Chosen (Majaos Book 1)

by Gary Stringer

  “May all your guesses be right!” Calandra prayed.

  “In that case,” Phaer said, “we just have to get past it somehow and keep running until it can't follow us any further.”

  “That’s not much of a plan if we can’t get through the shield!” Rochelle objected. “I should have known this city would never let me out!” “There is a way out,” Eilidh assured her, forcing herself to stay calm and keep thinking. When the Life flow changed, her Catalyst’s eyes had spotted a section of the shield that didn’t quite match the rest. A section she could only describe as door shaped. It could be wishful thinking but she didn’t think so. “I just need a minute to work out how to do what I need to do.”

  “You'll need a distraction, then,” Loric suggested. “Maybe a dragon would do the trick?”

  “Kismet?” Eilidh prompted.

  “So long as you're careful not to let that creature touch you. It's absolutely vital that you remember that.”

  “Not a problem,” Loric stated, confidently. “I'm with you, brother,” Calandra said, prompting questioning looks from everyone else. She smiled. “Phaer's right - I'm not what I appear to be and I think the time has come to drop the pretence.”

  The elf shimmered softly and an instant later a stunning silver dragon was taking to the skies. Loric looked on approvingly for a moment. Very nice , he thought. Then he too changed to his dragon form and flew after her. They made quite the contrasting pair - Calandra's scales shone with a dazzling brilliance, making Loric seem like a dark, three-dimensional shadow. Loric was larger than Calandra, which was to be expected from a male dragon, but the silver mare was lean and lithe, implying superior manoeuvrability.

  “Time for some fancy flying, if you're up to it!” she said.

  “Up to it?” Loric demanded, indignantly.

  “Just teasing. Come and show me what you can do, handsome!” “I'm with you, Calandra.”

  “Call me Callie,” she replied, flashing a dazzling dragon smile.

  Those on the ground were able to take advantage of the distraction provided by their two draconic companions to sneak past the creature. Eilidh drew Granite’s attention to the section of shield she was interested in. He confirmed that it was definitely real. “But none of us have access tae any of the spells that might open it. Even my Bard magic will nae touch it. It’s just too strong, and I’m sure I don’t need tae tell ye it would be lethal tae the touch.”

  “I’m not planning to open it,” Eilidh told him. “I’m planning to break it down!” “How?” He demanded, incredulously. "Even a Life Link wouldn’t be anywhere near powerful enough," he said, referring to the way Catalysts could join their Life Stores to enhance their abilities. It was similar to what Catalysts did all the time with mages to stabilise them following raw magic exposure.

  But Eilidh knew there was no time to explain. The theory was clear in her head. Now she had to act.

  She stared intently into Phaer’s eyes, and said, “Will you trust me?”

  He answered with a sharp nod.

  “Everybody else stay back and don’t get between us and the Fountain!” Eilidh ordered. The Catalyst took Phaer's left hand in her right and led him over to the shield door, whereupon she took a deep breath and without warning, slapped his palm against the barrier. Too late, her friends cried out a warning, but to their amazement, they were fine. Eilidh had swiftly moved to stand back to back with Phaer, using his body as a shield. Phaer’s Magically Dead nature protected them just as Eilidh knew it would…at least in theory. She also knew that the shield door was a relative weak point, so she energised the flow of a stream of Life from the Fountain and redirected it at high speed towards the door. Eilidh had no idea how a mage might use this power to cast spells, but all she needed to do was move it around as Catalysts did all the time. It was like using the power of a raging river to break down a barrier. Standing in its path was profoundly dangerous, but she was confident it would be OK as long as she had Phaer: he was her anchor. Sure enough, the shield door gave way, revealing a previously hidden path through the mountains. Eilidh quickly shifted the flow of the Life stream away from the gap, so their exit wouldn’t get flooded by the Life from the Fountain. Trouble was, there was a risk that the main shield dome would simply fill the gap, and bar their path, just as breaking down a door with such violence could cause the entrance to collapse. Quick as a flash, then, she shoved the half elf into the gap and let him go. She thought he would merely act as a support, preventing the collapse, but instead his presence seemed to cause a catastrophic failure of the main shield, bringing the whole thing down.

  Even better, she thought. Job done, Eilidh told the others to gather together and get ready to run. The Great Fountain of light faded and disappeared, but the creature it had spawned was still very much present as the two dragons continued their `fancy flying`, performing twisting rolls and somersaults like a pair of gymnasts who never needed to touch the ground.

  Eilidh noticed that the Avidon City Crest fixed to the archway above their newly revealed escape route was a design that predated the rule of the Hand. That made it…she tried to estimate in her head…well, it made it very old indeed. She didn’t have time to think about it any further, however, as Bunny spoke up to point out a flaw in her plan.

  “They're holding off the Magic Man while we get away, right?” She said.

  “Magic Man?” Eilidh wondered.

  “You really want to argue its name now?”

  “Point taken. So what’s your problem?”

  “So who's going to hold it off while they get away?”

  “Thou art forgetting how fast dragons can move,” Lady Hannah pointed out.

  “I'm forgetting nothing, Hannah. If that thing is made of magic, how do you know how fast it can move?”

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Phaer said, “but I think we have a new problem.”

  “Another one?” Eilidh asked, wearily. This really was getting too much.

  “Look up there.” The others looked where Phaer was pointing, but could only see a speck of light in the sky. “It looks like a dragon,” the ranger explained, “but it's made entirely of fire.”

  “A fire dragon!” Rochelle breathed in awe.

  “But they're a myth!” Toli protested.

  “Well your myth is coming this way,” Phaer informed them.

  Making a quick decision, Eilidh said, “Kismet, take the others on ahead. Toli, Phaer come with me, I've got an idea and I need your help.” Kismet led his group away while the two dragons continued to swoop and dodge the reaching Magic Man. Occasionally, Callie would fire a lightning bolt from her jaws, while Loric spat acid. It didn't seem to do any harm to the Magic Man, but it certainly kept it angry and focussed on them to the exclusion of all else. Toli and Phaer stood close to Eilidh as she briefed them on her plan. “Phaer, can you shoot an arrow far enough to reach the fire dragon?”

  “Probably yes, but I can't guarantee to hit it at this range.”

  “You don't need to hit it, just get close enough so it seems like an obvious threat.”

  “You want to threaten a fire dragon?” “That's what I said. The trick is, you need to shoot your arrow from behind the Magic Man, create just the right angle so that the fire dragon will think the Magic Man fired the shot.”

  “I can do that, but I don't see how the fire dragon would think an arrow had come from that creature.”

  “That's where Toli and I come in. Toli, you've got pretty good at using Fireflash in combat, and I need you to do it when Phaer shoots his arrow, but wait for my say so.”

  “Sure thing, Eilidh. Do you think fire will hurt a fire dragon?” “We don't want to hurt it, just get its attention. That's my part - I'm going to intercept your spell at the instant before it creates the fire. I'm going to turn Phaer's arrow into a bolt of Life. That will hopefully convince the fire dragon that it's under attack from this Magic Man.”

  “That's going to take some pretty accurate timing, Eilidh,” Toli pointed o
ut. “Do you think it will really work? I mean, I've never heard anything like it being attempted before. Is it even possible?”

  "My dear Toli, I can't wait to find out!" She replied. Once again, it made sense in principle, but she'd never had the chance to try it in practice. Still, nothing ventured... "Now, let's get to our positions.” As they moved apart, Eilidh called out, “Loric! Calandra! Give Phaer a clear shot at the fire dragon and as soon as it gets close enough for the Magic Man to see the new threat, both of you get to the ground, change form and run after us!”

  “Understood!” Loric assured her.

  “Sure thing, Eilidh!” Callie echoed.

  “OK, here goes. Phaer, when you're ready.” Phaer nodded, nocked his arrow, and mentally drew the target to him. When he was sure he would be close enough, he let his arrow fly. About halfway to its target, Toli acted on Eilidh's signal and cast her Fireflash spell. Eilidh followed the flow of Life from the magician to the arrow - to the Catalyst's magical senses, it was as if she had all the time in the world. The instant before ignition, she reached out with her mind and changed the flow of Life to prevent the spell's completion. Fireflash was a simple spell and she doubted whether she would have any luck in doing something similar with more advanced magic, but for this particular spell on this particular day, she was successful. The arrow became a bolt of Life, which only Eilidh could see. She was counting on a fire dragon having keen magical senses, otherwise it might not work. She motioned quickly for her two friends to move out and together they ran after the lead part of the group. The fire dragon roared in anger at the apparent attack and sped its flight toward its assumed assailant.

  Between them, the two dragons decided that Callie should get out of there first, since her silver scales made her stand out more and her innate magical nature also tended to attract the Magic Man more than her obsidian counterpart. At last, the Magic Man detected the incoming fire dragon and paused for a moment. That was what Loric had been waiting for. With one last spit of his acid breath, he flew to the ground, changed to human form and ran from the scene. There was a major concussive impact as the fire dragon threw itself at the Magic Man. Loric was almost sorry he couldn't stick around to watch what was bound to be a titanic battle. But he reminded himself about the kidnapped princess and that refocused his mind.

  Chapter 14

  The party was together once more, following the path out of the mountains. It led them onto a stone bridge that stretched on before them as far as the eye – even Phaer’s eyes - could see. Loric caught up to his female counterpart and asked her, “Please forgive me for earlier? I had my suspicions that you were a dragon, but I couldn't be sure what kind until you changed. I've met silvers before but never one so beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, politely but carefully.

  “So you think I’m handsome?”

  “Maybe, I don't know. You're the first male dragon I've met, so I don't really have anything to compare you with.”

  “You said it, though.”

  “Did I? Oh yes, I suppose I did – it was just a figure of speech, though.”

  “That was some pretty fancy flying back there.”

  “Ah, nothing can out-fly a silver. You know that.”

  “Well I just want you to know I’m here to protect you. I swear to you that you shall come to no harm while you are with me.”

  “That's very sweet of you, child,” Calandra said, patting his cheek.

  “Sweet?” Loric sounded like he was being strangled.

  “Don't strain for praise too much, child; it's very unbecoming.” Sweet. Not quite the reaction he'd been hoping for. Emotionally, her manner was quite puzzling. He had thought flying would let her true dragon-self loose, but having reverted to elf form, that had faded almost instantly.

  Phaer also dropped back to speakto the cleric. “I’m sorry, too, for the way I tricked you and threatened you.”

  “You have nothing to apologise for, child. You acted without malice. You were just protecting your friends.”

  “Why didn't you just tell us you were a dragon? Why the pretence?” “It was never my intention to deceive, but I have lived as an elf from the moment I came to Mythallen. Being in dragon form forced me to think about…things from my past that I'm not ready to deal with yet.”

  “Ah, I see. I can understand that. Say no more. Like Eilidh says, everyone is entitled to their secrets.”

  “An enlightened attitude, to be sure.” The bridge climbed higher and higher by means of a combination of stone steps and slopes. At the same time, the ground already far below, began to slope sharply downward. The climb was difficult and dangerous, as the way narrowed until it was only wide enough to walk in single file in safety. Toli tripped at one point and Granite caught her arm.

  “That's not a good idea this far up, lassie,” warned the dwarf.

  The hobbit swallowed, turning quite pale.“How far up do you suppose it is?”

  “Be careful thou dost never find out,” Lady Hannah advised.

  “Hang on,” Bunny said, suddenly. “Where's the city gone?”

  “What do you mean?” Rochelle asked.

  “I mean Avidon - where is it?”

  “Why it's back there, just behind the...mountains...er...where have the mountains gone?” Everyone turned to look back along their route, and they realised it was true: all they could see was the bridge. It stretched all the way from horizon to horizon, but there was no way that they had walked for long enough to be this far away from Avidon. The city and even its surrounding mountains had vanished. The bridge stretched on and on to infinity in each direction. Even the ground was now apparently too far down to be visible. All that remained was the bridge, as if it were the whole world – the only thing in existence– a bridge suspended in the sky. No-one said anything, but they all felt their pulses start racing in fear. Suddenly, all the natural rules of reality had been suspended and none of them could guess what would happen next.

  “Maybe Callie and I should fly around a bit, try to get our bearings,” Loric suggested. “No,” Bunny said quickly, “you mustn't! I can feel it now, oh but it's well done! All this is an illusion, well maybe not all of it, but enough. Sort of. Sorry, I know that’s a bit vague, but it’s the best I can do.”

  “No, yer right, lassie,” Granite agreed. “I've had experience of illusion magic, but I've never sensed illusions as solid as this before.”

  “We have, haven't we, Eilidh?” Kismet prompted.

  So have I, Bunny realised, but kept the thought to herself. That experience was private. “The glade!” the Catalyst gasped. “It felt just like this. But there's more to this, even, than that. I don't think the city has disappeared at all - we have! I'm pretty sure we're nowhere near Avidon. For all I know we may not even be in Mythallen anymore. Bunny, you're absolutely right. Calandra, Loric, neither of you is to change to dragon form. If you try to fly away from this bridge, you might fly into a barrier that we can't detect Loric, you remember what that's like.”

  “Yes, I do and I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience.”

  “Even if you made it through,” Bunny put in, “you'd break o ut of the influence of the illusion and return to reality. There's no way to tell where one ends and the other begins. From our perspective you'd disappear and you'd have to find your way back to Avidon before you could rejoin us. There's no telling how long that would take.”

  “There you have it, then,” Eilidh concluded. “No matter what happens, no flying, OK?”

  “We promise,” Calandra swore.

  That established, they continued their journey. Time and distance ceased to have any meaning, until a new set of mountains appeared ahead of them. It wasn't a case of gradually approaching a distant range; they were just there suddenly. As disconcerting as it was, that feeling was overpowered by a sense of collective relief. At last they had a landmark to aim for. Reality was showing signs of reasserting itself. Phaer's sharp eyes could see a tunnel through one of the mountains
, not unlike the one back in Avidon, but a glance back the way they had come produced a shock.

  “We've got company!” he warned. It was a fair distance away still, but it was gaining at an alarming rate. It looked like something unexpected had happened between the fire dragon and the Magic Man. The result was something roughly humanoid shaped, more than twenty feet tall, legs the size of tree trunks and powerful arms with flailing tendrils at the extremities, but it was made entirely of a kind of liquid fire. The ranger instantly christened it a Molten Man. Everybody began to run towards the tunnel in the mountain, but they had to be careful not to be reckless, because it was still a very long way down if one of them should fall. They managed to get within about two hundred yards of the tunnel entrance but the Molten Man had almost closed the gap. They'd never make it.

  Kismet, who was at the rear of the party, called out, “You all keep going, I'll see about slowing this thing down a bit!” Before he did, however, he carefully handed his pack to Tolbrietta, saying, “Hang onto this, will you? There's actually something inside for you anyway but I suppose that'll have to wait.”

  Just then, the Molten Man stamped a mighty foot and the whole bridge shook. That created a new problem, forcing the party to slow down for fear of falling due to the quake. Kismet stood just a short distance from the creature, ha nds on hips. “I say!” he called out, indignantly. “That's quite enough of that!” Another set of vibrations shook the bridge and cracks began to appear. “Egad! Don't you realise that someone went to a great deal of time and trouble to build this bridge? Nowyou propose to come along and damage it? That's really not on, you know.” The Molten Man roared and stamped a massive foot, whip-like extremities crackling with energy, causing the bridge to shake once more, the cracks growing and spreading.

  Kismet looke d annoyed. “Right, that does it! That absolutely does it! I can see we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way; you're obviously not going to listen to reason. Now, how does it go again? Oh yes, I remember.”