Gates of Ruin (Magelands Eternal Siege, #6)

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘My world is comparatively poor in resources,’ said Blackrose. ‘Some islands have oil that bubbles up from the ground, but there is a dearth of metals. The Ascendants are not interested in plundering Dragon Eyre for its mineral riches.’

  Sable snapped her fingers. ‘A lack of metals? That gives me an idea.’

  ‘I’m sure it can wait,’ said Blackrose. ‘Now is not the time for a debate on the motives of the gods. What we need to do is prepare. I cannot give you a plan, since none of us knows what awaits us, but you must follow my orders without question once we arrive. All that remains is to collect the gold.’ Her eyes went back to Sable. ‘Where is it?’

  ‘Hidden,’ she said. ‘Give me the Quadrant and I’ll fetch it.’

  ‘Out of the question, witch. I have not come this far only to hand you the means to destroy my hopes.’

  ‘Then how am I supposed to get it?’

  ‘Tell us where it is, and we shall all go.’

  ‘I… don’t think so. If we’re all going to go, then I shall go on Sanguino, and everyone else can follow us. It’s about three or four hours away, I think.’

  ‘Can I guess where it is?’ said Maddie.

  ‘You could try,’ said Sable, ‘but I won’t confirm or deny any suggestion. Do you all remember the warning that Belinda gave Maddie? The Ascendants might well know we’re here, although it’s just as likely that Belinda was either panicking or lying. It’s better to be safe, though. I’m not going to tell anyone whose minds could be read by Arete or Leksandr; or even by Belinda, for that matter. Sorry to be difficult, but there it is.’

  Blackrose glared at her. ‘Your reasoning is sound. Let’s leave tomorrow at dawn. We shall load our supplies, say our farewells, and follow Sanguino and Sable to the gold, and from there – Dragon Eyre. Does anyone other than Sable have a question?’

  Millen raised his hand.

  ‘Yes?’ said Blackrose.

  ‘This is a little embarrassing,’ he said.

  ‘Go on.’

  Millen glanced at the dragons. ‘Maddie has Blackrose and Sable has Sanguino. I, um, well… As you know, I made a third harness, more in hope than expectation, but it’s ready. It’s just that, well, which dragon will I be going on?’

  Sable glanced at Blackrose. ‘You must have thought of this, yes?’

  ‘It has crossed my mind,’ said the black dragon. ‘The bond between a dragon and a rider has to develop over time. On Dragon Eyre, the riders were selected in their youth, and trained for years before taking on their roles. With Maddie and Sable, things were different; their bonds developed from mutual trust and affection. One simply cannot thrust a human onto a dragon and hope a bond occurs naturally. This is something we dragons need to discuss in private. Humans, please leave us.’

  Sable, Maddie and Millen left the chamber.

  Maddie nudged Millen as they sat by the cold hearth. ‘You alright?’

  He nodded, his eyes on the ground. ‘Fine.’

  ‘If you could choose,’ said Maddie, ‘which one would you pick? Ashfall is gorgeous, and strong. Broadwing looks the part as well, though, and you get on with him. Deepblue? Now, maybe she…’

  ‘Stop it,’ snapped Millen. ‘Right now, Blackrose is presumably trying to persuade one of them to carry me. None of them want to – if they did, they would have made it clear, wouldn’t they? I don’t know. This is humiliating. I’d be happy to take whoever wants me.’

  ‘You’ll make it work,’ said Sable. ‘Whichever one volunteers, that’s your chance; seize it and don’t look back. We couldn’t have done this without you. You made three harnesses – who else could have done that? Whichever dragon you get will be lucky to have you.’

  Millen glanced at her. ‘Thanks.’

  Maddie scowled. ‘Now I feel like a right bitch. Sorry. I do like all three of them, that’s what I was trying to say; they’ve all got their good points. Though none of them are as good as Blackrose, obviously. I’m the queen’s rider, so I think that means you’re going to have to start bowing to me when we get to Dragon Eyre, and calling me “your Highness” and all that.’ She burst out laughing. ‘Only joking, or am I?’

  Sable glanced at the young woman. ‘If you earn it, I’ll call you it.’

  Maddie smiled. ‘I heard you were a princess.’

  ‘What?’ said Millen.

  ‘I’m not,’ said Sable. ‘I’m the daughter of a queen, but my birth was out of wedlock. Dear old Godfrey Holdfast, my father, was cheating on his wife. The affair went on for years, and then the queen broke it off when she fell pregnant. I was raised by the Blackholds; my aunt was married to the queen’s brother, but no one ever told me who my birth parents were.’

  ‘You used to be Sable Blackhold?’ said Maddie, leaning forward in her chair.

  ‘Yes. I still think of myself as a Blackhold, though less and less as time goes by. I found it hard to accept that I was a Holdfast at first; but I guess I’m quite similar to Daphne in some ways; I’m like a tainted version of her.’

  ‘Daphne?’ said Millen.

  ‘My half-sister, and the mother of Kelsey, Corthie, Karalyn and Keir. Assassin, murderer, ruler, vision mage. She saved my life when the Empress wanted my head; I’ve never really understood that.’

  ‘Wow,’ said Maddie. ‘This is more than you’ve ever told us before, and despite your protests, you can’t deny that you’ve got royal blood in you.’

  Sable smiled. ‘If you feel you have to start referring to me as “your Highness,” I won’t stop you.’

  Millen groaned. ‘I have to travel with two women who both think they’re royalty? How did my life come to this?’

  ‘Going to Dragon Eyre can be a new start for each of us,’ said Sable. ‘That’s why I thought I’d open up a bit; once we’ve left Lostwell, it’ll be the three of us, together. No one on Dragon Eyre will know us.’

  A shriek rang out, echoing through the tomb.

  Maddie’s eye’s widened. ‘That was Deepblue.’

  They got to their feet and hurried through the cavern to Blackrose’s lair. Inside, the four other dragons were staring at the body of Deepblue as she writhed on the ground. Sable and the two other humans stood back to avoid her tail, which was swinging back and forth.

  ‘Deepblue!’ cried Blackrose. ‘What is wrong?’

  The small, blue dragon’s head lifted. Foam was coming from her jaws as if she were in great pain.

  ‘Blackrose,’ her voice groaned, ‘or should I call you Obsidia?’

  The others glanced at each other.

  ‘What’s happening to her?’ said Broadwing.

  Deepblue raised her head further, her eyes on the black dragon. ‘I see you. You can run, but there is nowhere you can hide. I, the Seventh Ascendant, see you and the pathetic band you have assembled.’

  ‘It’s Arete,’ said Sable. ‘She’s in Deepblue’s mind.’

  The blue dragon turned to her. ‘Yes. I see you too, Holdfast. You have interfered in our business for the last time. Death is coming to you all, except for Obsidia – she has a cage in the pits waiting for her. She will…’

  Sable drove her vision into Deepblue’s eyes, and found the presence of Arete, her grip on the dragon’s mind almost total. Deepblue was in agony, every ounce of her trying to resist the invasion of her head by the Ascendant. Sable tested Arete’s powers; they were immense, but she couldn’t sense Sable. She saw the fear that possessed the Seventh Ascendant – fear of Edmond, fear of the Holdfasts, fear of failure. She sensed a recent defeat caused by Kelsey Holdfast, and her hatred of the entire family. Sable smiled, and then severed the connection between Deepblue and the Ascendant as easily as blowing out a candle.

  Deepblue, you are strong; you can resist Arete’s powers. She cannot hurt you.

  The blue dragon collapsed to the ground, panting, her eyes closed.

  ‘I have freed her mind,’ said Sable.

  The others turned to her.

  ‘I have also put some resistance into her; it mig
ht not work for long, but she should be able to repel the Ascendant if she tries again.’

  ‘Where is she?’ said Blackrose. ‘Where is the Ascendant?’

  Sable shrugged. ‘I have no idea.’

  ‘Then look for her. If she is close, then she may try something else.’

  ‘Belinda was right,’ said Maddie; ‘they’ve found us.’

  ‘Should we flee?’ said Broadwing.

  ‘If she is close, we should attack,’ said Ashfall.

  ‘Quiet,’ said Sable. ‘I need quiet if I’m going to search for her.’

  A low, groaning, rumbling noise began. Dust fell from the ceiling of the cavern, and the dragons glanced up.

  ‘Out of the tomb!’ cried Blackrose. ‘Out, before the god brings it down upon us.’

  Broadwing, who was closest to the entrance, began hurrying towards the tunnel that led outside, almost knocking the three humans over in his haste. Sable ran to Sanguino, and clambered up the straps to get onto his shoulders. She connected her mind to his, an exercise that had become second nature to her. Ashfall left the cavern after Broadwing, while Blackrose nudged Deepblue.

  ‘Get up, little one,’ said the black dragon.

  Deepblue got to her feet, swaying, as a large chunk of ceiling collapsed onto the ground, sending a cloud of dust upwards. A crack began to open up in the wall, and the level of noise grew to a sharp grinding of rock. Sanguino strode towards the main tunnel, as Sable glanced around. Maddie was climbing up onto Blackrose’s harness.

  ‘We must go,’ said Sanguino; ‘we have only moments until the entire tomb falls in.’

  ‘Where’s Millen?’ Sable cried.

  Sanguino reached the main tunnel. Broadwing and Ashfall had already left the tomb, and Blackrose was carrying Maddie closer to the patch of blue sky at the end of the tunnel. Sable turned, craning her neck, and saw Deepblue with Millen clasped within a forelimb.

  ‘Let them pass first,’ said Sable to the dark red dragon.

  Sanguino waited, allowing Deepblue to race towards the square opening, then he followed. Behind them, the roof of Blackrose’s lair had fallen in, and the dust was obscuring everything. Sable sent her vision out through it, showing Sanguino the path to take, and he hurried forwards, extending his wings as he reached the entrance. Rocks and debris showered down onto them as he launched himself from the ledge, an explosion of dust following. Sanguino surged upwards, then banked. Their tomb had been obliterated, its entrance collapsed and blocked with debris.

  ‘Did everyone get out?’ cried Blackrose.

  ‘Yes,’ said Sanguino. ‘Sable and I were the last to leave.’

  ‘Find the Ascendant, Sable,’ said Blackrose, as the black dragon hovered close by.

  ‘I can’t,’ she said, ‘not when I’m using my powers to help Sanguino fly. I can’t do both at the same time.’

  ‘Then land. The Ascendant must be close, if she could bring down the tomb.’

  A few other dragons were taking to the air to see what was happening.

  ‘What have you done?’ cried Burntskull, soaring up from Deathfang’s lair.

  A deafening roar of noise cut off Blackrose’s response. Beyond the Catacombs, the two volcanoes both erupted, sending twin blasts of lava, burning rocks and ash into the sky. A ragged crack split the face of the cliff where the tombs lay, and ancient pillars and pediments toppled down to the valley floor. A surge of lava overwhelmed the top of the cliff, and began to pour down, entering some of the tombs, from where the terrible sound of screams echoed.

  ‘Evacuate!’ cried Burntskull. ‘Get everybody out! Flee!’

  Dragons shot out of the tombs, some carrying infants in their jaws or forelimbs, as the Catacombs were devastated. Some dragons emerged from their tomb with their wings on fire, their bodies spattered with lava, and others were hit by the burning rocks that were raining down like a fiery hailstorm. Deathfang appeared, a bloody wound on his right flank as he escorted Darksky and their three infants into the air.

  Sable stared at the destruction. Dragons were dying; the old, the young; those who had hesitated or who had remained behind to help others. Floods of lava were cascading down the front of the cliffs, burying the tombs with molten rock. The surviving dragons circled higher and higher to escape the rain of rocks and the rising cloud of ash. The sky filled with dragons, each staring down at the catastrophe that had enveloped their homes. The two volcanoes were blasting ever more material into the air, and the flows of lava had transformed the cliffside. Not a single tomb entrance was visible; every one had been destroyed.

  ‘Who is responsible?’ said Deathfang, his voice echoing across the valley. ‘Who has done this?’

  ‘An Ascendant,’ said Blackrose, rising up to join the chief where he was circling. ‘She did this.’

  ‘Where is she?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘You brought her wrath down upon us,’ cried Burntskull. ‘This is revenge for your escape from the city.’

  ‘Is that true, Blackrose?’ said Deathfang.

  ‘Should I have meekly died in the pits?’ she said. ‘Did you not also escape? They hate us, and fear us, that is why they have attacked.’

  Deathfang said nothing, his eyes on the destruction of his home as his forelimbs gripped one of his children.

  ‘What should we do, sire?’ said Burntskull.

  Rage burned in Deathfang’s eyes. ‘Retreat. Flee to the other side of the valley. The Catacombs are no more.’

  He surged away, heading east, and the others followed, leaving the cataclysm behind them.

  * * *

  ‘I see her,’ said Sable from where she sat on the barren slope. ‘She’s standing a couple of miles from the base of the southern volcano. She’s watching us.’

  ‘Are you sure, witch?’ said Deathfang.

  ‘I am.’

  Deathfang nodded and glanced around. The survivors were stretched out along the ragged hillside, close to the caves where Grimsleep had lived. A count had been undertaken, and twenty-five dragons were missing, including six infants. The sky to the west was filled with smoke, and the rumbling of the volcanoes could be felt through the ground.

  ‘What should we do?’ said Ashfall.

  ‘Why do you care?’ snapped Deathfang. ‘You were leaving us anyway.’

  ‘You think I don’t care, father? My love for you and the Catacombs is no less for my decision to go to Dragon Eyre.’

  ‘Twenty-five dragons!’ he cried, his voice strained. ‘My heart burns for revenge. The accursed Ascendant did this, and she must pay, but so too must those who provoked her into this attack.’ He glanced at Burntskull. ‘We shall first seek out the Ascendant, and consume her with fire.’

  ‘She will strike you down if you approach her,’ said Sable.

  ‘Be quiet, insect,’ said Deathfang, his jaws open.

  Sanguino moved to protect her. ‘Do not speak to my rider like that. She is not to blame for what has occurred.’

  ‘No?’ said Deathfang. ‘That witch has turned your mind. It was she who rescued Blackrose, was it not? It was she who engineered the slaughter among the humans that ensued. She is the reason the Catacombs have been destroyed. Frostback should have killed her that day, and I should have allowed it. You are weak, Sanguino. Sable and Blackrose must pay for this.’

  ‘Calm yourself,’ said Blackrose. ‘You are doing what the Ascendant wants you to do; lashing out at your friends instead of blaming the true enemy.’

  Deathfang faced her. Sparks ran across his teeth, and he raised a forelimb, the claws extended.

  ‘You are the enemy,’ he growled. ‘It was always you. From the moment you arrived, you have spread dissension and estranged my own daughters from me. I should have fought and defeated you then, before you had a chance to poison the minds of the others.’

  The dragons backed away, leaving Deathfang and Blackrose standing facing each other.

  ‘I curse you,’ said Deathfang; ‘may rats eat your flesh, and crows peck
out your eyes while you lie helpless on the barren soil.’

  ‘I will not fight you,’ said Blackrose. ‘I will not do the work of the Ascendants for them.’

  ‘Coward,’ snarled Deathfang.

  Blackrose’s red eyes glowed with rage, and her body tensed, ready.

  ‘Stop this nonsense,’ said Sable, striding along the slope until she stood between the two dragons.

  Sanguino stared at her with his good eye, but said nothing.

  ‘I know you hate me,’ Sable said to Deathfang. ‘You think the destruction of the Catacombs is my fault? The Ascendants are angry because I saved Blackrose; should I have appeased them and allowed them to slay her for their own amusement? Right now, the Seventh Ascendant is watching us. She wishes to take Blackrose back to the pits; should we let her? The only reason she hasn’t tried, is that she fears so many dragons in the same place – you would incinerate her if she tried to snatch Blackrose with her Quadrant. She is also hoping that you and Blackrose will fight, as an injured Blackrose would be easier to take back to Alea Tanton.’

  ‘Then we should kill her now,’ said Deathfang. ‘If we all attack her, we could kill her.’

  ‘No,’ said Sable. ‘She would kill some of you first, and then leave. She has a Quadrant.’

  ‘Then what are you suggesting, witch? Do you have anything constructive to offer?’

  ‘I can drive her away, and then we can scatter; she won’t be able to track us all.’

  ‘Scatter? You worthless insect. Do you think I built up the Catacombs only to let my kin scatter? No, we stick together; our safety is in our numbers.’

  ‘Can you really drive her away?’ said Blackrose.

  Sable nodded. ‘I can try.’

  ‘Then do so.’

  Deathfang glared at them both for a moment. ‘Yes, witch. Do so.’

  Sable sat down on the bare rock between the two dragons and relaxed. She sent her vision out, crossing the broken valley, then soaring over the remnants of the ruined Catacombs. She could sense the presence of the Ascendant, and guided her vision to the barren slopes of the southern volcano. Arete was standing there, a Quadrant in her left hand. She was using her vision to watch the dragons, and Sable entered her mind, but remained still and undetected.