Alara Unbroken - Doug Beyer [33]
“And you two,” continued Hazid, “have me strapped to this lion, which is, by the way, not safe. I could complain to the courts about the way I’m being treated.”
“It was just like the prayer, Mubin, wasn’t it?” said Rafiq. “Asha’s Prophecy. Like the Order of the Skyward Eye say.”
“Rafiq,” said Mubin.
“ ‘When the world’s body shakes. When the world’s stomach churns.’ We felt it shake! We heard it churn! I never imagined it would be so literally true.”
“Rafiq, I don’t want you to get your belief tangled in your optimism. It’s just a cleric’s prayer.”
“I don’t know, Mubin. I’m starting to think it may be something. Why couldn’t it be true? We’re in a historic time foretold by ancient sages. The events and records we’ve seen as knights of the Reliquary—the words we’ve heard—they’re coming true. We’re seeing it unfold before our eyes. This may be the time of the return of Asha.”
Hazid blinked and kicked in the stirrups nervously.
“Be cautious,” said Mubin. “Don’t overinterpret. It could be a coincidence.”
“Yes,” said Hazid. “My friend here has made an excellent point. It is just the weather. A little trick of the wind. Nothing ‘angelic’ or ‘prophetic’ about it.”
Please don’t let me be the hand of prophecy, thought Hazid. He didn’t want to be the hand of prophecy anymore. He didn’t want it to mean anything, because if it did—the consequence would be too horrible to contemplate.
“Oh, I think the archangel has finally made herself known,” said Rafiq, nodding into the wind. His eyes seemed to look into infinity. “There’s finally hope for us all.”
The angels can’t see me, can they? worried Hazid. They can’t see into my soul, to see what I have done? The clouds weren’t enough protection, he thought. The open sky was full of their eyes. Where could a man get a roof over his head when he needed one?
“Can we just hurry up and get to the courts?” said Hazid.
JUND
Ajani had never seen a dragon, and didn’t know the term. But he didn’t need to know what to call it to run from the beast. Nor did he know the term for goblins, but he followed the furry creatures’ example, and ran.
If Ajani could have stopped and contemplated the anatomy of the dragon, he might have likened it to one of Naya’s enormous gargantuans in size, except that none of the gargantuans had wings. He might have thought of some of the elves’ ancient carvings of hydras, and of primitive drawings he had seen in caves. He might have pieced together that, while no dragons had lived on Naya in centuries, a dim cultural memory of such a beast lingered in the dark pockets of his home. He might even have considered that the presence of the dragon was strong evidence that he was no longer, in fact, in Naya. However, circumstances being what they were, he had no time for such thoughts. He just ran.
The wingbeats of the dragon hurled boulders of air at Ajani’s back, and he wobbled, using his leather-strapped axe as a counterweight to keep his balance. Several of the furry goblins were swept right off the cliff by the gusts of air, and tumbled off the edge and out of sight. Most of the little creatures were quite surefooted, however, and scrambled into narrow caves, disappearing into the mountainside. Ajani wasn’t accustomed to the terrain or the height, and he stumbled. His legs slipped out from under him, and he slid over the edge.
Ajani caught himself, but barely. His legs dangled over the cliff, and his claws clung precariously onto his axe and the cliff’s edge. The dragon pulled up, hovering with mighty wingbeats in the air next to the mountain, and rearing its head back to strike.
“Back!” said a voice. “This is not your meal, old boy.”
A broad-chested human man stood on the cliffside. He grinned at Ajani, a crazed gleam in his eye.
The man thrust his staff into the air and brought it down, hard, onto the stone ground. The impact let loose a blast of sizzling sparks that spiraled toward the dragon. The spell burst harmlessly on the dragon’s nose, but startled it.
“Go on, Karrthus,” the man called into