The che’ther’s upper body bent like a snake freeing the front legs to operate like the hands of a human. He gave Mor’treya one last word of advice as the dragon began to summon his magic, “If you don’t wish to serve Malaketh even more blindly, I suggest you distance yourself from the transformation amulet. His black talisman can control your mind through it as he is coercing the others to fight for him now.”
As the woman looked at her amulet with confusion and worry, she missed the first movements of the dragon’s hands as he summoned powerful earth magic. Taking her amulet from around her neck to lay it on the side of the pool, the rumble in the ground brought her eyes back to the giant creature. There had been rumors of the Stone Runner told to her by the che’ther on their trek before the three had run off to help Cheleya. Lystheir and Elenek seemed to think he was a master of earth beyond any currently teaching in the academy. As she watched columns of stone rise up including the ground beneath Cor’Dargan, Mor’treya had to watch wide eyed with the belief that the rumors barely scratched the surface.
Cheleya twisted and turned with the grace of a ballet dancer who could dance in the air where gravity couldn’t restrain her movements with the earth. Her wings were used to bank and veer away from fireballs, wind attacks and various other spells from the mesmerized che’ther. Guardians and protectors only moments before, the two had become aggressive pursuers out to kill her with no remorse in their eyes.
On the other side of the battle, the girl refused to attack the two che’ther for fear of harming them. They didn’t know what they were doing and certainly had no control of their minds or bodies to stop their assault. The only way she could tell that they were under Malaketh’s mind control, however, was the slight hesitation to their movements as if their thoughts had to process through more than just the usual magical pathways and decisions of a free psyche.
“Dragon wind,” Cheleya called driving the air beneath her wings into Lystheir. The woman’s face showed no concern though the gale sent her out of control dropping dozens of feet towards the ground in a moment. A last second save, as her wings readjusted propelling the che’ther back into the air tenaciously trying to catch back up to Cheleya, brought her back from the ground swiftly.
“Glare!” the blond haired flyer called out closing her eyes as her hands directed a bright light into the faces of the two chasing her. Elenek was closest and drew up blinded by the light. He blinked to try and drive the spots from his eyes, but in that momentary pause Cheleya made her move.
Her wings drove the girl to Elenek in an instant where she crashed into him with her knees. Hands gripped his shoulders, but not just to adjust her perch. Kicking off from the man’s upper body with her legs, Cheleya stripped the che’ther of his amulet tossing it away from her just in case Malaketh could use the intact amulet to affect her.
Stripped off his charm, Elenek’s eyes widened in surprise as his body began to react to the abrupt release of the magic controlling the spell holding his form. Confused by Malaketh’s spell the che’ther reached for the girl even as his crimson wings struggled to hold the weight returning magically to his body. Moment’s later, the rapidly changing Elenek was on the ground looking up trying to figure out how he could return to the air again.
Her hopes that Malaketh’s commands would fade with his humanity were dashed in that moment. Cheleya barely had time to feel disappointment, however, as Lystheir recovered to attack her again. A fireball passed to her left and the girl quickly changed direction to close the distance to the elder che’ther.
“Glare,” she commanded again, but the move was foreseen by Lystheir and she closed her eyes with the flash. It didn’t matter as Cheleya managed to slip behind the woman wrapping her arms and legs around her. Fingers searched blindly for the amulet with the wizard’s brunette hair in the younger girl’s face. This time she called on her power to alter matter. The silver amulet, which was unique to Lystheir, changed color to brown as the metal became mud. Cheleya hated destroying a valuable magical item, but as the red dragon, Elenek, searched for his amulet; she realized that the command of the master would keep them trying to find anything she tossed on the ground at least for a time. If the che’ther retrieved their charms before his influence wore off, it would simply restore with their retrieval.
With its very nature changed, the mud stretched with gravity and the struggling of the two women in air. Pushing away from Lystheir, the girl put distance between them as she watched the transformation take her in the absence of the magical item. Forced to land before her che’ther body overwhelmed the ability of her wings; the dragoness glared up at the little flyer with reptilian eyes out of her reach.
Dismissing the grounded che’ther for a moment, Cheleya looked for Elenek’s amulet as well. Her night vision picked up the gleam from near the bleachers to the north. He had also spotted it and the red dragon was already hurrying towards the charm. Determined to return to the sky to try and finish her off, Elenek would give up his true form to smite the dragoness from the air.
So focused was he on the amulet, that the che’ther missed Cor’Dargan’s dragon form entwined around three large spires casting in his direction. Stone became soft beneath the red dragon’s feet miring his movements long enough for the earth wizard to bind him with stone shackles. Unable to pull his legs free, Elenek tried to snap at the restraints, but another snake of stone wrapped around his neck preventing his teeth from attempting to shatter the trappings. Two more rock serpents captured the red che’ther’s tail finishing incapacitating him safely.
Seeing her father working his magic, Cheleya nearly missed a blue che’ther strike the pool in the center of the field. Driving the air on powerful, magical wind, Lystheir turned the water to dozens of ice daggers aimed at the flying girl above her.
“Dragon breath,” the girl said releasing pink flame from her mouth in a powerful blast as she banked away from the danger. Despite the color of her magic fire, the flame quickly drove the ice away or reduced the shards into steam.
So intent was the blue dragon, that she missed Cor’Dargan on his stone spires readjusting the target of his magic. Stone vines twisted around Lystheir before she knew it and quickly the second dragon was struggling uselessly within her restraints.
Cheleya noted the earth magic so expertly used, but remaining high in the air she also noticed a new threat. “Behind you, father!” she warned as Malaketh, who had also witnessed two of his minions taken from the fight by the earth dragon wizard, dove towards Cor’Dargan chanting a spell.
Explosions tore through the spires and sought to destroy the earth master in Malaketh’s ire. Stone crashed down and Cheleya lost sight of her father in the dust and shards of rock. Flame erupted where she had last seen the dragon as her former master tried to make sure that he finished what he had started.
“Ekam emet tahway et ma desopus ot ebem,” the dragoness called on the shards of amulet buried in her bones. As Theress had warned her, Cheleya spoke the spell in reverse. The intent of the spell was to create the form she needed to become. Her mind didn’t form the image of her che’ther or human bodies, but that of a great winged dragon.
Pain ripped through her body as Cheleya changed rapidly. Her tiny, blond, human form turned black and massive. Pink skin became ebon scale and her hands grasping claws. Each finger was soon as long her whole human body.
Malaketh pulled up short in awe. A black shape darker than the night sky blocked out the moon of Turas. Wings that seemed to absorb light, reached out casting a shadow on the ground below from one set of bleachers to the other. Twice the size of her father, the great, black dragon turned blazing emerald eyes on the human wizard.
The chest of the mythic dragon inhaled deeply warning Malaketh of impending doom. A quickly breathed spell preceded green flame roaring out of the massive dragon’s huge jaws. Only a bright yellow flash as the wizard slipped through a magic portal bore witness to his life saving magic. The man’s reappearance hundreds of feet to the north w
as brief as he looked in complete fear at the winged dragon’s power. The little girl he had once tried to kill had become death incarnate and all the wizard could feel was overwhelming terror.
Turning to the north, the master fled towards the great wall passing above it to quickly disappear into the night.
The black dragon moved with a speed as great as its bulk to the battle still raging between the mar’goyn’lya closer to the city ignoring Malaketh for the moment. Her wings caught them from behind knocking the gargoyles out of the night sky just from the strength of the air driven before her.
Kel’lor used his magic to bind the dazed wizards calmly, as if the sight of a dragon only heard of in fairy tales, was nothing more than a daily sight.
The sight of the ebony dragon lasted for only a moment longer as the magic in the shards was now too far spread across the massive body to hold together. Collapsing in on itself in a flash, the dragon disappeared leaving a small blond girl in its place.
Cheleya’s eyes rolled back lapsing into unconsciousness before her human body had fully returned. Her frail form fell from the sky like a limp rag doll rushing towards the hard earth below.
Rushing to his friend’s aid once more, Kel’lor caught the girl in the air. His first worry was that such a massive display of magic might have burned out the young magician out from the reckless use of power. He quickly landed and lay Cheleya on the ground checking for her breathing. Shuttering breaths, like she was shivering from fear, could be heard while he noted her chest’s rise and fall. She was still alive, though very shaky.
As the brown dragon picked up a satchel that seemed too small for his enormous clawed hands to open, Cor’Dargan’s attention was drawn away to a field filling quickly with the hidden spectators. From the bleachers to the north; the humans of Staron, the newest friends to his daughter, released their invisibility spells as they hurried towards Cheleya who remained unconscious upon the ground in Kel’lor’s arms. Ambassador Theress Sselanus led over a dozen figures from the south. Made up of the combined teams of che’ther and mar’goyn’lya from the tournament as well as others Dargan hadn’t met during his time in Hala.
The faces were familiar, however, as many were old enough to have come through the Academy of Magic while the earth wizard had trained or taught. As a master, Cor’Dargan had seen many students come to him for teaching whether they excelled at the art or were simply becoming more well rounded in their spells. While the faces were familiar, even in human form for the che’ther, not every name came to mind though his attention was being distracted by other matters following the clash with Malaketh and subsequent metamorphosis of his daughter into a legendary, winged dragon.
Mar’goyn’lya tended to their mind controlled brethren as the ambassador closed the distance to greet Cor’Dargan soberly. The creatures hadn’t bothered to use medallions to become human. Being larger than human, but only by about a foot for most of them; the gargoyles could walk among men in their true forms, though their appearance had been known to cause fear among the common folk of many human cities. Still, they were easy to dismiss for the che’ther as he used his amulet to transform into the human he had hidden within for most of the last two weeks.
Once more shrunk to human proportions, Cor’Dargan greeted the ambassador with a question that was directed to more than just the one elderly che’ther, “You saw his black magic then?”
Giving a big sigh of disappointment that was mixed with resignation, Theress replied, “Though I believed in Cheleya and her story, I have to admit that I had hoped she was wrong about her report about the black amulet. I could see their minds crushed by his magic. No wizard should be so easy to control, but it took them over entirely. Only you and those hiding their presence remained free of his power.”
“Cheleya was immune as well,” he stated looking worriedly at his daughter still lying on the ground being attended by Kel’lor and those from Staron. “Apparently breaking her amulet kept her free.”
“And brought her other new abilities as well.”
Dargan’s eyes hazed over as he reviewed what had happened in his mind, though he continued to pay attention to those around him as they tried to make sense of what they had just seen. “How could her amulet being buried and broken actually provide her more power? It shouldn’t even work.”
“She didn’t tell you?” the old man asked in surprise. “I helped realign the magic within the amulet, so even broken it was able to use the contact formed by her bones and body to conduct the spell through her. The change to her nature wasn’t caused by the amulet’s broken pieces, however. If I had to guess, I would say that Cheleya knew exactly what kind of form she would take when she called on the spell.
“I had warned the girl that there could be repercussions to using the amulet in this condition. Still, she had a need great enough to risk the unknown danger. Since no one has ever suffered from this strange spell, it was a complete unknown and, of course, Cheleya pushed the magic beyond what it had been envisioned to accomplish.”
Kel’lor looked up and interrupted the wizards’ discussion as he reminded them of the fallen girl, “Since I have known Cheleya for awhile, I can tell that her magic level isn’t the reason for her state. Her power is fine, which is surprising after witnessing such a powerful flame.”
Theress nodded and confirmed, “Yes, this wasn’t from using up her strength, but I believe that it is from using her magic even so. The power of a legendary dragon and her subsequent loss of that form must have overwhelmed her senses.”
Worry evident on her face, Colbie was the first to ask the ancient che’ther, “Is there anything that you can do for her? None of us are healers and apparently no one thought to bring one.”
The last was slightly accusatory, but the old dragon ignored the human’s careless words. It was just a byproduct of being human as he had learned over more than a century living among them. Using his magic to tie himself to Cheleya, Theress felt for anything that he could adjust or otherwise fix. “Not to worry, I think that she is about to awaken. Other than her shaky breathing, which may be from shock as much as anything, she seems physically healthy.”
As they waited, the girl’s eyes eventually fluttered open as her mind fought to return to consciousness. Once her emerald eyes opened, confusion was evident before she could even mumble her first words.
“What happened?” Cheleya ask groggily as her right hand reached for her head. An apparent headache was beginning to manifest behind her eyes.
Colbie, looking relieved at her friend’s return to the waking world, answered quickly, “You tried to use your broken amulet and turned into an honest to goodness winged dragon. It was black as a night with no moon.”
With three moons, it was rare for all three to run through the new moon phase at the same time, but such nights were legendary for the darkness covering the land. The dramatic description was missed by the little blond as her mind tried to sort out the more important part of her friend’s words. “I remember Malaketh trying to kill father,” she said as her eyes caught sight of Cor’Dargan returned to human form and looking none the worse for wear. “Apparently, my concern wasn’t warranted,” she added with a wry smile as Cheleya understood he was safe.
“It was still appreciated, though your change into the dragon left us worrying more over you in the aftermath of your driving off Malaketh,” Dargan replied to his daughter with a slight smile.
“Malaketh!” the girl said sitting up with a start, but her eyes told that she immediately regretted the sudden movement. Still she finished her worried question, “Where did he go? Did no one try to capture him before he could escape?”
Gesturing at the che’ther bound in their stone bonds and the mar’goyn’lya still trying to bring the three trackers out of their mental state, Cor’Dargan answered, “We weren’t exactly in position to give chase, but I wouldn’t worry about him. He only has two options for flight. Either he’ll try to race us back to Mar’kal to further turn the cou
ncil against us or he will return to those Malaketh must be working for.”
Cheleya looked appalled by his casual attitude towards the monster who had either tried to kill them all or attempted to turn them into his puppets to do so. With that feeling in her mind, the little blond was already attempting to struggle to her feet from a need to capture Malaketh and prevent his harming any more people. The deceiver and attempted murderer seemed to have no restraint to his evil.
“How can you just stand there and not send any of these others after him? He needs to be stopped. Either option you mentioned brings unimagined danger to us all if he achieves his goal!” exclaimed the dragoness as she tried to pull away from the much more powerful gargoyle restraining her. Quickly turning her head to give him a withering look, Cheleya received no satisfaction from Kel’lor as he continued to keep her from rushing off in her current state.
“We will need the trackers to be sure that we can find him. If he seeks to elude us, Malaketh could very well get away from us permanently. There is still time to give chase. He can’t go without sleep as long as a che’ther or mar’goyn’lya. He is still only human after all,” her father stated continuing to remain calm.
With a bemused smile, the old ambassador raised a finger reminding the dragon, “Let’s not underestimate these humans, Cor’Dargan. He’s already fooled our people for ten years and created dark magic that could destroy dragon magic for the foreseeable future. All they need is a single black amulet to take control of anyone using the transformation charms.
“This is not a human to dismiss so easily, but I think that you are correct that we have time. He will run, but if the mar’goyn’lya and che’ther trackers can return to their own minds soon enough you can catch up to him as well.”
Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 43
