Legends of Amacia Heart of Darkness

At the same moment, Amelia’s team stood at the top of Draken Pass, looking into Frygia. As the icy wind bit into their faces, Amelia announced, “Behold the Plateau of Frygia. From here our path heads westward through Frygia into the steppes of Zaraphath, and then southward to Elar and into the infernal regions of Tartarus. We approach Amacia from the west through the mountains of Fornax...the Furnace, which lie in the eastern reaches of Tartarus. The Styx has its headwaters in those mountains. The Emperor has a secret highway hidden in those mountains that runs from Kartoom to Amacia to give him access to the Cadre and their wicked works. Come, let’s get moving.”

They all looked into Frygia and saw a hilly, forested terrain with large meadows scattered in the midst of the forests that stretched to the west for some thirty miles, where another ridge rose precipitously like a ghost from the ground. Its peaks were clad in eternal snows. To the north lay another wall of mountains that marked the border of Cimmeria. Those mountains were very jagged and precipitous, looking very much like giant teeth. They too had snows shrouding the higher peaks. To the southwest, the hilly forests stretched into the distance. In the middle of the forests lay two large rivers that headed to the southwest. The land was the epitome of the savage untamed wilderness. Any evidence of civilization having ever been there had long since been swallowed by the forest.

Amelia led her horse down the mountain into Frygia followed by her team and their horses. As they descended the treacherous path into Frygia, Aragon’s eagle eye spotted movement far into the distance. “Amelia, there’s movement to the south, southwest: a lot of movement,” he announced.

Amelia looked to the south, southwest as they moved on through the snows and saw the 5th Division seven leagues distance moving slowly through the forest and meadows in their general direction. “It’s the 5th Division,” she called out. “They’re a good seven leagues out. Keep alert. There may be scouts nearby. They’re closer than I anticipated, so we must be extra careful.” In a half hour, they were free of the snows and riding their horses down the steep side of Draken Ridge. Within another half hour, they approached the forest. Just as they were about to enter the forest, an enormous shadow fell over the whole group, causing the horses to fidget. Everyone looked up and saw Argus coming in for a landing. Amelia calmed her horse as Argus lighted upon a giant boulder fifty feet away.

“Argus; to what do we owe this pleasure?” Amelia asked as she gently urged her horse closer to the draken.

“The 5th Division is close...very close,” Argus replied.

“I know. We saw them,” Amelia answered.

Argus paused for a moment as he looked at the group and announced, “I believe I have a quicker way to get you there, and a much safer way than riding horseback.”

This aroused everyone’s interest. “Really?” Amelia asked. “Pray tell. How may we achieve this feat?”

Argus grinned slightly, showing his teeth. “With one simple word: Caronadon,” he declared. As he spoke, a flock of seven Caronadons appeared out of nowhere and circled over their heads. The horses became very restless and fidgety, throwing their heads and snorting fearfully. The team had some trouble calming the horses. Then as quickly as they came, the Caronadons glided to the west and disappeared into the forests.

“Caronadons,” Amelia said evenly. “Argus; I’m impressed. How did you manage this feat?”

Argus smiled sheepishly. “They volunteered, as they always do,” he replied. “I had nothing to do with it. They came to me. They know of Hannibal and Selina’s capture and wanted to help.”

“You can communicate with them?” Ned asked in amazement.

Argus nodded. “Yes, I can, Master Ned,” he stated. “I can communicate with all species, not just yours. Now, you must go to them in order to enlist their aid. They’ll be waiting at the ruins of Syracuse for you.”

How do get there?” Joel asked.

“Follow the Draken’s Teeth for nine leagues to the west. There the Caronadons will wait in the central square of Syracuse. But don’t dawdle. They won’t wait for long,” Argus replied. “I’ll meet you there as well. Be careful though. These wilds are dangerous and not because of the 5th Division. Taroks and gerats infest this forest in great numbers, not to mention a small number of Zarukar toward the south. Go quickly and quietly, like ghosts in the wind.”

“Thank you, Argus,” Amelia replied gratefully. “We shall make all speed. Come on, guys; let’s go. We have some distance to cover.”

“You’re welcome,” Argus replied. “I’ll be waiting.” At that, Argus spread his great wings and jumped. In five seconds, he vanished into the sky and Amelia led her team into the forest, heading westward toward Syracuse.

As they moved on, a question gnawed at Sam so he gave vent to it, asking, “Argus said follow the Draken’s Teeth. What did he mean by that, Amelia? What are the Draken’s Teeth?”

Amelia pointed north to the precipitous ridge that marked the border of Cimmeria, replying, “That ridge there is known as the Draken’s Teeth because it’s virtually impossible to cross and looks like a giant draken’s teeth. It’s far too treacherous a climb to cross them. I know of only two places where you can get through them, and both are far more hazardous than what we just crossed at Draken Pass. The Teeth are an insurmountable barrier that only the bravest or the craziest people ever try. In my three hundred and fifty cycles of life, I know of only two people who ever made it through the Draken’s Teeth in one piece.”

“Who might that have been?” one of the couriers named Cepheus asked. Amelia kept her eyes forward and ever alert for trouble. For a few moments, she didn’t answer as she remembered her first incursion into Cimmeria.

“Well?” Joel asked. “Who were they?”

Amelia sighed and said, “Almost thirty cycles ago, two people...a man and woman successfully penetrated the Draken’s Teeth from this side. Both were escapees from the Cadre’s slave pens in the infernal regions of Kartoom, deep inside Tartarus. By some quirk of fate, they managed to reach the Draken’s Teeth with the hope that freedom from the vile clutches of the Cadre lay beyond them. After several days lost in the Teeth, they stumbled out into the highlands of Cimmeria in one piece, but nearly dead from exposure. Ah, Cameron...what a warrior he was. But he was no match for the Draken’s Teeth, nor was his companion. The whole time they were lost in the Teeth, savage beasts hunted them constantly, but the pair managed to escape them when they got out of the Teeth. A day after escaping the Draken’s Teeth, Cameron stumbled and slipped on the edge of a precipice, falling to his death. The woman managed to catch him, but wasn’t strong enough to pull him to safety because of the exhaustion and exposure both of them suffered from. Before he slipped from her grasp, he made her promise to keep going and not look back. She didn’t want to and stayed there on the cliff’s brink for four days without food or water, waiting to die because she was too weak to continue. On the fourth day, a group of Cimmerian hunters found the woman and took her back to their village where they nursed her back to health.”

The team listened intently as Amelia quietly told the tale while they moved like ghosts through the forest, every wary for signs of danger. After she finished speaking, Cracko said, “You seem to know a great amount of detail concerning this. Pray tell, how do you know this story? Did someone who knew those two people tell it to you? Who was the woman?”

Amelia smiled wryly and replied, “It’s no story, my friend, but an accurate account of the passage of the Draken’s Teeth. You see, the reason I know so much concerning the Draken’s Teeth is I was that woman. I made that terrible flight through the Draken’s Teeth. I had no name or identity at the time. The man Cameron was a handler in the slave pens who took a fancy to me. He fell in love with me, and eventually, I with him by time we reached the Teeth. He had been the only man since my capture when I was twenty that had treated me as if I was worth something. So when no one was looking, he freed me of my chains and we fled Kartoom.” Amelia smiled, trying to hide the hurt that was resurfacing as she remembered Cameron. “He called me Eris because I was so chaotic and unpredictable,” she stated. “He was a good man.” She sighed deeply and suddenly became quiet as she led them on.

“Oh, I’m sorry if my question caused you any grief,” Cracko apologized, noticing her reaction to the memory of Cameron.

“It’s okay, my friend,” Amelia replied. “That was long ago. In time, broken hearts mend and wounds heal. I should know.”

“You’re quite a remarkable woman,” Aragon commented graciously. “Xavier is blessed to have you as his wife.”

Amelia nodded and replied, “Yes. Xavier is a very good man. He saved me that fateful day and gave me reason to live. He’s a prince among men.”

Kahn then spoke up, saying, “That he is, Myra. That he is. I remember when we found you on the side of that mountain. I was but a young buck out on a hunt to bring in food for the village. When we found your shattered, partially frozen body on the precipice, we tried to decide what you were at first. You were wearing those strange clothes that were shredded to bits along with some skins that you had apparently gotten on your way from wherever you came from. Moreover, you were bruised and battered, not to mention so filthy that your stench was so bad we feared you were dead. At first, we thought you were a demon of some kind, because it was obvious that you were not one of us and from your location, the only place you could have come was through the Draken’s Teeth, which no one ever does. Then some of the elder hunters moved in and found out you were no demon, but a strange, foreign woman dying from exposure. As I remember, there was an argument about what to do with you. Several of the group wanted to kill you outright, but the elder hunters with us that day had pity on you and took you back to our village, where our father brought you into our house and cared for you.”

“It was strange, though,” Kahn admitted, “When we first found you, despite your terrible state physically, you had a strangeness about you that fascinated everyone. It was almost as if you were of noble birth, which we know now is true. I remember when Xavier first saw you after you were cleaned up. You should have seen his face. It was written all over it. You were the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on and in that moment, you had pierced his heart and captured it without ever knowing it. In fact, from that moment forward, he did everything he could for you. You were his whole world. Since that day, your presence in the village seemed to create a feeling of peace throughout the land. The men of the village loved you and the women adored you. You were so beautiful that many thought that you were an angel.” Amelia nodded with a smile, knowing what he was saying was accurate.

“When the word spread that an exotic foreign woman survived the Draken’s Teeth, people from other villages and clans came to see your strange, intoxicating beauty for themselves,” Kahn continued quietly as they rode on, telling of Amelia’s stay in the village. “Believe it or not, your very presence brought peace between the clans and villages of the highlands. By time you and Xavier were married, our peoples had united and the council was formed. It was almost like a higher power was involved in bringing you to the highlands.”

“I must agree with you on that,” Amelia said warmly. “It’s pretty obvious that the Ancient of Days has used me in spite of myself. He has done things for me that could not be explained any other way, such as my escape from the Cadre. No one ever escapes and gets away from them, but Cameron and I did. No one ever gets out of Tartarus, but we did. Our crossing of the Draken’s Teeth, you and your hunting party finding me on that remote cliff, my survival, our going to Arionath and meeting the Great Warrior of the prophecies who was pivotal in unlocking my stolen identity: all of those and many, many more things just show how the Almighty has done such marvels for me and us. He continues to do so.”

“So true,” Ned said. “I know not much about God, but from what I’ve heard, only a fool would think otherwise.” Amelia smiled at Ned as they moved on towards Syracuse.