The Gem Lords

The Abduction - Part 1



   The umbilicus connecting Tharia with the Realm of Sapphire was located in the middle of a wide expanse of broken, rocky ground near the southern extremity of the Great Flat. Nothing but stunted shrubs grew for a hundred miles in any direction, and the only animals to be seen were the occasional rabbit or mountain goat. The wagon people never came there. Their great mobile dwellings of wood and buffalo hide couldn't navigate the deeply uneven ground, and there was no grass for the animals upon which they relied for every aspect of their lives. The nameless broken lands that lay at the base of the Blue Mountains, between the headwaters of the Tew and the Appaleza, hadn't known the tread of a human foot since the intrepid cartographers of the Agglemonian land survey had last passed that way, over a thousand years before.

     Now, though, there was a trembling in the air that disturbed the slumber of an old basilisk and sent clouds of ki birds into the sky, cawing indignantly. The air shimmered as if in a heat haze, and a great building gradually became visible. An elegant mansion constructed entirely of sapphire. Pillars stood along the central facade bearing carvings of winged lizards and exotic, gaudily plumaged birds under an angled roof, and outbuildings stretched to either side, rising to three storeys and bearing pennants with the design of the legless dragons, snapping in the wind. The windows were dark, though, and somehow gave the impression of having been so for centuries, and there was no road leading to the great doors. It somehow managed to look at home in the broken lands in a way that a normal building could never have. This desolate country looked as though it ought to be the haunt of ghosts and spirits, and this unnatural structure fitted the bill perfectly.

     The mansion remained for only a moment, though, before fading again to be replaced by an altogether different structure. A great arch, a single, smooth curve of gleaming blue crystal a hundred yards high and half as wide, through which was revealed a gloriously sunlit landscape of rolling fields and hedgerows dotted with trees and cottages. A scene of pastoral splendour, of peace and tranquility. A scene that might have belonged to any of the temperate kingdoms of Tharia's mid latitudes if it hadn't been for the three suns low down near the horizon that shone on a beautiful city of tall, sapphire towers.

     The other incongruity was the monstrous flying creatures that filled the air. They were huge winged snakes, each carrying a fierce rider armed with lance and sword, and as the gates firmed to full solidity they aimed themselves downwards and dove, wings flattened to the sides of their bodies. They shot through the arch like bats out of a cave, fully a hundred of them, each armoured with iron hard scales that glittered a cold greyish blue in the light of Tharia's two suns, all except their leader whose scales were a dull brick red. The lead reptile also bore backward sweeping horns on its huge head, and crimson tendrils hung along the line of its jaw. As the last of them shot through, the arch rippled and faded, leaving the moors as empty as they'd always been.

     The gem steeds, led by Lord Ruby on Pyre, his personal mount and lifelong companion, circled overhead for a few moments, getting their bearings, and then they flew off, heading for the line of mountains that loomed on the eastern horizon. Lord Ruby would have preferred to be leading his own people into battle, but it would have taken at least a day for his own steeds to make the journey from his own realm to the sapphire city. Sapphire's cavalry was right there, though, ready and waiting, and they couldn't afford to waste time in case they had less of it than they thought.

     Barl frowned unhappily. Even with Thomas in the Overgreen Forest, the use of his own men led to the risk that he might learn about this battle. Learn the danger his wife was in and decide to abandon the star dragon project to protect her. Couldn't be helped, though. They'd taken what precautions they could. None of Sapphire's men knew why Lan's flight was on its way to the Blue Mountains, or even which mountains the battle would be fought in. None of them knew that Thomas's demi shayen wife was involved. With a bit of luck, they could intercept Lan's flight and drive them back without coming anywhere near Lexandria Valley, and Thomas would never know a thing about it. They'd figure out a more permanent solution to the Lirenna problem once this crisis had been averted and they had some time to think.