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Starsight

epic fantasy by Minnette Meador - Vol. I

By Minnette MeadorPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 12 min read
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There weren't always dragons in the Valley. But times had changed... Tarzian Lizards had sprouted from legend to reality in a blink of an eye. Vanderlinden only hoped the Starguider's power would be enough.

He stood up in his stirrups to survey the surrounding land. The trees that bordered the Minan were sparse and twisted by decades of windy low season weather and offered little hope of concealment against searching eyes, but the thin forest was better than the open plains, where they stood exposed on all sides like naked prey. When Van seemed satisfied, he jerked his head to the right, and Trenara followed him in silence. Whilema slid behind the horizon and the night became dark, only the stars shining to light their way now.

A quarter league from the grove, Vanderlinden’s eecha suddenly reared, throwing the giant heavily to the grassy turf. He sprang up and just caught the eecha’s reins as she went bolting past. She reared again, but Van had a good hold on her and calmed her down enough to mount. He shot a frightened look at Trenara, who returned it. The presence was at their heels as they spurred their eecha onward at a frantic pace.

They could see the Grotto ahead of them now, across the water.

It was only a dark line of trees this close to dawn, but reassuring nonetheless. As they sped for it, the night became for a moment darker, as if clouds had sailed across the sky above them. When Trenara looked up, she couldn’t see the stars for a moment. Fear chilled her bones. The eechas fretted beneath the riders, and they had trouble keeping them under control until the shadow passed. Trenara took Andelian from her robe and held her tightly to her breast for strength, knowing she would need the via soon.

They saw the bridge now, towering high above the broadening river. It was almost fifty spans before them. They stopped their eechas as one, and Van carefully considered the landscape. Dawn was almost on them and they stood in the open, a pre-dawn breeze circling around their trembling beasts.

“It’s on the bridge,” Trenara said grimly.

“Aye. We can’t cross the river here, it’s too deep toward the middle, and the eechas are too tired to swim. Besides, the only way into the Grotto is that bridge. There’re thickets full of bristle berries and stinging gorse, running all along the outside of the place, so that way’s out.” He paused for a moment as if trying to make out the bridge in the darkness. “What do you suppose it is, guider?”

Trenara shook her head. “I don’t know. Something… bad,” she replied, scowling at the darkness.

“Well, it knows its business. We can’t go forward, nor across, and we can’t likely go back either. If we cut across for the road, my guess is we wouldn’t make it, if there be any more of them stinking laminia. Aye,” he spat, “it knows its business.”

A deep calm settled over the guider as she confronted the choices before her. They could no longer go by road; they would be dead within minutes of reaching it. There was only one choice and it hardened her resolve. She had to confront this monstrosity. Trenara furrowed her brow in concentration and held Andelian tightly.

“Come on,” she said hoarsely and kicked her eecha forward. The scepter began to tingle in her hand and brightened with each step she took. She stopped the animal at the foot of the towering bridge and dismounted slowly. Vanderlinden’s eecha reared again, but the giant managed to dismount and throw a cloak over the beast’s head. He grabbed the reins of both eechas and followed in silent apprehension.

The guider moved cautiously, the dread increasing with each faltering step. She came to the first plank and stopped. On either side of the bridge were intricately carved railings and down the center was a line of worn white stones. Its width could easily admit ten full grown men, shoulder to shoulder and the curve of the span was such that one could not see the other side without mounting to the apex. Trenara felt extremely small on the massive bridge, as she unconsciously stood on her toes, trying to see the other side.

A pre-dawn gust came from the east, carrying a vile smell that made their eyes water and their nostrils burn. It was the smell of fire and burned flesh, sickly sweet and putrid. The stench was unmistakable.

Trenara slowly advanced up the bridge, but before she reached the summit, she paused and held her scepter toward the sky, singing so softly the notes were a whisper on the air. The power glided down as a graceful white torrent that swallowed her. In seconds, the light swirled into a blazing blue, undulating around the figure at its center like the heart of a flame.

Vanderlinden had never heard anything more beautiful than the lyric music of that voice, and his heart danced to the sound. He saw Trenara as if for the first time. Her hair was an auburn fire in the wind of power, her figure, slim and strong, her face more lovely than anything he had ever seen and her eyes, those beautiful eyes that had conquered him the first moment he saw them, now blazed gloriously. The giant knew instantly that he loved Trenara and the intensity of the emotion left him breathless. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms. Vanderlinden realized his foolishness at once and looked away from his own weakness.

There was a loud, rumbling hiss from the other side of the bridge, making the wood tremble beneath their feet. Andelian flared with sudden fury in response and filled the guider with calm assurance. She took the last few steps to the top.

Beyond the summit, standing three spans in height and filling the width of the bridge, was a giant lizard. It had scales running down its back to an enormous tail that fell over the side railing and dangled in the river below. A pair of powerful hind legs, each as thick as tree trunks, supported a massive scaled belly, and in its taloned hands was what appeared to be a blackened human leg. Around it laid gnawed bones with pieces of uneaten flesh still clinging to them. Its bloody face seemed to smile back at them, the immense jaws lined by three rows of needle sharp teeth. The huge mouth curved to large pointed ears, making a permanent sardonic grin. Behind it, between two of the many humps that ran the length of its body, were enormous bony wings that fell over either side of the bridge.

Trenara lifted her eyes slowly to take in the abomination. There was no doubt as to what she saw. A flying tarsian lizard, extinct for thousands of seasons; here stood the terror of the ancient lands. The lizards were singularly vicious, killing for the mere pleasure of it. It was said they possessed high intelligence and could speak in the common tongue.

As the blue flames surrounding Trenara flared at the sight, the lizard hissed again and shrank back from the light, dropping the half eaten leg to cover large, cat-yellow eyes with a bloody hand. Disgust sent a sick rush through the guider as she looked up at this creature. She took a deep breath and repeated to herself the axiom of strength: evil cannot exist without fear—it has no power over those who are not afraid.

“Ssso, Assssemblage.” The tarsian hissed so quietly, it was difficult to hear. “You have come at lassst.”

“Step aside, lizard, we wish to pass.” Trenara’s voice sounded feeble in the gloom as she held Andelian before her, her knuckles white with strain.

A sound escaped the lizard that could have been a laugh. “Of coursssse, Assssemblage, it would be our pleasssure. But asss you can ssssee,” it said, opening its arms to the bones laying before it, “we have jussst now finsssshed our meal. It isss difficult to fly away with a full belly, hmm?” A black forked tongue came out and licked blood from its massive jaws.

“Move aside, lizard!” Andelian flared and the dragon took a step back.

“Nasssty, nasssty,” it hissed viciously. “We are king of lizzzardssss, Asssemblage. You will call usss majessssty.” It took a menacing step forward and Vanderlinden drew a long blade from his side with a metallic whisper.

“You were king, lizard, but you rule no more in this land,” Trenara called up to it. “You have been asleep long, tarsian. What has brought you out of your slumber?”

The creature regarded her with slanted eyes. “We sssee no reassson for Asssemblage to know what wakesss usss, but we will tell her, asss we think sssshe won’t be able to tell anyone.” He took another step forward, the bridge shaking under his weight. “Wasss the massster in the sssouth that breathed life back into usss from our place among the ssstonesss.”

“Who is your master?” Trenara demanded, Andelian punctuating the command with fire.

The lizard swiftly leapt into the air, spreading its wings and letting out a piercing screech. The eechas screamed and broke from Vanderlinden’s grip as he covered his ears and put his head down. They bolted off the bridge, disappearing into the midnight plains.

Trenara kept her footing as Andelian protected her from the earsplitting shriek. Sparks began to fly away from her where the vibrations hit her shield. The tarsian ceased its cry and hovered over the two on the bridge. Vanderlinden fell to his knees when the scream stopped, trying to shake the sound from his head.

“Asssemblage would like to know, would sssshe?” the lizard said. “But we have no time to tell her. Massster gave ussss an errand to do and sssaid there would be a tasssty morsssel in it for usss, though we imagine Asssemblage meat to be ssstringy and giant meat to be tough.”

The beast unhinged his jaws until his mouth became a cavernous black opening above them. In a blinding flash, a column of white-hot fire erupted from the black, surrounding the two victims on the bridge. As it hit, Andelian shot out a circle of brilliant light that settled into a blue dome around them, absorbing the heat and flame. The bridge, however, did not fare as well and caught fire in many places. The tarsian shrieked in rage.

Van’s ears had been ringing violently after the initial trumpet call of the lizard, and the pain in his head was so intense he thought he was going mad. When the dome encircled them, he saw the lizard rise, send fire raining down on them again, and then rise further with another screech. All Van could hear now was the numbing hiss of silence.

Trenara’s arm rose and two bright beams of blue light came from Andelian with a crackling blast, one right after the other. The first missed its mark and exploded in a shower of sparks in the sky. The other caught the lizard’s wing and scorched it badly, causing the monster to double its efforts against the shield around them. Just as the shield kept the blaze out, it also kept the protected in and the bridge was soon a blazing firestorm around them. Vanderlinden knew it was only a matter of seconds before they would plunge into the rushing rapids or crash against the jagged rocks below.

More power shot from the guider’s wand and again the tarsian deftly dodged the bolts. It began to fly higher and farther away. For a moment, the giant thought the wing was damaged badly enough, the creature would give up the battle. However, the tarsian stopped and hovered over the two. Vanderlinden guessed the monster’s game: it would wait until the bridge gave up and they fell to the rocks below. If there was anything left, the beast could swoop down and pick up the pieces. Van knew it was swift enough to pick them both up before they hit the water. It infuriated him to be completely helpless in the dark, caught between fire, water, and a lizard’s whim.

The timbers beneath them began to crack and moan as Vanderlinden lost his footing and fell, and the bridge began to teeter as the side sagged toward the rapids. More bolts flew from Trenara’s scepter, and one hit the beast on the right side. The animal screamed in pain. Stopping the fire abruptly, the creature began to dive. The great distance allowed it to pick up speed as it threw the giant wings flat against its body and readied its talons to strike.

Completely spent and all her magic gone, Trenara fell and the shield disappeared. Van dived at the guider, wrapping his body around her frail form to protect her from the tarsian’s vicious claws and the fire. As if on command, the bridge gave up and Van went down without letting go of Trenara. Wind rushed up to flail against them as they fell toward the river helplessly. With a rush of foul air, the lizard swooped down and neatly caught Van’s shoulders in its talons. It began to rise, the leathery wings beating the air with rhythmic precision, and the eyes blazing with yellow fire. The giant screamed in pain, the weight of the unconscious guider making the talons bury themselves several inches into his soft flesh and muscles, but he wouldn’t let go. From the tarsian’s throat came an exulted cry that mingled with Van’s screams and echoed repeatedly across the plains.

The echo of that triumph would be the monster’s last. The tarsian didn’t realize it was flying backwards into the arms of the waiting Grotto… and that is exactly what Vanderlinden thought he saw, although in latter days he was never quite certain. Shadowed now by a rising dawn, were two huge, fir-clad arms, stretching out to three times the width of the tarsian’s wings. It was as though the trees had suddenly come to life and were waiting to take the screaming beast into their embrace. The limbs engulfed the creature with such alacrity, they cut off the cry in its midst. All that could be heard in the silence that followed was the grating crack of bone and sinew. The lizard dropped his victims, and the last thing Vanderlinden remembered was the first sound he had heard since the loss of his hearing, a heart rending shriek of agony and defeat. The sun broke over the horizon as the beast fell and Van lost consciousness.

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About the Creator

Minnette Meador

Published Author of epic fantasy, paranormal, historical, romance and comedy. I never met a genre I didn't like... Inspired by beautiful Oregon every day. Loves teaching, crafts, and mischievious little critters. Cheers!

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  • Minnette Meador (Author)2 years ago

    Thanks Luisa! https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B002BMBV58

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