“Boar and Ram clan warriors, I think. It is hard to be certain.” The wizard wiped his hands on his vest. “You can still make out some of their tattoos.”
The drip of water echoed up the shaft. Tallen made out a faint, green glow farther down the tunnel. Whatever the source of the light, it hid behind a sharp turn. Tomas held up his free hand. “I sense nothing alive. The skittering had no mate or brood. Surprising for one so large.”
Dorias nodded, a fear Tallen had never seen in his eyes.
I know the feeling. It’s as if a wall of mud stands between me and my power.
“I’ve never heard of one growing anywhere near that size,” the wizard said. “They are attracted to magical power and objects.” He put his hand Tallen’s shoulder. “You are probably why it came up out of its nest. The orcs must have been in this cave for some time.” The wizard pointed at the green glow ahead. “Whatever that is, it’s the object that interferes with our power. It almost certainly drew the skittering and mutated it to such a large size.”
Tomas began to advance then paused to look back. “Shall we?”
Pulling out his dagger, the Ravenhawke nodded.
The paladin, sword held at the ready, led them around the corner.
A bright emerald glow almost blinded Tallen. A stalagmite rose from the floor of the cave. It served as a natural pedestal for a stone that looked like a piece of jade about the size of the hayball he used to kick around the yard of the inn as a child. Light coruscated over its surface. In the presence of the stone, Tallen’s power disappeared entirely from his perception. He felt as he had before first entering the Dreamrealm. Plain. Ordinary. Helpless. What is this thing?!
Dorias stepped closer. “By the Waters and the Earth…a Viridian Stone. None were thought to survive the Cataclysm.” He stretched his hand over it, casting odd shadows in the green rays of light. They hung about his face, giving him an almost orcish complexion. “They were created for mage prisons.”
Tomas lowered his sword. “Does Varana really know what is down here?”
Nodding his head caused the emerald beams to dance on Dorias’ face. “She has to.” He turned his eyes from the stone to look at the other corners of the chamber. Tallen followed his gaze and saw a large chest set in a recess, covered in stinking filth from the creature that had made its nest here. “What have we now?”
The wizard knelt over the chest, wiping away some of the filth with his dagger. Tomas moved closer, bringing the brighter light of his sword to bear. Dorias stepped back. “I cannot touch my power here, so you’ll have to do this the hard way.”
A single blow of Tomas’ gauntleted fist, and the ancient wood shattered. He carefully brushed away the splinters, and Dorias leaned in closer to look.
“Scrolls and papers…” The wizard hurriedly assisted the paladin in getting at the contents. He brought out a short, parchment scroll with faded golden tassels. He unrolled a few lines, scanning them with swift eyes. “By all the Aspects! And the Talismans, too!” He pulled a few more lines out. “It’s called The Dragonsoul Paradox!” The wizard’s face glowed with more than the light of sword and stone. He drew out another scroll, scouring its first few words. “The Spirit Trap! By the bloody Balance, Tomas, this is it!” Dorias replaced the scrolls and hoisted the chest. “Come. Let us be away. I must begin reading this at once.”
Tallen followed the paladin’s light out of the cave, the wizard reading while they walked. His eyes did not stray anywhere near the chest or its documents, nor did his scattered thoughts. Mostly, he just thought of Maddi and how much he wanted to see her – how much he wished he could hold her hand. The engrossed heroes leading the way back to the Academy made a poor substitute.
Tallen awoke to a flap of wings rustling at his window. A light dusting of snow lay along the sill, but the sun reigned over a blue sky. His leg itched, though only a pinkish scar of new, hairless skin remained to tell of his encounter with the skittering. Merl cawed a greeting.
“Good morning.” Tallen’s throat burned, dry and raw. He sipped from a cup of water next to his bed. His throat cooled, Tallen looked up at the raven. “You saved my life. Thanks.”
Merl bobbed his head before proceeding to clean his feathers with his beak. A knock at the door preceded its opening by only a bare moment. Tomas entered, his sword sheathed at his side.
“I’m glad you have awakened.” The paladin reached up to scratch Merl’s beak. “Dorias has been awake with those scrolls all night, while Merl and I guarded you.” He handed Tallen a clean shirt. “He insisted we join him the moment you awoke – if you feel able.”
Tallen eased his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Both his legs felt strong, though he still felt a tightness along his chest. “Some breakfast would be nice, but other than that I am fine.”
Tomas placed an apple in his hand. “I thought you might be hungry. We’ll get something more substantial soon.”
Once he was dressed, Tallen followed the paladin out of the dormitory. Passing across the academy grounds, he noticed a few odd stares and a scurrying pace to the residents. “Is it just me, or is everyone a little jumpy today?”
“I informed Varana of the orc incursion.” Tomas shifted his sword belt. “The mages have increased security on the Isle.”
They found Dorias at a corner table in the library, the broken, musty chest at his feet. The scrolls and other documents lay carefully placed around the tabletop. The wizard held a magnifying glass to his eye, as if he examined every pen stroke. Only when Tomas tapped his finger on the table did Dorias look up.
“Ah, Tallen!” He laid the glass down. Standing up, he clapped him on the shoulder. “How good it is to see you up and well. Tomas’ healing skills are far greater than he ever gives himself credit for.”
Bending to scratch the scar on his leg, Tallen nodded his head. “I would agree.”
Tomas folded his arms. “Rather than wasting your time rubbing my ego, perhaps you could tell the lad what you’ve found.”
The wizard walked to the window and opened it just as Merl fluttered to land on its ledge. The dusting of snow that had come with the night had disappeared, and the fresh breeze invigorated Tallen, sweetening the stuffy room. “There is much that I have yet to discover, but what I have found thus far is bleak.” He turned to face Tallen, wrinkles of concern creasing his forehead. “One of these scrolls is written by the hand of Leolan Calais himself, the last lord of Lond and the father of Varana. He is the one who led the elves to Valen. He was in regular contact with the Dragonsoul Gan during the Elder Days.” The wizard stared at one of the ancient parchments. “Imagine…the last Elf king held these very pages. That is his handwriting.” The wizard fell silent.
Tomas cleared his throat. Dorias jerked his head upright, as if escaping a trance. “Sorry.” He took a seat, gesturing for the others to do likewise. “So Leolan claims that Gan understood the destruction being wrought upon the world by the Dragon Wars. The spirit knew that they would continue until Galdreth destroyed everything. Even the dwarves switching to side with the forces of Order was not enough to stop the madness.” Dorias sighed. “Therefore, Gan created a trap. Only it required that both Dragonsouls be imprisoned, so their powers might cancel each other out.” The wizard stared out the window at the distant harbor. “The unintended repercussions of magic…how they have haunted our species from the dawn of time…”
He leaned back in his seat. “The trap worked. Both Dragonsouls were sealed away. But the reaction to that much magic cut off from the universe – the reaction to the power it took to do the sealing – it broke the continent. The Cataclysm changed many things. And much of it was unforeseen, even by the Elves of Lond.”
Tallen processed the wizard’s words. Thankfully, I already learned at least some of this history since being on the Isle. Otherwise he would have lost me.
Dorias kept his eyes on the harbor be
yond the window. “The Elves tried to stop the Cataclysm. A great shield of magic, cast by thousands of elf mages, protected the lost kingdom of Lond from the earthly, physical destruction of the Cataclysm.” He rubbed the day old beard on his cheek. “But again, unintended consequences…” The wizard turned his raptor gaze on Tallen. “Learn well, for it was the reaction of that much magic striking the protective shield that poisoned their land, or so Leolan believed.”
Pulling a chair out from the nearest table, Tallen sat down. “But what does all of this have to do with me? Why do Galdreth and his orcs want me?”
A dark shadow passed over the wizard’s features. He looked away from Tallen. Merl cawed softly. “It has to do with their prison. It was permanent, or so Gan believed. It seems, however, that the trap did not close as tight as Leolan and Gan hoped. The Elf king writes of a crack, a way for Galdreth to escape. It only requires one thing.” Empathetic eyes turned in Tallen’s direction. “He must possess a Dreamer.”
“Possess?” Tomas spoke up for the dumbstruck Tallen. “Like a psahn wraith – a demon as the common folk call them?”
A deep sadness hanging about his lips and eyes, the wizard nodded. “Almost exactly so.”
Tallen’s heart sank, tumbling down to the bottom of his soul, where only fear and tortuous anxiety dwelt. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, cradling his head in his hand. Tomas and Dorias both approached him, but their movements were lost in his swirl of emotions. It was as if all the events of the last half year gathered into one heavy swell of heartbreak – a swell trapped solely behind the dam of his will. He struggled to fortify that wall with faith in newfound friends, and with hope that, together, they would defeat those who sought him out.
A Dragonsoul wants me? The very beings that caused the Dragon Wars and the Cataclysm? They destroyed the world once in their wake. What do they care about me and those I love? We are just pawns in their millennia old game.
He searched for words, but his mouth remained dry and silent. He clenched his fist, waiting for the dam to break.
The anger took him by surprise, swelling in an instant to burning rage. The deaths of those he loved, the terror to which they had been subjected, scoured his mind and remolded his emotions. As quickly as it had flared, the hot anger cooled into an icy resolve. Tallen’s eyes narrowed, and his fists unclenched. He looked toward his friends. “What do we do?”
He saw the smiles that crept on their faces. Their expressions of anxious sympathy faded away, replaced by resolve that matched his own.
“I have a gift for you,” Dorias said with a proud nod. “More than scrolls hid in that chest.” He pulled a small piece of folded, yellow linen from his pocket, handling it with reverent care. The wizard opened the aged fabric to expose a twisted amulet. “It is made of four metals, copper for Fire, gold for Air, iron for Earth, and silver for Water.” The four metals twisted around the edges, a wire of each meeting in the middle. “The diamond set in the center is like nothing I have ever seen. As you can probably tell, it radiates with the Psoul Aspect.”
The diamond drew in Tallen’s perception, its crystal clarity catching light in every facet. He felt what Dorias described, but not just Psoul. The whole amulet radiated with all the Aspects of magic.
He held out a hand in refusal. “I cannot take this. It is too powerful and precious.”
“You must.” Dorias folded it into his hand. “You are the only man I have ever met who can put it to its full use. I promise I will help you discover its secrets.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “It’s value is immeasurable. Keep it hidden.”
Tallen clenched his hand around the medallion. It felt warm in his palm. He tucked it away in his pocket.
The wizard tapped a thoughtful finger against his bare upper lip. “As for our actions, not retreating is the first step. I say we head out to meet up with Boris at Highspur. He is one to…”
The door to the library opened with a rush of air. Within the doorframe stood Varana Calais, her face contorted from its normal, peaceful beauty into a snarl of anger. The men rose.
“You have found works in my father’s own hand and you did not tell me?” She stormed over to the table Dorias used.
Her anger gone in a flash, she danced her fingers lovingly over the script. A luminosity sparkled in her gaze that Tallen had never noticed before. “I have not seen his script in years. I remember it as if I were a girl again.”
Dorias spoke in a soft tone. “I did not know as much when we came to you this morning. If I had, I would not have hidden it.”
Varana’s face reclaimed some of its earlier glare. “So you say.”
The wizard bowed his head. “Please, Varana. On the memory of the friendship we once shared, I would not have hidden your father’s works from you.” He lifted his eyes and narrowed his gaze. “Which begs the question, who hid them in the first place?”
The elf sorceress returned her eyes to the scrolls. She examined each one in turn. “I would chance that it was my father himself. These others are written by mages close to him at the time of the Cataclysm, men who came with our people to Valen.” Varana paused a moment on one page in particular. “All of whom are long passed, as producing children was the first goal of those who survived.”
Tomas leaned in to get a better look. “Why would King Leolan have hidden these scrolls?”
Varana continued to read the parchments as she spoke. “My father visited the Isle many times before he died. The Viridian Stone was almost certainly his. At the time, mages who still followed the cult of Galdreth sought to resurrect their master. These scrolls point to a way to do just that.” She moved one parchment to scan another. “Undoubtedly, my father sought to keep these works from their hands.” Varana offered the slightest of smiles to Dorias. “No wizard in his right mind would ever willingly approach a Viridian Stone, especially without knowing what it protected.”
Dorias shrugged. “So you understand now what is happening to Tallen? Why he is not safe here?”
Straightening from her examination of the documents, Varana stared pointedly at Dorias. “The Isle is as safe as anywhere in this world. Tallen is surrounded by mages, and now we know what to watch for.” An icy glaze covered her features. “And he would be close enough to handle should the Dragonsoul take him.”
Rising to his full height, Dorias wrapped his cloak about himself and folded his arms beneath it. “Tomas and I have taken an oath to protect this young man. His powers have grown so that he can also protect himself, Viridian Stones notwithstanding.” He leaned toward her. “We can no longer hide from this challenge. We must face it.”
Varana laughed. The darkness tinting it changed the entire demeanor of her crystalline voice. “That is always your counsel, Ravenhawke.”
Tomas bowed his head. “It is counsel that usually rings true, My Lady.”
Dorias did not soften his tone. “I will brook no harm to the lad. Killing him would not stop Galdreth. It would simply seek another vessel, even if it were one less powerful.” He eyed Tomas. “I would hazard a guess that Talented healers could also suffice the Dragonsoul’s purpose if necessary, though I cannot say if it knows that.” He looked back to Varana. “Besides, we need the boy. His power could be a mighty weapon against the enemy.”
The long white hair hung still on Varana’s shoulders. She stared at Dorias, her violet eyes just as unmoving. A beam of sunlight cut through the library window, setting her flaxen hair aglow. She folded her fine fingers together.
“Tell me, Tallen.” Her voice remained even as she shifted her amaranthine gaze upon him. “You know what we have to offer you here, yet you are still a free person. I, too, care for your well-being. What would be your choice?”
Tallen dropped to one knee. “Lady Varana, you have taught me more than anyone about my power. You are a gracious lady, and I would hope to someday count you among my friends.” He lifted his gaz
e to meet hers evenly. “I would take a hand in my destiny, rather than hide from it. This power will not leave me be. It has chased me a thousand miles from my home. It has killed and harmed those that I love.”
Varana frowned. “I do not think you understand the rarity of your power, young man. For near a thousand years I have trained mages upon this Isle. Few have walked into my presence radiating your strength. I also do not think you understand that you have only waded into the tidal pools of your power. The great sea that awaits you might well be beyond your control.”
Tallen remained focused on her, willing his certainty to leap across the gap between their eyes. “I will not leave Dorias’ side.” He noticed the wince on the wizard’s lips from the corner of his eye.
“Ha!” Varana jerked her head. “As if that were a reason for me to agree.”
Tallen spread his hands before her. “I can only do what I can, My Lady. This power intends to have me, and it has gotten closer each time it has tried. If Tomas and Dorias plan on heading west to face it, then I will go with them.” He looked up to meet her frown. “I will be safest on the move.”
His bearded chin held in his hand, Tomas nodded. “That is true, in my opinion.”
Varana frowned.
“I will teach him.” Dorias clasped his hands together, pleading with her. “He is a Dreamer above all of his other powers – one greater even than I. That is where he needs the most guidance.”
Varana shook her head. “You Dreamers are always a great pain. Caladrius was one of the worst.” She chuckled. “You, Dorias, are very close.” Varana turned to Tallen. A severe expression masked her features. “If you return with the spirit of a Dragonsoul imbedded in your mind, young man, know that I will do all I can to destroy you.”
Tallen bowed his head. “And if I return victorious?”
A Balance Broken (Dragonsoul Saga) Page 42