What had happened?
Had the grim lord’s lashers managed to evade the watchful hawks? Were those vile beasts even now rampaging through the valley? Had they found Ka’en? Sick at heart, Aram could not avoid these black thoughts, including the fact that at that very moment his beloved wife was likely gone from him forever.
By the time they crossed the first river and reached the high ground between the two streams, the sky had brightened almost to full daylight. Above the hills to the east dawn was imminent. As Thaniel thundered across the low ridge between the rivers, Aram peered ahead, but could see no sign of an enemy. No lashers prowled the landscape immediately to his front. Both the sky above and the horizon ahead were obscured by smoke, preventing him from seeing further. What he could see near at hand in the growing light of the coming day was that the bodies of the townsfolk littered the smoldering streets. Like every building of the town in which they’d once lived, they had all been burned by fire.
Terror over the fate of his wife kept Aram from stopping in the blazing town to see if anyone remained alive. Instead he drove Thaniel on past the town, where they abandoned the road, angled across the fields more directly toward the distant city, and went up the rise beyond. Just as they crested the ridge, the sun broke over the hills to the east, flooding the valley with its light. And then they could see the full extent of the destruction.
Fires burned everywhere along the length and breadth of the valley; smoke billowed thick and dark. It seemed as if the entire valley had been set ablaze.
But it was that which appeared in a clear area of the sky a mile or more ahead, flying above the earth, soaring in and between the billows of smoke and cinder, that caused Thaniel to grind to a halt and Aram to catch his breath and cease to breathe.
A dragon.
A dragon commanded the skies above Aram’s valley.
The monster flew toward them along the tangent of the north-south road, its massive body undulating though the air, like that of a serpent swimming through still water. As it came toward them the dragon swerved back and forth, breathing great blasts of fire from its mouth downward toward objects upon the earth below. Aram stared with the riotous pounding of his heart sounding like thunder in his head and then instinctively glanced to the left, toward the distant city where but three weeks before he’d left his wife and their unborn child alone.
And the pounding of his heart increased and threatened to deafen him.
Another dragon was there, in the air above the great porch, its great billowing wings outstretched, preparing to descend upon the living stone.
Thoughts of dread and hope fought a tumultuous battle for supremacy in his mind.
Had the monster above the city already gotten to his beloved Ka’en, or did it still seek her? Had she somehow managed to escape further into the depths of the city?
Dear Maker in the heavens; did she still live?
“Aram – it sees us.”
Thaniel’s sharp voice brought him back to the moment. He yanked his gaze away from the beast by the city and back to the dragon in the sky before them. In the last few moments, it had ceased its swerving action and had abruptly straightened out the trajectory of its flight. It was coming straight at them. Because of its enormous size, it appeared to be much closer than it actually was. Still, there was a little time until it reached them.
Aram stared at the approaching monster. In the bright light of the new day he could see it clearly. The vast head looked directly at him, wicked horns curving above it, and even at that distance he could see that the eyes burned red and hot with evil malevolence. It held its huge clawed hand-like appendages bent slightly forward as it flew, as if it sought to reach out and grasp that which it hunted. Above its back, a filmy, voluminous material shimmered and hummed. Whatever that material comprised, cape or wing; it was this that drove the beast forward.
Rapidly.
It was closing fast.
In moments, it would be upon them, breathing forth its terrible fire.
There was no way now to avoid its attention, slip past and get to Ka’en.
As he watched the leviathan come toward him, knowing that it had killed and destroyed up and down the length of his beloved valley, fury arose suddenly within Aram. These alien beasts had undoubtedly come at Manon’s behest to kill his wife – maybe had already done so. Terrible anger erupted and burned hot in him even as his thoughts grew cold and clear. He looked away from the approaching behemoth and glanced to the east.
The full body of the sun was now above the hills, shining bright in a clear sky.
In the sheath upon his back, the sword hummed, as if begging to be released so that it might be bathed in the golden light of its matrix.
It was in that moment that Aram decided to fight.
If his beloved Ka’en yet lived, her only chance to remain alive was for him to destroy the monsters that had come to kill her. And if she had already perished then there was no further purpose in life left to him but to seek vengeance upon those that had taken her. He glanced once more to the northwest, where the second dragon had dropped onto the great porch and was tearing away at the façade of the city. Then, he focused on the one to his front.
That beast had closed nearly half the distance to where he and Thaniel stood atop the rise.
Upon his back, the sword seemed to vibrate with its desire for release.
“Turn around, Thaniel – run.”
The horse needed no prodding. Aram reached beneath his collar as Thaniel pivoted and charged downhill, pulling at the armor, lifting it into place so that it might meld with the hood. Already, even though the dragon was still a half-mile or more away, the great beast’s influence had begun to affect the atmosphere around them, compressing the air, confusing his thoughts.
He simplified his thoughts into one purpose and focused on it.
As the horse galloped away from the ridge top, back toward the burning town, Aram rolled out of the saddle. He fell to the ground and rolled further, coming to his feet. Startled, Thaniel slowed, and swung his head around to look back at him. Durlrang spun around as well.
Aram met the frightened, uncertain gazes of his companions and pointed firmly down the hill, away from the approaching monster.
“Go,” he said to both. “You cannot help me here. The Sword and this armor are the only chance we have. Go.” His voice grew hard and harsh. “I order you. Go!”
The hard tone in his voice as well as the mad maelstrom of approaching darkness compelled both of them to obedience.
Aram pulled the hood from his belt and slipped it over his head. It blunted the influence of the approaching evil somewhat. Nonetheless the awful pressure in the atmosphere grew at an alarming rate. Though he stood in full sunlight, the new morning seemed to grow oppressively darker rather than lighter.
He drew the sword and held it above his head, in full, bright sun. As its song arose, he turned and began running toward the top of the rise, directly toward the approaching dragon. As he ascended the slope toward the crest, he thought of the Guardians.
“My lords,” he pleaded breathlessly. “Many times you have come to my aid. I beg of you – come to my aid now.”
The Astra gave no answer, but immediately there was a sharp tingling along both his shoulders.
Though the air around Aram seemed to darken further, in fact the morning sun shone bright, clear, and hot. And the sword was screaming now, its song a veritable howl of power. Aram gripped the hilt tightly, focusing his mind fully upon it, holding the blade’s flame in check. The air compressed further. Darkness surged at the edges of his mind. Fighting against the increasing disorientation of his thoughts, he focused on keeping the fire leashed and clinging to the desperate hope that Ka’en still lived.
And if she yet lived, the approaching terror had to be destroyed, it and its companion, if there was to be any hope that she would remain alive much longer.
Time faltered and slowed to a stop. The air crackled with tension, as
if it had become a tangible thing, fragile as glass taut with breaking strain, about to shatter under the devastating pressure. Aram’s mind reeled; he stumbled and slowed to a walk, concentrating both on remaining upright and holding the sword aloft, so that it was fully exposed to the bright, hot disc of the sun.
The awful humming of the dragon’s approach rose to unbearable levels even through the hood, and the terrible heaviness of the atmosphere told him that the speeding behemoth neared the far side of the rise. He halted, spread his legs wide apart, and stared fixedly into the sky above the rise.
The massive horned head appeared, moving with fearsome momentum; then the clawed front feet with their long, finger-like appendages; and then the enormous body filled the sky with its loathsome mass. The beast opened its maw and ejected flame but it was already past Aram, who’d surprised it by coming back toward it. Curling its head under and backward as it soared overhead, it opened its mouth once more to burn and kill.
The Guardians went to work, their fierce white fire raking the monster’s underside as it passed overhead. Though the great beast let out a roar of surprise and fury, the weapons of the Astra appeared to be having but little effect upon it.
It was the living fire from the Sword of Heaven that wrought its doom.
Wobbling unsteadily on his feet, Aram nonetheless wielded the sword with all his might, swinging it in a high, sweeping arc at the massive darkness passing overhead.
With his last lucid thought, he released its flame.
The looping stream of golden fire ejected from the Sword of Heaven sliced irresistibly upward and into the beast, knifing through strange flesh and alien bone. Somewhere deep inside the vast, grotesque body, it found an even stranger organ, filled with macabre fluid and bile, the residue of dead things.
As the flame that found its origin in the heart of the sun shining above the hills to the east sliced upward and through this organ, the fluids detonated in a horrendous fireball, tearing a huge hole in the massive body immediately behind where the forelimbs attached. Though the bulk of the beast’s mass had moved beyond Aram as it hurtled downslope, the blast nonetheless drove him to the ground. He managed to hang onto consciousness and hold the sword up, away from the earth.
Rolling over to his hands and knees, grasping the sword in his right hand, he reached up and ripped off the hood with his left, and vomited between his arms. As he retched again and again and struggled to regain control of his confused mind and abused body, there came yet another tremendous blast from the direction that the beast had flown. Forcing his way up onto his knees, he turned to look. The dragon’s body had crashed into a rocky outcropping upon the low ridge between the rivers, beyond the town.
The enormous body was burning. He gazed through blearing eyes, watching it closely, but there was no sign of living movement anywhere along the massive carcass.
Remembering Thaniel and Durlrang, he turned his head further to look for them.
The great horse was standing with splayed hooves a hundred yards away to his right, near the stream that ran along the bottom of the swale, his nose touching the ground. Off to Thaniel’s left, Durlrang struggled onto his feet, shaking his head, making small, odd, barking noises. Both had been effected by the twin blasts but both were far enough off to one side that they survived, severely shaken but alive. Aram struggled to his feet but didn’t sheath the blade as he turned back to look upon the wreckage of the monster.
A few minutes observation of the burning, unmoving mass convinced him that it was no longer a living threat. He pivoted to look toward his companions. They’d managed to regain their equilibrium and were coming slowly and unevenly toward him.
As he stood unsteadily with his feet spread wide and watched their sluggish, weaving progress up the hill, Aram’s muscles gradually ceased quivering and his thoughts cleared. It was then he remembered the other dragon, off to the northwest, that was by now no doubt attempting to flay anything yet alive inside the city.
Where Ka’en was.
Knowing that his wife – if she yet lived – was in terrible jeopardy made his thoughts grow sharp, clear, and cold even as he fought down the nausea that tried to rise in his throat. Sheathing the sword, he turned to run toward the top of the rise, waving his arm to hurry the others.
“Come! – hurry.”
Reaching the crest, he peered through the columns of billowing smoke toward the northwest. The second beast was still upon the great porch, tearing at the living rock of the city with its massive claws.
Watching it claw fervently away at the city, a tiny hope flared up and burned in Aram’s heart – a hope that his wife might yet be alive. Why else would the dragon so desperately continue to seek entrance into the city if it wasn’t attempting to get at something or someone? And if Ka’en still lived, her life depended upon him getting to her.
Quickly.
He waited impatiently on the top of the rise, peering toward the distant city, as Thaniel pounded up. Without turning to look at him, his gaze fixed on the city where the dragon was still tearing at the stone, he asked,
“Are you alright, Thaniel? Can you bear me? I need to get to Ka’en.”
Thaniel wheezed and snorted and discharged foam from his nostrils. “I can bear you, Aram – mount up. Let us go.”
As he struggled into the saddle, Aram glanced down at the wolf. “Durlrang?”
“I am with you, master.”
Aram swung his leg over. “Go.”
Thaniel plunged down the far slope and up and over the next, driving across the undulating grasslands of the valley. Though acrid smoke filled much of the air above the valley, there was very little burning in the immediate area except for scattered copses of trees. His thoughts cleared further from breathing in relatively clean air, and as they did so Aram sensed a terrible unease in the horse beneath him that was unrelated to his own. Rightly, he guessed the reason.
“Drop me at the steps of the city, Thaniel. You cannot help me with this last beast. The sword will slay it if I can get close enough. Go and find Lord Florm and Lady Ashal.”
Thaniel, wheezing and gasping from exertion and the residual effects of the bone-shattering detonation that had rocked his mind and body upon the death of the dragon, answered shortly. “Thank you, my lord.”
Despite being yet unsteady on his hooves, Thaniel ate up the ground quickly. As they neared the city, Aram studied the massive beast that was doing terrible damage to the front of his city. The great monster was obviously still trying desperately to get at something – or someone – inside. Either it did not know of the demise of its companion, or maybe that which it sought was more vital to its needs. It had torn the roof from Ka’en’s house – placed there a few weeks earlier by Nikolus and Timmon – and then moved its attention away to the left, focusing its efforts upon the solid-rock dome of the great hall.
Smashing through the low-hanging branches of the orchard, Thaniel tore out onto the avenue and pivoted to his left, driving to the bottom of the stairway. Aram was stunned to see that the torn and bloodied bodies of many wolves littered the great avenue. Many were those of Leorg’s people; others were unknown to him. And more than a few of them were burned. Great oval patterns of blackened and charred pavement spotted the ancient stone.
As Thaniel slid to a stop at the foot of the stairway, Aram leapt from the saddle and met the horse’s eyes for an instant. “Go find your parents.”
The horse swung away and tore off down the avenue. Running for the stairway, Aram adjusted the hood of the armor, drew the sword, and charged up the steps. Something large and black swept past and ahead of him. Durlrang was leading him up.
“No, Durlrang – get behind me.”
The wolf hesitated and then reluctantly moved to one side. Aram dashed past, taking the steps two at a time. A loud, skull-numbing hum filled the air to his front, coming from atop the great porch. The terrible deformation of the atmosphere sharpened again. Aram fought against it as he climbed, keeping his mind foc
used on a single thought –
I have to get to Ka’en.
Despite the hood, his head reeled from the nearness of the alien beast. The passage between the porch and the defensive wall yawned deep and dark below him to his right. Once again his gorge rose in his throat, his thoughts jumbled, and that shadowy deepness wavered dangerously on the edge of his vision. He kept his gaze centered downward upon the stairs and forced his legs to take him up the next step, and the next, and then up again.
He was at the top.
Reeling away from the stairway and the shadowed chasm beyond, holding the sword aloft with trembling arms, he looked toward the city.
The enormous mass of the monster stretched from him, from the edge of the stairway to the front of the city itself. Its massive, ribbed tail was vibrating endlessly, curving away to his right, the spike on the end of it piercing holes in the pavement of the porch as it throbbed and thrummed.
The Sword of Heaven‘s voice rose and filled the air with a high keening, competing with the humming of the dragon’s billowing wings. Clenching the blade tightly, Aram fought against the invasive uproar of the dragon’s presence, and the dizziness inside his head, and desperately held the flame in check.
Having seen the source of the explosion in the body of the first beast down the valley before the shockwave drove him to the ground, he knew now approximately where to plunge the sword deep in order to find the vulnerable spot. Probably, there would be a detonation like the other, but he hoped that the armor would protect him. It didn’t matter, either way. If Ka’en was still alive inside the city somewhere, he had to destroy this monster. If she had already perished, he craved his revenge. His own life was of no consequence to him; he simply needed to live long enough to kill the beast.
Remembering Durlrang, he found a moment of clarity in his mind and sent a thought out sharp and hot. “Get back to the stairs, below the level of the porch!”
The dragon was tearing at the front of the city, turning the beautiful façade to rubble. Aram could see that it still ignored the ruin of their home and was concentrating on getting into the great hall. The tiny flame of hope brightened in his heart. If Ka’en had managed to get into there, maybe she had gotten into the passages beyond, deep into the living rock of the mountain, beyond the reach of the beast, its claws, and its malevolent intent.
Kelven's Riddle Book Four Page 54
