“I’m sure you and Shade eliminated the fools from Rend down to the last bard,” Domina said.
“No.” It pained Leonidas to admit it, but if he couldn’t speak frankly with his most loyal followers, then who could he speak with? “The dark wizard was with them. My ring can’t absorb his magic.”
Jax drew in a sharp breath and Domina stared. He knew just how they felt.
“How is that possible?” Jax asked. “Everything I’ve read indicates the Black Ring can absorb any type of magic.”
“My research agrees,” Leonidas said. “However, the reality is what it is. We can’t rely on my power until we have eliminated the dark magic user.”
“Then let’s go eliminate him.” Domina turned as though planning to murder the man right that second.
Leonidas appreciated her enthusiasm. “A fine thought, dear Domina, but I fear this enemy is beyond even your considerable skills.”
“What are we going to do?” Jax asked.
“Simple, we’re going to let the enemy come to us. They want to enter the tower and in here, I’ll have access to the unlimited power of the spires. With that much energy at my disposal, I believe I can wear him down during a drawn-out fight.”
“Risky,” Jax said.
“Indeed, but I see no other way.”
Rondo finally forced himself to his feet. “How long was I out?”
“Fifteen, twenty minutes maybe,” Shade said. “What happened?”
“Polymus offered to make me his second-in-command if I’d let him take control of the tower. When I refused, he pulled a dagger and I doused him with the potion. He collapsed on my legs and some of the potion soaked through my pants.”
“You weren’t tempted?” Leonidas asked.
“Sure I was, but I don’t trust Polymus. He’d be more apt to kill me as soon as he didn’t need me anymore. I almost forgot; he claims he’s been leading Domina down a false path in regard to the immortality potion. Figured you’d want to know.”
Leonidas stared down at Polymus. The former prince was definitely a liability. However, there might be another way to extract the information he needed. A less pleasant one for Polymus for sure, but he’d earned whatever Leonidas decided to do with him.
“Lock the traitor up somewhere secure,” Leonidas said. “Once we’ve dealt with our current problems, I will drain every drop of information he’s hiding in that immortal brain of his.
Polymus chose that moment to let out a long, pained sigh. He’d be screaming before Leonidas was finished with him.
Chapter 18
Yaz powered northeast through the crisp morning air. The sun shone down bright and warm, and the first signs of spring were in the air. Not that he had time to enjoy them. After the first sound night’s sleep he’d had in what seemed a long time he’d taken off to try and deactivate the first tower. Assuming Silas’s translation was correct, it should be simple enough.
He smiled to himself. Nothing had been simple since he and Brigid set out from Dragonspire Village what felt like a lifetime ago. Maybe he was due. If everything went well, he should have all the towers deactivated by dark tonight. With that in mind, the others were sneaking into position around the tower. Everyone should be ready to strike when he returned.
At least finding the other towers was simple. All he had to do was follow the flow of magical energy back to its source.
After an hour or so of flying at maximum speed, the terrain changed from fields to a massive, old-growth forest. Some of the trees nearly rivaled the towers itself in size. Yaz had never seen anything like them.
Not that he had time for sightseeing. The tower loomed directly ahead, magical energy pouring out of it like lightning. He spotted a likely gap between the trees and landed in the clearing surrounding the tower. Standing in his way was a little old woman dressed in brown robes festooned with herb bundles and other fetishes. Not exactly what he’d expected to find protecting the tower.
“Good morning, Grandmother,” Yaz said.
She peered at him through narrow eyes. “What master do you serve?”
What an odd question. “I serve no master. I just need to turn off the tower and I’ll be on my way.”
“You are not allied with the evil ones that threatened to destroy my forest?”
“If you mean the Dark Sages, then absolutely not. They’re my enemies, but to reach them I need to deactivate the towers, so if you’ll excuse me.”
He took a step toward the dragonspire. Instantly a wall of vines exploded out of the ground between him and the entrance.
Yaz looked again at the old woman and raised an eyebrow. Clearly, she wasn’t just a hermit.
“You say you are not with the evil ones, yet your power draws from the vilest source in existence. How can I trust your word?”
What a dreadful way to describe me. I’m not a vile source of power, I’m the first source. This stupid forest spirit thinks she’s ancient, but she’s a babe at the breast compared to me.
The voice in his mind startled Yaz, but he covered it by scratching his head. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’d prefer not to fight, but I need to get in there. As to my power, it wasn’t my choice to use it. I was injected with this black stuff when I was little and now it’s a part of who I am.”
That wasn’t strictly an accurate description of how he came to be, but given his time restrictions, Yaz figured it was close enough.
“You survived being injected with the essence of the void? That doesn’t seem possible.”
“Like I said, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m on a tight schedule so I need you to either let me through or I’m going to let myself through.”
“Whatever else you might be, you are clearly not with the other evil ones. For now, that is enough. Should you become a threat to my forest in the future, I can always eliminate you then.”
The old woman sank into the ground and vanished. A moment later the wall of vines disappeared as well. Yaz hurried over to the tower and was relieved to find a familiar grid of runes.
The arrogant speck! I could tell you ten ways to destroy her. Imagine having the nerve to threaten someone with access to my power. We should kill her just to set an example.
“Could you focus?” Yaz finished punching in the combination and the door opened a few inches. “We’ve got enough to worry about without antagonizing forest spirits. Once we’ve dealt with the tower, I hope to never see this place again.”
Have it your way. But don’t blame me if you become known as a pushover.
“I’m willing to risk it.” Yaz pulled the door open and stepped inside.
The whole lower level was empty. After all the shelves and books in the tower back home, the empty space felt strange. The glowing sigil in the center lit the walls with a strange bluish light so there were no shadows for someone or something to hide in.
Yaz shrugged and walked over to the sigil. Time to see if Silas’s translation was correct. If it wasn’t, he had no idea what his next move would be.
If he were an egomaniacal would-be emperor, would he start at the top or bottom when drawing an activation sigil? The top of course.
Your problem is you don’t have enough ego. With my power coursing through you, you are now stronger than any human in the world and many of the younger dragons. Yet you don’t seem especially pleased.
“Could you shut up? I’m trying to concentrate.” Yaz raised his hand then lowered it again. “For the record, I didn’t want great power. But now that I have it, my only desire is to use it to keep my mom and my friends safe. That’s it.”
Pathetic.
Yaz waited but no further comment appeared forthcoming. That suited him fine.
He pointed at the base of the sigil and focused on deactivating it. As he traced through the air, the light dimmed. When he finished, the sigil was gone.
Well, that went well enough. Outside, he sealed the door and looked up. No power emerged from the top of the spire. One down, three to go.
<
br /> Yaz took to the air. When he was level with the metal rod sticking out of the dragon’s mouth, he conjured a blade of darkness and sliced it off. The three-foot length of steel fell to earth and stuck. No one would be reactivating the tower this time.
That taken care of, he turned his sights to the south. Hopefully switching off the second tower would go as smoothly as the first.
Leonidas was standing in the tower throne room brooding when he felt the magic shift. It was still there, but the flow felt different. Like something was missing. Frowning, he went to the lower level. Shade and Rondo glanced at him as he walked by.
“Boss?”
Leonidas raised a hand and kept going. Something was wrong, he knew it. He pushed the door open, stepped out, and looked up. His worst fear had come true. The northwest tower had been deactivated. His first thought was to blame the spirit of the forest, but if she had been able to turn off the energy flow, she would have done it long before now. Deep in his heart, Leonidas knew it was the dark wizard.
He turned back, slamming the door behind him. How could he have been so stupid as to leave the towers unguarded? That was easy; he assumed no one else knew how to deactivate them. It appeared he was mistaken.
Leonidas returned to the throne room. “Wake up, girl.”
Ariel looked at him expectantly.
“I want you to order dragons to protect all of the outer towers.”
She closed her eyes and scrunched up her face.
“Show me what you’re doing.”
The viewing window appeared, showing sky and clouds. A moment later the sand of the desert appeared followed quickly by the tattered remains of the tent city and the tower they surrounded. He let out a sigh of relief. One of the towers was protected at least.
The view quickly shifted to the sky again followed by the expanse of the Vast Swamp. The tower appeared in its pit.
“Have that dragon land and lie in wait for anyone that might show up,” Leonidas said.
The image changed as the dragon got ever closer to the ground. It landed and crouched down so the view was only a foot off the ground. He nodded to himself. So far so good.
The image shifted for a final time to the village where all this started. The dragons there were small, but as he recalled there were six of them. That should be enough to cause anyone trouble.
“Order all the dragons there to kill anyone that approaches the tower.”
The screen shifted rapidly as she touched the minds of each dragon. At last Ariel looked up at him, waiting for her next order.
Leonidas patted her on the head. “That’s enough. You did well.”
She showed no reaction to his praise. He sighed and shrugged. What had he expected? The girl was only a puppet after all.
Chapter 19
Yaz had never seen a desert. From above it looked like an empty wasteland of sand in every direction dotted by an occasional spot of green. Despite its apparent emptiness, he flew over a trio of caravans making their way through the sand. What he didn’t encounter were any towns. Those caravans had to be going somewhere, but he’d be damned if he could figure out where.
Who cares? Those people mean nothing to us.
The voice had a point, but he couldn’t turn his curiosity off like a lantern at bedtime. Whenever he ran into something he didn’t understand, Yaz felt a powerful need to figure out what was happening.
I blame your mother for that.
“Oh, shut up. I have enough on my mind without you blabbering away at me.”
For someone with such great curiosity about everything else, you don’t seem terribly interested in knowing more about me.
“The little you’ve told me doesn’t exactly encourage greater exploration of the subject. I’m stuck with you, I accept that, but I don’t have to like it. Now hush, I can see the tower.”
A little to his left, a dragonspire jutted up out of the sand, lightning gushing from the top in an endless stream. Where did it all come from? While he understood the tower’s basic function, he had yet to figure out the source of all the energy they transmitted.
Much like the caravans, it was a mystery for another day. As he got closer, it became clear that some sort of town had once surrounded the tower. Blackened canvas stretched for hundreds of yards in every direction. It looked like a great fire had consumed the town. The air still stank of smoke. As he flew lower Yaz spotted bodies mingled with the debris. Some looked like little more than skeletons, but others were more intact.
With all this flesh ripe for the taking, there should have been scavengers everywhere, yet the area was still and silent, like an open-air tomb.
A faint gust of wind was all the warning Yaz got. He leapt forward, just avoiding a blast of flame.
He spun to get a look at what attacked him. A red-scaled dragon was banking around to come at him again. So they set a guardian on this tower. He should have expected it after shutting down the first one.
The best thing to do would be to get inside and deactivate the tower. Hopefully the beast would just fly off afterward.
Optimist.
Yaz ignored the comment and raced for the tower door. The only good thing about fighting dragons was that they took forever to make a turn. Still, he had to cover a hundred or so yards and she wasn’t turning that slowly. It would be close.
He reached the tower a heartbeat ahead of the dragon. A gout of flame scorched his back as it strafed him again. As he’d hoped, it couldn’t attack too close to the tower.
The moment the coast was clear, Yaz stepped out and tapped the rune pad. He stepped inside and slammed the door behind him. A library of books spread out in every direction, illuminated by the glow of the sigil. Now this was what he expected. Yaz could spend a happy decade reading in here. But, as with everything else, not today.
He made his way through the stacks to the central area. Deactivating this sigil proved as simple as the first one. In less than a minute, he was standing in the dark.
Two down, two to go.
Yaz went to the door and opened it. The red dragon was staring straight at him.
He slammed the door, heart racing. Gods’ blood! How was he going to get out of here? It wasn’t like the towers had a back door.
Why don’t you just make a back door?
“What, just cut through the wall? Can I do that?”
Please don’t insult my power. If you were determined, you could blow this tower to gravel. I will admit, that might strain your feeble mortal body. But cutting a hole should be within your limited ability.
“You’re kind of an asshole, you know that?”
A feeling of smug amusement washed over Yaz as he walked to the opposite side of the tower. While he hated exposing the books to the elements, he also didn’t want to hurt the dragon. She was just doing as she was compelled after all. Making a door seemed the lesser evil.
Yaz conjured a black sword about three feet long. That should be plenty to get through the wall. He looked from the sword in his hand to the solid gray stone.
You have to believe it will work. Any doubt will weaken your power.
He took a deep breath and let it slowly out. No bloody wall was going to stop him from getting out of here. He slammed the blade into the wall with all his might. It went in up to his top hand like the stone was pudding.
Grinning, Yaz cut two vertical slices then connected them with a horizontal slash. He let the sword vanish and grasped the newly made stone slab with his power. It slid out before him and as soon as he was out in the sand, he slid the slab back in place. That should keep the worst of the sand and critters out.
Now to get out of here before the dragon realized he was out.
An earth-shaking roar filled the air.
So much for that. Yaz shot into the sky as fast as his new power would carry him. He risked a glance back. The dragon was beating her wings furiously to catch him. He was confident he’d win a race.
He shot eastward with everything he had. When he’d
left the desert behind, Yaz looked back again. No sign of his pursuer. Her orders must have been to protect the tower. Now that Yaz was a safe distance away, the dragon must have decided that her priority was guard duty.
You got lucky.
Yaz couldn’t argue with that. Now that he knew the dangers awaiting him at the remaining towers, hopefully his luck would hold.
All the plotting and planning and military talk had given Brigid a headache. It didn’t help that she knew next to nothing about the best ways to approach a guarded position, or scouting, or silently eliminating sentries. She was a shepherdess and way out of her depth. She’d been out of her depth since taking that first fateful step out of the valley with Yaz. Only having him beside her helped Brigid deal with the madness they’d faced. Now he was gone, flying around like a wizard, trying to save everyone. And she was stuck here surround by the most formidable people she’d ever met.
Brigid took up her ironwood staff and gave it a spin. The smooth, cool wood felt good in her hand. This was something she understood. How long had it been since she did her combat drills? Felt like forever.
She put about twenty paces between her and the strategy meeting and began. Her staff swished through the air, spun in a defensive circle, and snapped out in a quick thrust.
“Impressive.” Helena was coming her way with Yaz’s ironwood staff in her hand.
Brigid swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. Speaking of formidable people. Yaz’s mother had this look that suggested that whatever you threw at her, she’d handle it without blinking.
“Thanks. I didn’t mean to just walk off, but I didn’t have much to add to the conversation.”
Helena gave her own staff a spin, surprising Brigid. “At this point they’re just talking to keep the bards from getting nervous. Mind if I join you?”
“No, please. Did you take the woman’s self-defense training too?”
Helena smiled. “No, Yazguard taught me himself. He was determined that if anything should happen to him, I’d be able to protect both myself and Yaz. It was a sweet thought, though if I had to protect us, I’d brew some explosive potions instead of swinging a staff. I miss him.”
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