The Bones of Makaidos

by Bryan Davis

  Breathless, Gabriel nodded at the plant between Yereq’s massive legs and Heaven’s Gate. “Ashley filled me in on a lot of your story, but what’s the deal with the wall and the plant?”

  “We think Makaidos is in the plant,” Billy said, “and we figured out that a girl is supposed to give her life to resurrect him. Listener thinks she’s the one, but I know Makaidos would not want to live if Listener has to die.”

  “Is Listener supposed to come here?” Acacia asked.

  “If they follow the plan, they should be here any minute. We’re all supposed to fall back and protect Heaven’s Gate.”

  Acacia set her hand close to the shimmering wall. “Perhaps we will be entering it very soon.”

  “Now that’s strange,” Shiloh said, pointing at the sky. “Storm clouds in one spot and nowhere else.”

  “They’re over the battlefield.” Billy took several steps toward the village. The cloud spread out from the northeast and stopped maybe two hundred yards away. A purplish tint between the cloud and ground indicated heavy rain.

  Suddenly, the ground shook. A massive explosion sounded from the north. In the distance, a dense cloud of black soot and ash poured into the sky.

  “Mount Elijah!” Billy shouted. “It blew its top!”

  A fast stream of air in the upper atmosphere jetted the debris into the storm and mixed the ash with the boiling cloud. The purple tint turned darker, almost black. A bolt of lightning forked into three jagged green lines as it crashed to the ground. Rolling thunder followed, deep and menacing.

  Billy stared at the ominous cloud. The weather in Second Eden had been strange for years, but this was the strangest yet. With all the supernatural events going on, it had to mean something, but what?

  Chapter 16

  The Slayer Returns

  With a sudden jerk, Hartanna tilted to the side. Bonnie fell from her back and plunged. Just before smashing into the ground, she unfurled her wings, grabbed the rising air, and landed with a heavy, feet-first thump.

  A man wearing a head scarf charged. Ducking under his swinging sword, she stepped to the side and gashed his thigh with her own blade. As the man toppled, another swordsman ran toward her. With help from her wings, she leaped over his thrust and kicked him square in the nose. When he crumbled, she dropped on his shoulders and pierced him through his chest.

  Swinging her head from side to side, she looked around. The invaders had all passed her except a single man atop a black horse. Apparently she had fallen at the back of the ranks and only this straggler remained. She looked up. Hartanna flew erratically, jerking back and forth as if disoriented or blind.

  “Mama!” she called. “What’s wrong?”

  Flying in a ragged circle, Hartanna descended, finally landing in a rough slide. Bonnie ran toward her mother, but the horse bolted and cut her off.

  Bonnie looked up at the man, a muscular specimen draped in black chain mail. He seemed to sparkle from head to toe, as if coated by glittering dust.

  He removed his cowl, revealing his face and hair. “So we meet again, demon witch.” He extended a hand. Dangling from a thin chain at the ends of his fingers, a gem swung back and forth. “Does this look familiar?”

  Pain stabbed her stomach, a hot poker jabbing again and again. She steeled her body. She couldn’t double over. Not now. Giving Devin any sign of weakness could be fatal.

  She quickly scanned the battlefield. Four dragons had fallen to the ground and were now staggering and beating their wings in their attempts to escape the candlestone’s energy drain. She had to come up with a plan to save them, something he didn’t expect.

  “It does look a bit familiar,” she said. Battling the tremors in her arm, she raised her sword and pointed at him. “Would you like to come down off your high horse and let me have a closer look?”

  Devin laughed. “You always had a lot of spunk. I admire that.”

  “Don’t patronize me. If you really admire me, then put that stone away and prove it. Fight me sword to sword, unless you’re too scared to fight a woman.”

  “And revive the dragons?” Devin shook his head in a scolding manner. “Bonnie, come now, you know I am not a fool. Your bravado is comely, to be sure, but I do not wish to become dragon fodder.”

  “You won’t. I can arrange it.” Bonnie turned toward her mother. She was now fully stretched out on the ground, but her eyes were open, two sad orbs glowing dimly. “Mama, if Devin puts the candlestone away, do you promise to take the other dragons and leave us?”

  “Bonnie,” she called with a hoarse voice, “we cannot sacrifice you to save ourselves.”

  “If you don’t, all is lost, Second Eden, the garden, Heaven’s Gate. If I don’t defeat Devin and the candlestone, all the dragons will die, and we will be overwhelmed by their army.”

  “But Bonnie, he is an expert swordsman, and you are—”

  “Do not underestimate me!” Summoning all her energy, she shouted, “You must let me do this! Promise it now!”

  Blowing out a weak stream of smoke, Hartanna eased her head to the ground. “Very well. I give my word. If we revive, I will take all the dragons to the birthing garden and leave you here with the slayer.”

  “There you have it,” Bonnie said, looking back at Devin. “If you want your demon witch, then let the dragons go, and come and get me.”

  “On one condition.” Devin slid off the horse and drew his sword. “I had hoped to kill all four of these dragons. What is the head of one demon witch in exchange for four others? I admit that your lovely head would be an excellent trophy, but it cannot replace four dragon heads.”

  Bonnie squinted at him. “What are you trying to say?”

  He raised a gloved finger. “Before I battle you, I will allow three dragons to escape, but I must kill one of the others first. Let us say that this is a demonstration of my intent and resolve.”

  She gulped. As the candlestone glittered in her eye, pain roared through her body, numbing her senses. With tears welling, she lowered her arm and forced out a weak, “Which dragon?”

  “Well, obviously not your pitiful mother. She is the one who has to enforce her promise. One fact I have learned about the dragons who pretend to be good, they keep their word, hoping to veil the evil intentions of their hearts.” Leaving his horse behind, Devin marched about thirty paces to one of the other dragons. Her tawny scales revealed her gender, but since she lay motionless on her side, Bonnie couldn’t figure out who she was, especially with her vision blurred by the candlestone’s influence. And this dragon’s rider, by Elam’s orders, had fled to the garden to shore up the defense there.

  “Wait!” Bonnie cried. With the candlestone farther away, the pain eased a fraction, allowing her to think more clearly, but the awful idea that one of these brave dragonesses might soon feel the demon’s blade made her body tremble. Could she do this? The cost was so terrible! “If … if I agree, will you keep the candlestone put away until we finish our battle?”

  Devin flashed an evil smile. “I will.” Setting the point of his sword against the dragon’s underside, he thrust the blade deep into her belly.

  “No!” Bonnie screamed. “I didn’t say I agreed, I was just asking—”

  “Too late.” His eyes now wide in a maniacal stare, he twisted the blade and jumped back as he pulled it out, dodging the gushing fluids.

  “You fiend!” Bonnie shouted, shaking her fist. “You could’ve waited a few more seconds for me to decide!”

  “The candlestone obviously has had a greater effect on your mind than you are letting on. If you had agreed, I would have killed her. If you had not agreed, I would have killed all four. Waiting a few more seconds would not have altered this dragon’s fate.” He shifted to the dragon’s head and set the blade against her neck. Again smiling, he lifted his sword.

  Bonnie turned her head. She couldn’t bear to watch. But what could she do? In her condition, she couldn’t fight. She had to stay strong to save the other three.

 
A dull thwack sounded in her ears. Pain knifed through her stomach and soul. One of the valiant dragons had just given her life, and all Bonnie could do was stand there.

  Suddenly the pain in her belly eased further. The slayer’s shuffling footsteps grew close. Turning toward him, she raised her sword again and backed away.

  Devin showed her his empty palm. “As you can see, the candlestone is now hidden. It is on a neck chain behind my mail.”

  She set her feet in ready position. “When my mother leaves with the other dragons, we can begin. Not before.”

  Whispering a “tsk, tsk, tsk,” he shook his head. “You are such a fool. I didn’t have to make this deal at all, and I could alter it at any time.”

  Bonnie glanced at her mother. Quietly, the weak dragon rose and used her wings to help the others get up. Their heads swayed, and their legs trembled, but the absence of the candlestone seemed to be helping.

  “You and your kind are of the devil,” Devin continued, “and I will exterminate every scaly beast by any means necessary, including deception.”

  Bonnie kept her sword out in front. “Even if it means proving yourself such a coward that you couldn’t even fight a girl?”

  “Ah, yes!” Devin said, laughing as he drew closer. “The clichéd challenge, the appeal to my pride as a gentleman and a knight.” He spat in her face. “That’s what I think of your theatrics.”

  Keeping her eyes on him, Bonnie wiped her sleeve across her cheek, again refusing to grimace. “If you’re not enamored with my acting ability, then what do you want?”

  Devin looked at the three surviving dragons. One by one they lifted up into the sky. Hartanna called as she flew away. “I will see you again, my love.”

  A new tear welled in Bonnie’s eye. She blinked, letting it fall to her cheek. But where would they meet? Here, or in Heaven?

  “What I want,” Devin said, turning back to her, “is something that I have tried to get for many years.”

  “Now you’re the one who’s being theatric. Just tell me.”

  In the sunlight, his eyes glinted—evil, hungry, bloodthirsty. “I want the mongrel. I want Billy Bannister. And I want his father, the great Clefspeare. Now that I have you, it will be much easier to lure them into my clutches.”

  A surge of anger swept through Bonnie’s body. Her muscles flexed—the arms, legs, and abdomen she had trained four years to harden into steel. Now feeling much stronger, Bonnie stepped back. “You don’t have me yet, and I’ll never let you take Billy.”

  “We’ll see about that.” Devin raised his sword. Like a raging bull, he charged. Bonnie jumped to the side, but Devin tripped her, sending her into a backward somersault. At the end of her spill, she leaped to her feet and shot into the air, barely avoiding his sword as it swiped just underneath.

  She landed behind him and lunged, aiming her sword at his back. He spun and blocked her blade with his. As the two locked, his eyes narrowed. “You are much too strong for a girl of your stature. The blood of demons flows through your veins, but I will puncture the witch with enough holes to drain every drop.”

  Bonnie narrowed her eyes to match his. “If your theatrics continue, you will soon have to take a bow. Don’t think for a minute that your diatribe can scare me. I have been in every realm—Earth, Heaven, Hades, the Valley of Souls, and now Second Eden—and God has been with me every step of the way. It would take more than the venomous spewing of a viper to make me tremble.”

  “It is not God who slinks like a serpent at your side, it is—” Devin glanced upward. A slight bend in his brow piqued Bonnie’s curiosity. She gave the locked blades a shove, jumped back, and looked up. A cloud formed low in the sky, boiling, swelling, darkening. Within a few seconds, it grew to a raging black cumulonimbus that began spreading toward the village.

  A tremendous explosion rocked the ground. In the northern sky, a geyser of black shot into the air and flowed southward into the brewing storm. The two clouds mixed into a purple and ebony swirl.

  Bonnie stared at the roaring eruption. Ashley had mentioned a volcano called Mount Elijah, but she had said nothing about how active it might be.

  As penny-sized raindrops began to pelt her head, Bonnie set her feet again. Should she attack? Wait for his next move? She tried to gauge his level of aggression, but he just stared toward the village, his scowl deepening. Was it a ploy to get her to strike? She mentally shook her head. Even though he was the foulest creature ever to walk the face of Earth or Second Eden, she couldn’t attack while he wasn’t looking. Billy had taught her that lesson a long time ago.

  Something stung her hand, a minor sting, like a mosquito pricking her exposed skin. Was it the rain? She pulled her sleeves down over her wrists. It was really nothing. Maybe the volcanic ash had created an acidic rain.

  Devin looked at her again. “You could have run me through just now. Why didn’t you?”

  “Because I’m not a cowardly snake. I won’t stab a man while he’s looking away.” She pointed her sword at him and shouted, “En garde!”

  Devin lowered his sword. “I am looking at you now. Feel free to strike. This is your only chance. If you fail, I will take out the candlestone and imprison you with it.”

  Bonnie studied his expression. Was this a trick? Did he think she wouldn’t do it because she was a girl and too squeamish to run him through? Well, if he did, he thought wrong. Setting her feet, she lunged and thrust the point directly at his chest. When the blade struck his mail, it made a loud pinging sound and deflected away.

  She swung it back with all her might and hacked at his bare neck, but the blade bounced again and quivered in her grip. His sparkling aura flashed momentarily before settling back to normal.

  “This is getting tiresome.” Devin reached behind his mail shirt, withdrew the candlestone, and let it sway at the end of the chain around his neck. “I’m in a hurry, and you’re too skilled to defeat quickly.”

  The stabbing pain returned, worse than ever. She staggered, dizzy. Turning, she tried to run, but a sharp pain tore across her scalp. Her neck bent, and her head snapped back. She lost her balance, but as she toppled backwards, something stopped her fall. She twisted to find out why. Devin was dragging her by the hair.

  As the rain increased, her heels made ruts in the moistening mud. Reaching back, she hacked weakly with her sword, but he just swiped it away with his own, and her blade thudded to the ground at her side.

  His nauseating snicker rose above the intermittent splashes. “I might risk losing your pretty head as a trophy, but having you as bait for the grand prize is worth it. First, I capture the mongrel, then I will use him to lure the most powerful dragon of all.” He laughed loud and long. “I can already picture the heads on my mantle, side by side by side. I will let you keep your scalp so your lovely hair will flow all around.”

  She jerked her body downward, freeing her hair from his grasp, but when her head hit the ground, new pain ripped across her skull. She gasped for breath. Her heart raced, feeling like it did the moments before she died in the Circles of Seven.

  “Get up, witch!” Devin grabbed her belt and hoisted her up to his horse’s saddle. The feeling of his hands on her waist and backside as he pushed her into place made her want to vomit, but she couldn’t. Inside, she felt a void, an aching emptiness. She could barely move at all.

  Mounting behind her, he spread out her wings and pushed close as he settled into the saddle. With the candlestone now resting on her back, the agony spiked, and with his body pressing close to hers, the nausea churned to a sickening swill.

  Rain poured. The wind howled. Green lightning flashed from cloud to ground with a crackling pop. As water streamed from her hair to her folded hands, all seemed lost. She was a maid being dragged to the stake. Soon the fire would be set, and all her hopes would go up in smoke.

  As they trotted past the slain dragon, its head lying a few feet from its body, Devin let out a snort. “I will collect that little trophy later.”

  Light
ning flashed again. Rain fell in sheets. The wind whistled in her ears, and it seemed to form a tune, a familiar tune. What was it? Could it be? Yes, it was the same tune she had always used for her favorite psalm.

  Words filled in, but not the usual psalm. A gentle feminine voice sang new words in a vibrant contralto that poured in like the driving rain.

  Within the gem your light had ebbed,

  Entrapped in crystal prison lair.

  You cried for help from God on high;

  You sang in faith that he was there.

  The candlestone, a pseudo-gem,

  The bogus beauty now exposed;

  By lies, deceit, the hidden heart,

  A wolf in wool, the killer’s clothes.

  For prophets false are like the gem;

  They dress in collar, frock, and silk,

  Pretending beauty, while within,

  They soil their garments, prove their ilk.

  The prophets false are but a breeze;

  The chains they carry, but a string.

  They shackle those who don their garb,

  But never children of the King.

  The crystal fools the sightless ones;

  They give their light away for free,

  And even prince and princess have

  Become ensnared unknowingly.

  But when you sing the faithful song,

  The gem will lose its blinding grip.

  Defeated foes cannot endure

  When faith invokes the master’s whip.

  After the tune faded, the voice continued, now merely speaking. “Brick upon brick, your song will build your faith until you become an impenetrable fortress. You have already conquered this crystalline enemy. Sing the words again, for the master of that deceiving gem cannot have so soon forgotten the child of God who has already repelled him within those walls. He is a defeated enemy, but you must claim this truth by faith, for only then will the invisible chains be broken forever. Let no shackles bind this valiant daughter of the lamb. Let no darkness overcome the light within an Oracle of Fire.”