Forest of Kings

by Jack Knight

  All at once, every torch erupted in a column of fire, several of them inches from Ava and Dario. The flames turned a sickly green, the same color of the poison Ava had just drunk. Wind came out of nowhere and whipped around the clearing, though it did not sway the pillars of fire. There were clouds everywhere, and rain pouring down, but it became somehow even darker around them, as if the sun was being blocked by more than clouds.

  A booming voice echoed through the clearing, somewhere between a hiss and an echo, bringing to mind spiders and snakes. The sound sent shivers down Xion’s spine, and made him wish for sunlight, to push away the cold feeling that wrapped around him.

  “By the word of Xyna, Xarothorn, and Orin, I am overruled, and the dark assassin is pardoned.”

  As soon as the voice stopped speaking, the dim light returned, the wind stopped, the fire returned to normal, and the clouds above them parted just enough for the sunlight to brighten the clearing. The rain stopped all at once, and Sapphire’s gasp was covered by the sounds of confusion that rippled through the grumbling crowd.

  Dario looked confused and angry as he looked to Draxis for instruction. Ava did not give any indication that she had heard the voice at all, she stayed as still as a statue, waiting with quiet dignity.

  “What in the hells was that?” Xion demanded of Paarathax.

  Paarathax’s eyes were wide, he was just as surprised as everyone else in the clearing. “I have no idea. I’ve never heard a god speak before.”

  “Their god actually spoke?” Xion asked in surprise.

  Xion was not sure what he had expected in response. He had never really given the gods much thought, and he definitely did not expect to ever hear one speak. He was sure that they cared very little for what happened in the world, and never thought that a group of assassins and thieves would be able to get the god’s attention whenever they wanted.

  “He must have because everyone down there looks too upset to have done it themselves,” Paarathax reasoned.

  He was right, Xion noted. Everyone was starting to frenzy, even Draxis’ smile had turned to a scowl. Everyone in the crowd had apparently expected something entirely different.

  It took several minutes of Dario yelling, “Alright! Stop!” for the crowd to quiet down. Once they had, Dario grabbed Ava roughly by the hair and shouted, “Our god was clearly coerced into pardoning the traitor, that means that she is guilty, and the other gods want her spared. But, we listen to Dreskar, and no other gods!”

  The crowd cheered again, and Xion stood. This time Paarathax did not pull him back down.

  “Wait!” Draxis yelled as Dario reached for the dagger on his belt.

  Dario looked at Draxis defiantly, before his features melted into a forced calm mask. “My lord?” his voice came out stiff.

  “The gods have declared she must not be killed. But, there was not one word about imprisonment,” Draxis smiled brightly. He gestured toward the building beside him. “Lock her in the tomb.” The crowd cheered their agreement.

  Dario smiled as he tugged Ava by the hair toward the door to the tower. She grimaced in pain, but allowed herself to be led toward the door.

  “Xeraxia is inside there, Xion, go!” Paarathax yelled.

  Xion did not need the encouragement, he was already running.

  Xion willed the magic to push him faster, and so much of it had built up inside him that when he gave it direction it burst out of him. He leapt upward, trying to make it as deep into the crowd as he could, and felt a sharp tug as the energy inside him pushed him forward. Instead of clearing one or two rows of people, as he had expected, he glided over the entire crowd.

  Xion was not expecting to move so far, or so fast. When he hit the ground, he stumbled and fell, slamming face first into the mud. He spit out the wet ground and wiped what he could from his eyes as he stood, already running again.

  Draxis laughed in surprise when he saw Xion, but made no move to stop him as he rocketed toward Dario and Ava. Dario glared at him, with a wicked smile on his face as he wrenched open the door to the tower.

  “Xion, no!” Ava shouted as he ran toward her.

  Xion did not care what she was going to say, he did not want her locked in a tower with a blood thirsty dragon. He pushed himself as hard as he could, the energy inside him drained quickly as he used every bit of magic he could.

  Dario shoved Ava through the door seconds before Xion could stop him. Rather than risk not being able to get the door open again and being stuck trying to fend off the entire Hand, he dove through the door just before Dario could slam it shut.

  Instantly, Xion was enveloped in darkness. There was not a sliver of light to be seen anywhere. Xion laid down on the cold stones beneath him, panting. The run had not tired him as much as the magic had. Using so much so quickly took his breath away and left him feeling exhausted.

  “What. An. Idiot,” Ava growled.

  A light burst to life between them. There was a small, floating orb that cast a dim white light around them. Ava was still standing, her hands tied behind her back, with a scowl on her face.

  “Hey, I tried,” Xion said between breaths.

  Ava rolled her eyes and turned around. “Get these off me,” she commanded.

  Xion rolled over and pushed himself to standing. He drew the red sword from his belt and carefully cut the rope around Ava’s wrists. Ava turned back around, rubbing where the rope had ground against her skin.

  “You’re a moron,” she spat. “I had that under control.”

  “You got poisoned and locked in a tower with a dragon,” Xion pointed out.

  “I don’t see any dragons,” she argued.

  “Well, Paarathax said there was one in here, and I couldn’t let you go alone,” Xion insisted.

  “He was wrong.” Ava hesitated a few seconds before asking, with a softer voice, “Is Laira okay?”

  Xion was surprised by the abrupt turn in conversation. “Uh, yeah, she’s fine.” After he said it, the realization hit him. “But, um, she’s with the others. Just outside the huge crowd of people that just tried to kill you.”

  Ava stepped toward him, with a look of murderous rage on her face. Xion held up his sword in self defense. “Hey, remember that I just tried to save you.”

  As angry as Ava was, she did not look like she wanted to attack someone when she was unarmed.

  “Save me from a dragon that doesn’t exist,” Ava corrected.

  “I exist, Little One.”

  Xion and Ava looked at each other in surprise. Seconds after the voice had sounded, torches lining the walls burst to life, lighting the cavernous room much better than Ava’s floating light had.

  The room was identical to the one Xion remembered from the first watchtower he had been in, vast with tall ceilings, made completely of stone, and filled with a tremendous amount of torches. The only difference was, this room was not empty.

  Standing in the majority of the room, filling the space from floor to ceiling, and taking up the middle third of the space, was a dragon so large it dwarfed Draxis in size. Her scales glistened with every color imaginable, a spectacle of iridescence that made Xion think the words “rainbow dragon”. He felt like he should know those words, but he could not place why.

  “It has been many years since I have had visitors,” the dragon spoke. “A pleasure to have your company.”

  “What is that?” Ava asked, her voice quivering with fear.

  “Nice to meet you?” Xion said uncertainly. He had never met a dragon, or seen one in his dreams, that was not at least a little hostile.

  “And, you,” the dragon answered politely, bowing her head in greeting. Xion noticed that even her eyes were multicolored.

  “What are you doing?” Ava snapped, “Stop growling at it.”

  Xion turned his head to Ava, concerned. “What are you talking about?” he asked her.

  Realization lit her face. “Nevermind,” she said quickly, “what did it say?”

  “She was saying hello, did
n’t you hear it?” Xion asked, confused. “She’s not exactly being quiet.”

  “We are speaking in the tongue of dragons, My Child. The Little One does not understand,” the dragon explained.

  Xion looked back and forth between Ava and the dragon, not understanding what was going on. “But, you understand her?” Xion asked the dragon. She nodded.

  “Then, why can I understand you?” Xion asked.

  “All my children speak our language. Even those with other blood in their veins.”

  Xion sighed. “I can speak dragon, because I’m part dragon. I didn’t even have to learn it?” Xion asked.

  The dragon shook her head. “No, it is in your blood.”

  “Aren’t the spells in Aur’in all in dragon, though?” Xion asked Ava.

  Ava looked at him confused, and he realized that she was only hearing part of the conversation. “Draconic,” she corrected.

  “The magic in your blood has you speak our tongue when faced with one of us,” the dragon explained.

  Xion shook his head. As confusing as all of that was, it did not matter at the moment. “Whatever, fine, okay,” he said to himself, trying to focus. “Why aren’t you… I don’t know, eating us?” Xion asked.

  The room trembled with the rumbling of what Xion assumed was the dragon’s laugh. “Not all of our kind want to harm others,” she answered. “My son is angry and hurt. But, he is not to represent all my children.”

  “Your son? Who’s your son?” Xion asked, feeling like he was missing something.

  “The dragon you call Draxis, he is the firstborn of all dragons left on this plane, the king of the dragons.”

  Xion felt like he had been dropped from the city of Evergreen, it took considerable effort to not fall to the ground as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he was talking to Draxis’ mother.

  “Wait… okay… so, if Draxis is king of the dragons, and you’re his mother, what does that make you?” he stumbled across the question.

  “My name is Xeraxia, daughter of Xyna and Xarothorn, first of my kind,” the dragon answered proudly.

  “First?” Xion’s heart skipped a beat. “Are you saying… you’re…”

  “I am the first dragon,” Xeraxia confirmed.

  Chapter 16: Cut

  “Would you stop gaping like an idiot and translate?” Ava demanded.

  Xion turned his eyes away from Xeraxia with great difficulty and repeated to Ava what she had said. Ava seemed to have little reaction to finding out that they were in the presence of the first dragon to ever exist, who also happened to be the mother of the monster terrorizing the world.

  “Great, so does she know how we can get out of here?” Ava asked.

  Xion looked at Xeraxia. “Um, did you get that?”

  Xeraxia nodded. “The door does not lock. This building is constructed so that anyone who wants to leave can.”

  “Wait, so how are you stuck in here?” Xion wondered.

  “I am not stuck, My Child. I choose to stay here,” she answered.

  “It’s called the dragon’s tomb,” Xion argued.

  Xeraxia’s rumbling laugh shook the room again. “A fitting name, I suppose. I am here to guard the contents of this building and refuse to let anyone pass. This is no punishment, it is my atonement.”

  “I don’t understand,” Xion told her honestly.

  “If you don’t tell me what she said, I’m going to kill you,” Ava growled and crossed her arms.

  Xion sighed and repeated what Xeraxia had said again.

  “Then, let’s go,” Ava said quickly as she walked toward the door.

  “Wait,” Xion shouted, “you’re the key to the portal!”

  Ava hesitated with her hand against the door, ready to push it open. “What?” she asked in surprise.

  Xion tried to explain to her everything that he had learned from Paarathax, being gentle with what he said about her mother, and making clear that any of her blood spilled anywhere near the portal would open it.

  “How do you know the portal is near here?” Ava asked.

  “Why else would Draxis be so determined to find it? Why would he have your trial here?” Xion asked.

  Ava groaned and backed away from the door. “Fine, then what’s the plan?” she demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest.

  “I’m not sure,” he admitted. He turned to Xeraxia and asked, “Is there another way out of here?”

  Xeraxia shook her head. “No, there is not.”

  “What is this building even guarding?” Ava scowled. “Why is she here?”

  Xion looked at Xeraxia and waited for an answer.

  “It is of no concern,” she answered. “It is an object of immense power, that must be kept away from anyone who would seek to use it.”

  Xion was very curious, but he did not press for answers.

  “Well?” Ava demanded.

  “She said it doesn’t matter,” Xion translated. “But, she said she wouldn’t let us pass, so it doesn’t seem like it matters, anyway.”

  “I’m not going to just sit here,” Ava said. “What are we going to do?”

  Xion looked around hoping that something would give him some kind of idea. “I don’t… I mean, what are Sapphire and the others doing? If they’re trying to figure out a way to get us out, maybe we just wait.”

  “How are we supposed to know?” Ava scowled.

  “Oh, I got it!” Xion said. He walked over to the wall and sat down with his back against it. He did not know if he would be able to stay standing if he was not in control of his body. Once he was sitting down, he closed his eyes.

  “What are you doing now?” Ava asked.

  “Just wait,” Xion said.

  He pushed his consciousness outward. He felt Ava and Xeraxia first, and then tried to push out past the building, but there was a barrier that he could not get through. It was like the building was keeping his consciousness from getting outside. He struggled with it for several seconds, to no avail.

  He was about to give up when he realized that he could still feel his bond with Aurum. He tested the connection, pushing himself along it a little outside the building, instantly he snapped out of his body and into Aurum’s.

  He saw himself looking up at Sapphire, Xara, Warren, Laira, and Paarathax, who were crouched in a circle whispering to each other. They all glanced over to the crowd, which was now ringed around the building itself, they just watched the door and waited.

  “We can’t just fight passed all those people,” Xara reasoned with the others in a low voice.

  “Not with that attitude,” Warren grinned. “I say you guys give it a shot, I’ll keep watch.”

  Paarathax sighed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We would never make it passed Draxis, even if we could fight off every one of his men.”

  “I’m not letting them stay in there, we have to do something,” Laira insisted.

  Sapphire gave Laira a look that Xion did not understand, but she said nothing. Was Sapphire angry at Laira?

  “Okay,” Warren said, “so, we can’t go in. They can’t come out. If Ava so much as gets a papercut, the portal opens. So, what we need to do is get them out, without any of the people staring at the door seeing.”

  “How do you propose to do that?” Paarathax asked. His face and voice were both without emotion.

  “I don’t know, that was the idea, my jobs done. So, what’s the plan?” Warren answered.

  They all looked around at each other, clearly none of them had any ideas.

  Luckily, Xion did have one. He noticed that Dirk was sitting on Xara’s shoulder. He looked around and saw Ferion sitting on the ground between Sapphire and Laira. He turned around, noticing how strange it felt to move Aurum’s legs instead of his own, and saw Tenebris lying on the ground away from the group. The giant black wolf was staring intently at the crowd, but not moving a muscle. That was all he needed to know.

  It took no effort to pull himself back to his body, he opened
his eyes to see Xeraxia staring at him curiously.

  Mother.

  “Yeah, I know, Aurum,” Xion mumbled to himself.

  He looked to Ava and said, “Call Tenebris.”

  “You want him to break down the door?” Ava asked sarcastically.

  “No, I want him to jump out of the shadows inside the room, we get on his back, and he does the same thing to get us out of here,” Xion explained as he stood up.

  Ava opened her mouth to argue, hesitated a few seconds, and then closed it again. “That’s not completely moronic.”

  Xion smiled at such high praise coming from Ava. “Glad you agree, now call him.”

  Ava closed her eyes and Xion waited with mounting excitement. Almost a full minute passed by before anything happened. Then, the flames on the torches grew smaller, the shadows in the space between the light condensed and thickened, and finally, the giant wolf burst out of the darkness, landing between where Ava and Xion stood, and Xeraxia on the other side of the room.

  Tenebris padded softly to Ava and nudged her gently with his head. She patted the wolf’s muzzle and scratched underneath his chin as she said, “I know, I missed you, too.”

  Danger.

  As if Xion was seeing ghost images flash beneath his vision, he saw what Aurum was trying to show him. They were just flashes, a fraction of a second long, but they came across the bond vividly. Paarathax striking down men in black armor, Warren raising a glowing hand, the outside of the tower where Ava and Xion were stuck, undefended except for Draxis, who stood facing the door.

  Xion understood what had happened, his friends had tried to create a distraction so that he and Ava could escape, not knowing they had a plan of their own. They were fighting the entire Hand trying to give them time to get free, and Draxis was standing just outside the door.

  “Ava, we need to go, now.” Xion quickly explained what Aurum had shown him.

  Ava scowled. “Those morons. Down, girl.”

  Tenebris laid down on her stomach, she was still rather high up for two people as short as Xion and Ava, but Ava managed to climb on in only a couple seconds. Xion had a lot more difficulty. Tenebris’ fur was still wet from the rain, and the few times he had ridden a horse were not enough to prepare him for trying to mount a wolf.