by Chris Evans
At that moment, Konowa was a god.
His was the only power. Nothing could stop him.
Blue light from the Jewel of the Desert bathed him—he knew he had won. He walked around the outcropping of rock and looked up into the burning eyes of a dragon.
“Oh, sh—”
The flame in Konowa went out. He stared with his mouth wide open.
It was a dragon made of bones.
The dragon opened its jaws wide. Instead of teeth, white flames arced between its upper and lower jaw. More flame burned in the eye sockets of its skull. Deep within its chest a fire of white and black flame twisted and burned, but Konowa had no time to puzzle about that as the dragon stretched out its wings, then stumbled and righted itself as it moved toward him. The bones that made up its body twisted, and several clattered to the ground. Sand swirled around its frame as if helping to keep its hideous form together.
Its jaws opened wider and a blistering torch of white flame issued forth. Konowa rolled out of the way, but some of the soldiers behind him were not so lucky. Konowa turned and saw only ash where several Iron Elves had once stood.
He looked at the drake again and saw that the wings were not yet complete. As Konowa got over his shock he realized that much of the skeleton was incomplete. He looked closer. He recognized partial skeletons of camels and even humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs. But that wasn’t the worst of it—the skulls of the dead had flickering white flames in their eye sockets, and their jaws were open.
They were screaming.
Konowa recoiled from the sight. Were some of his elves part of this monstrosity? It then dawned on him that this wasn’t Kaman Rhal’s work at all. This was the she-drake married to Kaman Rhal. She had always been the power behind the throne. The Suljak hadn’t called back Kaman Rhal’s power at all—he had called back hers.
And now it was rebuilding itself as best it could, with the bones of the dead.
As Konowa watched, more skeletons scrambled over the dragon. They were tearing themselves and other bodies apart to construct her wings. Konowa looked up where the Star hovered in the sky above the canyon. If the dragon was able to fly, it would easily seize the Star.
Konowa called on the frost fire and let it course through him. He still had no idea how to attack a creature such as this.
The regiment grouped around him, the staccato fire of muskets chipping away at its bones, but it would take a thousand muskets days before they could whittle it down to nothing. Without cannons they could never shoot it apart.
The night sky blazed with the light of the Star. The metal of the muskets gleamed with it as they fired. Smoke gushed forth from the muzzles, adding red and orange flame to the night. Musket balls flew forth, scything through the bones of the dragon. It made no difference.
There had to be another way.
The dragon lurched forward, the fire in its chest turning whiter as it came on. Konowa felt something, but the air was awash in energy and there was no way to pinpoint anything.
The shades of the dead moved toward the dragon, tearing through its skeleton army. The dragon shook its skull and opened its jaws even wider. Flame poured out like a molten river. Frost fire burst like sparks wherever the river of flame touched a shade. Screaming filled Konowa’s head. The shades could not go forward. They began to retreat.
“Attack!” Konowa shouted. Black flame climbed higher around the shades and they moved forward again, but again the white flame pushed them back.
“I command you to kill it!”
The shades of the dead hesitated, even as white flame scoured their ranks. Konowa felt their pain, but there was no choice. They were already dead.
A black fissure opened up in the chest bone of the drake, and out stumbled the figure of a man. Before Konowa could determine if this was indeed Kaman Rhal, the figure raised its hands and pointed them at the drake. Black frost fire of a magnitude to rival the white fire of the drake blasted every skeleton crawling over the bone dragon to dust.
The drake staggered on her claws, then righted herself and directed her massive head down at the figure standing below it. It opened its maw wide and white flame gushed forth. The figure disappeared within the column of flame.
When the flame subsided, the dark figure no longer stood before the drake alone. Now there were two. Konowa recognized Her Emissary at once.
“Gwyn?!”
Her Emissary and the figure both raised their hands and throbbing, twisting coils of black flame began to build around them. The air in the canyon reeked with its energy.
Konowa was driven to his knees as the power grew. It pulsed deep inside him until he thought his ribs would surely break. The acorn against his chest became pure, black frost, drawing the last vestiges of heat from his body. His vision began to gray, and he had opened his mouth to speak when the world tore apart in front of his eyes.
The drake reared up on its legs and flapped its now-rebuilt wings once in preparation to seize the Star that hung in the sky, waiting.
Her Emissary and the figure thrust their hands forward, sending a maelstrom of frost fire at the creature.
It blew apart into thousands of shards as the roiling jet of black frost fire seared it to the core.
Konowa was knocked to his back as the blast rolled over him. For a moment he lost all sense of sight and sound. Images flashed before his eyes.
His mother. Yimt. Visyna. The Shadow Monarch. The Star.
His elves.
Sound roared back into his ears, and he realized it was screaming. His vision cleared. The wall of approaching sarka har was incinerated by a sheet of obsidian flame. Drakarri and the drake’s skeleton army of the dead burned with the same black flame. Frost fire was cleansing everything in and around the canyon. Konowa got to his feet. Only the regiment remained, surrounded by frost fire. Among them Konowa spied the survivors of the 3rd Spears. Nearby, the Prince and the Viceroy stood looking in the same direction, their eyes wide. The shades of the dead were gone.
Konowa looked back to where the dragon had stood. Two pillars of frost fire now occupied the space. They reached up into the sky and enveloped the Star, and brought it back down to earth. The flame guttered and went out, revealing the figure of a soldier wearing a caerna and Her Emissary both holding the Star in their hands.
“Renwar!” Konowa said.
“I hope so,” Rallie said, emerging from around the rocks and walking toward Alwyn. She stopped a few paces away from him and smiled. She ignored Her Emissary. She was looking at the Star. “You’ve been away a long time, haven’t you?”
The Star gleamed in Renwar’s hands.
“Away with you!” Her Emissary shouted. “The Star is Hers!”
“Rallie, what’s going on?” Konowa asked, taking a few steps forward.
She raised her hand to stop him. “This is no longer our fight, Major.”
Konowa took another step. “Renwar! Free the Star! Her Emissary only wants it for Her designs. You must know that.”
Private Renwar looked at Konowa with eyes shining blue starlight.
“I…I know,” he said.
“Then do as I command. We can defeat Her Emissary.” Muskets grounded as soldiers began to load another round.
Alwyn raised one hand while keeping the other on the burning Star. “No, you can’t defeat him. I…I have struck a deal.”
Her Emissary laughed. “You see, Swift Dragon, you were defeated before you began.”
The import of what Renwar was about to do struck home. Renwar was going to break the oath. “Wait! Her forest is still out there, and it’s growing. And my elves! We came here for them. I have to save them. We have to save them. The Star must stay here.”
Renwar looked down at the Star. “And who saves us, Major…? Who saves us?”
Konowa’s heart ached. He felt the eyes of every soldier on his back. Why was the answer never simple? Why did it always have to hurt this much? Tears flowed freely down Konowa’s face. Anguish filled every part of hi
m until he couldn’t breathe. “I will. I swear it. One day the oath will be broken, but not here, not this way. You know that. A deal with Her Emissary is a fool’s deal.” He turned to look at the Iron Elves behind him. “You all know that. We can’t break the oath, not this way.”
“They deserve better,” Alwyn said. “We all do. Would it be so wrong to end the suffering? Why not us, Major? Why not end this?”
Konowa wiped the tears from his face. “Because we’re soldiers. And before this oath we took another one. We swore to defend the Empire…to protect the people we love. That’s an oath that we can never break. No matter what the cost. We give our lives so that others may live. It’s not fair, but it was never supposed to be.”
“That oath is for fools!” Her Emissary said. “The deal is done.”
Konowa suddenly realized something. “Renwar, you cannot trust him. Why would he allow you to break the oath for all the Iron Elves? Think about it. It’s a trick.”
Alwyn looked at Her Emissary, then at Konowa. “You misunderstand…you both do.”
The shades of the Darkly Departed reappeared to stand around Alwyn. Konowa recognized the soldier Meri, and Regimental Sergeant Major Lorian. More and more shades appeared. Their hands reached out to Alwyn, and Konowa heard their cries in his head. “Save us…save us.”
“You’re a good man, Alwyn Renwar,” Rallie said, her voice radiating calm. “You know what you have to do.”
Every soldier in the Iron Elves watched the Star in Alwyn’s hand. Their fate rested in a ball of blue light none of them understood, just as it had before with another Star.
“You struck a deal with Her,” Her Emissary said.
Alwyn turned and looked at Her Emissary. “Yes, with Her…not with you.” Black frost fire shot from his hands and enveloped Her Emissary in a sheet of twisting black flame. Her Emissary screamed and tried to grab for the Star, but its body was torn away in a gale of flame until nothing remained.
Alwyn calmly looked up, his eyes staring at something only he could see. He lifted the Star up to the sky and let it go. Blue light cascaded outward in waves. Konowa raised his arm to protect his eyes as the light flared like a million suns, then vanished.
When Konowa lowered his arm, a massive tree stretched skyward, its limbs wide and strong. Energy pure and clean radiated from it, washing away the remnants of the ancient power that had poisoned this land for centuries. From deep within the sarka har, Her Emissary screamed as the Jewel of the Desert began to push back against Her power. Her Emissary’s vice broke with inconsolable rage at Private Renwar’s deception, and Konowa wondered, perhaps fear at the rise of a new force.
Konowa wanted to find a way to feel glad, to feel something, but nothing came to him.
“Renwar? What have you done?”
The soldier lifted his head and walked forward. When he emerged, the shades of the dead clustered around. His eyes no longer reflected the blue Starlight, but were now gray. The acorn against Konowa’s chest flared in recognition of a power it understood.
“Alwyn’s dead,” Renwar said, his voice now an eerie match to the former Emissary’s.
Konowa shook his head. “I made a vow, and I will keep it. The oath will be broken and one day you will all be free.”
“I know that,” Renwar said. The shadows continued to hover around him.
Dread filled Konowa. What had Renwar done? He looked around him at the Iron Elves. Konowa looked down at his own hands and called forth the frost fire. It sparked to life as it always had. “You didn’t break the oath,” Konowa said.
“Yes, Major, I did,” Renwar said.
“I don’t understand,” Konowa said. “What oath did you break?”
“Don’t you see, Major,” Rallie said, smiling sadly as she looked at Alwyn. “He did break the oath, only not yours, and not those of the living. He’s freed the dead.”
Konowa looked at the shades. He tried to call them forward, but they ignored him. “Why?”
“She must be destroyed if the oath is to be broken. I could not save you as you live, but I could save those already gone. Now it is up to you to finish the fight.”
The Iron Elves stood in stunned silence. Konowa realized that in a way he never expected he had achieved what he wanted. The power of the oath’s magic remained.
“But what of my elves?” he asked.
“She searches for them still, though she has not found them…yet.”
It was small comfort, but it was something.
“Renwar, I—”
“Alwyn’s dead,” Renwar said.
Rallie held up her hand before Konowa could reply. “Then who are you?” Rallie asked.
Renwar turned to look at her. “I’m all that remains.”
“Who are you?!” Konowa shouted. “Tell me who the hell you are!”
Renwar closed his eyes for a moment. A cold clarity gripped Konowa. The shades pressed closer around Renwar, their hands resting on his shoulders. When Renwar’s eyes opened again, Konowa already knew the answer.
“I am Their Emissary now.”
GLOSSARY
Arr An aromatic, if bitter, bean grown in hot climates that when dried and then boiled in water creates a drink that awakens and revives.
Bayonet Typically a ten-inch piece of steel shaped like a dagger and attached to the end of a musket. Used primarily for close-in fighting as a stabbing weapon.
Bengar A large, carnivorous predator weighing up to eight hundred pounds and usually sporting black fur with dull red stripes, large fangs, and a short tail. The full extent of its range is unknown. One male of the species, Jir, has been adopted as mascot of the Iron Elves.
Black powder Also known as gunpowder, it is a mixture of coal, sulfur, and saltpeter that when ignited by a spark creates an explosive reaction. Used in muskets and cannons.
Blood Oath Oath taken by the Iron Elves pledging loyalty to the regiment. Due to Major Konowa Swift Dragon’s possession of an obsidian acorn from the Shadow Monarch’s Silver Wolf Oak at the time of the oath, all the soldiers are now bonded to the regiment and increasingly under Her sway, in death and beyond.
Brindo A rare deer species native to Elfkyna known for its distinctive dull black hide of interlocking plates and floppy ears.
Cannon A large length of metal tube with a smooth bore that fires projectiles such as iron cannonballs over long distances. Gunpowder is used as the explosive force. Typically made of brass for smaller sizes and iron for larger ones.
Caerna Traditional Hyntaland elf garb of cloth worn around the waist and reaching to the knee. Soldiers in the Iron Elves wear caernas though the officers do not as they are often mounted on horses.
Carronade A very large, short-barreled cannon capable of firing a heavy projectile over short distances.
Colors Every regiment in the Calahrian Imperial Army carries two large flags known as the Colors into battle. Usually made of cotton with fine wool stitching, one flag bears the Queen’s Royal cypher while the other the regimental crest.
Crute Rock spice chewed by dwarves. The powder is rich in mineral ores and has the side effect of turning the users teeth metallic in color.
Darkly Departed The nickname given to the shades of the dead of the Iron Elves.
Dïova Gruss Elvish, meaning a lost one, referring to an elf that has bonded with a Silver Wolf Oak and been overwhelmed by the purity of its magical powers.
Drakarri Name for drake spawn that legend suggests were the offspring of the mating between the wizard Kaman Rhal and a she-drake (dragon). The creatures walk on four legs, have large jaws filled with sharp teeth, and spit pure white fire.
Drukar A heavy, angular blade favored by many dwarves over the battle-axe for its ease of use and durability in battle.
Faeraug Also known as dog spiders, these eight-legged creatures attack their prey with a pair of curving pincers at the front of their heads.
Halberd A long pole of perhaps eight feet or more, often topped with a metal spear point and/or
axe blade. Carried by N.C.O.s as an easy way to identify them on the field of battle.
Housewife Small cloth or leather pouch containing such items as a needle and thread used by soldiers to mend their uniforms.
Jewel of the Desert Name of the Star believed to be returning to the Hasshugeb Expanse.
Korwird A long and thin multi-legged creature with needle-sharp teeth much like a centipede, except Korwirds can grow more than twenty feet in length. Previously thought extinct.
Linstock A wooden staff that holds a length of lit cord used to ignite the gunpowder in a cannon.
Maiden Works Dwarf metal foundry specializing in weapons manufacture, especially the drukar.
Muraphant Standing more than fifteen feet tall with huge ears, a long trunk, and a pair of curving tusks of black ivory, the animal is used in Elfkyna to carry supplies.
Musket A muzzle-loading, smooth-bore firearm that fires lead balls by way of a gunpowder charge placed at the base of the barrel by a ramrod.
Puttee A long strip of cloth used to wrap around a soldier’s leg from the ankle to below the knee.
Rakke A large, bipedal carnivore growing up to eight feet tall and known for its ferocity and willingness to attack any living thing. Once thought to have been hunted to extinction, its return is credited to the magic of the Shadow Monarch.
Ramrod A thin metal rod used to press a lead ball and powder charge down the barrel of a musket.
Red Star Also known as the Star of the East and the Star of Sillra, this Star of Knowledge and Power returned to Elfkyna during the Battle for Luuguth Jor.
Regiment The standard military unit of the Calahrian Imperial Army, comprising several hundred men armed with muskets and usually lead by an officer holding the rank of colonel.
