Gilmreth the Awakening

by Raymond L. Weil

  In minutes, she put together the necessary ingredients for this final incantation. Nodding to herself with a wanton look upon her face, she prepared for this final illicit act. She began the incantation. With the small, sharp spell knife, she made a shallow incision on her left wrist, watching her warm red blood drip slowly into the small copper bowl beneath. The ingredients, when mixed with her blood, began to bubble and steam. The final part of the incantation for the dragon spell rolled off her lips, its pattern woven tightly in the red energy lines which pervaded the room. Finishing the incantation, she took up the scepter, its crimson ruby glowing hotly from the power of the harnessed spell. Walking back out onto the balcony, Jalene pointed the Stone of Loraine toward distant Firestorm Mountain. Sending the woven pattern of the spell forth and backed by the stone, she summoned Gilmreth.

  “Come Gilmreth, I am waiting for you,” she murmured softly, pointing the scepter at the distant mountain. “Arise and come to me!”

  -

  A bright red light flashed instantaneously out from the stone striking the mountain. It penetrated into the dark depths of Firestorm Mountain, seeking the deadly creature that had slept beneath for untold generations. The red light searched for and then found Gilmreth, cutting through the sleeping spell like a knife through butter, striking the dragon!

  It found and clung to the dragon’s slumbering form. Gilmreth became encompassed in a red radiance, which glowed ever brighter and brighter as the energy pattern fought to break the weakened sleeping spell. The deep underground lair was lit up brightly by an ethereal light, which hauntingly surrounded the dragon. The small fish in the silent pool dove down deep into its protective depths trying to escape the invading light.

  The red radiance grew brighter and brighter. The powerful radiance was drawing on the weakened sleeping spell itself to enhance the deadly pattern that was shimmering around Gilmreth. Inexorably, the sleeping spell gave way, giving up the last of its remaining energy. The deadly radiance was destroying the spell that had held Gilmreth captive for so long!

  With cataclysmic implications, the sleeping spell shattered, its last tenuous threads ripped apart, freeing completely the mind of Gilmreth. The red radiance faded its diabolical work complete. The massive cave was left once more in impenetrable darkness. The only sounds in the cave were the occasional sound of dripping water striking the small pool and the labored breathing of the now waking dragon.

  Through the Stone of Loraine, Jalene felt the sleeping spell break. Seizing the moment, her fingers and hands wove a quick, complicated pattern in the air. When she felt she was ready, she reached out with her mind toward Gilmreth. Upon the slowly waking thoughts of the dragon, she impressed the spell that would make Gilmreth her willing slave.

  This was the same spell the sorcerers of the Golden Age had used to control the other dragons when they were first created. They hadn’t used the Stone of Lorraine to try to control Gilmreth because they hadn’t realized the dragon’s awesome power until too late. Jalene’s triumph was a shrill scream, inarticulate, as her mind touched that of the dragons. She felt the spell take hold of the dragon’s mind, and Gilmreth was hers!

  In the dark lair beneath Firestorm Mountain, Gilmreth slowly stirred. Ponderously, the dragon opened both of its eyes to stare out hungrily at the darkness that surrounded it. For the first time in ages, the mighty dragon rose languidly to its feet, its long spiked tail curling about to balance Gilmreth nearly upright. Swinging his massive head slowly around the lair, Gilmreth’s yellow-red eyes glowed with a pale inner flame greatly diminished from hunger.

  Opening his mouth, the dragon roared loudly as he let out his anger at his long imprisonment. Bright red flames arched into the air, scorching the distant wall. The tumultuous disturbance sent the feeding fishes in the quiescent pool fleeing back down toward its dark protective depths once more. In his weakened mind, Gilmreth sensed a summons, a promise of food to feed his ravenous appetite, of victims waiting to feed the growing hunger that was raging throughout his body.

  Flexing his lethargic muscles, Gilmreth took to the air, his mighty wings spreading to beat against the air in the dragon’s lair. In scant moments, Gilmreth was hurling his massive weight down the long tunnel toward the sorceress who summoned him. Reaching the partially blocked exit, a quick blast of his fiery breath exploded the rocks and boulders sealing the entrance outward, freeing Gilmreth to climb up into the cool night air. Gilmreth launched himself into the dark night sky with powerful beats of his wings. A loud, defiant roar pierced the soundless night announcing the emergence of the dragon. Gilmreth was free!

  -

  “Oh God!” Lynol screamed wide-eyed, her studies interrupted and the spell she was weaving falling apart.

  A cold, icy wind seemed to blow suddenly through the stone room swirling around Lynol. She shivered violently as if icy fingers were moving down her back and closing about her throat. For several long moments, she couldn’t say or do anything as she felt the other sorceress’ massive spell crush the sleeping spell, which had held Gilmreth for untold generations.

  A cold hand seemed to clutch at her heart, constricting her chest. Her mind recoiled in shock from the sudden blind hate radiating from Firestorm Mountain as Gilmreth emerged from his lair and flew up into the night. Even through the shielded walls of the underground crypt she could sense the rising of the dragon and the tremendous power of the sorcery, which was being used to awaken and control Gilmreth.

  “What is it?” Malcon asked with concern in his voice, seeing the sudden distress his young student was in, his glowing spectral figure seeming to brighten.

  Over the last several months, Lynol and the glowing specter had become very close. However, Malcon’s power was limited to this underground crypt. His power was furnished by the ancient dais beneath him and special receptors built into the thick stone walls. Malcon could sense very little beyond the Sylvar Stone and the stone ruins scattered above.

  “It’s Gilmreth; the other sorceress has awakened the dragon!” Lynol cried in shock and dismay, her mind reeling from the foul emotions coming from the mountain. Her breath was coming so fast she could barely speak.

  The amount of power that had been unleashed beneath Firestorm Mountain had shaken her. Her sorcery didn’t even begin to compare. She knew she wasn’t ready to face this type of power; she began to feel dizzy and faint. The rising of the dragon was too soon, way too soon! What could they do?

  “Remove your mind from the dragon’s, immediately!” Malcon warned with a hint of worry in his normally well-controlled voice. “We don’t want Gilmreth or the other sorceress to sense your presence. The dragon and this sorceress must not learn of your existence!”

  Releasing her light touch from Gilmreth’s deranged mind, Lynol stared wide-eyed toward Malcon’s glowing figure. Her mind filled with the horrifying implications of Gilmreth’s sudden awakening. This they hadn’t been expecting. Under Malcon’s careful tutelage, she had explored the weakening strength of the sleeping spell that held Gilmreth. They had both believed it would be several more years at the earliest before it collapsed completely. They hadn’t counted on this sudden influx of power from the other sorceress against the spell. She had never used anything this powerful before.

  “Gilmreth’s thoughts were so horrid!” exclaimed Lynol, feeling as if she had been soiled and violated from the brief mental contact of the dragon’s fully awakened mind. The sheer brutality and the ravenous hunger radiating from the dragon had been horrible.

  “The dragon will be weak and hungry, its mind focused on feeding,” Malcon stated tersely, remembering his own troubled times and knowing what was soon to come.

  “Where will the dragon go? Should we warn the villagers?” Lynol had prayed that it would be many long years yet before the dragon awoke. She could scarcely believe the other sorceress had actually succeeded in awakening Gilmreth, but she had.

  “No,” replied Malcon, looking grimly at Lynol. “This other sorceress has summoned Gilmr
eth. We know she has taken up residence in Draydon. She must be truly powerful to be able to break the sleeping spell so easily and risk summoning the dragon.”

  “But how?” asked Lynol, looking anxiously at Malcon. “How can she have such power to break the sleeping spell? We thought it would be several years yet before the spell weakened to the point she could destroy it.”

  “To be able to shatter the spell so completely is a mystery,” Malcon replied, his eyebrows rising in thought. “She is much more powerful than I believed possible. If she controls such power, then we have to be extremely cautious. If she can actually control the dragon she will be very dangerous, and to control Gilmreth will take tremendous power indeed!”

  “But where is the dragon going?” asked Lynol, worriedly. She was afraid the dragon was going hunting, searching for humans to feed upon. For a brief moment, she worried about Dresdia and Kalvin. Dresdia would really be frightened when she found out that Gilmreth had awakened.

  “We know this sorceress has been using the subjugated populace in Draydon to build a temple,” the simulacrum replied, shaking his head worriedly. His blue eyes focused on Lynol. “I fear the temple may have other loathsome uses besides worship of their new leader.”

  “Sacrifices!” Lynol gasped, her jaw dropping as she realized what Malcon was implying. “She is going to sacrifice virgins to Gilmreth just as they did at the sacrificial altar at the base of Firestorm Mountain! She plans on controlling Gilmreth with sacrifices!” Lynol felt sickened with the realization of what the other sorceress was going to do, what she was willing to do to appease the dragon. Lynol felt her heart racing as she realized the calamity that was about to befall Draydon.

  “Yes,” Malcon replied, his eyes seeking out and holding Lynol’s light blue ones. “That is what I believe. If she can furnish suitable sacrifices for the dragon and use her sorcery upon Gilmreth as well, she might be able to control the dragon.”

  “Can she really hope to control Gilmreth?” asked Lynol, looking at Malcon’s glowing figure. “Is it possible?”

  “We know that, during the Golden Age, the sorcerers had a method to control the dragons and force them to do their bidding,” Malcon replied with a slight nod. “We also know that no one ever managed to control Gilmreth; he was too powerful. Somehow, she has found the power to do so, or so she believes.”

  “But if Gilmreth was never controlled how can she possibly hope to, even with the sacrifices?” asked Lynol, wondering what untold terrors this night would bring forth in distant Draydon.

  Knowing Gilmreth’s history and the horror this other sorceress seemed capable of, Lynol shuddered at the thought of what might be about to transpire in that far off town. She wondered if the inhabitants of Draydon knew what was about to befall them.

  “There may be a way, but that would involve the Stone of Loraine,” Malcon’s simulacrum replied with a worried frown crossing his face.

  “The Stone of Loraine? My father mentioned that once,” Lynol responded, trying to recall what he had said about the powerful amulet. “Would it be powerful enough?”

  “The original sorcerers were never able to use the stone against Gilmreth,” Malcon replied. “If somehow this sorceress has managed to find it and gain control of it, then she may indeed be able to impress her will upon Gilmreth. In addition, if she is making sacrifices to the dragon, furnishing him with sustenance, it might be just enough to sway Gilmreth to obey her. It may give her control for a time, or for as long as the dragon chooses.”

  “The Stone of Loraine,” Lynol said worriedly with a flare of dismay in her light blue eyes. “That would explain the incredible power she has displayed. But I thought it was destroyed in the Worldfire.”

  “As did I,” Malcon replied somberly, knowing that if the Stone of Loraine were involved it would make everything magnitudes more difficult. “But if I’m correct and she does indeed possess it, plus gains control of Gilmreth, then we have a tremendous, nearly insurmountable, challenge ahead of us.”

  “Then all is lost!” spoke Lynol, seeing everything she loved falling before Gilmreth. They wouldn’t be able to stop the dragon, not if the sorceress had the legendary amulet.

  “Possession of the Stone of Loraine would explain her unbelievable power,” Malcon’s glowing figure replied. “Don’t despair, Lynol. Remember; Lys’ amulet has also become tremendously powerful, perhaps as powerful as the Stone of Loraine. When you are ready, you will begin using Lys’ amulet and the power it contains will be yours. We must wait and bide our time, for all is not yet lost. We just need to be extremely careful and patient.”

  Leaning back in her chair, Lynol stared somberly at Malcon. She glanced over at the delicate cloth, which covered and shielded Lys’ amulet. For months, they had worked together putting in long, arduous hours honing and developing Lynol’s growing skills. Already many of the spells in Malcon’s book had become easy to weave.

  Malcon had been impressed with Lynol’s latent abilities and self-discipline, saying they were on a par with the potential Lys had once shown. Under Malcon’s strict tutelage, Lynol was rapidly making progress into becoming a sorceress, but she still had a long ways to go.

  With Malcon’s patient instructions and explaining the spells in more depth, Lynol had found it so much easier to learn. Even now, after all these months, she still hadn’t been allowed to use Lys’ amulet. Malcon said she still wasn’t ready to handle such awesome power. In the future, she would be, and when she was, Lys’ powerful amulet would be hers.

  Lynol had also brought her father down into the crypt to meet Malcon’s simulacrum. She had done that the very same night she had discovered the hidden underground room.

  Damon had been in a daze as he had looked around and Malcon’s simulacrum had finally spoken to him. Damon himself had spent many long hours talking to Malcon since then. He had been duly impressed and stunned at what Malcon had been able to tell him about the family’s remote history. Damon could scarcely believe that Malcon’s secret sanctuary had been here all along.

  Lynol also suspected her father was intensely relieved that she had a teacher who could actually teach her sorcery properly. Other than her father, no one else knew what lay beneath the massive Sylvar Stone. Kalvin and Dresdia hadn’t even been let in on her amazing new secret, even though she knew at some point in time they might have to be. For the crypt, beneath the Sylvar Stone, was still protected against Gilmreth. The dragon couldn’t detect the crypt or anyone who was sheltered within. Lynol let out a heavy sigh; very soon she would have to go to the house and tell her father that Gilmreth was free.

  -

  In distant Draydon, Jalene stood dressed in a flowing low cut black dress trimmed in crimson red at the top of her temple. Four red robed priests stood motionless directly behind her. Torchlight flickered and popped above the temple. Around it, multitudes of furtive, restless people stood expectantly. They were not sure what was about to happen, having been roused out of their homes by Jalene’s demanding temple guards.

  The temple square throbbed with a cacophony of voices from the crowd as the tired populace looked up at Jalene on the towering temple above them. They were waiting to see what new punishment she was about to rain down upon them. Their spirits were broken. They had lost all hope of resisting this harsh woman who held their wretched lives in the palms of her hands. The great temple was finally done. They had hoped they could rest, that their lives would return to normal, but the temple guards had roused them from their long awaited rest. Now what was she demanding? What new horror was she going to inflict?

  The actions in front of the temple confused them. A great bank of fires lined the front of the temple where young boys turned whole calves on spits, along with sheep and pigs. Great casks of ale sat upon tables as well as wines and other fabulous beverages. It was a feast like the city had never seen before! The crowd swayed as they stared hungrily at the captivating food set before them. Many hadn’t eaten a proper meal in months.

  Stepping
to the edge of the temple’s platform, Jalene raised her hand and instant silence swept across the crowd. They looked up plaintively toward the enigmatic woman who had taken control of their lives.

  “The great temple is finished,” she announced crisply, her voice ringing out commandingly, sweeping her arms about and pointing at the temple around and below her. “From this temple, I shall rule. Tonight will begin a new era for Draydon!” Pausing, Jalene let her scathing eyes roam the shifting crowd below, her mind sensing the rapidly nearing enforcer of her rule. A cold, calculating smile flashed briefly across her face. Soon these people would see the enforcer of her rule. They would know a new God!

  “Behold the coming of Gilmreth, the last great dragon!” she screamed piercingly, her voice ringing out like iron across the crowd. “He shall be worshiped and enforce my rule! Behold the dragon!” she spoke again, raising her right hand and pointing up into the dark night sky where a dim, haunting shape could be discerned descending rapidly toward the temple.

  Fear spread through the gathered throng as the massive shape flew in ever smaller circles. For several heart-stopping seconds they waited, not sure whether to run away in panic or stay where they were. A nightmarish form out of ancient legends was descending toward the top of the temple!

  The populace recognized the ancient form of a dragon, something they all had believed were only stories in the old fables with no truth. They stirred nervously, fearful of the descending apparition and frightened of the cruel, heartless woman who stood upon the temple platform. Were they all about to die?

  They all had heard the old legends about how Gilmreth had devastated the countryside and slaughtered everyone who had lived here many ages ago. Gilmreth was the most deadly creature ever to live and now the dragon was here, descending toward them. In captivating horror, the crowd trembled with terror in their eyes and souls, not sure what to do or where to run.