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Chapter 26

  “You have got to be kidding me”

  Diago’s frustration resonated with the others as they faced this latest difficulty. The massive Aazotas struggled against the bark of the tree, stumbling back to the ground many times. However, it wouldn’t be long before it would reach its target.

  “Huh, so they don’t leave when they have something to hunt. Well! That’s valuable information!” Finch looked over to Diago with a wide grin, a grin Diago wanted to punch off of his face.

  “We need a plan and fast” Thatch said, adding a little force to the words as he watched the Aazotas make some progress up the tree.

  Aylah suggested she get in close and use her bow to get the massive beast’s attention, but that idea was discarded as suicide. Thatch’s idea was to somehow use a talard as bait to draw away the creatures, something Finch vehemently opposed having already lost one of his mounts. Finch was ready to drop the whole thing and press on toward Sulaaris. Why waste time on a dead man? They had not told him that to stop was their plan all along, but he didn’t seem confused that they had.

  Diago didn’t say much. He fiddled with his ring and kept his eyes locked on the masses of creatures. Something wasn’t normal. He began to feel that same tug in his gut. It stirred within him and caused his hands to shake. Desperate to find out what this feeling was, he closed his eyes and tried his best to focus. In and out, he breathed slowly and as he did, he could feel the rise and fall of Saama’s breathing accelerate. He could feel the twitching in her limbs as she readied herself to pounce. It was more than mere knowing by sight. It felt like his body was taking on her movements onto itself…like Saama was sharing them. The more he felt, the more he found a drive to move.

  Diago was always fond of testing his limits and because of that, he knew his limits quite well. At that moment, he felt his limits changing. Diago smiled and his eyes shot open. Without another thought, he climbed on Saama’s back.

  Aylah was the first to notice, “What are you doing Sunburn!?”

  “You should stay down boy!” Finch warned

  “Diago, what are you planning?” Thatch asked with concerned doubt in his voice.

  Diago looked down at Thatch, “We have to trust each other don’t we?”

  Thatch looked back at him knowingly and nodded.

  With that, Saama shot off toward the hoard of wild creatures. While she crossed the field between them and the first group of beasts, Diago took the blugeoner off of the Kurigan and put the knife on, just in case. They crossed the field in no time. As they approached, Saama leapt above the first pack, using the head of a Canyon Ruler to propel them higher. She half extended her webbing to extend the leap as far as she could. Diago could feel the weightlessness press his insides upward and threaten to take him off of Saama’s saddle. She landed beside a brood of skirmishing jynx. They ignored her as she passed them by. In front of them, there was a corpse that was riddled with Krull that all scurried away as Saama bounded overhead. As she ran and approached the base of the tree, Diago saw the massive body of the grimis up close. Even dead, the beast was terrifying. A large group of creatures and the Aazotas were all that remained between them and their objective.

  A strange occurrence took place as they came up to the large group. Seemingly of one accord they turned and faced Diago. The sensation in his gut churned. He could have imagined it, but he thought they were all looking right at him. Instead of rushing him and Saama, Diago watched as they parted to allow them through. Diago had almost no time to even begin thinking about what he just witnessed because as they came to the other side of the pack his insides began to stir like a storm on the coast. It was like the other times, only bigger. Almost at the same time that he felt it, the massive Aazotas turned to face him. Facing down a Desert Guardian is not something many people have been able to talk about…you know cause they died and all. However, Diago was not afraid. Instead, he felt…he felt… no…that feeling wasn’t coming from him. Saama?…no. What was that?

  Saama slowed her approach as the Aazotas stepped forward and looked down. The beast towered above them. It’s eyes were glued to Diago’s. The gut feeling was on a rampage. Diago steadied his breathing and allowed the his instincts to take over. He dismounted. Saama stepped back.

  “Hey there big guy”

  A very loud chuff vibrated through the clearing

  “Girl! Big girl. Sorry, hard to tell sometimes.”

  The Aazotas dropped its great head low until it was level with Diago. The look in its eyes, the various twitches in its tail, the feeling…that same feeling from before. Diago stepped forward and placed a hand on its snout, finally realizing what that feeling was. He let out a little chuckle.

  Then the Aazotas opened its wide mouth and used its great tongue to grip Diago and pull him in. It’s mouth closed with a snap.

  Aylah’s mind was a whirlwind. When Diago mounted Saama and raced off toward the swirling mass of tooth and claw, she found herself nothing but frustrated. She was frustrated that he didn’t tell any of them what he was planning. She was frustrated that it was him and not her who had the guts to take action. She was frustrated.

  That frustration became mixed with confusion when she witnessed how simple it was for him to make it way farther than any of her plans would have taken her, or any of the others for that matter. Her confusion grew when she watched a group of vicious and hungry-looking animals stop and let them pass. It made no sense.

  None of it.

  Then her confusion changed to horror when she saw that stupid boy approach a massive, deadly, beast on foot like an old friend.

  “What is he thinking?! He’s going to get himself k-” She was cut off by the sound of the great Aazotas’ mouth snapping shut.

  “DIAGO!” Cried, Thatch

  Finch stared intently at the Desert Guardian with a stern glare.

  Aylah sat open-mouthed and stunned.

  And she continued with that posture as the Aazotas reopened its mouth and gently let Diago out.

  “Diago?” Thatch repeated

  And that was the last words any of them could speak for many minutes. They all sat back and watched as the enormous spiked lizard creature used its tongue to lift Diago up and down, releasing him a little at the top to let him float a moment.

  The Desert Guardian, a massive, spiked, deadly beast…was playing with Diago. The Aazotas let him down softly and then reclined beside Diago as he petted it gently. Diago looked over toward his companions with a smile.

  “What just happened?” Asked Aylah.

  Thatch was still speechless. Finch, on the other hand, had a look on his face that Aylah could not discern. She didn’t have time to discern it either, for as quickly as she saw it, it was gone. Though she also caught him whispering something under his breath,

  “Biesaroch,” he said, but Aylah had no idea what that word meant.

  She thought about asking but was distracted by movement by the base of the tree. Diago climbed back onto Saama’s saddle and raced back toward where they were hiding out. The sight was formidable. A bounding jynx, carrying a smiling rider, followed by a Desert Guardian. All the animals parted to let the giant beast pass through.

  “It’s safe now,” Said Diago as he approached.

  The Aazotas positioned itself right behind Diago and glared at Aylah and the rest. It let out a deep rumble from its throat. Aylah did not speak lizard, but she knew a warning when she heard one.

  “How?” Was all Thatch could muster

  “Taming a jynx is one thing, but befriending a Desert Guardian?” Finch asked, “Who are you?”

  Diago searched the group and saw that every face displayed the same question, albeit non-verbally.

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  “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, okay? I get this feeling and this instinct takes over and then things like this happen,” Diago pointed up at the Aazotas just as it scratched behind its ear.

  Thatch shook his head in awe, “But how did you know it-“

  “she,” Diago interrupted, “…she is a she”

  Thatch glanced up at the Aazotas again, repeated his head shake, and continued,

  “How did you know she wouldn’t eat you?”

  Diago shrugged, “I guess I just did?”

  Aylah, annoyed by it all, threw her arms up in complete confusion. The Aazotas did not like Aylah’s outburst and immediately snarled and readied herself to pounce. Aylah retreated a step or two and readied her bow in a flash.

  “Hey, hey, easy!” Diago said, raising his hands to stop them both.

  Thatch, still staring at the Aazotas with awe, was trying to mentally reach a place where he could accept what he had witnessed. After watching Diago keep his new reptilian friend from eating his human one, he was finally able to chime in,

  “I am not going to pretend like I have any idea what’s going on,” he gestured to the

  Aazotas, “but there was a reason we came here right?”

  They all looked back to the tree. Trig was no longer in sight. They surmised that he must have continued climbing to put as much distance between him and the Aazotas as possible.

  “I’ll ride Saama up the tree and try to find him” Diago offered

  Finch nodded and Thatch agreed as well. Aylah didn’t respond at all and was looking away. She noticed some silence and turned to see them all looking at her, waiting for her response. She rolled her eyes,

  “Do what you want Sunburn, just take your lizard with you”

  Once said, she walked away. For the life of him, Diago could not discern why she would be upset. He looked to Thatch, who raised his shoulders, just as unaware as Diago. Thatch looked to Finch, who shook his head, “I got nothing.”

  Diago shook his head, deciding to drop the question. Why would he care if she was upset anyway? The others started readying the saddles for Finch, who they assumed would be leaving as soon as the path was clear. However, he showed no signs of leaving. Diago was the only one who seemed to find that odd. He thought he remembered Finch said he was on a time constraint, but he didn’t look like he was in a hurry. Something else that bugged Diago was the way the old man was looking at him. Finch seemed to be locked onto Diago in a way that made him uncomfortable.

  Diago shook that off too as he rode toward the tree on Saama, the Aazotas following close behind. When they reached the base Saama wasted no time and lept toward the trunk with outstretched claws. She raced up the Demon Tree with ease. Diago gripped tight as she served between limbs that were the size of normal trees. How Trig managed to climb this far, Diago could only attribute to the adrenaline of pure fear. Finally, after passing a branch nearly sixty feet high on the tree, Diago heard a yelp.

  Trig had seen Saama pass his branch and let out a cry of horror, believing it was the end for him. Saama shifted direction and landed on the limb. Trig curled into the fetal position, unwilling to look up, and shaking in terror.

  “There you are!” Diago yelled out in a friendly voice

  The frightened man’s head shot up, “who-?…Diago?!”

  Trig took a few double-takes as he tried to process what he was seeing. If you were to have asked him, Trig would have told you that the last thing he could have ever anticipated being his means of survival was precisely what was standing before him. Finally, when he had completed his time staring like a slack-jawed idiot, he cried out and rushed to Diago, grabbed him, and sobbed on his shoulder. Diago didn’t know the man very well, so hugging him and trying to comfort him while he stained his shirt with tears was an odd experience, to say the least.

  Diago had to wade in this uncomfortable position until Trig’s tears of relief had subsided. Trig must have realized what he looked like and detached himself from Diago in a quick, jerking motion. He righted himself and wiped his puffy eyes free of lingering droplets, though it looked as though he was not far from having those tears replaced by new ones.

  “Thank you,” Trig managed to say, trying to sound confident, “How did you get past the lizard?”

  Diago wasn’t sure how to answer that, so he decided not to, “Why don’t you let me ask the questions?”

  Diago tried not to sound forceful, but seeing Trig reminded him of all the struggle and near death experiences of the last few days and it made him want to know what it was all for, “Why are you out here? Why is Saarsken after you? What is going on?!”

  Saama must have felt Diago’s frustration and anxiety for answers and punctuated his final question with a growl. Trig, already in a fragile state, was much persuaded by the forcefulness of the frightening pair.

  “Tarrin stone! That’s why I’m here!” He blurted out

  Diago’s eyebrow cocked, “Explain.”

  Trig’s eyes darted from Diago to Saama before they closed and he took a deep breath. Diago knew that the others would want to hear this, but he expected that Trig would likely not be able to handle staring down an Aazotas while recounting the past few days. Besides that, he was becoming more unnerved by Finch.

  Trig opened his eyes, “I’ll start from the beginning I guess. It was the same day that I ran into you outside the Merchant's Lot. I-... I was trying to put on a brave face, but I-… I was completely hopeless. The debts I owe…” he shook his head, “miserable, I started walking nowhere. That is until I overheard some men talking about a mine. I- um, don’t always, only do official mining”

  Diago became quite curious. Tunaan had strict laws about mining Tarrin out of season and all the mines are kept under strict watch.

  Trig continued, “Sometimes, people stumble on old mines from back when Tarrin was first being harvested. Smaller mines, but still producing. There is a group I fell in with a long time ago that would look for these mines and work them for an equal share. So, when I heard these men talking, I thought they were part of that group. I decided to follow them…yes, I am part of that group, but I- um, wasn’t planning on taking an equal share.”

  Diago made a face, “No honor among thieves Trig?”

  Trig shook his head, “No. Not when you have debts like mine.”

  Diago thought about that and he really didn’t expect any other answer, “fair point.”

  Saama sat back on the thick branch and reclined. Diago leaned back on her and stroked her head which caused her to produce a contented wheeze. Trig watched this happen, “how did you…?”

  “Finish your story and maybe I’ll tell you mine,” Diago replied.

  Saama was kind enough to growl once again to add force to the statement.

  Trig went right back to his story, “I followed the men. I was desperate enough that I kept following them even when I realized that they were making their way here. At first, I thought they would try to pass the tree and continue toward Sulaaris, but instead, they set up camp. I stayed back and watched as they waited for the animals to leave the base of the tree. Once twilight had begun and the base of the tree was cleared, they walked over to one of the bigger roots that was above the ground.”

  Trig turned and pointed toward the ground, “That one over there”

  The root was a good one hundred feet away from the base of the Demon Tree.

  “See that stone over there?”

  Diago nodded, “You mean to say that there is a Tarrin mine under this tree?”

  “One of the biggest ones I have seen that wasn’t guarded. I followed them into an enormous cavern covered in the stone. They met up with a few miners who looked like they had come from another entrance, but I couldn’t tell any more than that. They argued, but that seemed normal enough to me. We miners basically only communicate in yells and anger. I don’t know what they argued about, but it got more heated than normal.”

  “Trig, stick to the important stuff please,” Diago said with exasperation

  Trig shook himself, “Right, sorry. I waited for a long time while they gathered the Tarrin Stone. When they had piled up enough crates and left to go mine some more, I- I umm…sort of-”

  “You stole them. Big surprise.” Diago said rolling his eyes. Saama also chuffed in annoyance

  Trig recoiled a little from Saama in fear, “Yes, okay! I stole them and a few of their Talards to carry it all. It’s a good thing they are slow miners because I was gone before they came back.”

  “And you used the Tarrin to pay off your many debts” Diago surmised.

  “I’m getting to that,” was the reply. Diago rolled his eyes again, but let Trig continue, “I was giddy as a guko on my way back. I was so proud of it that I told a buddy of mine at the racing tents about it after paying off one of those debts.”

  “Very smart,” Diago said

  “Keep the sarcasm down Diago, I was excited! I thought I could trust him. Turns out that he was one of the people that work that mine…one of Saarsken’s guys. Yeah, it’s ‘Saarsken’s mine’ that I stole from. The guy ratted me out and Saarsken sent his men after me.”

  Diago nodded, connecting the dots. Then he shot a quizzical look at the weasely-looking man, “Why come back here?”

  Trig shifted in place, “I have a lot of debts”

  “You are dumber than a krull, Trig!” Diago said after his palm had made firm contact with his forehead

  “Desperation does things to a man Diago!” Trig said in his own defense, but then indicated to the branch they were standing on, “It didn’t amount to much”

  “Obviously.”

  Trig looked like he wanted to bite back, but Saama stayed his lips with a look.

  Instead, he completed his story, “The mine entrance was sealed off. I really needed that Tarrin, so I tried to dig the entrance out. That’s when that stupid Desert Guardian showed up. You know the rest.”

  With the story complete, Diago became utterly confused. Why are they here then?

  Did they come all this way just to save Trig? What did this have to do with the Ariochmar? Why did the Fades send them after this guy? Diago was unsatisfied that this was the whole story. He studied Trig, who had paced back toward the main trunk of the tree and was sulking about his life events recently.

  “Trig, is there anything more to the story, anything at all? It’s important.”

  Trig looked up and thought about it, but in the end, all Diago got was a shaking head. He was about to press the subject a little harder, maybe even get Saama to do a little more intimidation, but then he began to feel a familiar sting in his head. He allowed it to linger until,

  “Diago, there you are, you should come back down. I don’t think your Aazotas friend likes us. It’s starting to look hungry.” Thatch said over their mental connection.

  Diago nodded, “I’m on my way down.”

  Thatch didn’t sever the connection right away. Through the connection, Diago could feel apprehension. Thatch said, “There’s something else. It’s hard to explain, just a feeling. We can talk about it when you get down.”

  Thatch loosed the connection after that. Diago stood up and Saama did too. Trig noticed.

  “We should get down,” Diago said as he mounted Saama

  “…On that thing?” Trig said with a huff.

  “This thing’s name is Saama and she is starting to really not like you. If you want to get out of this tree, I suggest you say something nice.” Diago said coldly.

  Trig was retreated against the tree as Saama stepped toward him, staring directly into his eyes. Trig started shaking, “Th- thank you you s- s- What was it?”

  “Saama,” said Diago with a grin.

  “Thank you Saama, please take me down” Trig was able to get out.

  “Much better. Climb on.”

  The still-shaking Trig managed to approach the jynx and climb on her back, albeit in a very clumsy, “I am not sure if this thing is going to eat me” kind of way. Diago laughed a little, knowing that if that was going to make Trig scared, he was going to love what Saama was planning next. Once they were both situated, Saama leapt right off the branch into a dive straight toward the ground. Over the wind, Diago could hear the girlish screams of his frightened rescue.

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