Her blind eyes futilely tried to catch a glimpse of her rescuer, the one who had restored her hearing. “Hey, slacker,” she managed.
“Stay quiet, you stupid old hag; talking makes you die.” The young man’s tone was insistent but not panicked.
Rondel had no intention of obeying. With all her remaining strength she said, “Iren, listen to me! Your foe isn’t Amroth anymore. I thought I could defeat him by making him exhaust his magic, but I fell right into Feng’s trap. Without the third kanji circle to restrain him, he took advantage of Amroth’s weakness to conquer the king’s mind and force the transformation. Now Amroth is gone, and Feng has taken his place. We do not face a Dragon Knight, but a dragon! Feng must have planned this from the moment he tested Amroth. Hezna had the mental strength to resist wielding the Karyozaki unless absolutely necessary, but Amroth lacked the Oni’s willpower. Feng knew he could take advantage of Amroth’s desire for strength and control him. Now that he’s free, the dragon will rampage until he destroys Raa. Do you understand? Don’t waste your magic on me! You’ve got to save what energy you have to fight that thing.”
A brief silence followed before Iren replied, “If you speak the truth, then all the more reason to heal you. I’d much prefer attacking him as a team.”
Rondel felt tears on her cheeks, and she reached a hand up instinctively to wipe at them. She stopped short. A few seconds ago she couldn’t move at all. Blinking several times, Iren’s shape came into focus, and beyond him, a white, shimmering light.
The Storm Dragon Knight stood, fully healed. She marveled at her restored body, but Iren amazed her even more. Back in Veliaf, the child had passed out for hours after healing Dirio. Rondel’s injuries made the foreman’s seem minor by comparison, yet Iren remained on his feet, awake and unaffected by his use of magic.
In addition to healing her, the boy had also constructed a barrier of light that encircled them. Rondel reached out and touched it. It felt as solid as the firmest stone wall, yet it was barely an inch thick and easy to see through.
“I never taught you to create a shield,” Rondel pointed out, stroking the barrier in awe.
Iren looked sheepish. “I didn’t know I could do that until just now. Feng lunged for you, and I knew I had to stop him somehow. The light shot from the Muryozaki and surrounded us. Feng’s been pounding on it ever since, but he can’t get at us. I don’t understand it, but I’m certain of that much.”
The mention of Feng pulled Rondel from her fascination with Iren’s new ability. Looking past the light, Rondel saw the Fire Dragon’s birdlike form. The monster stretched high into the sky, a beast of flame. Jets of fire spurted from him at random, and he directed more than a few right at them. Each time, the shield’s smooth contours easily deflected the flames.
“So, how do you want to fight this thing?” Iren asked.
Activating Lightning Sight, Rondel observed Feng’s every detail. Dismay filled her, and she returned her vision to normal. “It’s worse than I thought,” she sighed. “On the rare occasions when a Dragon Knight has lost control in the past, the dragon transforms their body. We see that here with Feng. However, in every other case, the physical body has remained, so stopping the dragon simply requires knocking the body unconscious. That allows time for the dragon’s will to recede into its Ryokaiten as the third kanji circle’s spell takes effect. Unfortunately, the Karyozaki has no third circle to pull Feng’s will back into the sword. To make matters more hopeless, the transformation completely obliterated Amroth’s body. This monster is pure flame, so we can’t hurt it. The only way to defeat it is to put it out.”
Iren gulped, and Rondel understood why. They couldn’t possibly extinguish such a massive inferno.
“Fires need three things to burn,” Rondel continued, thinking out loud in hopes that a plan would come to her, “fuel, heat, and air. Remove any one, and the fire dies. In this case, the sky provides plenty of air, so that option’s out.”
“Then remove the heat!” Iren shouted. “Create a storm, just as you did in Serona! The rain will drench even that mighty flame.”
She rolled her eyes. The boy may have come far, but he still had a lot to learn about listening. “Don’t you pay the slightest attention? That spell nearly killed me, and I was in my prime then. I also had the Water Dragon Knight to help, and the spell did kill him. Alone, on a clear night like this, I couldn’t make it storm enough to fill a bucket, much less drown that thing.”
“Then how do we defeat it?”
Rondel grinned. An idea, a risky, desperate, totally absurd idea had finally occurred to her. “We remove its fuel.”
Iren swept his gaze across the burning Lodian fields, his expression one of incredulity. The fires had already spread into the outer reaches of the forest as well. Between the dry plains grasses and the nearly infinite expanse of Ziorsecth, plenty of tinder existed.
In this case, however, that vegetation mattered little. “The fuel for that beast doesn’t come from the plants,” Rondel explained. “Look up there, at the place where the bird’s heart would be. Can you see it?”
Iren strained his eyes, shielding them as he attempted to look into the core of the terrible flame hundreds of feet in the air. After a moment he shook his head and turned away.
Rondel activated Lightning Sight. “I feared as much. Unaided eyes can’t pierce such distance, but mine can. At the creature’s heart, the Karyozaki pulses. The portion of Feng that escaped into this world remains linked to the sword. That blade provides the true fuel, magical energy, needed to maintain the firebird. Separate the two, and the beast will lose its sustenance. It will burn through its magic in a second and destroy itself.”
Iren gritted his teeth, apparently trying to think of some plan. “I know what to do,” he said at last. “I’ll use the same light beam I used when I lost control in the forest. If it could make miles of trees vanish, then it easily has the strength to dislodge that sword.”
The boy had hit upon the same idea she’d come up with, albeit with one minor difference. “You could do that,” she contended, “if you could see the Karyozaki. It will take precise aim to hit the sword from so great a distance. No, only someone with enhanced vision can see the blade and strike it reliably.” She loosed a wild smile, more because she couldn’t believe what she was about to say. “I’ll do it. I might just have enough magic left for one full-sized lightning bolt. I’ll need time to focus that much energy though, and Feng must not suspect our plan. He could easily dodge or block the attack if he anticipates it. Can you distract him long enough?”
Her request made Iren white-faced. She didn’t blame him. Outside, the seemingly invincible Feng still pounded mercilessly upon Iren’s barrier. Unlike before, however, the shield now flickered with each blow. Despite the child’s progress, Rondel knew the shield’s change indicated he couldn’t maintain it much longer. “How much time do you need?” Iren asked faintly.
Her expression turned dour. “As much as you can give me.”
Iren looked through the shield at the firebird towering thousands of feet above them. Rondel was thoroughly impressed when he replied with only the slightest waver in his voice, “You got it.”
* * *
A final blast from Feng shattered Iren’s barrier into a thousand shards of light. In that instant, the young Maantec leapt into action. Meanwhile, Rondel crept deeper into the forest and, Iren hoped, out of Feng’s sight.
Stuffing his fear, Iren rushed headlong into battle. He charged across the plain, his Muryozaki awash with white light. Though he came barely past Feng’s toes, he attacked with reckless abandon, slashing repeatedly at the flames. He thought he would cut right through them, but instead they resisted his presence. In response to each sword stroke, a blaze erupted from the impact site and chased after him. Soon his shirt smoldered. The Muryozaki kept him healed, but his strikes proved useless. He stood more chance of harming the ground.
His efforts did succeed in one way, however, and the one that
Rondel had intended. Feng craned his head down and looked at the bug at his feet called Iren Saitosan. The monster crowed with laughter and then boomed in a crackling voice, “What is this? A second Dragon Knight comes to die?” He raised his enormous foot and stomped down on Iren, who just barely dodged out of the way. Even so, the waves of heat emanating from the firebird as his claws impacted the dirt sent the Maantec sprawling.
Feng laughed. “Not bad! How about this?” The dragon reared up, and from his chest two lanky arms sprouted, each tipped with giant hands and long, grasping fingers. The arms reached to the ground, and soon the battle devolved into a desperate struggle just to avoid getting crushed by Feng’s feet or clenched in his fists.
Iren’s movements gradually slowed. His arms and legs felt as though he’d chained one of Ziorsecth’s trees to each limb. He couldn’t last much longer. If Rondel didn’t attack soon, they’d lose their chance. Feng would kill him, and then the beast would wipe out the forest.
In his exhaustion Iren tripped, and Feng seized the opportunity. Wrapping him in one hand, the creature lifted him into the air, cackling all the while. Even though Feng had no physical form, the fire exuded tremendous pressure, keeping Iren pinned. Burns covered him, and the intense heat quickly incinerated his clothing and wooden armor, leaving him naked. The Muryozaki tried to heal him, but it couldn’t keep pace with Feng’s magic.
Feng stared at him with hollow eyes on his birdlike head. “Iren Saitosan, how worthless your life has been.”
Despite his pain, Iren glared at the beast, not wanting to give Feng satisfaction. His defiance only made the dragon angrier. “That won’t do!” Feng cried, squeezing Iren until his ribs snapped. Iren howled, and the corners of his vision grayed as he flirted with unconsciousness.
“Better,” the dragon said, his cruel beak twisting into a smile. “In return, let me tell you something as you die. Do you remember the night before your mission with Amroth, how he told you of your parents’ murders? He hinted that the Quodivar leader killed them. You know better, though, don’t you? You killed Zuberi, but he sated neither your bloodlust nor your desire for vengeance. Isn’t that correct?”
Through the torture of his injuries, Iren spat, “What do you know? You weren’t even there!”
The horrid smile filled with savage glee. “Amroth was my Dragon Knight, as was Hezna before him. I know what they knew. I know Zuberi was not the murderer, and I know that Amroth lied to you. He said he rescued you, but he did no such thing. He only decided to spare you at the last second because he realized he could use you to get revenge on Hezna. Do you understand now? Zuberi didn’t kill your parents; Amroth did. He slew them both alongside Ortromp so he could get the credit for killing the Left and take over leadership in the Castle Guard.”
“You’re lying!”
Feng crowed. “It’s why I accepted Amroth as my Dragon Knight! I looked into his heart and saw his hunger for power. He willingly killed others and tormented a member of his own species, you, for years just to increase his dominance. I could hardly ask for a finer knight.”
Iren sobbed as Feng’s words burned him harsher than any flame, but his tears evaporated as soon as they formed. Even after learning that Amroth had used him, Iren had still acknowledged him as the man who had saved him as an infant. That wasn’t the case at all though. Instead, Amroth had manipulated him from the beginning, convincing him of a false revenge so that he would become the captain’s weapon. Iren had accepted Amroth’s lie wholeheartedly, even killing for the sake of it. The faces of those he’d slain floated past Iren’s vision. All those battles, all those dead, had gained him nothing. At long last he knew his parents’ killer, but he couldn’t get revenge. Feng had already taken care of that.
The dragon tossed him down hard, and Iren smashed into the ground, bones breaking on impact. The landing jarred the Muryozaki from his hand, and it skidded several feet away. Iren tried to reach for it, but his limbs wouldn’t respond. Desperately, he tried to think of a plan, but he came up with nothing. He could only watch as Feng’s giant foot approached, ready to squash the last vestiges of life from him.
“Keep away from him!”
The female voice roared from just inside the forest, and suddenly a barrage of arrows pelted Feng’s chest. Most fell uselessly to the ground or ignited the instant they touched him, but the distraction changed the beast’s attention. Feng sent a jet of flame to halt the attack. The projectiles ceased for a moment, but then resumed from another part of the forest.
At the edges of his vision, Iren saw two people kneeling next to him. “Rest easy, Iren,” one said, the familiar voice gentle like one of Ziorsecth’s streams. “We’ll take it from here.”
“Minawë,” he managed, but he could say no more.
She smiled, raised her bow, and began firing rapidly, running to make herself harder to hit.
The other person, Balear, knelt and wrapped Iren’s charred form in a green cloak. “Your clothes got burned by that monster,” the man explained. “The Kodamas gave me that cloak while we hid in the trees, but I think you’ve more use for it than I do. No offense, but your charred posterior won’t make a great impression on your girlfriend. Oh, and by the way, you did great, Iren. I’m proud to call you a friend.”
With that, the Lodian stood and fired on his former king.
The arrows continued to fly for nearly thirty seconds longer before Feng shouted, “Enough!” so loudly the tree leaves shook. Blazes erupted from him in every direction, and the screams of dying Kodamas reached Iren’s ears.
Iren feared for Minawë and Balear, but he had little time to dwell on them. The red light from Feng’s body suddenly vanished, replaced by a blue-purple flash that changed the landscape momentarily into brightest day. Iren smiled. Minawë’s distraction had given Rondel enough time.
With a sharp crack that echoed across both field and forest, a bolt of lightning arced from just inside the woods and hit Feng. Iren knew right away that it had struck its target, because Feng roared a genuine cry of pain. The bolt knocked the glowing Karyozaki free from the dragon, casting it into the open air with a thin trail of flame following it. Joy filled Iren’s heart as he waited for the fire to die.
As the seconds passed, however, Feng remained. Iren cursed silently. Even as Rondel’s strike knocked the sword loose, the dragon had sent out a tiny burning tendril to follow it, maintaining the connection between the sword and his body.
Iren despaired as Feng simultaneously extended two great hands, the first to retrieve the fallen Karyozaki, and the second to annihilate the person who had dared to harm him. Iren’s only relief was that he couldn’t see Feng strike his teacher dead.
“Now,” the Fire Dragon growled as flames licked Iren’s body, “for you.” With each word, the earth vibrated.
Iren closed his eyes, accepting his fate, but then something odd happened. Feng had stopped speaking, yet the land beneath Iren continued to tremble. Deep booms echoed across the forest. Confused, he looked around as best he could. The trees themselves were moving. Their leaves shook as if in a storm, despite the windless night. The ground’s tremors grew more intense, and Iren sensed that they came not from Feng, but from within Ziorsecth.
With a harsh grinding sound, the trees just north of Iren gave a great heave and pulled free of their roots, rising and moving of their own accord. Aletas, Queen of the Kodamas and Forest Dragon Knight, stepped into view. “Didn’t I tell you, Iren?” she asked, though she kept her gaze fixed on Feng. “Ziorsecth will defend itself when threatened. While I draw breath, Feng will not step foot inside this land!”
The queen’s level of magic amazed Iren. She’d looked exhausted after controlling the vines and shrubs to attack Lodia’s army, yet she could still control these mighty trees as well. At first he couldn’t explain it, but then he noticed how the queen stood. She held the Chloryoblaka in her right hand and had her left palm pressed against one of the nearby trees. At last, Iren understood. Back in Yuushingaral, Aletas
had explained that Kodamas could replenish their biological magic by siphoning off other life forms. The queen wasn’t using her own magic. Instead, she was channeling the tree’s energy, and thanks to its shared root system, all of Ziorsecth’s as well. In spite of his throbbing body, Iren felt relief. Feng couldn’t defeat an entire forest.
Four broad maples charged the dragon, each over a hundred feet tall. Feng still dwarfed them, although they at least came farther up on him than Iren had. They struck at his legs, battering him with thick limbs like clubs.
Feng’s new foes didn’t bother him. “Wood?” he mocked, his voice reeking of contempt. “You send wood against the Fire Dragon?” With a casual raise of one arm, he set the four trees alight. They continued to smash at him valiantly as they dissolved into ashes.
More maples attacked the dragon, but his flames destroyed each one.
Aletas next sent vines tunneling through the ground, having them rise up and wrap around Feng’s legs in an attempt to immobilize him. The plants withered and died the moment they touched his scalding surface.
Still Aletas did not relent, and Iren began to question the queen’s strategy. She had to know those plants stood no chance against Feng, yet she persisted anyway.
A few minutes later, Iren got his answer. The booming and tremors from earlier grew greater and greater, and they came far more rapidly. A strange sloughing sound joined them as well, and Iren had the impression that something enormous approached them. Aletas smiled mirthlessly. “You lose, Feng.”
With a final wrenching screech, the monstrosity within the forest burst onto the plain. Iren gaped. Standing toe to toe with Feng was the largest tree he’d ever seen. It stood at least as tall as the monstrous dragon, and its limbs stretched farther than Feng’s wings. Iren couldn’t believe a plant could grow so large, but then he remembered Minawë telling him of Ziorsecth and how it was really a single tree with many trunks. The Heart of Ziorsecth, the central pillar from which the forest originated, was the greatest tree ever to sprout.
The Wings of Dragons: Book One of the Dragoon Saga Page 26
