The Blade of Dawn

Chapter 23

My heart pounds and my muscles burn as I swim. The waves are relentless, crashing down on top of me, one after another, like clockwork.

Easton and Sarah beat me to the shore. I pull myself out of the surf a few moments later and collapse on the hot sand. The sun is high in the sky. I begin to sweat almost instantly. Water drips from my skin and clothes, drying rapidly, leaving trails of hardening salt on my skin.

I breathe and give my heart a chance to slow back down into a steady rhythm.

The air is dry and smells like a mix between seaweed and desert. I open my eyes and sit up. Easton is already up and is pacing back and forth along the shore.

"Kronos' mother?" Easton runs his hands through his dark hair.

"I thought she was dead." Sarah says as she wrings water out of her hair and begins to re-braid it.

"Apparently not," Easton wipes a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"What do you know about her?" I ask.

"Not much," Easton stops pacing and sits in the sand. "Kronos had all of the shapeshifters killed after he came to power. I think he feared them as a threat. Shapeshifters are too human for Kronos to control with his abilities, but they are animal enough to be able to communicate with other animals, which could jeopardize the control Kronos has over his animals. Kronos' mother was a well-known shapeshifter. She went looking for Kronos after he escaped from the King's dungeon. When she didn't return, she was presumed dead."

"But he let her live." I say.

"Or he tried to kill her and couldn't." Sarah reasons.

Despite the oppressive heat, I shudder thinking of a young boy hunting down and trying to murder his own mother.

"Let's go find Ryker." I climb to my feet and shade my eyes. The castle is about a mile away. The smooth sand near the beach turns to jagged lava rock as we travel inland. I amble over the hot black rock carefully, trying not to burn or scrape my skin.

My throat is parched and my clothes are dry by the time we reach the castle entrance. The castle is surrounded by what once must have been a moat, but now the moat is dry. The bottom of the moat is scarred with cracks where the dry earth has split open, like the brittle brown crust of burnt bread.

We cross a drawbridge that has no chains or ropes. This bridge must never rise or fall. There must be nothing here to keep in or to keep out.

We enter the city and are met by a foul stench of sweat, body odor, and waste.

Ramshackle buildings made of crumbling brick are intermixed with tents and shanties. Beggars with hollow cheeks and haunted eyes lurk on every corner. The fragile, wasting bodies of the beggars contrasts starkly with the vitality and strength of the merchants and shoppers that bustle through the streets. I brush past a man and I notice his skin is glowing, much like mine did when I first arrived in Burmia.

The magic here is nothing like the magic in Tykos. It has become part of the people here. There are no whimsical tricks with ice or flowers like I saw in the marketplace in Tykos. Instead, there is a sense of hunger and desperation.

Sarah, Easton, and I move quickly though the city, trying to get a lay of the land. I begin to fear becoming lost. The merchants here sell their goods from carts on wheels and they are constantly moving, creating a dizzying, always rotating marketplace.

"We need a plan." I say, slowing to a stop.

"I agree," Sarah says. "This city is huge. Ryker could be any of these people. Or he could be in a totally different city."

"Maybe we can start by asking the merchants." I suggest.

"I don't get a good feeling about the people here." Easton says.

"I don't either, but do you have a better plan?" My reply comes out a little too sharply. The heat is getting to me and this city makes me feel on edge.

"Fine." Easton replies with the stiff formality of a soldier. I sense him closing off from me and pulling away. My throat tightens. I want to apologize but I can't find the right words to say.

I press forward.

"Do you know where I can find a man named Ryker Cromwell?" I ask the first merchant I see.

The merchant's gaze darts up from his cart and he glares at me with a mix of distrust and apprehension. "I don't want any trouble," the man says and he hurries away. The wheels of his cart strain on the uneven street as he quickly pulls it along behind him.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Ryker isn't very well-liked around here." Sarah says sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well-liked? More like dangerous. That guy took off like he was being chased." Easton says.

"So now what?" I sigh.

"I can help you." A low voice rasps.

Easton, Sarah, and I spin around to find a filthy, gaunt young girl standing behind us. None of us had seen her approach.

"I can take you to Ryker." The girl continues.

"What do you want in return?" Easton's eyes narrow with suspicion.

The girl shrugs. As she does so, her shoulder bones poke up through the thin fabric of her shirt.

"I'm heading that way anyway. It's no trouble." The girl smiles, revealing rotten and broken teeth.

Easton pulls Sarah and me aside, out of earshot of the girl. "No way. We shouldn't follow her anywhere." He whispers.

"How else are we going to find Ryker?" I argue. "I don't trust this girl either, but if Ryker is a bad guy, this is probably the kind of person who would know where he is."

"She has a point." Sarah says.

Easton releases a heavy breath. "Ok. But we all need to keep our guard up."

"You coming?" The girl says, raising an eyebrow.

I nod, and we follow the strange girl, down a strange road, deeper into this strange city.