With any luck, by the time they reached the shoreline, the path beneath the cliff supporting the Summoning Stone would be passable—the plateau accessible via a narrow trail ascending its far side. She’d better get a move on or the wizard would leave her behind.
She gave the Summoning Stone one last look before skipping down the slope, her footing sure. She was a well-trained Splendoor Catacombs Guard. This was her terrain.
Fiery Reckoning
Silurian stepped onto the animal track and froze. A woman’s voice called out to him.
“Silurian! Stop!”
He spun around, staring at the blonde-haired woman hustling toward him, her wizard robes flapping about her slight body. How had she found him so fast?
She wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. Through gasping breaths, she said, “I thought I’d lost you. Oh, Silurian, thank the gods I found you.”
All at once, the large boulder of crushing darkness lifted from his chest. Like someone had pulled his heart out of the murky depths of despair and held it up to the sun. The realization that there were still things worth fighting for stared him in the face.
He returned her embrace. She was the reason he fought. Her wellbeing the driving force behind his desire to deal with Helleden Misenthorpe once and for all. In the throes of his epiphany a cold filled him. He didn’t dare put her in harm’s way.
Catching her breath, Melody pointed to the underside of the ledge. “Do you think he’s up there?”
He didn’t know what to say. If he went up there, she’d surely follow and he couldn’t allow that. Not if he wished to concentrate on what he needed to do.
“What’re you doing here?” His words came out angry.
“What do you mean? I’m here to kill Helleden. Just like you and the rest of us.”
He looked back the way they had come. “The rest of us? Who else is here?”
“Sadyra should be along soon. We came ahead to stop you.”
“Stop me? Why would you do that?”
“We have to do this as a united front. Helleden is too strong for any one of us. Together we might have a chance. Especially if he hasn’t found a way to summon that…” She stared at him hard, reading his expression. Her jaw dropped. “He’s already got one?”
Silurian nodded. “I saw it last night.”
“Oh no. How big?”
“Big.”
“Well, um, we should go back to Fishmonger Bay and wait for the others.” She stared at the underside of the Summoning Stone. “Let’s wait for Phazarus. He’ll know what to do.”
“And take the chance of Helleden getting away?”
Melody looked around. “Where’s he going to go? Sadyra says there’s no way out of here except back the way we came.”
“Unless he flies.”
Her eyes widened. “You think he can fly it?”
“Don’t know, but I’m not taking the chance.”
He saw the fear in her eyes. He didn’t blame her. He was scared stiff.
Their attention was drawn by Sadyra rounding the curvature of the cliff face, sprinting hard. She stopped a few steps short of the large rock they stood on. “There you are!”
Silurian cringed. Another life to worry about. He contemplated telling the archer to remain here and direct the others when they showed up but he noticed her squinting at something behind them, over the ocean.
A cold dread shot through him.
Melody stiffened beside him.
He turned his head slowly, not wanting to believe what he knew to be true. Drifting high upon the air currents, a black mass circled over the ocean. Flapping its great wings, it turned its angular head their way.
Silurian faced it head-on, his sword blazing bright. What good a flaming sword would be against a creature that reportedly breathed fire, he had no idea, but it was the only thing separating him from a fiery death.
Melody clutched the wrist of his sword arm, the runes on her staff changing from orange to light blue. “You need to protect our outside flank. Use your sword to bolster my magic.”
He stared at her. How was he going to do that? He saw she prepared to employ a cold spell. Cold made sense. They were about to be charred. What effect it would have on dragon’s fire, they were about to find out.
He fought hard to curb the urge of running away from the nightmare descending on them. He blinked at Melody, her instructions filtering through his fear. Outside flank?
The gargantuan beast plummeted out of the sky, catching its descent at the last moment with great, outspread wings and landed on a rocky spur on the far side of the alcove. Clawed feet, bigger than a man, crunched the granite, holding its inverted bulk to the steep embankment. Glowing emerald eyes watched them from either side of a horned head—its nostril slits swirling with orange flames.
Its mouth, lined with dozens of curved teeth, opened so wide that Silurian could see down its throat to the flames roiling within.
The dragon lifted its head, roaring at the sky before it thrust its mouth toward them, spouting a stream of fire.
Silurian switched his sword to his off hand as Melody’s staff emitted a field of static blue energy. He held the sword’s tip against the visible magical shield she generated. Concentrating for all he was worth, he willed the earth blood magic to augment the shield and together they deflected the searing flames into the rock and surging water.
An arrow ricocheted off the top of the dragon’s eye socket. Another one disappeared into its flaming mouth; neither missile had any effect on the beast from hell.
Sadyra’s arrows hadn’t bothered the beast, but the dragon’s gaze fell on her crouched several steps behind Silurian and Melody on top of an outcropping of rock. It let out a deafening roar.
Silurian’s ears rang so badly his voice sounded strange. “Sadyra! Get back!”
He didn’t dare confirm she’d heard him. He could track her movement by observing the beast—the dragon’s eyes locked on the little archer as it followed her progress back to the shoreline.
Silurian contemplated his options. He glanced at the tiny inlet separating him from the beast; the leap too far to contemplate. Perhaps he might climb the animal track, but what then? Stab at the colossal beast with his sword? He wouldn’t get anywhere near its body, so that meant its head. The one breathing flames. By himself, his sword wouldn’t be enough to deflect the spewing fire.
“We need to retreat!” Melody’s words were lost to the roar of a second bout of flames. She seemed up to the task but struggled to deflect the flames licking at their feet.
Silurian glanced down to see if his boots were actually burning.
“Help me! Use your sword!” Melody’s plea reached him over the roar of the flames.
He thrust the tip of his sword into her translucent blue aura and the heat lessened. He had no idea what he contributed to her spell casting but the result of their combined magic—her wizardly skills and the earth blood enchantment of his sword—certainly offset what the dragon threw at them.
The stream of fire abruptly ceased.
Silurian frowned, sensing a presence through his contact with his sword. He thought he heard someone speaking idle thoughts—angered and confused. A strange recognition flitted about the edge of his mind but he wasn’t sure they were his thoughts.
The dragon pulled its head back, holding it high. It was difficult to ascertain what it focused on, but Silurian didn’t think it was him or Melody.
Sadyra’s boots crunched the gravel trail as she jumped down from another ledge.
The dragon tracked Sadyra’s movement, tilting its head sideways and opening its mouth but no flames escaped.
Silurian thought for sure it meant to devour them.
The dragon extended its head halfway across the narrow inlet and screeched—so loud he and Melody were forced to cover their ears and shrink away. A sulphurous odour accompanied the windy roar.
The dragon closed its mouth, clinging to the rock and glaring at them.
/> Silurian’s legs shook. During his time as Prince Malcolm’s squire and his subsequent years as a knight in King Peter’s Royal House Guard, he had faced many strange and fearsome creatures, but nothing remotely prepared him to deal with a creature of this size.
Dragons were supposedly killable. The people of the Great Kingdom had hunted them to the verge of extinction but no one had faced a dragon in centuries. How their ancestors had dealt with the beasts was beyond his comprehension.
Without warning, the black dragon crouched and sprung into the air, the downdraft of its wings incredible.
Silurian noticed the end of the metal cable hanging from its neck.
Two arrows followed its receding girth over the waves—the first one bounced harmlessly off its ridged tail while the second fell short and disappeared into the waves. As big as the dragon was, its acceleration shocked Silurian.
The sensation of eavesdropping on a one-sided conversation faded from Silurian’s mind as the dragon screeched high overhead and circled back, disappearing over their heads atop the plateau.
Silurian, Melody and Sadyra watched anxiously, but it didn’t reappear.
Sadyra bounded up to them. “That was intense.”
“Intense?” Silurian asked, his mind trying to come to grips with what had just happened. “That was terrifying.” He held out a hand. It shook of its own volition.
Melody’s pale face confirmed she thought the same.
“Pollard and Olmar better get here soon. They’d love to see a real, live dragon.”
Melody blinked several times. “That real, live dragon almost made us real dead.” She held her staff out with two hands. The length of wood trembled.
Sadyra started up the animal track.
“Where are you going?” Silurian asked, all sense of bravado sapped from him.
“To see where it went.”
He shook his head. If nothing else, the encounter with the dragon had grounded him and instilled in him a measure of common-sense. Its appearance had effectively banished his reckless need to go rushing headlong into a confrontation with Helleden.
As frightened as he was, he took great strength from the fact that his underlying darkness had been rooted out of him. Strange, he thought, the encounter with the dragon had provided him a clarity he hadn’t had in a very long time. Confronting Helleden with just Melody and Sadyra was a bad idea.
“Melody’s right. We need to wait for Alhena and the others before we try to go against that thing again.”
Sadyra looked as if she were going to ignore him. She took a couple more steps up the path and searched the heights, mumbling, “I see now why my people worshipped dragons.”
Without a sound, Sadyra skipped down to the shoreline and started back the way they had come.
Silurian glanced at Melody.
She shrugged and followed the sprightly archer along the base of the cliff.
Forgotten Talisman
Sadyra guided Silurian and Melody back up the hill trail toward Fishmonger Bay. If not for uncanny knowledge of the simple but dangerous route, the return trip might have proven hazardous—especially since they spent more time scanning the skies for the dragon than watching where they were going.
Near the top of the hill, Sadyra led them off the main trail and up a steep incline to a small, one-roomed hut that hadn’t been lived in for quite some time. Her old, family home.
She stopped on the threshold, not sure she was up to entering the hovel. She had been born in this hut but other than fond memories of her sisters, she’d never known happiness under this roof.
The front door hung on a twisted upper hinge. Someone had kicked it in. She swallowed her unease and went inside.
Navigating the littered interior, careful not to trip over upturned furniture broken beyond repair, she located her mother’s tallow cabinet lying on its side and found several fragmented tapers to shed a bit of light in the gloomy cabin.
She jumped when the candle in her hand sparked to life.
Melody offered her a smile of apology.
Silurian’s voice sounded from the shadows at the far end of the room, his foot catching on an old bedframe. “Did you notice the rope?”
Sadyra and Melody scanned the hut.
“Not here. On the dragon.”
“Is that what it was? I thought I saw something when it landed but I was preoccupied by…well, you know.” Melody lit a few more candle stubs and placed them around the interior.
“I saw it too. Looked like a leash,” Sadyra muttered, her eyes taking in the poverty of the place. Funny, she hadn’t noticed how poor they had been growing up.
“Did either of you sense…?” Silurian seemed to have trouble saying what was on his mind. “I don’t know. While fighting the dragon, it was almost as if someone tried to communicate with me. Not you two but someone else.”
Sadyra looked at Melody who shrugged.
“It felt like it was a recognition of something from the past, and yet, it wasn’t from my past. Does that make any sense?”
Sadyra followed Melody’s lead and shook her head.
Silurian didn’t say any more.
Left alone with her feelings, Sadyra took in the state of the wretched hut and wondered how she and her sisters had survived. Her eyes filled with tears but she refused to let them fall. “Damn it.”
Silurian and Melody looked at her.
The wizard asked, “You okay?”
Sadyra gritted her teeth, refusing to look at them until her emotions were under control. “I’m fine.”
Melody and Silurian searched the hut and found three pieces of furniture suitable to sit on. They arranged them in the middle of the hut and sat down.
Melody pulled an odd leather bag out of the folds of her robes and withdrew several chunks of something resembling food.
Sadyra’s stomach rumbled at the sight. She gathered herself and joined them with low cast eyes.
Melody offered her a large piece.
“What is it?”
“Wizard’s bread.”
Sadyra hesitated and Silurian grunted, “You’re right to be wary. It’ll break your teeth.”
Melody glared at him. “Been keeping your sorry butt alive, hasn’t it?”
“Killing it by degrees more like.”
Sadyra noted that despite his grumbling, Silurian tore off a piece of his proffered chunk and ate it.
She sniffed it. It didn’t smell like anything so she bit into it. Silurian was right. It was difficult to chew. It tasted bland, almost chalky. She unstopped her waterskin and drank deeply.
Silurian laughed. “Uh huh. I warned you.”
“What about the others?” Melody changed the subject. “How’ll they know where we are?”
Sadyra swallowed what was in her mouth. “I’ll wait for them at the end of the path. I don’t care to hang out in here longer than I have to.”
Silurian and Melody cast her an odd look.
Sadyra got up and headed to the open door. “This was my home.” Her voice cracked as she stepped into the night, “I fled from here.”
Melody watched the petite archer walk from the hut into the dying light of late afternoon. When this business with Helleden was finished, she meant to have a talk with Sadyra, perhaps help her move beyond her obviously troubled past.
“You got any more of that tooth breaking stuff in there?”
Melody smiled. As much as Silurian grumbled about her magical bread, he didn’t seem to mind eating his fair share. She fumbled inside the bag and gasped as her fingers wrapped around a walnut-sized gemstone. The Tang Stone!
“Oh my goodness! How could I have forgotten?”
Silurian frowned.
She pulled her hand free and held it palm up, the glass-like blood-red stone glinting dully in the candlelight. “The Tang Stone. After everything we’ve been through, I totally forgot about it.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe it. We risked our lives for this.”
Silurian leaned close
, examining it. I wonder what it does.”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure. Seems lifeless to me.” She turned the forgotten talisman around in her hand—the multi-faceted stone, flat on one side. “Looks like it used to be part of something else. A pendant maybe.”
Silurian studied the stone in her hand as she inspected it, mumbling, “Tang stone? Tang stone?”
“It’s a stone alright, but what does tang mean?”
Silurian slid his sword from its sheath and studied its handle, fingering the hollow at its end.
He stared at Melody with wonder. “I think it’s part of my sword. The blade and the handle are fashioned as one long piece, giving the weapon stability and counterweight, before the pommel material is added. The metal handle is called the tang.”
Melody had no idea what he was on about. “You think it belongs to your sword? How could that be?”
“I have no idea. Something Saros devised, I’m sure. Let me see it.”
She handed the stone to him and watched him position it over the shallow hollow.
They both jumped as a flash of purple light lit up the cabin. The Tang Stone pulled from Silurian’s fingers and fused itself with Saint Carmichael’s Blade. Recovering from the shock, Silurian ran a tentative finger over the stone and tried to pry it free without success.
“Well I’ll be…,” Melody said. “What’s it do?”
Silurian walked to a clear space and tested the sword’s swing. “Mom claimed it might be the key to our salvation.” He gazed with wonder out the open door. “I wonder if she knew about the dragon?”
Going Down in Flames
Sadyra sat amongst a patch of heather, alone with her thoughts through the darkest part of the night. She had spent the last hours of daylight strolling around the top of the hill and contemplating her past.
Searching for the moon hidden behind a thick layer of storm clouds, she contemplated the string of events that had brought her back to Fishmonger Bay. She yawned. The first light of dawn would soon be breaking over the mountain at her back.
Into the Madness Page 29
