Onyx of Darkness_An epic dragon fantasy

by Norma Hinkens

  “Are you going to wed my brother?” Franz asked.

  Orlla sat up ramrod straight, adrenalin flooding her system as she fought to strike a nonchalant tone. “What makes you ask that?”

  Franz fingered the hilt of his sword. “No particular reason.”

  Orlla bit her lip. It was obvious he was lying—something had prompted the question. She was loathe to ask if his mother had mentioned the subject, as she didn’t want to needlessly upset him by bringing her up. But, she was also curious if Erdhan had hinted at something. She smiled conspiratorially. “Have you asked your brother that question?”

  Franz looked down at the ground, shifting his feet awkwardly. He shook his head. “I know what he would say.”

  Orlla’s heart began to pound. “And what might that be?”

  Franz shrugged. “That he hoped to wed you one day.”

  Orlla felt her cheeks warm. “How do you feel about that, Franz?”

  He looked pensive for a moment, and then his face cleared. “I am happy for anything that makes my brother smile again.”

  Before Orlla could think of a suitable response, Erdhan strode back into view, a small hog slung over his shoulder. “We’re going to eat like kings tonight,” he announced. “It was your arrow that killed him, Franz.”

  Franz let out a whoop of excitement, his conversation with Orlla instantly forgotten as he jumped up to help Erdhan dress the hog.

  Orlla smiled to herself and went to check on Akolom, hoping her cheeks would cool by the time she returned.

  After the hog was dressed, Erdhan showed Franz how to prepare a spit to roast the meat while Orlla stoked the fire. They settled in around the flames, savoring the succulent aroma as the tender pig cooked. When it was ready, they tore into it, too hungry to care for etiquette as they stuffed pieces of pork into their mouths and chewed with tiny moans of pleasure.

  “Save some for a grizzled old man,” Akolom said, struggling to raise himself up on one elbow amid the tree roots.

  Orlla’s eyes widened. She jumped up and rushed to his aid. “I was afraid you were never going to wake up.”

  He grunted with displeasure as he hobbled over to the fire and sank down, tucking the sack containing the Onyx of Darkness under his arm. “I warned you I would be hard to get rid of.”

  They all laughed at that and hugged him warmly before filling him in on everything that had transpired. All the while, Franz plied him with food until he protested his gut would burst if he ate any more. He sat back, rubbing his belly. “Now that Orlla has successfully secured the pass, and we have sated our hunger, I suggest we all get a good night’s sleep before we set out to find the Keepers.”

  “One of us needs to keep watch. I’ll take the first shift,” Erdhan said.

  “We’re perfectly safe behind the veiling runes,” Akolom protested.

  Erdhan shrugged. “I know, but after everything that’s happened, I won’t be able to sleep if we don’t post a guard.”

  “You and I can divide the shifts between us,” Orlla said, raising a hand when Akolom began to protest. “You need to rest well tonight after almost dying on us. Tomorrow will be another long day.”

  Akolom pursed his lips. “Very well. But I will weave a mental protection over you so you are not tempted to approach the stone while I am sleeping.”

  Orlla gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded her thanks at him as she gathered up the remainder of the meat and wrapped it in cloth for their breakfast.

  “I can take a shift,” Franz offered, a look of eager anticipation on his face.

  “Good idea,” Erdhan said. “You can relieve Orlla for the third watch. I’ll take the first one.” He got to his feet and stretched before taking the remnants of the hog a short distance away to bury them.

  Orlla lay down by the fire and was asleep before her head even hit her hands pillowed beneath her. When Erdhan shook her awake for her shift, she felt as if she had closed her eyes only a few minutes earlier.

  “Are you sure you’re up for keeping watch?” he asked, stifling a yawn.

  “Absolutely.” She pinched her cheeks and got to her feet, then leaned up and kissed him teasingly.

  Before she could slip away his arms were around her. “Maybe I’m not quite as sleepy as I thought I was.” He kissed her back fervently, then groaned softly in his throat when she pulled away. “Don’t go!”

  “You were the one wanted to set a watch,” she laughed. “Get some rest. I’ll wake Franz in a bit and snuggle up with you then.”

  She rubbed her arms briskly as she paced around the fire, knowing she would fall asleep at once if she sat back down and let the warmth of the flames seep into her bones again. When it came time to wake Franz for the last shift of the night, she curled up gratefully under her cloak and regarded him with amusement as he marched around the fire. She wasn’t worried about him nodding off. His enthusiasm for his new level of responsibility would negate any chance of that. She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, feeling herself begin to drift off almost immediately.

  When she woke, she sat up slowly, blinking herself awake in the semi-darkness. She glanced around, wincing when she noticed Franz nestled up next to the fire, fast asleep. Evidently his assignment hadn’t been exciting enough to keep him awake after all. She bit back her frustration, willing herself to let it go. Franz was only a lad, and it wouldn’t do any good to chide him now. Besides, Erdhan would be disappointed enough in him when he found out what had happened. Fortunately, her runes veiling the pass were solid and there was no chance the soldiers had breached them overnight. No one had been harmed, but it was a good reminder that they needed to be more vigilant about their safety than entrusting it to a youth.

  She watched the sun come up, hugging her knees to her chest as ruby dregs seeped across the horizon. When the others began to stir, she stoked the fire to heat some of the leftover meat.

  A heartbeat later, Akolom let out a gurgled cry.

  Orlla leapt to her feet in alarm, certain her mentor was dying. “Akolom! What’s wrong?”

  His flashing eyes lit on her. “The Onyx is gone!”

  Chapter 33

  “I didn’t touch the Onyx!” Orlla blurted out, shrinking back from Akolom’s accusatory stare.

  He grimaced and rummaged around frantically again. “It’s not here.”

  “It can’t have just disappeared,” Orlla said in a bewildered tone. “Maybe it rolled under someone else’s cloak while you were sleeping.” She shot a questioning look at Erdhan and Franz as they blinked around in confusion at the ruckus.

  “What’s going on?” Erdhan asked.

  “The Onyx is missing!” Akolom snapped.

  Erdhan clambered to his feet and shook out his cloak. “It’s got to be here somewhere. None of us left the campsite.”

  While Akolom went off to search among the surrounding boulders, Orlla checked under nearby gorse bushes in the event they had inadvertently kicked the stone during the night. There was no sign of it anywhere, and no tracks to indicate it had rolled away from them.

  When she returned to the fire, Franz flashed her a sideways look. Something about the sheepish expression that flitted across his pale face gave her pause. A chill snaked over her. Had Franz taken the Onyx and hidden it someplace? She knew only too well the deadly allure of the stone, and Franz had been the last one to take a shift. She knelt beside him and fixed a stoic gaze on him. “Franz, do you know where the dragon stone is? If you took it, tell me where it is. You won’t be in trouble. We just need to make sure it’s safe.”

  Tears welled up in his blue eyes and he ducked his head behind his arm, ashamed to let her see him crying.

  Erdhan shot Orlla an angry glare. “Leave him alone, he feels bad enough for falling asleep. Franz had nothing to do with it. The stone was in Akolom’s care.”

  Akolom strode over to them, a tense grimace on his face. “Did the lad touch the stone at all?”

  Erdhan rested his hands on his brother’s shoulders and forced
Franz to look at him. “Did you go near the stone last night?”

  Franz shook his head vehemently, swallowing a sob.

  Erdhan patted his brother’s tousled blond curls. “Well then, you don’t have anything to worry about.” He turned to Akolom with a scowl. “Satisfied? Franz didn’t touch it. The stone disappeared of its own accord. It’s a dragon stone, we have no idea what it’s capable of.”

  “Someone … someone did touch it,” Franz blubbered, tears streaming down his face.

  Everyone turned and stared at him, their expressions contorting in horrified disbelief.

  “You mean … one of us?” Orlla demanded.

  “Who?” Akolom growled.

  “Samten.” Franz whispered the name so softly that for a moment Orlla thought she had imagined it.

  “Samten?” Erdhan repeated.

  The nape of Orlla’s neck prickled. Her heart felt like it was engulfed in flames inside her chest. “My brother was here?”

  Franz nodded, the words spilling freely now. “I was patrolling the camp so I wouldn’t fall asleep on my watch when I spotted him. He hugged me and told me the Macobite and Pegonian armies had defeated the Protectors and he wanted to let us know he was safe. I offered to wake you up but … ” Franz’s voice trailed off.

  Erdhan frowned. “But what?”

  “He said you needed your rest and he would wait around until morning. He told me to get some sleep too and he would take over my watch for me. He said no one could follow him since the pass was veiled.”

  The blood in Orlla’s veins turned cold, the words she had spoken only a few short hours ago coming back to haunt her.

  It’s only visible to a Keeper.

  She had secured the pass from everyone on the other side of it—except for Samten. It hadn’t even occurred to her that her own brother would attempt to steal the dark dragon stone from them. She hadn’t dreamt for a moment that he had paid enough attention in his classes at the Conservatory to learn how to navigate through her complex system of veiling runes. But, he was brilliant, and devious, and it seemed she knew very little of just how much he was capable.

  Her eyes met Akolom’s, his face so deeply folded it looked like the skin was slipping from his skull. Everything they had risked their lives for up until now was in peril. They had lost the dark dragon stone on the eve of its destruction.

  “Barhus may be dead,” Akolom said through gritted teeth, “but his legacy lives on.”

  The words stung Orlla like a bitter wind that sucked the breath from her lungs. Her first instinct was to berate herself for not having tried harder to rid Samten of Barhus’s nefarious influence over the years. But, even as the thought went through her head, she knew there was nothing more she could have done. The master mentors themselves had not been able to kick Barhus out of the Conservatory. He had been untouchable all along, protected by King Ferghell himself. For the first time, she wondered if Barhus’s drunken stupors had all been a ruse to make him appear harmless—easily discounted as a spy in their midst.

  Erdhan looked equally stricken. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have left Franz to guard the camp alone.”

  Akolom waved a languid hand. “Samten would have found another way to relieve us of the stone. We just made his job that much easier for him.” He stroked his beard with a shaking hand. “The question is: what are we going to do about it?”

  “Samten has limited rune weaving skills,” Orlla said. “I am certain he does not know how to invoke the forbidden rune on the dark dragon stone.”

  A haunted look crossed Akolom’s face. “I fear that stunt he pulled breaking into the Conservatory vault had less to do with stealing a chalice and a cloak, and more to do with probing the vault’s deepest secrets. If he accessed the annals, he will have everything he needs to know to decipher the forbidden rune. His mind is brilliant enough to master quickly what others have practiced to perfect over many decades—you told me so yourself.”

  Erdhan ploughed a hand through his hair. “Then we have to stop him.”

  “We must reach the other Keepers without delay,” Akolom said, his eyes gleaming with renewed purpose. “It’s time to release the light dragons.”

  Following the secret rune carvings in the rocks that Jubel had left for them, they hiked south at a relentless pace, fueled by adrenalin and a growing sense of desperation. As the last glimmer of afternoon sunlight softened into a fuzzy peach and began to sink behind the Angladior mountains, they reached the Keepers’ hideout.

  Jubel came bounding out from the cave to greet them and flung her arms around Akolom. “I feared I would not see you again until the second life.”

  “There were times I almost crossed over there,” Akolom responded with a wry grin. “Only your healing runes kept me alive.”

  A moment later, Teldus joined them, beaming broadly at everyone.

  Akolom clapped him heartily on the back. “You made it back safely from Efyllsseum.”

  “And I smuggled out the ancient annals from the vault,” Teldus said. “It was a worse outcome than we feared. King Ferghell died in the dragon’s fire, but Barhus survived and seized control of the island. He has proved a ruthless master.”

  “Not anymore. Barhus is dead,” Akolom said gravely. “The dark dragons took him in the end.”

  “I always sensed he was destined to walk an iniquitous path,” Teldus replied, without a hint of remorse in his voice.

  “Enough talk of traitors,” Jubel cut in. “You must come inside and eat before you collapse of hunger.” She ushered them into a dry, spacious cave shielded from view by a dense thicket of junipers. A pot of fragrant stew hung above the fire. The Keepers got to their feet and greeted them warmly. Orlla was shocked to see how rapidly many of them had aged.

  Akolom rubbed his brow with his long fingers. “Is the Opal of Light safe?”

  Jubel nodded and gestured to a reed basket at the back of the cave, flanked on either side by an armed Keeper. “The stone has never been in any danger.” She hesitated, a flicker of a frown crossing her face. “Where is the Onyx of Darkness?”

  Akolom sighed heavily. “It burdens me greatly to tell you that the dark dragon stone was stolen from us last night by Samten.”

  A tense silence fell between them. The Keepers sitting around the camp fire exchanged dismayed looks and then a babble of angry voices broke out.

  Franz shifted uneasily and slunk behind Erdhan.

  To Orlla’s relief, none of the Keepers cursed Samten out, sparing her the humiliation of hearing yet again from their lips what they thought of her brother. She had defended him for far too long and made endless excuses for him, believing he would grow out of his rebellious ways. Instead, he had sealed a pact with the enemy and spat in the face of all her efforts to rehabilitate him.

  “Do you know where he has taken the Onyx?” Jubel finally asked.

  “He serves King Hamend now,” Orlla replied. “He likely took it directly to the king in exchange for a prestigious position in the Macobite army. Military prowess is all Samten has ever craved—that and power.”

  “Hamend recently formed an alliance with Brufus, so they may have struck a deal to share the stone,” Erdhan added.

  “Barhus sent the Protectors to their death against the united mainland armies,” Akolom said. “We must find a way to destroy the dark dragon stone before they can exploit its power and take over the world.”

  Teldus cleared his throat. “Perhaps there is something in the annals I retrieved that could help us.”

  Akolom nodded. “Bring them out. We will divide them up and scour them for anything that might be relevant.”

  Teldus and Jubel unloaded the dusty scrolls from the saddlebags Teldus had transported them in and spread them out on the floor of the cave. The Keepers split up and got to work studying and cross-referencing the scrolls for any mention of the dark dragon stone and its workings.

  Orlla’s vision was beginning to blur by the time Teldus called out excitedly, “Listen t
o this. ‘The Opal cannot destroy the Onyx, rather it must subjugate the darkness with light. Just as darkness is the absence of light, the Onyx only comes into its own power when it is separated from the Opal.’” He frowned down at the scroll and continued reading. “‘Separate them not,’ the High Dragon King commanded, ‘for on the day of their separation, the Opus of Doom will be written, and what is written by fate cannot be unwritten.’”

  Erdhan frowned. “So, if the stones stay together, light prevails. If they are separated, the Onyx becomes powerful in its own right.”

  “Exactly. They will war with one another as of old.” Teldus wiped a hand over his brow. “Which makes it all the more imperative that we find the dark dragon stone before its power is tapped by someone with ill intent.”

  “What is the Opus of Doom?” Orlla asked. “I’ve never heard it mentioned before.”

  Akolom grimaced. “It is the dragon war to end all dragon wars. There are prophesies about it in the ancient annals, but few believed the day would ever come when the dragons would rise again, let alone fly to war against each other once more.”

  Erdhan folded his arms in front of him. “So how do we stop it?”

  “We cannot stop it now, we can only hope to win it,” Akolom said, sadness pooling in his eyes. “We must call upon the light dragons to come to our aid. I do not take such far-reaching measures lightly, but our cause is worthy and merits such supplication.”

  “Light or dark, a dragon’s only instinct is to kill,” Jubel said. “They lack understanding of anything beyond that without bonded riders.”

  A small smile crept over Akolom’s face. “And that is how we will be victorious in our quest to subjugate the Onyx of Darkness.” He laid a hand on Erdhan’s shoulder. “A dragon rider walks among us. When the Opal of Light blinded the mainland armies, it spared Erdhan’s sight and bestowed the sign of the riders of old in his eyes.”

  Franz turned to Erdhan, his jaw askew, as though seeing his older brother for the first time.