On the Wings of Dragons: Path of the Wielders 3

by Cleave Bourbon

  Trendan unrolled the parchment. Sanmir held up a white crystal that began to glow, cascading warm tones of light on the parchment to reveal a map of the castle of Lux Enor. “Sanmir and I have been talking, and I think we should go after Kimala. Sanmir confirmed a few issues for me. We can’t leave her to the mercies of that madman. She has sacrificed enough.” He pointed to the map. “We found this map in the ruined By’temog city archives, and we think we found a way in.”

  “But, Trendan, Lux Enor is at the heart of the enemy’s stronghold. It would be next to impossible for you to succeed with this plan. Besides, where does her loyalty lie, anyway?”

  Sanmir spoke up. “Not impossible. I spent some time in Lux Enor just after the War of the Oracle. I know it well. I bet I know it better than Malanor, anyway. With the use of this map, I think we can get in and get out. As far as her loyalty, she is on our side, I assure you. Kimala can open one of the portals back here or to the Vale of Morgoran.”

  “Assuming she is well enough to do so,” Kaxen pointed out.

  “I’m sure I could open it if I had to,” Sanmir countered. “I am not too bad with essence magic myself. It is not as clean as the magic of my people, but I have had to use it before.”

  “Kaxen, please. I owe her.”

  Kaxen stared at Trendan with consternation for a few moments. “There is no doubt about your honor, my friend,” Kaxen said as he patted Trendan on the shoulder. “I will allow this for you, but I want you to get in there, get Kimala, and get out. No other side missions are authorized.”

  “It’s agreed, then,” Trendan said. They both shook hands, and Kaxen led them to the Migarath Portal.

  Chapter 27

  After breakfast, Kaxen, Lady Shey, Asterial, and Morgoran headed for the decaying library building. As indicated, Gondrial stayed in camp nursing a horrendous hangover, loath to go poking through a musty, dusty library.

  Kaxen could tell the structure had once been a marvel of construction, a magnificent gem among a cluster of lesser gems. The once sharp features around the arches and doorways were now worn and rounded and a few of the supporting columns had crumbled and collapsed on the outer portico, but nothing else obstructed the rest of the entryway. The two coppery double doors, which were covered with green patina, appeared to be stuck shut with a slight buckling at the edges as if some force had tried to break them down to gain entry and failed.

  Kaxen ran his hand over the buckled seams. “Doesn’t look like we will get in this way,” he said.

  Morgoran bit his lower lip. “Hmm, I think I can buckle the left door from the inside out.”

  “Wielding? Is that wise here?” Kaxen asked.

  “I don’t see why not.” Morgoran shrugged. “Who would care?” Morgoran concentrated and used his considerable skill to draw in just enough essence to power his spell. He released, and the left door buckled outward, crushing into a ball as easily as wadding up a piece of parchment.

  “Wait, what’s that glow around the doorway?” Shey observed.

  Asterial stepped closer to the entrance. “It appears to be a magical seal.” He reached out his hand to better sense it without touching it and immediately recoiled afterward. “It’s a dragon ward. A dragon has sealed off this library.”

  Kaxen faltered. “What? Why would a dragon care about a broken-down library in a ruined city guarded by a cursed ghost?”

  “Think about what you just said, Kaxen,” Shey pointed out. “What better place to hide something valuable.”

  “A dragon’s horde?” Kaxen asked.

  “Don’t go getting all excited; it could be anything,” Morgoran said. “A dragon’s horde is highly unlikely, as are most fanciful treasures and wishes.”

  “How do we break a dragon’s seal?” Kaxen inquired.

  “We don’t. It’s dragon magic,” Morgoran said. “That is unless you want to try it, Shey.”

  Shey glanced apprehensively at Kaxen. “Morgoran!”

  “He will have to find out eventually,” Morgoran said.

  “I would have liked to have had the privilege of telling him in my own time!”

  “Don’t be upset at me. If this library is sealed off by a dragon, it is definitely important.”

  “What are you talking about? You just said it was unlikely to be important.” Kaxen was confused. “I already know about your ability to use dragon magic, my lady. You left behind a strong essence shard in the Hall of Ancients.”

  Morgoran put his hand near the ward. “Why do you keep calling them that?”

  “Essence shards?” Kaxen asked.

  “Aye,” Morgoran said.

  “That’s what they are, shards of essence. What else should I call them?”

  “I don’t like it,” Morgoran grumbled. “They are just essences.”

  “That’s too confusing. Since I took on many essences, it’s easier for me to keep track by calling them essence shards.”

  “Well, it sounds ridiculous, but I suppose you can call them what you want since you are the only one who has ever absorbed so many at once.” He looked at Shey. “Are you going to use that dragon blood of yours or not?”

  “Morgoran!” Shey said. “What has gotten into you this morning?”

  Morgoran calmed himself. “I think I know what’s in there.”

  “You are like a child!” Shey said. “Stand aside.” She moved in front of the dragon’s ward.

  “I wondered about your dragon blood,” Kaxen said. “Is it true? How can you be both man and dragon?”

  “Aye, it’s true. I have dragon blood in my family, and I learned how to use some limited dragon magic, mostly enchantment spells, though. I am not sure about breaking a ward.” She held both hands out in front of her. “As far as how I can be a woman with dragon blood, you don’t know the half of it. When we get a chance to sit and talk, I will fill you in on everything I know about it before Morgoran blurts it all out,” she said.

  “The essence I absorbed, it’s a long story, but to sum it up, I felt the presence of your dragon magic and I also used it. I re-enchanted my sword Dranmalin. The ability must have come from your essence.”

  Shey gnashed her teeth. “Well, it’s a possibility, but I suspect it may have come from another. Again, I will fill you in when we can sit and talk.” She sized the ward to see how she could overcome it.

  “I am not worried about your lineage, my lady, you have proven yourself to me already.” He also sized the ward. “I have an idea of what to do now.” Kaxen reached out to the blocked doorway. “Here, touch it at the same time I do.” As soon as his and Lady Shey’s palms touched the ward, it shimmered and disappeared.

  “Convenient!” Morgoran said.

  Kaxen pushed open the remaining intact door to find utter darkness. “I can’t see a thing in there. What did we bring for light?”

  “Allow me.” Shey stepped through the door, and Kaxen felt the familiar rush of essence. One by one, the library’s braziers and wall sconces lit up in flame. “A trick I once learned from a very dear, departed friend.” She looked at Kaxen, and he thought he could see the sadness in her eyes.

  The library appeared unaffected by time. It was as pristine as the day it was built. Walls and walls of books and parchments extended from the bottom floor up two spiral staircases to disappear out of sight on the second floor.

  Surveying the room, Kaxen was surprised when his eyes fell upon a particularly strange sight. In the center of the main room, behind the main desk, was a man floating above the floor, suspended in a black, lightless flame. Kaxen signaled for the rest to follow and then hurried to the individual. The man’s arms were crossed over while holding two wicked daggers. Two sword hilts protruded from over his shoulders. He appeared to be middle-aged, with long hair intermingled with grey.

  “Who could this be and why is he trapped in a dragon-protected library?” Kaxen asked. When no one answered his question or said anything, Kaxen looked back to see Lady Shey wiping away tears and Morgoran with his hand on her should
er. Asterial took a deep, sympathetic breath.

  Shey wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and sniffed. “His name is Veric Namear. He is my father.”

  “Oh, didn’t you say you were orphaned?” Kaxen couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  Lady Shey sniffed again, and Morgoran handed her a handkerchief to wipe her nose. “I was left by my parents as a child, it’s true. I didn’t lie. I was unaware of my parents until I was at least fourteen seasons. I was a child of the streets of Old Symbor.” She broke her sadness with a quick snicker. “We really should have that talk soon.”

  “Aye, we should,” Kaxen agreed. He examined the black flames. “What is this?”

  “A form of blackfire,” Morgoran answered. “Don’t touch it!” Kaxen drew back his hand. “I should think it’s a dragon magic version. Instead of doing damage, it appears to preserve.”

  “I don’t mean to be indelicate, but didn’t you wonder where your father had gone all these seasons? I presume you have met him before, haven’t you?” Kaxen asked.

  Shey looked at Morgoran. He held up his hands. “It’s up to you. You can tell him now or later; I don’t think it will matter much either way. He needs to know the truth sometime.”

  Shey nodded and then took one of Kaxen’s hands in hers. “Kaxen, what I am about to tell you may seem strange or unbelievable at first. You must let me explain, all right? Can you do that?”

  “Rest assured, what is it?” Finally, some answers, he thought.

  “I am the daughter of Sylvalora, the Silver Drake. She is my mother and the wife of Veric. Until Toborne took her away at Brightonhold Keep, she had been searching for my father while she helped me find you.”

  “How is that even possible?” Kaxen was surprised that he didn’t believe her as he thought he would.

  “She was given the gift of life from Loracia, the goddess of life. With that gift, and being female, also came the gift to create life, just like any other living woman. She met and fell in love with my father Veric. Since she is essentially a unique form of drake, he became her dragon knight. He can sense her and find her wherever she may be, just as any dragon knight bonds with their dragon. That is unless someone finds a way to trap him.”

  “Is Sylvalora a woman, an elf, or a drake?” Kaxen asked.

  “She is all of them. One of the gifts she received from the gods was to represent all the races they created. Each time she has to become the Silver Drake, she returns as a different race. The last time she returned as elven. If she is not the Silver Drake now, she will be another race of the world.”

  “So . . . why is your father here?”

  “I have no idea,” Lady Shey said. “We have not seen him since the War of the Oracle. I had almost given up hope. Now, if you don’t mind, can we free him?”

  “It’s Toborne. It has to be his work,” Morgoran grumbled. “I wouldn’t be so quick to free him. We better check for traps.”

  “The War of the Oracle!” Kaxen gasped. “He’s been here since before the Sacred Land, trapped in a bleeding library.”

  “I don’t like hearing you swear, Kaxen,” Shey scolded him. “I hold you in too high a regard.”

  “Sorry, my lady,” he apologized.

  “Holy bloody fire! Is that Veric Namear?” Gondrial said as he stumbled into the library.

  “I thought you didn’t want to be here!” Lady Shey said.

  “I got bored. Also, my hangover is better.”

  “Lucky us,” Shey said. “Aye, this is my father. We are about to free him, and I would hope you would have respect for him.”

  “I do, I do. I have an incredibly high respect for him.” Gondrial looked at Kaxen. “Does he know everything now?”

  “Aye, I just told him about my mother,” Shey said.

  “So, you finally got around to letting Kaxen know where you came from.” He shook Kaxen’s hand. “Welcome to the club, lad. There are much more life-shattering secrets to come with your new membership.”

  “Don’t be so dramatic, Gondrial,” Asterial said as he took the half-empty bottle of elvish wine his former apprentice had just produced from his robes away from him.

  “Hey, that’s mine.”

  “Not anymore.” Asterial turned the bottle bottoms up and swigged the whole of it, slamming the bottle down on the desk afterward. Gondrial watched, disappointed.

  “If you two are finished, can we get back to the issue at hand?” Morgoran stated.

  Kaxen, who had been thinking about how Sylvalora had told him that she chose him to find her, had a realization. “This is what she meant. I would be the one who could find her. The best way to find her would be to free Veric.”

  “How did you arrive at that?” Gondrial’s words dripped with sarcasm. “That’s not the brightest observation you’ve come up with.”

  “What about this?” Kaxen reached out and touched the blackfire barrier as his hands sparked with purple lightning until the black flames lit up in yellow and orange and flashed out. Veric fell to the floor.

  “Or it could work, I guess,” Gondrial stated. “Brave. I wouldn’t have done it.”

  Shey went directly to her father, who was slowly coming out of his sleep. She knelt down and put her hand on his forehead as he woke. He looked up at her with astonishment. “Sheyna, is that you? You’re all grown up, but I would recognize that smile and those eyes anywhere.”

  Gondrial rolled his eyes.

  “It is I, Father. We have just freed you from a dragon’s blackfire curse.”

  “How long?” He gasped and coughed. “How long have I been here?”

  “What is the last thing you remember? Was I still an adept at the tower?” Shey asked.

  “Aye, I had just left you and that boy on my way to find Toborne. He had to answer for taking Sylvalora. I vaguely remember that man you called the Oracle, and then nothing.” He grabbed ahold of Shey. “Your mother, where is Sylvalora? I can feel she is in danger.”

  “Not now, Father, rest a moment. I will tell you all you need to know about Mother when you regain your strength.” She ran her fingers over the shiny silver daggers her father still clutched in his hands. “Our daggers—the daggers I held onto as a child. These daggers made me feel safe.”

  “Aye, dear daughter, I would never part with them. The dragon that put me here tried to take them from me. He tried to take all of my weapons away, but I fooled him into letting me keep them with me. In the end, he let me keep them for my honor as a dragon knight.”

  “What did this dragon look like? Was he one of the Draegodor broods?” Morgoran asked.

  “You will not believe me, Morgoran. He was a gold,” Veric said.

  “A gold-scaled dragon? Are you sure it was a gold?”

  “As sure as I am here telling you.”

  Morgoran and Asterial exchanged worried glances. “What is it now?” Kaxen asked.

  Morgoran rubbed his forehead. “Why would Golvashala want Veric imprisoned?”

  “How do you know it was him?” Asterial asked.

  “No other gold-scaled dragon would have been down from Mount Venifyre at that time. He must have wanted to keep Veric from going after the Silver Drake.”

  “Which means he did it to allow Toborne to steal her back, then,” Asterial said.

  “What are you two talking about?” Kaxen was confused.

  Gondrial absently swirled his finger in the dust of the main front desk. “Before the War of the Oracle, Toborne first stole the Silver Drake to try and take control of dragonkind. Morgoran tried to stop her from killing Toborne and was cursed by her with clear eyes, where he could only see into the future, for the attempt. A gold-scaled dragon was rumored to be in Toborne’s control for a while, controlled by the manipulation of the godly power of the Silver Drake. That’s a big deal because according to legend, Fawlsbane Vex himself created the gold and silver dragons. They are supposed to be celestial beings and therefore cannot be easily manipulated.”

  Veric, at the sound of a famil
iar voice, looked up at Gondrial. The vein in his forehead began to throb, and his face turned red with anger. “You are still consorting with the likes of him?” He pushed himself up to standing position.

  “Father, stop,” Shey said.

  “Veric, don’t do anything hasty. That was a long time ago,” Gondrial pleaded.

  “Not to me it wasn’t,” Veric countered.

  “Surely we can have more civil heads,” Morgoran said. “We have more pressing issues than something Gondrial may have done a thousand seasons ago.”

  “He coated the inside of my armor with honey and placed it on an ant bed! I probably still have the welts from the stings.”

  Gondrial tried as hard as he could, but first, he cracked a smile and then he started chuckling. “I was young. I didn’t do it on purpose,” he mused.

  “I’ll kill him!” Veric lurched forward, but Shey pulled him back. “If you were merely young and inexperienced, then why would you coat my armor with honey? You had to do it on purpose.”

  Kaxen could not contain his laughter, and as soon as he started, a stern look from Morgoran quickly crushed the urge.

  Gondrial was trying to hold his laughter. “I swear. I had a best friend back then who liked to play jokes on me. He told me that the honey would take out the tarnish. I didn’t know any better.”

  Veric settled down. “I knew you would end up in his company the first time I saw you together.”

  “Father, no. Gondrial and I never did get together. I listened to you. I promise.” She gave Gondrial a mournful glance. “We never had anything together.”

  Gondrial’s jovial smile abruptly ended with a somber, angry expression. “It was a promise to your father! That’s why you left me feeling like a fool? That’s the reason you married my best friend!” He admonished Veric. “How ironic. You blame me for your armor, and the one who actually talked me into doing it your daughter married.” Gondrial stormed away into the darkness of the library.

  “Gondrial, wait!” Shey called after him.

  “Let him go,” Veric said to her. “Who did you marry? Where is he? I should like to meet him.”