Finally they bedded down, but Zollin couldn’t sleep. He lay staring up into the black recesses of the cavern they were in. The fire had burned low, and the embers cast only the faintest light. He was lying next to Brianna, but they hadn’t really talked about things yet. Zollin was afraid that Brianna wouldn’t understand why he wanted her to put the ring back on and he couldn’t explain it himself. He just knew he wanted her to try.
“Are you awake?” he whispered.
“Yes, I can’t sleep,” she admitted. “Was I keeping you up with my tossing and turning?”
“No, I couldn’t sleep either. I’ve been wanting to talk to you, but we haven’t had much privacy.”
“I know, and even though coming down here has been wonderful, I miss being with you. I don’t miss the cold wind, but I miss being miles away from anyone else in the mountains.”
Zollin smiled. He hadn’t thought about it when they were hunting down the dragon; there were too many other things on his mind, like finding food and staying warm. But he missed the isolation, too. He didn’t want to be alone in the mountains with Brianna forever, but there was so much less pressure in the wilderness. He didn’t feel like he needed to watch his back for assassins or have whole villages depending on him for safety.
“It was nice. Do you think things will ever be that simple again?” he asked.
“I don’t know, maybe.”
Zollin wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he felt like he had to say something about the ring. He decided his best option was to just dive right in.
“I’ve got your ring in my pack.”
“The white alzerstone ring?” she asked.
“Yes, you can have it back whenever you want it.”
“Wouldn’t it disrupt my powers?”
“I don’t know,” Zollin said truthfully. He waited while Brianna thought about things. He didn’t want to seem too pushy on the subject.
“I guess I could give it a try,” she said.
“Okay.”
Zollin sat up and began rummaging in his pack. He found the ring easily enough. It was a simple bit of jewelry, just a plain band and a small, round stone that was completely white. He could feel that it contained magical power, but even after all of his lessons with Kelvich he still couldn’t tell exactly what the white alzerstone was or why it blocked magic.
“Do you think I’ll lose my powers if I put it on?” Brianna asked.
“You mean lose them forever?” Zollin said. “No, I can’t see that happening. It doesn’t take away magical ability, it just blocks it.”
“I’m not sure I even need it anymore,” she said nervously.
“Maybe, I don’t know. I just feel better when you wear it.”
She looked at him and he saw compassion there. He had to admit in that moment he was afraid she was outgrowing him. When he had come into his magical power, it made sense that she would be attracted to him. Now that she had power of her own, he wondered if she might not feel the same way about him. She might not feel like she needed him. Even worse, she might not want him. He wasn’t sure he could live with that. He loved her, but since she had walked into that final Stepping Stone cavern and displayed powers that he had never imagined, he had been afraid.
She slipped the ring on her finger and immediately some vital part of who she was seemed to disappear. She was the same Brianna; nothing about her appearance changed, but it was as if her vitality slipped away, and she seemed to sag. She was still beautiful, but it was like looking at a beautiful painting or a grand sculpture instead of the living model; the essence of who she was had disappeared.
“I can’t do anything,” she said, holding up her hand.
“Take it off,” Zollin said sadly.
She took off the ring and laid it on the floor between them. Then she held out her hand and two small flames appeared on her palm, dancing together. Zollin smiled, but it was bittersweet. He had no reason to believe that Brianna’s rejection of the white alzerstone meant anything, but he couldn’t help but feel that it did. After a moment their eyes met, and once again Zollin felt a rift opening up between them.
“You seem different,” she said.
“You’re the one who’s different.”
“No, I’m not,” she said smiling. “I’m still Brianna from Tranaugh Shire. I’m still just a girl. I’m still in love with you.”
“But you’re not still just a girl, you’re a Fire Spirit.”
Brianna laughed quietly. Zollin thought she sounded like a fountain.
“No, I’m not,” she said. “I just have some powers because of this,” she held out the firestone that Hammert had given her.
“Take that off, too,” Zollin said.
He had a suspicion that taking off the beautiful ruby on its intricate gold chain would do nothing to dampen Brianna’s powers. The stone had awoken what was already inside her, but she didn’t need it to retain her powers.
“Okay,” she said, almost as if he were daring her to do it. “Why do I get the feeling you don’t approve of me having magical abilities?”
“I don’t disapprove of anything,” Zollin said. “I’m just anxious to learn all I can about who you’ve become.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not more powerful than you are, Zollin,” she said, and there was a note of resentment in her voice.
“Brianna, please don’t say that. I’m not jealous of you. I’m not even worried about you. I’m worried about us.”
“Why? Because you don’t think two magical people can be together?”
“No, of course not,” he said, but there was no conviction in his voice.
In fact, that was exactly what he was afraid of; he just hadn’t realized it. Brianna took off the necklace and laid it beside the ring. Zollin could tell immediately that nothing had changed. The necklace was just decoration now.
“There, are you happy?” she said.
“Try your powers,” he replied.
“I can’t. I took the necklace off.”
“I don’t think you need it anymore,” he said.
She couldn’t hide her excitement or the hope in her eyes that what he said might be true. He realized then that her powers, new and wonderful to her, were already every bit as important to her as his were to him. When he had been injured in the snow, his back broken and unable to tap into his reservoir of magic, he had wanted to die. He had felt like losing his powers was a fate worse than death. Of course, he knew logically that wasn’t true, but it also gave him a frame of reference for understanding Brianna’s hopes.
She held up her hand again, and once more twin flames danced across her hands.
“Oh, Zollin, what does this mean?”
“It means you’re a Fire Spirit,” he said in an even tone.
“But what is a Fire Spirit? I’m still human. I’m still flesh and blood. Here,” she said as she grabbed his arm and lifted his hand toward her face.
The moment his fingers touched her cheek they both felt the shock. Zollin’s magic surged out of him, mingling with the fiery might that had erupted from Brianna. They were locked together, neither able or even wanting to move. Zollin felt as if his soul were naked and laid bare before Brianna, but she didn’t reject him. Her own soul, just as vulnerable, seemed to entwine with his.
After a few intense moments their powers settled and they pulled back. They were both out of breath, and neither spoke for a time.
“See,” she told him, breaking the silence at last. “I’m still me.”
“You’re more of yourself than you’ve ever been,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I’m saying. You didn’t just become a fire spirt, you always were. Now, whatever was keeping you from being who you were meant to be is gone.”
“You make it sound so dramatic.”
“I’m not trying to,” he said.
They sat holding hands for a while, both looking down at the white alzerstone ring and the golden necklace with the bri
ght, red ruby that lay on the ground between them. Finally, Brianna broke the silence.
“What does this mean, Zollin?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“But you’ve been around other magic users before,” she said. “Is this normal?”
She didn’t really believe that it was, but she had to ask.
“No, it isn’t. With Kelvich and the wizards from the Torr, I could feel them. It was like walking past a fire. I could detect their presence, and the closer they got the more intense the feeling, but nothing like this. When I met Miriam there was a connection, but it was more one-sided, as if my magic were stirring up her own magical abilities. I’ve never felt anything like what just happened.”
They continued talking for a while, but soon both lay back down. Zollin still felt an odd sense of foreboding, but he did his best to ignore it. He was sure that Brianna wouldn’t cast him aside, and that was really all he could hope for. He couldn’t foretell the future, and so he would take each day as it came.
They slept for a few hours until the dwarves woke them up to continue the journey. A few hours later they noticed that the tunnels were sloping upward and the temperature was dropping. At midday, they stopped in a small cavern to eat, and Bahbaz announced that he and his clansmen were turning back.
“All you need to do is follow the tunnel. You’ll be out on the mountains before you know it,” Bahbaz explained. “The Great Valley isn’t far.”
“Thank you,” Zollin told him. “You’ve been a big help.”
“And a good friend,” Brianna added.
“You’ve done us a great service, wizard. Those Stepping Stones will make travel and trade much easier now. Perhaps one day you can come back and finish the job.”
“I will, I promise,” Zollin said.
“And you,” Bahbaz said as he turned to Brianna. “You are always welcome among the dwarves of the Highland Mountains.”
“Thank you,” Brianna said.
“No, it is you whom we owe thanks to. A living, breathing Fire Spirit! Who would have dreamed we would be so fortunate as to see you in the flesh?”
“I never dreamed I would have the great honor of meeting such noble dwarves.”
“We are ever at your service,” Bahbaz said.
The dwarves weren’t much for sentiment, and soon they were gone, trundling away back down the tunnels. Zollin and Brianna spent the next half hour squeezing through a very narrow tunnel. The floor rose steeply and the ceiling got lower and lower until they were finally forced to crawl the last five hundred feet. The cave entrance was hidden by a large boulder that didn’t quite cover the cave, but was close to the mountain and forced them to squeeze between the large rock and the mountain. The sky was overcast and gray, but it was dazzling to Zollin and Brianna just the same. And while the air was far from freezing, they both quickly pulled on the extra clothes they had in their packs.
“We made it,” Brianna said. She was glad to be out of the caves but shivering with cold. She wanted to let fire dance across her body and warm herself, but she had to be careful. She was immune to the fire, but her clothes weren’t. If she let the fire get too close her clothes would be singed or worse, burst into flames. Then she would have nothing to keep her warm.
“Now we just have to discover where we are.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Work us some magic,” Brianna teased.
Chapter 16
The dragon felt the wave of magic as it washed over him. He recognized it, like the roar of some dreaded beast echoing off of the mountains. The beast hadn’t moved in over two days. It lay stretched across the rocky ground, pain and the constant call of the voice in its head driving the beast toward madness. But the magic wave meant that the wizard was coming, and the dragon had no delusions about what the wizard wanted.
It rose slowly, first rolling to one side so that it could move its large foot into position on its left side. Then it rolled the other way and moved the other leg. The beast’s powerful legs could stretch out behind it, which they did when the dragon was flying or lying down. Now the legs were centered just under its powerful loins and, by raising its head and tail, the beast could stand up. The strain on the dragon’s wounded leg was excruciating, but the magic the beast felt was feeding the fear that numbed the pain and motivated the dragon to move.
The dragon stretched its wings. At first the wound under its wing caused by the arrow was simply painful, but the pain soon turned debilitating. After the first week, just holding its wing out was agonizing, and now the muscles in the beast’s chest seemed to have atrophied. The wing trembled and then drooped. It was all the dragon could do just to pull the wing back to its body.
It started walking, its head moving from side to side, looking for any sign of danger. The wicked-looking, forked tongue licked the air, but down in the valley the air was tainted with mold and dust, rotting vegetation, and the excrement of scurrying animals. The dragon wasn’t sure, but the magic seemed to be coming from the south. How the wizard could have circled around the beast without it knowing was a mystery, but the dragon continued forward. There would be no running away. The beast was too weak to attempt to flee. Its mind too bombarded by the voice that called to it to come south. It knew that if it turned back the wizard would just hunt it down. No, the dragon thought, better to face the threat head on. If the wizard killed the beast, then the suffering would end. And, wizard or no, the dragon could not let anything stop it from going south now, from seeking out the voice in its head that was speaking so powerfully now.
If the dragon’s mind hadn’t been clouded by pain and hunger, it might have recognized that the mental commands had increased in power. Something was boosting the suggestive force of the voice, but the beast cared only about surviving now. The time when it might have flown to challenge the speaker was past; now it could only obey. It had to move south, to find the voice, to submit.
* * *
“It’s that way,” Zollin said, pointing northwest. “And pretty close, too. Bahbaz was as good as his word. I can’t believe we’re still ahead of it.”
Brianna merely frowned. She knew that hunting the dragon was their task and that nothing would turn Zollin from his sense of duty, but she was afraid. They had a plan and she thought it was a good one—it had been her idea after all—but still she felt a sense of trepidation. What if the dragon somehow hurt Zollin again? She had seen him battle wizards in terrible displays of magical power, and he’d always come through victorious. With the dragon, he had managed to drive it away twice, but always he had been just a hair’s breadth from death. She wished they could turn south and leave the beast in the mountains, but she knew it wouldn’t stay there. It had ravaged the northern villages before, and there was no reason she could think of why it wouldn’t do so again.
“Let’s find a place to fight from,” she said, trying to sound braver than she felt.
They walked through the winding valley they were in, and Zollin levitated himself onto a high ridge to look for a place where they could lay their trap for the dragon.
Soon Zollin floated back down beside her, smiling. The use of his magic until recently would have drained all his strength, but since the accident that had almost killed him, he’d been invigorated by the use of his power. He seemed to be full of life and excitement.
“I found a place that will work,” he said happily. “And I also found a small stream not far away. There’s even some grass growing, and a friend of yours is there waiting for you.”
“A friend of mine?” Brianna asked.
“Yes, and she seems none the worse for her vacation in the mountains.”
“Who are you talking about?” Brianna asked.
“Lilly, of course,” Zollin said, referring to the horse that he had won in a wager with a traveling illusionist after discovering his power in Tranaugh Shire.
Lilly was an older mare, but the horse had carried Brianna to safety when they fled the small village as the Torr purs
ued Zollin. She and the horse had formed a bond, and Zollin had led the horse from Brighton’s Gate all the way to Orrock when Brianna had been captured by Branock. Brianna had ridden Lilly from Orrock all the way into the Northern Mountains, but the terrain had become too steep, and they had been forced to turn the horse loose.
“What about your horse?” Brianna asked.
“He wasn’t there. Only Lilly, but one horse is better than none. Come on, we can catch up to her soon.”
They moved quickly through the rocky canyons. They grew chilled, but the physical exercise warmed them up. Zollin lifted them up steep inclines and down sheer cliff faces with his magic. When they came to the valley where the stream ran, Brianna was surprised at how emotional seeing her old horse made her. They were afraid that Lilly might shy away after almost a month alone in the mountains, but the horse raised her head and whinnied as they approached, then trotted to meet them. They tied their packs together and laid them across Lilly’s willing withers. They had no tack, not even a rope to lead Lilly with, but she didn’t need it. It was as if she had been waiting for them, and she followed them eagerly.
It took another hour and a half before they came to a wide valley that ran straight and long before them. The valley narrowed on its southern end. Several other canyons fed into the valley and two massive mountains stood like silent sentinels to the east and west. The mountains had steep cliffs with small terraces that rose like a stair case up the mountainsides.
“This is it,” Zollin said. “I’m almost certain the dragon will come this way. We can take a position on one of the ledges up there,” he said pointing up at the mountain to his right.
“It looks perfect, but what about Lilly?”
“We’ll need to lead her out of the valley. There should be a good place to corral her somewhere.”
“How long until the dragon is here, do you think?”
The Five Kingdoms: Book 04 - Crying Havoc Page 15