Dracon and the Edge of the World

by Michael T Payne

  “Where are they? Where did you send them?” he asked, ignoring the man’s request.

  “The Unholy Reaver... give it to us!” the man slammed his staff against the ground violently, three times, then again, another three times, in the same cadence.

  There was an answer to the tempo of his staff hitting the ground, the sound of swords banging against shields, repeating the cadence first created by the staff. Dracon stepped back a few steps, looking around the room. The sound was repeated in regular intervals. Behind the man, in the shadow covered entry ways emerged soldiers, dead soldiers, in various states of decay. Among their ranks were goblins, orcs, bugbears, all manner of evil creatures. They were in the hundreds, even if Dracon was invincible, without his armor and sword, he would be helpless against them. How would he fare, with only his bare hands? Would his resistance to blades be enough? Dracon brought his hands together and summoned his armor and the Unholy Reaver. He was pleased when they both answered his call.

  “Give us the sword and be rewarded, resist… and suffer.” The man growled over the banging of shields and swords.

  “Who are you to make such demands of me?” Dracon asked.

  “I am the defiler, Maurn Khon!” the man exclaimed, then spun his staff in an impressive whirling, display, ending the move with the staff’s head pointing at Dracon.

  A green light, reminiscent to the one Dracon saw in the eyes of the Skeletal Warrior, emanated from the staff’s ornate head. It hit Dracon full in the chest, he felt nothing, but his armor flickered again, then disappeared. The Unholy Reaver also glowed green but it did not disappear, instead, it made Dracon feel weak, ill.

  “Damn you!” Dracon growled, then let go of his disobedient sword.

  The Unholy Reaver clanged to the ground, as images flashed in Dracon’s mind. Images of burned and diseased bodies at his feet. The image of Dracon changed to the image of the dark lord Maurn Khon. The Unholy Reaver wanted to become the weapon of a new dark lord, so it seemed. Dracon slowly backed away on unsteady legs, turning to leave the room through the portal, but it was no longer there, replaced by a wall. Dracon stumbled a few more steps then fell to his knees, overcome with a weakness that emanated from the pit of his stomach.

  “Release the Unholy Reaver, give it to me!” Maurn Khon hissed, walking on the carpet toward Dracon. The army of Maurn Khon filled the room, surrounding both Dracon and Maurn Khon.

  “Take it!” Dracon growled, “It’s there!” he rolled over to a sitting position on the floor facing Maurn Khon.

  The Unholy Reaver was several feet in front of Dracon, just off the carpeted walkway. The army of undead and creatures of all kind, roared and growled, still banging shields and swords against one another. The sound was becoming deafening to Dracon. Maurn Khon raised his staff and banged it against the ground once, and there was silence. From within the army, something stirred, making its way through their midst toward Dracon and Maurn Khon. The closer it came the clearer its incredible size, towering over the other denizens that served Maurn Khon. Goblins and bugbears, Orcs and Knolls, all gave way to the massive beast. It was Um’Vec. He stepped out from the army’s ranks, next to the Unholy Reaver then kicked it across the floor toward Maurn Khon, whose eyes lit up at the sight of the sentient sword sliding his way.

  “There is the dark lord you seek to serve,” Dracon said looking up at Um’Vec, “fitting I was able to lead you to him after all.”

  Dracon glared up at Um’Vec, grimacing in pain and trying to stop himself from retching. Some of his illness subsided, the further away the Unholy Reaver was from him.

  “Um’Vec,” the Bugbear said and thumped his forearm to his chest, “Serve Talila… dark mistress.” he held his hand out to Dracon and helped him to his feet.

  They both watched as Maurn Khon reached down for the Unholy Reaver, only to have it disappear from his grasp.

  “No!” Maurn Khon bellowed, every creature in the great cavernous hall bellowed along with him, as one voice.

  Dracon chuckled at Maurn Khon’s despair, then looked down at his side. The Unholy Reaver had returned to its place on Dracon’s hip, making him wonder, why? Maurn Khon looked at Dracon and Um’Vec.

  “Bring me the sword! Kill the bugbear, but make the other suffer!” he ordered, pointing at Um’Vec and Dracon who were side by side.

  Um’Vec roared and struck his forearms together, sparking his steel bracers and readying himself for the fight. Dracon roared a battle cry along with Um’Vec, as the onslaught of Maurn Khon’s followers rushed to attack them.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Satana, Grik, and Rayna, made their way down the stairs to the next landing. Each had a weapon in hand. They moved crouched and tentative, being as quiet as possible. When they made their way to the door, Rayna put her hand on the handle and slid the bolt back. The door cracked open, then Rayna slowly pushed it open, even wider. Grik moved through the open door as soon as it was wide enough for him to enter. Satana did the same, she put her hand on the back of Grik’s shoulder, guiding him to where they spotted the Mind Flayer. The two women crouched while Grik moved hidden, without having to crouch, the rocks in the room were taller than he was. They regrouped behind the cover of rocks where Rayna and Satana had hidden when they first discovered the Mind Flayer feasting on Alyndra. Each took turns peeking out to get a good look at the scene. Grik motioned to the women that he was going to move to the other side of the cavern and approach the creature from behind. The hand signals between Satana and Grik were so quick, Rayna had no idea what they were signaling to each other. Grik and Satana had developed an understanding of each-others hand signals after fighting side by side and travelling across the desolation of the outer region in their long journey that lasted several months.

  The Mind Flayer had Alyndra on her knees in front of him, holding her shoulders to keep her head in place. Her wings were limp, spread out like a cape, draped across the floor. Her limbs twitched involuntarily. The Mind Flayer had its eyes closed, but Rayna and Grik both knew that didn’t mean anything when it came to such a creature. It could sense others around it without its eyes.

  Grik made his way to the far side of the cavern and circled behind the Mind Flayer. Rayna stayed put and readied an arrow in her bow, drawing it back slow and quiet. Satana stepped out in plain view of the Mind Flayer whose eyes were still shut. She watched it sucking on Alyndra’s head, its tentacles pulsing horrifically. It made her angry. Rayna watched Satana, surprised at her bravado and wondered what her intentions were.

  “Hey!” Satana called to the Mind Flayer, its eyes popped open, wide.

  It let Alyndra fall slowly to the ground from releasing her head and shoulders from its clutches. There was a slick shiny slime on her horns and hair. She hit the floor with a thud. Rayna popped up and let loose an arrow, at the same time, Grik hurled his ax’s, one after the other, as hard as he could. Whispers filled the air. They all knew what that meant, company was coming. Rayna’s arrow reached the Mind Flayer just as it phase-shifted, making the arrow and ax’s pass through it harmlessly. They were suddenly beset on all sides by Deep-Dwellers, filling the cavern with far too many to count. Satana mowed through the little creatures with her new, sharp, sword, cutting them down two and three at a time. On the other side of the cavern, the Deep-Dwellers caught Grik unaware, overwhelming him, and swallowing him up in their numbers.

  Rayna leapt atop the large rocks she was hiding behind, then started raining arrows down at Grik, clearing some of the Deep-Dwellers from around him before they could stab him with their daggers.

  The Mind Flayer grabbed Alyndra by a leg, dragging her away with him. More Deep-Dwellers poured in from behind him, avoiding him like water flowing past his legs. They split up, one group headed for Satana, the other for Grik, who had his ax’s once again in his hands.

  “Ha!” Grik exclaimed as he buried an ax in a Deep-Dweller’s skull, “I have me ax’s now, boy’o, I’ll be givin’ ya the what for, for sure!”

  He was
elated to have his ax’s and avenge his earlier defeat by the Deep-Dwellers. A defeat that required Satana’s rescue. That simply would not do. He had to redeem himself. Rayna glanced over at Satana after picking off a few Deep-Dwellers from around Grik, giving him the space he needed to fight back. She intended to do the same for Satana, but before she could, a hand grabbed her ankle from behind and yanked her legs out from under her. It was sudden and unexpected, whoever did it snuck up on her very adeptly. She landed on the rock below her, face first, splitting her lip and bloodying her nose, instantly. Between her and the rock, her bow snapped, broken by the collision. The hand yanked again, pulling her off the rock. She was disoriented from her collision with the rock but had enough sense to reach for her dagger as she was pulled from the top of the rock to the cavern floor. She spun to her back, slicing out at whoever had a hold of her leg. It was the Deathstalker who travelled among the Deep-Dwellers. He wore all black, with a scarf wrapped around his face making only his eyes visible. His clothes were baggy, obscuring his form. Rayna could not tell the build of the man, only that he was not a child-sized enemy like the Deep-Dwellers. She was unable to determine what weapons he had because of how camouflaged he was.

  The Deathstalker easily dodged Rayna swing from her backside, then yanked her leg again, trying to twist her back over to her stomach. Rayna rolled with his yank, obliging him and twisting to her stomach, then kicked him with her free foot in the process, using her hands on the ground to spring her high enough to kick him in the head. She felt her foot connect hard and his hand release her. Rayna scurried away from him, back to the rock she was standing on, then spun to face him, putting her back against the rock, her dagger out, ready to strike. The Deathstalker was gone. She frantically scanned the area looking for the Deathstalker to strike again. When nothing happened, she sprung to her feet and looked over the rock to where the others were still fighting Deep-Dwellers. She spotted the Deathstalker on the other side of the fighting, near the opposite cavern wall from her. She was surprised that he moved such a distance in a matter of seconds. Rayna went to retrieve her bow only to find it snapped and broken. She crouched down behind the rock, not wanting to garner the attention of the Deep-Dwellers with only a dagger in hand. She knew she was not a fighter like Grik and Satana, close quarters were not her forte.

  “I might have something that can help?” Katlin offered, whispering in her ear from behind. Rayna spun on him and grabbed the front of his shirt with one hand and put her dagger to his throat with the other. She glared at him with a snarl on her face, so fierce, all her teeth were visible. “I have a bow in my bag,” he offered, she was so full of adrenaline and fear, Katlin could feel her hands trembling, “I’m not very good with it, you can have it if you’d like?”

  Rayna slowly let go of Katlin, he fixed his shirt then produced a bow and a quiver of arrows from his magical bag of holding.

  “Stay out of sight!” Rayna growled, then, after taking the weapons, she stood up and unleashed arrows at the Deep-Dwellers around Satana and Grik, taking turns between the two.

  She took note that the Deathstalker was gone. Rayna also lost sight of the Mind Flayer and Alyndra. More Deep-Dwellers filled the cavern, some coming from the door behind Rayna, she had to turn and focus on them to stop them from over-whelming her. Katlin was gone. Satana tried to fight her way to Grik so they could help each other, it was only a matter of time before they would be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers that continued filling the cavernous room, cut straight from the mountain. How many caves and holes lay hidden around them that the Deep-Dwellers were pouring in from? Where had the Mind Flayer gone with Alyndra? The Deep-Dwellers climbed over each other to get at Satana, their fear had disappeared, controlled by the Mind Flayer, their own will gone. They climbed over their own dead, higher and higher, until they were just as tall as Satana, all around her, hissing, milky eyed, child sized creatures, stabbing at her with their daggers, clawing at her, with their little fat fingers.

  A rush of air blew Satana’s hair back. She closed her eyes and shielded her face as a whirlwind of blinding activity enveloped her. She felt something moving around her in a circle and heard the crying squeals of the Deep-Dwellers. Satana forced her eyes open to see a winged woman with horns, using her wings to fling Deep-Dwellers to-and-fro, like leaves on the wind. Satana watched, not sure if she should attack or help. The woman spun in a circle and her brown wings cut a group of Deep-Dwellers in half like a blade, others fled from the winged woman, a Vordalyn. She turned to Satana and took a few tentative steps toward her. Satana acted immediately, whipping her sword in a twirling attack, one of her most deadly, two side swipes, to off-balance her opponent, then a spinning over-head chop to the skull. Kaylin ducked and stepped out of reach of the two side swipes, then knelt as the blade came from over-head. She slapped her hands together, palming the blade and stopping it with an iron grip. Satana tried to pull her sword back but Kaylin’s hold was vice-like.

  “Don’t you recognize me?” She asked, then, without looking, one of her wings whipped out and stabbed an approaching Deep-Dweller in the face, killing it. Just as quickly, her wing returned, folded behind her. Satana was speechless, “I’m Kaylin, Dracon’s wife, Alyndra’s sister? I serve Venalina.”

  Kaylin released Satana’s blade and stood up but was ready for another attack. Satana squinted her eyes briefly, then remembered when Kaylin raised the dead in the battle of Ganlin.

  “Yes!” She said nodding her head emphatically, then looked behind Kaylin at Grik who had drawn the attention of the remaining Deep-Dwellers on him.

  Kaylin looked over her shoulder at Grik then returned a brief glance at Satana. She flew up and arced in a circle, flying upside down, then flew in from behind Grik. She twirled, folding her wings in and shot through the Deep-Dwellers, as she did, she expanded her wings, decimating everything in her path. That attack made the remaining Deep-Dwellers flee the cavernous room. Kaylin dropped to the ground. Her wings and horns disappeared, Satana could see the girl she met, what seemed like a lifetime ago. Kaylin landed between Grik and Satana then walked toward Satana.

  “Where is my sister?” Kaylin asked. A ‘thunk’ sounded in the silence between breaths, Kaylin spun around and caught a crossbow bolt between her thumb and forefinger.

  It was flying for the back of her neck. She looked at the Deathstalker across the cavernous room, who looked back at her with surprise in his eyes, then he disappeared into the rock face behind him. Kaylin looked at the crossbow bolt briefly, then let it fall to the ground. She looked around suspiciously at those who remained. Satana relaxed her posture and walked toward Kaylin.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “Where is my sister?” Kaylin asked, returning her attention to Satana.

  “She’s been taken, by some-”

  “Where?” Kaylin asked emphatically. She crouched like she was about to burst into flight. Satana pointed in the direction the Mind Flayer went, “Will you be ok alone?” Kaylin asked as she transformed back to her Vordalyn form. She did not wait for an answer and flew off in the direction Satana indicated.

  “What the hell was that?” Rayna asked, joining Satana’s side and watching Kaylin fly off.

  “That,” Satana said walking away from Rayna toward Grik, “was another one of Dracon’s devoted wives.”

  “And thank the gods for that!” Grik exclaimed, sliding his ax’s back in his belt.

  “Yes, thank the gods another woman saved your worthless hide.” Satana chuckled at Grik who grumbled and waved a hand at her.

  “Should we go after her? I mean, to help her?” Rayna asked.

  “I have never met anyone who could defend that combination, it is my finishing move. She is better equipped than I, to face that thing. We’ll probably just get in her way. Besides, if she knew her sister was in trouble, that means the other wives of Dracon know too, and will probably be along shortly to help her. Talila will melt the face off that thing. We’d do well to stay clear of that f
ight.” Satana said when she reached Grik.

  “You’re pretty confident about your skill with that thing.” Rayna commented, looking at Satana’s sword, still in her hand.

  “And rightfully so,” Grik immediately added, “I’ve seen this girl kill three men, one at a time, each seeing how his compatriot fell to her blow, none of them able to do a thing about it, all coming to the same fate.”

  “Care to try me?” Satana looked at Rayna.

  “So, she is another Vordalyn Princess?” Katlin asked getting everyone’s attention.

  “Dangers gone; our thief returns!” Grik exclaimed, “Give us a bottle and I’ll stop her from rippin’ yer head off.” Grik motioned to Satana.

  Katlin looked over at Satana with a smirk. Satana glared back at him. She hated him, the ultimate coward. She wanted so badly to beat him to a pulp, but he had a knack for avoiding danger, even from her. Like a fly avoiding a swat, and, like a fly, very, very, annoying… to Satana.

  “I think I might have something.” Katlin said, reaching for the bag at his waist.

  Kaylin flew to the area Satana pointed out, it was nothing but a cave wall to the naked eye, but to Kaylin’s heightened senses, she could see through the illusion that covered a hall. She flew through it and down the hall to a smaller room, there she saw the Mind Flayer, the creature in her mind’s eye that was feasting on her sister. It turned to a table and tossed Alyndra atop it. Her head lolled about, out of her control. It was grotesque, infuriating Kaylin. She flew through the door of the room and transformed, keeping most of her Vordalyn form but removing her wings, so she could better navigate the room unhindered. A pain pierced her mind, dropping her to her knees. The Mind Flayer laughed at her; she could hear it in her head. It was telepathic, its way of communicating. It showed her what it was doing to Alyndra, the fantasy he was letting her live out in her mind, while he was preparing to remove, and eat, her brain. He was free with his information, he knew all the Vordalyn could feel the pain he was inflicting upon Alyndra, he knew they were all brought to their knees. It was the only reason Alyndra was still alive. Now that Kaylin was there, he would eat Alyndra’s brain while Kaylin watched, while all the Vordalyn watched. Then, he was going to keep Kaylin and use her to continue hurting the Vordalyn. At least until he found a way to control them through their own telepathic connection. The Mind Flayer had no fear of the Vordalyn. His intention was to absorb Alyndra’s intelligence, then, one at a time, he and more of his kind would do the same to the rest of the Vordalyn, absorbing their society into that of the Mind Flayers. The Vordalyn’s telepathic connection to one another was an opportunity the Mind Flayer could not, would not, pass up.