Noble Dragon (The Elven-Trinity Book 2)

by Mark Albany

  Aliana sensed this, and she helped me move over to where Norel and Braire were standing their ground in front of Cyron. The figures behind him fanned out in response. I could see the power emanating from them as they came to a halt not ten feet away from us.

  “Step aside,” Cyron growled, his voice sounding warped and unnatural. “You would not want to stand in the way of history, would you?”

  Norel looked at the three of us before looking back at him. “I can say with some certainty that we are going to be what stands between you and whatever history it is you plan on making.”

  “That is fortunate,” Cyron said with a chuckle. “I made certain promises to an elf that I would not kill any of his kind unless they stood against me, and I’ve been wanting to kill the three of you for a long time now.”

  I looked around, wondering if I was included in “the three of you” or not. It seemed more likely that he was talking to and about the three elves present, but since I had been present to stop him the first time around…

  “Oh, yes, and your little pet human too,” Cyron said with a chuckle, answering that question. I scowled, trying to keep the sword from slipping from my grasp.

  As Cyron’s familiars moved forward, I noticed that there was something moving behind them. It was a massive coffin carved out of black marble. Just looking at it filled me with a sense of dread. Then I realized there was something on top of it. In the darkness, it was hard to make out until it got closer to the fires from the remnants of the fireballs, seeming to float through the air.

  There was a man kneeling over a smaller figure on top of it, pinning it to the top of the coffin.

  “Oro?” I asked, taking a step forward. He looked different, though. The purple runes on his skin were completely aglow, spreading to his eyes and filling them with the same light as he pressed his hands down on something that was alive and moving.

  “Frarris!” Norel cried out, her horror made all the sharper as we all realized that Oro was the one pinning the small dragon to the top of the coffin. “You piece of shit bastard! Liar!”

  “I wish I could say that my silver tongue turned him against you,” Cyron said, moving over to the coffin and placing a hand on it. “But a man who has sustained years of torture would take too long to break. Thankfully, you lot had left behind a spell used to bind the most powerful creatures in creation to lesser wills, never once thinking that it could be used to bind a human mage as well.”

  I stepped closer, seeing the bronze bracelets that had been on Aliana when she was bound to the ring, and then on the dark djinn for the briefest of periods, were wrapped around Oro’s arms. Which explained how the djinn had been able to attack us after we were in the underworld. It could only bind one person at a time.

  “What do you want with Frarris?” Norel pleaded, tears running from her eyes. I could feel her will to fight weakening as Frarris let out a soft, plaintive cry for her.

  “The release from a tomb such as this requires the blood of a creature of magic,” Cyron explained, sounding rather delighted with his plan, enough to tell us about it. “The more powerful the creature, the more powerful Abarat will be upon release. And while you have kept precious… Frarris, was it? While you kept her in a nearly powerless shell of her previous form, she is still one of the most powerful creatures in existence. Abarat thanks you for your contribution.”

  The sadness I could feel from Norel was quickly starting to turn into white-hot anger. I could see her gathering enough power to start an attack. Aliana and Braire both tried to keep up, using Cyron’s arrogance to blind him to their attack. I stepped forward, holding my sword up to try and hold off any attacks that might be coming. There were no calls to protect me this time, I realized with a small smile. As special as Aliana said I was, there was only one thing that needed to be done right now.

  Norel screamed, venting all of her pain and frustration at seeing Frarris bound and helpless into a single strike, stepping forward as a massive bolt of lightning jumped from her fingers. Cyron, immediately realizing his mistake in not engaging us as soon as he saw us, raised a shield. Too powerful for a human, I thought, and powerful enough to deflect the bolt off of him and into one of his familiars. The strike knocked the man to the ground, leaving him nothing more than a smoking corpse. Cyron raised his hands, the green glow from his runes turning red as he dropped to his knees, digging his fingers into the ground. Something started roiling underneath, something that glowed in a very familiar way. I could feel the runes branded into my hands starting to ache as one of the creatures rose from the earth.

  “Hellhounds?” Braire asked as not one, but three of the massive, bear-sized beasts rose from the dirt, letting out a low growl as they were quickly directed by their master to attack us.

  “Fuck,” I hissed. There wasn’t much I could do against these creatures in this state. As they charged forward, I quickly dove out of the way as the forerunner of the three rushed past me. The fear and adrenaline coursing through my blood were enough to provide me with enough strength to do that, but I staggered as I came up, my muscles burning with the effort. A small part of me wanted to just be killed quickly, so I didn’t have to go through the torturous motions of having to survive another few moments, but I quickly pushed it aside, gripping my blade.

  As the hellhounds rushed at the three elves, I could see movement from the forest. With a massive leap, Braire’s wolf jumped from the trees, letting out a blood-curdling howl as it pounced on one of the hellhounds, knocking another one to the ground. As the third turned around to try an engage the wolf, it was suddenly dragged into the ground, something long and sinewy wrapping around its legs and holding it in place as the three sisters started raining their attacks down on the creatures.

  At least we learned from our mistakes, I thought, seeing that their strikes were aiming for the eyes and the mouths of the hellhounds. It had taken everything we had to beat just one of these creatures before, but now we had Braire, a powerful beastmistress on our side.

  We had a shot at this, at least.

  I gripped my sword, watching as the familiars started to join the fight. Cyron was lost in a trance, eyes closed and hands buried in the ground as he controlled the hellhounds. The rest of them needed to defend him.

  In other words, my responsibility.

  I rushed forward, working to keep my balance as I dodged a bolt of darkness that had been aimed at my head, raising the sword to absorb a second one. I gulped, feeling some power rushing through my body thanks to it. Not much, but it was something.

  I dove and rolled under a series of attacks sent my way, coming up in front of the familiars, looking into the eyes of the man I was standing in front of. He was wearing a mask, so I couldn’t tell who it was as I raised my sword over his head.

  I just really hoped it was Vis.

  I brought the blade down, feeling a splash of warm blood on my arms as the man’s head dropped to the ground, followed quickly by his body. The rest of the familiars turned to me like they could feel the blow, their eyes furious as they saw one of their own dead.

  “Oh shit!” I gasped, scrambling away from the onslaught they were sending my way, quickly finding myself hiding behind Abarat’s marble coffin. As expected—or rather, hoped—they didn’t dare send any attacks at the coffin itself, and tried to circle around to strike at me directly.

  “Grant!” I heard Oro call, a great deal of pain evident in his voice. “Is that you?”

  I looked up to see him peeking over the edge of the coffin. “Oro!”

  “I’m sorry, Grant,” he whispered, his eyes still glowing purple but I could see tears running down his cheeks. “I couldn’t stop him. He took me, and I couldn’t stop him.”

  “Fight back!” I growled. “You’re one of the most powerful mages in the empire. You can fight back.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Cyron holds my ring, and since he does, I cannot fight against him.”

  “What can I do?” I asked, scrambling
around the coffin again as the familiars saw me and tried to attack. None of the strikes even came close, telling me that they were only trying to scare me away from the coffin. While sticking close to it was effective, they could always just grab me and drag me far enough away to kill me, so I had to keep moving.

  “Abarat is distracting you,” Oro said, the pain of resisting the power of his bonds evident. “The spell is already in action. The longer you wait, the more powerful Abarat will be when he rises. You need to stop it. You need to stop me.”

  There was no bond between us, but the man’s meaning was clear. I gripped my sword tighter, looking down at it for a moment. I felt no real friendship for Oro but killing him seemed so pointless. But stopping Abarat was more important. It was all-important.

  “Kill me,” Oro said, gritting his teeth. “Free Frarris. It’s all that can be done now.”

  I looked around, seeing the familiars running toward me. I quickly jumped, climbing onto the coffin, swinging my sword to drive them back. They jumped away, seemingly more afraid of the sword than they were of me. I inhaled deeply before turning back to Oro.

  “How do I kill you?” I asked.

  “What the hell kind of stupid question is that?” Oro roared.

  Looking at Frarris, it was clear there was a bond between us. I could feel the pain she was in, but it was more than that. She was seeing Norel in anguish and pain, and that was affecting her too. She wanted to fight back and was stuck, unable to do anything about it.

  I looked into her eyes, raising my blade over Oro.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, swinging it down onto his neck. The stroke was powerful enough to cut his head from his body. The runes on his skin went out instantly, and the bronze bracelets binding him to the ring disappeared as Oro’s head tumbled down onto the coffin, his blood pouring out onto the black marble.

  The binding spell that was keeping Frarris in place also dissipated as the dragon jumped away from the coffin, wings flapping to lift her off it like just touching the marble was painful for her.

  The power Oro had been using had been absorbed by the blade upon his death, flooding me with the sheer amount of power he’d been using as I turned to Frarris, who was looking at me, pining, still helpless.

  I knew what I had to do. Again, I didn’t know how, but I did. Was this Frarris communicating with me?

  I pulled the dragon eyes from my pouch, letting the power that was making my skin burn like it was being torn off flow into them as I gripped the eyes tighter in my hands, concentrating every bit of power in me into the soft yellow objects. They broke suddenly, coating my hands in… something I really didn’t want to think about.

  The power was tearing me apart. I needed to use it now or die from it. I gritted my teeth, trying to contain it as I reached out and placed my stained fingers on each side of Frarris’ face. I could feel the power I’d absorbed suddenly rushing out of me, using the eyes as something of a conduit to transfer it into Frarris. And not just the power I’d absorbed. Everything I had was going into Frarris as she grew larger before my eyes. Our connection expanded, and with it, a vision of what was happening.

  Braire’s wolf was wounded. The snake was trying to hold one of the hellhounds down as the sisters worked hard to kill them. One was gone already, but the other two wouldn’t be held back for much longer.

  I looked into Frarris’ eyes, now the size of apples, as I felt hands dragging me away from the coffin.

  “Save them,” I whispered softly before I was dragged away by the familiars. They were going to kill me in all sorts of ways that I could only hope were going to be quick, but it would be worth it if Frarris could save Norel, Aliana and Braire.

  Heat blasted, rushing all around me. It was uncomfortable, but not exactly painful. I gritted my teeth as I looked around, trying to make out what was happening.

  The blaze disappeared. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness. Once they did, I felt a sense of dread spreading through my body. All I could see were the ashen remains of what had once been the familiars trying to kill me. They were all burned to a crisp, while I was left untouched.

  There was a whoosh of wings as a shadow rushed past me. I watched Frarris swooping down on the hellhounds. Even they seemed to understand the kind of trouble they were in, disengaging from their fight with the sisters to try and get away. They didn’t get far.

  A pure, uninterrupted blast of flame erupted from Frarris’ jaws, letting the fire spread across the forest as the power of it instantly torched the hellhounds, turning them into piles of obsidian.

  And with that, Frarris was gone.

  The sisters looked around, trying to understand what had just happened as the wolf and snake came up next to them, instinctively still trying to protect them even though the danger was gone.

  My eyes were drawn back to Cyron, who was slowly pushing himself from the ground, wiping the dirt from his hands.

  “Well, that’s unfortunate,” he said, looking back at me angrily.

  “Frarris is gone,” I growled, struggling to rise up from the ground, trying not to touch the dead bodies around me. “Your hounds are gone. You’ve lost.”

  “The only thing I’ve lost is Frarris,” Cyron said, shaking his head. “He wanted the blood of a dragon, but I guess the blood of a simple human mage will have to do.”

  I turned back to the coffin, only now seeing that there were runes carved into the black marble. As Oro’s blood flowed from his corpse, I realized it was filling the runes, and they were starting to glow.

  “Fuck,” I gasped, picking the sword up again. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but something needed to be done. Even though the sword was nothing but a sword now that all my power was spent, I needed to try… anything. Maybe just hitting it would break the runes and interrupt the spell somehow.

  I moved closer and swung the blade at the coffin, but it was stopped in inch away from the marble, sending off a shower of sparks and knocking me back a couple of feet as I stumbled to the ground.

  “And so, it begins,” I heard Cyron said as a massive beam of crackling red light shot up from the coffin and into the sky. The darkness was breached, giving me a brief view of a shape, twisting and turning, unfurling as it rose through the light. Cyron stepped forward and put a hand in the beam. In a flash, he was gone as well, shot into the air and out of this world, back into ours.

  I dropped backward on the ground, lacking the energy to stand up for the moment. The sky had changed again. There was only a vacant, red light emanating from what had once been a bright blue sky.

  I felt Aliana dropping next to me, her hands shaking as she lifted me into her lap.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, tilting my head up to look at her. As she did, I realized that the world around us changed as well. Where there had once been green rolling hills and deep, rich forests, now there was nothing but a dark, dank swamp that was hard to look at and felt dangerous and menacing all in just one glance.

  “What happened?” I asked, feeling my consciousness slipping.

  “We lost,” Norel said in an emotionless voice as she dropped onto her knees next to me as well. I couldn’t hold it off any longer, and my world once again faded to black.

  23

  Voices. They weren’t speaking in a language I could understand, but the soft, melodic elvish words.

  I smiled as I realized who was talking. The words were pleasant to listen to, but the more I heard what was being said, the more I realized the tones were dark and almost despairing. The fact that they were made me want to help.

  “He’s waking up,” I heard Norel say as my eyes fluttered open. The darkness was still there. The blue skies, rolling green hills and deep, beautiful forests were all gone, replaced by something that looked like a dank, forbidding swamp. The smell alone was enough to fell even the most powerful of beasts, but the view…

  “Oh, shit,” I growled, looking around. “All that wasn’t a dream, was it? Cyron got away…
and I assume that bright red light coming from the coffin was…” I didn’t want to say it aloud.

  “Abarat escaped,” Braire said, her voice soft. “The most powerful and evil-intentioned elf that ever walked the earth is walking it once again.”

  “Fuck me,” I growled, looking around, realizing I was still lying with my head on Aliana’s lap and she was stroking my hair. Despite everything, the simple action was soothing and distracting.

  I pushed myself up from the ground, realizing that my clothes were wet from the swamp muck we were in.

  “So, what do we do next?” I asked, looking around at them.

  “What do you mean?” Norel asked, not even bothering to look at me. “We lost. We’re trapped in the underworld while Abarat and Cyron are tearing their way through ours. What can we do next?”

  I shrugged. “We’re alive. We can fight. That means we haven’t lost yet.”

  A moment of silence followed. I looked around at the three sisters, all appearing dejected and beaten. I gritted my teeth, wanting to will this apathy out of them, but… there was only so much a bond could do.

  Interestingly, though, Braire was the first to stand. As she did, her wolf and snake followed. The despair was still in her expression, but there was anger there, too. The slow-burning kind that would last and burn hotter as time went by.

  “What do you suggest we do next, Grant?” she asked, and for the first time, it didn’t seem like she was talking down to me.

  I took a deep breath. “First, we need to find Frarris.”

  Norel shook her head as she got to her feet. “Frarris needs some time away from us for the moment.” From her tone, I could tell she wasn’t going to elaborate on that statement. “But she never did need our help to get out of this place, anyway. She’ll find us when she is ready, wherever we are.”