down into the prison. The world went black for Derragen.

The Archer regained consciousness to see Grisn violently shoving boulders aside with his horns to uncover him. The titanic beast gently bit the Archer's cloak when he got to the human, and dragged him out of the ruined snare of huge granite stones.

"Did we get your sister out?" The Archer weakly asked as he lay back on the cold granite.

In response, Josr loomed from behind Grisn's huge head.

Josr was like Grisn, but her features were more feminine. Her horns were smaller, straight spears of horn jutting up from her delicate head. But even with more diminutive features in relation to her brother, Josr was still twice the size of a horse. She batted huge eyelashes at the Archer.

"I out," Josr said in a deep creaking voice, tilting her head. The Archer could have sworn she was smiling at him, and was surprised to find himself feeling slightly uncomfortable, as though he was being scrutinized by a young, love-struck maid.

"I'm glad we got you out," the Archer said rising to his feet. "Now I have a request of you."

"Anything," Josr quickly said in her deep guttural voice.

"What?" Grisn asked, being more cautious.

"There is a thing," the Archer said. "At the bottom of the water. Just out there," he pointed out to the expanse of the New Sea. "I need to get this thing."

"What thing?" Grisn asked, his rectangular pupil narrowing.

"It's an elvish crystal called the Lhalíi," the Archer said, deciding it best to be honest with these strange creatures.

"Lhalíi," Grisn groaned. "Dangerous." The Kaprk-Uusshu turned his huge head and looked out at the New Sea.

"I know it's dangerous," Derragen said spreading his hands. "But it is more dangerous in the hands of Deifol Hroth. We must get it before he does."

The Archer noticed Grisn visibly grimace and grind his huge teeth at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. It all became clear to the Archer. Grisn was no ally of the Dark Lord. The Beast had been forced to help the Lord of Lightning with his sister, Josr, held hostage. The Kaprk-Uusshu probably hated Deifol Hroth more than any thing alive in Wealdland.

Grisn looked over at his sister, who nodded.

"We help," Grisn creaked.

"Thank you," the Archer said, and then led the massive beasts to the water's edge. "It's down there, perhaps a league out, on the bottom."

"Big hole down there," Grisn said.

"A big hole?" The Archer mused. "Of course, you've been swimming around these waters. The Lhalíi probably blasted a hole in the lakebed when it hit, when this was once a lake, and not a sea. Have you gone into the hole?" The Archer asked Grisn.

"Too dark, no light."

"Too dark," the Archer repeated, his mind racing, searching for a solution.

"Use Bravilc," Grisn said.

"Use Bravilc- How-"

"You made Shiningsword work," Grisn creaked. "Over there."

The Archer looked over at the collapsed heap of boulders. He remembered the flash of light.

"I made- That was me?" The Archer examined the elvish blade in his hands. "But I don't know how I made it work..."

"You work it again," Grisn said with certainty.

"And you'll carry me down into the hole, under the water," Derragen worriedly considered the plan. "I can only hold my breath for so long. There will probably be vyreeoten down there."

"Vyreeoten down there," Grisn confirmed.

"Wonderful," the Archer breathed. "Very well. If I make the sword shine, and we get the crystal, even if I drown, or I'm eaten by a vyreeoten, you must promise me that you will take the Lhalíi to the elf, Iounelle. She is in Lanis right now. Do you promise?"

"You not drown," Grisn said with a certainty that the Archer did not share.

"Not eaten by vyreeoten," Josr said with meaning, her huge eyes squinting.

"Then what are we waiting for?" The Archer said with gentle, yet frightened sarcasm.

Derragen, Grisn, and Josr walked down to the water softly lapping at the sand of the sea's edge. The surf had died down, and there was virtually no wind. The day was dead and holding its breath. The falling night was suffocating.

The sun was low in the west behind them, breaking through the banks of clouds, as they faced east and the vast colorless expanse of water before them.

"Just jump in," the Archer said to himself, but the Kaprk-Uusshu took his mutterings as a prompt, and both leapt into the water with a joyful splash. It was clear that the ocean was their natural element. The huge beast's bodies undulated in the salty brine. Josr rolled over several times, obviously luxuriating in being freed and back where she belonged. The Archer wondered how long Josr had been Deifol Hroth's captive. The female Kaprk-Uusshu turned to look at the Archer, an invitation.

"Oh, Eann," the Archer breathed. He stripped off his bow and quiver, and his belt with scabbard. Clutching Bravilc, the Archer waded out to the massive creatures splashing and playing in the water.

Derragen swam out to Grisn, as the animal patiently waited for him. As soon as the Archer grabbed a hold of the shaggy white fur of Grisn, the beast began to swim.

It was less swimming, and more being projected through the water. Grisn thrashed with a muscular force that threw up a mighty wake. The Archer found himself coughing for breath amid the great spray being thrown up.

The Archer scrambled to keep his grip, slipping, and ended up clutching the ridge of scales that ran down Grisn's back. Derragen was reminded of Stavolebe riding the Kaprk-Uusshu through Harvestley, the snaking way the animal ran, Stavolebe holding onto the ridge of back scales for dear life.

Off to the side, Josr swam with great, playful arcs. The Archer caught his breath as she leapt clear of the surface of the New Sea, the titanic beast soaring high above the water. She rotated her body in midair and hit the surface with a crashing splash.

If there are vyreeoten about, she just alerted them, the Archer thought with worry.

Derragen looked back, the sand of the shoreline was a thin tan strip on the horizon. Grisn pulled to a stop, as water washed all about them from his furious wake.

"Straight down," Grisn creaked in his deep voice.

"Let's go," the Archer called trying his best to be courageous. Derragen drew in a deep breath. The Kaprk-Uusshu let its body sink and then began to tumultuously thrash the water with his massive front hooves. Grisn violently tossed his large head back and forth to swim faster and faster down, deeper down.

The Archer looked back at Grisn's body. The animal folded his hind legs in, and his whole hind body writhed in the water like a gigantic fish.

Fading light from the surface lanced down through the deepening blue like shafts of light being thrown down through an ancient woodland. The waves overhead were like a rippling blue sky peeking through the canopy of the Weald. Large, thick strands of seaweed towered like mighty trees from their anchors at the bottom to brush the division that was the surface.

The forests of the ocean, the Archer thought to himself.