Five Kingdoms: Book 06 - Evil Tide

by Toby Neighbors

  “Thank you,” Willam said. He held open the note and read it. “I must go,” he said. “But I will look for you at dinner. Will you sit with me?”

  “I would be honored, my Prince.”

  “Good, I will see you soon.”

  He bowed gallantly and then hurried away. Brianna sat on the small bed and wondered what Zollin was doing.

  Chapter 7

  It took a moment for Zollin to register what was happening. Then Ferno roared, unleashing a wave of massive flame that lit up the sky. Zollin felt his heart thundering away in his chest as he realized he was falling. His magic erupted, pouring out of him in a blistering rush. He was suddenly floating and once he caught his breath, he was able to regain control of his magic.

  It was too dark to see what was attacking Ferno, but the massive dragon was striking out in every direction. Zollin quickly lowered himself to the ground. The exertion of getting his magic under control left his head spinning, and it took another moment for Zollin to compose himself before he could help Ferno. Finally, he sent his magic out toward the battling dragon who was unfortunately moving further and further away from Zollin. In the darkness, he couldn’t see the creatures that were attacking Ferno, but he could feel them. They were smaller than the dragon, but thick, heavy creatures with distorted human bodies.

  “Ferno!” Zollin shouted. “Ferno!”

  He sent out the cry magically and mentally, trying to draw the green dragon back. He then reached out with his magic and pulled two of the gruesome beasts off of Ferno. The dragon dove instantly, soaring down at breakneck speed until Zollin couldn’t see Ferno at all. He was surrounded by trees which blocked his view, so Zollin levitated himself up into the top of one of the trees. The branches swayed under his weight and although there were still limbs above him, Zollin had a clear view over the forest around him.

  Ferno pulled up, right above the tree line. It could feel the creatures swooping down right behind it, so the powerful green dragon let flames spew out of its mouth and flow back over its body. It wasn’t meant to harm the creatures attacking it, but Ferno hoped it would keep them off its back until a better way to attack the beasts became clear.

  Zollin sent a mental image of Ferno flying past the tree where Zollin was waiting. He could attack from a distance, but because he didn’t know what they were dealing with yet, he wanted to bring the creatures close. Ferno turned and flew hard toward Zollin, who let his magic flow out toward the dragon and its attackers. There were six of the nightmarish beasts; two were already wounded and falling behind the others, but four seemed eager to destroy Ferno. They weren’t quite as fast as the dragon, but they were lighter and could keep their pace longer.

  “Blast!” Zollin shouted, sending two thick beams of lightning-like, blue energy shooting toward the four creatures in the lead.

  There was a crackle as the energy shot out. It hit two of the creatures and shocked their bodies into a rigid paralysis. They fell and were smoking into the forest with such momentum that they knocked down trees and crushed their bodies in the process.

  The two untouched beasts continued their pursuit of Ferno, but the two wounded creatures slowed and dropped into cover behind the trees. Zollin knew he couldn’t stay in his perch high in the tree. He wasn’t mobile enough and the creatures knew exactly where he was. He climbed down as quickly as he could; using his magic to levitate himself down once he was clear of the wide spreading branches.

  His feet had just touched the ground when one of the creatures came rushing toward him, bellowing a frightening scream as it came. Zollin’s blood ran cold. It was even darker on the ground than above the treetops, and all he could see was a dark shadow hurdling toward him. The creature was flying, swooping down toward him at speed. In the second he knew he was being attacked, Zollin’s only discovery was that the creature had a wounded wing and seemed to be flying with a hitch that made it jerk to the left each time its wings flapped. He knew hitting the creature with a blast of magic would be difficult, so he simply raised an invisible wall of magic like a shield. To his horror, the creature seemed to sense the invisible barrier and pulled up to avoid it.

  Zollin felt a tingle just between his shoulder blades and was filled with the horrifying feeling that something was behind him. He instinctively fell to the ground, but he was a faction of a second too late. The other wounded creature was charging and managed to inflict a bloody gash along Zollin’s back as he fell. The creature looped past Zollin, who screamed in agony from the wound. Still, Zollin rolled to his side as he fell and sent a blast of magic after the creature that had hurt him. Blue energy shot from Zollin’s hand and engulfed the creature, which burst into flames as it fell. The creature crashed to the ground and lay in a burning heap. The light from the fire lit up the ground in the small clearing around Zollin, but it made the treetops where the other creature was readying to attack even more dark. Zollin knew he wouldn’t see the creature before it was too late. He considered extinguishing the flames that were still burning up the carcass of the dead creature, but he knew his night vision was already ruined. It would take several minutes to be able to see in the darkness with even the slightest detail, and he simply didn’t have the time.

  Zollin let his magic flow out in an expanding bubble all around him. He felt the creature circling around to attack from behind. There was a foulness and demented nature to the creatures. Zollin knew he could kill the wretched beast, but he needed to know why they were being attacked and by whom.

  Ferno had climbed high up into the air. The massive dragon was bleeding from several minor wounds. The creatures had attacked out of nowhere, first crashing into the dragon and then digging into Ferno’s iron-like scales with long claws and sharp teeth. Ferno was angry and ready to finish the fight, but the threat of being dragged down by the creatures was too great. Ferno knew that its only chance was to get high enough that it could face the creatures and defeat them during a long fall. The air was cold and thin, so much so that Ferno was having difficulty breathing, when finally it turned and faced its attackers. There were only two of the creatures now, both struggling to fly high enough to reach Ferno. The dragon belched fire, a huge billowing pillar that struck the oncoming creatures head on, but to Ferno’s consternation, the fire didn’t even slow the wicked looking beasts.

  Ferno could see them clearly in the flames. They had round heads, like humans, but without hair and they had pointed ears. Their mouths were open, and their pointed teeth seemed to fill the darkness inside. Their wings were like Ferno’s, only thicker, the skin stretched over bone and some sort of flexible tissue. Their bodies were small and fat, their hind legs raised up so that it looked like they were squatting. Their arms were tiny, atrophied limbs, but each hand had long, curled claws. Their feet were a cross between human feet and eagle talons. Each toe ended in a claw, and the heel was more of a bony stump.

  Ferno arched its back in midair, bringing its tail forward in an arc as it swung from low to high. It caught the creature on the right, smashing its leg and sending the beast tumbling away. The second creature was untouched and was speeding toward the softer scales on Ferno’s belly. The dragon waited until it was almost too late, then Ferno struck. Ferno’s neck was not as long as Gyia’s or Selix, and it was much thicker with muscle, but Ferno still had the flexibility to strike like a serpent at anything that got too close to the dragon’s underside. Ferno caught the creature’s head in its mouth. Normally, the dragon’s sharp teeth and powerful jaws could crush anything, but the creature’s head was like a stone. The beast’s thick skin was almost as impervious to Ferno’s teeth as it had been to the dragon’s flames. Instead of severing the flesh, it gave beneath Ferno’s teeth like a tough piece of overcooked meat.

  Ferno felt the creature clawing the dragon’s neck and thickly muscled jaws. Unlike Ferno, the creature’s scrabbling counter attack, even while its head was caught in the vice of the dragon’s bite, scored long, shallow gashes. Ferno swung its head, shaking the creature fro
m side to side like a dog, but the beast was still unfazed. When Ferno realized the attacks weren’t working, it released its bite and the creature was hurled away.

  Ferno dropped back toward the ground, folding in the huge, leathery wings and pointing its body straight down so that it fell with blinding speed. Both of the wretched creatures were still alive and still able to attack. Ferno wasn’t sure what to do next, but it knew that Zollin had somehow attacked the group of hideous beasts. So, the dragon returned to the young wizard in hopes that Zollin could fend off the creatures that seemed impervious to its attacks.

  Zollin felt the last of his assailants recoil at his magical touch, although the beast could do nothing to stop him. Zollin focused on the creature, using his magic to drag it down to the ground. It reminded Zollin of seeing farmers pulling sheep toward the shearing pin. The sheep would always resist, digging their cloven hooves into the ground and pulling against the ropes the farmers had tied around their necks. The creature screamed as Zollin drew it in, the high-pitched wail made Zollin’s flesh crawl. He wanted to kill the creature, but he needed answers. Where did the creatures come from? What were they, and who had sent them to attack Ferno?

  After a minute of futile resistance, the creature changed tactics, opting to stop resisting and dive toward Zollin. The attack caught Zollin off-guard and in his panic he slammed the creature into the ground. It was a knee jerk reaction to the attack, and his fear made his response much more powerful than he had wanted it to be. The creature was crushed against the ground, its back broken as Zollin’s magic smashed it down.

  “Damn!” Zollin cursed.

  He was frustrated with himself and started toward the creature, which was partially buried in the ground from his magical blow. He had only taken a few steps when he heard Ferno’s roar and a mental image of the two creatures flashed into Zollin’s mind. He was a little surprised that Ferno hadn’t made quick work of the two beasts, but Zollin sensed Ferno’s fear and frustration. Something had kept the dragon from destroying the two creatures still chasing it. Zollin sent a wave of magic high up into the air. He found the two creatures still high above Ferno and spread apart. They were trying to close the distance back to the dragon, although Zollin got the impression that both of the beasts were now much more cautious. They barked as they flew, communicating in a guttural language of snarls and yelps that sounded completely bestial to Zollin. He waited as they continued their attack, drawing nearer to one another as they closed the distance toward Ferno. When they were only a few yards apart, Zollin used his magic to smash them together. Their bodies collided in a tangle of limbs and wings, both falling into the trees where the limbs smashed and raked them into a bloody heap. Zollin ran toward where he could feel the fallen creatures. Both were still alive, but wounded and frightened. He used his magic to pin them to the ground, although with wings broken and bones shattered, they had little chance of escape anyway.

  Zollin sent a mental image to Ferno, showing the two creatures on the ground. Ferno circled over Zollin, keeping watch for further attacks and also keeping its distance from the wicked beasts that seemed intent on harming the green dragon.

  It took Zollin a few minutes to reach the creatures. They were yelping like dogs from the pain of their wounds. Zollin found that one of the creatures was dying; its back was broken and blood was bubbling from its mouth. Zollin had no idea about the anatomy of the creatures, but he guessed that some broken bone had punctured its lung. The dying creature lay still, except for its head, which turned back and forth on the ground as it gurgled its pitiful death cry.

  The other creature was wounded; its wings ruined and one leg obviously broken with the bone sticking out of the leathery skin. It growled menacingly as Zollin approached. His adrenaline was still high, blocking the pain in his back from the gash, although he could feel the blood running down his back and soaking into his pants. It was quickly obvious that the creature couldn’t communicate with Zollin vocally. It was disappointing to realize that there was little he could learn about the beasts from them directly, but he had been around magical creatures enough to know that he couldn’t base what he could learn from traditional methods. He let his magic flow into the creature. There was a weak resistance and the beast writhed, as if the touch of Zollin’s magic was painful.

  What Zollin discovered mystified him. The creature felt like a puzzle piece. Physically it was autonomous, but its mind was connected to something or someone else. Zollin examined the dying creature and sensed the connection to the first, but alone the beasts were less mentally aware than any animal Zollin had ever encountered. He sensed their need to ward off magic, although he could also detect a form of magic connecting each of the creatures. As Zollin looked at the creature he suddenly recognized, either from his mind recalling the stories he had treasured as a child or because his magic was giving him some supernatural insight; he couldn’t tell, but he knew he was looking at a gargoyle.

  Zollin was partly fascinated and more than a little terrified. Gargoyles were mythic creatures created to ward off evil, yet he had never seen one or heard of one in real life. The stories he remembered described gargoyles as creatures carved of stone that served as decoration on ancient castles until evil awoke them. Zollin guessed the creatures could be something else, but the sense that he was right about them was so strong he had trouble shaking the feeling that something ominous was afoot. The question was: where did the gargoyles come from? Were they already here, perhaps hidden in some overgrown castle ruin, or were they created recently?

  Zollin let his magic flow more heavily into the creatures, trying to trace their tenuous threads of magical connection to one another, but he failed. The connections were like spider webs, barely perceivable and fragile. His blundering efforts severed the connections. The gargoyle with the punctured lung shuttered and died. The gargoyle with the broken leg, moaned, and then slowly turned to stone before Zollin’s eyes.

  There wasn’t much that surprised Zollin as far as magic went, but seeing the gargoyles turn to stone took his breath away. The broken leg was now just a deep crack in the stone of the creature’s spindly legs that were curled up close to the bulbous body. The wings, which should have been stretched from the gargoyle’s back, were now shattered across the ground behind him.

  Zollin bent down and ran his hand across the stone. It was old and rough, pitted by long exposure to the elements. There were even traces of lichen and stains from bird droppings. The hideous face stared up at him in a blank, lifeless expression of menace with its mouth open and fangs bared. There was nothing more to learn from the gargoyles at the moment, so Zollin looked up, hoping to catch sight of Ferno circling above. He was just about call out to the dragon when a wave of panic washed over him, and he saw a mental image of trees rising toward him. Zollin understood in that instant that Ferno was crashing down somewhere, although he had no idea why or where the dragon was. He listened, but all he could hear was the sing-song chirping of nocturnal insects.

  He let his magic flow out in all directions. His back began to burn and ache. He knew he needed to see about the gash, but first he wanted to find Ferno. He couldn’t imagine what had caused the ferocious dragon to fall from the sky, and he wasn’t going to wait around to find out. He sensed animals all around him, mostly small burrowing animals and those that lived in the thick trees. It took several moments, but he finally found Ferno nearly a mile away. There were two more gargoyles flying low over the treetops, but they were moving away from Ferno. Zollin’s first thought was to follow the gargoyles back to their home, or wherever they came from, but he quickly dismissed that idea. Ferno was hurt, and he hurried to try and help.

  Running under any circumstances with his leg still stiff from his fight in the Grand City was not an easy task. He silently cursed himself for not taking the time to mend the wound properly. When he’d initially been hurt, he hadn’t had time to do more than stop the bleeding. Then, they were busy fighting Gwendolyn’s monsters, and Zollin had be
en too tired to worry about his leg. When he finally had the time, as he and Ferno flew north, he had simply been too tired. By that time his leg was healing on his own, and to fix it properly he would have to reopen the wound. He wasn’t keen on enduring the agony healing himself would require, even if he could block almost all the pain. Now, getting through the woods with his wounded leg was even more difficult.

  The pain in his back from the gash the gargoyle had inflicted began to ache with each step. He let his mind focus on the wound as he made his way between the trees and around the clumps of underbrush in his path. It was extremely dark in the woods, so he kindled a small flame that danced over the palm of one upturned hand. The flame cast enough light around him that he could see where he was going.

  The gash was long, running from just below his neck, down, between his shoulder blades, almost to the small of his back. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it was painful. He let his magic, hot and powerful, bind the wound. He could feel the fibers of the muscle matching up, and then his skin stretched over the gash and sealed together. The pain eased and then slowly disappeared altogether. By the time he came into view of Ferno, his back was completely healed.

  The dragon was another story. Ferno was a proud, strong creature, but now the dragon was laid low. Zollin increased the power of his flame so that he could see the dragon better. There were broken tree limbs all around Ferno, but the crash through the trees didn’t seem to have hurt the dragon at all. There were scratches and bite marks on Ferno’s back and underbelly, although none seemed deep or serious. Blood was flowing, but hardly enough to be concerned about and nothing Zollin could see should have resulted in Ferno being so seriously affected.

  “I’m going to help,” Zollin said, running one hand over Ferno’s jaw.

  Ferno growled miserably. The dragon’s bright eyes were glazed, and its forked tongue lolled out between the sharp teeth.