Healthier soldiers made the bleak report to their leaders while I took the time to get washed up in a warmed room, eat a hot orange broth, and sleep on a soft bed. Ishree came in a while later to daub a noxious green salve on as much of my left arm as possible. I needed my corruption to cope with the callous pressure applied to some of my open sores, but other burns felt almost nothing. I didn’t really care if I lost permanent feeling in places as long as my arm retained all its former range of motion and casting potential.
I gained the mental fortitude to bear this world’s plight after taking my respite. Stepping out the bedroom, I encountered General Valentine sitting on a big chair in the hall, a book in his hand.
“General? I’m sure a servant would have been a sufficient watchman.”
“I was thinking whether to wake you or not, but I decided someone with your wounds needs all the rest they can get.”
“Yet you are waiting here yourself. Something important happen?”
“Depends. We’ve recently received our first shipment of collected vlimphite. We’d like to know whether you think it’s enough to attempt a teleportation.”
“Where’s the shipment?”
He led me to the sitting room. On the short table was an open wooden box. Laid out beside it were several crystals. Most belonged to polished pieces of jewelry, but the three largest examples were cruder chunks. Taken altogether, they would have formed a lumpy ball the size of my fist holding a big dragon stone.
“We got lucky with the raw pieces. Not much is freshly excavated on this side of Grenhath anymore, but a fairly new mine in an island provided a jeweler in Timiric with these. Are they enough?”
“It’s enough to try. Get Alex for me, if you will.”
A couple of minutes later, I stood beneath the night with Aranath. Precise flame and claw carved the rune circle needed to proficiently pour his prana into the vlimphite, including the nearly depleted one I wore. All the mineral specimens gained a salient red hue.
Meanwhile, those who oversaw and overheard the conversation between me and the old human commander spread the word about what I was about to attempt. The general brought over Alex as I placed the new dragon crystals within the yard wide circular depression of the rune. Not wanting to be left out, Isabel was carried outside on a chair by her squadmates. I nodded when she weakly smiled at me.
“We both going, or is it just you?” asked Alex.
“Only you.”
“Really?” he asked suspiciously. “Why?”
“If this works, it’ll barely work. I’ll need to stay on this side so Aranath can refill the crystals. Once you’re over in Orda, tell Ghevont all the shit that’s happened. Tell him to give me about half a day to recover my prana, then we can teleport him here. He won’t be able to resist studying another world. By the way, once you get to Orda, you’ll probably never have to step back here. You will have to stay in Grissel’s Watchtower until I get back, though.”
“Yeah, we’ll see what happens.”
“Hmm.” To the general, I asked, “You took away his guns, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then step into the rune, little brother.” When he did so, I told Aranath, “Get ready.” The dragon slid his tail’s tip to the rune’s perimeter. I squatted next to the tail and waved over Reet, Bregman, Felicia, Svren, and Ishree. “Just put your hands to the rune. Get a feel for the spell, but don’t try adding any prana. Even if your prana got through, I’m not sure how Ghevont would react to it. Best not to give him a reason to hesitate. Everyone ready? We’ll cast the spell in three… two… one!”
The rune’s red glow cut the dark in every direction. As much as I wanted to be judicious, trying to establish a permanent connection with another realm took a lot of prana in of itself. Still, even if we lost the energy to accomplish the actual teleportation, I hoped to at least alert those on the other side that we were getting closer to connecting. I began counting the seconds in my head to get an estimate on how long our amount of crystal and prana could maintain the spell.
I got to eleven when I sensed a glimmer of familiar prana. I counted another four when our prana formed a bond with the other side.
“Alex! Tell Ghevont I’m about to atone for all the time he’s wasted waiting around for us.”
In a snap of mystic air, my brother vanished.
The Dragon Knight and the Steam World Page 40
