A Land of Fire and Blood - Chapter One

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. Tarik found himself internally chanting this sentiment over and over as he dragged one foot in front of the other. Fingers gripped the seeping wound on his forearm and though the threat of unconsciousness loomed, it had not yet taken hold. He only needed to reach the base of the craggy rocks that marked the end of the Valley of the Blessed and he might live to see another sunrise. His head pounded and left ankle protested in time with his halted gait.

His first run into Valley of the Blessed was not supposed to go this way. Valley of the Blessed, indeed. He snorted, then groaned as the wound on his forearm throbbed. His footsteps left no prints on the baked rusty earth beneath him. The dark streaks that ran throughout the still bleeding gash weren’t made entirely by the dust blowing across the barren valley. But it certainly didn’t help. Maybe fifty more steps to go. He could make it before sundown.

Growing up, the stories had painted a picture of a time when the wasteland he dragged himself through now was lush with life. The moniker now seemed a mockery, but he’d begged his mother to tell him the tales of the Valley when it was still rich with life. He’d fall asleep with his mother’s hand in his dark curls, picturing a different world where a boy could pluck flowers full of honeyed nectar and wade through crystal water with nymphs the color of sea foam.

“Tarik!” A voice crackled along the baked earth and rang in his ears. It forced its way into his rememberings and shocked him back to the sepia world in which he currently stood instead. “Tarik!”

A cold shiver ran down his spine; he didn’t dare slow or turn. It had sounded like they’d warned him; a call to a friend. However, there was nobody behind him. This was a solo run and Mari was meeting him at the crack, where the valley’s edge met a wall of stone and only the smallest gap allowed someone to enter or leave. She wouldn’t be behind him and her voice couldn’t carry itself on the wind as if bound to it.

“Tarik,” the voice changed tune and instead slithered up into his ears. It had started as a call, a request. It was becoming a seductive demand. He grunted, dropping his wounded arm to hang at his side and digging in his waist bag. They’d warned him of this, told him not to take out the fabric stuffed in his ears but the constant muted shuffle of noise drove him nearly mad by midday. “Tera damn you, Tarik you mindless idiot!” He muttered as he frantically dug out the twisted pieces of fabric. The siren call cut off as he hastily shoved the fabric, now muddied with his blood, in each ear.

The sinister beasts had magics nobody could explain, he’d been told. They could worm their way into his mind then drag him deep within their caves screaming. If they didn’t slowly rake the skin from his flesh, they could enchant him as a sadistic pet to do their bidding until he died in agony.

The sun hung low, squatting along the tops of the horizon behind him. A cautionary stiff breeze gusted along his back as a reminder of the coming night. “Just another few steps,” he told himself through gritted teeth. His arm felt like it was on fire. He could barely lift it. “Just another few steps, you fool.”

Though the fabric successfully muffled most of the call, he could still feel it wrapping around him like a song, as if it could capture his mind by pressing against him. He blew a breath out, fingers grasped around his useless forearm again, and tried to pick up the pace. Maybe thirty steps now, and he could just make out the midnight blue of Mari’s wrap not too much further back into the canyon.

This was just supposed to be a routine trip, they’d promised. Tarik could climb faster than everyone but Mari and Ryker. But they needed Mari’s agility for another trip and Ryker had come back the day prior vomiting and writhing in agony. He wasn’t sure, he realized, if Ryker had made it through the night. Trips to the Valley were strictly forbidden unless sanctioned by the Counsel. But those old scared turtles would never have actually sanctioned a trip, even if it meant saving them all.

Even still, Tarik had barely accomplished his goal today. He was tasked with something simple, he’d been told. His leader, a rigid silver-haired woman named Agata, had emphasized that they were only trusting him because it was so simple.

“Just a quick run in,” she’d said to him the day before, arms crossed and dark eyes steady. “I need to know the distance between the primary and tertiary caves and if they can be climbed.”

“Do you want me to climb it?” He’d asked cautiously, still unsure of his voice in the room with the rest of the pack mates. He’d felt their eyes burning into him anytime he spoke.

She had sniffed at him in response as if he were a complete fool. Mari, who had been sitting next to him on the counter perched like a cat, had stopped braiding her dark hair long enough to speak up. “I’ll be his second.” Tarik had blushed in both appreciation and embarrassment. Though younger than him, Mari had been born into this pack. She’d been climbing since she could walk. If she vouched for him, Agata would too.

He remembered as he took another staggering step, starting to feel fainter, her final order. “Climb it or die trying. If you can’t accomplish this, I don’t want you back.” He’d climbed it, certainly, and almost died trying. His heartbeat picked up as the golden eye within the tertiary cave appeared in his mind’s eye. He’d barely crested the landing when he’d seen it. It wasn’t sleeping, or hiding from the sun. It was wide awake, waiting for him. He’d frozen, hanging by one hand from the ledge.

Before another breath had passed, he’d let go and dropped a stomach-turning distance to the rocky ground below. And as he lay there, waiting and praying to the Gods for the breath to return to his body, he didn’t take his eye from that ledge. He could’ve sworn he saw one diamond talon curled over the edge. He could’ve sworn it waited for him to slowly stand. And he could’ve sworn it had decided to not pursue him, as if it could actually bear the sun.

“Sola Unarmed, what happened?” Mari’s eyes, a beautiful green that Tarik had found himself thinking about far more often than he should, were concerned even if her voice was frank and heavily muffled. He took a shaky breath, realizing that he’d made it to the edge of the valley right as the shadows lengthened behind him. He wished he had a more heroic explanation, but he knew it was his own terror and the poisonous land he’d crossed that had him feeling feverish.

“Tertiary cave had one that was awake.” He ground out, letting her help guide him a few more steps within the canyon before leaning him against one of the walls. The stone warmed him through his thick wrap. “The beast saw me.”

Mari’s eyes widened but she didn’t reply right away. Instead, she pulled his wraps away from his face and neck, searched in her own bag, and pulled out two small vials. “Drink,” she ordered after pulling the stopper from one. He swallowed and gagged at the viscous liquid as it burned down his throat. She dumped the contents of her water canteen on his forearm then wiped it dry with her cloak. It wasn’t clean, but it was cleaner than it had been. He pulled one of the plugs from his ears as she poured the other vial over his wound. He expected a similar burn to the one still lingering in his throat, but it was cool instead. He felt himself relax slightly as his head began to clear.

“Did it attack?” Mari then asked, back to business. He shook his head, letting her help him through the narrow path. He gingerly held his arm close to his body as they weaved through and tried to move as gracefully as she did. “Burn it Tar, this was supposed to be a success for you.”

Though she couldn’t see, Tarik grinned. “I didn’t say I was unsuccessful.”

Mari whipped around, stopping so quickly he ran against her wiry form with his lanky one. When she saw the look on his face, a smile fought its way onto hers. “Burn it all, you didn’t…you did?”

“I have the distance and time calculated. Not that old Agata will be as fast as I was.” Never mind his near fall to the death that happened immediately afterward. With the valley’s burning dust behind them and the call no longer reaching him, the terror bled into pride.

“Don’t let her hear you saying that now,” Mari chided playfully, returning to her pace through between the sheer rocks walls on either side of them. She’d admitted once, when she was feeling particularly friendly, that the canyon made her incredibly uncomfortable. Like everything was pressing in and she couldn’t breathe. Not that Tarik could tell, with how nimbly she made her way through.

“Maybe I’ll have to make another trip soon just to really show her,” Tarik replied. The tonic in his stomach, while temporary, was doing a good job of bringing life back to his steps. It probably would only last until they made it through the canyon to the other side, if that. But while it worked, he felt like a warrior. He felt like he could do another run through that blasted valley. Maybe even climb to that cave again, just for good measure.

He turned, unable to help taking one final look before they turned and the little sliver of the valley was no longer visible. Twilight had taken hold, but something caused Tarik to stumble. His mouth went dry and he couldn’t form the words to apologize as he tumbled against Mari.

The darkening sky masked most of the light coming in but the final rays had caught onto something at the mouth of the cavern. As darkness swept in, he could’ve sworn the gold glinting at him blinked. Was it his own mind twisting the wind? He wasn’t sure. But he could’ve sworn he felt one final caress of his own name circling the side of his face and curling into him.