by Jim Galford
On’esquin seemed to ignore Raeln and instead eyed the sword he held. Flipping it several times and then pointing it out at the undead, he tapped the weapon’s tip against the battlements, making the metal ring. Almost immediately, the entire length of the blade sparked and began crackling with what looked like lightning, arcing as it raced from the hilt to the tip and back. When the blade came near the battlement stones, the lightning danced and scorched the smooth rock.
“I can probably manage,” answered On’esquin, smiling wickedly at the weapon. “The journey seems to have left me in better shape than when I left. Lead the way, Raeln, and I will follow.”
Chapter Ten
“Just A Piece of Wood”
To the few I leave these last words to, I impart to you the few things that must be done once I am gone, whether that is today or a hundred years from now. Until that day, these letters will remain hidden. I know as well as any of my healers that my life’s path faces a very real ending in the next few days if she does not return, but I have always put my utmost faith in my allies and friends, and I will not stop hoping, even on my deathbed.
Those who waged war from within our family are never to be spoken of again. Already, I have dispatched my most trusted friends to either capture or destroy them. Do not seek them out, and if another should rise that wishes to follow in their footsteps, instead, find those I once kept at my side and they will exact punishment as appropriate.
To my wife, I give the entirety of the empire I built or what is left of it when those who rebel are finished. If she can hold it together, it is hers. My trust will always be with her, no matter what whispers may come. The staff I now clutch to my breast is hers and will pass to whoever she most trusts upon the day of her death.
To my brother, I give the deserts, as he has always preferred the solitude that came with them. These have long been considered beyond the reach of my empire, even if they were where we began our journey. He has often spoken of missing the warmer parts of Eldvar, so to him I leave the part that no longer considers itself part of the lands I have built.
To the one we called Nenophar, I leave the words already spoken to him and nothing else. He, more than anyone else, knows what must be done. He has called these words “prophecy,” but I believe them to be little more than advice if things go badly. I am afraid most of what must be known is not for him.
Lastly, to On’esquin, I leave pain and misery if he is not found before my last breath. May the land and my people curse him and his to the ends of the world. By conspiring with our enemies, he has betrayed my trust. May he face up to what he has done and be forced to watch the final rites of all the men, women, and children of all races that have died as a result of what he has done, both for himself and whoever he serves. Some whisper that he is no better or worse than my wife, as both left me as I approached death, but On’esquin’s betrayal had been confirmed by my brother. My wife’s has yet to be proven.
To the end of time, all record of what On’esquin and his master have done will be stricken from history. Though I may never know who the master was, when my people find out—and I have no doubts they will—both will be driven out of the embrace of the races of man. They will have no solace anywhere in this world. They sought eternity for themselves and will be given that, but without any comfort for all of those years. Let them walk this world alone and empty, knowing what they have done for all time and watching all they sought and coveted crumble to dust around them.
If any are found to have worked with them, let them be buried in the desert for eternity and watched over by the damned. This, I command.
- Last words believed to have been dictated by Turess, now considered heretical. All known copies of this text have been burned and any who have read them have been put to the sword
The dragons rushed the keep as Ilarra brushed aside flame and lightning alike, keeping herself in motion to avoid being caught off-balance by Therec’s attacks. She could not find the time to fight back. She was forced to use all of her magical strength to create one barrier after another as Therec—or rather, Dorralt—continued to rain attacks down on her.
Already, the top of the keep looked to have endured a war, its stones blackened and broken. The damage done by Therec’s attacks had torn the keep’s top floor apart as surely as catapults would have, making Ilarra’s footing unsure as she reeled and stumbled under the staggering impacts of each spell.
Ilarra wanted dearly to fight, but she knew Therec’s master was far quicker with his spells. Instead, she used her power to knock each attack aside, smiling to herself as she watched Nenophar and the other dragons near the wall between the outer and inner cities. She only had to hold out until he returned, then she knew he would fight at her side. Her only task at this point was to keep the staff Therec held in sight, to be sure it was not lost.
With another flourish, Therec pointed the staff at Ilarra and created a torrent of ice from its tip that washed over her, shattering as it clattered off of the latest weak barrier she conjured. The wall she used for protection collapsed almost as soon as she had created it, and the last of the ice tore through her dress and skin, leaving stinging cuts all over her body that healed far slower than she would have wished.
“Kneel and accept the family you have been given!” shouted Dorralt, using Therec’s voice. “Your brothers and sisters stand at the gates of the city, ready to take it for Turessi. Embrace them and they will welcome you into the life you were born to live!”
Another wave of flame forced Ilarra to her knees, her hands pushing out to hold the fire at bay. Her strength was waning quickly, and even with the strength of the Turessians inside her, she could barely find the magic she needed to keep Dorralt from incinerating her where she lay.
During the brief respite between spells, Ilarra stared at her arms and saw the strain was well beyond what her body could handle. Everywhere she could see, her skin had paled to a deathly white, the veins standing out in a dark black. She looked every bit the corpse. If Dorralt continued to attack with Therec’s body, she would become the lifeless corpse she knew she was without her magic.
Gasping for breath, Ilarra fell forward, drawing a mocking laugh from Therec. She lifted her head slowly, watching as Therec walked toward her, grinning at her dismay.
“Do you finally understand?” he asked, stopping just outside her reach. “I created you, and I can destroy you. Every one of my children must learn this lesson one way or another, Ilarra. You have only been more obstinate than the rest, and that is why I stoop to fighting with you. Submit and help me destroy those who have no place in Turessi, girl. Today, you join us.”
Ilarra laughed weakly, shaking her head. “I can hear what you preach to the others,” she reminded Dorralt. “You tell them to destroy anything not human. I am not human, Dorralt. I am an elf, no matter what you have done to me. I will not be a part of something that despises what I am.”
Therec’s hand lifted to deliver another brutal onslaught of magic, but then he ducked and rolled toward the edge of the tower as a massive claw came down on the stones where he had stood a moment before. The entire battlement edge collapsed as Nenophar crashed into the lip of the tower, snarling and snapping at Therec, who managed to deftly avoid every attempt to grab him.
Before Therec had gotten to his feet, Nenophar had shifted his appearance to the elf form he had always taken when meeting with Ilarra. He ran across the tower and wrapped his arms around her, shielding her as flames washed over the area from somewhere high above.
Ilarra buried her face in Nenophar’s arms to keep her eyes away from the fire burning her arms and singing her hair. Breathing was difficult, both from the heat and the weariness from fighting for as long as she had. Even with Nenophar covering her, she felt as though she might burst into flames at any instant.
Seconds later, the flames subsided, and Ilarra lifted her face from Nenophar’s shoulder, looking around the blackened tower for Therec. She found him quickly, standing in th
e middle of an untouched section of stone and holding the staff above him like a warrior might raise a shield against arrows.
Across from Therec stood a new person Ilarra barely recognized. Mairlee, the country healer Greth had taken her to months before, now stood on the tower top wearing a simple red frock, her long grey hair pulled back into a thick braid. What did stand out was the woman’s seething anger, directed entirely at Therec, a distinct change from how Ilarra remembered her.
“Two dragons, with a third on its way,” mused Therec, grinning madly as he lowered the staff. “I only meant my invitation to bring you out of hiding, Nenophar. The others are intruding on a meeting we should have had centuries ago. I believe I asked for you to attend to me millennia ago and you failed to show yourself. The crone was certainly not invited.”
Mairlee bared her teeth briefly. “You sent rotting corpses into my den and tried to lead me to destroy an army sent from this city instead of your own. I have more than ample reason to attack you, Dorralt. Your invitation was extended to me the moment they came for my lair.”
Therec grinned even more, looking between the woman and Nenophar.
Turning as he eased his grip on Ilarra, Nenophar growled softly. “You wear a new man’s skin as your own, Dorralt. This is not one of our illusions. He screams to be free of you.”
“He has little choice in the matter,” noted Therec, slapping his palm against his cheek. “This meat suit will suffice for now. I will stay in control until he is ready to serve me without requiring me to pay him extra heed.”
Mairlee raised her hand, then dropped it sharply. As she did, the air itself seemed to solidify and crash into the top of the tower with enough force to rip a hole ten-feet wide and at least three-floors deep where Therec had been standing. The dust from the explosion fell away quickly, revealing Therec standing at the edge of the hole and smirking at the wreckage.
“Do be careful, old wyrm,” he chided, stepping back from the hole. “Neither you nor your offspring can fly without your wings. If this tower collapses, you might not die from the fall, but you will not be in any shape to fight me further. Taking mortal shape weakens you, but taking this man’s form does nothing to diminish my power.”
Ilarra saw a brief look of fear on Nenophar’s face. He pulled her a little ways from the edge of the tower, as if the battlements might fall away at any moment.
“Oh, did you not notice sooner?” Therec asked Nenophar. “Neither of you can change back, at least not until I let you or you get far from me. I’ve been practicing that trick ever since I met you. I know you thought we humans couldn’t match you, but I’ve had more than two thousand years to prove you wrong. Consider this repayment for your haughty rants at our expense.”
“You stood at his side,” Nenophar called over the loud winds beginning to pick up. Easing Ilarra out of his arms, he began moving to put Therec evenly between Ilarra, Mairlee, and himself. “You pledged yourself to protecting this world against abuses like this, Dorralt. You were to be one of his heirs. I was there and heard his some of his final words.”
Therec’s face contorted angrily, and he took a furious step toward Nenophar before yelling back, “He gave it all to his wife, you scaled wretch! The entire empire would have fallen apart without my help. I gave him the empire he tossed aside like a plaything when he realized he had gone too far. Even after his death with his wife missing, the fools he put in charge would not welcome me onto the council they set up to rule. Don’t chide me for ignoring that stupid pledge we all made in haste. You broke your promise, too, when you came back, Nenophar. You’ve seen the cloud over the quarry. Tell me that’s my fault, but you and your mother know better. What is happening out there is your doing, not mine. You devised the magic they used to build the golems and it was that magic that broke down the walls between our world and another.”
Standing slowly and advancing on Therec, Ilarra meant to attack while the man was distracted by the two dragons, but a vice-like grip closed on her throat. Though nothing actually touched her, Ilarra could feel fingers tightening across her neck and squeezing until she could not breathe. She gasped and choked, but none of the three so much as looked at her.
“Turess was given our blessing with the promise—the oath—that all of you would honor what he saw in those visions,” Nenophar called back while the other dragon shifted her position to get farther from the edge of the tower. “That gift—”
“Death? You call that a gift?” demanded Therec, laughing. “You killed my brother, all to give him visions of betrayal and doom, most of which revolved around your meddling. Any street soothsayer could have thrown out predictions as elaborate as those he saw on his deathbed. It took me centuries to destroy the majority of those writings he made and hide the absurdity of it all. You nearly collapsed all he spent his life working for, and I have no intention of letting you kill me before I see the empire restored to its former glory. Now you show back up here and begin destroying the lands once again. Who really is the villain here, dragon?”
Nenophar growled loudly and raised both of his hands to attack with magic at the same time that his mother did. Flames roared at Therec from both dragons, but the man stopped each blast with one of his hands, letting the staff rest casually against his shoulder.
Still holding back the flames, Therec shook his head sadly. “You once told me no mortal could have the power of a dragon. Two of you cannot match me, so what does that say about your foolish predictions? I will prove both of you wrong about everything you claimed all those years ago. I had the predictions at my disposal and have killed everyone you and Turess foresaw. My people hunted them down across the nations and executed every single one. They are gone and so is your so-called prophecy, Nenophar.”
Ilarra pulled herself upright as the grip on her throat faded, knowing she did not have much strength left but determined to help in any way she could. Seeking a little more magic within, she pulled as much as she could from the other Turessians, even as it made her head spin with all their hatred and desires to kill the people of Lantonne. Using what power she could muster, she sent bolts of brilliant white lightning from her fingers that slammed into Therec’s side and burned his robe and the flesh beneath.
“Not one of you understands, do you?” Therec taunted, smiling as the burns healed and his robe restitched itself even with the lightning still hitting him. “Every Turessian I have created feeds me. Their power and potential is mine at all times. A single man is no match for a dragon, but more than a hundred wizards with the powers I have locked into their bodies are capable of tearing down this city and the imbeciles defending it. “
“We did not cause that rift!” shouted Nenophar, sweating profusely as he continued the massive torrent of flames. “What you are doing is strong enough to open the rips Turess created. We are trying to fix things!”
“Then flee and let me be the one to fix it!” Therec answered. “Without the dragons around, the world will heal itself. It’s done so before and it will again. Your presence accelerates the damage…you said so yourself before you and your kind hid for the last millennia or two.”
“We will leave when you fall, mortal,” added Mairlee, her brilliant red flames pushing Therec back a step.
Chuckling, Therec grunted and pushed back both dragons’ attacks while still ignoring Ilarra’s. “The three of you would need to overcome the magical strengths of every Turessian to win this fight. I can drain power from all of them until their bodies are reduced to ash and it costs me nothing. Even if I should exhaust all of their power, you would only defeat this body and rob me of one little necromancer. We will keep coming, pulling more wizards into our flock each day, until an army of dragons could do nothing to stop us. Then, I will kill your ancient kin, and by raising them, add the power of the dragons to my many puppets. I will close the tear in the world using your rotted corpses.”
Therec glanced over his shoulder at Ilarra and winked at her. As he did, the lightning Ilarra was unleashing a
gainst him flickered and vanished. Her limbs felt heavy, the magic completely drained from her body. “I need that for now, girl,” Therec chided. “You forget where your powers come from. Sit down and wait for your betters to finish this, and try not to hurt yourself. If they exhaust me, you are the first of our kind to crumble.”
An irresistible need to sit down came over Ilarra, and she dropped like a stone. Try as she might, she could not stand back up. The offhand comment by Therec had all but glued her to the ground, making her feel as though a massive weight had been placed in her lap. The pressure of being so utterly controlled dazed Ilarra, and was made worse by the loss of the magic sustaining her body. She could feel her skin drying and her bones aching, making her feel as though her body might crumble to dust at any moment if she strained too hard against the command to sit.
All around Ilarra, magic exploded in brilliant displays of power from both dragons and Therec. The tower shook under her, jarred by every new spell the three struck aside. Left to their own, Ilarra could see the three would easily tear Lantonne and much of its surroundings down around them without even noticing. Already, sections of the tower were falling away from the pounding it was taking.
Ilarra tried to get back up and found the weight that held her down had lessened with each spell the dragons unleashed on Therec. As she did, another rumble passed through the tower a second before the entire top floor collapsed around her and fell into the central staircase of the keep.
For a moment, Ilarra could see nothing but the sky spin past her, then the stairs a floor or two below came rushing up as she tumbled into them. Blocks from the walls and floor shattered around her, one landing on her leg and crushing it completely. She could feel the pain distantly, but it felt like it was happening to someone else. It was almost surreal as she looked down and saw the bend below her knee where the heavy stone had snapped the bone.