The Flames of Dragons

by Josh VanBrakle

  “Maantecs reproduce slowly. In ancient times, to keep from wiping ourselves out in wars, we didn’t fight open battles. Instead, we settled conflicts by each side electing a single champion to represent them. The pair would fight to the death, and the winner’s side won the war.”

  “That’s what you propose for us, then,” Balear said.

  Hana nodded. “If you win, this army will withdraw to Ceere and leave Kataile. But if I win, they’ll slay every man, woman, and child in the city.”

  Daichi bolted upright. “My lady! What would Shogun Melwar think of this?”

  “He gave me two commands,” Hana said. “Lead the army to Kataile, and attack it. I’ve done both. He gave this army no orders, only me. So, Commander, I give you this order. If this man defeats me, then take the army and return to Ceere. Leave Kataile intact.”

  “But my lady!”

  “If you cannot follow such a simple request, then I will order you to commit seppuku, and I will find a replacement who obeys his superiors!”

  The commander bowed as low as he could in his bulky armor. “Of course, my lady. I will do as you say.”

  “Besides,” Hana said, “my order makes no difference. Balear can’t defeat me, so you’ll never have to follow it. Now get out of my way.”

  Daichi scrambled back to the rest of the army. Hana watched him go, then put her eyes on Balear. She raised her Stone Dragon Hammer. “Now, let’s begin.”

  Balear freed his Sky Dragon Sword. “Yes, let’s.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Lodia’s Champion

  There was no more need for words. Balear struck.

  The Auryozaki rang against Hana’s hardened skin armor. The female Maantec didn’t even flinch.

  Balear swung a second time, this time an overhead blow. Again Hana’s armor stopped the attack.

  The Lodian grimaced. His Auryozaki was immensely heavy to everyone but him. No one he had fought before could withstand a direct strike from it. Even a blocked attack sent the defender sprawling.

  Yet Hana just stood there, immune.

  She didn’t smile or gloat, despite her obvious advantage. When Balear looked at her, he could tell. She didn’t want this any more than he did.

  Hana raised an arm. Balear braced for an attack that could come from anywhere.

  A cracking sound behind him signaled that Hana had freed another section of rock from the plateau. Balear looked over his shoulder in time to see a boulder the size of his torso flying toward him.

  It was an impressive sight, but the rock’s size made it slow. Balear jumped out of the way, and the boulder sailed past him harmlessly.

  But instead of continuing straight, the rock careened in an arc. It was coming back.

  Dodging it wouldn’t do Balear any good. He faced the stone. As it approached, he swung the Auryozaki down and split the rock in two. Both sections smashed into the beach.

  “I won’t die that easily,” Balear said.

  Hana looked at him, then at the boulder’s halves, then back at Balear. She raised her arm again. This time, rather than a rock, a curtain of sand lifted into the air.

  “It’s as heavy as that boulder,” she said, “but just try knocking it out of the way.”

  Balear scowled. Hana was right. Swinging the Auryozaki wouldn’t do anything against sand. The sand would curl around it like water and hit him anyway.

  There was only one way he could stop it. He’d promised not to, though. He’d sworn an oath.

  For a moment he was back in Veliaf, floating above the frozen town. Wind whipped in a sphere at its center. The ball’s pressure released, and tiny, glittering shards that had once been homes rained from the sky.

  It had been his fault. He’d sworn he would never let it happen again.

  The sand charged toward him. Balear swung at it on instinct, but the attack was useless. The sand flowed around his sword and struck him in the chest. He landed on his back on the beach.

  Balear stumbled to his feet. When he did, gray rings formed around his vision. That blow had almost knocked him out. He couldn’t take another hit like that.

  Hana was already raising a second sand curtain. Balear had no choice. He’d known it from the moment he’d stepped beyond the city. Yes, he’d made an oath not to use magic. But he’d made a second oath, one even more important.

  He’d sworn to protect Lodia.

  The sand rushed for him. But this time, when Balear swung, he let magic into the blow. Wind danced around the sword’s edges, and it scattered the sand in all directions.

  Hana stepped back in surprise, and that gave Balear an opening. He charged and thrust. Unlike his previous attacks, wind magic gave this one added speed and strength. Hana’s armor wouldn’t stop it.

  Hana must have realized that too, because at the last second, she raised a wall of sand to protect herself. The Auryozaki’s wind pressure blew aside the defense, but the effort cost it momentum. The sword knocked Hana off her feet, but it didn’t pierce her armor.

  The Stone Dragon Knight rose, unharmed. Balear looked at her with pity. “I saw what you did to that Fubuki in Akaku Forest last year,” he said. “You could have killed me a dozen times over by now. Your heart isn’t in this fight.”

  “I’ll show you what my heart’s in,” Hana spat. She raised a hand. The sand around Balear’s ankles rose up and trapped him. It covered his legs, chest, and arm until only his head remained exposed.

  Balear couldn’t help but appreciate the irony of the situation. The Ice Dragon Knight had defeated him in Veliaf last year using a similar trap.

  Hana approached Balear’s helpless form. “So,” she said, “how would you like me to kill you? I could compress the sand against your chest and cave it in. I could sink you a half mile underground like I did to the Water Dragon Knight. Or maybe you’d prefer burial at sea like your father. I could send you out over the ocean and let you drown.”

  Balear wasn’t listening. Hana’s words were for herself, not for him. Besides, he needed to concentrate. It was time.

  He pulled in air from outside the sand surrounding him. The trap looked solid, but there was a lot of space between each sand grain. Air rushed in and forced them apart. Balear shouted in defiance as a small tornado whipped around him. It scattered the sand and sent Hana launching fifty feet up the beach. Balear landed on his feet, free.

  Not for long though. He knew from Veliaf that tornado spells demanded a lot of magic.

  A presence brushed against his mind, one he knew all too well. “Hello, Ariok,” he said.

  “Balear,” the dragon sneered the name, “what happened to your oath? What happened to your honor?”

  “Shut up,” Balear snarled. “I have more important issues here.”

  “I would say so. How are you going to kill her when you’ve used up all your magic?”

  Balear knew the answer, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

  “I know a way,” Ariok said. He pushed against Balear’s mind.

  “No!” Balear shouted. “Stay out of my head!”

  But the transformation had already begun. Balear’s legs bulged. They grew blue and scaly.

  Hana had recovered and come back to Balear. Now she stepped away in fear. “Balear,” she gasped, “you’re becoming a dragon!”

  “You . . . didn’t know,” Balear managed. “That Fubuki returned to Veliaf. I fought him, but I couldn’t win. I transformed into Ariok, and he slew the beast. Afterward, though, he destroyed the town.”

  Hana’s arms fell to her sides. “No . . .”

  “How many more times?” Balear asked. He was growing taller as his body elongated into a serpentine shape. “How many more times will you make us murderers? You gave the Fubuki the Ice Dragon Hammer. He told me so.”

  “It was Shogun Melwar’s order. Balear, I—”

  “Enough!” Balear’s mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth. “I obliterated a town. Wasn’t that enough? Now you’ll make me wipe out a city?”

 
; “You have no choice,” Ariok said inside his mind. “You know this is the only way to kill her. You’ve known that ever since you stepped out here. And don’t worry. Once I finish with her, I’ll slaughter the Maantec army for you too. So what if Kataile shatters in the process? If Hana defeats you, the Maantecs will destroy it. At least this way your enemies die too.”

  “I won’t let you,” Balear replied. “I swore to protect Lodia. How is it protecting them if I kill them in the process?”

  “Sometimes we must sacrifice a city to save a nation. It is the only way.”

  “Not . . . this time,” Balear struggled to say. “There is another way. I’m taking your power, Ariok. I won’t become a dragon. I’ll become a Dragoon.”

  Ariok laughed. He threw his will at Balear. “You’ll what? You’re a weakling!”

  Balear met the dragon’s mind head-on. “You heard Hana. I’m Lodia’s champion. I swore to protect its people. I would fight any battle, any foe, to keep them safe. Even you!”

  Ariok cowered against the force of Balear’s will. In his mind’s eye, Balear saw the dragon give in. The mighty creature, a god, bowed to him.

  Balear’s body shrank. The needle-teeth retracted, and the serpentine shape collapsed. His legs regained their human form.

  Then blue scales formed around them. They rose up and coated his body in gleaming armor. Balear cried out, and a pair of white, bat-like wings twenty feet long erupted from his back. Wind spiraled around him. It floated him six inches off the ground. The sand shot from beneath him in a tempest.

  Hana shielded her eyes. “Impossible!”

  Balear looked down at her. Ariok touched his mind, but the dragon was no longer a threat. “Do you mind if I speak to her?” Ariok asked. His tone was one of subdued respect.

  “Very well,” Balear replied.

  “Stone Dragon Knight,” Ariok said through Balear’s mouth. “You believe Maantecs are superior because of your magic, but I have seen the truth. Humans are stronger than all of you. What they lack in magic, they make up for in willpower. That’s why ever since my first human Dragon Knight, I have only accepted those with human blood. I knew that someday, one of them would have a will that could challenge me, that could best me, that could do what no Maantec could: become the Dragoon.”

  Hana raised a wall of sand forty feet high. It encircled Balear and then, all at once, slammed toward him.

  Balear didn’t move. As the sand approached, bursts of wind shot from every direction and blasted it away.

  Hana next reached out over the ocean. A dozen massive boulders erupted from the water. They launched at Balear, but the wind flashed out again and halted them in midair. Hana struggled, but she couldn’t make them move. They dropped to the ground.

  “The air is my weapon,” Balear said. “Anything you use must travel through it to reach me. Now that I’m a Dragoon, you can’t even touch me.”

  The Stone Dragon Knight’s fists clenched around her hammer. Balear’s eyes narrowed. That hammer was the key. That was how he would save everyone, including Hana.

  He pointed the Auryozaki at her. Wind lashed about Hana, and then her left arm snapped back. Much as Ariok had done against the Fubuki, Balear had created an airless void that gripped Hana’s limb in place. He summoned three more, one around her right wrist and two around her ankles. They lifted her off the ground. As they did, a fifth void wrenched the Stone Dragon Hammer from her hand.

  “What are you going to do?” Hana asked. Her eyes were wild. She knew she was at his mercy. He could split her into shreds of flesh on a whim.

  Balear didn’t bother responding. Instead, he concentrated on the void holding the Stone Dragon Hammer. He poured magic into it, letting the void grow in size and strength.

  Iren Saitosan had needed an explosion a mile across to destroy the Karyozaki. He had barely managed it even as a Dragoon. Balear didn’t know if his plan could work, but he had to try it.

  The wind pressure intensified. A great renting sound filled the beach. It screamed and tore at Balear’s hearing, but he pressed on.

  At last the Enryokiri, the Stone Dragon Hammer, shattered into a thousand splinters.

  The remnants of Hana’s weapon plopped onto the sand, all but one. A gleaming yellow gem still floated in midair.

  “The Rock Topaz,” Ariok explained. “The gems that imprison us can’t be destroyed.”

  “I know,” Balear said. “I remember what happened to Feng’s Burning Ruby. As long as these gems are in the hands of people—of whatever race—there will always be a chance that they could be turned into Ryokaiten again. That’s why there’s only one option for what to do with that stone.”

  Balear flicked his wrist, and a wind current flung the Rock Topaz out to sea. It disappeared over the horizon.

  “Even I don’t know where it landed,” Balear told Hana as he released the wind currents holding her and returned her to the beach. “Wherever it did, it will sink to the bottom. The Rock Topaz is beyond anyone’s reach now.”

  Hana knelt in the sand. She looked like she wanted to cry and scream and hit him all at the same time. Her mouth moved in an attempt to form words, but she said nothing.

  “You did well, Balear,” Ariok said.

  “I never expected to hear praise from you,” Balear replied. “You told me you hated people for imprisoning you. I thought you wanted to destroy us all.”

  Ariok chuckled inside Balear’s mind. “I did say that, didn’t I? But I also said that some dragons have more honor than others.”

  “Yes, and then you lied to me. You said you wouldn’t rage like Feng, and then you blew up Veliaf.”

  “How was that a lie? I didn’t rage like Feng. He almost exterminated the Kodamas. How many humans did I kill that day?”

  Balear frowned. “Well, none, but—”

  “Exactly. The point of destroying Veliaf wasn’t to rage. It was to push you. I knew you had the potential to become the Dragoon. I wanted to see if you were capable.”

  “You’re saying you did it to help me?”

  “To motivate you. You kept on saying you wanted to protect Lodia. I wanted to show you the consequence of failure. After seeing that, I knew you would succeed the next time.”

  Balear shook his head. “You’re a crazy bastard, you know that?”

  “I suppose, but if I am, then so are you. After all, you used the same approach on that fountain in Kataile to motivate your soldiers. Do you see? Dragons choose their knights based on people who reflect their personalities and the traits they value most.”

  “Hana told me last year that you test knights on their bravery.”

  “Bravery, honor, and willpower. You passed all three.”

  Inside his mind, Balear offered a hand to the dragon. “Ariok, I’m glad I got to meet you.”

  The dragon touched Balear’s hand with a clawed finger. “Likewise,” he said, “but your time as a Dragoon is nearly up. And Balear, your transformation won’t be like Iren’s.”

  Balear smiled sadly. “I know. I’ve known all this time. We may have more willpower than Maantecs, but human bodies still aren’t designed to handle this kind of magic. I can already feel it. The energy’s done something to me inside. I’m not walking away from this one.”

  “You knew?” Ariok asked. “Yet you still . . .”

  “It’s what I had to do, as Lodia’s champion.”

  The edges of Ariok’s scaly mouth crinkled. “And you called me a crazy bastard.”

  The dragon faded. The armor around Balear disappeared. His wings pulled back into his skin, and he dropped to the sand. He lay on his back, unable to stand, unable to move. He coughed, and the red spurt told him the truth.

  Hana rushed over to him. “Balear!” She cradled him in her arms. “Why, Balear?”

  He smiled. “Because I couldn’t choose. You and Kataile were both worth saving.”

  “Balear . . .”

  “Enough. Listen to me, Hana. Don’t be a slave. You’re better than that. Don�
�t go back to Melwar. Help us stop him.”

  “You don’t understand—”

  “You’re right. I don’t. I’ve never met him. Maybe he is every bit as powerful as you say. But still, I’m fighting him. I’m sure Iren and Rondel and Minawë will too. Even if we’re outmatched, we’ll still fight, because that’s what’s best for this world.”

  Hana gripped him tighter. “Why would you fight for this world?” she cried. “You know what it produces. You saw what Amroth did to Ziorsecth. You saw what your own people did to each other in the civil war. What kind of world is that, that you would die for it?”

  “A world that has people like you,” Balear said. “You’re reason enough to fight for it. Hana, I never gave up on you. I’ve loved you ever since we first crossed Lodia together. I never told you, but I promised myself I would give you something for journeying with me and Iren last year. I promised I would give you faith. Did I?”

  Hana cried. Not a few tears like when Balear had lost his arm, but long, wet, wracking sobs. She clutched Balear and pressed her head into his chest. “I love you,” she said. “I love you. I’m sorry, Balear.”

  They were the last words he heard as darkness took him.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Late Arrivals

  Dirio Cyneric paced the audience room in Kataile’s city hall. He avoided looking at Feidl’s mural of the city at dawn. That was Kataile as it should be. It wouldn’t look like that much longer, not with five thousand Maantecs bearing down on it.

  Damn! He could shoot a bow. He could thrust a spear. He could do something besides sit here while everyone else got butchered.

  The other mayors waited in the room with him, but none of them walked around. They all sat against the far wall. They didn’t speak. They didn’t move. They had given up. They were all just waiting for the end.

  Forget them. Dirio stalked to the door. “I’m going,” he said. He grasped the handle and pulled.

  The door almost smacked him in the face. Riac burst through, and Dirio barely had time to scramble aside.

  “Lady Orianna!” Riac shouted. “Lady Orianna!”