Ash produced a sustained blaze that was the longest she had ever seen and coming out of a baby nonetheless. It melted some of the ceiling and part of the floor. “You need to be careful where you point that.”
“Was that good?”
“Pretty good.” His mother didn’t want him to get a swelled head, but she had no idea how she was going to keep that from happening. She thought that anyone that wanted to do him harm might be in for a surprise.
“Okay. I’m gonna make my own place in here.”
“And don’t you be shooting fire at your sisters.”
“I won’t. Oh, I put a spell on all you guys.” Ash knew he was going to get a reaction out of her and waited for it.
Ella shook her head in disbelief. What next? “What! Don’t you dare be putting spells on us! Magic can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I put a spell on you so that my fire won’t hurt you. On dad too. On everyone.” Ash smiled as her expression changed.
“Oh, well I guess that’s probably a good idea. Good job Ash.”
“I’m going back to work.”
“Yeah you do that. I’m going to lie down.”
Zedock stuck his head in there. “My son already has his fire?”
Ella nodded. “That’s right Dad, and he’s put a spell on you.”
“What!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
KING CHROMOS CAME DOWN HARD ON THE CRYSTAL with the hammer putting a serious crack into it, and again it shook the entire castle and the surrounding area as well, an earthquake that travelled for miles. “That’s twelve! One more and dragons shall cease to exist.”
The sky overhead was eerily dark now, perhaps an ominous sign of things to come. A loud crack of thunder made Clarence jump. It commenced to rain harder than they thought possible, the torrent was over a small area and centered on the crystal. A bolt of white lightning entered through the window and struck an iron sconce on the wall, splitting it in two. They were aware that it could have killed the both of them. Would destroying the dragons kill the both of them in the process?
“Sometimes there are consequences to using magic your majesty.” Clarence looked tense almost expecting another bolt.
The King also appeared worried. “Perhaps I should think this thing over?”
Clarence watched as the king hesitated to make the final strike that would make all dragons extinct. They had managed to spell a quite a few of the red dragons, never mind the warning that they were now apparently getting. He studied Chromos’s face as he struggled with it; Cynric had had a dream that showed his downfall from dragon fire. But he also knew that not all of Cynric’s dreams were prophetic and that it had been a rather vague. Dragons were powerful animals to manipulate.
Chromos raised the hammer over his head as Clarence closed his eyes, both preparing for the final blow; he swung the hammer and hit the table instead. “Clarence, if I wait a few months to do it would it still only take a single hit to kill the beasts? Or would I again need thirteen?”
“A single blow from that hammer will now do it, your majesty.” Clarence was relieved that the king was coming to his senses.
The air was electric around Chromos. He could always order someone else to accomplish the final blow. “Very well then I shall wait. In less than an hour, I shall mount and head for Leeander. You are quite sure that your spell will protect me from all incantations?”
“It will protect you from most enchantments your majesty, but you should remember that an ordinary arrow is not magic and will kill you. Or if a dragon brought you up to a sufficient height and dropped you. Gravity is not magic your majesty.”
Chromos nodded and felt stronger than ever as he now had the capability to destroy the dragons. “Yes, I understand. I am not indestructible. Is it possible to make a spell that would make me so?”
“I don’t believe so, but I shall look into it.”
One of the king’s personal assistants, Edmund, appeared at the door holding a spear and a shield. “Forgive the intrusion your majesty but your horse is ready.”
Chromos’s smile was both happy and menacing. “We march on Leeander. I’ll teach them to kill my wizard. King Darius’s head will look a hell of a lot better on a pike.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
AS THE SUN WAS GIVING PINKNESS TO THE MORNING SKY, Stone was using every curse word that he could come up with, and that’s how the others were awakened. He could see King Chromos in the distance with his minions, several thousand more soldiers were with him and two red dragons, and more than a mile off and too well guarded. There went the opportunity to kill the king. Why couldn’t anything go right? Why was Leeander destined for a horrible death?
“Is that Chromos?” asked Alexa with sleepy eyes.
“Yes, that’s the bastard and well out of our reach. No way to get close to him without showing our position.” Stone was furious, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was also angry that the sorcerer standing beside him was useless. “Quentin, you can take your leave.”
“Really?”
“We’ll all be dead soon, and I see no reason to take you down with us.”
The wizard was relieved. “I thank you.”
Merrill shook his head. “Wizard, don’t you take a single step. Stone, I have to disagree with that. What if the boy shows up on the back of that dragon? He could fly us in there. Small odds I admit, but you never know.”
Stone, of course, knew that Merrill was right. “Quentin, you’ll have to stay with us a while longer.”
“But, but, but you said I could go!” The wizard’s reprieve had been yanked as if the hangman had removed the noose from around his neck but then quickly put it back.
Stone shrugged. “Well, now I’m saying that you can stay. I insist.”
“Damn it!”
Alexa patted Quentin on the shoulder. “You want to go? Hit Chromos with a bolt of lightning and kill him.”
“I would if I could but I can’t.”
A party of seven appeared to come out of nowhere, all on black horses. They had been sent back by the king to fetch the crystal that would destroy the dragons. Merrill killed two with his bow as Stone rushed at them. In no time at all, they were all killed as even twice their number would have had difficulty in taking down such a furious knight. Alexa was on her way to kill one except that Stone had beaten her to him. Stone continued to hack away at the dead body when Lance touched him and made him stop.
Obed picked up a severed head and kicked it. “Bastards!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
KING DARIUS AWOKE AND IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT about Adorok’s passing, with all that was going on he couldn’t even mourn him properly. If things didn’t change soon, Leeander would reek of death. He stared at his old sword that was attached to the ceiling, given to him by his grandfather. It was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes in the morning. He slowly looked down and turned to stare at the raven. “Berhtram, we desperately need a day that brings good news for a change.”
His pet raven Berhtram was stuffing a crust of bread into his elaborately carved bedpost; it resembled a standing knight with a shield though the shield now had multiple holes pecked in it. The bird had managed yet another hole in it even though the king had forbidden him to do it. The animal was wearing a small golden necklace with the king’s seal on it.
“Berhtram, what did I tell you about doing that?”
The bird cocked his head as he appeared to listen, and then croaked twice flying off out the window. After about a minute the king could hear the cook swearing in the kitchen as Berhtram returned with another slice of bread. It sounded like the cook had called the bird a little bastard. The raven ate some and then commenced to stuff more into the bedpost.
Darius watched the bird and enjoyed his antics although he liked to pretend otherwise. “People talk about how smart you are, but you’re not that smart. You are saving food as if I don’t feed you five times a day. Look at you! You’re
getting fat!”
The raven croaked in disagreement.
“And look at all the holes you have in that bedpost and none in the other? Why don’t you balance it out?”
The bird cocked his head as he listened and then sidled along the back of the bed until it got to the other bedpost and commenced to peck into the knight’s head. The raven had been found as a hatchling and raised by Darius; he had always talked to it as if it had been a person. For that moment in time, the king lost himself as he observed the bird in its work.
Darius rolled out of his bed and stretched. At least, he had managed to get a few hours of sleep. He went to his chamber window with the tail of his yellow robe dragging on the floor. He used to enjoy the magnificent view of the rolling hills and the songs of the birds in the trees, but now a sea of the enemy was out there, and some were cutting down some of his trees, perhaps for a bonfire or perhaps just to annoy the shit out of him. In any case, it was no longer a pleasant view. He considered telling Berhtram to go and drop a load of feces on them but decided against it; they would most likely shoot his raven out of the sky. The king got up onto a chair and put his bare ass in the window for all to see but got no reaction whatsoever.
A knock was heard on the heavy wooden door. Berhtram flew onto his shoulder as the king pulled the door open. “Yes?”
One of the undersized guards bowed. “Your majesty, it looks as though King Chromos is arriving, and, believe it or not, he brings more soldiers.”
Darius went to the window and sure enough, in the far distance, Chromos was coming with his entourage and flying his personal flags adorned with halberds and shields. “Berhtram that is unquestionably not the good news that I was looking for. The day is off to a terrible start. Too bad you couldn’t pick a hole in his hard head.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
ZEDOCK AND ELLA COULDN’T GET USED TO ALL THE ATTENTION they were getting because of their little wizard. They had no privacy with dragons flying by day and night trying to get a peek at Ash. They had moved into the side cave that Zedock had started, and Ash had finished; it now went for more than a mile into the mountain with more than a dozen bedrooms. Ash was having fun burning his way through, and they were happy to let him amuse himself that way.
Ella’s parents had just left from a visit with the three little ones, and everyone was talking about how the little sorcerer had already united the black and red dragons. No one would have thought it possible and now other relationships and friendships were already materializing, making up for lost time. Suddenly a black dragon with a red dragon didn’t mean anything to anyone. The change was so rapid that Ella wondered if Ash hadn’t thrown some magic into it; after all, she caught him throwing some multicolored enchantment out into the wind the other day, and when questioned he wouldn’t tell her what it was supposed to accomplish. She considered demanding that he tell her but just decided to let it be.
An alarm had gone off earlier that morning as several yellow dragons had been spotted in the area but nothing had come of it. They were attractive animals, yellow with a single black strip down the length of their back and tails. They had circled high up above, so high that they had been mere specks against the blue sky. The two huge dragons chased away, but it made a lot of dragons nervous.
Cinder-Ella ran around coughing as her stomach burned something fierce and then she belched a ball of fire. It usually took a month or more for baby dragons to be able to produce fire but apparently she was also advanced. Dominant genes had come together to produce their offspring.
Ash stood in front of Cinder-Ella with a blackened face and laughed. “You have your fire too!” And then he was burned from the left side. Poof!
“I have my fire too!” laughed Firestorm.
“Ha, it doesn’t hurt!”
Inside one of the bedrooms, Ella and Zedock were taking a nap and comfortably snuggled into one another. Outside a group of five yellow dragons were battling the two guards out there, a red and a black dragon. The red dragon was almost immediately killed, grabbed by the throat and choked to death; its body now tumbled toward the ground. The black dragon was hit by Supercharged fire on three sides and disintegrated into black ash that was taken by the wind.
Ella heard the commotion and ran out to see Ash was grabbed by a yellow dragon, and even though she wanted to, she couldn’t hit it with fire because of Ash. “Zedock! They have Ash!”
Zedock ran out and took to the air behind Ella as they fought to get their son back, but more than a dozen dragons showed up, and they were forced to fly back into the cave. Once in there a sustained blast of yellow fire engulfed the den.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
ASH FOUND HIMSELF UNDERGROUND in the den of the yellow king. He thought that it smelled peculiar down there, a lot like liquorice. He was in a tunnel that swooped down and to the right, and the chamber they were in had the approximate shape of a large sphere. He knew that they had killed his guards, and he wasn’t at all happy about it. He was so angry that he flew, even though his wings weren’t developed enough for flight, they beat so fast that he flew. He flew as well a bee; unfortunately, his escape was being blocked by four mean looking guards. That was one thing about yellow dragons they all looked to be a little overweight.
The king pushed his way past the guards to stare down at the little wizard; how could such a young dragon be so powerful? Was he the sorcerer that would change the world? Sunglow was impressed that they had managed to capture him. He didn’t look like anything special. “So this is the wizard? He doesn’t look like much.”
“Oh but he is. We knocked him unconscious with thomide, but look he’s already recovered. He should have slept for days.”
“He’s entirely contained in here?”
“Oh yes, magic has never worked in here. Something with the rocks I think.”
Ash examined the walls that were covered in what appeared to be reflective rocks, a little like dull giant diamonds. He certainly didn’t like the thought of not being able to use his magic. The little guy didn’t feel any different. If anything, he felt more powerful. It felt like pure energy coursing through his veins instead of blood. “You guys better let me go. I’m warning you.”
“We will give you the best of the best little one,” said the king. “After a few years, you’ll come to see our way of things. You’ll be one of us, except your color of course.”
Ash studied all of them, and they were all blocking his way out. The second dragon from the right had a nasty grin; wallowing in what he thought was probably the great triumph of his capture. “You have one more chance to let me go. My parents must be so upset. I will never do anything for you guys. Ever!”
The king smiled down at the boy and patted him on the head like a dog. In a few years, he was sure that the wizard would be granting him wishes, perhaps even sooner. “He’s so cute. Time will change your perspective little one. Time changes everyone and everything.”
Ash had enough of this. He took a huge breath, and they could see the fire dancing around in his stomach, swirling orange, red and blue fire. That worried all of them because fire wasn’t supposed to be possible in that cave; no one had ever managed it before. If his magic weren't suppressed, then they could all be in big trouble. Ash let go with a huge blast of sustained fire that pushed him back against the cave wall. Suddenly the four guards had been turned to ash, yellow ash. They didn’t even have the opportunity to make a run for it. Smoke rose from the ashes, and it stank. Not only had the fire killed the bullies but destroyed part of the wall as well.
The king knew that he could easily be next. “You can leave if you wish.”
Ash nodded. “I thought so. If I ever see yellow dragons in our area again, I’ll be coming after you.”
It was the king’s turn to nod. “I understand. We’ll make every effort to avoid that area.”
“See that you do.”
On his way home Ash flew over Leeander and saw that it was surrounded by more than two hundred thousand s
oldiers, and he could feel their animosity and hatred. For the very first time, he sensed evil, a visible blackness surrounding them that only he could see. They had commenced their attack on Leeander, launching boulders with their catapults. He could sense their evil intentions and even see some of their evil thoughts. Ash began to blink and each time he did so he could see what spells were currently available to him in his mind’s eye. When he came to one that would turn them all into blackbirds he used it; he closed his eyes and concentrated hard, and then released white gas then descended upon them.
All the Yurrosy suddenly turned into blackbirds. All their swords and shields and axes and spears hit the ground as they took to the air. Their weight was suddenly removed from the backs of their horses, confusing the animals. King Chromos, now one of the largest black birds, took to the sky in confusion.
King Darius’s mouth hung open as he watched from the castle wall; the sky turned black with birds and then they flew off. What had happened? Had Adorok saved them from the other side? A cheer went up from everyone. Even the ones that didn’t deserve such a fate had been caught up in the spell, although some would return to human form in time, most would remain vertebrates forever. Chromos’s fate was sealed; he would never be human again.
Alexa and Stone, at first, thought they were dreaming, but it was no dream. The Yurrosy were wiped off the map, not a single one remained. Their time had now come and gone. The dragon wizard had accomplished what no human could have managed; he flew home as if it had been no big deal.
Slaves of the Yurrosy were puzzled by their master’s sudden transformation, giving them the freedom that they had only dreamt. They would work hard at getting their lives back together and work towards once again being happy.
Knights of the Dragon (of Knights and Wizards Book 1) Page 24
