Whill of Agora: Epic Fantasy Bundle (Books 1-4): (Whill of Agora, A Quest of Kings, A Song of Swords, A Crown of War) (Legends of Agora)

by Michael James Ploof

  The sun set slowly and time ticked in Dirk’s mind like the lamenting church bells of Bellowsblood, the village of his youth, where fall seemed the only season and pumpkins the only crop. The village had been the birthplace of Stefayn Bellowsblood, one of the most celebrated lore masters of Eldalon. His monster and ghost lore had become the staple of Agoran superstition centuries past. The village had become a testament to the man, and survived mainly by selling Bellowsblood mojo dolls, Bellowsblood boards of conjuring, and other namesake items. Many believed the items worked, and they were often used in medicine.

  The night arrived and they waited. The men below in the village, the many teams of spearmen ready to spring from under heavy tarps, the bowmen behind the murder holes, and the swordsmen waiting in the courtyard below and beyond the doors of the keep—they all knew fear. Dirk wondered what kind of pandemonium he would witness this night. From his pouch he took the wolf figurine. He had warned the soldiers that a timber wolf fought with him, but he doubted they had believed him.

  “Chief,” he whispered. “Come.”

  The swirling mist set the ramparts aglow as Chief came to form in a few heartbeats. Instantly Chief became curious of their environment. He sniffed at the edge of the castle wall and panted with exhilaration.

  “The time has come, boy. As we speak, she rides on wings of death. Harbinger of death…”

  Chief cocked his head to the side as Dirk trailed off and his eyes drifted to the stars. A hushed bark snapped him from his dark imaginations and he saw the world once more.

  Through his hood the nighttime veil was lifted, and the world was shown to him. Little was unseen. His body tensed as he spotted a bright heat signature far off to the south. From his perch he gave a small howl. Chief stared at him, seemingly unimpressed, and gave a strong, keening howl himself. It was the warning signal: the assassin had arrived. Krentz was coming for the blood of Whill’s line.

  Dirk watched as the creature flew steadily toward the town. As it neared, it became apparent that it was indeed a dragon. He looked from under his hood and saw nothing—it was invisible. Dirk knew then that the beast was indeed one of Eadon’s silverhawk dragons, and its rider was Krentz.

  The dragon-hawk glided over the town without as much as a sound. Over the hill it went, and once over the castle, a figure leapt from the beast. It twirled, falling some thirty feet and landing without a whisper.

  Dirk watched on high as the crouched figure listened in the shadows, its armored head scanning the perimeter. Dirk had ordered three guards to stay at their stations for the duration of the night. He knew that these men would die, but it had to look as though everything were normal lest Krentz think her element of surprise gone, at which time she would turn to the brutal destructive force of the dragon.

  A blade whizzed through the air, and with a thud one of the guards gurgled to the floor. Three quick, well-placed leaps took the dark-elf assassin up to the castle wall. The nearest guard found a sword through his chest and fell with a puzzled look on his face. The third jumped over the wall.

  Dirk reached into his pocket for a spell-dissipating throwing star and looked away for but a second. When he looked back toward the assassin, he found her three feet away. A blade came down as Dirk’s dagger shot out and up. A clawed hand shot out at Dirk and there was a flash of silver light. Dirk quickly turned into his warded cloak’s thick folds and rolled away, deflecting the spell. He came around suddenly with a lunging strike with his short sword. Metal clanged and sparks flew as the blades crashed into each other’s enchantments.

  The lithe form of the dark-elf assassin moved as a ghost. Dirk could barely make out a full-faced helmet behind the shadows that seemed to cling to it. Dirk threw a dart as he spun and came in with a dagger slash but had to move away quickly as the dark elf unleashed a powerful blast that shook the stone. Nearby a dragon screeched, and Dirk heard a spearman give warning.

  “Dragon!” he screamed, and fire split the night off near the eastern wall.

  Dirk was blasted off the wall to land in the courtyard. He came up out of the roll and climbed stairs to the upper wall three at a time. “Red team and yellow, purple then blue—fire!” Dirk screamed, and to his surprise the spearmen followed his command to the letter.

  Red team, which consisted of two harpoon teams, shot from two locations toward the belching flame. Boom! A blast shook the castle as the first of the darts exploded against the dragon’s protective enchantments. Boom! Another lit the sky. Two quick, buzzing shrieks rang out as yellow team shot their harpoons. One dart missed but the other exploded in a shower of shimmering blue dust. The dragon lurched and slammed into the castle as Dirk ran toward the beast. Behind him the dark elf charged, flinging deadly daggers at the spearmen. A thud marked the death of one soldier of blue team. Dirk leapt high up and off a short wall. Spinning in the air, he threw two explosive darts at Krentz and threw his grappling hook as he leapt out over the courtyard. The hook caught and wedged in a crack in the stone, and Dirk glided to the opposite end of the courtyard.

  There was a shriek as the awkwardly flying, convulsing dragon wavered as if injured by the blasts. The guards began to cheer, but soon the cheers ended as fire poured up and above the side of the wall in waves. The dragon beat its massive wings and once again gained a high position over the courtyard. Purple team and blue team fired in unison, and Dirk closed his eyes as the flash bomb went off, followed by the darts of silence. The dragon was blinded and suddenly hovered in a soundless vacuum. The dragon lurched, disoriented, as Chief leapt from the wall with a growl and, landing on its snout, began to claw and bite savagely. As the dragon and spirit wolf battled out of sight, the dark elf leapt down to face Dirk, who stood in the shadows by the keep door.

  “Krentz, there is a way to overcome this, you must not do this!” Dirk cried.

  The graceful dark elf slid her sword into a sheath as smooth and black as her tight armor. No cloak trailed behind, no coat hung from her shoulders. The armor appeared seamless; smooth and dark, it contoured the body perfectly, every muscle and curve carved into it.

  “Beyond this door lies your quarry, women, children…I know what you did in Bristle, I saw the mother, the daughter, the black rose. Please—”

  Dirk was forced to duck behind the stone archway before the keep door as three throwing stars cut into the stone. Dirk threw a blinding dart at the assassin’s feet and came in with a barrage of sword and dagger strikes that pushed his opponent to defend or die. Serpents of blue flame shot out at Dirk but were absorbed by his cloak. He felt the hum of power as his many enchantments were strengthened by the energy. Sparks flew from his blades as the dark elf met him blow for blow.

  The dark elf stepped back, and from her left hand shot crackling lightning. Dirk pulled his cloak around him but it did not spare him the brunt of the blast, which sent him hurling through the air to slam into the wall once more.

  Dirk rebounded quickly and came in low. From a leg strap he flung a dart at a pillar to the left of the dark elf. The dart hit and there was a click as the back of the dart exploded and ten smooth, round steel pellets shot toward the dark elf while Dirk came in with a low sword swipe. The missiles deflected in a shower of sparks against her energy shield as the dark elf met Dirk’s blade and with blinding speed caught him with a kick to the ribs that took him off his feet. He slammed into a pillar with crushing force and slid to the floor. The dark elf turned from him, conjured a green fireball in her palm, and hurled it at the keep door. Surprised screams of pain came from the burning wreckage as smoke billowed out of the keep door.

  Out charged the captain of the guard and a dozen soldiers. The men screamed and charged the dark elf bravely. The assassin flung her hand out wide and every last man was slammed back against the wall. Dirk glanced at the dark elf’s feet and cursed her closer, into his trap.

  “Hey!” he screamed as he got up and threw a dart bomb at her face, followed by a flash dart and seven consecutive throwing stars. The assassin redirect
ed the missiles to blast into many of the guards, who had begun to get up and shake off their daze. A harpoon came slicing through the air only to explode midflight in a quick blaze that left only ashes falling slowly through the air. The dark elf reared on the harpoon team and blasted them from the wall with a ball of lightning.

  “Krentz!” Dirk screamed. “Stop this madness now!”

  She turned and regarded him with a cocked head. She raised her left hand and there was a black rose held in it. Her right hand moved to her neck and peeled back the faceless mask. Krentz shook her head and her hair spilled out and down her back. Tears pooled in her eyes.

  “Oh, Dirk, my love,” Krentz cried and stepped closer. Another step brought her a foot from the trap. Her face came into view clearer in the moonlight, and Dirk watched in horror as her cries turned to laughter and her face contorted in a snarl.

  “No, she will not stop; we will not stop until every human of Whill’s line is dead.” She laughed. The captain of the guard howled and charged, his blade meant to impale her suddenly. With a clash she sent his sword flying and sliced through his armor, leaving an X of blood across his chest and glowing edges on the armor. The guard fell and stared dead-eyed at Dirk.

  “Krentz,” Dirk began.

  “No, my dear boy,” laughed the dark elf. “I am not Krentz.”

  The face of Krentz contorted and the tattoos swirled. The hair turned blue from the roots to the tips, and Dirk looked into the eyes of a dark elf he recognized. She was one of the twins he had seen in Eadon’s floating palace of crystal. She was a twin!

  Dirk whirled to the right as a sword slashed across his cloak and back, cutting the cloak in half and slashing a long gash across Dirk’s shoulder. Both dark elves came at him then, but the Krentz-impersonating twin stepped on his special trap. There was a click as she stepped on the loosened stone he had put his bomb under, and for a brief moment Dirk was satisfied to see her surprised. He threw a cyclone dart at her feet as the trap exploded in a raging ball of fire. The dark-elf twin was caught up in the cyclone of burning dragonsbreath and, screaming, was lifted up into the night by the explosion. Dirk braced himself as the whirlwind pulled in everything in the courtyard not tied down.

  He had only a few darts that could cause such havoc and he rarely used them, but facing both of these dark-elf assassins at the same time was cause for such extreme force. The dark elf’s sister came at him in a rage of slashes and powerful blows. Their blades sent showers of sparks into the cyclone above as the dark elf pressed Dirk toward the whirlwind.

  Boom! The dragon slammed into the wall of the castle and roared in a rage. Fire leapt up into the whirlwind as the dragon clawed its way up onto the castle wall. It spotted one of its riders and belched flame down on Dirk. He dove to the left and rolled himself into his cloak as the flames engulfed the courtyard.

  When the fire subsided, the dark-elf assassin was there, chopping down at him from on high. A cross-blade block stopped the attack but the dark elf slammed down on him, trying to pin him. Dirk rolled onto his back, heaving with his legs. The dark elf twirled through the air to land on her feet as Dirk got to his. The dragon roared again and cocked its head as if to breathe fire once more. Chief flew from nowhere and landed claws first on the dragon’s face. The beast reared and slipped as the cyclone pulled on it as well. The dragon-hawk crashed into the courtyard as it pawed at its snout, trying to dislodge the spirit wolf, but Chief would not be budged. The ghost wolf became translucent as the great clawed paw came at him to squash him. When the hand receded, the wolf turned to physical form and slashed at the snout and eyes. Blood and feathers had begun to fall from the furious dragon-hawk’s face.

  The burning body of the other dark elf landed upon the stairs to the wall and rolled to the bottom. Dirk followed his attacker’s eyes and saw fear there. He grinned.

  “Chief, kill the burning elf!” he ordered and threw Krone at the dragon. Chief had clawed and bitten enough to weaken the dragon’s magical defenses, and Dirk’s enchanted dagger plunged through it. It twirled through the air and into the dragon’s mouth, wedging itself in the soft skin between the dragon’s teeth.

  Chief landed upon the burning dark elf just as her healing light began to glow. The spirit wolf bit her neck and shook violently, trying to break it. Sparks popped and flew from the dark elf’s energy shield as the spirit wolf raked with vicious claws that carried with them the mysterious power of the other side.

  The other assassin snarled and met Dirk once more in battle. She flung a ball of fire at him but it was absorbed by his enchanted left glove. The gems within the glove began to glow with the absorbed power. Dirk took advantage of her surprise and shot the glove out forward, sending the pent-up energy in a shockwave that crushed the center of a giant pillar. The pillar was one of four that held the giant slab of the upper floor, and it shuddered and cracked when its supporting pillar crumbled. Dirk had chosen that very pillar because it was above the thrashing dark elf and Chief.

  Dirk’s opponent screamed as the slab buckled and cracked and fell with crushing force upon her sister and Chief. Seeing the tide of the battle turning, the guards rallied their courage and poured out of the destroyed keep door. Men scrambled to man the harpoons, not daring to imagine what had happened to the last spearmen. By the dozens they poured, and their quarry was the dark elf. Dirk pressed his attack in a blur of spinning sword and dagger. The dark elf looked from Dirk to the charging men, then to the dragon that sat upon the wall like a statue, paralyzed to move against him, and finally to her sister, crushed beneath the weight of the stone, her energy shield flickering and sparking against the great weight. With a cry she shot a glowing orb of energy at the center of the attacking men. It exploded with a bang, sending many men flying through the air, and still they charged.

  Whirling away from Dirk, she darted to her sister’s side. Dirk looked up at the dragon and screamed, “Kill her!” The mind control dagger Krone forced it to obey.

  The elf skidded to a stop before her crushed sister and with raised arms began to mentally lift the stone slab. The dragon roared and leapt from the wall onto the slanted broken slab. The pinned elf’s energy shield died in a show of webbing lightning. Beneath the stone slab the dark elf fell to one knee with the effort of keeping it off her sister. She trembled and quaked, and from her mind curled tendrils of healing energy. The guards came with a dozen swords that exploded against her shield. The men pounded with sword and axe, weakening her shield. Dirk threw the last of his dragonsbreath darts at the trapped, dying elf. The bomb exploded on impact with the elf’s energy shield and the explosion cracked the slab further, causing it to break off at the high end and come crashing down upon the courtyard.

  The dragon-hawk slammed a huge front paw down on the remaining twin. With a grunt she ducked under her protective shield as it absorbed the blow. With a scream of rage she blasted the dragon with a massive surge of lightning that left her trembling, her energy spent. The guards slashed and stabbed as Dirk came at her from the right, whipping daggers in rapid succession. The dark elf began to tremble and shake. She screamed so loud that it was instantly deafening. The daggers were deflected by the shield but it was wavering. The dragon rebounded from the wall and slammed the dark elf into the far wall. She shot out of the destroyed wall and charged at Dirk with murder in her eyes and her sword leading. Dirk braced himself, but the blow never came. The dragon lunged forward and struck like a snake, catching the dark elf in its jaws with a snap. The teeth clamped down and she screamed as her energy shield was taxed to exhaustion. The dragon shook its head violently and slammed the elf down, shattering the stones beneath her broken form. Dirk came down with his sword, stabbing her in the chest as a dagger found her throat and drew blood.

  “Where is Krentz?” he demanded. Blue healing energy swirled around the sword in her chest. She coughed red and grinned with bloody teeth.

  “Gods take you, worm,” she snarled as a weapon clattered upon the stone. Dirk realized it was the
mind-control dagger he had wedged between the dragon’s teeth. The dragon was no longer under his control. Dirk pulled his blade from the dark elf’s chest, and blood gushed for a moment but stopped as she used what power she had left to heal the mortal wound.

  Dirk stepped back from the dragon that now glared at him with ice-blue eyes of cold fury. The guards followed Dirk’s lead. The dark elf laughed and no longer gurgled from her wounds.

  “Now you will die,—” she said, and was bitten in half by the dragon. Her torso and legs stood for a moment and then slowly fell to the knees and stone. The dragon shook its head and sent the upper body over the castle wall.

  Everyone looked at the dragon in a defensive crouch, but the dragon looked at Dirk. No one moved. Dirk slowly sheathed his sword, and then his dagger. The dragon watched his every move.

  Dirk squared up on the dragon from ten feet away and put out his empty hands. “I have no quarrel with you, dragon. It seems that our enemies were one and the same. We have no quarrel with you.”

  The dragon-hawk reared and ruffled its large silver feathers, causing it to appear double its size. Feathers crowned the dragon’s head around two large, straight back horns. From behind a beaked snout, the dragon’s intelligent eyes looked to the dead dark elves and to Dirk. Finally the dragon lowered its gaze and turned to climb the broken wall and be away.

  “Silver dragon-hawk!” Dirk yelled.

  The creature turned from the wall slowly and regarded the assassin.

  “Where will you go? You have no home. You are defying your maker and you know not the world.”