by Eric Vall
I growled, and with another mighty roar, I incinerated the fleeing assassin to ashes. The three who had already reached the top of the ledge took off down a path that led up the mountain. The rest of the assassins climbed the mountain as quickly as they could, and I could sense the fear that poured from them when they realized I’d come to kill them all.
I grinned when I caught the stench of their fear on the wind. I wanted them to fear me, they deserved nothing less.
I flew over the remaining assassins as they struggled to climb. Then I opened my maw and let loose another torrent of flame, and the assassin closest to the top of the mountain screamed briefly before my fire consumed him. His flaming corpse fell from the mountain side, and he crashed to the ground below as little more than ashes.
The two assassins who remained watched me carefully as I hovered above them in the air on my massive black wings, and their eyes were full of terror.
“Wait!” one of them shouted as he ripped off his black mask. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you anything you want to know, please. Just let me--”
The assassin was cut off as the tattoo along the back of his neck began to glow green, and he screeched as pain coursed through his body. Then he lost his grip along the rocks, and he slipped and fell a hundred feet to his death. His body hit the earth with a sickening crack, and I huffed, annoyed that the sect, once again, took another kill from me.
I watched the last assassin as he scurried up the mountain side, and I hovered in the air above him to toy with him as he came closer to the top of the ridge. He kept glancing back at me, and I could tell he was worried I would strike at any minute. I suspected this one was afraid to speak after he watched his friend fall to his death in agony after he spoke a few words.
Oh well. That meant he was useless to me.
So, I shot a fireball from my mouth, and it collided with the rocks just to the right of the assassin. He flinched as the flames licked across his skin quickly before they died out, and I grinned when I heard his heart race increase as he panicked.
“Are you alright over there?” I called out to the assassin. “You seem a bit tense.”
I could hear the assassin grunt in irritation, but he stayed silent.
I smirked, but as much fun as tormenting the assassin was, I needed to catch the others who had escaped. So, with a final breath, I burned the assassin before me to ash. He screamed for an instant, and then his remains fell gently to the ground and settled in a small pile. My flames burned hot enough to leave a black silhouette of his body against the stone, and I snorted in approval. Then I flew up the mountain, with Ravi at my side, and landed along the ledge.
“Ravi, go find the others,” I ordered. “Tell them where we are and have Alyona portal here. I’m going to follow the rest of the assassins up the mountain.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” the phoenix promised as she took off back to the forest.
I watched her form diminish as she flew away from the mountains, and I hoped the others weren’t too far behind. With Alyona’s portals, they should have been able to keep up somewhat easily.
But I couldn’t worry about them right now. I had some hunting to do.
I shifted into my human form, since the path was too narrow and the top of the mountain was too dense with trees to be able to see anything from above. Then I followed the path as it wound up to the top of the mountain. The air began to thin the higher I climbed, and soon I started to pant for breath. Before it became too much of a problem, though, my healing magic rushed to my lungs and helped even my breathing out.
I blinked in surprise. I didn’t know my magic could even do that. Very cool. I wondered if that meant I could survive underwater for a while if I had to.
Something to consider for another day.
I walked for a few more minutes before I finally caught the scent of the rest of the assassins. I broke into a run as I followed the scent, and I finally caught them taking a short rest. The thin mountain air must have also affected them, since all three of the assassins panted heavily while they leaned against trees.
I stayed out of sight as I inched closer. I wanted the element of surprise. In my human body, it would be hard to take on all three assassins at once, so I needed to be smart and figure out how to take them out one by one before they realized what had happened.
Suddenly, there was a ripple in the air next to the assassins, and they all stood up quickly as a portal appeared.
For a second, I was worried Alyona got the wrong area and had just opened a portal right into the hands of the assassins.
Thankfully, though, it wasn’t Alyona who stepped out of the portal. Instead, it was a man. A very old man by the looks of his veiny skin, arched back, and gray beard. The smell of death wrapped around him like a blanket, and he wore a green hooded cloak that was clasped with a green leaf. The hood cast a shadow over his face, but I could still make out his thin, bluish lips as he spoke.
“Where are the others?” he asked the assassins.
“We’re all that’s left,” one answered. “The others have been killed by the dragon.”
“You worthless idiots,” the old man snarled. “You are supposed to be the greatest assassins the sect has ever raised. Instead, most of you are killed doing a simple mission. I should kill you myself for this embarrassing display.”
“We are sorry, sir,” one of the assassins whimpered.
The old man ran a hand over his face. “Where is the dragon now? Were you followed?”
“I don’t think so,” an older female assassin answered. “The dragon was distracted by the stragglers who didn’t make the climb.”
“Pathetic, though I can’t say I’m too disappointed,” the old man sneered. “You three may be disappointments, but at least you survived. The fallen were obviously too weak for The Green Glass Sect. Now tell me, was the mission a success this time? Or was it another failure?”
“We succeeded,” the older woman replied. “All our marks were hit. Though, I still don’t understand why we couldn’t just kill them all.”
“If you needed to know, our gracious leader would have told you,” the old man spat.
“Of course, my apologies, sir.” The woman bowed and stepped back. “I meant no offense.”
The old man sniffed in annoyance, but then he froze, and his eyes narrowed as he scanned the area around us.
I ducked behind a tree before his gaze could reach me, and I was thankful I was in my human form. It would have been a lot harder to hide a thirty-foot black dragon in a green forest mountain.
“I thought you said the dragon was otherwise occupied?” the old man suddenly snarled. “If that were true, then why can I sense a dragon nearby?”
The assassins froze as the old man growled.
“Worthless, the lot of you,” he grumbled loudly. “Can’t you do anything right?”
The old man clasped his hands together, and I could feel the air temperature drop as he began to chant a spell in a language I didn’t recognize. As he spoke, the wind whipped around and pulled his hood from his face, and his eyes burned with the same bright green color of the reanimated animals.
He was the necromancer, and by the looks and smell of it, he had used his magic on himself to stay alive.
As he finished his spell, the earth seemed to shift beneath him, and a powerful magic washed over me. The ground shook, and a moment later, the dirt softened as corpses of animals began to rise from the ground. Undead birds flew past me, and their bony wings scratched across my cheeks. Then more animals emerged from the dirt: bears, wolves, elk, and even a moose. All of them were decayed and rotten, and the smell alone was enough to make me keep my distance.
“Find the dragon, my pets,” the necromancer ordered. “Find him and bring him to me alive. I want to watch the insignificant light of his life be snuffed out by you, my darlings. Now go!”
The animals all scattered in various directions as they began their search for me. It would only be a matter of ti
me before I was discovered, so I stepped out from my spot behind a tree and faced the necromancer.
“I’m right here. What do you want from me?”
“Oh, I knew I smelt something foul.” The necromancer smiled in glee. “Your kind have a very distinct odor. I’m glad you’re here. It will make killing you much simpler.”
“What do you want from me?” I repeated and bared my teeth. Olivier had been able to raise corrupted corpses and create demonized harpies, but I’d assumed only he had that power. This new necromancer was a game changer, and I needed answers. Were there more mages with this type of power?
The old man narrowed his eyes. “I’m sorry, was I not clear? I want to end your life. Dragons are nothing more than a stain on the proud history of Rahma. I was destined to slaughter all of your kind and make sure this country is cleansed of your influence.”
“I think you’re old age has made you a little loose up there, buddy. Dragons are not a stain on Rahma, we were created by the gods themselves. They are proud of us.”
The old man clenched a fist, and his sickly green magic flowed around him. “You were a mistake created by the gods. I will not rest until every last dragon in this world has been exterminated. A dead dragon is the best dragon.”
“What did dragons ever do to you that created this vendetta you have against them?” I snarled, and I hoped he wouldn’t realize I was stalling until my friends could find us. I could take care of the necromancer, but I needed someone else to deal with the remaining assassins and undead beasts.
“They are monsters, and they need to be put down.” He spun on his heel. “A dragon destroyed my life, if you must know, and I swore to the gods that I would kill every last one of you. I had nearly succeeded until … ” He cut himself off as he watched me step closer. “Never mind, the past is not important right now. I must first rid the world of one more dragon. After I finish with you, maybe I’ll go after the Crimson Dragon. I did come all this way after all.”
Black scales crawled up my arms as my lips curled into a snarl. “I’ll rip you apart before you even get close enough to touch her.”
“Oh, did I find a sensitive subject?” The old man grinned.
The ripe scent of death filled the air, and I could hear the footsteps of the undead creatures behind me. Then the animals stalked by me as they returned to their master. A wolf, with half of its skull exposed and its front legs nothing more than white bone, stopped at his side and waited loyally. The other animals filled in the space behind him, and when they all turned to me, their green eyes flashed with magic.
“How do you like my pets? I know they have a tendency to be quite the handful, an unfortunate side effect of bringing them back to life. Even after all my years, I haven’t found a way to bring them back as they were before. There is always something off about them. They are much more cruel this way.” His hand brushed over the dead wolf that stood next to him. “But it doesn’t bother me too much, they still serve their purpose.”
“Well, I don’t think I’ll be adopting anytime soon,” I replied dryly. “Undead doesn’t fit with my lifestyle. I prefer living creatures.”
A raven landed on the man’s shoulder, and he turned his head to the bird as it chirped in his ear. The man nodded, and without a word, the animals surrounded me. Then he turned to his human companions.
“The dragon has friends down the mountain,” he said. “Take care of them.”
The group of assassins nodded and darted away, back down the path.
I turned to follow them, but the animals snarled and closed in around me.
“Oh no, dragon.” The old man grinned menacingly as he began to walk toward me. “I have my own plans for you.”
Chapter 15
I pulled Miraya from my storage space and slashed apart a few of the animals. I created a gap wide enough for me to escape through, and I took advantage of the brief opening before the undead beasts reassembled.
A cougar slashed out at me with its claws, but I jumped out of the way and sent a wall of fire out behind me to keep the zombie creatures at bay.
Then I turned back and stormed toward the necromancer, with Miraya raised in my hand.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about your friends,” the mage laughed darkly. “They’ll be dead soon anyway. Our assassins should be able to handle a few warriors without too much trouble. Though, I do suppose you and your companions have proven to be quite difficult to kill in the past. It’s a pity they have decided to fight on the wrong side of history. ”
He placed a pale, wrinkled finger on his chin while he thought, and his eyes burned brightly as I continued to stalk toward him. The undead animals snarled as I approached, though, and they formed a tight ring around their master.
This bastard was using these beasts like a shield. He knew I was dangerous, and I smirked with the realization.
Good, I wanted him to be afraid.
His animals began to snarl and snap their jaws as I climbed closer, but anger pushed me forward.
The mage watched me carefully while I came closer, and I was only twenty feet away from him when he raised his hands, and his green eyes burned.
“Do your worst,” he snarled, “I can handle whatever you throw at me.”
“I doubt that.” My clothes were stained with blood, from my own wounds and the creatures I destroyed. He had no idea what I was capable of.
“I would be careful what you say,” the mage replied sinisterly. “Many dragons have fallen thanks to me. I am quite gifted in the art of dragon slaying. Your kind is not nearly as indestructible as you would like to think.”
Something clicked in my head at his words, and it felt like ice flooded my veins. A powerful mage, dressed in green, who is incredibly old and harbors a hatred for dragons. Valerra had told me about her family, and how a mage, who fit the necromancer’s description perfectly, had given humans the ability to kill dragons.
My blood boiled, and black scales covered my arms as rage burned through me.
“It was you,” I accused darkly, and my hand tightened around my sword. “You’re the mage who is responsible for the slaughter of the dragons thousands of years ago. It’s your fault dragons are nearly extinct.”
A surprised look crossed the mage’s face before he took an unintentional step back in fear. He refused to answer.
I took his reaction to my accusation as a yes, though, so now he most definitely had to die.
As painfully as possible.
With a yell, I summoned my lightning to my arms and charged forward. I didn’t think about anything at the moment other than the fact that I needed to kill this necromancer.
I zapped a few of the zombified animals to ash with bolts of electricity, and their magic seeped into the earth, but I ignored it and continued forward. We could deal with the rest of the creatures later. Right now, I only cared about the necromancer and making sure he didn’t leave this place alive, for Valerra’s sake and my own. We could be the last dragons in the world, besides her sister’s egg, and it was because of this man in front of me.
The mage’s fiery green eyes widened in panic as he turned to flee. Even someone as powerful as him knew better than to challenge a pissed off dragon, even if I was in human form.
“Not so fast,” I snarled.
I shot webs from my fingertips toward the mage and trapped one of his feet to the ground before he could escape. Then flames rose from the earth and encircled the mage, and the wall of fire blocked him from his shield of creatures. His undead army snarled and whined as they tried to break through the flames, but any time they got too close, the flames incinerated them.
I stepped through the fire and into the circle, and my flames licked across my skin harmlessly.
The mage and I faced each other as he struggled against the webbing on his leg. He looked like a trapped animal, and I grinned. I wanted him to be afraid in his last moments, but first, he would suffer.
I closed the distance between us, shot out some m
ore webbing to trap his arms to his sides, and threw a punch toward his stomach.
The old man coughed as he keeled over.
I punched him again across the jaw, and I heard a sickening crunch from the bone in his cheek as my fist connected with his face. Another punch, and I could feel the cartilage in his nose shatter under my strength. Blood poured from his nose and mouth as I held him by the clasp of his cloak, and then I threw him to the dirt with a force that rattled his brittle bones.
“Ah!” the mage screamed in pain. Then he growled from his place on the ground, and his magic burst out of him in a bright green light.
I was blinded for a second, and it gave the mage a chance to chant a few words in a foreign tongue. The flames around us vanished, and the undead animals that had been held at bay attacked.
I bared my teeth and raised my sword to strike down as many as possible, but for each creature I temporarily destroyed, three more took its place. I was quickly getting overwhelmed, and I clenched my jaw before I made my decision.
I shifted into my dragon form, and the trunks of trees around me snapped and fell to the ground with loud thuds thanks to my size.
Then I let out a roar before I took off into the sky, and branches were pulled from the trees and fell to the ground in my wake. The undead birds quickly tore after me, but they were nothing more than a slight irritation.
Now that I was in my true form again, these creatures didn’t seem nearly as menacing as before.
I scanned the area below for the mage and quickly found him as he used his magic to cut through the webs that chained him to the earth. He glanced up in terror and rage, and then he circled his hands around each other while he spoke in that strange tongue.
I reared back my head, and I could feel my flames dance at the back of my throat.
Green magic built up around the mage below me, and his eyes seemed to burn brighter than ever. Then he ended the spell and broke his hands apart, and the magic burst from the ground toward the sky before I could unleash my torrent of flames.
I attempted to dodge, but the bolt of green energy was as fast as lightning. It struck me in the side, and I immediately felt drained. My limbs were heavy, and my wings could barely hold me in the air. I quickly began to lose altitude, and I plummeted toward the ground.
