Feathered Dragon - Douglas Niles [54]
death.
And then, as we climb a great stairway that seems to raise us from the bowels of the earth, a breath of wind touches our faces. Then we see the cave mouth, with the rich blue of dawn beckoning beyond.
IN HOPELESS FLIGHT
The green parrot winged steadily across the desert lands above the vast wasteland of sand and rock and brush. N where along Gultec’s eastward course did he see water; seemed as though only the narrow strip of land followed the Nexalans had received the blessing of the gods. The of the House of Tezca remained very much the same bar-waste it had always been.
Finally the bird reached a long shore, where a smooth beach, outlined in foaming breakers, marked the end of the desert and the beginning of the coral blue Sea of Azul. This crystalline water filled the gap between the mainland of Maztica and the jungled peninsula of Far Payit.
Gultec felt the strain of the long flight in his wings, but the
summons of his master, Zochimaloc, urged him onward.
Now, however, the parrot dove, breaking its descent to race
just above the glittering surface of the sea.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the bird did a strange thing: if dipped and dove into the crest of wave, tucking its wings close against its body and disappearing into the water.
The parrot vanished in a shower of spray. Two dozen feet farther along the bird’s path of flight, a blue dolphin broke the surface, wriggling in the air for a second before diving back into the water. Sleek and powerful, the mammal dove and splashed its way steadily eastward, bursting from that sea in a rainbow of spray before nosing gracefully back into the cool, blue-green depths.
The dolphin that was Gultec dove after a school of small fish, feasting for several minutes before he again broke the surface to breathe. Gultec felt a wonderful sense of exhilaration, broken only by the knowledge that his master’s summons indicated serious trouble ahead.
After a night and a day of swimming, the great sea mammal drew close to another shore. Where the eastern boundary had been backed by countless miles of dry desert, however, this beach appeared as a tiny strip of sand bordered by a verdant growth of jungle foliage.
Here again Gultec took to wing, shifting in midleap from the dolphin’s body back to that of the bright parrot- Like a green missile, he shot into the sky, quickly gaining height. He soared over the tops of the highest trees, still climbing. He knew that Tulom-Itzi lay near.
Then an irregularity in the tropical growth caught the parrot’s keen eye. Concerned, Gultec veered to the north, diving slightly to gain speed and a closer view. An inexplicable sense of urgency-an urgency that approached terror-compelled him forward.
The stench of rot reached him first-not a sweet, lingering odor such as always characterizes the jungle, but a thick, cloying wave of nausea that signified a horrifying extent of destruction and decay.
Soon he soared along a wide swath of death, a wasteland as devastated as the barren reaches of the House of Tezca. This waste shocked him, however, for very recently it had been lush. Like the body of a repugnant serpent, the pathway twisted through the jungles of Far Payit. Brown, naked tree trunks lay on the ground in a twisted jumble. Pools of muddy water lay spattered across the dead earth, breeding grounds only for the flies that feasted upon death.
Shock, anger, and finally rage propelled the bird’s flight as Gultec tried to absorb the spectacle below him. He couldn’t guess as to its nature, but he knew that he saw below him the reason for Zochilmaloc’s summons.
The swath twisted inland, away from Tulom-Itzi, and so Gultec dove to the south. For the first time, he wondered if he might be too late. His heart lightened only slightly as he saw that the forests leading