The dragon was forced to shield its eyes from the fiery inferno as it hit the fireball head-on. It scraped its claws along the paved courtyard where it thought the Kesh wizard would be. The wizard performed an incredible display of power, but for all that, the Kesh was a man and subject to the laws of physics and kinetic energy. Kaylor chose wisely to jump out of the path of the dragon, barely clearing himself from the sweeping talons that the beast splayed out in front of it.
Kaylor’s leap was toward his bodyguard, and the dragon either sensed it or opened an eye and saw it as it turned its head toward Graz. Seth ran in closer to the beast and reached one of its massive legs. The area where Seth found himself was slightly in shadow as the large, outstretched wing overhead and the large bulk of the dragon’s scaly body blocked the illumination from the magical orbs mounted along the edge of the courtyard’s walls.
Seth decided it was now or never to strike. He wedged his sword high between two tough scales and felt a jolt tingle his arm as an electrical current flowed through his sword into Seth’s body via his arm. Using the sword as an anchor, he swung up on the level knee of the dragon’s leg and pulled his sword out from below him now.
The dragon’s scales glowed a tinge of orange in the front where they were superheated by the Kesh fireball. Seth jumped from the dragon’s leg to its back, gripping one of the spined, arched scales that lined it evenly along its back. When he topped the dragon’s back, he had a clear view of the wizard and Graz below.
Graz lunged, swinging his broad sword with both hands and impacting the dragon’s tail as it swung it toward the pair. The sword hit hard enough to shatter a scale and draw more blood, but the impact of the tail on the barbarian was hard enough to knock the breath out of him as Graz was thrown to the pavers, flat on his back.
Kaylor was scrambling to rise and held his staff in front of him horizontally as if fearing the dragon’s breath weapon more than anything else. The dragon, however, had reared its head back and used its tail while Seth was climbing.
“Strike now, Seth!” came Alyssa’s voice from behind him.
Seth took two precarious steps along the dragon’s back toward its head when the beast became aware of the intruder on its back. It reared back from all fours onto its hind legs, and Seth had to grab at a spiny scale to keep from falling to the ground below. He could only use his left hand as his right still gripped tightly onto the hilt of his sword.
Kaylor distracted the beast by pointing his staff again, saying, “Zemlya!” and bringing the staff down hard against the ground. A large crack appeared in the pavers and started to open toward the dragon. The ground began to give way as it turned into sand, almost porous, and failed to support the beast’s weight any longer.
The wind started to stir as the dragon beat its wings to lift itself off of the ground. Its back leveled off somewhat, enough for Seth to secure himself again, though he dared not move nor release his hold on the protruding spine. His arm started to tingle as the spines lit up a bright blue, and Seth felt pain surging into his free arm. The beast drew a breath and released another bolt, but this time at the wizard’s feet.
The impact shattered the stone pavers and blew chunks of rock and dirt up and out in all directions. Several fragments hit the wizard, and he stumbled back, his staff pulled from its contact point, and the ground surge stopped almost immediately as the gem on top of his staff diminished. Dirt blinded the man, and he used his free hand to wave the air in front of him.
The dragon sensed the wizard’s weakness and landed just in front of the Kesh. Graz struggled to stand, and the dragon lowered its head, preparing its final attack on its own nemesis. This was the moment Seth had waited for.
Gambling with his life, as well as the wizard’s, Seth released his hold on the dragon’s spiny scale and ran toward its neck, which was now lower than its back. With three great strides, Seth reached the lowered neck and leaped out toward the large head, reaching with his free arm and grabbing the backward protruding horn and using it to swing his momentum, much as a trapeze artist would do, right toward the dragon’s face.
Seth reached the dragon’s left eye and plunged his sword as deeply as he could into the beast’s ocular orb. The impact swung him out and around in front of the dragon’s flaring nostrils, which widened at his presence just before inhaling sharply when the dragon felt the stinging pain of the sword as it blinded one eye.
Seth flew through the air as he released his hold on his sword, which was now firmly imbedded in the dragon, and felt spittle spray his body as the beast roared intensely, pain welling from within it, and the sound deafened Seth for the third time that evening.
The hard ground cracked a rib as Seth landed unceremoniously near Kaylor, and he rolled several times till he impacted the northern barbarian, who had just made it to his feet, and knocked the mercenary back down to the ground on top of Seth, knocking the breath out of the assassin.
“No!” Alyssa screamed as Seth came to a halt on his back.
“Back to the abyss with you, devil wyrm,” Madalena yelled as she charged from the dragon’s exposed rear and hacked with her sword at the same leg Seth had used earlier to mount the dragon’s back. The blow blasted away a scale and cracked another and added to the beast’s pain and confusion as it was now under attack from the holy warrior as well as the wizard and the assassin.
With a violent throw of its head and snapping closure of its eyelid, The dragon dislodged and hurled Seth’s sword across the devastated courtyard along with a generous amount of eye fluid and dragon blood.
Beating its wings intensely, the dragon rose into the air, snapping back with its jaws at the crazed holy woman who swung a second time at its exposed skin, striking yet again and drawing more blood. The impact knocked Madalena back as she lost hold of her sword, which was now no longer needed.
Ela Elektra, the ancient Scourge of the Coast, had met her match and fled into the air toward its lair.
Chapter 15
Suspicions
Jayrel and Abruxus, what was left of him, were taken to the morgue, a place Seth knew they would all end up one day, if they were fortunate enough to die in a civilized manner. His leader, Azex, was in the infirmary, and several clerics of the nearby holy orders were called for and had been administering to him all night. He had lost consciousness and remained in a coma-like state.
The holy warrior Madalena had escorted the Ulathan historian Diamedes back to the Ulathan villa where they were staying. Seth didn’t stay to find out what consequences would come out of that group or whether or not they would stay in town for the wizard’s conclave.
Workers had been called, and they commenced work on the courtyard pavers that had been torn up from not only the dragon’s passing but from the insane power that the Kesh wizard wielded against the very ground itself. The soldiers were also taken with Jayrel to lie on cold slabs and await their turn at burial.
Kaylor and Graz had stumbled back to their secure tower that the Kesh had built centuries earlier as part of their attempts to influence world affairs. That tower was more like a fortress, square instead of the usual round and built with black obsidian stone shipped from Keshtor’s deep mines. Rumors were always abundant about the material’s magic properties, and as long as anyone in Balax could remember, the tower’s defenses had never been breached.
Seth had his ribs bandaged tightly and had paid a nice sum of gold to a healing cleric for one of their Talamans that he chewed on. Normally the healing globe would take effect immediately, but it seemed to have its power muted for some reason. More than one precious Talaman had been used on Azex, yet there appeared to be no effect. A fever usually followed after taking one, but Seth felt only a slight flush against his cheeks; in fact, he felt almost cool, especially where he had touched the dragon.
Alyssa looked at him from the window near the bay. “Are you still not feeling better?”
“Not yet. Some of the pain has been dulled, but I can still feel the cracked rib. It heal
ed a bit, but not fully. A simple blow to my chest would fracture it again,” Seth said.
“I’ve never known a Talaman to be so ineffective. Usually, you could almost revive a dead man with one of those, especially the larger ones.” Alyssa sounded confused. Concern, however, was evident in her voice.
Seth struggled to smile. He didn’t want the focus to be on his injury considering their failure from the evening before. “I’ll be fine. Nothing a little old-fashioned rest can’t heal. It will just take time.”
“Time is something we don’t have,” Alyssa said, shifting her position on the windowsill to get a better look into the harbor below.
“What do you see?” Seth asked from his rickety bed near the window. From his viewpoint, he could only see the sky, smell the distinct comforting salty aroma of the ocean, and hear the bustle of the city and docks as their sounds wafted up from the busy streets below.
Alyssa shaded her eyes for a moment before turning to look at Seth. “Well, I’d say at least half, if not more, of the ships in the harbor have left already on the early morning tide.”
“And the others?”
“They appear to be preparing to depart as well. I’ll venture to say we’ll have less than a dozen ships along the docks by sunset.”
Seth strained to sit up and then decided it better to remain semi-prone. He didn’t like the idea of her seeing him in any state of weakness. He put his good hand behind his head and acted nonchalantly as if he meant to simply adjust his position, hoping she wouldn’t notice. “We’ll have to go to the conclave soon. I can’t imagine those ships would leave without their masters.”
“That’s why they’re preparing to leave on the evening tide. Word was that the conclave would be short, considering all that has happened,” Alyssa said, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on her arms across them.
“I can’t believe that crazy wizard didn’t cancel the meeting. It must be something important, especially after losing his apprentice.”
“Well, you’re not going anywhere in that condition.” Alyssa eyed him suspiciously as if he might stand and start to dress or something equally foolish.
“I don’t have a choice with Jayrel and Azex down. You don’t expect me to allow Richtor to represent us. Do you?” Seth’s eyes narrowed when he said the governor’s name.
“Of course not,” Alyssa said, resuming her gaze to the harbor. “Makor will fill in for now. He is, after all, second-in-command of the guild.”
“Not my guild,” Seth said, his voice straining between the pain and vileness he felt at hearing Makor’s name.
“Not that again,” Alyssa said, allowing a sigh to escape her lips. “That is so old news, Seth. Just let that one go.”
“He hurt you,” Seth said.
“It’s one scar, and I hardly notice it,” Alyssa countered.
“Well, I do,” Seth said.
Alyssa looked at the assassin for a moment, perhaps seeing him in a new light. “You actually care, don’t you?” she asked, her voice expressing the disbelief.
Seth looked away, letting out a long breath since he had forgotten to exhale earlier. He was feeling childish, not a good thing considering his reputation. “That man has no business being Jayrel’s second, and he had no business hurting you.”
“Well, that was my choice. We were engaged, you know.”
“That doesn’t give him the right . . .”
“The right to what?”
Seth inhaled again, forgetting his poise and breathing. “Never mind. I can handle him.”
“Let Caesar handle it while you rest.”
“Caesar is a bureaucrat. He can’t possibly represent my order. I’ll have to be there personally.”
“He’s Azex’s personal administrator and once a fine assassin in his own right. An honorable one, like yourself. He’ll do fine. You can’t be that dense now, can you?”
“Honorable? I think we are well beyond that. Besides, Caesar hasn’t been active in at least a couple of decades. I doubt he’d know where to put a knife even if you showed him.”
“Now you’re just being facetious,” Alyssa said, looking away. “Let him and Makor handle things, and I’ll take care of you here.”
Seth looked at the petite thief and tried to see if she recognized what she was saying. Taking care of him seemed a bit too dramatic for her to say, or to care for, yet he had to admit there was something there between them, just below the surface of professionalism and loyalties to their guild and order respectively.
Seth sighed and thought for a moment before changing tact. “Did you hear what Kaylor said to the dragon?”
Alyssa perked up when Seth mentioned the beast. It was fresh in her mind. “I heard him. We all did.”
“But did you really understand him? What do you remember him saying?” Seth asked, removing his arm from behind his hand and sitting upright, no longer attempting to hide his pain or discomfort.
Alyssa stood up and walked over to Seth, helping him put his feet on the floor and sit upright. “You really should lie back down, but I see that look on your face. You’re not going to let this one go no matter what I tell you, so stay here.”
She walked over to the amoire and grabbed a couple of pillows and dusty blankets that would not be used in the summer and brought them back, propping Seth up between the bedpost and the mattress. “Thank you,” Seth said. “Now for my question, what did you hear Kaylor say?”
Alyssa took a moment to look at her handiwork and then grabbed a chair from the nearby table, the very same one that Seth and Azex used a couple of days earlier, and sat facing him with the back of the chair in front of her, chin now on the back of her hands as she peered at him intently. Finally she answered, “He insulted the beast by calling it a worm, if I remember correctly.”
Seth nodded. “Yes, but what did he say right before that? Right before calling the dragon a name.”
Alyssa closed her eyes for a second and then opened them quickly. “He accused the beast of killing Abraxus.”
“Exactly,” Seth said, his voice much louder now, excited that she remembered.
“So? What exactly is it that you think I should know? I don’t get it,” Alyssa asked, confused again.
“That hissing assassin killed the Kesh apprentice, not the dragon.” Seth waited for it to sink in.
Alyssa’s eyes widened. “You mean the assassin and the dragon are the same person? I mean, the same entity?”
Seth shook his head. “No, of course not, that isn’t possible. However, if these dragons . . . what does that Ulathan historian call them? Draconians or something? Well, if they are more civilized than we ever thought possible, then that means the assassin could be working for the dragon. Don’t you see? The killer is the dragon’s servant.”
“That’s just not right, Seth. How can that beast command a human?”
“Who said the assassin is human?” Seth asked.
“No, no, no.” Alyssa lifted her head from its resting place and shook it quickly. “That is not possible. I saw the killer myself. He had hands, arms, and legs, and I swear I saw two bloody eyes staring at me. That assassin is human, I tell you. Maybe a woman killer but human, for sure.”
“I’m not so sure,” Seth said. “Remember that creature we saw guarding the first dragon’s lair, near the beach? Wouldn’t this second dragon have the same kind of guardian? Where is this creature, then? Maybe the Kesh didn’t tell us everything about these dragons. Maybe each dragon has a different guardian. Did you stop to think about that?”
Alyssa’s head went back, and her face now peered straight up at the rafters when she started to laugh loudly. Seth frowned, allowing her laughter to subside for a moment, and then, wiping away a small tear, Alyssa looked at Seth. “Your fall must have rattled your senses. I’m pretty sure you saw the assassin better than I did, and it looked like a human, walked . . . well, crawled like a human, fought like a human, and even hissed like a . . .”
“Like a w
hat?” Seth sounded defensive.
“Like a woman,” Alyssa said, now allowing a smile to cross her face.
“You think that bloodthirsty assassin last night was a woman?”
“I said it hissed like a woman. Well, that or like Governor Richtor.” Alyssa laughed again, obviously pleased with herself.
Seth shook his head, frowning. “I don’t think it’s funny. There is something that Kesh is hiding from us, and I intend to find out.”
“Well, I guess I won’t be able to stop you then from attending the conclave if you’re so hell-bent on attending. I’m sure Kaylor will explain himself today and you’ll have your answers. First, let me help you look proper and allow me to call for some porters to carry you to the meeting.”
“You mean to have me carried pompously in a carriage like that fat overseer Jaxon?”
“Well, not so ceremoniously. We can draw the blinds, and no one would be the wiser.”
“You mean call for a horse carriage?” Seth asked.
“Yes, though the porters can pull it. Horses are in short supply, you know. Don’t worry.” Alyssa frowned at him and then stood and started toward where Seth’s clothes lay upon a dresser. “I’ll go with you. I am in no mood to walk that hillside today. I’m too sore after last night. My arm still hurts where you nearly pulled it out of its socket with that crazy fall of yours. You know, you could stand to lose a pound or two, maybe lay off the cheeses at those galas that Azex drags you to.”
Seth moved the pillows away and threw the blanket on the floor and used it to stand on. “You did well out there last night. Saved my life with that catch, you know . . .”
Alyssa brought him his clothes and turned her back, fully expecting him to change himself. “Actually, you saved us all with that stunt you pulled, using that beast as your personal acrobatic stand. It’s a wonder you’re still alive after plunging your sword into its eye. That Kesh and that brute of his owe you their lives.”
The Blue Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book (Dragon Series 2) Page 13
