It was a difficult existence, never knowing if he was alive or dead, free or captive. Dull pain existed within, threatening to intensify. He felt like it would burst forth and subdue him. Luckily, it never did. He wondered if maybe the pain was allowed to thrive within him, he’d feel alive again.
He stared into darkness, thinking about his family. He thought about Etain, his lost wife who claimed to be near him now. He thought about Alushia, the dear daughter he raised alone, and the unnerving vision of her riding on a dragon’s back. Perhaps the vile creatures stole his daughter like they did his wife?
Days rolled on, one no different than the other. Lailoken attempted to count them but had no idea when one day ended and another began. The futile exercise exhausted him and he forced himself to remain calm despite his growing frustration. If this was death, it was a terrible way to spend the afterlife. If it was life…he’d eventually wake.
Or so he hoped.
After the third vision of Jor piercing him with her sword, he heard her voice again.
“I think it’s time, my dear. Your body is healed. Wake slowly. You’ve been recovering for a long time and need to ease back in.”
“Etain?” he replied. This time, it was not a whisper. He heard his voice loudly.
“I’m here, Lailoken. You’re under my protection now.”
“Protection? From what?”
“Open your eyes, my love. It is time.”
He forced open his eyes and the darkness was chased away by a bright orange light. Shutting his eyes quickly to guard against the brilliance, he then tried again, opening his eyelids slowly now.
Blurry dark outlines were illuminated by flickering light. He closed his eyes again, letting them adjust to their new setting. Then, he opened them and saw wider, indiscernible shapes forming into something familiar. Something terrifying.
The unmistakable outline of a dragon towered over him.
“Etain, what is this?” he called out. “Why are these things here? What have you done?”
“Hush, my dear. You’re safe here. They will not harm you.”
Lailoken opened his eyes completely and scanned his surroundings.
He was inside a large cavern with several flaming orbs floating in the air. Two Garnet dragons and three smaller Jade dragons flanked him. If they wanted to kill him, he’d have no chance against so many.
Then to his left, he saw the face that he longed for so many years.
“Etain,” he mumbled, barely able to speak her sacred name.
She reached out a hand and stroked his hair. “Yes, my love. I’ve longed for you over all these years.”
“But they stole you away! Now they have us both!”
“Calm yourself. You’re out of harm’s way here. I promise you; nothing will hurt you here. They will not touch you,” she said, waving a hand toward the surrounding dragons.
“But Etain…look around. How are we going to escape?”
She lowered her head and took in a deep breath. “We don’t need to escape. They’re with me.”
“What do you mean?” He rose up from the straw bed. His body ached and a dizzy feeling swept over him.
“Move slowly. You’ve been there quite a while.”
Lailoken paused, letting the dizziness fall away. His back was sore and his legs felt stuck in mud. There was a small point of pain near his heart and he rubbed his hand against his bare chest, feeling the deep scar left by Jor’s sword.
“Where are we? Why are they not attacking us?” He sat upright and stretched his back. It popped in several places.
“We’re safe. They will not attack you because I’ve commanded it. Believe me, they’ve wanted to, but defying me is not in their best interest.” She glared at one of the Garnets across the cavern. Lailoken didn’t understand.
“But, you’re their captive. Why would they listen to you?”
Etain stood and nodded toward the dragons.
“I had hoped to wait for this, but you are due an explanation.”
A bright flash of light erupted in the cavern, forcing Lailoken to cover his eyes. When he removed his arm to see, a massive Garnet dragon stood where Etain was. In his mind he heard her voice.
This is why they refuse to harm you. As their Dragon Lord, they do so by my command.
“No! It’s impossible! I must still be sleeping! How can you be one of them? I refuse to believe this!”
I’m sorry to have deceived you. It was never my intention to let things get this far out of control. But now, we must unite as one and stop what’s about to come.
“You lie! My Etain was never one of you!” He pushed himself away from her, edging toward the cavern’s wall.
I’m afraid I’ve always been one of them. We have a lot to discuss. And I have an apology I need to share. You are owed that from me.
Three
Myrthyd sat in his large fur-lined chair. With his eyes closed he meditated on the forces surrounding him, specifically looking for the essence of dragon.
The dragon soul you will bind,
A night-wraith to destroy the mind.
The living will live among the dead,
When you control the visions within their head.
Vile offspring of a dragon’s lie
Controlled by the onyx eye.
Within the fatal dragon fate,
Power of yours, a night-wraith.
The old spell replayed itself in his mind as he held the Blood Stone. Its power was intense.
With the Blood Stone in his possession, he channeled a power greater than anything he’d ever felt before. It was as if the entire world opened to him and bowed to his will. Any person with a drop of dragon blood coursing through their veins was shown to him. He had yet to uncover the means to track that person—or dragon—but he was close. He could sense them, but only as a faint energy source. He grew frustrated at the lack of clarity offered by the gem. According to the ancient tome, it afforded the user a direct line to anyone with dragon essence, and yet he found the process maddening. It was something he’d discover. Nothing would stand in his way.
Myrthyd had used the Blood Stone a few times, careful not to unlock a force he had no control over. He discovered faint dragon echoes were present fairly close, maybe even within the Black Tower itself. The thought disgusted him. How did those horrible things enter the sanctuary of the Black Magus, the true religion and defender of humanity? He’d flush them out somehow, and when he did, they’d pay with their lives. It was not wise to cross him or carry that diseased dragon blood within them.
A loud knock on his door interrupted his session with the gem. He stuffed it in his pocket and adjusted his black robes. “Come in,” he said, not in the mood to entertain whomever thought needed to disturb him.
“I apologize, Kull Naga, but I have an urgent message for you,” the boy said. He was one of the new initiates to the Order, a boy named Cowlrith from a small village in eastern Tregaron. He had modest ability with his powers yet was wildly inconsistent.
“What is it?”
Cowlrith handed him a sealed scroll. The black wax depicting an image of a talon, the sigil of his contact on the other side of the mountains. Instantly he knew the message would not be pleasant.
“Thank you, Cowlrith, you are dismissed,” Myrthyd said, waving a hand. The boy bowed and scurried off, closing the door behind him.
He slid a finger beneath the wax and broke the seal, unraveling the scroll. The words were what he feared.
Lailoken and his small band of slayers still remained hidden, even after three moons had passed. Those infernal dragons carried his body away and the rest of his people scattered, including that weak-minded Jor, who had retrieved the stone from Lailoken.
Myrthyd slid a hand over the Blood Stone in his robe, feeling its cool surface. He marveled at how easily Lailoken had stumbled upon it as though it wanted to be discovered.
The annihilation of the Drakku was but a formality now with halflings providing the means to buil
d his army. If what the ancient tome said was true, he’d enslave dragons to do his bidding and use their night-wraith form to destroy halflings and command them to wipe out those who’d oppose him.
Lailoken and his people presented a problem. They were the only ones who knew he possessed the gem. If they shared that information, then they’d all have to die. No one should know he wielded such power. He had to try more desperate means to rid himself of his greatest challenge.
Lailoken and his people must die.
Myrthyd pulled the Blood Stone from its secret pouch, grasping it in both hands and channeling his magic into it. It vibrated softly and the coolness drifted up his hands and along his arms, making his hairs stand on end. The coiling coldness circled his arms and then crawled toward his neck where it covered his head like the hood of his robe. Then his mind exploded into a vast openness, as if the universe itself was at his command. It was here in this state where he could select any dragon or halfling and get some sense of their location. It was also the state where he connected with the one night-wraith that Lailoken had inadvertently given him.
The gem housed the soul of the Opal guardian dragon Chepon. The Opal offered little resistance and he exploited its power to his benefit.
Myrthyd reached out in search of Lailoken and Alushia. Lailoken could not be found, but he did find Alushia. She gave off the slightest essence of dragon but not enough for him to consider her a halfling. Maybe one of their ancestors had once been a halfling and the trait presented itself in her. How it got there, he didn’t care. He couldn’t point out exactly where she was, only that she was southeast of the Tower.
He reached out with an unseen force and connected with Chepon, seizing control of her. Chepon screamed in pain. Myrthyd grinned.
“Find a halfling. I sense one near.”
Chepon snarled at him. Her eyes were now gone, having been replaced with smoke, and her wings were black and tattered.
“You have no choice. Do as I command,” Myrthyd growled.
Chepon flew away and Myrthyd’s view was just over her back shoulder, as though he was riding with her in the dream. Eventually she spotted a young girl and dove at the sleeping body. The motion blurred but Myrthyd couldn’t look away. He wasn’t sure where they were, only that it was a small village. They dove through the roof of the tiny house and the scenery changed. They were now in the girl’s dreams. Myrthyd marveled at the life essence around him. He tried to make sense of what was different about her in order to use the knowledge to track others like her.
“Destroy her,” Myrthyd commanded. Chepon growled back at him. He sent a wave of pain through their bond and Chepon howled.
“Do not deny me again.”
Chepon voraciously attacked the girl’s dream. The sunny meadow where she played with her dog turned into a black nothingness. Chepon consumed all the trees, the grass, the clouds…everything.
“Keep going. Do not let her wake before you’re done!”
In the quickly reducing meadow, the girl screamed. She held her hands to her face in horror while Chepon tore through her dreams, shredding the serene scene into a nightmarish black void.
Finally, all that remained of the dream was the little girl with a small patch of green under her feet. If she woke now, all Chepon’s work would be for nothing.
“Finish it,” Myrthyd boomed, his voice echoing in the vast nothingness.
Chepon roared louder.
“I said finish her!” Myrthyd sent wave after wave of intense pain through their bond.
“No! I can’t!” Chepon replied, speaking for the first time.
“Finish her now or you’ll experience something so terrible you’ll wish you could die.”
The girl had stopped screaming and stared at the night-wraith—at Chepon—with a look of wonder and awe. Myrthyd only saw the abomination of a halfling.
“Take her now!” he screamed.
“I’m so sorry,” Chepon whispered to the little girl. She roared a loud, sad sound and devoured the quiet little girl and the grass underneath, leaving only the black nothingness.
After a few moments of silence, Myrthyd spoke. “Where is she? She should be a gray-soul under my command! What did you do wrong?”
Chepon said nothing, her tattered black frame barely visible. Then a movement caught his eye. To his left, a faint glow illuminated a staggering, shambling figure.
“You did it! It worked!” Myrthyd cried out. He chortled maniacally, dark and disturbing. “Soon my army will be limitless and I shall rid Tregaron of the accursed halflings! Our land will be free! Nothing shall stop me. Nothing!”
Myrthyd watched as the glowing figure grew closer and confirmed it was the little girl, now a gray-soul little girl. In the waking world, she would’ve risen from her bed and if the tome was true, she’d be a threat to anyone near her. She’d also be in search of the one who controls her and no matter what obstacles stood in her way, she’d make her way to him.
“You shall be the first of many, my dear. Soon the world will bow to your collective strength. Your parents were ignorant to have you. Two species should never interbreed. You are the result of their heretical act. No more. We shall wipe out the halflings and take a fair number of dragons with us.”
Chepon roared. Had it been any other dragon, Myrthyd might have been worried. With the Blood Stone in his control, the night-wraith was utterly powerless and cowed to his command. “Make sure she finds me,” he said to Chapon. He shot a bolt of pain through the bond to ensure she understood his directive, then willed himself away.
Myrthyd opened his eyes and looked down at the Blood Stone clutched in his hands on his lap. Sweat streamed down his face despite the coolness of the room. A grin crept along his pallid face.
“Nothing will stop me. The Black Magus shall rise to rule Tregaron and beyond as we’ve been ordained to. The southern pagan lands shall bow to the power of the north. Their god will be wiped from the face of the planet and their vile practices erased from memory. The time has come for us to crush them once and for all.”
With a measure of reverence, Myrthyd placed the Blood Stone in a small velvet pouch and tied it inside his robe. The gem must always be near him. No one else would ever touch its power.
“Now, to find that slayer and his daughter and clip that particular thread from the pattern.” He rose from his seat and left the room, keeping a hand against his robe as he walked to keep the gem safe.
Four
Alushia relaxed, leaning under a tall oak tree in the afternoon sun. Brida sat opposite her rubbing her large head against Ryn, the Verdant Tower guard who happened to be a dragon. He wasn’t just any dragon, either, but a protector sent by her mother. It had been two moons since the encounter on the field and she still found it difficult to accept the truth.
Ryn’s wounds had healed considerably since then. He no longer limped and only a faint scar crossed his arm.
“Ryn, I think she’s warmed up to you a lot. Looks like she’s more your snowcat than mine. Maybe I ought to find another one.” Alushia smiled as she watched them. Brida’s loud purring drowning out the noisy birds of the forest.
“I never would have guessed myself a cat person but look at me!”
Ryn rubbed Brida’s head and leaned forward until his forehead touched hers.
“Don’t you have snowcats back in the Dragon Lands?”
Ryn turned to her. “Not many. They prefer the colder climes of Tregaron.” He rubbed Brida’s head and continued. “There are, of course, several dragons’ nests in Tregaron.”
His words hung in the air.
He scratched Brida’s head and stared at Alushia.
“What? Is there something on my face?”
“No, no.”
He paused.
“Why do you think the Towers were built? They’re located in specific locations for a reason. Have you ever thought about that?”
“Not really. They were always there, so I guess I never considered why.”
&
nbsp; He nodded. “Think about the various towers and the sickening actions they take against the Drakku. Notice any connection?”
She thought a moment. “The Black Tower in Kulketh hunts Onyx dragons to infuse their onyx gems with their blood.”
Ryn slowly nodded.
“Sorry, I know now how awful that must be for you. I was raised that way. My father—”
“So the Black Tower hunts after black dragons to infuse their black gems with their blood. Good. What about the other towers?” His voice had an edge to it, like he was trying to hold back anger.
“The Verdant Tower uses the blood of Jade dragons to infuse their emeralds with—” she paused. “You mean each tower is built near a nest of dragons?”
“Not only that, but also near natural sources for their gems. The mines near every Tower are as old as the dragons’ nests. It’s not a coincidence.”
“But where you’re from, the Dragon Lands…they’re different?”
Ryn smiled and stroked Brida’s head. The snowcat had lain her head on his lap and closed her eyes.
“Far to the west near the coast is a vibrant, lush land where dragons roam free. We’re pretty much left to ourselves and we answer to no one but one—your mother, Etain.”
A bird landed between them and Brida’s head shot up. She moved to stand but the bird squawked and flew away, angrily chirping.
“How does she command such power? What, did you elect her Queen of the Dragons?”
Ryn laughed. “Not quite. It’s a bit more complex than that. All you need to know for now is that she is our leader, the Dragon Lord.”
Alushia fell silent and pondered the possibilities ahead. She wanted to meet her mother and discover what it was that made her leave so long ago. She wanted to understand more about her brother Myrthyd and why he had turned so dark and evil. More than all that, she wanted to find her father again. She was sure he was still alive. Her mother and the other Garnet dragons whisked him away west to the Dragon Lands, or so she assumed. Ryn didn’t know, either.
“Ryn, we have to help my father. We have to do something. I feel like we’re wasting our time out here. Can’t we go to the Dragon Lands and find him?”
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