Five Kingdoms: Book 07 - Wizard Falling

by Toby Neighbors

  “For me?”

  “Yes,” Quinn said. “The one with the curly beard had an idea that you could help them.”

  “Okay.”

  She finished her breakfast and when Wilam appeared she made her way to his side.

  “Give us a moment,” he told his advisors. Once they stepped away he looked at Brianna. “Did you find your wounded dragon?”

  “Yes, Tig is fine now. That brings us to nine dragons in the pride.”

  “Good,” Willam said. “I’ve spoken with the dwarves. They’ll be making a stand between the eastern and western passes. They want your help preparing.”

  “And what about you? Where will you be?”

  “General Hausey is going to be taking the cavalry out soon, probably in a few hours. They want to get a lay of the land and begin planning their attacks.”

  “I should be going with them.”

  “There’s no need for that. Send a couple of the dragons so that you can see what the cavalry is planning. You can join them once you’ve helped Bloc see that the defensive works are ready.”

  “Alright,” Brianna said. “What did you find out about how your father was controlling the dragons?”

  “Nothing of importance,” he said, but he glanced down as he said it and Brianna felt a shiver run down her back.

  “You learned nothing?”

  “No, Gyia had no idea why the dragons were forced to obey the voice in their minds.”

  “So they heard someone giving them orders?”

  “Yes,” he said. “It’s just not clear who was doing it or how. We’ll have to look into it after things settle a bit here. We’re running out of time.”

  “I know that time is short, but what do we do if somehow the witch takes control of the pride? Don’t you thinking solving this mystery is important?”

  “Of course I do,” he snapped. “I’m doing everything I can right now.”

  “I’m not trying to make you angry. I just want to help.”

  “Then help the dwarves today. That is the most urgent matter.”

  “Fine,” she said.

  She walked away from him, but he seemed relieved to be rid of her. Brianna stopped and pretended to speak with Quinn before leaving the feasting hall.

  “Pretend you’re talking to me,” she told him.

  “I can only pretend?” he asked. “I can’t actually talk to you.”

  “I’m keeping an eye on King Wilam.”

  “Why?”

  “I think he’s hiding something from me.”

  “That’s not unusual for a king,” Quinn said. “Even if you are his betrothed.”

  “It’s about the dragons,” Brianna said, noting that Wilam seemed much more relaxed around his aides and advisors than he had around her. She couldn’t help but wonder if his attitude stemmed from her reluctance to marry him. He was strong but sensitive, and Brianna thought it was entirely possible she had hurt his feelings. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something else, something more sinister that just his spurned love. In fact he had been the one who had chosen to wait. It had been his decision after all. And he hadn’t seemed cold to her the day after his proposal that they marry right away, but now he was acting funny. She got the distinct impression that he wasn’t telling her everything.

  “I know that a king always has a lot on his mind and I’m sure everyone here is pulling Wilam in different directions. But I would think that anything to do with the dragons would be my business, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “I would,” Quinn said. “But then I’m not a king.”

  “I wish Zollin was here,” she said, without really thinking about what she was saying or who she was saying it to.

  The pain in Quinn’s eyes was unmistakable.

  “Oh, Quinn, I’m so sorry.”

  “No,” he said, raising a hand. “You are doing what you have to do, we all are. And I think we all wish Zollin were here.”

  “It wasn’t fair the way I treated him,” she admitted. “I tried to take it back, but he wouldn’t have it.”

  “He’s stubborn, but I guess he got that from me.”

  “He was being selfless as always, but I can’t help but wonder if he would have gone off to fight the witch alone if I hadn’t hurt him so badly.”

  “He made the only decision he could,” Quinn said. “I wasn’t there to help him and we couldn’t spare you both, not if we’re going to hold back the witch’s army.”

  “You must be proud of him.”

  “I am, but I’m worried too.”

  “We all are.”

  “If I survive this, I’ll have to go south and look for him.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Brianna said.

  “No, dear, your place is here, with King Wilam. Besides, there really isn’t much hope of finding Zollin, or of my surviving the war.”

  “You can’t talk like that.”

  “It’s just the truth. I’m getting old. I’m not as fast or as strong as I used to be. That’s just part of life. My son is sacrificing for the good of Yelsia and the Five Kingdoms. We must do the same.”

  Quinn saw the tears in Brianna’s eyes, but she dashed them away and hugged him. She had forgotten, at least for that moment, her frustration with Wilam.

  “Don’t do anything foolish,” she said. “Promise me that. I’ve made my own decisions and I’ll live with them, no matter how much I regret what I’ve done. But I want you and Mansel to be part of my life, always.”

  “You’re a good girl,” Quinn said. “Forget this business with Wilam and do what you can to help the dwarves. There’s nothing more any of us can do but give our best effort to whatever task lies before us in the days ahead. Who knows, perhaps Zollin will defeat the witch and we won’t have to fight her evil army.”

  “Oh, I wish that were true.”

  “Me too.”

  Then he moved away, going to get his tools and finding something he could help with. Brianna followed his example and went outside looking for the dwarves. Bloc, Jute, and Hammert had stayed in the Feasting Hall, bunking in rooms Quinn had set up for them. But the other dwarves had camped further up in the mountains, somewhere between the village and the snow covered peaks.

  She took long strides, letting the exercise push away the fatigue of missing a night’s sleep. She had a long, heavy cloak on, but she stretched her arms, shoulders, and neck as she walked. With her stomach full and her body warm she wanted nothing more than to find a good place to rest, but there was no time for rest.

  She walked for nearly half an hour before she spotted the dwarves. They were already marching east. She hurried to catch up with them. They walked along the angled edges of the mountains as easily as she might walk through a meadow of wild flowers. The protruding boulders and tall evergreen trees were no obstacles to the dwarves. Brianna struggled to keep pace most of the time and almost called for one of the dragons to come and help her, but finally she caught up with Bloc who was at the head of the long column of dwarves, with Jute, Hammert, and Babaz.

  “Ah, I was hoping you would find us,” said Bloc.

  “I’m sorry I got such a late start,” Brianna said.

  “Not to worry, we dwarves are early risers but slow movers. I guessed you’d find us on the trail.”

  “What are we going to do?” she asked.

  “We’ve been given the task of setting up defensive positions along the foothills between the passes.”

  “And you need me to do what?”

  “Legend has it that Fire Spirits formed many of the tunnels and caverns under the mountains. Babaz seems to think that you might be able to use your power to carve trenches into the hills. Of course we can do that, but perhaps you can do it faster.”

  “I can,” Brianna said, seeing the wisdom of the plan. “Tell me what you want?”

  “Let’s start here,” Bloc said.

  He called a halt to the march. They were on a rather steep hill and he outlined his plan.

  “Fig
hting from a higher position is always best. The enemy must climb their way up to our position, while we sit and wait. They’ll be tired, we’ll have the momentum, and gravity will be on our side. But, it would make our position much stronger if we had a flat area to fight from. I was thinking you could carve out a spot in the side of the steepest hills. That way we could fight from a strong position, plus, if you hollow out a spot in the hills, we could keep the enemy from flanking us.”

  “Basically you want a hole in the side of the hill?”

  “That’s right, and if you’re up to it, make the space below that hole a little more cliff like.”

  “So that it’s flat and even harder to climb?”

  “Exactly. Imagine it being like the walls of a castle. The enemy would face a vertical obstacle while we would have the solid, flat surface to fight from.”

  “I think I can do that,” Brianna said.

  She moved away from Bloc and the other dwarves. Babaz was beaming with pride as he watched Brianna pour intense heat into the hillside. The thin grass caught flame and then just as quickly, dissolved into ash. The dirt glowed red, then began to run down around Brianna’s feet. She dove into the side of the red hot ground like a swimmer.

  “What in the forges of the gods just happened?” Bloc asked.

  “She’s tunneling into the hills,” Babaz said.

  “I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Hammert.

  “We saw her near one of the molten pools under the stepping stones,” Babaz said. “It’s really quite miraculous. She’s impervious to the heat.”

  “She would have to be to live with dragons,” Jute said.

  Brianna came bursting back out of the hillside, leaving a huge, gaping hole in the side of the hill. The molten rock came pouring out and she molded the thick liquid until it formed an almost vertical cliff nearly twenty feet high that led up to the newly formed cave. The wet ground steamed in the cold morning air around her. Brianna was covered with dancing flames, her clothes had melted away but the flames protected her modestly.

  “I would give this area some time to cool,” she said.

  The dwarves gathered as near as they could, staring into the opening. The cave was essentially a large room made mostly from solid rock. There were a few places were clay and dirt was visible, mainly around the edges.

  “It’s perfect,” said Bloc.

  “You honor us with your gifts, lass,” said Hammert.

  “Thank you,” Brianna said. “I can push on ahead and make more of these,” she volunteered. I’ve already called for help.”

  “Help from whom?” Bloc asked.

  “I’ll let one of the dragons take me on ahead. I can travel faster that way and you and your clansmen can follow at your own pace.”

  “It’s a good plan,” Bloc said. “We owe you our thanks.”

  “Your friendship is all I desire,” Brianna said. “It feels good to be helpful.”

  Chapter 13

  Zollin caught himself almost immediately. The darkness of the cavern seemed to pale in comparison to the darkness down in the crevasse. Zollin had had no idea there could be different shades of black, but perhaps the color wasn't what made the crevasse so much darker. Zollin had felt fear almost the entire time he’d been in the abyss. He’d been afraid when he fought the great black dragon, and when his back had been broken in his fall off of the mountain, but this fear was different. It was the deep seated, irrational fear that he remembered from his childhood. He was afraid now, hovering in the darkness, tamping down on the magical light that emanated from his body, and hoping he wouldn’t attract any more hideous monsters. That fear was almost tangible, it seemed to cling to him, to want to pull him down into the gaping hole.

  He forced his magic to lift him back up toward the huge cavern where the giant creature howled. He extinguished his magical light and slipped over the side. He lay panting in the darkness, as much from fear as from the physical exertion. He tried to see the great beast, whatever it was, but it was too dark. The wailing of the creature continued and Zollin did his best to see if perhaps the sound was getting closer, but the wail echoed off the rock walls and ceiling of the cavern so that it became impossible to discern if the beast was moving closer or not. He hoped it couldn’t see him and maybe it knew better than to move too close to the jagged crevasse.

  Terror seized Zollin and he instinctively raised his magical shield around his body. Every instinct told him to run, to get away, to flee, but he couldn’t see where to go. The last thing he needed was to go running off in the darkness and getting hurt. Then he felt it, the hot breath of the great one eyed beast rolled across him.

  Zollin let his magical light glow brighter than he had since coming into the abyss. The yowling creature bent over him, its thick tongue lolling out of the side of its mouth. The blood red gums were only a few feet away from him. Zollin rolled away from the behemoth and fell into the crevasse again. His heart was pounding hard in his chest as he levitated up and onto the wall of the crack, just below the surface of the cavern. He gripped the wall tightly, trying to slow his breathing, then suddenly he felt a giant hand grabbing hold of him. He raised his magical shield, but he was too late, the powerful spell kept the giant creature from crushing him, but Zollin was held fast in the monster’s grip.

  The behemoth bellowed again, but this time it was a cry of success. Zollin saw the giant maw open and knew instinctively the creature was raising its three fingered hand to its mouth. He waited until he felt the hot breath on his face again, then he lashed out with a powerful blast of magical energy fuelled by his anger and fear. Thick bolts of blue energy shot out and raced across the beast’s huge eye.

  It’s grip disappeared and Zollin fell. He wasn’t very high off the ground, only about thirty feet and in a split second, before he had time to slow his descent, he hit the ground feet first. He fell onto his back, his hip ablaze with pain. He knew he needed to run, to get as far from the giant creature as he could, but the pain was almost more than he could bear. He felt himself drifting toward unconsciousness and so he forced magic to flow into his hip, the same joint that had been wounded in his fight with the leffers when Gwendolyn had unleashed her evil magic on the Five Kingdoms. He blocked the pain and rolled to his knees. He was surprised that nothing else was hurt. He could have broken his legs, or injured his ankles as well as his hip, but everything worked as he scrambled to his feet.

  The behemoth was roaring in pain, a sound that reminded Zollin of a child’s cry of both fear and fury. He had just started running when a huge, boulder sized fist smashed down behind him. The creature lashed out; one thick hand covering its ruined eye, the other hammering down on the cavern floor hoping to smash him. Zollin’s limping run wasn’t fast, but he was far enough away that he felt reasonably sure the creature couldn’t reach him without moving.

  He ran beside the giant fissure, the pain in his hip starting to break through his magic and sending stabs of pain through his body. He needed to find a place to rest and heal himself, but the cavern was so huge he felt exposed and vulnerable. He kept moving, the creature’s cries echoing around the cavern. Zollin saw a small tunnel in the distance, but it was on the far side of the crevasse. He started to levitate himself across the fissure, but then a different sound rumbled through the cavern, almost like thunder. He looked up instinctively, but the sound wasn’t coming from above him. He let his light shine out, pushing back the overwhelming darkness around him. What he saw made his blood run cold. Coming out of the darkness was another behemoth, only this one wasn’t an infant. It was huge, so tall that all Zollin could see was the beast’s feet. They were broad, flat feet, with only three fat toes. They reminded zollin of the hands he’d seen on the creature behind him, only the feet were three times the size of the first creature’s hands. He had seen feasting halls smaller than this creature’s feet. He was afraid to look up, but he knew he had to.

  His hip was screaming with pain, but in that moment the pain was relegated t
o some other part of his mind. His body trembled and his breath came in ragged gasps. His magical light didn’t reach the top of the cavern, or even rise above the knee of the huge creature before him, so when the face appeared it was ghostly, as if it were floating down from the darkness above him. When he saw the giant, bloodshot eye, he screamed. It was covered with a milky, white film and yet Zollin saw the pupil dilate as it moved closer to the light. The mouth of the creature opened, revealing ragged, rotting teeth sticking out of bloody, swollen gums. The stench from its breath made Zollin gag. Fat whiskers the size of saplings, protruded from the swollen cheeks and the creature’s nose was like some sort of flesh colored cancerous growth.

  A huge hand came hurtling out of the darkness too fast for Zollin to dodge, even if he hadn’t been rooted to the spot by fear. He already had a magical shield around himself so the blow didn’t injure him but, like a back handed swipe at a pesky mosquito, he was sent flying across the cavern. He flew over the fissure and toward the smaller cave he had been trying to reach before the adult behemoth appeared. He hit the ground, but kept his focus, holding his magical shield firm around himself. He slid across the smooth cavern floor, his eyes closed, his magical light dimming.

  When he opened his eyes all he could see was the floor in front of his face and darkness all around him. He snuffed out his magical glow, preferring to hide in the darkness and hoping some great creature from the underworld didn’t come out of the darkness and step on him. He heard the beast he’d blinded wailing and the larger creature trying to comfort the infant giant.

  Zollin lay still wondering what he was doing. He had no idea where he was or where he was going. What, he wondered to himself, had made him think he could just climb down into the crack and find the evil sorceress? He longed in that moment for sunlight. He wanted to feel the warmth of the sun on his face so much that he began to cry. Silent tears streaked down his face and powerful sobs shook his body. He wanted to see his father again, to ride on Ferno’s broad, powerful back, to hold Brianna in his arms. He felt like he was losing his mind in the unending darkness of the abyss. The underworld is what Brianna had called this place and Zollin decided that was a good name for it. He had come down here not expecting to survive, but now the dread of never seeing the sun again made him despair.