Black Dragon of Amber Book Two: The Road to Amber

by Barbara Bretana

  She soothed me. “Amber is in you, Raven. As long as you are you, a part of Amber is with you. It’s time, Tegan, for us to try that spell.”

  “Yes, my Lady.”

  “Raven, Prince Dragon, I’m not sure if it will hurt. If it does, I beg your mercy. This is a true spell, not an illusion for any witch, wizard or spell diviner would be able to see you as you truly are.”

  “Are you a witch, Princess?” I asked feeling my strength come back.

  “Not a witch nor wizard be. I am born of a long line of magic users, a comet seeker and an elemental spirit. So I can touch upon magic more than most wizards or witches but am not yet strong enough to challenge Jasra or her consort, Ryan. He has knowledge of the…energy of magic which he either boosts for Jasra or negated on my father and his wielders.”

  “It was a stalemate, then until I showed up,” I said unhappily.

  “Yes. No one has ever seen a dragon before and we did not understand how to fight one. You are like an…elemental force of nature–like Fire and Wind.”

  I nodded my head. “Put me down, please.” He did so. I stretched my wings, leapt into the air and headed for the ceiling that was far above us. I spent the next hour exploring the confines of the cave, the tunnels and the labyrinth within. I could not get lost, between my hearing, infrared sense and homing sense, I knew exactly where they were in relation to me.

  They were waiting for me, packed and standing at the entrance to the long tunnel. She had a small lantern her hand and a flail made of coarse horsehair.

  I settled to the ground and sat up on my rear legs, turned my good eye towards her face.

  “Ready?”

  I bobbed my head. “Will I be able to communicate with you as a horse?”

  “Not a horse, Sir Dragon but a donkey. If you were a horse that an old man and a boy had, most would think it stolen. Will it demean you to be a donkey?”

  “No. I’ve been called a jackass before. And a mule. Are mules common in this realm?”

  “Yes. The peasants own them freely. A good mule is prized but not worth more than a good donkey.”

  “Make me a mule, then. I’ll be larger and faster in case you had to run. Do you have racehorses here?”

  “Of course. We breed for speed,” Tegan said.

  “Make me a mule with that kind of cross,” I suggested. “Because no matter what you transform me to, I’ll be black and a black donkey isn’t common.”

  “So be it.” She made a series of gestures and passed a flail over me. I felt shrinking and lengthening, realized abruptly she hadn’t answered my question about communicating but that was now the last thing on my mind. I was assailed with such strange sensations–like pain but not, like hunger, fear, flight and the urge to roll, my legs doing a tattoo on the sandy rock floor. Just as quickly as the second between a blink and a sneeze, I looked down at the lady and on eye level with the soldier. Opened my mouth to speak and heard only the obnoxious bray of a jackass.

  “What a beautiful mule,” Tegan admired, stroking the flat of his hand down my neck. “But look, he’s blind in his right eye and the other is yellow. Not a mule’s eye at all, my lady.”

  “No matter what form he takes, he remains true to his origins, Tegan. I’m sorry, I can’t do anything about the eye or the collar.” She hesitated and then placed a cloth halter and lead around my neck. I started to ask about the collar and she answered by wrapping the metal with the rags.

  “This too remains with you, my…I’ll call you Raitt. It wouldn’t be good to call you Raven, it’s not a common name here.”

  I used to be called Corbel, I thought but she couldn’t hear me anyway.

  “Raitt is the name of a black bird with yellow eyes. It is a fierce fighter and smart. Some people have caught them and trained them to mimic speech and to hunt. They won’t eat carrion like a hawk but only fresh kills. They live in the mountains and are nearly the same size as you in your mini Dragon form. It’s probably a good thing you hadn’t met one.”

  Tegan laughed. “I’m not sure a raitt could be called a match for a Dragon, even in miniature. I’m going to load our gear on you, Raitt. Is that okay?”

  I bobbed my head up and down and both of them laughed. I never realized before what a pain it was to carry an unbalanced load on an equine back until I had to do so. Tegan repacked me twice before he was satisfied and placed the Princess on my back.

  “Arg,” she complained. “He’s so boney. I didn’t realize he was that thin.” Her legs wrapped around my barrel and she was careful not to kick me in the ribs.

  Tegan looked doubtful as he took the lead. “It’s good, Raitt?” I pawed the ground and nearly dragged him forward in my eagerness to escape the confines of the cave. “Here, now. Wait for me. It looks odd if the ass is leading the man,” he joked and I slowed my steps until he was in front of me.

  We took the narrow right-hand tunnel and my equine nose picked up the scent of grass and burned wood, fresh water and swampy marshland. It took only a few moments to exit the cave and we stared out on a scene that could have been straight off of the English moors. Rolling hills covered with dry brown grasses, rocky outcrops of bluestone and marshy areas where reeds abounded. In the distance, I could see and smell the remains of a burning village.

  The cave we had been sheltering in wasn’t a cave at all but a mine with a narrow overgrown path that skirted its entrance and led both to and away from the village. I couldn’t see the Garrison nor knew how far we were from it.

  “Ready, er…Raitt?” I nodded and ambled off following neatly on his heels.

  Chapter 25

  Jasra reached the retreat and blew through the doors in a fit of rage. Her servants cowered and ran, well aware of the danger when she was in that mood. Even Bremer did not stay to witness her ire as she destroyed the careful spell she had spent days creating.

  As the last of her rune stones blew up, she stood in the center of the pentagram, her chest heaving, her hair writhing wildly so that she seemed the elemental Fire.

  Slowly, the rage left her and satisfaction crossed her face. “He is dead or dying,” she announced. “And Amber is no longer protected by the Great Black Dragon. Oh, come out, Bremer you old fool.”

  The physician slid out from under her bed with a sheepish grin. She helped him to his feet.

  “What did you do, Jasra? Where’s the dragon?”

  “Caldor and his Generals are dead, his city in our hands and the Dragon made it possible although he seems to have trouble obeying orders even under the influence of the Atarax pollen. I chained him to the front gates of Minsk and am slowly starving him to death.”

  “Starving? I thought you wanted to use him to defeat Luke and Random?” Bremer sputtered.

  “Why? You think I have no chance against the forces of Amber? I made Corwin into a coatrack once, old man and I can do it again. Besides, just think of the anguish when I tell his mighty Lordship that I murdered his grandson.”

  “Jasra, it’s not just Corwin and Random you have to deal with but Merlin, King of the Courts. Can you handle the power of the Logrus and the Pattern?”

  “I am as powerful as the Dragon, I have his energy to draw on,” she said. “I destroyed the spell that fed his continued life here. If he isn’t dead yet, he soon will be. We almost have Caldor’s Talisman and with it, part of the Seven Stars.”

  “Almost?”

  “It’s hidden in Caldor’s treasury but I haven’t found it yet. Even torturing the king, his generals or his family, he wouldn’t reveal it to me.”

  “What did you do with his child, the Crown Prince?”

  “He escaped. The Dragon frightened the brat’s horse and it took off. I have men searching for him now.”

  “Perhaps the child has the talisman. What does it look like?”

  “How would I know?” She retorted. “It’s supposed to be some kind of fallen star or comet. Probably a rock of some kind.”

  Bremer hesitated. “Jasra, some…thing came by here,
looking for the Dragon.”

  Her whole body tensed and she whirled on him. “You just tell me now, old man? Who?”

  “Not who but what. A winged man made of stone and gray skinned with fangs and red eyes. He called himself a…Gargoyle.”

  “I’ve never heard of such creature. Is it native to Amber?”

  “He didn’t say, he just said he was looking for his master. Jasra, he’s dangerous.”

  She laughed. “More dangerous than the Queen of Khafra, the Red Witch? We shall see.” She warded the room against such a creature but Bremer stopped her.

  “My lady, he walked across your wards without even acknowledging them and the snow apes told me he killed one of their kind with one blow of his fists. Your magic doesn’t work on him.”

  “Perhaps I should take him instead of the Dragon,” she mused. She gave him a mirror, round with a handle. “Look into this and call my name should he return,” she told him. “I will come immediately. Now, I’m returning to Ryan and Minsk. Be careful, old man.” She threw her cloak over her head and disappeared.

  Bremer stared at the spot where she had been until the servants came back almost as if they were filling a vacuum made in the fabric of reality. They considered themselves lucky, no one had been killed or maimed by their mistress’ tantrum.

  “She’s mad,” Bremer whispered to himself, frightened for the first time not only for Jasra but of her. He turned to the servants. “Gather your belongings and leave. Go to your villages if you can. Leave by way of the underground passage I showed you. Take lanterns and foodstuffs for at least a week. I’ll cover your retreat. Whatever you do, don’t exit on the mountain or the snow apes will attack and kill you.” They scurried to obey him, not a one willing to face Jasra’s return. Bremer locked himself in his lady’s bedroom and waited for either her return or that of the gargoyle.

  ******

  Corwin, Pire, Rouen and the General stared at the faint trail that Murphy had found on his aerial surveys. Although not sheer, it was still a dangerous and precarious way up. They had left two of the men to guard the camp and the horses but all of them knew that if the snow apes attacked, two men could never hold them off.

  Surprisingly, they reached the floor of the massive, grim Citadel without one single attack. Corwin stood in front of the warded gate and studied the spells put on it to keep out everything from dust to demons yet when he placed his palm on the magic enhanced portico, the door slid quietly open.

  With a savage grin, he entered the stone paved bailey to stare up at the outer ring of the Castle’s defense. Narrow corridors of stone were interspersed with arrow slits every eight feet and a walkway on the top of the wall where defenders could throw down death and destruction should enemies breach the wall. They climbed a staircase that wound both up and around heading for the inner keep.

  Doors were open everywhere and items laid out, left abandoned as if everyone had simply dropped what they were doing and fled. For each room they passed through, they found no one, not even a cat or a dog. It wasn’t until Murphy took them to the tower that they found a human.

  The old man stood up as the group entered the room, wards and all. They flared briefly as Murphy pushed through them but as before, they had no effect on the earth magic of the gargoyle.

  “You,” he stated and Bremer smiled nervously.

  “My Lord. General.”

  “Bremer. You’re still alive?” The general said flatly.

  “No easy task considering Jasra’s temper. What you are searching for is no longer here. In fact, if I were to believe Jasra, he is no longer alive.”

  Both Corwin and Murphy jumped at that. “What do you mean?”

  The old physician explained. “She brought him here, sorely wounded and weak. I treated and saved him but he remained weak. Fading. He said that the energy that kept him alive was weakening this far from Amber. Jasra created a haven with Amber’s soil and essence in this room.”

  He pointed to the remains of the spell on the floor where the basket lay that had held the Dragonet. “She flew him over the Sentinels to Secrest’s Garrison. Burned and destroyed all the villages and went after King Caldor of Minsk. Took that city, too. She ordered the Dragon to kill them all, including Caldor’s son, the Crown Prince, a lad of only ten summers. The Dragon refused and she punished him. Tied him to the gates of Minsk and slowly starved him. She told me he had escaped and was dead or dying even before she destroyed this spot.” He held out the mirror. “I was to warn her when you returned, gargoyle.”

  “Where are her servants?” Cathorian asked.

  “Gone. I sent them all away.”

  “That’s why the snow apes didn’t attack us,” Corwin stated.

  “No. I penned them all so they could not do harm,” Bremer shook his head.

  “Why?” Corwin asked.

  “Because she will only lose this fight and will die if she does not cease,” the old man said simply. “I do not want her to die. I would rather see her as a coatrack again.”

  Corwin snorted. “I’d rather be dead. So, you don’t know where Raven is?”

  “He is dead, Prince Corwin. Without the source of Amber’s magic, he could not have survived this long.”

  “I won’t believe it until I see his bones,” Corwin snarled. “Murphy?”

  The gargoyle’s eyes flared crimson and he lifted his head, flaring his oversized nostrils. “I can smell faint traces of Amber, I can sense the heartbeats of the apes below us. I can hear the cries of eagles but, my Lord, I cannot find a trace of the Dragon!” With a cry of despair, the gargoyle flew out the window and disappeared almost before the pieces of glass and casement hit the floor.

  “Will she come back here, Bremer?” The General questioned.

  “I think not, General. I think she left us all for this Ryan wizard. I can feel the strings that tie this place together unraveling. For a thousand millennia, Jax’s Tower has stood but when she destroyed her Amber spell, it destroyed the magic that kept this place upright and standing. I’m not sure how much longer it will hold together. I would hurry and leave. There is a passageway through the mountain but I’m not sure if it will stand when the Keep falls.” Even as he finished speaking, they found felt the foundations tremble and the Tower shifting. Corwin sheathed his sword and thumbed out his pack of Trumps. Chose one and all of them stepped through emerging in the library of the Lighthouse of Cabra.

  “What about the others?” Cathorian asked undaunted at the method of travel.

  “It’s a one-way trip. I don’t have a trump for the Citadel or the cliff and this is the closest port to Khafra,” Corwin explained. “We need to get to Minsk.”

  “Minsk! It’s half a year’s journey by sea and two years overland!” Cathorian exclaimed. “By the time you get there, it’ll be too late for you to do anything!”

  “Not with Murphy. We can fly over.”

  “Prince Corwin,” Pire protested. “You can’t go alone against an army! Even a gargoyle can’t fight an army!”

  “I’ll get one of my own if I have to,” he swore. “I’ll find out where Raven is and I won’t stop until I have him back whether it be his bones or scales.”

  “Will you call Merlin?” Pire asked quietly. “And the King?”

  Corwin sighed. “Random needs to know what’s going on in Khafra and over the Sentinels so yes, I will tell him.” He paced. “There’s a boat docked below. You can use it to take you to Khafra or Amber. I’ll wait here to find out what Murphy is doing. He knows to rendezvous here. Pire, get the Captain back to Loest and then to Amber. I have a strange suspicion the Army is going to need you.”

  “Yes, my Lord,” Pire herded the Captain out the door.

  “General? Do you plan to return to Khafra and King Luke?” Corwin raised an eyebrow. “Or, we can find a position for you in Amber’s army.”

  “Not a General, I suppose? But then, I’m not truly a General in Luke’s forces, either," he said bitterly holding up the stump of his right arm.r />
  “I never asked,” Corwin said curious. “How did you lose your arm?”

  Cathorian looked at him with grim humor. “A Dragon bit it off.” Corwin stared and then burst into laughter.

  Chapter 26

  My first day as a jackass with easy. Boring, but easy. We walked. And walked. Walked until noontide when she jumped down, kissed me on the cheek and both of them set about making a spot to eat noon meal. I wandered off to the side cropping at the grass as if there was no tomorrow. The equine instinct was stronger in me than in the dragon. No need to tell me not to wander away. The smell of roast meat drifted my way and stirred a forgotten feeling in my gut.

  “There’s water over the ridge, Raitt,” she said. I could smell it, too and trotted eagerly towards the scent. I found a small stream bubbling up out of a hole in the ground and the marks of other creatures that had drank from it. She followed me over and emptied the water bags that I’d carried, filling it with fresh.

  “You are well, my… Raitt?” She asked smiling.

  I lifted my head from the pool and water dribbled onto her shoulder as she kneeled near me. I wished I could speak. I wished I had two arms and a mouth. I wanted to kiss those luscious lips. Wait. How old was she? As the boy, she looked to be no more than ten and even now that I saw her up close, I couldn’t say for sure how old she was. Pushed against her chest with my head and copped a feel with my horsey lips. All I felt was a leather jerkin and no boobs. She pushed my head away, slapped me on the neck and laughed. “Behave yourself, Raitt. What is it you want?” I stared at her and blinked. “You have such beautiful eyelashes.”

  Rising, she walked next to me back to the camping area. I saw that it had been used before and by others for the same purpose. There were many old rings of fires in the small lay-by.

  We had walked our way off the moors and away from the burned villages and farmsteads to enter woodlands so thick that I wondered how anyone had cut a trail through. Yet there were small clearings such as the one we were in that provided both shelter, grass and water.

  “We have to be worried of bandits,” she murmured. “The people that the Red Witch and the Lyon have displaced have taken to robbing travelers to survive.” She kept one hand on her bow and the other on the water bags. I would have carried them for her but she didn’t bother to load them atop me.