By Yaasha Moriah
“This should be it.” Kardan glanced at the map. “The mountain tomb of Arned the Curse-bringer. But all I can see is endless desert.”
A scorching wind scattered dust upon cracked earth. His wife squinted against the glare of the setting sun. “Are you sure you got the position right?”
Kardan gestured to the weathered parchment.
Face the rising of the sun,
Left-hand look to eagle’s beak,
Mighty river on your right,
You shall find the tomb you seek.
If you stand before his gaze,
True in purpose, joined in heart,
Then his fist shall be undone
And the parching curse depart.
Zetra shook her head. “Those landmarks may no longer exist.”
“Here’s the eagle’s beak.” Kardan pointed toward a jagged mountain peak. “The river hasn’t run since the days of Arned, but we followed the dry bed on our way here. Even five hundred years can’t erase a mountain.”
Zetra wiped sweat from her brow. “Let’s brainstorm while we make camp.”
Kardan rolled up the parchment and nodded wearily.
Zetra drew a deep breath, raised her arms, then stooped and grasped the ground as though lifting a cloth. She stretched and shaped the earth into a dome large enough to shelter both herself and Kardan. As they rested in the cool darkness, they tilted a few drops of water from their canteens past cracked lips.
Zetra sighed. “If it weren’t for you water-skillers, we would have died generations ago.”
Kardan stretched on the ground, fingers interlaced behind his head. “If it weren’t for you earth-skillers, we could not have built the cisterns. Hard to believe this land used to be a paradise. Can you imagine it with water again?”
“I’m only on this wild goose chase because I love you.”
“You think I should stop dreaming of reversing Arned’s curse?”
“I’m not even sure Arned existed. A powerful magician in a mountain fortress who could manipulate both water and earth—who cursed the land with a drought when the skillers warred against each other? Sounds like a fairytale.”
“It’s history, Zeet.”
“Dearest.” Zetra leaned in to give Kardan a quick kiss on the lips. “Even if we spend our lives chasing hope, I would rather wander here with you than huddle in a thirsty city with anyone else. Besides, it’s not all bad. Look.”
She gestured out the window of their makeshift hut, where the flicker of thousands of wings glittered blue and gold in the light of the setting sun.
“The sapphire spark butterfly migration has begun. They should go right by us.”
Kardan’s gaze followed the shimmering colors. “But they’re not. Look—they’re diverting.”
Kardan and Zetra crawled out of their shelter into the shadows of the desert evening. The butterflies swept in a long arc, and the sound of their wings seemed to whisper of forgotten things.
“It’s like they’re trying to avoid something,” Zetra said. “But it’s open desert. It would be faster for them to simply fly straight.”
“Huh.” Kardan dug through his pack, withdrew an old book, and leafed through it. “Let’s see what this can tell us. Ah! ‘Sapphire spark butterflies never deviate from their path, not even by a mile. Their migration route has been the same for thousands of years.’”
Zetra tilted her head, observing the butterflies, then said, “What if they’re skirting a mountain that used to be here?”
Kardan shot her a sharp glance. “You said mountains don’t just disappear.”
“Master of water and earth,” Zetra muttered. She dropped to one knee and pressed a hand to the ground, closing her eyes. She was so still that even her breath seemed to fall away. Then her eyes opened.
“Arned sank the mountain,” she said. “We’re standing on it. I can feel his fortress in the earth.”
“It’s here?” Kardan’s chest tightened.
“Get your lantern ready.” Zetra thrust two fists toward the ground. “I’m going to drill us down to the entrance. Stay close.”
Kardan grasped his wife’s body, felt the power of her skill strain through her muscles. Then they dropped with sickening swiftness into the eye of a hurricane of shifting rock. When the falling stopped, they were kneeling on smooth stone. He fumbled for the lantern in his pack and lit it with a match.
They stood in a perfectly circular chamber, the floor a swirl of blue-white marble and the walls layered with polished agate. In the center of the chamber stood a statue of an aged man, one hand upraised as though to halt intruders and the other closed in a fist.
“What are we supposed to do?” Zetra whispered.
“I… don’t know.” The words of the riddle returned to him: True in purpose, joined in heart.
“Arned,” he spoke to the statue. “I am Kardan, the water-skiller, and this is my wife Zetra, the earth-skiller. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? For the skillers to stop killing each other?”
Silence answered them.
Zetra grasped Kardan’s hand. “I feel… unsettled here. Let’s go back to the surface.”
Kardan gaped at her. They were so close! They couldn’t just leave!
“Dearest, please.” His wife’s voice softened his resolve. “I need to rest. We can come back later, after we figure out our next move.”
Reluctantly, Kardan nodded and squeezed her hand. “We’ll do it together.”
As Zetra tensed for the ascent, Kardan stole one last glance at the statue. Wasn’t one hand closed in a fist before? Yet now both hands were open, palms upward, as though giving a gift.
Before he could show Zetra, she lifted the rock beneath them. He pressed his face against her back.
Back on desert sand, Zetra’s strength was spent. Kardan carried his wife toward their domed shelter.
“I will find a way,” he murmured to her. “I will undo the curse and bring water to this land again. I will give you the life you deserve.”
“Kardan.” Zetra’s gaze fixed on some point over his shoulder. “Look.”
He turned.
Behind him, his footprints slowly filled with water.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lovely!! Just lovely!!
Oh, I’m so glad you think so! Thanks for stopping by to read! 😊
powerful imagery, loving dialog.
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
This is a wonderful quest story.
I’m glad you liked it! I didn’t even know where it was headed until I wrote it!
So, so sweet! I loved how you made the curse resolution gradual. They always have to believe they failed, right?
Awesome elements to this story! The statue, the missing mountain, the swerving butterflies… loved it!