Between the fighting dragons and the tiny group I’d just left, a knot of dragons flew at full speed. Even from here, I could recognize the Silver Dragons of the Dominar’s Guards, the purple of the Dominar’s dragon and of Kyrowat as they soared toward my friends.
Maybe there was some hope after all.
Chapter Twelve
There is something about a single (or in this case double?) enemy walking weaponless into an army encampment that makes everything stutter to a halt. Humans love drama. They want to see what happens next – even if there’s a possibility that they might not like what that is.
Rather than charging us and instantly killing us with their overwhelming numbers, the men and women of Ko’Torenth drew aside, creating a path for us to walk through their heavily armed ranks to the tents beyond.
So far, so good.
I tried not to study them too openly. No need to make them suspicious or defensive. But what I saw wasn’t hopeful for us. I recognized some of those Heads of House from their furtive meetings with Apeq in Ko’Koren. And I also recognized some of the Midnight Artificers. They stood around Apeq like a clutch of ducklings around their mother, long rods in their hands – weapons wrought of the souls of others.
Souls that didn’t belong to them. Souls they didn’t have the right to take.
Fury welled up inside me and I snatched at the rods with my mind, pulling the souls out of them and loosing them to return to the World of Legends. They never belonged to these power-hungry vermin.
“Your anger is showing,” Zyla whispered warningly.
I smoothed my features as I stumbled to where Apeq stood, looking at his ease. His clothing was clean and orderly. His appearance was ... kingly. After all, wasn’t that what he was here for? To prove he could be king to the people of Ko’Torenth and king over the Dominion, too?
Not while I still lived.
“Yeah! Show him!” the mimic encouraged me. It was strange that Apeq still couldn’t see the mimic. Strange and a little chilling. Where was his shadow self? Was it possible that the Apeq I spoke to was the shadow self and that the less shadowy Apeq had been left somewhere in the World of Legends?
“Yes,” my mimic said.
Whoa! Really? But I didn’t have time to explore that train of thought.
“What do you want, urchin?” Apeq asked with a flicker of cruelty playing around his twisted smile.
“To talk.”
“I’m a little busy at the moment.”
The people standing around him tittered like he was the funniest thing they’d heard all week.
“Well at least you’re keeping busy,” I said casually. “It’s good to stay busy when you’ve lost everything.”
“I don’t seem to have lost anything,” he said, and his voice betrayed that his patience was thinning.
“Except for Ko’Torenth. I went ahead and scooped that up,” I said. I pulled the scarf from around my head, letting the bright crown flare in the light. “Seeing as I’m the Ko’roi.”
That caused a stir in the Heads of House.
I looked over at them. “If you return home now, you’re welcome to keep your houses under my rule.” Some of them laughed, but not all of them. It was the nervous ones that I fixed with a steady gaze. “I’ll replace any of you who don’t leave right now with a new House of my choosing.”
There were some shuffling feet, but Apeq barked a laugh.
“Well, you’re good at one thing, boy. Lies. Threats and lies.”
“That’s two things,” I said with a cocky grin. “Three if you count stopping golems in their tracks.”
“Four if you count being a hero,” Zyla said softly and her words made my heart leap.
“I don’t see golems stopped in their tracks,” Apeq said, pointing up to where the wolf golems were rushing over the walls of Questan. “In fact, I think they’re winning.”
And now was the time for my big gamble. I hadn’t relly been planning it – in fact, I hadn’t been sure what I was going to do when I got this far, but it came to me – a sudden inspiration like a gift from the heavens dropping straight into my open mind.
I swallowed, fighting the nausea swirling in my belly. If I was wrong about this, if it was the wrong choice ... but I couldn’t be wrong. There were children up there counting on me. Children just like the ones I’d saved in Estabis. Children who would have no one to save them now if it turned out that I had misjudged.
“Last chance,” I told the Heads of Houses. They didn’t move, their eyes fixed on Apeq.
I’d better be right about this.
I concentrated as hard as I could and I pulled, sucking at every golem at once and tugging at their souls, fighting the writhing wave of them. It felt almost as if Gran was there pulling with me, and the ancestors who had chosen me as Ko’roi, and the people who had fallen defending Estabis, and the souls I’d already sent back to their rest, as if Karillion and Nelmper pulled with us and all the fallen dragons who had fought and died for the people of Estabis pulled, too. We pulled with all our might.
The wolf-golems ground to a halt and the valley was suddenly quiet, save for the sound of flying golems falling from the air and dashing to crumpled messes on the ground below.
It had worked.
I swayed, my vision blurring as Zyla grabbed me, bearing all my weight in her small arms. I was going to black out.
No! Not yet! Not here!
Take my strength!
And then, like I’d rested a full night, I shook myself, standing on my own feet.
Saboraak! My dragon! How in the world had she done that?
Remember when you wondered if we were really bound by magic? Apparently, we are.
Chapter Thirteen
“It’s not possible,” one of the Heads of House gasped, looking out over the still golems.
Apeq said nothing, his eyes locking with mine. He knew this was possible.
“How many souls did you drain to make these golems?” I asked. “Was all of Woelran enough?”
“What was made once can be made again,” he said in a tight voice.
“But you didn’t make those golems, did you?” I asked and he flinched. “You found them under a mountain when you were mining. And you and the Midnight Artificers learned a secret there – a secret so terrible that you kept it to yourselves. But eventually, keeping it to yourself wasn’t enough. Eventually, you wanted to see how far you could go. This is how far, Apeq. You’ve come to the end of the line.”
There was a stir in the ranks of the Heads of House, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Silver dragons piercing through the human defenses, pushing them back. They weren’t attacking, just rolling their large heads at the ends of their sinuous necks and twitching wings like they might want to fight. Their riders wore plate armor and carried long halberds. They were ready for battle.
At the center of the Silvers was a knot of other dragons and as they drew close, the Silver dragons opened up their ranks, spreading out to reveal who was at the center.
The Dominar rode forward on her Purple dragon. The expression on his face was one of dragon amusement combined with a hint of deadliness, like we were all still alive only because he hadn’t decided to kill us quite yet. He opened his mouth and I clenched my jaw, but he only yawned dramatically.
Beside him, a second purple dragon stalked, his expression cranky. Steam escaped his nose in little puffs and the man riding him was lithe and young, his bald head gleamed in the afternoon light. He made a movement with his hand, two fingers going one way and three the other and then the Silvers halted, drawing up into what looked like a stance of attention.
Behind the Purples I saw Lee Estabis on Isitdor, his sister Lenora beside him on Lypukrm. And beside them Hubric rode, giving me a nod when our eyes met.
I looked further back. Where was my Saboraak?
I’m weak. I had to give you too much.
My heart squeezed at the sight of her being carried over the backs of Tachril and Hyoogan.
I’ll be fine. I just need rest. I need the deep sleep of dragons, but there is not yet time.
She shouldn’t have given me so much! She should have protected herself!
You know that I give with an open heart. Especially to you. I’m proud of you, Tor.
I felt my face heating. I was proud of her, too. This wild journey wouldn’t have been possible without her. She’d saved me more times than I could count. When all this was done, we were going to build her that Drazenloft and she could hatch all the eggs she wanted there. A city of little overly-generous, overly-fussy dragons just like their mother.
But right now, I needed to focus.
Some of my friends were dismounting – Lee Estabis, Lenora, Hubric. The Dominar’s captain of the guard also dismounted, and three of her guards joined him. It wasn’t until they were ready, spread out defensively, that the Dominar dismounted a little awkwardly, settling herself onto the crutches she’d had tucked in her saddle. I wished I could see her face, but the crown of the Dominar was masked – a shell of authority riding heavy on the head of the young woman who hobbled forward.
If her body looked weak, her voice was not weak at all.
“Who,” she said softly, but with authority, “has brought an army to my Dominion?”
Apeq stepped forward. “A little display of dragons isn’t enough to establish your authority here, girl.”
The dragons in the line flamed, little fires erupting along their ranks as if they couldn’t contain their irritation at his words.
Soldiers scrambled back, some of them crying out in pain at flash burns that seared their flesh.
The Dominar cocked her head slightly to one side. “The Dominion Sky People demand that you return to your land. Now. Or you will suffer the full wrath of the Dominion. Our cities are not ripe fruit for you to pluck from trees. Our dragons are not slaves to be taken for your land and sucked dry of their power. Our land is not a prize or a token of your power.”
“Your Dominion is a thing of the past. It’s a new world, Dominar. Magic is fading from the world. You won’t be able to defend this place for long. And we plan to take what’s left of the magic you’ve been hoarding here.” Apeq crossed his arms over his chest – but he stood back out of the range of the dragons’ fire.
“We will stop you,” the Dominar said. “If you do not surrender right now, we will destroy your army with our dragons and every man and woman with you will die.”
“Maybe,” Apeq said. “But you haven’t seen all of our power, and you don’t have enough dragons to stop us. It will be a long and bloody battle, but in the end, we will win.”
“Wait,” I said stepping forward.
The Dominar’s dragon flared as if insulted that I was interrupting. Her Captain of the Guard stepped a little closer to her.
Ridiculous. I was no threat to them.
Behind me, I heard Apeq’s people gathering. There was a shout from a little way behind us. Hopefully, it would sort itself out.
I cleared my throat. “Ko’Torenth would be gutted by the loss of so many lives. And it’s my job to protect both the Dominion and the people of Ko’Torenth.” A vision of Gran passed over my eyes. I looked to where Stef was standing beside Saboraak, nodding her head. “Surely, we can find a way to do this without bloodshed. You saw how I stopped the golems in their tracks.”
“They can be brought back to life,” Apeq said.
“And you know that I have other authority,” I said, looking at his arms.
He shifted uncomfortably.
But now this was the part that made me uncomfortable – the part I’d been trying to avoid all along. I glanced to Zyla and she nodded as if she knew what I was about to do. I wished Gran was here. She would have understood why it was so hard and she would have told me exactly how to do this. When it was all over, I was going to find her and give her an honored burial. I cleared my throat, raising my voice and looking out over the soldiers surrounding the tents.
“I am the Ko’roi – prophesied by your people, chosen by your ancestors, three times marked to be the ruler and caretaker of Ko’Torenth.”
All that was true. I’d never asked for any of it. I didn’t want it, but it was true. I should have realized the first time I was marked that it would lead me here. There had been no point fighting it or doubting it.
“So, you’re just going to roll over and give up your freedom and let it happen?” my mimic asked.
I looked at Saboraak in the back of the crowd, weak and tired. She’d done that for me. I thought of Gran, broken in the muddy fields. She’d been there for me with no concern for herself. I Iooked to where Lee Estabis was moving closer through the Silver dragons and their guards, his face concerned. His city was gone. His people were scattered. All because of me. It was time for me to do the one thing that I could for all of them.
“I have the support of the people of your land, and the power of the World of Legends and I am laying claim to that power now. All loyal citizens of Ko’Torenth will lay down their arms at my command. All loyal Heads of House will submit to my authority. There will be no more bloodshed. No more theft and murder of the people of the Dominion and if their Dominar will allow us to return to our lands – no more dying for you, either.”
I didn’t know what I expected from my dramatic proclamation – but it wasn’t laughter.
Apeq laughed, shaking his head and then he caught the gaze of someone behind me and nodded slightly before addressing the Dominar.
“This man is nothing. And you are nothing but a child. Your rule is a joke. Today, I will destroy your army and grind them to powder.”
He lifted his hand as if he could reanimate the golems. He must not have realized that I stole their souls – that they wouldn’t come alive again, not now or ever. I began to smile.
Lee Estabis’s shout rang out so suddenly that I didn’t have time to turn and look at what he was pointing toward. Agony ripped through me, sudden as a bolt of lightning. I tried to turn to see what had happened, but my limbs wouldn’t respond.
Zyla cried out, “Tor!”
I slumped to the ground,
I was paralyzed with pain. I looked up to see Zyla bending over me and above her was Eventen, still holding a dripping knife.
He’d stabbed me in the back.
The man who had healed me before had just stolen my life with a single stroke of his dagger.
“Well, he did save your life, so I guess he’s just taking that back,” my mimic said, standing over me with an unconcerned look.
I heard a battle cry behind him and saw figures leaping forward.
Lee Estabis, looking like the hero of a story, leapt into the knot of Heads of House, his blade leaping from its sheath. He swung, his muscles bulging, and two things flew in different directions. It took a moment for my mind to make sense of it. One of those things had been Eventen’s body and the other had been his head.
“He’s going to have a harder time with the ladies now,” my mimic said. “I hear short men are at a disadvantage and he just got a head shorter. Get it? A head shorter?”
I tried to sit up, but my legs and arms had no feeling. Tried to say something to Zyla as the tears poured down her face, but it only came out in a moan.
“Don’t die, Tor!” she said. “Don’t die! I care about you. I want to make that dragon city with you. And we can live there with Saboraak and my sister and Bataar.”
“Maybe you’re getting off easy,” the mimic said. “Would you really want to live the rest of our life with Bataar?”
He was getting louder as the blood roared in my ears and Zyla was getting quieter. I tried to memorize the golden color of her eyes, so full of love and kindness. Imagine! Someone felt all that for me.
Hold on, Tor.
Saboraak’s voice was gentle, too. But she would be okay. Tachril would take care of her. They would make a city for dragons. If not in Ko’Torenth, then somewhere. She and Zyla should take care of each other. They agreed on most
things anyway.
“Yeah, like how you are an idiot. I agree with that, too. Can I stay alive?” the mimic asked, rubbing salt in the wound.
I couldn’t control my eyes anymore. They slipped from Zyla’s lovely face to where Lee Estabis hacked down Heads of House as they fled from him, screaming. To where the Dominar’s Captain of the Guard and her armored Silver dragon riders fought as she tried to keep her dragon from bursting forward and flaming everyone. There were two smoking corpses in front of him where people had broken past her guards.
My vision was fading as Zyla gathered me into her lap.
She smelled so good. She was so warm. Her tears splashed hot on my face.
She shouldn’t have to cry like that. She should be happy. She should have a bright future. Maybe it would be even brighter without me getting her into trouble.
“I love you, Tor,” she said, and the words made me feel like warm honey inside as my spirit finally fell free and soared toward the World of Legends.
Chapter Fourteen
“Nice place you have here,” the mimic said as we entered the World of Legends together. “Good thing you spent some time fixing it up.”
I rolled my eyes. Who would have thought that I’d be stuck with him in the next life, too?
Sadness, heavy as a stone, weighed on me. I had so many regrets. And now, I’d never have a chance to make them right. I’d never really told Saboraak what a good friend she was. And now, if she lived, she’d have to build her dragon city without my help. If I could do it all over again, I would be better to her from the very start.
I hadn’t thanked Hubric, either. He’d taken me out of the gutter and yeah, the life he’d given me wasn’t an easy one but it sure was more exciting than the one I’d left behind. Without him, I wouldn’t have these friends.
If I could do it over again, I’d be as crazy as Bataar and see if I could con Zyla into marrying me. It would have taken quite the trick, because she was too smart to be talked into anything she didn’t want to do, but I would have tried. I liked that about Zyla. She had a mind of her own and I had to work to impress her.
Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 9-12 Page 24
