Key of Living Fire (The Sword of the Dragon)

by Appleton, Scott

  Ilfedo smiled and bowed, determined to outdo the creature’s aristocratic manner. “It is good of you to call me brave. But weak? You bring my ability to lead my people into question—I accept your challenge.”

  “My challenge?” The creature laughed deeply and held up one clawed hand, clicking his claws together. “I have nothing to gain or lose by accepting a challenge from you. Vectra, on the other hand, has much to lose.”

  Remarkably, Vectra appeared to have caught on to what Ilfedo was doing. The insult had been meant for her, but she did not offer a rebuttal. Instead, she looked to Ilfedo for his response. He could see appreciation and a light of anticipation in her eyes.

  “You misunderstand, Megatrath.” Ilfedo shook his head. “I am allied with Vectra. The challenge to her is a challenge to me as well. She has fought her battle for today. I therefore accept your challenge in her stead.”

  Cocking his head to the side in an amused sort of way, the Megatrath gave Ilfedo his attention. “Then the rumors were true. Humans joined with Resgeria. Is this true, Vectra?”

  Vectra growled affirmation, and sparks flew from her mouth. “Your challenge has been accepted—” Suddenly realizing she did not know his name, she hesitated.

  He bowed with mocked politeness and snapped his gaze to Ilfedo. “Regulus.”

  She stepped back and turned to Ilfedo, sudden recognition in her eyes. “Do not go through with this, Ilfedo. I beg you as a friend.” She kept her voice low, but there was no mistaking the fear in her eyes. “This Megatrath is legendary . . . and old. His army—”

  “Is here,” Ilfedo said.

  “What?”

  He disregarded her question and looked around the arena. Standing along its rim was a host of black Megatraths, smaller than Regulus and without horns. They had Vectra’s assemblage at a disadvantage, for they had taken the high ground. His hand dropped to his sword’s hilt. It warmed to his skin, and then it cooled to give him a better grip.

  “You have made a foolish move, Regulus. Today you force me to draw your blood.”

  “We shall see, er—what is your name?” Regulus grinned. “I like to know the names of my victims before I kill them, or before I send them into my mines.”

  His followers roared with approval.

  “Of course,” Ilfedo replied. “Who wouldn’t?”

  Regulus waited for him to continue. “So?”

  “What? Oh! My name—it’s not important.”

  Regulus narrowed his eyes momentarily, and backed to the arena’s other side. “Come, human. It is time to test your words with a little fire.”

  Inwardly, Ilfedo chuckled. A little fire!

  Ilfedo drew the flaming sword of the dragon and watched with satisfaction as Regulus’s silver eyes widened. “Your move, Regulus.”

  “No,” the creature replied. “Please, you move first.”

  Ilfedo strode forward slowly, circling to the right and appraising the black monster’s response. Regulus, his head three times higher than Ilfedo’s, kept his eyes on the sword’s flaming blade. Each of his six tree-trunk legs moved with unexpected agility to keep him facing the man.

  The mid-afternoon sunlight glinted off Ilfedo’s blade. The air cooled. The sky remained clear, its bright blue becoming a darker shade. A gentle breeze blew in from the west, not enough to stir the sand. He took a deep breath, gripped the sword’s handle with both hands, and pointed it at the creature’s head. At one with the blade, he felt rather than saw the fire shoot forth. It struck the Megatrath’s scaled hide, burning holes in his natural armor and exposing raw flesh.

  Enraged, his face contorting with pain, Regulus fell on his side and scrambled away, spitting flames from his mouth. The flames smote Ilfedo’s blade, and the blade absorbed them. Ilfedo drew nearer, his sword sizzling with energy that moved in waves over his body, empowering him beyond the bounds of a mere mortal.

  He rushed forward and jumped onto one of the creature’s legs. He thrust in the sword and willed it to send a surge of energy into the wound. Red blood sprayed against his armor and ran off of it without leaving any stains.

  But Regulus pushed Ilfedo to the ground with one foot. Yellow vapors billowed from the creature’s mouth, suffocating vapors that threatened to cut off all of Ilfedo’s oxygen.

  Ilfedo choked and weakened, yet he felt the power in the sword revive him. A tingling sensation started in his hands and spread up his arms, down his spine, and into his feet. Life renewed, he twisted the sword around and stabbed Regulus’s foot repeatedly until he felt the weight lift.

  He stood up and stumbled back, gasping for breath.

  “Not so invincible now, human?”

  Regulus spun around before Ilfedo could react, and his tail smote him across the back of his legs. As Ilfedo toppled, the creature pressed his advantage. He blew fire to keep the sword occupied and drove his left hind leg into Ilfedo as though determined to crush him into the ground.

  The armor of Living Fire held, but Ilfedo felt as if he were inside a shell that was constricting around him, robbing him of his ability to fight back. Then, to his amazement, Regulus’s wounded leg, which hung limp, healed.

  A rumbling laugh filled his ears, and another foot pressed down upon him. One sharp claw dug into his hand and pulled the sword from his grip, throwing it a dozen feet away. The armor of Living Fire blazed—then vanished.

  25

  THE DRAGON’S INSTRUCTION

  Two days after her frightful encounter with the carnivorous tree, Oganna ascended a rise in the land where grass and flowers covered the ground. The forest lay just behind her, but now a hundred feet below. Ombre and Caritha climbed behind her, their breathing more relaxed and their occasional comments cheerful. A quartet of mountains towered over either side of the rising land, the sunlight glinting off their jagged peaks.

  When she crested the rise and planted her feet on level ground, she gazed out over a lush field that stretched as far as her eye could see to a wall of mist that billowed over the land. Trees dotted the field, enough to shade but not enough to obstruct the view. Flowers of incredible variety were more numerous than the grass, and the smell filled the gentle air. Behind her Ombre and Caritha let out whoops of joy.

  Ombre ran into the field, laughing. “We have found a paradise! A veritable paradise. Not even Vortain would oppose moving to a land such as this. Just think what a magnificent city the artisans could raise from this virgin ground.”

  But both he and Oganna turned and stared at Caritha, who pointed into the distance. Her mouth was opened as if to say something, and her eyes half-closed then opened wide as she raised her hand higher and higher, angling it as if pointing to one of the clouds. “No, it cannot be. I know this place.” She shook her head. “We have come here for nothing.”

  “For nothing.” Ombre chuckled as he rolled in the grass. “Look at this place, Caritha. It is beautiful.”

  “Yes, yes it is very beautiful, but he would never permit us to settle here.” She dropped to one knee and bowed to Oganna.

  Or so Oganna thought, until a shadow fell upon her and Ombre. She turned and faced the albino dragon; only, he was more magnificent than ever before. Ombre’s jaw dropped as he struggled to his feet. “Is this, is this him?” he choked.

  The dragon’s muscles rippled beneath his white scales. Blinding light made him into a star at which they could not look directly. He rose before them, and the flowers at his feet began to radiate light. “This paradise is not for Ilfedo’s people,” Albino rumbled, and the ground shook beneath them. “You have done well, my children, in seeking this place out. Thy destiny, however, is not to live under my protection but to become beacons of hope for the dark corners of this world.”

  Ombre stood and took a step around the creature. The dragon snapped its jaws in his face, trailing particles of light in the air.

  “This paradise is not for thee. Your path lies east of the Hemmed Land, and out of that land thy people must soon go. For the Creator’s will is bending natu
re against the Hemmed Land’s borders. As thy people multiply, the land can no longer contain you.” The dragon roared and spread its wings.

  Oganna glanced away.

  “Do not think me harsh, my children. I have heaped more blessings on thee than you yet know.” His wings beat against the air, blasting their faces. “You cannot linger here.” The great dragon’s clawed hands grasped each of them and pulled them into the air. As the ground fell away beneath them, Oganna felt her eyes water. She had failed her father, and this trip had been an utter waste.

  Suddenly the land beneath and the sky above streamed in a myriad of colors and light. Faster than seemed possible, the dragon shot into the east. Almost as abruptly, the scenery reconstructed itself into a forest beneath them and the sun overhead. The dragon settled into a woodland clearing, releasing Ombre and Caritha from his claws. The pair rolled on the ground and looked about—they had been returned to the Hemmed Land. They gazed up at Oganna as the dragon pulled her another couple hundred feet into the air.

  Albino held her before his magnificent face and hovered, his wings beating a slow, powerful rhythm. She smiled at him and reached out, touching his scarred face. He closed his pink eyes for a moment, rumbling deep in his throat. “It is a great temptation for me to keep thee with me, my precious one,” he said. “But I cannot.”

  She nodded, feeling that somehow he could never hold anything but her best interest in his heart. “I think I understand.”

  “Hmm, I believe you do. But do be strong in the days ahead. Your trial will come upon thee with great suddenness.” He glanced south, and she followed his gaze to the Resgerian desert. “Thy father has not returned from his test. Pray, pray, pray for him. I fear the place to which I have sent him is full of all-consuming hatred and bloodlust. But he is strong and I have sent Specter to assist—”

  She threw up her hands and laughed to the heavens. “Then Specter survived the battle for Ar’lenon! It is all as I had hoped.”

  “It seemed appropriate for me to tell thee, for he did valiantly fight to save thee.”

  “Oh, he did,” she said.

  The dragon sighed and pulled her to his chest, whispering, “I love you, child.” The dragon descended toward the woodland meadow and set her between Ombre and Caritha. The clearing resounded with the might of his wings as he crouched and sprang into the sky, shooting into the west.

  “What should we do now?” Caritha asked as she watched him depart.

  “We wait for father to return.” Oganna touched her sword’s pommel at her side. “And we will pray that, in his travels, God’s hand will be with him.”

  26

  THE ENDLESS CORRIDOR

  What could he do? Without his armor and with the sword lying beyond his reach, Ilfedo found himself defenseless. Regulus, the extra-powerful black Megatrath, leaned over him. Gradually the creature shifted his weight onto his hind feet. Ilfedo felt his ribs break, and his vision flashed blinding white. He was being crushed alive.

  In that moment he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, and his sword shot through the air and stabbed the Megatrath’s leg. Regulus roared and pulled back with a look of horror plastered on his reptilian face. The sword paused above Ilfedo’s reddening chest, hovering with its blade pointed at him. The sword’s blade flashed red and yellow. Tongues of fire gathered from its metallic surface, swirling around and around it until it was all that could be seen.

  His body throbbed with pain, and he retched blood—just as the Living Fire exploded from the sword and slammed into his chest. His torn chest healed, the flesh coming together where it had been torn and coloring pink where it had been a raw red.

  Ilfedo shook his head, spitting some more blood from his mouth as he picked himself up. The sword flipped to present its handle, and he took it. In a moment the flames enveloped him and then returned to the sword. The pure white armor, with the fire dancing beneath and through its surface, covered his body once again. He adjusted the helmet on his head and ran his finger along its baby-soft surface.

  He let the weapon reenergize him and closed his eyes. Regulus would no doubt be staring, stunned, at this sudden shift in fortunes. Ilfedo kept his eyes closed and focused on the sword, losing himself in it and being drawn inside it. He could see Regulus as if he were watching him from inside the sword’s blade, and he moved the weapon at the creature. It left his hand, stabbing at Regulus’s head and arms, then his body.

  Blood soon drained from multiple wounds. Regulus growled. His massive hands grasped at the sword as if to try to stop it, but he missed every time.

  Coming back into his body, Ilfedo opened his eyes and took the sword in hand. Sending a swath of fire down Regulus’s forelegs, he advanced and stabbed up into his chest.

  The Megatrath turned its back to him and loped away. “We’ll meet again, human,” he said, glancing over his black shoulder. “I’ll make certain of it!”

  “You are going nowhere, Megatrath. As I understand the rules of Megatrath combat, you now owe me your life and your authority. Surrender that, and I will let you depart.”

  “I have spent a long while fighting your kind, human. I will not be subjected to one.”

  “Then, for the sake of the people of Dresdyn—”

  The creature stopped and roared. Its wounds began to heal; its muscles bulged as it turned and lumbered toward him. “How could you know that?”

  “Because they are my people, and I will soon return to bring them out of their underground world.”

  “You? You could never!”

  “Surrender to me, Regulus.” Ilfedo pointed his sword at Vectra. “Declare your loyalty to this strong and wise Megatrath. Give your might over to her. Do this, and I will hold you to only one thing more.”

  The creature growled; yellow vapor billowed from its jaws. “Yes?”

  “Leave Dresdyn alone.”

  “Ha! How little you know, apparently.” The creature roared with terrible power and sorrow. “The war began not with me but with them! It was they who took my son.”

  “Arvidane?”

  With a swift swipe of its mighty hand the black Megatrath pinned Ilfedo to the desert floor. The sword of the dragon hovered a foot over the ground, but the beast pinned it with its foot. Regulus lowered his voice to a whispered growl. “You know of him.”

  Ilfedo pictured the young Megatrath and its valiant fight against Brunster Thadius Oldwell. He laughed and began to tell of how he entered the city, of the demons that haunted it, and his discovery of Arvidane. He told of the monks who expelled the spirits from the young Megatrath’s body. He spoke of the people’s loyalty to him and of Arvidane’s valor when he attacked the possessed Bromstead and disarmed him. Then, with a tear in his eye, he told of his ring. How it had abducted him from the battle and pulled him into the dark bowels of the desert.

  When Ilfedo finished his tale, Regulus released him and took several steps back. “For some reason, human, I believe you. Oh, my son is alive! He is safe.”

  Ilfedo shook his head. “I can only hope Brunster did not recover in my absence.”

  “My allegiance will never be given to Vectra, human. But I admire your heart. Never have I met a man like you.” The black creature lumbered toward the stands and roared for all to hear. “Peace there shall now be between me and Vectra. This day an alliance I propose, and an exchanging of representatives.”

  The Megatraths of all colors shook the arena with their roars. Vectra lumbered forth and butted heads with Regulus. “Peace there shall be; an alliance begins.”

  Regulus turned to Ilfedo, his feet falling heavily upon the sand. “Call when you have need of passage to Dresdyn, and I will grant it. You are welcome in the deep places that the black Megatraths call home.” The creature lumbered up the embankment to stand with its host upon the arena’s rim. He gazed back into Ilfedo’s eyes. “I will protect your people until you return for them, human.”

  Ilfedo stood and picked up his sword. “Then tell them that I will soon re
turn.”

  The Megatrath bowed ever so slightly, and its eyes gleamed in the failing light. “Who shall I tell them will return?”

  “Ilfedo of the Hemmed Land.”

  “Fare thee well, Ilfedo of the Hemmed Land.” The black Megatrath ushered four of his assemblage onto the arena floor. The creatures soberly bowed before Vectra, who in turn summoned a pair of grays. As the gray Megatraths climbed out of the arena, they dipped their heads to Regulus. He didn’t even acknowledge them, but he did point a claw at Vectra. “The pact is sealed.” In a chorus of roars and thundering feet, the black horde raced out of sight.

  Ilfedo and Vectra climbed the arena’s sloping wall with many of her fellow Megatraths. They stared after the cloud of sand making its way south. “Ilfedo,” Vectra growled, “are there things about your journey that you have not shared with me that you wish to now?”

  With a sigh, Ilfedo sheathed his sword and faced her. “Yesterday I needed rest, and last night I received it. Today was filled with duels. But tonight I will tell you everything—and request a favor of you.”

  Vectra opened one eye wider than the other and scratched her head. Together they walked back into the arena toward the entrance to the caverns. The milling Megatraths that followed them erupted into deafening applause. Wide-eyed meglings slipped under their elders, getting close to Ilfedo. The older ones smiled at him, and a few expressed congratulations on a battle well fought.

  “Make way! Clear the way, all of you.” Vectra punched several creatures in the sides and sent meglings running. “Our guest needs to get his rest. Now—go! Before I make you.”

  With grumbles, the crowd dispersed and made its way into the tunnel. “Evening will fall soon,” Vectra said as Ilfedo watched the lengthening shadows. “We will go inside and discuss things over a large meal.”

  “I know not why a prophet would send you to the Tomb of the Ancients, Lord Ilfedo.” Vectra lumbered ahead of him down the smooth tunnel. Flames played in the channels along its descending length. The stone walls and floor had been compacted by ages of use. “There is nothing to see but the things I revealed to Oganna. Yet I can see that you will not be dissuaded.”