The dragon stamped the ground and waddled from side-to-side. “Weak humans… They’ve grown degenerate and decadent and debauched. In the days following their triumph against Aurellia and his followers, there was a golden age of literature and science. But without an enemy to fight, and no Starwalkers for inspiration, the ancients fell into competing against each other for land, wealth, and women.
“And during the last hundred years, superstitions and cults have plagued the Kingdom of Zhael. Daughters have been initiated into the twisted, lascivious rites of the Spring Goddess, the mistress of the mountain, the waters of the deep. Sons have been sent to the river hermits to gaze at the movement of ceaseless waters until they go mad. These cults believe that sensual ecstasy and insanity lead to illumination and spiritual truth. I fear that once Aurellia and his armies strike the kingdom, they will face little resistance. In fact, they might find many in the kingdom in a willing mental state, ready to convert over to Aurellia’s teaching.”
Palarian frowned and rubbed his chin, as if pondering the dragon’s words. “Then I feel there is no time to waste, we must fly quickly to Zhael. Bring out your map, young wizard. Let the power of the Goddess Nacrea guide our way.”
Inside his backpack, the intricately carved map case sat ready for Talis. He unfurled the Surineda Map and squinted as a brilliant golden light washed over his face. Mara was out there someplace, angry and ready for revenge. He closed his eyes and pictured her beautiful, round face smiling at him, her eyes hopeful and filled with love. Where was she now? He sent his desire into the map and opened his eyes: a clear point of blue light marked her place in a strange land.
“Zoom out,” Palarian said, and peered in at the map. “Ah, it is worse than I suspected. Your friend is inside the capitol—the City of Illumina itself. The likely heart of the coming conflict. For it is the city of Aurellia’s birth, and the home of his betrayers.”
Talis stared at the blue dot for a long while, and scanned around the map at the City of Illumina, his mind commanding the map’s view. Massive tetrahedral-shaped temples, towers rising into the clouds, palaces and estates, gigantic statues of men and women wielding swords and spears and shields, lush, green-and-flower-filled gardens, and many dark, slum-like shanties in the shadows. Longboats raced along a broad, winding river, with throngs of viewers jittering in the sunlight. He returned to the place where Mara was: the largest palace that Talis had ever seen, as big as the entire City of Darkov, but instead of darkness, the palace glittered and gleamed in the golden light.
“What of your lynx, young Talis? Where is your gift from the Goddess Nacrea? We need the blessing of the Goddess to ensure the success of our mission.”
How had he forgotten about Charna? Talis felt a quick jolt of fear in the marrow of his bones. The last time he had seen his lynx was on the island. Had she survived the storm? He focused his mind on Charna, and asked the map to find her. The view changed quickly, panning over the land until it settled over orange and green dots moving inside a different city. Relief flooded his body and he found his muscles relaxing. Charna had made it off the island.
“Ah, she has found her way to the beautiful city of Crystalline.” Palarian’s voice was filled with fondness. “But who is with her? Your friend, the boy—Nikulo?”
Yes, it had to be Nikulo. Talis commanded the map to show his friend and the lynx, and the dots remained the same. Charna was safe with Nikulo. But why did the city pulse with a wash of red light?
“There’s something wrong there,” Talis said, and told the map to show any danger nearby.
A wall of red, angry dots flanked the city from the south. Green, menacing dots scattered throughout the city, and moved around like a swarm of angry wasps. The city was being attacked. Aurellia’s army and his sorcerers and necromancers. And Charna and Nikulo were trapped in the heart of Crystalline.
16. REGENT PALACE
The Regent Palace was more of a city than the kind of palace that Mara had experienced in Naru. She passed through hundreds of extravagant rooms—marble floors, statues, walls covered in gigantic paintings of leering faces—and along the way brash men and women danced and shrieked and howled as the revelry raged. The many faces and names blurred in Mara’s mind, all the gracious introductions by Princess Genevieve, the lewd and curious eyes, white gowns and white robes everywhere, though many of the youth wore scant, sheer, silk or nothing but a painted gold sheen on their skin. Mara found herself in a state of euphoric disorientation, spurred on by the many aperitifs she had drunk. She clung to Genevieve’s arm, afraid that if she let go she’d be lost forever in the throng of bodies.
There were singers of serene songs, musicians pounding on wooden drums and strumming wide, massive stringed instruments, and artists painted entirely in blue and gold danced seductively, their bodies casting writhing shadows onto the marble floor. Above the crowd flew angels and sprites and fairies—magical illusions, Genevieve had whispered—part of the party scene the planners had so meticulously arranged. The throng seemed to ignore the musicians and magical projections, and instead focused all their attention on gossiping and flirting with one another.
The experience entranced and disgusted Mara, though she found the people charming and many of the men handsome. They were obsessed with beauty and fashion and using speech with very particular inflections. It gave Mara the impression of people intent on provoking a reaction: laughter, shock, lust, and amused anger. Many obviously were magicians, and they cast spells on each other for entertainment, spells inducing trances, euphoria, or arousal.
Mara listened to a woman explain how she was going to cast a spell and make a man fall in love with a woman he normally hated. And she did, to a handsome young prince in the group next to them—who was terribly drunk—and now the man turned his attention away from his friends, and stalked amorously over to the woman. Confusion and laughter and shrieks of delight ensued.
In the fog covering her mind, Mara somehow pictured the armada of ships coming to attack this land, and she imagined these people hopelessly unable to defend their kingdom. They were drugged, drunk, degenerates who had forgotten about the discipline of war. Though powerful in magic, they displayed none of the martial skills Mara had seen every day in Naru. And compared to those of Darkov and the Jiserian Empire, the people of the Kingdom of Zhael were hopelessly weak.
“Shall I introduce you to our Regent?” Princess Genevieve seemed to suddenly wake and remember a task she’d been given. Her eyes had recognized a tall, powerful-looking man with long, silver and gold hair. It was him, the man from the vision she had seen at Manor Top. This was the man who had tortured and murdered Talis. As they strode closer, Mara noticed his eyes were gold and radiated fire and heat. He wore a robe of shimmering silk strands plaited with gold. His feet were painted in gold leaf. Around his neck he wore a gold chain of a twisted, snake-like braid that held a fist-sized black crystal with shimmering gold flecks inside.
When Mara and Genevieve approached Regent Donoval, he stared suspiciously into Mara’s eyes, causing her to tense and pause in her steps. Princess Genevieve bowed to the Regent who responded with a slight tilt of his head, and she motioned to Mara.
“Regent Donoval may I introduce Princess Mara Lei of Naru.”
A cold flush washed over Mara’s face as Donoval cast an intense gaze at her, as if he was reading her with magical eyes. The stone around his neck pulsed with quick bursts of golden light so intense it caused the room to darken and broke all the magical illusions at once. The music and singing and talking and laughing ceased.
All eyes turned to stare at Mara.
Hundreds of guards with crystal-tipped spears appeared from portals that formed in the air around them. Mara sobered in an instant, feeling the steady throb of her pulse racing along the sides of her neck. What had she done wrong? Why were they all glaring at her? She forced herself to relax and returned Regent Donoval’s gaze. She curtsied and waited for his response.
“Why have you come here
with violence in your heart?” Regent Donoval’s voice was filled with certainty and power. “Mara Lei of Naru…to my knowledge, such a city does not exist.”
“Your grace, let me explain…she comes with a trading—”
Donoval cast a quick burst a light and Genevieve was stunned and dazed, her mouth gaping as if at some magnificent vision.
“Remove her…a spell has tainted her mind.” The Regent returned his inspection to Mara. “You are not of the world of Vellia, and yet you are not a Starwalker either. Your energy has a peculiar vibration, familiar and dark. The faint scent of death lingers on you…of blood and pain. And fainter still, the horrid stench of the Underworld. Who are you?”
Mara realized that whatever lies she tried to tell him would be sensed. So she decided to tell him the truth. She had no other choice.
“Princess Genevieve spoke the truth, I am Mara Lei of Naru…a city in the Nalgoran Desert on the world you call Yorek.”
Ripples of conversation spread throughout the crowd as people whispered to each other. Regent Donoval’s eyes flared in fury and his hands went up defensively as if Mara might attack.
“Yorek! That damned world of black magic fools? I can’t believe it! That world is two hops away and the crystal was hidden. How is such a thing possible? I sense no great skill at magic within you.”
Mara laughed, feeling the power of the dagger rise within her. “The one you banished, Aurellia, has returned with his followers. Already they lay siege to your kingdom.”
A panicked wave of words spread throughout the throng and the soldiers appeared agitated and unsure of what to do next. Regent Donoval’s face paled as if life were being sucked from his stomach. He raised his hand and glanced nervously at the crowd.
“Let us go and talk in my quarters, there is no need to spread lies to the people. My bro—Aurellia is safely trapped on Yorek—there is no way for him to return. You are confused, child, drunk and flushed with excitement. We will help you gain back your sanity. Come now, clear your mind.”
Away from the crowd and guards would allow Mara the opportunity to be alone with Donoval—and to kill him. So she allowed herself to be led away to the regent’s quarters. Donoval was overconfident in his power and she could use it against him. He knew too much about her, and Mara guessed the only way he knew all this was if he’d tortured and killed Talis hours before. How could he have known about the Underworld? The Regent was guilty of the crime.
The guards left Donoval’s quarters after he dismissed them. The light in the room was dark and brooding, the walls paneled in darkly stained cherry wood, and golden sconces barely emitted enough light to illuminate Donoval’s furious face.
“You’ve come here daring to kill me? But why?”
“I have seen you in my vision…you’ve tortured and killed my friend, Talis.” Mara felt the rage bubble into her hand as she clutched the silk purse holding the dagger.
Donoval appeared genuinely confused. “Who is this Talis? I know of no one by that name.”
“A boy…my friend, the same age as me. You and Prince DeSabrian tortured him for information regarding Aurellia’s invasion. Admit it!” She now squeezed the dagger so tightly she could feel the hilt waiting for her grip.
“What is there to admit? I’m perplexed, child. You’ve come to my party—cloaked with the stench of death and darkness—and threaten my life? And you speak of Aurellia, long lost to those of Vellia, as if he were here on this world?”
Mara lowered her voice to a low growl. “Aurellia is here…I’ve seen him with my own eyes. And he’s joined by Elder Rolovian, Relech, and Raelles. His sorcerers and necromancers are here as well, sailing towards your kingdom with an army of undead and man-beast soldiers forty feet tall. They’ve come to conquer your kingdom. And I’ve come to kill you.”
With the last words she spoke, Mara cloaked herself in shadows as her master had taught her. Donoval let out a grunt of alarm and with his flourished hands raised the light in the room to a blinding power. But Mara had already wielded Princess Minoweth’s dagger and fueled her invisibility with its strength.
“Shadows banished!” Donoval shrieked and cast bursts of golden light around the room. “Where have you gone? Guards!”
The doors burst open and four of the spear-wielding soldiers rushed into the room, and scanned around as if trying to find an enemy to fight. But Mara was invisible to them.
“Search the room, you fools. Find her!”
Mara waited for a moment to glide through the open door, and slipped outside. Now was not the time to fight. But later tonight, when darkness fell, her blade would find its mark.
17. CRYSTALLINE
Nikulo let out a beer belch and sighed, scanning the dimly lit tavern where he’d holed up for the night. He poured a bit of the drink into a bowl for Charna, and chuckled as the lynx lapped up the beer. The cat released a purr as he scratched her under her chin. Around the room, suspicious and fearful eyes caught Nikulo’s inspection, but most just stared at their drinks and food, ignoring the world around them.
“Another beer?” The barkeep jutted his chin at the empty mug.
Nikulo shrugged and bobbed his head in acceptance. Considering the army that was about to pummel the city, another drink was called for. He had considered fleeing, going east or continuing north, but the seedy tavern in the dark part of the city had caught his eye. Just after he had slipped inside Crystalline, their wizards had cast some kind of protective crystal bubble around the whole of the city. He could still picture the luminous ships soaring high above the bubble, with wizards flying fast around, readying for the massive onslaught. Nikulo doubted they had a chance of winning.
In his mind’s eye he remembered the hundreds of shadow explosions striking the airships, igniting them into flames, and sending them plummeting against the crystal dome surrounding the city. Flocks of sorcerers collided into the wizards, bursts of angry light meeting mists of shadow and gaping demon maws. Lightning and thunder illuminated the smoke-filled sky and cast vivid airship-shadows against the clouds.
The citizens had been terrified, standing and staring up at the sky in disbelief. Nikulo imagined these were the faces of people who had never experienced war. The shield remained strong—as if impenetrable—but the wizards and airships fared badly against the overwhelming tide of enemies. By the time Nikulo decided to seek refuge in the bowels of the tavern in the gloomiest part of the beautiful, glass and crystal city, the wizards were all slain and the airships destroyed.
Beside him in the tavern sat an old man in torn and tattered clothes hunched over his beer. He mumbled to himself and wagged his head as if in disbelief over some fact of his life. The barkeep handed Nikulo his frothy mug of beer and peered carefully at Charna.
“That’s a beautiful cat you’ve got there. Where did you find her?”
“A gift of a goddess, she is. She belongs to my friend. I’m keeping good care of her until he returns.” Nikulo winked at the barkeep. “She likes your beer! Never seen her take to the drink before.”
The man rubbed his protruding belly in delight and a broad smile broke over his stubbly face. “The gift of the goddess likes my beer! Do you hear that, Jared? I’ll accept the blessing, thank the gods. Especially with those foul invaders overhead. All those frightened sheep outside have never seen war…well I’ve seen war, and then some. Haven’t you seen war, Jared?”
The old man next to Nikulo grunted and tilted his head towards the barkeep. “War and plague and pirates. This ol’ beautiful city of Crystalline—blinded by their worship of the sun and strange ways—they know nothing of death and disease. We should leave before she falls…already I hear the pounding of explosions rocking the dome. It won’t hold long.”
He caught Nikulo’s eyes. “And you, son, you should leave as well, unless you crave the land of the dead. No, no, don’t go yet, finish your drink, there’s time enough for that. You picked the right tavern, though! Didn’t he, Jeremiah? The oldest bar in the city and prot
ected by the old gods.”
Jeremiah the barkeep nodded and cleaned a dirty mug. “Will be a shame though, after five thousand years I’ll have to leave Crystalline. We’ll go east to the Port of Hubrion and catch a ship to Rheams, I suspect. I always felt like a stranger here, anyways, especially over the last hundred years or so. All those cults fooling the weak-minded and young. And the elders drugged and drunk in their debased ways. Death will come and feast, she’ll feast all right, feast on the fat power of these ancients. A dark day is coming for the Kingdom of Zhael, after a long, long day filled with blinding light.”
An old woman in the back of the room cackled. “Let her burn! What good ‘av they done fer us?”
Nikulo shifted uneasily in his seat. Death and darkness were the opposite of where he was going. Should he leave with them? Find a ship to some safe foreign harbor? What of Talis and Mara, would he be able to ever see them again? If Talis was still alive he knew his friend would find Nikulo, with the Surineda Map guiding him, it was only a matter of time. But until then he had to keep himself out of harm’s way.
“I’ll go with you—when the time is right to leave—and if you’ll have me.” Nikulo raised his mug to the barkeep and took a gulp of beer.
“Have you? Har! I’ll have the blessing of the goddess along to lead us safely outside this cursed city. Of course I’ll have you. Well, I suppose it’s about time to leave. Friends? Who’ll be coming along?”
Everyone in the tavern nodded their heads to Jeremiah, and they clambered to their feet, hefting packs and collecting up their belongings. The barkeep ambled around and handed everyone sausages and black bread for the trip, “To keep yer belly full.”
The ragged group followed the barkeep outside to the view of mammoth explosions rocking the crystal dome. Jeremiah ignored the violence above and sauntered down the dark alleyway and turned east across a cobblestone way. Nikulo held Charna and pulled her close after she winced from the bursts of lightning and expanding shadows. Panic had spread across the streets as the people realized their wizards had fallen and no one was left to defend the city.
Dragon Mage (Blacklight Chronicles) Page 12
