Swords and Magic

desert than to die at the hands of a petty old man.

  He stepped up towards the fire to free Rheena and run for it, when a hand closed on his arm in a grip that was not to be denied. He turned and twisted to sweep his assailants feet from under him, and silently slit his throat, when he recognized the shape behind him as Lillin.

  “Strong grip,” He said with a measure of respect, then flicked her hand off his arm. “What do you want?”

  “You have to take me with you,” She glared at him from under her shawl. “This is all your fault, so you’d better save me, if you know what’s good for you.” She used the same menacing tone as always, but she was no longer bullying the same Mufroen as before. His face remained placid as a stone under the noon glare.

  “Or what?”

  “.. I’ll scream -”

  She sounded frightened, but she’d dug the hole herself, so she could lie in it. Besides, they’d never make it with three to a sled.

  “- Thought so,” He said, clasping her mouth shut with his hand. With a few quick moves he had her gagged and bound tight with her own shawls. She howled behind the swab of fabric, but he estimated that it would take her at least until sunrise to free herself or rouse somebody, so he left her trussed between two tents.

  The cave

  Rheena still shivered lightly against his back, but he could feel her grip on the furs on his back was strong. Much to his pleasure she had neither objected or asked questions, and when he looked over his shoulder to check on her when they were going down a steep dune earlier, she’d looked exhilarated. Sound did strange things on the sands, especially at night. He was sure that if he hadn’t warned her to be dead silent, she would have howled with joy. He grinned. They might not last long, but he’d be damned if they didn’t try their hardest to get out of this demon-infested desert.

  That was approximately the same moment that the desert seemed to come alive and work against them. It’d been subtle at first, just a small avalanche that went the wrong way. Then there was gritty sands that killed their speed. Nothing that screamed ‘Magic!’ or ‘Demons!’, but Mufroen knew from the get-go that they were in serious trouble. He wasn’t sure if it was his own treachery that set the desert against them, or that the tribe had noticed them missing and was calling up the spirits. It wouldn’t matter in the end. When the sand storm was starting to pound away at the two figures huddled over the barely moving sled, he was sure their last hour had come. Until the silent figure behind him squeezed his sides and rose to what passed for a standing position in a desert gale.

  “There,” She screamed with her mouth on his ear and he could still barely hear her voice over the wailing of the winds. “A cave!” With effort she pointed to their left and he was already opening his mouth to tell her that what she saw was the stormy version of a fata morgana, when he realized she was right, there was a cave. Steering towards the welcoming mouth of silent darkness, he just had time to wonder where they had wandered off to. There were no caves along the route he’d chosen.

  Right behind the wide mouth the cave twisted into a narrow tunnel, blocking the biting sting of sand and the roaring fury of the winds. They had to step off the sled and pull it, walking in goose-step through the crevice until they stepped into what felt like a sea of darkness. The air slapped their cheeks with damp chill and the distinct smell of moist, underground rocks and things that grow in the dark.

  “Hold on to my cape,” Mufroen said urgently, frantically grabbing the air behind him to find his companion. “It feels like a place where it’d be easy to get lost.” He felt a comforting tug near his lower back and turned toward the sled for his fire set.

  Hmm.. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.

  “Who’s there?” He straightened slowly, ignoring the cold chill that was spreading along his spine and favourite parts.

  Danger lives here, especially for the warm-blooded..

  Mufroen didn’t care at all for the suggestion of glee that accompanied the last remark, but he was sure he recognized the voice that was speaking, faint and cracked as it sounded now.

  “Mother?”

  Aaahh.. Yes. You do remember me, dear boy…

  The voice didn’t so much stop speaking as eddy away into the strangely echoless expanse of the cave.

  “So, no light. What then?”

  ..Such a practical boy..

  Mufroen had the impression that the voice smiled at him and he couldn’t help but smile in response. He’d been fond of his mother, and it had been long years since they spoke.

  …Walk-walk, walk.. Don’t turn arounddd..

  The message was chilling enough in the utter darkness that surrounded them, but the suggestion of insanity that came with the sing-song voice sank his stomach like a sack of grinding stones. Still, he believed the ghostly voice when it said that it would be unwise to light a fire, so he figured they could as well take the rest it said under advisement.

  “Just hold on, there’ll be an exit when we reach the other side.” He sounded sure, but the farther they shuffled on the uneven flooring, the more lights and appearances his sensation deprived eyes and mind conjured up. He was sure something was speaking to him just below the edge of hearing, it wracked his nerves to futilely strain his ears, but part of his mind suggested that he should be grateful not to understand the horrors hidden in the insistent whispers.

  At least Rheena did not complain, her grip on his cape was steady and the swishing of her feet against the sand was a comforting presence behind him. Time lost its meaning when Mufroen realized that the faint glow that they were walking towards had been there for some while, unmoving and growing slowly larger.

  “I – I think we’re reaching the outside.”

  Rheena just lightly increased the pressure of her hand against his back for a moment to urge him onward, and rightly so. Wishful talking wouldn’t get them out any faster, but steady legwork would.

  The light was blinding, searing the back of his helpless eyes with its stabbing rays and he had to hold a hand out to shield them as he stumbled along towards the source of the light. A breath of wind kissed the skin of his hand and he soon felt the stinging tingle of sand being swept up against him.

  Wahahaa, out.. OUT! Finally we’re free!

  Mufroen turned on his axis, smooth as a waterfall and with the easy speed of years’ practise with the sword. He had his dagger up and out, ready for use. All he saw was sand. Sand, that danced in a row of vortexes stretching back out into the dark cave in shapes that shouldn’t have been able to be in the sheltered space of the cavern.

  “Rhee - ”

  The sands pelted him mercilessly, sharp blows pushed him down until he crouched on hands and feet, only the part of his face that was pressed against the rocks escaped the continuous pounding of the sand as it blew out into the early morning sky. With a faint hiss one of the sandy spirals whirled in place, lingering for a moment.

  Thank you hero, we’ve been locked in there for a long time.

  The shape twisted what Mufroen imagined was his head wistfully out to where his brothers and sisters were already skipping and jumping across the dunes.

  It’s not too late. If you’re brave enough, you might be able to get her out still..

  The shape had been growing smaller as the distance between him and the other twisters grew and now a miniature version of itself raced across the drifts to catch up with them.

  The last cold of the night drew a finger of ice along his shuddering spine. He crossed his arms over his chest, pulling his improvised cape of skins closer against the chill. As he looked into the dark mouth of the cave, he had to admit that it was not the cool morning winds that caused him to tremble. It might be his imagination, but as he stared into the abyss of the dark, he could swear that there was still something inside, staring back at him. The sun’s tentative rays warmed his shoulders with the comforting heat of the day.

  He turned toward the sands to get a few hours distance between himself and the cursed cave before
he had to take shelter from the burning noon heat somewhere. He made it halfway to the first ridge when Rheena’s sad and world-forgiving smile raised itself in his memory.

  “She would understand,” He said, dropping the short distance that was between his knees and the steep sandy slope he was plodding up at a sandman’s diagonal angle and turning to slide down with a sigh of self-reproach. “Which is exactly why I can’t leave, damn her!”

  The sword

  He walked back into the cave and was almost instantly surrounded by the mind-wrenching black soup he’d been relieved to leave behind mere moments before. In his robes he held some improvised torches, but he wouldn’t light them until he was sure there would be use for them. Until then they would only blind him to anything beyond the circle of their light. Worse, they’d point his position out to anything that dwelt in the cave like a festering finger. The illusion of safety wasn’t worth all that, but he held a strong grip on their slender shapes through his cape all the same. They weren’t much, but they were all they had if it came to it.

  He walked through the dark cavern in an attempt to retrace his steps, but a few paces in he couldn’t tell his back from his front. His only option was to keep going and if the fates favoured him today, he would up where he needed to be. And if not, well, then not.

  Only a short while in the sun had blasted away all the memories of the hours spent feeling his way