The Phoenix Ring(48)

The black-garbed warrior spun around, sword at the ready, but Aidan was already standing with his staff in hand. Now it was their enemy who was stuck. If he tried to attack Aidan, then he would end up with an arrow in his back. If he tried to attack Aaliyah, then he would be assaulted by the mage, who seemed to understand that his retractable blade would be more effective than spells and was brandishing it accordingly.

Slowly the man turned from front to back, sizing up each threat and giving Timothy time to find his staff and stand.

"Get out of here," Aaliyah said, never taking her eyes off of her enemy.

Aidan shook his head. "I'm not going-"

"Now, you stupid mage!" Aaliyah yelled, feeling the body heat of another person rise behind her.

Timothy understood the urgency in her voice and grabbed Aidan's shoulder, half dragging him into the trees.

Aaliyah let her muscles relax. Her charges were safe for the moment, and that was what mattered.

The older amogh laughed darkly. "That was impressive. It's been a long time since I've seen one of us that can predict the immediate future. It's quite a shame. You do know you're on the losing side, don't you?"

"Probably," Aaliyah said, "But I plan to go down swinging."

Aaliyah let the arrow fly before ducking underneath the fist that swung at her from behind, sending her knee into her attacker's groin. She had the extreme satisfaction of watching his eyes widen before he dropped to the ground clutching his gut. She had taken the first step into the forest when the first man hit her from behind, pinning her to the ground. She felt something close over her mouth and instantly held her breath, struggling to get out from under the far larger amogh, but to no avail. Eventually, unable to hold it any longer, Aaliyah sucked in, tasting the poison rush into her lungs. Dark dots swam over her vision, and then she saw no more.





Aidan and Timothy crashed through the last of the trees, scratched and bruised but otherwise unharmed.

"Why… why aren't they following us," Timothy panted.

"They don't have to," Aidan said, his own lungs ready to burst. "They know we'll try to rescue Aaliyah."

"What?" Timothy asked, starting to regain his breath. "Are you insane? They'll kill us all! We should leave the amogh. And don't you think this would go faster if we walked to the shore instead of flying on a griffin?"

Aidan could only stare at his friend. The mage had been so hopelessly possessed by the goblin that he could no longer think for himself.

"We're going after Aaliyah. She's as necessary as we are." Aidan said.

Timothy's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

Aidan finally caught his breath and looked out towards the city. Everything was so different from the dark, green forest just a few feet behind them. The dirt was red, the sun hot, and the air dry. For a moment, Aidan wondered what had happened to make the land so desolate, and then he notice the fields. Starting in the distance and stretching as far as the eye could see, fields of wheat, barley, and other plants crisscrossed the land. They were left untended, full of weeds and thorns. Aidan picked up a clod of red dirt and smashed between his fingers. There was no nutrition in the ground. It had probably once held its own well grown fields, until the plants had sucked the soil dry. There were only two remarkable features in this land. The first was Argentah itself, the structures rising three, sometimes even four stories high. The buildings were created of very kind of material, and the entire city was surrounded by massive stone walls. From where they were standing, Aidan estimated that the city was about five miles away.

The second structure of any importance was a road leading to the city. It was an unremarkable road, dirt paved and uncared for, yet it was filled with people. On horses, wagons, and just walking, all types of people traveled that road.

It was this road that Aidan and Timothy headed for, occasionally looking over their shoulders to ensure they weren't being followed. They fell into line with a caravan of shirtless men, sun tanned and bearing tattoos.

Sailors, Aidan thought.

Normally it would be strange to see them so far from the shore, but it could only be expected in Argentah. Often, sailors would work for a group of merchants that traded between the dwarven and elven kingdoms, and were trained to sail any ship in the merchant's fleet. They would often travel with valuable goods, so that only one crew came in contact with any liabilities.

These particular men bore swords and were surrounding a large wagon, which had the added protection of four armored guards donning spears.

Aidan was about to dive into the throng of people when something happened that he hadn't expected. The sailors parted, allowing room for them on the road.