Western Shore ac-3

by Juliet E. McKenna

  'Are you all right?' Kheda cut the snare from Risala's wrists, thankfully now no more than braided hemp once again.

  She nodded, muddy-faced and biting her lip against the pain. 'Kheda, the fire!'

  All the young wizard's attention was on the ship's masts where the charred spars now writhed like living things. Swinging this way and that, they were fighting to escape the stifling haze so that the greedy flames could blossom anew. Ominous splintering sounds filled the air above Kheda's head.

  'Naldeth!' he shouted urgently.

  Naldeth glanced down for a moment and the ruby egg at his feet glowed brilliantly. A billow of golden vapour rolled along the deck. The flames burning insidious holes in the canvas-covered deck hatches died as the magic swept over them, but they sprang to life once again as soon as it had passed. Naldeth spat some unintelligible

  Tormalin oath and the cloud of magelight bounced back from the upswept timbers of the blunt prow to snuff the fires a second time. This time they stayed dead.

  'Velindre, we need water.' Kheda moved to look down over the ship's side.

  There was no water to be seen. The bucket Risala had cast overboard lay on top of a thick layer of dead fish. A gasping eel writhed among their pale bellies. A tide of oily blackness oozed over the stricken creatures, like nothing Kheda had ever seen before. Wisps of grey followed the darkness, gathering into a dense layer of vapour. As Kheda watched, the bucket grew indistinct and vanished. He looked upstream to see the black dragon crouching in the midst of this unnatural mire, mouth agape. Amber eyes glowing, it breathed out dense clouds of the heavy mist that rolled across the glistening mud. The greyness was gathering around the Zaise. As it grew thicker, it began mounting higher up the sides of the ship. The green magelight that Velindre was still forcing into the timbers flickered and dulled.

  She gasped with pain. 'Naldeth, we're going to tire before they do!'

  The fire dragon angrily pacing up and down the river bank interrupted her with an ear-splitting roar. The black dragon in the water answered with a bellow that made the air throb.

  'If we could just wound one, we might drive the other off—' Naldeth stooped awkwardly to press one hand onto the ruby egg. It was now entirely filled with scarlet magelight. He flicked his other hand towards the red dragon and fire sprang up around its forefeet. The beast growled and stamped on the crimson flames, ripping up clods of earth with its coppery claws.

  'How do we do wound either of them without the other one killing us outright?' Velindre yelled hoarsely.

  'We can give that red one something else to fight.' Naldeth stood upright and a distant stand of trees burst into flames.

  Roaring, the crimson dragon whirled around, its trailing tail throwing up a cloud of ash. Barely a heartbeat later, it spun back towards the river, breathing a fresh curl of fire straight at Naldeth.

  Green wizardry sprang up from the ship's rail to deflect it. 'It knows that was you.' For the first time, despair dulled Velindre's defiance.

  Kheda saw a grey finger slide over the side of the ship. He looked down over the rail where the green magelight had dimmed almost to nothing and saw that the rising tide of vapour was level with the deck. The black dragon was an ominous shadow edging slowly closer.

  'Can you do anything with the cargo?' he shouted desperately. 'Can you use that to set one of the beasts alight?'

  'Let's try.' Velindre might have said more but the ship rocked violently. She spun around to draw a spear of lightning down from the sky to shatter the glaucous tendril snaking across the deck. 'Get the hatches open, Kheda. Naldeth, if I can keep that beast busy, you—'

  'I know,' the mage yelled.

  The battens and canvas holding down the hatches were already more than half-burned through. Kheda tore at them, heedless of fire or splinters. Risala helped as best she could with one hand, the other pressed tight beneath her breasts, weeping with silent anguish.

  That cursed rope broke her wrist.

  Kheda had barely cleared one hatch when a barrel shot upwards through the broken laths. Velindre swept one hand through the air and the barrel rode a swirl of sapphire light towards the crimson dragon. Naldeth threw an arrow of scarlet fire after it and the barrel exploded into a ball

  of flame right in the creature's face. It recoiled, roaring furiously. Kheda scrambled away from the gaping hole in the deck as more barrels and casks forced their way up. He grabbed Risala and sought what little shelter the foremast offered.

  Velindre whirled a sling of sapphire light around to fling a barrel upstream. The black dragon reared up on its hind legs and swiped at it with steely claws. The wood splintered and dark sticky oil splashed a rainbow sheen over the creature's forelegs and chest. Naldeth threw another dart of fire and the oil ignited. The dragon hissed malevolently, breathing dark smoke that instantly quenched the flames. The crimson dragon's roar took on a note of triumph, unbothered by the flames dancing along its own spine and flanks.

  'Naldeth?' Velindre's blue magic drove a flurry of caskets and chests up from the Zaise's hold. Pale dust hovered in the air together with an eye-watering smell of naphtha.

  'Do it.' The youthful wizard was looking at the black dragon, his hands outstretched as if to ward off the tide of grey vapour it was now breathing out, the miasma building faster than before.

  Velindre sent a cask flying at the maroon dragon so hard and so fast that it shattered on the beast's massive flank. Sticky pine resin oozed down its hind quarter. The creature had barely turned its head when a cask of white powder and one of brilliant yellow broke across its spine. The dragon tasted the air with its tongue and growled. As it glowered at the Zaise, a second barrel ripped itself apart above its tail, showering the creature with liquid. The first drops had barely landed when the sticky mess coating the dragon ignited.

  Bellowing with fury, the beast turned away to scour this importunate blaze from its scales with its own white-hot

  fiery breath. Velindre sent more barrels and chests to smash on the ground around its feet, each one adding fuel to the infernal alchemy. She drew winds threaded with blue magelight from all directions to fan the flames still higher. Kheda could feel the heat where he stood on the deck. The wood was steaming.

  Naldeth was standing stock still, all his attention focused on the black dragon. It crouched low in the lifeless mire it had made of the river, breathing out billows of the grey mist that rapidly threatened the Zaise rails. The mage knelt and laid gentle hands palm down on the massive ruby. A golden haze began gathering around the gem once again and flowed across the deck to slip through the scuppers as Velindre's magic had done earlier. The radiance spread over the ominous grey vapour, moving faster than the dead greyness, questing, challenging. Where the dragon's breath left coils slow to subside, the golden magic insinuated itself into the voids. The greyness roiled around the brightness, agitated. The brilliance forced fingers into the dullness, tearing off rags of grey that floated up to vanish in the empty air.

  Naldeth slid his hands together atop the ruby egg. The shimmering gold forced the deadly grey vapour inexorably back towards the black dragon. It growled and crouched low, breathing a paler whiteness that dissolved the grey. The white mist evaporated almost instantly, revealing the glutinous mess of sludge and dead fish. The dragon sank lower and inky darkness flowed into the mud all around it. Its outline became indistinct.

  'Oh no you don't,' Naldeth breathed.

  Kheda heard a cavernous echo in the mage's voice again and tore his gaze away from the dragon. Naldeth's skin was shining, not with sweat but with a crystalline lustre. The metal of his leg was moulding itself into the contours of living flesh once again. The warlord

  looked past the mage to Velindre. She was still tangling the fire dragon in snares of air to keep the flames surging ever higher around it. Kheda realised he could see the timbers of the Zaise through her. Flesh, bone and clothing fading, the magewoman was becoming translucent. She didn't seem to notice. Insane serenity shone in her eyes an
d she laughed as if she didn't have a care in the world.

  'Stay here.' Kheda hugged Risala hard and left her clinging to the foremast, forcing himself across the deck towards Velindre. He dared not look back to Risala lest his courage fail him, but he had to spare a glance for Naldeth and the black dragon lurking in the river. The amber magelight had set the noxious ooze boiling around the beast. Naldeth was now bathed in a ruby glow coming from the great gem. The dragon reared up out of the searing mud, its every scale as hard and sharp-edged as if it had been carved out of jet.

  'Velindre.' Kheda reached out towards the mage-woman's arm. Close to, she looked as insubstantial as fog. A shock of lightning sprang from her to numb his whole hand. 'Velindre!' he yelled frantically.

  'What?' She half-turned, still keeping her gaze fixed on the crimson dragon raging in the blaze ashore. Her eyes were no longer the soft hazel that had looked so striking against her blonde hair. They were blue like Risala's, but wholly blue, without white or iris. A pinpoint of lightning fire lit the deep sapphire.

  Like dragon's eyes. Like Dev 's eyes, just before his magic was the death of him.

  Kheda tried to reach her again and once more stinging lightning sparked between them. 'This will kill you!' he bellowed.

  Velindre didn't seem to hear him. She turned back to beatific contemplation of the lattice of sapphire light she

  was weaving through the flames mocking the crimson dragon.

  Wringing his seared and throbbing hands, Kheda

  stumbled towards Naldeth. The red glow from the gem bathed him with heat. He reached recklessly for the mage regardless. Naldeth's shoulder was as cold as marble and

  as unyielding as any statue.

  'What is it?' Naldeth looked briefly at Kheda. His gaze was all ruddy brown but at least that was just the blood still staining the whites of his eyes. Before Kheda could answer, the wizard gasped and his head snapped round towards the black dragon.

  The golden magelight was fading from the clinging morass of boiling mud. The black dragon was extricating itself from friable rock that splintered and cracked all around it. With a triumphant growl, it pulled its hind legs

  and tail free, leaving dark holes. Hissing venomously, it took a menacing step across the solid surface. Naldeth narrowed his eyes and the rock began to glow red while the fire within the great ruby burned with a new intensity. The dragon took another pace and its dull grey claws sank into newly molten lava viscous beneath its feet. Pulling its forefoot free, the creature roared, its steely

  talons glowing white hot at their tips. The dragon coughed pale mist at its claws and the whiteness dulled.

  Kheda reached out again and tried to shake the mage's arm. 'You can't win this!' he cried.

  'I know,' Naldeth said desperately. 'What do we do?'

  'Nexus magic' Velindre's words were a whisper of winter wind. 'To poison the well.'

  She was barely more than an eerie white shadow outlined with sapphire magelight. Kheda took a step backwards as the magewoman sank to her knees beside the glowing ruby. She laid her pale hands on it and the fiery light dimmed abruptly.

  Naldeth gasped and stumbled sideways. Kheda caught him; the wizard's flesh was warm and his clothes soft cotton.

  Naldeth shook him off. 'You don't want to be caught up in this.' His voice sounded as if it was coming from some great distance.

  Kheda backed away towards Risala as fast as he dared, trying to keep both of the dragons in view and still watch what the two wizards were doing.

  They knelt on either side of the ruby egg, their hands resting upon it. The fire at its heart was now wholly quenched. The crimson dragon on the river bank screeched triumphantly as it wrested command of the fires from the dissipating sapphire magic. The black dragon replied with a snarl of elation and the river's waters returned to drown the slough of lava in a cloud of reeking steam.

  The Zaise rocked violently. Kheda stumbled backwards to wrap one arm around the foremast and the other around Risala. Naldeth and Velindre took no notice. All their attention was focused on the great ruby. New lights kindled deep inside it, scarlet and blue, gold and green, rising and falling and rising once more to glow ever stronger.

  The fire dragon roared and sprang into the air, the downdraught of its wings buffeting Kheda and Risala mercilessly. It flew inland, straight as an arrow, and Kheda saw that the distant mountain tops were belching white smoke high into the air.

  The ship rocked again. This time the entire river was shaken by a shudder deep beneath its bed. Birds rose shrieking from the distant forests as tremor after tremor racked the plain. The banks on either side collapsed, sending great lumps of earth splashing into the water. A gaping crack opened in the barren slope leading up to the plateau. The most violent tremor so far nearly broke

  Kheda's grip on the mast and he saw a broad swathe of the grassland drop bodily down, leaving a scar of raw earth as tall as a man.

  The black dragon took to the air, clumsy and reluctant. It flew over the Zaise, barely clearing the tops of the masts. It growled relentless hatred at the two wizards still kneeling motionless on the scorched planks, though there was a new note in the creature's snarls.

  Fear.

  Kheda wrapped his arms around Risala and around the foremast as the waters convulsed beneath the ship. The river surged for the sea, sweeping the Zaise along. As they swept past the riverbanks at dizzying speed, Kheda saw that the plumes of white from the mountains far inland were darkening to mottled grey. Clouds were spreading in all directions over the island, as fast as the terrifying rush of the water beneath them. The Zaise reached the maze of channels and mud banks that made up the mouth of the river and grounded with a bone-shaking thud. They were stranded between sandflats stripped glistening and naked as the river disappeared. The ocean itself was fleeing the shore as the cliffs were forced upwards higher and higher, ragged cracks splitting the rocks with penetrating shocks. The clouds rising from the mountains far inland were now black and riven with brilliant white lightning.

  More snow?

  The sunlight dimmed as white flakes drifted down to the deck. Kheda tasted sulphur that had nothing to do with the Zaise's lost cargo and realised this was a fall of ashes from a burning fire mountain. Ash fell thicker and faster and drifted around their feet, stirred by a hot breeze. Stones began falling, as riddled with holes as a sea sponge. Cinders dropped from the grey clouds, glowing red. Kheda saw one strike Velindre's shoulder.

  She didn't even flinch as the ember burned a dark score in her tunic.

  The noise far inland sounded like the worst thunders of every rainy season that Kheda had ever known all recalled together. The lightning that ripped through the massive black clouds grew ever more violent. Close at hand, silent spheres of phosphorescence blinked around the Zaise's mastheads before vanishing as suddenly as they had appeared.

  The ship twisted this way and that as the sands and silts of the river mouth convulsed. Kheda looked up to see that the sky was black as ink, as if night had driven out the day. The air was stifling, poisonous. His chest burned with it. Red light rippled along the sooty pall of the clouds.

  On the deck between the two wizards, answering scarlet fire blazed in the gem. The rumbling in the far distance rose to a deafening pitch as the shoreline's paroxysms lifted the Zaise upwards. The ship shivered from stem to stern, assailed by brutal pulses of air. Spars split and crashed to the deck while such ropes as remained were ripped from the masts.

  Far inland, one of the mountains threw up a flaming column of white-hot rock to rip into the swollen black belly of the cloud. A second eruption followed, and a third. The clouds blazed.

  The ruby egg exploded in a coruscating flash. Kheda screwed his eyes shut, blinded with tears. He didn't dare let go of the mast to try clearing his vision. Blinking and gasping for breath, he tried desperately to see what had befallen the wizards.

  Velindre lay sprawled in the thick layer of ash coating the deck, her legs twisted awkwardly beneath her. She
was bleeding from countless gashes, lacerated by razor-sharp shards of the shattered gem. Her eyes were open,

  staring unmoving. Naldeth was slumped on his side, his head hidden in his outstretched arms. His hands had taken the brunt of the explosion, the bones of broken fingers white in the uncanny half-light. Blood glistened where his torn tunic revealed his pale flank.

  'Are they dead?' Risala cried.

  'I don't know.' Kheda didn't think he could prise his own hands from the mast and he certainly wasn't going to risk losing Risala as she clung to him with her one sound hand knotted in the cloth of his tunic.

  He watched gold and scarlet torrents pouring from ragged craters in the distant mountains. The forests were burning, flames spreading even faster than the molten rock. The ash was still falling. Now, wholly unexpectedly, rain began falling with it. Soon the deck was coated with a thick layer of gritty mud. Kheda shifted his feet and found that the stuff was hardening with horrifying speed.

  'If they're not already dead, Velindre and Naldeth will suffocate under this.' He had to shout to make himself heard, even with Risala inside the circle of his arms.

  'Will we be any safer in the stern cabin?' she screamed back.

  Kheda's throat ached with the effort of replying. 'There's nowhere else to go.'

  Summoning up all his courage, he wrenched his fingers apart and let go of the mast, immediately clamping one hand around Risala's sound wrist. Slipping and stumbling, sick with terror, he forced his way across the deck. Risala struggled along with him. As he bent to grab the front of Velindre's mud-caked tunic, Risala twisted her one good hand free of his grip and reached down for Naldeth's outstretched arm. Somehow between them, they dragged the comatose wizards into the stern cabin.