The Crucible of the Dragon God by Mike Wild

Author:Mike Wild [Wild, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9781906735135
Publisher: Abaddon
Published: 2009-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Three dots moved across the pristine white landscape. Some leagues, and a day's climb, behind them, the landscape was stained by a great splotch of yellow gore that spread away from a jagged, irregular hole in the snow. Next to that sat the skewed, abandoned remains of a broken machine from which smoke curled lazily into the pure mountain air. Ahead of the dots lay a series of jagged peaks, rising ever higher until they seemed to touch the clouds themselves. But the majesty of these seemed, for the moment, lost on those who trudged wearily through the snow.

The crunching of their boots echoed through the ether, and then the echo of their voices - and then that of a slap.

"Do notta droppa the litter!"

"It is but a crust, my darling."

"Anda who willa pick up the crust in this Gods-forsaken place, hah? No, 'usband, it issa the litter!"

"My wife, we are dreaded pirates of the high seas - we have done worse things."

"We were pirates, my 'usband! Nowwa we are the respectable proprietors of a tavern witha the great potential!"

A cough echoed alongside the voices, and a second passed.

"Nowwa we are the respectable manageers ovva taverno witha the great potential, and we -"

"Nice butties," the owner of the cough interjected. Its tone suggested the matter should be closed.

"I amma sorry, boss lady," the first voice said again.

Kali stared at Dolorosa and Aldrededor as the two of them ate and trudged wearily alongside her, chewing on her own surprise stew butty ruminatively. That she had finally decided to eat one of Dolorosa's mushy concoctions was a reflection that the current trek had, for all of them, turned out to be more gruelling than expected. Even her normal wariness about one disturbing aspect of the ex-pirate's signature dish - that it never, ever cooled down - had been set aside in favour of getting something warm inside her. Because the one thing that could be said about the Drakengrats was that they were farking cold.

She hadn't expected to lose The Mole, of course. With The Mole this whole affair would have been one hells of a lot easier, but at least they had the furs and equipment she had instructed Aldrededor to bring with the vehicle. Trouble was, even with The Mole, they would have faced the same problem. That she didn't have the faintest idea where she, Aldrededor and Dolorosa were meant to be going. It was all right for the old man to send her to 'a place in the clouds' but there were a lot of clouds, and a lot of mountains beneath them - exactly which one of them had he meant?

Kali could only hope that she and the others stumbled across some kind of clue. A signpost 'To The Crucible', perhaps. Or another explosion that no one for leagues could miss. Or, best of all, another pack of k'nid swarming from the place they originated, so that they could follow their trail back whence they came.

Yes, just like those.

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