Key of Living Fire (The Sword of the Dragon)

by Appleton, Scott

  “No!” The midget picked the fairy’s wand off a nearby table and pointed at Oganna. “Pansy is not leavings me. I will not allow!” He shook the wand, and a stream of light particles shot toward her.

  Oganna held out her hand, palm up, and the light gathered above it. Hmm, it is some kind of transformation energy. This could prove useful. She closed her other hand over it, absorbed it into her body, and smiled at the midget. “You might as well put that away. It would take a far more powerful weapon to hurt me.”

  Dropping the wand, he took a step toward her with fists raised, but the viper slid from under her collar and raised its head menacingly. “Psst! Dare you. I daresss you to try.”

  The midget flattened himself against the wall. “Please, do no harms to me, Sorceress. I only tooks the fairy for company. Me no harms her.” A couple of tears moistened his cheeks.

  “And I am not going to harm you.” Oganna knelt, pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, and offered it to him. As he timidly accepted it, she examined the cage, and, finding the lock, twisted it until it broke. The mechanism fell off, the door swung out, and Pansy danced out, flexing her wings. She really was a most beautiful fairy, and Oganna did not wonder why Prince Percemon wanted her back so badly—that is, other than his belief that her absence would mean both their deaths.

  She expected the fairy to fly out the door to join her friends, but Pansy flitted to the weeping midget, caught one of his tears in her tiny hand, and blew on it. Immediately it transformed into a pearl.

  “I believe this wand is yours,” Oganna said. She handed over the wand used by the midget.

  The fairy thanked her gracefully both for rescuing her and for the wand. Then she stole another of the midget’s tears and transformed it, like the first, into a pearl. Oganna watched in fascination as the creature flew around the midget to sit on his shoulder. “There, there, now,” she cooed. “Don’t keep crying. I’m still here, aren’t I?”

  Looking pleadingly at Oganna she said, “Mazella has lived here all by himself for many years, and he is very lonely. I understood that after he captured me. He really is a splendid man, and a warrior. He needs a friend. Hmm, he needs to leave this place.”

  “Mazella. That is his name?”

  Pansy gave a gentle nod and stole another tear from the midget.

  Oganna reached out and cleaned Mazella’s face with his shirt. “Is it true that you are a warrior?”

  Sniffling, Mazella controlled his emotions enough to respond. “Aye, warrior I was.”

  “No,” the fairy encouraged, “a warrior you are.”

  He glanced at her with tender eyes and managed a smile. “I am sorry thats I forced you to stay heres. It wasn’t right.”

  “No hard feelings.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now, Mazella, come with me and this friendly lady as we return to Avejewel. There is no need for you to stay here all alone.”

  “But, I cannot stays in your city. The prince will not forgets that I have done this.”

  “Nonsense! You are all alone, and it is not right for anyone to be like this.”

  “Mazella?” Oganna rested her hand on his narrow shoulder. “How about coming with me? I have an aunt and a friend with me, and we will need a guide out of this mountain. Could you help us?”

  It must not have dawned on him that he could still be useful for something, because his eyes popped wide open and he spoke in his deep voice while standing to bow. “I would be honored.”

  Pansy flew off his shoulder and clapped her hands. “Good! It is settled then.” Her strength suddenly failed her, and she started to fall, but Oganna caught her.

  “I think we had better get you back to Prince Percemon before you weaken any further.”

  “A wise decision,” Pansy panted. “Let’s go.”

  A short time later Oganna ascended the cavern steps.

  “Pansy!” Yveré stopped massaging Sevré’s shoulders to chatter happily with the freed fairy. Her face soured when Mazella came out of the cavern as well. “What? He lives?” She turned accusingly on Oganna. “You didn’t kill him?”

  “Yveré,” Pansy interrupted, “watch your tongue, or I will have you publicly flogged. This is Mazella, and he is sorry for what he did.”

  “Sorry? What good does that do? He might have killed you.”

  “But he did not, and I want you to treat him with kindness.”

  “It will not be easy—”

  “Do it!”

  Under Pansy’s critical eye, the fairy cordially introduced herself to Mazella before fluttering off with her nose held high. Sevré, too, did not receive the midget. After welcoming Pansy back, he flew off before she could make him do anything.

  “Such childish attitudes. If Mazella weren’t going with you, Princess, I think I would have an impossible task on my hands.” Pansy’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she flopped unconscious in Oganna’s hand.

  Knowing that the fairy’s bond must be healed quickly or she would die, Oganna raced out of the cavern. Her precious bundle felt like a doll in her hands, bouncing at every turn. Remembering the way back, she passed Sevré and Yveré and burst into Avejewel. “Prince Percemon! Prince Percemon!”

  In answer, he came out of his palace, flew to her, and with tears in his eyes slipped his arms under Pansy and carried her inside. Fortunately for Oganna, the fairies were so focused on their returned comrade that they neglected to close the doors behind their prince, and she was able to watch the fascinating procedure. Mazella snuck up behind her, but he remained in the shadows out of sight from the fairies.

  Prince Percemon laid Pansy on a jeweled table in his sparkling white hall. Thirty fairies then danced around the table, waving their wands in unison until a cloud of colored dust covered her. Another fairy, gray-haired and stooped, with faded wings, entered the hall and stood by the table. He held a wand longer than any the other fairies possessed, almost as long as he was tall. The fairy prince leaned over the table, spilling his tears on her face.

  The elderly fairy swirled the air with his silver wand and cried out, “Unite!” and a momentary flash of light blinded Oganna. When she looked again, Pansy and Prince Percemon had their arms entwined and their tiny lips locked in a kiss. Applause broke out from the observers, and Oganna joined them, though she was careful not to clap too loudly as she was afraid it might hurt their ears.

  The prince of the fairies came out with his bride on his arm, and all of Avejewel burst into cheers. Wands waved and wings fluttered. Oganna sat back and relaxed; her task was done.

  Amid all the commotion, Sevré and Yveré returned, and Oganna pulled Sevré aside. There was one more thing she had to do. “The prince does not have to know that you stole his wine, if you will at least consider doing one thing for me.”

  His face paled and he spoke into her ear. “I will do anything you ask! Please, please don’t say anything!”

  She told him what to do and smiled as he turned red in the face. “You know you want to anyways,” she said. “Unless your flirtations were all foolishness. I’m just giving you extra incentive.”

  After much stuttering, the fairy went over to Yveré and kissed her hand. His words were spoken too softly for Oganna to hear, but Yveré’s response left her ear ringing. “Ooh yes! I accept!” Then she glanced up at Oganna.

  Oganna winked down at the creature and mouthed “good luck” to her. Yveré kissed her on the nose, and then disappeared with Sevré into the airborne crowds.

  Prince Percemon raised his hands for silence, and the citizens of Avejewel obeyed. “Princess,” he said so that all could hear, “you have fulfilled your end of our bargain. Again, I wish to say, I am sorry for the trouble this has caused you. It is now my turn. Release the hostages!”

  Then the fairies all sang in chorus:

  Set the prisoners free, oh thou great stone walls.

  Let them out for the time has come,

  To dance once more in our jeweled halls

  And welcome home our prince’s brid
e.

  With a terrible grating sound that reminded Oganna of the Tomb of the Ancients in Resgeria, a portion of the cavern wall slid aside, and she saw a chamber beyond with two prone forms side by side. “They are—”

  “Asleep,” the fairy prince answered. “They know nothing of what has happened, and when they awaken, they will be unaware of anything other than a very relaxing nap. We will return them to where we found them, and then they will awake.”

  A parade of fairies lifted their wands in unison. Silver light spilled from a hundred wand tips. The light formed a litter of shining gold that raised Ombre and Caritha out of the chamber. Sliding into the fairies’ midst, the litter followed the delicate creatures. They waved their wands and the litter hovered as it followed them out of Avejewel.

  The procession of fairies with their wands held aloft in their tiny hands cast a harsh glow into the dark underground. The glow spread up the tunnel walls, and there stood Mazella. He stared at his feet, wringing his beard with both of his hands.

  “The volcano god!” a fairy screamed.

  The procession halted. The fairies stepped away from the litter, letting it thud to the tunnel floor. They redirected their wands toward Mazella.

  Pansy shot into the tunnel. She buzzed over the angry creatures, and waved her own wand toward the midget. A sheet of light rose between Mazella and the fairies, and they glanced up at their queen, bewilderment in many a tiny face. “This one is not evil,” declared the fairy queen. “I command you leave him alone, for he will no longer bring suffering to any of us. His deed toward me was wrong, but I have forgiven him of it. I desire you all to forget the incident.”

  Oganna expected the fairies to protest. Likely they felt ready to tear Mazella apart and throw him into some dark pit, but they bowed to Pansy with broad smiles on their faces. Redirecting their attention to the litter, they again lifted it with their wands and led it down the tunnels. Oganna followed them, and Mazella shuffled along behind her, glancing up with doleful eyes as the fairy prince flew over his head and took up the lead with Pansy buzzing along at his side.

  At last the procession arrived at the place where the fairies had first kidnapped Ombre and Caritha. They lowered their wands, and the litter clunked onto the tunnel floor. With a wave of his wand, Prince Percemon turned the litter into gold dust so that Oganna’s companions lay on the stone.

  “I wish you could stay with us,” Pansy told Oganna with a friendly smile. “You and I are quite alike, I think. I will miss you.” She fluttered close and lifted her skirts, exposing her little feet. “The friend of fairies you will always be, Princess Oganna. Please accept a token of my gratitude.”

  With her wand spreading light particles over her feet, Pansy pressed them into Oganna’s shoulder, just below the collarbone. Oganna felt a quick burning sensation. The fairy’s bare feet sank into her skin as though they were branding irons, and when Pansy pulled them back, she had left two perfect impressions.

  “There! That’s better.” She held her hand against Oganna’s cheek. “By these marks you will be known to all fairies as our friend.” But the little creature froze, staring at Oganna’s hands, for a sliver of red light glowed in each of them.

  Oganna stepped back and held her hands palms up. Her hands felt warm and they tingled. Beneath her skin there appeared slivers, hair-thin, that radiated ruby light. She sheathed her sword, extinguishing its glow and that of her dress. But her hands glowed brighter, and a thread of energy grew from one hand to the other, and from the thread’s midst a small tree radiated into existence.

  The fairies gasped. The tree was no more than three feet tall, and it remained suspended in the air between Oganna’s hands. As Pansy touched the tree, it pulsed blue light. The fairy’s little eyes widened. “The tree of our ancestors.”

  “It cannot be.” Percemon fluttered beside his bride, gazing at Oganna’s hands.

  Oganna did not know what to make of it. She had never seen these slivers in her hands before. Were they part of her dragon heritage?

  “It is a sign! The legends are true.” The fairy prince looked at Oganna with wonderment in his eyes. “You have showed us the way home.” He waved his wand, whooping, and all the fairies flew toward the small tree.

  Oganna stepped back as they swarmed toward her. But her back hit against the wall.

  The viper cried out, “These creatures hasss gone mad!”

  Percemon and Pansy dove into the tree of light—and vanished. Oganna stared, unable to believe.

  Crying and smiling, the fairies flooded into the tree of light, vanishing one by one until not a single fairy remained in the tunnel. The fairy city of Avejewel had been abandoned. But a haze grew around her, rising like a mist. Oganna saw a life-size version of the tree in her hands. It stood in a high-arching hallway. Silver and gold tiles covered the floor around it, and its bark glowed soft blue, then shifted into white the higher she gazed up the sprawling branches.

  Neneila’s mouth clamped shut, and her eyes opened until they threatened to pop from her serpentine head.

  The leafless tips of the branches glowed like pokers pulled from a fire. Fairies swarmed to the tree’s branches, and other fairies rose to meet them. A harmony of tinkling fairy laughter filled the air. Then, behind the tree, a white creature rose, scaled and glowing. “Grandfather?” Startled, she clapped her hands to her mouth. The vision disappeared, and though she attempted to bring it back, her hands refused to return their red glow, and the vision remained lost.

  Ombre moaned at her feet and Caritha sat up. Both her companions’ eyes opened wide when they saw Mazella, and it took a little while to assure them that he was harmless.

  Ombre rattled his head. “I feel like I slept a week. What happened?”

  Oganna smiled, relieved to have him back. “That will take a little time to explain.”

  21

  THE STRENGTH OF THE LITTLE MAN

  Fairies?” Ombre was skeptical. “They kidnapped us?”

  “That’s right! You were both dragged off after Sevré used a sleeping potion on us. You do remember that you couldn’t stop yawning. Don’t you?”

  “Yes, but—” He shook his head. “Are you pulling my leg?”

  Oganna laughed and pulled on her neckline so that he could see Pansy’s footmarks.

  “This is very rare.” Caritha fingered the still-glowing impressions and shook her head in wonder. “Fairies are generally timid creatures, and they don’t trust people easily. You are very fortunate.”

  Ombre gestured at Mazella. “He is coming with us?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hmm, I see.” He grinned broadly at the midget and reached down to shake his hand. “Mazella, is it?”

  Mazella nodded his affirmation and timidly shook the larger man’s hand. Beside Ombre he looked very insignificant. Caritha bowed slightly and Ombre stretched his arms. “In all of Subterran! What was in that potion?”

  “Two ounces of olive oil, a little sesame, and three rose petals plucked at dawn.” Oganna leaned on his arm and started walking down the tunnel.

  He looked down at her and raised one eyebrow skeptically. “Really?”

  “Really. At least, that’s what the fairy said.” She redirected her attention to the little man walking ahead of them. “Is it much farther?”

  “No. Tunnels lead outs of the mountain. It will takes a little while.”

  True to his word, Mazella brought them through the maze of dark tunnels and out onto the mountain’s western slopes. Oganna could see the morning light flooding the area, and she felt exhausted. All night she’d done the fairy prince’s bidding, and she’d quite forgotten to sleep. Thus, she made the others aware of her exhaustion and let them set up her bedroll so that she could take a nap.

  The viper, resting around her neck, fell into the blankets and shook its head groggily. “Pssst! Sssleep.”

  Ombre picked his way through the tangled vines and hacked at them with his sword. “Have you been through here often?”


  Bringing up the rear, Mazella clambered over a fallen tree. “Nevers. Not in heres.”

  They had left Caritha in the tunnel in the mountain with Oganna. It had been Ombre’s idea. “I’ll scout ahead with Mazella and clear a path through that swamp,” he’d said to her. “Wait here. I’ll be back before she wakes up.”

  Caritha had tried to object, but he had laughed her concern aside and invited the midget to accompany him. Now, as his boot sank in a pool of green water, he found himself hoping that there were no deadly creatures roaming this place, and no forty-foot giants!

  A log lay in his path, so he reached for a vine hanging overhead and used it to vault over. “Come on, Mazella.” But the midget’s eyes grew big, and he cried out as the vine twisted around Ombre’s chest and hauled him up while another vine clamped down on his sword arm.

  Ombre could not breathe. The strength of the vines was incredible. Only his armor stopped them from crushing his body. He spotted Mazella on a boulder, every muscle tense as he pummeled several encroaching vines with his fists. He was very fast and, considering he was weaponless, was doing rather well.

  “What’s this?” Caritha burst into view and drew her rusted sword from the fold in her garment. She grabbed a vine as it reached for her, pulled it down, and severed it with her blade. Then she dashed to Mazella’s aid and untangled him, for the vines had by now managed to wrap themselves around him too. “Hold on,” she called to Ombre.

  Though he struggled, the vines dragged him higher. His sword fell from his hand. He was lifted into the trees and lost sight of his would-be rescuer. Great! Now what? I have no weapons and . . . no—wait, I do have a weapon! He opened his mouth and clamped down as hard as he could on the nearest vine. With a funny screeching sound, it recoiled and slid out of sight in the branches. One by one he bit the rest of the vines until only one remained. It was more stubborn than the others, so he chewed on it, grinding his teeth into it as hard as possible and spitting out the bark that broke off in his mouth.