Choice

by Gary Stringer

  “What you talking about? We don’t have time for this, Phaer, you’ve said so yourself. I have to help you!”

  “That’s what I’m talking about. I won’t have you choosing to live for my sake. I don’t want that responsibility. What if you’re healed and I don’t make it? Are you just going to end up here again, following the river into Death?”

  “I promise I won’t.”

  “No, you still don’t get it. I don’t want you to promise anything to me. Living or dying is your choice, but either way it has to be for you. Not for me, not for Eilidh or Ellie or anybody else. It’s your life and you have to live it for yourself. It’s like you were saying about the beauty of life. Through that First Door is true beauty. The beauty that Ellie painted. But if our world loses you, then it loses some of that beauty. Don’t rob the world of your beauty, Callie. Take the risk. Take the gamble. Choose life! Choose it for yourself!” “I do get it, I really do!You’re right, and I have chosen. I want to take the chance. I want to live! Just tell me what to do.”

  “You just have to go through Life’s Door.”

  “As simple as that?”

  “Yes, but you have to do it yourself. I can't carry you there and you can't get there as you are now, because your appearance is a lie. You're not an elf; you're a dragon. A magnificent, shining silver dragon and as a dragon you must choose to fly. Fly through Life's Door and reclaim your body.Reclaim your life.”

  “I will,” Callie stated with conviction, embracing the ranger. “I will. Thank you, Phaer. Thank you foreverything!” She let go of him and stepped proudly forward upstream. There, she transformed into her true silver dragon shape. A wind started blowing, equivalent in strength to the river's current. It was already much stronger than it had been when she’d first entered and it was a struggle to make progress against it. How much easier it would have been to simply go with it and let it carry her on to Paradise, but she refused the easy option. She beat her wings strongly, steadily, recalling all of her old techniques and she chose life.

  She chose life! She chose...

  Callie woke up in her real body. Her eyes snapped open.

  “I'm alive!” she cried.

  * * * * * Aqua's healing powers were effective. Callie felt the strength return to her wings, her body. It only frustrated her that she couldn't fly in here. The aquatic kingdom was all very nice, very pretty, but she needed open air. She needed to fly. She needed to be the dragon she was born to be. She couldn't wait to get started.

  Aqua assigned an escort to get Air, Loric and Callie to the surface. Insisting on being part of that escort was a familiar face - the confident young Bronze dragon, aptly named Brash.

  “Ready to get started?” he asked. “Poke Niltsiar in the eye with a sharp claw?”

  “I think it'll take rather more than that,” Loric admonished the eager young buck.

  “Whatever it takes,” he vowed, solemnly.

  Loric gave him a sharp nod of respect.

  “Well, that's the four of us ready to go,” Callie confirmed, “but what about Phaer?” she asked Aqua. Since he'd returned to his body, the ranger had been in absolute agony, wracked by wave after wave of pain. It was by leagues the worst it had been, like he'd been dropped into a pool of acid and was now being boiled alive. He couldn't understand how he was still conscious.

  “Yes, I've been thinking about that,” Aqua mused, “and there's only one way I can think of to help him. It's a bit drastic and not without risk, but it's the only way.”

  The others encouraged him to do whatever he could. Without warning, Aqua sprang at Phaer and pulled him to his feet. Aqua’s right hand with splayed fingers latched onto the halfelf’s forehead, his left putting pressure on the small of his back, and in one fluid movement, he tipped the disoriented half-elf backwards, laying him quickly but gently on the ground. Then he spoke softly to Phaer in a low, droning voice.

  “Listen to me, Phaer. Listen to my voice. Listen only to my voice. Nothing else matters. Nothing else exists. There is only my voice. My voice in the darkness. Latch onto that voice as the only thing in creation. My voice is your salvation. You must hear my voice and obey. You want to obey. There is no reason to resist. You don't want to resist. You know my voice is the truth. You believe in my words absolutely. You trust them implicitly. You obey them unwaveringly. Listen to me, Phaer. Listen to my voice. Listen to my words. You don't need to breathe, Phaer. Don't breathe. Don't even try. You feel no pain. You've forgotten what pain is. It doesn't exist. You feel wonderful. You will remain in this state until you reach Shakaran Castle. You will remain dimly, distantly aware of your surroundings, so you will know when you are there. Until then, remember: you don't need to breathe and you feel no pain. No breathing and no pain.”

  Aqua stepped back, clearly drained. “Hypnosis magic,” he explained. “I've always found that quite tiring.”

  “And he really doesn’t need to breathe?” Callie marvelled. “I’ve slowed his body down – not stopped, otherwise he’d be dead – but slowed to an almost infinitesimal metabolic rate. So long as you’re quick, he’ll be at Shakaran before his body needs to take another breath. Mortal clerics can do something similar.”

  “I’m not nearly that advanced yet,” Calandra said, regretfully.

  Loric noted that her old Calandra affectations of speech were gone, as if her near death experience had given her a whole new lease of life. Had she finally fully accepted herself as a dragon? He wondered. “You’ll get there in time,” Aqua assured her, “but right now, time for Phaer is in very short supply. He needs a smooth, steady ride. Any jolts or sudden movements could kill him. Not even the best aquatic dragon could do it and it would be fatal to break the spell improperly. Also, keep him away from any strong magic, so that rules out Corridors.”

  “A fast, smooth, steady ride, eh?” Callie spoke up. “He'll be needing a lift from a silver, then.”

  “Are you sure you're up to it?” Loric asked, concerned.

  “Of course she's up to it!” Air interjected. “She's a silver. There are no better flyers, although I wouldn't say that in front of my Sapphire Knights.”

  “I'd hoped you'd come with me, Callie,” Loric objected, half-heartedly, already knowing it was not to be.

  She moved closer and gentlytouched his hand. “I'd love to. Really. But Phaer saved my life. He

  made a tough journey for me. The least I can do is make his next journey an easy one.Of course, there’s no guarantee Eilidh will be at the castle when we get there, but it’s the only chance Phaer’s got.”

  “In the meantime,” Air reminded her charge with a friendly nudge, “you've still got two stages of the Penta Drauka to complete. And I'd very much like to come along to see how it turns out, if you don't mind.”

  Loric smiled. “You've not led me astray so far.”

  “I'll go with Callie,” said Brash. “Look after her for you.” “I'm quite capable of looking after myself, thank you,” Callie huffed. “But you're welcome to come anyway. Lucky for you, to be on the safe side, I won’t be using my top speed, so if you fly well, you might just be able to keep up. Besides, when we get to Shakaran, I'm sure Eilidh could use another dragon.”

  So it was decided. Callie shifted to her dragon form and at Aqua’s request, a group of sea elves brought a complex harness system with which they could strap Phaer to Callie’s back. The silver had initially insisted that a harness was not necessary, her own flight skills being perfectly up to the task but ultimately agreed it was a reasonable precaution. Besides, for the swim to the surface, the system would serve to contain Phaer in a bubble of magic, keeping the half elf warm and dry.

  After saying hasty goodbyes to Aqua, the four dragons were soon swimming their way uneventfully to the surface.

  Chapter 14

  Once they were on dry land, Loric remarked that he could feel the pull of the Penta Drauka magic, giving him a clear direction.

  “What about Shakaran? Which way is that?” He asked Air, calli
ng upon her expert navigational skills, but to his surprise, both Air and Callie answered together.

  “It’s that way,” they said, both pointing in the same direction.

  “How did you know that, Callie?” asked Loric. “The position and angle of the sun, the outline of the Iciconia Mountains on the distant horizon, the rotation of theplanet, magnetic flow lines…all kinds of things,” Callie replied. “I may not have done much flying lately, but I haven’t forgotten my techniques. It’s as simple as counting your wingbeats.”

  “You count your wingbeats?” Air asked in wonder.

  “Doesn’t everyone?” Callie wondered. “Look, I’d better get moving, time is of the essence for Phaer. I’ll catch you guys later! Come on, Brash!”

  With that, the two metallic dragons took to the sky and began their journey.

  Loric and Air watched them for a few moments, as they flew into the distance. “She’s good,” Air remarked. “In fact, she’s very good! Her wingbeats are strong and regular, her technique is efficient, her navigation is first rate…and you say she hadn’t spent much time living as a dragon even before heraccident?”

  “That’s right,” Loric confirmed. “She was living as an elven cleric when I first met her, and had been for a long while.”

  “Amazing! I haven’t seen a dragon that naturally gifted since…well…me!”

  “You?”

  “I mean, the blue dragon I was before the Penta Drauka magic,” she clarified. “Speaking of which, none of this is getting you any closer to completing your fourth segment. You ready to go?”

  “Ready,” he affirmed.

  “Lead the way, then!” Air grinned. “We can work on your flying skills a bit more on the way. Loric set off, wings beating rhythmically up and down, up and down, with just the occasional shake to get rid of the water that was still clinging tenaciously to his obsidian hide. Beside him flew the Elder Dragon of Air, silver scales dazzling, sapphire scales shimmering and midnight blue scales radiating with an iridescent glow. It was glorious to be back in her element again, doing what she did best: flying. After all, her kind had no rival: nothing in the whole of Majaos could fly like a dragon.

  * * * * * Behind them, unseen, something bobbled to the ocean surface. It was alive. Unlike any life this world had ever seen, but most definitely alive. It had no bones, no muscles, no discrete internal organs. It was a bag of flesh - in fact, not even flesh, as this world knew it. It was a gel, on the verge between liquid and solid. Its skin membrane rippled and undulated, and then, casually, it split in two, then four and seven. Soon a total of thirty of the creatures existed in that place, yet they were one and the same. This creature had lived in the ocean since it arrived in this world, being the closest habitat to the liquid environment it knew as home. But now it had just witnessed something remarkable. Something it had never observed before.

  As soon as the aquatic kingdom realised these creatures had the power of mimicry, they became worried about exactly this eventuality, and so the dragons banned flight. They could swim where they wished, but never leave the ocean. There had been a major outcry when Princess Katakaran was the first to disobey, but once again her mistakes had a positive result, helping to save the princess of the City of Shakaran, with which they had close diplomatic ties. In addition, the news Taka brought convinced the ruling government to send a single representative to the outside world. Young Brash volunteered. Otherwise, though, the ban was adhered to, the law obeyed, flight forbidden. But then the Elder Dragon of Air brought the Penta Drauka student to her counterpart of Water. They brought with them a most unique request for healing and Aqua could not turn his back.

  But the two dragons, Elder and student, had brought with them not one patient, but two. Phaer could not use the Corridors, which were out of action anyway. So, for Callie an exception was made on medical emergency grounds and of course Brash was still an authorised representative. That left

  Air and Loric, and after Princess Katakaran put in a good word, it was decided that, well, it was only this one last time and that would be the end of it. One last exception wouldn't do any harm.

  It was a mistake. The liquid blob creatures dragged and rolled themselves onto the beach, whereupon they changed and grew, each taking on a long, sleek body, a head with powerful jaws, a tail for balance and, most importantly, a pair of huge membranous wings. They took on the form of dragons and as dragons they did what dragons do best: They beat their wings and took to the sky, flying for the first time.

  Flying, swarming after the two on whom they had modelled themselves. Thirty dragons following two.

  They didn't know it yet, but Air and Loric were being chased.

  * * * * * Eilidh was in her quarters. It was a small room, dominated by a lovely soft bed that the young woman knew she was going to miss when she was back on the road. To one side stood an ornate mahogany vanity table with a large mirror, at which Eilidh had recently begun to experiment with a few simple cosmetics. Make-up had been somewhat frowned upon at the Church of Life where she grew up, but many of the other girls had been happy to flout the rules, or at least push their boundaries, to see how much they could get away with. Eilidh never had.

  It was curious, thinking back to her childhood days of Church life. Indeed, it was curious that she thought of herself as a child back then and a grown-up now. It really hadn't been that long. Less than a year all told. Not long, really. But circumstances had forced her to grow up in ways she had never imagined she would. She used to consider herself a very mature individual back then. Truth was, in so many ways, she'd been completely clueless.

  At the Church, her life had been consumed with training to be a Catalyst, and she was a damn good one, too. Since the moment she said `yes` to Gamaliel, though, she had spent very little time actually being a Catalyst. She had become a leader, an explorer, a puzzle solver - well, to be fair, she'd always been the latter, but that wasn't the point. The point was that only now was she learning what it was to be a human being, a person...a woman. The last part mostly thanks to Princess Mystaya.

  Since Eilidh had sent her two scouting parties out to search for Life Eddies, Eilidh had been at a bit of a loose end. Initially, she had joined Rochelle in the study room, but the gnome was more than capable and she had such a head start on Eilidh that the Catalyst felt a bit surplus to requirements. Eilidh knew how frustrated she got when she had to take two steps back, mentally, to explain something when she wanted to be moving her own knowledge and understanding forward. She quickly realised she was just getting in Rochelle’s way and slowing her down. That could prove costly in the future, so she settled for a short written summary at the end of the week, which Rochelle was only too happy to provide. Frankly, for the first time in her life, Eilidh had to concede that she may have met her match as a student.

  Eilidh didn't completely abandon the books, though. She began to wonder if she'd been too quick to dismiss Rochelle's historical research and after apologising to her friend, began to explore some of the details herself. Perhaps the most startling discovery was they were all written in the same hand. And it wasn't just a case of having a common scribe - the tone, the voice, the style of each book was too similar for that. So either the scribe in question was in the habit of plagiarising other people's work or it was all the work of one person. Or at the very least, research headed up by the same person: Ganieda.

  "I have helped you in the best and only way I can," she had told Rochelle and now Eilidh understood what she meant. She'd given them the best weapon they could ever have - knowledge. Moreover, since this research dated to a time after Merlyn took her away from Majaos, it was knowledge Niltsiar could not possibly have. But that led to a further realisation: If Niltsiar didn't know Ganieda's method of locating the Well of Life, she must have some other way.

  I wonder how she's doing it. Interesting as this was, it wasn’t really helping.

  Eilidh had also flicked through a number of stories involving the fabled Du y Kharia. Unsurprisingly
, they were no help. They always ended with some huge final battle. Something the Catalyst was desperate to avoid. She couldn’t win that way.

  Having nothing practical to do, Eilidh had started to feel like something of a spare part, until Princess Mystaya had appeared and asked if Eilidh would like to accompany her for a walk around the castle grounds.

  “It's the only exercise I get these days, other than training sessions,” sighed the princess. “I'm not allowed to go anywhere now, even with an escort. I understand, of course, and I appreciate it's a minor inconvenience while people are losing their lives in this dreadful war. But it's still frustrating.”

  Eilidh agreed and quite to her surprise, they bonded, quickly forming a strong and easy friendship. It was a new experience to the Catalyst who, under her friend's gentle guidance, was quickly blossoming into a fine young Lady of Prince Garald's court. At the moment, that meant a splash of lip colour, a touch of mascara on her lashes - preferably without poking her eyes out - and scented candles burning, preparing for a girlie evening with the Princess.

  No, not `the Princess`, she corrected herself: `Mystaya`. At first, Eilidh had resisted Mystaya’s efforts, worrying about how it might affect her image with the others, but Mystaya had gently rebuked her for talking such nonsense. Eilidh remembered the event vividly…

  * * * * *

  “Look at me,” said Mystaya, as they walked together, arm in arm. “I wear a sword at my side, and a flower in my hair. It’s not a contradiction.” As if to prove her words, as they rounded a corner, they saw nearly a dozen chaos creatures that had somehow penetrated the Castle’s defences. Mystaya used a Techmagic communications device to warn the palace guard, but rather than wait for them, she called on her conjuror magic to shoot streams of magical fire at them while they were still at range. As Eilidh Granted her Life, Mystaya grabbed a necklace chain she wore around her neck and snapped off a figurine, throwing it on the floor.