Order Of The Dragon (Omnibus 1-4)

by Jason Halstead

  Celos swung his great sword and had it twisted away by a parrying strike from an ogre. His weakened arm failed him and the blade fell away and slipped from his grasp. Celos looked up and grunted, and then jumped into the ogre's midsection and drove his elbow and shoulder into the creature to keep it off balance.

  The rest of the ogres pressed against the companions, forcing them back and keeping them away from the red-eyed ogre general that snarled a smile at Garrick. "I will suck the marrow from your bones, human!"

  Garrick swung his sword in a lazy arc and pointed the tip at the ogre. "By the time I'm finished, you'll be lucky if you can suck the milk from your mother," Garrick responded.

  Graak snarled and spat a glob of flaming spittle at him. Garrick jumped away and twisted to avoid the following charge from the possessed warrior. An elbow clipped his back and sent him staggering but Garrick twisted around and slashed with his sword and left a line of blood dripping down Graak's hip. Blue flames leapt from Garrick's sword to the blood on Graak's side. Graak stared down at the cut and then looked at Garrick. He laughed and came straight at the barbarian.

  Garrick caught the strike on his sword and grunted from the ogre's power. The muscles on Garrick's arms bulged and his veins looked fit to burst. He rotated his sword until Graak's blade scraped along the edge and then lifted his boot in a powerful kick between the ogre's legs.

  Graak grunted and then snarled at the northerner. Garrick grinned in response and taunted him, "I forgot—I cut off anything you had there!"

  Graak drove his free hand into Garrick's face, knocking the man back several steps. The ogre shook his head and opened and closed his mouth as though he was taking a large bite out of the air. He stalked forward towards the warrior and drove his sword down at him again. Garrick took the attack on his blade and was driven to his knee by the force of it.

  Aleena thrust her sword into the hip of an ogre and felt it strike bone. She began to twist and pull on it but the ogre's sword smashed into her shoulder and back. She cried out and stumbled forward, driven to the ground by the strike even though her resilient armor kept the blade from cutting through.

  Aleena scrambled away and glanced back in time to see Jethallin and her animal companions intercepting the ogre. Her sword fell to the floor beside him but it was too far for her to reach. She turned her head and saw the path to the fallen witch was clear. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the ache in her shoulder, and rushed over to Rosalyn's side.

  "Dragon fire!" Kar shouted in warning. Those who heard and understood the wizard spared what glances they could but nothing was amiss. A few looked to the statue and others to Graak without reward. A moment later, a golden flicker lit up on the skin of the ogres.

  Those who noticed at first cried out and threw their arms up. Alto, Patrina, and Celos used the ogre's interruption and laid into them, driving them back. The paladin fought without his sword, punching, kicking and using his armor to strike against the ogres. Alto used his sword and cleaved through their glowing flesh like butter.

  Carson and Namitus joined the fray and in moments, they had the five ogres that still lived falling back. "We've got this," Namitus said. "Help Garrick!"

  Alto stopped fighting and turned to see Garrick backing away slowly from the possessed ogre. Blue flames flickered before dying away from the minor wounds Garrick inflicted on the ogre. Alto nodded and rushed over to help. Graak turned and sprayed flames out of his mouth much as Rosalyn had moments ago. Alto lifted his shield and dove to the side as the fire blasted against him with the force of bellows from a forge.

  "That's dragon's fire," Graak roared.

  Garrick drove his sword into the distracted general's side. Graak twisted around before the blade could pierce too deep and swept it away with his own sword. Blue flaming blood sprayed across the floor and sizzled as it ate away at the stone. Garrick's sword clattered across the floor and came to rest at the base of the silver statue.

  Graak clamped his hand over the oozing wound and laughed as the blue flames sputtered and died. He pulled his hand away to reveal a pink scar where the crippling wound had been seconds before.

  Garrick pulled his hatchet from his hip and hefted it. Graak laughed at him and opened his arms to mock him. The barbarian drew back the hand axe just as the ogre sucked in his breath again as he'd done when he'd breathed fire out before. The hatchet twisted end over end through the air and met the flames, slicing them in half and then was knocked aside by the force of them.

  Garrick ducked under the fiery attack and charged forward. Graak clamped his lips shut but not in time to defend himself as Garrick crashed into his body and began slamming his fists into the ogre's ribs time and again. Graak grunted, spitting fire with each blow, and tried to stagger back from the raged northerner. He was unsuccessful until he brought the hilt of his sword down and bounced it off the back of Garrick's skull and dazed the man.

  "Rosalyn, wake up!" Aleena hissed. She reached out and shook the queen's shoulder, and then pulled her hand back from her skin. The magical pattern painted under her skin looked like it had moved when she touched her.

  Rosalyn groaned and blinked her eyes. She stared up at Aleena; her lips parted until she blinked a few times and looked around. Her eyes fell on Graak as Alto and Celos moved to stop him from butchering the stunned barbarian. Patrina remained with Namitus and Carson, keeping the confused ogre bodyguards at bay. Rosalyn kept her head moving, twisting it until she saw the statue with its malefic ruby eyes gleaming down at them all.

  "I didn't want this," she murmured.

  Aleena leaned closer. "Your Highness, we need your help! You were possessed by the dragon's spirit, but it left you and—"

  Rosalyn reached up to push Aleena back but she didn't have the strength to move the armored paladin. She groaned and shook her head, and then let Aleena help her. "That's Alto," Rosalyn said as she looked at the combatants.

  "Let me get you a cloak, Your Majesty," Aleena said. "You're dazed from Graak's blow to your head."

  "No," Rosalyn said. "I'm dazed by what I let happen to me. I wanted the dragon's power. I didn't know there was so much."

  Aleena watched her for several breaths. When she seemed to have drifted off into her own thoughts, Aleena risked touching her shoulder again. "Rosalyn, we need help!"

  Rosalyn started and then nodded. She turned and looked at the ogre. Celos was limping, his greaves blackened and still flickering with flames. Garrick had fallen back to retrieve his sword. Blood ran from his face and body but a wicked smile split his face when blue flames leapt up his blade once again. Alto fought against the ogre and sought to be the aggressor but the ogre's great strength and magical abilities kept the man on the defense.

  Rosalyn nodded again. "Help me," she said and reached out to take Aleena's hand.

  Aleena clasped her hand and frowned as she felt how cold her hands were. Aleena hadn't bothered to put her gauntlets back on; only the largest pieces of her armor protected her. "What can you do?" Aleena asked her.

  "The statue," Rosalyn said without taking her eyes off it. "Get me to it."

  "I thought the dragon's soul was in there?"

  Rosalyn nodded.

  "It possessed you once; why—"

  "It will do it again," she said.

  "What? You can't!"

  Rosalyn turned and stared into Aleena's eyes. She searched her face for a moment and then said, "You are a Paladin of Leander. You are a holy warrior devoted to the noblest of causes. I am not worthy of your obeisance."

  Aleena's lips parted as she stared at her.

  "I used you just as I used everyone. I craved power and Sarya gave it to me. She did more than that; she possessed me. She made me want things I did not want. She fed on my lust for revenge and used it to take me over. I invited her in and let her have me so I could destroy the people who I felt had wronged me."

  "Who?" Aleena gasped.

  "Alto and his friends," Rosalyn said, without breaking their gaze. "I was wrong.
I know that now."

  "Help us then! Don't give in to her again!"

  "I am helping you." Rosalyn turned away from Aleena and started towards the statue. She staggered and would have fallen had the paladin not steadied her. "I will invite her in to me again. All of her."

  "Isn't she in Graak?"

  "Only a small part."

  Aleena glanced over and saw Alto picking himself up from where he'd been knocked to the ground. Blood ran down his side and his chain tunic had a rent in the metal that promised a lifelong scar, if the wound wasn't mortal. Celos held his arm to his side and wielded Garrick's fallen hand axe in his other hand, but it was all he could do to dodge the ogre's massive blade.

  "You can't beat her," Aleena warned her.

  "No, but you can."

  "How?"

  "When she takes me, I can make her vulnerable for a moment. Strike then."

  "Strike? How? She's a giant silver statue!"

  Rosalyn pushed Aleena away and turned to the statue. "That won't be her anymore."

  Aleena's eyes widened as Rosalyn raised her arms into the air. The lines running under her skin writhed as Aleena felt the hair stand up on her arms and face. Even the hair on her head felt like it was rising and pulling away from her.

  "Come to me!" Rosalyn shouted and her voice echoed through the hall. A wind whipped through the caldera, swirling around them and stinging them with picked-up dirt and stone, even as it sucked the warmth from their flesh. "Give me your power and use me, great Sarya!"

  The mountain groaned around them, making the companions stop and glance about. Graak grabbed Alto's chain shirt in his fist and hurled the warrior across the floor so that he lay between Rosalyn and the statue of Sarya.

  Alto rolled and looked up as Rosalyn dropped to her knees and thrust her hands towards the statue. He turned and saw Sarya's ruby eyes gleaming down but still nothing happened.

  "She can't break fully free," Kar shouted. "She's trapped without a breach in the magic!"

  Graak roared and accepted a punishing hack from Garrick's sword so he could bring his own sword to bear. A heartbeat before, it would have slammed into the northerner; Celos threw himself into the barbarian and took the strike across his breastplate and broken arm. Both men were thrown to the ground and Graak was left with a flaming sword wedged between his ribs. The ogre yanked the sword out and threw it away with a sneer. He flexed the hand that had touched the blade and turned to face the fallen warriors.

  Alto looked at the sword he still clutched and remembered how he had slain Sarya the first time. His blade had been made to channel his will and destroy her. He held it up and climbed to his feet, and then rushed the half-dozen steps he needed to thrust it up into the belly of the statue of the seated dragon.

  The tip of the Soulsword parted the silver with a flash of light that was all colors and none at the same time. The magical shockwave washed over Alto and blotted out the sound around him. He stared as his sword sank half the length of the blade into the statue, and then he felt the heat building in it and passing into his hand. Alto yanked his sword free and was blown back from it by the force of the geyser of energy that burst from the breach.

  Rosalyn screamed as the beam of pure magic struck her. It lifted her up off the ground and held her in the air with her arms and legs spread wide. Her voice went raw in moments as she continued to howl in agony as more and more of the dragon's magical essence was forced into her. Flames erupted from her body, blackening her skin, only to be healed beneath them.

  Graak grunted and stiffened as a trickle of flames burst out of his mouth and nose and leapt across the room to join in the rest of the energy pouring into Rosalyn. He stumbled and fell to his knees, and then looked down at the barely healed wound in his side and clutched at it. He gasped and fell over, cradling his injury.

  The beam of soulfire ended just as abruptly as it had begun. Rosalyn fell to the floor but landed on her feet and stood there with her hair swaying like snakes and flames rising from her shoulders. She stared down at the ground and then slowly lifted her eyes, to where they fell on Alto. They burned with a red light more fierce than the heart of a bonfire.

  Rosalyn started to raise her hand but her arm twitched. She snarled, baring her teeth, and shifted her gaze to her hand. It lifted higher, trembling with each inch, until she was able to point her fingers at Alto. Her snarl turned into a smile and then an open-mouthed gasp.

  Rosalyn grunted, blood and flames spouting from her mouth. A sword emerged from her belly, flaming blood dripping from the glowing red tip. The steel sagged as it began to melt. Aleena cried out from behind her and jerked on the hilt of her sword, trying to twist it and drive it deeper into Rosalyn's back.

  "It won't—"

  Aleena was cut off as Garrick leapt past her and swept Rosalyn's head from her shoulders with his blade. Blood, fire, and raw magic burst out of the wound and soared so high above them that it rose into the evening sky above the mountain. Rosalyn's head was consumed in blue and red flames until, at last, it burst apart with a loud crack and turned to ash on the ground.

  Rosalyn's body collapsed, leaving Aleena standing and holding the hilt of her melted sword. She stared down at it and then took a staggering step back before she collapsed to the ground beside the dead witch-queen.

  Chapter 28

  Patrina tugged on her axe and felt the wet suction give as the blade pulled free of the ogre's flesh. She saw that Carson was finishing the final bodyguard and turned back just as a wave of heat and light washed over them. She cringed and spun, shielding her eyes but still seeing Rosalyn's headless body fall. Before the witch came to rest Aleena collapsed beside her.

  Patrina's eyes went to where Alto lay sprawled on the floor, close to the statue. He was staring at Rosalyn and Aleena, which brought a twist to Patrina's chest. She bit down and pushed it away and took a step towards him. She stopped after a single step when she heard a higher pitched cracking noise.

  Everyone's eyes went to the source of the noise and saw a line of cracks spreading from the narrow slit Alto's sword had made in the belly of the statue. Alto grunted and lurched away, scrambling on all fours and then gaining his feet to run. Within seconds of his escape, the massive statue broke apart and crumbled to the ground.

  Alto looked around, sheathing his sword and waving his hand to try to part the dust. He counted them and noticed the only two who lay unmoving were Celos and Aleena. "Fetch Karthor!" he said in a voice dry with the heat and dust.

  Mordrim grunted and turned to rush back out of the chamber and down the mountain.

  Patrina started towards Alto just as he turned to step closer to Rosalyn and Aleena. He towered over them and knelt down on one knee. Patrina came to a stop a few feet behind him and stared.

  "I'm sorry I failed you," Alto whispered.

  Patrina's fingers tightened on her axe until her knuckles grew white.

  Alto turned and focused on Aleena. Her face was red and her hair was curled at the ends where it had been singed by the flames. He saw her chest rising and falling. Aleena's eyes opened and met his. She smiled and then winced. She started to shift and try to rise but Alto held up a hand to stop her.

  "Rosalyn is dead," he said.

  Aleena's head twisted to look at the body. She nodded and turned to look around at the others. "Celos?"

  When the paladin didn't answer, she grunted and forced herself to her feet in spite of Alto's suggestion she wait. He rose with her but she pushed him aside. Her eyes fell on the fallen knight and her hand went to her mouth. She rushed past Alto to drop to her knees beside her mentor.

  Alto's eyes found Patrina and saw hers glistening in the dusty room. She turned away from him and walked over to where Namitus, Carson, and Kar were gathered. He opened his mouth to speak but was stopped by a golden glow that chased away the darkness and the chill of the room.

  No sooner had Alto turned to the source of it when Celos coughed and groaned. He rose up to lean against his elbows but was kno
cked back to the floor by Aleena crushing him in a hug and pressing her lips to his.

  When Celos found the strength—and the desire—to push Aleena away, he found Garrick towering over them. Blood ran down the man's arms, cheek, chest, and leg but he stood oblivious of his injuries and extended his hand. Aleena moved to the side and Celos reached up and took Garrick's hand in his own and rose to his feet.

  "I could have handled the ogre," Garrick grunted.

  Sir Celos raised an eyebrow and then he smiled. "Of course you could have," he offered. "There was nothing else to keep me busy."

  Garrick nodded and squeezed the knight's hand before he turned away.

  "By the saints," a voice cried out from behind them after the dust began to settle. "I'm free!"

  They turned to see the man who had been struck down struggling to his feet. He rubbed his head where he'd been struck and looked at the gathered men and women.

  "You're free?" Carson asked as he turned to face the man. "Free of what?"

  "Of her," he said while pointing at the corpse of the queen. "She controlled me with her magic. Knew everything I done, where I was, what I seen. All of it! She said if she died, I'd die with her."

  Ketten started tugging at his clothes as though they were burning him. He ripped at them and pulled his shirt away so he could see his chest. It was unblemished; all scars and signs of the magic she'd used to bind his life to hers were gone.

  "She must have released you," Kar said. "Her moment of sanity near the end, probably. She didn't seem possessed of many of those."

  "Kar," Alto rebuked the wizard.

  "Don't you snap at me," the old man spat out. "I've known far too many women in my life! An unstable lot at good times. Add in the power such as she'd found and she had no chance to handle the stress."

  Patrina walked past him without a glance or a word and followed after Mordrim. Namitus glanced at Alto while the others watched her go with open questions on their faces. Alto met the rogue's gaze and shook his head.