“Then sit down and stay still, boy.”
I did as bidden. The hand that held the hilt then started to tingle. This tingling was warm, electric, and oddly pleasant. The sensation crawled up my arm, ran over my shoulder, and connected with my rune, which reacted by lighting the room behind me with a yellow glow. I felt the leash become taut as ever, and while it felt as though Garf’s will was suddenly looking over my shoulder, there was no desire for me to follow his wishes. His will was only there just so Aranath could turn it to ash.
As the light faded and the tingling sensation disappeared, an outpouring of raw prana started to fill my body. It was like a dam had burst and the loose lake behind it was quenching a desert. But whose prana was it? Was it Aranath’s? It certainly wasn’t the corruption taking a greater hold.
“The rune is removed,” said Aranath. “Even the original caster won’t be able to resurrect it. Indeed, you are now immune to such mind-altering runes in my presence. It was more potent than I anticipated, but the corruption had already compromised it.”
“Do you now have your prana running through me?”
“Ah, as I expected, the corruption has spoiled some of your mind already. No, boy, only master dragon knights can absorb a dragon’s prana. A mind rune is a type of incantation that suppresses prana so that one’s inner self can then provide little resistance to an external will. Your prana is now free to breathe, as it were. I’m also taking the liberty of restraining your corruption, which the little prana you had free was busy trying to resist. Mind you, I cannot cleanse such corruption, but even if I could, I would advise against it. With me here to stop its spread, you can use its enhancing power all you want, and in cases of dire need, I can even allow some corruption to spread a little more to augment your power for a brief time. If you’re the type of human to seek silver linings, I would also say that the experience of resisting both a potent mind rune and the corruption has strengthened your prana beyond most humans your age.”
“I don’t know what my long-term feelings are on silver linings, but I’ll take whatever I can get at the moment. So what now? Getting back full control of my prana is nice, but I still need food and water. Do you know where I can get either?”
“Sustenance is all around you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The iknni.”
“The scamps?”
“You now have the means to kill them easily enough.”
“And do you have the means to cook the meat for me? I don’t exactly know a flame spell.”
“I cannot cast spells for you, boy, though I can later show you how to summon a bit of dragon fire when you have the energy. Regardless, their fresh blood is as close as you can get to water until you find another source.”
“Fine. What about you? Do you have a plan to get us out of here?”
“My sight into your realm is dependent on your own field of vision, so you will have to show me what paths are still open. These accessible routes will determine what course we take next.”
With sword in hand and prana to spare, I commenced the hunt. Wanting to take advantage of the lava trench’s light, I headed back in the direction I came, as the curving crevice robbed the city beyond of light. My inadequate experience in hunting had me merely move as quietly as possible in search for a scamp. I saw or heard a number of them, but they heard or saw me well before my senses picked them up, often fleeing down a dark tunnel.
It wasn’t until I cornered a mid-sized scamp in a dark room did I get my first chance at a fresh meal. Seeing no other option, the accosted creature lunged at me, making it easy to land my new blade’s edge on its neck. I didn’t send all that much prana down my arms, but it was still enough to effortlessly lop off its head.
I dragged my prey into the light and began cutting off its limbs. I then used my dagger to skin its leathery legs and get to its thickest muscles. I cut off bite-sized pieces of bloody muscle before gulping them down with haste. The satisfaction in my stomach prevailed over the awful, sort of sticky taste left in my mouth. I ate what muscle I could from the other leg before stopping. The rest of the reedy creature didn’t look worth taking the time of taking apart, despite Aranath suggesting I dig for some organs. Alternatively, after my stomach settled down, I left the corpse and resumed my hunt for more leg muscles. So as not to incite the scamps or another bloodthirsty creature by having fresh blood on me or the sword, I took off my last shirt to wipe away any gore before it could adhere to me or the blade.
I brought death to a few more scamps, most about the size of the first. It was impressive how quickly I recovered my stamina after just a few more mouthfuls. Once I had a gratified gut, I investigated the openings of tunnels and stairways for Aranath. He seemed to be looking for something in particular, but didn’t really explain beyond telling me to etch an “x” next to a tunnel or stairway he found noteworthy.
Despite the ages of isolation, the sword didn’t appear to enjoy chatting all that much, and I was indebted enough for his help that I didn’t try and trouble him with any frivolous questions as of yet. I had my suspicions, of course, but even if he had been allied with this stronghold’s old owners, it wouldn’t bother me. Holding ancient grudges was a problem for nations with long memories. On the other hand, I was all in favor for seeking reprisal for recent wrongs, and Aranath could aid me on that front nicely.
I don’t know if it was due to the raw meat, lack of sleep, or some other toil, but a strong headache hit me all at once. With Aranath on hand, I did not fear the scamps getting too close, so I found a dark room to rest in. I succeeded in getting my first real relief since running away. I awoke without the headache and went hunting again. After ingesting more scamp legs, my own legs traversed the ruins for Aranath’s benefit.
As I looked up an intact stairway, Aranath said, “We need to go back to the last tunnel you marked. That’s our best option.”
“You sure? These stairs look okay.”
“No staircase on this level reaches the surface. Most lead to soldier barracks or storerooms.”
“I see.”
“Actually, you won’t. I doubt there will be many more lava trenches to light our way.”
“Again, a fire spell would be nice.”
“Yes,” he grumbled, “I was getting to that. Now that you have nourishment available to you, I can spend some time teaching you to summon some of my flame. You’ve never summoned anything, correct?”
“Right.”
“The process is fairly straightforward. The biggest obstacle summoners have is finding or creating a realm to call upon their sealed items or making a pact with a summoned creature. You have easy access to both. Find a smooth stone so you may learn to engrave the rune key to my realm.”
I found a fist sized obsidian rock a minute later that fit his criteria. Aranath then began describing what lines and shapes to carve into the rock. I apparently messed up halfway through and had to start over on the other side of the stone. The design I finished creating looked mostly like several overlapping triangles inside a circle, though there were a few other details like smaller circles and squiggle things within the triangles. According to the longsword, the positions of the smaller details were especially important.
Aranath next instructed me to find additional stones so that I could carve more of his realm’s rune key. By my eighth one, I had memorized how to etch the key without any help.
Once I finished with my tenth etching, Aranath said, “Focus on steadily sending your prana into one of the stones. When the right amount of prana is poured in, the rune will activate and will be sent into my realm. I will then chisel another rune on top of the key. Summoners will normally have a copy of the key inscribed somewhere, but as you do not have the luxury, you can use another of the keys to resummon the stone you sent to me, which will have some of my dragon fire. Pouring more prana into this stone will activate the flame. It won’t last long burning a small stone, but it will have to do in the meantime. Now be
gin practicing your summoning technique.”
It wasn’t difficult finding the right amount of prana to activate the dismissal of the rock. One second had it tight around my hand, and the next had it vanish into thin, stale air. A minute later and I used another stone key to call back the first, which appeared where I wanted it to—on the ground in front of my splayed hand. The returned stone was now carved with eight embedded dots and two different sized scratches from what was undoubtedly one of his claws.
Picking up the summoned stone, I said, “Um, is it safe to activate dragon fire when it’s in my hand?”
“You’re not expected to activate it in your hand, boy. Some of your prana was embedded in the stone when you sent it into my realm, which means you can link to it from a distance. Place the stone a few feet away from you and focus on sending your prana to it. Even disregarding the added distance, it will require more power than before to trigger the flame, so you don’t have to start slowly this time. The tricky part will be initially linking with the stone.”
“Any advice on how to link with it?” I asked as I sat five feet away from the rock.
“No.”
My back was against a wall as I concentrated on the little rock. As always, I had no lengthening shadow or sex-seeking bird’s song to tell me how fast time flowed. I do know that when I felt a spark exactly where the stone laid, I transferred as much of my prana as I could on that spot before the connecting flicker disappeared. The invisible flicker was replaced by a brilliant flash and a loud cracking bang that made me wince. Some of the bits of exploded rock struck me.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Hmm, I suppose I made the flame too focused.”
“Sounds like I’m not the only one practicing.”
With a more guttural sound than usual, he replied, “It’ll simply require a minimum amount of amending. Let’s try again.”
It required six more stabs of “amending” to finally get the stone to burn with a steady flame. A few more attempts showed that most rocks burned for about five seconds before they just simmered with a red glow. The dragon flame was very effective at melting the toughest rock. Many had actually fused with the ground and could not be pulled out with ease.
I also spent hours learning how to incite the dragon fire when the stones were ten feet away and hidden in the dark, something I would have to do often in the gloomy city. I made more key stones, many more, including the explosive kind, and sent most of them into Aranath’s realm for easy storage. I carried four stones in my lone serviceable pocket for quick access, planning to summon more whenever I used up two or three.
I went on another expedition for food, and the next muscles I ate had the benefit of being grilled on the steaming stones for a few seconds. This was enough to char them to a crunchy crisp, but I preferred this than tasting the pulpy slime. After filling my stomach to the brink, Aranath and I stepped into the darkness of the tunnel, expecting that the next reliable light we saw came from high above.
Chapter Ten
I walked with drawn steel, keeping Aranath in front of me, as it were. So if anything did decide to blindly charge, they would get to violently meet my ally before ever making my acquaintance. Moreover, my left was always gripping a summoned stone. I had to tie the scabbard to my trousers using some leftover cloth. It dangled precariously, but as long as it wasn’t tugged by anything, I didn’t have to worry too much about it.
The first fifty yards already had me tossing in one of the stones. Its light burst showed a tunnel three times as wide as any I had been in before. This tunnel also had rooms budding out every so often. The most interesting feature was the end of the passageway just a hundred feet away, where a wide set of stairs led up to another level. What made me balk at first was seeing the silhouette of a large armor-clad warrior halfway up the stairs, but it turned out to be a statue of white marble.
“Yes, this is the right way,” said Aranath.
“Who’s the statue of?”
“You should stay quiet.”
“If anything, the scamps will run off if they hear me.”
“There are viler things down here than iknni, boy.”
“Any you care to mention?”
“Two come to mind. The calvini are blind and use scent and vibrations in the ground to track their prey. Their bite then paralyzes their victims so that they can extract their inner fluids while they yet live. I don’t know what humans call them, but they would look something like giant beetles to you.”
“Can they fly like one?”
“No, but the second creature can. I believe you call them ‘wolf-bats.’”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of them. A couple of hunters were killed by some not too long ago.”
“That’s why I’d be encouraged if we see one. They prefer hunting in open spaces, which means we would be close to the surface in their presence.”
“And how far is the surface from here?”
“The battle that ruined this city began when the peaks above collapsed. I do not know how much rock is over us, but I do know that the level we are ascending to now was the level beneath the surface. However, this second level is more complex than the one before, so unless you want to make us more lost, I suggest giving me some quiet to work with… Take a right when you reach the top of the stairs.”
Taking the right showed me the very dim outline of another channel, making me think that the complexity Aranath was talking about came from a dizzying tunnel system, but the passage soon came to an end. I tossed a fire stone. Even before I lit it up, its bouncing echoes informed me that I was in a huge open space. Sure enough, the dragon’s light did not have the strength to expose all the area I was in. Its five second burn did reveal the most fantastic place I had ever been in.
I was on a suspended road, which was one of some two dozen more above and around me. My street led to what looked like another passageway, but other roads either ran into large stone buildings carved right from the mountain’s foundation or onto extensive circular plateaus. As expected, even many of the broader streets were cracked and had at least one major fissure somewhere, but they still looked as though they could support a mammoth.
As the light died away, Aranath, with a hint of reminiscence, said, “Welcome to the heart of Nimbria.”
I had to be especially careful walking the roads, as much of the fall-preventing railings had crumbled away, not to mention those holes or fissures scattered any and everywhere. Despite my first street being among the lowest, dropping a regular rock informed me it was still quite a drop to the bottom. This level wasn’t as dark as the tunnels I had first used. It was a smog of darkness, to be sure, but it was a darkness with different shades of black.
Over time, my eyes were even able to make out general shapes in front of me. Conversely, without the sound of bubbling lava around, this level was as soundless as those original underpasses, though there was the occasional tumbling rock or fluttering bug’s wing to break the ringing silence. Most of Aranath’s directions had me initially follow the bigger roads that connected to large stairways.
Hours later, when we were close enough for the dragon fire to light it, Aranath pointed out two enormous columns of rock that spiraled upward and that many hovering roads seemed to lead into. “Those are our objectives,” he said. “They will contain interior stairways that will take us to the uppermost roads and edifices.”
On getting a few hundred yards closer to these spires, I thought I started to hear something both familiar and needed. My sultry mouth basically confirmed what I was hearing before my actual thought formed—the trickling sound of life affirming water. With our objectives already in range of the conjured light, Aranath had no qualms about me trying to search for the origin of the enticing sound.
I ending up heading toward a protruding section of the mountain wall. It sounded so close, but I ended up reaching a dead in when I entered a half collapsed building. I threw a summoned stone over the railing and activated it. Its falling l
ight bounced off a gleaming, unreachable portion of the wall ten yards away from me. It was a little stream of water seeping out from an unseen crevice.
I hung my head in frustration and watched the fiery stone drop until it landed two streets below me. The clunk of its impact abruptly made the area alive with hissing sounds. The dying light was just able to show me a mass of insectoid bodies about the size of large dogs scuttling about.
“Those would be the calvini,” said Aranath.
The next noise alarmed my ears. It sounded a lot like a buzzing wasp, but much bigger. It was arising from the mass of giant bugs.
“I thought you said they couldn’t fly,” I angrily whispered.
“Hmm, I know their males cannot. I suppose their females can.”
“Fuck. So do I fight or run?”
“Go to the last unbroken building you were in. If they chase you, you can at least force them to join your elevation.”
I threw and set off a stone in front of me to make sure I didn’t stumble over something as I ran. I had to throw another to reach the building safely. The buzzing and hissing, meanwhile, spread throughout the cavern. Some of it got closer to me, but not with purpose.
A few minutes later, as some of the ruckus died down, my companion said, “You have to keep moving so that they won’t eventually catch your scent and mobilize around you. You should be fine as long as you don’t allow them to overwhelm you.”
As I stepped back out onto the road, I tried to keep track of the pests’ whereabouts, which was easy to do when their wings beat, their numerous legs tapped the stone, or when they hissed to speak. As one would do, I walked as silently as I could manage to not give them another sensory avenue to pinpoint my location. I would sometimes hear one fly right over me, making me freeze and hold my breath until it passed. I wished my sweat would stop leaking out, but the best I could do on that end was to rub dust over my body and hope that concealed a part of my delicious aroma.
The Lone Dragon Knight Page 5