Chapter 36- Parting
It was getting late when Cheleya heard a light knock on her door. Though the sounds of revelry continued in many inns around the city, the Two Circles Inn room could hear little of the noise of those enjoying their tournament stay. Whether it was because she was on a higher floor or because Two Circles had less entertainment than places like the Black Smith Inn where her friends had gone again tonight, the girl was unsure.
She was dressed for bed, since the dragoness had been too worried to stay out late this night. A small silk shirt and bottoms left a lot of bare skin, but Colbie had told her that it was respectable in private and for sleeping. While her friend had inferred that such garb was inappropriate for public wear, the dragoness wasn’t going to worry about her state of dress to open a door.
Opening the portal, Cheleya quickly smiled and greeted, “Father! You’re back!”
His eyes played to the girl’s bare arms and legs a moment as he appeared to contain a sigh. “Yes, Mor’treya and I just arrived.”
As she waved him inside, Cheleya spotted Mor’treya behind her father. Letting both of them into the room, which was large enough to hold four easily, the girl’s face darkened slightly as she closed the door. Her first question revealed her look as her voice lowered slightly, “Malaketh?”
Mor’treya’s face echoed hers as she looked to Dargan. Her father answered, “He’s dead.”
Brightening at the news momentarily, Cheleya quickly noticed that he wasn’t pleased and questioned, “Isn’t that good news?”
Curling her legs under her, the girl sat on the bed while Mor’treya sat in one of the chairs at the desk to the right of the door. In the guise of a human, her dark hair bound into a ponytail, the mar’goyn’lya appeared more comfortable sitting further away from Cheleya for some reason. Whether it stemmed from her following Malaketh against her friend or Mor’treya saw her as broken with her curse even less likely to be cured now that their master was dead, she didn’t know.
Her father still stood in the pathway between the desks and the foot of the bed pacing anxiously. Some of his restlessness came out as he answered, “His death would be better news if we had been the ones to execute him. I had still planned on bringing him to the court in Mar’kal, but someone chose to kill him out on the plain.”
Eyes crinkling in thought at the words, Cheleya asked, “Someone else killed him? Was it the tribesmen? I would think that a dragon master would be able to avoid their arrows.”
Shaking his head, Cor’Dargan replied letting his eyes stray in thought, “No, it wasn’t an arrow that killed him. Someone beheaded him from behind, someone that he may have known.
“The trackers think, and I agree, that more of those bird men you ran into may have been with a pair of men that met up with him on the way back to Mar’kal. In his arrogance, I think Malaketh believed that he could turn the council against all of us. He also must have believed himself safe with these men since he landed to face them.”
The news was both confusing and disheartening to hear, but the girl had a feeling that there was more.
Mor’treya filled in one of the worries as she said from her corner, “His black amulet was missing.”
Eyes widening slightly, the little blond moved to sit on the edge of the bed dangling her legs over the side as if ready to spring to the floor. “If that is missing, then do the ones who killed him know what it can do?”
“That is what worries me,” her father replied. “If these were the men that you saw him with at the academy, then they very well might have killed him to silence Malaketh. They took his head with them and left his body.”
“They beheaded him?” the girl asked in confusion.
Dargan’s pacing stopped as he looked at his daughter. “If they know spells from necromancy, it is possible that they don’t need him alive to learn what he knows. At best, he is dead and they may have taken his head for a reward.”
“What will we do now, father?”
“Has Ambassador Sselanus spoken to you of finding a place to stay?”
His question so far from the main topic threw Cheleya a moment. “We were talking about a battle mage, who has been defeating wizards in their very own tournament. I asked Theress if he could see whether I could maybe go to one of Southwall’s schools to learn from the teachers of this man.
“He talked to the wizards in Hala and has secured a place in White Hall to continue my training. I am still just learning, after all, and since returning home would be difficult...”
Her voice trailed off as Cheleya found the need to nearly beg for her father’s permission to go. Even by che’ther standards, she was old enough to start making decisions for her life, but she was still a young girl and he was her father.
Nodding at her words, Dargan said, “Though I would love to have you return home, perhaps with all that is going on and the present state your are in at the moment, this would be best. If you go to White Hall I will know that your are safe and you can learn some more. Though you seem to have learned a lot already, there is no such thing as too much knowledge for a wizard.”
His words left misgivings in her heart. She almost wondered if he was glad to be rid of his cursed daughter. No longer truly che’ther, Cheleya would also have trouble being a part of their world. A human could visit or live in the human homes in their part of the city, but she wasn’t really human either. A clean break from Mar’kal felt like the right way to go, but it also felt like she was running away from the problem.
“Perhaps one of their healers will find a way to remove the shards of amulet from my bones so that I can return to my true self. Then I could return and rejoin the family. After all this time as a human, I doubt that I would need to anger mother by becoming one again in front of her,” she said hearing the words and the sadness in them.
Cor’Dargan moved to stand beside his daughter and hugged her head to his chest where she sat. Most che’ther didn’t understand such human gestures, but he lived among them once long ago and knew much that his fellow wizards did not of human ways. Cheleya had never been hugged by her father and a dragon hardly needed such an expression of emotion; but to the che’ther, who was human now, it felt right.
“Your mother will miss you, Cheleya, as will I. She loves you even in this form. Trust me in that.”
His voice seemed to tremble with emotion and Cheleya wondered at this man, who was a dragon in disguise. Every day she was trapped as a human girl, Cheleya felt more and more of their human feelings. While they worried her, they didn’t frighten the dragoness. She had seen the good in her human friends and knew that their feelings were part of what made her like them.
Having shed her scaled form, the petite, blond, fragile, human girl seemed to enjoy creating the tight bonds that perhaps being a che’ther could never have tolerated or created. Whether that was good in a dragon’s mind or not, Cheleya thought that she liked that part of being human.
“Kel’lor wants to travel with me there to make sure that I arrive safely,” Cheleya announced slightly muffled as she continued to hold onto her father.
He pushed away from his daughter gently before sitting on the bed across from her. “Your brother, as you call him, isn’t ready to see you go either, I guess.”
Shrugging, she responded, “He’s willing to change into a human again despite what Malaketh did to him, so I know that he is serious. I don’t know what he would be protecting me from, but he wants to go. I don’t want to say goodbye to him either, I suppose.”
Dargan chuckled. “Well, when would you leave?”
“Kev’Theress said a few days after tournament’s end. There is a group returning to the school then and those in charge will be able to help me with the administrators when we get there.”
With a nod and content smile, Cor’Dargan finished, “Well, then we will stay until you leave. Alk’leyal and the others are already on their way to warn the council and inform them of Malaketh, so there is no reason I can’t stay he
re for a few more days.”
Cheleya crossed the space between the beds in a rush throwing her arms around her father’s neck in a very human embrace. Sitting on his lap, she cried gently into the crook of his neck and said, “I would like that, father. I will miss you when you go.”
Patting the girl on the back, the dragon, who was her father, sighed wondering where life would take his daughter. That part of life had a reprieve of a few days before he had to worry he decided and held his daughter until they parted for her to get some sleep.
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Other books by Donald L. Wigboldy Jr.
From the Tales of Alus series:
Battle Mage: A Tale of Alus
Battle Mage: Winter’s Edge
Battle Mage: The Lost King
The High King: A Tale of Alus
The Emperor’s Shadow War
Modern Tales:
Voran the Night Guardian
The Mermaid’s Chest
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Battle Mage: Winter’s Edge
Chapter 1- Claws in the Snow
As the snow swirled and gusted, the path of dirt paving the road was all but lost in the lightly forested land north of the great wall. It was cold and the gray light of a winter’s mid afternoon felt disconcerting to the small caravan attempting to travel at this time of year. The coachman and the eight guardsmen were stalwart types wrapped in their winter coats and covering cloaks of black. Thick fur hats were pulled low as they attempted to sink their heads further into their shoulders and the warmth of their cloaks. Even as the men tried to keep warm, they had begun to push the horses into a rushed pace. They were no longer just dealing with the cold and howling winds. Over the last few miles, new howling could be heard over the wind.
Wolves were common enough in Kardor and the other lands north of the wall and dangerous even for so many men should they come in a pack of greater numbers. Most wolves would avoid men, especially so near the massive Southwall which was commonly patrolled most of the year. The healthy fear wolves had for the men who used weapons and magic that often reduced the packs’ threat should have proved enough to keep the baying beasts from chasing the coach and its guardsmen. Worriedly, the men were beginning to fear that these were no ordinary wolves.
The Dark One’s creatures were most often found much farther north and nearer to the mountains that were once known as the Dragon’s Scar. With his usurping of the northern lands, many just called them the Dark Mountains now. Though that was their usual territory since the wall had risen to keep them from the men and women of Southwall, recent years had seen more and more of his minions roaming the plains and hills.
One such type of minion was as feared as any. His werebeasts, part human and part beast, they were the Dark One’s most fearsome creatures. They would hunt in large groups and their speed and stamina were legendary. If the howling did indeed belong to such creatures, then even their current horses’ pace would not be enough. The beasts could run down horses at a full gallop and could pace them long enough to wear them down when they could not.
The howls seemed closer now and to be coming from more than one direction. The guardsmen fingered their blades, sliding them in their scabbards to make sure that they could move freely should the beasts show themselves. Their confidence that they could survive a full attack was not strong but if they could keep them from the horses perhaps they would all survive.
“How much farther?” the guardsman at the rear right asked hoarsely, whether he was hoarse from fear or the harsh weather was hard for the others to decide.
The guard ahead of him said nothing. He was unsure himself. Falling snow and the gray made it all but impossible to judge for him self where the safety of the wall truly was now.
A breaking of brush from his right caused the guardsmen to look for the cause and the first glimpse of a dark form running on all fours caused the men to gasp and pull their swords as one.
“Prepare yourselves, men!” the sergeant who paced the carriage at the front and right cried out in a warning that was hardly needed. The sounds of more swords leaving scabbards from the left side of the carriage pierced the howling, if only briefly.
Two more black furred creatures leaped onto the cleared path of the road stalking them in easy loping strides. The rear guardsmen both turned and fired cross bolts at the beasts, and watched them deftly avoid the metal tipped shafts causing a pair of curses.
More of the creatures were beginning to show themselves to either side of the path. They glided through the trees and brush as if the obstacles did not exist for them. Unfortunately for the hapless horsemen, they could only watch as the rear guard tried to slow those on the path with their crossbows, but the bows were slow loading and the beasts continually avoided the bolts easily.
The race continued for several more minutes until the horsemen discovered that the race was over before it had begun. Suddenly confronted with a dark wall of were beasts on the road in front of them, man and horse faltered.
“My lord, we are cut off!” the carriage driver cried out in fear.
The window flap on the right opened barely and a voice ordered, “Don’t stop, you fool! Try and break through or we’ll be killed.”
The driver flicked the reins trying to drive the horses through the beasts, but the horses could hear and see the unnatural creatures in their path and began to feint to the right and left in their harnesses. The guardsmen were beginning to have to fight their own mounts as fear rose in them as well. The horses wanted to flee, but in their wish to flee they became virtually blind and dumb to the men who were trying to guide and protect them all.
Instead of increasing their pace, the carriage had begun to slow as the horses hit the line of dark beasts. The creatures were fast and deftly avoided being trampled, all save one that caused a huge bump as the left side of the carriage ran the wolf over nearly tipping the transport over in the process. The wooden wheels sounded a large crack but the wheels and shafts held for now.
Broken wheels became the least of their worries. Two of the werebeasts had timed their jumps to menace two of the six horses of the team. The driver darted his whip at the monsters as the horses bucked in pain and fear. Guardsmen avoided more of the werebeasts and slashed with their swords to dislodge the attackers.
A horse stumbled.
The werebeast had bit deep into the horse’s neck and blood flowed even as its air flow lessened with each panicked breath. The other horses stalled as the ones behind tripped in their harness as the lead toppled in front of them and the ones on the opposite side were dragged towards their fellows. The carriage held momentum thrusting the team forward even more as it threatened to topple to either side.
Guardsmen tried to come to a halt even as their mounts fought them. A man was thrown from his steed and crashed to the ground in a bone jarring hit. The others nearest him moved to either side hoping to protect him from the circling monsters.
Dozens of werebeasts stalked the men. One of the pair of werebeasts on the team was cut down as the other escaped with minor wounds to join the surrounding circle.
Two of the horses were also down. The carriage wouldn’t be going anywhere unless they could cut away the dead weight of the wounded and dying team.
Voices from within the carriage could be heard just over the growling of the werebeasts. The door opened and a man with thinned, graying hair and a gaunt face clad in a black robe and cloak exited to look at the men and beasts. He had an aura of power to him that any with magic knew to be that of a wizard. He held a staff in front of him and stated to those inside the carriage, “Ashleen, Wendle, prepare your selves to fight. The Dark One has released his werebeasts on us.”
A tall young man exited next. His dark hair was thick, his nose strong and jutting. He appeared confident despite the monsters surrounding them and also carried a staff in his hands. The third to
exit was a beautiful woman. Long silver hair was bound in a tail to stream down her back over the cloak of dark blue. Despite her hair coloring, she appeared young and also carried a staff.
“Wendle, move to the rear and help the left. Ashleen, move to the front and try to cover the horses. I really don’t want to be walking to the wall in this weather, if it can be helped.”
With a pair of “yes, Master Deiclonus”, the two acknowledged their orders. The elder wizard glanced at the numbers surrounding them and he knew that they had their work cut out for them.
As if the wizards’ arrival were a cue, several of the beasts attacked.
Deiclonus chanted briefly and sent a fireball flying from his staff towards the nearest of the attackers. The guardsmen slashed at the beasts. The girl, Ashleen, channeled a bolt of lightning that skittered erratically over the recovering horse team striking two of the werebeasts in mid leap driving them back. Wendle waved his staff as he chanted and a swirling, cutting whorl of ice and snow lashed at the nearest werebeasts.
The sounds of magical attacks and screams of men and beast both lashed the dull breathing of the snow laden wind. The fighting was vicious, as the beasts proved very difficult to kill for both sword and magic. They were highly resistant to flame and ice apparently as few of the monsters succumbed to the two men. The lightning of the third mage demanded respect from the creatures, however, as two of their numbers attested from holes bore through their chests.
The lightning also drew more of the creatures to her end of the carriage.
“Master, the lightning has killed a pair already.”
“The ice has slowed them down,” Wendle called from the other side.
“Fire is charring fur, but no deaths,” he declared.
A horse of the guardsman to Deiclonus’ left ran for the ice covered trees in an effort to escape. Its rider already slain, the horse soon followed as a pair of beasts removed the distraction probably figuring to feast after the rest of their impending deaths. Another guard was down already on Wendle’s side as well though the elder wizard did not know that. Hardly any of the beasts had fallen and already their guards were reduced by a quarter.
Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 48
