Chp.28: Finding a spirit

While the battle between Carrion and the monstrosity composed of the combined efforts of Haku, Rhaegal and Darbi raged on, in the rest of the desert almost nothing seemed to have happened. Although the power of the two opponents' blows continually shook the earth and raised clouds of sand, not even half a kilometer away there was no sign of that devastating clash. The Yuthia Desert continued its existence as it had always done: silent if not for the howling of the wind that traveled without being held back by any forest or hill, immobile if not for the dunes that walked quietly and placidly making a few meters every day pushed by the force of the air, continuously burned by the sun without even a single cloud appearing to cover at least for an instant the yellow ball that rose in the sky and flooded everything with its rays, transforming the sand into a boiling expanse and evaporating even the tiniest drop of water. One of the fiercest battles that had ever taken place in that corner of the world was nothing and quickly lost its value as soon as you got far enough from the place of battle; otherwise, the desert cared nothing for what was happening. The greatest power mortals could unleash paled in comparison to the enormity of that expanse of sand. The effect was no different from a stone falling into the ocean: even if it could generate some small waves initially, they quickly vanished without even having moved too far from the point of impact, leaving the immense mass of water practically unaffected.

But if nature didn't give a damn about that intense battle, the same couldn't be said of the numerous creatures that inhabited the desert. The vibrations triggered by the fight traveled underground for several kilometers, and all the numerous animals that lived in that expanse of sand sensed that something was happening. Sand worms emerged from the sand looking for the source of the shaking, sand sharks stopped swimming in an attempt to detect where it was coming from and what it was, and insects, spiders and scorpions escaped from their burrows scampering wildly across the hot sand fleeing from something they didn't even know what it was. Life sensed that something was happening, perhaps far away, but it was happening. And all the forms of life, very cleverly, as soon as they understood the direction from which the vibration was coming, they went the opposite way; the first rule of survival, in any environment, was to keep out of trouble, and it certainly wasn't a good idea to go near something that was literally making the earth tremble, even slightly.

And yet, there were also beings who were going in that direction instead. In complete disregard of danger, a group of individuals led by what appeared to be two large silver lizards were rapidly approaching the site of the battle. Very soon they were close enough to glimpse the clouds of sand continuously rising above the ground and traveling skyward for several tens of meters before finally stopping and heading back towards the ground. "Here we go" one of the two silver lizards murmured when it saw that.

After they had separated from Haku, Corgorin and Serengal had been on quite a long tour; unlike their brother who had gone in a straight line, each of them had first headed east or west, and then turned back on a diagonal road. Also they had run faster than Haku to be able to arrive as soon as possible. Behind them, the beastmen had kept up using all the strength they had in their legs, obviously augmented with some dragon's essence. After nearly an hour, they had gathered far away from where Haku was fighting; they knew what was happening because they too had the communication device and therefore had received the signal from their brother. Now it was time for their task. They had continued for a while and thus had also reunited with the twenty beastmen who had previously been hunting with Haku and who, following the directives he had given them before leaving, had headed towards them as soon as they received the signal from of their commander. With the troop assembled, they had prepared to face their enemy: the spirit that was currently awaiting Carrion's signal to intervene.

In a fight, especially if fought by a few people, it was very important to have someone ready to intervene on your behalf at any moment; this would not only give a better chance of winning, since this someone would be fighting against a tired and wounded enemy, but even if the final result would be a defeat it would give the other person a chance to escape. Since Carrion had already faced Haku and had ascertained how dangerous he was, it was unlikely that he wouldn't decide to play that card to secure an escape route; after all, a brave man who fought to his death could not try again, while a coward who knew when to retreat had the option of trying a second time. That was the philosophy of dragons, and it was also the philosophy of any general who reasoned with their brains rather than idiotic ideologies like honor or bravery or fanaticism. Carrion was no fool and didn't think he was invincible, so he would almost certainly have decided to count on a possible defeat. And since he had no allies at the moment, he was pretty sure he would use his divine power to summon a spirit. While he could have summoned one during battle, it was always better to have one ready rather than going through the lengthy summoning process; after all, what was the point of summoning a spirit, if while the spirit was arriving he would already be fried by the fiery breath of the monstrous modified wyvern? Therefore it was smarter for him to summon the spirit beforehand, order it to wait for his order, and then go into battle. Which meant that the spirit had to be there somewhere.

This time, Haku was fighting with the intent to kill. He had been very clear with Carrion: if he tried to go after them, he wouldn't let him go. Also, he almost certainly knew by now of the existence of the many dragons in the family, as he had been stalking them for weeks, so he had to die before he could reveal it to anyone important. Therefore, Carrion's escape plan must also have no chance of succeeding. Ergo, someone had to take care of getting rid of that pesky spirit before it could intervene on its summoner's behalf. That was exactly the job of Corgorin and Serengal: not only were they supposed to provide cover, pretending to go hunting themselves, and not only were they supposed to retrieve the beastmen hunters who were with Haku and who were now fleeing the battle, but they had to also find the aforementioned spirit and eliminate it.

Spotting it wasn't difficult: it wasn't exactly hiding, and in the desert practically anything that wasn't the color of sand was immediately noticeable. The spirit was about two hundred meters from the place of the clash, and it was in fact possible from there to notice very easily the movements of Haku's gigantic modified wyvern or the flying snake that was Rhaegal at that moment. Corgorin and Serengal approached very carefully and stopped at a safe distance. The spirit was crouched in a fetal position and appeared to be completely still, almost as if it were in a sort of dragon-like hibernation. However, both Corgorin and Serengal knew that as soon as they attacked him he would awaken and turn against them.

"Couldn't we wait for him to call him and only stop him if he did?" Corgorin asked. "I mean, maybe the boys can defeat that asshole before he can call his watchdog. That way we'd be less risky..."

"We can't. If Carrion will ever call him, the spirit will run to him without looking back. No matter how much we try to distract him, he will go straight to him" Serengal replied. "No, we have to face him now that Carrion hasn't given him any orders yet. That way he won't try to run to him and will stay here to face us. Once we defeat him, he will no longer be a danger and even if Carrion calls him he won't can come to him"

Corgorin nodded; she knew that was the best solution. It was better to do as her sister suggested; had they waited for Carrion to awaken the spirit, it would have been impossible by their means to stop it. They had to take the risk and fight him while he was still calm and with orders to wait for further directives.

Serengal turned and looked at the beastmen behind her. A hundred soldiers stood in line, awaiting orders. Each of them had a determined expression on their faces. Obviously they had been warned of what was really going to happen and all of them were ready to fight. However, for good luck, Serengal said anyway: "If any of you wish to retire, now is the time. I can understand if you value your life, it is a sentiment I share. Turn and walk away; we will not stop you. Don't worry about getting lost in the desert , we will come to retrieve you as soon as all this is over, and you should know by now that nothing escapes a dragon's nose. But if you decide to stay, know that then you will never be able to escape. If any of you dare abandon your position or not perform his task, he will die and with him probably he will drag in the grave other of you. Therefore, consider your decision well and choose wisely"

None of the beastmen moved; not a single sign of hesitation or indecision passed over their faces. All of them remained firm and secure in their positions. "We are here to do our part" declared one of them, a powerful lionman with a very thick mane. "If we have to die to protect our people, we will. We don't fear death, much less a pathetic spirit that doesn't even dare to face an enemy at its full strength!"

Serengal let out a snort. Even though she had gotten used to the newcomers being weird by now, they still managed to surprise her. If she had been them, she would have left all the work to the dragons and would have run away as soon as the risk of her life became a real danger. But perhaps the newcomers had the same feeling of protection towards their people that Serengal, Corgorin and all the other dragons had towards their family. Or perhaps the newcomers simply had little survival instinct. Or both. Serengal had given up on understanding them long ago, since when she finally thought she did, they exhibited other personality traits that were completely incomprehensible to her. "So be it. You know your part of the plan; scatter and wait for my signal!"

The hundred beastmen soldiers ran in every direction and very soon disappeared into the dunes. Many of them even buried themselves under the sand to hide better, ignoring the hot grains of sand that occasionally managed to pass through their clothes and touch their skin. For them, who had suffered far worse atrocities, enduring that pain was a joke.

Serengal and Corgorin looked at each other, then nodded to each other, as if their quick exchange of glances had meant something to each other, in a kind of silent communication between sisters; at which point their eyes rested again on the crouching spirit, who had remained motionless in his position, with his head buried between his knees and his arms wrapped around his legs. The two dragons didn't feel any breath or heartbeat coming from that creature, they didn't feel its heat, they didn't feel its smell, they didn't feel anything; it was just a being that belonged to another plane of existence, something that was currently still incomprehensible to them, and that even Haku wasn't able to explain with his infallible logic. The world really still had too many mysteries that needed to be discovered and too many dangers that needed to be understood before they became a real risk.

The two sisters walked until they were barely five meters from the spirit. All the while, he didn't move a single muscle, didn't even flick his ears. It just seemed that, without something to 'trigger' it, it would stay in that position forever. Knowing he had no other choice and not wanting to risk coming any closer, Corgorin took a stone and hurled it with all his strength at the spirit's head; if a newcomer had been in the middle of the trajectory of the stone, with that speed he would probably have been pierced through and through in an instant.

As the stone struck the spirit's head, a wave of energy exploded and the ground shook slightly; a cloud of sand rose up and enveloped the spirit completely. Serengal and Corgorin gritted their teeth and moved into attack stances, watching a figure rise to its feet in the cloud of dust. Then a booming voice rang in the air.

"Who is the reckless mortal who dares to hit me?"