War Dragons

by C. K. Rieke

  “King Garrond,” Gogenanth said. “Where were the dragons all these years? Where were you taken to raise the dragons?”

  The king lay heavy eyes on him then. “The depths of Firen-ar.”

  “That would explain it,” Lilaci said, snapping her fingers.

  “Explain what?” Fewn asked, with her hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised.

  “The souls of the dragons have been corrupted by the metal of Arralyn in the afterlife,” Lilaci said, waving her hand up by her shoulders. “If the gods had a way of keeping their greatest foes’ souls entrapped all these years, preventing them from moving on, it may have driven their soul mad.” Lilaci paced back and forth, with her head looking at each of them. “The gods may or may not have known the consequence of such actions, so even Dânoz may not have known the destruction the dragons would unleash. What we are experiencing with these attacks are the torturing of souls of millenniums.”

  “What’s does that have to do with Kera’s ability to cancel out Gorlen’s power like she did?” Ezmerelda asked, with her hands held out, and her palms pointed up.

  Lilaci thought. “I don’t know. But they may not be the same power. The gods may gain their powers from those stones, or the metal on their island, or perhaps their godliness is just divine in nature.”

  “That still doesn’t show a weakness in the dragons,” Fewn said, looking out to the shadow of a dragon sweeping across the black clouds lit in an orange, flickering glow.

  “I guess we’ll just have to stick to sword blades,” Gogenanth said, “and some of the gods’ own magic.” He winked at Lilaci.

  “Thank you, King Garrond,” Kera said, walking over to him.

  He surprisingly then dropped to a knee, wrapped his fingers around her hand, and bowed his head and kissed it. “Please, Dragon’s Breath, save my lands. Save my home. Kill Arymos for me and avenge my son.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Making their way back down the great tower in the palace, Lilaci watched the hazy orange illumination along the walls as the dragonfire entered through its many windows from different directions. Kera squeezed her hand tightly as Obsidrox let out bellowing roars out in the distance. The flickering lights of the fires reminded Lilaci of Tirilin’s destruction back in Voru, but this was worse—much worse.

  Obsidrox had been laying siege to the city for many days, and this dragon was larger, perhaps only because it was given that many more weeks to grow, she thought.

  “Do you remember this dragon?” Kera asked, flinching as the dragon let out another loud screech.

  Lilaci knew she meant from before, when they fought all six dragons. “I believe so, if the name gives any hint of the colors of the dragon.”

  “I—I don’t want to fight against it,” Kera said, “I wish... I wish I could just return it to its sanity. Or even convince it to join us...”

  “I had almost forgotten you speak dragon,” Fewn said with all seriousness on her face. “Maybe there’s a chance it will listen if you call its name.”

  “I wouldn’t rely on that,” Gogenanth said, while looking at the shade of dragonfire flickering through elongated window’s patterns within the palace. “Not that I don’t believe in you, Kera. I absolutely do. But we are heading into a war with a dragon the likes of which I’ve not seen before. This is an ancient beast, driven mad through rage, and war. Its soul’s been maddened and tortured, and now it’s back here to wreak vengeance upon any and everything.”

  “I believe in you Kera,” Veranor said, looking up at the dazzling lights above. “And I agree with Gogenanth. We need to be ready for war and believe in your abilities too.”

  “Yes,” Lilaci said. “We will take the same strategy we used against Tirilin. Find an opening in the city, distract it from its inhabitants. We will call the Aridons, we will have Kera’s dragons, and we will overwhelm Obsidrox. It worked before, and it will work again. And we have the Whiteblades this time.”

  Fewn gave Lilaci a condescending eye. “You really believe they are going to help in this fight?”

  Lilaci didn’t respond. They are sheer in number, but our abilities far outweigh theirs without power. But I have to hope that they will be a force at our side. Of course they will! Won’t they?

  “Yes, the knights will help us,” Kera said, clenching her fists at her sides. “I know they will, I have no doubt they will!”

  “And what about you Lilaci?” Veranor asked, and as he said those words, Lilaci felt the hairs on her neck stand up, she was annoyed. He knew he was about to bring up something she didn’t want to talk about. “You’re leaving out that more importantly than the knights, maybe the biggest force in our battle with Obsidrox will be you, and the Sanzoral. Are you ready?”

  “Yes!” Lilaci shot back. “You know you don’t have to ask me that.” Although she really didn’t blame him for asking her that. Her hands were aching at that very moment, and she could hardly keep her back straight, as it felt tight. She felt all eyes on her as she apparently had lashed back at him.

  “Are you OK, Lilaci?” Kera asked in such a sweet, caring voice the winged ones in the Great Realm in the Sky could have shed a tear.

  A brief pause happened then, and then Lilaci dropped to a knee, a slightly painful one she wouldn’t admit, but it seemed to her that her body was beginning to break down. “Yes, Kera, I’m fine. I promise.” She winked.

  Once they’d reunited with the dragons at the bottom of the tower, the whole group readied themselves. Shuffling their armor on tight, fitting their weapons well against their sides. Lilaci, Fewn, and Veranor all separately checked to make sure the Stones of Geminos were still around Kera’s neck.

  Lilaci looked around to her friends and saw the all-too-familiar look of hardened warriors. Even Kera had been through more battles now than most men Lilaci’s age in the Arr. She felt a sudden rush of pride well up in her stomach, and her heart warmed. Then she realized again, that she herself was bred for battle, for killing, and for war. Then her heart sank, as she looked upon Kera, who at the mere age where she would hardly be old enough to find a loving connection with a young person her own age—was hefting a dagger, ready to kill.

  How far we’ve come, haven’t we? When all I wanted for us was to be a family at peace, here we are heading straight into the worst kind of odds, and into the heart of dragonfire.

  Oh, I wished things were going to be different after we ran out onto the sands, and after we killed Gorlen. But here we are again, after all of it, and I ask you to risk your life again against such a monster, a monster the likes of which The Eternal Fires below would be jealous.

  Lilaci heard the doors to the palace open loudly before them, creaking and echoing throughout the palace. She instantly recognized Burr running through the doors.

  “We must go at once,” he said, his one eye showed his anxiousness even more than his hectic running. “The dragon is coming this way!”

  At once the group ran toward the front gate after him, with the dragons behind them. Lilaci looked for it and saw that Veranor had his reed firmly in hand. The world past the front gate was a hazy fog of black smoke and sky, and rumbling fires across the breadth of the lands. The dragon’s roar shot out then, deafening and harrowing. This was such a monstrous beast that Lilaci could herself barely grasp that man—and woman—could defeat such a beast.

  But we have dragons too. And Aridons.

  They emerged out into the courtyard in front of Āsobôr, just in time to see the tail of Obsidrox before it dipped up into the black clouds above.

  “Is this the place?” Fewn asked, her black hair blowing before her face in the winds.

  Lilaci looked around, and besides the thousands of people that were running about, and cowering to the floor of the courtyard, she thought, yes.

  Gogenanth then turned to the emissary. “Is there another courtyard around?” He didn’t seem to get a response as the emissary stood with his wrinkled mouth open, staring up at where the dragon’s tail had disappeare
d up into the sky. He grabbed the emissary by the cloth on his chest and pulled him toward his face. “Hey, you! You hear me?”

  The old man nodded vehemently, staring into Gogenanth’s searing green eyes.

  “There another courtyard around here? One less occupied?” Gogenanth asked again.

  “Court D’Leo, a half mile down, north. Don’t know if it will be less crowded. The people are congregating in the openings that aren’t on fire.”

  “How do we get them less crowded?” Gogenanth asked, still holding the emissary by the front of his shirt.

  “We could... we could try to have our soldiers remove them,” the emissary said.

  “That would take too long,” Veranor said.

  “I have an idea,” Kera said with her fingers on her chin, and she was looking at Lilaci.

  An hour later, in the center of the Court D’Leo, a courtyard filled with fountains that flowed crisp, blue water out of white marble statues down to rippling pools, a figure rose to the sky. To all around who sat fearful they may even live until the light of the morning sun, it was a sign of hope. Vibrant green plants and rows of splendid flowers spanned the courtyard, although their color now was only the reflective color of the growing dragonfire from the raging fires of the city.

  “Hear me, my fellow citizens of the Arr,” Lilaci said, her hands were glowing a vibrant violet shimmer that looked like fire. There was a solidified disk of sand that lifted her above, but to the people below, it might as well have been divine magic. “You need to leave this court immediately. Find other shelter. The great dragon is coming here. You are not safe. I’m going to drive the dragon Obsidrox away, but you must flee first. There will be causalities, but I don’t want you and your families to be of them!” Her voice rang out as clearly as a minster’s in a quiet church. Then the hollering began.

  Instead of running off like they should have been, the people cheered. As Lilaci hovered thirty feet above, the thousands of people below began to cast applause upon her. She didn’t feel comfortable, and at the same moment she began to worry that they weren’t running off for shelter like she asked, the dragon’s roar forced ripples down from above, sending shockwaves upon the crowd.

  While their applause muted, and another roar bellowed out, Obsidrox dipped below the cover of the clouds, letting its huge wings flap, sending the dragon slowly down toward Lilaci. The crowd below was completely silent and stuck in terror. Lilaci looked upon the people with their mouths agape, and their eyes completely focused on the death that was coming down from on high.

  She felt a rush of energy flow from her heart, go up to her shoulders, and down her arms to her hands. “I... said... run!” She let the fire of the Sanzoral flow free then. Bright, vibrant light, completely unlike dragonfire, but then again, maybe it was just a shade. “Run! You’re not safe here. Run!” The crowd’s eyes of shock and terror fell to her then, and then they seemed to grasp the enormity of the situation. They are going to die here if they stay. I can’t protect them all.

  The crowd dispersed, and through the commotion of their haphazard exodus, and past the raging wings of the dragon that was descending upon them, Lilaci could hear the subtle, and beautifully melodic blowing of notes through a makeshift reed in the hands and lips of Veranor.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The crowds of thousands scattered like water on broken glass. The dragon, Obsidrox, flew in like a storm from the seas. Lilaci was shocked by the speed with which the dragon flew down upon them, landing with a ground-shaking thud just before her and her friends, only a mere two-hundred paces off. As the people ran off, and their cries faded as they made their way away from the dragon, it raised its long, black-scaled neck and let out one more tremendous roar.

  This is the fight of our lives, right here, right now.

  Its neck dipped down, and it stared into Lilaci’s violet-glowing eyes, as if it could sense her power.

  Why attack us? Are you that mad that you think that we are the enemy? Obsidrox couldn’t read her mind, or it would have heard her plea. A dragon’s eyes are almost always showing that look of... wildness, but this dragon and the last, they show nothing but bloodlust.

  “You recognize it?” Gogenanth asked, heaving his scimitar from side to side with his knees bent.

  Lilaci only nodded.

  Before them, the menacing dragon held its wings out wide, easily one-hundred feet from tip to tip. Its body was a sleek, black-scale that glowed ominously from the horrid orange glow of its own fires that were burning throughout the city. Atop its head was dull black horns the color of charcoal, and what used to be bruised, protruding rib bones out of its body, was now replaced by a seamless work of dragonscale that flowed perfectly together. Its wings were strong and full once again, perhaps even more full and sturdy than when this dragon was an enemy of the gods long ago, Lilaci thought.

  It let out another roar that shook the air and ground and encouraged all citizens of Scindír to evacuate the square with ever-increasing haste. Death was upon them then. Obsidrox let out another snarl that seemed to be focused upon Kera then, with its eerie, pearl-white colored eyes fixed upon her. The eyes showed a soulless, other-worldly dragon wishing nothing more than wrath upon Lilaci and the others.

  Gogenanth then, sensing the dragon’s gaze upon Kera, let his arms rise above him. The blue magic of the Azulūz drifted down around them then, whether it would work against this dragon or not, Lilaci appreciated the attempt. To her surprise, as the great blue orb enveloped them, the dragon’s gaze fogged from its pinpoint gaze on Kera, it hazed and even though its pupil-less eyes were difficult to ascertain, it appeared as if the dragon was beginning to not understand where they were.

  And in its uncertainty, the ultimate power of a dragon became its reaction to the magic that had just entered the fight. Obsidrox’s chest cavity filled, and a searing white light peaked through and in between the tightly-packed metallic black scales.

  “Lilaci,” Kera said in a soft, worried voice.

  “I’ve got it,” Lilaci said, letting the flames of the Sanzoral build up in her hands and arms, like thick blood. “I’m ready.” She didn’t look, but she could sense Veranor’s eyes heavily upon her, not only his, but everyone's. She knew she was their only chance of survival.

  The black dragon’s maw opened wide in the center of the courtyard, filled with green plants glowing orange rustling in the winds, and countless stone fountains and marble statues.

  Then the dragonfire came. And it was like nothing they’d ever felt.

  “Heads down!” Gogenanth yelled, holding a hand in front of his eyes to shield out the blinding flames.

  The dragonfire was unlike what Lilaci expected. It was bright. It was pure. A blinding white flame that singed the hairs from her arms, even with the violet flames of the Sanzoral bursting forward. She held her hands out before her, sending the fires out to meet and deflect the great dragon’s, and she could feel Kera’s hands wrapped around them. Kera tried to send her strength, and even though Lilaci’s hands and joints burned like the devil, she pushed through it. After all, if this fire reached them, at least even a little, this would be the end of them.

  Then, suddenly the dragonfire stopped, as Lilaci knew Kera’s dragons had flown off once Obsidrox let out its flame. But she could tell something else was drawing the black dragon’s attention. Black lions with great—white-plumed wings—the Aridons had come, and they seemed intent on wreaking revenge on their fallen. As the dragon’s neck flung up from the attack, long streaks of white dragonfire lashed out and up into the air in swirling streaks. The Aridons latched onto its back and neck with tremendous fury, and Herradax and Kôrran hadn’t even made it halfway to Obsidrox yet.

  Lilaci watched the Aridons bite and claw at the dragon, making it withdraw from its attack on Lilaci and Kera, but Obsidrox’s surprise at the attack was drawn short. The huge dragon brushed off the Aridons like a giant brushing off insects, and they fell back quickly. Herradax and Kôrran fell upon it swi
ftly, and to Lilaci’s surprise, were thrown back by a swipe with its massive wing. Once the dragon and Aridons were repelled, it let out a great roar that shook the foundations of the city.

  And to Lilaci’s surprise, again, just as she was about to move toward the dragon, a loud voice yelled to the left, out of an opening in the city’s white, clay structures, it was Alveron’s voice.

  “Attack!” he yelled, and instantly Lilaci heard the sound of archers’ bowstrings releasing.

  “No!” Kera cried, running toward Herradax and Kôrran. “Don’t hurt my babies!”

  With the great dragon grimacing and pulling its wing up to shield itself from the flurry of arrows, it began to grow that intense heat in its lungs again. Oh no.

  “Kera, stop!” Lilaci yelled, but Kera didn’t stop running toward her dragons. But Lilaci knew she had to move toward the Whiteblades, or so many of them would be lost. The arrows bounced off the thick dragonscale harmlessly.

  Even as her ankles felt an intense burning in the joints, she ran toward Alveron, who shimmered in his white armor, with his long, broadsword held up high.

  The dragon's eyes had faded away from Kera’s gaze, to that of the army that was rushing in toward it, from behind Alveron. Regardless of whether Lilaci thought Gogenanth’s magic was shielding them from view, she sprinted toward the army. Her arms and knees burned in creaking agony as she was less than a hundred paces off when the dragon’s neck lowered, and it opened its huge, black mouth with dark red tongue slithering out, and its neck growing a dull white color.

  As the roar came, Alveron yelled out orders to his men that were intelligible to her, as all of her focus was upon the Sanzoral welling up inside of her again. As the fires tore through the dragon’s sharp teeth and shot at the Knights of the Whiteblade with furious speed and tenacity, Lilaci found her own fires in her fingers burning through her.