He remembered the spell that Jeremiah had cast when he froze the actions of everyone around him. The beings inside his mind whispered to him the doings of casting the spell, and he cast it, feeling in awe as thousands of sorcerers and necromancers plummeted towards the ground—another spell cast and he suspended their fall. The world around him was locked as if in ice, though many of their eyes still moved, and Aurellia and Regent Donoval’s neck craned around as well.
Nikulo released Talis, Mara, and Charna from the spell, and they gasped, shaking off their clenched muscles.
“How did you learn Jeremiah’s spell?” Talis sauntered up alongside where Nikulo stared at the Starwalkers.
“Having the memory is enough for me to learn the spell…the beings inside me teach me how.” Nikulo strode past Rikar and faced the two Starwalkers, their faces frozen in fear.
“I will unlock your ability to speak—and no more.” He flourished his hands and the Starwalkers’ song continued as before.
The Starwalker named Jared fixed his gaze on Nikulo. “We only want to recover what is rightfully ours and return to our home planet—now that our group is broken, we must cease our flight through the stars. What is that in your hand? Is it the fragment’s power I sense?”
The voices in Nikulo’s head screamed: “Don’t trust them! They lie, they all lie and will kill you!”
“You kidnapped me and forced me to go with you!” Talis aimed a finger at Jared. “Why should we help you now?”
“That was Jeremiah, he was always greedy and ruthless, not all of us are like him. He brought our quad into darkness…though upon facing death, I feel the light coming back to me.”
Mara knelt before Jared and studied his face. “I feel what he’s saying is true—at least he believes it is true. But I also agree with Talis, why should we help you? Why shouldn’t we just let you go, let you return to your planet, and leave us alone?”
“Then you sentence us to death. You might as well kill us now, for we cannot return home without the fragment. We will be executed for failure to protect the fragment. It is our only link to the whole.”
“Without the fragment you will be weak, weak as a child! They’ll punish you and steal away your friend and his map, they’ll force him to slave for their kind, don’t believe them!” Nikulo clenched his hair and fought to keep the voices pushed back into the quiet part of his mind.
Jared peered into Nikulo’s eyes. “You are afflicted! I can see your mind is not wholly your own. How long have the Naemarians poisoned your mind?”
“No! Do not name us—” With a great force of will Nikulo slammed the beings inside and separated them, bringing silence to his mind. He was stronger as a whole than any one of the Naemarians were individually. He crafted prisons in his mind for each one of them, little steel boxes clamping them shut.
“I see you have learned to control them, contain them even, but that won’t last long. Sooner or later they’ll hook you, lure you, find something you want and seize your mind. It’s only a matter of time before they captivate you once again.” Jared frowned at Nikulo as if he were watching a patient slowly dying.
Off in the distance Nikulo could hear the sound of rolling thunder striking the land. A storm was coming, and the air smelled sweet of it. He pictured himself ruling this world: a king robed in gold and worshipped by all in the land of Vellia. Even Aurellia would worship him and all his followers. Rikar would bend the knee and subjugate himself to his power. But in Nikulo’s mind he saw himself alone, friendless, surrounded by slaves of the mind. He no longer craved the illusion.
And with the cracking thunder came great peals of lightning and as he gazed at the sky churning with black and grey clouds, the wind gusted now as if the world had righted itself and continued its normal rotations. He felt a great peace wash over him and a chill brought soberness to his mind. Fat drops of rain splattered on his face and he opened his mouth to the sky and invited the wind and water inside. He decided in that moment, he believed he could be healed, it wasn’t wrong to want to be a regular person. There was loneliness in power.
The rain poured down now in silvery sheets and from the clouds came dark blotches—thousands of them—diving and undulating in ceaseless movements.
The dragons. The dragons had returned.
23. HEALED
Palarian landed only steps from Talis, who watched the old sorcerer surmise the scene with calculating eyes. King Valeron flapped his wings and belched fire and smoke and seemed to laugh as it smoldered in the rain. The ancient dragon stretched out and touched the ground, alighting on the rubble with a disdainful hesitation.
“Where is the trickster Jeremiah?” Palarian said, and studied the two Starwalkers.
“Slain by my hand.” Nikulo raised the black stone fragment and enjoyed the shrieks and shrinking away of the dragons. Talis couldn’t help but notice the ego and pride in his friend’s voice, as if he relished in the idea of taking Jeremiah’s life.
“You killed a Starwalker?” King Valeron’s voice boomed with incredulity. “Using a stone that belongs to them? Fool! Wish you the curse of the Starwalkers to fall upon you?”
“He is but an ignorant boy, and knows nothing of the ways of this world.” Palarian cast a wary glance at Nikulo. “There are no legends and lore of Starwalkers on the planet Yorek.”
The dragon spit a great cloud of smoke and bared his teeth in a rictus smile. “That is because there is nothing of any worth on that useless planet! Why would the Starwalkers ever desire to visit Yorek?”
“My family is on Yorek, and that is meaningful to me.” Talis wished he’d controlled his voice, for the words had come out shrill and weak.
“Ah, yes, family—like a boy loving a pet mouse—or even a pet flea. You are a dragon, young mage. The blood of dragons flows through your veins! Who is family to you now?”
“When the Starwalkers seized me you fled, oh great king. How thick is dragon’s blood?”
Valeron snorted and stomped the earth, his eyes narrowing dangerously like snake’s slits. “I am bound to protect all of dragon-kind, I am bound by the ancient pact of peace with the Starwalkers. If I had interfered with the one called Jeremiah to save one dragon, I would have brought the wrath of all the Starwalkers upon my kind! What would you have done in my place, foolish boy?”
“I would have helped my friend—damn the consequences.” Talis glowered at the dragon. “I guess human blood is thicker than dragons.”
King Valeron laughed and the sound of his laughter boomed and echoed against the buildings and the palace until all the dragons joined him in his merriment.
“Oh, but you are young and stubborn, young mage. And a great tribute to friendship. I suppose you are right, friendship is the most important thing in the world. But remember, without wisdom, friendship is folly. Temper your actions with thoughts first—you are too impulsive in your actions and I fear it may lead to your death, or the death of your friends around you. But you know little of the power and wrath of the Starwalkers. This fat one fought and killed a Starwalker—one weakened and without the fragment to give him power. But only because the boy was armed with the same stone! You would have been pulverized to dust if you’d encountered a Starwalker in his full glory.”
Palarian aimed a finger at the sky. “None have seen the world of the Starwalkers and I doubt any human would survive the journey. Let them go…return the black stone to their keeping…free them and free Vellia from their wrath.”
Talis held Nikulo’s arm as he was about raise the hand holding the fragment. “Make them vow, make them vow in the name of their gods and their people, make them vow to cure you and leave without harming us.”
“Will your people seek revenge against Nikulo?” Mara peered into Jared’s eyes, her faced lined with worry.
Jared sighed and found some strength to shake his head. “I cannot speak for my people. But because we sang our song of help, our people will return to this world and wreak terrible harm indiscriminately upon
this land. They will slay all humans without thought, unless you free us and return to us the fragment. Already I sense them traveling across the stars, jumping from planet to planet to answer our call. Soon they will be here…”
“Then vow to your gods that you will not harm us,” Talis said, and strode up to the Starwalker. “And cure my friend of these beings you call the Naemarians. Will you swear?”
The Starwalkers nodded and they spoke as one, “We swear in the name of our nameless gods to cure your friend and bring no harm to you.”
And Jared continued on his own. “And I will plea for the life of your friend to the rulers of our world, to spare his life, though I cannot guarantee they will listen. Will you free us and return that which is rightfully ours?”
With a vast struggle rippling across Nikulo’s face, he stepped forward and handed Jared the black stone fragment. But then a tremor came over his body and he reached out for the stone, but collapsed to the ground, great convulsions and spasms wracking his body, and he groaned and screamed in agony, his hands slapping his head.
The Starwalker cast a million beams of starlight onto Nikulo’s writhing figure, and despite Mara’s shrieks and cries continued his work, casting light and drawing out thick clumps of a sticky tar-like substance from his body. When Jared had finished his healing, Nikulo lay still on the rubble, but Talis found his heart still beating and breath still flowed from his mouth. He was alive.
Aurellia and Regent Donoval strode over to them and cast wary eyes on the two Starwalkers. All around them, in the skies and on the ground, the dark lord’s forces scurried away, sensing a power far beyond them.
Jared beckoned Talis over to where he stood, and handed him back the crystal he had taken from him before. “This doesn’t belong to me—it is rightfully yours. And the other was lost in the slaying of our friend—she was blameless and a curse shall fall on the one with the black heart.”
Talis followed the Starwalker’s gaze until he found Rikar shrinking back into the shadows. A massive bolt of lightning from the sky illuminated his terrorized and defiant face in an instant. Rikar cast a spell and disappeared into the night.
“We go! The stars call us, those of our kind call us, one last leap before they strike!” Jared and the other Starwalker snapped their fingers and vanished, leaving only a faint glimmer of starlight.
“Ah, what a mess you have made of this world, brother…” Regent Donoval scanned around the ruined city and covered the expression of sorrow on his face. “You have shattered the power of Crystalline and broken her beautiful spires. You have slain my people and performed the worst kind of sacrilege, and turned them into undead creatures of the night. What will you do next, Aurellia, bring my dead wife back to life?”
But the fire and rage had gone out of the dark lord’s eyes and he waved away his words. “Let us fight no longer…for I have tired of killing. When I saw you once again I realized how much I missed my brother, and I care little about our differences, what matters is that we are the only family left! All the others are gone. Would we be lonely our whole lives, rotting away in this wicked wearisome world? Forgive me for the monstrosities that I’ve done, I will try to make amends.”
Talis found a smile forming on his face, unable to believe the kindness in Aurellia’s voice. The man he despised, the one filled with rage and spite—speaking kind words to his brother? Talis realized then that monsters when named become real, and black when illuminated with light becomes form, and hatred when given love melts away. To be alive, to be real, life needs light and shadow, and confusion needs kindness, and loneliness needs love. Talis saw before him the unraveling of hatred and bitterness and rage of many thousands of years.
In his hand he found the warmth of Mara’s and he cast to her eyes the love he felt inside. We are finally going home. She smiled the purest smile in return and squeezed his hand as if knowing exactly what he was thinking. He turned his gaze to Nikulo—who snored peacefully on the ground—and sent a ball of golden light inside him, allowing the heat and healing waves to invigorate his mind.
Nikulo stirred and sat up, releasing a loud fart in the process. “Who in the name of the gods let out that foul odor? It smells like the stench of a million festering rats!”
Mara pinched her nose and chuckled at Nikulo. “Sounds like someone is back to his normal self. And desperately needs a bath…”
“You don’t look so hot yourself, little lady. I think we’ve all seen better days.” Nikulo glanced at Aurellia. “I feel about as bad as his face looks. This whole world has gone to shit. Is there any reason why we’re still hanging around here? Let’s go home already.”
From the sky Elder Raelles floated down and took his place next to Aurellia, casting malicious eyes at Talis. “Do you really want to return home to Naru, young mage? I don’t recall it being a very nice place the last I left it. Some kind of plague, as I recall. A disease of the mind…”
Palarian jabbed a finger at the man. “Spoken by the one known as plague-bringer? Master to the necromancers and high priest of the Temple of Zagros? How am I not surprised to hear this from your mouth?”
“Oh, let the boy return, Raelles. I’m sure some of his people are still alive? Perhaps many escaped the plague… Let him have some hope.” Aurellia looked ashamed of Elder Raelles, and cast uncomfortable glances at the horde of necromancers and undead lingering in the dark streets of Illumina.
“Do you not know of any cure for this plague, brother?” Regent Donoval peered curiously at Aurellia.
“If it is the plague of the undead, then yes, there is a cure. Elder Raelles and our necromancers won’t like this at all, but then again we must make sacrifices in order to gain peace, must we not?”
Aurellia rose above the rubble and aimed his hands at a crowd of undead slobbering beside the crystal temple. Streams of white light filaments poured from his palms and showered over the undead, licking and sucking a black, mucky substance from their heads.
“They are cured of the plague—although it will take them many hours to sleep and recover. I warn you though, Donoval, we found many cults that worshipped the Starwalkers and the Lord of Death. Curing them of the undead disease won’t take away their fanaticism.”
“We’ll just have to deal with that later.” The Regent motioned Talis to come over where he stood. “Now teach the boy the spell you’ve just cast. Let him heal his people of the sickness.”
As Aurellia descended from the sky, his dark and gold eyes pored into Talis’s mind, grasping and probing until Talis wanted to slap him and kick him out of his mind. But the dark lord was relentless.
“You still hold a great fear inside your mind—you worry of loss and loneliness. If you are to cast this spell you must banish these feelings from your mind. Remove all thoughts and feelings and remember the image of the spell I’ve cast.” And inside his mind, Talis heard the dark lord’s words: “Worrying about her death won’t stop it from happening. Only by worshipping the Lord of Death will you gain you mastery over the claims Zagros has over the living. Without Mara, without her, you will live an endless life of loneliness and sorrow. She will grow old and die without the gift of the Zacrane Dagger—you must find another way to preserve her life. And there is a way in Zagros.”
Then Talis experienced a flash of images filled with hand movements and sounds, of the healing spell against plague, and after what seemed like many hours, he found he possessed the knowledge of its casting. Aurellia released him from his mental hold and returned to his place beside his brother.
“It is done—I’ve fulfilled your wish, Donoval. Shall we rebuild our kingdom together?”
“Our kingdom?” The Regent frowned a dismissive frown at the dark lord. “Oh, I suppose I’ll share a part of it with you…does not light yield to the dark each night? A lesser darkness and the greater light. Just remember who shines in this family, little brother.”
Aurellia sent Donoval a sly smile, and shifted his head towards Talis and winked a devilish wink.
Talis knew without a doubt that the lesser darkness would prove a struggle for the greater light.
“I believe you require certain knowledge of runes necessary for your casting, is it not so?” Palarian grinned at Talis and bent down and retrieved a stick. He scrawled out runes for Chandrix and finally the runes needed to return to Talis’s world.
“Memorize these well, for if you forget the symbols, you will find yourself lost on the middling world.” The old sorcerer’s eye beamed at Talis as if he were quite sure of his success. “And if you ever decide to return and pay us a visit, these are the runes to Vellia. You may find those stones you hold from the heart of Ghaelstrom hardy enough to last many castings of the world portal spell.”
King Valeron harumphed and smoke shot from his nostrils. “All things are hardy from the mountain of Ghaelstrom. And you are always welcome back to hunt in the Valley of Caern, young dragon mage.”
Talis bowed to Palarian and the dragon king, and kept a careful eye on Aurellia. Somehow he had a hard time believing Aurellia would relax his grip on his domain back on his world—old habits were difficult to let go of.
“I thank you for your kindness and help, and I do hope to one day return to Vellia—to see the Kingdom of Zhael rebuilt and restored to her former glory.”
Mara tugged on his wet robe and pulled him close to Nikulo and herself. She whispered in his ear, “There is someone wronged in this war and we must set things right. Summon him, summon the Builder, the man named Goleth. He is a good man and has left his family back home.”
Talis raised an eyebrow and faced Aurellia. “Where is your builder, Goleth?”
“What of him? He is none of your concern.”
“I’ve made him my concern, as you have called him on a cruel war and kept him from his family. Release him to me, and let him return home with us.”
Dragon Mage (Blacklight Chronicles) Page 17
