The Lost City continues the journey of Astra, respected Head Librarian of the Tiered Library in the renown monastery Qordashi deep in the Balashilar mountains, after an attack on her home destroyed everything she knew and took the lives of people she loved. Her childhood companion, Traz, has returned after 25 years for mysterious reason, and along with the AmβAyat warrior Xavai they are on the run from the attackers: snow dragons and the dreaded tribe of Yosoi warriors.
Previously: Astra took matters into her own hands...
The river disappeared under and then emerged from the pyramid, which spanned it and rose four or five stories high into the air. It was built with the red and gray rocks of the Balashilar mountains, but the style of the design and decorations carved into the stone were odd and unfamiliar. Astra thought all of it was odd, but by far the worst of it was the scent of burning bones and the pull of powerful, twisted magic. Anyone with an ounce of magical sensitivity would hate the place. Even the blue forest pulled back around the edges of the decrepit city.
Traz, further confirming Astraβs suspicions of his own magic abilities, recoiled from the sight. But what surprised her was the reaction of Xavai, who immediately armed himself with his sword and looked around, wild-eyed.
βWhat is this foul place?β Xavai snarled. Astra stared at him, because until that very moment, she assumed his magic as a dowser was too focused to pick up on anything ambient.
βIf this is what was pulling you up the river, Iβm sorry for agreeing to this folly. I have never even heard of a city on the eastern side of Broken Hump. Does it hide itself?β Traz looked around, as if awaiting an attack. βWe need to leave.β He gestured back at the trail they had walked up.
Astra looked past the pyramid to the city beyond it, which was really more of a minor townβit would fit easily within any of the four wards of Qordashi monastery. Still, it radiated undue power and malice, the empty buildings scattered up the steep side of the mountain echoing with hollow grief.
βWhat happened here?β She asked no one in particular.
βDo you see the dead? Are there many?β Xavai asked, his voice hard but edged with fear. It was a place built by human hands, but something unnatural seethed in the very stones of the complex.
βNo. There are no dead here.β Astra frowned.
βHow can that be? It is clearly a city. People have died here.β Xavai waved his sword.
βWhat is he saying?β Traz asked, casting his focus between Astra and the pyramid that sat over the river.
βHe asked if I see the dead of this city, but I donβt. There are no dead here.β
βImpossible,β Traz echoed Xavaiβs commentary.
They could not get too close without exposing themselves. Snow dragons circled lazily far overhead, looking more like small birds against the sky than massive dragons. They were clearly on some kind of flight pattern that took them in large loops over the area, though. There was no chance the dragons would miss seeing Astra or any of them if they ran into the city.
She looked more closely at the edge of the complex and realized that the forest ended there naturally. It was not chopped back or held back, it simply whithered away. She pointed it out to Traz, then Xavai.
Traz shrugged but Xavai frowned. βYes, that is odd. As if the forest is sucked dry.β
βOh.β Astra stood there in astonishment. It made sense, in a horrible way: the city was stealing all the soul dust from the forest, killing it and giving it eternal life at the same time. Life without a soul, life of growing and never dying, of being without truly living. It was an evil, cruel use of magic, and Astra wondered what on earth the city could be doing with all of that power, while yet still looking and feeling so lifeless and deathless.
βPerhaps it was salted?β Xavai added, his tone conversational, as if salting a living land was something people did in the world.
Of course they did. Astra knew that. But she had read about it, not seen it or known anyone who had seen it. He was wrong, but even the guess damned him, not that she should have been surprised of that kind of careless horror from a soldier of the violent AmβAyat kingdom. She wondered how someone who had surely witnessed atrocities could fear her necromantic powers so much. She shook off the line of thought, turning back towards the vile city. She had work to do.
βItβs the power of the city doing it.β She stated the fact without explanation.
βI believe that,β Xavai said with a nod, agreeing despite the fact that he could not possibly know what she meant. βLet us go.β He waved at Traz, who did not understand the words but knew the meaning of the gesture and started to turn away.
Astra let them go, instead looking up to the sky. The snow dragons flew back and forth, covering leagues of territory with a mere flap of wings. They swung around and disappeared from view as they dropped down closer to the ground, but she noticed that there was an odd hitch to the pattern.
They did not fly over the dead city.
βStop!β Astra said, pitching her voice low.
βAstraββ
βLook at the dragons, Traz! Look!β
He sighed the same woebegone sigh he had been giving her since they were children, but plodded over to where Astra stood near the edge of the forest. Xavai followed, sensing that something was up. They all watched the sky, for a long time. Xavai finally let out a heavy breath.
βThe dragons avoid it,β he said, pulling away from the edge and further under the forest canopy again.
βYes. There is something about it that repels them,β Astra replied, unsure if she was excited or terrified of the path her thoughts were going down.
βThe dragons donβt fly over it,β Traz said, then shook his head. βGood enough reason for us to get as far away from the damned place as we can.β
βNo!β Astra hissed, grabbing the sleeve of his tunic. βWhatever magic is there repels them. Perhaps it is something we can use to get the dragons to ignore us.β
He gave her a flat stare. βThat place reeks of death and evil. Bu wouldnβt touch that with a talonβs tip. No.β
βNo, it doesnβt reek of death. I would see that. This is something else.β
βI note you do not deny that it is evil, however,β Traz countered.
βWhat is this argument?β Xavai broke in, looking back and forth between them.
βI think we should go into the town, to see if the magic repelling the dragons can be used to protect us.β
βThat is folly. That place is full of death and evil.β He nodded at Traz. βWhich no doubt the thief has said as well.β
βPerhaps not in so many words,β Astra hedged.
βThe soldier agrees with me, doesnβt he?β Traz said, looking smug.
With a look between the two men, Astra shrugged as if in defeat, then took off at a dead run toward the pyramid.
NEXT: A Devilβs Hall
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