Crown of Horns

by Alex Sapegin

  Before the enemy could come to his senses, Andy caressed him with several lightning bolts and kicked the crap out of him with a “sledgehammer.” The opponent, who lost his sense of reality, was imprisoned in a power trap.

  “Renat, Renat, I did not expect such baseness from you!” Andy said, standing a bit to the side of the defeated adversary’s snout. His enemy was not dead and was fully capable of spitting fire.

  “Andy,” Renat growled, jerking his hind legs frantically. “So you….”

  “I will ask the questions,” said Andy. “Keep your eloquent speech for the answers.”

  “Do not hope. You are too late. Your ragged cats will soon be finished… kugh, kugh!” The dragon coughed, coughing up dark clots of blood. “You can not expect any answers from me, stinking shkas.”

  Renat was right about that. Andy could indeed remain without the answers to his questions about the “butterfly’s” masters’ identities, their goals, and tasks. His soul yearned for satisfaction, but apparently, the dragon spitting blood from his punctured lungs thought otherwise. He didn’t give his employers away. Perhaps he had taken a blood oath. In that case, torture him to death if you like; you still wouldn’t get anything from him but nonsense. The situation required some sort of extraordinary solution.

  Renat went on, “What is it, shushug dung? Funny, I am in the grips of your spell, but you are the one who is stuck. Dragons can endure pain, and I am not afraid of death. Ha, you will not get to the capital….”

  “Are you not afraid of death? Oh! For you, I prepared something worse than death,” Andy answered.

  “I wonder what it could be?” the dragon tried to brave, but, upon seeing yellow pupils erupting in his tormentor’s eyes and catching the smell of lily of the valley, he slammed his mouth shut.

  A small bolt of lightning struck Renat in the side. And another, and another, and another. The dragon, squealing with pain, struggled in his fetters. Andy fired another and another. The smell of burnt meat filled the square. Andy almost vomited. He was torturing someone for the first time in his life, but he continued to increase the tempo. The whine turned into an ultrasonic squeal, lightning struck the neck and head, and when the tortured beast did not have the strength to squeal, an attempt was made to crack the barriers to his mind. The mind-cracker’s reward was several bright images, including the sovereign and the prisoner’s employer, the same person. Realizing that the secret could not be saved, Renat, using a magical interweave, threw off his fetters and collapsed onto the pavement….

  Andy, spattered from head to foot with dragon’s blood, looked at Irran, who shot the zealous prisoner in the head.

  “What did you do that for? I would have managed.”

  “He could have killed you. You saw how he broke free from the bonds.”

  “Everything was under control. Although,… thank you.”

  “Of course,” Irran crinkled her nose amusingly. “Did you learn anything?” A typical cat—curious.

  “There is a little something. I remembered the employer’s face well; it remains to find out his name. I do not like to stop halfway, but some people do not even know how to hold a weapon. We need to arrange a training session.”

  “Another time. For now, be prepared to answer before the princess.”

  “Ilirra…. You are right. Gather the detachment; we are late already. Go to the portal site.”

  “And that?” the feline waved at the decapitated body planted on the stone spikes.

  “The city cleaners will take care of the garbage.”

  A minute later, after throwing the dragon’s body into the care of the magistrate, the small detachment, bristling with gunners, moved towards the portal site.

  A hundred yards from the coveted gate, Andy heard cheers. Why would people be joyful? Everything pointed to the fact that the magicians had restored the portal and were welcoming high-ranking guests into the city.

  Strange… Weren’t the guests and hosts bothered by the explosions in the central square? And not a single guard went to the fortress with a report? War had knocked on their front door, and they were living like pigs in the backyard—no grunting until they were brought to the slaughterhouse. Someone in a fawning voice was speaking animatedly before a certain Ruigar. Andy looked inquiringly at Irran.

  “It is Ruigar, the governor of the astal of the northern borderlands,” the cat answered, correctly understanding his questioning gesture. “There are rumors that he and the princess... They, umm….” The commander of the “ghosts” struggled to finish the sentence in her embarrassment. Andy could hardly restrain himself from laughing. “And judging by the rumble, I’d guess Milla put up a canopy over the whole area, and the guards were taken out in the first seconds.”

  When their destination was no more than fifty yards away, the gates to the portal site flung open.

  “Targ on a shushug!” Andy gasped. “Fire at the guards!” He activated a power trap which slammed over the princess’ retinue. Ilirra herself and her cavalier, who Andy recognized as Renat’s employer, rolled on the ground from a powerful “battering ram.” Andy struck at the elf, but a static shield flashed over the pair and knocked them both to the ground. Ruigar immediately jumped to his feet but flopped back again—heavy fire from a gunner did not allow him and the princess to rise. Andy calmly activated the “press” interweave, pressing the dragon to the pavement like an asphalt paver squishing a frog. Ilirra was immobilized with fetters.

  The Miur, in the fever of the fleeting battle, did a number on not only the guards, but a good portion of the magicians from the portal staff. A third of them now lay like limp dolls on blood-stained stones. The rest shook at the sight of the two heavy gunners aimed at them. They did not think about resistance. The attack was completely unexpected for them. They realized that if dragons caught unawares could not counter the fighting pride of the Miur, what could be said about them—ordinary residents? Milla walked among the captives and confiscated their protective amulets. One old goat-looking man tried to say something but was immediately pulled up with a muscular arm above the pavement. Milla, slapping the grandfather on his long robe, fished a flat disc on a long chain from his pocket. The old man flopped to the ground. Twelve people, Andy counted up the shaking group. Not a single warrior. It was no wonder the warriors took them in five seconds.

  “The portal key activator,” said the cat, passing the disc to him.

  “Well,” Andy grumbled after catching the key, which was completely uncomfortable under the hateful looks of the princess, Ruigar, and the restrained retinue.

  He looked for Ania and stumbled upon a look of contempt. Though there wasn’t any hatred in the eyes of his beloved, regret that she had carelessly associated herself with a dirty shkas was read clearly. And what did he expect? To all the prisoners, he and his “cats” looked like the aggressors. It was unlikely that the governor disclosed the details of his business to the prince’s daughter…. No, he did not feel guilty, on the contrary, after dealing with the snake-filled gang, he was going to walk along the tails of the poisonous reptiles. Intuition and his rear end, which are so sensitive to trouble, shouted that he should drop everything and make a run for it, but common sense crushed his panicky objections with an iron fist. It was too late to retreat anyway, and he had nowhere to go. It wasn’t by chance that Ruigar came to visit this out-of-the-way town—he was probably informed of the coming arrival of Ilirra and her retinue. Taking into account the presence of powerful jammers scattered throughout the forests, the question of a protected channel came to the forefront. Here the logical chain acquired yet another thick link about the imperious jerk at least knowing of the events taking place, and if he made certain allowances, about his involvement in them as well. Andy did not believe that someone could contact the representative of the prince and quickly set up the portal without proper preparation. The strangeness of the masked dragons’ attack on the city left no doubt about Ruigar’s game on two fronts. The st
ream of heavy thoughts practically made him dizzy, but Andy kept looking at Ania. Apparently, the elf read something in his face; she lost her nerve. The girl’s gaze lost its sharpness; now it displayed only confusion and a lack of understanding.

  “You are wrong,” he mentally replied to the sida, and turned away.

  “Let me go, or else….” the governor said.

  “Or else what?” Andy hissed, squatting on his haunches before the dignitary. “What else?” Rage and anger began to boil inside him. Obeying a light movement of the hand, the power cocoon became denser. The governor grunted. “You are not in a position to threaten,” the pressure of the cocoon weakened. “Think about it: do not aggravate me. I have many questions for you, this may take a while….”

  “Andy,” Irran stepped forward. She was spinning a thick ledger in her hands and patting the tip of her nose pensively.

  “Yes?” He knocked his knees, stood up, and left Ruigar to consider the whims of fate. His back burned with a look of hatred from the princess. Irran was right. The governor and the princess…

  “We have a problem,” the cat said and handed the ambassador the ledger, her claw leaving a clear mark on the last page, covered with sweeping handwriting.

  “Amazing,” Andy snorted, “and I thought we were just dancing a jig.”

  “We will be,” the commander of the “ghosts” answered confidently. “If you believe the records of the local pen pushers that serve the portal station, and there are no grounds for doubting them, three dozen mages arrived with the governor. Twenty of them are on rideable troxes. The delegation was announced an hour ago. The mages had only just rebuilt the coordinate link.”

  “You are not mistaken?”

  “No, I learned to read at six years old. Here all the arriving persons and opening times of the portal are described in black and white. If anyone is wrong, then it is the clerks Milla offended, the goat-bearded manager, which is hardly possible. Stationery rats are accustomed to keeping strict accountability.”

  “Somehow I do not see here any mages, or troxes.”

  “Nor do I. If the mages are not here, then they are somewhere else, but at any moment they can come to the party, then it will be time for dancing.”

  “I understand what you are getting at. Order ten of the ‘ghosts’ to see to defense on the wall, and I will continue the fascinating conversation with the distinguished governor.” Andy imperceptibly beckoned Irran with his finger. The Miur casually bent down to correct the shield on her right leg. “Make it so the princess and the entourage will hear our private conversation,” he whispered, then already louder, in a full voice: “Perform!”

  “Yes, sir! Irran turned around famously but did not have time to fulfill the order. An incomprehensible doomsday began outside the city walls. “I am on the wall!” In four huge jumps, the commander reached the wall; two more leaps and she was up the flight of stairs. Underfoot, the ground trembled noticeably. The peaks of the country hills, cleared of vegetation, which were visible from the front of the portal site, were enveloped in a multicolored radiance. With each second the radiance grew brighter and brighter. High in the sky, trampling on the laws of nature, the real northern lights glowed and shone with miraculous beauty. Measured vibrations of the soil turned into slight shaking. A blustery, hot wind blew from the hills. Andy turned to the governor. A triumphant flame in the eyes of the captive dragon made it clear that the very worst thing had happened. “Rejoice,” Andy thought grimly. “You do not have long left.” If his assumptions were correct, it was worth looking for the lost mages in the same area. It was about ten or fifteen minutes of a light jog on trox-back to the hills.

  Suddenly the trembling ceased; the unearthly light went out, but the keen sight of the were-dragon and the no less keen cat-vision allowed them to see the red glow far to the east, where the Miur Mountains were.

  “What the….” Andy looked at one of the fighting mages, but Riur fled to him of her own accord.

  “Resonator! They launched a resonator!”

  “Stop! What resonator? What for?”

  “If powerful high-frequency oscillations are created from the field side of the spatial shield, then the devices that generate the field get out of sync. The resonator left the borderlands with no shields.”

  “A sucker punch,” Andy nodded. Now nothing was stopping the emperor’s legions starting the invasion. Oh, Ruigar, Oh, you son of a…. Under the Great Mother’s nose you managed to roll out large-scale construction, disguising it as a defensive complex, and to give proper credibility and the need to strengthen the defense. You arranged a theatrical performance with those imperial “vultures,” didn’t you? Hmm, and did the mages know what they were getting into? A wide field for assumptions and various hypotheses, but there was no time for plowing it. Although, what prevented the governor from taking blood oaths from his subordinates or getting tough on them with deadly sins or applying a combination of both methods…

  Grabbing an empty box, Andy placed it near the governor. Riur strengthened the fetter interweave on the retinue, but “forgot” to energize the sound curtain. While the thoughtful shkas paced in circles around the captive lying on the ground, the curtain was completely depleted. Not noticing that the interrogation had ceased to be of a private nature, the shkas sat down on the box and turned to Ruigar with a lifeless voice that did not express any emotion:

  “Now I understand why you ordered Renat to kill the Great Mother’s ambassador, but I am much more interested in knowing what causes and circumstances forced you to betray the prince?”

  Andy did not see how Ilirra flinched and opened her eyes wide and how deep disbelief and despair covered her face. He did not see the slight smile touching Ania’s lips. He stopped noticing everything around; the whole world was for him just the interrogation of the prisoner. “I do not advise you to keep quiet. I would not want you to repeat Renat’s fate. He did not live long with his cracked mind.”

  Andy built the conversation from the very beginning in such a way as to maximize the exposure of the truth. Dragons possessed magic and could distinguish truth and falsehood, but who prevented him from replacing concepts or not telling the whole truth? The truth was a terrible weapon in skillful hands. It was necessary to use it properly. He aimed the interrogation at Ilirra.

  In any case, he couldn’t avoid meeting the prince sooner or later, and it would be better if the heiress were, if not an ally, which was most unrealistic after today’s events, then at least not an enemy. The neutral position of the ruler’s daughter would be enough. Ilirra, despite her youth and love interest, was an intelligent woman and would forgive him the forced captivity. In the end, she would understand the reasons for his actions and would not take revenge.

  “What did you do to him?” The governor asked flatly.

  “I killed him,” he said as if he were used to killing dragons. Ruigar looked into the shkas’ face and froze inwardly. The freak’s eyes seemed empty, but the sepulchral cold coming from their depths did not allow him to doubt the veracity of what he said. The commander of the cats really had killed dragons more than once.

  “And me….”

  “Do you think I will kill you? No, I will do my best to deliver your carcass sound—I will not say safe—to the prince’s palace. It is not my prerogative to judge you. The prince himself will decide your fate. If you were hoping that the emperor would reward you for your betrayal, then I must disappoint you. Hazgar hates traitors. Once a traitor, always a traitor. Like any ruler, he uses their services and then quietly sends the used ‘material’ to the palaces of Manyfaces. Why would he want those who lost their honor and went back on their word? But anyway we seem to have gotten off topic. Back to the question: I want to know the reasons. I do not recommend being silent or lying. Do not make me use torture. Renat did not believe me, and he died.”

  “Renat was scum….”

  “You should not talk that way. You must say something nice about the
dead, or nothing at all,” Andy said and struck Ruigar with lightning. The air smelled of ozone. Having received the shock, the governor swallowed air. He hadn’t heard of magic like that. The tortuous interweave hit the nervous centers and gave a strong pain. It was almost impossible to tolerate. “The boy was devoted to you like a faithful dog. Unlike you, he deserves respect.” A second bolt touched the governor’s head. The stink of burning hair was added to the smell of ozone. “You can die with honor; you can die without honor. Death can come quickly and graciously, but it can delay. If you prefer silence, it will stay for a long time and take you in its arms like a limp vegetable. After ten minutes of my exercises, you will not have the strength for anything. And, breaking your mind, I will not particularly worry about preserving your sanity.”

  Here Andy was bluffing, and in order to prevent the governor from feeling the lie, he hit him with a third bolt. “Shall I continue?” He bent over the breathless dragon.

  “No, I will tell you….”

  “Wonderful. Was it worth getting tortured?”

  “Hazgar promised not to hurt Ilirra and to let her go overseas if I helped remove the Miur shields. If I refused or told the prince about the conversation, he threatened to execute her before my very eyes with the most excruciating execution, I could not…. I wanted to send her to another continent….”

  “And you believed him?”

  “Yes, the emperor was not lying; I would have sensed a lie.”

  “Naive,” thought Andy.

  “How did you meet?”

  “Two fivers ago, his messenger arrived; he arranged a direct communication channel.”

  “You lovesick fool,” Andy said, turning to the quieted retinue. The princess was sitting on the ground, embracing her knees with her hands and gazing stupidly at the ground. “I believe you love the prince’s daughter. The rest is ‘iffy,’ do not make me continue….” He raised his right hand. A few electrical charges slipped between his fingers.