Jev stepped in front of her. “Tell her to get over it!”
“I don’t think fear works that way.”
“Help us, damn it,” Jev roared at Eysinor even as he braced himself to attempt to block a dozen swords at once. “We’ll figure out how to free that horn if you do.”
Eysinor did not lift her head.
More bells sounded in the city. One of the orcs paused, frowning toward the valley.
“Maybe you should check on that,” Jev told the others.
A blast of power slammed into him, not from the orcs but from somewhere outside the cave. It hurled him into the air and back toward the dragon.
“What now?” he cried in fury and frustration just before he landed, skidding several feet on his ass.
He stopped when he struck a chained dragon haunch. As he lifted his head to see what had attacked him, Zenia smashed into him, landing on his chest. It took him a second to realize the magic had also struck her.
Jev gripped her and stared in confusion at the orcs, but they were staring around in confusion too. Some looked at him, but more of them gathered at the ledge of the cave and pointed toward the valley. No, toward the volcanos lining the valley.
They yelled in their language, but then one of them pointed at something just outside the cave and raised a bow.
Jev didn’t see what happened next because the dragon’s neck turned, her big head blocking the view as she looked back at Jev and Zenia.
“It’s the troll shaman,” Zenia said, glancing at the faintly glowing gem in her hand. “He’s coming.”
“You will give me that dragon tear, humans,” came a demanding voice from the mouth of the cave.
“Uh, I think he’s here.” Jev eased Zenia to the side and scrambled to his feet.
“He’s the one controlling the hydra,” she said—was the dragon tear sharing visions with her again or was she guessing? “Just as he was the last time we ran into one. He’s wanted the dragon tear from the beginning.”
Zenia stood, her chin rising as she glared defiantly toward the cave entrance.
The troll stood inside the entrance, his arms spread, his face hidden by the hood of his cloak. Power radiated from him, and the hairs on the back of Jev’s neck rose.
“He wants to use it and the dragon, the same as the orc shaman did,” Zenia said, her gaze locked with the troll’s shadowed eyes, his features barely visible under the hood. “He believes his people are invading our homeland right now, and he wants to help them. He wishes to redeem himself for some past transgression and believes his people will consider him a hero if he flies in to help them take over Kor and all the surrounding lands. Not a transgression. A failing. The chief’s son was ill, and he lacked the power to heal him. He—”
“Stay out of my mind, human,” the troll snarled, though the way his hands twitched up, as if to deflect an attack, made him seem startled. Maybe he hadn’t expected Zenia to be able to read his thoughts. “Your people will be defeated and your kingdom dissolved before the day is over. You have no use for that bauble. Give it to me, and I’ll—”
Zenia stepped forward, her hand raised. Now the dragon tear glowed blue. Tendrils of energy shot out and slammed into their enemy’s chest.
The dragon was not, Jev remembered, afraid of trolls.
Blue light flooded the cave and swarmed all around the shaman. Even Jev, with his blood entirely lacking magic or a way to sense it, felt the power crackling in the air all around. Those orcs that remained near the exit threw their weapons down and raced out of the cave. Only the unicorn stayed inside, though even she backed to the far wall.
A final blast slammed into the shaman. He screamed as the dragon tear’s power—or was it simply the dragon’s power?—shot him out of the cave like a cannon ball.
For a stunned moment, Jev could only stare as the troll arced off the mountain and over the lake, arms flailing. Jev recovered and ran to the cave exit in time to see their enemy come down on the far side of the lake, slamming into a stone bluff before sliding into the water.
Jev suspected he was dead, but at the least, he hoped this meant they wouldn’t have to deal with him again.
“Thank you,” Zenia whispered.
Jev, thinking the words were for him, turned to face her. But Zenia stood beside the dragon, one hand clasped around her gem and the other resting on the dragon’s scaled side.
The chain still crisscrossed the dragon’s back, forcing her to stay in that prone position, her feet under her but her legs unable to straighten. Her long green tail had been curled tightly against her body, but now it stretched behind her toward the rear of the cave, the pointed tip flapping against the stone floor.
Not, Jev told himself firmly, like a dog’s tail.
“Was that all the dragon tear’s power?” Jev wondered, realizing the chains still glowed with the horn’s restraining energy. That had to mean the dragon herself was still powerless to perform magic, much less escape.
“I think so. If Cutter were here, we could ask him.” Zenia smoothed her hand over the dragon’s scaled side. “She wants to get up, to fly out of here, but she’s still trapped.”
The dragon laid her head on the ground, a forlorn pose if Jev had ever seen one.
The clangs continued to sound in the valley. Jev looked for their source, but he couldn’t see whatever bell tower was ringing. Towers, he decided, spotting orcs racing through the streets with packs, most fleeing toward high ground. The clangs were sounding up and down the valley, reverberating from its sloped walls and the volcanos on the side.
Before, Jev had only glanced toward the volcanos, but when he spotted white clouds of steam pouring from the one with the caldera at the top, he looked back. At first, he gaped, but then he laughed.
“I think Cutter is busy enacting your plan.” Jev clenched his fist, relieved that at least one of their friends had made it out of that illusory sanctuary. “Unless that’s really about to blow. In which case, we need to free your dragon quickly and hope she can fly us out of here.”
“I want very much to free her.” Zenia stepped around the dragon’s head and looked from the chains to the horn to Eysinor still standing with her back to the wall.
Her head was down again, her horn almost touching the stone. She appeared defeated. Like she had given up hope.
The dragon, on the other hand, lifted her head and watched Zenia curiously. Or maybe hopefully? Jev didn’t think the dragon understood their words, but if she could see into their minds, she might have gotten the gist.
“You can’t remove the horn?” Zenia asked Eysinor.
I tried when I first learned that it was being used like this, she spoke into their minds. I could not break the shaman’s magic. It is why I was forced to make a deal with him.
“We should have asked the hydra to let the shaman remove it before it ate him.” Jev peered around the lake, but he didn’t see any sign of the hydra. It had retreated beneath the surface, and it had taken the orc shaman with it. A few bodies floated face-down in the water, other orcs the hydra had snatched in its maws and flung away, but Jev couldn’t tell if any of them were the shaman.
He is dead, Eysinor informed them.
“Is it possible some other type of magic could break the horn free?” Jev thought of his elven sword. He’d seen it dumped into the boat with the rest of his and Zenia’s gear. Though numerous orcs had fled the cave when the clanging started, they had leaped from the closest rocks and swum to the mainland instead of running back to that beach. Maybe his sword was still down there. “What if the orc shaman’s spell is mostly to combat unicorn magic specifically? If he knew one of your kind would come…”
Eysinor made a skeptical-sounding whuff that reminded him of a horse.
“We have elven magic along that we could try,” Jev suggested, though he didn’t truly know if a person’s race made their magic different from other magic. “Or dwarven magic.” He eyed the steaming volcano again. “Zenia, can you see if Cutter is up
there? Maybe you could levitate him over here if he is? Do you have that kind of range?”
Jev remembered that she and the dragon tear had levitated dozens, if not hundreds, of sleeping dwarves off their big ironclad before it had blown up. But she had been on the deck of the ship at the time. That volcano had to be four miles away.
“Yes, Cutter is there, as are Hydal, Rhi, and Borti.” Relief leaked from her voice as she spoke, though she shook her head sadly when she added, “Only Horti didn’t make it. It looks like the group built some kind of contraption up there in the caldera. They’re not actively manning it. I’ll try to bring them down. Cutter would have more ideas about how to break the shaman’s hold than I do.” She waved at the embedded horn.
“Good. Will you be all right here if I run down and get my sword?” Jev studied Eysinor but didn’t sense that she would cause trouble. Why would she? She had nothing left to lose, and by helping them, or at least staying out of their way, she might gain something.
“I think so.” Zenia looked at the dragon, and the dragon looked back at her, her large head level with Zenia’s even though her body was pinned under those chains.
Fortunately, the dragon seemed to have put thoughts of eating people out of her mind.
Zenia closed her eyes to concentrate. Jev grabbed one of the abandoned orc swords and ran out of the cave and down the slope to the beach. No orcs remained on the island to confront him. The entire population of the valley was responding to the steam filling the southern sky by fleeing from their homes. Further, the air smelled of sulfur. If Zenia hadn’t confirmed that Cutter and the others were responsible for that smoking volcano, Jev would have been tempted to join the orcs in fleeing the valley.
When he reached the boat, he retrieved his sword, his pack, and Zenia’s weapons and pack. Glad the orcs had brought everything along instead of leaving the gear in the jungle, he ran back up the slope to the cave. His thighs and lungs burned from the effort, and he paused for a short rest at the last switchback.
That was when he spotted a dwarf flying through the air. Rhi, Hydal, and Borti floated after him. Hydal and Borti flailed and shouted with alarm as they sailed over the lake. Cutter curled up in a tight ball, his hands covering his face. Rhi was the only fearless one. She floated casually in the air, her arms outstretched with her bo in one hand, as if she were a bird gliding on the currents.
As Jev reached the now-empty hut outside the cave, his comrades alighted beside him.
“Nice of you to come,” he told Hydal, whose eyes were rounder than a full moon.
The answer Hydal squeaked out wasn’t decipherable. He dropped to his knees and patted the ground, looking like he wished he could hug it.
Cutter recovered more quickly and thumped Jev on the shoulder. “Did you like our distraction?”
“It was quite fine. Thank you.”
“Did it help?” Cutter peered into the dim cave.
“With the orcs, yes.” Jev headed inside, waiting until later to relay the story. “But we still have a problem.”
Zenia was still in the same spot, and she smiled when she saw Jev and their friends. “You’d asked if the dragon tear is more powerful when it’s in closer proximity to the dragon, Jev. The answer is yes.”
Jev nodded, assuming that meant she hadn’t had trouble levitating everyone across the miles. He headed for the horn and chains, with the others trailing after him, but Borti saw Eysinor and stopped abruptly.
“Betrayer!” Borti roared, pointing at her. “She’s the reason my brother is dead.” He raised his mace and charged at her.
Jev was too startled to react. Eysinor’s horn flared with light, and Borti bounced away before he reached her. His weapons swung through empty air. He twisted as he flew backward and landed on his feet, clearly intending to charge again.
This time, Jev had time to react. He ran over and gripped him from behind. He doubted Borti could kill a unicorn, but they might need Eysinor to figure this out.
Rhi cursed and paced while glaring at the unicorn. She didn’t run in to attack, but she clearly wanted to.
Borti struggled against Jev’s grip, and his strength was too much to handle. He managed to shove Jev back. Zenia stretched out a hand, and the dragon tear did something, for Borti halted, his arms growing unnaturally still. But his lips reared back, and he was able to snarl and speak.
“Horti's dead, Jev. The orcs came out of nowhere and surprised us in that trick of a sanctuary. They got him in the chest before we knew what was happening. They were all around us, too many. We had to run instead of fighting. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay and die at my brother’s side.” The words came out choked and barely distinguishable. He glared at Cutter and Hydal, as if they were the only reason he’d been dragged away against his wishes.
Jev shook his head bleakly and said, “I’m sorry, Borti.”
He couldn’t think of anything that would be more comforting and was chagrinned anew that Eysinor had tricked them all. He made a fist and brought it to his mouth, frustrated and completely understanding Borti’s desire to lash out at her.
“Cutter,” Zenia said, “that unicorn horn is providing the power—the magic—to keep the dragon prisoner. To free her, I think we need to figure out a way to pull it out of the stone and away from the chain. Maybe that’ll release her.”
“It has a bite,” Jev warned, shaking his wrist in memory of the fiery pain he’d felt when he brushed his skin against it.
Cutter walked a circle around the horn, eyeing it thoughtfully.
“The troll shaman said Kor is being invaded right now—today,” Zenia added. “We need to get out of here and back home as soon as possible.”
Jev grimaced at the reminder. He hoped the troll had been lying or at least exaggerating, that he couldn’t have truly known an invasion was going on more than a thousand miles away.
As Cutter squatted down to examine the green glowing horn and the chain more closely, Zenia looked at the still-seething Borti.
“I’m sorry, Borti,” she said quietly.
He shook his head fiercely. “Don’t be sorry. Let me kill her. She deserves it for tricking—” His voice broke on the word, and he shook his head again, his tone shifting from anger to anguish. “Why’d she have to seek us out? Why couldn’t she have left us alone? We would have been wary if we’d been alone. We wouldn’t have relaxed so they could sneak up on us.”
“The orc shaman made a deal with her,” Jev said, since Eysinor did not answer, “one she couldn’t refuse.” He sighed, definitely not on the unicorn’s side, but more inclined to blame the orcs than her. “It was their fault.”
“You don’t make deals with orcs,” Rhi growled, her knuckles white where she gripped her bo.
“Everyone knows that,” Borti added, the veins standing out on his neck as he continued to struggle against the magical power holding him.
Jev wished there was some way to help him. He hadn’t known Horti well but regretted his death and felt cheated that he had been separated from the others and hadn’t been able to help defend them. Even though Targyon had sent the twins along to help Zenia on her quest, Jev felt responsible for them, as if they were Dharrow men and it had been his duty to protect them and ensure they returned home safely. And he had failed.
“The chain is a lot weaker than the horn,” Cutter said.
Jev pushed his wishes aside, knowing nothing would come of them, and focused on his friend. “What?”
“I touched the horn—” Cutter waved his magical hammer, “—and got a shock of magic that ran right to my heart. I’m not sure what the shaman did, but it’s practically buzzing with power. The farther you get down the chain from it, the less power there is.”
Cutter walked around the dragon, casting her a few wary glances, and to the last stake that had been hammered into the ground. The blunt end stuck up behind her right haunch.
“This is the spot to strike,” Cutter said.
“Strike?” Jev asked. “With wh
at?” He was half-tempted to volunteer Eysinor’s horn, but that wouldn’t work if it was attached to her forehead.
“Something magically strong. Bring your sword.”
“Why not your hammer?” Jev drew the blade from its scabbard and said the elven word to ignite its power. It flared with silver light.
“It’ll take both, I think.”
Cutter held out his hand, and Jev rested the hilt of the sword in it. The blade’s glow dimmed but did not disappear entirely. Cutter slid the tip into the last link in the chain before it attached to the stake. It didn’t fit fully. Cutter nodded, as if that was what he wanted. He pushed the tip to the ground, then touched the flat of his hammer to the pommel. His tool also glowed faintly.
“We may lose both of our weapons,” Cutter warned before taking a swing.
Jev nodded. “If we free the dragon, it’s worth it.” He almost said that they would gain a weapon far more powerful, but he still didn’t know if that was true, if the dragon would stay with Zenia and continue to work with her or if, as soon as she was free, she would take off over the mountains.
“Brace yourself.” Cutter raised his hammer. “There may be some backlash.”
Rhi shifted to stand in front of Zenia. Zenia shook her head, grabbed her arm, and pulled her so that they both stepped back. Hydal watched from the cave entrance, his face more wan than curious. Maybe being levitated by a dragon made him seasick. Or airsick.
The dragon’s head turned on her long neck to watch Cutter. Probably to make sure he didn’t swing, miss, and thwack her tail.
The hammer cracked down with such an echoing bang that Jev flung his hands over his ears. White light flashed, burning his eyes, and he turned his shoulder toward the sword, half-expecting shrapnel to fly into him.
Something did strike the wall a few feet away, and he jumped. A clatter sounded as whatever it was landed at his feet, but it took Jev a moment before his vision recovered and he could see it.
His sword. Part of his sword.
It had broken off a couple of inches above the hilt, and the blade no longer glowed.
Agents of the Crown- The Complete Series Page 131