Attack of the Queen – Chapter One
Chapter One
Adazzra of the Tree Women watched the herbs swirl around in the cup of water. The potion was almost ready. She looked at her friend and sworn sister, Moonrazer of the Sarl.
Where Moonrazer was muscular and well tanned from long battle campaigns, her friend, Adazzra of the Tree Women was very light skinned. Moonrazer had long warm brown hair held back in a braid that hung down to below her thighs. Adazzra’s golden blonde hair hung loose around her shoulders. Moonrazer had brown eyes, while Adazzra had the light green eyes that marked her as a tree woman.
The warrior was sitting near the campfire, staring into the flames. Adazzra knew that Moonrazer was preparing for the battle ahead.
Adazzra took the potion to her friend and knelt down beside her. “It’s ready, Moony,” she said softly, drawing the warrior back to the present.
Moonrazer nodded once and took the cup. She looked at Adazzra briefly then swallowed the contents. Adazzra sat back on her heels and watched as Moonrazer swayed slightly, then stood erect, raising her sword.
Moonrazer braced herself for the dizziness that would inevitably come after she drank the potion. When it had passed over her, she drew herself up and looked around.
The forest where she and Adazzra had set up camp had disappeared and she stood in what appeared to be the ruins of a temple. The visions were always different so she had to be prepared for anything. However, she realized that the last few visions she’d had seemed to be related somehow to temples and their destruction.
She knew that the visions came from a combination of the veil root herbs that made the potion, her own concentration, and Adazzra’s magic. Moonrazer’s people didn’t use temples in their worship of the Holy One, Janico, so she assumed that the vision of the temple came from Adazzra.
She wondered what was in Adazzra’s magic that continued to conjure visions of ruined temples. However, the foul odor of carrion reached her nostrils, so she had no more time to think about this. She raised her sword, her muscles tensed in anticipation.
The first slavering beast came silently from behind her. Her warrior senses alerted her to its presence, but she waited until it was nearly upon her. At the last moment, she spun on a heel and sliced through the middle of its body.
It dissolved, but three more of the creatures jumped from a pile of rubble beside her. She turned to face them. These looked like wild boars, but they stood on their hind legs. However, they were slightly shorter than a man. Their front legs had large sharp talons on the ends of stubby, useless hands.
One of them bared its teeth and jumped. She cut off its legs, but its companion ran under her sword arm to butt her in the stomach, knocking her to her back. One of the tusks protruding up from its lower jaw cut a small hole in her hard leather tunic and grazed her abdomen. As she saw a small stream of blood and felt a sharp pain, she realized that this training vision was more intense than any other.
She placed a booted foot against the monster and kicked it away from her. While it was on the ground, she jumped up and stabbed the first one, pulling some internal organ out with her sword. She grabbed the oozing tissue and tore it off the blade, throwing it into the dense forest. The second beast ran after it, drops of saliva flying out of its mouth as it ran.
When the remains of the dead monster had disappeared, the third one approached her again, and three more creatures came at her, this time from different directions. Glancing around quickly, she found a place where she could stand that would keep her opponents in front of her.
She ran to the wall and took a defensive position. Two of the creatures came at her, their raised talons dripping blood. She knew she couldn’t kill them both at once without leaving herself open to attacks by the other two, so she waited until one of them was close enough. Then she braced herself on one foot and kicked out with the other, knocking the first monster onto its back.
As she steadied herself, she brought the sword down and split the head of the second monster. The other two started toward her. She took a deep breath and lunged toward them, pulling a knife from her belt as she did so.
With one hand, she slashed at a monster with her sword. At the same time, she threw her knife at the other one. The knife found its mark in the eye of the monster and the creature fell to its knees, screeching in pain. A moment later it had vanished.
The last monster still advanced toward her, but now with only one to concentrate on, she quickly severed its head from its body.
Breathing hard, she looked around at the ruins for more creatures, but instead she saw that the illusion was beginning to waver and fade. She took a deep breath and waited until the ruins disappeared and she was back in the forest with Adazzra.
“How did it go this time?” Adazzra asked, pouring some water from a bottle into a small wooden cup.
“This training vision was much more real than the others. I thought you said we were at the end of the supply of herbs. The ones you used today must be stronger than before.” Moonrazer gratefully accepted the water. Her muscles, although accustomed to strenuous activity, ached slightly.
“The herbs aren’t stronger,” Adazzra said. “You were more focused this time. The concentration exercises I taught you must be helping. You looked ready for any battle.”
“That session did not last very long.” The warrior’s breath came in short gasps as she dropped to sit next to her friend.
Adazzra nodded. “I didn’t use as many herbs because they are almost gone. We will have to find a fresh supply of veil root soon. Usually healers don’t use them except in cases of deadly pain; so most supplies don’t dwindle as quickly as mine has. If I’d thought about it, I would have purchased some at the last village we were in. Have some water.”
When the warrior finished the water, she handed the cup back to Adazzra who did a small cleaning spell and placed the cup back in her traveling pack.
Moonrazer stood up and stretched. “Something about my training vision bothered me.”
“What?” Adazzra asked. “Something more than the length of the vision?”
The warrior nodded. “The last four visions have taken place in what looks to be the ruins of a temple. Have you been conjuring temples for me?”
Adazzra scowled. “No. I have only added a little magic into the herbal potion. Anything in your visions would come from you.”
“Or from your tree.”
“Yes. This is true. My magic energy comes from there, but I don’t believe that would influence your vision much. I will contact my tree to see what she knows. I don’t think it is anything to worry about.”
Moonrazer smiled. “I am sure you are right.” She stood up. “It is getting late. I will check on the horses while you make our meal.”
Adazzra went to the camp to see to the fire and start the evening meal. As she moved, her long blond hair rustled as it caressed the back of her purple gown that marked her as being a healer.
She took a pot to the nearby river and filled it with water. Moonrazer had killed two marsh rabbits earlier in the day and Adazzra planned to make stew with the meat, along with some roots and herbs they’d gathered the day before.
Whenever she started to cook, Adazzra thought of her home, the village of Three Branches on the World Arwhyrrl. She smiled to think of the trees there, both those that were women and those that were not. She sent her thoughts out to her tree.
She had not touched her tree for almost one cycle of Arwhyrrl’s moon, Ithamara. This moon cycle was the standard unit of time measure for all the Known Worlds. With it, all peoples measured tansels. All tansels were ten moon-cycles long.
For the past three moon cycles, Adazzra and Moonrazer had been working for the local priests or doing some other small jobs for the people of the local villages for money or food. Tonight was the first night they’d made a camp in the woods. Lately, they’d been staying in crude inns or in private homes.
Being in a forest reminded Adazzra of the peace and comfort of her own grove. She knew when she reached out to her tree, she would get no verbal response, just a feeling of peace and home.
Suddenly, agitation filled her entire body. Her tree radiated relief that they were in contact, but that feeling was mixed with the knowledge that things were not calm on her homeworld.
Tree women were peaceful and Arwhyrrl had remained completely neutral in all conflicts in the Known Worlds. The other worlds respected that neutrality and Arwhyrrl had been rewarded with peace and harmony throughout its history.
From the messages she was receiving from her tree, Adazzra knew that harmony was threatened. In fact, she knew that her world was being invaded. Already many trees had been killed. Her tree sent her waves of the deep grief while urging her to come home as soon as possible.
The meal was forgotten as Adazzra tried to focus her thoughts and discover who or what was causing the terror and grief that filled her tree. The tree’s feelings were chaotic, and she could only glean a small bit of information.
Apparently, the imminent danger was not near Three Branches, Adazzra’s home village, but all the trees on Arwhyrrl could feel the pain of those that had died. Adazzra’s tree told her nothing of how many tree woman had died or why, but she got the impression that the danger could move to other areas of the world.
Even though she was relieved that her tree, and consequently, her life, was not directly threatened, the knowledge that many of her tree sisters had been killed brought her immense sorrow. She could think of nothing else, and she felt almost paralyzed with fear and grief.
She didn’t know how long she sat staring into the woods, but she finally heard Moonrazer’s footsteps as the warrior approached the fire. The tree woman didn’t move nor look up at her friend. She felt as though she were in a deep hole with no way out.
“Adazzra,” Moonrazer said, coming back to the camp and wiping her hands on her leather pants, “the horses have been fed and rubbed down. Is the food ready?” She knelt beside the fire and lifted the lid off the pot. Clouds of steam rose and Moonrazer leaned forward to sniff the aroma. She dropped the lid back onto the pot.
“Adazzra, there is only water in that pot. I thought you were going to make stew.” Moonrazer’s words died on her lips as she looked at her friend.
Adazzra sat on a fallen log near the fire, but her face was ashen as though her blood had frozen in her veins. Quickly, Moonrazer went to her side and sat down.
“Adazzra, what has happened?”
Adazzra didn’t answer immediately, and Moonrazer repeated the question, this time taking Adazzra’s hand. Slowly, Adazzra turned and looked at Moonrazer, but her eyes remained unfocused, as though she saw something from the past that troubled her.
A moment later, Adazzra’s eyes cleared and she looked at Moonrazer.
“Something is very, very wrong,” she said softly.
“Wrong?” Moonrazer asked. “What do you mean?”
“On Arwhyrrl. With the trees. With my tree. Something is very wrong.”
Without another word, Moonrazer stood and walked over to her bedroll. On the ground beside the blankets lay the Sword of Justice in its black velvet and gold sheath. She fastened the sheath to her belt and took out the weapon.
The Sword of Justice, with its blade made of bone and its hilt magically created from a single piece of black onyx from the mountains on the World Carrick, glittered in the waning sunlight. The blade, no matter who or what she killed with it, never lost its edge.
Moonrazer took the Sword of Justice with her wherever she went, and no one touched it without her permission. The Sword had killed more than one man who had tried to steal it.
Concerned for Adazzra’s tree, Moonrazer resheathed the Sword and began packing up the camp.
Moonrazer had known Adazzra most of her adult life. She knew Adazzra better than she did her own sisters. In the time they’d been together, she’d learned to trust the other woman’s feelings.
“Let us go,” she said.
Adazzra nodded silently and joined her friend in clearing the camp.
Quickly and quietly, the two women worked. Adazzra extinguished the fire while Moonrazer saddled their horses and led them over to the side of the campsite.
Estrella, Adazzra’s small horse, wore a lavender blanket and a wooden saddle magically colored purple. The saddle had been designed so she could ride sidesaddle.
Moonrazer’s large gray war-horse, Wind Rider, wore a heavy wooden saddle with no blanket. He also carried all of their provisions.
Adazzra poured water on the fire and gathered up what belongings Moonrazer had not gotten. She walked slowly to the horses and checked Estrella’s pack. Soon, they were ready.
They led the horses out of the trees. Moonrazer looked around. When she was satisfied that the space was big enough, she handed Wind Rider’s reins to Adazzra.
“I will call him to land here,” Moonrazer said. She took a couple of deep breaths to prepare herself.
“Do you think he’ll come?” Adazzra asked softly. “It is, after all, almost dark.”
Moonrazer nodded, but she did not look at her friend. “Of course he will come. He has to.”
“But…” Adazzra hesitated. “You’re not the one in danger this time. What if he decides not to help me? We don’t know everything about him. Sometimes he hasn’t come when you’ve called him. What if this is one of those times? Without Nightwind, we’ll have to travel back to Cobdale to get to the portal. That would take us an entire moon cycle.” She bit her bottom lip. “If Nightwind doesn’t carry us, we might not get to Arwhyrrl in time to save my people.”
Moonrazer turned to look at her and sighed. She walked over and took Adazzra’s hands in hers. “Adazzra, we are ga’Linda. Sisters. I believe Nightwind will help us if you are truly in need.” Adazzra tried to smile, but she still felt uncertain.
Moonrazer nodded once and dropped Adazzra’s hands. The warrior moved away from the horses and Adazzra went to the center of the grassy clearing.
From inside her linen tunic, Moonrazer pulled out a round golden medallion with a large ruby in the center. Then she unsheathed the Sword of Justice and held it high above her head. The birds in the trees around the clearing hushed as though they understood what was about to happen.
“Nightwind, hear me,” she called into the approaching darkness. “As Exalted Warrior of the Sarl, I command you to appear.”
Several minutes passed, but Moonrazer kept the Sword of Justice above her head.
Adazzra searched the sky, watching for movement among the stars that would signal Nightwind’s approach. She’d seen her friend go through this ritual many times in the tansels they’d traveled together, but she always felt a little surprised that he would actually come to them.
Finally, Adazzra saw him. “There he is,” she shouted.
“I see him,” Moonrazer said, slowly moving out of the center of the clearing, still keeping the Sword high.
Adazzra needed all her strength and some of the calming magic of a healer to keep the horses from running away. They began to prance around at the same time the leaves on the trees rustled.
Nightwind, the dragon of the Exalted Warrior, was larger than a castle, with blue, green and black scales. His platinum yellow eyes searched the area until he focused on Moonrazer, or more correctly, on the source of the Exalted Warrior’s power, the Sword of Justice.
A single flare shot from his mouth to announce that he had seen the Sword, and he hovered above the clearing for a moment. Adazzra feared he would not land because he would know that Moonrazer had summoned him to help her ga’Linda.
However, an instant later he began descending. He was a bit larger than the clearing and crushed one or two trees on the edge. Only after he settled on the ground with his wings folded did Moonrazer lower the Sword.
Adazzra kept murmuring to the horses as Moonrazer approached the dragon.
Nightwind raised an enormous wing and Moonrazer walked about two hundred paces underneath it. A moment later, Nightwind folded his wing and a smaller dragon, about the size of a blacksmith’s shop, stood where Moonrazer had been. Adazzra knew that this smaller dragon was Moonrazer, and she remembered the first time she’d seen this transformation take place. She’d been terrified that somehow Nightwind had killed Moonrazer.
Now, however, after several years together, Adazzra knew that Moonrazer was alive and well, and that, now in the form of a dragon, Moonrazer could communicate with Nightwind.
##
Moonrazer always lost consciousness for a brief time after she changed into her dragon form. This form was the result of wearing the Medallion. Nightwind would come in answer to a summons by the holder of the Sword of Justice, but without the Medallion, he could not communicate with her.
When she regained consciousness, she stretched out a wing and touched Nightwind’s wing. A pleasant tingling sensation went through her body. Moonrazer felt as though she were floating in a warm bath, surrounded by the aroma of herbs and flowers that came from Nightwind.
“Thank you for coming, my friend,” Moonrazer thought to him, forcing herself to concentrate on the situation. She wished she could let herself enjoy being with Nightwind without having to prepare to face an enemy.
“It is my duty and pleasure. You summoned me because there is a problem on Arwhyrrl.”
“We must do all we can to help Adazzra and her people.”
“Of course. I can not fight the Vlaad, but I will take you there, and I will get your army. Is there anything else?”
“The Vlaad are on Arwhyrrl?” Moonrazer’s feelings of surprise and alarm flowed into Nightwind, and the larger dragon sent back calming thoughts.
“My friend,” he thought to her, “Adazzra’s tree is safe for the moment. The Vlaad are in another part of that region. They are concentrating their efforts in the Holy City.” Moonrazer was reminded of the ruined temples she’d seen in her training-visions. Could these visions have something to do with the Vlaad in the Holy City?
“I do not fear only for Adazzra and her people,” Moonrazer returned. “The Vlaad are ruthless killers and conquerors. If they are trying to take over Arwhyrrl, they must have bigger plans. Carrick, the homeworld of the Sarl could easily be next. We have worked too hard to build a home for my people to let them invade.”
Nightwind thought his agreement to her. “You must do what you can to stop them. Our own world is not in danger yet, but it is our duty – yours and mine – to protect the Sarl and the place they call home. I will take you to Arwhyrrl.”
Moonrazer sent him a wordless burst of grateful thoughts. A moment later, Nightwind took his wing away, turned and locked his gaze on her eyes. His eyes turned from platinum to a lapis blue. In a flash, she returned to her human form.
She walked to Adazzra. “He will take us,” she said simply as she took Wind Rider’s reins. Adazzra nodded and began to lead her horse to the dragon.
As the women and the horses approached him, Nightwind again extended his wing, but this time he made it rigid like stone by holding it absolutely still and tensing his muscles.
Moonrazer walked slowly up the wing, firmly tugging her horse’s reins. The stable on Nightwind’s back was about fifty paces from the dragon’s shoulder. Once Wind Rider was on the dragon’s back, and not on the wing, he walked toward the stable more easily.
Adazzra led Estrella, and the smaller horse balked a bit. In response to the horse’s reaction, Nightwind lowered his body until he almost lay on the ground, lowering the angle of the wing, making it a slightly easier climb.
Wind Rider climbed onto Nightwind’s back more readily than Estrella, as he’d ridden the dragon more often. Still, getting both horses onto the dragon took a long time. They were skittish and they had some distance to cover.
The night had become very dark by the time the horses were on Nightwind’s back. Moonrazer and Adazzra settled them into a stable that someone long ago had built there. Next to the stable stood a small tent that constantly held food and blankets for the Exalted Warrior.
Moonrazer often wondered how this tent was maintained because no one had ever visited Nightwind’s home in the mountains of Vyrlyan near the region that was the home of the Sarl. In their idle moments, Moonrazer and Adazzra had speculated long on Nightwind, but they had never come to any conclusions.
When the horses were settled and comfortable, Adazzra took some herbs out of her pouch and gave them to the animals. Then she softly murmured the words of a resting spell as she rubbed their noses. Soon, the horses were asleep.
“I’ll need to get more sleeping herbs when we get to Three Branches,” Adazzra said when she joined Moonrazer, who was seated on a saddle on Nightwind’s neck. “My pouch is almost empty. It has been long time since we’ve seen an herb merchant. The last village we were in was a least a four day’s journey from here.”
When Moonrazer became Exalted Warrior and learned about Nightwind, she’d had a seat for Adazzra built near hers. She didn’t know who built the seat. She had asked Nightwind about the possibility of a seat, and the next time she saw him, the seat was there.
The chairs were shaped somewhat like wooden bowls with a curved section taken out of the front. They rested on curved X-shaped legs that were each carved from a single piece of wood. A soft, silken cushion sat in the seat of the chairs and made them almost as comfortable as the bed in a tree woman’s home. The chairs were decorated with symbols of the Exalted Warriors and their faith in Janico, the Holy One.
Adazzra settled herself onto her seat, and Nightwind raised himself onto his feet.
“That is, of course, if there are any herbs left in Three Branches,” Adazzra continued. “My healing powers are undoubtedly going to be needed.”
The cold dark air raced past their faces and tore at their clothes as Nightwind took them out of sight of Palymar. The yellow ball of that world receded above them and soon Moonrazer and Adazzra could see about half of the Known Worlds spread out in front of them. Around the colorful balls of the Worlds were twinkling stars.
Moonrazer loved riding on Nightwind. The air on her face and the nearness of the stars made her feel close to heaven. She loved Nightwind’s speed and the strength of the dragon. She rarely rode Nightwind alone, but the few times she had, she’d wished that Nightwind would never stop flying.
