Return of the Dragon (The Dragon's Champion Book 6)

by Ferguson, Sam

  Lady Arkyn opened her left hand and let her bow fall. She ducked to her right, still grasping onto the arrow shaft. She somersaulted and twisted up. As the orc rushed by she stuck the arrow up through the opening between the orc’s rump and the plate over the back of its left thigh. She plunged the steel tip deep into the orc’s leg and then pulled down sharply, snapping the arrow shaft and tearing the wound as large as the narrow opening in the armor would allow.

  The orc shouted out and fell to the ground.

  Lady Arkyn jumped up to her feet. She launched onto the orc’s sword arm and wrested the weapon free. The orc did not give up the fight so easily, though. He turned over and socked Lady Arkyn in the chest. Pain ripped through her bosom as the gauntleted fist mashed into her and knocked her to the ground.

  She barely moved before the orc drove a dagger into the ground where she had been. She was up on her feet in an instant. She came down hard on the orc’s arm with the sword she had taken from him, severing it at the wrist. The orc howled in agony and then Lady Arkyn drove the sword down through the orc’s open mouth.

  Breathing heavily, she quickly grabbed her bow and started taking aim at the group chasing Lepkin and the others. She aimed for the orcs with less armor, dropping them down just as quickly as her arm could work the bowstring. Soon she had thinned the orcs down to a manageable number.

  Lepkin and the others turned suddenly and the clashes of metal and shouts of struggle preceded the hoots of victory as Lepkin and the others made quick, dirty work of the remaining orcs.

  Lady Arkyn then turned to watch the main body of the orcish army retreating back from the barrage of stones. None of them wanted to stay on the field. As she scanned the army she saw a large orc sitting upon a goarg near the edge of the burnt forest. His gaze fell upon her and her skin shriveled into tight goosebumps.

  The orc slowly raised his hands and started clapping at her. With her keen eyesight, it was easy to see the contempt and rage painted upon the orc’s face. It unnerved her more than anything had so far. She set another arrow to her string and aimed up. She let loose. The missile flew up into a high arc before descending and dropping to stab the ground well short of the orc.

  The orc smiled and drew his blade with one hand while he beckoned to her with the other.

  “Lady Arkyn,” Lepkin shouted from behind. Lady Arkyn turned to regard Lepkin and then turned back to watch the orc. The orc was already engaged in other business, shouting orders and barking at his soldiers.

  “That’s the chief,” she said. “If we can kill him, we can cut the head off the snake.”

  “There are too many of them,” Lepkin said as he and the others came close to her. “We could never get close enough to strike.”

  “No,” Lady Arkyn said. “You couldn’t,” she corrected.

  *****

  A short while after sundown Lady Arkyn sat in the dining room in Tillamon’s old house. The food was set but only a few people were at the table. Al and Commander Nials were among them, of course, but there were no others seated with them. Lepkin paced back and forth, mumbling to himself and fidgeting with his hands. He would take a few steps with his hands clasped, then switch to folding his arms only to shake his hands out a few moments later.

  “Been a while since you’ve seen her?” Commander Nials asked as he poured himself a bit of wine. “A drink might calm your nerves.”

  Lepkin shook his head and continued pacing.

  “At least have a seat, bean-pole,” Al grumbled. “I have seen squirrels less active than you.”

  Lepkin stopped and looked at his hands. He smiled and then moved to sit. Two seconds later he was up out of the chair and walking toward the hallway that led to the front door.

  Lady Arkyn giggled to herself. Al shot her a cross-eyed look and then shook his head as he followed Commander Nials’ lead and poured himself a bit of wine.

  “Excuse me,” Lady Arkyn said as she stood up from her chair. Commander Nials rose up out of his chair as was customary, but Al remained in his seat and pressed the drink to his lips after offering Lady Arkyn a simple nod.

  “Shouldn’t one stand when a lady leaves the room?” Commander Nials asked.

  “What’s the point of being a king if you can’t even sit on your backside when you choose?” Al quipped.

  Lady Arkyn stifled a laugh. “It’s alright,” she told Commander Nials. “I have grown accustomed to this one.” She jabbed a thumb in Al’s direction.

  “I think you should all bow whenever I enter or leave a room,” Al continued. “I am a king, after all.”

  Commander Nials cocked his head to the side and glanced between Al and Lady Arkyn.

  Lady Arkyn just shrugged and walked away, leaving the two to figure out for themselves who would bow to whom. She wanted to talk to Lepkin. She found him sitting on the front step outside.

  “Nervous?” she asked.

  “Is it that obvious?” Lepkin smirked.

  Lady Arkyn shrugged and smoothed out her trousers before she sat on the front step next to Lepkin. “Funny how you can charge an entire army and exude nothing but confidence but then when your wife is a few minutes late you start pacing like a puppy.”

  “You’ve never loved someone before?” Lepkin asked.

  Lady Arkyn smiled. “Twice, actually,” she said. “I was married once, a long time ago.”

  Lepkin nodded, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes were glued to the road to the north.

  “Being half-elf I have a longer life span than most,” she said. “I outlived my first husband, though it didn’t help that he was caught by a highwayman.”

  Lepkin sighed and shook his head. “I am sorry to hear that.”

  The blonde-haired woman nodded. “It was a long time ago,” she said. “It still hurts, but not as much.”

  “What about the second time?” Lepkin asked.

  Lady Arkyn grinned and moved her hands up to fix her braid. “I fell for a young man on the battle field actually,” she said.

  “Not an orc I hope,” Lepkin jested.

  “No, it was you,” Lady Arkyn said.

  Lepkin knit his brow and his mouth opened for a moment before closing again. Before he could find any words to speak, Lady Arkyn started laughing out loud and slapped a hand onto Lepkin’s shoulder.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t resist.” She wiped a tear from her left eye and patted Lepkin’s shoulder a couple times before setting her hands back in her own lap.

  “Proud of yourself?” Lepkin asked. His tone had definitely changed to one of annoyance. Still, Lady Arkyn didn’t let it bother her.

  “I thought it might break the ice a bit,” she explained. “When you have a hard subject to broach with someone it is easier to open with a joke.”

  “So, you thought it appropriate to tell me that you love me while I am waiting for my wife and unborn child?”

  Lady Arkyn smiled and nodded. “That will make it all the more palatable for you when I say that I have actually taken a liking to Erik.”

  Lepkin arched his right brow and sighed. “This is getting tiresome,” he said. He turned and locked eyes with her. Lady Arkyn smiled, but kept his gaze. After a moment she raised her own eyebrows and nodded twice to show him that the last bit had not been a joke.

  “He’s only a boy,” Lepkin said quickly. “How could you fall for him?”

  Lady Arkyn laugh and shrugged. “He has fought armies, warlocks, and even a dragon. I don’t know that ‘boy’ is the correct term.”

  “He isn’t of age,” Lepkin said decisively.

  “Not yet,” Lady Arkyn said. “But he will be soon. I already said that life for me is different. I can wait a few years if I must.” She leaned back on her palms and cleared her throat. “Many young women have their marriages arranged at similar ages. You, of all people, should know that.”

  Lepkin nodded. “You are speaking of Dimwater?” he asked.

  “And countless others.”

  “So you ar
e asking for me to arrange a wedding between you and Erik?”

  Lady Arkyn shook her head. “No. I know he has been through a lot. When I saw him and Al…” her voice trailed off. “Well, let’s just say that I saw what he has been through. I was at the senate hall. I was at Lokton Manor.”

  “You knew that was him?”

  Lady Arkyn nodded. “I didn’t tell anyone, but I could see that it was not you inside your body. You should have seen him then. You would have been proud. He is far more of a man than any give him credit for.”

  “What do you want from me?” Lepkin asked.

  Lady Arkyn smiled and leaned forward again. “I want what you have,” she said. “I want to pace nervously when my husband is about to return from his latest adventure. I want to feel the bond the same as you and Dimwater. Only, I don’t want to wait as long as you did of course.”

  “I can’t make the boy love you,” Lepkin said quickly.

  Lady Arkyn nodded. “I know that. I have spent many decades searching for someone who could fill the hole in my heart. I have not found any I have felt comfortable with until I met Erik. I know he is too young now, but in a few years he won’t be. Also, he is a Sahale, so I will not have to live with the pain of outliving him. All I want from you is your blessing.”

  Lepkin inhaled deeply and pouted out his lips as he reached up to rub his chin. “Answer me one question.” Lepkin turned to look at her. His blue eyes were steady and warm, yet overwhelming at the same time. “What will you do if he does not return your love?”

  “Then I should like to stay near him for a while. Even if things do not unfold the way I would like, there is a gravity to him that pulls me in. Maybe there will be another adventure after this business is done. If so, then I want to be at his side.”

  Lepkin scoffed. “After this I hope there are no more adventures.”

  “You have lived with the sword too long to hope for that,” Lady Arkyn pointed out.

  Lepkin frowned. ”Not for me,” he said. “When this is over I am taking Dimwater far away. We are going to build a home in a forest where no one can find us. All I want is a life of peace. When Nagar’s book is destroyed, that is what I aim to have.” Lepkin then turned away from her and nodded. “If Erik decides that he is happy with you, and you feel the same, then you have my blessing. After all he has been through, I wish for him to find peace as well.”

  Lady Arkyn smiled and leaned over to give Lepkin a peck on the cheek. At that moment the two of them spied Dimwater and Marlin. Marlin walked ahead of a small horse-drawn cart while Lady Dimwater sat near the front and held a hand over her belly, which was now starting to bulge out from under her dress visibly.

  Lepkin jumped up and sprinted out to greet Dimwater.

  Lady Arkyn watched for a moment and smiled wide. “Yep, that is what I want,” she said as she watched the two jump into each other’s arms. She imagined Erik, grown into a man and running to her the same way. Lepkin was more cautious about the idea, but Arkyn had seen the glances Erik had stolen when they were together. There was something there, if only a spark. Still, a spark was worth exploring. Lady Arkyn knew that life was too short, even for her, not to.

  She stood and went back into the house, though she was not going to stay for dinner. She moved into the drawing room where she had left her bow. She grabbed it and began gathering her daggers and sword as well.

  So as not to be seen, she left the house through a side window and jogged stealthily out from Stonebrook and into the night. Neither the dwarves nor humans saw her cross the chasm and make her way across the field.

  The stars above her winked in and out of the clouds and haze from the forest. There was no sign of the orcish army. If not for the many bodies lying in the grass it might have been possible to forget the orcs had even attacked earlier in the day. There were no campfires, no forward scouts in the field, nothing. Large boulders littered the field, giving her easy cover as she made her way to the burnt forest. She crouched low behind a particularly large boulder and scanned the area. Once she was sure it was clear to proceed, she darted out to the nearest tree.

  Lady Arkyn nearly toppled the burnt oak trunk by touching it. Black soot smeared across her palm and gray ash shot up from her footsteps. She leaned around the trunk and scoured everything around her. She sprinted to another trunk fifty yards away, pausing just long enough to scan for movement before running to a large mound of dirt and ash and hunkering down near it.

  This time instead of peering around the side of her cover she closed her eyes and listened. Her half-elf ears strained for the slightest sound. The slight breeze, which she had only faintly noticed a moment ago, now seemed a mighty gale as her ears amplified every sound around her. She heard a rustling sound and looked up to see a pair of carrion birds resting on the sole branch left on a tall, mostly burnt pine tree. Still, none of the sounds alerted her to any enemy presence.

  Satisfied now that the orcs had made a full retreat, she jumped up and made her way through the burnt forest. She ran for hours in the night. Her feet fell lightly upon the blanket of ash, making no sound as they stirred up little gray clouds around her ankles. Eventually she came upon a forward camp of orcs. There were only twenty of them, so she knew that the orc chief would not be found among them. A pair of goargs slept peacefully, each tied to a sword stabbed into the ground. It was a common sight with orcish scouts. One goarg per ten orcs. That left nine orcs to hold off the enemy while one used a goarg to warn the main camp. Using a sword to anchor the goarg made it all the faster to release the goarg from its tether and escape before an enemy could attack. Having twice the number of orcs and goargs as a regular scouting party meant that they expected to be chased when they routed.

  Lady Arkyn entertained the temptation of killing the scouts. She knew that she could easily take five plus the goargs before any could raise an alarm. She pushed the notion out of her mind. She was not after a scouting party. She wanted that chief.

  Even now she could still feel his smug, fierce eyes upon her. Goosebumps formed along her forearms just at the thought. She cast a glance back the way she came. If Lepkin had known what she was doing, he would have stopped her. Still, she felt confident. Where a group might fail, she could slip in undetected.

  She pressed on, beyond the scouting party and deeper into the burnt forest. She walked for another two hours before arriving at a place where the majority of the tracks in the ash diverged from the southern direction. She studied each imprint, each indentation around her. There was no way to know which way the chief had gone. Hundreds, no—thousands, of tracks peeled out to the east while thousands more went due west. A third column of tracks double-backed south.

  She looked specifically for goarg tracks, but that didn’t help. There were several sets of those in each direction as well. Lady Arkyn sighed and sat upon the gray ash on the ground. Her ears twitched with the slightest of sounds as she closed her eyes and focused on the orc chief. In her meditation, she tried to imagine his march northward from Ten Forts. She conjured up the image of thousands of orcs before her. In her mind she watched them get pummeled by the catapults and scatter before her. A group of warriors slew a few officers, adding another layer of chaos into the commotion and through the chief’s eyes she watched herself fire an arrow. It wasn’t real of course, Lady Arkyn had no way to read minds, but she found the practice of imagining the enemy’s perspective useful. It helped her arrive at a better idea of what the enemy might do, and where the chief may have gone.

  “West,” Lady Arkyn whispered aloud. “The pig-faced orc went west.” Where else would he go? The fastest and best path around the chasm that held the brook was to the west. The chief must have taken a large force that way so he could circle back and flank the catapults. The other two massive groups were likely positioned defensively, hoping for a pursuit.

  She rose to her feet and was about to take a step when a strange sound caught her attention. It was slight, almost inaudible even to her half-elf ears. There
was a soft wheeze on the air accompanied by pit-pf-pf, pit-pf-pf, pit-pf-pf. She readied her bow and turned left. A gray wolf slowed to a stop ten yards before her. Its head hung low. Its body expanded and contracted quickly with panting, wheezing breaths. One leg was up, held defensively. The wolf looked at her with its yellow eyes and then began slowly limping toward her. It was then that Lady Arkyn saw the blood on its right foreleg. Still, despite its injury the wolf did not growl nor show hostility.

  Lady Arkyn called out to the wolf softly. “Trouble with orcs?”

  The wolf hung its head low to the ash. Before her eyes the wolf grew, expanding to the size of a large man. As the body transformed it lost its fur. Fingers grew out where the paws had been. The tail shortened. A man lay face-down in the ash.

  “Peren?” Lady Arkyn gasped. She went to him and knelt next to his shoulder. The man’s right arm had a deep gash though it down to the bone.

  “My name is Rjord,” the man said as he rolled to his left side and looked up at her.

  Lady Arkyn’s excitement was dashed when she saw that the man before her was not her friend. Still, she set her bow down and reached for a small pouch where she kept her bandages. “Be still and I will help you,” she said. “Where are you from?”

  “Ten Forts,” Rjord said. “I am from Ten Forts.”

  Lady Arkyn screwed up her face. “I don’t recall any werewolves stationed at Ten Forts,” she said.

  “Of course not,” Rjord replied. “I am a shapeshifter. I have the ability to change my form into that of a wolf at times, but I am not a werewolf. I keep my mind at all times, and I choose when to transform.”

  “Shouldn’t you be at Stonebrook then?” Lady Arkyn asked.

  Rjord reached up and placed a weak right hand on her forearm. “There isn’t any time. The orcs who found me are coming. They will be here soon.”

  Lady Arkyn looked out to the east. “How many follow you?” she asked.