DragonStone- Fatal Winds

by M A Bernier

  Syl and Ahm-Roth ceased the deadly flames that only dragons can summon, she knew, as did the other dragons, the army was no more than ashes now. Ahm-Roth summoned the other dragons that had come with them. “The Land Bridge is going to destroy itself.” He leapt into the air beating his wings as hard as he could to return to Eryyn’s home as fast as possible. Hundreds of feet up into the air Syl turned her head back. At the far end of the land mass connecting the two continents the flames that had been shooting skyward were quickly diminishing. Flames continued to scream forth from many of the entrances along the Land Bridge. Then it exploded sending chunks of rock and dirt into the air forcing Syl and the others to maneuver in the sky for their lives as chunks of rock as large as she careened dangerously close. Fortunately the majority of the debris flew into the ocean where it would do no harm to the humans.

  Miram stood with Sernik just inside the door of the EverGreen dome outside Eryyn’s home. The two boys were inside under the watchful eyes of Gydin and Rothyn. Rothyn still felt guilty about having been taken over and nearly killing Cadan and Resam. He still could not look anyone in the eye because of the shame he felt.

  For the moment the clouds seemed subdued and still, although still dark and ready to unleash another torrent of rain and hail. In the distance she could see on twister start while another formed and collided with it causing them both to be dispersed in loud thunderous noise. To the North she saw a welcome sight of beating wings as Syl and her father returned. She and Sernik stepped out onto the rain-soaked meadow to await their approach. “Miram look.” Sernik pointed to the East. Six other dragons approached. Flames burst forth from their jaws with each beat of their wings. Miram could see Eryyn with his arms outstretched. Alys and Ardant were on two other dragons.

  “Sernik, I don’t see Jaymee.” Miram kept looking as if to see him suddenly appear on one of the dragons, but he was not with them. The dragon Eryyn rode landed first collapsing as he did followed by Alys and Ardant's mount. From the opposite direction cam Syl and Ahm-Roth.

  Syl looked at her father who watched as the other dragons lay and breathed jets of flame with each laborious breath. “Father, their exhausted.” Ahm-Roth turned to the dragon to his left.

  “You and the others take them to the place of healing.” Syl heard the greater concern in his voice that no other might have and shared that concern. Turning to Syl he said. “They will recover my daughter, our place is here.” Ahm-Roth said to Syl. She knew that for any dragon to breathe flames without control was a dangerous sign that they had expended too much of their strength. It did not take long for Eryyn and the other to dismount and thank their dragon bearers who had no strength to respond except to close their eyes momentarily to acknowledge their thanks. The dragons who had accompanied Syl and Ahm-Roth walked to the brothers and sisters, grasped them gently within their own large, clawed hands, and bear them into the sky and away. Syl could not see Jaymee and it was evident that Alys had been crying as she approached them hand in hand with Eryyn.

  “We found who we were looking for, but there is now a larger issue.” Eryyn wasted no time in greetings but instead asked everyone to meet inside the dome. The expression on his face conveyed the seriousness of the situation.

  Around the wooden table everyone sat in silence and waited as two apprentice mages took Cadan and Resam into house which Gydin and Rothyn would guard. He explained in detail what happened on the Barren Continent and who, or what Jyn-Taa appeared to be.

  “You have not been able to sense Jaymee?” Asked Miram while she gently patted Alys’s arm. Miram turned to Ahm-Roth. “Is what Eryyn saw possible? Could part of his soul somehow been stolen and be made to serve against us?”

  “It is possible.” Replied Ahm-Roth. “But it takes a great effort and powers to accomplish such a task. Even with such power his body would not be his own, it would be a temporary thing at most, Jyn-Taa’s very existence is dependent on those that brought him to life.”

  “He’s changed.” Eryyn spoke without addressing anyone in particular; he then looked at Ahm-Roth. “I felt it the power he was using, I wish I could explain it more but he felt free somehow. We were so close I may have been sensing that his thoughts were.”

  “How did he keep you from stopping him so easily?” Syl’s voice sounded hesitant as if she were afraid she be offending Eryyn.

  “He has the power of demons supporting him….plus something else that I cannot identify.” Eryyn looked at Alys grasping her hand tightly as he did so.

  “There must be a way to locate this thing from the shadows and stop it. Where is he that we cannot find him?” Ardant’s voice sounded frustrated, as he finished speaking the large electronic pad beside him beeped and a face appeared, the image was fuzzy but the sound was clear.

  “Ambassador, we have been trying to reach you for days.” The man's voice sounded relieved as Ardant responded.

  “Tell the council I am fine, but I need information from our scans. Just before the weather turned upside down was there any unusual pattern or energy surge anywhere on the planet…no matter how insignificant I need to know.”

  “As a matter of fact ambassador there was, and that is why we have been trying to reach you. There is a mountain in the desert of the Barren Continent, it appeared unaffected by the earthquakes and storms. We were not able to scan any further, it took us days just to break through the interference to reach you.” Ardant watched as a static filled display distorted the view of the mountain, coordinated appeared on the bottom of the display, then the face reappeared.

  “Thank you Lt. Sims, tell the council I will be in touch.”

  “Ambassador, there is something else you should know. Whatever is affecting the planet is impacting all our systems, estimation are that our orbit will decay in three days.” No one could see his face clearly but could hear the desperation in his voice.

  “Began evacuation using the descent pods, we will try to do what we can from the surface.” Ardant closed the connection and closed his eyes momentarily, he opened them and turned Eryyn and was about to speak when Alys gasped in pain, her free hand moved to her chest.

  “It’s Jaymee!” She exclaimed then closed her eyes, her face stern as she concentrated, in a moment she reopened her eyes, tears were forming. “He’s being tortured, for a few seconds I could feel what Jyn-Taa was doing to him.” The noise of rustling leaves alerted everyone to EverGreen’s presence. From the ground vines, roots, dirt and leaves formed the silhouette of a man. One of his hands made from vines reached towards Syl; she stepped forward allowing herself to be touched by it on her cheek. After a few moments Syl the hand withdrew and the form of EverGreen slipped back into the ground.

  “He said the weather is less chaotic but still unpredictable. He also said there is a part of the land which was less affected by the strange weather….care to guess where?” Syl’s dragon eyebrows, if she would have had them, rose slightly.

  “I want everyone, mage, MageGuards, and dragon to converge on that mountain as soon as possible.” Eryyn spoke as if he suddenly knew exactly what must be done. “I thought it was my own memories prodding my mind about that mountain, but the memories were from Jyn-Taa. That mountain is the source of his power and most likely where everyone is being held captive.”

  ”Eryyn, are you sure?” Ardant spoke softly not wanting to doubt his friend's conviction. He looked into Eryyn’s eyes for a moment, and then reconsidered his question. “Okay, off to the mountains, but what about Jaymee and Kelidor, how do we get to them.”

  “You can’t, but we can.” Eryyn replied to Ardant but was looking at Miram. “You and Alys have combined your abilities before, this time I will be adding mine in as well. Jyn-Taa is everything I might have been had I given in to the power of the Rootsource, I am sure he will continue to torture Jaymee, that will allow us to reach him.”

  “Eryyn.” Syl’s voice interrupted the momentary silence. “Miram may not be able to bring you both back on her own. Perhaps with my father’s
help we can break through to this other place as well. The others all will know what they have to do, the inhabitants of the EverGreen and other continents can hold out against at least for a short time while we settle this matter. I suspect they will not have long to wait.” Everyone nodded in agreement, as they stood Alys felt another stab of pain throughout her body.

  “I believe the final ceremony that Jyn-Taa needs to perform is near, he is occupying his time by finding pleasure in torturing Jaymee.” Eryyn took Alys’s hand and gestured for Miram to follow. Alys stretched forth her other hand to Miram who took it.

  “We can do this Miram.” There was pain in Alys’s voice as she spoke. “I can almost feel where Jaymee is.” Ahm-Roth instructed his grandsons to watch the boys in the house. He and Syl closed their eyes and communed for several moments with the other dragons. It was difficult to do so, their link to one another weakened by the use of Zelyth and his followers by the Shadow Demon but they conveyed their request. Eryyn, Alys and Ardant were brought to the center of town by one of the other dragons just after Ardant retrieved a large, rectangular shaped satchel, or ‘backpack’ as he called it.

  The dragon’s flight to the center of town lasted less the a minute. Eryyn watched as Alys’s face stiffen in pain each time she felt Jaymee’s pain. Although the pain was evident, at the same time he could see her eyes trying to focus on some distant point.

  Eryyn, Ardant, Miram and Alys disembarked from the dragon’s neck and walked to the stone marker surrounded by a knee high stone wall. Eryyn place his hand on the marker and sent out his thoughts to the other mages who heard his request through their staffs. He removed his hand from the marking and ran his hand along the cloak covering his chest as if to smooth it. The knife that Jaymee had covered with his foot must have been dropped by Jyn-Taa. If it was important enough for him to have carried it then, it was important enough for Eryyn to keep it secret. Eryyn could tell the moment he picked up the knife that is was not fashioned by any blacksmith of this world, or any other. It was made from wood yet had a sharp edge like metal knife. Eryyn kept it hidden to keep his friends safe. He had held it without feeling any malice from it but, otherworld artifacts could be dangerous in unskilled hands and this object contained great power.

  He felt a drop of cold upon the back of his hand. A snowflake had fallen onto it and melted. As he looked up into the sky darkness was approaching, dark clouds hid the moon, a sparse amount of snow was falling and the air was becoming more chilled than it should have been.

  “We’re ready Eryyn.” Miram could tell as she spoke that Eryyn’s mind was elsewhere. For a moment the burdens of his mind seemed to have faded from his face. She was sorry to have interrupted the moment of peace he was experiencing. Eryyn smiled, nodded, then he Alys and Miram placed their hands upon the marker. Miram watched as Alys reached over with her free hand and take Eryyn’s.

  Ardant watched his three friends readied themselves for the attempt to locate and reach Jaymee and Kelidor. He still marveled at the ten foot tall white stones called ‘markers’ that could convey a mage from on ‘marker’ to another hundreds of miles away. Miram had developed the ability to move herself, others or objects without the markers, but in this case it would assist her. Alys could locate almost anything she set her mind too. She and Miram combined their skills to accomplish the task at hand. All three of his friends could summon the powerful Whitefire from the Rootsource. Eryyn of course had gone much further than anyone and could summon powers far beyond all his friends combined. Ardant removed his battle gear from his backpack, he donned a black jumpsuit, then put on heavy black boots that buckled up the front. From the backpack he also removed a harness that had several devices attached, slipped his arms through it and buckled it around his waist. The helmet he placed on his head was held on by a thick strap under the chin, he lowered the clear visor then withdrew the last item. The weapon was almost as long as his legs and just as thick. A flip of one switch caused a red light to appear. A humming noise followed and the light turned green. Ardant looked at Syl and Ahm-Roth. Both had expressions of confusion and curiosity, Ardant frowned at their reactions.

  “I must look absolutely ludicrous in this getup to you don’t I.” Ardant started to check his weapon and gear as he turned his face from the two dragons.

  “No my friend.” Syl had turned her large body so that she could look directly at Ardant. “Just different…we can see your heart beats as fiercely as ours. The weapons we use as dragon’s are a part of us. Your weapons and armor that protects you may be separate but, no less important.” Syl paused and then looked to her father.

  “Ardant, we are not sure how effective our dragons’ fire will be.” Ahm-Roth looked at Ardant but said no more, his eyes looked at the weapon.

  “And you’re not sure if my weapon will be effective.” Ahm-Roth nodded to acknowledge Ardant's statement. Ardant smiled in return. “Trust me.”

  Almost an hour passed by as Ardant paced back and forth between the two dragons, Miram, Alys and Eryyn were still standing with the hands on the marker, eyes closed in deep concentration. He was so deep in contemplation that he jumped slightly when Ahm-Roth spoke.

  “The others are nearly in position.” Ahm-Roth was looking skyward.

  “So fast?” Ardant questioned.

  “Our kind can move quite swiftly when we need to and when not hindered by the weather. The ceremony must be soon and the demons are preparing for it. I can feel EverGreen gaining control over the elements but the damage the demons inflicted even with only part of their power has been devastating.” Ahm-Roth spoke softly as he responded to Ardant’s question but still looked at Eryyn, Alys and Miram who continued to stand in silence at the marker. The sound of Miram’s voice broke the silence.

  “I’ve got it!” The marker started glowing. This surprised everyone watching since a marker never glowed before. A low rumbling noise from below broke the silence. The ground began to tremble slightly. A sudden arc of white like lighting emerged from the tip of the marker and its end ripped at the air just outside the marker boundary. The space in front appeared to rip as the erratic white arc of power wildly dashed about the rip in space as if trying to pry it open further. Within the spray of lightning a black and gray swirling vortex formed, but it was already beginning to close. Eryyn and Alys wasted no time. When they saw the vortex they leapt through. The vortex closed behind them and Miram collapsed to her knees.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Parts of the Whole

  Eryyn and Alys made it through the shadow vortex to find they faced not only Jyn-Taa but the all five demons. Eryyn unleashed all the power he could muster and was met with an equal force from the demons before him. Within moments they had forced Eryyn into a spherical cage of demonic energy that bombarded him constantly, it was all Eryyn could do to keep from being destroyed by it. If the plan was to work and Alys succeed Eryyn realized he needed more power so he began to reach into the depths of the Earth, to the Rootsource.

  Alys faced Jyn-Taa, she would not be able to overcome his power but this was another distraction Eryyn hoped to use while the others forced another opening using Eryyn and Alys’s location as a beacon. Alys unleashed a multitude of the deadly white spheres that should have at least knocked Jyn-Taa off his feet from the unexpected attack. Instead he held forth his hands and the spheres of white bounced of a black shield in front of him. Alys had no time to prepare for Jyn-Taa’s brutal assault of black energy whipping from his eyes. It threw Alys against one of the stone pillars rendering her unconscious. She collapsed next to Jaymee who was chained against the stone floor of the gateway, he appeared unconscious, clothes tattered and his face and hands were bruised. Eryyn noticed the demons seemed equally surprised at Jyn-Taa’s power. Kelidor was chained to one of columns. Eryyn watched as Jyn-Taa drew a gleaming metal handed knife with a crystal blade. Eryyn concentrated, raised his free hand and summoned a greater force of power. His other hand had become encased in roots that had broken through the sto
ne floor beneath him and wrapped around his hand. A cascade of lightning like white forces burst from Eryyn’s hand greater than he had felt before. This forced his demon captures to pay closer attention to him and use their power to continue to keep him contained. “He has summoned power of the Rootsource!” Screamed the demon of Shadows. Eryyn was sure he could escape, but not in time for his friends to reach him or so stop the ritual about to occur. Jyn-Taa turned to Eryyn as he held the gleaming knife in his hand, Eryyn also noticed a slight movement from Jaymee. He was barely conscious, his clothes ripped and burned and he appeared bruised and beaten over every part of his exposed body, but he was alive. He saw Jaymee’s fingers move to pull his hand and touch Alys’s.

  Jaymee could not move and his mind barely registered the presence of Eryyn and Alys. He saw his mother at his feet lying unconscious where she collapsed. He knew she would want his help so he found the last of the strength he had, moved his hand to hers hand that lay a breath away and summoned what strength he could from the powers they had taught him.

  “PERFORM THE RITUAL!!” The Demon Wind screamed at Jyn-Taa. Jyn-Taa turned to Kelidor standing within arm's reach. He raised the dagger above his shoulders with both arms intent on sinking it into Kelidor’s exposed chest. As the dagger sped downward Eryyn saw a flash of movement from Jaymee’s direction, the dagger plunged downward but not into Kelidor’s chest. Instead it plunged into Alys’s back as the flung herself onto Kelidor.

  “Noooo! No! No!” As Alys fell, her back covered in blood, Eryyn cried out and then unleashed energy he had not thought possible. He pounded the edge of the cages unleashing even more energy, his cage stubbornly refused to free him, but it could not hold him forever. The Demon Shadow stepped closer and placed his hand on the outer area of the cage to reinforce its containment of Eryyn. Eryyn placed his hand on the inside of the cage opposite the demon’s hand and concentrated. The demon turned and looked at Eryyn. The energy Eryyn released begin to saturate the demon's hand. As their eyes locked Eryyn witnessed fear in the demons' eyes.