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Nayala silently retreated from the terrace, about to rejoin the swirling, air-dancing throngs of Soryans practicing their music through the opening behind her. She was intent on disappearing before either boy noticed she was gone.
Then she realized she needn't bother with stealth. The two young boys were locked in a bitter argument that Nayala found amusing for some reason. She hoped these two could work together. So much depended on it if the nation was ever to heal. With that thought, she began to hum softly to herself, then she turned and stepped out into the tower, into open air, and was gone amidst the crowd.
Neither Anton nor Shaine noticed her departure.
Anton was in the middle of another sharp outburst. "You never learned to teleport?? How did you expect us to get there? In a Kelland flying box?"
Shaine was calmly speaking. "No, I can't teleport long distances yet. I can fly though. Can you fly?"
"I don't need to fly! No one needs to fly! Flying is a waste of energy! You Soryans and your frivolous escapades!" Anton was really worked up now.
Shaine held up his hands. "How about this: I'll give you the location, and you just get us there?" Now Shaine was slightly exasperated.
Anton was not appeased. "You'll give me the location how?" His eyes narrowed.
"Telepathically, of course." Shaine said.
Another explosion. "I think NOT, Soryan! I'll not have you rooting about in my mind."
Shaine was now becoming agitated. "Well how do you propose we do it, wise wizard??"
Anton forced calm upon himself. "You will keep the location in the uppermost portion of your mind, and I will glean it from your surface thoughts using my telepathy."
"Fine!" Shaine barked and threw his hands up. "I'm ready." He folded his arms and locked eyes with Anton.
Now Anton concentrated on the other boy's thoughts, and just that quickly, the location appeared in his mind. It wasn't so much a spot on a map, but more of a sense of having been there before.
Also in the surface thoughts of Shaine's mind was an image of Anton. It was Anton combined with a braying donkey. It looked ridiculous. Anton's mind burned with fury and he cut off contact with Shaine.
He could tell Shaine was watching him with that smirk on his face. Looking to see any sign that his image had bothered Anton.
Disgusted, Anton was determined to ignore it and not give the Soryan the satisfaction.
"I'll prepare the spell." Anton said in a very controlled, even voice. At least that's how he meant it to sound.
When teleporting into a place that you did not personally know, and a potential battlefield no less, there were precautions to be taken.
Anton had never in his lifetime had to teleport to such a place, but he knew the protocols of his Order.
First, he created a mask, so that no flashes of light or changes of atmosphere would give them away when they teleported. Second, a muting spell to dampen any sound that might give them away. Anton thought bitterly that this was very similar to the spell he had attempted to use on Shaine the other morning.
Snapping back to the present. Anton added a third layer to the spell, to render the two of them invisible immediately upon arriving, should any natives, or Aeremon forbid, the dragon, be nearby when they arrive.
Shaine was now restless. "I'm waiting, sorcerer. I'm growing into my old age. Are you going to take us there or not?"
Anton snorted in disgust and cast the final part of the spell, the actual teleportation.
One moment the two were on the large terrace, standing in the bright, hot sunlight, and the next, they were in a small clearing of a dense forest, obviously deep in the night, as the half moons were bright in the sky. The air was much colder here -downright freezing, and there was a strong wind forcing its way through the trees.
The two were silent as they surveyed the scene before them. There were patches of snow on the ground all around them, but not a true covering. Most of the trees were of the winter variety, and so retained their leaves and bristles. Although both boys could register the extreme temperature, they were protected from the cold by their respective magic.
It was quiet. Very quiet. Anton dropped his stealth spells and broke the silence.
"Happy now, Soryan? We're here. We'll probably be surrounded by a mob of torch-bearing barbarians any moment now."
Shaine was busy looking around. He had a huge grin on his face. "No, I think not. The Bly-nnar know that tonight the dragon comes, so they have no time to be out and about in the forest. Most should be away to safety, but we'll help any stragglers. Their town is further up to the northeast."
Anton barked laughter. "Town? Surely you mean mud-caked village, instead?"
Sighing loudly, Shaine began walking off down a worn trail in the woods. "Let's see for ourselves. We can be there with only a few minutes walking."
Following closely behind, Anton said nothing. The two walked for several minutes, and no town appeared. Anton realized he was on the other side of the world now from the safety of Il'Doran, and he still had precious little information about their purpose here.
Following behind the Soryan, Anton was afforded a close view of the large, ugly sword affixed to Shaine's back. The sword was naked and obviously kept in place using magic.
Just like a Soryan, Anton thought. Must they waste magic on everything? What's wrong with a scabbard?
Then he thought to ask a question, fairly certain he would not receive a satisfactory answer.
"Why is that sword of yours so ugly?"
Anton asked him plainly. It was true, the sword appeared to be a work of piecemeal. Different kinds of metal forced together with no apparent regard to aesthetics. Very unlike Soryans.
Shaine was not offended. "I'm surprised you noticed it. Why do you think the sword is made this way?"
Anton rolled his eyes. "Just tell me the answer, Soryan!"
Shaine chuckled. "I was just going to give you a chance to guess. The truth is, the swords are made much cleaner now, but this one is a relic of the war, carried by Marcus Wyrro himself." Anton could feel the pride oozing from Shaine. It annoyed him.
"You LIE, Soryan. No one, even Soryans, would give the sword of a Soryan war hero to one such as you.", Anton put emphasis on the word Soryan. Marcus Wyrro, as a founding member of the Soryan Order, was most definitely not a hero to the Holy Order of Aeremon...
"They would so! Sister Nayala says I'm going to do great things!" Shaine was clearly agitated. In fact, Anton noted that he had struck a nerve with the young Soryan. The first time he had ever really done so. I'll remember this, Soryan.
Shaine recovered himself and went on speaking in a softer voice. "The sword is made from different types of metal. Each metal vibrates differently to my voice and creates a different effect, depending on the combination I choose."
Anton thought about that. It sounded needlessly complex. He said nothing, though.
Now Shaine was no longer in the mood to talk, so the two wound their way through the forest. Anton began to despair of ever reaching the town, but still the long walk was better than teleporting in right on top of a dragon.
That made Anton think of another question.
"Soryan, what type of dragon do you expect here tonight?"
Shaine only gave brief glance back as he moved through the trees down the path. "Type?"
"Yes, what type? What color??" It could mean life or death which color of dragon was encountered. Some were far larger and more powerful, and more evil, than others.
Anton continued. "Just so we are clear. If the dragon is blue, I will be leaving immediately, and you can come along or stay. That's up to you." The Holy Order will just have to understand, he thought.
Blue dragons were rare, and inarguably the most powerful of all dragons that had ever been encountered. The extremely massive size of the creatures made them almost impossible to injure, let alone kill. Additionally, while almost all dragons were considered to be intelligent beings, blues seemed to have a cruel, cunning intelligence that was very tactical and dangerous.
The final and most dangerous aspect of blue dragons was their magical abilities. It was known that all dragons possessed use of magic, although some appeared limited to merely using it instinctively for flight. Blue dragons used powerful magic forces for devastating attacks. They did not use complex spells, but the power of their strikes was horrific, and not possible to defend against with anything less than the entire Holy Order.
"Don't worry, this dragon is green, so we should have little trouble avoiding conflict."
Anton relaxed somewhat. Green dragons were several orders of magnitude weaker than blues. They were far more common, smaller and less likely to use magic as an attack. Still, it would take a dozen or so Holy Masters to destroy one green dragon, and it wouldn't be easy. All Anton had was himself and a Soryan. They had both best be careful.
Then they both slowed. Noises were becoming audible on the wind. The two moved forward slowly. Shaine cocked his head to the side, listening intently. "Sounds like chaos", he said. Anton was forced to agree. He thought he heard screams.
The trees began to thin out as they progressed. Screams and yells and the sounds of crying became much more pronounced. When the two emerged from the forest they did indeed step into a scene of chaos.
The Bly-nnar were running frantically in an unorganized flight, some carrying children, and some seeming to carry all their worldy possessions with them. They all looked in general to be moving away from where the boys were hiding. There were not many structures, such as they were, near the treeline where Shaine and Anton hid.
In the distance, there was an awful orange glow on the horizon.
Despite the screaming, Anton smirked. "I told you Soryan! Their domiciles are made of nothing more than wood and straw! It's probably held together by mud and tree sap! These cretins have yet to figure out how to stack one stone on top of another!"
The small town had been built on the edge of a lake, and there were some small boats docked at what obviously served as the port. Much of the lake was frozen over, so the boats were mired in the ice.
After surveying the scene, Shaine stepped out of the woods. "I don't see why you should derive such pleasure from that. We're here to help these people. Although I will admit, I did not expect to see this many of them still here."
"Oh yes!", Anton barked and followed the other boy. "So what is the plan, teleport them all a few days walk across the land? How are we supposed to help them, exactly? These huts of theirs will be burnt to ash in a blink of the dragon's eye."
Shaine was quiet though. Anton had been eyeing the crude Bly-nnar housing with distaste and he walked into Shaine, who had stopped moving.
"Oh, no!" Shaine gasped.
"What is it now, Soryan? A splinter in a cat's paw?", but then Anton saw it, too.
Up ahead, in a clearing that must have served as a town center, there was a rickety wooden platform built. A pole was run up through the flooring, and attached to the pole with ropes was a very young girl.
The two stared at her for a moment, then Shaine surged forward and leapt up onto the platform as Anton followed. The girl was quiet but there was true panic in her large blue eyes. She jerked away from them when they got close. She was too afraid to scream.
She was very pale. The Bly-nnar themselves had a pink/pale complexion much like the Kelland, except that most of them tended to be even more fair and instead of the brown and black hair they tended towards red and yellow.
This girl's hair was a bright red, and between her complexion, her frightened eyes, red hair and wide-open mouth with no sound coming out, she looked to be a ghost or apparition.
Anton shook his head, and when he spoke this time it was not with glee. "I told you, Soryan. Look, she is almost as afraid of us as she is of the dragon."
Shaine seemed very subdued now. "It's not her fault. But still, we didn't realize the Bly-nnar had sunk so far into superstition. Perhaps it's a measure of how desperate they are, that they would reduce themselves to human sacrifice?"
"Who cares? The dragon surely doesn't. Let's get her out of those ropes and then get on with..."
Before Anton could finish, a harsh yell interrupted him.
"Oh, no...", Anton rubbed his temples when he saw who had yelled. He felt a headache coming on.
Below them on the ground, were about a dozen Bly-nnar warriors, each one large and brandishing swords, torches and axes at the two unknown boys. They all wore heavy dark brown and gray furs, and some sort of paint on their faces. There appeared to be some ornaments tied into their matted hair. Animal bones, perhaps.
There was one who was clearly in charge. He screamed at the two again. A short, powerful scream. It was an order, and he was furious that it was not obeyed the first time.
Shaine turned to Anton. "Let me handle this. He wants us to leave the girl."
"Of course that's what he wants! Tell him that his desires mean nothing to us, and..."
Again, Anton was interrupted when the man in charge grunted and waved his hand. The warrior to the right of him moved instantly and leapt up onto the stage next to Anton.
With a powerful, swift movement he delivered a blow with his sword, striking Anton directly in the neck.
The sword blade shattered into hundreds of pieces.
There was a long frozen moment where no one moved. Then, eyes wide with fear, the warrior staggered backwards to get away. He fell right off the platform back into the midst of his awestruck comrades, who did not even react to catch him.
Anton was furious. "YOU...MISERABLE...FILTHY...DOGS!!! You dare strike an envoy of Aeremon?!" Flecks of spittle were flying out of Anton's mouth and the rage had twisted his features. His fists were clenched tightly and shivering.
Shaine jumped forward and put his hand on Anton's shoulder. "Wait! They don't understand..!"
Anton slapped Shaine's hand away. "They WILL!!", he shouted.
In an instant, Anton's hand shot forward towards the Bly-nnar warriors and his hand opened. A bright flash, then a violent force exploded outwards. The Bly-nnar men and most of the earth that was surrounding them simply erupted. A colossal wave of earth and flesh was blown backwards into the distance. The screams were loud but very short.
"They'll likely not forget this lesson." Anton's voice was now leeched of emotion. Shaine was struck by the boy's coldness.
"You murdering..! You...killed them!" Shaine's face had been stuck in an expression of stark disbelief, but now his features scrunched up in anger. In a flash his sword was in hand and pointed at Anton.
"We came here to HELP these people! And you killed them!"
Anton did not flinch or back away, and his quiet voice was still icy. "Not all of them. As a priest of Aeremon, it is my place to dispense judgement for crimes of blasphemy. The punishment for striking one of the Holy Order is death. You know that."
Shaine's voice was filled with restrained fury. "You disgust me. And so does Aeremon."
Anton's eyes widened, then they narrowed. His body stiffened and he felt the power rising up in him. "You'd best recant that, and put that metal stick away before you get yourself hurt."
Shaine remained quiet, but took a step forward. Then the girl that they had both forgotten about screamed.
The scream was ripped from deep inside of her, and it shocked the two boys. A shadow fell over them. The two moons were blocked by a massive shape. Immediately both of them remembered why they were really there.
A harsh cry blasted through the air. It sounded like a legion of trumpets, all hitting different sour notes at the same time.
"The dragon!" Shaine's cry was sharp and held not a little fear. With no more time for talking, Shaine grabbed the girl and used his magic to teleport the both of them off the platform. He could only move as far as his line of sight, so they reappeared behind the tree line that he and Anton had walked out of just a short while earlier.
"Run!", he shouted at her, but the girl didn't move. Her eyes were wide and trained on the sight of the dragon landing in the midst of the Bly-nnar dwellings.
Shaine had to admit the dragon was a sight to behold. It was a green, as had been expected. He estimated it's main body was about sixty horses in length, so a bit large for a green. It had the improbably long, twisting neck of its kind -as well as the equally long and powerful tail.
The only part of the dragon not covered in tough green-yellow scales were the giant wings, which seemed entirely too light-weight to carry the weight of a dragon. The skin was nearly transparent and veins were clearly visible when the light of the two half-moons shined through them.
In a sudden rush, the dragon landed on a house that was near the platform they had just vacated. The wood splintered and exploded into a massive cloud of powder as the dragon's full weight came down onto it. Even while it was landing the dragon's head had never wavered from watching the platform. Then Shaine realized that Anton was not with him.
Damnation! He thought. Ripping his eyes from the dragon, Shaine quickly spotted Anton frozen to the spot on the stage he and the captive girl had just vacated. He must be too awestruck to move!
Indeed he was. Anton had never seen a dragon up close before. He had thought he could handle a mere green dragon, but the sight of this beast had overcome him. He could feel the power of the thing. It was enough to wash him away probably without even trying. And this was only a green! How could anyone face a black or red dragon, or Aeremon preserve you, a blue?
Aeremon. How could he allow these creatures to exist?
It all happened so quickly, but to Anton it seemed he was moving through some invisible sludge, slowing down time and dulling his reflexes. The dragon's eyes...they were looking at him! He could see the horrible intelligence.
Somewhere off in the distance he could hear Shaine yelling something at him, calling his name, but he could not react.
The dragon's sinuous neck was always in motion, which made it even more terrifying when it finally stopped and stretched out toward him. Anton's heart was beating at terrific speed now.
My God save me, it wants a better look at me! He could see the yellow glowing eyes of the creature focused on him, then the giant mouth opened wide, displaying impressive rows of gleaming white, sharpened teeth. The mouth was dripping with saliva.
Anton felt a distinct detachment from his current situation. He dispassionately surveyed the dragon and seemed to watch from outside of his body. He knew the saliva was actually caustic acid that was the dragon's secondary, less powerful attack, and the reason for the astonishingly white teeth.
The green would probably dissolve him in acid in a few moments. If truly enraged, a green dragon would attack with a near unstoppable flame attack. As he made these observations, he thought he heard music coming from somewhere...surrounding him.
The dragon unleashed its acid attack. A huge torrent of viscous, highly potent acid was spat onto the platform, causing it to erupt in flames and dissolve almost instantly.
But Anton was no longer there.
At the last moment, Shaine had used his magic to launch himself at Anton and teleport the two of them behind a nearby house, out of the dragon's sight.
It did no good. Once detected, most dragons would not allow a sorcerer of any kind to live. With a sweep of its giant claw, it smashed the house aside. Shaine was momentarily stunned by the destruction of the house as timbers, splinters and straw exploded around him.
The dragon peered into the cloud of dust it had caused, and then, seeing them, it screamed. At that range, the sound itself was almost a weapon. It shook the two violently to their bones. To Shaine, it was an obvious scream of anger. The dragon was affronted by their presence.
Again, he grabbed Anton and sang his song. When the giant claw came down and crushed into the earth, they were already gone.
An empty patch of snowy forest nearby suddenly became occupied. This time Shaine had made ten successive jumps within his line of sight to put some distance between them and the dragon. They were now just outside of the village. He knew they didn't have long. Although he was using his magic to hide them, the dragon would follow the trail of magic or follow their scent, either way it would find them.
He grabbed Anton by the shoulders and shook him. "Snap out of it! Anton!! Pull yourself...!" He could hear the dragon shrieking off in the distance.
But Anton shook him off. "Alright, alright! Cease your manhandling!" The boy braced himself against a tree.
Shaine kept at him. "You used too much magic! The dragon detected it, you fool!"
Anton was not in the mood to be lectured to by a Soryan. "Obviously! We can deal out blame later, but for now hold still while I take us back to Il'Doran." More shrieks from the dragon, and this time there were explosions and then flames billowing up past the rooftops.
"We can't just leave! The dragon is even more angry now, if it doesn't find us, it will take it out on the Bly-nnar!"
Anton wasn't moved. "Better them than us! Now get ready...", he began making the necessary gestures to complete the spell, but Shaine reached out and locked onto his wrist, and the Soryan's grip was iron hard.
"No! Now we have to distract the dragon while the Bly-nnar escape! They must have thought the sacrifice would work, most of them are probably still there!"
Ripping his arm away from Shaine, Anton snorted. "If I were in better humor, Soryan, I would laugh in your face. Distract a dragon? I'll do nothing of the sort! Besides, I didn't know we were undertaking this misadventure immediately. I had no time to prepare any spells against dragons! I'm leaving!"
Anton once again began his spell, but Shaine spoke again.
"Then I'll know you're a coward. All Il'Doran will know you and your Holy Order are all cowards when I return. What will that say about the envoys of Aeremon?"
Even as the dragon screamed and laid waste to the surrounding area, there came a quiet moment in the forest as the two locked eyes. The silence and the tension built until at last Anton relented.
"Fine, Soryan. Fine!" The words came out as a fierce hiss.
But the two continued their baleful stare. There was anger there, and mistrust. Then they looked away. After that, they disappeared, and the patch of snowy forest was empty again.
Click to read Chapter 5 - Two Against the Dragon |
