The Dragon's Champion

by Sam Ferguson

  She looked over the bird and saw the ground advancing toward her with blinding speed. For a moment she thought that the hills and valleys were going to jump up and swallow her like a great, earthen mouth. Then the nighthawk tilted its wings up, catching the wind and ripping them both out of the dive. Lady Dimwater almost fell through the bird as she momentarily lessened her focus, but she was quick to right herself and hold on.

  At last, the nighthawk lighted on the ground and tilted down for Dimwater. She gladly left the bird and ran over to Lepkin. He lay near a dying fire, unconscious, but still alive. She knelt beside him and put the back of her left hand to Lepkin’s forehead. His fever was high. She could see the sweat building across his brow and upper lip. She gently wiped it away.

  “I’m here,” she said softly. “Everything will be alright now.”

  *****

  Erik lay in his bed. He was careful not to make any noise, but he was far from sleep. There was much on his mind. The messenger falcons were coming in more frequently now, but Al never shared the news they brought. Even Marlin was acting strangely now during training sessions. The prelate would often come down and watch as well. There was something about the prelate that unnerved Erik. The prelate seemed hard and colder than before. He knew that it was probably all in his head, but he didn’t trust that man.

  The midnight bell chimed. Erik slipped from his covers, dressed not in his bedclothes, but in a suit of black silk and soft leather shoes. Tonight, he was going to find out what message the falcons brought.

  He crept to his door and put an ear to it. Satisfied that no one was outside he cracked the door open and looked around. He slipped out and started for the stairway. A thought came to him. What if the guards in the temple were able to hide themselves? Could they make themselves invisible? Erik figured that if Marlin could summon clones of himself then they might be able to hide themselves as well. In fact, Marlin had hidden himself before, and only allowed Erik to see a false Marlin back in the room with the gauntlet. Erik harnessed his power and then scanned the room again. Still, no one was there.

  Erik nodded to himself and went to the stairs. He descended down quiet as a mouse, stopping only at the bottom to listen for any sign of activity. He held his breath and strained his ears against the night. He could hear two men talking. He focused his mind on the men’s voices, trying to locate them. After a moment he realized that they were outside. He poked his head around the wall and noticed that one of the windows in this room was open slightly, allowing the men’s voices to be heard.

  He slipped off in the other direction, toward the window he had used before to access Al’s study. He peered out through the glass, but was dismayed to see a pair of guards walking the wall outside. He knew that it would be easy for them to see him, despite the darkness, if he tried to go through the window as he had before. He ducked down and crept back toward the main hall. He stopped at the corner and slowly knelt down, getting his head low to the floor before poking it around the corner of the wall. No one was in the hall.

  He scurried over to the door of Al’s study, careful not to make any noise on the hard floor. He cautiously tried the door, but it was locked. He sighed. He hadn’t wanted to do this, but he had prepared for it, just in case. He pulled a slim piece of metal from the inside of his left shoe, and then he grabbed another tool like it, except that it was hooked at the end, from his right shoe. A twinge of guilt came over him as he slipped the tools into the keyhole. He had promised Master Fink, one of the staff members at his old orphanage, that he would never pick locks anymore.

  “It isn’t proper,” Master Fink had said.

  Erik had given the man his word that day. He promised never to pick locks or steal any more. It was one of the conditions of being allowed to stay in the orphanage after Erik had been caught stealing from the kitchen. Erik knew that without Master Fink’s help, he never would have been adopted at all, much less by a nobleman. Erik paused, hesitating to use his lockpick set. No, Erik thought. His adopted father was in trouble, and those messages might give Erik information he needed to help him. So, despite his guilt he twisted and turned his tools in the lock. It was necessary to break his promise.

  The lock clicked and Erik knew the door would open now. He slipped his left hand to the doorknob and twisted, keeping his right hand on the tools still in the keyhole. The door opened silently. Erik removed his tools and snuck inside, closing the door behind him. He checked all around, making sure Al had not decided to spend the night in the study to keep Erik from finding the messages. Next he looked to the big window at the back of the room. The curtains were drawn over the glass, making the room extra dark. Erik didn’t care. He knew where he was going. There was a small letter box on the desk near the window. That was where Al kept the messages.

  Erik turned and locked the door to the study, just in case anyone walked by to check locks at night, and then made his way to the desk. He walked slowly so as not to bump anything. He had only been in the room three times, and only one of those times was he actually invited in. His other two attempts to gain information had failed. He was caught going through the window by Al, and one of the guards had caught him snooping around a couple days after that. He wouldn’t be caught this time, he knew. The third time’s the charm.

  He bumped the desk lightly with his leg and then started feeling around for the letterbox. His hand felt the metal box after a few swipes over the desk. He seized it and brought it to his chest. He knelt down, with his back resting on the desk and went to work on the lock. It was a little more difficult than the door, but he got it in a couple of minutes. The latch popped open and the box creaked as Erik lifted the lid. He reached his hand in and found only a single piece of paper. Maybe Al had disposed of the other messages? Erik wasn’t sure what was going on. His curiosity overrode his sense of caution. He struck a match and held it close to the paper.

  The flare blinded him for a moment. He squinted against the sudden light until his eyes adjusted, and then he read the words on the paper aloud to himself. “Nice try, Erik,” he read. He crumpled the paper and shoved it into the box. He blew the match out and set the box back on the desk. He almost lost control completely, but he stuffed down the urge to yell when the doorknob across the room rattled. Erik sucked in a breath and crawled around the desk. He hid in the cavity underneath and waited. The rattling stopped and then he heard footsteps walking away from the door.

  “Just checking the lock,” Erik told himself. He moved to slide out from under the desk but his head struck something hard and sharp. He sucked on his tongue to keep from crying out. He gently stuck his hand up and felt around for what had hit him. His fingers found a metal corner protruding from above him. “That’s strange,” Erik mused. He knew the desk was made purely of wood. So what was this?

  He cupped his left hand around a new match, trying to dim the flare as he struck it. His eyes widened with glee when he saw another letterbox, attached to the underside of the desk. He blew out the match and set to work on the lock. Within a minute he had the thing open and a flurry of papers assaulted him from above as they fell out over him. He chuckled softly to himself and gathered the papers up. He needed to light another match to read with, but he didn’t want to risk the flare being seen through the window. He crawled back around the desk and put his back against it.

  The match hissed as it brought forth its flame and bathed the papers in its yellowy light. His eyes scoured the messages hungrily. The first few were simple updates about Master Lepkin. Al had already told Erik about the meeting with the Lievonian Order, so Erik tossed those messages aside. He saw a few messages from Al’s apprentice, back in Buktah. The man complained about having been charged more than usual when buying supplies and being paid less than usual when customers picked up their orders from him. Erik wondered if the man ever stopped complaining to Al.

  Then he found a most disturbing letter. The broken seal was that of House Lokton. It spoke of the magistrate’s murder, and warned that E
rik should stay away from the area. The next letter spoke of Timon Cedreau’s murder, and that a blood feud had started between the two houses. This one also warned that Erik should stay away. Erik let his head thump back against the desk with an exasperated sigh.

  Slowly he sifted through the remaining letters. The rest were all different from the first two from House Lokton. They all declared that House Lokton and House Cedreau were going to war with each other, and beckoned for Erik to return and help his father, as was his duty. They also implored Master Lepkin to return with Erik, and help in the fight.

  Erik was confused. None of the letters said explicitly who had murdered the magistrate or Timon. They had only implied certain people. The magistrate was killed with a dagger belonging to Eldrik Cedreau, and Timon was killed by an arrow that belonged to Mr. Stilwell. Erik remembered Lord Cedreau’s intrusion during his Konn Deta. He then thought about the serious threat Lord Cedreau had given after Erik had chosen Goliath to be his horse. He knew full well the consequences that Timon’s death was going to create. Lord Cedreau would not back down now until Lord Lokton was dead.

  “Oh no,” Erik gasped. Now he knew what Tukai’s prophecy meant. Lord Lokton was going to die in this blood feud with House Cedreau. It was not exactly what he had envisioned when he first heard the warlock say that he would kill his father. He had thought that the prophecy claimed he would do it with his own hand. But then again, it may as well have been a blow of his own hand. Erik had broken Timon’s hand. It was this injury that caused Lord Cedreau to intrude upon Erik’s Konn Deta. It was there that the magistrate stepped in and further humiliated Lord Cedreau by awarding one of House Cedreau’s prized war horses to Erik. And it was Erik who had sealed his father’s fate by taking the horse that Lord Cedreau had intended for one of his own sons.

  Erik’s head was spinning. His stomach twisted into knots of guilt and pain. His eyes welled with tears. He couldn’t let this happen. Not because of him. He got to his feet and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He walked toward the door, determined to escape into the night and save his father.

  *****

  “The boy is running away,” one of the temple guards said.

  “I can see for myself,” Marlin replied. “We will let him go.”

  “What do you mean?” the guard asked. “The prelate has given orders that the boy is never to leave the grounds. He is not allowed out until after he has taken the Exalted Test of Arophim.”

  Marlin looked down from the wall at Erik. The boy was creeping along the outside of the wall toward the stable. His aura was far too bright for the boy to be able to sneak away undetected. Marlin could see many emotions swirling through Erik’s energy. He saw pain, anger, hurt, feelings of betrayal, guilt, and shame. Yet, deep in the center of the aura was the same bright, white light. It was bigger than before. It now seemed to burn within the whole area of the boy’s chest. This gave Marlin hope. “The prelate is not here, and you will defer to me,” Marlin told the guard.

  “The prelate will hear of this,” the guard replied. “I can not allow you to disobey him. You put all of us at risk. That boy is to be-” the guard’s words caught in his throat.

  Marlin gripped the man’s shoulder tighter than a snake coiling around a prized mouse. A stream of energy flowed from Marlin’s hand into the guard’s aura. The guard slumped down to the stone floor of the battlement. Marlin released his grip on the guard after he was sure the man was completely unconscious. “No one shall be forced to undergo the Test of Arophim,” Marlin quoted the commandment of the Father of the Ancients through gritted teeth.

  Marlin looked back down to the stable and saw a pair of auras, bright and strong, approaching Erik. “Erik shall not be kept here as a prisoner,” Marlin muttered. He sprang down from the battlement and soared down toward the ground. A couple of seconds before impact, Marlin called upon the energy of the grass and dirt below. The ground itself answered Marlin’s call and sent a cushion of energy up to meet him, catching him softly and allowing him to land without injury. Marlin thanked the grasses and then ran to Erik.

  “Erik,” Marlin whispered quickly. “Come with me.”

  Erik turned around and anger flashed through his aura. “I will not go back,” Erik hissed. “Not for you or anyone else.”

  “No, Erik, I know that,” Marlin said with his empty hands out to his sides. “I have come to help you escape. Those two guards have orders not to let you out. Follow my lead and play along, if you wish to leave.”

  The anger in Erik’s aura held strong, but peace and hope ran through it. Finally Erik nodded and stood away from the wall. “As you say,” Erik relented.

  The two guards were upon them an instant later. “Erik is not allowed to leave the grounds,” one of them said.

  “Yes, I know the prelate’s orders,” Marlin replied, keeping his voice calm and authoritative. “I have just barely found him, and was about to take him back inside. Al is waiting to give the boy a good tongue lashing.”

  “He needs more than that,” the first guard replied. “The boy should learn some discipline. This is not a game.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Marlin said. “This is very serious.” Marlin stepped closer to Erik and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. For a moment, he thought to transfer some of his energy to Erik, to strengthen the boy, but he knew that the guards would be able to see the changes in their auras. “I suppose we could discipline him a little ourselves,” Marlin said.

  “What did you have in mind?” the first guard asked. Marlin could see a tinge of delight ripple through the guard’s aura. The second guard stood quiet. His aura did not show any sign of delight at the prospect of punishing Erik. In fact, it showed a slight hint of compassion for the boy. Marlin seized upon it.

  “Do you disagree?” Marlin asked, pointing to the second guard.

  “With respect,” the second guard started. “I do not think it is right for him to be held here like some criminal. This is a temple, not a prison.”

  “Ah,” Marlin said with a mocking tone. “What is your name?”

  “I am Tegeruk,” the second guard replied.

  “Tell me Tegeruk, have you been with the order long? I do not know you.”

  “I have been on night watch for three years now,” Tegeruk said with a bow of his head.

  “And you think that you understand the ways of our order better than the prelate?”

  Tegeruk’s aura showed signs of fear and caution for just a moment. Then a flash of hope and courage ran through the man’s energy. “I may be wrong, but I believe that the words of the Ancients are to be heeded, and I have not heard anything that says we have the right to force someone into service.”

  “You would disobey the prelate?” the first guard hissed menacingly.

  “What is your name?” Marlin asked, turning to the first guard.

  “I am Mageddi,” the first guard said with a bow. “I stand ready to follow all orders of the prelate, without question.”

  “I see.” Marlin rubbed his chin with his left hand and looked back to Erik. He could see the confusion running through Erik’s energy. Marlin knew he had to act now, or else Erik’s aura might give them away. “Tegeruk,” Marlin began authoritatively. “I am ordering you now, in the name of the Ancients, to help Erik escape.”

  Tegeruk and Mageddi stood motionless for a moment. Marlin could tell by their auras that neither had expected this. Marlin didn’t wait. He seized the moment, rushing forward and striking out with his right foot to Mageddi’s abdomen.

  “Run, Erik!” Marlin ordered. Erik sprinted off toward the stable.

  Mageddi came around with his fist, connecting with Marlin’s forearm as the more experienced man blocked the guard’s blow. Tegeruk joined in at that moment and slammed his fists into Mageddi’s side. Each punch held with it a ball of Tegeruk’s energy. The energy rippled through Mageddi’s aura and knocked him to the side several feet away. Marlin relentlessly came at Mageddi and seized the man. He clapped his hands to ei
ther temple and sent a wave of energy through Mageddi that paralyzed the guard.

  Tegeruk came up fast to finish Mageddi off, but Marlin held up a hand. “No, we will not kill our own brothers,” Marlin said. “It is enough now. He can no longer threaten Erik.”

  “As you wish,” Tegeruk said with a bow. “Shall we go with the boy?”

  “You will,” Marlin said solemnly. “I will stay here and wait for the prelate. He will not be pleased.”

  “I will stay with you,” Tegeruk offered.

  Marlin shook his head. “No, you will not. The punishment for you would be death.”

  “What will happen to you?” Tegeruk asked.

  “If I had followed the prelate’s orders, I would already be dead,” Marlin replied. “At least now my spirit shall soar to the Halls of the Ancients, and I shall not be ashamed.”

  “Fools,” Mageddi growled. “Without the Champion of Truth, we are all doomed to death.”

  Marlin reached down and sent another wave of power through Mageddi. “Be silent, brother.” Mageddi went completely rigid and said no more. “Go with Erik. Protect him on his journey home. He has decided not to take the Test of Arophim, and that wish must be granted to him, whatever the cost.”

  “As you say,” Tegeruk replied.

  Marlin watched the temple guard rush to the stable. A few moments later he saw Erik and Tegeruk riding away. He smiled to himself when he saw that Erik’s aura was growing more intense. The boy truly had a gift. Marlin hoped that Erik would learn to master it in time to save the rest of them. Marlin turned back to regard the paralyzed guard at his feet. His mind told him that Mageddi was right. Without the test, Erik could not become the Champion of Truth and they would all be lost to the darkness that was to come. Marlin sighed. He knew that Erik would have perished if he had taken the test. The gift in him was too strong, and still too wild. Either way, they would be left without the Champion of Truth. Marlin’s heart told him he had done right in letting Erik go, but his mind whispered that he had just doomed the entire realm to the service of the shadows.