by Kyle West
I realized, among these fights, that a single mistake was enough to send it all crashing down. They fought at such a level that something as minute as being one inch off with your attack would avalanche into a series of disadvantages, culminating in defeat.
The fights continued into the night, until there were but two left: Seeker Haris, and Elder Tellor. Haris was a surprise. I remember hearing that he was skilled in the blade, but to see him advance to the finals only proved he was among the best of the best, and the fact that he was a Scholar made it all the more impressive. He had a relentless style in line with his personality, while Tellor’s was the opposite — cool, collected, but taking advantage of every mistake, no matter how small.
This was the main event. It seemed everyone was here, and I was thankful I had chosen a place where I could see the action unimpeded — a problem, I think, that any short person can relate to. Isa watched from beside me. I think everyone among the initiates and apprentices wanted Haris to lose; his ego didn’t need to be fed any more than it already was.
When they finally did join battle, it was less like a fight and more like a dance. They made dueling look easy. There was no wasted motion, and everyone watched, rapt, as they parried and dodged, each testing the other’s ability. As the battle continued, their eyes grew brighter until there was no doubt that they were glowing.
“They’re both within the clutches of Battletrance,” Isa said.
Indeed, the fight took on a new level of intensity. Their motions seemed to blur, too fast for the eye to keep up. By the time I’d registered one attack, they were already into another. The speed at which they were moving seemed inhuman. There couldn’t be any room for thinking in all of that; it was the result of countless hours of practice. It seemed every moment that passed they were into a new form. They often came close to the edge of the ring, but never overstepped its bounds. Even so, the spectators would pull back.
They seemed to be perfectly matched — Haris making most of the attacks, with Tellor adroitly defending. Even the forms I was used to seeing — such as Tree and Flame — seemed far more artful when executed by either of them. Treeform, which I often thought boring, was instead something beautiful to behold, and its simplicity held intricacies that had escaped my notice before. Haris hardly ever used Tree, opting instead for Wind and another form I was unfamiliar with.
“Dragonform,” Isa said. “It’s all the forms wrapped in one. Done right, it’s said to be the most powerful. But doing it right is incredibly difficult.”
It did seem Haris was struggling to maintain the form against Tellor. Something told me that Dragonform was best used against an opponent less skilled than you — the flexibility of being able to use every form would ensure that a sudden gimmick wouldn’t catch you off guard. However, Tellor was Haris’s equal, and he was able to stick with his form and begin poking a hole in Haris’s defenses.
Sensing this, Haris switched to Treeform, knowing that he was going to have to defend for a while. Tellor took advantage, unleashing a fury of attacks with what I believed to be Waterform — the movements were fluid and efficient, and for the first time, the fight seemed to tip in Tellor’s favor. In time, it was clear why he was the Elder. Haris’s movements became slower and more lethargic while Tellor pressed the attack.
And Haris simply seemed to crumble, just as darkness spread over the village green.
EVERYTHING WENT QUIET as everyone looked up. Much of the sky had been blocked out — and whatever was blocking it out was moving.
Then, people started screaming.
“Dragons!”
And to my astonishment, there were dragons in the sky — at least three, all of which were descending on the green.
Everyone scattered, although Haris and Tellor immediately faced the threats as the first of the dragons clawed into the mass of helpless, fleeing people.
And one of them was coming right for Isa and me.
She pulled at me frantically and we ran through the crowd. I stole a glance over my shoulder to see the dragon still coming for us, as the others terrorized the rest of the crowd.
Isa screamed, and I knew there was no way we could outrun it. I jumped on her, and we both crashed to the ground. The dragon swooped overhead, its claws just inches above.
I looked up to see the dragon soaring back into the sky.
“Mindless,” I said.
I pulled Isa up, just in time for the dragon to circle around and swoop down again. I pulled Isa toward a large tree, and we hid behind its trunk. The Mindless bellowed, easing up and circling around to get us from the other side. We switched to the other side of the trunk. I looked around, only to see the dragon settling on the ground. It knew it couldn’t catch us from the air.
“Run!”
We sprinted down the path. It was pandemonium. Some initiates and apprentices were running up the path toward the Sanctum while villagers crowded into whatever building they could find. Any who were caught in the open were violently mauled. In the space of half a minute, the crowded green had been completely deserted — save for what few, lifeless bodies there were. Some among the dozen or so bodies were still screaming.
Isa sobbed from beside me. “What do we do?”
My inclination was to continue running until we reached the Sanctum, but I was afraid of being caught in the open. For the moment, it didn’t look as if the dragons were focusing on the people fleeing in that direction. All the same, something told me that running was a bad idea.
We needed somewhere to hide.
“This way!”
I turned around a house, leaving the dragon behind on the previous path. We had to find a place to hide before it rounded the corner.
In front of us was the house that Seeker Karai had taken us to. Mara’s house.
“In here,” I said.
I tried the door, but it was locked. I knocked madly, glancing over my shoulder for the dragon, which was still out of sight.
“Please, let us in! It’s Shanti. I was here just a few...”
The door opened, and we were hastily pulled inside.
Mara was the one who had grabbed us, and she shut the door and bolted it.
“Thank you,” I managed.
I looked around to see that several other people were already there. Besides Mara, there was her daughter, Kilan, who appeared to have recovered, and there were five other people. The man now touching Mara’s arm, brown-haired and well-built, I assumed to be her husband. All looked at me with frightened eyes.
“Stay away from the door,” Mara said.
Outside, I could hear the padding of heavy feet and breaths so deep that they couldn’t be anything other than the dragon. The people in the house cowered in the corner, and I grabbed Isa by the arm and backed away from the door. I wished I had something to defend myself with — not that a blade would have been of use against a dragon.
Isa was still sniffling, holding onto me.
“Quiet,” I whispered.
The entire house went silent, and there were no more sounds from outside. We waited for half a minute, and I would have thought the dragon was gone — except I hadn’t heard it walk away from the door.
There was a sudden snort, so loud that it was a shock. Isa whimpered, and I covered her mouth in case it became anything more than that. I could hear Kilan crying from behind me, and Mara trying to comfort her. I looked back at them, letting them know that not a sound could be made.
A few seconds later, the dragon’s clawed feet scuttled against the dirt, and I heard the flap of its wings take flight.
Only then did I allow myself a sigh of relief.
“We’ll be all right,” I said to Isa. “It doesn’t know we’re here.”
I could only hope that was true — if the dragon thought we were in here, then it would have tried to attack; of that I was sure. I put an arm around Isa, trying to comfort her. She was younger than me, and even if she had been at the Sanctum longer, I still felt as if she was my little siste
r. One of us had to be strong, even if all I wanted to do was cower.
A screech sounded from outside, seeming to come from a safe distance away.
“Stay quiet,” Mara said.
The house did remain quiet, and in the silence, I could only wonder why that dragon had been so set on attacking me.
An old woman, likely a grandparent, spoke from behind me. “There hasn’t been a Mindless this far south since my grandparents’ time.”
“Why are they here?” Kilan asked, her voice high and afraid.
“Gods be damned if I know,” her father said.
Mara shot him a look for cursing, but the father didn’t seem to care — at least not that I could see.
“I should be out there, fighting,” he said, after a moment.
“And get yourself killed?” Mara asked. “You have no sense, Orin. A fine hunter you may be, but even your longbow couldn’t pierce a dragon’s scales.”
Orin closed his mouth, and didn’t argue further.
No one said a word after that. A long time passed, the silence only broken by the screeches of dragons. There were no human screams — apparently, everyone who had escaped had found safety by now. Mara held her daughter close, whose face was buried in her shoulder. Orin stood with an old wood ax in hand. The other people were quiet, standing close together.
Isa and I seemed to wait for at least a quarter of an hour. From time to time she would sniffle. I kept my arm around her, letting her know that she was safe.
“I wish I had never come down here,” she whispered. “I had a choice, you know.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “We’ll get through this.”
The silence was broken by the screams of dragons, only this time, there were far more than before.
“Are they attacking again?” Kilan asked.
“No,” Mara said, after a moment. “It’s the Seekers. They’re fighting them back.”
“How?”
“They must have rallied and are using the Askaleen,” Orin said. “They may need help...”
“Leave to the Seekers what is Seekers’ business,” Mara said. “I nearly lost my daughter, and I’m not about to lose my husband.”
Orin didn’t protest. He’d only wanted to make brave words for his wife, counting on the fact that she would not allow him to make good on them.
The sounds of the fighting soon died, and all that was left was the void of silence.
“Is it over?” Isa asked.
No one answered.
Presently, voices could be discerned outside. Everyone looked at each other, but no one was willing to take the chance to see what was going on.
In the end, it was me who went to the door.
“Shanti...” Isa said.
No one else tried to stop me as I turned the handle.
I opened the door to the night, only to find the street mostly empty. Several Seekers were going door to door, telling people it was safe. Among them were Seeker Garin, Elder Isandru, and Eldress Karu.
“Elders...”
I hadn’t spoken loudly, but in the silence of the street, my voice carried far. All of them seemed relieved to see me.
“Shanti, are you all right?” Eldress Karu asked.
“Yes. Isa and I both are.”
Isa came out to join me, peering into the dark sky.
“We beat them back,” Garin said. “But we’ll need to be vigilant.”
Isandru remained quiet, his light gray eyes deeply troubled. After a moment, he broke his silence. “There were only three. If they had wanted to destroy the village, they would have sent more.”
“Even the Mindless don’t attack my hold in the north,” Isa said. “What would they want to do with Nava Village?”
No one answered her, but it was clear that they were all wondering the same thing.
“None of the initiates or apprentices were harmed, thank the gods,” Karu said. “Nor were any Seekers.”
“And the villagers?” Isa asked.
Karu’s face darkened. “Those who didn’t escape...weren’t so lucky. It’s a dark day for Nava. It’s a dark day for us all. We’ll treat who we can at the Sanctum, but some are beyond help.”
“How many?” I asked.
“Six, so far,” Garin said. “It happened on the green, when we were caught unawares.” He shook his head, unable to say more.
“We need to move on,” Isandru said. “We still have ten Champions in the air, so the skies are watched. Isa, Shanti...work your way down that row of houses and let the people know it’s safe to come out. Tell them to gather here.
I nodded, just glad to be given something to do.
Isa and I worked over the next half hour going door to door. Depending on the home, there were either a few people inside, or as much as fifteen or twenty. Sometimes they took convincing to come out, but most often, they didn’t. They left their homes looking dazed and lost. There hadn’t been much damage to the buildings — nothing a few new shingles couldn’t repair. The dragons had specifically targeted the people. When we reached the village green, we saw that several men had lined up the dead, while loved ones stood around the bodies. Some merely stood, shocked and unbelieving. A mother cradled a daughter no more than twelve in her arms, and I had never seen such grief by the way she cried. I couldn’t bear to watch.
“Why did this happen?” Isa asked.
I shook my head. I wanted to say something to her to make it all go away, but of course, that would never happen. Some things were too horrible for words.
But I started to wonder at the why myself. Planning this attack didn’t seem to be something the Mindless were capable of. I had always been taught that they only attacked people who violated their territory, or villages that were within striking range of their aerie. The fact that it had happened during the height of the Festival was telling in and of itself. As Isandru had said, if their goal had been obliterating the village, they should have attacked with more than three dragons.
I couldn’t make any sense of it, but I did know these dragons had some object in mind.
We returned to the Elders, but they told us to get back to the Sanctum, with Garin as an escort. Likely if the dragons came back, Garin wouldn’t have been able to do much on foot, but it still felt good to have him with us.
“You fought well today,” he said. “But true bravery is demonstrated under great duress.” He paused. He didn’t hand out praise often, so it was probably hard for him to voice his thoughts. “You acted bravely today. The both of you.”
Isa smiled. “I was just a blubbering mess.”
Seeker Garin chuckled, the sound deeply resonating. I had never heard him laugh before. “It’s important to remember that courage isn’t about how you feel when you’re afraid — it’s about how you act.”
Nothing more was said until we reached the Great Hall, where most of the initiates and apprentices were gathered. Upon our entry, all eyes went to us. It was clear Isa and I were the first to return from the village of those who had stayed behind. Aela and Deanna were missing from the crowd, and neither did I see Isaru, Ret, or Nabea — though for all I knew, they were safe in their dorms.
“The dragons have been driven away,” Garin called out. “We haven’t found any of our own number killed or injured, thank the gods...but until we take an account of everyone, we cannot be sure. Six villagers are counted among the dead, and many more are injured. It seems most of you are already here, but in a quarter of an hour, I want to see everyone who is in the Sanctum gathered here.”
It was only a few minutes later that the Great Hall was filled with everyone who had returned to the Sanctum. The buzz of conversation filled the crowd until Garin made another announcement.
“Any Seekers here — or any Clerics or those apprenticed to the Clerics — I ask that you return to Nava Village to see how you might be of help.”
“What about the rest of us?” a voice called out.
“Remain here. If you are an apprentice, you are
to remain awake and see how you might be of help. Over the next few hours, injured villagers are going to be brought up from Nava for treatment, and I want your services to be available. If you are an initiate, please clear out as quickly as possible. Return to your dorm unless you are otherwise needed.” Garin took a moment to look over the crowd. “That is all.”
Again, the crowd started talking while Seekers and the Clerics’ apprentices left the Sanctum to return to the village. It was a while before the initiates cleared out.
“Where’s Isaru?” Isa asked.
“He might still be back at the village,” I said. “I wouldn’t worry about it.” Despite my words, I did feel worried. “Let’s just get back to the dorm.”
Isa nodded, and as we walked out of the Great Hall, I remembered how that one dragon had been so dead set on coming after me. I couldn’t help but feel that there had to be a reason.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
IN 2064, RAGNAROK CRATER WAS still as inhospitable and forsaken as the day Askala was defeated. The thick, oppressive air was filled with smoke and heat, though a resilient strain of xenofungus had taken up residence on the hellish Crater floor. Molten magma still churned from below the surface through chasms, and rivers of lava flowed across the scarred landscape, collecting in fiery lakes. Over a great many years, the Crater might become shallower from the solidifying of that lava, but that wouldn’t be during Anna’s lifetime.
Quietus, impervious to the heat, settled on the Crater’s rocky surface. Anna wasted no time sliding off and drawing her katana. There probably wasn’t any need for it here, because all the monsters that had terrorized them during the war were now part of the Elekai consciousness. Still, Anna felt safer with it out. More important than the blade was her pack, filled with three days’ worth of food and water. She’d have to continue the journey to the Sea of Creation alone. Quietus could fly her, but the Dragons’ Way was a literal furnace superheated by magma. Anna would be burned to crisp within seconds if she went that way, and the way in, even by air, took longer than seconds. The very density of the atmosphere and the constant updrafts from below made descent by air difficult, so Anna had to go in through one of the many tunnels that opened on the surface.
