Smoke and Shadow: An Epic Fantasy Progression Series (The Dragon Thief Book 3)

by D. K. Holmberg

  He moved more quickly upslope, continuing to squeeze the dragon bone, feeling for the power within it. There was a bit of energy there he focused on, worried that he might be revealing their presence too soon, though as he continued up the slope he realized that might not be a problem.

  The energy came from higher upslope.

  The lava lake. He held out his hand, giving Gayal the dragon light, and the light snapped out.

  “You could have withdrawn the power from it,” he said.

  “I could have—”

  She cut off when there came another shriek from the velum. It was further up the slope, and near enough that he knew where was coming from.

  The velum were near the lava lake.

  That was unusual.

  “Something’s going on up here,” he said. “The velum never come this high up the mountain. They stay away from the lava lake as much as they can. That last scream was close to the lava lake.”

  Close enough that he could hear it screaming, and close enough that he thought something had to be taking place.

  He darted up the trail, finishing the rest of it in a sprint. By the time he reached the outskirts of the path leading around the lava lake, his breath was hot and heavy in his ears.

  The darkness parted, the brightness of the lava lake burning around him, creating a rim of fire and bright orange light that illuminated everything in the night.

  He understood why the velum had screamed. They weren’t alone.

  Ty moved through the trees, staying off the path, and motioned for Gayal to follow him. It was easy enough to get lost in the trees, and despite the density of the forest, he didn’t worry about getting too caught up in it, especially with the lava lake there, lighting their way.

  Still, there was something off, and the more that he stared, the easier it was to know that there was something here. Something dangerous.

  Something unexpected.

  Ty peered out through the trees.

  He pointed. Gayal leaned close to him.

  “I see at least five,” Gayal whispered.

  Ty nodded. There were at least that many. Probably numbers of the Order. They stood space around the lava lake, each of them holding onto something. In the light of the lava lake, he couldn’t make out what it was they held, though they stood before the lake as if waiting.

  Another rustling came in the trees.

  For a moment, he thought it was one of the velum and he reached for the power of the smoke dragon within him, but it was unnecessary. It wasn’t one of the velum.

  A dark figure appeared near them. Ty grabbed for his dragon-bone knife and darted forward, striking forward but almost immediately froze.

  “Albion?”

  “Ty,” he breathed out, sending his gaze past him. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.”

  “You shouldn’t be here. The Order of the Flame, at least the fake Order of the Flame, is here.”

  “I know. I followed them here.”

  “You’ve followed them?”

  That would explain why the item that Zara had given him had vibrated. Albion had been after them all along.

  “I’ve been trailing them for a while. I thought you are here as well, especially because of him,” he said, thumbing behind him.

  Ty glanced back and realized that Bingham was sneaking through the trees. At least, sneaking as much as he could. His limp made it difficult for him to do so effectively.

  He didn’t think that Bingham had been working with Albion all this time, but why were they now here?

  “You don’t need to be a part of this,” Albion said. “Let those of us who can do something stop them.”

  After everything Ty had done, the comment irritated him.

  “Not if the false Order of the Flame are here. They have sacrificed several dragons.”

  “What do you mean?” Albion asked.

  “We went to the steam swamp first. There was a dead dragon there. One that they had stolen from the capital. And there was another that Gayal found in the lava flows.”

  Albion squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s happening,” he whispered.

  “What is happening?”

  He nodded past him, toward the lava lake. “I realized after they broke into my warehouse that they were after particular items. I didn’t know what they were, so I started poking around, trying to figure out what they were.”

  “And what were they?”

  “Dangerous items. Items that are not from this land. Items that were not at all like any of the other dragon relics that I had found. On some of my assignments, I was taking items that were important to draw out the Lothinal contingent, but I found a few other things too. Items that were old, impossibly old. I thought they weren’t even from the kingdom.” He glanced over to Gayal. Then he turned his attention back to Ty. “It was all to draw attention to the Dragon Thief. But I don’t know what they are. Just that they are items of power.”

  He turned, looking back, and saw the false Order of the Flame all raise an array of objects over their heads, as if working in unison. And then, they dropped their items into the lava.

  As soon as they did, something in the lava lake changed.

  The lava burbled. Steam began to rise.

  And then Ishantil started to rumble.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ty glanced over at Gayal. He stood where he had been before, watching the false Order of the Flame, watching the lava lake, and saying nothing. The shadow dragon around him remained motionless, as if it didn’t want to reveal its presence to Albion. Though at this point, did it even matter?

  “What do you think they are doing up here?” Ty asked.

  “It’s about what is in the lake,” Albion said.

  Ty frowned, looking toward the glowing of the lava lake. “What is in the lake?”

  Albion glanced over to him, before turning his attention to Gayal. “I thought that the Tecal knew.”

  Ty looked to Gayal, and she had a confused expression on her face. “What did they know about?”

  “You didn’t question why the priests have a ceremony that they believed would actually calm Ishantil? It wasn’t truly about the Flame, at least not entirely about it. There is more to it than that. It is part of it, though, but not the primary point.”

  “What?” Ty asked.

  “There is a dragon in the lava.”

  Ty started to smile, but he saw the serious expression on Albion’s face.

  “A dragon?” Gayal asked.

  Albion glanced to Gayal, and then to Ty, his gaze lingering for a long moment.

  His brother knew.

  “I would’ve assumed the Tecal knew,” Albion said. “I can’t say that I confirmed it, though I had tried to during Ishantil’s last eruption. It was unsettled. Angry. And it took a great sacrifice to calm it once again.”

  “You weren’t up here trying to hatch the egg?”

  Albion frowned at him. “I am not certain that is what is required to hatch a dragon egg.”

  If not that, then what had Albion done?

  Still, Albion’s words made a certain sort of sense to him. How could they not? He had seen the face in the flames. He had seen what he had believed was a dragon.

  Could there actually be a dragon there?

  Ty started forward, slipping through the branches. The ground continued to rumble, and as he moved forward Gayal grabbed for one arm while Albion grabbed another.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Gayal asked.

  “I have to know what’s going on up there.”

  “If they are trying to harness that dragon, then there might not be anything you can do,” Albion said.

  “Actually, in this case, there might be something that I can do that you cannot.”

  His brother might be the Dragon Thief, but Ty was something else. He didn’t need to be a thief. He was a Tecal. At least, he could be.

  He ripped his arms free and strode forward.

  When he reached the
edge of the trees and the path that led around the lava lake, he stood there, remaining hidden in the shadows along the path.

  The false Order of the Flame that surrounded the lava lake still stood in place, but there was one more he hadn’t seen. A person standing out on one of the central stone plateaus that was near the middle of the lava lake.

  A man he had not seen since he had been attacked by him here before.

  Roson James.

  He was here.

  Of course he would be. If this was all about capturing the power of the dragon, then he would be here.

  A burst of flame came streaking away from him, but a whirlwind whipped up, capturing the flame and tossing it away. A spiraling ball of fire shot forward, but darkness seemed to swallow it, mixed with another blast of wind, then it sputtered into steam.

  Dorian held him back.

  This was the power of a Tecal.

  Ty had known that Dorian was powerful, but had never seen his fury.

  Wind whipped, gusting toward Roson. Stones appeared from the ground, flying toward him. Even the shadows started to ripple, as if they were something alive, wrapping around him.

  Roson deflected it all.

  Somehow.

  Then he stepped back, holding up his hand.

  He had something there.

  Ty studied it, frowning at it, and realized that it was the dauvern. There was a man kneeling next to him. He couldn’t see who it was, only his back, which was darkened.

  Roson James held the dauvern up over his head, and then he said something, though it was unintelligible and likely in a language that he didn’t speak.

  With that, he tossed the dauvern into the lava lake.

  Darkness swirled, and the ground rumbled again.

  As the dauvern sank, he realized with dawning horror what had just happened.

  “Dorian,” he whispered.

  He had used the summons of the dauvern to call upon the power of the dragons within Dorian and had ripped them free. Then he dropped the dauvern into the lava lake, along with Dorian’s dragons.

  Ty darted forward.

  He couldn’t think of anything else to do.

  He reached the nearest of the false Order of the Flame standing at the edge of the lava lake and slammed his shoulder into him.

  He staggered forward, crying out, and fell into the lava, burning instantly.

  The others of the false Order of Flame turned their attention to him, along with Roson James.

  He grinned at him.

  He didn’t have the dauvern anymore, so he couldn’t take the smoke dragon from him, but maybe he didn’t need to. If he had some way of capturing the lava dragon…

  He sprinted, running toward the nearest of the stone platforms that would lead out to the center of the lava lake. One of the fake Order of the Flame was there. He held a shadow orb toward him.

  Ty reacted.

  He summoned the power of the smoke dragon, crossing his arms up over his chest as he had before and bringing them down. The smoke streaked out, blasting out a bloom of power. It threw the man back.

  Ty ran toward him and kicked.

  The orb went flying, dropping into the lava lake, where it immediately caught fire and then began to crack.

  Another of the false Order of the Flame came toward him, and Ty brought his arms up, preparing to summon the smoke, but he was tired. Having used that power once was considerable, and it made it difficult to do again. Now he’d used it twice tonight.

  Maybe he wouldn’t be able to do it again.

  He raised his arms, summoning the smoke, but the bloom of power never came. No.

  The dragon was tired.

  Ty was tired.

  He stumbled, and the false Order of the Flame grinned at him.

  Living darkness looped around the Order and sent him staggering forward. Gayal was there, reaching for him, helping to lift him to his feet.

  He tried to smile at her, but he was tired. So tired.

  “We have to stop them,” he gasped.

  “We’re trying,” Gayal said.

  The ground continued to rumble. He could feel it someplace deep within him, but there was something else that he felt.

  And heard.

  The velum were shrieking.

  It came from all throughout the forest.

  It was an echoing cacophony of sound, the violence of the velum crying out around them, filling the night with their horrible screams. Ty wanted to cover his ears, but it was almost as if there was something within that screaming that he thought he should understand.

  He staggered to his feet.

  Ty whistled, trying to call the velum. He had to use them. He could hear the velum shrieking all around him, the energy of their cries matching the intensity of the trembling in Ishantil.

  It was the same shrieking that he had heard when he had thought that Ishantil would erupt. The velum knew something.

  Of course they did. They had always known something.

  Another of the Order came closer, but Gayal was there. Her shadows swirled, the dragon coming off of her, working its way toward the order.

  Ty tore his gaze away. None of that mattered. It couldn’t.

  The only thing in his mind was stopping this.

  That and getting to Roson James. He had to.

  He stumbled forward and reached the first of the platforms.

  He jumped, landing on the platform, and he looked out at Roson James, who was by himself with Dorian. If Dorian had control over his dragons, he would’ve done something by now.

  Ty jumped to the next platform.

  He had to find the strength within him. He had to find something, and some way, to call upon that power and energy, and he had to get there.

  “Roson!”

  James looked over at Ty, a bright sneer on his face. “You’re too late.”

  His voice was so different than it had been when he’d seen him before, but so too were his facial features. He looked older, though still distinguished, and as much as Ty hated to admit it, handsome. There was almost an ageless quality to him.

  He was powerful.

  Not only that, but there was darkness about him, something that swirled out and around him, a power that he couldn’t quite place.

  Not that of the Flame. If it was the power of the Flame, Ty would’ve understood it, and he would’ve known how to react to it, but this was something else. This was something different. Something alien.

  He stumbled forward and nearly fell off one of the platforms when a hint of warmth flooded through him, filling him strength.

  He had to get to another platform.

  He didn’t have anywhere that he could go.

  Still, Roson had magic of some sort. Maybe not the power of the Flame, but some kind of dark energy. A dark energy that needed to be stopped.

  “You aren’t going to capture that dragon.”

  “Capture?” He laughed. “What makes you think that I would capture it?”

  “I saw what you threw into the lava lake.”

  He chuckled again. “Capture,” he spat. “Your brother was quite useful. Did he tell you that?”

  “What?” Could Albion have been involved?

  No. Albion celebrated the Flame.

  “All I had to do was feed the Dragon Thief information about what I needed. And of course, given how skilled a thief as he was, he acquired everything. Unfortunately, I needed it back.”

  “You needed the dauvern.” He was confused, and fatigue didn’t make it any easier to process what he was saying to him.

  “That is but one thing that I needed from him. There were others, and your brother was kind enough to provide them to me.”

  “No,” Ty said.

  He straightened and took another step forward, jumping to the next platform.

  He was getting close.

  It wouldn’t be long now. All he had to do was cross the rest of the distance and he could get to him, and then…

  He took another deep
breath and jumped.

  He was there, only a few platforms in front of him. The heat coming off the lava lake was immense, though he was protected. It took him a moment to realize why, the smoke dragon. It was still protecting him.

  Roson chuckled at him. “Did you really think it was only about the one item? I would not have been able to destroy the Flame were it not for his assistance.” He started laughing. “And I find it deliciously ironic that the one responsible for destroying the Flame is a Priest of the Flame, at that.”

  Everything slowed, his burst of strength flagging. “Why would you want to destroy the Flame?”

  “Because the Flame destroyed everything in my land.” He flicked his gaze down to the lava lake. “And now I’ve found it. The source.” He chuckled. “Few really understand how interconnected the kingdoms are, but I have uncovered it. I have studied the Flame, becoming an expert in something I never wanted, but now…” He looked up. “The Flame will be destroyed. And then we will spread the power of Lothinal magic.”

  Her mind struggled to keep up. There really was Lothinal magic, though Ty knew they used aspects of dragon magic as well. “You just corrupt dragon remnants and claim you have another power.”

  He glanced down at Dorian. He hadn’t moved, which left him worried. How injured was he? The dragons had been stripped off him and thrown into the lava lake along with the dauvern. He didn’t understand why, though. Was it just to harm the dragons? Would it somehow damage the Flame?

  “Did you think the power of the Flame was the only power in the world?”

  The darkness. That was what he was going on about.

  “After my land was destroyed, I found a way to get my revenge.”

  “Lothinal magic.” Ty gathered himself, and then he jumped to the next platform.

  “Yes, and I wasn’t even the first to have studied it. Others have, and others have made sure that there were ways to neutralize the power of the Flame in lands such as yours. And I took advantage of that.”

  Ty needed to keep him talking. Only, Ty had a feeling that James wanted to keep talking because he was buying time, too. He was waiting.

  There was something here. Something he intended. He just couldn’t put the pieces together, it was too hot and he was too tired. But if Ty didn’t stop him in time…