A Land of Fire

by Morgan Rice

  Thor looked out at the ocean, a sweeping panorama from here, covered in a blinding haze and fog, a white light bouncing off of everything, making it seem as if they were perched atop heaven itself.

  “Look out,” she said. “Tell me what you see.”

  Thor looked out, and at first he saw nothing but ocean and white haze. Soon, though, the haze turned brighter, the ocean began to disappear, and images began to flash before him.

  The first thing Thor saw was his son, Guwayne, out at sea, floating on a small boat.

  Thor’s heart raced in panic.

  “Guwayne,” he said. “Is it true?”

  “Even now he is lost at sea,” she said. “He needs you. Finding him will be one of the great quests of your life.”

  As Thor watched Guwayne floating away, he felt an urgency to leave this place at once, to race to the ocean.

  “I must go to him—now!”

  His mother laid a calming hand on his wrist.

  “See what else you have to see,” she said.

  Thor looked out and saw Gwendolyn and her people; they sat huddled on a rocky island and braced themselves as a wall of dragons descended from the sky, blanketing them. He saw a wall of flame, bodies on fire, people screaming in agony.

  Thor’s heart pounded with urgency.

  “Gwendolyn,” Thor cried. “I must go to her.”

  His mother nodded.

  “She needs you, Thorgrin. They all need you—and they also need a new home.”

  As Thor continued to watch, he saw the landscape transform, and he saw the entire Ring devastated, a blackened landscape, Romulus’s million men covering every inch of it.

  “The Ring,” he said, horrified. “It is no more.”

  Thor felt a burning desire to race from here and rescue them all right now.

  His mother reached out and closed the window panes, and he turned and faced her.

  “Those are just some of the quests that lay before you,” she said. “Your child needs you, Gwendolyn needs you, your people need you—and beyond that, you will need to prepare for the day when you shall become King.”

  Thor’s eyes opened wide.

  “I? King?”

  His mother nodded.

  “It is your destiny, Thorgrin. You are the last hope. It is you who must become King of the Druids.”

  “King of the Druids?” he asked, trying to comprehend. “But…I don’t understand. I thought I was in the Land of the Druids.”

  “The Druids do not live here anymore,” his mother explained. “We are a nation in exile. They live now in a distant kingdom, in the far reaches of the Empire, and they are in great danger. You are destined to become their King. They need you, and you need them. Collectively, your power will be needed to battle the greatest power ever known to us. A threat far greater than the dragons.”

  Thor stared back, wondering.

  “I’m so confused, Mother,” he admitted.

  “That is because your training is incomplete. You have advanced greatly, but you haven’t even begun to reach the levels you will need to become a great warrior. You will meet powerful new teachers who will guide you, who will bring you to levels higher than you can imagine. You haven’t even begun to see the warrior you will become.

  “And you will need it, all of their training,” she continued. “You will face monstrous empires, kingdoms greater than anything you’ve ever seen. You will encounter savage tyrants that make Andronicus look like nothing.”

  His mother examined him, her eyes full of knowing and compassion.

  “Life is always bigger than you imagine, Thorgrin,” she continued. “Always bigger. The Ring, in your eyes, is a great kingdom, the center of the world. But it is a small kingdom compared to the rest of the world; it is but a speck in the Empire. There are worlds, Thorgrin, beyond what you can imagine, bigger than anything you’ve seen. You have not even begun to live.” She paused. “You will need this.”

  Thor looked down as he felt something on his wrist, and he watched as his mother clasped a bracelet on it, several inches wide, covering half of his forearm. It was shining gold, with a single black diamond in its center. It was the most beautiful, and the most powerful, thing he’d ever seen, and as it sat on his wrist, he felt its power throbbing, infusing him.

  “As long as you wear this,” she said, “no man born of woman can harm you.”

  Thor looked back at her, and in his mind flashed the images he’d seen beyond those crystal windows, and he felt anew the urgency to Guwayne, to save Gwendolyn, to save his people.

  But a part of him did not want to leave here, this place of his dreams to which he could never return, did not want to leave his mother.

  He examined his bracelet, feeling the power of it overwhelming him. He felt as if it carried a piece of his mother.

  “Is that why we were meant to meet?” Thor asked. “So that I could receive this?”

  She nodded.

  “And more importantly,” she said, “to receive my love. As a warrior, you must learn to hate. But equally important, you must learn to love. Love is the stronger of the two forces. Hatred can kill a man, but love can raise him up, and it takes more power to heal than it does to kill. You must know hate, but you must also know love—and you must know when to choose each. You must learn not only to love, but more importantly, to allow yourself to receive love. Just as we need meals, we need love. You must know how much I love you. How much I accept you. How proud of you I am. You must know that I am always with you. And you must know that we will meet again. In the meantime, allow my love to carry you through. And more importantly, allow yourself to love and accept yourself.”

  Thor’s mother stepped forward and hugged him, and he hugged her back. It felt so good to hold her, to know he had a mother, a real mother, who existed in the world. As he held her, he felt himself filling up with love, and it made him feel sustained, born anew, ready to face anything.

  Thor leaned back and looked into her eyes. They were his eyes, gray eyes, gleaming.

  She lay both palms on his head, leaned forward, and kissed his forehead. Thor closed his eyes, and he never wanted the moment to end.

  Thor suddenly felt a cool breeze on his arms, heard the sound of crashing waves, felt moist ocean air. He opened his eyes and looked about in surprise.

  To his shock, his mother was gone. Her castle was gone. The cliff was gone. He looked all around, and he saw that he stood on a beach, the scarlet beach that lay at the entrance to the Land of the Druids. He had somehow exited the Land of the Druids. And he was all alone.

  His mother had vanished.

  Thor looked down at his wrist, at his new golden bracelet with the black diamond in its center, and he felt transformed. He felt his mother with him, felt her love, felt able to conquer the world. He felt stronger than he ever had. He felt ready to head into battle against any foe, to save his wife, his child.

  Hearing a purring sound, Thor looked over and was elated to see Mycoples sitting not far away, slowly lifting her great wings. She purred and walked toward him, and Thor felt that Mycoples was ready, too.

  As she approached, Thor looked down and was shocked to see something sitting on the beach, which had been hidden beneath her. It was white, large, and round. Thor looked closely and saw that it was an egg.

  A dragon’s egg.

  Mycoples looked to Thor, and Thor looked at her, shocked. Mycoples looked back at the egg sadly, as if not wanting to leave it but knowing that she had to. Thor stared at the egg in wonder, and he wondered what sort of dragon would emerge from Mycoples and Ralibar. He felt it would be the greatest dragon known to man.

  Thor mounted Mycoples, and the two of them turned and took one long last look at the Land of the Druids, this mysterious place that had welcomed Thor in, and thrown him out. It was a place Thor was in awe of, a place he would never quite understand.

  Thor turned and looked at the great ocean before them.

  “It is time for war, my friend,” Thor com
manded, his voice booming, confident, the voice of a man, of a warrior, of a King-to-be.

  Mycoples screeched, raised her great wings, and lifted the two of them up into the sky, over the ocean, away from this world, heading back for Guwayne, for Gwendolyn, for Romulus, his dragons, and the battle of Thor’s life.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Romulus stood at the bow of his ship, first in the fleet, thousands of Empire ships behind him, and he looked out at the horizon with great satisfaction. High overhead flew his host of dragons, their screeches filling the air, battling Ralibar. Romulus clutched the railing as he watched, digging his long fingernails into it, gripping the wood as he watched his beasts attack Ralibar and drive him down into the ocean, again and again, pinning him beneath the waters.

  Romulus cried out in joy and squeezed the rail so hard that it shattered as he watched his dragons shoot up from the ocean, victorious, with no sign of Ralibar. Romulus raised his hands high above his head and leaned forward, feeling a power burning in his palms.

  “Go, my dragons,” he whispered, eyes aglow. “Go.”

  No sooner had he uttered the words than his dragons turned and set their sights on the Upper Isles; they raced forward, screeching, raising their wings high. Romulus could feel himself controlling them, could feel himself invincible, able to control anything in the universe. After all, it was still his moon. His time of power would be up soon, but for now, nothing in the world could stop him.

  Romulus’s eyes lit up as he watched the dragons aim for the Upper Isles, saw in the distance men and women and children running and screaming from their path. He watched with delight as the flames began to roll down, as people were burned alive, and as the entire island went up in one huge ball of flame and destruction. He savored watching it be destroyed, just the same way he had watched the Ring destroyed.

  Gwendolyn had managed to run from him—but this time, there was nowhere left to go. Finally, the last of the MacGils would be crushed under his hand forever. Finally, there would be no corner left of the universe that was not subjugated to him.

  Romulus turned and looked over his shoulder at his thousands of ships, his immense fleet filling the horizon, and he breathed deep and leaned back, raising his face to the heavens, raising his palms up to his sides, and he shrieked a shriek of victory.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Gwendolyn stood in the cavernous stone cellar underground, huddled with dozens of her people, and listened to the earth quake and burn above her. Her body flinched with every noise. The earth shook hard enough at times to make them stumble and fall, as outside, huge chunks of rubble smashed to the ground, the playthings of the dragons. The sound of it rumbling and reverberating echoed endlessly in Gwen’s ears, sounding as if the whole world were being destroyed.

  The heat became more and more intense below ground as the dragons breathed down on the steel doors above, again and again, as if knowing they were hiding under here. The flames luckily were stopped by the steel, yet black smoke seeped through, making it ever harder to breathe, and sending them all into coughing fits.

  There came the awful sound of stone smashing against steel, and Gwen watched as the steel doors above her bent and shook, and nearly caved in. Clearly, the dragons knew they were down here, and were trying their best to get in.

  “How long will the gates hold?” Gwen asked Matus, standing close by.

  “I do not know,” Matus replied. “My father built this underground cellar to withstand attack from enemies—not from dragons. I do not think it can last very long.”

  Gwendolyn felt death closing in on her as the room became hotter and hotter, feeling as if she were standing on a scorched earth. It became harder to see from the smoke, and the floor trembled as rubble smashed again and again above them, small pieces of rock and dust crumbling down onto her head.

  Gwen looked around at the terrified faces of all those in the room, and she could not help but wonder if, by retreating down here, they had all set themselves up for a slow and painful death. She was starting to wonder if perhaps the people who had died up above, right away, were the lucky ones.

  Suddenly there came a reprieve, as the dragons flew off elsewhere. Gwen was surprised, and wondered what they were up to, when moments later, she heard a tremendous crash of rock and the earth shook so strongly that everyone in the room fell. The crash had been distant, and was followed by two trembles, like a landslide of rock.

  “Tirus’s fort,” Kendrick said, coming up beside her. “They must have destroyed it.”

  Gwen looked up at the ceiling and realized he was probably right. What else could elicit such an avalanche of rock? Clearly, the dragons were in a rage, intent on destroying every last thing on this isle. She knew it would only be a matter of time until they burst through to this chamber, too.

  In the sudden lull, Gwen was shocked to hear the shrill sound of a baby’s cry cutting through the air. The sound pierced her like a knife in her chest. She could not help but immediately think of Guwayne, and as the cry, somewhere above ground, grew louder, a part of her, still distraught, convinced herself that it was indeed Guwayne up there, crying out for her. She knew rationally that it was impossible; her son was out on the ocean, far from here. And yet, her heart begged for it to be so.

  “My baby!” Gwen screamed. “He’s up there. I must save him!”

  Gwen ran for the steps, when suddenly she felt a strong hand on hers.

  She turned to see her brother Reece holding her back.

  “My lady,” he said. “Guwayne is far from here. That is the cry of another baby.”

  Gwen did not wish it to be true.

  “It is still a baby,” she said. “It is all alone up there. I cannot let it die.”

  “If you go up there,” Kendrick said, stepping forward, coughing in the soot, “we will have to close the doors after you, and you will be all alone up there. You will die up there.”

  Gwen was not thinking clearly. In her mind, there was a baby alive up there, all alone, and she knew, above all, that she had to save it—no matter what the price.

  Gwen shook her hand free from Reece’s grip and sprinted for the stairs. She took them three at a time, and before anyone could reach her, she pulled back the metal pole barring the doors, and leaned into them with her shoulder, pushing them up with all her might as she raised her palms.

  Gwen screamed out in pain as she did, the metal so hot it burned her palms, and quickly she retracted them; undeterred, she then covered her palms with her sleeves and pushed the doors up all the way.

  Gwendolyn coughed madly as she burst out into daylight, clouds of black smoke pouring out of the underground with her. As she stumbled to the surface, she squinted against the light, then looked out, raising a hand to her eyes, and was shocked to see one huge wave of destruction. All that had been standing just moments before was now razed, reduced to piles of smoking and charred rubble.

  The baby’s cries came again, louder up here, and Gwen looked around, waiting for the black clouds of smoke to part; as she did, she saw, on the far side of the court, a baby on the ground, wrapped in a blanket. Nearby, she saw its parents lying, burnt alive, now dead. Somehow, the baby had survived. Perhaps, Gwen thought with a pang of misery, the mother had died sheltering it from the flames.

  Suddenly, Kendrick, Reece, Godfrey, and Steffen appeared beside her.

  “My lady, you must come back now!” Steffen implored. “You shall die up here!”

  “The baby,” Gwen said. “I must save it.”

  “You cannot,” Godfrey insisted. “You will never make it back alive!”

  Gwen no longer cared. Her mind was overcome with a laser-like focus, and all she saw, all she could think of, was the child. She blocked out the rest of the world and knew that, as much as she needed to breathe, she needed to save it.

  The others tried to grab her, but Gwen was undeterred; she shook off their grip and dashed for the baby.

  Gwen sprinted with all she had, heart slamming in her chest
as she ran through the rubble, through clouds of billowing black smoke, flames all around her. The black smoke acted as a shield, though, and luckily for her, the dragons could not see her yet. She ran across the courtyard, through the clouds, seeing only the baby, hearing only its cries.

  She ran and ran, her lungs bursting, until she finally reached it. She reached down and scooped up the baby and immediately examined its face, some part of her expecting to see Guwayne.

  She was crestfallen to see it was not him; it was a girl. She had large, beautiful blue eyes filled with tears as she shrieked and trembled, her hands in fists. Still, Gwen felt elated to hold another baby, feeling as if somehow she were making amends for sending Guwayne away. And she could already see, after a brief glance at the baby’s sparkling eyes, that it was beautiful.

  The clouds of smoke lifted and Gwendolyn suddenly found herself exposed at the far end of the courtyard, holding the wailing baby. She looked up and saw, hardly a hundred yards away, a dozen fierce dragons, with huge glowing eyes, all turning and looking at her. They fixed their eyes on her with delight and fury, and she could see that they were already preparing to kill her.

  The dragons launched into the air, flapping their great wings, so enormous from this close, heading her way. Gwen braced herself, standing there, clutching the baby, knowing she would never make it back in time.

  Suddenly, there came the sound of drawn swords, and Gwen turned to see her brothers Reece, Kendrick, and Godfrey, along with Steffen, Brandt, Atme, and all the Legion members, standing beside her, all drawing swords and shields, all rushing to protect her. They formed a circle around her, holding their shields up to the sky, and they all prepared to die with her. Gwen was so deeply moved and inspired by their courage.

  The dragons bore down on them, opening their massive jaws, and they braced themselves for the inevitable flame that would kill them all. Gwen closed her eyes and she saw her father, saw everyone who was ever important in her life, and she prepared to meet them.