Corsair by Jay Aspen

Author:Jay Aspen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epic fantasy, young adult fantasy, adventure romance, young adult adventure romance
Publisher: Sandfire Publishing Ltd
Published: 2023-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

22

I STILL FEEL PUZZLED about those wings.

“If your wings were returned to you, why are you still trapped and unable to fly?”

The huge Elemental raises his eyes to the sweeping wing-shapes far above.

“It was many years later when Ahrafel the Windlord came here from distant Isandor and returned them to me. By then it was too late. It had taken him too long to find me and the wings had died. So he laid them on the mountainside and in time they melted into the glass on which they rested.”

Something Zandar once told me stirs in my memory.

“That was when Ashkar started a war against the Elementals of the eastern lands. They defeated him and tore off his wings?”

An angry rumble comes from the depths of Obsidian’s dark slopes and a small avalanche of tumbled black rocks bounces and crashes down the mountainside.

“They were never his wings!”

I duck under a very inadequate overhang until the rockfall subsides.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean it literally. Have you spoken with the Windlord since that time? You might have learned something that would help us defeat Ashkar.”

“It is a great distance and the Isandorians engage in constant battles to keep those orc-legions at bay. Ahrafel cannot leave his acolytes unsupported for very long. His visits here have been few.”

I hope that getting details is not going to demand too much coaxing. My impatience is getting hard to control. One glance at Marin reveals that his strength has finally given out. He is lying in Deris’ arms, barely conscious. Farahir and Orlin have arrived and are tethering their sweating horses.

I have to find out more before I can risk taking Marin inside this place.

“Obsidian, what did you learn from Ahrafel?”

“Only that in the Annubian desert, Ashkar had destroyed almost all the Elementals of Rahimar, stolen much of their power and used it to establish his own territory far to the east at Nagharak. When he had completed a vast army of orcs, he attacked Isandor. It was the first stage of his plan to claim the lands to the west.”

“That was when Zandar was summoned to defend Isandor?”

Obsidian falls silent for a while, yet I can somehow feel the intense sadness permeating this dark mountain. When he speaks, the last part of the puzzle slowly falls into place.

“I need to tell of events before that, when Nissanda fled from Duhokan and reached Rahimar in the desert. She did not get there in time to capture Ashkar, but she was able to save and heal Zandar, the last surviving Annubian Elemental, and she forged a treaty with him. The dragon pledged never to harm Annubians and to work with her Nishan followers to defend the realm. When Isandor called for aid against Ashkar’s attack, she rode the great dragon to defend its borders.”

“But how––”

“That was when Nissanda was killed, and Zandar reverted to his natural wildness, immolating friend and foe alike. Ashkar was badly burned. The Wind-mages captured him and with Ahrafel’s help they tore the stolen wings from his body.

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