But for good or ill the act was done.
A dragon had been summoned and all they could do now was wait to see if the call would be answered.
*
Meredith ignored the pain as he raced up the tortuous mountain path. His horse cried out as its hooves skidded on the shaly path but he hauled on the reins and drove it on. The horse’s nostrils flared and its eyes rolled as it fought to obey the commands of this fierce master who smelled of blood.
Reaching the end of the bridle way Meredith slipped from the saddle, but as he tried to continue two magi stepped forward to block his advance.
‘The summoning is underway,’ said one.
‘We cannot allow you to pass,’ said the other.
Without breaking stride Meredith stunned one of the magi and caused the other to double over with a pulse of energy that punched into his stomach and left him groaning on the ground. Without another glance Meredith strode past the two men and started on the last part of the climb, but he was too late.
On the dragon stone Falco stared out to sea where a dark shape could now been seen in the bright sky to the west. Already too big to be mistaken for a bird, the shape grew larger and more distinct until there could be no doubt.
Falco’s call had been answered.
79
Darkness Falls
The air around the dragon stone was alive with anticipation and the pent up energy of the magi. Aurelian stared into the twilight sky, desperately searching for some sign of colour in the silhouette of the rapidly approaching dragon.
‘Please,’ he breathed. ‘Please.’
He knew the magi were prepared for the worst, but he could not bear the thought of Falco being forced to slay a dragon. In the sky there was a sudden flash of light and one of the magi called out.
‘Yellow! I saw a flash of yellow!’
Aurelian’s heart soared but then he looked down at Falco and all his hopes were dashed. Falco had settled into a fighting stance. Moving back from the centre of the dragon stone he drew his sword and raised it up in the way they had agreed. It was the signal for Aurelian to infuse the blade with energy.
The old battle mage felt a sense of desolation as he opened his mind and channelled his power into the sword.
What, in the name of all things, was he going to say to Dwim?
*
Even before the deceptive flash of light Falco knew the dragon was black. Just as he had known at Darius’s summoning. He felt it in his soul and his heart ached with a burning sense of regret. The creature flying towards them should have been his life’s companion, his brother-in-arms, but the dragon he had summoned was black, with a black and murderous heart. The dark shape drew closer and closer, and just as before Falco caught glimpses of the dragon’s mind.
Confusion... suspicion... hatred...
Why had it come to this hope-forsaken place?
Where was the brother who had summoned it?
Looking down upon the summoning stone the dragon hung in the air, its mighty wings beating back and forth to hold it aloft. It was uncertain and cautious but not afraid. Along the coast it had seen thousands of humans, swarming like ants around the stone walls of a city, but there was nothing here, only the wind and the rocks and the vast expanse of air.
So why was it here?
Slowly the dragon came lower until, with exquisite control, it landed on the flat area of stone. Behind it the cliff plunged a thousand feet to the rocks and scree of the mountain’s slopes, while before it thirteen magi began to weave a subtle web of power. And still the dragon was oblivious.
Hidden by the concealing powers of the magi Falco gazed in wonder at the creature before him: the steel hard plates and shimmering scales rippling over a muscular body of flesh and blood, the horned head and lethal jaws, the fierce intelligence burning in eyes of fire and molten gold. It was the very embodiment of obsidian might.
Hardly daring to breathe Falco blinked his eyes as the boundary between his own thoughts and those of the dragon remained blurred. Once again he felt surging waves of empathy and compassion, but he hardened his heart and closed his mind to such things. It was just such weakness that had led to the death of Darius and the destruction of his home. It was just such weakness that had diminished a great warrior like Nicolas Dusaule.
Falco knew that given the chance the dragon would destroy them all. The last time he had encountered such a beast he had been powerless to stop the killing but now he was a battle mage and he would not let it happen again.
Holding his stance he waited for the dragon to come closer, his sword humming with the force of Aurelian’s power. Just a few more seconds and it would be done. He could feel the magi’s net drawing tighter. Soon the dragon would sense it too and the moment it tried to react, it would die.
*
Galen Thrall watched with morbid fascination as the magnificent animal came to rest on the dragon stone. Over the years he had attended four summonings but this was the first time that a black dragon had answered the call. And all the stories were true.
Here was a creature of beauty and power, the oldest and strongest of all dragonkind. It was not especially large but there was something about its bearing, something deeply impressive and utterly terrifying.
As the dragon took another step forward Thrall felt the magi follow its progress, drawing their magical net tighter, ready to hold it down while Danté and the warrior mages dispatched it. But then the dragon seemed to sense that something was wrong. Its nostrils scented the air and its spear pointed tale began to weave back and forth. Its posture changed as it tensed in the face of an unseen threat, but it was too late. The magi’s web of confinement was in place.
With a concerted effort eleven magi used their power to pull the dragon down while Falco lunged forward to strike. Thrall smiled as an arc of bright red blood sprayed onto the dragon stone.
*
Falco was astonished by the speed with which the dragon reacted. Despite the coils of restraining force it reared back and his blow merely inflicted a shallow cut to its long and powerful neck. The dragon stumbled as if under a great weight, its wings hampered by the invisible net of energy. But its tail remained free and Falco was forced to block a deadly strike as the blade-like point struck hard against his shield.
From the left, one of the warrior mages shot a bolt of energy that scored a deep gash across the dragon’s ribs. It twisted violently and the attack of the second warrior mage went wide, blasting a jagged hole in the surface of the summoning stone. The dragon responded by exhaling a sudden gout of fire that would have killed one of the warrior mages who was too slow in casting his defensive spell. Fortunately Falco could now cast such spells with the speed of thought and the man merely flinched as the dragon’s fire slammed into the protective sphere that now surrounded him.
The dragon was struggling to remain on its feet but the spell of concealment had been broken and now it could see its tormentors. Staggering round it raked the cliffs with a sustained stream of fire and two of the magi were forced to duck behind their slabs of fortissite.
These two had now lost concentration but the nine that remained were more than enough to contain the dragon. Thrall had taken no chances with the summoning of Falco Danté. Despite Falco’s apparent determination, the Grand Veneratu had prepared a killing spell of his own. So powerful was this spell that Thrall’s mind burned with the effort of holding it in check. As he watched the dragon being forced to the ground he realised that he might not need his lethal spell after all, but he would not relinquish it until he was certain the dragon was dead.
He watched as Falco deflected another tail strike and drove through a storm of fire to bring his blade within reach of the dragon’s neck. The mighty creature was no longer able to raise its head but still it roared its fury and struggled to rise.
Thrall was tense with anticipation and the pupils of his eyes shrank to tiny beads of night. In truth he had doubted that Falco would have the resolve to kill a dragon,
but once again this young battle mage surprised him. Thrall smiled as Falco blocked a lethal attack from one of the warrior mages. It seemed that Danté was finally taking responsibility. The young battle mage was determined to end this failed summoning himself.
*
Aurelian could scarcely bring himself to watch as Falco closed in on the subdued dragon. The old battle mage was weeping openly and for the first time he understood the true horror of the deed that had robbed Dusaule of his faith.
But all the tales were true.
Although he could not perceive it as strongly as Falco, he too could sense the dragon’s mind. It wanted to kill them and so they had no choice but to kill it first, despite the fact that it would surely break their hearts.
Looking down at the great dragon he could only watch as Falco raised his sword and fortified his arm to deliver the coup de grâce.
*
Doubt screamed in Falco’s mind. Pain wrung his soul and beat like futile fists upon the wall of steel he had placed around his heart.
‘Wrong!’ The feelings bellowed at him. ‘This is wrong!’
But Falco refused to listen. Once before he had allowed himself to be swayed by the voice of compassion and his weakness had cost them dear. But Falco was no longer weak, no longer prey to the foolish naivety of youth.
Through the T-shaped visor of his helm he looked down at the mighty beast, still struggling against the invisible cords that bound it. He looked down into the golden eyes that still blazed with fury. There was no sense of defeat or entreaty in the dragon’s eyes. It looked at him with loathing and inextinguishable rage.
To his right one of the warrior mages unleashed a bolt of energy that would have killed the dragon, but with a contemptuous swipe of his mind Falco smacked it aside.
It was he who had summoned this agent of death.
It was he who would now see it dead.
His sword rang with Aurelian’s power as he raised it high.
Black dragons are the enemy of humankind.
Black dragons are mad!
‘Falco! No!’
A normal voice would never have been enough to stay Falco’s hand, but Meredith’s cry burst into his mind like a thunderclap. The force of it made him stagger, left him dazed. But then he looked up to where Meredith stood, staring down upon the dragon stone, and now it was Falco’s eyes that blazed with fury.
It had taken all his strength to overcome his instinct to spare the dragon. He would never forgive Meredith for forcing him to face this burden a second time.
‘Don’t do it!’ cried Meredith in a normal voice as he made his way down the steps towards them. The apprentice mage was sweating and pale and covered in blood, but his voice was clear. ‘They lied to us,’ he said, his eyes sweeping the cliffs to take in the magi.
‘Silence!’ cried Thrall and Meredith stumbled as a pulse of mental energy thumped into his mind. ‘No one is permitted on the dragon stone once a summoning has begun!’
Falco’s green eyes burned as he stared up at Meredith. He resented any doubt over what he had to do, but Meredith’s voice rang with a desperate note of truth. Again he glanced down at the dragon and the certainty in his stance wavered.
‘Let him speak!’ bellowed Aurelian and Meredith came lower until he was almost level with the stone.
He glanced at the prostrate dragon and tried to ignore the heat of Thrall’s furious gaze. All his thoughts were directed at Falco.
‘The Great Possession is a lie,’ he said. ‘None of it is true.’
Falco might have been carved from stone as Meredith’s gaze moved to Galen Thrall.
‘It was not the dragons who were Possessed. It was the magi.’
The Grand Veneratu’s lipid eyes fixed Meredith with the promise of retribution. To think that one of their own would betray them to the dull minded fools who swore their allegiance to the thrones. The young Saker was just weeks from completing his apprenticeship, just weeks from swearing oaths of unbreakable loyalty to the magi. But until then he was free to flap his treacherous tongue.
With no outward sign Thrall passed new instructions to the magi and the warrior mages surrounding the stone. And as Meredith continued, he allowed the killing spell, that he had held in check, to rise closer to the surface of his mind.
Meanwhile Falco stared at Meredith as if he did not understand the words he had just spoken.
‘It’s the dragons, Falco,’ said Meredith, trying to penetrate the wall of cold dispassion that Falco had built around his heart. ‘It’s the dragons that know the truth.’ Reaching the dragon stone he gazed down at the magnificent creature still straining against its bonds. ‘They do not teach each other history as we do,’ said Meredith. ‘They experience it. As they age their memories reach further back in time. It is only as they turn black that they are old enough to recall the time of the Great Possession.’
Meredith’s eyes filled with tears.
‘Black dragons do not hate us because they are mad,’ he told Falco. ‘They hate us because they remember.’
Falco blinked and shook his head as images began to form in his mind.
‘The magi killed them, Falco,’ said Meredith. ‘They killed them all.’
With his shield still strapped to his arm Falco raised a hand to his head. His mind was suddenly burning with indescribable anger.
He saw a place in the mountains, like a great bowl carved out of the earth. Dark clouds boiled in the sky and the wind howled as hundreds of magi appeared upon the surrounding rocks. Bodies lay upon the ground. Nineteen warriors dressed in armour. Nineteen battle mages. Dead. Not a mark on their bodies, except for a dark discolouration about their lips.
Falco reeled from a storm of memories that were not his own.
Fire and lightning exploded all around him as magical force scorched the air, leaving the burned scent of death upon the wind. His dragon kin fought back, but they were stunned by grief and shock. They fought back and killed by the score but the magi were too many, too well prepared and too consumed by the certainty of minds Possessed, minds that had been led to murder by the poisonous guile of Syballian the Prophet.
Falco almost buckled beneath the weight of emotion as Thrall’s voice echoed round the dragon stone, his words thick with contempt.
‘What’s done is done!’ he cried. ‘It makes no difference. Their hatred for us will never die.’ His gaze fell on the trapped and helpless dragon. ‘They will kill us, unless we kill them first.’
Falco heard the insanity in the Grand Veneratu’s voice, a madness to eclipse anything in the dragon’s mind. But his own mind was struggling to comprehend the magnitude of Meredith’s words. An indescribable act of murder, perpetrated in secret and covered over with four hundred years of lies.
Slowly he sheathed his sword.
These lies had been sold to kings and queens and cost them fully half the world, but Falco could think of nothing beyond his own enduring pain. His words were quiet as he voiced the question that Meredith had dreaded to hear.
‘And my father?’
Meredith’s heart was wracked with shame at the part his own father had played in the death of Aquila Danté.
‘He grew too close to his dragon,’ said Meredith. ‘He learned too much.’ Meredith knew the hurt that these words would cause, but there was one more thing that Falco needed to hear.
‘Simeon didn’t know,’ he said and he could only hope that Falco could still hear him.
Simeon didn’t know
The words echoed in Falco’s head like the curse of long dead ghosts.
Simeon didn’t know
Simeon le Roy, the man who had raised him, forced to kill his greatest friend because of the magi’s lies. In the vacuum of his soul Falco felt all the years of torment and condemnation come rushing back to consume him, tearing at his mind and rending his heart.
All his life he had dreaded the thought of turning out like his father: a madman, a murderer. But it was all a lie.
Simeon d
idn’t know
On the dragon stone of Wrath Falco Danté clenched his fists. He clenched his fists and the tingling sensation of power swept through his body. He clenched his fists and the tingling sensation in his mind turned to an ominous hum. The hum became a whine and the bonds around the dragon began to fail as Falco’s fury leached out into the world.
‘What are you doing!’ cried Thrall as the magi’s web of power was torn apart by the force of Falco’s ire.
Falco clenched his fists and the dragon began to rise.
‘You fool!’ cried Thrall. ‘You will kill us all.’
But Falco had passed beyond such petty concerns. A maelstrom of treachery, death and incalculable loss burned in his mind. If death was coming then let it come. They deserved no less.
Falco clenched his fists and the dragon was free.
‘Kill it!’ cried Thrall. ‘Kill it now!’ and thirteen magi unleashed their deadly spells.
But Falco had made his position clear. There would be no killing here tonight. Wielding his shield and his empty hand he swept aside the magi’s attacks or blocked them with the protective force of his mind. But even his defensive skills were not enough to counter all the attacks and the dragon roared as several bolts of magical force blasted scales from its body.
Reaching out with his mind Falco grabbed one of the warrior mages and yanked him sideways, slamming his head into the fortissite column beside which he stood. He spun round and contained the second warrior mage in a sphere of energy just as the man unleashed a spell of his own. The man let out a scream as the fire of his own spell exploded around him.
The rest of the magi continued to fire off spells, but they were far less potent and the dragon was now free to vent some fury of its own. With a bound it leapt into the air and flooded one of the magi ledges with a storm of ferocious fire. The two men would surely have died had not a dome of magical force sprung up around them. The dragon’s head whipped round, searching for the source of this new interfering player and its gaze fell upon the one-armed figure of Aurelian Cruz.
Eyes red with tears Aurelian looked up into the eyes of the dragon that was about to kill him. After what he had learned he did not have the heart to protect himself.
Battle Mage Page 67