The mage’s body was still engulfed in flames as the dragon lunged beyond him to pounce on the orb. The orb was intact, pulsing with the dragon’s life force. Gingerly, the dragon held it up to admire it. In so doing, it noticed Kazin, who had recovered from his mysterious pain.
“So,” said the dragon slowly, “now that I have the orb, you cannot control me. You shall die the same way as your friend!” With that, he blasted another fireball in Kazin’s direction.
Kazin casually deflected the fireball, his spell not even audible to the dragon. When the flames subsided, Kazin stood unharmed.
The dragon was taken aback. “What? How did you do that?”
“I used magic,” said Kazin quietly.
“Well, you can’t have my orb!” said the dragon, turning its claw to hide it from view.
“I don’t want it,” said Kazin. He held up his staff. “I already have one of my own.”
The dragon eyed the orb on Kazin’s staff and then looked at its own. “It’s the same!”
At those words, the ground shook vehemently as another earthquake struck. The quake lasted for a good half minute and both Kazin and the dragon waited for it to subside.
“I want that orb too,” said the dragon finally.
“You already have one,” said Kazin. “You don’t need another one.”
“I don’t care,” said the dragon. “Give me yours and you won’t get hurt.”
“I can’t do that,” said Kazin.
“You saw what I did to your friend!” said the dragon, pointing to the smoking remains of the mage.
“He wasn’t my friend,” said Kazin. “I didn’t even know him.”
“I don’t believe you,” said the dragon.
Kazin shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
The mage and dragon stared at one another for a few moments in silence.
“Well?” said the dragon.
“Well, what?”
“Give me the orb!”
“No.”
Without warning, the dragon pounced on Kazin, but the mage vanished from sight at the last second. Scrambling to its feet, the dragon looked around.
“Looking for me?” asked a voice behind him.
The dragon spun to the sound and faced a grinning, young mage.
“I’ve been practicing that spell for a few dozen years,” said Kazin, “but this is the first time I’ve ever needed it.”
“A few dozen years?” said the dragon, perplexed. “But you’re not that old.”
“You shouldn’t believe everything you see,” said Kazin. “That last spell should have taught you that. I’m actually much older than I look.”
Without warning, the dragon let loose with another blast of fire.
Again Kazin batted it aside like a harmless fly.
Enraged, the dragon lunged again but stopped short, expecting Kazin to teleport himself away like last time. But this time Kazin didn’t move. He didn’t even flinch.
“You can’t defeat me,” said Kazin. “It’s time to put your greed aside and go away. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Again the dragon lunged in Kazin’s direction, but this time Kazin cast another spell as he teleported a short distance away. At the same time he fired a lightning bolt at the dragon’s left side.
The dragon cried out as the projectile struck it and Kazin simultaneously felt a burst of pain in his own side. At the same moment, another earthquake struck just as fiercely as before.
Kazin stumbled around to observe the dragon, who was already in motion. This time the mage could only put up a shield as the dragon pounced on him. The impact of the dragon landing on the shield caused a great thunderclap and the ground heaved worse than it had ever done thus far. The heaving did not stop as both the dragon and Kazin fell to the ground in agony, both suffering from the pain of the lightning generated at their contact.
Kazin got to his feet slowly, as did the dragon. Neither could hold their balance very well. Fear was in the dragon’s eyes as it regarded Kazin intently.
Then something dawned on Kazin and his eyes widened. “Is - is your name Filbar, by any chance?”
The dragon’s eyes widened and it nearly fell down again, but instinctively opened its wings to maintain balance. Then it launched itself into the air with a shriek. “No!” it wailed. “You cannot know that my name is Filbar! It’s impossible! Leave me alone!” The dragon then flew out of sight as fast as it could fly.
Kazin shuddered in the dying light of the dragon’s flames around him. The quaking had finally stopped. It was impossible, but he had encountered the dragon he would become in the future - or his own past. That was why he had felt everything the young dragon had felt. When Filbar was in pain, so was he. Whatever happened to Filbar, happened to him. But that was not the worst of it. His contact with himself - at least his dragon half - was not something that was supposed to happen. This encounter was what he had dreaded above all else. Contact with himself at the same moment in time could very well be the catalyst that caused his history in the future to fall apart!
Kazin looked at the charred remains of the other mage nearby. Was he supposed to be here to see Filbar? Or was it a mistake on his part? Kazin grit his teeth. He should have consulted Amelia’s orb first.
The young mage shook his head sadly. What had he done? With foreboding thoughts, he transformed back into his dragon form and flew back to camp.
His companions were wide awake by now, having been roughly awoken by the earthquakes. They were anxiously awaiting his return. Amelia marched up to him once he had changed back into his human form, and was starting to demand an explanation from him about his whereabouts, but his serious, dark expression caused her tirade to fizzle out quickly. Even Sherman knew it was unwise to talk to him right then. Questions could wait.
Without a word, Kazin picked up his things and transformed back into his dragon form. He lowered his wing to the ground and the others climbed onto his back. Kazin launched himself into the air effortlessly and the trio flew off in silence.
Kazin didn’t respond to the others’ occasional query, so they left him to his thoughts and talked quietly among themselves. They wondered whether Zylor and Olag were having any luck in finding Harran. Sherman pointed out that if they had found him, they would have rejoined the rest of them by now using Kazin’s rings. In his opinion, the search was continuing on.
Amelia conceded his point and fervently hoped they would succeed soon. The longer it took them to find Harran, the less likely they were to find him. Sherman hoped so too, but knew as long as Zylor and Olag hadn’t come back yet, they hadn’t given up either.
Amelia consulted her orb on their progress, but couldn’t fathom whether they were succeeding or not. The only thing she knew for certain was that future history had not been rewritten - yet. Kazin flinched upon hearing this statement but said nothing. Amelia chose that moment to give a course correction to Kazin and the dragon complied.
“Something has been slightly altered west of here,” said Amelia, hoping Kazin was paying attention.
“We’re over a lake right now,” remarked Sherman, looking down. He hated heights and held on tighter after his downward glance.
Amelia confirmed his statement as the moon momentarily poked out between some clouds to reflect off a shiny surface below.
About ten minutes later, the air became noticeably more humid and the moon slid out of sight for the last time.
“I do believe it’s going to rain,” commented Sherman.
Amelia pulled a water resistant cloak from her pack and wrapped herself in it. “I guess we couldn’t have expected perfect weather all the time.”
“We have had good weather up until now,” agreed Sherman. He withdrew a proper cloak from his own pack. He had scarcely donned the cloak when the first raindrops could be felt stinging against his face.
“We’re almost clear of the lake,” rumbled Kazin at last.
“We’re also getting close to where the orb is drawing us,” said Amelia. “Just go north a bit. I’ll let you know when we’re at the spot.”
Kazin flew for another twenty minutes before Amelia informed him they were almost on the spot. The dragon circled around to scout out a suitable landing place and glided toward a small field. The ground was wet but not enough to be muddy. Though it was still dark, Kazin’s keen dragon eyesight ensured a safe landing.
Once on the ground, Sherman stretched while Kazin transformed into his human form and lit his staff. The bright white light was reassuring and warm in the damp rain, and Amelia was impressed by Kazin’s ability to heat the area as well as light it up. Not only that, but he had erected a shield above them to prevent them from getting any wetter than they already were.
Kazin nodded at Amelia. “Lead the way.”
Amelia consulted her orb and discovered it was a dark pink. It seemed to become darker when she pointed just south of their current location. She started in that direction and the others joined her.
Not more than fifty yards away, Sherman called a halt and pointed to a mound beside a small grove of trees. He led the way to it and kicked at the soil. “This has been fairly recently dug up. I’d say no more than a day or two ago.”
Amelia’s orb was darker now. In the darkness it was unnecessary to tell the others. The red glow was eerie to behold. “Something bad happened here,” she said.
“It’s a burial mound,” said Sherman, poking at a section of the soil. “Whoever did this didn’t care to do a neat job. It was done in a hurry.”
“I’ll wager it is the final resting place of some unfortunate people,” said Kazin. “Our quarry has killed again.”
“Yes,” said Amelia slowly. She studied her orb. “I - I see eight bodies here. They look like they were in combat with a patrol unit for the army.” She looked up at Kazin with a fearful expression. “They were all strangled!”
Kazin nodded grimly.
“Why would a patrol strangle people?” asked Sherman. “They would have been armed.”
“Not only that,” added Amelia, scratching her head, “but if these people died, our quarry would have been slain. Yet my orb says they’re still out there. I don’t get it.”
“Maybe some of them were captured,” suggested Sherman.
“Amelia,” said Kazin, “can you make out the images of the people we’re chasing?”
Amelia consulted the orb. After several minutes she shook her head. “It’s no use. The faces keep changing. In fact, I see so many faces we must be after dozens of people.”
“That’s impossible,” said Sherman. “If there were that many of them, someone would have been bound to notice and we would have little difficulty tracking them. There can’t be more than a dozen.”
“Sherman’s right,” said Kazin. “Maybe the faces you’re seeing are the ones our quarry has killed.”
“That’s possible,” admitted Amelia. “For some reason the orb can’t distinguish between them.”
“Well, keep trying,” said Kazin gently. “You’re doing much better at tracking our quarry, not to mention seeing what they’ve done. You couldn’t do that with your orb a few days ago.”
Amelia smiled wanly. “I guess you’re right. The orb can tell me a lot more if I learn to master it properly.”
“So what now?” asked Sherman.
“I think I’ll fly for another hour or two,” said Kazin. He turned to Amelia. “Where to?”
Amelia consulted her orb. Then she pointed north. “That way. There’s a sizeable army in that direction. Our quarry went in that direction.”
Kazin nodded. “Good. Once we’re close, I’ll set down and we’ll proceed on foot. There should be some fresh supplies there, and I’m getting hungry.”
“Me too,” said Sherman. “Our stash is getting rather lean anyway.”
It was nearly dawn when they were almost at the army garrison’s south entrance. The rain continued as a light drizzle and the sky was still dark. At this point Kazin cast a spell on them so they all looked like ordinary civilians. Sherman’s weapon and Kazin’s staff were magically concealed.
At the gate they were asked a few questions, but since they didn’t appear to be a threat, were let inside without a hassle. It took a while for them to find their way to the patrol master’s tent, but the timing was good. The patrol master had just finished assigning duties to the patrols and was just sitting down to have breakfast.
Kazin inquired as to which patrols had gone to the south the past couple of days and nights. At first the patrol master was suspicious and evasive, but Amelia worked her charms on him and won him over with her story of wanting to find her brother, who was said to be on one of the patrols under an assumed name to avoid being found by his family. Finally the patrol master gave them the designations of the patrols who were on duty at the requested times. He then directed them to the area where the various patrols were housed. The companions left the patrol master’s tent with six patrol designations and made their way to the appropriate area of the camp.
As they walked, they went past a hand-to-hand training area, a hospital where white robed clerics worked to heal injured soldiers, a stable containing horses as far as the eye could see, and a forge where weapons were being crafted or repaired. Beyond that they could see a cordoned off area where a number of dragons waited. They were no doubt dragons who were ridden by mages.
“That’s an impressive sight,” said Sherman. “I’ve never seen so many dragons in one place before. In fact, I’ve never seen so many dragons, period.”
“That was normal in this time period,” said Kazin.
“There’s even a white one,” said Amelia.
“An ice dragon,” said Kazin. “Those were more rare, but just as dangerous.”
Above them in the predawn light, a handful of dragons could also be seen, circling the camp slowly. Astride the dragons were mages who wore black cloaks and staves in their hands. Kazin shuddered, realizing that they could have been spotted landing near the south gate, but then realized the darkness that hid them from view worked both ways.
A few battalions of soldiers marched in unison as they were urged on by their commanders. The camp was so huge that Kazin couldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many soldiers and mages there were.
They took a small detour to a spot where cooks were preparing breakfast for the troops. On the way they stopped by a young man who sat at a table with a stack of parchment piled on one side. On the free portion of the table was a partial sketch of a dragon. Amelia paused to look at the completed sketch on the top of the pile.
“Wow!” she exclaimed. “That’s very realistic!”
The young man looked up from his work. “Thank you. I’ve been doing many sketches of dragons. They’re my favourite. Would you like to buy one?”
“No, thank you,” said Kazin. “But my companion is right. It is a very good sketch. You are very talented.”
“Thanks,” said the artist. He let Amelia browse through the stack for a few moments. Then the companions thanked the artist and continued toward the cooking area.
As they departed, the artist looked after them curiously. He sensed there was something unusual about these individuals, but couldn’t place a finger on it. Then he shrugged and returned his attention back to his sketch.
No one asked any questions when the companions lined up with a number of early risers to get a decent helping of gruel. Famished, they ate everything on their plates before going back to the tent area where the patrols were housed.
When they got there, they spotted a large board with wooden slabs indicating patrol designations loosely swinging from various parts of it. The board was marked with columns designating north, west and south. Three rows of hooks hung below the
se marks. The top row was marked with the early shift, the next row with the late shift, and the last row with the night shift.
There were twelve patrol designations, each represented by some sort of symbol.
“Great,” muttered Sherman. “We have to check half of the patrols to find out what happened a couple of nights ago. Why didn’t we just ask the patrol master and be done with it?”
Kazin shook his head. “We don’t want to raise suspicion by asking that directly. If the patrol master suspected we had something to do with it, we might have been questioned. By asking the patrols themselves, they’ll assume we were told by the patrol master.”
“I don’t like all this subterfuge,” grumbled the big warrior.
Kazin put his hand on Sherman’s shoulder. “Patience, my friend.”
“Well, we might as well get started,” said Amelia. She pointed to some tents nearby. “Those tents have the same designation as one of the ones the patrol master has marked on his list.”
“They appear to be off today,” commented Kazin, looking at the board. “Perhaps we can find some of them already awake.”
“Good,” said Sherman. “Then they can answer some questions.”
A few soldiers were milling about with plates of breakfast as the trio came up to them. Sherman took the lead asking them questions to see if they had heard of or been in a fight or skirmish south of the encampment within the last two days. No one knew of any such encounter.
“That’s one down,” said Sherman as they left those tents. “Five to go.”
“They were telling the truth,” said Amelia. “My orb didn’t show anything out of the ordinary.”
“Let’s keep trying,” said Kazin.
Three more patrols were questioned but nothing was turned up.
“Two left,” muttered Sherman.
“And one of them is out on patrol,” said Kazin. They had returned to the giant board and he looked it over. “That patrol is out in the west right now. They won’t be back until the early shift relieves them from duty.”
Spirit Blade: Book III of the Dragon Mage Trilogy Page 30