“That was clever, witch,” Tu’luh snarled to himself. “But, I will be back. You need to rest for quite a while after such a spell, while I can return before the next sunrise with an army just as large, and ready to use my spell to ensnare you and everyone else inside Fort Drake. Even after you have recovered your energy, you cannot use that spell again for at least a week. ”
*****
When Tu’luh arrived at the city of Grobung he took his two riders to the graveyard on the western side of the city. This is where the veterans of Fort Drake, as well as many other honored dead had been buried for centuries. Their bodies were in different stages of decay, but most were not beyond saving. The amulet could raise even the worst cases of skeletons or rotting corpses, so long as something remained of either body or soul. He sent Marlin out into the graveyard and commanded his new slave to raise another army.
A great, black cloud appeared over the land as the tombstones began to quake and tremble. Caskets cracked and corpses began to claw their way out of the dirt. Hands of bone ripped through the earth and pulled up skeleton bodies. Some wore armor that they had been buried in, while others wore nothing. The fresher corpses had skin covering their bones and other than their bloated faces and the pale green and purple coloring of their skin they looked fairly normal by human standards. They all bowed to their new master ready to do his bidding. Row after row came alive in the graveyard as Marlin walked through using Nagar’s spell to wake all of the dead.
While Marlin worked to create an army of zombies, Tu’luh flew a bit farther to the south. He sought a secluded glade from which he could contact his other servants. He summoned imps, sending them out to Verishtang and having them call upon the drakes and other monsters that waited for Tu’luh’s call. The monsters would fly with great haste, arriving before midday on the morrow. Tu’luh could wait that long. Then, he would have his victory. The Middle Kingdom would fall at Fort Drake.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Lepkin stood in the room, his arms folded and his head leaning against the doorjamb. He watched Lady Dimwater feed their newborn son. “I want you to leave,” Lepkin said.
“And I wish to find that cabin in the woods, where everyone leaves us alone and we can live together in peace.”
“I have to stay here, but you don’t. Take our son, go north.”
Lady Dimwater shook her head. She gently rocked their son back and forth as she sat on the edge of their bed. “In life or in death, I’m not leaving your side again.”
Lepkin rubbed a hand over his face moved toward her. He knelt down in front of her placing one hand on her left knee and one hand on their son’s back. “You saw what the magic did to Marlin,” Lepkin said “He’s gone. There is no way for us to make him come back. It is one thing to die, but it is another thing to lose your soul. I want you to leave.”
“I said no.” Lady Dimwater readjusted their son on her lap so that she could take Lepkin’s hand in hers. “I can send our son away, but I’m not leaving.”
“Where would he go?”
“I can send him to Njar, the satyr.”
Lepkin stared at their child. He wasn’t sure what he thought about that. He trusted Dimwater, but he had never heard of Njar before. Up until the time he saw Aparen in Stonebrook, he had no idea that any satyr existed within the Middle Kingdom. What he did know, was that he had no better ideas. “If you trust him, then I suppose I can as well.”
“Doesn’t really matter if you trust him. If we both die in this battle neither one of us are going to be having any say in what happens to our son.” Dimwater offered a half smile. A flash of silver appeared in the room. The two of them looked over to see Silverfang, Dimwater’s wolf, standing before them. “If you prefer I can send our son to Silverfang’s realm.” A sarcastic smile crossed her lips.
Lepkin shook his head “No, but perhaps you could send Silverfang with our son to Njar.”
Dimwater nodded her head. “That I can do.”
The two of them watch their son for the next several minutes before Lady Dimwater finally opened a portal to a strange land inside a beautiful forest vale. She pointed at several cottage style houses in the vale and assured Lepkin that their son would be safe there. She explained that with the amulet’s limited range, and the fact that Njar’s home always moved and was covered by a magical spell that concealed it, it would be one of the last places Tu’luh could ever reach.
“Then let us pray that Erik is able to return and defeat Tu’luh before the dragon can find Njar.” Lepkin frowned as he bent down to kiss his newborn son’s forehead. Dimwater caressed Lepkin’s cheek with her palm and then sent their son through the portal on a magical cloud. Silverfang also went through the portal and then it closed.
When the two hours was over, Lepkin bent over to kiss Lady Dimwater’s cheek. “The dragon will return soon, and I should be out there to meet him. You should continue to rest until the last possible moment.”
Lady Dimwater pulled on Lepkin’s arm and struggled to stand on her feet. “I told you before, I do not intend to leave your side.” Lepkin opened his mouth to chastise her for being pigheaded, but she flicked his nose with her index finger and then leaned into a hug. Her embrace took the fight out of him, and he agreed to let her come with him.
The two of them left their room, walking out through the courtyard and up the stairs onto the south wall. They saw their friend Al, the king of the dwarves, already standing upon the wall with Commander Nials. No one said a word. They stood in the night and waited for any sign of the dragon and his army. They waited for hours, but no sign came.
Sometime around midnight a young soldier came up the stairs on the southern wall and handed a letter to Commander Nials.
“This just came in by messenger falcon.”
Commander Nials nodded, thanked the young soldier and then sent him back to his station. He opened the message and leaned to his right to get a better angle on the light from the torch nearby.
“What does it say?” Lepkin asked.
“I will be there before noon.” Commander Nials looked to the bottom of the small message and smiled wide. “I found the Immortal Mystic. Signed, Erik Lokton, the Champion of Truth.”
The four of them shared a smile, but none of them shouted for joy. Instead of yelling and shouting and cheering, their relief was evident in the silent tears that fell from their faces. Even Al was unashamed to let the water roll over his cheek and into his red beard.
“So, we only need to hold out until lunch tomorrow,” Lepkin said.
“We can do that,” Lady Dimwater said.
Al clapped his hands and looked down to the courtyard, filled with a renewed sense of hope. “I will see if my dwarves can’t dig a few tunnels, traps, and surprises for the dragon. Maybe we can slow him a bit more.” The others nodded and Al ran down the stairs on his short, stubbly legs. Lepkin watched him go down the stairs then turned to put an arm around his wife.
Commander Nials smiled, “go and get some sleep. Your wife needs her rest, for tomorrow we have a battle to win.”
“And if the enemy comes tonight?” Lady Dimwater asked.
“Then the alarms will wake you,” Commander Nials said. “Until then you should rest. You will be of more use to me after you have rested than if you were to stay up all night for nothing. Perhaps that is what Tu’luh had in mind -making us wait all night so that he could vanquish us in the morning when we are exhausted.”
“That is an astute observation,” Lepkin said.
“If he is to raise an army, it could take him a little longer,” Dimwater said. “He won’t be able to raise any of the men he brought against us today.”
“Yes, I must say that I do not entirely approve of your method,” Commander Nials said. Before Lady Dimwater could respond, Commander Nials put a hand in the air and smiled softly. “I understand it was likely the only way to save us in that moment. Had your spell been able to consume the dragon as well, then you would hear no complaints from me whats
oever. It is just that I knew some of the men down on the field.”
“Those men were not the men you once knew,” Lady Dimwater said. “Their souls were already twisted and warped by the curse Tu’luh placed upon them. My spell only devoured that which was already corrupted beyond recognition and salvation.”
Commander Nials nodded his head and ceded the point. He then gestured back toward the main keep. “Go, and get some rest. If the enemy arrives early I will sound the alarm.”
Lepkin and Lady Dimwater nodded and left the wall.
*****
The warning bells sounded shortly after the morning meal. Lepkin looked to Lady Dimwater and they shared a somber frown. Erik had not yet arrived, but it was apparent that Tu’luh had. Soldiers ran to and fro, gathering weapons and armor as quickly as they could. Lepkin and Dimwater moved to their position on the wall, standing next to Commander Nials again.
The gates opened and the army marched out.
Within a few minutes Al the dwarf king bounded up the stairs and stood next to Lepkin on the wall. He reached up and smiled. “The enemy gave me enough time that I prepared a great welcome for them.”
“What did you do?” Commander Nials asked.
“Just keep an eye to the south,” Al replied.
The four of them watched as an army of skeletons and grotesque zombies walked forward over the road in the south. Master Lepkin and Commander Nials kept glancing to Al. The stocky dwarf grinned and fidgeted with his fingers, but he did not reveal what was about to happen. The farther the enemy army advanced, the bigger Al’s grin became.
All of a sudden there was a commotion. The sound of breaking bone and clattering armor. Lepkin spotted an area where as many as a dozen skeletons had fallen into a large pit that had been covered loosely with straw and moss to appear as though the grass and ground beneath was solid. Several more pits opened underneath the army’s feet.
“Those pits are fifty feet deep,” Al said proudly. He put his hands on his hips and nodded with a great grin that stretched his mouth nearly ear to ear on his face. “I would love to see those zombies climb out of there anytime soon.”
The enemy army maneuvered around the open pits, quickly discovering additional tricks and traps. Al moved forward on the wall and started fidgeting with his fingers again. The enemy army came in another fifty yards, and then a great trench, which must have been at least a quarter mile long, opened up and burst into flames. The flames swallowed several ranks of the enemy army.
“I noticed yesterday, that the corpses that burned to ash were unable to be resurrected by the curse,” Al said. “So I devised a special pit for some of these abominations with that in mind.”
“You are a devious one, dwarf king,” Commander Nials said. “Devious indeed.”
The enemy army was nearly halted by the great wall of fire. The force had to split in order to maneuver around the edges of the trench. Archers from Fort Drake assaulted the dividing army. Unfortunately, they found the arrows were not as effective against the skeleton warriors as they had been against the army the day before. The arrows either passed through the skeletons without harming them, or they would bounce off the bone without damaging them enough to stop them. The catapults, on the other hand, were able to hurl massive boulders that crushed many skeleton warriors beneath them.
A volley of arrows flew over the trench of fire from the enemy army toward the men of Fort Drake. Lady Dimwater acted quickly sending a whirlwind through the air to sweep away the missiles. On the whole, the spell worked rather well, but it did not divert all of the missiles. Many of the arrows fell down to find their mark, slaying several good soldiers.
Then a strange noise rose in the air, like that of a wailing banshee. The four heroes atop the wall strained their eyes to find its source. When they found it, they all gasped in unison. There were hundreds of creatures coming in from the southeast. There were gorlung beasts, fire drakes, and great tusked mammoths charging toward the fort.
Al reacted quickly, grabbing his battle horn and giving a long below. In answer, cavedogs emerged out of covered holes in the ground, with their riders atop them wielding bows, spears and axes. The dwarves charged out to meet the ghastly creatures while the humans continued to do battle with the skeletons and zombies. The fighting became fierce. The dwarves clashed against the great creatures in a thunderous clap of metal, screams, war cries, and screeches. The mammoths trampled many of the cavedog riders, while the fire drakes blasted dwarves with fire. The dwarves answered by firing crossbows, hacking at their enemies’ feet, and letting their giant lizards bite at the monsters’ legs.
While the dwarves fought, locked in a bitter battle, the humans came face-to-face with their skeleton enemies. Swords and axes hacked through bone and rusted armor, beating out the strange, obscene melody of death and war. Lady Dimwater lent what aid she could by sending lightning and fire from the sky. Still, she was not rested enough to do much. Her spells managed only to slay a few dozen of the enemy skeletons.
Aparen moved out to help the dwarves. He ran toward the wall from inside the courtyard and shifted into his shadowfiend form, jumping into the air as he did so. He flew gracefully over the wall and down toward the battlefield like a great raptor hunting a rabbit. He tore into a fire drake with his talons and teeth, ripping the beast’s right wing from its back while simultaneously biting its neck. He then flew on to save a pair of dwarves just before they were trampled by a great mammoth. A lightning bolt struck down from the sky, burning a hole through the woolly mammoth and dropping the beast to the ground.
“I do believe he is more powerful than you, Lady Dimwater,” Commander Nials said.
“You may be right,” Lady Dimwater agreed. They watched as scores of beasts continued to flood onto the field. The battle raged for more than three hours before there was any sign of Salarion or Marlin. When the four of them finally caught sight of the two that held the amulet, they wondered where Tu’luh might be. The dragon was nowhere near them.
“Surely Tu’luh would not let them come alone this time, would he?” Commander Nials asked
Master Lepkin shrugged. “I do not know.” Master Lepkin moved to the edge of the wall and placed his hands upon the crenellation.
“What are you thinking?” Lady Dimwater asked.
“That maybe it is time for me to take my dragon form again.”
“If you do that, you will be turned by the spell.”
Lepkin nodded his head. “But maybe I will have enough time to steal the amulet. If I can reach it, I can throw it back to Fort Drake and one of you could destroy it.”
“Lepkin, if it was that easy, we would have destroyed the book that held the spell,” Lady Dimwater said. “You know we won’t be able to destroy the amulet if it has been imbued with Nagar’s spell. We will have to wait until Erik arrives. Erik will be here soon, I know it.”
“Perhaps not soon enough, look!” Commander Nials shouted as he pointed the two toward the north.
They all turned to see the great silvery dragon flying in from the north. He had circled around them for an attack. He blasted the northwest corner of the fortress with fire as he swooped down from the sky. Soldiers shouted and cried out for help as they died a terrible, agonizing death by fire.
“Man the ballistae!” Commander Nials ordered.
Soldiers fired from the towers with the great ballista launchers that had been erected as the fortress’ defense. Tu’luh, the great dragon, dodged and evaded every missile that was fired at him. He swooped under, and spun over and around every missile. Soldiers lined the walls of the fortress, firing arrows at the silver dragon. The small shafts were nothing to the great, metallic scales of the dragon. They bounced and ricocheted off like rain on a metal roof. The dragon continued to dive and attack time and time again, forcing the heroes to turn their attention to him and forget about Marlin and Salarion.
Master Lepkin was about to transform into his dragon form and engage Tu’luh, when he saw Aparen fly back ove
r the wall in his shadowfiend form. Aparen engaged Tu’luh, firing lightning and spears of ice through the air at the great dragon. Tu’luh roared, answering with fiery blasts and swipes of his sharp talons. Neither was able to land a hit on the other. Instead, they danced a fiery, electrifying dance in the sky over Fort Drake while soldiers died by the scores below on the ground.
Lady Dimwater kept her attention on Tu’luh, firing spells to try and catch the dragon off guard. However, she lacked the strength to make any of them very effective. A fireball she sent dissipated as it collided with his great scales. A lightning bolt she summoned from the sky missed Tu’luh and struck one of the towers instead. When she gathered a magical arrow and sent it at the dragon, Tu’luh was fast enough to evade the dangerous missile.
“Lady Dimwater, focus on Marlin. He is coming closer,” Commander Nials said. Master Lepkin and Lady Dimwater turned to see Marlin walking near one of the trenches. The amulet swung from his neck as he walked. If he came much closer to the fortress, the battle would be over as all the living would fall victim to the amulet’s power.
Lady Dimwater began chanting a spell calling a great arrow of blue fire into existence. She sent it streaking downward toward Marlin, telling herself that it was no longer her friend she saw in the body before her. The arrow flew straight and true, but it did not strike Marlin. In the last second, Salarion dove in front of Marlin and took the arrow in her own chest. Her body vanished into nothingness.
“They are coming too close,” Lepkin said. “Get the archers to fire on Marlin.”
A great howl rose up from the east and the four of them turned to see a massive pack of black wolves. The wolves chased the creatures that were battling with the dwarves, hunting them down and bringing them one by one to the dust.
Return of the Dragon (The Dragon's Champion Book 6) Page 27