Lord Sweyn eyed Jimmy suspiciously when he began to chuckle. “I’ll ask the cook for some stew. I think you’re going mad with the cold. I’m sure we can spare the rations.” Then the knight looked to Ash. “Not for him, though. King Ase is a just man, but he won’t take from his men to feed the likes of him.”
Jimmy was too cold to take proper offense. So he shrugged off the comment. “We’ll find him something around here.”
“No!” Lord Sweyn’s voice rose sharply. “You will not leave this spot. The enemy is about.”
Jimmy cut his eyes from left to right. He saw nothing but an open field and one small hill far across the clearing. The birds he thought he heard earlier were quiet. He smelled salt water nearby and sweat. The latter was coming from the knight’s animal pelt. Jimmy found he liked it, and pulled it tighter.
“I don’t see anything,” he challenged.
“And you won’t, until it’s too late. Stay put and I will see what I can do.” With that he was gone.
Jimmy watched as Lord Sweyn disappeared down the embankment. Then he rubbed his eyes as the knight disappeared completely.
Everyone was gone.
Jimmy jumped up, dropping the warm animal fur and stepped toward the tree line.
“Where did they go?”
Ash had no response.
Jimmy craned his neck to peer out over the field. There was nothing but grass and small hills down there.
Then, a thin wisp of smoke escaped one of the hills. Jimmy squinted.
More smoke rose in short bursts here and there all over the field. Jimmy’s stomach tightened when the smell hit him.
Food. Good food.
Ash groaned in agreement. Between them, they shared a pang of hunger through their bond.
Tiny brown and gray squares became visible at the base of the hills as Jimmy’s eyes followed where the smoke was coming from.
The hillside was one massive roof, patches of landscape thrown over framed structures to blend into the woods. Squares and rectangles that looked like natural rock formations were actually doors and windows, chimneys for the smoke.
Once Jimmy knew what he was looking for, hundreds of these makeshift homes dotted the land. As he stared on in wonder, Lord Sweyn appeared in one of the secret doorways, holding a large bowl.
He’d removed his helmet, revealing thick blonde hair that fell all the way to his shoulders. The knight climbed the embankment slowly, careful not to spill any of the food.
When he got close enough, he said, “You should thank King Ase if you get the chance to meet him. He gave of his own ration so your friend here could eat.”
Jimmy reached out to take the steaming wooden bowl and opened his mouth to thank Lord Sweyn, when the knight lifted his head.
Jimmy stared, mouth wide, at the birthmark on his father’s face.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“Here.” Lord Sweyn - Jimmy’s dad — extended the bowl toward him. “Take it. I have his in my pocket.” He tapped the side of his leg with his free hand. When Jimmy didn’t reach for the soup, his dad shrugged and sat it down on the grass. “It’s gonna get cold.”
Up until that moment, Jimmy had been starving. He’d counted Lord Sweyn’s steps up the embankment in anticipation. Now, there was no way his body would accept food. Every part of him went rigid with… what? Hatred. Longing. Shock. All of them plus many more things he’d never felt before welled up inside him, rendering his arms and legs useless.
“Sit,” his dad said. “I think you’re catching a chill.” His dad nudged him backward and Jimmy crumbled.
Lord — Dad — sat down beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “For warmth,” he said. Then he motioned for Ash to come sit as well, and Ash obeyed.
Jimmy sat there for a long time staring out across the field, past the invisible houses, past the large hill on the other side of the invisible houses, into open pink and orange sky. He sat there, letting Ash and his dad give him warmth he no longer felt.
His dad.
What was happening? Not for the first time that day, or however long they’d been here, Jimmy wondered if he’d hit his head at some point. If this was all a dream, that would make way more sense.
So many thoughts flew through Jimmy’s head, most too fast to even catch. They just dropped their emotional bombs on him and took off. When he finally found his senses, one overriding feeling remained.
Rage.
Ash felt it and stiffened. Through their bond he asked Jimmy if he should light the knight on fire.
God help him, he wanted to say ‘yes.’
Jimmy turned to his dad and asked, “Lord Sweyn,” — the name tasted like vomit in his mouth — “why are you here?”
He couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact yet, not with the man, or the birthmark. So as his father began to speak, Jimmy stared at the ornate clasp holding his cloak together, instead of looking at his face. “Well, I was, uh, summoned, by the Queen. King Daegen and his men have been siphoning off the rare minerals under this land…”
The cloak looked to be leather, but thin, not like anything Jimmy had seen before. The clasp that held it on… this man’s… body, was a dull metal hammer with black markings etched into it. One side consisted of the handle and the other, the hammer itself. It looked ancient, much like everything else in this world.
Ash must have noticed the birthmark while Lord Sweyn prattled on about war, because he let out a gasp down their magic bond. Jimmy quickly shushed him.
He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew one thing. He did not want this man to be his father.
Good thing he gave his birthmark to the gatekeeper. He could get Rowan and Isaac from camp and get the heck out of here. They’d have to find a way out since the mountain disappeared, and find Lhysa again.
His thoughts turned to Ash, and having to say goodbye.
“… learn all this in your studies?” his dad was saying.
“Huh?” Jimmy asked.
“From what region did you come? A boy your age should know all this.” There was such compassion in his dad’s voice that Jimmy couldn’t stop himself from looking up to meet his gaze.
Those emerald green eyes had narrowed between two furrowed bushy eyebrows. Jimmy found himself wondering if his brows were that blonde. He’d never noticed before. He’d have to check if he ever got out of here.
Jimmy stared into his dad’s eyes, willing himself not to look down toward the birthmark on his cheek. But the mere thought of it sent his eyes in that direction. There it was. Bigger than his own, bigger than it had been in the picture in the barn, and lighter.
His dad’s eyebrows raised in question and Jimmy realized he’d never answered. “Uh… not from around here. Ash, uh…” Jimmy patted Ash’s head. “We were practicing flying and got lost.”
“You put three kids on his back?” Jimmy’s dad inspected Ash, who was nowhere large enough for three passengers.
“No, well, not at the same time, uh…” Jimmy didn’t know how to get out of this. “Are my friends alright? We need to get out of here.” Jimmy scrambled to stand, knocking over the bowl of soup. It had gone cold by then and the liquid oozed out slowly, yellowing the snow.
“Hold on,” Jimmy’s dad grabbed his arm.
Jimmy jerked out of his grasp. “Unhand me. Where are my friends? I need to get them out of here, now.”
“Whoa, calm down. They’re fine. They need their rest and so do you. We can take care of you all, now. You worry too much, kid.”
One of us has to, Jimmy thought.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jimmy’s dad sounded shocked.
“Did you read my mind?” Jimmy accused, spewing the words like venom. How dare he.
“No, I read his.” Jimmy’s dad motioned toward Ash.
Jimmy instructed Ash to shut down his thoughts. The bond went black. “Don’t ever do that again,” he growled at his dad.
“Whoa, okay. Look, I don’t know what’s gotten into yo
u but, please, sit back down. You can’t go marching into my camp all hostile. Kid or not, my men will defend themselves.” Jimmy’s dad pulled him gently back down. “You look old enough to take up arms, so you wouldn’t get far.”
Jimmy huffed and leaned against the tree. He locked his arms in front of his chest so his dad couldn’t come near him.
“Now,” his dad said, undeterred. “How about you tell me what really happened? How you guys ended up in the middle of a battlefield, and how your friend got hurt. And for all that is holy, how you have a dragon?”
“You want the truth?” Jimmy turned toward his dad and stared him directly in the birthmark. “Don’t we all.”
“I just want to help you,” his dad said. Again such warmth and sincerity filled his voice.
“Fine. But you won’t believe me.” Jimmy shrugged, and told the truth. “We were riding magic horses on a mountain and found this castle. A very bad man was in it. He tried to kill us. We escaped. The mountain broke apart, falling on Rowan, and then disappeared right when Isac opened a door to this.” Jimmy let all the words out in one breath and waved a hand around the blue and white frozen forest.
His dad’s eyes grew wide. “You were in the mountain? That’s where we were headed when we found you. Who was the man? What did he want?” Jimmy’s dad leaned in, almost stood, with urgency.
“He said his name was Adriel and he wanted Ash. He needed him for some master plan to gain power over everything.” Jimmy regretted it as soon as it came out of his mouth.
His dad did stand then, and walked over to Ash. “Yes, I bet he did.” He inspected Ash closely, under his wings, behind his ears. He even took a glowing yellow orb out of his pocket and ran it along Ash’s shoulders. Ash growled and snarled, but didn’t move.
“He didn’t get him.” Jimmy interrupted. “He tried, but, like I said, we got away.”
“You were in the mountain?” This came out as more of a statement than question so Jimmy didn’t respond. Jimmy’s dad looked in the direction they’d come, where the mountain wasn’t anymore. “You can’t get home.”
Then, before Jimmy could stop him, his dad wrapped him in a hug bigger than any Mom had ever tried. “I’m so sorry, kid.”
Jimmy was unfolding his arms to give in, to hug his dad back after all these years, when they heard a noise.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
At first, it sounded far off in the distance. Jimmy barely registered that there was a noise at all. His dad's reaction, stiffening and squeezing Jimmy's shoulders, was the only way Jimmy knew he'd also heard something.
"What?" Jimmy whispered into his father's chest.
"Stay here," Jimmy's dad said as he pushed Jimmy aside. He motioned for Ash to stand guard over him.
"No!" Jimmy fought against Ash and ran to his father. "Don't leave me here!" Jimmy's eyes stung with tears he hadn't let himself cry in a decade.
"I shall return for you when the coast is clear, boy. This is the safest place for you right now. Daegen has no honor," his dad swore as he turned to leave Jimmy again. With that, Jimmy and Ash stood beneath the Rowan tree shivering, but for very different reasons.
No sooner had his dad disappeared down the embankment, the sounds of battle found Jimmy. It began as a low rumble, the footsteps of a thousand or more soldiers marching as one. Clashes of swords against armor, the screams of those same soldiers falling, and the most terrible sound of all. Out here in the wide open it was clear what that noise had been all along.
Moments later the sickening odor of sulfur reached Jimmy. Ash started to growl and snarl. They both ran to the edge of the trees in time to see green fire engulfing a line of soldiers. When the smoke cleared, a great horned dragon stood behind a man in a dark suit of armor.
Jimmy took a step backward in spite of himself. It was just a dragon, like Ash and Lhysa. Yet, the sheer size of the thing instilled fear at his very core. This dragon was a similar shade of green to Ash's mom, but his horns stood straight up. They didn't have the elegant curves that Lhysa's horns had, and that Jimmy imagined Ash's would become. If anything, they pointed forward like a charging bull. And his wings seemed to take up the entire battlefield. Jimmy noticed that the bottom edges were frayed like that of a tattered flag. Something had hurt it.
This beast also had fangs like a snake, which Jimmy only noticed when the beast reared its head back to strike again. Another plume of sulfur filled the air and large bellows of green flame erupted from its mouth.
More men at the front of the line shriveled in agony. No sooner had they perished, the next row of men pushed forward to take their place. Jimmy looked away quickly, and his eyes fell on a yellow flag flying high in the air. On it was a two-headed snake coiled around a large staff. Jimmy barely had time to register that the staff looked familiar before green flame engulfed the flag.
Through the smoke, Jimmy saw the other Army's flag waving a few rows behind the dragon and its master. Theirs was a dark green, much like Lhysa's scales. A double horned dragon spread its wings, mouth open ready to breathe fire.
The actual dragon on the field leaned its head back to attack again. Before it could, the ground began to shake.
Ash placed a wing in front of Jimmy and pushed him backward toward the trees, where he was already about to fall anyway. On his way down, Jimmy saw the ground opened up between the two armies. A giant two-headed snake, just like the one on the battle flag, rose high into the air and hissed.
Jimmy had to do something. He couldn't let that snake hurt the poor dragon. He held Ridire-solas high in the air and chanted the first words that came to him, which was just the sword's name over and over. "Ridire-solas. Ridire-solas!"
The sword began to glow a pale yellow, but nothing like the intense lightning Jimmy had seen from it earlier. Jimmy ran down the embankment, sword in the air and Ash close behind. He had run completely out in the open, but he didn't care. Somebody had to help that dragon and he was the only somebody around.
Jimmy ran full speed across the field and crouched beside one of the invisible houses. The grass roof hung over far enough to shield him from view. Ash wasn't so lucky, although up close the house was much larger than he first thought. Ridire-solas seemed to charge up a little better as he hid in the shadow of the house, but it wasn't putting out enough energy to do much good. The last thing he wanted was to get closer.
As Jimmy planned his next move, eyeing a larger hut in the middle of the action, the snake let out a terrifying hiss and struck at the dragon's injured winged. As one head was doing that, the other head coiled as if trying to wrap itself around the dragon's neck.
Jimmy aimed the Ridire-silas directly at the point in the middle of the snake's neck where both heads joined. He repeated the sword's name again, trying to conjure another bolt of yellow lightning. Instead of shooting at the snake, the light blinked out and the hilt went cold.
Jimmy watched in horror as the dragon stumbled backward and cried out in pain. Blood oozed from its wing.
Ash made a low, painful noise, as if he felt the snake bite himself. The magic bond between them turned black and hot.
Scrambling for anything to help, Jimmy patted his pockets and found the broken slingshot. He threw Ridire-solas to the ground and hastily tied the rubber band to the arm of the slingshot.
He scraped away the top layers of snow off the ground and dug around in search of ammunition. His fingers quickly went numb, a welcomed sensation from the burning cold. Ash came out of his trance and used his talons to dig larger holes. Together they stacked a pile of rocks between them.
"Here goes," Jimmy said under his breath as he closed one eye and took aim.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
King Ase ran his fingers over the glass jewel atop his staff. It felt cool to the touch now, with its essence released. Ase admired his handiwork, the great spirit of Fafnir in its physical form, rising high above the battlefield, awaiting his command.
“Lord Sweyn,” Ase said, looking to his side for his commander.
“Sweyn,” he said again.
“Sir,” Lord Sweyn answered, panting, bowing low.
“Are the men ready?” King Ase turned his head ever so slightly. To be seen looking back, at this stage of the battle, would be taken as weakness. He had to rely on his commander’s word. And there was no other man he’d rather have at his left.
King Ase and Lord Sweyn surveyed the field ahead of them, charred bodies of their men littering the ground. Some had been lost for good in the great chasm that formed as Fafnir erupted from below. Both men made the sign of eternity over their hearts as a show of respect.
“At your command, sire.” Lord Sweyn lowered his faceplate and sighed.
“Stailc!” King Ase cried out.
With speed reserved for the Gods, both snake heads struck at once, biting and constricting in quick succession.
Great pools of blood poured from one dragon wing. The sulfurous stench snuffed out as the dragon choked and gasped to regain its breath.
King Ase raised Gwrinhan high so all could see. Then, before he could give the command to charge, rocks began to fall from the sky.
First one, then two, then a volley of pebbles struck Fafnir’s corporeal form.
King Ase looked to the far edge of the field where the assault was coming from.
“The barracks!” Ase gasped. “A traitor.”
The stones struck Fafnir’s scales and bounced off, not enough to cause damage. Enough, however, to distract momentarily.
A moment being all it took for Daegen’s weapon to fire. Green flames engulfed Fafnir, then turned on Ase’s men.
To their credit, and great detriment, the soldiers did not retreat. The odor of burnt flesh stung Ase’s throat.
His cry of “Gu Buaidh!” was strangled.
Still, all the remaining men around him roared, “No bas!”
Together, they charged, except Lord Sweyn.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
“What have you done?” Lord Sweyn yelled, his face a blood red cross burning through his helmet as he stomped toward them.
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