The Dragonswarm

by Aaron Pogue

  Still he smiled, though he did not open his eyes. "What have you been up to?" he asked. "Your colors are all strange."

  New bonds caught my arms beneath the shoulders. I opened my mouth to shout for Caleb, but solid air crowded in, thick and smothering like sand. I shook my head, trying senselessly to get free, but a new cord curled around my throat and constricted.

  Red flooded my vision, and my pulse rang like a gong inside my skull. I tried to raise a hand, to tear at the cords on my throat, but my arms would not respond. I tried to kick, to scream, but he had me completely bound. And all the while, my instincts screamed at me to reach for power.

  At last, in utter desperation, I relented. My eyes fell closed, and the darkness pulsed with the staccato flashes of suffocation. I stilled my mind as best I could and opened my eyes to the wizard's sight.

  I saw Lareth there before me, his lifeblood feeble but his willpower shining like a beacon. I saw the shape of his working on my mind, as well, a complex net stretched over me, knotted and cold and blue as gemstones, and I remembered the deadly pain that it could cause.

  But there was more to me than there had been before. I was a churning blaze of energies, red and white and midnight black. I caught one glimpse of my own mingled, blinding power, and then the frail net of Lareth's mindtrap began to close around my will.

  I felt the knife-edged pain for half a heartbeat, and watched in my second sight as the well of power within me flared up brighter still, and burnt the wizard's cruel working in its fire. The spell cracked, then splintered, then shattered into motes and disappeared. His mindtrap could not have lasted longer than a moment, then the pain was gone.

  And he was screaming. He curled into a ball upon the ground, bony fingers scrabbling at his black-scarred face, and he keened like a wounded hare. His bonds were still upon me, but with the wizard's sight I could trace the shape of them plain as day. It was living air and nothing more. I rolled my neck and flexed my will, and his crushing noose unraveled. I spread the fingers of my hand and called the energy of his bonds into my palm. The little threads wavered for an instant, bound in service to his will, but mine was greater. I huffed one irritated breath, and the air flowed into my hand and set me free.

  Still he screamed, all unaware of me. Perhaps he'd tried to fight my force of will, as wizards sometimes did. Or perhaps this was a peculiarity of the strange spell he'd worked against me. I couldn't say, but he was caught within the costs of all his pride. I raised my Chaos blade toward him, thinking to silence the aggravating shrieks, but then decided better. Too many men had died today.

  Instead I bound his hands and feet with ropes of air and forced a gag into his mouth, though he went on and on and on all unaware. I shook my head and reached out to the patient earth and unfolded it beneath him so he sank through dirt and grass like water. A grave swallowed him whole, and I sent along enough air to last him for a day, then closed the world above him. For some time I stood there, breathing slow and steady, remembering humanity. It was no easy thing.

  Some small sound caught my attention and I turned. They were there, my army, their neat formations broken now. The wizard's screaming must have called them, and they had seen what I had done. I hadn't meant it for a public show, but it would serve. I ran one long, slow gaze out over all of them, then turned my back and trudged on up the hill.

  Behind me, Caleb barked an order, fierce in his frustration, and a few hundred men all moved at once to do as they were told. I left them to their orders and went to rest beneath the oak.

  "Daven." Caleb's voice, pitched low and urgent. "Daven. Rouse your sleeping ass. My lord."

  I cracked one eye, scowling up at him, and fought a yawn. Then I noticed the darkness behind him, nearly absolute, and I jerked upright.

  "You let me sleep all day?"

  He cocked his head, curious, then looked away. "I let you sleep for two. And it was a mistake."

  "Caleb!" I lunged to my feet and then had to catch myself against Caleb's arm as something shot out from under my foot. I frowned at the darkness for a moment, then slowed down long enough to really notice my surroundings.

  "You brought me to a tent?"

  "The men were growing worried," Caleb said. "Rumors were taking root. I brought you here myself."

  I conjured living fire to light the tent's interior. It was nearly three paces high at its peak and five paces to the wide tent flaps. The space between held a finely-carved desk and several comfortable chairs, a heavy bound chest and a tall standing mirror chased in silver. A rack against one wall supported a dozen bottles of wine, and the bed I'd been stretched upon was made up with thick fur blankets. I saw the pillow that had slipped from under my foot, its fabric fine black silk, and the tent itself was made of the same.

  A low growl rose in the back of my throat. "You brought me to Lareth's tent?"

  "To their leader's tent," Caleb said, his voice sharp. "And that is what we must discuss."

  "Lareth?" I asked, and then memory stole over me. I felt the blood drain from my face. "What's he done?"

  "Done? He's buried in the earth," Caleb said. "I suspect he's scraped his hands to bone is what he's done, but I need you to bring him out."

  "He's not escaped?"

  "Not that I can tell," he said. "You'd better hope he's not."

  I frowned at Caleb. "Why?"

  "You need him. Now."

  I shook my head. "I have no use for that man. I should have killed him clean."

  Still, I closed my eyes and looked through my wizard's sight. It took me several beats to find my bearings, nearly two hundred paces beneath a different hill than the one I'd gone to sleep on. But I found the spreading oak and found the spot beneath it where the wizard waited.

  He was still alive. I could see the glow of his life, the brighter sheen of his active will. I frowned, wondering how he had survived, but then I looked closer and it came clear. He had not escaped. Not with me still up here. Not after I had so easily overpowered him. But he was still a wizard. He had undone his bonds, and he had worked the earth above him to provide a narrow chimney, a passage narrow enough that it would be easy to overlook, but enough to give him air to breathe.

  "He could have gone," I said, more to myself than to Caleb. "He knows the trick of traveling. I've seen it. But he bides."

  "Good." Caleb planted a hand between my shoulder blades and propelled me toward the tent flaps. "Go and dig him up."

  I dug in my heels and met the soldier's eyes. "Why?"

  "He'll make a powerful ally."

  "He's tried to kill me three times now," I said. "He has tortured me more than once. He takes the blame for this rebellion—"

  "Which means he made this army," Caleb said. "Your army. They respect him. Make him yours, and—"

  "He is my enemy," I said. "Almost as much as the dragons."

  "Almost as much as the king?" Caleb asked.

  I frowned. "What? No. I have no quarrel with the king." As soon as I said it, I blinked. And then I shrugged. "Very well. But he considers me a criminal, not an enemy of state."

  "That was before you left Teelevon," Caleb said.

  I frowned up at him. "How did you know about that?"

  "The rebels had a prisoner before we arrived. I only learned of it this afternoon, and I have been to speak with him."

  "A prisoner?"

  He nodded, grim. "A scout from the King's Guard. They've been looking for Lareth's army."

  I frowned. "They have? But you said the king had not been willing to hunt the rebels."

  "He had not." The words fell down like stones. After a moment he spat. "He had decided the rebels didn't matter. He had left the problem to resolve itself. And then he made a trip to Teelevon in search of a man named Daven."

  It felt a lifetime ago. I remembered Othin stalking down the halls of the Eliade house. I remembered dropping from Isabelle's window. I remembered running away from one monster and straight into the clutches of another.

  "I only just esc
aped," I said.

  Caleb nodded. "You did. And then rumors began to spread that the rebel army had a new leader. A wizard. Everyone had heard that Lareth was dead—"

  "By my hand," I said. "But...not. It took him those months to recover."

  "And when Lareth returned, the king believed it was you," Caleb said. "You escaped him, then went to make yourself an army. He has gathered back the force he'd sent against Brant to track you down."

  "No. No. He was wrong."

  "Yet here you are," Caleb said.

  "But I didn't build this army!"

  "Did you try to assassinate the king in Tirah? I don't believe it, but that's why he came hunting you in Teelevon."

  "Well, no, but—"

  Caleb nodded, slow and serious. "I know this Timmon well. If he has set his heart against you...if he finds you among these men...."

  "Then we must move."

  Caleb shook his head. "That is not enough. You need the wizard."

  "Why?"

  He narrowed his eyes. After a moment he said hesitantly, "You have two options there."

  "What?"

  "Get his help. If Lareth swears an oath to you, it will bind these men far more than anything else you've done. Without that, we'll need weeks before they're useful, and much longer before I can trust even a handful of them."

  I shook my head. "But you would have me trust Lareth?"

  "Never. I would have you conquer him."

  "Even if I knew a way, that isn't reason enough," I began, but he raised a hand.

  "It isn't all the reason," he said. "The king's forces are already assembled. They will move against us soon, and they have the numbers to cast a wide net."

  "And?"

  "Your wizard can outrun them."

  I opened my mouth to ask the obvious question, but stopped myself long enough to consider it. I thought for a moment, then asked, "How fast can we move three hundred men?"

  He nodded slowly. "These men? Ten miles in a day. Give me a few weeks with them and we'll triple that, but give me the wizard—"

  "And we can step to the other side of the continent." I had seen his travelings firsthand. I still hated the very thought of it, though. "What is my other choice? Just let them go? You and I alone could travel much faster."

  Caleb shook his head. "No. That will not stop the king. He will still hunt you."

  I nodded. The truth of it tasted bitter in my mouth. "He will obliterate all the little bands of Lareth's army and have his hounds inspect every last corpse until he's certain I am dead."

  "He'll find you. Wherever you go. And then you'll have only me to fight his thousands. I cannot kill them all."

  He said the words as level as everything else, but they hit me like the shock of cold water. I searched his eyes for some sign of mocking, but there was none. As he had told me more than once, he was my man.

  "So what," I asked at last, "is my other option?"

  "Give them back to Lareth. Then we run."

  "No," I said. There was no room for discussion in my tone, but Caleb spread his hands.

  "It is your only other option," he said. "Give the wizard back his rebels and let the king's army find him behind the organization. Perhaps even Timmon will see the truth if it shows up in moth-eaten wizards' robes."

  "No," I said again, but more slowly this time. "I cannot turn him loose. Look at what he's wrought. Even with the king on his scent—"

  "In that case," Caleb began, and I silenced him with a dark glare.

  "I understand," I said. "But how would we even begin? How could I tame a man who has tried so often to murder me?"

  "I think," Caleb said slowly, "I think perhaps you already have." I barked a laugh, but Caleb pressed on. "There is no trace of good in him, but his wickedness is at least consistent."

  "Consistent?" I said. "He's a madman."

  "Some would say the same of you."

  I started to shout, "He's a monster!" but the words died on my lips. I could already hear Caleb's answer.

  My general nodded. "Lareth is a man who chases power. For all his wild ferocity, he served Duke Brant faithfully until we caught the man."

  "Yes, but he never tried to kill the duke," I said. I remembered the length of the Chaos blade pinning the wizard to the earth outside Teelevon, and I shuddered. "And I'm sure the duke never tried to kill him."

  "You are wrong on both counts," Caleb said. "That is precisely how Lareth came to join the rebels' cause."

  I stared. Eyes wide, mouth open, I tried to comprehend the mind behind the wizard's actions. "He would truly follow me?"

  "He is patient, he is careful, and he is clever. All of these make better reasons for him to follow you than to fight you."

  "But he lashed out at me—"

  "Before he knew. And you can rest assured he threw everything he had at you. That is not a man to hold anything in reserve. He has already done his best, and you buried him beneath the earth."

  I had done more than that. I remembered how easily I had shrugged off his mindtrap. I remembered the flare of mingled powers, blindingly bright to my wizard's sight, and the ease with which I'd shattered his workings. If his mind truly worked the way Caleb suggested—

  "And there's more," Caleb said. "He will have as much reason to fear the king's response as you do. There are worse than just Guardsmen coming for us."

  "A Green Eagle, I'm sure," I said. "It's Othin, yes?"

  "Yes," he said, "but I meant the wizards."

  "Which wizards?"

  "Masters of the Academy," Caleb said. "It is said they came to Tirah to prepare defenses against the dragonswarm, but when they heard the king meant to hunt you down, one among the Masters volunteered—"

  "For me? For me in particular?"

  Caleb shrugged one shoulder. "We don't have to share that part with Lareth."

  But I shook my head, slow horror dawning. "No," I said. "No, Lareth must not be told that part."

  He frowned, at last sensing my mood. "Why?"

  "It has to be Seriphenes."

  His frown deepened. "Yes, how—"

  "Seriphenes and Lareth are in league," I said. I swallowed hard. "Or they were. A year ago." I caught a deep breath, thinking frantically, and then I let it go in a great sigh. "Very well. You're right. We cannot release him. I have no other choice."

  "Good," Caleb said. He nodded once, sharply, then crossed the tent and lifted the outer flap to hold for me. "We should do it quickly."

  I sighed again, then went past him out into the night.

  The moon and stars were bright tonight, and despite the hour they showed me a camp full of activity. I saw a formation down in the wide valley training with shortbows, and another nearer by apparently packing and sorting the fine steel armor I'd seen before. Every man that I could see was dressed in leather or linen now, lighter clothes for faster travel. I nodded understanding, and in that light I realized even the men gathered around campfires or kneeling next to tents were not at rest. They were breaking camp.

  "This afternoon, you said?"

  Caleb raised his eyebrows in question. "Hmm?"

  "You learned of the prisoner this afternoon?"

  He nodded.

  "And you immediately gave the order to break camp?"

  He shook his head. "No. First I had to leave him time to escape and slip away. That took longer than expected."

  We walked two paces in silence. At last I said, "I am glad you're on my side, Caleb." He didn't answer. We moved down into a camp full and bustling as hundreds of men worked to break down and store as many tents. Off to the west a string of mules was being loaded with equipment. Some of the men nearest noticed when we passed close and saluted. Caleb nodded back, and they returned to work.

  I stifled the question as long as I could, but the farther we walked, the more it demanded asking. At last I said, "Just...how many men are there in the camp?"

  "Three hundred and thirty-five swore oath to you yesterday at dawn, and at least two dozen who had fl
ed before the fire have come back out of curiosity or fear while you were sleeping. I took all of their pledges in your name."

  "And none have fled in the daylight?"

  "No. As I said, they're still coming in. These kind of men seek powerful leaders. Lareth is not alone in that."

  "But I am not that kind of leader," I said.

  "You are the kind with power," he said. "That is all they really need."

  "And they will serve me? You said I will be able to trust them in time."

  "In time, yes. As long as you continue to show them your power."

  "Very well," I said. I stopped at a spot of empty ground on the hillside beneath the spreading oak. "Call them, then."

  He turned his back and bellowed, "Officers!" so loud it left my ears ringing. All the quiet little sounds of serious industry fell still behind me, and Caleb shouted one more word. "Assemble!"

  The officers passed on the order, because I heard more distant shouts throughout the camp, and soon the sound of footsteps on the trampled grass. I put them from my mind and turned my attention to the task at hand.

  I stretched my hands out before me in a gesture more dramatic than necessary while I gathered and shaped the powers of earth. I reached down through the soil to the wizard's quiet, patient glow, and with delicate care I fashioned a shard of earth as strong as steel and sharp as glass. For one long moment I let it hang in the air before his eyes, then I settled it with a careful precision down until it rested on his collarbone, its pointed tip just pricking at his throat.

  Behind me, my army assembled in its ranks, and while they found their places I repeated the same careful process again. Another Chaos shard appeared before his eyes, then sank to rest beside the first. I made a dozen of them, each perhaps the size of a silver coin, and strung them in a necklace 'round his throat.

  When that was done, I caught my breath and pulled my hands apart, and the earth rumbled as grass and stone and dirt split along a line, folding back with a roar. Then I raised a hand and a pillar of stone stabbed up within the fissure, lifting Lareth out of his grave until he knelt upon the platform one short step above the ground, his battered head still well below my own.