Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series

by Nicholas Taylor

  “They can? That’s horrible.” She was trying to remember what that was. She knew it was important. She vaguely remembered learning about it not too long ago.

  She pushed it from her mind and stood for another few minutes before the thought buzzed back in her head. She decided to go and access Sasha’s mind to see if she remembered. The girl was a store of information. When she connected with her Sasha was still in a Mahann state, but not like she should be. There was something else that was going on, and Sara noticed that she was having issues with her connection to Legon. Sasha’s body had a slight tremble to it and she kept closing her eyes and trying to steady herself…

  “You said the light can cause seizures?” Sara asked.

  “Yes, why? You’re not epileptic, right?. The only one I can think of here who-”

  He broke off and they both bolted down to where Sasha was supposed to be stationed. He outstripped her with ease, moving faster than a horse, but she made it to Sasha faster than she thought possible.

  Sasha was on her knees, violent tremors jolting her body, but she was awake.

  “How is she awake?” Sara asked.

  “It’s the store. Its energy must be keeping her here, that’s the only way.” the medic said.

  Sasha broke in. “Please take it off me. I can’t connect to Legon. Please…”

  “But what if you have an episode by taking it off?” Sara responded.

  Sasha’s eyes blanked out for a moment and Iselin’s voice rang in their heads.

  “Take the store off of her now! Legon is out of energy and is getting cut to ribbons by another Venefica. Do it now!”

  Sara didn’t need that voice twice. She wrenched the store off Sasha and threw it on herself noticing as she did that Sasha was now slipping into a full seizure. She found Legon’s mind with ease. He was panicked about Sasha and his men. She needed to connect fully with him. For Sasha she could just partially connect and send the energy needed, but Sara wasn’t advanced enough and had to force to connect all the way. As she did, she felt burning strips of pain along her left arm. She gasped and clutched it as the pain grew. His bicep was almost cut in half. It must have been a cutting spell that did it. She accessed the store and started dumping copious amounts of energy across their connection. This too hurt. She couldn’t handle it, but she poured more and more, feeling her body shudder under the pain.

  She felt a cold hand against her skin, and then Sasha’s mind joined hers. She was still weak, but determined. She altered their connection with Legon and the pain vanished in an instant. Sasha forced the connection with Sara and then accessed the store and directed Legon’s healing wards, targeting the bicep and healing it in a moment. Moreover, Sara felt seething anger emanating from Sasha at her lapse in composure. Sara had never really thought about how Sasha felt about her episodes, but anger made sense; anger she understood.

  * * * * *

  Legon felt Sasha’s mind firmly reconnect with his and with it came an instantaneous stream of energy from the store. His arm knitted together instantly; the Iumenta looked worried, as he should be. Legon shot forward, swinging with the fenrra, changing his style every few blows. Soon the Iumenta was receiving small injuries, unable to use magic effectively under the constant assault. Legon saw fear in his yellow eyes, saw the Iumenta tasting mortality for the first time in his pitiful existence, saw the pain that it caused. He did not enjoy cruelty, so he decided to put this poor animal out of its misery.

  He feinted to his left, and in his fear and fatigue the Iumenta took the bait. Legon crouched and brought the sword up, hitting the Iumenta square in the leg. Most of the Iumenta’s weight was on that leg and he crashed down, clutching at the gushing stump. He was screaming in pain. Legon walked to stand over him. The terrified eyes locked on him and the scarlet fenrra he held in his hand. The Iumenta seemed begging for life in Elfish. Legon wasn’t sure; he didn’t know much of the language yet, but the look on the Iumenta’s face was unmistakable. The man wanted something from him. That was obvious. Legon pulled the blade back, ready to thrust it into the thing lying on the ground, and the Iumenta closed his eyes serenely.

  Legon stopped. This man wanted to die. He wanted the pain to stop. He didn’t want the humiliation of having to go home disfigured, and most of all he didn’t want the shame of being spared by an Elf. Legon was going to kill him anyway. It was fine that he wanted it, really, but then he remembered the co-op and Sara and the boy that Barnin had told him about.

  “Tell the queen hi for me,” Legon said coldly. “Curatias Crurim!” he barked, holding out his palm.

  A bolt of lavender shot from his hand to the Iumenta’s stump, stopping the bleeding and cauterizing the wound. Then he kicked him in the head, knocking him out, and gave the order to leave him for his own medics.

  Two massive thuds shook him as something hit the ground. He turned to see Iselin fighting the gray dragon. She was covered in cuts and bite marks. It only took him a second to realize that the gray dragon was far more powerful than Iselin. She was going to lose. He left his guard, sprinting toward the two dragons thrashing on the ground. Iselin’s front leg was torn up bad and so was her shoulder. She was bleeding a lot, even for a dragon. To his horror, two Iumenta appeared behind her. One jumped onto Iselin’s back. The Iumenta steadied itself, aiming his fenrra at an open place in her armor. Legon wasn’t going to make it.

  He reached deep into the store, sending magic to his legs and shooting himself forward. He jumped, bringing the fenrra up above his head. The Iumenta turned and faced Legon, the look of triumph melting off his face as the fenrra made contact with his lower hip. The blade slid through him like butter, cutting his abdomen and ribcage and catching just a bit as it went through his shoulder blade. Legon landed on the other side of Iselin, winded from the loss of energy. She had no idea he was there. The other Iumenta was coming down at him, blade raised. He couldn’t stop it.

  A flash of yellow struck the Iumenta, and Legon rolled to see Feena on top of him, slashing wildly with his claws, ripping off armor and flesh. He sunk his dagger-like teeth in the left side of the Iumenta’s ribcage and thrashed him around like a dog playing with a rag doll. There were muffled screams and a ripping sound as his ribs and shoulder pulled away from the rest of him. Then he stopped screaming and his body separated, one large chunk in Feena’s jaws, the other flung limply to the ground.

  Legon heard the rocks under Iselin crunching and he leapt just in time to avoid getting crushed. She fell on her side, the gray dragon tearing viciously at her. Logic and reason told him to run, that she was lost, but he couldn’t leave her. Despite his constant dismissal of Sasha trying to set them up, he did feel something for her. It was probably a crush—nothing worth dying over. The fight would be done soon and the dragon might turn its attention to him, and then not even Feena could save him. He thought of what Sydin said about making it count. He would. Iselin would be angry with him putting himself in this situation, but he would make it count.

  He knelt down, as did Feena, taking his lead. It was like the dragon was a deer and he a mountain lion. He moved, not wanting to attract its attention. Feena suddenly leapt at the dragon, who moved to bite at him. When the dragon moved he turned his head to Legon’s right, exposing himself. As Legon jumped at the gray dragon, he activated cutting spells and brought the blade down over his head, aiming for where the head met the neck, but the dragon was fast. It saw him and began to turn its head. The fenrra hit the lower part of the dragon’s jaw, stopping just short of going all the way through.

  Legon hung from the bottom of the dragon’s mouth, clutching the fenna tightly. He knew claws would be coming soon, but without the fenna he was done for. He twisted his body and kicked hard off the lower tip of the dragon’s mouth, using his body to try and leverage the blade. There was a crack as the bone gave way and the fenna came loose, sending him plummeting to the ground. He hit hard and a congealed liquid splashed his face.

  He heard the dragon roar in pa
in and the overwhelming thud of its wings as it took off. He opened his eyes without thinking. The sky was crimson. He wiped the dragon’s marrow away, returning the sky to gray. The dragon was above him now and he saw gray light from the broken jaw. The dragon’s magic would heal it soon, and his sword was spent. Iselin jumped into the air, thrusting her wings down in a torrent of wind. She flew up and clamped her teeth on the dragon’s throat at the base of its head and neck. It gurgled a roar and she twisted her body in the air like a corkscrew. There was a loud report as the dragon-sized vertebrae broke, and the lifeless body started its descent. Iselin pulled back, ripping a chunk of the Iumenta dragon’s throat out and sent it sailing to Parkas’ command tent, followed by a river of fire.

  * * * * *

  Sasha felt her jaw drop as she watched Iselin throw the dragon flesh at the enemy. The next moment she clapped her hands to her ears as all of the Elven dragons roared in celebration, causing a deafening din to fill the air.

  Everything sped up then. There was a gray flick in the center of the Empire’s lines as the dragon’s spells failed. At once, the resistance and Elven forces surged forward, all of the Venefica dumping energy into the forward group. They split the enemy line in a moment and the dragons all rushed forward, taking the stunned Iumenta off guard. The Iumenta dragons tried to block them, but it was too late. Rivers of fire rained down on the Empire’s men, scorching them in an instant.

  Sydin had said that the empire would retreat if they lost the advantage, that they weren’t ready to truly try their luck, and he was right. They sounded retreat. All of their dragons pulled back and their men ran, their hopes crushed with the slain dragon. Sasha heard over the mental network that Arkin was hurt, but that he was stable. As the men continued forward to secure the Sentinels, she felt Legon walking amongst the dead and wounded. She ran down to him, almost knocking him over.

  He smiled at her. “Hey.”

  “You’re an idiot!” she said, feeling the tears fill her eyes.

  He smiled weakly and she heard a groan. She looked down. There was a man at their feet, dying. He was mumbling something about his wife and son. She didn’t know whose side he was on and it didn’t matter. They had no strength left to heal him. Legon knelt down and held the man’s head up off the stone.

  “Who’s going to take care of them?” he was gasping. “M- my boy is too young and it will break her heart. What if they don’t-”

  “They know that you love them,” Legon said in a soothing voice.

  She felt him in the man’s mind. He was bring forward all of his happy memories, and with a gentle flick he forgot about his cares. Grateful happy tears filled the man’s eyes.

  “Tha- thank y- you,” he said.

  After a minute he passed. Then she heard the waling and the crying from the other wounded. Legon went to as many as he could. He took their pain away. He made it so they didn’t have to die alone, so that someone was there, comforting. Finally, he was too weak to stand and she helped him across the field back to camp, the whole way biting back bile from what the day had cost.

  Epilog

  Propositions

  “Our journeys never seem to end. That is what makes life enjoyable, or at least that’s what I tell myself when I’m camped out in a rain-soaked tent. If I thought of that more on the sunny days, maybe I wouldn’t need to journey for happiness.”

  -Tales of the Traveler

  Legon’s feet were sore as he made it over the lip of the dome. He had his arm around Sasha, supporting her and also not wanting her to be too far away from him. After what he’d seen and done he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight. As they entered the dome Iselin flew overhead, just a little closer than was strictly necessary. He knew he was in for it. Ankle nearly rolled out of the way.

  “She didn’t come that close, retard,” Barnin said.

  “Easy for you to say. you’re what, five-three?” Ankle retorted.

  “More like five-four,” Sara said, holding her hand above Barnin like she was measuring his height.

  Barnin gritted his teeth. He hated short jokes. They were making their way down the staircase to the floor of the dragon dome. As they entered the large circular room they were met by the sound of Elves working to get mangled armor off the dragons.

  They were almost to Iselin’s hangar when they heard a loud clanging of metal and then a crash. There were similar sounds across the floor as dragons shook off their armor into heaps onto the ground. They rounded the corner of Iselin’s hangar and entered. She was still in her dragon form, but within a few seconds she was back to the beautiful blonde with blue-green eyes. His heart gave an involuntary jump. There wasn’t a scratch on her. She walked over to them; no, it was more like a glide. When she was close there was no mistaking the fire in her eyes. She glared at him for a moment.

  “I’m out of here,” Keither said, not even coming up with an excuse. Sara called after him, saying she needed something. Cowards.

  Legon wished that Iselin had stayed in her dragon form. Oddly, that was far less intimidating. He felt Ankle and Barnin standing stone-still with terror. Neither said anything, which was saying a lot for Barnin. Legon opened his mouth to speak, but Iselin hit him hard on the arm.

  “Ouch!”

  “You idiot!” she roared.

  “What? I saved your…” Legon started.

  “Don’t you dare say you saved my life. I had him, and now you get partial credit for the kill!”

  Now he got partial credit for the kill? She seriously wasn’t mad about that, was she? She hit him again.

  “Ow! Ise, you were about to get eaten! I saved your life, and I’m the a-” Legon started again.

  “Language,” Sasha said sharply.

  “Yes, Legon. Language. Don’t befoul the air with your vulgarity or stupidity! I was faking. you have to be used to women doing that!”

  Sydin was by them now. “Iselin, that’s hardly appropriate, and you were about-”

  “Don’t you back him up, Sydin, or so help me-”

  To his amazement Sydin was backing away with his hands up in a placating gesture.

  Sasha attempted to intervene. “Iselin, come on, you saved Legon’s life there at the end, and if he wouldn’t have done what he did you wouldn’t have gotten that spectacular kill, and that was all you.”

  Iselin paused for a bit. Sasha went on. “And you’re not actually mad at Legon for helping you with a kill, are you? It’s actually kind of sweet if you think about it.”

  Now Iselin looked a little embarrassed. She turned to Legon. “What if you had gotten killed? Do you know what you mean to people?”

  “Look Ise, I’m not saying what I did was smart, but it was better than the alternative.”

  “Fine. I forgive you, but you owe me.”

  He laughed, feeling better. “Fine, but not much, because you almost rolled on me.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, but he knew she was fine now. Sasha’s mind was working overtime, he could feel it. She was plotting something.

  “Maybe I could make it up to you over dinner?” he blurted.

  Did he just do that? Sasha was smirking. Sydin and Barnin were looking away, but he thought he saw them both smile. Iselin looked dumbfounded, but not upset.

  “Well, you don’t know any good places to eat in our land, so it would really be me taking you out, and I don’t want to go to Salmont right now…”

  Ankle spoke. “Well, you’ll be sailing south from Manton won’t you?”

  Sydin jumped in. “Yes they will, and I will be accompanying them.”

  “It’s settled then. There is a great restaurant in Manton. you guys will love it, and it’s a great first date spot,” Ankle said jubilantly.

  That made it final. He had asked an Elven dragon on a date. He wasn’t nervous around women, but still, he had just asked an Elven dragon on a date. Iselin smiled, and he suspected that she was hoping Ankle would be saying something like that.

  “Fine, but I’m getting t
he most expensive thing on the menu.”

  And with that she turned around and walked off.

  As they left, Ankle sidled up alongside him and held out his fist. Legon tapped it with his own, but he wasn’t sure why.

  “What are you doing, Ankle?” Legon asked, perplexed.

  “Good work,” Ankle responded conspiratorially. “Barnin said that you were a cool guy.”

  “Thanks, but what was that fist thing?”

  “What? Don’t you do that back home?”

  “No,” Legon said.

  “You don’t? Well, it’s like a high five, you know?”

  “No, I don’t, but thank you. So, what kind of restaurant is this?” Legon asked, changing the subject.

  “It’s one that his parents own,” Barnin said.

  “You’ll love it and so will she. Just tell them I sent you, and tell them you want the table in the back corner. This is so great! Elves are going to eat at my family’s restaurant!”

  Barnin chuckled and murmured something about Legon needing to borrow money.

  * * * * *

  Sasha knew that there was going to be plenty of time to bother Legon about his date and for her to rub in her victory, but right now they were on their way to see Arkin. As they walked she held a little green pod to her mouth that Sydin had given her. He had given four or five to all of them.

  Barnin and Ankle were biting the tips off and squeezing something that looked like sap into their mouths.

  She frowned at the little pod. “What are these?” she asked.

  “Power packs,” Barnin answered.

  “Power packs?” Sasha repeated.

  It was Ankle that spoke this time. “Yeah. That’s not what the Elves call them, but that’s the nickname they have with the humans. They taste great and they give you energy. Lots of vitamins, nutrients, all that stuff.”

  She nodded and bit the tip off of one and squeezed it into her mouth. It was sweet and tasted a lot like honey. As she swallowed it her belly felt warm. She had another.

  “See? They’re good and they act fast, too. you’ll be feeling better in just a minute,” Ankle said.

  It was true. By the time they made it to the hospital tent where Arkin was she had a lot more energy. When they found Arkin he was awake and looking sulky. His chest was wrapped in bandages and he looked a little pale. He gave them a weak smile and started to get up. Sasha pushed him back down.