The Road To Kalbakar, Wyrms of Pasandir #1

CHAPTER 5 - NAUDIN TO THE RESCUE

'Naudin! Going down!' At Kellie's desperate cry, Naudin squeezed his second helping of Cook's blueberry pie to a pulp. His brain whirled as the sweet purple filling dripped down his fingers. What happened? Did they crash? All the horror stories about people lost in the Hellesands flashed through his mind. The mummified remains, the bleached bones – it was noon and with the sun at his highest, the heat out there was deadly and there would be no shade at all.

The dig crew gathered around the mess table just sat there, and Naudin's anger grew. Those dolts should've been up and running already. Instead, they all waited like sheep for old Lyster's decision. He clenched his teeth in frustration. After a whole week at this fool dig site, his opinion of the boss reclaimer contained words his mother wouldn't like.

Unable to keep calm, Naudin pounded the table. 'We have to find her!'

'I suppose we must,' the supervisor said, plucking at his lower lip. Then he brightened. 'Or we could warn Port Naar and let them do it.'

'That would take too long.' The second reclaimer, Leiha, was all right, but too junior to have any influence with her boss. 'I think we should send out a search party.'

Lyster didn't even look her way.

'Warn Port Naar,' Mage Ander said in that sour way of his. 'We're a reclaimer unit. I would have guided her in; now we don't need to risk the desert going to look for anybody. Finding lost people is the navy's duty. '

Naudin strengthened his grip on his temper. That the old fogey didn't like him, fine; but this foolishness was endangering his cousin.

Lyster rubbed his nose with a grimy finger. 'Ye-es,' he said, hesitatingly.

Naudin rose, facing the dig chief. 'By the time the navy gets moving, she'll be dead. You can't sit and do nothing!'

Ander waved his hand impatiently. 'We did what we could. I took the call, as is my duty. Finding that person is not a reclaimer's responsibility.'

'It could be dangerous.' Lyster mumbled. 'To risk our lives...'

Naudin stared at him aghast. 'You can't let her die! She's my cousin!'

Lyster attempted a stern look, but it only made him seem petulant – which he was most of the time.

'I'm sorry for you, but it's out of my hands,' he said in a thin tone. 'We will pass on all information to Port Naar and let them handle it.'

Naudin had one last card up his sleeve; one he had all his seventeen years hated to play. 'You do know cousin Kellani is Queen Maud's daughter, Supervisor?' he said as haughtily as he could. 'My uncle, Lord Saul, won't be pleased if you let her die.' Saul was the Head of the Reclaimer Service and that idiot supervisor's top boss.

Lyster sat up as if stung. 'Lord Saul! Of course, you are a Spellstor. And the queen... Ander, do you have her direction?'

Naudin gritted his teeth. Oh, that disgusting fool Lyster! He was not a Spellstor, though the Lord Spellstor was his father.

The old mage grimaced and touched his notes with a finger. 'Insufficient co-ordinates.' Then he stiffened.

Naudin's mind caught a fluttering whisper coming in from the desert. 'Help!'

'That's not the broomrider,' Ander said to the reclaimers. 'This is Mage Ander, who are you?'

'Eskandar.' It was a boy's voice, hoarse and exhausted.

The mage's face showed his disgust. 'Another of those child prodigies.'

Naudin glared at Ander, knowing the jealous old fool meant him. He was young, and with good marks in magic, but he wasn't a child or a prodigy.