I carefully observed my surroundings. I was on a flat mountain ledge about fifty feet wide. From the claw markings, I could see that the crevice had been created from one or more dragons continually using the edge to push its massive weight off the mountain and take flight.
I was about to call out into the cave when I heard a snarl. Red light was growing in the darkness of the cave mouth as it drew closer. I dove to the side and rolled to a standing position just in time.
An enormous ball of flames flew off the mountainside where I'd been standing seconds before. A crunching noise drew my attention to the cave mouth again and I saw two dragons emerging from the cave. There was a large midnight blue dragon and a smaller dragon with yellow-gold scales. Both were adults and I could tell the smaller was the female. The air surrounding them identified the larger one as dominant and the smaller submissive.
“Stop,” I pleaded, holding up an open palm. “I'm not here to fight. I'm here to fulfill a promise I made to Bartholomew. I need to speak with Queen Fangora.”
“Bartholomew?” The female’s question was weighted with emotion. Although the voice was unfamiliar, something about the way she spoke Bartholomew's name sparked my memory. In that single word I heard love, longing, betrayal, and resentment.
The male's reaction to Bartholomew's name sealed my understanding. He roared in fury and jumped at me with his teeth bared.
I realized in that instant who was before me and my fury flared. I thrust pure magical energy toward my attacker, not even bothering with a spell. It was the first time I'd attempted such a feat for attacking. I'd done it before when pushing magic into the Discovery of Magic altar, but all I had to go off was an assumption that I could also use magical energy without casting a spell for attack or defense.
It had a similar affect as my Concussion spell, only more powerful due to the immense magical power in my body. His lunging body stopped briefly in midair and then blew back into the stone wall next to the cave entrance. I kept the magical power pressed tightly against him. He couldn't move as I approached him. If I were a wolf, my hackles would have been furled, exposing my fangs.
“You must be Darian. I've heard about you from Bartholomew. Do you honestly think a coward like you who couldn't even fight fairly in a suitor battle would be able to defeat me? You couldn't harm me even if you brought the five friends who helped you nearly kill Bartholomew and drive him off.”
I pressed Darian further into the wall. There was a loud crunch as the wall cracked like a spider's web.
“I should kill you for what you did to Bartholomew. You must realize by now that I could kill you quite easily, Darian, but out of respect for Vanessa, and the mission I was entrusted with, I'll leave you unharmed. I recommend you stay clear of me from now on because if I ever see you again after I complete my mission today...you will die.”
I turned my attention to Vanessa and let Darian drop to the floor. He wasn't injured, but he was smart enough to feign injury and stay down.
“Vanessa, would you be so kind as to take me to Queen Fangora? I must speak with her. It was Bartholomew's dying wish.”
I could see the shift in Vanessa's eyes. It was clear that she hadn't heard anything about Darian's attack on Bartholomew. She'd assumed that he was afraid to challenge Darian and had fled like a coward instead of fighting for her hand. In fact, she was probably told just that by Darian. Now that she knew the truth, any resentment in her eyes had vanished.
“Bartholomew's d-dead?” She stumbled over the last word as a hitch caught in her voice. She was desperately trying to avoid crying in front of her mate.
I gave a simple nod of acknowledgment and she closed her eyes in response.
A golden light engulfed her. It was a light I knew well. When the light dissipated, I was standing before a gorgeous woman with long ears and golden robes. Her blonde hair glittered in the sunlight and her face was angelic in appearance. She gestured for me to follow her and began walking further up the mountainside. Darian stayed behind, still laying as if dead.
As I suspected, we had to climb all the way to the highest peak in order to reach the queen. Along the way there were plenty of dragons who came out to see what was going on. Many of them prepared to attack until Vanessa explained to them why I was here. Instead of attacking me, they all flew up to the top of the highest peak. By the time we reached the top, there was a huge audience of dragons surrounding a single cave.
We stopped in front of the cave and Vanessa called out to Queen Fangora with a roar that sounded like a plea. A minute later I heard the large thudding that signaled a dragon's approach. This thudding was so fierce that it caused the ground beneath me to shake and I almost lost my footing.
The largest dragon I'd ever seen emerged from the cave. Even amongst all the dragons present her stature was gargantuan. The amount of power that radiated from her added to the effect. Her scales were a deep red, like blood, only more vibrant.
She didn't address me directly, instead cocking her head toward Vanessa and asking, “What is the meaning of this? You know it is forbidden for outsiders to trespass on Dragon Peaks.”
“Forgive me, my queen,” Vanessa spoke as she crouched on one knee. She was the only dragon present who was in human form. “I take full responsibility for this matter. I have brought this human before you as she stated she had business with you on behalf of Bartholomew.”
“Why would Bartholomew send this inferior species before us when he could simply come himself?” Queen Fangora was still addressing Vanessa and refused to look me in the eye.
I stepped forward, beside Vanessa, and answered, “Bartholomew is dead. I was sent here to complete his dying wishes.”
Queen Fangora's eyes were full of contempt and disgust as she turned toward me and addressed me personally.
“Why would a dragon entrust a human with his final wishes?”
“Because,” I was beginning to get angry. Bartholomew had not been exaggerating about the amount of prejudice dragons had toward other beings. “Bartholomew and I were friends. After he was forced off Dragon Peaks by Darian and his five friends, I healed his wounds and we’ve traveled together ever since. He, unlike the rest of you, discovered through his exile that dragons are not the superior creatures you all believe yourselves to be. When he finally understood how poisonous his pride and vanity were, he became truly worthy of the respect the rest of the world bestows upon you. From what I've seen so far in the short time I've been on this mountain, none of you are worthy of the respect you are shown as you are nothing more than selfish beasts.
“I came here on Bartholomew's request hoping to help you, but I can already tell that you will not accept my help. Therefore, I will do what I came to do and depart.”
“How dare you speak to me in such a manner, you insect! Kill her!”
I was at the queen’s throat before any of the dragons could react to their queen's command. I used the same burst of power I'd used on Darian, only this time I covered the entire mountainside with energy, forcing Queen Fangora and all the dragons present to their knees, unable to do more than twitch.
“Do you still think I'm an inferior being, Your Highness? I could kill you in less time than it takes you to breathe, yet you consider me nothing but a bug you can squash. You see, it's that prejudice and arrogance that Bartholomew discovered was the true weakness of your people. It was then, and only then, that he learned the true meaning of friendship and that love and understanding made you ten times stronger than hatred and arrogance.”
“Hah!” Queen Fangora barked. “Friendship, you say. I see you wear Bartholomew's hide. I can still smell his scent on your clothing. Is that your friendship? I bet you're the one who killed him.”
“I wear Bartholomew's hide because he asked me to,” I announced to all present. “Listen up. I am not from this world. My people came to this world from another universe and to the majority of us
your planet is nothing more than a playground. The body you see before you is fake and therefore I cannot be killed. The same is true for all my people. If you kill me, I am immediately reborn with another body exactly like my current body. It was a force of a hundred people from my world who killed Bartholomew. When I arrived, he was almost dead, still fighting bravely for his life. I slaughtered the people from my world and attempted to heal Bartholomew, but not even the Divine Healing spell would heal his wounds. I tried the spell multiple times until Bartholomew finally told me to stop because it was futile.
“Before Bartholomew died, he had three requests of me. First, he wanted me to use his body parts in my crafting skills so that a part of him would always be with me to protect me. My weapons and armor are made of his flesh and bones in honor of that request.
“Second, He wanted me to bring his Dragon's Heart back to Dragon Peaks so that it may be placed in your burial chamber. His wish was that you would be able to see what he saw in his exile and experience the emotions and thoughts that ran through his mind. That is the reason I have come here today.
“His last request was that I end his suffering by taking his life. He told me he would rather die by my hands than by the hands of the army that assaulted him.
“I have fulfilled all of his requests except one and today I fulfill my remaining debt to him.”
I took Bartholomew's Dragon Heart out of my enchanted purse and placed it gently against Queen Fangora's neck. There was a large intake of air as Bartholomew's thoughts and emotions flooded into her. I then turned toward Vanessa and released the hold my magic had on her.
She sat up and I held the Dragon’s Heart out for her. After a few glances between me and the heart she reached out and touched it. One more intake of breath and then she was crying, whispering Bartholomew's name like a mantra.
I continued my rounds, using my Shadow Step to travel from dragon to dragon and touching Bartholomew's Heart to each of them in turn. When I’d finished, I made my way back to Vanessa and placed the Dragon Heart in her hands.
“Would you please take this to the burial chamber, Vanessa? Once you've done that my task here will be complete.”
She nodded, tears still running down her face. Light engulfed her as she transformed back into a dragon and flew off, Bartholomew's Heart held lovingly in her claw. After she’d disappeared around the mountainside, I turned back toward Queen Fangora and released all the dragons from the magical energy that forced them to their knees.
The effort of holding so many dragons for such a long time left me weary and my magical power was greatly depleted. I could tell that I still had magic stored in the pearl on my forehead, but I had no idea how long that would last. If I ended up running out of energy I would surely die today.
“I've done what I came for,” I announced to the queen. “Bartholomew can now rest in peace.”
“Thank you, Valkyrie.”
Having Queen Fangora address me by name was like a light penetrating the darkness. Maybe there was hope for the dragon race after all. In that case...I had to try.
“Queen Fangora. Thanks to Bartholomew's memories you already know the truth behind my people and what they are capable of. I know you are a proud race and you have every right to be. Your strength is impressive, but even that may not be enough to help you.
“Most of my people do not care about this world. I am one of the few who defends all the people of Evanasia. Most of my people think of the residents of this universe as expendable characters in a game. Your people are strong, but that doesn't mean you are invincible. Most people from my world are nowhere near as strong as I am individually, but they have strength in numbers.
“You saw what they did to Bartholomew first hand from his memories. If my people decided to attack your people, there would be casualties. It doesn't matter how many times you kill us, we will never die. Please, for your own safety, consider forming alliances with some of the other races of Evanasia.”
My hope solidified with the single nod of Queen Fangora's head. She rose to her full height and addressed all present. “As Valkyrie has suggested, let us reach out to the elves for an alliance. I need a volunteer to travel to Valanesia and deliver our message.”
I hadn't expected the voice from behind me answering as I'd never heard her approach. Vanessa had returned from taking Bartholomew's Heart to its final resting place and wasted no time in seeing that Bartholomew's wish for peace should be honored. She received approval from Queen Fangora and departed immediately, unable to look me in the eye amidst her lingering grief.
When she was gone the queen returned her gaze to me. “We thank you, Valkyrie, for bringing us Bartholomew's Heart and his understanding. We will do what we can to survive the trials ahead. That being the case, our laws must still be enforced.”
I knew instantly what she was referring to.
“We have always enforced our law of no outsiders allowed on Dragon Peaks out of arrogance and pride. Now we must enforce it to protect our kind from yours. We are truly grateful to you for all your help, but to let you leave now would give others the bravery to trespass upon our grounds.”
I heaved a sigh of understanding, yet frustration. “I knew all along that things would end up this way if I came to Dragon Peaks and I agree with you that letting me leave unharmed would be dangerous to your people. However, I have no intention of letting you kill me. Attack me as you will. I will defend myself to the end so that I may leave this place alive, but I give you my word I will not kill any of you as long as Darian isn't amongst those who attack me.
“I've already sworn to that bastard that if I saw his face one more time, I would kill him for what he and his friends did to Bartholomew. If you do not want him to die, I suggest you keep him as far away from me as possible.”
And so, the fight commenced. Queen Fangora lifted her wings and thrust once, her body reaching for the sky. The other dragons followed suit and I felt like I was a corpse being swarmed by circling vultures. My weapons stayed sheathed to make sure I wasn't tempted to use them out of fear. I activated my wings and took flight into the swarm of dragons, dodging talons, teeth, and flames.
It was like being on a sports field, which I’d always sucked at. My goalpost was off the mountainside and I had to make it through the most powerful opposing team without causing harm or foul. I refused to harm the dragons, so I couldn't use weapons or offensive magic. My only choice was to use my Shadow Arts and my defensive spells to survive as long as possible.
Every time that I thought I'd finally broken through the swarm they would surround me again. I was bobbing, swerving, and dodging with all the strength I possessed, but even that wasn't enough to get me away unscathed. Bartholomew's scales saved my life at least a dozen times as talons ripped across my chest and were deflected, leaving only bruises beneath. A few of the strikes managed to tear into the fabric, but since the fabric was enchanted with an invincibility spell the fabric would immediately repair itself. My body wasn’t so lucky. I ended up with minor lacerations on my arms, legs, back, chest, and stomach. I managed to maneuver quickly enough to keep from losing a limb or having my innards become outards, but I still couldn’t evade their claws completely.
My defensive spells kept the dragon flames from burning me, but each time I was encased in flames I lost sight of the dragons and would end up being raked by claws. I only attacked by using bursts of magical energy to knock the dragons back like I'd done earlier with Darian. Now that we weren't on solid ground, I had no way of holding the dragons in one place.
I continued to move slowly, but I was getting farther and farther from the mountain range. Just about a hundred meters and I'd no longer be in dragon territory. All I had to do was survive a little longer.
Then the thing I was secretly wishing for occurred. I heard a deep, familiar roar and saw a large, midnight blue dragon charging toward me from his cave on the mountainside. I
t looked like his rage at his earlier humiliation, and the fact that I was outnumbered, gave him the confidence to defy my warning. Unfortunately for him, he'd misread the situation.
He saw me outnumbered and on the defensive. Easy prey. What he didn't see was that I'd been holding back to not kill anyone. Now all bets were off.
I let out a loud roar of hatred, amplified by the magical energy that burst from my body. It was like a wild panther cornered by a python. I cast two spells in quick succession, whispering the words so as not to be heard. The first was a defensive spell I cast upon all the dragons I didn't want harmed called Multi-Shield. The second spell was my wrath incarnate.
“Flames of fury burning within release yourself from under my skin. Force yourself out toward my foes. Stretch as far as fire flows. Flames of wrath cause dismay, death, destruction, and decay.”
The Fire Burst spell erupted from my body in a sphere, stretching out and covering all the dragons. It stretched about a half mile in all directions, scorching the ground and appearing as a small sun on the horizon. The Multi-Shield spell kept the innocent safe, causing them to be thrown back to the edge of the inferno's reach. Darian wasn't as lucky.
When the fire dissipated, Darian's smoking body began to fall toward the ground, his wings now riddled with holes, the edges still glowing like a poker. Despite the attack, Darian was still alive and furious. He flapped his wings desperately, trying to stay afloat.
It took three seconds to finish him off. One to approach him, one to stick my blade in his neck and watch his surprised expression, and another to spin the full length of the circle around his neck. Just like the dragon golem I'd beheaded in training with the dwarves, Darian's head easily separated from his body and his corpse fell to the ground with a loud crunch, cracking the earth on impact.
The sight was enough to freeze the rest of the dragons in place. They had greatly underestimated me. I could tell by the looks in their eyes that they knew I'd cast the Multi-Shield spell on them and that if I hadn't, they would all have died just as quickly as Darian.
Virtual Me- Valkyrie Page 27