He stared at the woman’s face, mesmerized, until he heard a strange sound. It reminded him of hogs rooting through slop. There was a gurgling and gnawing. Zollin increased his light; something was pushing through the body of the huge horned beast. He watched in fascinated horror as a narrow faced creature with rows of sharp, pointed teeth in its mouth, chewed its way through the larger beast. This new creature was smaller than even the snake woman, with tiny, black eyes and only slits where its nose should have been. Zollin released a stream of fire. In the middle of flame he could see the creature writhing, its screams lost in the roar of the fire. He let the fire burn and burn, until it was white hot, a roaring column only slightly bigger than the burrowing creature’s head. He let the fire cook its way through the horned beast, until it shot out into the corridor where the monsters were waiting to see what would happen.
Zollin could smell the stench of scorched hair, and burned organs, mixed with the aroma of roasting fat. He extinguished the fire and stood, filling his lungs with air and leaning against one of the stone walls. He waited to see if some other horrid beast would try to come through and get to him, but after several minutes nothing had happened. He thought about trying to look through the hole he had burned in the carcass of the horned beast, but he wouldn’t be able to see anything without sending light through and that would only stir the creatures up again.
He turned his back to the awful sight of the snake woman’s bloody face and the horned beast’s burned body, and made his way down the tunnel. He could walk easily enough, but he was tired. He reached into his bag and pulled out his canteen. It was almost empty. He was so thirsty that his hands shook as he poured the water into his mouth. It took all his strength not to drink it all and there were only a few swallows left when he stuck the cork back into the opening.
He had to cut mold off his bread before he ate it. It was so dry it felt as if it were sucking the moisture out of him. He felt only a little better when he finished the small loaf. He plodded on, hoping Gwendolyn wouldn’t be much further ahead. He wanted to stop and rest, to lie down on the floor of the tunnel and sleep. But he knew that wasn’t an option. He had to keep moving forward. He had to find the witch and stop her, before she destroyed all that he cared about and everyone he loved.
On and on he walked, the monotony of the tunnel made his mind wander. He thought of Brianna, how beautiful she was. He remembered how it felt to hold her close and to kiss her. He thought he could almost hear her laugh. It was a wonderful daydream, but it almost got him killed. He walked out of the tunnel into a huge cavern without really noticing. Somewhere in the back of his mind it registered, but he was still imagining Brianna. The huge creature that inhabited the cavern leaned down to inspect this strange, glowing creature. Zollin smelled the beast before he saw it. His mind, finally waking up from his fantasy, recoiled with fear.
He ducked low, increasing his magical light while simultaneously throwing up a magical shield around himself. The creature had only one eye, a huge dark orb with a blood red iris that dilated from the increased light. The beast was so big it made Zollin quake with fear just being so close to it. The creature had two fat lips over what looked like rigid gums with no teeth. The skin was dull red, the huge shoulders were round and the arms short. Each hand had three wide fingers. It had no legs, just a huge, round body that it dragged along with its powerful arms.
Zollin froze, completely paralyzed by fear. He didn’t know what to do. It tried to touch him, but the magical shield held it back. The beast cried out, not a roar, but rather a howl of displeasure, like a baby who had just been denied a toy. Zollin started running, he knew he couldn’t outrun the huge creature, but he hoped he might find another tunnel to hide in, or at least a crack in the cavern wall where the beast’s fat fingers couldn’t hurt him.
He looked back over his shoulder and saw the beast crying out, its head turned up toward the ceiling of the cavern which was lost in darkness. When Zollin turned to see where he was running he immediately fell to the ground. Just in front of him was a huge crevasse, too wide to jump over. He slid toward the edge of the crevasse, his hands clawing at the rocky floor to stop his momentum, but it was too late. He screamed as he slid over the edge and fell into the darkness below.
Chapter 11
Brianna rode low, keeping her body close to Selix’s long, golden neck. The air was frigid and the snow felt like tiny ice shards against her skin. She tried to control her trembling, but she didn’t have the luxury of letting fire roll over her and keep her warm. They were almost to the coast where they knew the king’s army would be unloading from the armada of ships that had ferried them up Falxis.
Brianna reached out with her mind, but Tig was silent. Normally she could communicate with the other dragons over long distances, but Tig had been injured in the fight between Ferno and the dragons controlled by King Felix. There hadn’t been time enough for Brianna to heal the smaller dragon, so she had seen to it that Tig was safe aboard one of the king’s ships. She would have stopped and healed the dragon on the way north after Zollin had left her, but she couldn’t use fire onboard the ships without destroying the craft in the process.
It was dark, the sky blocked with clouds. Selix was the first to spot the army disembarking from the ships. The soldiers were hard at work unloading the supplies they had carried from Yelsia. The wagons, which would have normally been assembled and used as a supply train, had been left in Falxis. There simply wasn’t enough time to break the wagons down and load them onto the ships, not with the witch’s mutated army on the verge of overrunning their defenses.
Quinn had seen to it that every wagon from Green Glen and the Legion from Felson was headed west to meet the soldiers and ferry the supplies back from the ships, but Brianna knew those wagons wouldn’t arrive until the next day. She wouldn’t make Tig wait. She wanted to end the small, blue dragon’s pain as soon as possible. Then she needed to solve the mystery of how King Felix had controlled Selix, Tig, and Gyia.
They flew out over the bay where most of the ships were anchored. Brianna leaned far out over Selix’s broad neck. They searched every ship but Tig wasn’t on the deck of any of them.
“Damn,” Brianna said. “We’ll have to go down and speak to someone.”
Selix didn’t respond, instead the golden dragon swooped low, looking for a place to settle that wouldn’t frighten the soldiers. Brianna had begun to lean on her constant companion more than she had ever intended to. Selix was strong, compassionate, and level headed. Although dragons didn’t mate and couldn’t understand the emotional connection Brianna shared with both Zollin and King Wilam, he had compassion for her plight. They had always been close, but since Zollin had left her, Brianna had only truly opened herself up to Selix. The golden dragon could almost finish Brianna’s sentences for her.
They landed in an open area and she slid down. She walked toward the nearest group of soldiers who were holding the sputtering torches high so they could see Selix.
“I need to speak to General Tollis,” Brianna said. “Where is he?”
“The officers are still on board the ships ma’am,” said one soldier. “At least that’s what I’ve heard.”
“Thank you,” Brianna said. “Do you know which ship?”
“The big one, it was King Felix’s flag ship. They’ll all be on board that one.”
“I appreciate your help,” she said.
Then with a wordless message she called for Selix and jumped high into the air. She seemed to rise with each summersault. The soldiers looked on in surprise. Then, Selix swooped so low the giant dragon felt the heat from their torches and Brianna landed gracefully on his back.
They flew back out over the bay. The flagship was easy to spot, even in the failing light. Brianna’s vision was greatly enhanced since her powers had grown. She could see long distances and even in the dark, her eyes picking up the dim ambient light. Out over the calm waters of the bay, the only lights came from within the ships; she could s
till see their shadowy forms floating in the harbor. Selix dropped low and Brianna jumped out into the frigid air. She flipped and twirled through the darkness before landing lightly on the command deck of the big ship.
“Whoa!” cried the officer on watch. “Who in the bloody hell are you?”
“I’m Brianna,” she said. “The one with the dragons,” she added, pointing up as Selix lit up the sky with a blast of flame that illuminated the beast’s great, golden body.”
“Oh, I remember now,” the sailor said.
“Are the officers meeting here?”
“Aye, they’re below with the dragon.”
“Tig is on board this ship?”
“The blue dragon,” the officer said. “They moved him below a few days ago. The poor thing is in a lot of pain.”
“I’m here to fix that, but we can’t fly Tig off your ship if you’ve hidden the poor thing below. Can someone take me to whoever is in charge.”
“Aye, I’ll do that,” the officer said. “Kegan, you’ve got the watch.”
“Aye, Aye, Lieutenant.”
The officer led Brianna forward, taking a lamp with a metal oil basin and a metal shade from a pole near the stairs. They went to another stairway which led into the lower decks of the ship. Just below the main deck was a staging area, essentially an empty space where the main deck could be opened up to allow larger cargo to be lowered down into the bowels of the ship. The space was well illuminated and Brianna saw several men gathered around Tig. The dragon lay on its side, but the blue head was up and he appeared to be talking.
“Tig,” Brianna said as they approached.
“Captain, this is lady Brianna,” the officer said.
“Very well, Lieutenant,” said the captain.
The officer bowed slightly and then hurried away.
“What is going on here?” Her concern for Tig was evident in her voice.
Tig growled lightly, then a mental image came to her mind of Tig calling for the men.
“We’ve been trying to understand your friend,” said General Tollis, who stepped forward and extended a hand to Brianna. “I’m afraid we aren’t having much luck.”
“I see. What are you trying to tell them?” she asked Tig.
The dragon hissed and the word how was clearly audible.
“How what?” Brianna asked.
An image flashed in her mind of Tig fighting her and Zollin.
“You want to know how the king controlled you?” she asked.
The blue head bobbed.
“I’ve been trying to tell him that we don’t know,” General Tollis said. “Some of us were with King Felix when he sent word to Ebbson Keep to try and discover how he might control your friends, but if he got word back from the scholars there, he didn’t share that information with us.”
“The master of the Torr used some sort of magic to control Bartoom, the big black dragon that attacked Orrock,” Brianna explained. “I’ve learned what happened with Selix and Tig was similar. He had control of Gyia too,” she added the last sentence for Tig’s sake.
“Gern here knew of a legend that gold was used to control dragons,” General Tollis said. “The black dragon you mentioned forced the villages in the north to produce gold, didn’t it?”
“Yes,” Brianna said. “I know gold is a powerful object for dragons, but I don’t know how a person would use it to control them.”
“I’m sorry we haven’t been much help,” the general explained. “But we’ve been trying.”
“King Wilam has sent wagons to help you move the supplies to the western pass. You’ll need to get your men moving as quickly as possible. The witch’s army will be here in a few days.”
“We’ll see that we are, my lady, or should I say, my Queen?”
“No,” Brianna said. “I’m not your Queen yet.” She looked down at Tig, not wanting to look the general in the eye. “But Wilam was given the crown. There has been no official coronation, but he and General Hausey are seeing to the defense.”
“Hausey is a good man,” Tollis said. “I’ll get his majesty’s army to him as quickly as possible.”
“Just follow the road running east along the foothills of the mountains,” Brianna told him. “In the meanwhile, I need to get Tig on land so I can use fire in the healing process.”
The army officers made their way up onto the main deck while the seamen opened the big trap doors above the staging area. Brianna went to Tig and placed her hands on the small dragon. Tig was bigger than a horse, but small as dragons went. The blue dragon’s scales were fading, and Tig’s wings were still broken. There were so many things that Brianna needed to do to heal Tig. There were cuts and bruises on the outside, a sight Brianna wasn’t used to seeing since the dragon’s scales were usually so hard that injuries didn’t normally show. When she touched Tig she was surprised by the amount of pain the small dragon was in. Tig lay still, uncomplaining, but his internal injuries were causing it agonizing pain.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be past this soon,” Brianna said.
She sent a mental image of Selix flying down and very gently lifting Tig out of the hold of the ship. The golden dragon sent her an affirmative thought and Brianna jumped out of the staging area and onto the main deck. She summersaulted through the air, twirling over the heads of the sailors who were preparing slings to lift Tig back onto the main deck. They stopped and stared at her in awe.
“What are you doing?” she asked them once she had landed.
“We’ll use the sling to hoist the dragon back on deck,” said one of the sailors.
“It’s how we got the poor beast down there,” said another sailor. “We didn’t want the dragon baking in the sun.”
“Sunlight makes them stronger,” Brianna explained. "But you couldn’t have known that. I’ll see that Tig is healed. Thank you for helping.”
The sailors nodded and as Selix swooped down toward the ship they backed quickly away from the staging area. Selix had to be careful to avoid the many ropes and sails on the ship. Brianna jumped up and then seemed to dance along the sail arms that protruded from the masts and along the taut lines which held the sails in place. She bounced and jumped from place to place until she was standing in the crows nest next to a shocked sailor with a long braid of hair that hung down his back like a rope.
“Slip me a pinker and call me salmon,” said the sailor. “That was the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been at sea more than thirty years.”
Brianna just smiled and as Selix rose up with Tig hanging limply from the big dragon’s talons, she jumped again, leaping out into midair, her arms stretched wide, and her legs rigid. Her body angled slowly, and as the sailors all gasped she plunged head first toward the dragons. At the last possible second she curled into a ball and seemed to slow her descent. Then she landed as softly as a leaf falling upon a pond in winter. Selix didn’t even seem to notice, but just kept rising up in the darkness above the ship as the wide, golden wings beat hard, buffeting the sailors on the deck of the ship with massive downdrafts of air.
They peeled away from the ship and flew south, away from the army that was busy making their landing on the beach. Selix flew for three miles and then settled in a small space between the rolling hills. The snow had turned to rain as they moved further from the mountains. It fell lightly, but the fat drops were cold. Selix set Tig down gently, nudging the little blue dragon with its golden muzzle, then took to the sky as soon as Brianna slid down onto the ground beside Tig. Brianna knew that Selix would keep watch over them as she worked, so she pulled off her clothes and set them aside so they wouldn’t be burned. Then she let flames erupt all over her body until it was as if she were nothing more than a shadow in the raging fire. She poured white hot fire onto Tig. She couldn’t explain where the power or the fire came from, but it funneled through her and poured out onto the small dragon, forming a connection between the two of them.
Brianna could feel the injuries slowly healing. Tig moaned as
the fire damped the small dragon’s pain for the first time in days. Soon, Tig was in a deep sleep. Brianna, covered in flame, forgot about the rain or the cold. She was focused completely on Tig and willing the little dragon to heal under the power of her raw, scorching flames.
Chapter 12
It was sunrise when Brianna returned to Walheta’s Gate. The small village, which was nothing more than ruins around the rebuilt feasting hall was nearly overrun with people. There were troops everywhere. Long lines of horses were being groomed. Near the hastily erected cattle pen, which was shared by sheep, goats, and a few small pigs, a man was butchering a freshly slaughtered sheep.
Smoke rose from the chimney of the inn and with it the smell of baking bread and sizzling bacon. Brianna’s stomach growled. She patted Selix on the neck and took one last look at Tig who had literally been flying circles around the golden dragon as they returned to the small settlement at the entrance to the western pass through the Walheta mountains. Brianna sent them both a mental image of the dragons hunting together, then she jumped off Selix’s back. She danced through the air and down to the ground where she landed lightly. It was still dark enough on the ground that only a few soldiers noticed her. They stared wide-eyed but she ignored them.
Inside the feasting hall she found Quinn and Mansel eating their breakfast together. There was a thick porridge, bacon, and bread. Brianna joined them and waited for Wilam to appear.
“You’re up early, your highness,” Mansel teased.
“I never went to bed,” she said.
“What were you doing all night?”
“I had to heal Tig,” she explained.
“So, the army made landfall?” Quinn asked.
“Yes,” she explained. “They should start arriving this evening.”
“Well, then, I guess the only thing left is to get busy preparing the defense,” Quinn said. “I believe the dwarves are looking for you.”
Five Kingdoms: Book 07 - Wizard Falling Page 8