The Book of Deacon Anthology

by Joseph R. Lallo

  "Anger would be better," Myranda said, her eyes finally making out the full silhouettes of three dragoyles, each as big as the beast that had threatened them in the valley of the dead.

  "Yeah, it p-probably would, but f-fear is all I've got to offer," Ivy struggled to say.

  "Stay calm, Ivy. We've got Myn. We can get through this," Myranda assured her, scouring her mind for anything that might be effective against the behemoths.

  "C-can't calm down. It's one thing to trust Myn to catch me if I fall, but what if she falls!? What if she gets hurt!?" Ivy raved.

  "Just hold tight and don't think about it. I won't let them touch us," Myranda said.

  Briefly, the wizard considered casting sleep upon her again. No. The task at hand was difficult enough without having to keep a helpless body from slipping off.

  "I can't stop thinking about it! I can't do anything! You shouldn't have rescued me! You should have left me for last! I'm no good to you up here! All I am is another thing for you to worry about! The best thing I could do is . . . THAT'S IT!" Ivy said, a burst of yellow mixing with blue for a moment as she turned to Myranda. "Let me fall!"

  "No! We will get through this together, I can't let--" Myranda attempted to object.

  "Myranda, listen! If I fall, I'll be afraid. I'll turn into whatever it is that I turn into when I am afraid. There'll be a lot of light and a lot of sound and then I'll wake up safe and sound, far away. That's how it always happens! It won't get rid of them, but it'll give you one less thing to worry about," Ivy explained.

  "It is too risky. We don't know what will--" Myranda cried.

  "Myranda, there's no time to argue. You have to trust me," Ivy said.

  The hulking forms were close. They would be upon the heroes in moments. Myranda could not bring herself to agree. It didn't matter. She didn't have the chance. Ivy hopped to her feet on Myn's back and ran a few steps along it, leaping in a graceful dive over the dragon's head.

  "Don't catch me, Myn!" she piped in a crazed cry of mounting terror as she blurred past the beast's vision.

  Myn dove to follow.

  "No, Myn! She knows what she's doing," Myranda said uncertainly.

  With all of the will she could muster, she turned her eyes from the brilliant point of blue light disappearing through the clouds and faced the dragoyles. She could only see one well. It would be her first target. She waved the staff in a circle, stirring the wind with it. In moments, she had a howling gale. It circled around them, growing in force and dragging up trails of mist. First they were thin streamers, then fat ribbons, and finally vast sheets of cloud. They whirled and mixed into a growing maelstrom.

  The dark creature fought against the wind, frost building to ice on its black hide. It wasn't enough. Myranda could hear the massive thing ripping though the wind. Now it was Myn's turn. She gave a powerful pump of her wings and lurched upward suddenly, placing her claws in the perfect position to strike. And strike she did. Stout, powerful talons came down with crushing force on the creature's head. As the dragoyle's momentum carried it past, Myn raked her foreclaws along its back, lashing with her hind claws at its wings.

  The roar of pain that burst from the thing's mouth was deafening. It faltered, disappearing into the clouds. Myranda recovered from the sudden shift and searched desperately for the second creature while still maintaining the intensity of their shield of wind. Before she could find it, the creature made its presence known. The massive dragoyle, easily triple Myn's size, collided from the side. The rocking blow all but threw Myranda free. As she clung for her life, the monster clutched Myn with massive claws. The brave dragon struggled, spouting flame that scattered uselessly in the wind.

  Far below, Ivy plummeted earthward. The wind screamed in her ears as she tore through the clouds. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Fear burned her mind and fluttered in her chest, but it did not bite to her core. Blue sparks of intense aura danced in front of her eyes, but stopped just shy of consuming her. Deep inside, she knew that she would be safe. The fear would protect her. The intricate designs of the ground spiraled and grew slowly, filling her vision, stirring something in her mind. It began as surprise and built quickly to confusion. Where was the transformation? She brushed the concern mounting in her aside. There was no need to worry. The fear would save her. There was no need to worry . . .

  The realization struck her like a lightning bolt. If there was no need to worry, then she wouldn't be frightened enough to change! She would be killed! The epiphany thrust the reality of the situation into the foreground once more, and a renewed terror carried her to the very brink of transition. Unfortunately, the familiar feeling of slipping away from the world brought with it the relief that she would indeed be safe, quickly banishing the fear. The fading aura made the rapidly approaching ground clear to her, surging the fear again, and again came the relief, extinguishing it. Her mind raced in ever tighter loops as the cycle of panic and calm grew faster.

  "I WAS WRONG! CATCH ME!" she cried.

  The tangled form of Myn, Myranda, and the dragoyle dropped into the clouds. The dragon managed to clamp her jaws onto the beast's wing. Vicious teeth tore leathery hide and creaked against hollow bone. Puffing up her chest, Myn belched a column of flame onto the limb still caught in her maw. The dragoyle howled in pain and released them. After a few moments to steady herself in the air, Myn made ready to circle back and face the creature again, climbing to the surface of the ocean of clouds.

  "No! Stay in the mist!" Myranda ordered.

  Myn obeyed. Myranda scrambled across the dragon's back to her proper position and held the staff high. The freezing cold of night grew deeper. The mist became grainier. A lurching blackness approached from below as the first beast, still suffering from the long furrows scoured into its back by Myn, finally made its way back into the fight. Myranda made it the focus of the cold. Tiny crystals became fat flakes around it. A crust of ice stiffened the beast's joints.

  Myranda pushed her mind harder. The crust became a layer, then a blanket. Soon it was not only the water around the dragoyle, but the creature's very blood that was freezing. It squeezed a pathetic, strangled screech out. The cry was cut off as even the monster's throat hardened into stillness. Just as the paralyzed form started to drop from view, Myranda hurled a ball of flame. The intense heat splashed against the frozen creature and, pushed from one extreme to the other too quickly, it came apart at the seams. What dropped out of the clouds was a barely recognizable scattering of frozen anatomy.

  Without a word from Myranda, Myn knew what was next. Find the others, and avoid being found.

  Ivy screamed through the air like a brilliant blue comet. She swept every terrifying thought she could muster from her memory and piled them one on top of the other. Nothing could upset the stalemate. She flailed at the air, as though if she tried hard enough she could dig her fingers into it and hold tight. As she did, she inadvertently turned about. Her maddened eyes came to rest on a sight that managed to be even more frightening than the ground.

  It was one of the dragoyles. It was not a tiny, blurry speck among the clouds as it should be, either. What she beheld was a creature just a few seconds behind her, serrated beak trailing a billowing cloud of miasma behind it. It wasn't flapping its wings, instead tucking them back and straightening its body into a streamlined dart. It was falling. And it was falling faster than she was. Ivy's mind clamped onto the image. It would do.

  A blaze of blue surged like an azure sun as Ivy's fear took over. The cry of fear echoed over the hilltops and through the trees. A sudden and intense will forced her earthward far faster than the dragoyle could manage, but still it worked its wings to catch up. The ground turned swiftly from patches of silver, gray, and white to icy water, frozen trees, and barren fields. When she reached the ground, she struck with enough force to sway the trees of the forest that was unfortunate enough to be her target. No sooner had the branches swayed to their maximum than a blue blur flashed out from between the trees and into th
e field. A moment later, the enormous monster, far too large to overcome its own momentum, shook the forest again. It was a grotesque sound, a crunch louder than thunder mixed with the splintering of trees and a short, agonized squeal.

  Then there was only silence as the forest attempted to recover.

  High above, Myn pulled herself up through the clouds and locked her eyes on the remaining dragoyle. Its partially roasted wing was doing a barely adequate job of keeping it airborne. Its maw hung open and vast swaths of black breath were erupting forth. Myn circled to the side. The ponderous beast attempted to wheel to follow, but it couldn't match the agility of the smaller creature. Myn clamped down on the beast's afflicted wing, planted her feet against the monster's body, and pulled with all of her might. The pair began to plummet through the clouds again. Myranda kept the thick motes of black mist from them as the bones and flesh yielded to Myn's jerking pulls. Finally, the whole wing came free. What was left of the creature spiraled and writhed as it fell.

  Myn turned her sharp vision earthward, locking onto the bright blue streak below that blazed across the field and over the lake's icy surface toward a small, rocky island at its center. Perhaps her fear-crazed mind believed it offered the best cover. Perhaps some small part of her knew what she would find there. Regardless of the reason, the island was the very place they sought. Someone the D'karon did not wish to be found was being held within.

  A sturdy wooden door in a stone wall splintered as she roared through it. The dragon dove toward her, but the better part of the distance between the clouds and ground still lay before her. Ivy blazed through the narrow courtyard, around what looked to be an outcropping of stone with a doorway carved into it. When she reached a point behind it that was reasonably hidden from sight, she disappeared inside, the fading blue glow betraying her position. A moment later, a scattering of nearmen climbed from the hole in the stone and inspected the shattered remains of the door.

  Myn was drawing nearer, but as she did, she began to slow, even though there was a long way to go. Her eyes were locked on the shifting layer of ice that had yet to settle after Ivy's trip across it. As they approached the surface of the lake, Myranda felt the same tenseness that had marked the approach of the dragoyles, only more so. Her heart raced. What could lie beneath the waves? They'd never faced a creature of the water before. There was no way to prepare for it.

  Now the water was just below them. They were just approaching the shore of the island when a pair of ice drifts collided, sending a spray of icy water high enough to sprinkle Myn's scales. Something inside her mind gave way. She pumped her wings madly, as though at any moment the water would reach up and grab her. There'd been no motion but the ice. Nothing had touched her but the water, but still she was mad with fear. Of course . . .

  It stood to reason. Myn had always been afraid of the water, ever since the flooding of the cave when they were heading to Entwell. Her last serious encounter with it had literally cost her her life. Even the stoutest of minds would falter at the sight of it after that. Myranda tried to steady her friend.

  "Myn, just get me to the island, you can leave me and come back for me after!" Myranda called out.

  The terrified creature fought every instinct in a mind trained for eons to embrace them. She forced herself to approach the ground at the water's edge. The instant Myranda tumbled to the frozen stone, she shot skyward. The wizard surveyed the threat before her. As with her rescue of Ivy, the nearmen before her were magic users. They held black wands at the ready--but at the sight of her, they did not attack. Instead, they scurried back into the carved hole in the stone, securing it shut with a wave of a wand and an uttered word. The door was also stone, and fit so securely into the opening that if she'd not seen it move into place, she scarcely would have imagined there was a hole at all.

  Myranda stepped back. Upon closer inspection, the structure, if it could be so called, was a low dome of stone that sloped until it was flush with the ground. In fact, it actually connected to the ground. Had they simply carved a chamber into a solid stone island? Or had the whole of the little isle been created by them? She rushed around the edge of it, seeking another door. The closest she found was a shallow recess on the far side, the very one Ivy had nestled herself in for protection. The creature was still there, the blaze of fear replaced by the deep, unnatural sleep that always followed. The wizard shook her, hoping to wake her. It was an act of pure optimism. After such an outburst, Ivy was seldom awake in anything less than half a day. Sure enough, no amount of jostling produced anything beyond an uncomfortable shift.

  Whatever had to be done, Myranda would be doing it alone.

  So be it. Myranda made her way back to the door and thrust the point of the staff into what little there was of a seam and put her mind to work. Slowly, a tremor was summoned. The pebbles at her feet began to dance around her. Something was wrong. Try as she might, she could not will anything stronger than a light rhythm from the earth. There was an enchantment working against her. A powerful one. She abandoned the spell and switched to flame, but no sooner did it splash against the door than it flickered away. She didn't need to test wind and water to know they would be similarly ineffective.

  "So they've protected it against elemental magic. That means Ether is inside," she reasoned out loud.

  For a moment, she brought to mind some of the more destructive spells that fell outside of the elemental realm, but a thought occurred to her. The staff she held was of D'karon design. A quick perusal of the enchantments clinging to it revealed one that had much the same feel as that which held the door shut. A second seemed its logical opposite. She fed the appropriate spell a dose of her will and it eagerly leapt to work. A smile came to her face. The door was slowly grinding aside. In taking the staff, she may well have stolen the very keys to their defense.

  "This is quite the useful tool," Myranda quipped.

  The smile dropped away as the sounds from within finally made their way through the widening gap. There was a commotion inside. Splashing water, twisted unnatural voices, clinking, scratching, clawing. Myranda placed a foot inside the opening when it was wide enough. Almost instantly, she was pushed back. Out from the inky depths of the place came a cacophonous rustle and flutter as dozens of black forms burst from the darkness. For a moment, she thought she was being attacked by bats. She was wrong on both counts.

  It was not a colony of bats tearing past her, but a veritable army of cloaks, and they were not attacking. The disembodied garments seemed utterly unconcerned with the human, save for the fact that she was in their way. She tried to oppose them but was thrown aside, sprawling to the ground as the sky filled with the creatures and the ground crawled with them. Myranda's eyes darted from one beast to the next. Deep within the folds of their cloth forms was a crystal, phantom claws locked about it in a protective grip. They drifted through the sky and across the surface of the water like ants carrying eggs from a flooding colony. By the time the flow from the opening trailed off, there were easily hundreds of them, all drifting north.

  "Myn!" Myranda called out. "Stop as many of them as you can, and keep Ivy safe! I will be back as soon as I can!"

  With that, she disappeared inside.

  The dragon went to work. Sweeping as low along the water as her mind would allow, she sprayed the creatures with flame. They scattered, but each blast of fire took a handful of them with it. Myn managed a few more runs before the flow was too scattered to manage any more than one at a time. In truth, she'd roasted only a small fraction of the torrent of creatures, but destroying any more would take her too far from Ivy. She circled back and took up a patrol in a tight circle over the tiny island, her sharp gaze locked on the sleeping creature.

  Inside the dome, Myranda was greeted with the only light ever to be found in the depths of D'karon structures, the blue-white light of captured magic. This time, however, the light came in a way Myranda scarcely could have imagined. An intricate pattern of crystalline rods had been gathered togethe
r into a sequence of interlocking shapes, like an array of enormous snowflakes fixed point to point. The grid formed a shell in the center of the largely hollow interior that now seemed to have been bored into the island. Half of it was submerged in water, refracting and reflecting the light into dazzling blobs of light across the ceiling, and a trio of wooden struts stood from water-obscured floor to ceiling.

  At every point where one crystal rod met another, a gem was affixed--or, at least, had been. Even now, a smattering of cloaks and nearmen were harvesting them and sweeping toward the door, showing little regard for the human who stood in their way. Myranda stepped aside and let them pass. Myn would stop them if she could, and there was a far more pressing matter at hand.

  In the very center of the vast crystal shell was a smaller one attached to stone at the bottom of the deep hollow center of the island. Inside of it, shifting wildly, was a swirl of water that clearly had a will controlling it. It was twisting and writhing, trying to snake out through the space between the bars and recoiling back inside when it touched one. A moment later the bundle of water darkened and shifted to stone, dropping a short distance to the rocky floor. Beside it, standing completely beneath the rippling surface of the indoor pool, was a pair of creatures Myranda had never seen before.

  Each looked to be a man in a suit of armor, but even through the shifting wavelets, she could see that there was no flesh beneath the metal plates. They hung loosely in place, an empty shell in the vague shape of a man, and a formidable man at that. Red runes traced arcane patterns across every surface. The only semblance of a being within the armor was a ball of flickering amber light behind each chest plate. They each held in their gauntlets a tall spear.

  In a fluid motion that stretched the unseen limbs further than any natural being could, one of the demon armors thrust the weapon into the newly-formed stone. A gem flickering in the blade drew in a dose of power and the rock shuddered and shifted back to water to start the struggles anew.