Knight Quest (The Champion Chronicles Book 5)

by Brad Clark

  Marik nodded, knowing what Hallendrielle said was right, even though he didn’t really want to hear it. If the dragon’s blood was being used to bring more creatures like Gregarious into this world, then it needed to be freed.

  Kaelak had been looking around and suddenly realized he had stopped seeing goblins. “The goblins that were lurking nearby are nowhere to be seen. This is a great time for us to get moving.”

  “Let’s go,” Marik agreed. He turned back to Hallendrielle and asked, “Are you sure about this.”

  “As sure as anything,” she replied. “Now go!”

  Marik and Kaelak sprinted from the shadows of the rubble.

  ***

  Hallendrielle felt alone the instant they left. The feeling of fear was strange to her, but also welcoming. For too long she had been comfortable in her exile, living a simple and peaceful life of farming. She enjoyed adventures in areas of the jungle that were dangerous, but they really weren’t deadly by any stretch of the imagination. She had her spells to protect her, if necessary. After the wars with the Humans, she thoroughly enjoyed peace, but it had come at the expense of becoming complacent. She had forgotten what fear and loss felt like. It was painful, but it also was a part of life. A necessary part of life. Death had almost become a myth. She could not remember the last time they had grieved for the loss of one of their own. It was not unreasonable to think that she would soon die. Once she started the spell, who knows how many of the Deceiver’s evil creatures would descend upon her. She had a trove of spells ready to use, but not many of them would be useful in a battle. Oddly, though, the thought of dying heightened her senses and actually made her feel alive. The fear caused her heart to pound hard and her breathing to increase. All the world around her slowed down as she once again came alive.

  For a moment, she pondered which spell to cast. Some spells could be discerned, but most could not. The Deceiver would only know that she was tapping into the Web of Magic. Hopefully, he was not yet powerful enough to know what she was doing. With the thought of her walks through the jungle in her mind, she muttered the words of the spell that had been memorized ages ago.

  ***

  Roddan and the twenty Mashers had left the tower and were now boarding a ship that would take them to the army on the north shore of the Gulf of Taran. The Deceiver waited patiently on top of the tower until the ship raised anchor and started the journey north. Once Roddan and his army had taken the large Taran capital city, the Deceiver would build an identical tower in the center of that city and then he would be able to create a portal between the two towers and shuttle his army from one city to the next in a near instant. In the meantime, travel would be slow and arduous. At least there were still ships with crews that he could enslave and use for his purposes. He couldn’t move the entire goblin army by sea, but moving important generals and powerful soldiers was a boon to his plans of quickly conquering this part of the world.

  With the ship underway, he, Targiss, and the two wolves descended from the top of the tower down its long and winding staircase. With his thoughts focusing on how he might be able to more quickly move up and down the tower with the help of a spell, he almost didn’t recognize the tingling sensation for what it was. It was so subtle, he wasn’t even sure that he felt what he thought he felt. He stopped suddenly on the stairs and focused his mind and thoughts on the feeling. It happened again, and he was sure it was someone casting a spell. It was a very light pull from the Web of Magic, but he was certain it was another mage casting a spell.

  “What is it?” Targiss asked. Not only had the Deceiver stopped mid-step, but his thoughts were distant.

  “Oh, it is nothing. Well, maybe it is something.” He now had generals to do his bidding so he wouldn’t have to do all the hard work. Might as well take advantage of it now. “I feel something on the southeast side of the city. Someone has cast a spell. I want you to find them and bring whoever it is to me.”

  “What if they put up a fight?” Targiss said with a smile.

  The Deceiver was not amused. “I will be highly disappointed if you do not come back with them alive.” He looked at Targiss for a moment and tried to judge what he was feeling. The Deceiver continued, “But, if this mage puts up too much of a fight, then yes, you may kill them.”

  Targiss’ smile would not go away. “As you wish.” He dashed down the steps quickly, taking two at a time.

  The Deceiver continued down the stairs with the two large wolves following silently behind. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the Deceiver opened a door that led to his personal chambers.

  Before he stepped through the doorway, he turned to the two wolves and said, “Go to the entrance to the tower and stand guard. Kill anything that comes near you.”

  With bile and spittle flying from their lips, the two oversized wolves turned away and bounded out of the tower.

  Finally alone, the Deceiver stepped into his chambers and walked over to a plush chair and sat down. He poured himself a glass from a large gold pitcher. He had only recently taken to the sweet red wine. There was plenty of it in casks throughout the city. Not only did it go down smooth and tasty, but it also left a tingle sensation throughout his body. And the more he drank, the better he felt.

  He let out a long sigh and said to himself, “I could get used to this.”

  ***

  Targiss wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he knew that anything that wasn’t a goblin or one of the huge behemoth Stone Ogres would be fair game. He had already told himself that he didn’t care that the Deceiver wanted the spellcaster alive. He would tear him to pieces and devour what was left.

  With reckless abandon, he ran from the tower. He leaped over piles of rubble and crashed through buildings that were already demolished. A few of the small goblins got in his way, but he didn’t care. He knocked them out of his path or crushed them underfoot. A few of the more curious goblins followed him, but at a safe distance. He passed by two Stone Ogres that were crushing large rocks and breaking them into small piles of sand. They looked up at him as he ran by but otherwise ignored him. He ignored them as well. He had better things to worry about, and they did as well.

  ***

  Kaelak heard the commotion a few seconds before the creature appeared right in front of them. Fortunately, he had time to pull Marik out of the street and behind a collapsed house. The creature that ran past them had dark, leathery skin. It ran on two short legs and had wings folded tightly against his back. They didn’t see its face, as it ran past them too quickly. It was clear that this was one of the Deceiver’s creatures that had been brought through the portal.

  Marik felt a coldness encompass him as he thought of Gregarious and how tough it had fought against the dragon. He was sure this creature would be even tougher.

  “It’s heading right for her,” Marik said.

  “She’ll be all right.”

  Marik watched the creature disappear and shook his head. He wasn’t sure if Kaelak was being confident or simply did not want to admit what they were both thinking. Hallendrielle was in serious trouble, and they could do nothing about it. Her purpose was to give them time to free the dragon. Either of them would do the same thing if they were in her place. She didn’t need to survive but only survive long enough.

  Kaelak stood and saw the grim look on Marik’s face. “We can’t worry about her. We’ll have our own problems when we get to the tower. She is strong in her power, and she is as swift as the sun crossing the sky.”

  Marik could not help but feel sorrow. He knew that the Elves were strong, but would Hallendrielle be able to stand up against such a powerful creature? He hoped so, but he had his doubts that he would ever see her again. His heart broke at the thought of having to tell Glaerion, Even though the Elf was a warrior and understood sacrifice, it would hurt no less. Sadness quickly turned to anger as he thought about all the good men and women who died in this war. His hand itched to hold a sword and strike it at anyone, or anything. He understood
the importance of this rescue mission, but he knew he needed to get back into the fight.

  The house they hid behind had collapsed some time ago when two of its walls were knocked down. The standing walls allowed them to hide from small packs of goblins that were scouring any building that hadn’t been burned to the ground by dragon fire. One of the goblins pulled a small cart, which was being filled with valuables pulled from the buildings. Their focus was on their task at hand and not on finding survivors. Too much time had passed since the city had fallen and there were no more survivors to worry about.

  “There aren't many of them,” Kaelak said, fingering his dagger. “And their focus seems to be on hunting through the buildings to fill their cart. It would take no effort to kill them all.”

  “We don't have the time to fight our way to the tower,” Marik said. He glanced again in the direction that the creature ran, still wondering if they should go help Hallendrielle. Even though he knew they could not waste one more moment than necessary, his training as an honorable Karmon Knight was telling him he should go help her. Yet, that same training was telling him that she freely was sacrificing her life for the greater good and they needed to honor that sacrifice by not wasting the opportunity she was giving them.

  “Where to?” Kaelak asked. His gaze also looked in the direction that the creature had run.

  “All streets eventually lead to the tower. We’ll go a few blocks over and then head up a back way. If we come across goblins, we’ll have to deal with them, but we can’t waste any time with it.”

  “Yes, of course,” Kaelak agreed. “Lead on, then.”

  Marik slid away from the ruins of the house and started jogging away from the main street that led towards the tower. He drew his sword so it would be ready if he needed it. Kaelak followed right behind, his daggers also drawn and ready to be used.

  ***

  Hallendrielle took a deep breath to try and calm her pounding heart. It had been so long since she had been in any sort of battle, she couldn't calm herself down. Her palms were sweaty, and her mind was spinning. She pulled out two daggers, but she hoped she wouldn't have to use them. If she did, then that would mean her magic would have failed.

  She closed her eyes for a moment to find the focus she needed. The words of a spell quickly came from her lips, and she felt the warm sensation of the power of the Web of Magic surround her. She moved slowly towards a pile of rocks and kneeled down, for she would need to continue to focus on the spell to keep it going. Some camouflage spells could be just cast and then forgotten, but those only affected animals and other simple creatures. For the intelligent beings, the more powerful spell needed to be continually fed with power, else it could easily be discerned. Although she knew the goblins were not very intelligent, they might be smart enough to see through the simple spell. It was not a difficult spell to keep going, but it would take most of her concentration to keep it up.

  The appearance of the creature surprised her, and she almost let the spell drop. If it had looked directly at her when it arrived, it would have seen her. Fortunately, it was looking in a different direction, and by the time it started to look around, she had regained control of the spell.

  At first, she thought the creature was simply a large goblin, but its skin was darker, and its face was more grotesque. It walked on two thick legs, its long arms hanging almost to the ground. The large head turned left, and then right, as it searched the area. At one point, it looked right at her, but her spell was able to keep herself hidden, so it looked right through her.

  Targiss let out a low growl and said, “I know you are here. I can feel you. When I find you, I will rip your body apart limb-by-limb. Your death will be slow and painful. If you just show yourself now, I promise you that I will kill you swiftly.”

  It slowly stepped forward, its nose up in the air, sniffing.

  The spell that she used was something the Elves used deep in the jungles to keep them safe from the predators of their land of exile. It was supposed to hide not only what could be seen, but also what could be smelled. Since most of the predators of the jungle had better olfactory senses than eyesight, it was important to have a spell that could camouflage them as well as possible.

  She shifted her body to get into a more comfortable position, but she moved very slowly as the spell would not camouflage any noises she made.

  Targiss walked slowly across the open ground, his head moving from left to right. Suddenly it stopped, and he cocked his head.

  Hallendrielle held her breath and tried to stop her heart from beating. She could hear it pounding in her ears and was certain the creature could hear it as well. Thrill and excitement flooded her senses. Even though she knew that a fierce battle could happen any moment, she felt alive. It wasn’t that she missed fighting and the death that always ensued, but it reminded her how her life had become too plain and dreary. She felt guilty at the thought of a war rejuvenating her, but that was how she felt.

  Targiss turned its head away from her just at the moment when she was sure that she had been discovered. Slowly, she let out the breath that she had been holding.

  Then the creature jumped.

  Targiss spun his body with impossible quickness and leaped right at her. The movement caught her off guard, and she was barely able to recover. In an instant, she lost concentration on the spell that kept her hidden. In the time it took for the creature to reach her, she was able to spit out another spell that was sitting ready to be cast. An invisible wall covered her, and the creature bounced off it. For the moment she had been saved, but the spell had been clumsily cast, and she could not maintain it. Almost as soon as the bubble had gone up, it was gone.

  Targiss bounced off the invisible wall and landed on his feet in a crouch. Thick gobs of saliva dribbled down his chin as he spoke. “You are weak. I can feel the tiny bit of power that you draw from the Web. It is hardly enough to stop me.”

  Hallendrielle knew better than to engage the creature. It only wanted to torment her, but she had been around too long and seen too much to let its words bother her. With daggers in hand, she lowered into a defensive stance, ready to defend herself if her spells failed again.

  She let another stream of words cross her lips and the ground suddenly burst into flame. It was a yellow fire with tall flames that surrounded the creature but did not seem to ignite it. In fact, it started to laugh.

  “You attack a creature from the realm of death with fire? Fire only makes me stronger.”

  Targiss leaped at her again, its fangs and claws extended to rip into her. But she was too quick to be caught. With ease, she slid out of the way and was even able to slash her dagger across the creature’s back. Her dagger had met its thick, muscular body and simply bounced off its skin.

  As it passed by, she knew that her daggers were not going to do much damage. Without thinking of what it truly meant, she knew she would have to stay alive long enough for Kaelak and Marik to free the dragon. Their returning to help her fight this creature didn’t even cross her mind. This would be her last stand, and she would make her people proud. The moment the thought of Glaerion came into her mind, she pushed it out. With a focus she had learned centuries ago, she cleared her mind of any distractions. The last thing she needed was one tiny thought that might deter her from her choices or distract her from what she needed to do. The survival of the world was bigger than any one life. She was gladly ready to give it to the greater cause.

  Targiss ran forward, its long claws stretched out to attack her. It had learned from trying to be too aggressive the first time, so this time it moved with controlled speed and power. Hallendrielle was quicker, though. She darted to the side, avoiding the creature’s slashes. Even though she knew her long daggers would do little damage, she still swiped at it to keep it away.

  Back and forth they moved. She was too fast to be caught, but Targiss was quick enough that Hallendrielle needed to focus all her efforts on not getting caught or sliced by the creature’s razor-sharp
talons. She knew she had no way of defeating it. It kept pressing its attack, so she had no opportunity to even think about casting another spell. If she tried, it would have pounced on her and torn her to threads before she could utter a single word. With no offensive weapon that could kill it, she knew what the inevitable outcome was going to be. Her only goal was to stay alive long enough for the dragon to be freed, but she had no idea how long they would need.

  As she dodged and parried the creatures blows, her eyes caught an opening in the rubble. The way it ferociously attacked her, it would certainly chase her. She knew she could run fast and for a long time. Maybe she could get it to chase her to give Marik and Kaelak the time they needed.

  Immediately after the creature jumped at her, swinging its claws at her head, she ducked, turned and ran. She pumped her arms and legs as fast as she could go. With the frozen ground flying past her, she risked a glance back, and her heart sank. The creature was right behind her, wings extended and flapping furiously. She had started ahead of it, but it was able to fly faster than she could run. It dove at her, and she tried to dodge away, but she misjudged its speed. It landed right on her back. The force of it hitting her dropped her face-first to the ground. Her head bounced, and blackness encompassed her.

  ***

  Myllia glided high in the sky. Her eyes had caught the light of the portal that the Deceiver had opened to bring more of its creatures into the realm, so she headed towards the Human city. With Queen Elissa safely inside the cavern, she could take the time to ensure that the Human and Elves were carrying out their promise. She wouldn’t trust them, as there was a Human among them, but she also knew that they would do anything they could to get the Human queen back. They had already proven that by agreeing to this nearly impossible task.