Kethril

by Carroll, John H.

  Tathan began to think they would be able to overcome the beast. He took a few steps toward the cave to rescue the baby ships, but paused on a hunch. Vevin had drawn blood from above the wing joint and was biting and clawing his father. Both creatures snarled in anger. It was an awe inspiring, if terrifying sight.

  Then the father spun and knocked Vevin off. With a lighting fast move, it bit Vevin hard in the neck, causing blood to spurt to the sides. The young dragon wailed in shock and pain. Tathan began running forward, but Sir Danth was there first. He shifted onto the monster’s back and jammed his greatsword into the shoulder. With an immense roar, the dragon released Vevin and jumped into the air, knocking Sir Danth off. The knight shifted back to the ground and landed on his feet in a crouch, ready to jump again.

  Two things happened simultaneously. First, Liselle shot forth a blue ball of energy she had been holding in front of her. Instead of hitting the white dragon, it slammed into Vevin’s neck and knocked him down. Tathan saw the neck wounds instantly heal, along with a couple of claw marks that had cut into his scales. Tathan had heard of tough love, but that was a bit much.

  The other thing that happened was that an orange net hit the white dragon, fowling up his wings. It was like the one Emmaoen had cast against the ship. Sounds that Tathan had never heard before came from the dragon’s mouth. He recognized it as a spell and an instant later, the net dissipated. The dragon let out an enormous roar, spreading dragon fear through the area.

  Hair on the back of Tathan’s neck stood up, but the image of a flower opening its petals appeared in his mind. Instead of fear, Tathan felt resolve fill his veins. Liselle’s magic was playing a greater part in the fight than anything else. In all of his journeys, Tathan had never had such a strong ally. He liked it.

  Anilyia and Emmaoen rode down the gangplank and headed toward the cave. “Help them, we’ll get the children,” Anilyia yelled at him. Tathan didn’t like her risking her life, but decided to follow the suggestion, especially since Lifedrinker was urging him to get near more of the dragon’s blood.

  Sir Danth shifted to the air next to the dragon’s right eye and thrust his sword. When he and Tathan were waiting for the others back on the ship, the knight had mentioned that shifting into the air had never occurred to him while in the cave in Aaltdiin. He was obviously a fast learner.

  The white dragon was faster than any of them imagined and whacked the knight out of the air with its good claw. A bright light flashed as one of the talons gashed the previously invincible armor. Sir Danth hit the ground hard, while the dragon jerked back and screamed in pain from the magical backlash.

  Vevin leapt at his father, but the older dragon spun and swatted Vevin with his tail, recovering faster than Tathan would have imagined. Vevin hit a giant, jagged rock hard and screamed in pain. Tathan ran toward the white dragon, watching for its next movement in order to evade it.

  Before he reached it, the world shattered. At least that was what it sounded like when the blue fire shot through the air and exploded into the monster. Seeing her lover hurt had sent Liselle into a rage and she was opening herself to true power. The dragon was knocked a hundred yards away. It writhed in pain from the sticky blue fire clinging to its body and its right wing had been shorn from its shoulder, causing even more agony.

  The wing was on the ground a short distance away, twitching and burning. Suddenly, the white dragon twisted to its feet and smiled at them. It was the most frightening smile Tathan had ever seen. The dragon actually liked the pain.

  Metallic screams that sounded like armor being shredded drew Tathan’s attention. He saw that Sir Danth was on the ground, thrashing in distress. A great gash was taken out of the left side of his armor where his abdomen would be. Red and gold energy crackled and ran over the armor. Tathan dashed over to him and held out a hand.

  He felt lame standing there, only offering a hand to someone who obviously needed more help than anyone might be able to give, but it was all he could think of. The knight grabbed the hand though and stood with Tathan’s help. Pain was etched into Sir Danth’s features, but he ran toward the dragon once more, sword at the ready.

  Vevin shrieked in anger and lifted into the air, ready to attack his father yet again. Tathan was beginning to feel like an audience member at a show. He wasn’t doing much and that irritated him more than the homicidal dragon who was trying very hard to kill them all.

  The dragon breathed out shards of glass. It was something Tathan had never considered. Vevin rose higher in the air, avoiding them, Sir Danth shifted twice to the side to get out of the path, while Tathan fell to the ground behind a tree trunk and heard the thunking sound of the shards hitting it.

  A quick glance over his shoulder showed that Liselle had created a wall of blue fire that melted the shards. Tathan realized that rushing a dragon from the front was a bad idea. His next thought was that rushing a dragon from any direction was a bad idea. The hardest part of fighting dragons seemed to be the part where a person had to get anywhere near one.

  Daring to peek up, he saw Vevin respond with lightning. The purple bolts electrified the white dragon causing it to spasm and shriek happily in pain. It was unnerving.

  Sir Danth shifted a couple more times and dug his sword into the chest just as the lightning stopped. Tathan thought for sure that it was a killing blow, but the white dragon jerked back before it could pierce the heart. Blood spewed from the wound, spraying the knight. Tathan’s sword vibrated in hunger, so he dashed forward once more.

  Vevin flew at his father, but stopped at the last second, making the white dragon’s next spin move miss. It was a brilliant move that Tathan had time to admire because he was still running. Vevin latched onto his father’s neck again while Sir Danth slashed at the leg Tathan had injured.

  For some reason, the knight seemed to irritate the dragon more than his son being attached to his neck. He started stomping in a frenzy, trying to squish Sir Danth who kept shifting out of the way. Then the monster landed a glancing blow, knocking the knight down. The next claw came down squarely on Sir Danth’s midsection. The sound of shrieking metal filled the air and the dragon’s foot caught fire.

  Tathan pulled up as he saw his friend lying there with magical armor crushed in the middle. Vevin yanked the white dragon back with a heave of his wings. The purple dragon threw the heavier, white one to the ground, let go of the neck and breathed lightning into its face.

  Sir Danth was still alive . . . or whatever he called his existence. Tathan wondered if it was possible for him to die permanently. The knight screamed in agony, proving that he could feel pain. Suddenly, the white dragon twisted and dodged Vevin, shaking off the lightning burns. The two dragons faced each other, ready to re-engage.

  Tathan had had enough. He pulled out a dangerous runeball he kept for an emergency. Tathan had never used it before because it would likely be fatal, but fighting this enemy that loved pain could be fatal for all of them and Tathan considered his life expendable to save his friends. He spoke the trigger word to activate the runes. Black ooze ran up his arm from it and covered his entire body in an instant. Then it sank into his pores.

  The world stopped moving. Everyone froze in place and sound stopped. Tathan ran to the white dragon that had its back turned while facing Vevin. He slashed the hind leg as he ran up the calf. It moved minutely, reacting to the cut. Everything else began to move just a tiny bit and Tathan knew he didn’t have much time.

  With a somersault, he was on the dragon’s back. He ran low, slashing back and forth to each side, spraying blood that his blade drank eagerly. The reactions became more pronounced and everything started moving again, though not at full speed.

  Tathan’s heart started to hurt. The ooze didn’t stop time, it sped up Tathan so he could move a thousand feet in the blink of an eye. It wore off quickly, a little more as each second passed for him. The problem was that it also sped up his blood and heart, which was beating three times faster than it should. Tathan was strong
and healthy, but he could feel his heart trying to punch itself out of his chest. His veins felt like they were boiling from the blood racing through.

  None of that stopped him though. Tathan was going to kill the dragon and free the world from its maliciousness. He stabbed down where he thought the heart would be.

  The dragon definitely reacted, turning its head. Tathan’s time was about up. He had to kill the dragon, but its heart wasn’t there. It had moved near the hindquarters. Tathan knew this because the sword could sense it. He jerked the sword out and ran the other way down the dragon’s back.

  Time was definitely going back to normal for him. The dragon’s head was coming around faster and faster. Plus, the muscles in the back were bunching with the turn, making it more difficult for Tathan to keep his feet. The sword alerted him that the heart was beginning to move forward again and it was time to strike.

  Tathan thrust his sword downward, thinking how neat it would be to have a heart that could move around in the body during battle. It would certainly increase the chances for survival. No heart could escape Lifedrinker though, and the blow was true as the blade sank to the crossbars.

  The white dragon’s legs collapsed under the deathblow. Vevin latched onto the neck with his teeth again. The monster gurgled and jerked a few last times before it died. The inky eyes started to drain black goo, leaving only empty eye sockets.

  Sound returned to normal along with the rest of the world and Tathan could hear that Sir Danth was still screaming. He looked and saw the knight banging the ground in agony with the one arm that was still working. The armor was a mangled disaster and it was obvious the soul inside was suffering terribly. He didn’t seem able to die or even lose consciousness.

  Tathan was having enough problems of his own though. The adverse effects of the spell were hitting him hard. He clasped the sword hilt with all his might as the pain in his chest increased. Through clenched teeth, he sucked in air. It felt as though his chest were twice the size it should be.

  “Tathan? Tathan!” Liselle yelled from nearby. The ship had come close and Liselle was looking back and forth between him and the knight. Something about his appearance must have alarmed her because she leapt from the ship’s railing to the dragon. It was quite the jump and he realized that she had done something to enhance her own strength.

  “The veins in your face look like they’re about to burst!” she said in alarm. Tathan felt burning liquid start to run down his cheeks and forehead, indicating that they were doing exactly that. He heard Anilyia scream from somewhere. The pain in his chest was sharp and he couldn’t breathe. “Tathan!” Liselle called out again.

  Energy flowed from her hands, which were suddenly on his face. Just before his heart burst, the pressure lessened. She flowed in more energy and his blood cooled down. Then she stopped. He gulped breath in raspy heaves. The pain hadn’t stopped completely, but it was manageable. He knew that Liselle hadn’t healed him all the way though and wondered why.

  After the spots in his vision had faded enough, he saw that she was kneeling next to the fallen knight. Blue glow was coming from her hands, but Sir Danth was still screaming in anguish. Liselle had saved as much energy as possible to try to heal the knight. Tathan knew that she had worked with Sir Danth in the past, so perhaps she would be able to save him, though he couldn’t think of how. A suit of armor was very different from a body.

  He was still holding onto the hilt of his sword. It had a limit to how much it could drink and it was full. He didn’t like the fact that the blade thirsted for light and blood, but it had kept him alive countless times and he had need of it. Tathan also didn’t know if the blade would let him go, a thought he removed from his mind quickly lest it be paying attention. He used it for leverage to stand up, then pulled it out and wiped it on the dragon’s body to clean the blood off before sheathing it. It was another habit the sword insisted on, and Tathan had to admit that it was an effective tool for intimidation.

  “Tathan,” Anilyia hissed at him. He looked and saw her on her horse by the ship. “Are you alright?” she asked in another hiss, her face etched with concern. She was trying to yell and whisper at the same time so as not to disturb Liselle.

  He nodded and waved weakly, noticing that Emmaoen was missing. Looking for her, he also noticed that the baby ships hadn’t been rescued. Vevin was still in dragon form, standing at his father’s lifeless head and huffing from the exertion. It was as though he didn’t believe his father was dead. Tathan wondered just how bad the abuse had been. What he had seen in the monster’s eyes made him feel sorry for his purple friend.

  “Tathan!” the princess hissed again. “We need your help with the lock.”

  A lock. Tathan’s interest was aroused. Locks were always interesting and he looked at each one as a challenge. Perhaps there would be other locks too. He was about to jump down from the dragon’s back but realized his body was still suffering. In fact, it felt as though he was running a fever. That was one of the side effects of that particular runeball, another being death.

  He made his way down the side of the dragon, jumping the last little bit. Instead of landing gracefully, Tathan fell to his knees with a cry of pain. Every bone and joint hurt and his muscles felt as if they had been rubbed with sandpaper. A moment later, he felt cool hands on his face. Looking up, he saw Anilyia’s eyes staring into his. They were beautiful.

  “Tathan, you’re burning up.” She put the back of her hand on his forehead. It was one of his favorite things about women, the way they put a cool hand to his forehead when he didn’t feel well. Sometimes he slowed down a little, or coughed just so that they would. Regrettably, he was feverish this time. “What happened to you?” she asked fretfully.

  “I’ll be alright. Take me to the lock,” he told her, getting to his feet with her help. She led him to the ship. Aermoirre had lowered and extended the gangplank again. Anilyia had him wait at the bottom while she grabbed his horse and led it down. She helped him mount and then led him to her horse and mounted as well.

  From there they rode to the cave. Looking back over his shoulder, Tathan saw that Vevin still stood over his father’s head, making sure he wouldn’t come back to life. Blue light was radiating from Liselle over Sir Danth’s body and the knight had stopped screaming.

  The ship was following Tathan and Anilyia to the cave. Even though Liselle was the only one that could understand what it said, it was clear that Aermoirre wanted her babies more than anything else.

  It stopped at the entrance while Anilyia and Tathan rode in. “There’s a large cave with hot springs in it. It’s dirty and smells like death. It’s also humid.” Anilyia pointed down the tunnel.

  Moisture clung to the ceiling and walls of the rough rock. The floor of the tunnel was slimy with green and rust colored trickles of water running in crevices, so they walked their horses carefully down the gradual slope. Anilyia was correct about the smell. Vevin had told him once that dragons liked their homes to be clean, but this one was as filthy as its owner. Rotting carcasses and half-gnawed bones were strewn about the floor. The hot springs added a faint odor of sulfur, causing the princess to cover her nose with a sleeve. The overwhelming scents made it difficult for Tathan to breathe, which heightened the pain in his chest. He would probably be alright in the long run, but wasn’t doing so well at that moment.

  Anilyia led him into a tunnel in the back of the cave where the smell was just as bad. Emmaoen was standing in front of an iron gate with her hands on her hips, glaring at the lock. “I have a spell that opens locks, but this one has wards on it and when I cast the spell, it hit me with fire. Luckily, I still had defenses up against fire and just about anything else,” she told them as they rode up to her.

  Tathan dismounted and his knees gave out, causing him to fall to the floor with another cry. His mind flooded with pain sent to him from every nerve in his body. “Tathan!” Anilyia exclaimed in worry. Emmaoen dashed over and the two of them helped him to his feet.

 
; “What happened? Is the dragon . . .”

  Tathan gulped in air. “It’s dead. It took a lot of work though. Let me see this lock, and thank you for setting off the trap. That’s one less thing I’ll have to deal with.” Emmaoen softly cuffed him in the shoulder and smiled for the first time in a long while. She frowned when Tathan groaned. The cuff had hurt ten times more than it should have.

  The baby ships inside the smaller cave creaked in fear, drawing Tathan’s attention. They had numerous ropes holding them down. “I’ll get you out in just a minute and we’ll take you to your mother,” he reassured them. It felt a little silly comforting baby boats, but he had done things much more odd in his lifetime.

  Tathan studied the lock for a moment as he took out his pouch of lockpicks. He pulled a tiny runeball out of a pocket in the pouch. He was hesitant to use another of the valuable and difficult to replace devices, but it would take hours to figure out and deactivate any other wards that might be on the gate and his mind was hazy.

  Emmaoen took a step back when he placed the runeball at the lock. Then she took three more steps back. Anilyia looked back and forth between her and Tathan then took a few steps back as well. Tathan uttered the trigger word and pushed the ball into the lock.

  It activated with a snap. Yellow threads of lightning wiggled up each of the bars on the gate with a sizzling sound. One reached a ward and caused a flash of light accompanied by a loud pop. Both ladies jumped and yelped in surprise. Four more wards were disarmed by the yellow wiggles, each one dying in the flash and pop.

  Tathan then took a set of lockpicks and began working on the lock itself. The first thing he did was to use a bent pick to search for mechanical traps. He found it quickly. It was similar to a few others he had faced before and he knew how to deactivate it. A minute later, he figured out the lock too and with a satisfying click, it was done. Tathan was exceptional with locks even when his mind wasn’t clear. In addition, the picks he used had magical enchantments on them to help steady his hands. He stood with a flourish that turned into a stumble. Anilyia rushed forward to steady him.