AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There were no roads in this part of the Winds; there were barely paths, but the sat phone said they were making progress and so they moved along as best they could. Even though the day had started out sunny, the higher they climbed, the denser the fog grew. The evocative mist cloaked and shrouded the surrounding landscape.
“The Mountain Shoshone tribes once called this area their home,” said Tevryn.
“I remember being intrigued with them, but it doesn’t seem that history recorded much about them.”
“It’s said even their descendants can’t describe them or their way of life with a great degree of certainty. They left their mark in the valleys and peaks. You can find remnants of sheep traps, wickiups and rock art. So little is known with any real surety that seeing them always makes me wonder about a people who left only the smallest marks on the land, but who clearly had once thrived here.”
They continued to climb, Tevryn taking the lead and reaching back to take Delaney’s hand to steady and help her.
“Look there,” he said, pointing to a tree coming up out of the dirt on a slope not far away. He guided her to what appeared to be an ancient sheep trap.
“So, they hunted big horns?” she asked.
Tevryn nodded. “And if you look here, there’s a steep drop off and rocks and branches at the tree’s base.”
“A shaman’s pit?”
“Most likely. This is what I meant by blood. Many antelope, sheep, deer, and even bison met their demise at the hands of the people who once called this place home.”
“Whistler believes places like this retain an element of magic and power.”
“Don’t you?” he asked.
“I don’t know that I buy into the whole mumbo jumbo aspects, but I do think you can envision some of what went on here. Whistler talks as if it’s an actual power retained within the earth. Personally, I think it makes for a good story.”
“So, you don’t believe there’s power in legends and myths?”
“I do. I think they give people a basis for understanding what transpired before, but I don’t know that I buy the whole spirit energy thing.”
Once they reached a relatively level portion of the mountain that led into a small valley, they stopped for a water break. Delaney stood and began to walk away from where Tevryn was comfortably lounging against a large rock, his face tilted up to the sky where a watery sun shone dimly through the fog and clouds.
“Where are you going?” he asked without opening his eyes.
“I need to find a private spot to relieve myself.”
He opened one eye, quirked his eyebrow, and said, “You mean you need to pee?
Delaney laughed a bit nervously. It was so much easier for men. “Yes, and I prefer to do that kind of thing with a certain amount of privacy.”
Tevryn chuckled. “That’s fine but don’t go too far. We’ve reached an elevation where you can run into predators.”
“Fine,” she said, moving further away.
What does he think? That I’m an idiot? Of course, she knew there were predators, but everything with Tevryn was so new and so good, she was still feeling awkward and shy about certain things.
After she’d finished, she spied a curious depression in the ground surrounded by what looked like a very short group of standing stones. Delaney thought briefly about going back for or calling to Tevryn, but decided she wanted to check it out for herself first. They weren’t far from the GPS coordinates Whistler had given her, but she also knew that while GPS coordinates were accurate for a specific place on the Earth, archaeological remains were far more difficult to locate.
As she approached the stones, it appeared that they weren’t so much short as they were buried. A feeling of foreboding came over her as her skin prickled and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Again, she thought of calling to Tevryn, but didn’t as she felt compelled to take step after step towards the stone circle.
The sky darkened and from her left, up in the sky a shape blotted out what little sun was making it through the dark and sinister clouds. A loud and shrill cry split the air and Delaney could make out a dragon—massive, terrifying—hurtling towards her, front talons extended. For a moment she was frozen in time. The thing was enormous and seemed to be heading straight towards her. As it swooped down, she flung herself on the ground, her feet slipping out from beneath her so her head bounced off one of the smaller standing stones.
The sound of thunder reverberated behind her as she clawed and crawled her way into the circle of stones and curled up in the small depression that had first intrigued her, hoping somehow it would keep her safe as darkness began to descend over her consciousness. The last thing she heard was another sharp, loud cry as a second dragon—even larger than the first—rose up from the ground to confront the first. The first dragon answered the second’s challenge with a plume of fire that streaked across the sky. The second dragon roared in defiance, returning the aggression with a stream of flames of his own and flew at an impressive speed to engage the first dragon.
She passed out just as the combatants collided in mid-air, their talons grappling with one another, their great wings beating rapidly and sounding like thunder as each tried for the other’s throat.
Delaney woke to the sound of beeping and bright lights. She quickly closed her eyes again and groaned.
“Delaney?” Tevryn’s warm and worried voice felt like a soft, warm blanket settling over her.
