Night Goddess (The Goddess Prophecies Book 1)

by Araya Evermore

  ‘Believe me, father, I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to. By the love of Feygriene, I’m the only one who can help her now.’

  ‘The Dragon Lord returns to us,’ a man said, and appeared from behind a curtain.

  Asaph blinked at the deer man smiling at him. He remembered the karalanth attack on the shore, but it seemed such a long time ago. He smiled and frowned at the same time, hadn’t they tried to kill them? Coronos spoke as if reading his mind.

  ‘Don’t be angry, there is much you have missed. Without their help, and the seer they brought to you, you would be long dead.’

  ‘Seer?’ Asaph raised his eyebrows. He had never seen one except at a distance in the Recollection. She had worn pale blue robes, held an air of wisdom and humility about her, and seemed to command powerful magic. Coronos had told him about seers years ago when he was a boy, but he had never thought much about them.

  ‘I vaguely remember a young-faced, white-haired woman,’ Asaph nodded. ‘Though I thought it was a dream.’

  ‘That was her. Seer Naksu,’ Triest’anth said.

  Asaph frowned and shook his head, he didn’t have time to think about seers.

  ‘Thank you all for everything you’ve done for me,’ Asaph said, hating the weakness and fatigue in his voice. ‘I’m only sorry that I won’t have time to repay you. I must leave immediately,’ As soon as he had spoken his vision wobbled and Triest’anth reached to steady him.

  ‘A dark cloud has been lifted from the world, but Coronos is right; I too feel danger growing…’ Triest’anth said glancing at the raven still perched upon the window ledge. ‘But the raven of Zanufey never lies, so you must hurry and help the slayer of the White Beast. None can travel as fast as a dragon, but first you must eat something. Otherwise you shall definitely die,’ he said with finality.

  ‘I don’t have time to eat,’ Asaph protested, struggling into his shirt.

  Coronos went to help him whilst trying to avoid his flailing arms. The karalanth took a red leather pouch from a shelf and poured the contents into the pot hanging above the hearth. He added honey and water.

  ‘The seer left this for you upon your awakening,’ Triest’anth said, dangling the empty pouch before him. ‘She said you would have much need of it. She saw some of the near future, that much I’m sure. Her magic was strong, even in these times.’

  ‘You cannot go alone, you are not strong enough. Take me with you.’ Coronos continued his protest as Asaph fumbled with his sword belt and dropped it.

  ‘But I must go alone, I cannot carry another,’ Asaph said.

  He gave up with the belt and let Coronos put it on. He reached for the steaming cup Triest’anth passed him. He took a gulp, almost scalded his throat, but continued to splutter down the contents as quickly as he could. Whatever the liquid was it was sweet and heavily spiced, and for a moment he thought his stomach would throw it back up. The sickness subsided, and hot energy flowed through his body.

  ‘That’s powerful stuff,’ he said, feeling his strength returning.

  ‘The initial strength it brings will last only for a few hours, and then you will be weak as a newborn fawn. Make sure you are somewhere safe if you cannot make it back to us in time,’ Triest’anth said, as Asaph reached for the door, Coronos trailing behind him.

  ‘You have my thanks for all you’ve done. That and much more. I will return as soon as I can,’ Asaph smiled. He didn’t know the deer man, but after all they had done for him, his sincere thanks was all he could offer.

  ‘My son, please reconsider this journey,’ Coronos said, grabbing the lantern by the door as they left the hut.

  ‘Father, you cannot come with me. It’s too dangerous, and I don’t know what I’ll find.’

  ‘Do you think I have not flown a fresh young dragon before? It was I that taught them how to carry humans on their backs,’ he said, stubborn-faced. ‘With the Orb of Air, I know how to create a strong favourable wind that will get us there in half the time or less. I’ll not leave you again,’ he crossed his arms over his chest.

  Asaph groaned. He didn’t have the energy to argue, and Coronos, once decided, would not be swayed. He actually wanted him to come along but felt sick at the thought of placing him in danger. He dropped his shoulders and sighed, beaten.

  ‘All right, all right, but I’ll take you to the shores of the mainland and no further. I daren’t travel over the ocean with another on my back. Besides, it’s easier for me to search for her alone like I did in the Shadowlands, and I may need help from afar.’

  Coronos was silent, considering.

  ‘Right then,’ he said, clapping his hands together with a grin. ‘From there I’ll scry for her, and my magic might reach you, with the orb’s help of course. What on earth have I just gotten myself into?’ He frowned. Asaph grinned.

  ‘We’ll need the thickest rope you can find, and the strongest fabric,’ Coronos said, turning to Triest’anth.

  Asaph watched the two men disappear back into the hut, only to emerge a few moments later with rope that took them both to carry, and a thick woollen sheet. Coronos dumped them down in front of Asaph, put his hands on hips and smiled.

  ‘Which way do we go?’ he asked.

  ‘The ocean lies due west. You can follow the river all the way,’ Triest’anth said.

  There came a squawk, and the raven landed nearby.

  ‘The raven will lead us, as always,’ Asaph grinned. Perhaps the bird was growing on him, though the memory of it stealing his mother’s ring still irked him.

  ‘Ah-hah,’ Coronos said with a wink. ‘Are you sure you are able to fly?’

  ‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you where I have been, and what has happened to me. I did not walk in darkness all the time,’ Asaph said, thinking of Faelsun and the Dragon Dream. He would talk to Coronos of it, but not yet.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said, urgency driving him. ‘But not here,’ he added, looking around. ‘I don’t want to cause dragon panic.’

  They made their way to a small clearing just beyond sight of the village. Suddenly he was worried. What if the dragon form did not come? Keeping his face an unreadable mask, he coughed and pretended to tighten his sword belt. Triest’anth looked on with bated breath as if ready to run should the dragon fear take him. Coronos was looking into the distance, though Asaph could tell he was being politely disinterested.

  Well, he had not done this in public before, so why not make a show of it? He smoothed his hair back, and reached both arms forward, flexing his wrists. He closed his eyes and took three big loud breaths then held in the fourth. He stilled his mind until it was flat and still like a pond. All thoughts fell away, and he calmly, confidently, turned towards the dragon within. The golden dragon lifted its massive head and opened its shining sapphire eyes. He was sucked towards those glowing orbs, and there came a flash of light.

  His body was growing, skin thickened as it spread over muscles that massed and bulged. New limbs sprouted outwards from between his shoulder blades and felt as if they would grow forever. Claws pushed forth from fingers that had become enormous. His mouth and nose grew long and powerful. Huge fangs slipped down and up in his mouth. Ancient magic flooded his body and soul as if from some great hidden reservoir.

  He continued to grow until he thought he would never stop, and then, all at once, there came stillness and quiet. With his eyes closed, he stretched out his wings and tail, feeling the power of his muscles awaken as if he had been asleep for a thousand years. Any fatigue and weakness he had felt in his human form were gone from his dragon self. He filled his lungs with the forest air and felt fire rumble in his belly.

  This was what he was, this was all he wanted to be. I am Dragon.

  Asaph opened his eyes and looked up at the starlit sky just beginning to brighten with the coming dawn. He breathed out and looked down. Far below him stood an open-mouthed Coronos and a trembling Triest’anth. Coronos clapped his hands, barked a laugh, and embraced the shaken karalanth.

&nbs
p; ‘I’m ready,’ Asaph said. Though he spoke quietly, his voice rumbled like thunder.

  Under Coronos’ direction, they secured the ropes and blanket around Asaph’s neck and back to fashion a crude but strong harness.

  ‘It will be fine,’ Coronos reassured. ‘I have done this before,’ he added indignantly under Asaph’s bemused gaze. ‘Though with much better materials,’ he added with a frown.

  Asaph gave a smoky snort and lay down upon the ground, making himself as flat as possible whilst Triest’anth pushed his father up onto his leg. Coronos grasped the ropes and hauled himself into his seat.

  ‘Phew, it’s been a while,’ he puffed, wiping the sweat from his brow. He wiggled about for a bit, securing his staff and orb and arranging himself comfortably. After a moment, he stopped moving and said magnanimously. ‘I am ready.’

  ‘Finally,’ Asaph snorted and stood up. He didn’t like Coronos on his back at all. What if he fell off? He was far less excited about the whole thing than his father seemed to be and desperate to be gone from here.

  ‘Good luck, friends,’ Triest’anth called out. ‘Woetala protect you.’

  Asaph nodded, and Coronos waved. He stretched his wings and bunched his muscles. There was no room to run forwards and launch for trees blocked his path. He would have to jump into the still air and beat his wings hard for lift. He leapt, easily clearing the trees, and beat his wings as hard as he could, feeling them fill with air that pushed him into the sky.

  Coronos yelped excitedly. Asaph laughed and circled once around an open-mouthed Triest’anth, gaining height before turning due west along the frothing Arin Flow.

  He looked for the raven, and the tiny bird darted fearlessly under his belly with a squawk. He followed as it turned southwards, and soon they were speeding low over the forests of South West Frayon. In his dragon form he easily felt when the Orb of Air drew on the Flow, and soon a strong wind was pushing them forwards.

  He flew faster now than he had ever done before, and it was glorious to feel the wind gushing under his wings. The forest below was a green blur. He glanced at the raven close beneath him, using his slipstream. The bird barely needed to flap its wings, and he could sense it was enjoying the speed as much as he was.

  ‘That was very well done,’ Coronos applauded, shouting over the wind.

  Asaph tilted his head to glance back at him, wondering if he was pleased for his father’s praise, or indignant that a human should offer such opinions on a dragon’s performance.

  ‘Now don’t tilt too far. With me on your back you are less streamlined,’ Coronos said.

  All at once they came to a jolting stop, hanging suspended above the trees with barely a move of Asaph’s great wings. Coronos fell forwards with a shriek, struggling against the rope of the harness.

  ‘Who’s flying?’ Asaph said, his voice sweet for a dragon.

  ‘Mmmph, yup, right you are,’ Coronos squeaked. ‘Just a thought, that’s all,’ he muttured, rearranging his robes and shifting himself back to his original position.

  ‘Just focus on getting that orb to create a gale in our favour.’ Asaph beat his wings and caught up with the raven, hoping Coronos would remain silent for the whole journey. But Coronos was far too excited and continued to chatter. Asaph was relieved when he didn’t offer any more advice.

  ‘You must tell me more of what happened,’ Coronos shouted. ‘Say we are moving fast. I hope the raven can manage.’

  ‘I’m sure Issa speeds it on too,’ Asaph said. He struggled not to think about her. In the exhilaration of flying, he found some solace from worry. Though it was wonderful to have another join him in the joy of flight, he wished he could focus on just the enjoyment.

  ‘Hah. I’m remembering more and more the art of the Dragon Rider,’ Coronos said. ‘Although I’ll never be young again. Still, this is a boon to an old man.’

  As they sped west, away from the growing light of dawn, the sky remained the same colour, dark and with a tinge of blue. He knew the dark moon had not long set because he could feel its power just beyond the horizon.

  ‘The dark moon has set,’ Asaph said. ‘I think her power comes from it.’

  ‘If that is true, and I think you are right, her strength will wane when it does,’ Coronos shouted back.

  He had to reach her before then, or the Maphraxies would take her. He angled his wings to as keen an angle as he dared with Coronos on his back, and reached out with his mind, searching for the familiar feel of the flame ring. He found it—a tiny pinpoint of flame-red light in the Flow, far into the distance. It drew him on faster. Coronos gripped the rope about his neck.

  There came the smell of salt and then the ocean loomed ahead, a dark blanket lying upon the land. With the slightest angle of his wings, Asaph curved down towards the shore where waves crashed upon the rocks. He slowed and made a smooth landing, pleasing himself immensely. He laid low and helped Coronos dismount and undo the ropes.

  ‘I’ll await your safe return,’ Coronos said. All the joy of flying now gone from his face, and the creases of worry replacing it. The orb in his hand was bright white in the dark. The wind it had created still blew strong, whipping Coronos’ hair about his face and tugging on his cloak.

  Asaph regarded. ‘No need to worry. I shall return soon like Triest’anth said. I’ll find her and bring her back, that’s all,’ it sounded simple. He prayed that it would be.

  He turned and leapt from the rocks, following the raven once more.

  Coronos watched the young Dragon Lord go. He looked like a bright comet shooting across the sky and was soon lost from view. How amazing it felt to fly again on the back of a dragon. He settled himself upon the rough blanket, held the orb in his lap and closed his eyes, letting the orb carry him in the Flow as he searched for danger.

  There, far out to sea, he could see the taint of the immortals like a black stain in the Flow. Within that stain, turquoise light shone, calling to the orb in his hands.

  Chapter 4

  BAELTHROM stood between the altar and the great iron ring, deep within his three-peaked mountain fortress that had first been his birthplace, then his prison, and now his stronghold. The mountains themselves were as much a part of Baelthrom as his own mind was. He stood motionless for so long that Kilkarn wondered if he had fallen asleep. The dark dwarf knew better than to interrupt his lord and so he too stood silently and as motionlessly as he could beside the closed stone door.

  Kilkarn stared out at the physically uninteresting, yet energetically fascinating, chamber. The dark energy of the Under Flow was always loaded in here, the heart of Baelthrom’s domain, and whilst he could not easily see magic (he was not a magic wielder) even he could feel it. The hairs on his arms rose and fell, the darkness swirled in ribbons around him, and every now and then light flickered. He glanced at his lord.

  Baelthrom’s giant human hands rested on his reptilian hips, demon wings folded behind him, and his scaled tail, usually flicking back and forth, was still. His legs from mid-thigh down were unarmoured, and muscles bulged beneath dark green scales. His eyes were lights that constantly changed colour, and Kilkarn knew they saw not just physical forms and light, but energy and magic.

  Right now his eyes glimmered gold from within the triangular slits of his helmet—a helmet moulded into the shape of the three mountains of Maphrax and forever hiding his face.

  Baelthrom stood more than half again taller than a man, and twice as wide. His torso and arms were covered in the same thick black, dark dwarven armour that all Maphraxies wore. The metal was mined from the Maphrax Mountains, was fire resistant and virtually indestructible. Like Baelthrom, this metal was not natural to Maioria, but came, as did he, from the Dark Rift.

  The dark dwarves had named him “Baelthrom” in their own language, and it meant “Lord of Oblivion” in reference to the Dark Rift of Oblivion from whence he came.

  Over many years, the dark dwarves had tunnelled deep into the mountains and crafted an immense network of stone corri
dors and vast halls. Rooms, prisons, torture chambers, banquet halls, kitchens, libraries filled with books on black magic and necromantic arts, Sirin Derenax laboratories, and everything in between, all existed within the black stone Mountains of Maphrax.

  The main chamber in which they stood lay deep within the tallest central mountain and was where Baelthrom spent most of his time, directing the war that swept across Maioria through the iron ring. This chamber was exactly crafted at fifty-five feet square, and so high that the ceiling could not be seen. The black stone walls sloped inwards and upwards to the tip of the mountain hundreds of feet above.

  A huge iron chain swung down from that blackness, and on its end hung an iron hoop some fifteen feet in diameter. At Baelthrom’s bidding, the iron ring could show any event in time in the past or present of Maioria, so long as it had a dark dwarf or Maphraxie presence in it. The iron ring was also called the Shadow Master, for it was through the Shadow Master that Baelthrom could communicate to all Shadow Stones.

  The powerful Shadow Stone was made from bloodstone—a blood-red stone found only in the lava chambers within the mountains. The bloodstone was not molten for it was impervious to heat—even dragon fire did not scald it. The roots of the Maphrax Mountains ran deep, so deep that Kilkarn had yet to hear reports that the miners had reached the bottom. Perhaps they stabbed into the core of Maioria herself.

  Once polished to a shine, Kilkarn would bring the bloodstones to Lord Baelthrom. His lord then worked his otherworldly magic upon them, making them powerful. When “infused” the stone cast no shadow in the light as if it were its own shadow, and so the bloodstone came to be called a Shadow Stone. If you stared into one, really looked deep into its blood-red surface, it would come alive with a dark glow and draw you into it. The Shadow Stone could be used to trap the soul of any mortal. Kilkarn had almost lost himself in those fathomless depths, despite having more knowledge about Shadow Stones than any other dark dwarf. The power-filled stones were then set in black gold also mined in the Maphrax Mountains.