Mercy's Trial

by Sever Bronny

  As the dragon’s roar subsided and it slowly fell back onto all fours, Augum let his blade sing against the horde—he whirled about and sliced a swath through the beasts amassing around him, then bolted toward the mighty necromantic beast blocking the entrance.

  The dragon swiped at him but he simply hurdled over the tree-sized clawed paw. Frustrated, the dragon opened its other paw and growled a guttural incantation that Augum, in his Centarric state, thought he recognized—a necromantic drain spell he believed he could craft a miracle from. But it would be an all-or-nothing casting, for his reserves were now dangerously low.

  As the growl ended and the dragon began pulling at the air, Augum slid to a halt and summoned his shield while still holding the egg, already feeling the prickle of the necromantic spell nibbling at his soul. “Mimicus!” he snapped again, and focused on reversing the energy pulling at his soul so that instead he was pulling on the dragon’s soul—and he even mimicked the motion of pulling on rope, egg tucked safely under his arm.

  For a moment the two beings fought for control over the stream, until Augum heaved with all his telekinetic might and pulled on the ethereal rope binding him to the dragon, expending the very last of his reserves in the process.

  Suddenly it was like a dam had burst, and precious stamina poured into his parched basin, refilling him to bursting before cutting itself off. Then, as the horde of undead neared, as the dragon readied to lunge, Augum smiled the smile of a poet who had written a glorious line before incanting, “Impetus peragro.”

  Feats of Circumstance

  “Fates, you’re alive!” Leera shouted when he appeared on Pillar Olaf, jumping onto him. Wind ripped at the pillar and clouds were shooting by directly overhead.

  She recoiled from his face. “Whoa, your eyes … they’re infused with lightning!”

  But Augum, who remained under Centarro’s influence, knew they were still in great danger, and so he gently set her down. “We have to keep moving—”

  There was a massive thwomp and they were engulfed in shadow. He looked up to see the six-barn, milky-eyed dragon hovering directly overhead. It spotted them, tucked in its wings, and dove.

  “Pillar Haylee!” Augum shouted.

  Leera barely had enough time to snatch her egg before the three of them chorused, “Impetus peragro,” and teleported away.

  “Pillar Augum!” Bridget shouted once they appeared on the other wind-ravaged pillar, and teleported off a third time before hunkering in a clump of bushes, the girls having exhausted their stamina.

  “Ancients help us, they can teleport too,” Bridget whispered.

  They panted, waiting for the deadly thwomp to come again. Augum, sensing that they were in the clear, allowed his Centarric imagination to roam. He caressed the lightning egg, captivated by its bizarreness. He inspected nearby pink leaves, marveling at their silky texture. He grabbed a fistful of earth and enjoyed its granularity in his palm. He looked skyward, knowing that behind those black racing clouds were three suns. He pondered the significance of such a strange thing and imagined the suns were the eyes of a god, or perhaps a great beast. He wondered if the planes were lands floating amongst the stars. Nothing seemed absurd. Everything seemed possible.

  And then he began to lose the thread of his thoughts.

  Leera pointed at a distant flying speck. “Look, it’s searching for us on the pillars. I think it’s lost our tendril scent.” Then she noticed Augum and nudged him. “Hey, you all right?”

  Augum sat dazed, the fog of Centarro closing in. “I, uh … I cast … uh … I cast …” He scrunched his face in concentration but the words wouldn’t come.

  “He cast Centarro,” Leera blurted, grabbing his egg and placing it in the bush beside him. Then she scooted up behind him and made him lie back against her. “Close your eyes, my love, and relax, we’ll watch over you.” Her arms slipped around his stomach protectively. She continued talking but his mind could no longer comprehend what she was saying. He turned his head to her and gave an anxious smile, wanting to impress this cute muddy girl who was holding him so tenderly. But as his mind continued to slip, her muddy appearance began to frighten him—as did the countenance of another girl, a muddy creature of a thing. He thought childish things, like that two monsters had grabbed him and were dragging him into their den. And throughout, he dully imagined three beastly eyes secretly watching everything that was going on from far overhead.

  He started struggling and whimpering, not understanding what was happening. Something held him firmly. He lashed out, trying to breathe, and yet his reptile brain devolved further until he was nothing more than limbs and base instinct.

  * * *

  “You have a heck of an elbow on you, mister,” Leera said, dabbing at her lip with a finger.

  “What happened?” Augum asked groggily, finding himself in her embrace.

  “Side effects of Centarro. You put up a bit of a fight.”

  “Sorry, didn’t plan for the fog.” He winced from a headache.

  “Drink this,” she said, handing him a half-finished waterskin.

  “Thanks.” He took a long pull and the cool water seemed to help.

  “All right. The eyes. Explain them.”

  “Huh?”

  “Your eyes. They were lightning-infused. Like your father.”

  “Oh. That.”

  “Yeah. That.”

  “It doesn’t mean he’s going evil on us,” Bridget said over the wind whipping the trees and bushes around them wildly. She was sitting cross-legged nearby and studying the map. “It’s called The Settling and you learned about it in class.”

  “I … I did?”

  Bridget sighed and explained that it happened to people who far surpassed the standard competencies of their element, and that it happened to other elements too besides lightning. “To be perfectly honest, Aug, I was wondering when it would happen to you. You’re excelling at all of your elemental spells and your Telekinesis alone raises you far above the average.”

  Leera gave Augum an extra squeeze. “My brilliant fearsome warrior. You are going to scare the living hell out of your opponents.”

  “Anyway, we’ve got two immediate problems,” Bridget went on, returning her attention to the map. “One, the eggs are tainted with all of our scents, and two, we don’t know which nests they belong to.”

  “Whatever we do,” Augum said, inspecting his mud-cracked hands, “we’ll need to muddy ourselves up all over again.” Then he realized a solution to one of the problems was literally staring him in the face. He looked up, blurting, “We muddy up the eggs.”

  “Excellent idea,” Bridget replied. “And that means we can support each other all the way to each lair. The trek doesn’t have to be done alone.”

  “Thank Fates for that,” Leera muttered, adding, “this place is turning me into one of them Unnameables-this and Fates-that people. I could curse for hours.”

  “Same.” And then Augum remembered something and sat up. “Hey, pass me the map.” After Bridget passed it to him, he explained how he’d noted the precise direction the lightning and earth dragons returned to. “Just have to triangulate our position relative to—” He closed his eyes, recalling the exact moment the lightning and earth dragons had turned to flee, the position of nearby pillars, and their own position relative to the suns, which had been hidden behind clouds. He opened his eyes and used his finger to draw the dragons’ flight line from the necromantic lair all the way to the edge of the map.

  “Seems you’re right,” Bridget noted, having scooted up beside him, “because your line bisects two lairs, which just so happen to be lightning and earth lairs.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Great work.”

  Leera glanced between the map and her watery egg tucked in a thicket beside her. “What about the water dragon?”

  “There’s two,” Bridget said, tapping the parchment. “Opposite sides of the map.”

  Leera wrung her hands. “Fifty-fifty. I don’t like those odds.”
>
  Augum studied the location of the two water lairs, then the other lairs, and noticed a pattern. “Look how small the X is on the lair closest to the necro lair, and how large it is on the one closest to our dragons’ lairs.”

  “Yeah, so?” Leera said. “Probably just hastily drawn.”

  “I don’t think so. Look at the five X’s on the necro lair. Notice how two are large and three are small?”

  “Two adults and three children!” Leera said. “Which means one is a young dragon lair and the other an adult lair, which means—”

  “—that the odds of the adult lair having an egg are much higher,” he finished for her.

  She punched his shoulder in classic Leera fashion. “I have a brilliant boyfriend.”

  He smiled at her.

  Bridget tucked the map away and withdrew some Canterran provisions. “Let’s have a snack, finish recuperating our stamina, and get moving.”

  * * *

  The plan was simple. Escort each other to the individual dragon lairs. The dropped-off person would then thoroughly muddy themselves up before presenting the egg to their dragon. Should everything go well, they’d meet at Haylee’s cave and spy on the necromantic lair until the enemy showed up with Mrs. Stone, Olaf and Jengo. And if needed, they’d use the summonable vault to communicate with each other.

  They began by teleporting to the pillar closest to the first lair, belonging to a water dragon. The next one after, several leagues distant, was the earth dragon’s lair, and the last one was the lightning dragon’s lair.

  But a problem immediately presented itself.

  “Way too windy to do this without rope,” Leera said, glancing over the edge, hair whipping in the gale. “Not to mention while carrying an egg.”

  Augum looked around for ideas and spotted the solution in the forest. “Vines. We use vines.”

  Leera elbowed him. “If only we had an earth warlock to give us a hand on that front.”

  Augum looked to Bridget. “Is that even possible?”

  “Middling Vine, 6th degree off-the-books elemental spell,” Bridget replied. “And yes, I know it.” She put her egg down, stepped before the vines that wound around multiple trees, and spread her hand. One of the vines began unwinding … and extending, coiling itself at her feet like a snake. She did this until they had two long ropes.

  “Color me impressed,” Leera said after picking up one end of a vine and testing its strength. “Thing could hold a boulder.”

  They secured their eggs on their backs using reeds. Augum then tied one end of a vine to a tree and the other to himself, cast the Chameleon extension that allowed movement, and began descending. He carried the other vine, which he would tie to an outcropping or stump halfway down the pillar.

  The wind challenged him on the descent, making him sway and swing about, forcing him to anchor himself using Telekinesis. But he enjoyed the tempestuous view of the forest shwooming below and the clouds zipping by overhead. He found the wind calming, and it made him miss his castle and the cozy comforts of a good book by a fire. He missed peace and worrying about stupid little things like signing receipts.

  Actually, he didn’t miss signing receipts. But he certainly missed his castle and his friends and Solia and especially the academy. Oh, to attend classes once again, free of worry! How rosy it all seemed when one was stuck in some ancient primordial plane, in the middle of a vicious jungle, starving for real food, caked in mud and simply trying to survive.

  Halfway down, he secured the second vine and transferred over. The other vine began to move, and only the slightest visual disturbance near its top, not unlike ripples in a pond, indicated the presence of a chameleonic person—Bridget had stepped onto the vine and begun descending.

  As he continued his own descent, he spotted a large vulture circling a nearby pillar—except it wasn’t a vulture at all but a water dragon shimmering in the fading light.

  “What are you looking for there?” he muttered, watching it coast in place in the fierce wind, searching. Then it tucked in its wings and dove at the pillar. Light flashed from the pillar prior to the dragon slamming into it, causing trees and shrubbery and rubble to blast outward and fall to the jungle below.

  Must have found a snack, he thought, though part of him couldn’t help wondering if it had found the Canterrans … or their friends.

  Suddenly a shriek came from above. He looked up to see Leera flailing as she fell. Bridget, descending on the vine, became visible as she telekinetically lashed out in an effort to catch her, but Leera had already fallen past her by then, the egg still latched to her back.

  Augum’s muscles tensed as he prepared himself. The moment she got within range, he shot an arm out, telekinetically caught her and slowed her descent, becoming visible in the process. His Telekinesis was so strong that by the time she reached him, she was able to grab onto the vine only feet below him.

  “I can’t believe you just did that,” she croaked between heavy breaths. “That was a feat of—”

  “What happened?” he interrupted.

  “A bunch of Canterrans were on that pillar over there when a water dragon spotted them. Guess where they ’ported to? Yup, right behind me—and just as I was casting the Chameleon extension. I think one of them reacted without thinking and shoved me off the pillar.”

  Augum looked up to see six faces looking down. One of the men slapped his wrists together and a black beam shot past them.

  “Head’s up, Bridge!” Augum called, but Bridget didn’t need reminding and summoned her shield in time to ward off a second blow.

  “Uh-oh,” Leera said. “It’s seen us.”

  Augum glanced over his shoulder to see the water dragon flapping its wings as it flew toward them.

  “I’ve got an idea,” she said. “Get down.”

  He and Leera began to zip down the vine as quickly as they dared. Luckily they didn’t have far to go and were soon standing in the jungle at the base of the pillar.

  “Ready yourself to haul me up that tree,” Leera snapped as she used a puddle to muddy herself anew. “I got a plan.”

  “Come on, Bridge, hurry,” Augum said, craning his neck to watch Bridget frantically try to descend while defending herself from pot-shots from above. The bastards even began throwing huge stones, forcing her to either telekinetically bat them aside or swing on the vine. One of those stones plummeted toward Leera, and Augum telekinetically had to shove it aside.

  A thoroughly muddied-up Leera paid no attention as she slathered her egg with mud.

  “You’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re doing, are you?” he said.

  “I know it’s risky, but if I interact with the dragon in just the right—”

  “Interact with the dragon? What in Sithesia are you talking about?”

  She didn’t even look up, just kept smearing the egg. “You trust me?”

  “Of course I do, but—”

  “Then haul me up to the top of that palm.” She grabbed the egg and shot to her feet. “Now, please.”

  Augum swallowed but extended a hand and began lifting her toward the top of the palm. He strained against the range but managed to plant her on top.

  “Now fetch Bridget and hide,” she commanded. “You’ve got about ten heartbeats before it gets here. I love you, Augum.”

  Augum didn’t even have time to reply because Bridget wouldn’t reach him before the dragon got there, and so he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “No time for the vine, Bridge! You have to jump! I’ll catch you!”

  Bridget took one look at the incoming dragon, blanched, looked down, uttered a curse, closed her eyes, and let go. Augum shot a hand out and telekinetically caught her, slowing her descent in time for her to hit the ground and roll. She checked her egg while Augum helped her to her feet. Finding it all right, the pair ran to stand behind a nearby palm. From there they watched as Leera, legs clinging to the top of the palm in a sitting position, lifted the dragon egg over her head, though she kept
her head low in a submissive manner.

  “That is one of the bravest things I have ever seen,” Bridget whispered.

  But Augum couldn’t so much as breathe as he watched. He hadn’t had a chance to say “I love you” back to Leera, and what if she didn’t make it?

  The dragon, blue and enveloped with a watery opalescence, flapped its mighty wings above Leera, creating gusts that swayed the already wind-assaulted jungle and made her perch that much more precarious. Yet she held fast, legs clamped to the palm like a vise, egg held firmly over her mud-splattered head. The way the palm swayed made Augum think of a small bird clutching onto a tall reed of grass. His heart constricted at her vulnerability.

  The dragon steadily lowered. Augum feared that this was it, that the beast was about to rip her to shreds—but instead it opened one of its paws before her and she placed the egg into it. Then the dragon opened another paw … and she climbed aboard.

  The last thing Augum saw before the dragon flew off was her waving at them, muddy face smiling in triumph.

  Home

  “You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” Augum asked, habitually examining the jungle around them for threats, a jungle that swayed in the wind, a jungle he slashed at with Burden’s Edge.

  The pair had walked two leagues already, vanquished numerous beasts, stopped at a creek to apply more mud to their eggs and themselves, and were coming up on the dragon lair they hoped would be a match to Bridget’s egg.

  “I …” She looked away to hide her muddy face. “I …”

  “You don’t have to say anything.” Not for the first time, he sliced off a vine that turned out to be a green snake. “I probably shouldn’t have mentioned—”

  “I didn’t even tell him I love him,” she blurted, stepping around the dead snake. “And … and it’s eating me alive from the inside.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, before I put Leera on top of that palm, she told me she loved me. I didn’t have the time to say it back.”

  “Yeah, but she knows you love her.”

  “Fair point.” He shrugged. “You can do it when we free him. Then you can jump on him and shower him with kisses, all that gross stuff people hate seeing couples do. Make everybody squirm.”