Spine of the Dragon

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Even through the layers of dirt and ash, Elliel recognized the miner. Upwin rubbed his raw eyes, smeared powder across his face. “Both houses were buried. We haven’t heard a sound from the people inside. They’re probably dead.” He shrugged. “But we can hope. If anyone has the strength and the fortitude to try to dig them out, we have tools.”

  “Give us shovels and picks,” Elliel said.

  “I will help,” Thon said.

  They went into what had been a quiet, tree-lined side canyon with two isolated homes. The larger dwelling had been destroyed in the avalanche, collapsing the roof. The second home, a small cottage, had been inundated by the rockslide.

  Elliel hurried to the cottage, calling out, “Is anyone inside? Can you hear me?” Though she heard no answer, she began digging.

  Scrabbleton workers joined them, using shovels to expose one wall, while more miners concentrated on the larger house. The sounds echoed in the narrow box canyon, but the buried homes seemed silent and dead inside.

  Elliel coughed, barely able to breathe from the stink of sulfur and ash in the air. Using all her strength, she rolled away a boulder, which opened a hole into the cottage. “Anyone there?” she called as she wormed her way in.

  “Two brothers lived in that house,” Upwin said, handing Elliel a small lantern. “They weren’t in the mines during the eruption, so we think they were at home.”

  Elliel crawled in to the dark interior of the cottage. One of the walls had fallen, and she saw that great rocks had crushed both of the young men. “They were home.” Their chests were buried, their arms outstretched over the splintered remains of a table and a scattering of gambling cards.

  She clawed her way back out through the hole, squirming up through the loose dirt, and two miners helped her.

  Thon stood before the more difficult challenge of the larger home. As workers dug with picks to clear the main wall, he remained still, staring, his hands outstretched.

  “Help us, wreth man,” demanded one of the miners. “Don’t you have magic?”

  “First let me understand the earth and stone…” Thon gestured, and the fallen dirt and rocks trembled.

  Yelping in surprise, the miners scurried away, as if the vibrations were another quake. Thon pushed with his magic, shoving aside mounds of rubble until he exposed a broken window frame in the front wall. The effort seemed to drain him, but he turned his ash-streaked face toward Elliel. “That was easier than digging. Now look inside.”

  Elliel’s heart leaped when she heard a faint moan through the exposed window. “Someone’s in there! Thon, support the walls.” Without waiting, she climbed through the broken opening with the small lantern, and worked her way inside the collapsed house, around and under fallen ceiling timbers, shoving aside piles of dirt and stones. She found herself in a dark common room with a downpour of dust trickling from the ceiling, illuminated by a thin shaft of daylight. She heard the moan again and then another one. Small voices … children. She froze, suddenly overwhelmed by thoughts of the children she had slaughtered in her blood rage. She needed to save them!

  In an eating area, a large wooden table had collapsed halfway, one of the legs broken, and ceiling debris covered the table with stone slabs and piles of dirt. But the children had taken shelter under the table, which had miraculously shielded them. As she dug, Elliel called for help.

  Upwin wormed through to join her and gestured with his chin. “The father’s over there.” She glanced where he indicated and saw an arm protruding from a mound of fallen stone.

  “But the children are alive.” That was all she could think about.

  They both dug faster and cleared the side of the table, where they found a dirt-streaked boy and girl wedged under the back corner.

  “We couldn’t get out,” said the boy.

  “Now you can,” Elliel said. With great strength she cleared more rocks and stretched her hand beneath the table. The little girl took it, and Elliel pulled her free, dragging the child through the dirt and handing her to Upwin. The miner wrapped his arms around the girl and pulled her back toward the only exit. Elliel ducked under the table and retrieved the boy. She and Upwin emerged to the cheering of miners. It was good news for a change.

  “I’m glad we came back,” Elliel said to Thon.

  Having demonstrated his wreth magic, Thon assisted the villagers, using his powers to shore up crumbling walls, to clear debris from houses, though he looked frayed and drained from the effort. Somehow finding strength and determination, he worked for hours at the collapsed mountainside, pushing boulders away to clear the mouth of the main tunnel. Desperate miners entered, holding their lanterns and shouting for their comrades, but even though they searched long into the night, they heard no answer.

  The following day, Konag Conndur and his expedition arrived.

  60

  THE destruction around Mount Vada shook Conn to the core. The Dragonspine Mountains were a disaster, and tremors and spreading fires resonated throughout the range.

  He looked to his Brava. “This is far worse than any attack we have ever seen from the Isharans, Utho. I can’t ignore the evidence I see with my own eyes. It changes my entire conception of the world and our place in it. How can we deny that Ossus is stirring?”

  Utho was dusted with ash, his black uniform and riding cloak now almost entirely white. He also sounded shaken. “Are you sure of what the evidence means, Sire?”

  The konag raised his hands. “Look around you, old friend. How can this not be the dragon? It can’t be a coincidence this happened right after Adan and Koll warned us. What else could shake a mountain range like this? The fire and smoke!”

  As they rode into Scrabbleton, the Brava remained troubled. “I admit I don’t understand it, Sire. It does seem to fit with the legend.”

  “What if the mountain explodes again? And we’re right here!” Prince Mandan looked back and forth. “The people say that boulders rained down from the sky like shooting stars. If we were back in the castle, we’d at least be safe.”

  “None of these people are safe here,” Conn said. “We can’t just leave. I am the konag! We have to help them.”

  The village survivors were covered in dust and tears. One man came forward to speak for the townspeople, surprised that they would come here. “The mayor is dead and so are many others, including the mine boss, but I’m left, Sire.” The townspeople muttered in constant fear. “I’m the innkeeper, but I can’t offer much in the way of hospitality. We might find some fresh water for your men and your horses. We filter it through rags to make it palatable. But there’s nothing more.”

  The expedition’s horses had been unable to drink from the steaming streams or pools of contaminated water for some time. Conndur summoned his guards. “My men will help. We came here to assist.”

  A tall young woman came forward to meet them. Her dark cinnamon hair was streaked and clumped, her beautiful face marred by a strange tattoo, but she had an imposing presence about her. Conn realized that she was a Brava, though she didn’t wear their traditional garb.

  His main astonishment, though, was directed toward the strikingly handsome man next to her. The tall stranger had long dark hair, a wide face, and large almond eyes that were a penetrating deep blue. His face bore a tattoo similar to the woman’s, but he didn’t look quite human. He seemed more lithe, more intrinsically powerful … more alien. Conn had never seen anyone like him before.

  Recalling what Koll and Adan had said, he realized what this man must be. “You’re a wreth!” he blurted out, his voice dry. “A real wreth.”

  At the same time, Utho froze seeing the Brava woman, and his expression became even stonier than usual. He pointedly looked away from her as if she didn’t exist.

  The konag slid off his horse and warily approached the strange man, filled with curiosity as well as fear. “There are wreths in the Dragonspine?”

  Prince Mandan looked at him with wide eyes. “So the wreths aren’t just stories after all? Do
es that mean the dragon is real, too?”

  “They were never just stories, my prince,” said Utho, pointedly ignoring the forlorn Brava woman. “But we face so many more immediate threats.”

  Conn faced the strange man. “Are you wreths here to destroy us all?”

  The stranger met his gaze. “I do not know. I can speak for no one but myself.” Conn tentatively extended a hand, and the wreth accepted it, first in a firm grip, then more curious, as if the touch of skin were a mystery to him. “My name is Thon.”

  “My brother and my son reported about wreths in Suderra and Norterra.” Conn hardened his voice. “They killed many people in the north. How can we be certain you aren’t here to harm us?”

  “I am alone. My legacy has been erased. I cannot be certain of anything.” Thon touched the tattoo on his cheek. “All my memories were wiped before I was sealed inside the mountain, but now I am awake and trying to discover my path. She rescued me.” He indicated the Brava woman beside him.

  Utho interrupted, looking at Thon warily. “You have a rune of forgetting. I know what that means.” He hesitated for the barest instant. “Like the one on Elliel’s face.”

  The Brava woman stared at him in surprise and stepped closer. “You know what it is?” She suddenly caught her breath. “You know my name?”

  “I know you,” he said. “I gave you that tattoo myself.”

  She recoiled. “Utho…” She touched her pocket and removed a paper she kept tucked inside her tunic. “You left me this letter. That’s all I know about who I am, what I did … my whole life.”

  “It is all you need to know,” Utho said, his voice sharp and dismissive. “I did what had to be done, and you would be wise not to ask questions. Make a new legacy and hope that enough time and distance can erase the reasons for your punishment.” He lowered his voice. “I’m glad to see that you survived, though. You were so young. I hope you’ve changed since that terrible time.”

  Elliel sounded deeply guilty and ashamed. “I am trying. I worked to make amends, tried to fit in. We helped the people here in Scrabbleton—they were very good to me, but I don’t know if the town can be made safe. So much destruction…”

  “Especially if the dragon is stirring,” the innkeeper groaned. The konag’s escort soldiers held their restless horses, as if expecting Ossus to burst out of the mountain any moment.

  Conndur’s disbelief had turned into tatters around him. When Adan and Koll told him about the wreths, he had been more concerned about the Isharan attacks on the coast, their destructive godling. But now his skepticism faded. Ancestors’ blood, this cannot be possible!

  Paying little attention to the konag, Elliel approached Utho, who remained in his saddle and made no move to welcome her. She gave him a pleading look. “Tell me more? Please? You were there. What was I like before … I did what I did? Who were those poor children I killed? Why? Was it just the fever? That doesn’t make sense to me. Was I truly a terrible person?” Her hand strayed to the ramer at her side. “I can no longer use this, but it feels stained with blood. Please, tell me what I need to know!”

  Utho’s brows drew together. “I can’t tell you any more than I wrote in my letter. That part of your legacy has been wiped away. It no longer exists.” His voice was stern.

  She touched her tattooed cheek. “Thon says this design doesn’t include a locking element, that the memories aren’t permanently gone. If I can atone, find a way to get them back…”

  Utho’s implacable face grew stormy. “No more questions. Live with who you are, Elliel. That is your only chance for redemption, your only chance for a new legacy. Do not question the past. It is gone.”

  Elliel retreated, hanging her head. It seemed to take everything she had not to flee.

  Conndur kept his gaze focused on Thon. “We know that sandwreths came out of the deserts, and a frostwreth army wiped out a human town in the north. The legends say they want to wake the dragon.” He gestured toward the smoking summit of Mount Vada. “Look what happened here. They may succeed!”

  Concerned, Thon shook his head. “That is what I fear most. If the wreths have restored their power, they will stop at nothing to complete the tasks Kur gave them. Their efforts to wake the dragon likely caused … this.” He stared at the damaged village, the smoke in the sky. “Their armies will sweep across the land—your land—and crush each other. They will lay waste to the world, with no regard to humans.”

  Conndur’s thoughts raced. His son and his brother had pleaded with him to send Commonwealth armies to defend against the encroaching wreths, to parley with Queen Voo about a possible alliance. “What do we do?”

  Thon seemed mystified. “I am trying to discover the answers myself. They are locked and bound inside me.” He turned to the Brava woman. “Elliel and I had set out for Norterra in search of answers for our own questions. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

  “But we came back and helped Scrabbleton.” Elliel still looked pleadingly at Utho as if he might forgive her, but he gave her only a cold response.

  Utho said, “A Brava is given the rune of forgetting only under the most extreme circumstances. Only recently, we had to do the same to another who proved himself a coward when he should have helped defend Mirrabay against the Isharan animals.” He looked at Conndur with anger flushing his face. “We are still under attack, Sire, and the Isharan navy could raid our coast any day now. We know they are coming. Don’t let yourself be distracted by a myth—”

  Conn snapped at him, unable to believe what he was saying. “You call this a distraction? We’ll stay here and help these people, and I’ll send messengers to Bannriya and Fellstaff, to tell Adan and Koll that I believe them. We have to concentrate on the wreth threat.” He looked quickly at Thon. “Would you like an escort? I can have my soldiers take you directly to the king of Norterra, if that is where you need to go.”

  “Thank you, but no.” When Elliel looked at Thon, surprised he would turn down the offer, the wreth man added, “There is more I must discover. I don’t actually know where we’re supposed to be.”

  Disappointed but determined to stay with Thon, Elliel offered a sad farewell to the townspeople, and then the two of them set off, leaving the town in the hands of the konag’s expedition.

  As the soldiers distributed supplies and established work teams, Conn put together a plan, remembering how he would set up large military camps during the old war. “First, dig trenches and try to find clear water. Filter what we need in the meantime. Set teams to dig through the broken homes and find whatever food we can salvage so the townspeople have enough to eat.”

  One of his soldiers said, “We could hunt in the forest, but there’ll be few animals left.”

  “There’s not much of the forest left,” Mandan said. “The trees are flattened or burning.”

  “We’ll do what we can.” Reaching the inescapable conclusion, Conn addressed the bedraggled townspeople. “You can’t survive here for long. This town won’t sustain you.”

  “This is our home,” said the innkeeper. The people muttered in resignation.

  “And if the dragon emerges from beneath the mountains, you won’t want to be here,” Conndur said.

  The innkeeper remained stubborn. “If Ossus returns, Convera won’t be safe either.”

  Conn sighed. “No, I suppose it won’t.”

  Utho said, “What if the Isharan navy chooses to attack now? What if they bring another godling up the river to strike the capital? Think of the destruction they could cause—”

  Conn cut him off with a raised hand and said in a hard and dangerous voice, “I am not concerned with Isharans right now, old friend. We’ve seen evidence of the dragon, and we have to focus on the greater threat. In fact, it would be wise to make peace with the Isharans so we don’t have to worry about their attacks. A more terrifying enemy has raised its head.”

  Utho stared at him in disbelief, but the konag grew more determined as he studied the devastation. “These may be the
last days of the world … and we can’t face it alone. A war like this affects Ishara as well as the Commonwealth.” He knew it was the right thing to do. “In fact, the Isharans might be the most important allies we have. We may need them against the common enemy. I should talk with them about the very survival of the human race. Surely they will understand.”

  61

  WITH an escort of four ur-priests and ten Isharan soldiers, Priestlord Klovus rode south to the distant district of Tamburdin. He could save these people from the barbarians by inspiring and controlling their godling. He would show Neré how it was done.

  The Tamburdin District was a wild place with thick forests, rolling hills, and rushing mountain streams that glittered with yellow dust. The frontier district provided much of Ishara’s gold.

  Tamburdin also suffered frequent attacks by the unruly, violent Hethrren who came from beyond the borders. Six months earlier, Empra Iluris had dispatched an Isharan army unit to deal with the raiders, but half of those soldiers had been killed by the barbarians. The best solution was to unleash the power of the increasingly violent local godling, but Priestlord Neré needed Klovus’s assistance.

  In Serepol, he had asked the empra for a small, swift vanguard to take him to Tamburdin. Iluris was skeptical of his motives, as she always was. “You would place yourself in danger, Priestlord? What can you do down there that my soldiers can’t?”

  “The responsibility falls to me, as key priestlord of Ishara. With the Tamburdin godling, I will show how it’s done.” Though he felt a nervous fluttering in his gut, he showed no outward fear. He and Priestlord Neré should be able to defeat the Hethrren easily. He knew the Tamburdin godling was powerful and bestial, a reflection of their wild and rugged district. And hard to control.

  Klovus was weary and sore as the riders led him down the stony road to Tamburdin’s main city. It was surrounded by a fifteen-foot-high stockade wall of pine trunks lashed together. The tops of the trunks were carved to sharp points, and the walls themselves bristled with outthrust defensive stakes. At strategic positions around the wall, sentries directed their attention to the wooded hills, watching for the barbarians.