by Dean Cadman
The next few days passed them by uneventfully, apart from the increasingly strange dreams that Zedd had each night. At first he kept the details of them to himself, but every morning he would wake screaming. It took Cole a while to coax any information out of him about his dreams, but eventually he confided in him. Apparently his dreams were different every night, and always involved at least one dragon, but never the same dragon twice. Always mixed in with his vivid dreams, were the incessant calls of the dragon heart shard. This was not much of surprise to Cole, as Zedd more often than not awoke touching or holding the shard.
At first Cole wasn’t too concerned about Zedd’s physical contact with the shard. Other than causing him to wake up screaming in cold sweats each morning, it didn’t seem to have any other negative effects on him. It no longer appeared to be aggressive towards him, and when Cole asked him about his dreams in more detail, he said that he believed they were actually the dreams of the shard, and that he was inadvertently sharing them with it somehow. He also told him that he didn’t believe the shard was imposing the dreams on him intentionally, but when Cole asked him why, he couldn’t explain it.
It wasn’t until their fifth day at the cave, that Cole started to grow more concerned about Zedd’s behaviour. Up until then, Zedd had actively avoided the shard day and night, at least while he was awake. But on the fifth day, while they were clearing trees from the route they would later take with the dragon heart, Cole was shocked to discover that Zedd had actually brought the shard with him. When Cole questioned him about it, he seemed genuinely shocked to see it in his own hand. But he quickly tried to justify his actions, by saying he’d brought it along intending to bury it somewhere in the forest—something which Cole knew was obviously a complete lie.
Cole became more and more concerned for Zedd’s state of mind as the day slowly went by. It wasn’t so much for Zedd’s own welfare that he was concerned, but for that of their mission’s success. If Zedd somehow became incapacitated, either mentally or physically by being in contact with the shard, they would lose their ability to complete the mission. Cole knew he had to keep a close eye on him, and step in at the first sign of any real danger. But he had the distinct impression that Zedd wouldn’t give up the shard willingly, and also that he’d be less than happy if he severed the shard’s mental connection, no matter what his reasons for doing so.
On several occasions throughout the day, Cole quested out along the tenuous connected he had with Zedd’s mind. He always half-expected to find his mind in turmoil, just as it had been when he’d first encountered the dragon heart shard, but it wasn’t. In fact, his mind seemed calmer and clearer than usual to Cole. He could still sense the distant voice of the shard calling out to Zedd, but in stark contrast to the first time it had happened, now he seemed to be in complete control of his own mental defences.
For a while, Cole began to relax a little. He eventually attributed Zedd’s sudden willingness to engage physically with the shard, to his own extreme narcissistic personality. Cole believed that he simply wanted to prove to himself, and the world, that his mental abilities were actually more potent than he had been able to show thus far. Put simply, he was testing his own mental prowess, against that of the shard’s.
Although Zedd seemed a little distant, and barely spoke a word throughout the entire day, the work, however, continued at a good pace. And by the end of the day, all of the trees along the route had been cleared. Zedd had removed several problematic roots using his magic to save them precious time, and the areas where they intended to create their magic circles were all cleared. Cole was quietly optimistic that the following day would be their last day of preparations, before they would be finally ready to move the dragon heart.
Cole was rudely awoken the following morning by Zedd’s—now usual—screams of terror. He couldn’t help notice that Zedd had somehow managed to wake up holding the shard once again, even though he’d buried it under a pile of rocks at the rear of the cave the previous night. Cole also noticed that he didn’t even seem surprised any more, and simply went about his morning business as if nothing was amiss. He had to remind himself, on more than one occasion, that whatever issues Zedd had with the shard, as long as it didn’t affect their plans to open The Great Rift, it was no concern of his. In a couple of days—if all went well—their mission would be over, and they could finally go their separate ways. What happened to Zedd then, he didn’t really care.
Their final day of preparation went even better than Cole had hoped it would, and by mid-afternoon they were fully prepared for the following day’s big move. All the circles of protection had been created, the logs that were to be used as roller had been prepared, and even the gentle slope down into the crater had been dug as far as possible. Now all they had to do was wait until the following morning, and then hope they could not only finish digging the slope in time, but also move the dragon heart out of the crater, and as far as the first circle of protection, all before the sun went down again.
When they returned to the cave that evening, Cole took one of the many roller-logs with him. He didn’t think Zedd had even noticed him carrying the large object until after they’d entered the cave, and he’d finally relinquished possession of the shard again. Cole already had a healthy fire going inside the cave, and had started carving intricate symbols into the log using his small pocket knife before Zedd even spoke.
“What are you doing with that?” Zedd asked, even though he should have already known the answer to his own question. Cole looked over his shoulder at him, and saw the blank look on his face. He reminded Cole of someone who had just woken up from a deep sleep, and had no real idea of what was going on around him. But after a few moments, Cole began to wonder if Zedd was indeed simply disorientated, or if the shard had actually damaged his mind.
“I’m carving some runes of power into the end of the log, so your minion can safely use it as a lever tomorrow,” Cole replied. He wasn’t sure if he would have to explain why, but seeing as it would be Zedd controlling the minion tomorrow, he thought he better had, just in case. “If I don’t carve the symbols for magic dampening into the part of the log that your minion will hold tomorrow, the dragon heart will be able to access your mind again through your link to it.”
“I know that, you fool! Do you think I’m stupid?” Zedd spat at him. Cole would have loved to reply to that, but he held his tongue all the same.
“Only a few more days,” he reminded himself smiling.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The morning came all too soon for Cole’s liking. He was not looking forward to the physical work that both he and Zedd would have to do alongside the minion today. But he knew, however, that if they didn’t do it, their chances of success would be almost non-existent. He had actually been awake since well before dawn, keeping a keen eye on the cave entrance for any signs of daylight outside. He knew that every extra minute of daylight they could take advantage of, might make the difference between their success and failure.
By the time the first rays of light had started to filter in past the boulder blocking the cave entrance, Cole had already rekindled their campfire, and started cooking them both some breakfast. He was surprised to see that Zedd was already awake, and even more surprised that he’d not had his now usual dramatic start to the day.
“What time is it?” Zedd asked groggily.
“It’s just after dawn. I’ve made us some breakfast so we can get an early start today,” Cole replied, emptying half of the beans he’d just cooked into a second pot for Zedd, and handing it to him. Judging by the look on Zedd’s face when he saw the beans, he didn’t seem too keen on eating them for breakfast.
“I know, they aren’t exactly my favourite either. But hopefully they’ll help to keep us going while we dig today,” Cole said apologetically. Zedd simply grunted, then began to unenthusiastically poke at his beans.
A few minutes later they had both finished eating, and Zedd magically slid the boulder away from the c
ave entrance. It was another clear autumn day outside, and the deepest of the shadows were just fading away. The final calls of Netherworld creatures could be heard from deeper within the forest, as they stubbornly held out for as long as they possibly could against the rising sun.
Zedd knew they should be safe as long as they stayed away from the deepest shadows. The vast majority of Netherworld creatures would have already sought refuge underground, and the area of forest they were in was not really that dense. Certainly not compared with the parts they had travelled through to get there. Zedd wasn’t looking forward to the physical work that day, and it had put him in a particularly bad mood even before he’d left the cave.
As Zedd stood at the cave entrance looking out, he realised that he was holding something in his hand. When he looked down, he saw that it was the shard. He couldn’t remember picking it up that morning, or even if he had awoken with it already in his hand, as had often happened lately. He contemplated leaving it behind in the cave, but found his mind drifting off onto other things instead.
Zedd was beginning to understand more and more about the shard, or at least he thought he was. He was now almost certain that the dreams he’d been having were actually memories from when the dragon had been alive. He had considered that theory previously, but discounted it because his dreams had always been of very different dragons. Sometimes he would be a subservient young Drake, others a powerful Queen, and even once he had been an ancient Wyrm, the eldest and most powerful of the dragons. At first, it hadn’t made any sense to him that his dreams could be the memories of a single dragon. But the dream he’d had last night, changed all of that.
Last night he had dreamt that he was a young Drake named Ryluth. He had stood amongst many other mighty dragons, in a place sacred to them all. It had been his time to ascend from Drake to full-dragon, and he had felt the enormity of the occasion keenly as he stood before his countless peers. He had stood on a vast volcanic plain, surrounded on all sides by razor-sharp peaks, and for as far as he could see, there were the bones of his ancient ancestors and their sacred hearts of memories.
He had earned his sacred right of ascension, and now he would choose a single ancestor to bond with. He would receive all of the ancestor’s knowledge, along with dozens of other dragons’, stretching all the way back to the time of creation. And so it had always been for dragons. If he chose wisely, he would become a great dragon, with knowledge well beyond his years, or current abilities. If he did not, he would have to strive to gain that knowledge for himself, so when it came to his time to pass on his own memories, his name would live forever amongst his own kind.
“Are you ready?” Cole asked, startling him out of his reverie.
“Let’s go,” he replied, commanding his minion to bring the picks, hammers and shovels with it, and set off towards the dragon heart site.
He never even realised that he was still carrying the shard in his hand.
Cole had known the physical work would be hard, but he had no idea just how hard. Neither of them was used to such strenuous work, and by midday they were both almost exhausted. The ground had been thick with roots and rock, neither of which seemed in the least bit interested in giving way easily under their constant pounding of shovels and picks.
Ever since they’d first arrived there, they had worked three abreast, slowly cutting into the earth with their picks and shovels. For no particular reason, Zedd had been on one side of the minion, whilst Cole had been on the other. Their inexperience of that kind of work soon became glaringly obvious, and never more so, than when Zedd impaled his own minion, not once, but twice on the end of his pickaxe. Needless to say, Cole was very relieved that he hadn’t chosen to stand next to Zedd that morning.
Shortly after midday they finally stopped briefly for a rest and something to eat, whilst Zedd’s minion continued to pound relentlessly at the earth with its pickaxe. Fortunately, the two holes Zedd had put in his minion, hadn’t seemed to slow it down much, which was lucky, considering the pitiful amounts of dirt they were managing to move between them.
They had barely finished chewing their last mouthful of food, when they suddenly heard a loud clunk from the direction of the crater. Zedd almost choked on his food, as images of the dragon heart being broken again by his careless minion flashed before his eyes. He braced himself for another mental assault from the dragon heart entity, but none came. He commanded his minion to stop digging, and rushed over to see what it had struck with its pickaxe. Zedd was incredibly relieved to discover it was nothing more than a large rock this time, and set his minion back to work digging it out.
“You know, that might actually help us,” Cole said, nodding towards the large rock.
“How so?” Zedd asked, slightly confused by his statement.
“Well, it’s all the roots that have been slowing us down, and with a rock that size, it means a large area without any roots. With a bit of luck, once we’ve cleared the surrounding dirt, you might be able to lift it out of there using your magic.”
“Maybe,” Zedd agreed, hoping that Cole was right. Given a choice of moving something with his magic, or moving it by hand, he knew which he would always choose.
It took them a little over an hour to dig out the large rock enough for Zedd to move it. But once he did, it made a considerable difference to the remaining amount of dirt they needed to move. They soon broke through the wall of earth into the dragon heart crater behind, and then began clearing away the debris from the base of the slope. For the first time in days, Zedd started to believe that they might actually succeed in their mission.
They soon had a line of logs positioned all the way up the slope to be used as rollers, as well as a dozen stakes they could use to aid in the process.
“Don’t forget, your minion can’t touch any of the logs in contact with the dragon heart, with anything other than the lever I made for it. Let’s go slow and steady,” Cole said, eliciting a look of complete contempt from Zedd.
Zedd and Cole both retrieved one of the hammers they’d brought that morning, and a handful of wooden stakes each. The undead-minion stood at the ready with its lever pressed against the dragon heart, waiting for Zedd to issue his command. It might have been just his imagination, but Cole could have sworn he felt something as the lever made contact with the dragon heart’s surface—a distinct feeling of malicious anger and hatred.
“Ready?” Zedd asked. Cole nodded, and prepared his hammer and stake. Zedd gave his minion the command, and the dragon heart moved for the first time in almost two thousand years.
The undead-minion pushed forward on the lever, and the dragon heart moved forward about a foot. Zedd and Cole moved in behind the minion, and pounded two stakes into the ground behind the closest log to the dragon heart, whilst being extremely careful not to touch it. After they had moved back, Zedd commanded his minion to carefully remove its lever. Three logs rolled away down the gentle slope, leaving the dragon heart safely on top of the securely staked rollers. Zedd then had his minion reposition its lever, and repeat the process again. Inch by inch, foot by foot they climbed the gentle slope out of the crater. And with each movement, the feelings of anger and hatred coming from the dragon heart could be felt more and more.
Somehow, it knew where it was being taken, and for what purpose. No doubt the information had been pillaged from their minds when it had attacked them earlier, but how it knew it was being moved, neither of them had a clue. By the time they reached the top of the slope, the feelings had become so intense they had been forced to move further away from it in-between each successive move. It was a relief when they finally reached the top of the slope, and they could both retreat well away from it while Zedd’s minion collected all of the log-rollers again.
“I don’t think it’s happy with us,” Zedd said chuckling to himself.
“I’d say that’s a major understatement,” Cole replied grinning. “But there again, I suppose when it was alive it would have been working with one of the Gu
ardians to close The Great Rift. Being partly responsible for reopening it again, probably doesn’t sit too well with it.”
Zedd laughed. “I see your point,” he said, looking towards the dragon heart and wondering if it had once been as magnificent a dragon, just like the ones he’d seen in his dreams lately. They watched as the minion retrieved all of the used logs, and placed them back in front of the dragon heart again.
They had intentionally created their first magic circle only a short distance from the crater, just in case they had encountered any difficulties during the digging phase, and suddenly found themselves short of time. Cole glanced up at the small patch of sky that he could see through the thick canopy above. The daylight was still strong, and the sunlit treetops showed him that sun still had a way to travel before it would dip below the hidden horizon.
“I’d say we have at least two hours before sunset,” Cole said. “We should easily make it to the second circle in time. Possibly even the third if it goes smoothly, but let’s not take any unnecessary risks.”
“Agreed,” Zedd said, looking up at the sky for himself.
Something had been bothering Cole ever since they’d first entered The Dark Forest, but he’d never had the opportunity to speak with Zedd about it. At first he had been preoccupied with simply surviving. Then later, when all hope of succeeding in their mission appeared lost, it didn’t seem important any more. But now they were within striking distance of their goals, it had suddenly been brought to the forefront of his mind again.
“Have you given any thought as to how we’ll reopen The Great Rift?” Cole asked without preamble. Zedd gave him his usual withering look. One which said, you’re an imbecile for asking such an obvious question.
