Dragonvein

by Brian D. Anderson

  Ethan gently lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “No one will ever know but us.”

  “Indeed,” Jonas added. “As a matter of fact, I was hoping you could help Ethan with his own magic abilities…assuming he has some.”

  Kat frowned and wiped her eyes. “Why would you want that? He would be an outcast…like me.”

  “I already am,” said Ethan. “We all are. There are things you don’t know about us.”

  Jonas cleared his throat.

  “What difference can it make?” Ethan continued. “It’s not like she’ll go running off to the Empire.”

  Jonas sighed and held up his hands. “Very well. Do as you wish.”

  Over the next few minutes Ethan went on to explain how he had arrived in Lumnia, then repeated what little Jonas had told him of his past. Kat stared at him in awe. By the time he finished, her tears had ceased and a fragile smile was lingering on her lips.

  “When I was a little girl my mother told me about the time of the mages,” she said. “But my father put a stop to it when he found out. He told us the mages were cruel tyrants, and that the Emperor destroyed them so we could be free.”

  Jonas clenched his jaw. “That is not true. Does this world look free to you?”

  Kat shook her head, but said nothing as Jonas continued.

  “The mages kept peace throughout the Five Kingdoms. They healed the sick. They fed the hungry. They created wondrous works of art and music, some so magnificent they would take your breath away.” His eyes grew distant, and his voice soft and sorrowful. “I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time. But the world I knew then was as near to paradise as any man could ask for.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Kat, frowning. “This place…Earth. If Ethan was taken there as a baby and you came back with him, how is it you can remember the time of the mages?”

  “The magic Lady Illyrian used to take us there was forbidden,” he explained. “It seems for good reason. The portal does something to the passage of time – though I don’t know how it works. What is only minutes in one world can become years, even centuries, in the other. But I’m afraid I don’t know anything more than that.”

  “And you think the dwarves will be able to tell you?” she asked.

  “Possibly,” he replied. “We’ll find out when we get there.”

  “If you get there,” corrected Markus. “You still have to deal with the fact that the Empire wants Ethan dead.”

  “Then it’s fortunate that we have you to protect us,” said Jonas.

  Markus shook his head. “I told you – I’ll take you as far as Tulani. From there, you’re on your own.”

  “You would abandon your best friend?” asked Kat, appalled.

  Markus shot to his feet, startling her. “Don’t speak about things you know nothing of, girl. And don’t presume to know me.”

  Kat quickly recovered her composure. “You’re right. I don’t know you. But I do know that you don’t abandon a friend when he needs you most.”

  He gave a hollow laugh. “Is that what you think they are? My friends? I have no friends. It was friends who landed me in this wretched place to begin with.” He pointed to Jonas. “Now this one wants to march into certain death.” His finger shot over to Ethan. “And this one is so bloody stupid that he’ll follow. Well, I have no intention of being led to my death by a fool and his crazy notions of a world that no longer exists. The mages are gone, and no one can bring them back. The dwarves will either kill you or turn you over to the Emperor. That’s a fact. So if my friend chooses to ignore my advice, so be it.”

  “I have no intention of bringing the mages back,” said Jonas. “Nor do I think it is within my power to do so. You say the dwarves will kill us. Perhaps. But if the Emperor knows a mage has returned to Lumnia he will not stop hunting Ethan until he’s dead.” He waved his hand dismissively. “So go if you want. Go find some hole to crawl inside and let your hate and anger consume you. Personally, I would rather die than live like that.”

  His final, contemptuous words sparked a rage in Markus that no one could have anticipated. Grabbing the hilt of his sword, he started toward Jonas. Ethan sprang up and leapt in front of him, but Markus would not be denied. Snarling, he shoved Ethan hard to the ground. Jonas scrambled backward, in his haste tripping and landing awkwardly. His eyes were now wide with fear as Markus drew his sword.

  With a desperate cry, Ethan hurried to his feet and threw his shoulder low into Markus’ midsection. Markus let out a grunt, but Ethan’s slight frame was not enough to do much more than force him to take a single step back.

  Quickly regaining his balance, Markus rammed his left elbow hard into the center of Ethan’s back. He winced but held on. Markus twisted slightly and landed a second, even harder blow. This one drove Ethan to his knees.

  With a face now crimson with fury and thick veins bulging from his neck, Markus smashed the hilt of his sword into the side of Ethan’s head. He followed this up with a sharp jerk of the knee that sent him toppling over onto his back. Blood gushed from Ethan’s open wound and his eyes glazed over as he struggled to retain consciousness.

  Markus sheathed his sword and drew a small dagger. Kat was screaming for him to stop, but his rage was making him oblivious to all but the object of his wrath. Straddling Ethan’s chest, he pressed the deadly steel to his throat.

  Somehow, Ethan managed to regain his focus, but the weight of his friend had him pinned down and helpless. Kat rushed toward them with a knife in her hand, though to little effect. Markus easily grabbed her by the wrist and twisted. She let out a cry of pain and dropped the weapon. In a rapid single motion, he shoved her away.

  By now Jonas was on his feet, fumbling with his sword, trying to draw it. “Stop right now!” he shouted.

  His words had little impact. Markus pressed the blade down a fraction, drawing a thin trickle of blood from Ethan’s neck.

  The hatred etched deep into the scars of his best friend’s ruined flesh was terrifyingly evident to Ethan. His heart was racing. “Don’t do this, Markus.” he pleaded. He held his breath, awaiting his fate. Was this to be his end? For some crazy, illogical reason, the 101st Airborne motto sprang to mind.

  “Rendezvous with destiny,” he murmured.

  He had no idea if his friend had heard him, but Markus suddenly became absolutely motionless for what felt like an eternity. Then his hands began to tremble. A moment later he threw back his head and let out a feral roar that might well have come from a badly wounded animal. With a sharp movement of his wrist, he flicked the tip of the dagger in a shallow line across Ethan’s cheek and heaved himself up. After glaring briefly at both Jonas and Kat, he stormed away into the night.

  Jonas rushed over to Ethan’s side. “Are you hurt?”

  Ethan sat up, gingerly touching the wound on his face. “I’ll be fine.”

  Kat tore a strip of cloth from her shirtsleeve and doused it with water. After cleaning his wound, she retrieved her dagger and sat staring outward into the forest.

  “I don’t think you need to worry,” said Ethan. “If he was going to kill me, he would have done so already.”

  Kat’s focus remain fixed. “I don’t trust anything that man does.”

  Jonas looked at her with an amused yet respectful expression. “She certainly came to your defense in a hurry,” he said just loud enough for Ethan to hear.

  He smiled, even though his head was throbbing like crazy. “Yes she did. And so did you.”

  “That’s my job…you might say. Though I admit that when it comes to fighting, I’m not a very useful protector.”

  “In France, I saw brave men turn coward and cowards become heroes in an instant,” Ethan told him. “You never know what you can do until you’re faced with it.”

  Jonas nodded. “I have found this to be true as well. I sometimes forget that you were a soldier. Your face is so young.”

  “Markus always said when I’m sixty, I’ll still look twenty.” He lowered his eyes. �
��I wish I could have said something.”

  “Markus is consumed by anger. And only he has the remedy.” Jonas sighed. “There was nothing you could have said or done. Once a man starts down the path of self-loathing, the world around him changes. Its injustices reinforce the very thing that eats away at his heart until he can no longer see that good still exists.”

  “Even so, there must be something I can do,” Ethan said. But he knew Jonas was right. He had seen the same thing in his mother – the sadness and anger that ate away at her soul, finally driving her mad. Regardless of what he tried, he had been powerless to help her. That was what Markus was now facing - the same pain and torment.

  “The only thing to do now is get some rest,” Jonas remarked. “Whether Markus is with us or not doesn’t change the fact that we are pursued by the enemy.”

  The enemy, Ethan considered. At this point he would have preferred the Krauts. At least he knew why he was fighting them.

  Jonas checked the gear and cleaned Ethan’s wound one more time before they laid down to sleep. It took Ethan more than an hour to still his mind. Kat had eventually relaxed and taken a place near the fire – though her dagger remained in her hand, even as she slept.

  Some instinct woke Ethan about an hour before sunrise. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he saw the shadowy figure of Markus sitting on a felled tree a few yards away. He was hunched over with his arms draped across his knees, staring into the dwindling fire.

  Ethan rose and took a tentative step forward. Markus glanced up and made room beside him. Unsure what to say, Ethan simply sat down and folded his hands.

  “When you spoke to Jeb the other night,” Markus began, “He told you that I was a bounty hunter and assassin for the Empire.”

  Ethan nodded. He had suspected that Markus was listening at the time, and now tried to recall the exact words of the conversation. “He said you weren’t well liked, even among the Hareesh.”

  “He’s right. And for good reason.” His friend’s voice was distant and filled with pain. “My anger toward you isn’t really about my ending up in Lumnia. Or even the hardships I was forced to endure here. Hell, the Krauts were about to get us anyway, so the bloody portal probably saved my life. ”

  He sat up and held out his hands. “You have no idea what I have done with these. Do you know why they call me Specter?”

  At first Ethan thought the question was rhetorical, but soon realized that Markus was waiting for a response. “I assumed it was because you’re good at hiding…or something like that.”

  “It’s because I have no soul. Or at least, that’s what they say about me.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Why would anyone say that?”

  “I’ve done things…terrible things. Things I never thought I was capable of.”

  “Like what?”

  Markus closed his fingers to make fists, clenching them tight. “These hands…sometimes I wish I could just chop them off. Maybe then I could be forgiven.”

  Ethan touched him on the shoulder. “Whatever you’ve done, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”

  He let out a disdainful laugh. “Really? I’ve killed people. Hundreds of them. And not just men. I’ve killed women…and…”

  He swallowed hard. “And children. I’ve tortured entire families until they begged for death. I’ve skinned men alive while their enemies drank and laughed at their pain. I’ve done things that would make even the Nazi’s sick to their stomachs.”

  Ethan was unsure how to react. “Why?” was all he could think to ask.

  “To survive. At least, that’s what I tell myself. The first time was hard. I didn’t think I could live with myself afterward. I was hired by a merchant to kill his rival’s young son. I had just joined the Hareesh and was trying to make a name for myself. No one else would take the job, so I did.”

  He looked up at Ethan, tears welling in his eyes. “He was only nine years old.”

  Markus wiped his face and shook his head. “I can barely remember doing it. All I see clearly is the frightened look on his poor little face.” He paused to clear his throat. “After that, the Hareesh feared me. And the sad thing is, I liked it that way. I enjoyed how they would step aside when I walked by. It was the first time since I got here that I didn’t feel powerless. From then on, I was the one who took the jobs the others didn’t have the stomach for. And that’s why they call me Specter.”

  After he finished, a lengthy silence developed. Eventually, Ethan said: “I’m so sorry that all this happened to you. But in spite of what you might think, you do have a soul. Whatever you’ve done, it doesn’t matter anymore. Not to me. You’re not Specter. You’re Markus.”

  “You’re wrong,” he said. “I’m not Markus. I haven’t been Markus for a long time. But I’d like to be him again. When I first saw you in Miltino it reminded me of who I was before I became a murderer. And it was that, more than anything that made me so angry. Not because I’m here, but because I’m Specter.”

  Ethan got to his feet and held out his hand. “Then let me help you find yourself again.”

  Slowly Markus cracked a twisted smile and chuckled softly. “A boy scout ‘til the end.”

  He took Ethan’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. “Jonas was right. Better to die trying. So let’s go see the bloody dwarves.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Markus and Ethan talked until dawn. Ethan thought it best to avoid any further questions about his friend’s past, so he instead focused on discussing practical matters.

  He discovered that the travel papers Markus had provided were only necessary when entering a city with a nearby garrison. Local rulers mostly didn’t care who came and went, so long as they spent coin while they were there.

  He also learned that the former Five Kingdoms were coming under ever increasing hardship, with famine and disease spreading at an alarming speed. The desert that separated the Imperial palace from the rest of the continent was expanding, and had already consumed thousands of acres of rich farmland.

  “I started hearing rumors about Shinzan almost from the moment I arrived,” Markus told him. “They say he is more than a thousand years old and can never die.”

  “Do they say anything about how he came to power?” Ethan asked.

  “Not much. Only that he defeated the mages and the dragons single-handedly.”

  This mention of the dragons made Ethan recall his own vivid dreams about them. He decided to keep details of these to himself for now, but he did tell Markus about the tiny dragon he had seen at the farm.

  His friend sat up straight and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s what you saw?”

  Ethan nodded. “And I keep getting this strange feeling. It’s like they’re watching me.”

  Markus thought for a moment. “I’ve heard stories. Legends really. They say that five children will come to challenge the Emperor for the soul of the world. They will be led by the last champion of the dragons, who will burn the Emperor’s palace to cinders.”

  “And?”

  “And nothing. I only heard it a few times from some of the Hareesh wives. It was just a bedtime story they told their children.”

  Jonas began to stir.

  “We’ll talk more later,” Markus said, getting to his feet.

  On spotting him, Jonas scowled and shook his head. “So you changed your mind, did you? Well, at least Ethan is happy about it.”

  “You should be too, old man,” he shot back. “You know nothing of Lumnia. The world you left behind has been gone for a long time. It’s amazing you even made it as far as Miltino without getting killed.”

  Jonas began gathering his things. “Then let us hope your decision to come with us isn’t just a passing fancy.”

  Ignoring the insult, Markus walked over to the still sleeping Kat. He gently shook her awake. “It’s time to go.”

  Her eyes popped wide when she saw him. She scrambled for her dagger which had fallen from her hand while she slept and was now on
the ground beside her blanket.

  “Easy girl,” he said, holding up his palms. “I just want to say that I’m sorry if I hurt you last night.”

  Gradually Kat calmed down, though she continued firmly gripping the dagger and eyeing him with suspicion. “I’m not hurt,” she said, touching the bruises on her wrist.

  He gave her a curt nod, then moved quickly away to gather up his things.

  The pace Markus set for them was at times almost a run. He said that if they were to stay ahead of the Grendil they would need to rest as infrequently as possible and sleep for no more than a few hours at a time. Though he didn’t complain openly, it was easy to see that Jonas was less than enthusiastic about what was in store.

  “It’s not likely he’ll try to follow us into the mountains,” Markus told them. “The dwarves may trade with the Empire, but they sure as hell don’t like strangers.”

  “The dwarves do business with the Empire?” asked Jonas, clearly disgusted by the idea.

  “Of course,” he replied. “Otherwise Shinzan would send an army to wipe them out. The only reason he tolerates them at all is that they can make magical items.”

  “What do they sell?” asked Ethan.

  “Weapons mostly.”

  He recalled Jonas asking him if his rifle was a dwarf weapon. “What kind of weapons?”

  “All kinds. Mostly fire blowers and lightning wands. Things like that. Though I’ve seen some that can make a man’s blood boil inside his veins. But we don’t need to worry about that.”

  Jonas gave an understanding nod, but Ethan was confused.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Common soldiers aren’t given those kind of weapons. Only the high ranking officers. And this far south you don’t see too many of them. They prefer the comfort of the larger cities up north.”

  “The dwarves were always well known for their magic craft,” Jonas added. “They were rumored to have constructed weapons that could level a building.”

  “That’s more than just a rumor,” Markus said. “The Empire has at least six of them - though I’ve only ever seen one.”