The High Council

by Victor Kloss

  Ben figured the three of them would be able to hold the soldiers off while their two friends arranged rides, but that wouldn’t last forever — no matter how strong they were. It was still going to be just three against an entire fort.

  Dagmar frowned but didn’t argue. She was the only one among them with any skill at animal handling, after all, and with the helm Abigail could help her locate the dragons and maybe tame them. It was, for Ben, a surprisingly sensible plan.

  He tried not to let on how worried that made him.

  “Right,” Krobeg announced, his silver axe in hand. “Let’s go kick open some doors!” And he marched out of the trees, straight for the fort.

  “Bloody hell!” Ben drew his sword and his spellshooter, and hurried after his fellow Guardian. “Come on!”

  The others followed quickly, and they were only a few paces behind Krobeg when the first of the dark elves finally noticed them.

  “Stop,” one of them shouted down from the top of the wall. “Identify yourselves!” Other guards began to gather near the gates or above them and to either side.

  “My name is Krobeg,” the dwarf bellowed, raising his axe high, its blade catching the last rays of sunlight. “I am the Silver Dwarf!” With a burst of speed, he charged straight into the assembled guards, knocking them aside like a bowling ball striking the pins dead on.

  Shouts rose from the guards on the wall, echoing the cries of their fellows, and several loosed arrows at this strange intruder. But Krobeg knocked those aside with his axe. He was through the gates now, and as more guards rushed to set themselves in his path, he bellowed and attacked.

  Ben was nearly to the gate, and he paused just long enough to fire his spellshooter up at the guards on the wall. The volley of ice spears he produced shot upwards and slammed into three different guards, all of whom screamed and toppled somewhere out of view. Ben did still feel bad, but they had attacked him and his family first.

  For a moment he lost sight of Krobeg. Ben stopped for a second to catch his bearings, and heard shouts and the clang of metal on metal. Racing in that direction, he quickly spotted his friend again. Krobeg was facing off against a dozen or so dark elves and, as Ben watched, several of them unleashed a blast of purple energy that he knew would have destroyed most foes. But Krobeg wore Elizabeth’s Breastplate, which gave him strength, stamina, and healing. He shrugged off the blows, leaped forwards, and with a single mighty swing knocked them back and scattered them.

  Then he spotted Ben. “Go on,” the dwarf shouted, turning to face several more guards who had just appeared from a nearby doorway. “I’ve got this lot!”

  Ben nodded. Krobeg did indeed seem to have that particular group of dark elves well in hand. Joshua was battling several others who had emerged from a door along one wall, and Ben rushed over to help him.

  It was obvious at once that there were simply too many for Ben and Joshua to fight one-on-one. Ben knew they would have to get creative if they were to have any chance of defeating the dark elves. Thinking fast, he fired his spellshooter — not at any of the approaching guards but at the ground in front of them. The dark blue bolt that emerged lanced into the ground at their feet — and split the earth open, swallowing the dark elves whole. A second later it closed again, looking as smooth and level as ever, with no sign of the guards it had just consumed.

  Joshua shouted in defiance beside him and aimed his own spellshooter, letting loose a bright orange beam, which stopped just short of a pack of dark elves rushing towards them. The beam didn’t disappear, however. It hovered there, elongating, morphing and twisting, growing this way and that until it had recognisable arms and legs, and even a rough head. It formed dancing, living fire. Ben was impressed; elementals of that strength were upper third-level spells.

  The fire elemental lunged at the approaching dark elves, its arms spread wide. The guards fired spells at it, damaging it but only slowing it down. Its touch burned them and in seconds they had no choice but to flee. Its task complete, the elemental shifted, seemed to nod at Joshua, and blinked out of existence.

  Unfortunately, there were still more dark elves, and some of them had been clever enough to circle around as Ben and Joshua were distracted. Now they attacked, and the boys quickly found themselves battling for their lives. It was just like they’d practised, Ben realised, except that instead of two on two it was more like twelve on two, and if these dark elves hit, they wouldn’t just feel a mild brief pain.

  As if to prove that point, one of them managed to get his sword in under Joshua’s guard and slash the other boy across the left side.

  “Damn!” Joshua bellowed.

  He beat back his opponent, then loosed a spell that froze the dark elf solid, a look of shock on his face. Ben saw that his companion was bleeding from the deep cut and felt a moment of alarm.

  “Hang on!” Ben shouted.

  He fired his spellshooter above the crowd harassing them and held his shooter with both hands as a constant stream of energy poured forth. It took all of his concentration to keep the spell going and slowly, but then faster and faster, clouds came together above them, dark, hungry-looking clouds.

  “We’ve gotta move.”

  Ben grabbed Joshua by his good arm and they ran, just as lightning and then a deafening boom of thunder erupted behind them. Diving behind a small hill, Ben looked back and saw the enemy in disarray. In the confusion Ben was able to check Joshua’s wound.

  “We need to get this taken care of,” he warned. “But I don’t think you’ll die from it. Not right now, at any rate.”

  “Comforting,” Joshua muttered. “I thought I’d got one up on you when I summoned that Fire Elemental, but that storm! Wasn’t that a level-five spell?”

  Ben nodded. “I think working with the sword has somehow increased my tolerance and concentration. I didn’t know what would happen, but I had to try it to get us out of there.”

  They turned their attention back to the dark elves, only to realise that just a handful remained. Most of those were still emerging from that same door, and Ben fired an airhammer that shoved them back through the portal.

  “Quick!” he shouted.

  He slammed the door shut and Joshua grabbed a fallen guard’s sword and jammed it through the door handle, pinning the door shut.

  “That should hold them for a bit,” Joshua said, huffing for breath.

  Ben nodded. He was winded too, and his arm ached, as did his back and legs, but he’d managed to avoid getting hurt. Joshua hadn’t been so lucky. Ben needed to get him back to Dagmar fast so she could patch him up.

  “Let’s get you to Dagmar. We can also find out if they had any luck finding those dragons,” he suggested and turned to glance around. He saw Krobeg knocking out one more guard nearby, but there was no sign of their two missing companions. Ben frowned. Where were they?

  — Chapter Twelve —

  A Surprising Turn of Events

  “I don’t see them,” Joshua said, echoing Ben’s thoughts. “But they’ve got to be here somewhere.”

  Ben thought about that. If he were looking for water dragons, where would he go? The obvious answer was: the water. Dagmar had said this fort was along the coast. He looked about again, but this time he listened and smelled as well. There!

  “Come on,” he said, and led the way across the fort’s open central yard.

  They headed for the fort’s back wall and a set of large, heavy gates set into the stone there. The closer he got, Ben noticed, the stronger the salt tang of the sea became, as well as the muted rush of the waves.

  At last they found themselves behind the fort. The land continued only a short distance, ending sharply at the water’s edge. Beyond it jutted a wide wooden dock, and tethered there was a row of long, silvery green dragons.

  Even from this distance Ben could make out the two short figures standing beside the elegant creatures.

  As he closed the gap to his friends, Ben realised that they didn’t seem to be having much luck convin
cing the dragons to help them.

  “Keep back!” Dagmar ordered as one of the dragons reared up and then snapped its head down, its long, narrow jaws nearly biting her in two. “They’re not exactly friendly.”

  “What’s the problem?” he called.

  “We’re not elves,” Dagmar shouted back, her tone testier than usual. “They’ve been specially trained to only answer to elves.”

  The dragon tried for her again, and she managed to dodge just in time. The other dragons were snarling and hissing all around them as well, and Ben’s grip tightened on his sword and his spellshooter. But he knew that, if all the water dragons decided to attack, they didn’t stand a chance, artefacts or no.

  “Great.” He shook his head. “So we need an elf. Maybe we can trick one of these guys into helping us?” He gestured at the guards now littering the dock. None of this particular group was still alive, of course, but he was guessing the fort still held at least a few others. How they’d convince one of the dark elves to help them he had no idea, but he didn’t really see that they had much choice. Not if they were going to get across the ocean, and if using a water dragon was the only way to do that.

  “Oh, for the love of—” a voice cried out. “Get out of the way!”

  But it hadn’t been Dagmar who had said that, not had she shoved past Ben. Although he couldn’t see anyone, there was no mistaking that voice.

  “Natalie?” he asked.

  The space around them seemed empty, but Ben heard a quick laugh. Then a very welcome face appeared not ten feet past him, framed by long, brown curls and centred around luminous green eyes.

  “Happy to see me?” she teased.

  Ben felt a mixture of elation at her sudden appearance and irritation at her stubbornness; in the middle of a battle, with only one way to escape, he decided to stick with elation for now.

  “Yeah,” Ben agreed happily. “But how?” Then another thought struck him, and he glanced about. “And I’m betting there’s no way Charlie let you do this without him.”

  “You got that right!” Another familiar, if slightly out of breath voice called out, and a second later Ben’s best friend stood beside him with his hands on his knees, panting. “I wasn’t going to let her go on her own when I couldn’t convince her to stay behind, but did we really have to hurry so much?”

  Ben barked a short laugh and couldn’t suppress the smile that spread across his face. Natalie moved past, making her way over to Dagmar and Abigail, while Charlie pulled out his spellshooter and hit Joshua with a healing spell to start repairing his wound. That was a stroke of luck, too. Charlie was particularly adept at healing spells.

  “Let me try,” Ben heard Natalie say. “I’m half-elf, after all.”

  She also had a natural way with animals. And whether it was thanks to this gift or her heritage, Ben saw her hold out her hands to the nearest water dragon, and he watched as the creature froze, eyeing her carefully but not attacking, its hissing fading away.

  Then, slowly, it stretched out its snout to press up against her palm. She proceeded to calmly stroke its long, elegant neck and whisper softly. Ben couldn’t make out anything she was saying, but it was obviously working. The dragon stepped back and surveyed them all, aggression flooding back into its startlingly blue eyes.

  Charlie took a short step away. “Er, Natalie, can you let it know we’re your friends? It looks like it still wants to eat us. I didn’t come all this way to end up as someone’s lunch.”

  Abigail stepped forwards and gently placed her hand in Natalie’s, causing the older girl to look up in surprise. They stared at each other and something passed between them, Natalie’s eyebrows rising in wonder.

  “You can do that?”

  The Guardian of the Helm smiled shyly. “It appears so.”

  Ben nudged Charlie. “I’m not sure about you, but I’ve got no idea what’s going on.”

  Joshua leaned in between them, whispering urgently. “We’re going to have to watch their backs, guys; looks like reinforcements.”

  As Joshua, Ben, and Krobeg pivoted to face the oncoming dark elves, both girls nodded and turned back to the water dragon. The dragon looked on suspiciously but then leaned back as if sensing something. After a second it lay down next to the girls, calmly met them eye-to-eye, and nodded its great head. It rose up again on its haunches and faced the dragon beside it, possibly its mate. A moment later, twin sets of deep blue eyes focused on the small humans below them.

  Ben and the others came running back down the hill. “We’ve managed to slow them down, but they’ll be right behind us.”

  He looked at the two dragons. They were now crouching the same way the large creatures at the Institute would in preparing for a rider to climb on.

  Natalie gave a brilliant smile as she turned to face the others. “Well, what are we waiting for?” She untethered and mounted the first dragon, claiming a seat just below its long neck. Ben followed her, then Charlie, with Joshua bringing up the rear, while Krobeg and Abigail hurried to join Dagmar on the second dragon’s back.

  “Can you fly this beast?” Ben asked Natalie.

  She laughed — a musical sound that he had missed hearing.

  “I think so,” she replied easily. “Hold on.”

  The guards had nearly reached the docks now, Ben saw. He decided not to point that out, as it wouldn’t really help matters.

  Dagmar nodded from her perch on the other dragon. “Follow me,” she ordered. Then she leaned in and began whispering something into the dragon’s shell-like ear. After a moment it nodded. First, it pushed away from the docks. Once it was far enough out, it spread its wings. Then it began to run across the water, splashing waves to either side, flapping its wings as it did. Behind it, Natalie had convinced her water dragon to follow its companion. Soon they were airborne. The dark elves lined up on the shore and unleashed bolts of purple energy, as well as arrows from their longbows. Ben and the others ducked down against the side of the dragon.

  “Josh,” he shouted, “remember that spell we learnt from Zadaya?”

  “The one where we combine energy flows to create a shield?” Joshua shouted back, barely heard over the bolts of energy and the great flapping of the dragon’s wings.

  “When I say so, focus on the left!” Ben selected the rare spell he had inserted in his spellshooter almost on a whim, just because it had been there. At the time, he noticed that Joshua had also taken one, despite how tough they were to use. With the nauseating motion of the dragon’s evasive manoeuvring, it was hard to focus. After half a minute he shouted as loud as he could, through a mixture of fear and adrenaline: “Now!”

  A bolt of luminescent yellow shot from the barrel of his spellshooter, immediately creating a semi-circle around the dragon, and to Ben’s great relief it then met with its twin, formed from a green bolt on the other side. With a pop the two became a strong clear circle, protecting them from the array of projectiles. He looked around and saw that Dagmar’s dragon, though not shielded like theirs, was far enough away that it was unaffected by the onslaught. Sighing in relief, he looked back at Joshua and they nodded to each other. Still, Ben didn’t let himself relax and nor did the others. They weren’t even in Erellia, but they all knew that the trouble had only just begun. It would be a long flight.

  — Chapter Thirteen —

  The Long Flight

  Ben woke to find a dragon staring at him from just a few feet away. A green one. With long silvery whiskers and brows, and a silver crest. A water dragon.

  Slowly, it all came back to Ben as he shook off the last vestiges of sleep. The dragons; the fort; their trek; their mission. His hand flew to his side, but Elizabeth’s Sword still hung in its silver scabbard, undisturbed.

  Ben noticed that Charlie was already up, as was Dagmar who was standing beside him. He also registered that the second dragon was perched less than twenty feet away and appeared to be sleeping, its long neck curled around and its head tucked under a wing.

  “W
here are we?” Ben asked, shaking his head a little to help clear away the last bits of sleep. “Have we reached Erellia yet?”

  That got a dry chuckle out of Dagmar. It was the first time Ben had heard her laugh. “No, we still have a long way to go,” she answered. “But I spotted this island along the way and thought it would be a good time to take a break, stretch our legs, relieve ourselves, and possibly eat something before we had to set out again.” She held a hand out to Charlie, who passed her a small bundle, which she then flung at Ben. “You should put that on.”

  Ben caught it. Unfolding the bundle, he could see it was a hooded cloak, but what a cloak! It was light and at the same time somehow seemed to be strong. It shimmered in the early morning light, changing subtly from its mottled green and brown colour to a clear blue and white instead, reflecting the background of the sky as he looked up at it.

  “These are dark elf cloaks” he gasped, lowering his to stare at Dagmar, who, he now realised, was already wearing one. So were Charlie, Natalie and the others. “Where did you get these?”

  “The fort,” Charlie responded. “Dagmar pulled them from some of the officers we… stopped.”

  Ben didn’t miss the way he had paused. He knew the feeling. They were still trying to adjust to this new reality. Just a few days ago he had never been in a real fight, one to the death.

  But this was war, Ben reminded himself roughly. In war, people died. He didn’t have to like it — he was glad he didn’t — but he had to accept that sometimes it was necessary.

  Shoving those dark thoughts away for now, he pulled the cloak around his shoulders. It was warm and comfortable, and looking down at it Ben could see how it blended in with the ground under his feet, the rocks and bushes behind him, and the bright blue sky overhead.

  “These are great,” he said. “But I’m guessing you didn’t grab them just so we could all match?”