Witchbreaker (Dragon Apocalypse)

by James Maxey

  WITCHBREAKER

  BOOK THREE of the DRAGON APOCALYPSE

  JAMES MAXEY

  SOLARIS

  First published 2012 by Solaris

  an imprint of Rebellion Publishing Ltd,

  Riverside House, Osney Mead,

  Oxford, OX2 0ES, UK

  www.solarisbooks.com

  ISBN (ePUB): 978-1-84997-464-6

  ISBN (MOBI): 978-1-84997-465-3

  Copyright © 2012 James Maxey

  Cover Art by Adam Tredowski

  The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

  Also by James Maxey

  Books of the Dragon Age

  Bitterwood

  Dragonforge

  Dragonseed

  The Dragon Apocalypse

  Greatshadow

  Hush

  Witchbreaker

  For Joy, Gina, and Joseph

  fellow wanderers

  CHAPTER ONE

  A CONVERGENCE OF DRAGONS

  SORROW SHIVERED AS she opened the blanket clasped around her shoulders long enough to feed the last shards of the kitchen table into the stove. Commonground was a tropical port, and Menagerie’s houseboat had been ill-stocked to deal with the blizzard that had settled over the city for the last week. The small stove had been designed for cooking, not for heating, and Sorrow had quickly exhausted the firewood Menagerie had stocked; so when the mercenary failed to return after leaving to speak to the Black Swan days earlier, Sorrow had started burning his furniture. This was perhaps crossing a boundary as a houseguest, but the shape-shifter struck her as being practical. She was certain he’d understand.

  The room was pitch-black save for the glowing red square of the open oven door. Yellow flames danced as she slid the table-legs onto the coals. She paused a moment in the improved light to study her feet. She’d returned from the Great Sea Above with her ankles covered in hard black scales. They had grown and spread in the intervening days, leaving her shins covered in overlapping diamond-shaped plates that felt hard as iron.

  Despite this unexpected physical change, she didn’t regret her decision to hammer a fragment of Rott’s tooth into her brain. Doing so had opened a portal within her that allowed her to tap the primal dragon’s power of decay. She’d made generous use of his abilities when she’d fought to keep Hush, the dragon of cold, from killing Glorious, the dragon of the sun. For most of her life, she’d pursued the power she would need to change the world more to her liking. Gaining control of a fundamental force of nature was more than she’d dare to dream.

  Of course, none of this was going to matter if she froze to death. She wanted to be anyplace other than here, in a snow-covered floating shack miles from civilization. Her desire to be elsewhere felt physical, as if an invisible rope was wrapped around her soul, with a team of horses dragging her elsewhere.

  She reached to close the oven door, and a red claw thrust out of the flame and grabbed her by the wrist. She jerked her hand back, gasping, her eyes growing wide as the red claw retreated back into the dancing flames.

  As she stared into the fire, twin yellow eyes formed in the swirling incandescence to stare back. The last table leg she’d added split along its length, like opening jaws lined with teeth of jagged blue-white jets.

  The crackling fire spoke to her: “Rott has been summoned to the convergence. It’s rude that you keep him from answering the call.”

  Sorrow swallowed hard. “But I—”

  She was unable to finish her thought as the red claw once more shot from the open door. She tried to scramble backward, but the talons closed around her face. She felt something tear and suddenly she was floating above herself, watching her limp body collapse on the floor. It was shocking to see herself from this perspective. She wasn’t unfamiliar with her own face; she shaved her scalp daily, and was well used to seeing herself in a mirror. But the body that lay upon the floor looked quite different now that it was soulless. It was still breathing, and Sorrow was vaguely aware of a heartbeat, but she still was repulsed by how much her shell looked like a rather ill-kept doll made of skin and bones and meat. She was only twenty-five, but the frown lines and furrowed brow of the meat-mask that covered the skull before her looked much older.

  “There’s no time to study your human aspect,” the flames crackled. “It’s the dragon within you that’s required. Come.”

  Suddenly, the sensation of a rope tugging her soul became fantastically real. Only instead of a rope, it was a cord of braided silver. The silver stretched down through the floor of the houseboat. The material world faded before her spiritual eyes and she found herself falling through a cloudless blue sky.

  She now saw that the silver cord stretched taut beneath her for what looked like miles. At the other end, Rott tumbled lifelessly toward a green ocean far below. When she’d encountered Rott in the Sea of Wine, his body had been half submerged, and all that she’d seen was his serpentine spine, miles in length. She’d not realized he had limbs, or tattered wings that fluttered uselessly as they fell.

  At last, he splashed into the emerald waves. She was dragged down until she was nearly submerged herself. At last, the huge corpse floated back to the surface. The water around him turned white with what she assumed was foam, until she realized it was maggots boiling from beneath his scales.

  Repulsed, she willed herself to fly away. She was high in the sky before the silver cord snapped tight, whipping her around to look back at the scene below.

  A chain of islands formed into a rough circle directly below her. Though mostly equal in size, the topography and climate of each island was radically different.

  The northernmost island was a deep blue mountain of crystalline ice, surrounded by gusting snow. The upper edge of the ice was a saw-tooth ridge that looked like a dragon’s spine. Avalanches spilled down the slopes as the mountain lifted her head. This was Hush, the primal dragon of cold, and she looked out toward the other islands with unveiled contempt.

  The stony island to her east was wreathed with a rapidly churning circle of storm clouds. The hurricane swirled into a serpentine mass. A dragon’s head emerged, opening its massive jaws to lick the land beneath with a tongue of lightning. Thunder rolled across the green waves, forming a voice, shouting, “Who dares summon Tempest, Lord of Storms?”

  To his side was an island of granite. The earth grumbled and cracked and quaked as the dragon stirred from his repose. Dirt slid from a hill-face to expose two enormous diamonds, which narrowed into angry eyes. Sorrow knew enough dragon lore to deduce that this was Kragg, the dragon of stone.

  On the island beside Kragg, lava spilled down the slopes of a steep volcano until all the land was ablaze. The smoke and flame snaked together as it stretched into the sky, curling into a dragon’s neck and face.

  “I have issued the call,” roared Greatshadow, the primal dragon of fire.

  The bone-white cliffs of the island next to Greatshadow began to crack, releasing rivers of blood. A thousand animals jumped free of the red torrent, multitudes of beasts, from common house cats to lumbering elephants, from swarming ants to slithering boa constrictors. The menagerie marched together, sinking their teeth into the flanks of their neighboring beast, d
igging their claws deep into flesh, until the writhing, shrieking mass formed a dragon, a towering creature part lion, part snake, and part eagle. This was Abundant, the dragon of animal life. She shrugged her long back as she looked out upon her brethren.

  She was beside Rott, who floated belly up in the water, looking like a long chain of tar-covered islets that smelled like a city dump. Rott’s unblinking eyes were half submerged, his jaws agape, his yellow teeth cracked and broken.

  The dragons glowered at one another, then one by one glanced toward the heavens. Sorrow wondered if they were looking at her, until she looked up to see the sun high in the sky, looking for all the world like a huge disk of gold floating above them.

  “What’s he doing here?” Abundant asked, with a voice formed by wolf-howls and baboon yowls and the chorus of a thousand robins.

  “The sun still respects the pact we made long ago,” Greatshadow said. “No primal dragon may ignore the summoning.”

  “He’s not a dragon,” Kragg rumbled. “He’s an interloper.”

  “He’s here,” said Tempest. “This is more than I can say for Abyss.”

  “It’s unlike our brother to be tardy,” said Abundant. “I sense he draws near.”

  The water of the sea in the center of the islands began to boil. From the depths a giant turtle rose, as large as any of the islands surrounding it. Waves spread across the green sea, crashing onto the shores of the other dragons.

  “You dishonor us with your delay, brother,” Hush growled. “I expect Rott to be late, but you’ve no excuse.”

  The turtle turned its head toward the north. With a voice formed by crashing waves, it spoke: “You know the reason for my sluggishness. The cold you’ve unleashed has frozen my form further south than you’ve ever before encroached. I normally keep silent about your intrusion into my domain, but this is inexcusable.”

  “Your domain?” Hush asked with a scoff.

  “All here recognize the sea as my abode,” said Abyss.

  “The sea is nothing but molten ice,” said Hush. “You borrow it at my pleasure.”

  “I would argue that the reverse is true,” growled Abyss.

  “His is not the only domain you’ve invaded,” Greatshadow said as the pillar of crackling flames that formed his body swirled to face Hush. “You dare blanket my earthly home with snow? How can you justify this insult?”

  “It’s more than an insult,” howled Abundant. “It’s an assault! Your blizzards have killed countless tropical beasts who’ve never known winter. If Greatshadow had not summoned us to the convergence, I would have. We understand you have reason to be angry, but this doesn’t excuse the magnitude of your sins.”

  “You dare to speak of me of sins?” Hush answered with a trembling voice. It sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. “I’m the one who cries for justice! I shall not call back my blizzards until one particularly vile beast is wiped from the earth: man!”

  Tempest let loose with rumbling thunder. “We understand your grief, sister. However—”

  “You understand nothing! Men killed Glorious! At the moment of my greatest happiness, when my one true love had finally opened his heart to me, he was cruelly slain by a human!”

  “You would punish all mankind for this crime?” asked Kragg, with a voice like vast stones grinding together.

  “It was not the act of a lone man. These creatures have banded together and declared war upon us all.” She stretched an icy claw toward the volcanic island. “Greatshadow! You barely survived when the Church of the Book sent men to hunt you! Surely you must share my thirst for revenge!”

  “I think not,” the dragon of flame answered. “You’ve thrown your blizzards throughout the earthly realms. Men have responded by building fires and lighting lanterns. Why should I think ill of those who feed me so faithfully? The time has come for your tantrum to end.”

  “But the threat the humans pose—”

  “—can be contained,” said Greatshadow. “I survived the best that mankind could throw against me. The only reason they wounded me at all is that they came bearing a weapon carved from the spiteful ice that once was your heart. In failing to kill me, they’ve left me stronger. I admit, I’d grown complacent. Now, I keep a watchful eye for their schemes.”

  “You admit there is a threat?” said Hush.

  “Yes,” said Greatshadow. “Though I’m not certain that humans are the ultimate source.”

  “What do you mean, brother?” Tempest thundered. “Speak, if you know something.”

  “I’m hesitant to sully this sacred space with mere speculation,” said Greatshadow. “I simply find it curious that the Jagged Heart was stolen from the ice-ogres by members of the Storm Guard, only to wind up in the possession of the Church of the Book. The Storm Guard wouldn’t invade the domain of another dragon without your permission, nor would they be so careless with their treasure.”

  “You say you will not engage in speculation,” Tempest grumbled. “But you offer only opinions, not evidence.”

  Greatshadow nodded. “My apologies.” He turned his attention once more to Hush. “If I confine myself to statements of simple fact, here is one that is indisputable. The only reason that Judge Adamant Stern, the murderer of Glorious, had reached the Great Sea Above was that you gave him passage there.”

  “Lies!” said Hush.

  “I watch mankind through every candle flame,” said Greatshadow. “And I listen to the conversations of ice-ogres through their cook-fires. I know what I know. You personally accompanied Stern on the hunt for Glorious. I accept that you had a change of heart, and would have spared him. But what does that matter? Stern was your murder weapon. You loosed a bow, and now blame the arrow because your feeling toward the target changed while the missile was in flight.”

  “You’ve hated me for centuries!” Hush screamed. “Can anyone ever expect a fire to give honest testimony about the cold?”

  “Do you have proof of your accusations, brother?” asked Abundant.

  “I’ve spoken with an eye-witness,” he said. “You may trust my testimony.”

  “Such grave accusations must be backed up by more than hearsay,” said Abundant.

  Greatshadow turned toward Tempest. “Perhaps there are others among us who may shed light upon recent events.”

  “Again you speak to me with veiled accusations,” said Tempest. “I do not like your tone, brother.”

  “I’ve simply asked myself, who would benefit most from the death of other primal dragons?”

  “Obviously, the Church of the Book,” the storm dragon answered.

  “A church you’ve a record of manipulating through blackmail.”

  “I’ve been a target of their plots as well,” said Tempest. “I’ve merely been alert enough to thwart them before they endanger me.”

  Greatshadow kept his jaws shut as he glared at the storm dragon with eyes of flame.

  Hush shook her head, sending tornadoes of snow swirling about her. “Greatshadow, you’ve grown too used to being fed by mankind. It’s left you soft. What’s more, your smoldering hatred toward me distorts your judgment. Do you think your kindred dragons will sit idly by while mankind schemes against them?” She looked around the isles. “Or will the rest of you join with me to end their threat once and for all?”

  Abundant was the first to speak. “Men are arrogant beasts, foolishly believing they are superior to other animals. Yet they are still beasts, and all living creatures are dear to me. I cannot allow you to harm them.”

  “Even though these monsters killed Glorious? Even though they killed Verdant? How many more of us must die?”

  “We dragons have killed far more of our fellows than men have,” Kragg answered.

  Thunder rumbled as Tempest responded, “It’s true that men are dangerous. Yet I’ve learned a great deal by studying them. Men have built their civilization by taming wolves and boars and oxen. Animals that once threatened them have been trained to do their bidding. I’ve taken inspir
ation and mastered the art of taming men. I cannot permit you to harm my livestock.”

  Abyss lifted his head from the water and said, “I care nothing for what happens to men who dwell on land, but there are still Wanderers who respect the pact they made with me long ago. I will not let you harm them.”

  “You’re fools, the lot of you,” growled Hush. She turned to Kragg. “You cannot love these animals. They riddle your body with mines and steal your precious gems and metals!”

  Kragg writhed, stretching his back. There was a rumbling that echoed long after as boulders larger than houses tumbled down his slopes. “With a shrug, I’ve plunged an entire city into a vast cleft in the earth. Men are little more than annoying fleas. I can hardly be blamed for scratching them. I care nothing if they all die, but I also am unconcerned if they live. They aren’t worthy of my sustained attention.”

  “It’s five to four in favor of the death of mankind,” said Hush. “The rest of you must respect the will of the majority!”

  “I fear that the cold has frozen the part of your mind capable of math,” said Tempest. “Greatshadow, Abundant, Abyss, and myself all vote that mankind shall live. Kragg’s position seems to be one of neutrality. This leaves you alone in wishing the extinction of mankind.”

  “We must count the votes of our fallen brethren!” Hush howled. “Verdant, slain by humans, votes for vengeance! Glorious, slain by humans, votes for vengeance! And Rott, though his mind is too long gone to give voice to his wishes, is the embodiment of destruction! Is there any doubt how he would vote?”

  “The Rott I remember was more complicated than you give him credit for,” said Abundant. “For him, life and death were part of a unified whole. He might argue that the deaths of Verdant and Glorious were inevitable. Despite our great powers, we’re not gods. We’re living creatures who’ve risen to dominate our chosen environments, but this does not make us immortal. Dragons die just as surely as men. You cannot count Rott’s vote for your side.”