Michael Mathias - The Wizard and the Warlord

Oarly’s battle cry echoed around the chamber as the serpent reared its head up and tried to chug Phen down its throat. Oarly, inebriated or not, wasn’t about to let that happen. He was far too fond of the lad to allow it. He darted out from the wall and ran right up under the serpent, then took a massive hacking swing at the beast’s neck. He felt the axe bite deep and had to roll back against his momentum to pull the blade free.

The monster hissed through its half-open maw, spraying blood in a mist across the cavern wall. Oarly shuddered, hoping it wasn’t Phen’s blood. With a roar, he brought the axe back around and finished his chop. A piece of the serpent’s neck, a chunk shaped like a wedge of fruit, fell to the floor. Oarly had to run under the creature’s head as it turned to attack him. He saw Phen’s legs hanging out of its mouth. They were drenched in blood. He went into a rage at the sight and tore into the serpent’s side with a berserker’s frenzy. His axe went back and forth, slicing deep gouges into the foul-smelling monster. Suddenly the thing lurched and sprayed a gout of blood across the cavern. Then it wormed sideways and pressed Oarly tight against the wall with its side. In a fury of its own it dropped Phen into the sea pool with a plop then turned its attention on its attacker.

Oarly froze in wide-eyed terror as the beast held its big viper-like head up over him. A long, flickering, black tongue preceded the rank fishy spray of slimy, bloody breath.

“Bah, your breath smells like a fish-house trash barrel,” Oarly spat through his fear. Then he closed his eyes and said a prayer. “Doon save me from this foul creature. I uh, uh, uh…”

Phen righted himself. Thankfully he’d landed in the part of the pool that was only waist deep. He immediately saw Oarly’s predicament and charged up out of the water, racing through the words of the first spell that came to mind. He put his hands out above the serpent’s scaly body as a lightning bolt erupted through them. He felt the dragon’s tear at his neck once again add its power to the flow. For a long moment, he heard Oarly sputter with the jolts. “Uh, uh, uh, uh…”

Phen stepped up even closer, while beneath his hands the serpent took the brunt of the damage. No sooner had the spell ended than the creature darted its head into the larger of the tunnels and began squirming down the passage as quickly as it could.

Oarly fell away from the wall, still jittering from the power of the spell. His mop of hair was smoking slightly, and he howled out wildly. The serpent was almost down the shaft when Oarly rolled up like an acrobat and brought his axe down. He cleaved what was remaining in the main cavern from the beast’s tail.

“Haw,” Oarly said, pointing to the seven feet of glowing serpent curling and uncurling on the cavern floor. “I cut the fargin serpent in half, I did!”

Phen cast his light spell, and Oarly looked at him crazily. Both of them were drenched in disgusting spew.

“Aye.” Phen cringed at his wild-looking friend. He wasn’t about to argue with that. “Now let us be on our way before the other half comes back. The tide turned a while ago. I think I can wade us out of here.”

Oarly hurried over to the boat and untied it. He climbed in, looking at the large tunnel with a mixture of fear and bravado on his gore-covered face. A few moments later they were working their way out of the Serpent’s Eye cavern. Around them a storm was raging violently. It was all Phen could do to climb the rocky shore and tumble himself into the boat. His great weight kept the craft glued to the sea as gale force winds carried them into the darkness. It wasn’t long before all memories of the serpent and the emerald were cast aside so they could concentrate on the one thing they had to do to keep Phen from sinking to the bottom of the sea. Frantically, they bailed and bailed and bailed.

When that was done they bailed some more.

Phen woke to an insistent tugging at his leg. He sat up quickly, looked down at it and was overcome with terror. A fair-size snapper, probably twelve feet from nose to tail, was gnawing on his marbled foot. He flung himself back, and with his other boot stomped the creature right in its snout. It let out a breathy gasp of surprise and darted away with a splash.

Phen crab-walked backward until he was no longer half in, half out of the water. Instinctively, he checked to see if Hyden Hawk’s medallion was still around his neck. It was.

He was surrounded by high grass. Rising to his feet he saw he was in a sea of the stuff. Some of the grass was swaying oddly, as if it were rooted in water. The green carpet went on and on in all directions as far as he could see. The grass was high enough that finding Oarly might be a problem. He began calling out for the dwarf as he started working his way around the mostly invisible water line.

When he paused to catch his breath, Phen looked at the scratches the snapper’s powerful jaws had gouged down his legs. They didn’t hurt. His nerve endings were deadened. He couldn’t really define the way he felt. He was weary, heavy, and he was mostly hungry, but he wasn’t complaining now. Had he still been of flesh and bone his leg would be a ruin.

Phen remembered he and Oarly clinging to the dinghy, riding a huge wave right into the marshes. He hoped Oarly was on this same rise of land because he didn’t want to go wading through the treacherous swamp looking for his friend. To punctuate that thought, Phen stepped forward and sank to his knee in soft, sucking mud. He wasn’t light enough to be traipsing around this sort of terrain. He did well to keep from panicking as he slowly worried his leg free. As he did, a new idea came to him.

He worked his way back to where he’d awakened. He began pulling up clumps of the long marsh grass. After stomping down a broad area, he made a pile in the middle. He used his fire finger spell to light the bundle. It took a while for the green grass to catch, but when it did, it sent up a roiling cloud of smoke. After gathering enough grass to keep the beacon rising into the air for a while, he sat down and made himself comfortable. Occasionally he called out for the dwarf, but he didn’t get excited and wear his voice out. Oarly was as well trained as any ranger, and if anyone could survive out here, it was him. The dwarf probably couldn’t see three feet around him in that tall marsh grass though, Phen thought with a laugh. He heaped some more grass onto the fire so that the smoke pillar rising into the still air became unmistakable. Confident now that his friend had something he could see to guide him, Phen lay back and closed his eyes.

Oarly woke to total darkness and a terrible throbbing in his hip. He wiggled the rock that was digging into him into a more comfortable position, then he closed his eyes again. No sense stumbling around in the dark, he grumbled to himself. Besides, his head was pounding from all the cheap brandy he’d stolen from the Royal Seawander.

The next time he woke he was sweltering hot. It was still dark outside, but he felt like he was suffocating. He raised himself up and something banged into his head. He dropped back down to the ground in a crouch. He was wide awake now. His heart was hammering through his chest like a forge hammer. Glancing around in the darkness, he saw a sliver of light a few feet away. It was the strangest thing he’d ever seen, a bright greenish-brown line barely a hair’s breadth wide. He studied it for a long time before realization came to him. He was glad he was alone. Hyden Hawk and Phen would never let him live this episode down.

With a huff he stood up and pushed the upside-down dinghy off of him. The air wasn’t much cooler out from under the boat, but it was fresh, and the sun was shining brightly. He dropped the dinghy back on the ground and rubbed his head where he’d knotted it against the floorboards.