“You can’t paint all nobles with the same brush. Just like we can’t say that all you mages are odd bearded and perverted magic wielding loons too dangerous to be allowed to stay in the city. But if the pointy hat fits.” Darcy exclaimed unlike himself. He had been quiet and withdrawn but this place had started to change him to. He had wanted to start his life a fresh but he didn’t plan for it to be one worse than the shell he had before. As empty as his life had been in the shadow of his father at least it wasn’t full of such tortures. Demons, ash, death and what seemed like an endless search for a heart that Darcy was rapidly starting to think was a myth. “I wish I had stayed in Neeskmouth. I should have run away and joined the White Flags rather than travel to the Tower. I could have been out at sea and miles away from you and your demon.” Darcy said wiping his face to no avail as the ash only smeared and more was blown against it as his hand moved away. His eyes were bloodshot and burned continuously. Darcy feared he would end up blind because of the dust clouds that swirled around constantly. Darcy should have been almost back home by now. His mind raced between thoughts of Granny worrying that he should have been there and uncertainties that something would have happened to his father and Briers Hill. There last goodbye had not been great but somehow Darcy new that was all he would get. It was probably this place making him depressive but he could not see any happy ending. It weighed heavily on Darcy that his new life would be this. The dullness of his surroundings and the sense of just having to survive that poured over him seemed to attach more levity to it all. He feared he would never see his noble home again and he almost longed for the hours of loneliness spent wandering the halls. He was not blind to the irony. He had heard the expression that the grass wasn’t green on the other side but he hadn’t expected the grass to be buried under four foot of ash.
“ Stop moaning. Do you think I like being here? I’d rather be back at the Tower. I don’t like this any more than you and I certainly don’t like having this Rinwid thing in me?” Calvin said. He could feel the anger growing in him. With a flick of his wrist he could engulf Darcy in a ball of flame, who would notice just one more corpse in that dead place. Calvin battled the feelings knowing it was the demon Rinwid’s influence but it would be a lie to say he was not tempted. It would have doubled his food ration for a start. The demon seemed overjoyed and eager to unleash the magic that was building inside Calvin. The longer the journey took the more hate Calvin felt inside him. Calvin would hold on for as long as he could but he had begun to understand just why people feared demons and why the practice of warrior mages had been one that was lost to history. The demon was slowly taking over him and when he finally lost all control to it. The horrors the demon longed for would be a reality all of Neeska would have to face. The pair continued onwards struggling forwards in silence through the dark. It would have been a sad sight indeed for anyone who could have seen them from start to finish. They had left the tower with brightness in their souls but now were little more than two flickering flames that bickered against each other like children. It was the Scorched Lands that drove the two to argue so much. It held something over life and twisted it. It was as if the darkness there could actually infect the soul.
Darcy wished the kings’ caravan had made it further into the Scorched Lands than it had. It was a rackety old wagon but it would have at least been something sheltered to sleep in. The last of the surviving hovels were miles behind and all that they could find to offer shelter now was huge bleached Dragon skulls or the ruins of catapults. The guards had stayed with the caravan trying to pull it out of the ash when it had ground to a halt and returned the way they came. The over powering dullness of the Scorched Lands might have been easier to bear with more people but they had not the supplies or time to wait to see if the guards changed their minds so Darcy and Calvin had pressed on alone. The struggle towards to distant mountains had been a little easier since the morning of the fourteenth dawned. The thickest of ash now lay behind Darcy and Calvin as the earth below became rock which climbed up out of the ash. Their journey had taken them clear across the ashen lands to the feet of the mountains. They still had a long climb ahead of them but the shifting clouds fell below and to their backs. The air was almost pleasant, apart from the always present stench. With his feet clinging onto a slightly elevated mound of sharp rock, Calvin could make out the Mages Tower on the horizon. It was a reminder of home and just how far they had come. With air in their lungs for the first time in almost a week and a clear vision of the mountains Darcy and Calvin took the time to rest. They could have made use of the time to travel faster but other than sleeping they had done little in the way of resting for days and they were not sure if they were going the correct way, so why rush when you’re lost anyway was the general consensus.
“ Calvin, can I talk to you about something?” Darcy said as he sat and pulled his boots from his feet. The smell that met his nose reminded him how long it had been since he had bathed. His feet were blistered and his skin seemed like it was off-colored and looked like it was peeling. It hurt like hell to push the boots back on but Darcy feared if he didn’t do it straight away he would never get them over the swelling. “Creator, I’d give up the family home for a comfy bed and a warm bath.” Darcy continued as he watched Calvin slide down from the rock he had been climbing on. When he realized the old man either did not hear him or was more likely ignoring him Darcy called out again. “Calvin.”
“ It’s been the first time in days we can see the sun and you want to ruin it by talking.” Calvin said as he dropped back onto the floor with a thud. The truth was Calvin felt sick out of the ash. He did not wanted to sit back and enjoy the sun as it burnt his eyes much like the curtains in his room had when he had awoken. The only reason he said he did was to feel more human. He knew in his heart that he should feel relieved to be free of the death they had been wading through, but he didn’t. The demon was becoming more a part of Calvin as each moment passed and things that would have once been a blessing had became a curse. It seemed that Calvin would get no respite at all.
“ Well it’s been on my mind for some time now.” Darcy said ignoring the old man’s complaints. “You told me that the Arch Mage put a demon in you right so that it could locate the Dragon heart.” Darcy said as he sat on his haunches pulling apart some unknown meat that had been dried to within an inch of its life and hidden in away in a dust filled bag for a week. It had the flavor of an ashtray and Darcy wondered what was worse, hunger or the feeling of the ashen meat sliding down his gullet like a dog-end.
“ We’ve been over this. I am trying to find it.” Calvin said looking off into the distance longingly. “The images aren’t as straight forward as a map. I’m seeing everywhere the heart has been. We’re not the first that have tried to get it out of here. It might not even still actually be here.” Calvin said at his wits end. It seemed like every time Darcy opened his mouth since Calvin had taken the time to explain Rinwid’s existence that was all he spoke about. Calvin wondered if it was really as annoying as he felt it was or if Rinwid was making it more of an issue than it was.
“No I understand that. Sorry for the last few days. It’s this place getting to me. It’s not that.” Darcy said with a shrug. The idea of Calvin being possessed did unnerve the hell out of him but that was not what was on his mind. “I remember you mentioning about the blight when we were still in the tower. You’ve had a vision haven’t you, are the Dragons coming back?” Darcy asked. He had almost forgotten the mages had mentioned it until they had been sleeping inside the mouth of one of the larger Dragon skulls they had found. Darcy originally thought about returning home a Dragon killer once they had the heart, but after being able to curl up inside the head of one that thought soon vanished. He’d read books on Dragons and was fascinated by them as a child as most children were but the sheer size of them had never come across from the worn pages of the history books.
“No they’re not coming back because they never truly went.” Calvin said hi
s brow wrinkled and he started off into the sky. Calvin felt his mind swirl like a soup being stirred. The demon flashed images of the battle past Calvin’s inner eye. He could feel the heat of the flame. He watched as the people ran screaming. He could see the Dragons sawing high above and the catapults firing at them. He could feel the spells coming from mage and druid alike. Calvin could feel the rumble of the ground as Dragons crashed into the earth crushing men below them. But that was not all he could see. Calvin could see those ancient times but he could see the time that came after. The period between the end of the blight and the moment he was in. Young Dragons had crawled around and taken flight. There had been only a handful of them. But then something else came. It had the heart. It went towards the mountain. So they were heading the right way. Well possibly. It was like looking at moving paintings layered over the top of each other. It was nigh in impossible to be sure what you were seeing happened when. The heart might be moved in the future or it may have happened in the past. It was the reason it had taken so long to traverse the Scorched Lands. Calvin had been following these pictures, but the Dragon had been in the battle and he could see it flying around fighting a century before. The source of the power was always moving, it was strange and made it almost impossible to follow directly. Imagine if you can, someone trying to find you if they could see every place you had ever been or would go.
“ What do you mean? They have to have gone or Neeskmouth would still be enslaved?” Darcy said gruffly. Darcy was getting sick of being confused. King Harvey had misdirected him. His father had misinformed him and now the historians had got it wrong to, is that what Calvin was saying. Two weeks ago Darcy was a lonely noble stressed with what taxes to pay and what ships to send out and now he was knee deep in crap and getting more confused by the day. There was only so much a person can take before they say enough is enough and for Darcy that had been the moment the caravan had ground to a halt. Everything afterwards had just been gravy.
“I suppose you’re right, but I see them, babies, travelling towards the mountains. Oh there is a heart and the biggest of the Dragons did fall along with hundreds of others. Still a small loss compared to the hundreds thousands of humans that died.” Calvin said pulling himself from the vision. The real world slowly melted into view. The clear green grass and bloodied bodies vanished into ash and brimstone.
“ You know something more don’t you. Please tell me. I know I’m not a mage and your Arch Mage swore you to secrecy but please. We’re probably going to die here anyway. Don’t let me die for nothing.” Darcy begged just wanting to relieve his mind.
“ We aren’t going to die. We can’t, this is too important to just sit down and stop. Dragons have hordes, gold, loot, treasure but that’s not normally all of it. They normally have corpses, livestock and eggs. The Dragons’ children would have been kept safe in the mountains. The visions we’ve had show these Dragons coming back and trying to reclaim their throne over the humans.” Calvin said. He felt Rinwid try to replay the images past his eyes once more but he forced them shut. He would not go through it again. What he was seeing couldn’t be right.
“ You mean the Dragons didn’t all die, they retreated to the mountains? The same mountains we’re heading towards?” Darcy asked the realization hitting him like a millennium of slavery. He dropped the stale meat back into his pouch suddenly losing his appetite.
“ Yes. I didn’t have a clue where the heart was until we started getting close yesterday but since then the visions have been getting stronger. I almost feel like I am at the battle. I can see the Dragons darting above us in the sky. I can hear the battle criers. I can feel the pull of the hearts memories close and there is something else, something powerful. Darcy, can we talk about Rinwid?” Calvin asked pulling himself back from the premonition once more.
“ Of course, what’s on your mind?” Darcy had been alone for so long with Granny as his only real company. He was not good at hearts to hearts but even he could feel this one needed to come out.
“He’s strong even by demon standards. I didn’t realize it at the time but he summoned me to him when I was in the spirit realm. I don’t think he is the one the Arch Mage meant for me to meet.” Calvin said. As the bond with Rinwid had grown things the demon had kept hidden to start with opened up like the sky after a storm. “I don’t think I can control him for much longer. I’m losing myself. I need to know that if he takes over you’ll finish me. I don’t want to become an abomination.” Calvin said and Rinwid disapproved. The headache that washed over Calvin brought him clean to his knees. His hands shot up to his head and he buried his fingers into his grey hair pressing hard against his skull.
‘So you plan to go back on out deal do you?’ Rinwid said to a concussed Calvin. His body lay face down in the ash, his heavy frame barely moving through labored breaths. Darcy by his side tried hard to turn Calvin over but it was as if Calvin was under a huge weight. The invisible force was not what disturbed Darcy the most, no that honor was given to Calvin’s skin that seemed to alter like it was filled with worms. Darcy could see something moving beneath the skin. It looked like tendrils surging through Calvin’s veins. The demons voice echoed out from somewhere inside Calvin as if projected from a being inside him. The voice was not Calvin’s, it had hints of Calvin’s accent to it but they seemed deeper, and yet high pitched at the same time. It gave Darcy the impression he was listening through water at the bottom of a very long well.
“ Our deal was you would leave once we destroyed the heart.” Calvin’s body said in the real world and Darcy could hear the difference between the two beings arguing from inside the same frame. In Calvin’s mind he was back in the fiery cavern the demon called home. He could feel nothing but the demons presence. The real world seemed like a distant memory and Calvin wondered if he had ever actually been in his body, had he been a prisoner in the spirit realm since he was first placed there.
‘ And I would have. I am good to my word. Most demons are. It’s you humans that break yours and blame us when we punish you for it. You will not destroy the heart, so I will not leave. Your little friend Darcy plans to take it back and you know others are coming for it.’ Rinwid said. Calvin’s body twitched as he tried to fight himself free and Darcy watched as his skin pulsated like it was being pushed free from the bones and sinew inside. ‘They think to use something of powers beyond them to save this world but that is foolish. They will fail as you will old man. So once the Dragons deal with you humans and tare Neeskmouth from the world. The last spell will be open. The dark one will make his move and it will be as I promised you, no longer the time of Dragons. The demons will rise.’ Rinwid said exposing his true purpose for merging with Calvin. “See old man, I have kept my promise, just not how you figured it.” Neither Calvin nor Darcy realized the significance of what they had heard. It was the same whispers of a coming darkness that had rippled through history since before the fall of the Earth Mother. It was a story the Brilanka monks knew all too well but that is a story for another time.
“ You’re wrong demon. We will stop the blight. I will die before I let you into this world.” Calvin’s body called out and in the real world he shook like a fish in the death throws. Darcy pressed down hard trying to hold his friend still but he was tossed aside like a rag doll. He crashed down on his back only being saved from broken bones by the soft ash that still lay with a thin layer over the sharp rocks below.
‘ You know you can’t kill yourself. You’ve tried that several times in your pathetic little life haven’t you? So lonely, can’t take it, little orphan boy. No one wanted you, boo-ho.’ Rinwid taunted. “I don’t think our little posh pants would actually be capable of killing either do you? So there is no point asking him again. So unless you have something else up your sleeve it will not be too much longer before the link to the spirit realm is weak enough for me to come through.’ Rinwid said before receding back to his realm. Calvin’s eyes opened and he rolled onto his back gasping for air. The prison of the spiri
t realm faded but he could still feel its presence as he stared up into a warm and clear sky.
“ Are you ok?” Darcy said after he got to his feet with some difficulty. The ash had broken his fall but that did not mean it had not hurt. Once the pain subsided he moved over and helped pull Calvin to a sitting position. “I heard everything. So there is going to be Dragon blight again. We have to stop it and what the hell is all that talk of demons coming through?” The small spark that even Darcy thought had been extinguished inside himself to be a hero suddenly found a new source of kindling. Even in this nightmarish place he could not ignore the call to face the blight. He was scared to death of Dragons but he could not see the whole world fall under the beasts rule again and whatever was happening to Calvin was far worse than anything that he might face.
Dragons Blight (Valadfar Book 1) Page 15