“Rulfo . . . Rulfo . . .” Jaina muttered, seeking his name.
. . . Rulfo might have had the answer to that. His death is a sad footnote to an otherwise intriguing expedition into a study of the past . . .
She had gone too far. The archmage went back a few paragraphs. Once there, Jaina read more carefully.
. . . the third day after the find. An entire afternoon of searching revealed nothing, not even with the finest spells at work. Only after dark, only when one last attempt was made, did someone find his body.
“Body,” Jaina murmured, praying that she had read wrong.
According to reports, at first glance, the consensus was that he had somehow lost his way and fallen off the peak. Certainly, that explained how mangled Rulfo’s corpse was said to be. However, later conversations by the representative of the Kirin Tor with those who knew him best give indication of a peculiar and sudden madness that descended upon Rulfo prior to his disappearance. The ultimate conclusion was that this vision the young mage mentioned was the start of his insanity. . . .
It ended there, the next paragraph continuing on with matters Jaina found for the moment tedious. Still certain that she had read more than this previously, she desperately searched the succeeding pages but to no avail. She returned to the ones she had read and studied them closely, but quickly verified that she had missed nothing.
And yet . . . somewhere she had read more.
The archmage cast her eyes upon the many tomes, scrolls, journals, and other writings before her. Within one of them, the details she hunted for surely existed. She just had to recall which one or keep looking until she found what she sought.
But staring at the imposing collection, the archmage wondered if after she managed to locate the information, it would already be too late for Kalec.
• • •
The artifact was as bound to the Nexus’s wards as if it had been so set since the latter were first cast. Kalec doubted that Malygos could have weaved the accursed thing’s power into the array with such mastery. It again bespoke the great skill of whoever had created the relic, a being the blue dragon could only assume was the cloaked and hooded form of which both he and the young Malygos had caught glimpses.
A being Kalec had already come to hate deeply.
For what seemed the hundredth time, Kalec followed a magical trail in the array in the hopes of finding some flaw that he could exploit. He did not want to leave the Nexus at the mercy of the artifact, even though thus far, it had done no visible harm to the place. Still, considering what it had done to Kalec, the blue did not want to take any chances—
Tainted! Tainted!
With a pained roar, Kalec pulled back from his work. He clutched his head, trying to keep the voices at bay, but they shouted so loudly that all else was drowned out.
Must destroy them!
No! They are us!
No! They ate one of us!
The Nexus became a maelstrom. Kalec lost his balance, spun around, and fell.
But before he could strike the floor, he suddenly hovered above the ground, surveying what appeared to be the start of a civil war among the proto-dragons Talonixa had gathered. At least seven individual combats caught his eye—or, rather, Malygos’s eye—and one of them included both Neltharion and Nozdormu.
Despite the fight being two against one, the pair was very tentative in its attacks against the silver-green female before them. She, on the other hand, snapped and clawed at them with abandon, eschewing tactics of any sort. As Malygos landed nearby, she lunged at Neltharion.
Malygos knew well by now the charcoal-gray male’s eagerness for battle and so was surprised when Neltharion sought desperately to avoid her sharp but smaller teeth. Neltharion scuttled back as the jaws neared his throat—
—and Nozdormu leapt in at the perfect moment and tore out the preoccupied female’s gullet. He struck so artfully that he had already withdrawn before the female even realized that she was mortally wounded. Her chest quickly soaking with her blood, the stricken proto-dragon started to turn toward Nozdormu, then fell on her face.
As Kalec and his host struggled to make sense of events, the other seemingly mad proto-dragons were herded together. Some of those facing the prisoners appeared to be barely able to keep from trying to rip them apart. One of those preventing that was Ysera, who was issuing a warning.
“Be careful! Watch teeth! Stay back!”
Beyond the scene, Talonixa watched with an unreadable expression. Kalec wanted Malygos to keep an eye on her, but his host was more interested in what Ysera was attempting to do. The more the tableau unfolded, the more it appeared that Alexstrasza’s sister was every bit as concerned for the afflicted as she was for those surrounding them.
While both Malygos and Kalec could appreciate that she was trying to prevent further bloodshed among proto-dragons when the true threat was clearly Galakrond, the blue dragon and his host were in agreement that this could not end well. The surrounded band snapped at their captors and seemed not to recognize those whom Malygos knew they should.
Malygos noticed something about each of the captured proto-dragons. Every one of those whom the icy-blue male could see sported bite wounds from some previous but still recent fight.
Bite wounds . . . Malygos started to glance down at his paw, only to be interrupted by Alexstrasza.
The fire-orange female looked relieved to see him. “You live! We thought you dead!”
“Almost. Coros . . . he is dead.”
Before he could relay to her the full tale and its import, Alexstrasza looked back at where her sister still worked to keep the two groups from converging on each other. “She does not understand! They must die! Even I know that!”
That drew Malygos’s attention from the need to tell his story. “Must die? Why?”
“The bites . . . the bites of the not-living! They make a hunger . . . they make these want to eat one another! They make them like Galakrond!”
Her words shook both Kalec and his host. Malygos could not keep from shivering as he remembered his struggles after being bitten. He looked past Alexstrasza to the maddened proto-dragons, recalling his own growing bloodlust and how he had barely kept from doing just as these apparently desired.
Alexstrasza mistook his reaction for disgust at what the captives had turned into. She hissed. “Ysera thinks of our clutch brother. She thinks him out there still.”
This further dismayed Malygos. “Would be not-living!”
“Clutch brother long dead,” Alexstrasza reminded him. “Long dead when Malygos finds him . . .”
That should have reassured him, but so many things had happened that even a clever proto-dragon, such as Malygos considered himself, had doubts. True, other old corpses had remained dead, at least, the last time Malygos had seen them. Now the icy-blue male wondered whether those corpses would still be there if he went to find them again.
And then his thoughts returned to just how these other proto-dragons had been changed. They had all been bitten. They had all succumbed to the monstrous hunger that Malygos had fought more than once.
Kalec sensed his host considering fleeing before someone recognized the wound and added him to the mad. Still, Malygos held his ground and watched as the tableau played out.
Talonixa finally acted, shoving past smaller proto-dragons to face Ysera and the afflicted. Despite their growing madness, the imprisoned proto-dragons remained cowed by the powerful female.
“Kill them. . . .”
“No! Must help them!” Ysera insisted, staring defiantly.
“Kill them, or they bite us.” As she spoke, Talonixa pressed Alexstrasza’s sister back, forcing her closer to the mad. “They bite you. . . .”
Whether a bite from one of the afflicted would affect a proto-dragon the way a bite from the undead did was a question Kalec doubted any there knew the ans
wer to yet, but Talonixa’s words stirred fear in several of those in attendance. Even Alexstrasza’s sister looked uncertain.
Without warning, one of the afflicted hissed and started toward Ysera. Before Alexstrasza could go to her sister’s aid, Ysera, her uncertainty vanishing, turned her steady gaze on her would-be attacker.
The madness faded somewhat. The other proto-dragon let his head drop low, then shuffled back. To Kalec, he seemed ashamed that he had tried to harm the smaller female.
Ysera again faced Talonixa. “Must help them. . . .”
“No time! We must fight Galakrond!” the larger female declared. She looked to those watching the argument. “We fight! Yes?”
As they had before, the majority of the other proto-dragons hissed their agreement.
Even in the face of such a lack of support, Ysera pressed. “These are us! These are us!”
The gathering quieted.
Alexstrasza’s sister moved toward the crowd, beseeching. “These are us! We help them, we help us!”
Some of those listening looked at one another in thought.
Talonixa’s eyes narrowed more. “Yes . . .” she hissed quietly, suddenly very agreeable. “Yes . . . we help them. . . .” Talonixa eyed the afflicted. “But must keep them safe. Must keep us safe. Help them when we can. . . .” She turned and studied the west. “Must keep them safe, yes. Come! Bring them!”
Clearly confident that she would be obeyed, Talonixa took flight. Several of the proto-dragons surrounding the afflicted looked warily at Ysera.
Alexstrasza’s sister stared at them with defiance, then glanced at the captured figures. “Come . . .” she murmured soothingly. “Come . . .”
Slowly, Ysera rose into the air. As she did, she gestured with her head after Talonixa.
The surrounded proto-dragons reluctantly followed Ysera. They were flanked by Talonixa’s ardent supporters. The rest of the assembled proto-dragons looked more than willing to stay behind, but to Kalec’s surprise, his host suddenly leapt after Ysera. Even Alexstrasza was not so swift. Out of the corner of Malygos’s eye, Kalec saw Neltharion and Nozdormu follow suit.
The scene abruptly shifted, but Kalec sensed that only a short time had passed. Now Talonixa led the band toward a narrow valley.
“There!” she roared, indicating with a dip of her wing another pass. Talonixa descended.
As the proto-dragons landed, the large female strode toward what initially looked simply like a rock wall. However, as they followed Talonixa around, a narrow crevice revealed itself.
At first, Kalec thought it was the entrance to the cave from the one disturbing vision. However, almost immediately, too many details gave indication that it was otherwise. Still, Kalec could not help feeling that he knew the reason Talonixa had brought them to this place.
“Why here?” Ysera asked with a hint of suspicion.
“These ones you defend, they go in here and wait.”
The pale yellow female peered at the narrow entrance, her suspicion growing. “In there?”
“All . . . or we must slay.”
The finality of her tone brooked no argument. With reluctance, Ysera at last nodded.
“They stay here,” Talonixa commanded. She indicated some of those guarding the afflicted. “Four here, they guard. Entrance narrow. Four enough.”
It was clear to Kalec and his host that Talonixa would have gladly had the afflicted slaughtered there and then, and Ysera obviously also saw that. She finally acquiesced, then led those she had championed toward the narrow entrance.
One by one, the trusting proto-dragons entered the cave. Some had to struggle to get inside, so restrictive was the entrance. Ysera had to keep calming both those waiting to enter and those already inside.
The last finally entered. Ysera backed away in order to let the guards take their places.
But as the first began to move, Talonixa rumbled, “Wait.”
Ysera hissed. Malygos and Neltharion started toward Talonixa, only to have some of the golden female’s most ardent followers block their path.
Talonixa exhaled. Lightning shot from her maw.
Three bright silver bolts struck the rock face above the entrance. As that happened, a calm Talonixa fluttered back a few short yards.
The entire rock face collapsed, spilling over the cave.
Ysera leapt toward the avalanche, but before she could sacrifice herself in a vain attempt to save those within, Malygos lunged for her. To his surprise, Nozdormu reached her first, seizing one of her wings with his jaws and carefully but firmly pulling her back just before she would have been crushed to a pulp.
Despite there being no doubt regarding Nozdormu’s or Malygos’s intentions, Ysera snapped at both of them. Her rage undiminished, she whirled on Talonixa.
Four other proto-dragons blocked her path. Two opened their mouths, but Talonixa’s hiss rose above the confrontation, stilling their attack.
“It is done,” she proclaimed, her massive wings stretched to enhance her size and, thus, her dominance. “No taint among us! All tainted must die!”
Ysera exhaled. The two guards directly in front of her blinked and nearly collapsed. Stunned, they proved no impediment to her charge. She burst past them and sought Talonixa.
But the larger female awaited this foolhardy act. She shifted as Ysera neared. Her long, powerful tail struck her much smaller adversary across the head with a loud crack.
Alexstrasza rushed by Malygos and the others in time to reach her sister, just as Ysera fell back, stunned. The two crashed into each other, ending in a heap.
“It is done,” Talonixa repeated, acting as if she had not even noticed Ysera’s impudence. “Come . . . must be ready for Galakrond. . . .”
With that, Talonixa and all except for Malygos and his friends silently departed. The males moved in to aid the sisters, only to have Ysera roll to her feet and rush to the buried cave. Ignoring the small bits of stone and dirt still raining down, she used her hind paws to try to rip away at the tons of rock.
However, as Ysera tore at the avalanche, additional stones loosened above. They fell down, not only more than replacing what she dug away but also battering her enough that Alexstrasza, at last righted, risked injury to herself and pulled her struggling sibling to safety.
“Save them!” the smaller sister insisted, her frantic gaze darting from Alexstrasza to the males. “They still live! Hear them!”
Malygos listened but detected nothing. Yet both Kalec and his host—and also the other future Aspects—knew that Ysera spoke the truth.
There was just nothing they could do. A hundred proto-dragons digging without pause would not have been able to reach those within in time. Malygos understood that as well as Kalec, and so did the rest, even Ysera. Still, despite her awareness of the futility of what she attempted, Ysera again rushed to the fall and tried digging. She kicked away rock after rock, only to have more fill the momentary gaps.
The others finally shoved in front of Ysera and forced her away. She continued to stare at the buried entrance, and at one point, through Malygos’s ears, Kalec heard her say, gasping, “Dralad . . .”
After several tense moments, Alexstrasza’s sister stilled. However, now there was a distant look in her eyes, as if her mind remained elsewhere.
“We must go,” Malygos at last suggested quietly.
Neltharion added, “The hunt for Galakrond will begin soon! We must be there!”
“The hunt for Galakrond?” Nozdormu mocked, startling both Malygos and Kalec by even speaking. From what Kalec gathered from his host, young Nozdormu spoke only when he seemed to have something significant to add. Otherwise, some might have taken him for one of the less advanced, more animalistic proto-dragons, unable to talk. “Hunted by, it will be.”
Yet, despite saying that, the brown male was the first to leap into the air.
To the surprise of the rest, Ysera immediately followed. Alexstrasza joined her sister, leaving Malygos and Neltharion to find themselves bringing up the rear.
However, as they ascended, Kalec—but not Malygos—noticed Ysera surreptitiously glancing back at the ruined cave, where some of the afflicted proto-dragons likely still struggled to survive before the air gave out. She then glanced at Malygos, but not directly at his face. Rather, Kalec noted that she eyed his lower leg.
The same leg where the one undead had bitten Malygos’s paw.
FOUR
THE WATCHER
Kalec’s view shifted again. Ahead of the five, Talonixa and her gathered host hovered in the air. He realized that they were already setting out to find Galakrond. Several of the other proto-dragons noted the small band’s arrival, which in turn alerted Talonixa.
She soared toward the five, her attendants flanking her. As Talonixa confronted Ysera and her companions, the attendants spread out in obvious battle formation. Malygos and the others instinctively did the same, even against the greater odds.
“These can join the hunt,” Talonixa decreed. “You, runt, will not.”
“I will come with!” Ysera insisted.
“Why? Talk to Galakrond? Make a tiny bite for him!”
Recalling Coros—whose fate Malygos had still not yet told to Talonixa—the icy-blue male shuddered. Kalec shared his unease and wished that Malygos would quickly tell everyone in the hopes that perhaps it would deter them from this mad attack. However, his host didn’t speak, at the moment only concerned with the safety of his friends and not thinking of the potential repercussions of saying nothing.
“Will not go,” Alexstrasza said. “Will stay with my sister.”
“I stay also,” Nozdormu briefly added.
Neltharion momentarily looked frustrated, his natural tendency being to go wherever a fight could be promised. Still, he grudgingly nodded his agreement with the other two.
Malygos added his voice to his friends’, not that Talonixa seemed to care at that point. She started to turn from the five. Only then did Kalec’s host finally recall what he should have told everyone at the first chance. “Wait! Must speak of Coros!”
Dawn of the Aspects: Part III Page 4
