by Jordan Baker
"Captains!" Calexis said, her voice echoing with power in the great hall. "I see that some of you have given yourself promotions."
"Would you like us to kill more?" one of them asked and Calexis tisked.
"Not this night," she said. "At first light you will assemble at the Academy grounds and receive your commissions, along with a purse of gold for each and every one of you."
"What if we don't want to be in the army?" another one asked. "Can we claim our prizes and leave?"
"Of course," Calexis said. "You are free to go." The wide, wooden doors at the far end of the banquet hall opened. "Celebrate your good fortune this night. You are the champions of Maramyr!"
The fighters turned and slowly they began to make their way across the bloodied floor, several of them glancing over their shoulders as they filed out of the hall.
"Some of them do not seem pleased," Draxis commented.
"They did not expect to have to fight to receive their rewards," Calexis said.
"Do you think they will join the ranks or will they take their gold and leave?"
"They will all fight in the war," Calexis said.
"How can you be sure of this?"
"The mage priests are near to completing a spell they have been working on for some time, a similar magic to the one that was cast upon our soldiers at Kandara and it will ensure that all of them will remain loyal to the throne."
"I see," Draxis said, remembering how the soldiers were ensorcelled. "This magic will make them all into dead things?"
"Not quite," Calexis said. "That spell was merely a test. The true power of the priesthood will be revealed this night."
"Was this magic not Cerric's?" Draxis asked.
"No," Calexis said with a laugh. "Cerric could not even imagine such a spell. This power will secure my rule over all the people of this city, and I will become their god."
"It seems you have taken Cerric's delusions along with his power," Draxis said and Calexis turned and stared at him, her eyes flashing with black fire.
"Speak no blasphemy, Draxis," she said. "I have the power to destroy this entire land, and all will worship me or perish."
"As you command," Draxis said with a nod and Calexis' expression shifted to something less ominous.
"Good," she said. "Now go out among them and see to it that none of them leave the city before dawn."
"Of course, as you command," he said again, and strode forward.
"Make way for Lord Draxis," Calexis said, her voice rolling with power through the banquet hall and echoing from every surface.
The soldiers parted as Draxis walked between them, many of them turning and nodding at him, and Draxis saw that their eyes were pale and looked dead, even though they stood and moved as though they were alive. He noticed that a number of them also bore wounds that should have killed them, but they barely bled and did not seem to even notice the deep cuts and gashes. Draxis wondered about the spell, and how his mother seemed to be carrying forward with Cerric's plan, without even skipping a step, and he also thought it strange that she would refer to herself as a god, and not a goddess. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Calexis had already left the hall.
*****
Brian dragged Pike's unconscious body over to the alcove and then he stepped over the two guards that lay dismembered on the floor of the corridor and walked up to the door of the royal apartments. It was strange that Cerric had not come out of the room with all the noise just outside the door, and Brian felt strangely curious to find out why. He felt almost the same sensation he did when the voices would speak to him, and he suspected that they might be encouraging him to look behind the door so he opened it, then walked inside and found the room empty.
Brian noticed a second doorway at the far end of the room and he caught a glimpse of large bed with rich looking covers in a mess upon it through the open door. As quietly as he could, he walked toward it and peeked inside. At first, he thought the room was empty, but then his eyes noticed the figure of the king, barely clothed and sitting in a pool of blood on the floor with what looked like the handle of a dagger sticking from his stomach. Brian stepped into the room, careful not to make any noise, and he jumped when Cerric's head tilted up and the king stared at him.
"Who are you?" Cerric rasped as Brian tentatively walked toward him.
"Me?" Brian shrugged. "I'm nobody."
"Nobody does not simply walk into the king's bedchamber." He coughed, spitting up more blood.
"I am nobody important," Brian said.
"You have the scent of a borderman," he said, his voice suddenly becoming deeper.
"You know about the bordermen?"
"An old line from a previous age, but it is not important," he said. "We have little time and I would beg a mercy from you."
"Why would I show you mercy?" Brian asked, then he frowned at the dying king. "What is it that you want?"
"Pull this dagger from me," he said.
"That is all?"
"I would ask more, but I doubt you would oblige me, under the circumstances."
No matter what he thought of Cerric, refusing to pull a dagger from an obviously dying man would be coldhearted, so he switched both of his axes to one hand and crouched down in front of him. Brian reached out and grasped the hilt of the dagger. As soon as he touched it, he felt a strange sensation in his arms, just like when his armor gave him strength. A little surprised by it, Brian did not notice Cerric's hand reaching up from the floor and touching the side of his head.
"Stick the dagger back in," a voice said, the same deep voice that had come from Cerric's mouth. "Do it quickly, boy."
Brian felt the urge to do as the voice said, but he was not sure.
"He is returning," said the voice. "You must retreat from this place at once."
"Who are you?" Brian asked, disoriented and confused. "You don't sound like the voices of the keep."
"Ah, the defenders," said the voice. "I am not one of them, but it appears that you have accepted their oath. I suppose it does not matter. Of more importance, is that you replace that dagger in that corpse and leave this room before the queen returns."
"She is coming back?"
"Yes, and you must hurry."
"Stick it back in?" Brian asked, finding it a strange request.
"Do it," the voice told him. "It is a corpse."
"Then why would I stab a corpse?" Brian asked.
"Because you do not want anyone to know that you were here," the voice said. Brian could sense irritation behind the words and now he understood why.
"Right," he said and he stuck the dagger back into Cerric's stomach.
"Very good, now move," rumbled the voice.
Brian got up and ran from the room, then he made his way out of the door, not noticing the trail of bloody footprints he left behind him, which slowly faded into the stone floor, as though they had never been. In a hurry, Brian ran down the corridor to the alcove where he had left Pike, then he stuffed his axes into the straps on his armor and crouched down next to him.
"There is no time. You must leave him," said the voice.
"No, I won't leave him here," Brian said in his thoughts, the same way he talked to the voices of the keep.
"He is tainted by the shadow. He will betray you."
"He is a friend and ally. I am not leaving him." Brian reached down and picked up Pike's unconscious body and threw him over his shoulder.
"Fine," said the voice. "But you must hurry."
"I am hurrying," Brian said as he carried Pike down the corridor, moving as quickly and as quietly as he could.
"Take the stairs on the left at the end of this passage," the voice said.
"Where will that go?" Brian asked.
"It is the way to the dungeon. That is where you want to go, is it not?"
"Yes," Brian replied. "How do you know that?"
"I can hear your thoughts," said the voice.
"Who are you?"
"I am Kroma."
Calexis stepped over the remains of the guards, who lay outside the royal apartment and searched the corridor for any sign of the two young fighters who had managed to escape. The one who had fallen under her control was still unconscious, but she could feel him somewhere in the palace, his thoughts drifting and murky, telling her very little. Whatever the case, it seemed that the other fighter had run off after rescuing his friend, but Calexis was not concerned. Even though she knew there was nowhere either of them could go, and despite the fact that soon, both of them would fall under her spell, it still irritated her that they had overpowered her guards.
It only added to her aggravation that Cerric now lay dead in the room, his body somehow having expired, the last of his essence being absorbed into the dagger, which she had taken. Calexis was surprised when she pulled it from him, feeling how weak the power was that flowed into her. Given how irritating the voices had been, always at the back of her thoughts with Cerric's personality still strong enough to influence her, she had thought there would be more energy left in his body, but she supposed that she had taken most of it when she had stabbed him, before she had become Calexis.
She smiled as she walked down the corridor, enjoying the feeling of the Xallan queen's sensuous form, as well as the combination of skin and scales from her experiments with the Darga. Her innate power was different as well, far deeper and more visceral than expected, and far greater than the trickle of power Cerric had. This body had far greater potential, and she amused herself with many thoughts of things she could do as she made her way down through the palace toward the dungeons.
Calexis opened the door to the large room where she kept the Kandaran and was pleased to see that he had transformed a little more, and that he was still conveniently chained in place. He turned and stared at her with his empty eye sockets, sniffing the air as she walked toward him.
"Who are you?" Elric growled. "I know your scent, but I cannot see who you are."
"Cerric never did formally introduce us before he locked you away in here," Calexis said.
"Cerric's lack of social graces is the least of his failings," Elric said.
"That is more true than you know," she said, tracing a finger across his muscled chest that was still partly skin, while the rest of him had become reptilian. "I am Calexis, and you are Elric Akandra, son of Eric and briefly King of Kandara."
"I am still the rightful King of Kandara," Elric said.
"Oh, no," Calexis told him, letting her hand come to rest on his stomach. "That throne belongs to me now, though Duke Mirdel sits in it for the moment and I understand he is doing an excellent job bringing order to the land."
"Cerric tells me this Duke Mirdel torments my people."
"Cerric has been cruel to you, hasn't he?" she said, as she reached up and touched his cheek, running the top of her finger along his scaled jaw line while her other hand inched lower toward the waistline of his tattered trousers.
"He has," Elric said, his tongue flicking out of his mouth as she slowly caressed his jaw.
"Why have you let him treat you so poorly?" She teased her fingers under he rope tied around his waistline.
"What choice do I have?" Elric asked, his breaths coming shorter and faster. "He keeps me here."
"That is hardly fitting treatment for a noble guest, a king even," she said, laying the palm of her hand against his angular cheek and sliding her other beneath his waist.
Elric began to twitch, his face leaning against her hand as she stroked him.
"No, it is not," he said.
"Is this better?" she asked, her voice a seductive whisper.
"Yes," Elric said.
Calexis sunk her claws into him hard and deep and Elric screamed and roared, his fanged mouth snapping at her other hand as she snatched it away from his face. She dug in even harder and he railed at the chains that held him, then she let go, pulling her hand away, her nails reddish black with the blood she had drawn. Calexis licked one of her fingers, tasting his blood and recognized his reptilian taste, so similar to the Darga, but far more powerful, and she smiled as his body transformed even further into the dragonform she knew was in him.
"You foul wench!" Elric yelled as his screams subsided. "You are just as foul as Cerric, worse! "
"What?" Calexis asked, innocently. "You don't enjoy being teased?"
"No! I do not!" Elric yelled.
"Oh, come now," she said. "Let me enjoy a little amusement."
Calexis pulled the dagger from the sheath strapped to her upper thigh and took off the belt and scabbard from her shoulder that held the jeweled sword. She set the sword aside and, with the dagger in her hand, she climbed atop the young Kandaran, grinning to herself as she felt him flinch beneath her. Slowly, she traced her dagger up from his stomach to his neck and over his sharp, scaled chin, as she let her lower body press down on him.
"What are you doing?" Elric rasped.
"I am just looking at you," she said as she shifted her weight, feeling him respond beneath her. "You are very interesting to look at. Fascinating."
"I am a monster," he said. "You might as well kill me."
"No, Elric," she said, sliding down a little and up again. "I think you are beautiful. You are powerful and dangerous. You are no monster. You are a dragon, Elric. That is how you protect your people, by becoming powerful. Is there anything as powerful as a dragon?"
"I don't know," Elric said, his breaths growing short as she pressed harder against him, even though he felt the sharp tip of her blade tracing the contours of his face. "I don't want to be a monster."
"Why do you think that?" she asked. "Why do you say such a thing?'
"I don't know," he said. "It was dreams."
"Dreams? What kind of dreams?"
"Dreams of monsters," he said. "My brother and I both dreamed of monsters. We dreamed we hurt people."
"Childish dreams," Calexis said as she leaned in and kissed his chest, just out of reach of his powerful jaws. "You shouldn't be afraid of such things, not when you have such potential for such power."
"I don't want that power," Elric said.
"Are you afraid, Elric?" Calexis gently poked the tip of her dagger under the edge of one of his scales.
"No."
"I think you are," she said. "It is the only thing that stops you from escaping from this place and saving your people. It is your fear that keeps you here. You are so afraid."
"I am not afraid," Elric said. "I know what Cerric wants and I won't give it to him."
"Oh? And what is that?"
"He wants to steal my power. I heard him say so."
Calexis stopped moving for a moment, distracted by the realization that Elric may have heard the other voices in Cerric's mind, a sure sign that he had come into more his dragon power. She moved again, keeping a steady rhythm, hoping he had not noticed, and she made sure to guard her thoughts carefully.
"When did he say such a thing?"
"He argues with people," he said.
"Cerric has been very difficult, hasn't he?"
"Yes."
"Well, you don't have to worry about him anymore."
"No?"
"No."
"Where is he?"
"He is dead."
"Truly?"
"Very much so. I made sure of it myself."
"Cerric is dead," Elric said. "Will you let me go free?"
"Only if you show me your true power," Calexis told him. "I want to see a dragon, a true noble of Kandara, like in the legends of old."
"I don't want to," Elric said.
"Come now," Calexis said. "If it pleases me, I might let you kill Duke Mirdel. Perhaps you could rule Kandara like before, so long as you promise to obey my will."
"You would do this?"
"Cerric was a fool and a brute. I can be cruel, but I am not without sense. If you swear loyalty to me, then I will free you and your people, but you must show me your true power."
"I don't
know if I can," Elric told her.
"I can reward you in other ways as well," Calexis said, putting a little more pressure on him. "Show me your power, Elric. Prove to me that you are worthy to be a king."
Elric let out a deep, rasping roar, his frustration unbearable, and Calexis felt his body begin to change beneath her and excitement flushed through her own body. She knew she had an appetite for pleasures of the flesh but was impressed at how overwhelming such impulses could be, and she wondered whether her form, which had successfully mated with the Darga could do the same with a dragon. Unfortunately, Elric would serve a different purpose, but perhaps she could find the younger brother, and make him her pet. He shifted and changed, growing larger and even more reptilian. His fangs became longer and the horns on his head grew in length as well. Elric was far more of a dragon than his uncle had been, but nothing like his father or his brother. Calexis could tell that he had reached his limit and she sighed. It would have to do.
"Very impressive, Elric," she said.
"Will you let me go free?"
"Yes," she told him. "I will free you now."
"Thank you," Elric said.
"It will only take a moment," she said.
Calexis laid the dagger upon his chest and placed her hand atop it, then she flooded herself with power and began to draw his essence from him, reveling in the strange and powerful feeling of it as his being combined with her own.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "It feels cold."
"I must make sure you won't betray me," she said. "Do not worry. I will only hurt a little."
"What are you doing?" Elric asked again, his voice panicked.
"Quiet, Elric," she said. "It is easier if you don't fight it."
"No. Stop."
He began to struggle, writhing underneath her and she grabbed his throat with her free hand, her grip like the irons that bound him, and she pinned him against the platform on which he law. Calexis closed her eyes and focused her power as she felt his essence begin to fight her, trying to resist, but she already had most of him and she hungrily pulled it into her, leaving him with almost nothing as the magic dissipated. She looked down at him and saw a very different creature, weak and frail, its muscles shriveled and skin sagging from its frame of bones.