Metal Mage 8

by Eric Vall

  The Master had found himself the perfect hideaway, and the notion made it clear that he had bigger plans this time. With a location like this, and the dragons close by, he could build his army up without any hindrance, and if he housed his minions here long term, they’d be mindless, ravenous, killing machines by the time he unleashed them.

  The women seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because they took stock of our surroundings with growing concern in their eyes, and Deya was the first one to break the heavy silence around us.

  “I hear no one,” she breathed.

  “Neither do I,” I admitted, and the women turned to me at once.

  “Nothing?” Aurora asked uneasily. “Your hearing is more acute than any of ours, are you sure?”

  I grimaced. “I can’t believe you’d admit that, but yes I’m sure. Let’s stick close together and head south for a ways first. Everyone keep your ears and eyes open. We should have enough time before sunrise to circle all the way to that ridge over there and back. If they’re near Mors Pass, they should be within the radius, but don’t speak unless it’s absolutely necessary. We don’t know what we’re gonna find out here, and the dragons are hunting by now.”

  Aurora finally looked nervous, but she forced a smile when she caught me noticing. I shook my head and led the others into the foothills, and we all had our bows strapped across out backs with no less than three daggers a piece. The foothills were primarily barren here with slates of granite and obsidian raggedly breaking into deep ravines and ridges in every direction. The moon was full above us, which gave us little options for concealing ourselves, but I led us along the shadows of the rocky ledges whenever possible.

  Every ten minutes, we stopped and scanned the area carefully, but utter silence seemed to fall in this secluded corner of the mountains, which made me wonder if Lyro had been misled about the location of the mage camp.

  Still, we pressed on, turning to the east when we neared the Nalnoran border, but halfway along our route, I heard the heavy flap of a wing close by, and we all ducked into the shadows of a rocky overhang.

  “There,” Deya whispered, and we looked in the direction she pointed to see the chilling silhouette of a dragon whose wingspan couldn’t be less than forty feet.

  “Fucking hell,” I managed as I swallowed hard. “That’s not a drake.”

  “No,” Deya agreed. “It’s heading directly north. That must be where the pass is.”

  I trailed the dragon as far as I could, and when it took a sudden dive into the mountains, I decided Deya’s estimate was correct.

  “We still have another few hours,” I told the women in a low voice. “Let’s finish scouting this area but keep an eye on the sky as well. That dragon came out of nowhere.”

  As we turned to continue through the shadows, another dragon spiked upward from where the last had disappeared, and I paused to watch it soar across the moon and directly over us on its way to the jungle.

  Judging by the draping of its wingtips, this one didn’t look like the same breed as the other, but it was slightly smaller, and I clung to this sliver of positivity despite my growing concerns.

  After another hour of scouting, my concerns about the dragons were far behind me because we still hadn’t found a single trace of a mage out here. Not even a distant heartbeat. We’d already turned north and began climbing back into the foothills, and as I eyed the moonlit slopes and ridges stretching to the west, I didn’t see any torches flickering, either. The silence out here was becoming more unsettling by the minute, but it made sense to me that no wildlife lived in this part of the hills. There was too little vegetation for cover or food, and with Mors Pass so close by, I could understand why the place was so barren.

  My Terra magic wasn’t sending back anything but cold, deserted stone, and the faintest glow of blue began near the eastern horizon to announce the coming dawn. Reluctantly, we decided to abandon our search for now and set our focus on Mors Pass, and we were about to veer west again when something caught my attention.

  I’d sent out one last surge of my Terra powers just in case while the women continued onward, and that’s when I heard something I hadn’t been looking for.

  The sound was coming from the stones.

  I didn’t say a word as I kept my attention focused explicitly on the stonework and crept ahead, and the women halted to wait for me to return.

  I was getting closer every moment, and my heart thrummed anxiously in my chest as I hoped I was imagining the sound. After another few minutes, I knew I wasn’t, because the muttering of a rune was growing louder with every step. Finally, I followed it to a rock that looked the same as thousands of others around us, except for the distinct rune carved into the surface.

  It was no bigger than my thumbnail, but I’d heard it muttering through the stones when I scanned the area, same as I had done with the metal earlier today.

  Then I stooped to look closer, and I realized I’d seen it before.

  I returned to the women and silently beckoned for them to join me, and when we came to the stone once more, I pulled Deya closer.

  The elf’s violet eyes went wide, and she quickly looked further toward the foothills in the east where we hadn’t ventured yet.

  I nodded my agreement, but with the sky lightening more every second, I motioned to the others that we should continue on toward Mors Pass.

  Twenty minutes later, I finally answered Aurora’s questioning gaze, but I kept my voice as low as possible.

  “That rune was similar to the rune the elves use in their homes,” I told the women. “Remember the rune I told you to look for at House Orrel? The one that keeps noise from carrying outside the walls?”

  The women nodded.

  “It’s almost identical to that one, but there’s two extra degree lines added,” I explained. “Which means it’s doing what the other did, but better.”

  Cayla’s blue eyes went wide.

  “He’s silenced their perimeter?” she asked.

  “It looks that way,” I replied. “Which explains why we haven’t heard a damn thing out here. My guess is, he’s got the entire perimeter of the camp silenced, and maybe portions of the foothills leading there. That would explain why we didn’t hear the first dragon until it was right above us.”

  Aurora furrowed her brow. “You’re right. We should have heard it coming before that.”

  “Unless there was a rune nearby,” I added. “The Master’s got big plans out here, and he’s making sure no one can interrupt them this time.”

  “Should we forget the gems and try to find them in the east?” Shoshanne asked as she eyed the dusty light growing near the horizon.

  “No,” I replied. “We know where to look for the camp, now, but we need to protect Serin first and foremost. Those gems are our ticket.”

  I turned to Deya next.

  “The few dragons I’ve seen don’t look alike,” I told her. “That means we have a decent chance at choosing our weapon, so once we get in the pass, see if you can’t recognize some of them and figure out which ones are our best options. We’ll try to get a scale from each.”

  She was about to respond when another beat of a wing broke through the blanket of silence, and a dragon swooped low above us with a full-grown sphynx clamped in its jaws. Aurora and Deya exchanged a look that clearly showed they were beginning to second guess their silly notions.

  “Still sure we’re not killing any of them?” I muttered as we watched the blood of the sphynx drip a deadly trail along the rocks leading to Mors Path.

  “Baby dragons, Mason,” Aurora hissed. “Helpless little baby dragons who need the full-grown ones around, remember? Who’s going to hunt for them, or protect them from the other breeds, or--”

  “You killed a drake with me the first day we met,” I cut-in incredulously. “And a hydra, and--”

  “They were possessed, and that was before I met Deya!” the half-elf insisted. “We’ve both learned a lot since then, and dragons are amazing cr
eatures, Mason. They’re dynamic and cunning, and just the thought of those baby dragons … what if we had a baby and some mage showed up--”

  I had to clamp my mouth shut to be sure I didn’t say anything, and I swiftly trudged onward rather than hear the rest of the speech.

  Now that we didn’t have any shadows left to shield us from view, I kept my eyes trained on the skies as we went, and I was disconcerted by how many times I saw a dragon heading into the pass before I was ever able to pick up the sound of its wings.

  The Master clearly left the silencing rune littered throughout these foothills, and the notion almost made me want to abandon the plan altogether and track his camp right now. It only took imagining what he must have in store for Illaria to keep my resolve firm, though. The more channeling gems I had, the stronger our defenses would be, whatever his plans.

  Sunrise looked to be only an hour off when we finally came to the mouth of a ravine with deep red stains splattering the rocks and spindly shrubs, and we knew without question we’d finally made it to Mors Pass.

  “Alright,” I sighed as I turned to the women. “If you ladies are serious about these fucking baby dragons, then we need a solid plan before we take one more step.”

  Deya nodded. “I can remain invisible to do my work.”

  “But how will we know where you are?” Cayla countered. “We could hurt you by accident.”

  “She’s right,” I agreed. “Stay visible whenever you can, but if you need to disappear in order to get close enough for a scale, move quickly and get back into sight as soon as it’s safe.”

  Deya nodded diligently, and Aurora spoke next.

  “There’s little chance we’ll go completely unnoticed, so we need to be prepared to distract them,” she decided as she turned to me. “While you work on locating the gems, Shoshanne and I can counter them with our magery.”

  “I’ll try and throw the ones who fly at us off their path,” the healer agreed.

  “And I’ll direct their flames away,” the half-elf added.

  I nodded, and there really was some sense in their approach. “I guess I’ll try and shift the ground to keep the drakes at bay while I look for the gems.”

  “But don’t move the nests!” Aurora hissed.

  I was about to respond when Cayla casually interrupted. “I’ll keep them on their toes and try to confuse them.”

  I cocked a brow. “How do you plan to do that?”

  “Something I picked up in Serin the other day,” she said with a smirk. “I wasn’t sure what I would use it for, but I couldn’t resist. Then Aurora said she didn’t want to kill the dragons, and I realized it might be the perfect thing.”

  Cayla reached around her back, and when she unhooked a slim chain on her belt, she brought a coiled, leather whip around to show us.

  I swallowed hard as my blood suddenly began to rush south, and I considered how incredibly sexy Cayla looked with it in her hand.

  “You have a whip?” I asked in as normal a tone as possible.

  Cayla didn’t miss the look in my eye, though, and she sent me a wink.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she purred. “The grip is made of basilisk skin, and the man assured me this leather could take at least a thousand thrashings before it ever showed wear.”

  I wavered between about ten different responses while Cayla slid the coiled whip affectionately through her slender grip, but I only managed to clear my throat and nod.

  Aurora smirked, and without reserve, she eyed the princess from her thigh high boots all the way to the taut ribbons laced at the back of her corset.

  “It definitely suits you,” the half-elf informed her.

  The other two women blushed and giggled their agreement.

  “I know it does,” Cayla said with a careless shrug. Then she strung the whip in another clasp on her hip and turned toward the pass.

  I was still staring when all three women turned around, and only then did I realize they were already several lengths ahead. Apparently, I forgot to move my legs, but the sight of the whip brushing methodically against Cayla’s perfect hip had wiped my mind completely clear of dragons, mages, and the crazy-minded Master trying to take over the world.

  There was only leather and icy blue eyes left.

  “Huh?” I asked blankly.

  “I said, you are coming with us, right?” the half-elf giggled.

  I blinked. “Yeah. Sorry.”

  “Maybe I should have left the whip at home,” Cayla chuckled. “I didn’t intend to distract you.”

  “I’m not distracted,” I lied. “I’m completely fine, this is good. We’re not killing dragons, we’re just entering their nesting grounds, and you’re gonna be strutting around in that outfit whipping them all into submission. This is totally gonna work.”

  I made sure to walk ahead of the four women just to keep my focus in the right place, and we followed the bloody path through the base of the ravine as the jagged ridges on either side of us slowly gained in elevation. Soon, we were barred in by two angry looking cliffs with sheaths of obsidian sticking out with razor sharp edges, and the floor of the ravine became slickened with fresher and fresher blood.

  I could hear the heavy flapping of leathery wings up ahead, and the gnashing of scissor-like teeth made my heart jump into my throat. My rune had begun to mutter a little louder than usual, but I concentrated on quieting it back down while we silently crept through the eerie pass.

  Then we came to a slight turn where the walls opened up toward the sky, and we tucked ourselves under an overhanging slab of stone. With a last deep breath, we carefully peered around the shield of rock, and I pretty much forgot how to breathe right then.

  Blood trickled down the walls of the ridge and pooled amongst bones and half-eaten carcasses below, and all along the cliff faces, massive nests made of branches and old skins tucked themselves into any ledge or cavern in sight. The nests continued as far as I could see into the pass, and almost every one of them were occupied by a dragon gnawing wildly on their prey.

  There were more than ten different breeds just at first glance, and while some of them prowled the floor of the pass and snarled at one another over the wares, others perched high above on the cliff tops with their stark yellow and orange eyes trailing every movement below.

  “Hoooly shit,” I managed as I watched a scaly black beast suddenly lurch from its nest to land on one of the prowlers. Then it tore the head right off its body in two vigorous shakes. “This is fucking crazy.”

  Chapter 20

  The women were ashen and stone-faced when we swiftly ducked back behind the slab of rock, and we just stood there in silence for a long moment while we listened to the prowler being torn to shreds.

  I warred with my rune a bit as every threat in the vicinity came to the forefront of my mind, but I tried to think clearly despite all of this.

  We did need the dragons alive if the scales were going to help us, and I also needed time to locate any channeling gems I could. The only way to do this was to carry on with our initial plan, and for that to be possible, my attention had to stay focused on this rather than how badly I wanted to let the rune take over.

  “Okay,” I sighed quietly. “Deya, what do you think?”

  “There are a lot of dragons out there,” she said shakily.

  I tried not to smirk. “Yes. Which ones are you going for?”

  The elf thought about this for a second, and then she snuck another look down the pass.

  “I recognize three from sight, but the others I can catalog later when we get home,” she muttered. “I stole one of Dragir’s books before we left the cove.”

  “Of course you did,” I chuckled, and I stooped to get another look as well.

  “That one with the black scales has a poisonous spike at the tip of its tail,” Deya said quietly as she pointed to a beast about fifty feet long from end to end that was perched on a rocky ledge above his brood. His scales glinted from black to deep blue when he shifted to
settle in, and he had two gnarled horns that curved back from above his orange eyes.

  “Yeah, that’d be useful,” I mumbled uneasily. “Who else?”

  “The little yellow guy just to the right,” she replied. “They breathe poisonous gas rather than fire.”

  The ‘little guy’ had a thirty-foot wingspan, but to be fair, he was technically smaller than the black beast lingering on the ridge above him. He also had vibrant red claws and spikes to match, and his narrow snout was studded with horns. He was perched a few feet above his mate, and both appeared to be worn out from their nightly hunt.

  “How do you expect to get the scale without breathing?” I asked.

  “They only release the poison as a defense, so as long as he doesn’t know I’m going after him, I should be fine,” Deya mused. “Be careful of him, though. His range of toxicity is about fifteen feet.”

  “Noted,” I said with a nod. “What about the drakes? They could be useful for ground-level attacks.”

  “I’ll try and get the big guy at the far end of the pass,” Deya decided, “if Cayla can lure him out of there for me.”

  “That I would love to see,” I said with a grin.

  “I don’t recognize the dark purple ones,” the elf continued, “but judging by the soot in the nest, I would guess they’re fire-breathers. There’s a mean looking one on the opposite ridge up there.”

  “No,” I immediately countered. “You’re not going anywhere near that guy, he’s at least seventy feet long. Go for the female if anything.”

  “But look at those claws,” she pointed out. “He’s spectacular.”

  “And the female is just as scary, but smaller and half asleep. Female only with that breed.”

  Deya sighed and relented, and then she narrowed her eyes.

  “Do you see that one down there by the dead drake?” she asked.

  I couldn’t see anything but carcasses and a few prowlers, so I shook my head.

  “Keep your eyes trained on the bluish patch on the wall,” Deya instructed. “It moved.”