“Do not step out of the circle,” Bren instructed.
“Why? What would happen?” Asrion asked.
“I am not sure, but I would not want to find out either. No one knows if this is an illusion made by the Amalease stone or a reality,” Bren answered.
“Stop asking fool questions and just do as you are told,” Morgoran chided. “In fact, all of you hold your tongues and let me do all the talking.”
In the distance, several blue and red dragons appeared, encircling the platform. They all flew in and perched on the cloud surface just outside of the circle of runes, and loomed. Directly in front of the Amalease stone, a golden platform rose out of the cloud. A few moments later, a golden dragon appeared on the platform. It didn’t fly in like the others. It simply appeared.
In a booming voice, the golden dragon spoke. “You wish to enter the red city of Draegodor?”
“Aye, we do,” Morgoran answered.
“Silence, Wielder, I am addressing the dragon knight in your party.”
“We do, Lord Dragon. This is Morgoran of the Vale and his party.”
“I recognize Morgoran of the Vale, Knight of Amadace.” The golden dragon fixed his gaze upon Morgoran. “I see our sister, the Silver Drake, has released you from your curse. Your eyes are clear no longer.” Morgoran nodded. “I assume she has her reasons for your release, so I will not question her. I am inclined to deny your entry into my city, Wielder. Your transgressions on dragonkind are well known to us. You failed to stop the theft of clutches of dragon eggs by your brother, Toborne, as well as his theft of offspring of the live birth broods. You are held partially responsible, by the dragons of this city, for the abominations created from them. You even bring one now to this city.” The blue and red dragons growled and moved back and forth restlessly.
“I’m not going to try to convince you that I tried with all my being to stop Toborne, but I did. I’m not going to defend his actions. The Silver Drake cursed me because I got in her way. Aye, I stopped her from killing Toborne outright, it’s true. And, because he lived, if you call the way he was left alive living, he went on to create abominations in this world afterward. All these accusations are true. However, I am now back. I am livid about what has been done to your kind, and with whatever breath I have left, I pledge to you that I will stop him.”
“Even if you must kill him this time?”
“Even if I have to kill him, aye.”
“I will hold you to your word, Wielder. You must do whatever is necessary to stop him.”
“Aye, I just said as much,” Morgoran spouted.
The dragon roared, and Kaxen was sure it was going to eat Morgoran for that last bit of sarcasm, but it didn’t. It faded away, and the other dragons flew back the way they came. The Amalease stone began to pulsate again and change color from blue to green. The walls returned, and the stone went dark.
“We are back where we started,” Asrion stated. “We were denied entrance.”
“I don’t think so. Look.” Aurelie pointed to the doorway—a distinct red hue filtered through it. Kaxen and Asrion raced to the doorway and peered out into a great hall. The walls seemed impossibly high. A warm light glowed against the red stone of the hall, and at once, Kaxen understood why it was called the red city. Dragon knights milled around what Kaxen supposed was some kind of marketplace. Two large red dragons sat like relaxing house cats, watching the activity. The walls of the great hall were carved smooth with what Kaxen supposed to be dragonian runes and picturesque friezes chiseled into them. Massive columns held up the ceiling in intervals. They were also adorned with runes, with dragon knights and dragon statues carved in friezes.
“It’s beautiful!” Aurelie said as she exited the Amalease stone chamber. “I never imagined it this way.”
Bren took a deep, appreciative breath. “It is breathtaking. I feel that way every time I come here. You never quite get used to the beauty and majesty of the red city, and this is just the main hall.”
“Yes, yes, the dwarves and dragons carved some pretty stone. Don’t forget why we are here. This isn’t a sightseeing trip,” Morgoran said.
Kaxen was not sure why the anger welled up inside of him, filling him up like water in a vessel, but he did little to suppress it. Morgoran’s words set something off in him. “Enough, Morgoran. You may have traveled the world and seen it all, but you need to stop and realize not everyone has had that privilege.” As he said the words, Kaxen could feel his temper getting stronger, and he started to draw in essence. He suddenly felt out of control, like falling from a cliff with nothing to grab ahold of as he descended. He couldn’t catch his breath.
“Not here, my lord,” Melias said as he reached for Kaxen. “Asrion, I need your help.”
“Aye, what do you need me to do?” Asrion obliged.
“Hold on,” Melias said. He put his hands over Kaxen’s head and whispered a few words. Kaxen convulsed, and Melias took the brunt of the essence in the form of a severe lightning shock. He fell to the ground. Asrion understood what he needed to do. He used his abilities to heal the injured Melias.
“We need to get him to the dragon priests of Fawlsbane Vex. His essence sickness is getting worse. Soon he will accidently kill someone or hurt himself.” The tone in Morgoran’s voice was even and emotionless, almost cold.
Aurelie tried to go to Kaxen, but Melias stood and blocked her. “Give him a moment, mistress. Don’t get too close.”
Kaxen felt ashamed, and he was glad Melias kept Aurelie away.
A few moments passed while the party waited for Kaxen and Melias to recover. A dragon knight dressed in silver-scaled armor approached, flanked by two more knights, one dressed in black-scaled armor and the other in green-scaled armor.
“Welcome to Draegodor,” the knight in silver began. “I am Steban, First Knight of Charna. I have been instructed to meet and escort you to the royal chambers.”
Morgoran bowed. “We would be honored.” He looked to Bren, who nodded back to him. “If it pleases you, my companions here have other duties.” He gestured at Bren and Aurelie.
“Of course. Welcome home, Bren, First of Amadalea. You may move around Draegodor freely, as usual.”
Bren bowed slightly to Steban before he and Aurelie walked away from the group.
“This way,” Steban motioned as he began walking, the two dragon knights at his side.
Morgoran stepped in line behind Steban and waved for the others to follow with a quick jerk of his hand with his wrist at about waist high.
Steban led the party to a large opening at the east end of the main hall. At first, it appeared to Kaxen that they were heading directly for a solid wall, but as they moved closer, an opening appeared out of the red granite and marble. It was carved to give the illusion of being a solid wall until one was right upon it. Kaxen found the illusion to be almost magical, and he nudged Asrion, who nodded his approval.
The next chamber was darkened in both light and hue. The walls went from a bright crimson with marbled white to a solid dark, blood red. Steban seemed to pick up the pace through this chamber for some reason. The dark red chamber connected to a network of large hallways with mosaics and tapestries covering the walls. Kaxen expected to see dragons depicted but was surprised to see everything from fair maidens to battle scenes illustrated with no dragons at all.
Finally, they reached a set of double doors made out of white marble with two dragons entwined on both doors, their tails making up the middle seam. Kaxen wondered how much the doors weighed—they had to be the length of thirty or more full grown men, head to feet. Steban pushed open the doors effortlessly. They made absolutely no sound; they swiveled open as if they were cushioned on air.
The throne room was just as large as the main hall. At one end of the chamber, the actual thrones glistened in the light coming from somewhere up above, outlining only the king and queen’s thrones. They were much smaller than Kaxen would have thought. In fact, as they approached, Kaxen realized they were hum
an-sized and not dragon-sized. The thrones were puzzling enough, but as they walked into the middle of the chamber, Kaxen saw rows of bench seats lining each side of the chamber with each one elevated behind and slightly above the next. They were not the bench seats of dragonkind. They gave the impression they were not much bigger than human-sized.
Steban led them to a giant mosaic on the floor immediately in front of the throne. “Wait here and I will see if the king is ready to receive you.” He exited through a side entrance and disappeared as if he walked through a wall. A few moments later, he returned. “The king is on his way. Feel free to have a seat in the council enclave if you are wary.” He motioned to the bench seats. Kaxen and Asrion decided to sit down and began moving for the seats when Kaxen noticed Morgoran giving them both a stern stare and slightly shaking his head. Kaxen grabbed Asrion by the back of his robe and yanked him back.
“What?” Asrion asked, clearly irritated. Kaxen pointed to Morgoran, who shook his head at Asrion also. “Oh,” he said.
They rejoined Morgoran and Melias on the mosaic. Kaxen looked down at the mosaic, trying to figure out what it was. After a time, he realized it was a white dragon with its back turned, climbing up a mountain. Perhaps it was depicting the discovery of Draegodor, he postulated.
“His Excellency, the protector of Draegodor, King Amarantus the Gold,” Steban called out from beside them. A tall man in golden robes and a long, flowing white cape glided into the royal chambers. Kaxen and Asrion took a knee, following the lead of Morgoran and Melias. Kaxen was confused. This was a man, not a dragon.
The king was about to sit on his throne when he spotted Morgoran. He looked confused for a moment as if he was trying to make sure that he was actually seeing whom he thought he was seeing. “Morgoran? Morgoran, is that you, my old friend?” He moved with alarming speed to embrace Morgoran, who stood upright, by the shoulders. “It is you. De Silva-Lora has released your curse?”
“Aye, Your Grace, the Silver Drake has released me.” Morgoran knew the king referred to him as a friend out of politeness, and that he was over-acting the part. As a matter of fact, the king would probably not have hesitated to burn Morgoran to a crisp if he appeared before him alone.
Kaxen had seen Sylvalora transform into the Silver Drake, but until he heard the king say silver drake in his native tongue, he never put it all together. Sylvalora simply meant silver drake in dragon speech!
“It is good to see you, old friend.” The king embraced Morgoran again. He glimpsed Kaxen and the others. “You have brought friends.”
“Aye, Your Grace, this is Asrion, Cleric of Loracia.”
“Your Grace.” Asrion bowed.
“Melias, Monk of Fawlsbane Vex.”
“Your Grace.” Melias bowed. The king narrowed his eyes at Melias and then looked directly at Kaxen. In his eyes, Kaxen thought he could see flecks of gold and silver. His pupils appeared slightly elongated, like that of a cat.
“Kaxen of Brookhaven,” Morgoran indicated.
“Your Grace.” Kaxen bowed.
“Rise, Kaxen of Brookhaven,” the king said. He cupped Kaxen’s chin in his hand. At the king’s touch, Kaxen saw a huge, magnificent, golden dragon in flight for a moment.
“You are a wielder, young Kaxen, and what’s more is you have a terrible case of essence sickness.”
“I feel fine, Your Grace.”
“How?” the king asked. “You should be senseless as a loon, or at least you should be resting in bed.”
“Your Grace,” Morgoran began, “that is one of the reasons we are here. I had hoped to present him to your ancient clerics.”
Amarantus let go of Kaxen’s face. “Your clerics are not up to the task?” He looked at Asrion.
“Sadly, no, Your Grace. Much has been . . . well . . . forgotten in the realms of men.”
The king milled around for a moment while he thought. He stopped momentarily to speak but instead milled some more.
“Your Grace?” Morgoran spoke.
“I am not sure if dragonkind is your answer.” He pointed a long finger at Melias. “You are harboring a Krullen Thul, and I am contemplating whether I should do something about it or not.”
Morgoran’s expression went blank. “Yes, Your Grace, I am aware of it. Surely you remember Melias.”
“I do not,” the king said. He raised his hand, made a gesture, and Melias began to contort and change.
“No, Your Grace, these men are not aware of the story. They do not yet understand him.”
The king stopped, and Melias reverted back into the familiar monk. “If I cannot see him myself, then tell me, Morgoran, what brood did you bastardize to create him? By the markings I did see, he is obviously not typical Krullen Thul.”
“I must proceed delicately here, Your Grace. He is your daughter’s brood.”
The king let out a sigh. “Aye, I know this to be true. She let you do it, didn’t she?” He stumbled to his throne.
“Your Grace, I would be happy to explain it all to you,” Morgoran pleaded.
Guards rushed to the king’s side, but he waved them away. The king regained his footing, took a minute to steady himself, and then went to Melias. He reached up and moved back the hood covering his head and looked upon his face. “You and Toborne took too many liberties with my kind, Morgoran, and I should execute you for it.” The king’s mood turned somber.
Kaxen looked at Asrion, who returned his surprised gaze.
“We certainly did, Your Grace, but remember, in my defense, I was not trying to create something evil. I was working with my brother to help the dragons, or so I thought.”
The king nodded and put his hand on Morgoran’s shoulder while he still looked down at the floor. “Did she suffer?”
“No, Your Grace. I made certain of that.” He paused for a moment. “Your Grace had I not been cursed, I would have come to Draegodor. I would have—”
“What did she ask of you?”
“Your Grace?”
“What? Help me to understand. What did she ask of you?”
Morgoran began to become irritated. “That is between her and me. I will spare you the details.”
The king spun around and pointed to Kaxen and Asrion. “If they do not know the meaning of all this, then tell them. Tell them and tell me. What did she ask of you?”
Morgoran became precipitously irate. “All right. She asked me to end it for her. She asked me to save her son who had already died. She didn’t know, Your Grace, she didn’t know he was already dead. It was the only way. I took the only available dragon egg presented to me. It was one stolen from the Brae brood, and I used Toborne’s method. I created the Brae Daun. He is not Krullen Thul, Toborne’s creation. He is Brae Daun. He is your grandson of the Daun brood. It was the only way.”
“She asked this of you?”
“Aye, she did. And I showed him to her, and she named him Melias before she died.”
King Amarantus did not look pleased. He stood only inches from Morgoran’s face. “You knew all this, and you dared to bring him in front of me?”
“Aye, Your Grace, I did. What I did not anticipate was you exposing him like this. I had foreseen that we would talk about it in private. Apparently, that vision was wrong as well. Melias is the perfect protector for Kaxen as he can detect Dramyds from far away. He can sniff out Krullen Thul even when they are in disguise.”
The king held up his hand to stop Morgoran. “My clerics cannot help you. Kaxen is too far gone with the essence sickness.”
“I feel fine, though,” Kaxen spoke up. He was still reeling from the revelations he had just heard, but he wanted to make sure they understood that he was not seriously ill.
The dragon king looked at Kaxen gravely. “It isn’t an illness of the body, I am afraid. What you have is a magical affliction of the mind, brought on by using essence. Wielders of old cured it in the young early in the training. By this rigorous training, the young apprentices built up a tolerance to it. But you,” he shook his
head, “are of sufficient age to be of concern.”
Melias, who had wisely remained silent, spoke. “Your Grace, perhaps the elves of the Great Forest could help. They are skilled in such matters since they use a nature-based form of essence wielding. They may be able to cure the boy.”
“Aye,” Amarantus began, “I do believe you are correct.” He avoided looking directly at Melias. “I could send you there. This chamber is the same enchanted stone used to make Lora Daine. No one can access it but me, and certainly not in this form.” The king began to change and transform. “I wish you to be from my sight as soon as possible.” In moments, he filled the chamber from top to bottom as a great golden dragon.
“Wait a moment, Your Grace,” Morgoran stated, now clearly alarmed. “We have others in our party that are not with us. I know you are upset with me in particular, but we need to think this through. Sildariel may not be too happy to see us either.”
“Why should she balk at your visit, Wielder?”
Morgoran looked helplessly at Kaxen. “I am sorry for this, my lad.” Kaxen could feel essence being drawn. Why was Morgoran concerned for him?
“You dare draw essence here, Morgoran Cleareyes?”
“As you can see, Your Grace, my eyes are not clear anymore!” He hurled what appeared to be a huge magical net at the king, and it covered the dragon and then disappeared—the great dragon was frozen in place. “Listen to me, great dragon. The boy must not go to the woodland realm. I have foreseen that his dreams haunt him of a wood elf maiden.” He glanced at Kaxen. Finally, Kaxen understood. Morgoran knew about the girl in his dreams. The wielder had foreseen something.
The dragon king easily broke free of the restraint Morgoran had cast upon him. “So much the better,” he roared. “Your predictions so far have been less than concerning to me,” he said with fire billowing afterward out into the upper chambers from his great maw.
Morgoran grabbed Asrion and Kaxen and turned them around. “Run for the doors!” Melias did not move.
The king spoke in a great booming voice. “Those doors will close!” The doors slammed shut. “I should kill you for your crimes to my kind and drawing essence against me, but I made a promise to de Silva-Lora long ago. Be gone from my realm!”
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