I reached out with the Mark of the Guardian and tried to sense any magical presences in the city. I had given up most of my fire and ice magic to transform the women into dragons, so I had nothing but a faint trickle to use to protect myself and the Blackguards. We needed to be prepared for anything, from Emroth’s minions to Vozaath.
I couldn’t sense any of the evasive magic within the black dragon’s ghoulins or aswang, not even a faint pulse. Satisfied, I was about to stop searching when I felt something else strange below us.
It wasn’t magic that I felt. Quite the opposite, in fact. It felt like a spot of darkness where there was no magic at all. It wasn’t an absence of magic like I felt from lifeless stone or inert metal. The more I focused on it, the more I realized what it really was.
It was a vacuum, a void that seemed to suck magic into it.
My eyes flew wide in horror as I realized what it was. Before I could say anything, the void suddenly hurtled toward us. The light of Irenya’s gemstone and fiery pillar brightened the darkness in time for me to see a massive and grotesque shape flying through the air right at me.
Vozaath had found us.
Chapter Fourteen
Time seemed to freeze as the colossal demon hurtled toward us. The thing was easily twenty feet tall, with a horned head, beady black eyes, and an elongated goat nose pierced by a ring of black stone. A long forked tongue flicked from its open mouth, and green drool dripped from its four huge canines. Fur covered its enormous body like a molting bear, and its lion-like hind paws and monkey looking front hands each had seven razor tipped fingers.
“Irenya!” I shouted, and the red dragon banked sharply to the right. The black shape flew past us, and it was so close I could feel the wind ruffling my hair. Stone cracked far below us as the demon landed, then I felt the void-like presence hurtling toward us again. This time, Irenya dove to avoid Vozaath, and it hurtled over my head far too close for my liking.
“Get higher!” I told her. She beat the air to gain altitude, but the blue-glowing roof was just ten yards above us. We couldn’t get higher, so we had to find another way to escape the demon.
“Speed up and lose the fucker!” I shouted.
She flapped her wings furiously, and I felt our speed increase. Arieste must have seen the demon as well because I could hear her wings beat franticly behind us. The cracking of stone continued below us as Vozaath pursued us through the maze of Ironfast. When I sent a stream of fire in the demon’s direction, I saw it leaping from building to building in pursuit. It reminded me of a twisted version of King Kong or the Hulk, but this was real life instead of a movie. The demon wanted us dead, and there was no one we could call for backup.
“Ethan!” growled Irenya. “Look.”
My head snapped around, and I caught sight of a massive black spire rising in the distance. The tower stood far taller than every other building in Ironfast, and there were only a few yards separating its roof from the mushroom-covered ceiling of the cavern.
It had to be Iron Keep.
I had a moment to decide what to do. We had come to Ironfast to find the Circlet of Darksight, which I knew was somewhere in that tower. At the same time, we had to deal with Vozaath. The demon was the more immediate concern and the far greater threat. But as I heard the cracking of stone as Vozaath leapt from building to building, an idea blossomed in my mind.
“Irenya and Arieste, get over to the Iron Keep!” I shouted.
Both dragons must have heard me, for they adjusted their course to fly toward the huge tower.
“What are you thinking?” Captain Daxos asked.
“We need to get rid of Vozaath, but we also need that Circlet,” I shouted back. “Having the Circlet will make it easier to see the bastard in the darkness of Ironfast. So that’s what we’re getting first.”
I studied the rounded walls of the Iron Keep as we flew closer. The tower looked to have been carved from the same black stone as the rest of Ironfast, so it looked like a single chunk of carved rock without any openings for windows and doors.
“Get down low!” I shouted to Irenya. “Maybe there’s a way in there.”
Irenya swooped toward the ground, then rolled to the right as the massive bulk of Vozaath flew through the darkness. I heard the tearing of scaled flesh, and the red dragon let out an angry roar. A glance backward revealed a long gash running along her hind leg.
“Damn it!” I cursed. I turned in my seat and searched for the white dragon which flew fifty yards above and behind us. “Arieste, keep the fucker distracted and off our backs.”
The gemstone in Arieste’s forehead flared white and filled the cavern with a bright light, then a dome of ice materialized in front of Vozaath’s leaping form. The demon crashed through the wall of ice as if it were made of paper. It seemed just the contact with its flesh melted the ice and sucked the very magic that formed it into its body.
Shit, I’d forgotten that the demon absorbed magic, which was how it managed to kill all the wizards. This wouldn’t be a job for ice or fire.
My heart leapt into my throat as Irenya dove toward the ground, and a spray of fire burst from her mouth to rake the empty street before the Iron Keep. The light revealed a massive hole in the tower where the wall had crumbled, and I caught a glimpse of shattered shelves, a collapsed staircase, and furniture turned to splinters. No way we were getting up and into Iron Keep that way.
“Go up!” I cried to Irenya. The red dragon snapped out its wings to glide upward, and she spiraled around the Iron Keep as she fought to gain altitude.
I heard another roar of pain, and I turned to catch a glimpse of Vozaath clinging to Arieste’s tail. Lieutenant Trosken was working his way backward along the white dragon’s spines, long-bladed spear held in a one-handed grip. Determination edged his face, but he was pale.
I wanted to go help the Blackguards, but I couldn’t yet. First, I had to find a way to get into the Iron Keep to find the Circlet of Darksight. Once I had that, it would be easy to see Vozaath in the darkness, and we’d have no trouble bringing the fucker down.
But even as Irenya climbed, we could see no other opening into the Iron Keep. Only that one section near the base of the tower had crumbled, and there were no doors or windows built into the unbroken stone walls. By the time we reached the top, I knew we needed to find another way in.
I glanced back at Arieste in time to see Vozaath plummeting toward the ground. Lieutenant Trosken’s sword-bladed spear was buried in its right paw, and there were three long slashes across its face. I wanted to shout in triumph because we’d hurt the beast, but another glance at the lieutenant sent horror rolling through me.
Lieutenant Trosken hung limp in Arieste’s right hind claw, and blood streamed from a long wound down his chest and gut. Vozaath’s claws had ripped through his scale mail, padding, and flesh beneath. I was too far away to know how serious the wound was, but it didn’t look good.
Vozaath crashed into one of the stone buildings, and it crumbled beneath its bulk. The enormous horned demon burst from the pile of rubble a moment later, shook itself, then turned its beady black eyes up toward us. It let out a bestial roar that echoed like thunder through the cavern and leapt onto a nearby building. Sharp claws dug into solid rock as it vaulted from floor to floor, like some horrifying monkey climbing a tree. Stone crumbled beneath its claws and talons, and an entire section of wall crashed to the ground as the demon surged upward and threw itself through the air at Arieste.
I let out a long breath as Arieste dipped to avoid the hurtling beast, but the sight of the collapsing stone building below gave me an idea.
“Irenya, get its attention!” I shouted.
Irenya seemed to understand my thoughts because the crimson gemstone on her chest flared bright and a pillar of fire streamed toward Vozaath. I could feel the fire magic being sucked into the vacuum that was the demon, but the attack got its attention. It turned its beady eyes on us and leapt from building to building toward our position.
Irenya complied, and her wings beat at the air furiously as she fought to gain altitude. She climbed until she hovered beside the top of Iron Keep, and my head nearly scraped the cavern ceiling.
“What now?” she rumbled.
“Wait for it!”
Hope surged within me as Vozaath leapt from the nearest building onto the side of Iron Keep. The demon’s claws and talons punched through the tower’s stone walls as it climbed toward us. It took all my willpower to remain hovering in place rather than getting the fuck away from that massive demon.
Finally, when it was fifty feet from the top of the tower, I shouted to Irenya, “Now back off. Make it leap for us!”
Irenya flapped her wings to retreat, and Vozaath let out another rumbling howl as it doubled its efforts to scramble up the side of the tower faster.
“A little more,” I called to Irenya. We needed to make Vozaath jump from as high on the tower as possible, which meant we needed to put just enough distance and height that it would have to climb to the very top. “Piss it off again.”
The demon howled in delight as Irenya sent another blast of fire at it. It could have been my imagination, but it seemed like the demon grew larger as its body absorbed more and more of the magic we hurled at it. If we kept this up, it would get bigger than my two dragons. As it was, they were going to have a fucking hard time bringing it down.
But the magical attack had the desired effect. Vozaath scrambled up to the top of the Iron Keep, crouched, and threw itself through the air toward us.
“Dive!” I shouted to Irenya.
The red dragon curled her wings against her side, dipped her head, and snapped her tail once. The movement sent her dropping like a stone, and Vozaath let out a roar of rage as it flew high over our heads to disappear into the darkness of Ironfast.
“Quickly, while it’s recovering,” I shouted to Irenya, “get us up to the top of the tower and drop us on the roof.”
“What?” Irenya growled.
“Just trust me and do it!”
Irenya snapped her wings out to arrest our fall, and my heart leapt into my throat as we soared up toward the roof of Iron Keep. The talons of her massive forelegs dug into the lip of Iron Keep’s stone roof as she landed, and I leapt from her back with Captain Daxos beside me.
“Keep the demon distracted and occupied,” I shouted to Irenya as I ran up the roof. “Don’t try to fight it yet, but just keep it away from here long enough for me to get the Circlet.”
“Easier said than done,” rumbled the huge red dragon. “The demon hides from our magical senses, and the darkness conceals its presence.”
“Then just keep flying around and using your magic,” I told her. “It’ll come for you, I know it.” It was an educated guess based on the legends I’d heard about Vozaath and its massacre of the wizards of Ironfast, but right now that was the best we had.
“And what about you?” she asked.
“Listen for my call,” I told her. “And tell Arieste to listen as well. The moment I get the Circlet, we’re going to take the bastard down.”
“Be safe, Ethan,” she rumbled and dipped her dragon head toward me.
“You too, Irenya.” I rubbed her long, scaled snout, and she let out a little snuffling snort of pleasure. Then she turned and leapt from the tower top to disappear from my view.
I was glad it was too dark to see just how high up I was. I’d trained on heights, but this was like standing on top of the Empire State Building with nothing to stop me from falling over. Plus, there was a demon somewhere below trying to kill me.
“What now?” Captain Daxos asked.
“We get in,” I said. “Got a torch?”
The captain dug into his pack and produced the firebrand which I lit using a spark of fire magic. The spark was pretty much all I could summon at this point since I’d given almost all of the fire and ice magic to the women to turn them into dragons. Right now, I’d have to rely on the strength of my arms and the Mark of the Guardian to keep me alive.
My magical senses told me Vozaath was somewhere off to the right where I could feel Arieste’s ice magic and see the glowing outline of her enormous white-scaled body. The sensation gave me a moment of concern for the two women, and I tried to split my mind with the task of climbing up the roof and worrying about my lovers. Arieste’s wounded hind leg told me that Vozaath could seriously injure or even kill them in their dragon form, so I had to be quick about getting the Circlet if we were to get out of this in one piece.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I fought to keep my balance on the sloping roof while holding the torch. The Iron Keep was a massive circular tower, easily a hundred yards in diameter. It took fully three minutes of careful climbing around the perimeter of the rooftop before I found what I was looking for.
“Yes!” Triumph surged within me as I saw the holes Vozaath’s claws had gouged into the stone rooftop. When I held the torch closer, I could see three parallel holes that went through to an empty space beneath.
“Take this,” I said to Captain Daxos as I handed him the torch and drew my fireman’s axe.
The pick side wasn’t exactly made to serve the same function as a stone-breaking pickaxe, but right now it was our best hope of getting into the tower. I planted my feet as firmly as I could on the sloping rooftop, raised the axe over my head, and brought it down hard onto the stone.
Sparks flew as the sharpened pick head struck the rooftop, but a tiny chip of stone crumbled beneath the impact. When I struck again, a crack appeared between two of the holes left by Vozaath’s claws. A third strike sent the stone crumbling into the darkness below us, and I heard the clattering of rock on wood.
The sight of the widened hole renewed my energy, and I attacked the stone with everything I had. It took five great swings of the pickaxe to chip away a hole wide enough for me to squeeze through. Not bothering to sheathe my axe, I lowered myself into the hole, hung one-handed for a moment, then dropped. After a heart-pounding plunge into darkness, my boots thumped on solid hardwood flooring, and I rebounded in a crouch. Captain Daxos appeared in the opening, dropped his torch to me, and then followed.
I held the torch high and studied the surrounding room. Wooden shelves lined the perimeter of the room, easily fifty feet long, seven feet high, and thirty wide, like some ancient storage room covered in choking layers of dust. An assortment of items of every shape and size sat on the shelves. Books and scrolls rested next to skulls, dried bones, and what looked like withered strips of skin. Glass jars contained liquids of every conceivable color, and leather pouches sat in neat rows on one shelf along the far wall. Weapons, helmets, cloaks, hats, and other garments littered the room.
According to the stories, the wizards of Iron Keep stored their magical items up here, in the highest room of the tower. But as I reached out with my magical senses, I knew something was wrong. There wasn’t a single glimmer or pulse of magic in the entire warehouse, and it felt as dead and lifeless as the stone walls or wooden floors.
“By the Three!” Captain Daxos breathed as he made the three-fingered sign of the Goddesses.
I strode toward the nearest shelf, upon which lay a club made of what looked like jagged obsidian chunks embedded in wood. A beautiful green emerald was set into the hilt of the club, but I could feel no magic emanating from the stone. When I pressed it, nothing happened.
It was like the batteries were dead.
A spear sat on the shelf beside it, this one with a sparkling blue sapphire in its grip. The stone clicked when I pressed it into its setting, but no magic flared to life.
“What could have happened?” I asked Nyvea. “Where is the magic?”
“Stolen,” she replied, and I heard a hint of fear in her voice. “Consumed by the demon without.”
Every single item in the room had a gemstone set into it, yet not a spark of magic was present in the room. The demon had absorbed all the power, and only
dead metal, stone, wood, and cloth remained. The treasure of the wizards of Ironfast had followed them into the grave.
“Check everything,” I told Captain Daxos. “We need to find that Circlet.”
I could see by the look in his eyes that he was thinking the same thing as me. What if the magic in the Circlet had also been consumed by Vozaath? Neither of us said it aloud because it was too terrible a thought to consider.
I scanned shelf after shelf and found hundreds of fascinating oddities, from jewelry to books written in a language I didn’t understand to complex constructions of entwined metal and stone. The collection of items in the room could fill the Chicago History Museum, but none of it mattered to me at that moment. We needed magical items to win the war against Emroth, and there wasn’t a scrap of magic in the entire room.
“Sir Ethan!” Captain Daxos called from across the room. “Come look at this.”
He stood beside what looked like a casket made of wood banded with iron. An ancient-looking padlock held the casket closed, and it was covered in a layer of dust as thick as everything else in the room. Yet something about it struck me as different.
“Watch,” Captain Daxos said. His eyes were narrowed, and hesitation mingled with the hope etched into his expression.
“What for?” I asked.
“I-I think…” He trailed off. “There! Did you see that little flash?”
I had caught a tiny glimpse of light on the lock, but it could have just been from the reflection of the torch in my hand. I handed him the torch, crouched in front of the casket, and stared hard at the part where I thought I’d seen the flash.
Long seconds passed, and nothing happened. I was about to give up when I saw what Captain Daxos had. It was a tiny flash like a blinking white LED light, and in that instant, my magical senses caught the barest hint of power emanating from the casket. It faded a moment later, but there was no mistaking it.
Dragon Slayer 2_A Pulp Fantasy Harem Adventure Page 20
