“I am fine,” Olivia said. “Servant Julia is correct. We must heal our wounded before it’s too late. Take them inside, and seal the gates for now.”
Soon the group escorted the wounded inside and even dragged the bodies of their companions that fell for fear that they would rise against them. Olivia asked for water again, and she performed the ritual of healing on each flask brought to her until she had done four of the prayers. The water was passed around, and Olivia turned to Lily, who had come from the building at the news she had heard.
“Lily, find me several small stones from the garden quickly!” Olivia ordered.
“Oh, my, Lady Olivia! It is so good to see you up and about.”
“Go on now,” Olivia responded. “But, yes, it is indeed good to see you too, Lily. Now quickly, grab some others and have them help you. Time is short!”
Felix walked over to her and looked at her in awe as well. “How did you do that?” he asked, sheathing his blade and wiped his brow clean with the sleeve of his tunic.
“That, Master Ranger, was the power of Astor,” Olivia said.
“Then power your goddess has, indeed!” Felix responded. “What do you propose we do now?”
Olivia looked around and saw everyone looking at her expectantly. “We must rally to the town and protect any survivors. I know not to what foul purpose these creatures have been loosed upon us, but I will not rest till we have destroyed them or turned them all back to the Abyss from whence they came.”
One soldier came forward. “Lady Olivia,” he said, using her formal title as the daughter of the prefect, since he was one of her father’s soldiers and was unaccustomed to her being an initiate of the order. “We cannot approach the town. A great beast lies in wait there and has killed and destroyed everything in its sight.”
“What kind of beast?” Commander Fulbert asked.
One of the townspeople, whom Olivia recognized as a server at the Tannis Town Inn, spoke up. “It was a dragon beast, me lordship. Sure as day I saw it, blacker than night and bigger than a building!”
Several other townspeople spoke up, nodding in the affirmative and attesting to her truthfulness. Commander Fulbert pulled Olivia and Felix aside for a moment as the group of refugees spoke more about the beast and what they saw.
“Hand Olivia,” Fulbert said, “if they are correct, then we can’t possibly return to the town, and in fact we should start thinking of fleeing from the temple . . . Unless . . .” He looked long and hard at Olivia and gripped her arm tightly. “Unless you have some sort of power over a great drake!”
Olivia saw both men just staring at her. “I am not sure what power I could carry that could repulse a dragon, but I sense that against these foul creatures the power was great and highly effective. Against this drake they speak of, I fear it would not be enough.”
“Could they be confusing the beast that attacked you with a dragon?” asked Felix.
Fulbert turned to look at the group of soldiers and townspeople as they discussed the attack on the town, and then he turned to look back at his companions. “I don’t think that poisonous raptor could destroy entire buildings. I fear we have finally discovered the truth that our brave, but long overdue, questors were sent to discover . . . There must have been a dragon of the North here all along, or at least one that flew here. There can be no other explanation.
“Still however, that does not help us now. I do not think that after the attack by the dead that Tannis, or my own troops, what few who are left, could come close to dealing with a species of draconus tonight. Flight may be our only option!”
“Where is the Patriarch of Astor?” Felix asked. “If his hand can do this, then why is he not out front, leading the counterattack to protect the town? Commander, where are the Kesh in all this? We have been led to believe that the Kesh started this war with the draconus and awakened them from a deep slumber.”
“I have no idea, woodsman,” Commander Fulbert said, looking at Felix intensely. “My orders were to find the original group and ascertain if there was any danger to Utandra . . . or even Tannis in this matter, but the Lady Gemma was clear with my instructions on behalf of our lord, Duke Uthor. I think my mission is accomplished, and we must report this to our lordship if they are to prepare a proper response.”
“A proper response?” Felix asked, almost angrily. “There will be nothing left of Tannis if you leave now.”
“I am no coward, sir, but I don’t see how dying in Tannis will help those in Utandra—”
Olivia cut the commander off. “Quiet! Both of you! No one is tarnishing any reputation . . . at least not tonight.” She thought of her master as she said this. “We must, however, help now, dragon or no dragon—we can’t leave these people to their fate.”
Fulbert motioned with his arms, protesting. “Hand of Astor, I did not mean to imply we flee and leave the townspeople here. We take everyone that we can and move to safety. I do not feel the temple grounds would be safe against a great dragon, and we have so many here already from the town.”
“Not everyone is here,” Olivia said, looking up into the black sky, fearful of seeing the dragon approaching in flight. “My father and many other townsfolk from the west are definitely unaccounted for. We must search for them.”
“I fear your father and many others have already perished,” Fulbert said, lowering his eyes, but before she could respond Lily and a couple of other servants arrived, bearing several small river-smooth rocks from the garden grounds around the complex.
“Here you are, dear, several smooth stones, as you requested,” Lily said.
Olivia took the rocks and touched each one to her pendant, and with each touch the garden rocks glowed with a dim white light. “Now go and place a stone on the forehead of each dead, and do it quickly!” Olivia ordered.
Lily and her helpers did as they were asked, and Olivia simply shrugged at Felix and Commander Fulbert. “We have to take precautions,” she finally stated.
“As you wish, Hand of Astor,” the commander said, becoming more formal.
“You may dispense with the pleasantries, Commander,” Olivia said, and then she turned to walk towards the temple building, leaving the two men to continue their discussion.
“Where are you going?” Felix asked hesitantly.
Olivia answered without looking back, “Time to confront my master.”
Chapter 13
Family Ties
Qui Amatha felt weak, but elated at her handiwork. Her minions poured from the graveyard headed towards town, and Sivern had gone off to oversee the last of the conquest from the raid on the human settlement. It would take a few days for her to restore her powers to full strength, not only due to the evil emanations that she used to raise an army of the undead, but also due to the physical exertions she expended in destroying the town center.
She noticed that dawn would soon approach and sap more of her strength, so she sent out a telepathic call for her drone to return and report. It took the better part of half an hour before she spotted Sivern, flying to her quickly and then alighting on one of the smaller mausoleums beside her.
“You took your time, drone,” Qui Amatha said wickedly as she eyed Sivern, noting that he had several fresh new wounds but nothing that would incapacitate him.
“There is much work to be done. You called?” Sivern answered.
Qui Amatha noted the lack of flattery in the drone’s voice that she had become accustomed to, but she decided to chalk it up to the fatigue of combat and several small flesh wounds that he now carried. “Is it finished?”
“Yes, mistress,” he nodded affirmatively. “There are a last few pockets of resistance, but the town has been routed and your children have been unleashed against them. Yet again you display your power, and it demonstrates your superiority.”
“Are you sure, Sivern?” she asked him more kindly now, but attentively. “I felt a disturbance in the black void and heard sounds of battles far too long after their time.”
“And the light I saw earlier?” Qui Amatha asked.
“A mere apprentice of their pagan and ineffective religion, oh, Queen of the Damned—nothing to worry about. We will finish them last.”
“Good,” Qui Amatha answered, though inwardly she was troubled by how intense the light was and the waves of evil that emanated from the east. She half-thought that she should fly there herself and rain her black liquid acid of destruction upon the entire temple to be sure, but she did not fancy the coming dawn, and while it didn’t do her any harm, it was most unpleasant for her to tolerate, considering her long dark sleep and black nature. “See to it that it is done, and then report back to me. I return to rest and rejuvenate myself. Soon you will report to the Mother of all Dragons that I have fulfilled my duty this cycle and am ready for the coming of the Father.”
“As you command, Mighty Slayer of Men,” Sivern responded formally, returning to his flattering speech.
Qui Amatha took one last look to the east and then made a most fateful decision in that moment before she looked at Sivern. Then she leapt into the air, flapping her mighty wings as she spread them to either side.
A quick flight north allowed her to pass back over town, and she could see many fires still raging. Then she whirled to the west and started to gain altitude and momentum. Just before the edges of the town disappeared beneath her mighty body, she fancied she heard the last sounds of fear and pain coming from the humans below, and then the large black drake disappeared into the night before the coming dawn.
Julian ran next to Tybert from his villa towards the town center, despite the fact that as they approached they started to run into people who were fleeing the center proper and headed towards the outskirts of the town.
Tybert and several of his guardsmen tried to yell and warn the fleeing masses of people, but they were stricken with terror and ignored their calls of danger. Soon they could hear screams from behind them as the masses of people met the oncoming charge of the undead.
“What do we do, sir?” asked one guard as he swirled around in the darkness, jittery at every yell and scream. The group managed to stop for a moment just a stone’s throw away from the first of the burning buildings in the town’s core.
How odd, thought Julian to himself, that he could feel any measure of comfort at the light from his burning town. He didn’t want Tannis destroyed, but the flames illuminated the dark moonless night and he felt that was much more preferable than the dark, especially after what they just saw at his villa.
He just seemed to notice the guard that had asked him a question. “Yes? What did you say?” he asked as if in a daze.
“Sir!” Tybert all but shook him, grabbing his prefect by the shoulders and twirling Julian to face him. “What do we do, sir?” Tybert repeated the question.
Julian looked around. A few people now were running hither and thither, and whatever had made that god-awful sound earlier had apparently quieted down for the moment. He saw that two servants, along with several of his personal guards and, of course, Tybert, stood huddled closely together, looking at him for guidance. Julian thought for a moment and wondered how he could make his command appear beneficial to everyone and not just himself. “We should try to make for the Temple of Astor,” he finally said, looking around and wondering if they would see through his fear and façade.
“That is all the way across town, sire!” Tybert practically screamed.
“It is, I know, good Tybert, but you all heard what they were saying about my daughter upon their return from Kero and the marshlands.” At this he became the regional prefect again, looking at each person in the eye if only for a quick second and trying to assuage their fears. “They must have power enough to offer sanctuary, would they not?”
Several of the guards and both servants nodded in agreement before Tybert spoke. “And how do you propose we cross the flaming town center?”
“We form a wedge with our spearmen first”—the two men holding spears narrowed their eyes at this new plan—“then swordsmen to the side and those of us unarmed in the middle.” At this the two servants nodded in agreement, while several other soldiers shifted uncomfortably. “Then we run down the great east road, in formation, not stopping until we reach the temple. Agreed?”
There was a long, uncomfortable pause before more shouts and screams of death and fear came from close behind them to the west, followed by two people running past the group and down the road into the burning town center.
Tybert looked around, and then several guards nodded, and without a word they started trotting towards the first burning building.
Commander Fulbert organized the last of the soldiers within the temple grounds. The blasted complex was not the sort to make a good defensive position, he noted with consternation. The walls were, of course, the only thing keeping those vile creatures out, but while they were tall and thick they did not have a walkway on top. In fact, there were no crenellated towers, much less any defensive position that they could stand atop to spot the enemy.
Oh, they had managed to take one of the duke’s wagons that had not returned to Utandra and moved it to the southwest corner of the wall. Using several kitchen crates and other items, they were able to post two sentries on top to look over the wall and report what they saw from the field across the street and the town center to their west.
Several servants had mentioned to him as well the postern gate at the northwest corner of the complex, and he had posted two soldiers there as sentries in case the creatures attempted to gain access from that portal.
At the main gate he and every servant he could find looted the temple lobby proper and grabbed anything they could to barricade the iron-barred gates. They could see outside, but then that meant that the enemy could see inside as well, so they attempted to block the main entrance with furniture, books (against Lily’s constant protests), chairs, and every sundry item they could muster. He noticed some enterprising kitchen servants had hauled huge bags of wheat out to the main gate—no small walk that was, he thought, nodding to himself in agreement.
He suddenly felt a creature’s hand grab his shoulder, and he swung around, reaching for his sheathed sword as he whirled into action, only to come face-to-face with Felix. “Damn it, man! Don’t do that to me!” Fulbert said, trying not to drop his sword that he had just so hastily pulled from its scabbard.
“Sorry, Commander! I’ll try to give you a heads up next time before I approach you, especially in a situation like this one,” Felix said.
“Not to worry, master woodsman,” Fulbert said, poking his sword back into its resting place upon his belt. “But damn, you’re quiet! Where did you learn to do that?”
“Do what?” Felix asked.
“Walk like a ghost!” the commander answered.
“Oh, that. Well, yes, we learn to be silent in the wild. The beasts and creatures of nature are endowed with the most remarkable hearing abilities, and sometimes it is best if one does the utmost to remain unseen . . . if that is at all possible with some of these extremely talented species.”
“Well, you’ve convinced me. Now what did you want? Is everything alright with the servants?” Fulbert said, looking around the courtyard.
“All is fine. I just wanted to tell you that I was planning on slipping out and doing a little scouting myself, but I’ll return within the half hour.”
“And how in Agon’s name do you plan on doing that with those things out there?”
“Just leave that to me. I work better alone. Just keep Hand Olivia here until I get back, and let her know I will bring information so we can best determine what to do next.”
“Fine. But if we decide to make a break for it, and you’re not back by then, know that we will not wait for
you. We will leave, and we will do it immediately.”
“Just tell her. Something tells me that she has no plans to leave, and I seriously doubt you could get anyone else to follow you out those gates without her accompanying you, and that includes your soldiers!”
Commander Fulbert thought this one over for a moment before responding, “Perhaps you’re right, but if those creatures show up in force at the front gate, either she uses her divine magic once more on them or she shows us a way out of here. I think the people may feel differently if we are beset yet again, but go ahead and scout around. I know I’d be grateful for any news as well.”
Fulbert watched as Felix nodded and then headed towards the walled garden at the back of the compound. Whatever you’re going to do, Hand Olivia, do it quickly! he thought to himself as he watched the tall, lean ranger disappear around the temple building. Do it quickly indeed!
The formation did not last long. Several people ran faster than they were trotting and headlong into a group of two dozen of the dead creatures just on the other side of the main thoroughfare that ran north-south in the middle of town.
Several were hacked down in an eerie silence, and the two leading spearmen had to use their spears almost horizontally to have any effect against the skeletal bodies of most of the undead creatures. The swordsmen on either side were quickly beset, and panic started to set in.
“To the temple now!” yelled Tybert, but as he ran with a lone guard past the spearmen, several more shambling undead flanked them, coming from the shadows of half-destroyed buildings along their route.
One of the servants who were running alongside Julian, in what he thought was the relatively protected center of the formation, screamed as a rusty sword suddenly protruded from the man’s chest. This knocked Julian backwards; he scrambled, backing away, and fell over one of the swordsmen’s feet.
Julian rolled in the dirty street to avoid a hacking downward thrust by one creature that came around the servants from the rear. He watched in horror as his kitchen servant fell lifeless to the ground, blood spurting from his gaping chest wound.
The Black Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book (Dragon Series 1) Page 15