The Dragon Empress: The Dragonspire Chronicles Book 6

by James E. Wisher

“I don’t think moving her will be a problem.” They all stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “As soon as I show myself, I assume she will try and kill me. I can lead her away while you all approach the tower. The barrier is down now that I’ve deactivated the outer towers. Mom knows how to open the door. I’ll give you, say, five minutes to get inside, do a quick reversal of direction, and zip back before the dragon can catch me. She won’t attack once we’re inside.”

  “It sounds so simple when you say it like that,” Brigid said.

  “Simple and easy aren’t the same thing. If anyone else has any thoughts I’m happy to avoid playing tag with a dragon, but since I’m the only one here that can survive a hit from her breath weapon, I figure it’s got to be me.”

  He looked around from person to person, but no one spoke up. He hadn’t been kidding about being open to suggestions. Any other workable path would have been fine with him.

  “Just be careful,” Brigid said.

  “I second that,” his mother added.

  Yaz smiled at the idea that there was a careful way to do what he was about to attempt. “I will be. Are you all ready to go?”

  “We are,” Moz said.

  “Okay. Let me get her at least a hundred yards from the tower before you move in.”

  Brigid kissed him full on the lips. “For luck.”

  Not that he needed more motivation to return safe and sound, but he wouldn’t turn it down either. “Thanks.”

  Yaz led the way out of the shack and took to the sky. He flew high, planning to come down at a sharp angle, zip in front of her, and hopefully bait her into a chase. When he was about five hundred feet in the air, Yaz banked and powered down.

  The wind screamed in his ears and the dragon grew larger by the second. He leveled out and buzzed right past her nose.

  Yaz was a good fifty yards away before he realized she wasn’t following.

  He stopped, turned, and stared at the dragon who stared back. What was she waiting for? Did they decide to just hunker down and hope Yaz and the others left? That wouldn’t work for long. A dragon her size would need to hunt to stay awake and soon. She could maybe maintain her position for a day, but after that she’d lose strength.

  No, something else was going on. He glanced at the lengthening shadows. Maybe they thought she’d have a better chance of catching him at night. Since Yaz’s power allowed him to see in the dark as well as the light, he’d be fine at night.

  Maybe if you blasted the beast it would try and kill you.

  “Is blasting something ever not your solution?”

  His question was met with silence, but he was forced to admit the presence had a point. He needed to get things rolling.

  Yaz pointed and unleashed a weak blast at the dragon’s head. The dark beam skipped off her scales and deflected without doing any damage. She didn’t even flinch much less take to the air after him. He scratched his head.

  Hit it like you mean to kill it, not like you’re playing patty-cake.

  Yaz gathered a ball of darkness in his hand.

  Before he could loose it, the dragon roared and beat her wings. Yaz released the magic and flew up and away.

  The black dragon’s massive wings sent gusts of air rushing around him. It seemed she was finally serious.

  Yaz glanced back. A few more yards and the others should begin moving in.

  An incoming blast of black flames forced him to veer right. Okay, best worry about himself for now. He’d give them a couple more minutes. Hopefully that would be enough.

  Moz watched the black dragon take off after Yaz and shook his head. Powers or not, the kid had guts. “Let’s move.”

  Helena ran beside him toward the tower. It was only a hundred yards, but through the lengthening shadows the debris made it an obstacle course. Despite that, Yaz’s mother kept up well. He guessed they were around the same age, though if it was possible, she looked at the world with a more jaundiced eye than even he did. They’d had a chance to talk while Yaz was off deactivating the outer towers. She seemed to appreciate him telling her about her husband’s last days.

  He hated emotional things like that. Still, he felt he owed her the explanation since he was the only one that could give it. The truth was, he preferred assaulting a position to such talks.

  They were only a few yards from the tower when three shapes separated themselves from the shadow of the tower. He barely had time to react with one of them threw something.

  The item shattered and a wall of flames roared to life. By the light he could see Rondo and another man and woman. The woman, he assumed, was Domina. The man he had no idea and given his dark cloak and deep cowl Moz couldn’t see his face anyway.

  “Fire masters!” Moz shouted.

  A pair of bards hustled to the front and began to hum. The flames wavered and trembled as they worked their magic.

  Behind the wall, the mystery man spun in a circle and slammed his hand to the ground. Lines of darkness streaked out along the ground, ran up the side of the tower, and back down into the deepest part of its shadow. Moz didn’t know what just happened, but he recognized magic when he saw it.

  “Ware left side!” His warning came just an instant before dozens of dark figures came boiling out of the shadow.

  Some came on two legs and others on four. Still more flew. The only thing they had in common was glowing red eyes that glared with hatred at the people before them.

  A human-shaped shadow surged at Moz. He made a crisscross slash that passed through its chest like smoke and did no damage.

  The creature swiped at him.

  Moz leapt back but failed to avoid the blow entirely. Its fingers grazed his chest and where they touched a chill unlike anything he’d ever felt ran through him. It felt less like cold and more like someone had gouged out a chunk of his soul.

  The two fire masters trying to bring down the wall of flames fell screaming, surrounded by a mob of the creatures.

  Lightning cracked and a blinding flash filled the darkness. Half a dozen of the creatures were burned away.

  Silas stood, sparks still leaping off his fingers. “They’re shadow wights. You can’t hurt them with ordinary weapons. Everyone gather around.”

  When it came to magic, Moz knew just enough to trust the wizards to handle it. He hurried over to Silas along with everyone else.

  “Hold your weapons out,” the wizard said.

  Silas chanted and lightning arced from his body to each weapon. A tingle ran through Moz’s hands, but it didn’t hurt. He looked over his shoulder. The wights were gathering for another attack.

  Only half the weapons had been enchanted.

  The creatures surged forward.

  Yaz wove a chaotic path through the sky, avoiding incoming fire while staying far enough ahead of the dragon that her claws couldn’t reach him. When he figured enough time had passed, Yaz dropped straight down, spun, and raced back towards the tower.

  When he arrived, he found the others fighting some kind of shadow creatures. Looked like they were losing too. A blinding flash made him wince. Silas’s lightning bolt had burned away the nearest creatures and made the rest hesitant.

  Yaz pointed and beams of darkness lanced out, striking the creatures where they huddled. His power made them flinch but didn’t destroy them.

  The shadow wights’ essence is very similar to my own. Attacking them is pointless, but you can buy your friends some time.

  “How?”

  Conjure a wall. They’ll destroy it soon enough, but it should last a minute or so.

  A minute or so. Well, it was better than nothing.

  At Yaz’s command, halfway between the wights and his friends, a wall of darkness sprang up. Yaz flew lower. “Are you okay?”

  “We can handle this,” Moz said. “Get inside and deal with the leader.”

  Yaz looked from the wights to Moz. “You sure?”

  “Go!”

  It twisted Yaz’s guts to leave his mother and friends behind to fight t
hose shadow creatures, but his new power was nearly useless against them. Besides, the sooner he defeated Leonidas Black, the sooner this nightmare would be over. That was what he needed to focus on. The others were skilled fighters and had Silas’s magic to back them up. They’d be okay.

  He flew over the wall of darkness. On the other side the tower door was unguarded. Whoever was calling the wights had to be close, but the area around the tower was empty. He looked up. Every once in a while, he caught a glint of light flashing off the black dragon’s polished scales. She was still up there, circling the tower. They were probably too close to risk a blast of flame, thank the gods for little favors.

  Yaz landed and tapped the rune pad. The door opened a fraction and he yanked it the rest of the way. Inside was one of the usual libraries. This one had fewer books and more large, comfortable chairs. A lone man was chained to the far wall. The moment he spotted Yaz he thrashed and moaned. He might be a prisoner or he might be a trap. Either way, Yaz didn’t have time to deal with him.

  At the center of the room he found a glowing sigil with a hole in the ceiling above it. He hesitated, expecting an attack at any moment. This felt too easy.

  It is almost certainly a trap.

  Yaz clenched his jaw. Of course it was a trap. But there was no backing out now. He surrounded himself with a thick layer of darkness and flew up into the unknown.

  Chapter 23

  At the top of the shaft, Yaz found himself in a round, stone chamber. Directly in front of him was a golden throne with a little blond girl seated on it. She stared blankly ahead, making no reaction to his arrival. Behind the throne, slightly hidden by shadows, was Leonidas Black. The magic ring on his finger glinted with an inner light.

  “You are far younger than I expected,” Leonidas said. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me? Decades of work imperiled. One of my most trusted allies killed.”

  “Perhaps you shouldn’t have tried to take over the world.” Yaz took a step closer. “Perhaps you shouldn’t have attacked my village. Perhaps you shouldn’t have sold my people into slavery. Perhaps you shouldn’t have handed my father over to lunatic cultists who spent months torturing him before killing him before my eyes. Perhaps you shouldn’t have locked my mother in a tower in the mountains, alone in the dark. For any of those crimes I would have opposed you. For the last two, I’m going to rip you to pieces and feed you to the giant dragon outside.”

  Leonidas stared at him with sudden understanding. He threw back his head and laughed. “You’re from that ragged little village that sprang up around the first dragonspire. Unbelievable.”

  Yaz had had enough talk. He threw his hands forward and sent a stream of dark magic at Leonidas’s head.

  His blast struck a crimson shield. He kept pouring on the power, but somehow Leonidas was able to push him back.

  When Yaz finally ended his attack, Leonidas said, “Don’t think this battle is going to go like our first encounter. You think you trapped me here, but it was I that lured you in. With the tower’s magic to draw on, I have an unlimited supply of energy. Can you say the same?”

  There was a flash of crimson.

  Yaz barely raised a shield in time to turn it aside. As the assault continued, he asked as quietly as possible, “Do I have an unlimited energy supply?”

  No energy source is unlimited, including his, despite what he says. Your limit lies in how much of my power you can channel without burning out your mortal body. How much that is, I can’t say.

  That was a useless reply.

  The pressure on his shield vanished and Yaz risked a look around it. The moment he did, a ruby ray nearly decapitated him.

  Power on power was a losing plan. He needed to think laterally. Outsmart his opponent.

  “Are you just going to hide behind that shield, boy, or are you going to come out and fight?”

  “If you’re so damn strong, let’s see you knock it down.”

  “Arrogant pup!”

  The first pulse of Leonidas’s renewed assault nearly broke through.

  Yaz recovered quickly, strengthening his shield. It felt like fighting the dragon. He could manage a draw, but not a win.

  He nearly slapped his forehead. The answer to his problem was sitting on the throne. If he could free Ariel, the two of them could defeat this guy no problem. The trick was getting that crown off her head without Leonidas noticing.

  Yaz grinned. He had an idea how to do that.

  Yaz flew towards the tower and Moz lost sight of him. They were on their own.

  “That’s it,” Silas said. “I’m drained.”

  Everyone’s weapons sparked with electricity. And not a moment too soon. Shadowy claws tore Yaz’s wall to wisps. An instant later the wights surged forward.

  Moz’s blade sliced through one of the wights, blasting it to pieces. With the enchantment added, he had no trouble destroying the creatures, but there seemed to be no end to them. He didn’t even bother to try and keep track of how many he killed, assuming they were even alive. For every one that burst into a chill, black mist, two more emerged from the tower’s shadow.

  They needed to find Rondo and his friends. They had to be maintaining the shadow portal. This battle would never end until they were dealt with.

  Moz spun and slashed through a wight sneaking up on Callie’s flank. “Can any of the bards find the wizard that opened that portal?”

  “I doubt it. If they’re out in the open, Tonia might spot them from the air, but other than that I don’t know.”

  Moz double slashed through a pair of wights and found himself with a moment to breathe. No way would the enemy be somewhere out in the open. They needed magic to find them and the only wizard left was Silas. Hopefully the kid had his strength back. They were going to need it.

  “You good?” Moz asked.

  “Yeah.” Callie had always had a knack with the sword, for a bard anyway.

  He clapped her on the shoulder and went to find Silas. Even in the chaos of battle it was easy to spot him. Helena and Brigid stood on either side of the wizard, protecting him from any wight that got close. As for Silas himself, he knelt, head bowed, like a man that had run a dozen miles.

  Helena and Brigid knew how to use their staves. As Moz approached, more than one wight turned aside to find easier prey.

  The moment he got close Helena asked, “How do we stop them?”

  “We need to find the wizard that opened the shadow gate,” Silas answered for him. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Moz said. “Are you up to it?”

  Silas’s smile was bitter. “Do I have a choice?”

  Moz didn’t bother answering as Silas had already pulled a black amulet out from the folds of his tunic and begun to cast. Dark energy gathered around the amulet as he muttered in a language that sent chills up Moz’s spine.

  Whatever Silas was doing, the wights didn’t like it. Every one of the monsters within fifty feet turned their way. He and the ladies shifted to form a triangle around Silas. If anything happened to him, they were in real trouble.

  Moz slashed and stabbed, vaporizing any wights that got close. To his left and right the snap and crackle of the enchanted quarterstaffs told him Brigid and Helena were doing the same.

  “I have them,” Silas said after what seemed a long wait. “Three life signs too far away to be of any use.”

  “Where?” Moz asked between slashes.

  Silas pointed toward the opposite side of the tower. “About a hundred and fifty yards that way.”

  As quick as they’d attacked, the wights broke off and scattered. Silas straightened, his amulet tucked out of sight again. With the magic that had attracted them ended, the wights seemed content to look for others to kill. Moz couldn’t make up his mind if the creatures were intelligent or acted on instinct.

  Moz took a moment to study the battlefield. His people were holding their own for the moment. Still, he didn’t dare call for reinforcements. They�
�d need every sword to hold off the wights.

  “You three up for a fight?” Moz asked.

  Silas blew out a long sigh. “I’m good for one more spell, maybe two.

  Helena and Brigid just nodded, looking grim.

  Moz set out toward the far side of the tower. An occasional wight made a run at them and he slashed it out of existence. At least the fire had burned itself out so he had one less thing to worry about.

  “Where exactly are they?” Moz asked.

  “I’ll know when we get close,” Silas said. “Opening that portal is strong magic. I’ll be able to sense the source.”

  Moz asked no more questions. He had to trust that the kid knew what he was doing. It grew ever darker as twilight gave way to true night. He was about to say something when Silas’s pet skull burst into light. The dull glow wasn’t terribly bright, but it was enough to allow them to navigate around fallen stones and heaps of rubble.

  “That building.” Silas pointed out a single-story stone structure about twenty yards ahead.

  There was nothing about it to indicate anything magical was going on inside. He gave the young wizard a quick look, shrugged, and moved closer. When they got nearer it became clear that the building had a brand-new door made of heavy timbers and iron. This was definitely a place the Dark Sages had been using. His confidence in Silas rose a notch.

  The question now was, how did they get in? That door would stop a small battering ram.

  Without a word Silas pulled out the black amulet again and began murmuring. A dark mist flew from him toward the door. In seconds the wood rotted and the hinges rusted.

  Three figures were revealed inside, Rondo, Domina, and the strange wizard who was seated in the center of a magic circle that glowed with purple light. That had to be the source of the portal.

  “Die, fools!” Domina pulled a vial from her satchel.

  Before she could throw it, Helena hurled her staff like a javelin, striking the vial and shattering it.

  Domina screamed as her right hand dissolved.

  Moz and Brigid charged.