Legon Awakening l-1

by Nicholas Taylor

  “He must be trained in the Jezeer,” he thought.

  This whole unit that they were fighting was like this. they all had the cloth over their faces and each was amazingly fast, and they didn’t back down. Their skill was formidable, but they weren’t Iumenta. His opponent was gaining ground and Arkin had to duck so as to not lose his head. he tried to change his style and trip up the soldier. Nothing. The soldier countered him easily, almost playfully. Arkin knew the man would be protected with wards form the Iumenta, so he couldn’t use magic.

  Pain erupted across his chest as the enemy slashed a shallow wound across him, slicing his pectoral muscle and vein beds. He staggered back as blood rushed out of his chest. the man was coming up fast now, not wanting to waste time. He clutched his chest and tried vainly to stop the onslaught. he fell back landing on his tail bone, feeling it crack as it hit. The man was over him now and raised his sword for the death blow. In that moment he saw the flick of light, the flick that said that the Venefica protecting the soldier was dead. Arkin shot his hand forward and sent a fire spell at the man’s head. It evaporated in a cloud of blood, bone, and brains that spattered his face. There was a metallic taste in his mouth; he had forgotten to close it before the spell hit. he rolled on his side and retched, seeing the blood from his chest soak the ground. He blacked out.

  Keither took in the field before him. it was an epic story gone horribly wrong. His ears cringed at the sound of grinding metal from the dragons. there was no progress being made there. Then there was the sound of spotters gasping or shrieking, then falling dead as their wives or husbands were killed in battle. The river in the center of the field no longer appeared to be running with water, but he knew that it was foolish to think that it was all blood.

  Both sides were taking heavy casualties. they had gotten their wish. the forces were equal and as such neither gained ground. this battle would not have a true victor. His eyes were getting used to the flash of magic, and as he looked through the seeing glass he saw Legon fighting an Iumenta Venefica. he was using that large sword and both were sending spells in rapid succession at each other, but it looked like Legon was slowly winning.

  Barnin’s unit was with Legon. The tall one, Ankle, was fighting a man. the soldier fell and tried to get up, but Ankle thrust down, stabbing the man in the chest. Keither saw the tip of the sword exit the soldier’s lower back instead of his chest. He saw another of Barnin’s unit on the ground, holding his hands up futilely as he tried to keep a horse from trampling him. the horse was trained well and reared up on its back legs and drove its front hooves into his chest and abdomen again and again. Keither shook his head and looked away. He noticed Sara and the Elves’ chief medical officer standing by them.

  Sara was a medic, and most of those were busy at the moment, but she only knew how to fix things with magic and even then only minor wounds. she would learn more over time, but for this battle she was going to be most useful at the end when men returned with scratches and other small injuries.

  He reconnected with the rest of command. the problem was dragons. they were evenly set, but with the somewhat tight air space they were being forced to fight in, only about half could engage at any given time while the others circled over their sections of the army, strengthening wards. It was rare for dragons to die in battle, but often they would get hurt and have to retreat. this wasn’t a problem in this fight; all they had to do was get close to being truly hurt and then fly back away from the fight and rest.

  Sara interrupted him. “The lights from the magic are something else, aren’t they?”

  He nodded his agreement.

  Sara knew she shouldn’t be bothering Keither, but she needed to get her mind off the battle. it was so gruesome and Sasha would have been no help since she was too busy helping Legon. The Elves’ chief medical officer was next to her and she was feeling a little uncomfortable. She couldn’t remember his name but he had remembered hers, of course.

  He spoke to her. “Are you ok? You look a little nauseated.”

  “Oh, I’m fine, thank you. It’s just the flashing light from the fight, and the blood, and the flying colored things in the air. ok, well, I guess everything.”

  He nodded grimly. “It has the ability to turn one’s stomach. the light especially. They can make epileptics have seizures just by looking at them.”

  “They can? That’s horrible.” She was trying to remember what that was. she knew it was important. She vaguely remembered learning about it not too long ago.

  She pushed it from her mind and stood for another few minutes before the thought buzzed back in her head. She decided to go and access Sasha’s mind to see if she remembered. The girl was a store of information. When she connected with her Sasha was still in a Mahann state, but not like she should be. there was something else that was going on, and Sara noticed that she was having issues with her connection to Legon. Sasha’s body had a slight tremble to it and she kept closing her eyes and trying to steady herself…

  “You said the light can cause seizures?” Sara asked.

  “Yes, why? You’re not epileptic, right?. The only one I can think of here who-”

  He broke off and they both bolted down to where Sasha was supposed to be stationed. he outstripped her with ease, moving faster than a horse, but she made it to Sasha faster than she thought possible.

  Sasha was on her knees, violent tremors jolting her body, but she was awake.

  “How is she awake?” Sara asked.

  “It’s the store. Its energy must be keeping her here, that’s the only way.” the medic said.

  Sasha broke in. “Please take it off me. I can’t connect to Legon. please…”

  “But what if you have an episode by taking it off?” Sara responded.

  Sasha’s eyes blanked out for a moment and Iselin’s voice rang in their heads.

  “Take the store off of her now! Legon is out of energy and is getting cut to ribbons by another Venefica. do it now!”

  Sara didn’t need that voice twice. she wrenched the store off Sasha and threw it on herself noticing as she did that Sasha was now slipping into a full seizure. She found Legon’s mind with ease. he was panicked about Sasha and his men. she needed to connect fully with him. For Sasha she could just partially connect and send the energy needed, but Sara wasn’t advanced enough and had to force to connect all the way. as she did, she felt burning strips of pain along her left arm. She gasped and clutched it as the pain grew. his bicep was almost cut in half. it must have been a cutting spell that did it. She accessed the store and started dumping copious amounts of energy across their connection. this too hurt. she couldn’t handle it, but she poured more and more, feeling her body shudder under the pain.

  She felt a cold hand against her skin, and then Sasha’s mind joined hers. she was still weak, but determined. She altered their connection with Legon and the pain vanished in an instant. Sasha forced the connection with Sara and then accessed the store and directed Legon’s healing wards, targeting the bicep and healing it in a moment. Moreover, Sara felt seething anger emanating from Sasha at her lapse in composure. Sara had never really thought about how Sasha felt about her episodes, but anger made sense; anger she understood.

  Legon felt Sasha’s mind firmly reconnect with his and with it came an instantaneous stream of energy from the store. His arm knitted together instantly; the Iumenta looked worried, as he should be. Legon shot forward, swinging with the fenrra, changing his style every few blows. Soon the Iumenta was receiving small injuries, unable to use magic effectively under the constant assault. Legon saw fear in his yellow eyes, saw the Iumenta tasting mortality for the first time in his pitiful existence, saw the pain that it caused. He did not enjoy cruelty, so he decided to put this poor animal out of its misery.

  He feinted to his left, and in his fear and fatigue the Iumenta took the bait. Legon crouched and brought the sword up, hitting the Iumenta square in the leg. most of the Iumenta’s weight was on that leg and he crashed down,
clutching at the gushing stump. He was screaming in pain. Legon walked to stand over him. the terrified eyes locked on him and the scarlet fenrra he held in his hand. The Iumenta seemed begging for life in Elfish. Legon wasn’t sure; he didn’t know much of the language yet, but the look on the Iumenta’s face was unmistakable. The man wanted something from him. That was obvious. Legon pulled the blade back, ready to thrust it into the thing lying on the ground, and the Iumenta closed his eyes serenely.

  Legon stopped. This man wanted to die. he wanted the pain to stop. he didn’t want the humiliation of having to go home disfigured, and most of all he didn’t want the shame of being spared by an Elf. Legon was going to kill him anyway. it was fine that he wanted it, really, but then he remembered the co-op and Sara and the boy that Barnin had told him about.

  “Tell the queen hi for me,” Legon said coldly. “Curatias Crurim!” he barked, holding out his palm.

  A bolt of lavender shot from his hand to the Iumenta’s stump, stopping the bleeding and cauterizing the wound. Then he kicked him in the head, knocking him out, and gave the order to leave him for his own medics.

  Two massive thuds shook him as something hit the ground. He turned to see Iselin fighting the gray dragon. she was covered in cuts and bite marks. It only took him a second to realize that the gray dragon was far more powerful than Iselin. she was going to lose. He left his guard, sprinting toward the two dragons thrashing on the ground. Iselin’s front leg was torn up bad and so was her shoulder. she was bleeding a lot, even for a dragon. To his horror, two Iumenta appeared behind her. One jumped onto Iselin’s back. The Iumenta steadied itself, aiming his fenrra at an open place in her armor. Legon wasn’t going to make it.

  He reached deep into the store, sending magic to his legs and shooting himself forward. He jumped, bringing the fenrra up above his head. the Iumenta turned and faced Legon, the look of triumph melting off his face as the fenrra made contact with his lower hip. the blade slid through him like butter, cutting his abdomen and ribcage and catching just a bit as it went through his shoulder blade. Legon landed on the other side of Iselin, winded from the loss of energy. she had no idea he was there. the other Iumenta was coming down at him, blade raised. he couldn’t stop it.

  A flash of yellow struck the Iumenta, and Legon rolled to see Feena on top of him, slashing wildly with his claws, ripping off armor and flesh. He sunk his dagger-like teeth in the left side of the Iumenta’s ribcage and thrashed him around like a dog playing with a rag doll. There were muffled screams and a ripping sound as his ribs and shoulder pulled away from the rest of him. Then he stopped screaming and his body separated, one large chunk in Feena’s jaws, the other flung limply to the ground.

  Legon heard the rocks under Iselin crunching and he leapt just in time to avoid getting crushed. she fell on her side, the gray dragon tearing viciously at her. Logic and reason told him to run, that she was lost, but he couldn’t leave her. despite his constant dismissal of Sasha trying to set them up, he did feel something for her. It was probably a crush-nothing worth dying over. the fight would be done soon and the dragon might turn its attention to him, and then not even Feena could save him. He thought of what Sydin said about making it count. he would. Iselin would be angry with him putting himself in this situation, but he would make it count.

  He knelt down, as did Feena, taking his lead. it was like the dragon was a deer and he a mountain lion. he moved, not wanting to attract its attention. Feena suddenly leapt at the dragon, who moved to bite at him. when the dragon moved he turned his head to Legon’s right, exposing himself. As Legon jumped at the gray dragon, he activated cutting spells and brought the blade down over his head, aiming for where the head met the neck, but the dragon was fast. It saw him and began to turn its head. The fenrra hit the lower part of the dragon’s jaw, stopping just short of going all the way through.

  Legon hung from the bottom of the dragon’s mouth, clutching the fenna tightly. He knew claws would be coming soon, but without the fenna he was done for. he twisted his body and kicked hard off the lower tip of the dragon’s mouth, using his body to try and leverage the blade. There was a crack as the bone gave way and the fenna came loose, sending him plummeting to the ground. He hit hard and a congealed liquid splashed his face.

  He heard the dragon roar in pain and the overwhelming thud of its wings as it took off. He opened his eyes without thinking. the sky was crimson. He wiped the dragon’s marrow away, returning the sky to gray. The dragon was above him now and he saw gray light from the broken jaw. the dragon’s magic would heal it soon, and his sword was spent. Iselin jumped into the air, thrusting her wings down in a torrent of wind. She flew up and clamped her teeth on the dragon’s throat at the base of its head and neck. It gurgled a roar and she twisted her body in the air like a corkscrew. There was a loud report as the dragon-sized vertebrae broke, and the lifeless body started its descent. Iselin pulled back, ripping a chunk of the Iumenta dragon’s throat out and sent it sailing to Parkas’ command tent, followed by a river of fire.

  Sasha felt her jaw drop as she watched Iselin throw the dragon flesh at the enemy. The next moment she clapped her hands to her ears as all of the Elven dragons roared in celebration, causing a deafening din to fill the air.

  Everything sped up then. there was a gray flick in the center of the Empire’s lines as the dragon’s spells failed. At once, the resistance and Elven forces surged forward, all of the Venefica dumping energy into the forward group. They split the enemy line in a moment and the dragons all rushed forward, taking the stunned Iumenta off guard. The Iumenta dragons tried to block them, but it was too late. rivers of fire rained down on the Empire’s men, scorching them in an instant.

  Sydin had said that the empire would retreat if they lost the advantage, that they weren’t ready to truly try their luck, and he was right. They sounded retreat. all of their dragons pulled back and their men ran, their hopes crushed with the slain dragon. Sasha heard over the mental network that Arkin was hurt, but that he was stable. As the men continued forward to secure the Sentinels, she felt Legon walking amongst the dead and wounded. She ran down to him, almost knocking him over.

  He smiled at her. “Hey.”

  “You’re an idiot!” she said, feeling the tears fill her eyes.

  He smiled weakly and she heard a groan. She looked down. there was a man at their feet, dying. He was mumbling something about his wife and son. She didn’t know whose side he was on and it didn’t matter. they had no strength left to heal him. Legon knelt down and held the man’s head up off the stone.

  “Who’s going to take care of them?” he was gasping. “M- my boy is too young and it will break her heart. What if they don’t-”

  “They know that you love them,” Legon said in a soothing voice.

  She felt him in the man’s mind. he was bring forward all of his happy memories, and with a gentle flick he forgot about his cares. Grateful happy tears filled the man’s eyes.

  “Tha- thank y- you,” he said.

  After a minute he passed. then she heard the waling and the crying from the other wounded. Legon went to as many as he could. He took their pain away. he made it so they didn’t have to die alone, so that someone was there, comforting. Finally, he was too weak to stand and she helped him across the field back to camp, the whole way biting back bile from what the day had cost.

  Epilog

  Propositions

  “Our journeys never seem to end. That is what makes life enjoyable, or at least that’s what I tell myself when I’m camped out in a rain-soaked tent. If I thought of that more on the sunny days, maybe I wouldn’t need to journey for happiness.”

  — Tales of the Traveler

  Legon’s feet were sore as he made it over the lip of the dome. he had his arm around Sasha, supporting her and also not wanting her to be too far away from him. After what he’d seen and done he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight. As they entered the dome Iselin flew overhead, just a little closer than was strictl
y necessary. he knew he was in for it. Ankle nearly rolled out of the way.

  “She didn’t come that close, retard,” Barnin said.

  “Easy for you to say. you’re what, five-three?” Ankle retorted.

  “More like five-four,” Sara said, holding her hand above Barnin like she was measuring his height.

  Barnin gritted his teeth. he hated short jokes. They were making their way down the staircase to the floor of the dragon dome. As they entered the large circular room they were met by the sound of Elves working to get mangled armor off the dragons.

  They were almost to Iselin’s hangar when they heard a loud clanging of metal and then a crash. There were similar sounds across the floor as dragons shook off their armor into heaps onto the ground. They rounded the corner of Iselin’s hangar and entered. she was still in her dragon form, but within a few seconds she was back to the beautiful blonde with blue-green eyes. His heart gave an involuntary jump. there wasn’t a scratch on her. she walked over to them; no, it was more like a glide. When she was close there was no mistaking the fire in her eyes. she glared at him for a moment.

  “I’m out of here,” Keither said, not even coming up with an excuse. Sara called after him, saying she needed something. Cowards.

  Legon wished that Iselin had stayed in her dragon form. oddly, that was far less intimidating. He felt Ankle and Barnin standing stone-still with terror. neither said anything, which was saying a lot for Barnin. Legon opened his mouth to speak, but Iselin hit him hard on the arm.

  “Ouch!”

  “You idiot!” she roared.

  “What? I saved your…” Legon started.

  “Don’t you dare say you saved my life. I had him, and now you get partial credit for the kill!”

  Now he got partial credit for the kill? She seriously wasn’t mad about that, was she? She hit him again.