From the sky, Ghoda commanded an excellent view of the city and surrounding area. It struck him as a beautiful town, clean, with everything in its place, and everyone who walked its streets looked like a noble. Fanning out from the tall tower in its center, the city seemed wide enough that it would take from sunrise to sunset to walk from one end to the other. It was protected by the ocean and the surrounding wall.
Outside the wall, the land was desolate. It was a desert, without a hint of green; strangely, Ghoda could see no river of any kind. There were fountains throughout the city, so clearly there was ample clean water welling up from somewhere─but where? Ghoda lightly patted Heath’s neck and they flew higher. The moment he looked into the distance, however, he noticed something strange.
Is that a mountain of rock?
But no, it was obviously moving. There were countless legs beneath the craggy form, scrabbling along as it glided over the sand.
There truly are strange creatures in this world.
As the Dragon Conqueror King frowned down at the thing, Har Bell flung herself against his back and cried out, “It’s a sakuhrm!”
“Some kind of desert creature?”
“No, they can’t survive without fresh water. They’re supposed to live only in the central mountain range, so what’s one doing here…?”
“Looks like it’s heading for the city.” Ghoda glanced down at the city’s fountains. “…Ah.”
“There are Nurabehn settlements all around the walls! I’ll chase it away! Please, fly us down there!”
Ghoda leaned out over the side of the dragon and looked down at the bustling market below, searching out his companions. He gave a wave, and it was Lily who noticed him first.
“There’s a monster outside the city! We’re going to drive it away!” he shouted.
Lily immediately hopped off to find the priest, and he in turn informed Mercenary and Zero. Once he saw his message had been delivered, Ghoda pulled on Heath’s reins.
+++
Tal first noticed something was wrong when tiny ripples formed on the surface of the water in the jug he was carrying, small vibrations that slowly but surely grew larger. He dashed outside and began to shout:
“Hunt! It’s a hunt! Everyone get underground!”
Outside the city walls, the weak Nurabehn were easy prey for any and all creatures that came their way. It was said that in the center of the continent there were towns made up entirely of Nurabehn, but they had no way of reaching them. Inside the walls there were ways of traveling instantaneously to far distant places, but Nurabehn weren’t allowed inside the walls. One could safely cross the desolate wasteland surrounding the city with a wizard carriage, but no Nurabehn could ever afford one of those. With a thaumatherium, one could take to the skies and fly away, but Tal wouldn’t even know how to go about buying one of those if he did have the money.
Tal was a healthy ten-year-old boy. He got his mother down into the basement, then ran around shouting that a hunt had come. He heard voices here and there calling out the same warning. Those whose homes didn’t have basements would rush to their nearest neighbors and take shelter with them. That was how it had always been─the Nurabehn looked out for one another. The monsters would come, run amok for a while, destroy some homes, raid the village food supplies, then leave when they got bored. They knew that if they lingered too long near the walls, they would be exterminated.
Sakuhrm had only recently begun attacking their settlements. The massive beasts were carried along on undulating, octopoid legs, and their passage left numerous homes flattened in their wake. Some people got buried by the rubble of their demolished homes, trapped in their basements and unable to dig their way out for days. Even so, it was better than being crushed along with the house─which was the fear that drove everyone underground.
It’ll be okay. Har’s back now.
She’ll come riding on her thaumatherium and use her wizard phials to drive the monster away, no matter how strong it is.
“Tal! Get yourself underground, too! It’s almost here!”
Someone patted him on the shoulder as they ran by, and Tal suddenly realized the street was more or less deserted.
His house was close to the wall. The wall meant the protection of the Exinov, so it was much harder to destroy the buildings closest to it. Tal’s big sister was an Ignas, which was why they got to live there.
He ran for home. A cloud of sand and dust was already filling the town─the monster was close, almost upon him. His breathing labored, his shoulders heaving, he was just about to slide into his house when he heard the voice.
“Hakk? Rola?! Where are you? Dear! We need to hide, it’s dangerous! I can’t find Tal anywhere! Someone, anyone! Please!”
“Mom!” Tal had a powerful sense of responsibility despite his age. The moment he noticed something was wrong, he had taken his mother down to the basement and told her to stay there. It had never occurred to his ten-year-old mind that, convinced Tal’s father was still at his workshop and his two dead brothers were out horsing around, she would leave the basement to search for them.
“Mom! Mom!”
“Tal! This way!”
He followed the voice and found her right away. A few of their neighbors were holding her back, keeping her from running off in search of her family.
“She says she won’t go underground until she’s found her family! She just won’t listen!”
“We thought about carrying her home bodily, but she’s struggling too much…!”
Tal’s mother was tall, well-built, and in her prime. Unfortunately, there was no one there burly enough to run with a struggling adult in their arms.
“Mom! It’s me! Don’t worry, everybody’s taken shelter! You’re the last one!”
She smiled as he raced up, her face flooded with relief.
“Let’s go! Come on, Mom, run!”
The swirling dust was getting in his mouth. Tal could barely see a thing. The sound was deafening.
The sakuhrm must be here already.
Tal looked up at the sky─and in that moment, a huge black shadow passed overhead.
“Oh!”
He couldn’t help but stop and look.
It was a dragon.
The beating of its wings kicked up gusts of wind that swept away the gritty dust clouds. Then he saw the long rabbit ears atop one of the riders’ heads.
“Sis!”
Her ears pricked up, and Har turned toward him. She waved him toward the wall with exaggerated sweeps of her arm. “Run! Don’t stop!”
Tal ran.
The dragon flew off toward the edge of town. With the dust clouds swept away, Tal had a clear view of what was happening out there. Far in the distance he could see the great sakuhrm’s silhouette.
“…What…? It’s still so far away…”
“Hey, that girl just now… Was that Har? She was riding on a dragon…!”
Tal nodded and laughed. “Har’s come home! She just got back yesterday!” Then he took off running again.
+++
“How do we beat that thing?! It’s like fighting a mountain!” Ghoda had to shout to be heard over the wind.
“Get in as close as you can! I’ll toss some wizard phials at it!”
“And you’re sure that’s going to work?!”
“Grit your teeth! These things’ll blow you away!”
As the dragon swung perilously low, Har Bell threw one of her wizard phials at the sakuhrm. There was a deafening boom, and Heath was buffeted by a blast of wind. The dragon shook his head and righted himself in midair, then began to circle the halted sakuhrm. The creature’s rocky carapace was cracked, and Ghoda could see inside.
“What…is that, writhing in there?”
“Sakuhrm are aggregate organisms, leech-things that live in colonies inside the rock! Once you smash that, the insides scatter! See, there they go…!”
It was just as Har Bell said: hundreds of long, thin creatures burst forth from the broken rock, leaping so monstrously high that Heath had to climb a little higher to avoid being bitten.
“Do we need to worry about them? They’re headed toward town.”
“Everyone’s taken shelter underground, and these things aren’t smart enough to burrow down there. It’ll take some time, but if we just crush them one by one─” Har Bell stopped mid-sentence and fell silent. They had smashed the sakuhrm’s carapace, scattered its insides, and yet…
“…I hear rumbling.”
“I don’t hear anything,” Ghoda said.
“You think you have better hearing than me?”
“…Take us higher, Heath!”
At Ghoda’s signal, the dragon beat his powerful wings. Rising up, the wastes spread out before them. What they saw there left them speechless. A cloud of dust, rising in the distance─and a whole swarm of sakuhrm.
“How many of those bottles you have left?”
“Two…”
“Doesn’t seem like that’ll be enough.” Ghoda pulled on the reins and turned to put the advancing swarm at their back.
“Hey, we’re facing the wrong direction! What, are you running away?!”
“Stop and think before you speak! We can’t take all those creatures on our own!”
“Still─!”
“Heath! Find Zero!” Ghoda shouted, and the dragon began winging his way back toward the city. “Keep your body low! The air resistance makes it harder for him to pick up speed!”
Har Bell did as she was told, laying herself flat against the dragon’s back. Heath soared past the houses below at lightning speed, then stopped suddenly. They were looking down the main street of the city, which ran in a straight line from the tower to the outer walls. A single four-wheeled wizard carriage was racing toward them as fast it could go. It was a larger carriage meant for conveying goods, but at present there were five people riding in the bed: the usual trio of Saybil, Hort, and Kudo, plus the inseparable pair, Zero and Mercenary.