The Man With No Hands

by Toby Neighbors

  The creature grabbed at Shadow, but the powerful cat flipped the beast up into the air over her back, and when the creature landed on its stomach, she pounced. The claws fully extended from her paws scrambled hard across the creature’s back, her mouth snapping down onto its neck and drawing blood, but the panther couldn’t snap the magical beast’s backbone. Instead, it twisted, flinging Shadow from its back and driving its talons into her side.

  Feray finally knew what the danger was. Allric had come, although it seemed he wasn’t there for her, but for Crucifus. He wanted the dragon to make more of his creatures, the dracons, which Orin had warned her about. When she looked over at the camp to check on Luc, she saw that Orin was finally awake. The other five dracons were closing on Crucifus again, but Orin ran out to meet them. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched, for a moment she feared that he was going to join them, but then he lowered his shoulder and slammed into the nearest of the creatures, sending it smashing into the beast next to it. The other three turned their attention to Orin, and Feray felt a wave of relief, followed closely by a stab of fear for the man. He was outnumbered and unarmed, but he was also fearless, dashing to attack the next creature with a powerful front kick that knocked the dracon off its feet.

  Feray ran as fast as she could. Rolo was barking angrily, but still standing guard over Luc when she reached the camp.

  “What is it?” Terreek asked.

  “Allric is here. He’s come for Crucifus,” she said.

  “Mama!” Luc cried, as she snatched him up.

  “Come with me,” she ordered the elf. There was no need to call for Rolo, the dog wouldn’t leave Luc while there was danger nearby.

  Feray ran straight to Crucifus, depositing Luc on the ground just behind the dragon’s head. Rolo stepped on the other side of the boy, and Terreek stood trembling nearby.

  “Stay here,” she told them. “No matter what, you stay here beside Crucifus. I may have to go out to draw them away from the dragon if I can’t wake him, but no matter what, you stay here.”

  “Yes, mama,” Luc managed to say, between the hard snuffles that shook his body.

  Stay! Rolo barked.

  Feray drew her sword, the leaf-shaped blade gleaming in the starlight. Turning, she moved back in front of the fallen dragon and lifted her empty left hand, summoning all the magic she could into a ball of gleaming light.

  “Wake up, Crucifus!” she said in a loud voice. “Rise, great one, we are under attack.”

  A hot snort blasted out of the dragon’s nostrils and he began to stir. At that same moment Terreek shouted out a warning.

  “Look over there!”

  Feray turned and saw an unnaturally tall horse with a great horn on its forehead and two riders on its back, outlined against the sky, which was just starting to turn gray with the dawn. From around the horse and riders, more dracons came charging over the hill, and out of the sky came dozens of huge raptors. A small army of powerful creatures, filled with dark magic, rushed to attack Feray and Crucifus the Red. But the dragon was stirring, all she needed to do was hold the wave of attackers off for a few minutes, and she knew just what to do.

  Chapter 30

  Feray channeled the power of the wind. It was an invigorating magic, strong but light, almost like the sword Marc had forged before his death. She flooded the wind magic, turning it into a gale force straight line wind blast that smashed into the flank of the oversized birds. The raptors were swept from the sky in one powerful wave, but the dracons continued unabated.

  Shadow was limping away, the wound in her side taking the fight out of the big cat, but the dracon she had attacked was following her. The panther’s blood dripped from the creature’s claws. She hissed and growled at the dracon, but it returned the menacing sounds in kind, its tail lashing from side to side as it stalked the panther.

  “Rolo! Go! Help Shadow!” Luc shouted.

  The dog dashed away from his ward. Terreek knelt beside Luc, trying to comfort the boy as they watched the big mastiff sprinting past the camp. Shadow couldn’t escape. She leaned back on her wounded haunches, waving her good forepaw at the approaching dracon, trying to warn him away. The panther’s challenging roar was loud, but the dracon roared back and didn’t see Rolo, who jumped at the creature from nearly ten feet away, his huge body barreling into the dracon and knocking it off its feet. Rolo snapped at the creature’s head, his canine fangs raking over the beast’s face, lacerating one eye. The beast screamed in pain, and flung its head back, exposing its throat for a second too long. Shadow saw the opening and pounced, her wounded body moving slower than usual, but her powerful jaws snapping down on the dracon’s throat with all the force she could muster. The long fangs punctured the creature’s neck and one powerful, wrenching pull tore the soft tissue under the dragon’s long head to ribbons. Pink blood flew up as the dracon rolled away from Shadow and the big panther leaned into Rolo as the dog and cat limped back toward Luc and Terreek together.

  Orin was in the fight of his life. For most of his life he had fought unarmed. He was the man with no hands, and he had learned to deliver powerful, sometimes deadly blows without a weapon. He was also accustomed to being outnumbered. What was different about the dracons was their physical toughness. Normally a single, heavy blow was enough to finish an opponent, but the dracons kept coming after him. He dodged a swipe from the nearest beast’s long talons, and countered with a vicious elbow strike that snapped the dracon’s angular head to the side, but the creature didn’t go down and Orin was forced to push the beast into one of its companions, who was rushing into the fray.

  Spinning away, Orin brought his right leg around in a high kick that caught the third dracon in the side of its head. The beast staggered but didn’t fall, and Orin had to sweep the creature’s legs out from under it. A stinging blow caught Orin in the small of his back and sent him staggering forward. One of the dracons had hit him with its long, narrow tail. Turning, he was forced to duck under the approaching creature, the fourth of five he was trying to fight, and up until that point only one was down. The fourth dracon swiped at Orin with his talons but missed, and the big man drove his shoulder into the creature’s stomach, then launched himself upright. The dragon flipped over Orin’s shoulder and fell head first to the ground, but not before scoring his back with one of its talons. The three claws left long, shallow cuts down his back, but Orin didn’t have time to feel the pain. Another creature was rushing at him from the side.

  He jumped backward, flinging out one leg and catching the dracon’s foot. Orin completed the trip by slamming his left arm into the creature’s back. It fell hard, but its tail snapped across Orin’s stomach and chest. The blow felt like a lash from a very thick whip, and he staggered back once more, only to feel claws sink deep into his left calf. He screamed in pain, while his right leg stomped hard onto the head of the dracon he had flipped over his shoulder. He felt the bones cracking as he pressed down with all his strength. The creature began to jerk and twitch, but another of the beasts jumped onto Orin. He caught hold of the dracon as they fell, twisting the creature around so that Orin landed on top, Scrambling he hit the creature hard with a solid blow from his stump and then he drove his right elbow down in a vicious chop that landed on the creature’s eye. It wailed, then stabbed the claws of its left hand into Orin’s right side, just above the hip. Searing, burning pain filled the big warrior, who rolled off the dracon, just as another dove on top of him.

  Feray wasn’t sure what to do. Seven of the terrible-looking dracons were charging down the hill straight for her. She looked up at the riders on the tall horse and realized in the dawning light that one of them was Via. The young woman looked half crazed with her dress in tatters and her hair in wild tangles. Feray knew that the dracons wouldn’t be lured into a spell, but she raised a magical barrier anyway, surrounding herself and the huge dragon, feeding magical power from the earth and wind into the spell. The dracons slowed, looking for a gap or weakness to exploit, when sud
denly Crucifus rose up behind Feray. She immediately dropped the magical barrier, her heart pounding with fear and the physical exertion of wielding magic.

  Backpedaling under the dragon’s long neck toward her son, who was screaming for Rolo to come back to him, Feray looked as the dragon’s long tail flew forward and smashed the dracons down like wheat before a sickle. The big dragon roared as he spewed fire at the dracons, covering them in a billowing blast of flame.

  Allric chose that moment to attack. He sent a powerful wave of magical power lancing down the hill. Feray saw it, a jet black streak of hate-filled dark magic. The sun had just appeared in the east and she used the raw power of the sun to deflect the sorcerer’s attack. There was no doubt in her mind that Allric intended to slay the dragon, but before he could summon the power to cast another killing spell, she sent a ripple through the earth. It ran up the hill like a wave across a pond. The movement in the earth was enough to make the tall horse shift nervously, forcing Allric to take hold of the animal’s long mane and concentrate on keeping his seat. Via lost her balance and was scrabbling for something to hold onto. The sorcerer pushed Via away so that she wouldn’t pull him with her. Via fell, and rolled away from the horse, but only rose to her knees, cradling her left arm.

  Surprisingly, as the dragon rose up into the air, his wide wings beating hard to lift the massive body, and the fire from his roaring blast abated, the dracons appeared from the flames unscathed. All around them the ground was blackened, the grass burned away to nothing and the earth scorched by the fiery blast, but the dracons seemed to be invigorated. They spread out, growling and roaring back at the dragon, who was now safely out of reach of the vicious creatures.

  Allric cast another spell, the black magic flying up toward Crucifus. Feray reached out and deflected the magic once again, but her strength was waning. Part of his powerful spell broke through her defenses and Crucifus barely avoided the spell by diving down. He managed to snatch up one of the first dracons, lifting the creature from where it had just pounced on Orin. Another dracon was getting to its feet when Crucifus’ long tail batted him high into the air. The beast in the dragon’s talons was ripped apart, the two halves of its heavy body were then hurled at the seven creatures at the bottom of the hill. The dracons scattered and Feray turned her attention back to Allric. She could feel him summoning the dark magic. A wave of cold fear swept over her as she staggered backward, her legs shaking. She wasn’t strong enough to stop the sorcerer, she knew that much for certain. And Crucifus wasn’t high enough to escape another blast from the sorcerer. His mighty wings were hard at work, lifting the magnificent dragon into the air, but he was moving slowly, and Feray could see that he was at his most vulnerable.

  “No,” Feray said, dropping to her knees beside Luc, summoning the magic of the earth to restore her strength.

  She wasn’t fast enough. Allric pointed at the huge dragon, his magic swirling around him like a tornado, when suddenly the horse reared in terror. Allric was thrown clear and crashed to the ground hard. As Feray looked in surprise, she saw Via vaulting up onto the horse’s back. She looked down at Feray and Luc, then kicked the horse into a gallop that took it charging down the hillside away from their camp.

  The dracons were sprinting up the hill to help their master and another horse appeared. A fat elf with mottled brown skin sat on the black horse, and looked terrified. Feray sent a bolt of white hot solar magic straight at Allric, who just managed to duck under the attack. He staggered toward the black horse and was pulled up by the fat elf, his body hanging over the animal like a sack of flour.

  Crucifus was flying across the sky now, circling back toward the hillside. He roared, and sent a gout of flame toward the fallen sorcerer, just as the oversized raptors Feray had earlier knocked from the sky rose up to chase the dragon through the air. Only about a third of the big birds had survived Feray’s wind attack, but they managed to drive the dragon off course, and Allric rode over to the opposite side of the hill, his dracons following behind him. Crucifus drew the birds up higher into the air before blasting them with fire, then devouring a large eagle as he dove back toward the sorcerer, who just managed to escape into the forest. Crucifus didn’t blast them with fire for fear of setting the Mossy Woodlands ablaze, and while Feray didn’t like to see the evil sorcerer escape, she felt a sense of relief that they had survived the attack at all. If not for Shadow’s warning, they might have been overrun in the predawn gloom.

  “Mama, Shadow’s hurt,” Luc said, tugging on his mother’s hand.

  “Don’t worry, baby. Mommy can help her.”

  The healing work took nearly an hour. In that time, Terreek found Orin and helped him back to the camp. Crucifus landed nearby, and promptly went back to sleep. Shadow and Rolo stayed with Luc, who was content to stay near his mother. She felt sorry for her son, who had been exposed to things so frightening that she feared he might never rest easy again, but his youthful optimism and joy overcame his fear. He was soon deep in conversation, although it was very one sided, with Shadow and Rolo.

  Only one of the dracons had survived the attack. He was hurt, and it seemed the farther his master fled, the weaker the wretched soul became. Feray wouldn’t heal the dracon, even if she could, but when it called to her she went. The beast was in a lot of pain, but his strange eyes were clear.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  “I’m… I’m dying,” he said.

  “I can’t help that.”

  “No, it’s okay, but I have to warn you.”

  “Of what?” Feray said, instantly suspicious.

  “The Raven King,” he said in a weak voice.

  “I do not fear the Vulture,” she said, which wasn’t exactly true, but she thought it felt good to say it.

  “He is bringing an army,” the dracon said.

  “How do you know this?” Feray said.

  “I was once Earl Uthar’s servant,” he said. “You healed me.”

  “Horace?” Feray asked, aghast that someone she once knew could have been changed so completely. It sent a shudder of fear down her spine.

  “Yes,” he said. “The king is coming with an army. Following you.”

  “Through the pass in the Mountain Veil,” Feray said.

  Horace nodded, struggling to swallow, the pain making him grimace. “The sorcerer will mutate them, just like me.”

  “But why did you obey him?” Feray asked. “Why not turn and rip him to pieces?”

  “Couldn’t,” Horace said. “He controlled us completely. I don’t remember a lot. But his hold is fading. Perhaps because I’m dying.”

  Feray thought it was more likely that Allric’s evil influence was fading as he ran farther away from the terrible monster he had created, but she didn’t argue. It was obvious that Horace was struggling to tell her one last thing before he slipped away.

  “You have to warn them,” he said, his voice a whisper. “Don’t let them fall into… his…”

  He couldn’t finish but she understood the warning. If Allric managed to get control of the king’s army, he would be incredibly difficult to fight, even with dragons and elves. The wicked sorcerer was determined to destroy the world she knew and loved, and she would have to risk everything if she were to have any hope of stopping him. Horace grimaced, his eyes swiveled up in their sockets and he breathed one last ragged sigh, then lay still. She looked around, chilled by death, even that of a monster. Orin was laid out on the ground nearby, blood oozing from his wounds. For one desperate moment Feray felt overwhelmed, but then her resolve took over and she made her way to the big warrior’s side.

  When Feray channeled her magic into Orin, tears filled her eyes. He had fought hard to protect them and had come close to being killed by the terrible dracons. She wished that she could give him what he wanted, but the magic she controlled did nothing to change his missing hands.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, once he was healed and awake.

  “For what?” Orin asked, feeling
his side through the ripped fabric of his tunic. “There’s not even a scar.”

  “I can’t give you hands,” she said softly. “I thought at first it was just something I hadn’t thought of before, but I know now that changing you in that way is wrong.”

  Orin was silent for a moment, and Feray felt horrible. Working the type of magic that might shape hands for Orin was possible, she knew. But it would involve tearing apart his arms, and they would only be a fraction of what he wanted. Perhaps over time she could bond nerves together and reshape bones, but she was hesitant to do that. In her mind, Orin was perfect just the way he was.

  “I agree,” he said after really giving it some thought.

  “You do?”

  “Yes,” he went on. “I admit I was tempted when Allric offered me the very thing that I thought I wanted most in the world. But I can see now that it was wrong. I was wrong. I don’t want hands, Feray. I don’t want to be like everyone else. What I want most in the world is right here in front of me.”

  She still felt a tremor of fear. Could she trust him? She wasn’t sure. He was saying everything she wanted to hear, but it didn’t drive away the fear she had of being betrayed by him again.

  “Via stopped Allric,” Feray said, changing the subject amid her fickle emotions. “She spooked his horse and then fled on the animal.”

  “I tried to save her,” Orin said. “He’s teaching her magic.”

  “I know,” Feray said, feeling melancholy at the difficult path Via had taken.

  “So what now? Do we go after them?” Orin asked.

  “No,” Feray said, knowing that the magic was urging her to move north. “Luc and I will head for the council on the High Plains. Terreek can stay and watch over Crucifus. When the dragon is rested he’ll catch up, and Terreek can return to the forest.”

  “And what about me?” Orin said. “I failed you, Feray. I gave into temptation and fear. I’m sorry, and I know what I did was wrong, but I want to be with you.”