Knights of the Dragon (of Knights and Wizards Book 1)

by A. J. Gallant

  The Princess honed the edge of her dagger. Alexa liked the fact that Stone had forged it for her; his father had been a swordsmith and at one point had believed that he had been destined to be one as well. But fate had other plans for the talented fighter that so far no one has been able to best. His father had said that his son had magic in his hands when it came to forging weapons; he died in battle during the Great War.

  Brent and Denton were playing a game of skill, attempting to see who could get their daggers closer to the other’s feet without actually hitting them. When Denton had his ricochet off of Brent’s left foot, he conceded defeat and handed him the small gold coin. They were happy to be out here doing something rather than being back in Leeander waiting for the axe to fall.

  They could now see the wizard in the far distance, creating his little town out of magic. Sparkles of light were swirling around him as he mixed some concoction in a pot over a fire. In less than an hour, he grabbed the pot and threw its glowing blue contents onto the ground, waved his hands over it and from that gesture a round hut appeared, pushing its way out of the ground, disturbing the earth as it did so. He now had a house, a cabin, and two keeps that resembled mini castles.

  “It’ll be dark before we reach him and we’re all tired,” said Stone. “We may as well camp here and approach him in the morning.”

  Stone sat on a boulder and wondered what tomorrow would bring. Wizards could be peculiar people, and like everyone else they could be good or bad, and no idea what he was. How had life shaped him? The Yurrosy might be the reason that he was way out here, but it was only a guess.

  Lance didn’t like the idea of approaching the wizard, but that was the reason they were out there. “I’m not going to get much sleep tonight. What’s stopping him from turning us all into frogs while we sleep?”

  Stone slowly nodded. He could be in there conjuring up something nasty for them if he knew they were there. “You can take the first watch then.”

  They were restless for quite a while, but three hours later most of them were snoring including the princess. Lance stood guard, lest he doze off as well. In the remoteness that was spread out before him, through tired eyes he thought that he could see lights. They were faint as he tried hard to focus on it. Perhaps his senses were playing tricks on him? He stared intently into the night, fixated on whatever it was. Torches in the night? They were beyond the wizard and quite far away but could be heading in his direction. Could it be that the Yurrosy was after the very same wizard? That would be unfortunate.

  “What the hell is that?” He hoped his eyes were deceiving him as he strained to see. Torches in the distance? Perhaps they assumed that the wizard would know that they were coming, and so the torches were of no consequence. Or were his eyes playing tricks on him? Wizards were certainly dangerous, but there were ways to kill them, usually with the aid of another sorcerer.

  Lance couldn’t keep it to himself any longer, and so he shook Stone awake; Stone confirmed that they were indeed torches. Now he could see some of them as separate entities instead of daubed together by distance. Stone looked at Alexa snoring and wished that she had stayed back in Leeander. He would feel responsible if she got herself killed even though she had insisted on going. If the torch bearers were after the wizard, he could only come up with two options. Warn the wizard or get themselves into a position behind them and take them out, thereby protecting the wizard. With no time to spare everyone was awakened and they started off. They would have to ride the horses around them to get in proper place before sunrise. Stone knew that when the numbers on both sides were equal it was the element of surprise that made all the difference. With such distance, they couldn’t yet tell how many opponents they would be up against, but surprise should give them the advantage. It was possible that their numbers were too great, and if that were the case the wizard would either be captured or killed or perhaps he would defend himself.

  In just under three hours they could see them up on a small hill; there were six of them and all with bows, their solemn faces lit up by the subdued light of their torches. Their overconfidence might work against them. When the sun rose they would try to take the wizard out with an arrow; their chances of success improved. Likely an enchanted arrow Alexa thought. With sunrise an hour away Stone was unsure of his next move. He guessed that arrows would be flying both ways soon, and he worried about the princess; he wouldn’t be fast enough to protect her from an arrow. Love could either be as good as it gets or as bad as it gets.

  Merrill, anxious to get it over with, spoke in whispers. “Stone, what do we do now? Shouldn’t we move on them?”

  “I’m thinking.”

  Alexa was annoyed. “Let’s attack before they see us.”

  “Princess, this is going to be a battle of the bow. We have three archers, and they have six. If they spot us before we can launch our arrows, we will be in big trouble. If that happens, luck would have to be on our side for any of us to survive. And they have the higher ground. That is bad news on both counts.”

  Obed wanted to move now. “Since we desperately need that wizard we have no choice. Let the arrows fall where they may. Let’s get this thing over with.”

  Stone hated putting his people at risk especially when they were at a disadvantage, but the times dictated risks. They had been fortunate so far but would their luck hold? “Alright archers, move forward. Don’t waste your arrows or the element of surprise. Do not free your arrows until you know that you can hit them. Make sure your hits are fatal.”

  Obed, Merrill, and Alonzo moved forward silently, all with arrows at the ready. The six enemy archers were talking in subdued voices with their attention on the round hut where the wizard was inside sleeping. They had a tracking spell that told them of his exact location. They knew there was great danger in attempting to fell a wizard, but they had little choice. The king had ordered them to return with the wizard dead or alive; he didn’t want another kingdom getting their hands on a sorcerer because it was what he feared the most. His father had been done in by a wizard, and he didn’t want it to happen to him.

  Light was breaking over the horizon but just barely. Each silent step forward brought Alonzo, Obed and Merrill closer to the deadly arrows of their enemies. Obed felt something crunch under his foot, and they all halted, hoping they weren’t spotted. They were now within range though just barely. The darkness made it difficult to see their targets especially now that they extinguished their torches. Time took on a different feel as they knew their next step could be their last; each step seemed like an eternity. The rate of movement slowed as they crept forward, aware that one of their footsteps might start the battle. All were in stealth mode and prepared to fight, no turning back now. Pupils were wide and ready.

  The enemy turned and saw them and Obed unleashed his arrow; the enemy took the arrow to the throat. Everyone started launching arrows; two more of the Yurrosy went down. Alonzo, caught on the shoulder with an arrow and then a second bolt pierced his heart. Denton also took two arrows into his chest, killing him as well. Alexa threw her dagger into one’s chest, striking him in the heart and killing him instantly. Stone ran one through as the big fellow was attempting to load his bow. Then the last of the Yurrosy went down with three arrows in him. Victory at a cost of two lives. The cost of war was and always would be high.

  Stone bent down to check on Alonzo even though he knew he was dead. The arrow to the heart had killed him instantly. They had perished valiantly in battle, and many would mourn their passing. Such was life and death in the act of war. Sacrifices were necessary to defend their way of life, but that knowledge didn’t make it any easier. Many survivors were never the same after war reared its hideous head.

  Buried as the sun rose and after a prayer, it was time to face the wizard.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  RYXA, MARCUS AND THE OTHERS APPROACHED A RIVER of flowing hot lava that was moving quite fast; they could smell of sulphur and burning rocks. It was too far for them to
jump but no problem for the dragon to fly over it. It was hot in that area and made them all sweat. It bubbled and oozed, and the molten lava cracked through its black surface. A spurt of molten rock landed near the Knights making them take a step back. Zak thought what an utterly strange place they had gotten themselves into; dragons might be at home down here, but it was no place for humans. Marcus wondered how many people had managed to get down here, but he guessed it wasn’t many. The stink of sulphur and other obnoxious gasses was giving him a headache. He considered that hell must be something like this; he wouldn’t be surprised to see the devil himself pop up somewhere down the line. What would a wizard be doing down here?

  Theon scratched the back of his neck. “Doesn’t it feel like were in the bowels of some nasty creature? What a stench.”

  Past the river the huge dark tunnel continued, but now they could see some orange glow. Was there more lava down there or perhaps something sinister? Unless they flew down the river of molten lava going west or east to west, straight ahead was the only way to go unless they wanted to go back. So they all climbed on Ryxa’s back, and she flew them across. Titus considered that if something happened to the dragon, no way across that fiery river and end up trapped.

  “What do you think that weird glow is?” Marcus ran away from the group and was then scolded by the dragon for running too far ahead as she caught up with him. The boy was staring at elaborate double doors built into the side of the tunnel that were giving off a golden glow. Marcus kicked the door, and some sort of golden dragon mechanism with red eyes took a three-dimensional form as it slowly pushed its way out of the metal, lowered its head and looked down at him then moved back to the door where it became camouflaged and nearly invisible. He searched for the dragon but couldn’t find it. The boy pounded on the door as the others caught up, and then he tried to open it but couldn’t. It was a fancy door with swirls and golden loops.

  Zak’s green eyes studied the impressive entrance. “Looks like a good enough place for a wizard to live. Or a king.” He also pounded on the door with no answer from within.

  Titus used all of his considerable strength but couldn’t pull it open. He tried a second time with the same result. “Some kind of metal. I can’t even get it to budge.”

  All four knights grabbed a part of the door and decided to pull together to increase their odds of opening it, but it was so solid that they may as well have been attempting to move a mountain. It was making them all angry because they wanted to know what the hell was in there. Curiosity could be a dangerous thing but was it in this case? Was unspeakable treasure beyond the door? Or perhaps a wizard? Or magical things? Or maybe even another dragon waiting to burn their faces off? Seemed like a pretty good place for a dragon’s lair, the door was certainly big enough.

  “Here, let me try. Move away I’m going to blast it with fire. Dragon Fire is great at persuasion.” She engulfed the door with an enormous ball of sustained fire, but when finished nothing had changed; she hadn’t even tarnished it. The rocks beside it scorched, but that was it. The door had sustained no damage whatsoever. None of them would be happy if they had to move on, because for all they knew the magical solution was in there.

  Something caught the boy’s attention on the door at his eye level. He approached it and commenced to move the small square sections around. “Hey, look at this. It moves! Have you ever seen such a thing?”

  Ryxa lowered her big eye and examined it. “I know what this is, it’s a puzzle door. The puzzle forms an image when you get the pieces in their proper positions and can see the picture the door will open.”

  That peeked Urban’s interest. He commenced to move sliding puzzle pieces around and discovered that it was six square pieces wide and six long for a total of 36. It didn’t appear to be too difficult, but more than a half hour later he was still at it. When he would get three or four pieces together to form the puzzle, there were lots of other pieces that were too far away from the scene. Finally, he was sufficiently frustrated and stepped back. “Look there a dragon in it with red eyes and a mountain with a castle on the top of it but I can’t get it. Seems easy enough but it’s not.”

  Zak then struggled with it and felt that he had made progress but couldn’t get it finished. Getting two pieces into their proper positions appeared to take another out of its rightful place. He studied it for a bit and continued to try but couldn’t get it. And kicking it didn’t help at all.

  Titus took over and made what he thought was an important discovery. “Hey, look over here! There’s a knight in this thing, but look the other half of him is way over there. How the hell am I going to move him over there?” He moved the pieces around and around but felt that he was getting further away from the solution. The sliding puzzle was vexing, and he punched it but of course, that didn’t help any either.

  The dragon took her turn, sticking her claws through the holes to move the squares around and felt that she was close, but the solution remained unobtainable as she rested her head against the door in frustration. She had wanted to prove herself smarter than the humans. She wondered how long this would go on before they all gave up.

  Theon examined it and suddenly thought that he had the solution. “Look, there’s a sun in it too, right here. I think I can get it.” He moved the pieces counter-clockwise seven times and then he had it. A loud click as the door unlocked and slowly swung open. Ryxa clapped her approval even though she had wanted to be the one to solve it.

  Through the now open doors was a palace of sorts with marble pillars and white floors so shiny that they could see their reflections. A large, rounded, kite shield at the top and tapered at the bottom was lying on the floor. The shield was so big that Zak was sure that it must have been a decorative piece. A beautiful grand staircase led up to a second floor. Paintings of beautiful castles were on the walls; one had a knight on his black horse battling a dragon with his lance.

  Then they heard a thump from upstairs, and then another, and then a crash as if something fell. They all stood to look up as they listened to the commotion. Was there a fight in progress up there?

  “There’s someone upstairs!” Marcus started to run upstairs when the dragon screamed at him. “Stop! You don’t know who or what is up there. Have you taken leave of your senses?”

  Marcus halted half way up the stairs and let the knights go past him with swords in hand and within seconds they were all running back down. A giant was in pursuit screaming and swinging a big mace, just missing Zak; he grabbed the boy and tossed him down to Ryxa. The dragon took Marcus and pushed him back out into the tunnel as she tried to get in position to hit the monster with fire. Three of the knights standing on one another’s shoulders would just about equal his height, and he was massive, arms as big as tree trunks. He looked like a rabid dog with saliva frothing from his mouth.

  They tried to talk to the bearded giant, but it was useless; he wanted to kill all of them, and that was it. The giant kicked Theon and sent him flying. Theon remained lifeless on the floor, either dead or unconscious, but there was no time to tend to him if they wanted to avoid his fate. Zak, Titus and Urban moved behind Ryxa, who then shot several balls of fire at him, and he just laughed. He was either immune to fire or had some spell against it; in any case, it was bad news. Titus and Urban looked at one another as if to say if a dragon couldn’t handle the giant how the hell were they going to defeat him. But if this were the end then so be it, they would go down fighting. The dragon tried to bite him, but he grabbed her by the upper and lower jaw holding her mouth open, then tossing her against the wall rendering Ryxa unconscious. Just as it was preparing to crush the dragon's head with its huge mace, Zak threw his dagger into the back of its shoulder. It screeched as it removed the weapon and snapped it in two. Because of the size of the beast the dagger had been a minor wound but it hurt.

  Zak, Titus and Urban ran upstairs, and the giant turned and decided to follow them up. How had that thing gotten in there? It seemed more like an intruder tha
n a guard. He must have solved the puzzle as well which would make it a lot smarter than it looked. It seemed unlikely that this was where it lived. Zak and Titus went in one direction and Urban in the other. He went after the two knights smashing pieces of stone out of the walls as he went. Urban found himself in front of an armory, with several bows hanging on the wall he grabbed one. Taking about a dozen arrows with him, he ran after the giant who was about to smash the life out of Titus. He shot an arrow into his back and then another. He turned to face Urban who shot an arrow into his throat; he struggled for air as he took two sword thrusts to his spine and finally fell dead.

  “What the hell was up his ass?” Zak asked.

  “I don’t know I guess he wanted the place for himself.”

  A wizard in a black robe stepped out of a room behind Zak and Titus. “I can’t believe you killed my guard!”

  All Urban could manage to say was “Oh no.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  THE DARK SKY OVER LEEANDER APPEARED DEPRESSED and in sync with everyone’s mood. The day was turning out to be a dull one, the sight of lightning in the far distance with a low rumble of thunder that could only heard by the superior hearing of the animals. A vulture circled a hawk that was on the ground eating a rabbit; soon it would pick at the remains.

  King Darius ran his hand over his most impressive blade; its coolness had given him comfort in the past but not this time. He had taken strength from it in the past, but things were different now. It was a magnificent sword forged by Stone, inlaid with a single ruby sunk into its pummel. Just above the guard was a crown with four points. It felt like a dream to wield, the perfect weight and size for the king, and impossible for a blade to be any sharper without the use of magic. The thought of one of those barbarians prying it out of his dead hands was unsettling; it was a scene that he had run through several times lately. He had always known that the weapon would outlive him but still, he had expected it to be passed down to Marcus.