Key of Living Fire (The Sword of the Dragon)

by Appleton, Scott

  The Megatrath growled and spun on the two murderers. His claws opened gashes in their throats, and they tumbled into the graves they had dug. The remaining creatures spat on the bodies, bowed to Oganna and the others, then lumbered back into the swamp.

  Caritha sat on the ground and stared after the Megatraths. By her aunt’s silence, Oganna judged the woman was in shock. Ombre sat beside her. No one spoke as they all stared into the swamp. At long last, relieved but weary, Oganna and her companions fell into fitful sleep.

  22

  HOME OF THE MIGHTY MEGATRATHS

  Weary and with his throat parched, Ilfedo ascended yet another tunnel. It turned sharply and he rounded the bend. Again it turned, and he followed this as well, only to be blinded by sunlight. Shielding his eyes, he let his blade’s tip drag on the stone floor as he emerged, at long last, into Yimshi’s rays. He had made it out of those dark and lonely caverns and found the world he better knew.

  Past the confines of his stone shelter, yellow sands stretched to the horizon. Just in front of his feet an almost-vertical cliff dropped to the desert floor. Yimshi’s rays brutally irradiated the scene. Waves of heat even penetrated the shadows where he stood. He retreated deeper into the cool shadows and realized another tunnel branched away from the cliff. It angled down rather steeply and was adorned with numerous gouges from Megatrath claws.

  “We made it, Seivar. Thank God! This is Resgeria, see?” He pointed across the desert. “The Warrioresses and my daughter told us that a great wall divides the desert, and somewhere on the other side we will find Vectra.” He pulled the last bit of fruit out of his pocket and bit into it. The taste that he had almost despised before did not seem that bad anymore. As the juice trickled down his throat, he thanked the Creator with a quick prayer and stumbled into the tunnel.

  As he started down the spacious tunnel, he found its inclination rather steep. He stepped in the gashes on the floor to keep his footing. It would take only a minor slip to send him sliding down the tunnel, a prospect that drove him to take even greater care.

  A little while later the tunnel sloped more gently, and he stood at its end. The stone floor upon which he now stood was smooth, worn and polished by usage. The cavern walls, reaching far above him to the darkness-enshrouded ceiling, bore elaborate designs upon them. Chiseled, he presumed, though for all he knew they might have been carved by claws.

  He had heard from Oganna and the Warrioresses of the channels, filled with oil, carved into the Megatraths’ cavern walls. Yet in the dimness he could hardly distinguish them. If lit by fire, the channels would illuminate the entire area. He considered setting them aflame with the sword of the dragon but thought better of it. These creatures were strange beings. Their customs were alien to him. He should not risk enraging them. Besides, his glowing aura illuminated much of the large underground habitat. The cavern walls were pierced by hundreds of tunnels as large as the one through which he had come. Some larger tunnels as well. However, these opened at ground level and led out the back side of the chamber. Cuts in the cavern’s rock walls led like ladders from the floor to a countless number of caves above him.

  “Hello?” He tried to sound bold, calling into the silent unknown, but he felt a bit uneasy. Where had everyone gone? “Is there anyone within the sound of my voice? I am Lord Ilfedo of the Hemmed Land. I have come to see Vectra.”

  Though he waited for a long while, there was no response.

  Picking a tunnel at random in the hopes of finding one of the creatures, he started down it. Five steps in he stopped. The faintest sound had reached his ears—a dull rumble from a neighboring tunnel.

  He redirected his steps in the sound’s direction, just as another, louder rumble followed. Several bends in the tunnel effectively kept the light at its end hidden from him until he had almost reached it. Hot air swirled into the tunnel from the stone-encircled arena ahead, and he put away his sword. Two of the hulking six-legged creatures were circling each other, whilst many more observed from atop the stones.

  Fearsome to behold, the full-grown Megatraths stood above ten feet at the shoulders, while the meglings ranged from the height of his shoulder to just shy of their elders’. Dark gray scales ran from atop their alligator-like heads to the tip of their long bony tails. Creamy white scales plated their underbellies. The creatures could move on all six of their tree-sized legs if they wished, or simply balance their weight on their rear four and use the forward pair as arms.

  One of the Megatraths in the arena retracted its claws and drove its fist into the side of its opponent. The other rolled with the blow, stood up, and faced it. Its sides expanded as it drew in air, and then it let out a torrent of flames, its sides constricting to send out as long an assault as physically possible. The other fell back, blinking its eyes and shaking its head. Ilfedo wondered if the flames had entered the Megatrath’s ear holes.

  “Lord Ilfedo of the Hemmed Land?” Ilfedo’s ears rang as the deep-throated voice sounded from behind him.

  He turned to find an adult Megatrath looming before him. He bowed slightly to the creature and sheathed his sword. As the Living Fire receded, the creature watched.

  When the Living Fire fell entirely off Ilfedo’s body, the Megatrath said, “Vectra has asked that I bring you to her.” It growled and beckoned with one heavy hand for him to follow. It climbed a pile of loose stones to the gargantuan ones on which the observers sat.

  Having no desire to be in direct sunlight again, Ilfedo considered a refusal. But a wave from the observers’ midst showed him Vectra’s location beneath an awning made from reptilian skin. Her tooth-ridden jaws smiled down at him, and he relaxed. A friend in whom he could trust, and one whose help he would need to find the Tomb of the Ancients and to enter it. In all these travels I must not forget the key. I must reach it—and very soon.

  Skirting a dozen half-asleep Megatraths on the stones, he joined their leader. “Vectra, it has been too long.” When he had last seen the Megatrath, she had been camping out in the city of Netroth with his daughter after their harrowing battle against the giants. His daughter owed her life to this creature.

  “Too long, indeed. Please, sit. Can I offer you anything?” She gestured at a pile of fruit withered by the heat.

  “I have been on a long and fruitless journey,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I slipped under the sandstorm along the Hemmed Land’s border and found my way here, via an underground route so incredible and frightening that I find it hard to believe it all happened to me.”

  Her great eyes roved over his dirt-encrusted clothing.

  He laughed. “Actually my throat is quite dry, and I lost my traveling supplies. I would be very grateful for a peaceful meal and conversation.”

  The contenders in the arena collided, and one of them thudded to the ground, panting heavily. “Next!” Vectra roared. A Megatrath left the sidelines, flexing its muscles.

  “Isor.” Vectra looked thoughtful as she named the new duelist. “Her brother was killed by Oganna and the Warrioresses.”

  “Loos?” Ilfedo spoke the name of the murderous Megatrath slowly. Loos had invaded the Hemmed Land and slain the inhabitants of a border town. Ilfedo had sent his wife’s sisters to track the creature down and kill it, but Oganna had secretly followed them. Vectra had disapproved of Loos’s attack, and after Oganna had killed him, Oganna had formed an alliance with the Megatraths. He pulled away from his thoughts to look at Loos’s sister, Isor.

  Vectra nodded, then waved him toward the tunnel through which he’d entered. “Come, Lord Ilfedo. The water springs are underground. I am most pleased you have come, and most curious as to how you came to be here. Come inside, and we will fill your stomach and talk, just as you asked.”

  The circular room of black stone in which he stood fascinated Ilfedo. Four impressive silver bowls hung from chains attached to the ceiling some forty to fifty feet above him. The bowls each measured more than seven feet in diameter. Flames burned in them, and five silver mirrors—
placed so as to reflect the light downward—illuminated the room.

  Against the back wall and opposite the arching tunnel through which Vectra had led him was a basin of water with large snaking spouts above it that appeared to be carved out of the stone. Crystal clear, the liquid poured from the spouts into the basin and then drained out of it through two holes at the basin’s rim, disappearing into the rock wall.

  He couldn’t help feeling like a midget as he climbed onto a large stone in order to reach the water. The spouts were almost as thick as he was wide, and the basin could have served adequately as a pool. He submerged his cupped hands and was preparing to slurp the water—

  Vectra’s claws held out a stone cup with a handle just his size. He stared at it as he took it. Where would a Megatrath get a human-sized cup? Why would they have the need?

  “After we returned from our battle against the giants,” Vectra rumbled deep and satisfied, “word spread of how your people—in particular your daughter—saved Megatrath lives by risking their own. The mates of those who were saved have been hard at work since, preparing our hard world to welcome you and your kind. We have plates and bowls chiseled in the size you require.” She shook her hide and gave a toothy grin. “You and your people will be forever welcome among us, Lord Ilfedo.”

  Ilfedo gulped several long draughts of cold water as Seivar perched on the basin’s rim. The silver-beaked bird dipped its head to the water’s surface, scooping some into its lower beak, then raised its head and closed its eyes. Its beak remained partially open as its tongue gingerly flapped the water down its throat.

  “Follow me, Ilfedo.” The Megatrath led him into an adjacent chamber. A sheet of water fell across the entry, washing the Megatrath’s hide.

  Stepping beneath the deluge, Ilfedo laughed as the liquid cleansed his hair and face, then rushed down his back. He shivered, but the Megatrath picked him up and ran up a tunnel. The creature’s powerful body threw him about, then suddenly they rose into sunlight. His skin warmed as the creature stood him atop a mountain of stone surrounded by the desert’s yellow sand. His clothes quickly dried.

  A white-feathered body shot out of the tunnel, screeching into the sky. The bird leveled out, then dove to land on his shoulder. “Master, it is good to be among these creatures.”

  He could have lingered a long while in the warm sun, but a shadow blocked the rays. Vectra stood between him and the sun. With one muscle-rippling arm, she pointed at the tunnel. “Let us return now. Your skin will badly burn if you remain here.” She grasped his torso and plunged down the tunnel. Her claws sparked on the stone walls, slowing her descent. With a gentle settling of her body, the creature landed in the dim cavern. “Sinva!” she roared.

  A wrinkled Megatrath loomed out of another tunnel. “You need me, most powerful one?”

  “Start the firelights.”

  The order seemed curt, but the Megatrath bowed to his mistress before returning into its tunnel. A spat of flames erupted in the darkness and spidered along the walls. The fire split through various oil-filled channels that spread a warm glow throughout the caverns. Vectra led Ilfedo back to the drinking water and dipped her snout in the basin. He could hear the water rush down her throat. When she withdrew from the water and looked down at him, he shook his head.

  “It is a shame you couldn’t have accompanied me on my recent journey. Your size and strength would have been a truly welcome comfort.”

  She rumbled in her throat before turning her attention to the black-stone walls. She raised a hand and extended a claw toward a painting carved into the wall. “To tread the depths of the world? Even with you and your mighty sword, I would not dare such a venture.” Her claw traced the image of a Megatrath with a frivolously long forked tongue wrapped around its body, being pulled whole into the mouth of a cream-skinned serpent-like creature. Wings the shape of oak leaves stretched along its sides, keeping it airborne.

  The Nuvitor trembled on his shoulder, and he shushed it. Not wishing to distract Vectra, he lowered his voice. “What is wrong?”

  “Master, that is strikingly similar to the lava monster.”

  Unaware of their separate discussion, Vectra growled. “Ancient legend tells of a race of terrible creatures of unparalleled might born in the heart of the world. Glorigathans, they were called, and masters of the deep places they were.”

  He gazed at the mighty creature, her gaze glued to the painting as if seeing something beyond the wall. “You believe the legend.”

  “I honestly don’t know.” She returned his gaze, sparking her claw on the floor as she turned. “But it does explain a lot of things. Like why the Megatrath cities deep underground were abandoned, and why every Megatrath that has gone down there . . . vanishes.”

  “Cities beneath the desert.” He recollected the Megatrath bones scattered in the buildings of the underground city.

  She nodded her head vigorously. “Megatrath cities. I myself have seen them, though from a safe distance. It is a perilous journey underground to where they lie, and no one knows how many of them there are, but some of us have ventured to find a couple of them. Rivers of fire run through their streets, as if the ruins are still burning from a battle, but we do not dare approach them. If the legends are true, then even the strongest Megatrath ever born proved to be no match for the creature that came from the deep. It is said that the same Glorigathan that destroyed them haunts those cities to this day, guarding the bones of its victims and the wealth of our ancestors.”

  Vectra spat fire from her mouth against the scene on the wall. Ilfedo expected it to blacken from the heat, but it did not. He looked at her, curious. “It—”

  Her eyes bright with youthful energy, she nodded. “No matter what is done to that picture, it is neither defaced nor charred. It’s as if it has been sealed against assault by magic.”

  The depiction was too high for him to reach. He wished it hadn’t been. He would have liked to get a closer look. But perhaps it was best left alone. Works of magic led him from one evil to another. He folded his arms across his chest. “The legend is true. At least, it would seem that way.”

  “What! What do you know of these things?”

  “I passed through the depths of your desert.” He closed his eyes. “Marvelous and dangerous it is, and creatures that make you seem small haunt the deep caverns. I have seen a serpent larger than anything even your legends claim. More than that, I stood on the walls of a Megatrath city and viewed the bones of your kind. Something woke when I sent the Nuvitor over the city. Something that I cannot describe, for it flew—no, it shot like a star—out of the lava. And we fled.”

  Vectra’s eyes widened as he spoke. She stared, then at last spoke in a voice gentle and low. “Lord Ilfedo, you are the envy of me and my kind. You have dared to go where we dare not—”

  He chuckled nervously. “Not by choice, my good Megatrath. I was stuck in the deep underground, seeking you.”

  “Nevertheless, I envy you.” She wagged her mighty head. “Your race surprises me, for you are small in size, but your courage carries you to greatness. Or, perhaps, you have the cunning of a serpent?” She laughed a powerful laugh and faced down a tunnel, igniting the oil in a channel along the wall with a flame from her nostril. “I will think on this matter. I will learn from you, human.” The firelights soon washed the straight tunnel with flickering orange light, and he followed her inside.

  “Tell me now, Lord of the Hemmed Land, what has brought you on such a marvelous journey to find me?”

  23

  NOT THEIR PARADISE

  The morning after the swamp Megatraths’ attack and Mazella’s death, when Caritha woke, she found Ombre gathering their packs and pinching his nose against the odor of rotting Megatrath flesh. “Whew! Let’s get out of this place as fast as possible,” he said.

  She stretched her arm and glanced back at the swamp. “Strange how such evil and such good seem to coexist in that swamp.”

  “Try not to move your arm too much, C
aritha. It may need time to fully heal.” He stuffed a shirt into a pack.

  “No, I think it is fully healed. Whatever that Megatrath did to me was very effective.”

  He grunted and forced a smile, not looking at her. “If you say so.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Wrong? Why, nothing at all. One of our number is dead, your arm is tender, and we have all new territory to explore today.” He picked a nut out of the pack and crunched it in his teeth, then turned his back and walked off.

  Oganna was several dozen yards away, rolling Mazella’s body in a white sheet.

  Caritha touched Ombre’s shoulder, and he stopped as she said, “You have seen death before, on many occasions. Why does this disturb you so much more?”

  “It does not disturb me, Caritha.” He hung his head and closed his eyes. “I just have something on my mind.” His eyes opened to gaze into hers, then he turned his back to her and strode to Oganna. “Let me carry him, my dear.”

  The three of them ascended a grassy hill and dug a grave for Mazella. They layered it with stones, covered his body with a sheet and dirt, and filled in the rest with stones. Atop the grave they heaved a smooth, round stone. Oganna held up her finger, and it glowed poker-hot. She conferred with her aunt and uncle as to what should be written on the stone. When they agreed, she wrote “We love you, Mazella.” They didn’t know him well enough to write more. They could think of nothing clearer to convey their sorrow.

  Before long, Ombre gave a pack to Oganna, then handed one to Caritha with a forced smile. They marched west with Oganna leading the way over gentle rolling hills of green.

  Caritha slowed her pace until Ombre was walking in step with her. “Something is wrong between us, and I am not going to stop asking until you tell me what is bothering you.”

  He cleared his throat, and she heard him sniffle. “It’s nothing really. Only, I was disappointed.”