His eyes burned with acid tears. Anger shook through him. He wanted the invaders dead. He’d do whatever was necessary to find and kill them.
Chapter Thirty-six
Viorka lay face down beneath the underbrush. She opened her eyes and winced. Her back ached but not nearly as badly as the back of her head. She pushed herself up and sat back on her knees. Rubbing her eyes, she realized she needed to get to Taniesse before Boldair did, but she wasn’t certain how long she’d been unconscious or how quickly she could travel. But she couldn’t allow Boldair to find Taniesse before she warned the dragoness.
Rising to her feet, her vision spun. Her legs buckled. She leaned against the tree trunk and took a few deep breaths.
“There you are, you little thief.”
Viorka looked up to gaze into the angered, crazed eyes of Sissrow.
“Hand me the orb before I skin you alive with my dagger.”
The blade flickered a small glint in the faint moonlight.
“I don’t have the orb.”
“Cunning little lying beast. I’ll cut out your tongue and then skin you. Your ratty fur will make good lining for my boots.”
Viorka flung her hands to her sides. Her claws lengthened four more inches like slender razor-edged blades. Although she hurt with more pain than she’d ever experienced before, this man wasn’t going to stand in her way of getting to Taniesse before Boldair did.
Sissrow hurled the knife toward her head. Throwing away his weapon was his worst mistake. Viorka dropped down into the underbrush. The dagger struck and sank deeply into the tree trunk.
In a panic, he looked around, trying to locate the fynx. He cried out in immense pain as her long claws pierced through his upper thighs and out the other side. She took a step back and yanked her claws free of his flesh. Horror and pain widened his eyes. His mouth opened to scream again, but she raked through the softness of his throat, almost severing his head from his shoulders.
Sissrow dropped to his knees, clutching at his throat. Blood spilled in dark ribbons. Life faded from his eyes, and before he fell face forward, Viorka was already sprinting through the trees and toward the road.
She ignored her pain, rushing down the dark path. She didn’t see Boldair, but it didn’t mean that he had already reached Taniesse in the old man’s shack. Since Boldair didn’t have a torch, being able to see him from a great distance lessened somewhat, even for a cat. However, she detected movement on the trail ahead. She slowed and pressed herself against a tree.
It was he.
Boldair was nearly at the fork where he would turn and head toward the old man’s shack. She thought about intercepting him, but she knew the orb controlled him. Confronting him now meant that she’d have to kill him or he’d kill her. Neither outcome was beneficial. She didn’t want to kill him because the orb was what controlled him and not his own intent. Boldair was an ally of Taniesse, or else she wouldn’t be traveling with him. She also wouldn’t have trusted the dwarf to pursue Sissrow to get the orb. Somehow, she needed to warn Taniesse or get the orb out of Boldair’s possession.
The best she could hope for was to head up into the tree canopy to get to Taniesse faster. Once she warned her, Taniesse could turn into a dragon and fly away. But would she? Dragons never flinched at threats. She might kill Boldair, especially since she wanted the orb destroyed.
Viorka dropped to the ground in her cat form and scampered up a tree, heading into the thick vines that crisscrossed through the forest. Despite the foliage, using the vines was actually much quicker for her than being on the ground. A lot depended upon whether she found a straight path through the canopy or not. Should she suddenly find herself with a broad gap between trees or vines, she’d have no choice but to venture down to the forest floor again.
Then she’d have no alternative but to fight Boldair to the death.
Viorka hoped it didn’t come to that.
***
Wylard clutched his throat and stumbled to the floor of his shack. He leaned his back against the wall.
“What’s wrong?” Taniesse asked, rushing to him.
The old man gasped for breath, holding his throat. He shook his head. “I think someone has slit my son’s throat.”
“You can feel his pain?”
“At times. When it’s severe.”
“Is he dead?” she asked.
Wylard closed his eyes, panting. Slowly, his breathing became steadier. Color returned to his cheeks. He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know, but I no longer feel his connection to me.”
“Has this happened before?”
He shook his head. “Never this badly.”
“Then maybe you’re free of him. If so, then let’s hope that Boldair and Viorka have gotten the orb and destroyed it.”
“Wouldn’t it have been better to return the orb to the temple at Misthalls?”
Taniesse shook her head. Not for me.
“Why not?”
“The priests who kept the orb safe are all dead. No one was ever trained to replace them. The temple is in ruins, haunted by ghosts and curses. Destroying the orb prevents the temptation for a madman to capture a dragon and use it as a weapon.”
Wylard eased slowly to his feet and made his way to a rickety chair. He sat down despite the chair’s whiney protest. “That would suggest that dragons still exist. And we know they are extinct.”
Taniesse smiled. “Do you believe that dragons aren’t intelligent enough to have found a way to hide themselves?”
He looked at her with weak eyes. “I was a young man the last time I saw a flying dragon darken the sun. It wasn’t odd to see four or five different dragons from one winter to the next. For me, that was ages ago.” Sadness made his jaw tremble. His voice crackled. “I miss seeing them in flight, hearing their majestic roars, and watching their aerobatic mating rituals. Dear lady, I long for those days to see them during their majestic glory.”
“While you breathe, you have the hope.”
“And what do you believe?”
She brought him another mug of hot tea and set it on the dusty table before him. “I believe the time is drawing near for them to reign in the sky once again.”
Wylard chuckled and shook his head. “Few warriors like yourself hold such optimism.”
She winked. “I doubt that you’ll cross paths with another warrior quite like myself.”
“None have had the beauty that you display.” His eyes roamed from her face down to her bare abdomen and then to her muscled thighs. Even old, his attention was overcome by lust.
An invisible wave of power shoved against Taniesse. She caught herself against the wall and glanced around. “Excuse me, Wylard. I must step outside for a moment.”
She swung open the door and stepped out into the night. Although she didn’t see anyone, she felt the power growing stronger and coming closer. The obsessive fury flowed outward in unseen currents.
The orb.
Boldair had not destroyed it.
Why not?
Her heartbeat increased. The orb was getting closer to her vicinity. She wondered if Boldair still possessed it or had someone else taken it for himself?
A soft gentle wind brushed through the trees, swirled, and a smooth wisp slid across her cheeks. Although she couldn’t see them, she felt the bridle and reins attempting to enclose around her head to capture her. Her winged helm glowed defensively, giving her warning of an impending attack. She flung her hands up, ducked, and rolled from beneath their clutches.
Taniesse ran back in the direction she and Boldair had come earlier in the day toward the scorched section of the forest.
“Ah, now, don’t be that way, milady,” Boldair said, rushing after her.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw the blazing orb in Boldair’s right hand. The pulsing glow in his eyes was the same as the flames licking around the orb.
“Relax, O’ Great One,” Boldair said. His eyes were consumed by glowing white flames, void of the dwarf she knew. �
��Things will return to how they were days before we met. Me with me treasure, but instead of my old horse, you shall be my mount.”
Chapter Thirty-seven
Sissrow awakened face down in a pool of sticky blood. His blood. He placed a hand against his throat where the cat had almost decapitated him. The lacerations were tender but almost healed. Weak, he had lost a lot of blood, but his strength would eventually return.
A blood red healing mist hovered over him. The emerald ring on his left hand glowed, and then dissolved into nothingness. The blessed ring Baelress had given him was his last protection from death. Now, he needed the orb more than ever before. Having a dragon under his command could help increase his longevity. He didn’t expect many would try to attack or kill him. Once they saw his protector, they’d run or be burned to death in a massive storm of raining fire.
Sissrow had underestimated the catlike creature, but upon their next meeting, he’d be more cautious. She and the dwarf were a team. Interesting, he thought. How did they know he possessed the orb?
After he sat up, he ran a hand through his blood-soaked beard. Only one living person knew that he had the orb. His father. Had he hired those two to take the orb?
No. He couldn’t have. Not that quickly.
Sissrow had just left his father’s shack. But wait . . . ah, yes. He remembered. He had thought someone stood in the forest watching his departure, but he had been unable to see anyone. The presence he had sensed, however, was magical and larger, like a dragon. Not a dwarf or a fynx.
Since they had the orb, it seemed logical that the two would return to his father. He rose to his feet and grabbed the hilt of his dagger that protruded from the tree. He tugged it from the tree trunk, sheathed it, and headed back to the post where his horse was tied. The two thieves were on foot, so that meant he could catch up to them quite quickly on horseback.
Still weak, he staggered from the forest and onto the road.
“Are you okay?” a man asked, offering his hand to help Sissrow walk.
Sissrow batted away the man’s hand. “Just get me to my horse. I’ll be okay.”
Others gathered around him. Seeing all the sticky blood coating his beard and clothes, they whispered amongst themselves.
“He should be dead,” one said.
Another stood with wide eyes and said, “Maybe he’s a ghost.”
“A spirit?”
“They killed him.”
“What did they take?” another asked.
“Where are they? Will they come back?”
“Did he kill them?”
Sissrow ignored their questions and comments, as any answer did the onlookers little good. He untied his horse and swung onto the saddle. The traders and trees spun around for several seconds. Once his surroundings settled down and looked halfway normal again, he tapped the sides of his horse and galloped in the direction that led to his father’s shack. He hoped to find the dwarf and the cat before they reached his father. He could kill them and take the orb, but if the orb was already in the hands of his father . . . Sissrow was at the mercy of his father.
***
Taniesse felt the pulsing power of the orb reaching through the trees to clutch her mind and soul. Her resistance was waning. The orb’s tug wasn’t as powerful as she had expected. Of course, she was in her human form, which might have made some difference.
But magic wasn’t fooled by someone’s outward appearance. Something held back the orb’s power. Was Boldair fighting its control over him?
One strong blast of her dragon fire, and she could immediately stop his advance. She didn’t want to kill him now that she understood him better. He had willingly offered to hand all of their treasure back over to them. Greed wasn’t his entire motive, and for someone always seeking gold, he still retained a streak of honesty and integrity few treasure hunters possessed.
To raise armies, she needed her treasure stash, and even though Boldair had told her where he had hidden it, she expected him to have set snares to prevent others from stealing the gold. He had told her that he had set traps. Although she could probably figure out how to release the traps, it was much easier and quicker to have him unset them. For those reasons, and because she believed he’d make a great commander, she didn’t want to kill him unless she absolutely had no other option.
Boldair approached, holding the orb on his right palm and above his head. Words in a language unfamiliar to Taniesse rolled off the dwarf’s tongue. His face was hardened like stone. He didn’t blink. Power flowed from the orb and pulled at Taniesse like a delicate seductive touch.
She pressed her feet against the soft mossy forest floor, digging in for added traction and resistance. In spite of planting her feet, the power of the orb pulled her anyway. Grooves dug into the earth where her boots slid against her will.
Invisible tendrils looped around her ankles, wound up her legs, and attached themselves to her belt. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, red flames danced within. As much as she wanted to keep Boldair alive, she knew that she only had seconds to stop the orb from possessing her and making her yield her power to the dwarf. She’d kill him before she allowed herself to become a slave.
From the thick branches overhead, Viorka dove. She slashed Boldair’s hand with her long sharp claws. The orb fell from his bloody fingers and rolled into the thick underbrush.
Hooves thundered up behind Viorka and Boldair.
Sissrow flung himself off the horse. He kicked and batted back the leafy branches of the thick plants, searching madly for the orb.
Boldair rushed Sissrow, caught him around the waist, and tackled him. They struggled under the leaves, out of sight, and Viorka scampered into the thicket.
Seconds later, she rose with the orb in her catlike hands. Excitement widened her eyes.
“Give me that!” Sissrow snarled, trying to pry Boldair’s grip from around his waist.
“That be mine!” Boldair exclaimed, holding the man’s waist even tighter.
Viorka ran toward the shack.
Sissrow growled with savage rage that sounded more animal than human. His determination to possess the orb gave him added strength. He ran, pulling Boldair along with him, and then he dove, grabbing Viorka’s ankle. He yanked and the orb slipped from her grasp.
The orb glowed and rolled across the dark green moss.
Boldair released Sissrow, scrambled on all fours across the ground, and grabbed the orb. He turned to face Taniesse. She held a fireball on her right hand. Gently, she blew and released the ball of fire. The orb consumed the fireball.
Power rushed through Boldair. His eyes flamed, matching the pulse of the Dark Orb. “Ah-ha!” he shouted. A second later, he flung the orb and cradled his bleeding, blistered hand to his chest.
“Enough!” Sissrow said, turning with the orb in his hand. He glared at Taniesse. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to become a human, but I know you’re a dragon. I sensed you earlier in the forest. Now, you are mine!”
A crazed expression hung on his aged, bloody face. The orb suddenly grew with strength she had not felt earlier. He was somehow bound to the magic within the orb. He knew how to control the magic, and she knew that she couldn’t escape his control. He was too powerful.
Sissrow reared back his head and began an incantation. He suddenly stiffened. Pain creased his face. The orb dropped onto the forest floor. Sissrow staggered two steps forward, dropped to his knees, and then fell. The hilt of his dagger protruded from his back. Lying on the ground behind him was Wylard. Blood coated his trembling hand.
Boldair moved to get the orb, but Viorka lifted a heavy stone over her head. With everything she had, she brought the rock down and smashed the orb over and over until the glass sphere finally shattered. The release of magic flung her backwards. She hit the ground with a soft mew.
Boldair wiped tears from his eyes and sobbed. Taniesse couldn’t tell if his emotion stemmed from loss or relief.
Taniesse eased toward Wylard. The old
man lay on the ground. His eyes were weak, tired, and death was taking him.
“O’ Great One,” he whispered. “I did not know . . . not until I witnessed the power of the orb. I could not let Sissrow take you.”
Taniesse knelt beside him, as did Viorka. “You did an honorable thing, Wylard. The deed needed to be done. Hold on. We’ll get some herbs or a potion from your home to heal you.”
Wylard shook his head. “No. You see . . . I killed the worst part of me. One half cannot live without the other. That was part of the curse I learned over time. Sissrow could never kill me because if he did, he’d die. Oh, he could torture me to near death, but not kill me outright.”
Taniesse took a deep breath. “You sacrificed yourself to save me?”
Boldair dropped to his knees beside Wylard.
Wylard offered a weak smile. “I have nothing worth living for anymore. But, he deserved far worse than he received for all the cruel things he did to everyone he came into contact with. I will at least die in peace.”
“There must be something . . .” Taniesse said.
“One thing,” he replied.
“What’s that?”
“Can I see you as you really are before I die?”
“As a dragon?”
Wylard nodded.
Taniesse rose and walked a good distance away from them. She chanted a brief draconic spell and turned into a dragon.
“Perhaps Aetheaon has hope yet,” he said. A smile crossed Wylard’s face, and that’s the way he died.
Viorka nuzzled against the old man’s face.
Boldair shook his head and rose to his feet. He bowed his head toward Taniesse and said, “I beg your forgiveness for my part in all of this.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” Her blazing dragon eyes pierced into his.
“I do. I should have destroyed the orb immediately.”
Taniesse returned to human form and shook her head. Her eyes showed fatigue. “I sensed you fighting the power of the orb, Boldair. You never allowed it to fully consume you. I felt your nobility, too. You resisted enough to weaken its power to ensnare me.”
Lady Squire- Dawn's Ascension Page 29
