“The kurr are being killed,” he agreed.
“What could kill a group of kurr like that?!” Maija asked, shouting to be heard over the howling wind and sudden downpour.
“We could find out or make our way quickly to the city,” Anders said.
Let’s get to safety. Whatever’s killing those kurr might come for us next. I don’t want to find out if they are friend or foe, Zahara said, starting to move down the widening path.
“Come on,” Anders said to Maija, who stood looking into the trees just beyond the trail.
She turned to follow them, “They sounded so close.”
Anders jogged to keep up with Zahara, “Really? I couldn’t hear them. I could barely sense them with my mind.”
Maija didn’t respond. She just kept glancing back to see if anything was now pursuing them.
Within minutes they were closing in on the gates to the city when Zahara stopped, Something’s not right.
Anders sensed out and could feel what Zahara was talking about. The gates were fortified, locked.
“Is Cedarbridge under attack?” Anders asked.
“We need to move. Whatever killed those kurr is almost here,” Maija said, rushing to Raffa and scrambling onto his back.
“But the storm!” Ander shouted. “We might not be able to fly.” He searched out for whatever Maija was hearing that he couldn’t identify anything. Cutting his connection off, he hopped onto Zahara.
“Whatever it is, I don’t want to be here when it arrives,” Maija said. Raffa jumped up into the canopy creating a hole in the trees as he left the ground.
Anders clung to Zahara as she followed, getting swept up by the storm as she took to the air.
Chapter 61
Those You Love Most
Wind surged into Zahara’s open wings causing Anders to jolt forward as their leathery expanse caught the billowing updraft. The storm carried her higher, forcing them to climb rapidly as they were swept into the looming thunderhead. Clinging tightly to her saddle, Anders jostled as he watched Raffagaun’s outline disappear into the slate-gray cloud. Freezing rain pelted Anders, leaving welts on his chest, arms and thighs. He tried to focus on creating a mental connection with Raffagaun, but the chaos of the storm made it increasingly difficult to locate them.
We need to get closer to the ground, Anders said into Zahara’s mind.
She tilted her body, angling down into the wind so she could cut through the updraft’s pull. Flying into the wind slowed everything around them, the rain hit with less sting and Anders wasn’t pushed around so violently in the saddle. Turning back, he glanced into the storm. Behind them, he saw the shadow of Raffa’s giant figure angling down after them. Together the dragons waffled as they flew against the storm, down toward the forest.
Anders squinted through the rain as it caught in the prevailing wind, obstructing his view. Because it was dark, he couldn’t see the city’s outer limits, so he directed Zahara as she angled lower toward the forest canopy. Anders continually searched for any sign of where they might’ve been swept off to, but the magical capital remained out of sight. In its place, the menacing cloud darkened. As they approached the tree line, Zahara pulled out of her dive slightly, catching the wind again as it carried her back toward the looming cloud. Anders gripped tightly as she dove, lowering them back into view of the city’s forested outer wall. Working their way around the outskirts, Anders and Zahara bobbed their way through the gale-force winds to pinpoint their location outside the capital.
As Anders caught sight of the city’s eastern gate, he directed Zahara to find a place where they could safely approach. Flying away from the storm front, Zahara led Maija and Raffa toward calmer skies in an attempt to land. Like exiting through a door, the wind and rain shut off once they’d ventured several miles away from the city. Anders could see the thinning strip of vegetation marking the trail to Cedarbridge’s east entrance. As Zahara landed on the trail, Anders wondered if the east gate would be barred as well. They had only tried to gain entry at the main entrance along the south wall. Dismounting, Anders looked past Raffa’s landing to the expanding storm cloud over the elven capital.
Why hasn’t the storm moved since this afternoon? Anders asked Zahara as he marveled at its omnipotence.
Maybe it’s being powered by magic? she replied.
Considering her suggestion, Anders wondered why the magical city would conjure such a storm. If that were the case, likely all of the main gates to Cedarbridge would be barred. Anders just hoped whatever was going on inside the city wasn’t a reflection of how it appeared from their point of view.
“You got a new plan?” Maija shouted as if the storm were still raging around them.
Anders jumped as he turned to see her standing just behind him. He could tell from her reaction that she didn’t mean to yell. Nodding, he said, “I’ll bet that the other gates are blocked as well. There is another way for us to get in, though. Ivan showed me the dragonrider’s entrance near the training grounds. Only riders who’ve trained here can use the access. The magic won’t allow anyone else to open and close it.”
“Hopefully it will work for us,” Maija said more quietly.
Anders nodded, “We could try the east gate, but I doubt it’s open.”
“Do you think this is all because of the kurr?” Maija asked.
“It could be, but I don’t know why the elves wouldn’t send their soldiers after them. And I don’t think the city would conjure such a violent storm to thwart a few kurr,” Anders said, pointing to the towering cloud.
I feel bad energy in the air, Raffagaun said in a low tone.
Anders sensed it too, but it wasn’t like the other times he’d been near the enemy’s army. “I think we should at least try the east gate. If we can’t get in there, we’ll try the riders’ facilities.”
Maija nodded and they climbed back up on their dragons. Flying as close as she could to the ground to avoid the powerful winds, Zahara landed just outside the east gate. Anders shielded himself from the wind and rain with his forearm. He spoke the elven word to enter, but the gate didn’t budge. He shouted over the wind but heard no reply. Anders pounded his fist against the trunk of a tree he knew to be on the gate itself but was met with no answer. He motioned for them to leave. Leaning into the wind, Anders walked alongside the dragons and Maija until they’d reached calmer skies. Mounting, they took flight and hovered over the forest, waiting for Raffa and Maija.
Zahara beat her wings and flew north, beyond the cliffs and out past the storm’s headwall. Circling down below the wind, Anders wondered why the stormfront ended exactly along the cliff wall and didn’t extend to encompass the rider facilities. Landing just beyond the clearing that marked the training grounds, Anders dismounted Zahara and began searching for the secret entrance. He hadn’t wondered about it before, but the evergreen wall surrounding Cedarbridge did not extend out to the training grounds. Though the stretch of land between the facilities and the city was shrouded in the same magic, the training ground lacked a wall to keep it hidden from unwanted passersby.
The dragonriders’ entrance differed from the other elven gates. At the others, any elf could speak a designated word to open the gate, but to gain entry with that word, those who approached first had to do so with pure intentions. This magic kept sorcerers like Merglan from opening the gates. Anders imagined Lageena would’ve always had others open them for her so that she could enter the city. If she’d tried it alone, the magic likely would’ve barred her. But being the queen, she wouldn’t have traveled alone, so she wouldn’t have drawn attention in declining to be the first to enter. Once a human or someone of another race, like Ivan or Anders, had been let into the city, the gates would open for them in future attempts, magically judging their intent as it did for the elves. Only elves could open the gates without ever having been let into the city before.
To access the riders’ entrance, however, only bonded dragonriders and their dragons could open the gate. As Ivan explained it to Anders, only those who’d spent time training could unlock the gate, but once a rider was in the facilities, anyone in the city could access their grounds by way of the path below the cliffs. When Anders asked what would happen if all of the riders died and someone new came to the facilities, he replied, “In that case, the magic would judge them and reveal itself or not. For now, this rule is what you will follow.”
Searching with his mind, Anders felt the magic emanating from the gate. He approached it with caution, trying to remember the exact phrase Ivan had taught him. Anders felt at the fortified entrance and watched as the air rippled beneath his touch. Using the ancient dialect, he spoke the words without knowing their meaning. As he spoke the last syllable, he waited for the gate to open. Holding his breath, Anders heard a click, and the gate swung open. He looked in through the gap and saw the building where his father had instructed him. He then looked again to the side of the gate and saw that where the building should’ve appeared, its stone walls had been replaced with forest. He knew it to be an illusion, but couldn’t help but wonder at the might of whichever sorcerer created these protections.
Anders hesitated before leading them through the entrance. He could sense great tension within the city, emotions boiling up from Cedarbridge too strong to ignore. His hand at Lazuran, he stepped inside. Darkness limited their long-range vision, but Anders didn’t see or sense any immediate threat as he led Zahara, Raffa and Maija inside the protected area. Gathering at the edge of the clearing alongside the training grounds, Anders heard the gate close behind them.
From inside the protected area, Anders saw the base of the storm ballooning out as the wind passed over the magic shroud. Mounting their dragons, Maija and Anders prepared to fly closer to the city.
