It was a mistake.
Fes crept away and circled around, getting behind the rear of the group, and he jabbed a dagger in the nearest man’s back before slipping away. The others continued to sweep through the field. When they came across one of the fallen men, there was a shout.
“Someone is out here,” one of the men said.
“We need to find him.”
“What if it’s more than one?”
“Back to the fire. We’re safer there.”
The men hurried back toward the fire. Fes considered attacking as they ran away, but he didn’t think that he could safely get near enough to do so.
There were still far too many men for him to handle, even if he let the anger burn through him. Drawing the men away wouldn’t work. At least, not dropping them in this manner.
Fes crawled back over the hillside until he reached Jayell. She started when he appeared and he rested a hand on her shoulder, silencing her.
“How many were you able to stop?”
“No more than four or five,” Fes said.
“That still leaves too many for us to handle.”
“We can either wait for another night and continue to attack them, or we deal with this tonight.”
Jayell looked at him. He could see the debate warring behind her eyes. She struggled with how much of her ability to reveal and how much of her fire mage talents to draw upon. She might want to be a priest, but she was something else. Fes had seen that when she exploded the fireball the last time they had attacked. Then again, there were things that he wanted to be, but it turned out that he was something else.
“What other relics do you have that you can use?”
“I shouldn’t use any artifacts. Anything I use steals from the dragons.”
“Is that what you fear? Is that what the priests tell you?”
“Anytime we use the dragon relics, we steal from the dragons,” she said again. “When the dragons return—”
“The dragons aren’t going to return. They’re gone. I’ve seen the dragon fields, and I’ve seen the bones of the dragons that remain. Whatever they were is no more. Now, I’m not sure that I agree with the way that all fire mages use their powers, but there are times when using that magic is necessary. If you intend to save that boy, this is one of those times.”
Jayell took a deep breath and reached into her pocket. When she did, she pulled out a pair of small spheres. They were dragon pearls, and not nearly as large as those he’d stolen from Elizabeth. They weren’t even as large as the two spheres that had been used to trap him. Still, the colors that flashed on their surface told him that they were active.
“I’ll use the pearls. I was to save them, use them at a specific time when it was necessary to help bring Griffin into the dragon fields, but perhaps this is that time.”
“If we don’t rescue him, he won’t make it to the dragon fields.” Fes looked at the pearls in her hand. “What can you do with those?”
“There is only so much power stored within the pearls. I will be limited, but I think I can help.”
He could see only the flash of the firelight from the campsite over the hillside. It was enough for him to know where they were, but not much more than that. “I think there might be a fire mage with them. If there is, you need to be prepared for that possibility. Do you think that you can stop these, if needed?”
She looked at him for a long moment before nodding. “I will do what I can.”
“Let me deal with the fire mage if there is one,” Fes said. That sounded ridiculous, but he was the better equipped to deal with the fire mage. Besides, there was another purpose that he had in mind for her dragon pearls. “Use the pearls against the soldiers. Create as many explosions as you can, create confusion. I will deal with the rest.”
“Who are you, Fezarn?”
Fes laughed darkly. “I’m still trying to figure that out. Are you ready?”
Jayell nodded, and they headed down the hill, moving together. Fes let Jayell take the lead, staying slightly ahead of him, and every so often, he nudged her. He could sense the reluctance within her, and he worried that she would become even more reluctant when she was needed. He needed her to be decisive. He needed her to be ready for whatever might come. He needed her to help manage the fire mage if it were to come to that.
“Now,” Fes said as they were two hundred paces from the campsite. They were still shrouded in darkness, and with the flames burning as brightly as they were, he doubted the soldiers were able to see them.
Heat built from Jayell.
Fes felt it, starting as a strange pressure against him, and then it focused on the dragon pearls. One of them began to glow softly, first with an orangish light and then taking on more of a bluish hue. Jayell cupped the pearl and then flicked her wrist, sending the dragon pearl fireball streaking toward the camp. Flames erupted, exploding. Someone screamed.
“Do it again,” Fes said.
As before, the heat began to climb before it focused on her hand. It was a strange sensation for him to be aware of how she was using the magic stored in the dragon pearl. There was something about Jayell that seemed to trigger the power within the pearl, and when the fireball built—a greenish orange this time—she flicked it at a cluster of soldiers starting toward them.
“Run toward the campsite,” Fes urged.
She started running, and power built within the dragon pearls.
Fes didn’t wait for her to create another attack. This time, he outpaced her and plunged into the campsite. He slashed with his daggers, dropping the remaining soldiers, cutting through one after another as they attempted to fight through the confusion caused by Jayell’s explosions.
With the soldiers down, Fes searched. Where was the fire mage?
And then he found him.
He stood near the center of the camp, near a brightly burning fire. A hood covered his face, and the maroon and gold robe draped around his shoulders hung still. The colors of the empire were nearly enough to stop Fes, even if he didn’t detect the energy crackling from him. Heat burst away from the mage.
A spell pressed upon him. He wasn’t certain what it was that was taking place, but he was certain that it was from the fire mage.
Fes flashed, dragging his daggers through the air, trying to part the spell.
He took a step forward. The fire mage pushed back, a haze of heat creating a barrier. Fes had faced barriers like that before but he had always managed to power through them. This time, and this one, was incredibly powerful and managed to resist him.
Jayell appeared behind him. He could smell her as much as he could feel her. Power built in her hands.
“I don’t think it will work,” Fes said through a clenched jaw, trying to sweep through the fire mage’s spell.
“Why not?”
“Whoever this is is powerful.”
Even more powerful than when he had confronted Reina, and she had been drawing strength from the entirety of the dragon fields. Could it be that he had found a fire mage even more powerful than her?
Why would there be one out here? What purpose would there be in having a fire mage that powerful—unless they were after the boy because he had certain potential.
“Go see if you can find where they kept Donathon and Griffin,” Fes said.
“What about you?”
“Leave the fire mage to me,” Fes said. He managed to sound more confident than he felt. He wasn’t certain that it was wise for him to challenge a fire mage, certainly not one as powerful as this one seemed to be, but he doubted that Jayell and her connection to the small dragon pearls would have been enough. Maybe he could distract the fire mage long enough for her to find Donathon and Griffin, and when they did, they could escape. He didn’t need to defeat the fire mage, only slow him.
That, at least, was his plan.
Fes took a step toward the fire mage, lunging into his daggers as he swiped through the spell. The fire mage stared at him.
If he didn
’t slow the fire mage, if he didn’t manage to prevent him from harming Donathon and Griffin, the boy would be hurt.
A boy so much like Benjan.
More than anything else, that triggered the anger within Fes.
He didn’t resist it. He didn’t try to slow it as the anger poured through him, filling him and spilling into the daggers. The blade sizzled, the same way they had when he had been in the dragon fields, and he slashed at the spell.
Fes staggered forward a step.
The fire mage’s posture changed. He stiffened and twisted his hands so that his palms were facing outward, facing toward Fes.
Who had the emperor sent for the boy?
Fes needed to reach the fire mage, if nothing else to force him to expend as much energy as possible, burning through all of the dragon relics that he might have with him. That would be the only way he would slow this fire mage.
What if this was a well-equipped fire mage? What if this mage had access to dozens of artifacts? What if this mage wasn’t limited in the same way that Reina had been the first time he had confronted her?
How many fire mages would be like that?
He could think of one who was, but Fes had never known Azithan to leave the city.
He allowed himself to be filled with anger and poured it out through the daggers, slashing once more at the barrier. Once again, he staggered forward, now only a few steps away from the fire mage.
This close, there was a strange smell that was familiar. “Azithan?”
The mage pulled down the hood of his cloak. As he did, the heat evaporated. “Fezarn?”
Chapter Twelve
Fes stalked around the brightly crackling fire, looking over at Azithan. He should feel remorse for what he had done to the soldiers who had come with Azithan, but he didn’t. It was hard for him to muster any remorse since he still didn’t know what had happened to Donathon and Griffin.
“It seems that you have much to tell me,” Azithan said.
“I would say the same about you.”
“You know everything you need to know about me.”
“I don’t think that’s quite accurate,” Fes said. “I’ve never known you to leave the city. What are you doing out here?”
“There was a task that I needed to complete,” Azithan said. “I came across these men under attack by the golem and managed to deter the creature. They agreed to accompany me.”
They had been Carter’s men. He should feel worse about it than he did. “And that’s it?”
Azithan’s eyes narrowed. Fes looked past him, staring out into the shadows around the campsite. Jayell had not returned, and that troubled him. Had something happened to her?
He ignored Azithan’s questioning glance and made his way away from the fire. Jayell was near the opposite side of the encampment, leaning over someone.
“Jayell?”
She looked up at him, meeting his gaze. “He’s gone.”
“Who? Griffin?”
She shook her head. “Not Griffin. Donathon.”
Fes approached and found the priest not moving. Flames scorched his cheeks, and Fes didn’t need Jayell to tell him that Donathon had been caught in one of the blasts. He could see the anguish on her face.
“It’s not your fault,” he said.
“It is my fault. I allowed myself to attack. I allowed myself to use power I had tried to avoid, and I allowed myself to kill my mentor.”
There wasn’t anything he could say that would help her feel any better, so he didn’t try. “We still need to find Griffin,” he said.
She tore her gaze away from Donathon and tried to mask the anguish in her eyes. “Did you kill the fire mage?”
“I doubt very much that Fezarn has it in him to kill me,” Azithan said, approaching. He led Griffin in front of him, one hand on the boy’s shoulder. There was something oddly protective about the gesture. For some reason, it made Fes uncomfortable.
“You let him live?” she asked.
Fes shook his head. “He’s right,” he said. “I don’t know if I could kill Azithan.”
And it was more than simply an ability. Fes wasn’t certain that he had the ability to kill Azithan, but he really wasn’t certain whether he could do that to someone who he had willingly worked with. Someone who had been almost kind to him.
“You’re with him? I thought you didn’t care for the empire?” she said.
“It’s never been about the empire with me. It’s always been about the job.” Fes let out a deep breath. “Azithan, do you care to tell me what you’re up to?”
“I am here for the same reason as you.”
Fes glared at him. Azithan had to know about Elizabeth and her plan, but why had he come? “I doubt that.”
“So you are not here for the boy? Good. I thought that I would have to deal with you.”
“You’re not taking him,” Jayell said.
Azithan turned and looked at her, a tight smile on his face. “Do you intend to stop me?” He looked around at the fallen soldiers. “I had intended to have a little more accompaniment, and I suppose that now that Fezarn is here, I might have to employ you to accompany me on the remainder of this journey, but it matters little.”
“You aren’t going to take him.” Jayell glanced down to Donathon, who lay motionless, before turning her attention back to Azithan.
Fes looked at the priest. For some reason, when he did, he had a vision of Alison’s grandfather, another priest who had been good to him. There seem to be so much that he didn’t understand about himself, and for some reason, the priests knew more about it than him.
Had Azithan known?
That seemed unlikely, but considering Azithan, Fes wasn’t entirely certain. Maybe the other man did know what Fes could do.
“A failed fire mage will not stop me.”
“I wasn’t failed. I left to join—”
Azithan spun, turning to face Jayell. “I am well aware of what you did. You left your studies to join the Priests of the Flame.” He said the last with a certain derision. “And you have betrayed the teachings that were entrusted to you. You made the mistake of traveling this way with him. Such travel draws attention.”
Jayell stared at Azithan and it seemed a debate warred within her. “The teachings that wanted to maintain the position of the emperor. Teachings that were designed to subjugate.”
“It is the power we have that allows us the freedom to help as many as we do,” Azithan said. “Which is why this one,” he said, pointing to Griffin, “must come with me.”
“There is no freedom, and there is no helping,” she said.
“If you believe that, then you can return to the Priests of the Flame.”
“He’s coming with me,” Jayell said.
Azithan smiled and shook his head. “I think not. This one needs to continue with me. There is much that I can help him understand. And much that he can help me understand.”
Jayell reached into her pocket but before she could withdraw anything, Azithan had raised his hand. Heat built around her, constricting her arms against her body. It was the same sort of spell that Elizabeth had used on him, the same type of magic that had been designed to hold him in place.
Seeing it used on someone else irritated him.
Fes withdrew one of his daggers and slashed through the spell, freeing Jayell. “Enough.”
Azithan glanced over at him and smiled darkly. “Yes, I think that you do have much that you need to share with me,” he said.
“You’re not going to hurt her, and you’re not going to hurt this boy.”
Azithan studied Fes for a moment. “And I suspect that you would tell me how you intend to be the one to prevent any harm befalling either of them?”
“I intend to make certain that he safely gets to where he was going to go.”
“And what of your other assignment?”
The way he said it told Fes that Azithan knew far more about that assignment than he had let on.
“You
. Did you arrange for it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Azithan said.
“You ensured that Carter would need to use me. You’re the reason I was brought in.”
“Your task with Carter was none of my doing, but it does suit my goals. You need to ensure that Elizabeth doesn’t succeed. And here you are, separated from her, useless in that task. It is unfortunate. I assumed that you were much more skilled than this.”
“She has a golem.”
“I’m well aware of what she has. I seem to recall being the one who told you about the golem.”
“And she’s been using it to kill the rest of Carter’s people.”
Azithan’s brow furrowed for a moment. “That would explain the bodies we have come across.” He looked around. “Then again, it seems as if you could explain those bodies just as well.”
“You can make jokes all that you want,” Fes said. “It doesn’t change what Elizabeth has done.”
“No, I suppose it does not.”
Azithan looked to the north and frowned. “It is unfortunate that you have drawn me from the city in this way,” he said.
“Unfortunate for who? You? For your attempt to continue to claim power?”
“There is no attempting. I am claiming power. There is a need for it to be wielded responsibly.”
“Why do you think that you can wield it responsibly?”
Azithan merely shook his head. “Because I understand the nature of power.”
Fes stepped toward Azithan, holding his daggers out. He positioned himself in such a way that Griffin would be able to get to his feet and get away from the fire mage. All he wanted was to limit what Azithan could do and give Jayell a chance to grab Griffin and drag him away.
The boy got up slowly. He looked from Fes to Azithan before taking a place near Azithan.
The fire mage smiled widely. “See? Do you believe I have harmed others? Look at how they search me out. They recognize that there is much that I teach.”
“He’s not a fire mage,” Fes said.
Azithan smiled. “No. He is not a fire mage. He is something more, though he doesn’t know it yet.”
“Then what is he?”
Dragon Blessed Page 12