"You're not the only man with a magic sword," Shazamir taunted him before he lunged forward.
Alto leapt back and batted the piercing sword aside before it could reach him. He landed on his feet and was ready to counterattack but he was too late. Shazamir was quicker and already launching another attack.
Alto struck it aside and struggled to bring his blade back in time for the next assault. In only a span of a few exchanges, he realized that Shazamir was a better swordsman. He was faster, had more armor, and the man had a blade that weakened him every time it cut him, no matter how minor the scratch.
Alto let Shazamir push him back and worked around so that his back was to the table. Shazamir's mocking grin grew as Alto trapped himself. Alto had to attack the man. He needed to regain the momentum, but the man kept pressing against him. Fully armored, Alto could take a blow and shrug it off in exchange for lashing out himself. Without his armor, such a tactic would be inviting death.
With his back to the table, Alto parried two slashes from Shazamir, though the second poked a shallow cut in his forearm. The pain was the same each time, agonizing and weakening, but not yet debilitating. The wounds from the black blade never bled. Instead, the blood seemed to be drawn into the sword and used for whatever malevolent magic it contained.
Shazamir's last strike had forced Alto's sword low and outside, giving him the opportunity both of them had been waiting for. The despotic ruler thrust his sword at Alto, the point aimed at his throat. Alto threw himself back, counting on the table being there to catch him, and kicked up with his boot at the same time.
Alto's foot struck the flat of the dark blade and ripped it free of Shazamir's grip. The blade struck the wooden ceiling and quivered as the tip stuck fast in it. Alto grinned and tried to throw himself back up to his feet when the table shifted under him and the legs collapsed under his weight.
Alto's vision swam and he coughed to try to recapture his breath. Shazamir's hateful expression changed to a mocking one. He reached up to grab his sword and yanked it loose. Alto managed to push himself up on one elbow and pulled his sword across his body to defend himself.
"Pathetic," Shazamir spat at him as the evil ruler drew his sword back. The clang of metal on metal was masked by Shazamir's grunt before the man could deliver the killing blow. He staggered forward a half step even as a hammer fell to the ground behind him.
Shazamir turned, giving Alto a glimpse of Garrick and Carson rushing past Mordrim and then having to squeeze through the doorway to be the first one in. Lord Shazamir greeted them with a sweep of his hand that sent Garrick, who was in the lead, staggering into the open chest and then crashing into a bookcase. Carson was blasted back and fell on his bottom by the magical attack.
Alto seized the only opportunity he was going to get. He thrust his sword into Shazamir's unprotected thigh and felt a thrill run through him as the man roared loud enough to deafen everyone in the room and slam the open door against the wall. Alto twisted and pulled his sword free, cutting it out the side of Shazamir's leg and dropping the man to the ground.
Alto rolled to his knees and barely managed to get his blade up in time to block Shazamir's ebony sword from crashing into him. They struggled against each other, each vying for the leverage to force the other man's weapon back and finish the fight. Alto turned his head to stare at the swords grating against each other. Shazamir's dark blade absorbed the green light his sword emitted. Shazamir's eyes joined his as everything came down to the contest of strength and will between the two.
Shazamir gasped and lost his focus. Alto sent the black steel clattering across the floor but kept his sword held at the ready. He looked down at where he'd plunged the dagger into Shazamir's side, parting the metal armor like paper and burying the dagger all the way to the hilt.
"Impossible," Shazamir whispered. He shuddered and tried to suppress a cough, only to end up in a spasm that resulted in blood spraying from his nostrils and lips. He fell back on the ground and glared at Alto. His lips opened but the blood filling his lungs made speech impossible. He shuddered again and clenched his fists before he collapsed in on himself and lay defeated.
Chapter 27
Garrick took Mordrim's offered hand and let the dwarf help him pull free of the shattered bookcase. The barbarian grimaced and reached back to yank an arrow-sized splinter from the back of his arm, and then he turned and looked at the young warrior, who stared down at the slack features of the fallen king.
"Didn't seem so tough," Garrick muttered.
Alto looked up at him and then to Mordrim and Carson. He climbed to his feet slowly and stared down at the man he'd killed. Carson walked into the room and whistled. "Nice bookcases," he said before he spotted Lord Shazamir's sword lying on the floor.
Mordrim chuckled and clapped Garrick on the back. "If anybody asks, I'll tell them the furniture was talking ill of your mother."
Garrick scowled and turned back to Alto. "Is that it then? Will Caitlyn and Trina get better?"
Alto pressed his hand in front of Shazamir's face for a moment to be certain the man was truly dead. Convinced, he pulled the dagger free and held it up. "Let's go find out," he said.
"Alto," Carson called before the warrior had taken two steps. "What of this?"
Alto saw that Carson held the black blade in his hand and was studying it with a keen eye. "It's got magic in it, but I don't know what it does," he said. "My wounds didn't bleed but they burned like fire and ice when he cut me."
"Burned like ice?" Carson echoed.
Garrick grunted. "Ice so cold it feels like you've shoved your hand in a roaring forge."
"Yes, just like that." Alto nodded.
Carson grunted. "You killed him—with our help," he added with a sly grin. "Do you want it?"
Alto shook his head. "I've got my own." He raised his sword and then sheathed it at his side. "Come on, let's see what Thork says about it. I had a sword I took from another member of the Order once that was evil. Let's be certain that's not the same."
"An evil sword?" Carson asked.
"What about him?" Mordrim pointed to the servant who cowered in the back of the room.
Alto frowned and stared at the slave. "You're a slave?"
The man nodded.
"You're a free man now," Alto said. "Go, before somebody thinks to prove otherwise."
The man's eyes jumped from Alto to his friends, never lasting on any of them more than a heartbeat. Alto turned away from him and saw Mordrim grabbing the body of Shazamir by the legs.
"Might need proof he's dead," the dwarf explained.
Alto sighed and nodded. The dwarf was right. They were still in a city surrounded by thousands of armed men who were hunting for them. Garrick grabbed Shazamir's arms and picked him up so the two could carry him between them easier while Alto led his friends back through the tunnels. The slave girls were gone but the bodies of the two guards Alto had killed still littered the floor.
The throne room was a scene of bedlam. New guards and a few nobles with their personal retinue had arrived. They were arguing and shouting at one another. Several had drawn weapons but they stayed a respectable distance away from the dais, where both women and their defenders had moved them. When Garrick and Mordrim walked in behind Alto carrying the body of Shazamir, the room fell silent.
"Yous bashed him!" Thork shouted. He laughed loudly and pulled his thick finger out of Caitlyn's chest where he'd tried to plug the hole that blood surged through. A few spurts followed but then they lessened and stopped within seconds while everyone watched.
Patrina gasped and pulled her hands away from the hole in her belly. She moved her hands back and forth, trying to move her armor, but saw that even the hole in her armor had mended itself. She reached the neckline of the form-fitting suit and pulled it out to stare down her chest. "It's gone," she whispered. She looked around and then met Alto's gaze. "It's gone!"
Alto closed his eyes and would have fallen had Carson not been there to wrap his arm a
round him and hold him up. He blinked away the emotion that welled up in him and stared at his friends and family. He shook his head and looked at his sister, only to find her standing and staring at Garrick. Alto turned and saw the barbarian returning her gaze. Alto smiled and thanked Carson with a gentle pat on the back before he walked across the dais to help Patrina rise to her feet and then pick her up off the ground in a hug that made her squeal.
"What happened to my father?" A voice broke through the celebratory mood and silenced them. It belonged to a young man who looked to be Alto's age. He stepped away from his retinue with a solid set to his jaw. He studied the dead king and turned to look at them all one at a time until his eyes came to rest on Alto. "You did this?"
Alto nodded. "I did."
The prince looked at Lord Shazamir again and then back to Alto. "There's a long line of succession and enough swords in this room, let alone the palace, to see to it you will never sit the throne."
"Good," Alto said. "I don't want it."
Thork guffawed and slapped his thigh, and then fell silent when everybody stared at him. "What? Dat's funny."
Kar sighed for effect and tapped his staff on the ground to gather everyone's attention. "The troll's laughing because if Alto hadn't killed your father, he would have killed you in a few more years and then taken your form to rule Shazamir for another couple of decades. As he has done for countless generations."
The prince's eyes widened and his cheeks paled. "That's ridiculous!"
"Troof!" Thork said, nodding. "Shazzy used to be a flying lizard until him learned enough mojo to figure out him didn't want to get bashed when his time was up. So him learned to take da lives of others."
"What about my brothers?" the prince asked.
"Your father had no need of them; they were free to do as they wished."
"So he just killed them?" Carson asked. He shook his head when Kar nodded.
"Not all da time," Thork said.
"What?" Alto and Kar asked in unison.
"Some of dem showed real power. Dey had a touch of Shazzy's dragon blood still in dem. Dem he sent off to do other fings."
"The leaders of the Order," Alto muttered.
"Troof," Thork said with a zealous nod. "And dere's one of dem dat rules one of yous's cities."
"One of our cities?" Patrina gasped.
The troll nodded again. "Peltarch, da free city."
"That's not one of ours," Patrina said with her brow furrowed.
"Dat's a city with yous stupids in it, close enough," Thork grumbled.
"Myskrakoth, was he one of Shazamir's children? What about Sarya?" Alto asked.
Thork held up his hand. "Nope and nope. Dem's just dragons. Shazzy was more dan dat and him had his eyes set on bigger fings. Bigger and more dangerous. Him needed bashin, but Thork couldn't do it."
Alto felt his head rise and his chest swell as he processed what the troll said. "Thork, have I been a pawn this entire time?"
Thork grinned. "Yous's done great fings! Yous fink one of yous guys could do all dat wifout help? Nope, not a chance."
"Stop helping me," Alto growled at the troll.
Thork's grin faded. "Yous fink yous's family would still be digging dirt and all dat wifout Thork? Yous fink none of dis would have happened?"
Alto remembered his family and how it all had started. The Order of the Dragon had started it. Or at least dragons had started it, though which came first was a question no one could answer. They had sent raiders and the raiders had hurt his father. The rest was Alto's reaction to it and his choices. To blame Thork wasn't right. He sighed and shook his head. "No. No, I guess not."
Thork's grin returned. "Dat's good, cuz yous's needing to get back home."
"You can't murder the king and just leave!" the prince snapped.
"Watch us," Garrick growled. He reached up to put his hand on the hilt of his great sword and added, "Or try to stop us."
Alto held his hand up. "Prince, the kingdom is yours. The only thing I would ask is that you keep a mind to your own kingdom and don't seek to grow beyond your borders as your father did."
"The war with kelgryn?" he asked.
Alto nodded. "Call it off, or Shazamir will need a third king in a day."
The prince's eyes grew wide but he nodded. He turned and gave one of his aides a message and sent the man off at a run. "You must leave," he said when he finished. "Your name and deeds have marked you as an enemy of Shazamir."
Mordrim was the loudest to curse but several of the others voiced their disagreement with the new king's decree as well.
The young leader held up his hands. "Please, you know this to be true. Too many people know you as our foes. Undoing that will cause too much dissent and confusion among the people of Shazamir."
"That's fine," Alto said. "We'll leave immediately. There is a woman I made a promise to. I must find her and take her with me."
"She's gone," Namitus said.
"What?"
"Jethallin, right?"
Alto nodded.
"She left Mira hours ago. She had something else she had to do. Something about helping to save some man trapped in a ring?"
Caitlyn gasped and swooned. Garrick caught her and helped her regain her strength. "That ring—they put it on me and he, the man in it, he tortured me. He talked to me, and he hurt me, but it was never real. It felt real, but I always woke up and wasn't hurt. He made me do the things I did. He made me hurt Patrina."
"And now Jethallin's doing his bidding." Kar frowned.
"Hey," Garrick growled. "Remember our homelands? The reason I came in the first place? Ogres massing in the mountains? I don't regret my time, but my people need help."
Thork nodded. "Yep, him's right. Yous's needing to get back up dere. Fings is happening."
"What kind of things?" Alto demanded.
Thork shrugged. "Yous knows. Scary fings." He winked and turned to Bonky. "Come on, Bonky, let's go. Dere's lots of fear out der and it's calling Thork's name."
"Thork, wait!" Alto said.
The troll stopped and looked back at him. "What?"
Alto turned to Carson. "The sword Shazamir used, is it safe?"
Thork bellowed out laughter loud enough to make everyone cringe. "It's a sword! Of course it's not safe! It's got a sharp edge on bof sides, so it cuts bof ways. It's not like dat one yous had, but dis one can suck da life out of da stupids it cuts and make da guy using it feel stronger for a while."
Carson's eyes widened. "Can I keep it?"
Thork shrugged. "As long as yous can keep it." He started to turn again but Alto trotted down the stairs of the dais and stopped beside him. He looked up at the gruesome green shaman and held out the dagger. "This is a dangerous weapon. Too dangerous. Will you take it back?"
Thork tilted his head and reached out to take the dagger. He nodded. "Dat's a first. Nobody ever gives Thork nothing back." He clapped Alto on the shoulder and nearly dropped the strong warrior to the ground. He turned away and said, "Let's go, Bonky!"
Alto watched as Thork and Bonky walked through the gathering crowd and then through the open doors. In seconds they were out of view and gone. Alto shook his head and turned back. "Let's go home."
"What about Jethallin?" Namitus asked.
Alto sighed and looked at Garrick.
"Garrick?" Caitlyn asked, interrupting the moment.
The barbarian turned to the woman standing beside him. "What?"
Caitlyn looked at Alto and then at the new Lord Shazamir. "Circumstances aside, I am a royal in this city. Am I allowed to remain or will you deny your laws and tradition?"
The king frowned and then nodded. "Yes, you may stay. Lord Badawi made you his wife before he died. With no children, you are his heir, Lady Badawi."
She nodded and turned back to Garrick. "You've treated me kindly since first we met. Even defended my honor and virtue against those who thought otherwise. Will you, um, will you stay? With me?"
Garrick stared at Caitlyn with hi
s eyes as wide as his mouth. He turned and looked at Alto to see an expression mirroring his own. He grunted a few times, trying to find words to speak, but nothing recognizable came out.
"Garrick, what she said is true. You have my blessing if you want to stay," Alto said after he recovered from his shock. He pulled Patrina close to his side and turned to the others. "The rest of you? Let's be off. Namitus, which way did that girl go? I ache for the comforts of home, but perhaps we can at least look in on her on our way."
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Dragonlady
By Jason Halstead
©2013
Chapter 1
Jethallin felt as though her air was snatched from her chest. She grunted and took a step back to gain some room. Both her daggers rose up but her mind was elsewhere. What had hit her? The savage warrior named Snake-Killer was in front of her and the rest of the phantasmal swamp they fought in was veiled in mists.
"Never let your enemy use your distraction against you," Snake-Killer growled.
Jethallin refocused her thoughts on him but it was too late. His spear swung low, just above the water's surface, and crashed into her ankle. Her feet were swept from beneath her and she splashed into the muck. She started to scramble back to her feet but Snake-Killer was there. He stepped forward and drove the razor-sharp stone tip of his spear down and into her chest.
Jethallin screamed and sat up, both hands going to her chest. Already the burning pain of having her heart split in half was fading into the foggy remnants of the dream it was.
Snake-Killer took her when she slept. He pulled her mind into his world, a dark swamp surrounded by impenetrable fog. She'd tried to run once but she came back to him, as though she'd run in a circle. It made sense; Snake-Killer claimed his soul was trapped in the ring she wore. He'd been trapped by the evil splisskin wizards and priests. They were part man and part snake, and wholly evil as far as he was concerned.
They controlled him with their magic and made him corrupt the people who wore the jade ring Jethallin now wore. What made her different was how she'd come by it. The Order of the Dragon hadn't given it to her; she'd found it on the dirty cell floor in the dungeons of Mira. Through her, Snake-Killer hoped to be granted his freedom.
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