“We’re getting close,” Fes said.
The ground began to shudder. It was a steady thundering sort of sound, and it reminded him of what he had heard from the horse’s hooves as the Toulen warriors approached. This was a steady rhythmic sound, and as Fes focused on it, he realized that he had heard it before, but not from the Toulen warriors.
Skies of Fire.
“Golem,” he breathed out. He looked around, and Adoran glanced over at him. “The golem is coming,” Fes said.
“Are you certain?”
Fes tipped his head to the side, trying to listen, and it was almost as if he could feel it thundering within him. “I can feel it. Can’t you?”
“Not yet,” Adoran said.
“Be ready.”
“We are always—”
Ulesn didn’t have a chance to finish.
The golem suddenly appeared, almost as if exploding from the ground. As it did, it crashed into the front line of the Toulen warriors. A dozen warriors were down in an instant.
The warriors grouped quickly and surrounded the golem, spears out. They jabbed at the creature, taking turns to stab one after another, drawing the golem’s attention toward them before another stabbed.
The golem seemed distracted, almost as if the attempt would work, but then it barreled forward, swatting two of the warriors off to the side, knocking them back with no more effort than it took Fes to swat flies.
The other warriors began to converge, taking up space around the golem, circling it.
As Fes watched, the golem continued to swat at the warriors, knocking them back.
He jumped out of the saddle and raced toward the golem.
What was he thinking?
There was nothing that he could do against a creature like that. He’d already proven that his dragonglass daggers couldn’t harm it.
But could the sword?
He jumped between a pair of Toulen warriors, ignoring their spears, and slammed the sword into the golem’s back.
The creature staggered. For a moment, Fes feared the sword would shatter, but it managed to withstand the impact. The golem didn’t fall. Fes’s arms throbbed from the effort of smacking it.
The golem turned its attention to Fes.
It had the same odd features, the almost-human-but-not-quite way of looking at him. Fes swung the sword and the creature caught it, the blade crashing into the golem’s hand.
Fes jerked it free. He swung again, and again the golem brought its arm up, blocking the dragonglass sword.
There was nothing that he could do to slow this creature. There was nothing that any of them could do against a creature like this.
Fes fell back, drawing the golem’s attention. The Toulen warriors continued to jab at it with their spears, but the golem ignored them, keeping its focus on Fes.
“Get out of here,” Fes said to them.
The warriors ignored him, continuing to stab with their spears.
Fes tried to summon the rage, letting it fill him, but even as he did, he knew there was nothing that he could do against a creature that could withstand every attack he could muster.
The golem pressed toward him and swatted at him. The creature’s hand grazed Fes, barely striking him, but he still went flying back.
As he stood, his cloak tangled, he darted forward, trying to cut through the golem again, but again failing. There was no way to stop a creature like this.
Perhaps that was the point.
They had to stop the one controlling the golem.
Somehow, they needed to get to Elizabeth, and they needed to bring her down, but the golem would prevent him from getting away.
Something moved in his pocket.
Fes tried to ignore it, but there was a strange stirring. As he jumped back, narrowly missing another attack from the golem, he reached into his pocket to figure out what it was that he felt writhing.
It was the figurine.
Why would he be able to feel the figurine moving in his pocket?
He pulled it out of his pocket and it continued to writhe in his hands. Fes tossed it to the ground, uncomfortable with whatever it was doing.
The golem swiped at him, trying to reach him, and Fes jabbed outward with the dragonglass sword, trying to deflect it. The foolish Toulen warriors continued to jab at the golem as if they thought their spears might suddenly start penetrating its stone skin.
“Fools! Would you stop?” He jabbed with his sword again, and again the golem swatted at it, knocking the blade back, almost having too easy a time with it. “Get out of here. It’s not safe for you to stay here!”
There was movement near his feet and Fes cast a quick glance down to see the figurine continuing to writhe. What was happening?
The golem took another step, and as Fes brought his sword around, the golem swatted him. It was a solid blow that caught Fes square on the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying back.
He took a gasping breath, trying to suck in as much air as he could, but it felt as if his entire chest had collapsed. He looked down, but there was no obvious injury. Just the pain that burned through him with each breath.
He clambered to his feet, getting up as quickly as he could before the golem had a chance to attack him again.
As he got to his feet, he saw a strange sight.
The figurine had changed. It was now ten times as large as it had been, and was continuing to grow. The figurine attacked the golem, at first punching the creature, and then when that was ineffective, it grabbed the golem around the legs and kept it from moving.
“We need to go,” Adoran said, reaching a hand out and helping Fes to his feet.
“But the golem—”
“The totem will manage the golem. At least, for now. I don’t know how long the totem will withstand the attack, but Indra has bought us time.”
“I don’t understand,” Fes said.
“You don’t need to understand.”
The Toulen warriors were all back on their horses and starting away from the golem. The golem tried to get itself free, but now the figurine had elongated so that it was as tall as Fes’s waist.
Adoran tossed the reins of Fes’s horse to him. He caught them, climbing into the saddle with a sense of incredulity. What was happening? What was going on with that figurine?
The Toulen warriors continued to ride, hurrying away, and as Fes followed, he glanced back, looking to see if he could figure out what was happening with the golem, but it remained frozen in place, held by the figurine.
Indra had bought them time.
If the only way to stop the golem was to bring down Elizabeth, they needed to act quickly.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Every so often, Fes glanced back, worried that he would see the golem chasing them. The creature never came. That did nothing to reassure him. He had seen the way the golem had little difficulty facing down the entirety of the Toulen warriors.
The landscape never changed, a barren dried grassland that had none of the lush life he’d seen on the other side of the river near the dragon plains. Occasional copses of trees dotted the plains, and he feared Elizabeth might be hiding within them, but the sense of heat never changed the longer they rode.
“How do you know that the golem can’t escape?” Fes asked after they’d ridden for half an hour.
Adoran glanced over. “The totem was still growing in strength. It will hold the golem, though I don’t know how long it will be effective.”
“How?” Fes looked over before turning his attention to stare behind him. There was no evidence of anything back there. The golem might still be there, but he saw no sign of it. “I mean, how was it possible?”
“Did you really not know what she was doing?” Ulesn asked.
“I really didn’t know,” Fes said. “When she handed me that totem, I thought…” Fes wasn’t entirely certain what he thought, only that he hadn’t expected that there would be power within it.
“Indra has the d
ragon’s blessing.”
“I don’t know what the dragon blessing is.”
“It allows the things she carves to be animated.”
“How did she know that we needed the help of the totem?”
“It’s possible that she did not.”
Fes looked over at Adoran. “If she didn’t, then how did the totem become animated?”
“I don’t know,” Adoran said.
“How long do you think the totem will hold the golem?”
“A creature like that will be difficult to hold for long. Indra is strong, one of the strongest with the dragon blessing that we have had in quite some time, but even she has limitations.”
“Even she?”
He didn’t elaborate.
“What happens next?” Fes asked.
“Now we need to find this fire mage who controls the golem and stop her before the golem breaks free.”
“And what if the golem doesn’t break free?” Fes looked behind them, thankful that there still wasn’t any sign of it. The creature could move fast—he had seen that himself—so he didn’t doubt that it could be barreling toward them at any moment. Hopefully, he’d hear—or feel—it coming first. “What if the totem defeats the golem?”
“A golem is powered by an entirely different type of magic,” Adoran said. “And Indra is still learning. If she had another dozen years, perhaps I would say it was possible, but as it is, Indra does not know enough to defeat a golem.”
“Why would it matter that she carved the totem in my image?”
Ulesn glanced back at Fes before looking at Adoran and then shifting in the saddle to face forward once more.
“She was hoping to draw strength from you,” Adoran said.
“I don’t understand.”
“It can be carved out of power that she draws,” Adoran started. “In those cases, she draws upon power that she imagines and pulls through her. It is the dragon blessing. That is the purest form of the blessing, and what we are most familiar with. There are other ways to use the dragon blessing, though it is uncommon. Doing so will pull on the strength of the person it is modeled after.”
“Then the fact that she modeled it after me means that it pulls on my strength?” Fes asked.
“In a sense,” Adoran said. “It is not that it would weaken you. That is not the nature of the blessing. In fact, it would be more likely that her carving it in your likeness would weaken her even more than simply creating her own totem. That is easier for her. It doesn’t require the same focus. But when she crafts it in someone’s image, she draws upon the potential of strength that person has.” Adoran met his gaze. “It means that Indra believed you are a man of great strength.”
“Then why would she have given me the totem? Why wouldn’t she have kept it herself?”
It would’ve been easier—and better—for her to have kept something like that. If she had some way of getting free, why wouldn’t she have taken it? Why would she allow herself to remain trapped?
“If this fire mage knows what Indra is capable of, there are ways of preventing—and protecting—oneself.”
“Then how was she able to animate this totem?”
“As I said, I don’t know.”
“I thought you had the same ability.”
“Not the same as Indra. There are few of us who have that natural ability.”
Adoran fell silent, and they continued at a gallop. The pressure continued to build on him, the sense of heat from the fire magic that Elizabeth was using rising around him. Fes felt it pressing, almost as if attempting to constrict him.
Every so often, he would pull out a dagger and slash at the air. It would ease off the power for a little while before it began building again. He resisted the urge to withdraw the sword, not wanting to unsheathe it while riding, not knowing how well he would be able to balance while holding onto a sword like that. And he did manage to cut through the magic a few times, often enough that he, at least, felt as if he were easing it away, making it so that he didn’t have to suffer from the pressure of it.
Each time that he cut at the air, Adoran and Ulesn glanced over at him. The other warriors rode ahead of them, fewer than when they had started the day. A dozen or more had died fighting the golem, crushed under the weight of the creature’s attack.
After a while, Fes could no longer even take deep breaths. When that happened, he had no choice but to unsheathe the sword. He held it in both hands, squeezing his knees together to stay balanced on the horse, and simply held the sword. The movement of the horse helped it part the spell, and Fes could practically feel it buzzing as it did.
“What are you doing?” Ulesn asked.
“The fire magic is building around me. Can’t you feel it?”
“I can’t feel anything.”
“Well I can. It’s trying to crush me.”
“And the sword?”
“The sword cuts through the spell.”
“The Deshazl cuts through the spell,” Adoran corrected. “The sword is merely an extension of your power.”
“If you say so. Either way, it helps. I don’t know how, and I can’t explain why, but it makes a difference.”
“You don’t have to explain,” Adoran said. “The Deshazl share the magic of dragons. You draw upon that power to overcome the fire mage’s borrowed power.”
They had ridden nearly two hours after facing the golem when a strange chill worked up his spine, followed by a low rumble.
“Did anyone feel that?” Fes asked.
“Feel what?” Ulesn asked.
Fes described what he had felt, including the strange chill. As he did, Adoran’s eyes narrowed and he twisted in the saddle so that he could look behind him. “The golem is free,” Adoran said.
“How do you know?”
“From what you describe,” he said.
“How much time do you think we have?”
In the distance, Fes saw the bridge. He had crossed it at night, and seeing it in the daylight, the way the grayish stone caught the reflection of the sunlight, he found a strange sort of majesty to it. Cracks worked through the bridge, and he wondered how safe it would be for all of them to attempt a crossing at one time, but given the fact that the golem was chasing them, there didn’t appear to be much choice.
“Not long,” Adoran said. “Can you tell which way she is?”
Fes closed his eyes and slowly connected to the heat within himself. As he did, he felt the pulsing, the pressure that worked against him. It came from across the bridge.
Fes pointed as he opened his eyes.
“That is my fear,” Adoran said.
“Why?”
“I suspect that she has acquired something that she should not.”
“Such as a dragon skull?”
“There are many dragon relics in Toulen that have protected our people for centuries,” Adoran said. “And if the emperor has discovered what we possess, we will no longer be as safe as we should be.”
“Maybe the emperor hasn’t discovered them. Not yet,” Fes said.
Adoran frowned. “Perhaps not.”
They raced toward the bridge and the lead Toulen warriors pounded across. As Fes watched them ride across, dust trickled out of some of the cracks. It was almost enough for him to turn away and refuse to cross, but as he looked behind him, he saw a streaking form coming toward them.
The golem.
Fes couldn’t help but marvel at how fast it moved. The creature was swifter than any horse, and despite its weight, it moved quickly, racing toward them in a way that Fes could hardly believe.
Adoran glanced back before sending word ahead for the warriors to get across the bridge quicker. It was a narrow bridge, and it could only accommodate two horses side by side. The warriors streamed across, filling the bridge.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Fes asked.
“The Eradaln Bridge has stood for centuries. No Toulen warrior will cause it to collapse.”
“I’m not
so certain. Can you see the cracks?”
“Those cracks have been there for centuries,” Adoran said.
The warriors made it across, leaving Adoran, Ulesn, and Fes behind. The golem was near enough that Fes didn’t think they would be able to outrun it.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Fes said, motioning to Adoran.
“What are you doing?” Adoran asked as Fes climbed out of the saddle.
“Go,” he said, handing the reins of his horse to him.
Fes followed them, gripping the sword, and when they were completely across, he jammed the sword into the center of the bridge.
Adoran and Ulesn both watched. One of the warriors shouted, and he knew what they were concerned about. They feared being trapped on the other side, trapped in the empire, but he was more concerned about the golem chasing them. If it couldn’t cross here—and he wasn’t certain whether destroying the bridge would prevent the golem from crossing or not—it would have to find another way, which meant heading far south or up into the mountains. Either way would be enough of a detour that they would have a chance to go after Elizabeth, and a chance to get to her and stop the golem.
It depended on him being able to damage the bridge.
He withdrew the sword and jammed it into the stone again.
Dragonglass was able to carve into almost anything, slicing through every obstacle as if it were cutting through water. The only time Fes had seen dragonglass fail had been against the golem.
The bridge was no different to most things he’d used dragonglass on.
His sword slipped through the stone, and there was a shuddering as the stone began to crack. Fes withdrew it, and then he jammed it once more into the bridge.
The golem reached the other shore.
He withdrew the sword and then slammed it back into the bridge. The cracking continued, and now it was a thundering sound.
The golem jumped onto the bridge.
Fes withdrew the sword.
The golem took another step, now only a few paces away from him.
Fes drove the sword down once more.
The bridge cracked… and then collapsed.
Fes was carried down and splashed into the water.
He struggled to hold onto the sword. After everything he’d been through to get it, he didn’t want to lose it in the river, and if the golem somehow managed to reach him, he needed some way of trying to fend off the creature, even though the sword had so far proven useless against it.
Dragon Blessed Page 23
