He punched in the rune code and stepped through into the tower library. Domina sat in one of the chairs chewing her lip while Polymus paced. They both looked at him when he closed the door.
“What’s going on, Leonidas?” Domina asked. “I’ve never sensed power like this.”
“The elemental dragons have come to pay us a visit. I need to go to the throne room and prepare a proper welcome.”
“Don’t forget to have her activate the tower’s protective barrier,” Polymus said.
“As if I’d forget something so important.” Leonidas hurried to the center of the room and began the ascent.
In truth he hadn’t even known the tower had a protective barrier. Loath as he was to admit such ignorance, it might behoove him to have Polymus provide a full description of the tower’s abilities. Having a resource like the former heir to the throne and not making use of him was nothing short of foolish and while Leonidas was many things, he was no fool.
When he reached the top he snapped his fingers. “Wake up.”
Ariel stirred from her nap and looked at him expectantly.
“Raise the tower’s protective barrier and summon the black dragon.”
An explosion rocked the tower.
“Quickly.”
Three runes on the floor glowed to life. The next explosion was muffled and the tower hardly trembled. Leonidas let out the breath he’d been holding. They were secure for the moment.
Half a minute passed before the window opened before the throne. In it all five wizards were bombarding the tower with elemental magic that burst on the invisible shield.
“Kill them all,” Leonidas ordered.
A moment later a woman in white robes grew large in the window.
Black flames rushed out, engulfing her.
The most powerful lightning wizard in the world fell to the ground. It was almost too easy.
The wizards turned their attacks on the dragon. If they had any effect, it wasn’t enough to slow the ancient beast.
One by one the wizards fell until after two minutes the attacks ended and the black dragon ruled the skies alone.
Leonidas didn’t even try to hide his smile. Let the kings come against him. Let anyone stupid enough to try come against him. With the dragons’ power at his command no one could stand against him.
Moz marched at the head of his team of ten rangers and fifteen bards. They’d been riding hard for days, but now the ruined city was in sight. They approached on foot to reduce the risk of being spotted. Any moment Moz expected a dragon to come swooping down on them.
As if sensing his distress, the little dragon zipped in and landed on his shoulder. She’d been flying off and on for the past two days. Her wing still didn’t look perfect, but it was getting there. Moz would have liked to leave the dragon behind, but she had a mind of her own and was determined to come. Probably because she knew Ariel waited at the end of the mission.
He glanced back at his team. It was a small group, but the bards made them stronger than an entire company of regular soldiers. Much as Moz hoped to reach the ruined imperial capital without anyone noticing them, he equally hoped that Carttoom didn’t betray them. They’d seen no sign of their erstwhile allies. That was either a good thing indicating that they were being careful not to draw attention or it was a sign that they weren’t coming at all.
Of all the things he’d ever imagined doing, teaming up with anyone from Carttoom had to be the most unlikely. He took some solace in the fact that teaming up with rangers was probably pretty low on their to-do list as well. He smiled a little. A common enemy capable of controlling dragons made for strange bedfellows.
Callie quickstepped up beside him. “What do you think?”
“About what?”
“The mission. So much is up in the air.”
Moz shrugged. “Can’t worry about it now. The enemy is directly in front of us. We’ll do the best we can and hope it’s enough.”
“And if it isn’t?”
His laugh was short and bitter. “If it isn’t, we won’t live long enough for it to matter. Have either of our eyes seen anything of the Carttoom force?”
“Tamsin’s birds haven’t said anything to her, but they’re terrified of flying over the city so they might not be paying attention. Tonia says the wind spirits are every bit as riled up as the birds. She says there’s a strange magical energy around the city that disturbs the spirits. Our earth and fire masters feel the same thing. I don’t know what it all means, so don’t ask.”
“I know what it means,” Moz said. “It means we’re going in pretty much blind. Not exactly an ideal way to approach such a strong enemy.”
“Nothing about this mess is ideal.”
“You can say that again.”
Albert, the earth master, came running up from the end of the line. Moz raised his hand to signal a halt.
“What is it?” Moz asked.
“Someone’s coming.” Albert pointed toward the city. “From that way.”
Moz looked hard, but saw nothing beyond snow and an occasional tree. He looked back to Albert.
“I can feel the vibration of footsteps,” Albert insisted.
Moz wasn’t about to argue with an earth master. “Defensive positions. Nobody makes a move without my say-so.”
The group deployed quickly, just as they practiced, with the rangers in front, their dual swords drawn, and the bards in back ready to use their magic as needed. Moz held his own swords at the ready and stood a little ahead of the main formation.
Something shimmered and he tensed. A moment later the woman that approached their camp appeared fifteen feet away. She was dressed in a heavy, fur-lined cloak that hid most of her body. Only her pale face stood out among the shadows of her hood.
“You made good time,” the wizard said. “We didn’t expect you for a few more days.”
“Traveling’s quicker when we don’t have to dodge patrols. Have you been observing the city?”
“For several days, yes. It was quiet until two days ago when the elemental dragons appeared and attacked.”
Moz frowned. Since the tower still stood and sent lightning skyward, the wizards’ attack couldn’t have gone well. “What happened?”
“They hit the tower with everything they could muster and given who we’re talking about that’s quite a bit. Some sort of barrier stopped their magic cold. Then the black dragon came roaring out of the sky. Their spells couldn’t hurt it, but its fire hurt them. In less than five minutes the most powerful wizards in the world were defeated.”
“Killed?” Moz asked.
“They went down in the city and didn’t rise again. Beyond that I can tell you nothing.”
“So they accomplished little beyond putting our enemies on alert. Terrific. This certainly complicates our attack plan.”
The wizard loosed a humorless laugh. “Attack plan? There is no attack plan. I brought ten wizards and thirty of our finest warriors. Together we don’t have as much power as any one of the elemental dragons. If their magic couldn’t penetrate whatever barrier shields the tower, ours certainly can’t.”
Moz tapped his chin. She certainly made a good point. “What do you suggest?”
“A siege. However powerful they are, they still need to eat. We destroy any supply wagons that approach. Starve them out. If we keep spread out around the city, the dragon will have trouble targeting us.”
Moz hated sieges, but if they couldn’t even get inside the tower, there wasn’t much point attacking. For now, the wizard’s suggestion made sense. There was still one other matter.
“What about the citadel? We passed it on our way here, but it looked deserted.”
“We sent a summoned spirit in to check. There’s a skeleton crew of staff, but no one with any power, just maids and cooks.”
“So the rest of the Dark Sages have abandoned their leader to his fate, good or bad. Can’t say I blame them. In that case I guess it’s safe to ignore the citadel for now. Much as
I dislike it, your plan is sound. We’ll take the south and west sides if you take the north and east, agreed?”
“Agreed. I further suggest a weekly meeting. Given that this is our territory, we can provide you with food and basic supplies. You have enough to last until this time next week?”
Moz glanced at Callie who nodded. “We’re good. What if I need to get a message to you?”
“I can send a bird,” Tamsin offered.
“That would be fine. My tent is dark red with a gold flag on the roof. If there’s nothing else, I need to return to my people. I’ll see you next week.” She disappeared.
A minute later the earth master said, “She’s gone.”
Moz blew out a breath. Though thoroughly professional, that woman made him nervous. “At ease, everyone. Let’s find a place to make camp. We’ll need scouts to make sure no one tries to sneak into the city.”
“I’ll take the first patrol,” Tonia said before shooting skyward.
Moz didn’t like her flying around up there with dragons in the area, but they didn’t have a ton of good options. At least they knew where anyone would be heading if they wanted to enter the city. After all, there was only one safe path and Moz knew where it originated.
“What are we going to do now?” Callie asked as the rest of the team broke up to carry out their tasks.
“I know what we don’t do. We don’t take that Carttoom witch’s word for anything. First, I’m going to get a team together to scout the city. Once we’ve had a look around, we’ll check out the citadel.”
“You think she’s lying?” Callie sounded incredulous and Moz didn’t blame her. Still, he couldn’t take anything for granted, not with Carttoom.
“If everything is as she says it is so be it. But I want to see what’s going on with my own eyes. The stakes are too high to take chances.”
Chapter 8
Brigid sat in the back of the sleigh with Yaz’s unconscious body and stroked his hair. He seemed so small, even smaller than usual. They’d been flying eighteen hours a day for over a week at the fastest speed Silas could coax from their transport. She worried that the wizard was going to wear himself out, but he seemed determined to get Yaz there as quickly as possible.
Helena – Yaz’s mother had properly introduced herself as they were carrying him out of the fortress – sat in front guiding Silas. She said they should reach the Well of Darkness by the end of the day. Just the name of the place gave Brigid a shiver. Still, if it was the only place where they could fix Yaz, then she’d face her fears head-on.
Brigid did her best to think positive. After all they’d accomplished, the gods couldn’t take him before they had a chance to enjoy their successes.
Helena looked back. “How is he?”
“Same.”
She’d been asking every hour or two since they left this morning. Her worry was doing nothing to make Brigid feel better. Not that it was Helena’s job to reassure her. Yaz’s mother had to be even more worried than Brigid. It was her son after all. Brigid had known him less than a year.
She smiled and shook her head. Hard to believe they hadn’t been traveling together for longer than that considering everything that had happened. It felt like a lifetime.
After a few hours of silence Helena said, “There it is.”
Brigid looked away from Yaz. She hadn’t really been paying much attention to where they were going. There had been forests for a while, then fields, then forests again. The sleigh was just gliding into a clearing in a dense patch of trees. Directly ahead was a ruin made of black stone.
It might have been a square tower at one point, but the top half had crumbled, the remains sitting in pieces on the ground nearby. The clearing was totally silent. No birds chirped, no squirrels barked at them from the surrounding trees. It felt like they’d flown into a zone of emptiness.
Silas stopped the sleigh twenty yards from the ruin. “This isn’t an imperial design. Was it Kingdom of Aqua?”
“Older,” Helena said as she climbed out of the sleigh. “Far older. Even Kranic couldn’t tell who or what created the well.”
Silas muttered a spell then pointed at the ground directly in front of the sleigh. A golden disk appeared about a foot off the ground. The three of them wrestled Yaz onto the disk then Helena led them to the ruin. An empty doorway led to the interior of the tower. Not that there was much of an interior. The center of the floor had a hole probably twenty yards across and so deep Brigid couldn’t see the bottom when she looked over the side.
A ramp had been built into the side of the pit and they set out with Helena in the lead and Silas bringing up the rear. A conjured light floated overhead so she had no trouble seeing where she was walking. The ramp was smooth, but not so steep that she had any fear of falling.
“Are there any guardians?” Silas asked.
Brigid swallowed. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that she might have to fight.
“There weren’t the last time I was here, but that was over twenty years ago. Unless Kranic returned to leave some, I doubt we have anything to worry about.”
“What are the odds he did?” Brigid asked.
“Not good. Once he had what he wanted, I’d wager he never gave this place a second thought. That was Kranic’s way. He took whatever he wanted and when he was finished, threw whatever was left away. The world is a better place without him in it.”
Helena spoke with such venom that Brigid wondered if Kranic had done something to her personally, not that she had courage enough to ask. Yaz was easy to talk to, but his mother was a bit more intimidating.
They continued downward in near silence, only their echoing footsteps breaking the overwhelming gloom that filled the pit. The further they got from the surface, the tighter Brigid gripped her staff. When her hands started to cramp, she forced herself to relax. There was no threat here and worrying about what might be did no good.
She wanted to talk, to hear the others’ voices, but couldn’t force herself to say anything. It was like her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“I can see the bottom,” Silas said.
Brigid looked and sure enough the gray stone of the floor was barely visible in his magical light. In the center of the floor was yet another hole, this one only about ten feet across and so inky black the light didn’t penetrate the surface. That had to be the Well of Darkness.
“What do you think it is?” Brigid asked.
“I don’t know,” Silas said. “I can’t sense any magic from it, yet it has to be sorcery of some kind. It reminds me of Yaz’s power which I also can’t sense.”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“I’d be more comfortable answering that question if I better understood how his power worked. As best I can tell, it doesn’t resemble any of the five primary types of magic and it isn’t necromancy. It doesn’t work like bardic magic either. I’ve been thinking about it off and on since I first saw Yaz use it and I still haven’t come up with a good theory.”
“Do you know how it works, Helena?” Brigid asked.
“All we knew was that, as your friend said, this power exists outside the normal realm of magic. That led us to believe Lord Black wouldn’t be able to absorb it with his ring. That’s all Kranic cared about, that it would serve as a weapon to be wielded against his rival.”
They reached the bottom of the ramp and gathered around the well.
After they’d stared at it for half a minute Brigid asked, “So what now?”
“Now we put my son in there and pray the well’s magic repairs whatever was broken when he opened the door in his mind.”
Silas gestured and the disk holding Yaz’s body floated out over the darkness. “You’re sure about this?”
“No,” Helena said. “I’m not sure about anything. But this is his only hope. This act of desperation will decide if he lives or dies and it’s totally out of our control. Put him in.”
Silas nodded and snapped his fingers.
The disk vanished and Yaz landed on the black surface. It rippled and held him afloat. After a few seconds, black tentacles formed and pulled him under. It was like the black substance was alive and claiming him as its own. Brigid shivered at the thought.
The instant he was fully submerged she lost all sight of him.
“Now we wait,” Helena said.
Yaz was pretty sure his eyes were open, but it was just as dark as when he was unconscious. Wait, he was conscious, wasn’t he? Maybe this was a dream. The last thing he remembered was killing that weird younger version of himself to save his mother. As soon as he saw she was safe, the door had slammed shut, taking his awareness along with it.
How long ago had that been? He wasn’t used to this kind of confusion. With his perfect memory, he’d never had to struggle to figure out what was going on.
Okay, he’d assume that he was awake and somewhere with no light, sound, or smell. If that was correct, then Brigid, Silas, and his mother had to be around here somewhere.
“Mom! Brigid!” He knew he shouted as loud as he could, but he heard nothing.
Getting more and more worried, Yaz took a step. It felt like there was nothing under his feet. Where the hell was he?
Maybe examining his last memories would help. He closed his eyes, more out of habit than because there was anything to block out in this place.
In his mental library, he found Wrath towering over his other emotions. After he lost consciousness his emotions must have separated again. The cloaked figure had his cowl thrown back so Yaz could see his own pale, black-eyed face looking back at him.
They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before Wrath said, “Took you long enough. I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to show up. Come along.”
The Dragonspire Chronicles Omnibus 2 Page 41
