Not for the first time, I reconsidered my decision to leave Adath and the other Gray Hunters behind. They’d wanted to join the hunt for Riamod, but I didn’t want to risk their lives. Now, facing such overwhelming numbers, I wished I had their swords to help me. The only weapons I carried were my fireman’s axe, a long sword, a dagger, and two small throwing hatchets. Arieste wore a thin rapier on her belt, but she handled it awkwardly.
No, our success wouldn’t lie in our ability to swing a sword or hold a shield. Brute strength could take care of the minions, but we hadn’t come to kill goblins, ogres, or rock trolls. We had to rely on my magic to bring down Riamod.
We continued our journey north after the goblins passed and managed another hour of riding before a second troop of monsters appeared in the distance. There were three rock trolls in this patrol, along with four of the ogres and twenty fire goblins. One of the fire goblins was taller than the others, and he wore different clothing. Instead of the ragged trousers and vests, the creature wore a long fur cloak, a flowing robe, and a skull on his head. The skull looked like it had come from one of the ogres, and I noticed that even the rock trolls deferred to this odd-looking goblin.
“What is that thing?” I whispered to Arieste as we hid behind the thick trunk of a petrified pine tree.
“Fire shaman,” she whispered back.
I turned to her with a surprised look.
“These creatures are made by magic,” she said. “Some of them gain the ability to access the magic that brings them to life. Sort of like the human wizards of old.”
Arieste had mentioned magical ability among humans when she first taught me her magic, but I hadn’t pressed for more information. It wasn’t the right time now, but I resolved to ask her about that human wizards thing later.
“They are revered among their kind, and they become the de facto leaders of the clans.” The way she talked, it seemed like there was almost a structure of government or society among what appeared to be utterly savage creatures.
“What sort of powers do they have?” I asked.
“They tend to develop the same abilities as the dragons that rule their lands.”
“So, these shamans will be able to breathe fire?” I asked with a little grin.
“No,” she replied. “Riamod generates the magic from within herself, and it manifests as fire breath because it is the most efficient way to do so. But just as you are able to manifest ice around your hand, so the fire shamans are able to produce fire from theirs.”
My eyes went wide. When I finally defeated Riamod and unlocked the corresponding magical ability, I’d be able to shoot fire from my hands? Talk about being a badass firefighter.
“Do they develop scales like Riamod, too?” I asked.
“No, that’s unique to the dragons,” she told me. “Our minions only receive a fraction of our powers when they are brought to sentience.”
“Good.” I didn’t want to fight the minions, but it was good to know they wouldn’t be as hard to kill as a dragon if it came down to it.
The rock trolls moved slowly, and we had to wait nearly half an hour before the patrol was far enough away. As soon as it was safe, we left the tree cover and resumed our journey. After only a few minutes back in the saddle I began to sense Riamod’s presence in the distance. She was still far away, but now I had all of Frosdar’s power coursing through me and amplifying my magical abilities, so I knew where we had to go to find the red dragon.
Arieste, too, seemed to sense Riamod’s presence. Maybe it was the remnants of her ice powers or maybe just the knowledge that we were drawing close. She grew tenser and more withdrawn with every mile we covered.
“Here,” she said finally. “This is where we cross the barrens.”
The endless expanse of burned flatland dipped slightly. The way it snaked back and forth made it look like a dried-up riverbed, but the slight depression in the blacked ground would provide us cover to cross the flatlands. If our luck held, we could reach the mountain range on the far side of the plain.
I didn’t need a magical sense to know where to find Riamod. There was only one mountain peak that would be home to the monster. It was taller than the others, and threads of molten lava dripped from holes in its sloped sides. An endless stream of thin gray smoke poured from the chasm in its summit as if it was a cranky old wizard blowing smoke rings. It was the perfect place for a fire dragon to make its home.
It was at least ten miles away, and I had no doubt Riamod could sense us drawing closer. Our only chance of success hinged on her being too wounded to deal with us directly. As long as we evaded her monsters, we might be able to get close enough to strike at her. It was a desperate plan, but the only one either of us could come up with.
I dug my heels into Fleetfoot’s ribs, and the spirited horse broke into a fast trot. I glanced over my shoulder and found Arieste following close on my heels. She might not have been a master swordswoman, but the dragon-woman somehow rode far better than I did.
My chest tightened as we led the horses down the short incline and along the rocky streambed. We had the slopes around us to conceal our presence, but it would also hide any passing patrols until they were right on top of us. We had to be quick if we were going to travel across the flatlands undetected.
The knot in my shoulder tightened with every minute we rode, and I kept my senses attuned to the surrounding land like radar.
Then my heart sank as I sensed magical creatures heading south in our direction.
Though I couldn’t tell how many there were, the presence of magic was powerful enough to make me believe it was a large number. There was nowhere for us to hide without backtracking a mile or more, but even then, it would just be against the side of the dried riverbed, and then we would be cornered.
We’d have to outpace them.
“Time to hurry,” I told Arieste as I kicked Fleetfoot into a canter. I knew the horse couldn’t gallop for more than a few miles, but it was hopefully long enough to put serious distance between us and the approaching monsters.
We sprinted across the burnt wasteland crouched low over our horse’s necks. My heart hammered against my ribs and sweat trickled down my spine as I tried not to think about what would happen if the monsters caught up to us. Just Arieste and I couldn’t hope to fight them off. We had to outrun them.
And we had to do it for ten miles.
It was going to be close.
A piercing howl split the air from somewhere off to my right, and I felt the creatures’ magic growing closer. More voices echoed the cry, and I heard the rush of scores of tiny feet pounding across the flatland in the far distance behind us.
I had to risk a glance, and my gut tightened at the sight. Forty goblins, two ogres, a rock troll, and two of the fire shamans were racing toward us. Just as I poked my head up, I heard an answering call from the direction of the mountains, and I whirled around to see another group of fire goblins and ogres charging north. The mountain range was still miles away, and we’d never reach it before they surrounded us. There were just too many of them, and I knew our horses could only gallop for a few more miles before they grew tired.
“Shit!” I shouted over the wind as I moved Fleetfoot to run next to Arieste. “We aren’t going to reach the mountain before they catch up to us.”
Arieste’s pale face hardened, and her ice-blue eyes went flat. She opened her mouth but hesitated as if weighing her words.
“I need to become Frosdar again!” she yelled over the wind and pulled on her reins to slow her horse.
“What?” I replied as I slowed my own horse.
“Think about it, Ethan.” An earnest, pleading look filled her eyes. “You said it yourself, they’re going to swarm over us. It’s you and me against far too many of the creatures.”
“But I have Frosdar’s power. That’s got to be enough to—”
“No,” she said, and there was no doubt in her eyes. “I have spent the last five hundred years watching the lands of ice being slowly
pushed back by Riamod’s minions. I have seen what their fire abilities can do, and I know Riamod’s magic is more powerful than mine. If we faced a handful, perhaps we would stand a chance, but there are too many. If we fight, we die, and Riamod destroys Whitespire. After all that’s happened, is that a risk you are willing to take?”
“And what of the risks of giving you back your abilities?” I asked as I fixed her with a hard stare. “If I turn you back into Frosdar, what’s to stop you from just flying away? Or from turning on me and killing me?”
“I thought everything we have shared would convince you that I could be trusted.” Her face hardened and her eyes grew cold. “But I can understand your reservations about restoring me. All I can say is that I have sworn to serve you in exchange for my life. When first I spoke the words, I fully intended to betray you. But in the days that I have known you and become your lover, I have come to see the truth of who you are. The night of the fire, when you risked your own life to save the people of Whitespire, I knew that I would hold to my oath.” She reached out and gripped my hand. “Whether we live or die here, Ethan DePaolo, I am yours.”
I studied her face for any sign of deceit, but there was only frank honesty there. Right now, I had little choice but to trust her.
“I agree,” Nyvea said in my mind. “You don’t have a choice. As much as I didn’t like her at first, Arieste has grown on me. She might still betray you, but I’ve studied her carefully while you’ve penetrated her with that large penis of yours. I’m convinced that she is in love with you. Or your cock, but mostly you.”
Nyvea’s words were ridiculous, but they helped soothe some of the fear, and I committed myself to the plan.
“What do I need to do?” I asked Arieste.
“Dismount,” she said as we slowed our mounts and moved a short distance away from the horses.
“Give me your hands,” she said, and I complied. “Close your eyes and reach for the magic flowing within you.”
I gasped as I tapped into the mighty torrent of icy power.
“Bring it to the surface of your mind, but do not command it to form the ice shield. Instead, will it to flow into my body through the connection of our hands.”
It felt strange to command the magic to do something it didn’t want to do. Like she had told me, the magic was like a force of nature. The sun filled the air with light and warmth, gravity exerted dominance over the entire world, and the power flowing within me sought to form a shield of ice. But I fought to remain in control and gritted my teeth as I tried to push the magic into her body.
Icy heat scorched my palms, and I pulled my hands free with a hiss. “It’s not working,” I said with a scowl. It was easy to siphon magic from others, but returning the stolen power proved much harder.
“The magic will resist your efforts, but you must be stronger,” Arieste told me. “If only we had the gemstone you destroyed, it would be much—”
“The gemstone!” I shouted as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the stone that had fallen from her forehead.
Her eyes went wide as she saw the diamond-like stone in my hand. “How did you get that?”
“I didn’t destroy it,” I told her. “I was going to, but you moved as I was attacking and just knocked it free.”
“Perfect!” she cried as she held her hand out for the stone.
I hesitated. Nyvea had told me using the gemstone could restore Frosdar’s power to her fully. I hadn’t thrown it away because I’d forgotten, but now that it came down to it, I had to decide just how much I trusted Arieste.
After a moment, I handed her the gemstone. “Tell me what to do,” I said, and I could only hope she was telling the truth.
“Touch the stone,” she told me as she placed the clear gem against her forehead. “Now, focus on pouring the ice magic into the gemstone. The power will not resist. The gemstone was created as a receptacle to house it.”
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and concentrated on the magic inside me as the screams from the approaching monsters grew louder. I tapped into the power and pulled it from the raging torrent, then directed it through my hands into the gemstone. I gasped as the gemstone not only received the power without struggle but began to suck more and more of it from within me.
“Don’t fight it!” Arieste shouted, and I heard her voice growing deeper, stronger. “Give the gemstone what it needs. I will be Frosdar once more!”
I cried out as the power was dragged out of me and into the stone. I opened my eyes and watched in horror as Arieste’s figure began to change. Her narrow face grew wider and broader until it became a long, serpentine snout with horns. Her skin changed from pale flesh to icy white scales, and her hands and feet elongated into long talons at the end of thick, heavily muscled legs. She screamed as the weight of her body dragged her forward onto all fours. A tail ripped free of her back, and her shrieks doubled in volume as leathery white wings sprouted from her ribs. In the space of a minute, she went from a hundred and twenty-pound woman to ten tons of ice dragon.
I stared into the dragon’s eyes, my hand on its forehead. I felt a moment of panic as its massive nostrils flared, and a chill wind gusted from its mouth as it breathed out. A hundred razor sharp teeth were five inches away from my body. It could lash out and snap me in half before I could react, crush me with its bulk, or summon an ice dome to kill me.
But the dragon simply lowered its head and right shoulder.
“Get on, Ethan,” she growled with a voice that rattled every one of my ribs.
“Got it,” I sighed with relief, and then I clambered up her scaled back and settled in the hollow between two spines. Arieste shook herself for a moment and spread her wings wide in a stretch. With a loud roar, the white dragon crouched and leapt high into the air.
The howls of the approaching monsters turned to shrieks of terror as they saw the dragon. They slowed in their charge and turned to flee, but with a triumphant roar, Arieste swooped toward the tiny goblins and lashed out with her talons. A dozen fell, joined by ten more as the dragon’s spiked tail swept across the ranks, and a rock troll’s head disintegrated into dust as Arieste snapped at it.
A ball of red fire streaked past my shoulder, and I turned in my seat on the dragon’s back to glance behind us. Another group of fire goblins raced to join up with the first. Two shamans stood at the front of the pack, and their hands raised as they hurled fire toward us.
“I thought you said they didn’t have fire breath!” I shouted at Arieste. For an answer, the female dragon banked sharply and dropped like an arrow toward the shamans. The gemstone in Arieste’s forehead blazed bright, and a dome of ice appeared around the two goblins. Before the creatures could burn their way free, Arieste’s talons crashed into them. The loud shrieks of terror cut short as the shamans died, and my dragon swept back and forth across the plain so that she could angle toward our destination.
More enemies streamed out of caves, cliffs, and nooks. A troop of fire goblins whirled slings around their head and hurled fiery stones up at us. My stomach dropped as Arieste launched herself high into the air and out of range. The wind rushed across my face and whipped my hair and clothes as Arieste climbed. Higher and higher we soared until I could see all of the fire lands spread out around me.
For a single moment, we hung in the air, suspended in a magical time and space where nothing but me, the dragon, the warm sun, and the cool breeze existed. Then Arieste dove like an avenging angel, and my heart leapt into my throat as we plummeted toward the ground.
“Waaaaahooooo!” I shouted as the world rushed up toward me.
I clung to her back as she spun in the air with her wings tucked against her side. We whirled like an enormous hurricane of scales, claws, and fangs, then Arieste’s wings snapped out fifty yards above the ground. I was jerked forward as the wind caught us, and we sliced through the air in a horizontal path that brought us straight toward the enemies arrayed against us.
Arieste’s claws were quick, and
I heard the high-pitched screams of goblins accompanied by the throaty roars of dying ogres and the sound of rock crunched beneath the dragon’s bulk. The gemstone in her forehead flared bright, and ice shields popped into place around the last of the fire shamans. Arieste flicked out her tail, and a frozen goblin corpse flew a hundred yards to crash limp and lifeless to the ground.
“Hit ‘em again!” I shouted.
Arieste let out a gleeful roar and banked hard to her right. Wind rushed past me as we circled and came back for another pass. With the last of the goblin shamans down, Riamod’s minions had only bone, wood, fang, and sinew to face us. Arieste’s talons, wings, and shower of ice globes plowed devastation through the horde of monsters, and within seconds, fewer than forty of the original two hundred or so remained. High-pitched squeals echoed across the plains as the fire goblins turned to flee.
“Take that, fuckers!” I pumped my fist into the air and let out a triumphant whoop that the ice dragon echoed with a bellow of glee.
But now we had more important things to deal with than the fire land minions.
“All right Arieste, time to get on with our real mission!” I shouted over the wind as I patted the scales at her neck. “We’ve got to get to that mountain before--”
A terrible roar split the air behind me, and I turned in my seat to glance over my shoulder at the fiery mountain peak in the distance. Another roar echoed across the flat lands, and a massive red-scaled figure burst from the hole in the top of the mountain and flew straight toward us.
Riamod had joined the fight.
Chapter Sixteen
Even from this distance, I could see Riamod wasn’t flying as gracefully as when she attacked the castle. Her right wing moved sluggishly, like she was favoring it. I grinned and shot a mental thanks to Grendis for his damn good archery skills. Thanks to that one well-placed ballista bolt, our chances of defeating the red dragon had increased exponentially.
Arieste tensed beneath me, and muscle rippled along her scaly back as she prepared to engage the approaching enemy.
Dragon Slayer: A Pulp Fantasy Harem Adventure Page 22