“Well,” Shanks said, peering over the stone balustrade “we won’t be falling, we’ll be jumping.”
“You don’t know what that water is like.” Kazen shuddered. “If the fall does not kill us, the cold will.”
The floor beneath their feet suddenly began to shudder. Cracking and snapping, the entire balcony began to slowly pull away from the wall.
“If you have a better idea, I’d love to hear it!” Shanks submitted, once again grabbing Ilagon up from beneath his arms.
Kazen looked down at the raging sea and then back at Shanks with desperate eyes.
“It’s all right.” Shanks smiled. “Just close your eyes and pretend your stepping out your front door.” Throwing his legs over the railing, he perched himself on the outer edge, holding tight onto Ilagon. “Try to jump out as far as you can, though,” he muttered, trying to conceal the nervous tightening of his voice as he looked down at the churning waters. “Keep your body straight, feet in first.”
“Shanks!” E’enna cried, throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing tight.
“There, there, darlin’,” he whispered, patting her on the cheek. “Just a quick swim to shore, and then we’ll finally be able to find you a nice quiet place to settle down, a proper place, with soft beds and a garden.”
Gently pulling free of her firm embrace, Shanks locked his arms around Ilagon’s chest and took a deep breath. Looking back only long enough to flutter a wink in E’enna’s direction, he leapt out into a silent plunge.
Letting out a painful gasp, E’enna rushed to the balcony’s edge. “Do you see them?” she implored, her eyes darting from side to side. “Do you see them?”
“I can’t see anything,” Kazen answered. “It is too dark.”
Again, the ground beneath them buckled and heaved. Splinters of stone snapped like twigs as the balcony continued to rip away from the wall.
“Come on!” Kazen hollered, slipping his trembling legs over the railing.
Grabbing hold of E’enna’s hand, the pair clung to the outer railing, looking down at the seething ocean so far below.
“I don’t want to do this!” E’enna whimpered.
“Close your eyes!” Kazen yelled over a howling wind, his own heart pounding.
Clenching her eyes shut, E’enna squeezed Kazen’s hand as tight as she could. “Whatever happens, don’t let go!”
Squeezing back, Kazen nodded.
Though the balcony continued to quake threateningly beneath him, he felt as though his feet were glued to the floor. Listening to the stone props cracking behind him, he knew he should jump before it was too late, but his legs were paralyzed. He looked to E’enna, watching as the wind tumbled her hair over her face. Pulling her hand to his chest, he closed his own eyes, willing the numbness from his legs.
As stone crackled beneath his feet, he took a slow breath and extended his foot out over the nothing. “Just stepping out my front door,” he whispered.
With a gentle nudge off the railing they were falling.
His eyes tightly clenched, Kazen was surprised that it felt more like floating at first than plummeting. But as he opened his eyes and saw the dark sea rushing up at him, he was seized by terror. Fighting the impulse to cry out and claw futilely at thin air, he tried to remember what it was that Shanks had told him. At the very last moment, he stiffened like a board, pointing his toes toward the water.
Splashing into the icy sea was like falling into a pool of nails. Plunging down and down into the darkness, Kazen felt as though he would plummet forever, until finally he had the sense to unclench his body and slow his descent. Crushed beneath the weight of the water above him, he began to claw his way weakly back to the surface. It was only then that he realized E’enna’s hand had slipped from his grasp. Pawing blinding through the blackness, he searched for her, diving deeper and deeper until his lungs felt ready to burst.
Expelling his last bubbles of air, he made a mad dash for the surface, fighting his body’s insistence on gasping for air that wasn’t there. Finally breaking through the crest of waves, he sucked in a frantic gulp of salty air, and was immediately smacked back down by a breaking swell. He sputtered back to the surface, flailing against the raging sea. Kicking and paddling, it was a ceaseless battle just to keep his head above the rolling waves.
“E’enna!” he choked, his voice lost to the crashing tide.
Great boulders of stone tumbled from the heights of Ruin, crashing to the water on every side of him. Above, the black whirlwind continued to howl, calling home the demons and the black-hearted.
“E’enna!” Kazen shrieked again, his desperate seeking eyes finding nothing but endless black swells.
It was not long before the warmth of shock surrendered to the chill of the icy sea. Kazen’s fingers and toes quickly curled and knotted, and he was seized by violent tremors. Refusing to give up his search, he waded beneath the shadow of the crumbling stronghold with cramping arms and numb legs, calling E’enna’s name between shudders.
Again and again waves crashed over his head, pounding him beneath the water, and each time it became harder and harder for him to make it back to the surface. Pummeled down for the countless time, he lingered for a moment beneath the waves. Exhausted and numb, it felt strangely peaceful just to lie still and let the sea rock him back and forth.
Snapping out of his weary delirium, Kazen bobbed back to the surface. He felt so weak he could barely keep his head from nodding into the water. He needed something to cling to, even for only a moment, just long enough for him to catch his breath. He wouldn’t be doing E’enna, or anyone else, any good at the bottom of the sea.
Paddling clumsily for the shore, he thought if he could just make it to shallow water he could rest a moment, maybe get a better look around. He might even find E’enna safe on the shore. Yes, that’s probably where she was, safe on the beach, worried to death about him. The thought made him smile, which he instantly regretted as he choked on a swallow of seawater.
Wheezing as though he had been swimming for miles, he wondered why it seemed he had barely made any progress. No matter how hard he paddled, he scarcely moved. But looking down at his frozen arms he saw that he was barely paddling at all. His arms floated in front of him, scarcely fluttering, despite his will for them to move. He sagged lower and lower into the rolling waves, swallowing mouthfuls of water with every gasping breath. Soon, his arms sank to his sides, weighing him down like lifeless anchors. A breaking wave washed over his head, plunging him down into the deep. Caught in a surging current, he was bubbled back up to the surface just long enough to take a last gulp of air before being tumbled back down into the cold darkness.
Sloshing beneath the waves, he made no attempt to fight his way back to the surface. It would be less painful, he thought, just to allow himself to be swept away by the rhythmic tide. Closing his eyes, he pushed aside all thoughts of death and pain, and tried to fill his last thoughts with images of his friends and of warm summer days.
His tragic reverie was rudely interrupted, however, by a hard bump against his backside. Startled back to life, he felt his legs dragging across the rocky bottom. A sudden surge of the tide sent him tumbling forward, scraping along the sea floor. Clawing weakly at the sand with numbed fingers, he watched with dismay as the last of his breath dibbled away in a string of bubbles. At exactly the same moment he conceded to his lungs’ demand to gulp for air, existent or not, he was plopped upright to a sitting position, his head above the water and his backside upon the sand.
Choking on the unexpected air, Kazen opened his eyes to find himself sitting in the shallows, only a few yards from the shore. A gurgling chuckle bubbled in the back of his throat. His arms and legs useless to him, he floundered like a fish up onto the sand. Flopped on his back, he lay in the wet sand, sinking slowly as the tide pulled the sand relentlessly from beneath him.
Looking at his hands, he could see himself trembling as a brisk wind spilled over his body, but the cold did not tou
ch him. Already numbed by the icy sea, he felt nothing but the tingly pinch of salt on his tongue. His eyes falling shut, he fought to stay conscious, but nothing would stop the white light that burned behind his eyelids, casting him into a deep sleep.
Chapter 33
Slowly cracking his bleary eyes open, he stared into darkness. His ears were filled with the rolling of the sea. Blinking and squinting, he strained to clear the milky haze from his eyes, and gradually he began to see tiny pins of white light peering through the blackness above him.
“Torches in the sky,” he mumbled in a daze.
“Not quite,” answered the sweetest voice Kazen had ever heard. “We like to call them stars.”
A hot tear rolled from the corner of Kazen’s eye as E’enna knelt down over him, her soft curls tickling his brow as she leaned in with a bright smile.
“Stars.” He grinned sleepily. “So I’m not dead, after all.”
E’enna touched her hand sweetly to his cheek. “Not for any lack of effort on your part. Maybe next time when I tell you not to let go, you’ll listen.”
“I will.” He chuckled hoarsely. His smile quickly melted, however, as a sudden thought struck him. “Ilagon!” he gasped. “Where is he?”
Slumping back onto her knees, E’enna crossed her arms with a scowl. “Oh, he’ll be fine,” she grumbled, pointing over Kazen’s head. “Eventually.”
Kazen sat up and was immediately struck by nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach. His head, too, throbbed, and most every other part of his body twitched with pain. Rubbing his head, he turned more carefully around and saw Ilagon sleeping beneath a pile of blankets just on the other side of a crackling campfire. Mindful of his sore muscles, he scooted across the cold sand to Ilagon’s side.
Though most of the color had returned to Ilagon’s face, he still wore a dozen fresh scars across his cheeks and brow, and the top of his head was tightly bandaged.
“Ilagon,” Kazen whispered, giving him a gentle nudge.
His eyes fluttering open, Ilagon greeted Kazen with a warm smile. Grunting in pain, he began to push himself up, and with Kazen’s help he was eventually able to struggle to a sitting position. With his blankets fallen away, Kazen could see terrible gashes across his chest and back, and the black-and-blue bruises that covered him up to his neck.
“Are you all right?” Kazen gasped, grimacing at the painful-looking wounds.
“I am fine,” he nodded.
“Fine?!” E’enna scoffed. “The pair of you could have been up and walking around by now!”
“Don’t mind her,” Shanks butted in, arriving with an armful of apples and cabbages. “She’s just sour over Ilagon telling her not to heal either one of you.” Dropping his haul beside the fire, he plopped down next to Kazen and gave him a friendly butt to the head. “Welcome back to the living, boy.”
“Well, it’s ridiculous,” fussed E’enna. “Why sit around in pain when you don’t have to?”
“I am not particularly fond of pain,” Ilagon said, wrapping an arm around his aching torso. “But Kazen and I have earned our scars and bruises, and wearing them is a matter of pride.”
“Bah!” E’enna huffed with a roll of her eyes. “You wizards are no less foolish than any other men.”
“You can heal me if you like,” Shanks offered with a brash grin.
E’enna groaned impatiently. “You’re not even hurt.”
“Not even hurt!” Shanks gaped, feigning insult. “Feel this knot on the back of my head! And look here! You see this swollen knuckle? You think it’s easy to grin through pain like that?”
Hiding a smile, E’enna tossed a blanket into Shanks’ face and sat down beside him, stretching her bare toes in front of the fire.
“So, what happened to you, Ilagon?” Kazen asked.
Ilagon smiled a bit sadly and offered a shrug of his shoulders. “I promised you I would find a way in.”
“I didn’t know you meant as a snack for the demons.” Kazen chuckled.
Ilagon placed a fatherly hand on the back of Kazen’s head, sighing with a smile. “You showed a great deal of courage and strength by going in there alone. You have come so far since the beginning of our quest. It takes more than the power of magic to be a Flame Weaver, and you have proven yourself worthy of your title. I am so very proud of you.”
“Me, too.” Kazen smiled.
Looking out into the rolling sea, Kazen could see, even beneath the dim light of the stars, that the black sludge that had once coated the water had almost completely melted away. The ocean seemed at peace. No longer crashing like an angry beast, the waves rolled onto the shore with contented sighs.
A short way down the beach stood all that was left of Ruin. Only the walls of the bottom two stories were left standing at all, and even those still crumbled to the slightest breeze. From what Kazen could see, there was nothing left but an empty shell, most of the inside having been gutted by the pull of the shadowgate. Nothing stirred from within or without; the dark army that had basked in the shadow of the stronghold was gone, too.
“The shadowgate is really closed, then,” Kazen said, his eyes scanning the empty beach.
“Aye.” Shanks nodded. “Sucked up every last demon and wisp of shadow, and all them poor fools, too.” He shrugged with a shake of his head. “I bet they wouldn’t have signed up if they knew that was part of the deal, eh? Yep, it’s a shame you weren’t awake to see it. Just when I was thinking that spinning cloud of doom was never gonna stop growing, bam! Big clap of thunder, flash of white light, and it was gone. It was really something to see. That first sunrise the next morning was quite a sight, too! Don’t think I’ve ever seen a sun quite that brilliant before.”
“What!” Kazen griped. “I missed the first sunrise?”
“There will be other sunrises,” Ilagon assured him.
“I cannot believe I slept through the first sunrise,” Kazen grumbled.
“Now that I think about it, it really wasn’t that great,” Shanks fumbled. “Pretty pathetic, actually. The sky was all cloudy, you could barely even see a thing.”
“Oh, never mind,” Kazen scoffed with a swipe of his hand.
“So.” E’enna grinned, poking Kazen playfully. “What does the great Flame Weaver do after he saves the world?”
Pursing his lips, Kazen scratched his chin quizzically. “I’m not exactly sure.” He turned his gaze to Ilagon. “What about it, Ilagon? Is there anything in the prophesies about that?”
“No.”
“Well, then.” Kazen smiled, stretching his arms behind his head and lying back onto the soft sand. “I suppose there is nothing keeping me from a nice quiet retirement.”
“I would not be so quick to kick up your heels,” Ilagon suggested, pointing to the orange lights flashing in the distant sky.
Kazen shrugged. “Dragons?”
“Yes. Our battle is over, but theirs has just begun. They are without a king for the first time in their immortal lives. They will need guidance, someone to help them bring peace to the clans.”
Kazen stared at Ilagon expectantly, waiting for him to make his point. As the silence grew and Ilagon returned the same expectant gaze, a wry smile crept across Kazen’s lips. “Oh, no, no, no,” he said, shaking his head vehemently. “You are not getting me involved in a dragon war.”
“I am afraid you already are,” Ilagon insisted.
“How is that?”
“Well, I am unsure if Valduron has left behind any heirs to his throne. And, if I remember my dragon lore correctly, I believe that in such a case where a throne is left without an heir, the successor would be whoever the king honors with his last moments of life.”
Kazen glared at Ilagon with impatience. “Are you going to try to tell me that I am the new king of the dragons?”
Ilagon stared back with an unreadable look upon his face. “Of course not,” he finally answered with a wave of his hand. “What a pitiful excuse for a dragon you would make. However, the fact that you were
with Valduron at his death should gain you enough respect that you might act as an emissary between the clans.”
“They have no reason to listen to me.” Kazen sighed. “They are wiser than me . . . And they have bigger teeth than me. There is nothing I can do to help them.”
“Well, you did not think you could destroy Gregore, either.”
“I think you should go with it, Kazen,” Shanks said. “‘Kazen the Dragon Tamer’ . . . It has a nice ring to it.”
“Very funny.” Kazen glowered.
“Well,” Shanks beamed, standing and stretching his arms. “I think I’m gonna go have a visit with the boys.”
“What boys?”
Shanks pointed over a tall ridge. “Dullin and his troops are right over that hill there. They found a keg of ale down by the ruins. I promised them I’d stop by and make sure they weren’t letting any go to waste.”
“I want to come, too!” Kazen blurted out, jumping to his feet. The moment he reached his feet, however, he was overcome by dizziness, and immediately crumpled back to the ground.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” E’enna scolded. “You’re going to stay right where you are until I say you’re well enough to move! If you have any complaints, you can tell it to Ilagon.”
Kazen groaned and flopped back onto the sand.
“That’s all right, Kazen!” Shanks called back. “I’ll just tell the boys the great Flame Weaver’s mum wouldn’t let him out to play tonight.”
“I don’t think I have ever seen him so pleased with himself,” Kazen grumbled.
“Stop your grumbling.” E’enna laughed, balancing a red apple on his chest. “You have the rest of your life to get drunk and act like a fool.”
Sighing, Kazen grabbed up a blanket and huddled nearer the fire. Gazing into the flames, he couldn’t help but smile. Things had turned out pretty well, he supposed. After all, he was still alive, his dearest friends had all made it through fairly intact, all and all he really didn’t lose—
“My sword!” he suddenly gasped.
“What?” Ilagon asked.
“My sword,” Kazen groaned. “I must have left it behind inside the stronghold!”
The Flame Weaver Page 41
