Page 56 of Dark Shaman: Love Found (The Children Of The Gods #99)
Present time.
"Truth without wisdom is a blade without a hilt; it is as dangerous to the bearers as it is to their foes."
—An Elurian proverb
Post-Division Era
" L ook at this place, Alar," Codric said as we exited the transport. "I knew it would be big, but this is enormous."
I glanced at the Elucian port of entry as I paid the driver. "I have to admit that it's more impressive than I expected." I hefted my heavy backpack over my shoulders and stood next to my cousin to admire the awe-inspiring feat of engineering.
Carved into the base of the Elucian Mountains, the industrial-scale depot was hewn directly from the rock, the main terminal stretching as far as the eye could see.
"Nothing in Eluria can compare to this," Codric whispered as we passed through the weapon scanners.
I cast him an amused glance. "I wouldn't go that far."
Elucia was a tiny country with scant resources, the most precious among them being the dragon alliance. The exclusive pact gave Elucia the sole mastery over Aurorys's sky, something that the Elurian Federation envied and the Sitorian Union loathed.
The Sitorians had been attempting to wipe dragons and Elucians out of existence for thousands of years, their attacks often spearheaded by their most fanatical sect—the Shedun—but not always.
The entirety of the Sitorian forces had taken part in the two major Extinction Wars, the second one almost succeeding in wiping out dragonkind.
Still, despite constant attempts to annihilate them and eradicate their dragons, Elucia survived in these nearly barren, barely habitable mountains, some would argue even thrived, thanks to their tenacity and ingenuity, and of course the dragon pact.
In most other respects, though, it was a backwater, poor country, especially when compared to our resource-rich, technologically advanced, and culturally forward Elurian Federation.
Nevertheless, standing in front of this gargantuan complex, I had to agree with Codric. Elucia's ingenious transportation method and its scale equaled or even outdid many of Eluria's most celebrated technological achievements.
Cables as thick as my thigh stretched out from the terminal into the mountain mists, carrying cars up to the main hub in the capital city, which was located far above the cloud cover.
Another network of cables handled cargo.
This transportation artery was the lifeline of an entire nation, shuttling people and goods to and from Elucia and serving the inhabitants of these inaccessible mountains.
The engineering required to maintain such a system was staggering, and the sheer size was intimidating, but other than flying on the back of a dragon, that was the only way to get into Elucia.
"This way." Codric tugged at my sleeve and pointed to a sign indicating security screening.
"Remember to act like an excited pilgrim, but don't overdo it.
" He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a near whisper.
"The secret to a successful deception is staying as close to the truth as possible, and that includes your demeanor.
You are supposed to be a pampered merchant's son, excited about a chance of becoming a dragon rider. "
I cast him a warm smile. "There is no need for acting. I am thrilled to be a pilgrim, and so are you. If Elurion so wishes, we will be granted the ultimate prize. "
Codric and I had dreamt about riding dragons since we were little boys, but until recently it had been an impossible dream.
Then we'd discovered that our great-great-grandmother had been Elucian, and that tiny bit of Elucian blood opened the possibility of joining the pilgrimage and learning whether we had what it took to become riders.
Our Elucian blood wasn't enough to qualify us, though, and given who we were, we would never have been admitted.
But that hadn't been much of a deterrent given the resources available to me.
I'd procured excellent forged paperwork, which had so far passed the scrutiny of the rigorous Elucian background checks, and, hopefully, our luck would hold through these last checkpoints as well.
I was nervous, and not just because I was worried about these final security checks uncovering something all the others had missed.
The fake identity was not the only deception I was perpetrating, and I had other hidden agendas that Codric wasn't aware of. Keeping them to myself was necessary not because I didn't trust my cousin but because some of my plans were above his security clearance.
They were also so ambitious that they bordered on ludicrous.
Well, if I cared to be perfectly honest with myself, I trusted Codric only to a certain degree. I loved him like a brother, but sometimes I couldn't help the niggling suspicion that he was just too damn charming to be genuine and too good of an actor to be sincere .
Then again, I was well aware that my father's paranoia might be rubbing off on me. His advice to trust no one had taken permanent residence in my head.
Codric cast me an amused look. “Try to loosen up and pull that stick out of your backside. You are a nobody here.”
I knew what he meant. I shouldn’t act formal and stiff. I was just another guy on his way to a pilgrimage. A nobody.
I loosened my shoulders and forced my facial muscles to relax. “Is that better?”
“Much.” Codric grinned, squeezing my shoulder. "We are both going to become riders. I feel it in my gut."
"From your mouth to Elu's ears, may it be true," I invoked the old Elucian adage.
Our religions had diverged over three thousand years ago, with the Two-Faced God Elu splitting his essence into two separate deities, Elurion and Elusitor.
Elucians continued to worship the duality, and as an Elurian, I was supposed to believe only in the benevolent side of the divine.
But I wasn't overly devout, and to me, Elu and Elurion were one and the same.
As for Elusitor, well, that was another story.
The Sitorians had taken the destructive side of Elu and twisted it into something it had never been meant to be.
The security checkpoint loomed ahead, and as we approached it, I tried to ignore the knot of anxiety in my stomach.
This was it .
After months of preparations, we were clearing Elucia's legendary security.
Gaining entry to the country was just one more step in our long journey and far from being the last, but it was crucial, and we were about to find out just how good our backstories and fake documents were.
Because if they were not good enough, at best we would be turned away, and I did not want to consider what would happen at worst.
"Stop fidgeting," Codric muttered under his breath. "You are drawing attention to yourself."
I shot him a glare. "I'm not fidgeting." I fisted my hands to stop whatever they were doing. "I'm an excited pilgrim, remember?"
Codric snorted. "You are supposed to look fierce and determined, not nervous."
My cousin was my best friend, but sometimes he could be an obnoxious and overbearing know-it-all. I itched for us to be on the sparring mat so I could take him down a notch.
I opened my mouth to rebut him, but I was interrupted by a booming voice cutting through the air.
"Next in line! Please step forward!"
Codric and I exchanged a quick glance before moving toward the security checkpoint. The Elucian guard, a burly man with a thick, reddish-blond beard and piercing blue eyes, regarded us with suspicion.
I reminded myself that it wasn't personal, and that he probably regarded all passengers the same way, Elucians and Elurians alike. Not that there were many Elurians about.
Codric and I were probably the only ones in the massive port today.
Elucians were suspicious of everyone, and for good reason. It hadn't even been a month since the last Shedun attack was thwarted in this very port of entry.
"Papers," the guard grunted as he held out his hand, bringing us to a stop.
I fumbled in my pocket and produced the documents we'd spent months procuring and perfecting. Beside me, Codric handed over his own papers, a charming smile already in place.
Not that his charm worked on the guard. If anything, it made the creases in the guy's forehead deepen. His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized our documents, and I held my breath while schooling my expression into a well-practiced mask of bored indifference.
The documents approved by the Elucian embassy were all legit, but our identification papers had been doctored to hide our identities.
They were as flawless and authentic as the real ones, but there was still a small chance that the Elucian Secret Service would manage to uncover the one tiny item that could expose the documents as the forgeries they were.
The guard looked over the papers and then gave us a thorough once-over. "What brings a couple of strapping Elurian lads like you to the pilgrimage? "
We were dressed as members of the Elurian affluent merchant class, which had been a deliberate decision on my part. Our accents and vocabulary indicated our level of education, and I wasn't as talented as Codric at mimicking the accents and vernacular of commoners.
"The dragons, of course," Codric said with a grin.
"My cousin and I have been dreaming of becoming dragon riders since we were young boys.
" He leaned closer to the guard. "Not to mention our desire for the long life that comes with bonding with the magnificent beasts. That's just a small bonus, eh?"
It was the truth, at least part of it, so even if the guard had a sixth sense for detecting lies, he would find nothing questionable or objectionable in Codric's statement. The problem was his delivery.
Hadn't he learned anything about politics in all the years he had spent by my side?
As I'd expected, the guard's lips twisted in distaste, and I wanted to flick the back of Codric's head for blurting words before thinking.