by T. K. Chapin
At the doors into the tower, he gave a strong knock.
“Yes?” a silly looking man said softly as he opened the door.
“I need to talk to the wizards about my wife, Tessla… or Katlynn… or whatever they call her,” Illadari said with a bit of anger in his tone. The man raised his chin and looked down at Illadari.
“You are Tessla’s husband? You are but a pirate, a thief. I am sorry, but Illadari is a priest…” the man said as he began to shut the door. Extending his arm, Illadari smacked the door, keeping it from closing.
“I am he; I am Illadari of the Freya Priesthood. I am here for my wife.”
“Oh, well you should not have disguised yourself,” the man said opening the door the rest of the way. “Come in. We’ve been waiting on you for some time now.”
Illadari was relieved that she was at the wizard tower. She probably knows where Ada is and we can get out of here, get Kessler back and go home, he thought to himself as he followed the man through a hall.
Chapter 21
Over the course of a week, Tessla, Lance and the Curo prince, Nikolas that Lance had held prisoner in the tower, made their way to the Fireblade Mountains, to put an end to the era of dragons and their ability to be born into the kingdom of Belstrom. Arriving at the red rocky terrain that sat at the base of the mountains, they were on their path to freedom.
Remaining silent for the majority of the trip, Nikolas surprised Tessla and Lance when he spoke during their trek across the red rocks leading to the path that would take them up into the mountain. “Is this going to work?” he asked as he jumped from one rock formation to another.
Looking back at him, Lance responded. “Do you have belief?” he asked.
Nikolas shrugged as he stopped to breathe for a moment. “I don’t know…?” Lance nodded and appeared to ponder his response for a moment.
“The fact is those pages come from the foundations of Belstrom. Nobody knew about it before I had found them,” Lance said confidently as he leaped to a rock. Tessla wasn’t sure if Lance was right about it, but with how forceful and insistent Miko had been, she knew getting on Lance’s bad side wouldn’t be ideal for her life.
“Once this is done, I’m free to go?” Tessla asked, as she held the mandolin against her back as she leaped to a new rock. Lance had been kind enough to lend her one of the mandolins from the wizard tower, since she’d be more useful if she brought one on their journey.
“Of course, I do not wish to keep you against your will, but my brothers and I need to make sure the dragons are gone from Belstrom.” After passing the rocky terrain and making it to the mountain, they began to journey up the path to the summit.
“How far up do we have to go?” Nikolas asked sounding aspirated as they walked up the dusty red rock path. Tessla was also weary from traveling, but kept silent on the matter. Her feet were sore and swollen from the week long journey they had been on so far. One of the previous nights, she had to target her foot with a Song of Healing Rain just to mend the blisters from walking.
“Just up a ways,” Lance said annoyed.
“What is it your brothers and you plan to do once you rule Belstrom?” Tessla asked curiously. She had wondered it for a while, but kept brushing it off. It seemed that Lance and his brothers were bent about getting control over the kingdom and curiosity got the best of her on the reason why.
He stopped on the path they were on, and turned to look back down at Nikolas and Tessla with a grin. “My brothers and I have marvelous and wonderful plans for Belstrom…” His face went from happy to angry as he continued, “Unlike the Runic royal family, we wish to usher in an era of peace and prosperity. The Runic’s have no idea how it is to be Curo and never have mana. We want to bring in a control system on Black Diamonds, so more people can have them. The ones who can’t go mine for them or pay the outrageous prices in the shops deserve to have them just as much as the people who go out and work for them.”
“Wow… that seems helpful,” Nikolas said nodding his head as he looked at Tessla.
Seeing his excitement grow, Lance continued. “We want to also start allowing magic users to attend classes in a group setting, much like what you see in the arena, but more specially geared towards developing and cultivating spells…” Glancing back towards the path up to the summit, Lance stopped his speech and said, “We best keep going. But basically, my brothers and I just want to fix everything so it works better.”
Tessla wasn’t sure if she entirely believed in what he was saying, but she knew his heart was in the right place. The guy is nice and has the interests of the people of Belstrom in mind, she thought to herself as she continued up the path behind the two of them.
Finally Arriving at the summit, Lance approached the summoning stone that lay in the center of the flat red rock. Noticing etchings along the rounded summoning stone, Tessla walked up and bent a knee to inspect them. Her fingers rubbed the etching of a dragon. Glancing up to the sky, she imagined what a dragon would look like if it were flying over. The black wings expanded, the fiery glowing red eyes and the tail that whipped behind its massive body.
Looking back to the etchings, she saw another one; it was that of a giant beast of some sort. Rubbing her index finger against it, she noticed it had two heads. Moving around the summoning stone, she saw an array of different monsters etched along the stone. “I understand the dragon etching, but what do you make of these other ones?” she asked looking over at Lance.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe those other creatures were summoned along with the dragons? It’s hard to say since we haven’t had a dragon live in anyone’s lifetime that is presently alive in Belstrom.”
Tessla watched as Lance retrieved a blade from his pouch, followed by vials that were filled with the potion. Tessla suddenly began to get nervous, but the thought of her son and Illadari helped calm her nerves. She went back to a memory that she had at the tip of her mind. It was when Her, Illadari and Kessler had went to the Limestone Shore for a picnic with Ponio, his wife Vanessa and their children Hinley and Natalya. The children played down by the shore trying to jab fish with sticks, while the adults sat and enjoyed the warm day as they conversed about the local town gossip. Tessla smiled as she thought about how simple and carefree her life was at the time. She only wished she would have appreciated it more when she was living within that window of time. Being jolted from her memory, three men in robes and hoods that covered their faces approached the summit from the north.
“Who are you?” Lance demanded as he clenched the dagger in his hand and stepped back.
“We are the Vul,” the three brown robed men said at the same time as they moved to surround them in three points. “We cannot allow you to stop the dragon from being born.”
“The king and queen already do,” Tessla said. The three men laughed and looked at Lance. Tessla peered over at Lance to see his head hang low as he looked back at her and mouthed he was sorry.
“What happened?” Tessla asked angered.
“The king and queen are dead by the hand of Melvin, the eldest brother of Lance,” one of the members of the Vul said, as he looked up at the sun before continuing. “They have been dead for about two hours. We got the message delivered by one of our messenger falcons a short time ago.”
Tessla’s heart twisted in a knot as she thought of her parents. She had not been happy with them for the marriage they attempted to force on her, or the ridiculous rules they had placed on her while she lived there, but she never wished for them to die. Tears welled in her eyes as she covered her mouth and hid her face away in her sleeve.
“Why do you wish to have a dragon born you fools?” Lance asked with a clench jaw. “The dragon will rein destruction across the lands of Belstrom.”
One of the Vul stepped forward towards Lance and said, “The dragons cleanses the land through fire. The corruption everyone has wrought on the kingdom needs to be cleansed.”
“People will die!” Lance said as he began m
oving his hands to cast a spell with his dagger still in hand.
The Vul member that was a foot away from Lance extended his hand out quickly to Lance’s chest and hit five parts of his torso. At first it appeared to do nothing as Lance stood idly. And then suddenly, Lance’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell over. Tessla shrieked in terror and hid her face deeper into her sleeve.
“Don’t do this!” Nikolas shouted as he stepped towards the Vul member that had killed Lance.
Chapter 22
Staying crouched as he approached the summit, Illadari peeked over to see Tessla and Nikolas speaking with three robed individuals. What is that about? He wondered as he tried to assess the situation. Glancing between their feet, he could see a body lying on the ground and he ducked down fearfully.
How am I going to fix this? He wondered as he looked up at the sky. My beloved is surely headed for death. Unsure of what to do next, he bowed his head and said a silent prayer to Omad.
Omad, Grant your protection over Tessla. She’s the love of my life, my lady and my best friend. May she find herself in your grace during this time.
Opening his eyes, he looked back over and saw a leaning rock that hung over the summit. Maybe… he thought to himself. Running his eyes along the edge of the red rocks nearby, he spotted an area he could climb up onto the boulder that hung over the summit. Maneuvering along the rocky edge off the path, he circled around the summit, being careful not to unsettle any rocks to alert the brown robed men. As he climbed up the rock, he saw the men standing together with their back towards him next to one another. Glancing up, he prayed quickly thanking Omad.
Omad, thank you for hearing the prayer of your servant.
Looking down at where the boulder was, Illadari could see that it was not attached to the wall of the mountain fully, and could likely be easily loosed with enough force.
At the top of the boulder he peeked back over and began waving his hands silently trying to get the attention of Tessla. She noticed him, and quickly looked away from him so that the robed men were not alerted. Illadari waited for Tessla to make some sort of distraction that would bring them under the rock. As he waited, he smiled thinking about how they would be reunited within a few moments and life could go back to the way it was.
Hearing Tessla speak, Illadari listened closely as she began to talk about what the dragon could do. She went on and on about the destruction while she walked across the summit and positioned herself under the rock. “The Vul is weak,” she said as she spat on the ground attempting to agitate the robed men. That’s the Vul? Illadari thought surprised.
One of the men said, “Stop!” Then went over to Nikolas and kicked him in the chest knocking him backwards against a rock, rendering him unconscious. The three men approached Tessla, and as they did, she began to back up closer to the stone wall that was under the rock. “You will die first!” One of the men said as they closed in on her.
“Now!” She screamed dodging sideways from under the rock. Illadari stood up and jumped on the boulder, dislodging it from the wall and onto the three men, smashing them underneath. Illadari fell with the boulder and into the rubble.
Coming to, from being unconscious, he woke up to droplets falling from the cloud Tessla had created from her Song of Healing Rain. Stretching out his arms as he sat up, she leaned in and hugged him firmly. Grabbing her hair, he began kissing her passionately in the midst of the rain that was healing him.
Opening his eyes, Illadari saw the man who had been kicked in the chest by the Vul arise to his feet. “Who’s this?” Illadari asked looking at him.
“That’s Nikolas,” Tessla said looking back over her shoulder at the man. Placing her hand on Illadari’s chest, she continued, “He… we… have a purpose for being here.”
“And what is that?” Illadari asked looking at the both of them. Tessla glanced over at Lance as he lay dead on the red stone floor. She walked up to his body and bent down on her knees.
“Lance was going to help us do a ritual…” Tessla said.
“A ritual for what?” Illadari asked confused.
“To stop the dragons from coming to Belstrom ever again…” Tessla said looking up at Illadari as he approached her side. She looked over at the rubble and continued. “The men you crushed were the Vul… they were attempting to stop us from conducting the ritual.”
“How’d they know you were here?” Illadari asked.
“I have no idea… They probably had been watching the summit for some time since…”
“Since what?”
“Since my parents were killed…” Tessla said rising to her feet. “They are dead Illadari… my parents are dead.” Tears welled in her eyes as the words fell from her lips. He could see the pain in her eyes, even though she didn’t have much regard for them; Illadari knew she had to be dying inside from the loss. Hugging her closely, Illadari kissed the side of her head as he grabbed her hair gently.
“Let’s go get Kessler… assuming you know where he is. We can get him and get home love,” Illadari said grabbing her hand, he turned to leave.
“I do, but we need to finish this ritual…” Tessla said letting her words trail off. “I can’t let a dragon be born Illadari. I need to do this.”
“What do you need to do?” Illadari replied looking into her eyes, curious to what the ritual was
“Nikolas and I need to willingly die-” she said before Illadari interrupted.
“No way!” Illadari said, grabbing her hand again. He tried to take her to the path that led down.
“Listen…” Tessla said stopping her feet from moving in the direction Illadari was attempting to take her. She grabbed onto both of Illadari’s hands and rubbed them with her thumbs as she looked into his eyes and said, “Lance has resurrection potions for us to come back to life. Once I’m back alive, we can go to Ada in the Darkwood Forest and she can help us get Kessler back. We will have our life back and we will have saved the dragons from killing the innocent people in Belstrom.”
“I didn’t think you cared about Belstrom,” Illadari said.
“In my early years, I didn’t care about anyone other than myself. Now I care about you and Kessler more than anything in this world. A dragon would in danger all our lives, and I can’t let that happen.”
“Well…” a man’s voice from the stairs said as he approached the three of them.
“Who are you?” Tessla asked looking over at the tall and slender man with silver hair.
“I’m Nari, One of Lance’s brother…” He said glancing at Lance’s body on the ground. “Oh brother…” he said as he bent down at the body. “I knew you’d fail. You were always a bit on the weaker side.”
Illadari grabbed onto Tessla’s shoulders and pleaded with her, “I know those resurrection potions don’t always work. It’s dependent on Omad’s grace.”
“It will work,” Tessla said confidently looking into both of Illadari’s eyes. She smiled and kissed his lips. “I have hope.”
“And... I don’t really care,” Nari said standing upright from kneeling beside his brother. “Honestly. Don’t take the potion, take the potion. Either way these two are going to die.” His eyes looked back at Lance on the ground. “His death will not be in vain.” Illadari began to motion his hands to cast and Nari raised a single hand in the air, and pushed gently his fingers in the air, the slightly push caused Illadari to be pushed violently backwards onto the floor of the summit. Unable to move, Illadari remained pinned against his will to the ground by electrified restraints.
“No!” Illadari shouted angered.
“Please let me speak with my husband… You need me willing to die in order for it to work, and I will not be willing if you do not let me speak with him for a moment,” Tessla pleaded with the wizard.
“Fine,” Nari said turning away.
Tessla walked up to Illadari and got down on her knees. Touching his face, she let her fingers slide against his rugged beard that had grown out. “Love…” s
he said softly trying to calm Illadari’s rage as he fought against the restraints burning him as it electrified him.
He couldn’t believe the calmness Tessla possessed. “I need to protect you! And I can’t!” Illadari shouted.
“Shhh…” she said softly as she continued to caress his face.
“You will die!” Illadari said as he began to sob. Shaking his head, he said, “I can’t live without you… I can’t lose you Tessla!”
“The potion will work love,” Tessla said smiling.” Tears welled up in her eyes for a moment and she wiped them as she continued. “What good is our life in Silvermeer if everyone I love is in danger? Trust me Illadari,” she said as she grazed his cheek with the back of her hand.