Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3)

by Stephen Allan

  But at that moment, a massive roar reached them from the west. Eric, Yeva, and Zelda all glanced up to see Ragnor flying with about two dozen other dragons around it. The great manifestation of Iblis was at least twenty times the size of the other dragons, for the other dragons combined barely made up a size greater than Ragnor.

  “You’ll have to hold that thought,” Eric said. “We have some ships to protect and a battle to fight first.”

  CHAPTER 22: ZELDA

  “If the dragons attack Caia, you have to let them!” Eric shouted as Zelda ran with Yeva and him to her dragon, Emera. “We can always rebuild buildings, but we can’t revive people!”

  My home is going to be destroyed. My teachings are going to vanish. My city is going to crumble.

  As Zelda mounted Emera, she took in her surroundings as much as she could. The city had suffered so much damage in the last two months, it felt more like a broken house on the verge of collapsing on itself than a testament to the empire’s peak power. The few buildings that had not suffered damage from Indica or Artemia’s monsters had fallen buildings, cracked foundations, and debris surrounding them, leaving them vulnerable to destruction from even the slightest of damage.

  And Ragnor would make sure to bring that damage.

  “Yeva, Zelda!” Eric shouted as Margol rose. “Can you handle the incoming dragons? I’ll go and protect the seas. I can’t do anything with my sword. I’m useless in that fight. But I can make a difference should the monsters of the seas rise.”

  We have no choice. Ragnor’s already split us apart. So be it.

  “Go!” Zelda shouted. “We’ll hold it off as long as we can!”

  Eric saluted with his sword as another bellow came. Zelda turned her full attention to the incoming dragon. She and Yeva rose above the city on the backs of their dragons. The two dozen allies of Ragnor bore black scales, hideous, sometimes deformed horns, and red eyes. They flew with their wings tucked to increase speed and smoke coming out of their nostrils.

  “A challenge before my first conquest!” Ragnor said, its voice filled with surprise and laughter. “I admit to being happy that you two magi stand before me. Destruction of Hydor just doesn’t have as much fulfillment without there being a challenge in the way. But no matter, it will only delay the inevitable!”

  “Save it, Ragnor!” Yeva shouted. “You will not win! We will make sure of it!”

  “Hahaha! Such a fiery spit of hope that you have. This will make the battle even more enjoyable. But such a battle does not concern me when I have an army for a reason. Dragons of mine! Destroy them!”

  The two dozen dragons gathered together, as if morphing into one further massive beast. They did no such thing, but then they spun in a circle, creating a massive whirlwind from which a spell gathered strength. Zelda, pulling the essence of Indica closer to her, began preparing a counter lightning spell.

  “The magi think they can defeat my power,” Ragnor said mockingly as Yeva joined Zelda in forming a lightning spell. “Pathetic. I am not some small mage or Indica. Your power will not even knock my dragons off course as—”

  “Ahhh!” Zelda and Yeva shrieked as they launched their lightning spell before the spinning dragons’ spell could fully charge.

  The explosion that came when the lightning collided with the dragons created a thunderous boom so loud it knocked Emera and Luca back. Zelda briefly felt weightless before the dragon gathered itself.

  When the light from the explosion had faded, two dozen dragons littered the ground. Ragnor, which now flew no more than a mile away—and yet looked no more than a hundred feet away given its sheer size—paused. It shifted its body to a vertical position and bellowed, narrowing its eyes upon the two magi who stood between it and victory.

  “Impressive,” it said. “Hahaha. I underestimated you both. Perhaps you will make this a battle I will have to exert my will on to win. No matter.”

  Zelda stole a glance to the north. Eric’s dragon circled about a dozen ships of various sizes, searching for any sea monsters. While she knew someone had to protect the boats, it would take them days to get to Mathos. No dragon—to say nothing of the three of them—could provide continuous protection for that long. She would need to teleport them to safety somehow—the essence of Bahamut—or arm them with weapons capable of taking down sea monsters.

  Once she thought of using Bahamut’s power to teleport the survivors, though, the idea of arming them seemed inefficient and impractical. Unfortunately, at that moment, she didn’t have anything close to such an opportunity. It would take hours to get to Bahamut, which would surely leave Yeva to die.

  The great Ragnor closed its eyes. Flames erupted from its body. The red scales seemed to glow with energy. Seconds later, a dozen more dragons appeared.

  “I can do this as long as I need,” it said. “I fear not your powers. Even if you are powerful enough to defeat my allies, you are not powerful enough to defeat me.”

  As if to drive the point home, Ragnor moved forward with frightening speed, closing the gap in less than a dozen seconds. Having finally reached the edge of Caia, Ragnor dropped its jaw and unleashed a torrential blitz of fire. With its size, the flames consumed an entire street by themselves. The western side of Caia didn’t catch fire so much as it turned into a smoky haze, only a few buildings standing after the dragon’s attack.

  “No!” Zelda cried, but as she made a move to stop Ragnor, the dozen new dragons launched their own fire attacks. Emera easily dodged the attacks—Ragnor had created them in haste, making them barely functionable—but it had served one purpose. It had gotten Zelda off track, unable to attack Ragnor.

  They would have to split up even further, her and Yeva. One would have to take Ragnor’s spawned dragons. One would have to take on Ragnor himself.

  And with the essence of Indica and the essence of the false Ragnor, Zelda knew which battle she had to take on.

  “Yeva!” she screamed. “Take out the smaller dragons! I’ll handle Ragnor!”

  “Hahaha! You think by becoming smaller you will stand a chance? You may be a powerful magi to humans, but to me, you are but a gnat upon my brow. I will bring the end of your life! I will strike you down!”

  Emera soared to the heavens, banked hard to the east, and then dropped altitude suddenly to escape the smaller dragons as Yeva trailed, taking out as many of them as she could with Luca’s fire and her own spells. The problem Zelda soon faced, however, was that she could not evade the dragons and line up a strike on Ragnor at the same time. Even when she seemed to have a free moment, Ragnor would produce smaller beasts, dragons which did not threaten her or Emera’s life but did enough to distract her from her true fight.

  And all the while, Caia burned to the ground. Unlike with Indica, which had left pieces and homes intact, Ragnor would not leave anything. It would all crumble. Caia would become an ancient, ruined city. Zelda could only hope the message to evacuate had reached the entirety of the city, but she knew that was, sadly, unlikely. Some still undoubtedly would side with General Arthur and the empire, and they would lose their lives as a result.

  She knew what she would have to do to reach Ragnor. Or, rather, what Emera would have to do.

  “Emera, you’re going to have to charge through,” she said when her dragon banked around for a third pass, the other two having been thwarted by Ragnor’s minions. “I’ll heal your wounds and give you whatever you need.”

  “I do as master says,” Emera said. “I charge!”

  The dragon made a beeline for Ragnor, which had progressed to the buildings before the capitol. Zelda could not possibly see Caia standing by the end, but if she could somehow minimize the damage to the library… it seemed unlikely, but if she could just save even a little…

  Ragnor glanced over once, ignored Emera, and kept moving. It spawned three smaller dragons, one of which got taken out within seconds by a spell from Yeva. The other two dragons, though, moved toward Emera.

  “Keep going!”

&nbs
p; One of them missed, but one of them latched onto Emera’s right wing. The dragon cried but did as it commanded, albeit with less stability. Zelda turned, launched a fire spell, and burned the small dragon off.

  She turned just in time to see the right front arm of Ragnor coming down to swipe at them. On pure instinct, she fired her strongest ice spell possible.

  As she did so, time slowed down once more. She could see the claws of Ragnor reaching for her and Emera and had her dragon avoid them with ease. She saw the ice surrounding Ragnor’s hand, freezing it in place, causing great strain to the monster. She saw the beast’s eyes slowly turn down to face her, a haunting sight for how slowly they moved. For good measure, she launched a lightning spell at those demonic eyes.

  And then, time resumed. Ragnor screamed in pain as Zelda and Emera executed evasive maneuvers, barely dodging its left arm as they escaped the reach of the legendary dragon.

  “You dare to strike at me, mage?!?” Ragnor bellowed.

  As Zelda came out of danger and glanced the sea, she also saw Margol breathing fire. She grimaced but knew she couldn’t help. Stay strong, Eric. We shake this thing away and we might have a chance. We won’t leave you alone.

  “I am Ragnor, the embodiment of Iblis! I will make you suffer for what you have done!”

  At that, Ragnor sharply turned, hovering just over the library. It landed with a thud on top of the building, cracking its ceiling but keeping it intact—for now. It turned to the palace and bellowed with rage. Zelda had to dodge its massive wings as she searched for Yeva.

  “Here once was your leader’s resting place. But now it shall become mankind’s burial ground!”

  Ragnor leaned its head back. At the last second, Zelda saw Yeva—right in the path of Ragnor’s flame. She had underestimated its blast radius.

  “Yeva!” she screamed.

  Ragnor unleashed fire. Yeva and Luca would not make it. The legendary dragon’s fire would catch the two and, in the best of cases, leave them incapacitated for battle.

  Zelda screamed as she lunged Emera at Yeva and Luca. Time slowed, but the fires approached faster than Zelda had anticipated.

  “Faster!” she screeched.

  Time slowed even further. Zelda felt herself straining to keep time slowed. Sweat poured off her brow. Her body trembled. The spell seemed on the verge of breaking her.

  Then, just about a second in Zelda’s time before the fire of Ragnor would have eradicated Yeva and Luca, Emera slammed into them, knocking them safely out of the way. Time resumed and the fires blasted toward the palace.

  The intensity and power of the spell left Zelda in a daze as she struggled to regain her focus. She could feel the shifting, scaly body of Emera beneath her. About five feet in front of her, Yeva groaned as she staggered and stood.

  Any sensation Zelda felt paled in comparison to the heat from Ragnor’s flames. She looked in horror at the imperial palace, or what remained of it. She could make out the outline of the palace and its columns, but it glowed a bright red that bordered on white. Then, like a snowball held over a flame, it melted into the ground, flattening out as the lava spread across the courtyard.

  “Come on, we have to get back up!” Yeva yelled.

  Move. Move. Up.

  “I fly!” Emera cried. “Master! Get on!”

  Zelda stumbled onto the back of her dragon just as the lava cascaded outside of the courtyard and onto the streets. Emera and Luca flew to Ragnor’s level, just to the right of the beast. When Ragnor finished, it let out a triumphant roar.

  “Whatever power you think you have is not power when I rule,” Ragnor said. “It is but a pittance. Come! Fight me!”

  Zelda felt her power returning, thanks in no small part to the essence of Indica shortening her fatigue.

  She looked out at sea and once more saw Margol breathing fire. This time, though, she could also see massive fins skimming the water near the boats, seemingly taunting Eric and his dragon on sheer numbers. The fins could belong to beasts only the size of a man, and Eric would not have the firepower to keep all the ships alive.

  “We have to get Ragnor out of here,” Zelda said. “Yeva. We can’t spend any time on the spawns. Let’s launch an attack on its wing.”

  “Let’s do it then,” Yeva said, no nerves apparent in her voice.

  The two magi flew side by side, their path toward the right wing unencumbered. The wing’s sheer size made it a weapon in itself, to say nothing of the power it could produce. But Zelda didn’t need the mind of a scholar to know what crippling a wing would do to a dragon.

  “Do you think me a fool?” Ragnor said, its voice a mixture of sarcasm and rage. “Do your worst. I dare you.”

  Ragnor sat on the library, its claws digging further into the library’s roof. Zelda had a bad feeling as Emera moved in. It’s baiting us. Something about this doesn’t feel right.

  She had the idea to spring a trap on Ragnor, but if she spoke it, the dragon would pick it up, rendering the element of surprise moot. But if she stayed silent, Yeva would fly into Ragnor’s trap.

  Zelda had an idea as she came into striking range of Ragnor. She’d never tested it before, but at that moment, she had to try it.

  “Yeva,” she said, trying to communicate with her mind. “I want you to strike the beast’s face at the last second. It’s baiting us.”

  Zelda looked to Yeva, but she didn’t give any acknowledgment of what had happened. Please don’t let this have failed. I have to have this work. I have to.

  “Yeva!” she said, trying more forcefully, concentrating at the expense of paying attention to Ragnor. “When you get close, turn and aim for its face! Do it!”

  But again, Yeva gave no notice.

  “Yeva!”

  This time, Yeva gave the slightest of glances, barely turning her head. Zelda had to hope she had done enough.

  Because at that moment, Ragnor collapsed its wing forward as if to smash the dragons and magi into the ground.

  Zelda banked hard. She didn’t have the chance to see if Yeva had followed her lead.

  “Fire!” she yelled.

  Together, she and Emera unleashed a torrent of fire toward the right side of Ragnor’s face.

  And there, just a shade to the left of their attacks, Yeva and Luca followed suit. Yes! Attack!

  The blast brought a cry they had only heard once so far in the battle against Ragnor—a cry of pain. But unlike the frozen hand, in which the damage seemed to have subsided, this one left a visible burn on its face, covering part of its eye, compounding the damage done from the lightning spell from Zelda.

  “You inflict pain… upon me?!?” Ragnor roared.

  The pain became so great that the dragon fell off the library and to the ground, rolling and shoving its face into the ground as a dog would. That only created more destruction, as it knocked over the few remaining buildings with its bulk. Even in a moment of weakness, Ragnor became Caia’s apocalypse.

  And Zelda and Yeva had no choice but to let it play out. If Ragnor remained crawling on the ground, bringing the kind of destruction to Caia that the empire had brought Dabira, well, it made for a better option than it destroying the remaining survivors of humanity.

  “I am a god!” Ragnor roared. “This is my world! Mine! No one may call into question my reign!”

  Its bellows became inconsistent, meek and prolonged one second, deep and loud but brief the next. It seemed confused, as if no magi had ever so much as made it suffer. Zelda and Yeva kept a safe distance, but Zelda didn’t feel comfortable heading to the seas just yet.

  Then, in a flash, the dragon stopped, bolted up to the sky, and roared thousands of feet above.

  “You want to fight for this world?!? Fine! So be it. But you will not have it as you know it. I will splinter this world asunder and mark it as I see fit!”

  It laughed as a demon would before flying far to the north, too far away to do any damage to the escaping boats. We… did it? It’s gone, but…

  Her eyes
drifted to the seas and the ships hurriedly escaping Caia.

  “Come on!” Zelda yelled, desperate to help Eric while Ragnor had vanished.

  Before she reached Eric, she took a look back at Caia. Aside from the library and some buildings on the far east side of town, it looked as Dabira had. Poetic.

  But she didn’t have time to reflect on it any further, because massive sharks had already gashed a hole in one of the ships. Eric fought valiantly, but he could not keep up with the damage the sharks produced.

  “You’re just in time!” Eric yelled. “One of us has to protect the sunken ship. One of us has to evacuate whoever we can. And the other needs to—” He paused, ordering Margol to take out a shark, covered in a black top with a white underbelly, that had just launched itself at the boat. “—hold off these ugly beasts!”

  Zelda didn’t wait to say anything. She found the first shark she could swimming around the boat with the hole. Though its fin didn’t breach the surface, she didn’t need it to.

  She raised her hands, feeling the power of ice surge within her. She also still had the essence of Indica with her, and it, too, powered her. Time did not slow as she fired her ice spell at the shark, but she hadn’t needed it to.

  The shark froze in its place before sinking to the bottom, disappearing from view.

  “Yeva!” Zelda shouted across the air. “Freeze them!”

  Though her targets would freeze more slowly than Zelda’s, Yeva’s ice spell worked just as well. The two girls cheered after their first conquests, then silently moved on to the rest of the enemies.

  This continued for a few minutes as Zelda and Yeva cleared the area of sharks. Around them, the citizens of Caia cheered and hollered in support. Only when Zelda had finish did she wonder how many of those people had tried to kill her before.

  When the area had cleared up, the three dragon riders circled up about fifty feet in the air, taking in the sights. The damaged boat would not sink for several hours, but only one evacuation method made sense.