Forest of Kings

by Jack Knight

  Just before they reached the treeline, Sarin said, “Now, be careful. Many things live in the forests that avoid the elven cities, but are just as dangerous as anything to be found on the plains.”

  Almost as if to counter her point, a young boy stepped out of the trees directly in front of them and stood, staring at them in silence. All of them stopped walking at once.

  “Aww, hello, are you lost?” Laira cooed to the child.

  The boy stood only as tall as Xion’s shoulder, and had dirt covering his face and clothes. He looked like he had wandered on his own for quite some time. His pitch black hair was matted and filled with twigs and leaves, his plain clothes were torn in several places.

  There was something about the boy that Xion found odd. He had always regarded children as seeming half formed, pudgy, and awkward. This boy was different somehow. He had a perfectly symmetrical face, cold black eyes, and a surprisingly stoic manner. It was almost as if he were a grown man, just shrunk down to child size.

  It was not until the boy spoke that Xion realized what was so off about the boy, but by then, it was too late to do anything about it.

  “Hello, Chosen One,” the boy’s voice came out strangely, like Xion was hearing it twice. He heard the words in the child’s voice, but an echo of his true voice hid underneath. “The king sends his regards.”

  It was only after he heard the words that Xion realized what the boy was.

  “He’s shapeshifted!” Xion shouted a warning to the others. “He’s a dragon!”

  Chapter 6: Captured

  Ava grabbed Laira by the arm and pulled her out of the way. She stood protectively between Laira and the boy with her dagger drawn, while Laira peered over Ava’s shoulder. Sarin stood her ground and held out her palm toward the boy, as if her hand was just as dangerous as any weapon. Sapphire took a step back and started mumbling words to herself in Draconic. Xion pulled his bow from his back and knocked an arrow.

  Warren stepped slowly backwards chuckling nervously. “How do you know it’s a dragon?” he asked with a shaking voice.

  “He looks like Draxis did in his human form,” Xion answered. “What do you want?” he called to the boy, who was standing stone still and smiling in a way that sent a shiver down Xion’s spine.

  “The king has said how much trouble you stand to cause,” the boy answered in his echoing voice, “and we do not intend to die again.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Xion said honestly, “but I won’t let you hurt anyone. Leave us alone.”

  The boy laughed. It came out harsh and cold, a laugh that did not match his appearance in any way. “But, think of how we will be rewarded when we present His Majesty with your corpse.”

  Xion shivered. He did not want to hear the boy say another word, he could not think of any word to describe his voice except “creepy.”

  “Walk away now, or we will have to kill you,” Xion called back. He tried to make it sound convincing, but he did not want to fight something that looked like a child. His voice quivered as it escaped his throat, and he was sure it did not sound as intimidating as he had meant it to.

  The boy laughed again. “You do not stand a chance against me. What do you think will happen when the others arrive?” he asked.

  “Others?” Xion could see his bow shaking in his hand, now. He knew that it was possible for dragons to be killed, but nobody alive knew how it could be done. Xion did not like the possibility of fighting more than one.

  “Did you think I would come alone?” the boy asked in a mocking tone. “No, little fledgling, the others are on their way now. We cannot risk you stopping the king from releasing the hells onto the humans.

  Xion did not like the way the boy had phrased his threat. “Releasing hell” would have sounded bad enough, but “releasing the hells” sounded much less vague, like it was it was something terribly specific. Xion had no idea what it meant, but there was no way that it could be anything good.

  “What are you doing?” Sapphire asked, her voice shaking with fear.

  “What do you mean?” Xion asked her without taking his eyes off the dragon.

  “Xion, you’re freaking me out,” Warren said.

  Before Xion had time to ask what they were talking about, the boy lunged forward. His body shivered in midair, and his form began to change. It took only seconds, and then suddenly the boy was gone, and a dragon had taken his place. This dragon was the same size as the red one in Xion’s dream, but its scales were as black as night. Its eyes could barely be seen, the pupil barely darker than the black surrounding it. His large, leathery wings were spread wide as he came to land before them.

  The second its four feet touched the ground, everyone burst into action. Sarin shot several long spears of ice out of her palm at the beast. Ava charged forward to tackle it, but the dragon whipped its long tail through the air and caught her in the stomach. Ava flew backwards with a grunt and landed full on her back with a choked gasp of surprise. Warren started chanting words that slurred together in Xion’s ears, like he was speaking too fast to understand. Sapphire ran toward the dragon and started chanting the same way as Warren.

  The fire inside Xion burst to life in an instant. His body filled with heat, his blood became fire and rage. With Sapphire and Warren between him and the dragon, he could not help but think, “Don’t miss, don’t miss, don’t miss,” as he aimed his next shot. Every time he fired an arrow while he channeled magic, it burst into flames on impact. He did not know if fire would have any effect on a dragon, and silently hoped that it would as the arrow hit the dragon in the back, just beside its neck.

  Instead of fire, the arrow crackled with lightning when it hit. The arrow bounced harmlessly off the dragon’s scales, but the creature let out a high pitched yelp as the lightning arced across its back.

  Xion felt a slight tug within himself, the slightest drain of energy. For weeks, during their journey to Celemor, Sarin had taught them magic, instructing them to practice as often as possible. She said that using magic was like a muscle, the more you use it, the less tiring it would be to use again. When he had first started using magic, it had left him feeling drained and tired, but now, even though he could feel the drain after each shot, it did not cause him any discomfort. He had gotten stronger.

  The dragon let out a soft growl, and opened its mouth wide, spewing out a line of fire directed straight toward Sapphire. Sapphire threw up her hands, as if she were going to catch the flame. Instead, the fire stopped, as if it had run into an invisible wall ten feet away from where she stood.

  The dragon stopped breathing its fire, staring at Sapphire in surprise. Sarin and Ava both took this as their opportunity to attack. They ran at the dragon from either side, Ava’s dagger was in hand, and Sarin carried a one handed sword that Xion had never seen before. He wondered if he had never noticed it, or if Sarin had summoned it with magic.

  Just before the two of them made it to the dragon, he realized what was happening and reacted. He jumped with all four legs and turned in place. His tail lashed out toward Ava, who was not going to make the same mistake twice. Right before the tail would have hit her, she jumped over it and landed on the dragon’s back, her dagger slid between the dragon’s scales, and bright red blood leaked across its back. Sarin did not fare so well.

  The dragon could see Sarin coming. She jumped upward to avoid its head, but it bent its neck and thrust its head toward her with lightning speed. If it had been any slower, Sarin would have sailed over it. Instead, its mouth opened wide and bit down, catching Sarin’s chest between its teeth.

  Warren finally finished chanting and raised his arms, he brought them down quickly and four bolts of light flew toward the dragon, cracking loudly as they hit its armored scales. Sapphire threw her hand out and released three identical bolts that hit seconds after Warren’s.

  Xion seemed to be the only one that had seen Sarin get grabbed. She had not let out any sound to signal that she was in pain. She swung her sword at the head
of the monster repeatedly, but it glanced off every time, inflicting little, if any damage. Xion knew that Sarin would fight to her last breath, and he hoped it wouldn’t have to come to that.

  He did not know any spell that would help him, so he just let his magic course through him. He focused on the dragon’s left eye, he let his blood burn and thought of nothing but its terrifying color as he loosed another arrow.

  This time, the pull from inside him was violent, like part of his soul had been ripped from him as he let the arrow go. The arrow rocketed from his bow, much faster than it should have been able to. It glowed bright blue as it glided through the air. The dragon waved its head, with Sarin still clenched in its jaw, and Xion was sure the arrow would miss its mark. Until it curved in the air, like it knew where it was supposed to hit, and refused to miss.

  When it hit, the arrow dug itself completely into the dragon’s eye, and in an instant, lightning arced across its entire body. Ava, who had latched onto the dragon’s back just moments before, was thrown into the air as the lightning hit her. She landed twenty feet away, with her hair standing on end.

  The dragon let out a terrified, painful screech, and released Sarin, throwing her high into the air. Warren quickly said a few words in Draconic and ran to Sarin, who floated down into his arms as if she weighed nothing.

  The dragon thrashed around, looking with its one eye to anyone that it could. It locked its half gaze onto Laira, who was crouched down far away from everyone else, and staring at the dragon in terror.

  The dragon lunged and spread its wings, gliding toward Laira at an alarming speed. Xion tried to loose another arrow, but it fell far too short. He realized that the magic he had used had drained him much more than he had thought it would, his body and mind were exhausted. He fell to one knee, and helplessly watched as the dragon soared toward Laira.

  The dragon swooped down, with jaw spread wide, ready to snatch Laira the same way he had grabbed Sarin earlier, but he didn’t get the chance. So quickly, Xion nearly would’ve missed it if he had blinked, Ava jumped between them and rammed Laira out of the dragon's path. In the same instant, she leapt upwards towards its open mouth.

  The dragon didn’t make a sound, but a split second later it dropped heavily from the sky. Xion couldn't see what had happened, because a thick plume of dust and dirt had been thrown into the air when it had crashed into the earth.

  Xion forced himself to move. He struggled to make his way over to Laira and had just about reached her when his energy ran out. He fell forwards and just managed to throw out his hands to break his fall.

  Laira quickly helped Xion up, and together, they watched as the cloud of dust dissipated. When it cleared, Xion saw the lifeless form of the dragon on the ground, its wings still outstretched, and its legs bent at odd angles. Ava, with her shirt covered in blood, and her hair sticking straight out of her head, ripped her dagger from the roof of the dragon’s mouth with a grunt, and then turned to Xion.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” she barked at him.

  “Xion, come quick,” Sapphire shouted. Her voice cracked and shook, and Xion knew that something terrible had happened. He looked over, and saw that Sapphire and Warren were huddled over Sarin. Who was laying on the ground. She was not moving.

  Xion felt a wave of energy course through him and tried to stand. Instantly, it disappeared, and his knees buckled. Laira caught his arm and pulled it over her shoulder. With Laira supporting most of his weight, the two hobbled over to where Sarin lay on the ground. It could not have been more than forty feet, and Xion had been carried most of the way, but when Laira released him and he fell to the ground, he felt like he had run a thousand miles.

  Which was nothing compared to how Sarin looked. The dragon’s teeth had left puncture wounds as big as daggers all across her chest. Some of them had been drawn out, stretching several inches long, probably from when the dragon had been shaking its head. Blood pooled on the ground beneath her and flooded across her chest so quickly that Xion could not believe so much blood could be contained within one body.

  Warren was staring down stunned, his jaw open wide, a single tear stretched down his face from his wide open eyes. He looked at Xion with such anguish, and he knew Warren was thinking the same thing he was. “Not even Sapphire can heal this.”

  Sarin’s eyes were closed. Her chest did not rise or fall. She laid limply on the ground, but her face held such peace.

  Ava knelt down next to Sapphire, as Sapphire reached her hands out toward Sarin’s wounds. “No,” Ava said softly as she grabbed Sapphire’s hands.

  “I have to try!” Sapphire screamed, fighting to pull her hands away from Ava, but Ava held them fiercely tight, she pulled Sapphire close to her.

  Sapphire stopped fighting, she let Ava put an arm around her, and Sapphire began to sob and wail against Ava’s chest. They all sat like that for several minutes, with only Sapphire making any noise, until Xion could finally tear his eyes away from Sarin’s face.

  The scene was too familiar. It was far too similar to what had happened to Jorham, not long enough ago. He felt his heart breaking in his chest, but he knew that this time, nobody was going to give him direction.

  When Jorham had died, there were bandits to search for, to strike down, and to get justice. This time, the murderer was already dead. And this time, something was coming for them.

  “We have to go, now,” Xion said, his voice came out dry and hollow. He had not shed a tear, but his throat was tight, and he felt like he could break down at any moment.

  “Xion,” Ava scolded venomously, “really?”

  “You heard what the dragon said,” Xion pressed. He looked at Sapphire and wished that there was something else that he could do, but he knew that every second they waited, the other dragons were getting closer.

  “You understood the dragon?” Warren asked.

  Xion nodded. Of course, he had, it was not being very cryptic about anything. “We need to leave before the other dragons get here,” he insisted.

  “Other dragons?” Laira gasped.

  “We can’t leave Sarin,” Ava said. She said it like it was a command.

  “I don’t want to, but… this is what happened fighting one dragon. And, I can’t use magic like that again,” Xion explained.

  Ava flicked her wrist, and instantly her dagger was in her hand. The hand she had placed on Sapphire’s arm was perfectly steady, Xion did not even think that Sapphire noticed the movement. Ava pointed the dagger directly at Xion’s face. She did not say a word, clearly trying to hide what she was doing from Sapphire, but the glare that she gave said plenty. They were going to pay respect to Sarin, or Ava was going to make them.

  “I vote we do something quickly,” Warren said. Even though the dagger was not being aimed at him, he seemed as afraid as if it was.

  Xion was torn, he did not want to just leave Sarin there, but there would be nobody left alive to give them a funeral if they did not get away before the dragons arrived. The look on Ava’s face told him there was no point in arguing. He looked over to the body of the dragon that lay, broken and defeated, not far away. If they were going to pay their respects to one of them, they could not disrespect the other.

  “Okay, but we hurry,” Xion agreed as he turned his head back to Ava. “And, we do the same for the dragon.”

  Ava’s jaw clenched, and she seethed through her teeth, “Are. You. Kidding. Me?”

  “If we have time for one, we have time for both,” Xion insisted. Leaving the body of the dragon was just as wrong as leaving Sarin. Whether it was their enemy or not, it had still been a living creature.

  “Xion’s right,” Sapphire sobbed as she removed herself from Ava. Ava’s hand lowered and her dagger disappeared in a flash. “It’s the right thing to do.”

  Ava growled, “Fine. Warren, get over here and help me.”

  Ava quickly grabbed underneath Sarin’s limp shoulders and heaved her up as much as she could. Warren ran over, until he realized what she
was asking.

  “Um, yeah, dead bodies, not my biggest…”

  “Warren, help me now or I’ll be doing this to you next,” Ava spat.

  Warren shivered in disgust as he lifted Sarin’s feet. They heaved her over to the dead body of the dragon and laid her down.

  “We’re making a funeral pyre, on three,” Ava commanded. Warren’s face looked green, and he shook his hands so violently Xion was sure he was trying to remove them, but he nodded.

  Xion walked Sapphire closer to where Ava and Warren started spraying fire from their hands, lighting both the bodies on fire. Laira followed behind, looking unsure of what to do. Xion was certain the dragon would not burn, but after a few seconds it did. He wondered if the magic that kept dragons from being hurt by fire ended when they died.

  “Sapphire, do you know Fremia’s funeral rites?” Ava called without looking up, concentrating on keeping the spell going.

  Sapphire nodded and then started reciting something that sounded like poetry, but Xion did not listen to the words. He moved his eyes between Sarin’s burning body, and the forest, searching for any sign of movement. After nearly a minute, Ava and Warren stopped their spells and stood by Sapphire’s side until she finished speaking.

  Xion looked at her, tears still streamed down her face, but she looked like she felt better. Xion wished that he worshipped one of the gods in that moment, someone that he could pray to to make himself feel better. All he could do was thank every god that the dragon had only taken one of them.

  “Ready?” Xion asked Sapphire. He did not want to rush her, but they were wasting time.

  Sapphire nodded, and Ava took her hand. “Let’s move,” Ava commanded. All of them raced into the forest, and Xion looked back one last time to see the fire burning high. Then, he turned his head forward and raced on, hoping that he would not have to leave anyone else behind.