The two mages did indeed look haggard. Both bore dark circles under their eyes and their complexions were pale.
“Those at the front are not getting rest,” Kat pointed out.
Yularian was just about to argue with her when the sudden appearance of a great light far away in the east caught his attention. Like another sun rising, it glowed with astonishing brilliance for more than a minute before gradually fading. As it dimmed, an eerie silence slowly fell. The defenders could only look on in utter confusion as their foes simply dropped their arms and crumbled with almost perfect unity into a vast mass of unresponsive flesh.
“He…he did it,” whispered Halvar, not sure if he could believe his own eyes. But as shouts of victory came from the ranks, he knew this was no illusion. “It’s over!” This time his voice boomed with sheer joy. “Shinzan is dead!”
Gradually, more joined in until the sound of jubilation echoed off the mountainside. It really was over. Without Shinzan’s power, the silent ones were unable to survive.
Beaming with a happiness had had never known, King Halvar turned to Kat. “Ethan has saved us. May his name be praised throughout Lumnia.”
She did not respond, immediately turning away to speak to Lynial instead. “Please. I need your help.” Her face was racked with pain.
“Anything,” he replied.
“Help me get to Ethan.” Tears were already forming.
Keira came bounding along toward them, smiling broadly. This vanished the second she spotted Kat’s distress. “I feel for your loss,” she said, bowing her head.
Kat couldn’t respond; she simply clutched onto Lynial’s shirt in a silent plea that said Now. He nodded. A moment later, a raging tempest forced the others back. Long before it had settled, both mages were gone.
As the leaders gathered, they became an island of silence among a sea of celebration. Without being told, they knew the price Ethan had paid.
“Are you sure he’s dead?” Yularian asked Keira.
She nodded. “I fear so.”
“Don’t count the lad out just yet,” chipped in Halvar. “He’s made it this far. And he is far tougher than he looks.”
“Time for mourning will come soon enough,” said Ganix. “Right now we have wounded to attend and the dead to bury.”
The world around them was demanding their attention. Each knew that the time to celebrate heroes was yet to come. Their hearts might be breaking, but duties to their kin remained.
“Come,” said Lady Thora, taking Ganix by the hand. “I need your help getting more healing tents ready.”
As if a signal had been given, the two other kings also set off in different directions. Only Keira lingered to say a silent prayer to the spirits, begging them to watch over Ethan.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Exhaustion was already seeking to claim Kat, though she refused to consider stopping for even a brief rest. The distance between the mountain and Shinzan’s palace was huge, and it would take them several hours to get there as it was. It would also require virtually all of their combined strengths. Occasionally she looked to see if Lynial was able to go on, but his stone-faced determination never faltered. Even as they slowed and began to descend, she could still feel him urging her on, lending her his own power.
Kat’s heart sank as they touched down just where the outskirts of Noel should have been. All that remained of the city were piles of featureless rubble and the bodies of the dead – thousands of them – every single one reduced to naught but a grotesquely charred husk. Such had been the power and intensity of the heat that some were still actually smoldering several hours after the event. Fighting the urge to weep, Kat pushed on with only one thought driving her. Ethan had to be here somewhere. And if he was alive, maybe, just maybe...
The thought was ludicrous. And in her heart she knew this. Nothing could have survived such devastation; it reminded her of the films she had seen on Earth about the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Even so, it didn’t weaken her resolve. She would only accept that he was dead when she had laid eyes on his body for herself.
They started toward the rise where Shinzan’s palace had once stood. Lynial stumbled, the drain of the traveling spell finally showing. Kat wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him. Though she was equally spent, she would not give in.
Nothing that remained of the palace gave even a hint of its former imposing majesty. Literally everything had been reduced to great piles of blackened sand and glass. Here, not even charred bodies remained. They searched for a time without seeing anything that might indicate where Ethan had been when he had destroyed Shinzan.
“Is it possible the battle was fought elsewhere?” offered Lynial.
“No,” Kat replied, a slight tremor in her voice. “They fought here. I can feel it.”
She knew exactly what Lynial was thinking: that Ethan was likely burned to dust, or at best buried deep beneath the sands. An irrational urge to lash out at him for such defeatist thoughts struck her. Only with the greatest difficulty did she hold her tongue and continue with the search.
After another hour without success, she was on the brink of madness. With Lynial now engrossed in searching another part of the rubble some distance away, she finally gave vent to her emotions. Tears flowed freely, though her sobs were largely stifled by curses and shouts of frustration.
“What is the matter, child?”
Kat gasped and spun around. Standing a few feet away, she saw a woman wearing a flowing white dress, bound at the waist with a silver sash and shifting lazily in the wind. Her hair shimmered in the sun like spun gold, and her smile was warm and motherly. Kat knew instinctively that this was the spirit of Lumnia.
Her anger fell away, leaving behind only overpowering sorrow. She fell to her knees. “Ethan,” she sobbed. “Please. Do you know where he is?”
“Of course, I do.” She reached out and offered Kat her hand.
Without question, Kat allowed herself to be led away. Lynial came running up just as they reached the outer edge of where the palace wall had once stood.
“Who is this woman?” he demanded.
Lumnia’s laugh was like crystal chimes. “If you listen to yourself, you will know who I am, Lynial Dragonvein.”
“That is not an answer.”
Kat gave him a warning look, but Lumnia shook her head, her smile never dimming.
“It is quite all right, Katyana. He speaks only out of concern for you. Most humans have trouble allowing themselves to feel this world. Despite the fact they can use its power, they still somehow imagine themselves to be separate from it. So much like the dwarves you are. Yet with the potential not even the elves could achieve.”
“Then you are…Lumnia?” he asked in a hushed tone.
“In a way, yes,” she affirmed. “I am a part of Lumnia’s spirit. The part you can see and feel all around you. I am the embodiment of her power.”
“She knows where Ethan is,” said Kat.
Without thinking, Lynial grabbed the spirit’s arm. “He lives?” He quickly released his hold. “Forgive me. It’s just that we feared he was dead.”
“He lives for now. He is strong. In fact, much stronger than even I understood.”
Lumnia’s eyes turned to Kat. “It is you who gives him this strength. Even so, he cannot hold on much longer. The power he was given was intended to kill Shinzan through his physical body. But Ethan destroyed him by touching his source of power. That allowed a small portion of my essence to remain. Enough to protect him…though only for a short time.”
“What are you saying?” demanded Kat, her voice becoming desperate once again. “Is he going to die?”
“I am saying that the power is consuming him and he cannot release it.”
Lumnia pointed east. Lying on the sands was a body wrapped in a grey cloak. “Go to him,” she said. “But do not touch him…or you will both die. Then his sacrifice will have been for nothing.”
Kat burst into a run. Lynial made to follow her, but
Lumnia caught his arm.
“Let them have their time,” she said.
“But she might touch him.”
Lumnia smiled. “Things will unfold as they must. You cannot interfere.”
“If I cannot, surely you can?”
Lumnia’s form began to shimmer with a divine light. “I have played my part in this. The rest is for you and your kind.” Her eyes met his. “You have been given a great gift, Dragonvein. One that must never be squandered. Use it wisely.”
“What gift?”
“Time.”
Her body began fading into a ghostly specter. Lynial called for her to wait, but no reply came forth. He called again. It was no use.
She was gone.
*****
Kat dropped to the ground mere inches from Ethan’s body. Though his eyes were shut, she could see that he was still breathing.
“Ethan,” she said, trying hard not to sob. “Ethan, I’m here. I made it.”
His eyes fluttered open. “Kat.” His voice was barely audible.
“Yes. It’s me. I’m with you. What can I do? Please. There must be something.” She ached so desperately to hold him that her stomach knotted and her heart thudded painfully.
“Live,” he replied. “Live long, my love.”
His eyelids slowly dropped and his breathing slowed.
“Ethan, no! Stay with me. You can’t die. You have to fight. Please. You can do it. Just stay with me.” The urge to ignore Lumnia’s warning was almost too much to bear. Her fingers clawed deeply into the sand in an effort to stop herself crossing that tiny extra distance between them. “God damn it. You can’t die on me. Not after all this. Fight!”
His breathing was now coming in short gasps. Kat could only watch helplessly with tears running down her face as Ethan’s life slowly faded.
A roar from high above broke through her despair. Looking up, she saw Maytra circling directly overhead. With a stream of flames billowing from her maw, she began a spiraling descent, landing a few yards away, her great weight stirring up the sands.
A flicker of hope rose in Kat as she looked at the dragon. “Can you help him?” she asked.
Maytra snorted a blast of hot air, then let out a tremendous roar. There was something different about her, Kat realized. She wiped her tears. It was her scales. It was as if they had been dusted with millions of tiny diamonds that glittered brilliantly in the light of the day.
Maytra approached with powerful strides until she was standing above them. She looked at Kat, urging her to back away.
Kat moved back a few feet. “Can you help him?”
Maytra lowered her huge head until it was mere inches away from Ethan’s face. In response, he stirred and his eyes peeked open. Kat could see him mouthing words to the dragon, but there was no sound. Then, with an enormous effort, he lifted his left hand and placed it limply on her snout.
The effect was far from instant. First, just a great ripple ran down the entire length of the dragon’s body. After nearly a minute she spread her wings fully and lifted her head to crane her neck. Kat gasped in awe, as tiny flakes of glowing embers then rose up from the dragon’s flesh to drift on the gentle east wind. Soon, it was as if a great mass of fireflies was gathered in a stream of undulating beauty.
By now Maytra had become translucent. She looked down at Kat and let out a low rumbling growl. Even without language, Kat understood exactly what she was saying: It was goodbye. Maytra had taken Lumnia’s power upon herself. She had given her life so that Ethan might live.
Kat’s tears renewed. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Maytra leapt skyward, the beating of her immense wings whipping the millions of floating lights into a swirling tempest. When several hundred feet high, she hovered for a moment, released her final flame-filled breath, and then simply disintegrated in a majestic burst of radiance.
A combination of immense sorrow and the deepest gratitude washed over Kat as she watched the final glimmer of Maytra’s light fade from the sky. It was almost impossible to believe that she was no more. The final dragon. The last of her kind.
Movement from Ethan snapped her back into the moment and she was instantly at his side. His eyes were open and he was trying to speak. It was only then that she noticed the terrible burns covering his body.
She placed her hands over his chest. “It’s going to be all right. It’s over now.”
While healing him, she could feel his heart opening up to her. There was nothing she was not permitted to know. No emotion that she could not experience with him. The vast wealth of memories and knowledge from generations of his family suddenly became like an enormous book in her mind that she could page through at will.
Gentle fingers touched her face as she paused for a moment. Ethan was sitting up, smiling at her. Most of his wounds were now healed, and the light in his eyes shone brightly with his love.
“That’s enough,” he said. “I feel much better now.”
Kat threw her arms around him, her tears now those of absolute, unremitting joy. “I knew you’d come back to me.”
The two sat on the sands in one another’s arms, neither willing to let the other go.
“I feel like I’ve just woken up from a terrible dream,” Ethan told her.
Kat cupped his face in her hands. “Well, now we can begin making new dreams. Wonderful ones.”
They kissed, gently at first and then with more urgency. For a spell, time had no meaning.
“Excuse me,” a voice said.
They reluctantly parted lips and looked up. Lynial was standing there with his arms folded and a smirk on his face. “I know that you are both happy right now,” he said. “But we are sitting in the middle of a desert.”
Ethan laughed, and with a grunt rose to his feet. Before Lynial could object, he embraced his cousin firmly. “Thank you,” he said. “I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me.”
“Me? I’ve done nothing,” Lynial responded. “You’re the one who saved this world, and all those who live upon her.”
Ethan did not pursue the issue further. Instead, he stepped back a few paces and gave a sweeping wave of his arm. In response, the sands bubbled up to form a small stone shelter, inside which were three comfortable chairs and a table.
Lynial nodded approvingly. “Impressive. I was never very good at transmutation myself. But shouldn’t we be going?”
“You need to rest,” Ethan told him. “You have a long way to travel.”
“You won’t be coming with me?”
“Not yet.”
Ethan conjured a set of simple pants and a shirt, along with a pair a soft boots. Once he was fully dressed, the three of them sat around the table. He could tell that making the clothing had impressed his cousin. It was simple magic, really. Martok had often given away such items as gifts. And considering he’d had naught but a cloak to cover himself, he was doubly grateful that this particular skill had been passed on.
Kat retrieved a small flask from her belt. “It’s not wine, but it will do.”
“Where will you go?” asked Lynial, after everyone had taken a drink.
“Back to the Dragon Wastes,” Ethan told him. “I still have something I need to do.”
Lynial cocked his head. “Shinzan is dead. What else is there for you? Surely you can spare the time to enjoy your victory, at least for a short while?”
“Not yet.”
He went on to tell of the clutch of dragon eggs hidden away. “I have to see that they are safe and allowed to hatch,” he explained.
Lynial’s face lit up. “You mean the dragons will return?”
“Yes. But the eggs will need my care if they are to survive.”
Lynial leaned across the table excitedly. “You must let me come with you.”
“You can’t,” said Ethan. “Not now.”
“But I am a Dragonvein. It is my duty as well.”
“I know. And I promise that you will be a part of it. But right now, there are other things
you need to do. When I was passing through Lumnia’s heart, I was shown what could be – events that must never be allowed to happen. I need for you to make sure that they don’t.”
Ethan then related everything that Shinzan had shown him. When he was done, the sun was near the horizon.
Lynial steepled his hands under his chin. “You are right. These things must never happen. Though to be honest, I am not sure how I can prevent them.”
“I don’t know that you can,” Ethan admitted. “It will be hard to persuade people to stop fighting. Three kingdoms chose to fight on the side of Shinzan, and many of our allies will be wanting revenge.”
“Then would it not be better if you were there? You are the greatest hero this world has ever known. You could bring them together. They would not deny you.”
“No. One of the few things I’m sure of is that I can’t be directly involved. The people of Lumnia mustn’t feel forced into peace. They’ll have to want it. And I think they do. But if I use my influence, some will think I’m just trying to become the next Emperor.” He smiled over at Kat. “That’s the last thing this world needs.”
“They may not let you,” Lynial pointed out. “Your name will be on the lips of everyone on Lumnia. Elves, dwarves and humans will all seek you out, begging you to take a role in creating a new world. How will you ignore them?”
“I hate to disappoint everyone, but it’s not my name they should be remembering. I didn’t kill Shinzan.”
Lynial furrowed his brow. “What are you saying? Of course you did.”
“No. I fought Shinzan, and I lost. It was Markus and a man named Vraylic who really beat him. Not me.”
“Markus?” gasped Kat. “He was here?”
“Yes. Without him, I wouldn’t be alive.” Ethan recounted details of the battle, and of Shinzan’s ultimate fall at the hands of a lowly servant.
“You see? I’m not the hero after all,” he concluded.
Lynial was stunned. “That’s truly remarkable. After all the centuries of domination, the mighty Emperor is cast down by a man with no power whatsoever.”
Dragonvein Book Five Page 31
