Offspring (The Sword of the Dragon)

by Appleton, Scott

  Cry now for children torn from play,

  For mothers slain by the corrupted giants,

  Weep for the king that should not have lived to see this day.

  Will not a champion rise to stay the wizard’s hand?

  When will justice be dealt to end his dread?

  Who will save this burning land?

  Who will rise to deal justice upon the wizard’s head?

  It seemed a strange thing for crickets to sing. She whispered their phrases into the night, then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  The next morning Oganna rose with the dawn. The air felt strangely warm for so early an hour. Putting away her bedding, she roused the viper. “I’m going to explore. Do you want to come along?”

  “Certainly, Mistress. Psst! I wouldn’t miss this.” It wrapped itself around her outstretched arm and settled its head over her right shoulder.

  Oganna walked over the next hill and the next until she came to the top of a rise that stood higher than all the land ahead of her. To her astonishment she saw a vast stretch of rolling hills that extended from the base of the hills on which she stood to a trio of mountains in the distance. Smoke rose from the smoldering ruins of innumerable buildings throughout the region, and geometrically laid out roads converged from the horizon, allowing access to the buildings and a main highway that drew a straight line to the mountains.

  A multitude of dead domesticated animals dotted the landscape in dried pools of their own blood. Arrows lay strewn on the ground with broken spears and an occasional sword. She descended the hill and tried to pick up one of the swords by its handle. But it was twice the size of Avenger and at least three times as heavy. She released her hold.

  Kneeling next to an arrow, she ran her finger along its shaft. It was as long as a man, and its head dwarfed any she’d ever seen. Not far off lay a spear with a shaft at least sixteen feet long! She stood and walked to the nearest structure, a four-walled home with its roof caved in. The doorway rose five feet higher above her head.

  “Oganna!” Vectra’s massive foot splintered the spear. Behind her the other megatraths lumbered over the hills, and suddenly the objects scattered about seemed small.

  Vectra picked up the sword and stabbed its blade into the ground. Then she raised the front third of her body and picked up a couple arrows in each hand. The megatrath cracked them in her teeth. “I was worried about you, Princess. You should not wander off alone. This land is foreign. We do not know what creatures inhabit it.”

  “I had no idea that there were people living this far north.” Oganna shook her head and gaped at the structure. “Look at this place. It’s as if giants built it.”

  “And fought a war here.” Vectra lumbered through the field, picking up various weapons. She lifted a shield and smashed her fist into it. But the shield held, and she pulled back her hand, shaking it and growling.

  Vectra hunched down beside Oganna and eyed her quizzically. “Did you imagine that this part of the world would be any less interesting than ours? Take my word for this.” She wiggled her claws at the territory ahead of them. “Subterran is full of other civilizations, some old, some young, some wicked and some good.”

  Oganna nodded thoughtfully. “It looks as if someone burned this place out and it wasn’t with the consent of the inhabitants. Look at the weapons and livestock. Someone made war on these people.”

  “It does look that way.” Vectra kicked another shield aside. “And I have little doubt that this devastation is somehow linked to the viper raids on the Hemmed Land.”

  “No doubt.” Oganna walked to the main highway and followed it toward a large hill. Vectra lumbered beside her, a comforting reminder of a mighty ally. Smoke rose from behind the hill, and the point of a spire stabbed at the sky. The highway disappeared over the hilltop. Without warning her companions, she ran to the crest and peered beyond.

  In a very deep and wide valley rested the ruins of a mighty city constructed of stone. A wall rose over forty feet high around its perimeter. Streets lined the city in the shape of a sailing ship wheel, with four highways as spokes running from the center to the four gates below the valley’s rim. A wooden archway, inscribed with letters from the ancient alphabet, crowned the nearest gate.

  “‘Netroth.’”

  Vectra, coming up from behind, caught her breath and laid a restraining hand on Oganna’s shoulders. “Take care, Princess. I have heard of this place. It is a city of the giants. Little bodes well with those creatures, for they are warlike and powerful.”

  Oganna couldn’t help smiling at that. “Sounds like another race I know.”

  They descended into the valley and passed under the arch into the city. The one hundred megatraths pounded after them. Every footstep resounded through the empty streets, and the air smelled mildly of rotten eggs. Dead animals lay everywhere, and most of the buildings had been burned.

  The spire that Oganna had seen belonged to a citadel at the city’s heart. It spiked above the four highways that led to the gates and intersected beneath it. A gargantuan stone ramp appeared to be the only way to enter the structure. This ramp dropped one hundred feet from the citadel entrance to the highway ahead of her and descended on either side of an arch, allowing passage underneath to the rest of the city. Deep chips in the citadel walls and chunks of stone lying around it indicated it had endured bombardment.

  Nevertheless, the city itself had fared far worse. Whether that was due to its weaker construction or an enemy’s wrath she could not determine. Oganna felt as if she was walking through a land of ghosts.

  She climbed an enormous stone step into one of the houses and gazed at the ceiling rafters ten feet above her head. Spiders crawled over thinly spread webs between the rafters and two beams crossed beneath them for support. It didn’t smell musty, but something putrid made her pinch her nose. She wandered past the kitchen table with two large wooden chairs on either end. A third lay on the floor with a broken leg. An iron stove sat against the one wall. She stood on tip toe to see the stovetop. Burned eggs and bacon filled a pan. And to the side a raw egg had broken on the cooling shelf.

  Leaving the cooking area, she spotted an open door in the far wall. In the room beyond, she could see an enormous bunk bed with sheets neatly tucked under the mattress and fluffed pillows. She left the building to peer into the next one. A broken table and chairs littered the wood floor and red splotches dotted the planks. The plaster wall had cracked, and a telltale red stain streaked from above her head to the floor. A torn shirt large enough for three men to fit in lay on the floor before her.

  In each home that she searched she found not a soul. She found meals left uncooked, and others with tables set and the dinner unfinished. Either the giants had fled, or they’d been forced to leave.

  She stood on the steps of one huge mansion, feeling like a midget, and watched the daylight fade. “It appears as though the citadel is the sturdiest structure remaining in this city.” She glanced back at Vectra as the creature stuck its head in another doorway. She waited until the megatrath pulled its head out and returned her gaze. “We should take residence inside it for the night … just in case whoever did this comes back.”

  Vectra nodded and roared down the city streets. The other megatraths emerged from various buildings, and walls collapsed in their wake. They came at her summons and stood while she pointed out the citadel. “We will take refuge in there for the night. Tomorrow we will do a more thorough search of these buildings.”

  One megatrath lumbered out of line. “Vectra, I don’t think that would be the wisest course of action.”

  Vectra wheeled on the creature, grabbing its neck in her claws and driving its head into the stone pavement. “Dare to question my word again, and I will personally crush you into this rubble.”

  “But Vectra, I only wanted—”

  She spun in a tight circle, crashed her bulk into his, and sent him flying into a pile of loose stones. He shook himself and rose. She roared in his face, spewe
d fire until he cried for mercy, and thwacked him with her boney tail before eyeing the others. “Any more objections?”

  Oganna shook her head and set off after Vectra in the direction of the great ramp. The megatrath’s ways seemed strange. Effective—and yet strange. She observed the creatures’ expressions. In spite of their leader’s apparent insensitivity or, perhaps because of it, they were smiling.

  The viper’s tongue tickled her ear. “Psst, Mistress! Your companions are very strange.”

  “Shush, now.” She stroked Neneila’s head. “You are also a strange companion.”

  “Psst, no I am not.”

  “Oh? What makes you say that?”

  “You will see, Mistress. I am not the first viper that has bound myself to a human, and you will find it to be very advantageous. Psst! Wait, and you will see what I mean.”

  The citadel ramp rose before her. Oganna strode up it with Vectra and two other megatraths leading the way. The stone construction fascinated her. Stone tiles cut in the shape of diamonds covered the walkway. She peeked over the edge. There were no railings along the side, in spite of the dangerous plunge anyone who stumbled would take over the edge. A blast of cold air threatened to throw her off, and she shuddered, imagining herself slipping and then falling over fifty feet into the streets below.

  She followed Vectra to the citadel’s entrance. “Goodness!” Vectra exclaimed as she threw her weight against the hefty iron doors. “How did the giants open these?” The megatraths struggled against them until they finally opened noiselessly inward.

  The megatraths pushed inside and unpiled an assortment of heavy objects blocking the entry. Oganna pointed to a heavy, square stone that had been set against the inside of the doors. “There’s your answer, Vectra. I don’t think the giants intended for these to be opened.”

  The citadel was incredible. It could have defined the word ‘incredible.’ A pillar rose from the center of the floor to a junction where eight arches met high in the structure. Several stairways recessed into the walls, and each of them spiraled upward. Doorways opened in the walls along the stairs. All around her, she saw furniture strewn on the cold floor.

  “Oganna, come over here.” Vectra stood in the doorway to an adjoining chamber.

  Peering around the megatrath, Oganna let out a long breath. “Wow.” Ornately carved wood covered the room’s high walls. Wooden flowers, swords, spears, scrolls, and people adorned the upper half and the ceiling. Wooden rods ran parallel lines several feet off the floor, until they were hidden at the far side of the room behind an empty stone throne. Chiseled into the wall above was a sentence written in the ancient alphabet. “Vectra, what does it say?”

  “‘The voice of the One speaks for all.’”

  Oganna stepped into the room. “One thing is now certain: this place was built by giants. I don’t know if we should be thankful that they aren’t here, or if we should pity their apparent demise.”

  She ran her fingers down the wood panels that formed the walls. Each one was covered with a unique carving. Some depicted battles, others showed ceremonies, and others showed families fitted in fancy clothing. “So many souls,” she said in a hushed voice. “So many nameless faces.” She gazed upon the image of a father holding his infant child in his arms and she glanced at her feet. How many innocent lives had been ruined in this place?

  The viper reached out with the tip of its tail and caught her tear. “Psst! Mistress, you should get some rest.”

  “For once I agree with the serpent.” Vectra growled and beckoned with a massive hand. “Come. We’ll need your help to set up the tent your father packed for you.”

  An enormous fireplace had been built into a wall in the main chamber. Several megatraths left the citadel via the ramp and reappeared minutes later with armloads of timber. They stacked some of it in the fireplace and breathed gentle flames on the wood. The fire flickered and burned hot, warding off the night chill.

  Oganna pulled out her bedroll and placed it near the fire. Vectra started to take out the tent from one of the packs they’d trundled along, but Oganna raised her hand to stop her. “This will do fine.” She and the viper slipped under the bedding, and the heat from the fire filled her with toasty warmth.

  With all the megatraths inside the citadel, she expected to sleep sound in the knowledge that she was safe. Yet every shifting stone she heard startled her wide-awake, and every howl of the wind against the citadel sent shivers down her spine. The place seemed to invite her worst nightmares to come true.

  She thought of the empty city. What had happened to the people? Even if most of them had been killed in a war, shouldn’t there be some survivors in such a large city? And why weren’t there any human bodies? They could not simply vanish. She pulled the blanket closer to her chin and steeled herself against morbid thoughts.

  Tomorrow she would get a fresh start and find out what happened here. Maybe if she discovered what had become of the giants’ civilization, she would find out who had sent the vipers and the Art’en to attack the Hemmed Land. Her father had called the wizard responsible for placing him under a spell by a certain name, but it escaped her. Feeling tired from her long day, she rested her mind.

  The next day a cold drizzle fell on the city. Vectra punched several megatraths in their sides. They roused, growling as they rose to their feet, and lumbered to the enormous citadel doors. Other megatraths pulled the doors open, and the megatraths plodded down the ramp.

  Oganna stepped onto the walkway. Neneila the viper draped over her shoulders and lashed a forked tongue into the air. The megatraths thudded into the city and spread through the streets, poking in and out of buildings. Another line of them passed her and followed the first group into the streets.

  Oganna craned her neck to see the entirety of the citadel. The stone structure rose majestically, almost touching a dark cloud. She returned inside, gazing around the interior. At the stairs she lifted her foot to the first step, twice as large as the ones in her father’s house.

  “Be careful.” Vectra rose next to her, her dark eyes probing the stairwell. “If there are any survivors, they may be up there.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I have my weapons with me.” She climbed each of the stone steps to the second level, a wide-open room with a floor of stone blocks. No wonder the arches in the main chamber were necessary. Anything less could not support the weight of this floor.

  Continuing to the third level, she entered a broad hallway. On the right a wooden door with a heavy iron latch at eye level blocked her way.

  Drawing Avenger from its sheath, she waited for it to turn crimson before thrusting it through the wood and cutting a hole large enough for her to pass through. The room into which she stepped turned out to be the giants’ armory … and what an armory it was. Swords, ranging in size from six to nine feet long rested in velvet-lined, wood cases along the walls. Each of the weapons shone like polished silver. The room smelled stale, as if it had not been opened for some time, and a layer of dust hung in the corners.

  An assortment of spears hung at the far end, their shafts decorated with dyed feathers and streamers. Wood and leather shields lined the left- and right-hand walls, and a few maces lay on a table in the center. She imagined what it must have been like to see an army of giants wielding these weapons in battle. What a magnificent and terrible sight they must have made!

  She left the armory and found more stairs leading up. They brought her above the armory to the interior of the citadel’s spire. It was breathtaking. Steel beams rose on all sides, crisscrossing one another to a great height before joining at the roof’s peak, at least a couple hundred feet up. Along the interior of this structure another staircase snaked upward, its steps clinging to the inside walls as they circled the spherical interior. “Here we go,” she said as the viper gaped at the ascent.

  “Psst! Mistress, are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “Of course it is.” She started climbing the stairs, grunting with t
he ache in her leg muscles. “Why do you ask?”

  The viper tightened around her arm and gulped. “If we fall. Psst—splat!”

  Oganna laughed and continued the climb. There was a railing, but it rested just above her head, so she kept as close as possible to the wall in order to avoid the steps’ edges.

  As she climbed the stairs she gained a more intimate view of the awesome structure. The roof appeared to be of stone construction, though it may have been a compound, such as clay. Steel reinforcements held it together. It took her a while to reach the top. Standing on that final step, she faced a metal door set in the roof. Pushing the iron latch upward to open the door proved impossible, for it was exceedingly heavy. Instead she wedged her sword under it and broke the latch. She waited for the severed metal to fall, then opened the door with relative ease and stepped through onto an observation platform on the roof.

  From this vantage point the city buildings looked like miniatures. The smoke mixed with a steady rain to form a haze. The highway by which she had come to Netroth shot out of the valley to the hilly region where smoke still rose from some of the burned dwellings in that direction.

  Bringing her attention back to the citadel, she examined the platform on which she stood. It circled the steeply inclined roof near the top of the spire. She walked to the opposite side of the observation platform and looked to the north. Things appeared to be much the same, except for the mountains arising in the distance. Smoldering, ruined buildings and slaughtered livestock dotted the landscape.

  Just beyond the grass-covered terrain, a dark hill stabbed skyward. Try as she might she could not see it clearly, partly because it was so far away and partly because smoke rose from it at several points.

  “Neneila, do you see that?” She pointed as best she could toward the distant dark hill. “Can you make out what that is?”