Dragontiarna: Thieves

by Moeller, Jonathan

  But she flew with quicksilver speed towards Merovech.

  Even in dragon form, Tyrcamber saw the astonishment in the way Merovech’s head snapped around. His jaws opened to breathe fire, but Ruari was quicker. No fire blasted from her jaws, but instead a plume of billowing white mist. The mist slashed across Merovech, and it hardened into a coat of glittering, diamond-hard ice. Merovech roared and twisted in midair, breaking free of the ice, but his flight dipped towards the earth as he struggled free, so low that his tail dragged against the ground before he rose back up.

  Tyrcamber could not let her fight the Dragonmaeloch without aid. He would not have let any man of the Empire face Merovech Valdraxis alone, and he damned well wasn’t going to let his wife fight without his help. He threw himself back into dragon form and took to the air, shooting after Merovech.

  The Dragonmaeloch turned to face him, shadow fire blasting from his jaws. Tyrcamber dodged, the fire rushing past him. Merovech tried to follow, but Ruari swooped on him from above, her freezing breath washing across his back. This time the ice coated his wings, locking them in place, and Merovech plummeted to the earth. The Dragonmaeloch crashed hard into the ground, trying to shake free of the ice, but it was too late.

  Tyrcamber sprang upon him for the kill.

  He had fought other dragons before, and he knew he had Merovech. His talons stabbed into Merovech’s sides, sinking deep, and his jaws clamped around Merovech’s neck. The Dragonmaeloch screamed and tried to break free, but Tyrcamber dug in deeper. Another moment, and he would kill the Dragonmaeloch.

  With one final burst of fading strength, Merovech unfolded his wings and leaped. Tyrcamber was thrown off his foe’s back. Ruari swooped upon the Dragonmaeloch, breathing more freezing mist. Merovech twisted to the side with serpent speed and leaped into the air, a rain of golden blood falling from his wounds. He turned not to the south but to the west, roaring all the while.

  Soon he faded from sight, and a ripple of fear went through the cultist army as their leader fled.

  Tyrcamber looked at Ruari. Even in dragon form, her eyes were still that brilliant, icy blue. She inclined her scaled head in a nod, and Tyrcamber took to the air, Ruari following him on his left.

  Together they attacked the rebel army.

  Flames ripped from Tyrcamber’s jaws, setting humans and pagan gnolls and mountain goblins alike aflame. Ruari followed him, and the freezing mist that issued from her fangs froze men in a single moment, turning them into statues.

  By their third pass over the enemy, the cultists and their allies had seen enough. The army of Merovech Valdraxis broke, scattering in all directions, though most of them fled to the west. The blast of trumpets rang out from Prince Everard’s host, and the knights surged forward with a mighty yell, ready to ride down the foe. Tyrcamber thought about pursuing them, but he was exhausted, and with Ruari following, he did not want to expose her to any more harm.

  He flew back to where she had transformed, her clothes lying discarded next to her horse (which, again all odds, had patiently waited), and landed. Tyrcamber shrank back into human form, and Ruari did the same. She was still naked, and there was a wild, exultant expression on her face that he hadn’t seen before.

  “Your…your clothes,” said Tyrcamber. Despite the thousand other concerns pressing in on him, despite the fact that she was a Dragontiarna like he was, he suddenly could not think of anything but her. “Your clothes…and back to the…”

  She stepped forward, her eyes shining, seized his face between her hands, and kissed him long and hard on the mouth.

  Some barrier of pain in his mind shattered, and he was kissing her back, suddenly unable to get out of his armor and clothes fast enough.

  Tyrcamber took his wife for the first time on the grass of the field, her soft moans and panting filling his ears as she clung to him.

  ***

  Chapter 28: Blood & Shield

  The crimson knight rushed at him, and Ridmark met the attack.

  He got Aegisikon up in time, and the burning sword slammed into the shield. Ridmark feared that the corrupted soulblade would have the power to slice right through Aegisikon and his armor without slowing, but the sword rebounded from the shield. Nevertheless, Ridmark felt the impact. Without the power of his armor to brace himself, he would not have been able to withstand the blow.

  Worse, the shadows pouring out from the soulstone in the burning sword were attacking his armor, draining its strength. The armor of the Shield Knight protected Ridmark from the slowing effects of the shadows, but that meant the armor’s power would drain all the faster. Ridmark would not be able to hold the power for much longer.

  Which meant that if he was going to defeat the crimson knight, he had to do it right now.

  Ridmark caught another descending blow on Aegisikon and stepped into the attack. He swung his left arm, and the shield slammed across the crimson knight’s cuirass and helmet with terrific force. The blow was enough to knock his enemy back a few steps, and Ridmark swung Oathshield. The soulblade struck the red cuirass with a ringing clang, but despite that, it felt as if he had just struck flesh. Maybe the armor was somehow fashioned out of flesh, which explained why it looked as if it had been dipped in fresh blood.

  Ridmark managed to strike the crimson knight twice more before his foe recovered. The armored form took the burning sword in both hands and parried his next blow, and then went on the attack. The burning sword slipped past Ridmark’s guard and struck his helmet, and the impact knocked Ridmark back, white light flashing before his eyes. Had the blow struck his unprotected head, he suspected it would have cut him in half from head to groin. As it was, his head still hurt, and he felt his grip on the power of the Shield Knight loosen further.

  They traded a dozen blows in half as many heartbeats, and then a blast of magical ice struck the crimson knight. The ice shattered against the bloody armor without harm. Ridmark risked a glance to the side and saw Selene, Third, and Sir Rufinius running towards him. He wondered why Third did not use her power to transport herself and realized that the haze of shadows blocked her ability.

  Selene went to the left and Third went to the right, followed by Sir Rufinius, and they fought the crimson knight, blades ringing against the armor. A memory flashed through Ridmark’s mind of a battle three years past when they had faced the Sovereign before the Well of Storms in Cathair Animus. The Sovereign had been quick and deadly and inhumanly strong, even while wearing the body of a human, and had been able to call forth mighty dark magic. So far, the crimson figure had not been cast any spells, but Ridmark knew better than to assume any weaknesses.

  He battled on, trying to land a decisive hit before his stamina ran out.

  ###

  Aeliana feared that she had made a mistake, but her confidence grew at the battle went on.

  She had expected the haze of shadows from Ruinheart to disable everyone except the Shield Knight, who she could dispatch at her leisure. Yet both Third and Selene were immune to the haze. In hindsight, that made sense. They were half dark elven, which meant they would be resistant to the powers of dark magic. The shadows had disabled the Wraith, who was the least dangerous foe and forced the Keeper to turn her full attention to a warding spell. But Sir Rufinius was still on his feet, his soulblade protecting him from the haze.

  It might have been a fatal mistake, except for one thing.

  Neither Selene nor Third could penetrate the armor of the Blood Knight.

  Their first few hits glanced off Aeliana’s armor, and then she took a blow full in the back from the dwarven axe that Selene carried. It rebounded from the crimson armor without leaving a scratch, and the dark magic surging through the armor protected Aeliana from the lightning and fire that wreathed Third’s swords.

  The only weapons that could hurt her were the soulblades in Ridmark’s and Rufinius’s hands.

  And they hurt, whenever they struck. Aeliana barely felt the impacts from Selene’s axe and Third’s swords. But every time Oath
shield struck her armor, pain flooded through her, the white fire soaking into the armor. She felt the soulblade’s hatred of dark magic, felt its rage and its desire to destroy her.

  But she was winning. With Starflame’s power devoted to blocking the shadowy haze, Rufinius only moved as fast as a normal man, and Aeliana dodged his strikes. Able to ignore Third and Selene, Aeliana went on the attack, hammering again and again at Ridmark. The power of the Blood Knight filled her, and she felt its gleeful hunger. She knew that Ridmark could only hold the power of the Shield Knight for so long, that only his magical armor let him match her strength and speed.

  And when that armor failed, Ruinheart would feast upon his life…and Aeliana would kill the Keeper and his friends. It amused her that she would kill the Wraith after poor deluded Cyprian’s bounty had failed so abjectly. Then Aeliana need only kill Tywall Gwyrdragon and complete the spell of the Drakocenti. The Great Eye would open, Merovech Valdraxis’s army would come through…and they would be that much closer to the fulfillment of the Warden’s great plan.

  Aeliana grinned behind her helmet, blood dripping down her mangled face, and swung at Ridmark.

  ###

  Part of her will went to maintaining the warding spell, but the rest of Calliande’s mind focused the Sight upon the red-armored figure battling her husband.

  And, more specifically, on the burning sword in the crimson knight’s hand.

  It was a corrupted soulblade, she was sure of it. Calliande knew that in ancient days, the dark elves had made soulstone-empowered weapons. Jager had almost been killed by a blade he had stolen from the Matriarch of the Red Family, but Calliande had never heard of a dark elven soulblade.

  Because the weapon in the crimson knight’s hand was a true soulblade. It was bonded to its wielder, just as a high elven soulblade was, and conferred benefits of speed and strength and resiliency. But high elven soulblades had been forged to protect mortals from the perils of dark magic, to seek out and destroy wielders of evil forces. The dark soulblade was a twisted reflection of that. It had been forged to destroy, to kill, to feast on stolen life energy until all the world was a desert.

  Just focusing the Sight on the dark soulblade made Calliande feel ill.

  But she saw the weapon’s weakness.

  The dark soulblade was bonded to the crimson knight, just as Oathshield was bonded to Ridmark. But the crimson knight’s bond to his weapon was saturated with dark magic. And Calliande was the Keeper of Andomhaim. She could wield mighty spells against black sorcery, and no magic of this world could resist the mantle of the Keeper of Andomhaim.

  A great deal of her strength went to holding the shadows at bay, but Calliande still had enough power left over for an attack.

  She summoned the fury of the Well of Tarlion, fused it to the strength of the Keeper’s mantle, and directed her will at the crimson knight. A shaft of brilliant white fire burst from her hand and slammed into the crimson knight, and the bloody figure stumbled.

  And Calliande heard a woman scream in agony.

  ###

  Aeliana saw Ridmark Arban stumble, and she laughed to herself as she drew Ruinheart back for the kill. It had been all too easy. She would succeed where her father had failed and kill Ridmark Arban. The Warden would be pleased, and…

  The shaft of white fire ripped across the chamber and drilled in Aeliana, and the scream burst from her lips.

  Agony unlike anything she had ever known flooded through her. The white fire of the Keeper was not attacking her or the crimson armor, but it was striking at her bond with Ruinheart. The bond, previously a source of strength, now blazed with agony as if she had stabbed a hot poker into her skull, and she heard Ruinheart shrieking in pain inside her skull.

  Aeliana staggered, trying to block the Keeper’s blast of fire with Ruinheart. It didn’t matter. The white fire of the Well of Tarlion flooded into Aeliana, and she could not think, could not concentrate through the pain.

  Ridmark struck her several times in rapid succession, Oathshield’s fire adding to the agony. To her horror, Aeliana felt her grip on the power of the Blood Knight begin to waver. Or perhaps Ruinheart was unable to maintain the armor while under such attack. Portions of her armor began to crumble like ash, while other plates weakened, and she felt a jolt as some of the lightning from Third’s sword ripped into her. Sir Rufinius’s soulblade struck her leg, and one of her vambraces crumbled into ash to expose the bloody, torn flesh beneath it.

  She had not come this far to fail now. She had not!

  Aeliana snarled and threw herself into a furious assault, trying to pierce Ridmark’s armor.

  ###

  Exhaustion flooded through Ridmark, but he fought on with grim determination, knowing that if he let go of the power of the Shield Knight, he and Calliande and his friends were going to die.

  Calliande maintained the shaft of white fire, and it hampered the crimson knight. His movements had slowed, and some of the plates of bloody armor crumbled into ash. Step by step, Ridmark advanced, deflecting the corrupted soulblade on Aegisikon and landing hit after hit with Oathshield.

  They reached the edge of the island, and Ridmark swung Oathshield with all his strength and the power of his armor.

  The soulblade struck the bloody cuirass, and it and the helmet shattered into smoking fragments. Ridmark caught a brief glimpse of the figure beneath the armor. It was a naked woman, her body ripped and torn as if something had clawed its way out through her skin, her face a mask of blood and mangled flesh. Yet a shock of recognition went through Ridmark when he saw the blue eyes, and he remembered Aeliana staring at him across the great hall in Castarium.

  The power of his blow knocked her back several steps, and Aeliana overbalanced and fell into the surging waters of the lake with a cry.

  The current seized her and pulled her underwater. Ridmark saw her thrashing, saw her head and hands break the surface once, and then the current yanked her out of sight towards whatever hidden outlet drew out the water.

  ###

  Desperate, terrified, Aeliana thrashed as the current dragged her into darkness.

  She knew how to swim, of course. No one could live in Cintarra without learning to swim, and the tutors of the Red Family (some of whom had died at her hand earlier that day) had made sure she learned. But the current gripped her with implacable force, and even the power of the Blood Knight could not resist it. She didn’t know which direction was up or down, and in the bloody light of Ruinheart’s fire, she saw nothing but rough walls of rock.

  The current bounced her off the wall, and she felt bones break in her arms and legs, saw a broken rib jutting from beneath her left breast.

  The power of the Blood Knight, as it happened, did not permit her to breathe water.

  Aeliana held her breath as long as she could, but reflex overwhelmed her control, and water rushed into fill her lungs and choked her just as the animal panic seized her mind, and she hewed at the tunnel wall with Ruinheart, desperate to get out.

  Blackness swallowed her.

  ###

  Ridmark held the power of the Shield Knight as long as he could, but Aeliana did not emerge from the water, and the shadowy haze had vanished.

  He let out a long breath and released the power. The armor dissolved into white flame and vanished, and a wave of crushing fatigue washed through Ridmark. He shifted Aegisikon back into its staff form and leaned upon it, breathing hard, and waited until the fatigue passed. The bracer on his right forearm, forged by Antenora, absorbed most of it, and the rest faded without him passing out, though he was still damned tired. But not, perhaps, as tired as he should have been. Getting healed from manticore poisoning with the power of the Sword of Life had rejuvenated him a great deal.

  He turned and looked at the others as Calliande hurried over. She, too, looked tired, and he wondered how much effort it had taken to attack Aeliana with that spell.

  “Ridmark?” said Calliande. “Are you hurt?”

  He shook his head and
looked at the others. Moriah had gotten to her feet and staggered over, blinking. She seemed to have suffered no lasting ill effects from the shadows Aeliana had summoned.

  “No one else seems to have been hurt,” said Ridmark.

  “What about Prince Tywall?” said Calliande.

  “I don’t know,” said Ridmark. He hoped the boy hadn’t died in the fighting. “Let’s find out.”

  They hurried towards the table halfway between the Dwyrstones and the glowing ring of the Great Eye.

  “That knight in red armor,” said Rufinius. “What the devil was it?”

  “A dark Swordbearer,” said Calliande. “That burning sword was a soulblade, I’m sure of it, but one corrupted and twisted by dark magic. The bond between the knight and the dark soulblade was saturated with dark magic, so I was able to strike at that link.”

  “The red knight was a woman,” said Third.

  “It was Aeliana,” said Ridmark. “I am sure of it. I recognized her eyes.”

  “Well,” said Rufinius, “at least she will trouble us no longer. Almost certainly she has drowned.”

  Ridmark hoped so, but he was uncertain. Who knew what powers that dark soulblade might have possessed? Though he hoped that Aeliana’s bones and the dark soulblade would lie undisturbed in some submerged cavern until the Dominus Christus returned in glory.

  They reached the table, and Ridmark saw that Prince Tywall was still alive. His eyes were closed, and he had a gag in his mouth. Ridmark heard a faint keening noise and realized that the boy was screaming in terror even through the gag. Pity filled him, and he produced a dagger and began cutting Tywall loose. The boy’s eyes opened, and he flinched and started to scream louder.