They used coal to smelt and forge the metal. A few of the creatures had the task of finishing the weapons with hammer and anvil. It disappointed Arria upon discovering the creatures could not breathe fire. The dragons of history books could, but she doubted these scaly creatures were had any relationship to the ancient magnificent beasts.
While the weapons were being forged without her help, she decided to work on her own attire. She found enough iron and chromium to make herself a set of plate armor. She had to use her newly discovered magic to heat the coals enough to melt the material. Arria created the molds, forcing a few of the creatures help her. She added a bit of sverornium for strength and color. Sverornium was a rare material which bonded with all metal, adding strength and changing any metal into a light black color. All of her arrows were made from iron and sverorium, making her unique.
When she finished with her armor, she began working on her weapon alone. Enough titanium had been found for a single long sword. She created a flame bladed clay mold, pouring the molten titanium from a crucible and a small bit of sverorium into the mold. Normally titanium wouldn’t keep a sharp point, but with the added sverorium, it would sharpen as well as steel, except last longer with the stronger material. She used iron and chromium for the hilt. Arria added a few amethysts. She smiled when her flamberge completed. Arria had always wanted her own flame bladed sword. She remembered fighting against flamberges in practice with other kheshlars. It had been difficult because of the vibration the flamberge caused against a straight blade.
Once she outfitted herself with her new armor and weapon, a few of the dragon creatures became jealous. A few of them quibbled amongst themselves before approaching her.
“Givve uss the pretty,” they said.
“No,” Arria said.
“Whyy?”
“Only I will have armor.”
Arria unsheathed her flamberge, challenging the creatures. Three of them stood in front of her. They snarled when they saw the weapon. Each glanced at each other before turning, attacking her with claws extended from their scaly hands.
As they charged her, she stepped away to gain space to defend herself against their strikes. Her weapon wouldn’t cut through their claws. She had to change her attack. Arria shifted her blade slightly, cutting one of the creature’s hands off. It shrieked, Arria gritted her teeth and swung the flamberge at its neck. Its head tumbled to the ground, rolling between the others.
The remaining two pounced on her, knocking her to the ground. Her flamberge spilled from her hands, clanging as it struck dirt. At first she panicked, but she realized her armor protected her from their claws. She clenched her fist, jabbing one in the gut, striking the second with an uppercut to the snout. Arria took off her helm to see the creatures around her clearer, making sure they wouldn’t strike as well. She dropped her helm to the ground. Grabbing her flamberge, she swung it with two quick motions, decapitating both creatures.
“Anyone else dare challenge me?” she asked.
The others grew silent while continuing to make weapons. She learned with their hardened scales, armor wouldn’t be needed. Creatures brought wood into the camp. She showed them how to carve handles and create axes. She watched the pile of axes grow to hundreds. Arria smiled. She still had a long way to go.
She knew it would take everything she had to be able to march on Sudegam. There lay the difference between Arria and her sister. Arria had been willing to do whatever it took to save their mother. Arria knew Starlyn sat next to mother waiting for a cure, or out in the wilderness searching for her. She knew Starlyn had been foolish. It would take someone with greater courage to save their mother.
Thousands of creatures worked hard with each other to bring materials to the camp to sort through for forging weapons. After seeing her discipline and intolerance of failure, they worked hard to please her. When she first arrived to the dragon settlement, she couldn’t believe how many creatures she found. It became even more unbelievable to learn the camp she stood in had been only one of many. She didn’t know how the creatures kept themselves hidden from the kheshlars. Arria knew it would be at least another few weeks before enough weapons were created for all of them, but she had been willing to wait. Starlyn had always been the virtue of patience, but Arria knew how to be patient when it became required of her.
When Arria showed them how to make crossbows, she nearly gave up in the beginning when they couldn’t get them right. Bows would be much simpler to make, but she knew they wouldn’t have the time to learn accuracy with a bow. Crossbows would be much easier for them to use. After several months, they were able to learn how to create crossbows, granted, not very good ones, but they would work.
She took her armor off, putting on the white silk robe she made. She had the creatures collect the silk for her. At first Arria had to convince the creatures to quit eating the silkworms. She had been neglecting her studies of dark magic. She knew better than to let the old black book collect dust. Arria hoped there would be something in the book to help her train the creatures better, perhaps a compulsion for them to learn faster.
She found many simple spells to bring the small things back to life, like lizards, toads, and spiders. She hadn’t been sure what use it would be, unless she let loose a thousand crawling dead spiders into the city as a distraction. It would be of little use against kheshlars, perhaps against humans it could be affective. She continued reading through the pages. The writing had been in another language. It took her a long time to read only one page. It hadn’t been a language she knew, and books on learning the language were hard to come by. She had to decipher each sentence carefully.
Arria could do little more than wait. The creatures worked night and day making weapons. She needed to plan her attack on Sudegam carefully. It would have to be a surprise for her to accomplish what she needed. She already knew several spells that may save her mother, one of them she had almost completed before Starlyn’s arrow took her life.
“I will see you soon, mother,” Arria whispered.
Chapter Five
Starlyn’s party followed the tracks into the northern forest for six days. They found no more trace of Arria, but they didn’t give up on following the tracks. Even if Arria hadn’t been with them, they grew curious to see what creature left the odd prints. Starlyn knew it foolish to search for her missing sister—or as many kheshlars believed, dead—she refused to give up hope. She had a strong premonition they headed in the correct direction and it worried her.
When darkness came, an owl hooted in the forest. Starlyn stopped at a fallen stump to rest when a lone black owl flew toward her. She recognized the owl before removing a note attached to its leg.
The note was short, written in her friend Aliqua’s script.
Mother’s health failing.
Vomits comes once a day.
Cramps and fever.
Find Arria soon.
Time is short.
Something dark approaches.
Be on guard.
Starlyn trembled as she finished reading the note before crumbling it in her hands. Tears swelled in her eyes. Her mother was already weak, without the energy to move from bed. Vomiting for a kheshlar was unheard of. Starlyn grew frightened. She needed to keep her mother’s condition a secret. If another kheshlar found out … her mother’s life may be in even more danger. Infection to the race had been one of the kheshlars biggest fears. Starlyn knew better. Her mother had been sick, but it wasn’t contagious.
Starlyn burned the note. She retrieved her own parchment and quill to write.
“Do I need to return?”
She tied the note to the owl’s leg before nodding. Starlyn kissed her palm, placing it on the owl’s forehead. She silently wished for health, haste, and protection before sending the owl aloft. The owl nodded once before flapping its wings, lifting the night sky.
She stood alone for a few moments as the others traveled ahead. Starlyn gently stroked Moonlight’s neck as she collected her th
oughts. She wanted to return to her mother, to comfort her. More than anything, she wished to understand what affected her mother. She felt torn between wanting to explore for a possible cure or trying to find her sister. The problem became, she had no idea what could save her mother short of the black magic Arria had resorted to.
Black magic would be the wrong way, of that Starlyn had been sure. She wished that she knew of a pure magic of light rather than one of dark. If there were only a good magic which could heal her without a sacrifice. It seemed as if there should be. When she read the scrolls of black magic it stated everything had to have a balance. She wondered if it meant with the darkness of the magic, there would have to be a light magic to balance the dark.
She never found any information in the library about light magic. There had to be something she could do to save her mother, but would she be able to save her sister as well?
She continued ahead, joining the others. Vil’ek signaled the small party of kheshlars to settle down and be quiet. He went on ahead with Starlyn by his side.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I heard something, I think they are near,” Vil’ek said.
“How many?”
“Let’s find out,” he said.
When they peered through the forest’s edge, they found a small camp of hideous creatures. They had black scaly skin and stood on hind legs with long tails and claws.
“What are they?” she asked.
“They cannot be,” Vil’ek said.
“What?”
“They resemble dragons, from the history scrolls. Except these don’t have wings,” Vil’ek said.
“Dragons? The immortal creatures who nearly wiped out our entire race?” she asked.
“Yes … it cannot be.”
“We must stop them,” she said.
“There are fourteen.”
“We have five, they cannot be as skilled as our warriors. Look, they don’t even have weapons.”
“Dragons don’t need weapons when they spit fire,” Vil’ek said.
“Fire?” Starlyn asked.
“Yes, they are extremely powerful, we only survived by killing their offspring, their eggs. Or so the history tells, it was generations ago.”
“We have to try, or else how will we know their strength. Perhaps they’re still weak and rebuilding,” Starlyn said.
“We will have to be swift and silent.”
Starlyn was unsure as to whether violence would be the right option. She didn’t know these creatures, and neither did Vil’ek. Perhaps there could be diplomacy. Maybe they were savage beasts like they appeared, but what if they were intelligent? She knew she shouldn’t discriminate against creatures she’d never met before, especially when they’d done nothing to harm her.
“We should try talking to them,” Starlyn said.
“What? Are you mad?” Vil’ek asked.
“Let there be a chance for peace. If we attack—we are starting a war.”
“The king wouldn’t like it, but who will try and reason with them?”
“I will.” Starlyn nodded.
“Is that wise?”
“I see no other way. Be ready,” Starlyn said.
Vil’ek signaled the rest of the kheshlars to join him. He nodded, feeling the hilts of his two curved daggers at his side. Starlyn swallowed, stepping forward. Starlyn felt uneasy. She wondered if they were expecting the worst.
She stepped into the clearing, finding all of the creatures’ eyes on her. “My name is Starlyn. Who are you?”
The creatures glanced at each other, speaking in a slithery dialect amongst themselves. She shivered, watched their long barbed tongues. Before she had a chance to distinguish if they were friend or foe, they were upon her. Fourteen of them stood around her in a circle, closing in.
“Diie,” came a slithery tone.
Starlyn raised her hammer into the air in time to block a swipe from one of the creatures. Another clawed hand swiped at her. She adjusted her hammer to catch the strike. A third attacker sent her sprawling to the ground, nearly causing her to drop her hammer. They had no weapons, but with their brute strength, sharp claws, and hardened scales—it seemed they didn’t need any.
Within moments she noticed Vil’ek and the other three kheshlars joining the battle. Starlyn stood, fighting alongside her companions. The dragons outnumbered them. The creatures were strong. For several long minutes, it was all they could do to stay alive. Vil’ek became the first to break through their defense, slicing the head off of one of the creatures.
“Their scales are hard, but their necks are weak,” Vil’ek shouted.
Starlyn fought harder, her confidence rising as she battled. She used the momentum of her hammer to bash in the skull of the creature in front of her. Once they broke through their defenses, it became easier to defeat them. One fell after another until all who remained were the five kheshlars.
They won, but it had not been easy. They were worn and injured. The claws of a dragon caused painful rows of deep gashes on Starlyn’s forearm. Everyone except Vil’ek had similar injuries. They bandaged their injuries as best they could before stacking the creatures in a large pile in the center of the camp.
“If we set fire to them, any others out there will see,” Starlyn said.
“Let them come,” Vil’ek snapped.
After setting fire to the corpses, they made camp. Starlyn shifted uneasily after the battle. She worried they may be following the wrong trail to her sister. They needed more information about the creatures. She planned to search for more in the morning. News had to be brought to the king.
“Vaelmirr, can you take word to the king about these dragons?” Starlyn asked.
Vaelmirr nodded with gritted teeth. He received serious injuries battling the dragons. Starlyn ordered him to return to heal. His deer would care for him on his journey south to Sudegam. He could also warn the king that dragon creatures roamed the north before he sought treatment for his wounds.
“King Elsargast will not be happy,” Vil’ek said.
“About the dragons or because we left kheshlarn territory?” Erenyuh asked.
“Both,” Vil’ek said.
Starlyn gulped. She knew it to be true. The king had strict laws for the kheshlars. They weren’t supposed to leave kheshlarn territory without permission. The laws prohibited black magic. Also, laws directed them to avoid contact with humans. At least the third strictest law hadn’t been broken … yet. The king had many other laws as well, and until now, Starlyn hadn’t broken a single one.
Vil’ek turned to her. “What is your impression of these creatures?”
“They will be dangerous in numbers. The real question is: how many are there?” she asked.
“Their camp was small, I’m afraid the only way we can find out is if we keep searching.”
“Yes, but for how long, how far?” she asked.
“As long and far as it takes to find Arria,” Vil’ek said.
“Do you think she’s with them?”
“I have no doubt.”
“Why?” Starlyn asked.
“I can’t explain it. I just know.”
“My intuition tells me the same.”
“Besides, it is too much of a coincidence. We found her arrows near those tracks. Both were only days old.”
“I know. And then what? What if the black magic changed her as it has done to others before. Will you give up?”
“Will you?” Vil’ek asked.
She shifted from foot to foot. Starlyn refused to give up on her sister. It didn’t matter what her sister had done. Starlyn loved her—she wouldn’t give up. She knew Arria had been enthralled by its spell. Starlyn imagined her sister capable of terrible things. She wanted to find a way to return her sister. There had to be a way to bring her from the dark. Everything had its balance. The opposite of dark was light, and the opposite of evil was good. Starlyn hoped love and compassion could bring Arria from the dark.
“At least these cre
atures are primitive. They have no weapons,” Vil’ek whispered.
She turned to face him with stern eyes. “Yes, but for how long?”
Chapter Six
Arria leaned on a large jagged stone while rocking back and forth. All around her the dragon creatures worked. They had thousands of axes complete. They created more axes than dragons. She wondered how many more dragons existed. They continued to work, insisting every weapon had been needed.
Arria’s blood boiled. A cold sweat came over her. Her fists clenched as she gritted her teeth. She needed to get out of the camp, she craved excitement. Her mind flashed back to killing the dragon creatures. The first few, she snapped their necks. Severing their spinal cords, but the next few had been with her flamberge. She remembered the adrenaline—the excitement. She missed it. It had been the first time she killed an opponent, but she knew for certain it would not be the last. Arria couldn’t understand why she desired death so much. She wondered if it had been a curse the dark magic bestowed upon her, or if it had been something deep inside of her which had lay dormant until now.
She reminisced on her life as a kheshlar. There were too many rules—you must do this, you can’t do that. Her life became so much better now. She felt free. She could do as she wished, no longer did a ruler watch her every move. Life should not be constricted. Arria became her own master now, She could make her own rules.
Arria perused the black book in her hand, smiling. The book had a lot of information to absorb—but one phrase kept coming back to her.
Mestril ami kaztra.—or—Sacrifice for power.
She decided to have a sacrifice every day. Arria wanted more power. She wanted to make the kheshlars suffer for the way they treated her—especially for the way they treated her mother after they learned she had became ill. Starlyn and Arria had only been able to hide their mother’s illness for a short time. She assumed the larger or more powerful the creature—the more power it would give her. Arria would sacrifice an animal from the forest everyday, but once a fortnight, she planned to sacrifice one of the dragon creatures.
The Chronicles of Starlyn (Calthoria Chronicles Book 1) Page 3