by Brad Clark
The Deceiver, however, was not going to let Myllia simply switch sides in the war. To force her to his will, the Deceiver captured Immerallis, her male offspring. Joining forces with the Humans, she was able to free Immerallis, and also free herself of the Deceiver’s grasp. Now, Myllia was free to do as she pleased, and that meant making amends for the lives that she had ended. She and Immerallis would fight to the end to protect not only Humans but all the races of the earth. She knew the true power and intent of the Deceiver, and even the purge of her race paled to what the Deceiver intended for this world.
“I believe the goblins have reached the mountains and will be here soon,” Immerallis said. “If they marched without stopping, it would take them only five days to make the journey. They are not moving that fast, though. Something is holding them up.”
“But you did not see them?” Myllia asked. She could not read minds, but she could sense thoughts and feelings, which allowed her to make obvious deductions.
“No, I did not. I could smell them, though. Their stench fills the mountain valleys.”
“The Deceiver gains strength with each day that passes. He still only holds half of the Ark of Life, but it is enough to make him more powerful than any mage who has ever lived. The Human mages that we faced are nothing compared to the Deceiver.”
“I did not sense any spells, though,” Immerallis said.
Myllia let out a long sigh. “If you cannot sense the spell that hides their army, then that is another reason to believe that his power has grown. Only the most powerful of mages can hide their abilities.”
“What do we do?”
“We follow their stench. It seems that it is something that they have not thought to hide. We will stay high in the sky and be patient and follow their stench.”
“What about when they reach the castle? What will we do?”
“We will fight, of course. When the goblins and the rest of the Deceiver’s army reach the castle, we will be there to fight alongside the Humans. The necklace half of the Ark of Life must not fall into the hands of the Deceiver. It must be protected at all costs, and that will be our duty. Defend the Ark of Life.” Myllia lifted the front of her body off the ground. She felt Immerallis had more to say but was afraid to say it. “You disagree?”
“No,” Immerallis replied haltingly. “Well, maybe. There are but two of our kind left. Should we risk…?”
“Yes,” Myllia snapped, interrupting her offspring. “No one life is more important than all the lives of this world.”
“Yes, I know, but…”
“This world survived without our kind for thousands of years. Humanity has grown beyond the barbaric race that we knew. It can survive permanently without us, if necessary.”
Immerallis knew Myllia spoke wisely, but it still pained him to think that all of Dragonkind might be gone in a few days. He tried to put those thoughts aside and asked the other question that he had been debating while circling the mountains. “What about the Ark of Life? Should we not just take it and hide it somewhere the Deceiver could never find?”
Myllia let out a snort. “I have listened to those Humans argue endlessly about what to do with it. The Human who holds it, Hargon, controls it as well as anyone could. They will need him to wield it in this fight. They will need all the weapons that they can get.”
“But the power?”
“It is worth the price of using it to defeat the Deceiver. When the war is over, and the Deceiver is sent back to the hell that he came from, then we will deal with the problem of what to do with the Ark of Life. During peacetime, it is too powerful to be in the hands of any Human. During war, though, it may be the only weapon that can bring down the Deceiver.”
“That never would have happened if Dragons were still in control of the earth.”
Myllia lifted herself up onto all fours and stretched her head out towards Immerallis until it was just inches away.
“Dragons have served the One God’s purpose. We had our time, and now it is the time of the Humans.” She turned her head and looked at the large blue-speckled Dragon’s egg that sat at the edge of darkness. “It was foolish of us to think that we could hide from the world and rebuild our kingdom after the Humans destroyed themselves. That is what we thought. We thought that it would only take a few generations for the Humans to devolve into the wild creatures we thought they were, and their race would die out. Instead, they have grown and expanded their reach to all parts of the world. Their race has grown not only in numbers but in their capacity to survive. This world is not ours anymore, it is theirs, and we must help them fight for it. When the One God put breath into our souls, he charged us with protecting the earth. For eons that meant ruling the skies with our great numbers. There are only two of us remaining, and we must do all that we can to fulfill the duty that the One God gave us.”
“When the egg hatches, there will be three of us. Then you will lay another egg, and then there will be four. One Dragon at a time, we can restore our race and our dominance over the world.”
Myllia slowly shook her head.
“But I can feel it! I can feel the touch of the unborn Dragon as it touches the Web of Magic!”
“It is a she and I have already given her a name. Her name is to be Melissa.”
Immerallis let out a smoky snort from his nostrils. “That’s a Human name, not a name that you would give a Dragon! Especially one that is sired by the Dragon Queen.”
“It is the name of the Dragon that will save the Human race. Named for the Human who gave me the reason to fight for her.”
“It will be decades before she is big enough and strong enough to be able to fight. Are you saying this war will last for that long?”
Myllia walked over to the large egg and sniffed it, sensing the flow of the Web of Magic through the Dragon that was growing inside. “I had a dream while I was resting, and from that dream came a thought.” She turned her head to look back at Immerallis. “Maybe it was a vision from the One God, or maybe it was just my mind telling me what I already knew. I know how Dragons fit into this war and how we can help end it.”
“How so?”
“In time, I will tell you, but now is not the time. One of us must guard this cave at all times, though. We cannot let anything come in here and destroy the egg.” Myllia could sense the disagreement in Immerallis’ thoughts. “The cave is high in the mountains and well-hidden, but I do not trust the Deceiver. Melissa touches the Web of Magic, which means that if he searches for her, she will be found.”
“What if we took her far away? Take the egg and the Ark of Life and fly to the other side of the world.”
Slowly, Myllia shook her head. “No. Melissa has a destiny, and it is here. This war will not be drawn out but will be resolved before the heat of the summer melts the snow from the highest peaks. Either Humanity will rule the world, or the Deceiver will.”
Immerallis conceded his arguments. Myllia was not only his mother but also his queen. It was her wisdom that he must follow.
Myllia stretched her wings and started walking towards the cavern’s opening. “In my dreams, I had another vision. I must fly west and meet up with someone.”
“Another army?”
“If my vision is true, then yes.”
“What if the Deceiver’s army attacks while you are gone?”
“I will not be gone that long, and if something changes, I will come right away.” She turned to leave but then hesitated. “Melissa must not be left alone. You must guard her at all times.”
“Do not worry, I will watch over her.”
Myllia was not entirely convinced that Immerallis really understood the importance of Melissa, but she would have to trust him to do as he said. She could not be in two places at once so she would have to trust Immerallis whether she wanted to or not. Male Dragons tended to be brash and aggressive, which made them powerful fighters, but they were also quite irresponsible.
With one last look back, Myllia started running towards
the cavern’s exit. At the end of the opening, she leaped up into the air, spread her wings, and began flying west.
***
The dragon was spotted immediately. Two pairs of eyes watched her slowly drift downwards for several seconds. Then, with strong, slow strokes, the dragon flapped her wings and quickly rose into the air. Before long, she was just a dark speck set against a gray sky.
When he could no longer see the dragon, Roddan muttered, “I do not like the cold.”
The Deceiver glanced over at his hairy general. Roddan was covered with thick layers of long brown hair. Of them all, he should be the least worried about the cold. A spell had been cast that had not only camouflaged them from spying eyes but also protected them from the icy sleet that was pouring down from the gray skies. Unfortunately, the spell did not protect them from the frigid air. The Deceiver’s Human body was still susceptible to the effects of nature, such as wind and cold. He had a heavy wool cloak pulled tightly around his shoulders, but he was still cold.
“There is little to like about this world,” the Deceiver said. “And the cold is the least of them. It is tolerable. Soon enough, we will rebuild this world as it should be.”
Roddan let out a grumble and crossed his arms. With a nod of his head towards where Myllia had disappeared, he asked, “That one was the one that you call Myllia?” Roddan asked. “Do we now go after the other?”
“Three heartbeats now touch the Web of Magic,” the Deceiver replied. One hand drifted up towards the leather pouch that hung from his neck. The source of his greatest power was in the pouch. It was a black gem with hundreds of flat facets that glistened in even the lowest light. The gemstone was half of the Ark of Life artifact. Even his half held tremendous power. Once he added the necklace, and he had its full strength, he would be unstoppable.
“You had said that there were only two of them,” Roddan said, turning back towards the mountain. They could not directly see the opening in the mountain that leads to their lair, but they both knew exactly where it was.
“Two are strong,” the Deceiver replied. “One is weak. A young Dragon. Likely a baby.”
“Protected by the others?”
“Of course. Weak and vulnerable on its own.”
“So, we should not be concerned about it?”
The Deceiver’s tone sharpened, and his voice showed anger. “My only concern now is the speed in which my army moves. We should already be in position to attack.”
“The army’s biggest threat is this weather. The goblins do not like this cold or the ice that falls from the sky. For every two or three we conjure up, one drops over and dies from the cold.”
“This is why you have asked that the army come out of the mountains?”
“Yes. March them north. There is a city at the bend of a river on the flat land between the two mountain ranges. It was the capital city of a kingdom that we have already destroyed. The local people called their kingdom Thell.”
“Yes, I remember it. They died begging and pleading for their lives.”
“Indeed, it was an easy battle. Our army will be able to regroup and rebuild there. It is a long journey, but we will no longer lose so many goblins to this world’s cold and ice.”
The Deceiver’s eyes blazed with anger and frustration, but his voice was steady. “How much longer?”
“The army will be able to march on their stronghold in twenty days.”
“Twenty days then. A second longer, and I will have your head just as I took that of my favorite spy.”
“I will not disappoint. Speaking of your spies, what is the situation with your other spy?”
For the first time in a long time, the Deceiver let his lips curl into a smile. “That is information that even you are not privy to. Marila failed me, but this one will not. By the time your army marches, I will have the full power of the Ark of Life, and our victory will be assured.”
Chapter One
“You think it’s a spy?” Conner asked in a voice just above a whisper. He and Glaerion were halfway up the mountainside huddled behind a thick outcropping of bushes. Each wore a brownish-gray cloak, which camouflaged them from any casual glances but would not hide them if a sharp-eyed lookout spotted them.
Everyone had grown weary with anxiousness of the impending battle. Elven warriors, Dwarven warriors, Karmon Knights, and anyone else who could pick up a weapon had been training together for what might be the final battle for the survival of the world. So far, the Deceiver’s army had avoided detection, and the not-knowing was almost as difficult as if they knew where the army was. Preparations for battle and a preceding siege were well underway. King Illichian, Sir Marik, and Sir Gossmire had taken charge of the castle’s defenses. Although the King was not an expert in warfare, his thousands of years of wisdom was invaluable in setting up defenses. Plus, the Elven warriors were still wary of being led by Humans.
The Deceiver’s army was coming, and the sooner they found them, the better prepared they would be. King Illichian had ordered more teams of Elven scouts to spread out through the mountains to find the Deceiver’s army. With preparations taken care of by the military leaders, Conner and Glaerion had been left to training on their own, which meant that when the opportunity came to leave the castle, they took it. They had been quietly making their way across the mountains when Glaerion spotted someone walking through the thinning trees at the base of the mountain. They settled into the cover of trees to watch and wait.
“She’s not a spy,” Glaerion whispered back.
“She?”
Glaerion nodded his head. “She’s not being careful or trying to hide. It’s almost as if she wants to be spotted.”
The person was too far away for Conner to see clearly, but he had to take the Elf’s word for it. As he watched, he realized she moved with the stiff urgency of a soldier, which made him unsure of her gender. A more typical woman might move with more grace and with less forcefulness, and from a distance, she ran like he would expect a man to run.
Conner’s bow was strapped to his back alongside his swords. If it became necessary, he would pull his bow out and string it, but they were not looking to kill but to capture. If she were a refugee or a survivor of the assault on South Karmon, she would need rescuing. However, until they knew who she was and what her intentions were, they were going to watch and be careful.
“There are two of us,” Conner whispered. “Should we not just go down there and find out who she is? Surely you could catch her if she turned to run.”
Glaerion, his eyes still focused on the woman briskly making her way through the trees, replied, “If she were a spy and had a horn to signal her army, she would do so before we could catch her.”
“I thought you said she wasn’t a spy?”
Glaerion glanced over and lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t think she is, but I’ve been wrong before. Can’t remember when, but I know there was a time.”
Conner tried to not laugh.
“We have plenty of time to watch and wait,” Glaerion said in a more serious tone. “Did you have any other plans this afternoon?”
Conner shrugged his shoulders. “I need to spend more time with my bow. It’s been a while since I have been able to practice.”
“We’ll be back before dark, and then I’ll give you another lesson.” Glaerion’s lips spread wide into a smile.
Conner let out a muffled chuckle. It was rare to see Glaerion smile, and it warmed Conner’s heart to see it. When they had first met, Glaerion and he were companions out of necessity, and there had been much anger in the Elf. But over time, and through circumstance, they had become close friends. The thought of the coming battle weighed heavily on everyone, and now it was even more rare to see Glaerion smile. It was good to get out of the castle and be able to not think about their future.
For several minutes they watched the woman pick her way through the trees, occasionally glancing back, but never up in their direction.
When the woman reached a point
directly below them, Glaerion tapped Conner on the shoulder. It was time to follow her. Traveling parallel to her course, but higher up the mountainside, they planned to slowly make their way towards her and then when close enough, rush in to surprise her before she could run away or call for help. If coming from behind and she did manage to elude them, she could only run towards the castle, and the other scouting parties that were stationed between them and the castle would be able to capture her. If they had rushed at her from the front, she would have turned and run back towards the Deceiver’s army and away from them. Hopefully, the woman was merely a lost survivor and would welcome them when approached. However, they needed to be ready and prepared for anything the woman chose to do.
Glaerion moved with the typical ease and grace of an Elf, slowly closing the gap. Conner worked harder to stay close, occasionally having to sprint forward several steps as he had a hard time keeping up with Glaerion’s long, steady strides. Overall, the mountainside wasn’t very steep, but there were parts that were sheer, which made traveling treacherous. Whenever he slipped or tripped, Glaerion would make a quick glance back. Conner knew that the Elf was not checking to see if he was okay, but to remind him that he needed to be more careful and quieter.
Slowly they descended to close the gap, and when they were about fifty feet above her and only a few paces behind, Conner’s right foot hit a soft patch of gravel and he lost his balance. He let out a sharp cry as his body fell backward, landing hard on the ground. As he slid several feet down a sheer section of the mountain, the woman looked back and up at them. Even Conner could see her large, brown eyes that were wide with surprise. In a heartbeat, she whipped her head back around and began sprinting through the trees. Her hood fell back, and her long, brown hair swung back and forth with each step.