“Your people?” he asked. “You mean the Changlings in the city?”
Sarah chuckled, her voice now something out of nightmare.
“Oh come now. We both know that those pathetic creatures are not my people, just as we know who is responsible for almost wiping out my kind. Don't we?”
With one enormous step forward, the figure loomed over Simon. An arm, still covered in swathes of cloth, burst out of the robes and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him high in the air. The move was so unexpected and violent that he let go of his staff and it landed a dozen feet away.
“Where are they?” the monster shrieked. “Where are they?”
She shook Simon about like a rag doll, and her voice threatened to burst his eardrums. Kronk and Phen cried out, but the wizard couldn't see what they were doing as the world flashed around him and he tried frantically to breathe.
His large globe of light disappeared and the night engulfed them.
“Tell me, you wretched beast!” she screamed, still shaking him.
My God, Simon thought as he began to pass out. Is this how I die? In the hands of some inhuman monster?
He was suddenly flung to the ground and cried out as he felt at least one rib snap at the violent impact. He sucked in a deep breath and flinched at the stabbing pain from the cracked rib.
Two pairs of small rough hands grabbed him under his arms and dragged him back toward the open gate; the earthen were pulling him to safety.
“No, he would not dare interfere,” the swathed creature hissed.
Somehow she moved away toward the middle of the field without her body making any motion at all; as if she was floating an inch above the ground. It was inhuman and disturbing to look at.
Who the hell is she talking about, Simon wondered as he watched her, his body pulsing with pain.
He ignored it and tried to see what was going on the blackness.
“Stop it, you guys,” he whispered to Kronk and Phen. “I can't concentrate with you yanking on me like this.”
“You need to get away from her, master.” Kronk whispered in return. “While she is distracted.”
“Distracted by what? Just wait a second, would you?”
The pair stopped dragging him and Simon slowly pushed himself to his feet, setting his pain aside as he focused on what was happening.
Sarah, or whoever she was, was just a looming streak of black even darker than the night. She was standing a dozen yards away now and the wizard couldn't see enough details to figure out what was going on.
“What's she doing?” he murmured to Kronk.
“It is hard to tell, master, but I think that she is looking up at the sky.”
The sky?
Whatever she was, Sarah's eyesight was definitely keener that Simon's was. It took the wizard a few seconds as he stared upward to catch sight of several strange, colorful stars. They seemed to be set in an oddly circular pattern and he squinted at them, puzzled.
I've never seen those before, he thought, his mind still fuzzy after his scuffle with Sarah. Are they new?
Green, red, amber, purple, white and...silver. Silver!
He caught his breath as the stars began to drop toward the earth, their colors burning like tails behind them as they fell.
“No,” Sarah cried in her terrible voice. “No!”
Faster and faster they fell, leaving glowing contrails behind them as they came, and the wizard felt another surge of fear.
This is going to be bad, he thought.
All six stars slammed into the ground simultaneously and Simon was flung on to his back again, pain digging into his abdomen at the impact.
“Crap,” he groaned. “What is happening?”
Kronk scuttled toward him, dragging a long thin object behind himself, and the wizard smiled gratefully as he realized that it was his staff.
“Thanks,” he said weakly as he grabbed it and pushed himself even more slowly to his feet again.
The field was no longer shrouded in darkness. A beautiful clear light was illuminating it now, a mixture of all of the stars' lights combined.
Only they weren't stars.
Simon and the elementals gasped in surprise as they finally identified the shining objects.
Six men, all wearing armor, were arrayed across the far end of the field. They were each kneeling down on one knee as if to cushion themselves during their violent landing, and clouds of dried earth floated in the air around them like fog. As the wizard watched, they stood up in unison and waited silently.
Five of the men were lined up side by side, only a few yards separating each of them. In front of them, clan in silver armor, was Argentium.
The argent dragon stood immobile, his muscular frame and height marking him as more than human. He stared expressionlessly at the figure wrapped in old rags, the mysterious stranger who was now motionless, as still as death. Simon noticed that Sarah stood as tall as the dragon did.
“I thought that you would show up here eventually,” Argentium said to her calmly. “You were always crafty, but more predictable than others have ever believed.”
She didn't answer but from the movement beneath her wrappings, Simon guessed that she was looking past the argent dragon at the young men now standing statue-like behind him.
Almost as tall and heavyset as Argentium, it was obvious that the men were not human either. Each wore armor similar to his, but on their chests were insignia that the wizard couldn't identify. The colors were self-explanatory though; red, green, brown, black and white.
Well, I guess they grow up fast in the Void, Simon thought in wonder. But why have they come?
“Yes, they are here,” Argentium continued, his glowing eyes fixed on the menacing, cloaked figure. “Your search is over, Aurumallia.”
A tug on his robe made Simon look down at Kronk.
“What?” he whispered.
“Master, now, while they are all distracted. Come inside and seal the gate. You can observe from the wall if you must.”
“But why the panic? I don't think that Sarah even cares about me anymore. She's focused on Argentium and the others. Although why they are interested in her is anyone's guess.”
He'd rarely seen Kronk exasperated, at least not with him, but Simon got a full dose of it now as the earthen stared at him in disbelief.
“Master, did your fall addle your wits? Did you not hear what the argent dragon just called that creature?”
“I...”
“He called her Aurumallia. That is the name of the dragon queen!”
Simon knew he was gaping at the little guy like an idiot, but he couldn't help it.
The dragon queen? Sarah? But, how?
“Um, maybe you're right,” he stuttered as a knot of fear curled up in his belly. “We're a little too exposed out here.”
With the help of his staff, Simon stumbled backwards as carefully and quietly as he could, keeping his eyes fixed on the visitors. He breathed a sigh of relief as he backed through the gate and the elementals quickly slammed it shut.
He threw the bolts, wincing at the pain in his side, and felt the wards intertwine and lock together around the perimeter. Then he hobbled toward the ladder to climb up to the inside ledge.
“This is insane,” he said to himself as he struggled upwards, one rung at a time. “Why here? Why now?”
When he reached the top of the wall, he limped along the ledge to get closer to the gate and then looked out at the confrontation. Strangely, none of the figures seemed to have moved or spoken since he had retreated to the safety of his walls.
“Why?”
Simon could clearly hear Sarah's voice from his vantage point.
No, not Sarah, he thought with a shake of his head. Aurumallia. The mad queen.
He spared a moment to remember the little girl who had saved his life almost ten years before. He was saddened yet again to think that he'd probably been right all along. The Changling child was probably long dead, killed by Madam and her arm
y of undead.
How the dragon queen had learned of her and used that knowledge for her own ends was a mystery, but she had. It showed a level of deviousness and power that Simon would never have thought possible.
Was she insane? Possibly. But she was also clever and treacherous. Couple that with unpredictability and you had a truly dangerous opponent.
Did Argentium know? Simon stared at that shining figure that stood like a hero out of legend on the far side of the field. Yes, of course he knew. But now what?
“Why did you take the last of my children away from me?”
Although the voice was no longer even remotely human, the plaintive question touched a part of Simon. She was, in the end, still a mother and she was obviously in pain.
“Why? To save them, of course,” Argentium replied. “To save them from the wizard who would have destroyed them for the greater good, and to save them from your madness.”
“Madness? Greater good?”
The evil twist that the queen gave his words made Simon shudder.
“Dragons cannot be mad, you fool. We are like the gods in that respect. And the greater good of lesser beings is not our concern.”
The tall cloaked figure began to undulate, swaying from side to side in a disturbing, serpentine fashion.
“And did you tell your protégés about your part in all of this? Of how you and I knew each other briefly back when the world was young and how, out of that pairing came every dragon born into this realm, including them?”
What?
Simon looked at Kronk, who had jumped up on to the parapet next to him and was listening as well. Phen stood next to him, her red eyes huge with wonder.
“Did she just say what I think she just said?” the wizard whispered in disbelief.
“I believe so, master. She intimated that Argentium is actually the father of all dragons. How is that even possible?”
With a shake of his head, Simon continued to watch and listen.
The argent dragon remained expressionless.
“A brief encounter is an apt description,” he replied evenly. “If I had known then what would have come of it, I would never have dallied with you.”
“And yet you did,” the queen said, laughing wickedly. “And I was given the ability to birth legions of children, each one a servant of the dark lords.”
“Who could not stop the gods of Justice from creating others like me to counter you and your wickedness,” Argentium answered, his voice ringing with pride.
“Try as you might, you could never overwhelm all of us and take this world for your own,” he continued. “And you will not do so now. Your time is past, Aurumallia. The planet is renewed and the human race deserves its chance to grow with it. They managed to survive your heinous attempt at genocide and I will not allow you to harm them again.”
“You will not allow it? You?”
The queen laughed contemptuously.
“You cannot stop me, fool. I am the first dragon. I am the Mother. And I alone remain alive, after all of the others have fallen, to lay claim to this world. Stand aside or fall as my other enemies have before you; it means the same to me.”
Her body shook and shivered and Simon felt a chill settle over his heart.
She's going to change into her true form, he thought helplessly. And there is nothing that I can do to stop her. Wards or no wards, she'll squash my tower like it's made of sand.
“And what of your last children?” Argentium asked harshly.
Aurumallia stopped writhing and froze in place.
“My...children?”
The five armored men standing behind the argent dragon hadn't moved once since they had arrived. Each of them were watching the scene with seeming detachment and Simon wondered what, if anything, they felt about this confrontation between their own parents.
“Yes, my children. You have brought them back to me!”
The queen's voice became eager and almost girlish again. Her body bent toward them and a slender arm, human and frail, emerged from her wrappings to reach for them.
“Come to me, my beautiful sons. Argentium may have tried to twist your minds and turn you against me, but look at you now! Strong. Handsome. Ready to take your places at my side and rule this little world as we were meant to.”
She shuffled forward, tottering like a frail, ancient thing. It was a pathetic display and Simon almost felt sorry for her.
“And not just this world. When the lords of Chaos fully enter this realm, they have promised me that they will spread their power throughout the cosmos. They will reward our loyalty by taking us with them, to swarm over other planets and conquer them in the gods' names. We can subjugate this entire galaxy and, one day, the universe!”
“To what end?”
The young man with the white emblem on his chest had spoken. He watched the queen through pale blue eyes and his perfect features remained expressionless.
All of the young dragons bore a remarkable likeness to each other and, except for some minor differences in their facial structure, might have been clones. The only real difference between them was hair and eye color.
The one who had spoken had blond hair so pale that he looked like an albino. Next to him, the dragon whose armor was emblazoned with a red symbol appropriately enough had a mane of fiery red.
And so it went.
The black dragon had hair so dark that it looked purple. His brother, the green dragon, was blond but there was an emerald tinge to his shoulder-length hair. And finally, the young silver dragon had hair that was identical to Argentium's own.
“Why would we want to conquer anyone?” the red dragon asked coolly.
The young green dragon tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes.
“Or to stand at the side of evil and madness?” he asked.
“Why would we want anything to do with this world at all?” added the silver dragon.
Aurumallia stopped, a statue once again. It was hard to tell, but Simon thought that she was now staring at the only dragon to remain silent; the black.
“Surely you can see the magnificence of the future offered to us by our lords?” she asked him plaintively, her hand beckoning. “You who bear such a strong resemblance to my favorite son? He would have been the first to rush to my side and offer his support. He would have had the vision required to take the long view. Can you not do the same?”
The black dragon, his ebony eyes like two chips of coal, simply shook his head once.
“No,” he said.
“No?”
Aurumallia redrew her arm into her wrapping with a hiss of rage.
“So this is the thanks I get, is it? For using the last of my essence to create you? For giving you the power to change the world? You would betray me like this?”
“It is not betrayal,” Argentium told her calmly. “This is what a dragon becomes when his mind is not twisted and warped by the dark gods' influence. I did not try to subvert your children, Aurumallia. I simply ensured that they grew and matured in a place free of divine interference.”
“Remarkable, master,” Kronk whispered. “Is it possible that all those evil dragons that you fought became that way because the Chaos lords twisted their minds?”
Simon nodded as he watched the dragons.
“I think that it's more than possible,” he muttered. “Argentium told me that he was raising the young dragons in a hidden location, somewhere in the Void. Obviously that kept them insulated and away from any evil god's influence. Amazing.”
“They have been influenced,” Aurumallia said bitterly. “By you. Deny it all you want, but I know you warped their young minds with tales of honor and glory, stories of good deeds and bravery. All lies! Those qualities do not exist! They are illusions created by vipers like you to take advantage of others.”
The argent dragon shook his noble head sadly, denying her accusations.
“But I know you, Argentium,” she continued, her voice becoming louder and more enraged. �
��I know you. You seek vengeance for the deaths of your weak, pathetic tribe of lesser dragons. My kin, yes, but flawed creatures, suitable only for slaughter. Only the strongest survived our war, and the strongest were led by me!”
“You are wrong, my one-time queen,” he responded heavily. “But it is obvious that you have nurtured your delusions for so long that they have become your truth. So be it. For the sake of these five, your last children, I came here to try to reason with you. But I am done. What happens next will be dictated by your actions. Think carefully before you choose unwisely.”
The muffled figure, outlined in the light from the other dragons, began to shrink in on itself, becoming smaller and yet somehow more menacing.
“Nothing I do is unwise,” she spat. “For I am the queen of all dragons, even you and those ungrateful brats. Oh but you have brought this upon yourselves. Never forget that. Do not cry for mercy when you die of self-inflicted wounds, for that is what they will be.”
There was a moment of absolute stillness when the Earth itself seemed to be holding its breath.
And then all of the lights disappeared.
Chapter 30
Simon nervously stared into the impenetrable darkness.
What's happening, he wondered frantically.
“Master, what...”
“Shh! Listen!”
The wizard strained his senses to try to figure out what was going on. He was tempted to summon a light but was afraid of drawing undue attention to himself and the others.
For a few seconds, there was nothing to hear but the sound of his own pounding heart. He held his breath and waited for doom to fall.
An ear-shattering bellow shook the walls, followed by a huge explosion, like a bomb going off out in the middle of the field. A flurry of sound, several pairs of heavy wings flapping overhead and whipping up a sudden wind that pushed Simon to his knees, and then the night was quiet once again.
The Queen of Dragons (Tales from the New Earth Book 8) Page 38
