Angst Box Set 1

by David Pedersen

  “Do it now,” he said distantly.

  Victoria spoke the spell in Acratic, and the unicorn appeared in its pink, feathery glory. Heedless of the danger or urgency, Victoria leaped forward to hug the creature on tiptoe, one leg bent at the knee, her foot lifting into the air. Angst opened his eyes to watch and swore the poor swifen sighed.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hector said.

  “Really?” said Dallow with a chortle as Tarness continued to whisper a description in his ear.

  Victoria hopped onto her swifen’s back, and its golden hooves struck the ground with anticipation. Reluctantly, Angst mounted the petite creature, doing his best to adjust Dulgirgraut.

  She looked back at him with a smirk. “Ready?” she asked, almost squealing with excitement.

  “Sure,” Angst said with a deep wary breath.

  Great pink, feathery wings unfolded and began flapping gently. Victoria clapped in excitement and squeed loudly as the swifen lifted off the ground.

  “You two...well, I don’t even know what to say,” Tarness sighed. “Be careful.”

  “Don’t worry,” Victoria yelled over her shoulder. “We’ve got this!”

  Angst smiled proudly despite himself.

  “Oh please,” Hector said discouragingly. “Not her too.”

  54

  “Yeaaaaah!” Victoria yelled, reveling in excitement and freedom as the pink, feathery unicorn dove between streams of dragon fire.

  Angst gripped her waist in panic as she piloted the unicorn with reckless abandon. His leg muscles were quickly exhausting from straddling tight during the several upside-down loops she’d performed in conjunction with almost uncontrollable giggles.

  “Did I ever say thank you?” Victoria yelled over her shoulder, the ends of her long blond hair whipping his face.

  “No,” Angst yelled against the wind. “For what?”

  “This!” she declared, her broad mouth wide with smile.

  “The swifen?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “All of this! The adventure, the freedom...this was everything I wanted!”

  Angst strained to listen as the rush of air crashed against his ears. His large red cloak flapped wildly, but her voice wasn’t clear at all. The wind pulled tears from his eyes as he squinted to watch their approach.

  “You’re welcome, Tori,” Angst yelled, as warmly as he could.

  “I love you!” she yelled.

  “I love you too!” he replied, momentarily forgetting his panic. Could it all be right again? “Let’s go kill a dragon!”

  She laughed maniacally as the unicorn adeptly hopped over a stream of dragonfire. When they neared the dragon, it whipped around again. With the speed of thought, the pink flying unicorn dove out of harm’s way, barely avoiding the giant horns protruding from the back of the dragon’s head. A bright pink glow surrounded Victoria’s hands. He could only imagine her glee at this, and she nodded agreeably at his thoughts. Magic wasn’t just happening for her, it wasn’t just coming naturally like breathing, Victoria was truly wielding it.

  “You need to jump off when we reach the base of the neck...” she explained loudly.

  “What?” Angst asked.

  “... then leap off the end of the tail when you’re done!”

  “That’s it?” Angst asked.

  “Don’t mess up or we all die!” she said, suddenly serious.

  “Really?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she answered. “I don’t think that will happen, but it could. You have to trust my cue!”

  “You’re cute?” Angst was so frustrated; he had never thought his hearing to be a problem. “I trust you!”

  “Then hang on,” she said with determination.

  Angst squeezed onto the unicorn with his sore legs and gripped Victoria’s tiny stomach as tight as he dared. The dragon’s head swung about and snapped at them, but not before they dropped twenty feet, making Angst’s stomach lurch into his throat. The dragon made Ivan seem small, and they were so far from the ground Angst could hardly catch his breath. He looked straight ahead and concentrated on being a hero.

  “Be ready!” she yelled.

  Angst pulled Dulgirgraut from his back, grimacing at the blade’s stubbornness. The blade would not speak to him, but still glowed a bright burgundy in anticipation of the coming battle. Victoria guided the unicorn to swoop up once again and circle over the dragon’s enormous head. The snake-like pupil in a yellow eye followed their every move.

  Starting above the dragon’s head, the unicorn flew inches above the neck, racing for its back. Angst took a deep breath. Leaning on Victoria’s shoulders as gently as he could, he pulled his knees up to the swifen’s flank. She pushed against his hand to provide support, shaking under Angst’s weight. Carefully, as slowly as he dared, Angst stood on unsure legs.

  Angst leaned forward, putting his left hand cautiously on Victoria’s shoulder. His knees shook, and his heart raced in panic as he looked down. A glimpse of Ehrde below showed patches of farm and city in a way Angst had never imagined. He swallowed hard, and his grip became slick with sweat. His stomach churned and nausea crawled up his throat as his view of the long fall was replaced by the dragon’s dark red neck of hard protrusions. The dragon was a city in itself, and Angst wondered how he could possibly run from front to back in time to keep Victoria safe. But it appeared wide, and solid. With a deep breath, Angst jumped.

  “Not yet!” Victoria yelled after him.

  The hard landing jolted every joint of every bone. The dragon’s neck was slick, and his twingy knee buckled as his feet slipped out from under him. Angst found himself rolling over the edge of the beast. He grappled desperately, trying to yank his arm free from the entrapping cloak that wrapped around him like a cocoon. Angst slid fast and caught a glimpse of the ground below right before landing hard on an outcropping of scale. Panic flowed through his veins, and he sat up quickly. Cold, wet wind blasted his face and his feet hung over the edge, but at least he still had Dulgirgraut in his grasp.

  The wyrm’s large head rolled from side to side like a snake in water, desperate to find a means to rid itself of the intruder. Angst stood cautiously on the dark red protrusion and looked up to see a rocky formation of uneven growths forming a pathway up. His friends were in danger, Melkier was in danger, and he had to hurry. Angst placed the great blade between his shoulders and scurried up the slick scale. It felt like scrambling up shale on a mountaintop, and he often lost his footing as he made his way.

  Angst pulled himself up to the dragon’s dark red neck and crawled across it carefully until he reached its broad back. He stood slowly and sought his footing. He faced the tail, the wind now crashing against his back, and the dragon rose and fell with every beat of its large wings like a plank on stormy waters. Bracing himself, Angst ran along an obstacle course of rock-like outgrowths. He watched his footing while seeking loose scale and focused on running as fast as he could, but the end of the dragon seemed just as far away. How long could Victoria maintain the flying unicorn without him?

  Angst tripped two-thirds of the way along the dragon’s back, landing hard on his chest. He pushed himself up to his knees, taking a moment to study the red surface. The dragon’s flesh was coated in thick leathery rock, which was made up of layers upon layers, like a fungus. There was no vulnerable spot, no fleshy opening, no obvious target, and Angst grunted as he stood, placing Dulgirgraut on its tip.

  A loud grinding sound followed sparks where the sword touched dragonscale. Angst leaned over and picked up a chunk of scale carved off by the foci. Had the foci done this itself? Was it attempting to help? There was no time to waste in wonder. He lifted Dulgirgraut by the grip once more and swung hard. Sparks flew with every lash of his blade, dislodging large pieces of red dragon. As he carved deeper, the dragon began to take notice. It writhed in fear, shuddering like a wet dog then spinning about in mid-air. The dragon flew straight up before diving straight down.

  Angst continued digging the
grave, his eyes glowing red as he anchored his armored feet to the creature. Every shake, every rise and fall, was a new heart attack. Weak with panic, he lost himself in chopping away and dislodging more scale. After removing more than three feet, Angst finally found something fleshy. Without hesitation, and with all his might, he drove Dulgirgraut into the dragon’s back.

  Dulgirgraut sank into the dragon and continued sinking until it met something solid. Angst could only hope it was bone. The dragon continued shifting violently from side to side, trying to shake him like an untamed stallion. Bright golden lava squirted from the opening Dulgirgraut had created. Angst closed his eyes and concentrated, filling the dragon’s bones with magic again. With his mind, he sought every opening, every pore of every bone throughout the titan. The dragon’s wings slowed and faltered, as though carrying a weight too heavy for a dragon the mere size of a castle.

  The creature fought, jerking back and forth in anger, knowing that something inside wasn’t right. Angst struggled with patience as it took time to fill the giant with magic. When, finally, magic reached into the entire creature from tip to tail, he willed. Dust. Sand. Erosion. Particles. Angst couldn’t will the dark bone away, but he could disintegrate it to the finest amount of nothing in existence. With the most pathetic of squawks, the largest dragon ever crumpled and fell.

  Angst yanked Dulgirgraut from the wound, and slapped it between his shoulders as he tried to run along the dragon’s back. Lava shot out of the gaping hole, chasing Angst while he scrambled away, grasping onto protrusions as the beast spun out of control. When he finally reached the tail, with all the hope and trust he could gather, Angst leaped into the air.

  He landed hard on the back of the unicorn and clung to Victoria so tightly she winced.

  “I’m here,” she grunted. “You did it! We did it!”

  Angst forced himself to loosen his grip so he wouldn’t hurt her. He looked at the dragon, watching as it fell helplessly to the ground. An empty red bag of writhing muscle and fiery anger. The dragon landed hard, and a mass of glowing ooze spread from its red body.

  “You did great, Tori!” Angst yelled, relief starting to set in. “Let’s check on the others.”

  The unicorn swifen gracefully swooped down to their friends behind the large stone barrier Angst had created. Each of them smiled proudly, and gratefully. Annoying pellets of sleet dropped from the sky, hissing noisily as they landed on the distant dragon.

  “What took you so long?” Hector grunted with a smile, holding his hands over his eyes to protect them from the annoying rain.

  “He jumped too soon,” Victoria teased, dismissing her swifen. She shivered for the first time as the excitement abated and sleet pelted her bare arms and torso.

  “I what?” Angst asked, quickly removing his thick red cloak and wrapping her in it.

  “You didn’t wait for my cue,” Victoria elaborated. “Thanks.”

  “You didn’t say anything about a cue!” Angst retorted. “I thought you said you were cute! I already knew that.”

  “So it worked?” Dallow asked, hoping to interrupt a new argument.

  “Couldn’t have done it without you, old friend,” Angst admitted, hugging Dallow affectionately.

  “Let’s go see the damage,” Tarness said excitedly, patting both Angst and Dallow heavily on their shoulders.

  They left the safety of the barrier, carefully tiptoeing around the steaming gobs of cooling dragonfire. The lava hissed as it fought the cold air and ground. When the dragonfire became too thick, Angst finally set the tip of Dulgirgraut to the ground and created a path with a shield of air.

  “Handy,” Hector quipped as he cautiously walked along the new path.

  They stopped a hundred yards from the titan, unable to tell if it was alive or dead. Large masses of dark leathery scale rose and fell from breath or death. Glowing yellow and orange lava poured through crevices between the dragon’s scales as it collapsed in on itself. The mass of body gave up in stages—the back, the chest, the wings, all fell into the lava, melting away in the hot, angry dragonfire.

  Angst and his friends stood in awe, holding their hands in front of their faces to protect them from the intense heat emanating from the dragon’s remains.

  “What’s that?” Hector asked in a gruff voice, coughing from the dry heat.

  “What do you see?” Dallow asked.

  “Just a dark blob in the middle,” Tarness stated. “Almost like a bubble in that lava, but it’s growing.”

  “We should go now, Angst,” Victoria said, worriedly patting his arm.

  Instinctively, Angst wielded Dulgirgraut and took several steps forward to shield his friends. The dark shadow slowly rose over the dragon carcass and moved toward them as though walking up a flight of stairs. The blob took the shape of a man, and a maelstrom of darkness roiled between ever-changing cracks of red and orange. As if birthed from dragonfire, the enormous man-shape grew to full height and walked toward them. He was as tall as the element Earth, a giant statue of dark heat and molten lava. A gentle blue flame coated the creature like a skin, and bright yellow light shone from behind his face to portray eyes, mouth, and nose. Angst refused to cover his face from the sapping heat, standing defiant with foci in hand.

  “What is this?” Hector yelled.

  “It’s the element Fire,” Victoria said simply, sliding cautiously behind Angst.

  “Yes, young Princess,” Fire stated, his scratchy voice crackling like a bonfire. “You!” Fire yelled, pointing at Angst with a thick cloud of sleet-melted steam rising from his arm.

  “Me?” Angst looked over his shoulder innocently before returning his gaze to the giant element.

  Fire stood a mere fifty feet away, and was so hot Angst’s sweat evaporated as it left his pores. The element was black as pitch, black as coal, but his bitter, yellow eyes were hot, hot fire.

  “You! You mortals! You humans killed my host! You killed my first child!” Fire screamed in fury. “I will take my due!”

  55

  Jaden sat in the antechamber, irritable from having to wait and annoyed by Rook’s constant pacing. The large man had moved chairs out of the way to make the most use of the room, pausing only occasionally to inspect the guard’s body further. It was disgusting and odorous, but Rook insisted on leaving it for evidence. Jaden wanted to argue, but his stiff pinky convinced him otherwise.

  Jaden was on the verge of giving up his attempts to prove himself. He was completely lost in this strange land. Where had he come from? Why was he so adept at magic? Jaden didn’t even know if he was a good guy or a bad guy. Everything felt off, and since arriving at Cliffview, he had done nothing but fail, over and over again. This wouldn’t have bothered him so much if he hadn’t just failed the one person he wanted to impress above all others.

  “No matter what’s going on, you have to tell my mother about what happened to Alloria in the hallway!” Victoria had insisted, talking to him angrily through earthspeak. “Tell her that if she doesn’t listen to you, I’ll come back and tell everyone in Unsel what I can do!”

  He couldn’t stand the queen, but the more conversations he had with Victoria, the more drawn in he was. Jaden’s past was wispy memories, like smoke from dying embers, but he knew he had never felt this way before. Victoria’s beauty, her poise, her smell, obsessed him. He longed to talk to her when they were apart and hurt when their conversations were over. But it seemed that every time their communications were cut short, it was because of Angst.

  Angst hated him or, at the very least, didn’t trust him. Every look Angst gave him was cold and his jaw seemed constantly set in frustration—making Jaden even more defensive. The old man couldn’t be jealous of his accord with Victoria, not when Angst held her heart. They were best friends, and who was Jaden but one more guy with a crush? He’d rather ask the queen’s permission to court Victoria than Angst’s, but one day soon, he thought he would have to face them both. He shuddered. The responsibility of wielding a foci seemed easi
er than having to broach the subject of love with both of them. Maybe flirting was safest.

  Several screams came from the temporary throne room, and Jaden sat up and rushed to the door, jiggling the handle helplessly. Was this one last chance to prove himself?

  “It’s locked,” Jaden said. From behind the doorway, there was the crash of weapons, followed by battle screams and panicked yells. It sounded like war inside the large hall.

  “Don’t you wield magic?” Rook yelled, shoving the young man aside and kicking the door open.

  Someone had let crazy loose in the throne room. Dukes and ladies rushed out, fleeing from the battle, followed closely by servants. A group of soldiers circled the main event, protecting the innocents running away, but mostly staring in awe as they waited to arrest those final few fighting. They framed the outside of the fight, creating a thin wall between the brawlers and the royalty, both defending and trapping them against the wall. One large gray man covered in bone and a pink scantily clad woman with her cat tail fought an insanely tall Nordruaut woman. Soldiers struggled to keep a second, purple Fulk’han woman away from the queen while Tyrell battled a muscular gray man in boned armor.

  Rook continued elbowing through the crowd until he wedged himself between several guards. Jaden trailed close and, from over Rook’s shoulder, saw the most amazing sight. A tiny bulbous ball of a man leaped from the floor, jumping off the Nordruaut woman’s shoulder and launching himself at the pink woman. The little guy thrust what looked like a tiny staff at her face; it flashed brightly on contact, making her reel back, screaming. He then sprung off her forehead to land back onto the Nordruaut’s shoulder. She eyed the small man protectively before pummeling against the gray man’s shield with her bare fists, denting it with every thundering blow.

  Tyrell battled his own gray man who appeared almost identical to the first, save for white marks roughly painted across his bone armor. The creature was filled with bravado, taking wild swings and expecting his great strength to overpower a master of the sword. Tyrell ducked and parried expertly, stabbing and slicing, delicately seeking the weakness in the bone plate armor. Trickles of gray blood dripped to the floor, unnoticed by the attacker.