Mercy's Trial

by Sever Bronny

  The dragon from the pit joined up with the other and saw its safe return to the pit floor. As they passed, their combined Fear auras nearly crashed through Augum’s Mind Armor, making his knuckles go white as he curled his fingers into the earth. He only let go when the dragons landed and the aura subsided.

  Compared to the other dragon, the newcomer was absolutely enormous, probably the width of six barns—truly the largest living monster Augum had ever seen. It was heavily scarred, having been involved in many altercations. One eye was milky and one of its wings had a fresh tear. The four-barn dragon licked this tear, nursing it and cooing gently.

  Seeing the size of the pair, Augum had a sick feeling in his stomach, for he realized that he had slain their brethren.

  With the wound-licking complete, the dragons examined the eggs, glowing opalescent. One was infused with lightning, the other a greenish glow much like a firefly, and both pulsed, as if the arcanery involved was tuned to the hearts of the baby dragons within.

  Augum exchanged a grave look with the girls. There lay their prize. Not only would returning those eggs lead to them saving Mrs. Stone and their friends, but to freeing their kingdom—assuming they found an egg for Leera to save too.

  For a time, the dragons purred contentedly like cats proud of their catch. Then the larger of the dragons picked up the eggs with a forepaw and carried them inside. The other looked at the skies, stretched, yawned, and curled back into a ball, one crimson eye still open skyward until it too closed sleepily.

  The trio lay frozen against the lip of the pit, watching and waiting to see what happened. In the mean, the wind increased to a low and constant thwoom and ominous black clouds raced overhead. Augum kept an eye on the trees in case the wind should shift.

  Eventually, the six-barn dragon resurfaced without the eggs and took off on its giant haunches, its Fear aura sweeping over the trio as it passed. The other dragon, meanwhile, barely stirred.

  “I think it’s gone to hunt for more eggs,” Augum whispered. Confident the beast below was asleep once more, he recast the Reveal spell and studied the sides of the pit, which were covered with a web of trap enchantments. He thought he found a way forward that would obscure their path down the slope—as long as they kept the dragon’s sightline limited by hiding evidence of their disenchanting behind the scattered boulders. It was a bold plan, one that would fail should the dragon look too closely.

  “You two ready for this?” he asked, still focused on the Reveal spell. When the girls nodded, Augum found a green tendril end that governed the patch all the way to the next boulder. “Exotus mia enchantus duo dai ideum exat,” he incanted, gaining the capability to mess with the tendrils but narrowing his overall vision. Then he pulled on the tendril. The web ahead collapsed, the patch disenchanted. “Follow me,” he whispered and, while hunkering, hurried ahead to the boulder, the girls trailing.

  “I’ll do the next swath,” Bridget whispered.

  Leera took her turn after, allowing them to reach the pit floor, which had not been enchanted with traps. There they crouched behind a boulder. The four-barn dragon lay curled just on the other side, its matte black flanks rising and falling rhythmically, its crimson accent lines appearing like spears of blood. Its lair entrance lay beyond. The pit stank of rot and death, roiling their stomachs.

  Augum realized that since dragons could see arcanery, casting the Chameleon extension would waste stamina. He tapped the girls’ backs and, when they made eye contact with him, mimed his fingers walking stealthily. Then he mouthed, “If it wakes, we ’port.”

  The girls exchanged a look, certainly aware that sneaking by a sleeping dragon was straight out of a children’s tale of fright. But they nodded and Augum led the way, prowling as quietly as he could. He held his breath, conscious of every step, every sound, even the direction of the wind until, miraculously, they made it by without waking the beast.

  A ways inside the cave, the girls dimly lit their palms while Augum recast the Reveal spell. He immediately found enchantments around piles of bones stacked up to fall at the slightest tremble of the ground—traps obviously intended for the weight of other dragons. They tiptoed around these, giving them a wide berth. There were a few other swaths of basic Object Alarm enchantments which were easily disenchanted.

  But it was the sight around them that took their breath away. The hallways—for this was no ordinary cave, rather an underground labyrinthine complex with meandering passages—were gargantuan, portions of their walls thickly grown over. Yet underneath the vines and mosses and spiderwebs were enormous smooth stone blocks that looked distinctly of Rivican construction.

  Bridget glanced about in wonder. “How is this possible?”

  “The Rivicans must have settled here at some distant point in the past,” Leera whispered, neck craning. “Arcaneologists would kill to have a chance to study all this. Not that they’d even remotely believe us …”

  There was little time to dwell on the significance of the discovery, for at any moment a dragon could appear. Luckily, the dragons had left a slither trail along the ground that pointed the way, and the trio followed it, casting Reveal as they went along.

  A ways down, they found themselves in a large round chamber that joined multiple halls together, much like the spokes of a cart wheel. Here the slither trail divided into five individual trails, each disappearing into separate hallways, as if each dragon had its own lair. Augum noticed that one of these hallways had more scrape marks than the others along the roof and high up on the walls—likely leading to the lair of the six-barn ancient one with the milky eye.

  “This way,” he said, and the trio strode into it, palms lit brightly.

  The stench of death and decay grew stronger the further in they went. But what worried Augum most was the lack of other adjoining passages for them to hide in. If a dragon came, they would be trapped.

  The chamber steadily expanded until the walls disappeared in the darkness beyond the glow of their lights. When it was Augum’s turn to cast Reveal, he saw a plethora of crimson and black enchantments lighting up a roundish wall of jagged items ahead. His heart leapt in a child-like fashion. Unnameables, the dragon is protecting a hoard of treasure!

  “Careful,” he whispered, slowing his pace. “Whatever mound is ahead is booby-trapped.”

  “Fates help us it reeks in here,” Leera whispered, covering her nose along with the others. “Makes me want to gag. Ugh … putrid.”

  But the closer Augum got, the less the shapes looked like weapons and armor and all the wonderful things from childhood stories, and more like—

  “Bones,” he blurted, the group stopping when their lights illuminated the mound. “It’s a nest of booby-trapped bones. But I don’t recognize the enchantments.” He crept near, hand splayed before him, and examined them closer. The tendrils were an even mix of blood-colored and black weavings, and although they were crude in nature, their signature characteristics told him only one thing …

  “They’re necromantic.” He straightened. “These will all come alive if we touch them.”

  For a moment the girls gaped at the pile. There were all sorts of bones, from those belonging to tiny little rodents to who knew what kind of trunk-sized behemoths. And there were countless jaw bones embedded with monstrous teeth. If the pile sprang to life, it’d turn into an army of undead jungle monsters that would easily overwhelm them.

  A quiet shuffling noise came from behind them and they whirled about and froze, breathing quickly. None of them moved or so much as extinguished their light, for there was nowhere to hide. Augum allowed his Reveal spell to lapse. The shuffling grew closer until their lights revealed a bloody and mud-splattered white robe.

  “It’s one of The Path Archons,” Augum whispered. But the man wasn’t alive anymore as evidenced by the shuffling gait and waxy sheen to his face, a face that seemed hollowed out and concave as if the soul had been sucked from it. His eyes were sightless and his mouth hung open unnaturally, his jaw having a
pparently been broken. He paid no notice of them and shuffled by, already stinking of decay and surrounded by buzzing insects. Only when he reached the pile did he lay himself down like an exhausted child and go still. The insects, some of which were bulbous and as large as a bread loaf, began to settle and feast.

  Bridget splayed a shaky hand. “Un vun asperio aurum enchantus,” and gasped. “The enchantments have enveloped him. Ghastly …”

  “What does this mean?” Leera asked. “Did they offer one of their own to a dragon? Or did this one fail at whatever he was trying to do and the dragon devoured his soul?”

  “Don’t know,” Augum replied, hurrying around the pile in search of a way in, only to end up alongside the girls again. “It’s a giant nest,” he reported. “No way in unless we want to try disenchanting then climb it.”

  Leera scoffed. “Disenchant an unknown necromantic trap? No thanks.”

  On a hunch, Augum extinguished his light. “Snuff yours too for a moment.” When the girls did, the high ceiling above lit up with a faint aura of light that came from within the nest.

  “The eggs are in there,” Leera whispered in the darkness.

  “Shyneo,” Bridget said, her palm flaring with bright ivy. She turned to Augum. “I have an idea. We telekinetically levitate one of us over it, fish out the eggs, and teleport right out of here with them.”

  “What if the eggs are booby-trapped?” he countered. “What if we can’t teleport out with them?” He tried to ignore the horrible sound of the feasting insects.

  “Either way we need these eggs,” Bridget replied. “Tyranecron is a high-degree necromancer. We don’t have a scion or some secret powerful spell to beat him with. This is our only hope.”

  “I’ll do it,” Leera blurted. “I’ll be the one.”

  “No,” Bridget said, looking down. “No, it has to be me. And I don’t want to hear any argument. You two are too important as a couple to Solia. If something goes wrong, you two have to be the ones to survive.”

  Leera shook her head. “Bridge, that’s ridiculous—”

  “I said no!” and Bridget stepped before them. “Now haul me up there. Who knows how much time we have before that behemoth returns.”

  Augum and Leera exchanged looks before stepping behind Bridget. They extended their arms, gripped her telekinetically, and lifted her into the air.

  “Slowly now,” she said. “Up. Up. Forward. Forward some more. And … stop!”

  They held her in place. She hung like a lit lure above a crocodile-infested swamp.

  “Holy Unnameables,” she whispered reverently, face lit with a chromatic glow from below.

  “What do you see?” Augum asked, Telekinesis holding firm.

  “Five eggs, and they’re … beautiful. One earth, one lightning, two water, one fire. They’re each about the size of a small child. All right, lower me down. Slowly now. Slowly …” She disappeared beyond the lip but his Telekinesis held firm. “Stop! Hold, have to see if they’re booby-trapped.” There was a pause. “Un vun asperio aurum enchantus.” She gasped. “Oh dear.”

  “What is it?” Leera hissed, already straining.

  “They’re absolutely crammed with enchantments, but I don’t know if they’re natural to the egg or set by the necromantic dragons.”

  “Look for any enchantments that don’t match the element of the egg.”

  “Brilliant, Aug. All I have to do is apply the Eldriticus principle and identify second order unifying geometric color variances—”

  “Bridge,” Leera said, sweat beading on her muddy forehead. “Could you hurry up, please? This isn’t study time.”

  “Right, sorry.” Another pause, this one longer. “All right, I found two on each. The enchantments are basic in nature. One is Object Alarm and the other Object Track. I’ll try disenchanting both at the same time. We’ll have to figure out how to overcome the scent problem, as I think even disenchanting them will taint the eggs.”

  Augum glanced over at Leera and noticed her shaking to keep hold. “Running out of time here, Bridge.”

  “Okay. Guess we’ll have to solve that problem later then. Going to attempt the disenchanting now. Hold tight for another bit.”

  Augum felt more of Bridget’s weight transferring to him as Leera’s grip began to slip. But he held firm, grateful for all his training in Telekinesis.

  “Exotus mia enchantus duo dai ideum exat,” Bridget incanted, and a short time passed as she worked. “One down, and got both enchantments!” Then she repeated the enchantment. “Two down—whoa!” Leera had let go with a gasp and Augum felt Bridget lurch dangerously, but maintained an iron grip.

  “Higher please,” Bridget squeaked, and Augum lifted her up, wishing he could see her position. Leera was beside him, hands on her knees, breathing heavily and cursing at herself under her breath.

  “Exotus mia enchantus duo dai ideum exat,” Bridget incanted for a third time. Another pregnant pause. “Three down—both enchantments disenchanted! All right, get ready now, I’m going to lift them out one at a time.”

  Suddenly a distant and ferocious roar echoed throughout the chamber.

  “You hear that?” Leera croaked.

  “I think I may have triggered one of the alarms.”

  “Lob them over, we have to get out of here.”

  “Hover them over,” Augum clarified. “Lee will catch them.” He glanced at her with an Are you okay with that? look.

  “Don’t have a choice, do we?” she muttered. “Give ’er, Bridge!”

  “Here comes number one.” The first egg shot over the lip.

  Leera threw out a hand, telekinetically snatched a lightning-infused egg about the size of a small boulder, and lowered it to the ground.

  They heard something large slithering distantly behind them.

  “Uh, might want to hurry up there, Bridge,” Leera said.

  “Trying, trying! Here comes number two.” She threw a water-entombed egg over the nest wall.

  “Got it,” and Leera placed it beside the other one.

  The slithering got louder, accompanied by snuffling. Augum didn’t even want to turn around to look.

  But Leera did. “Fates help us,” she squeaked. “I think that it’s, uh, it’s coming down the hallway …”

  “Here comes number three!”

  This time, Augum helped Bridget along by telekinetically lifting her along with the egg. The slithering was now loud enough that Augum knew the dragon had entered the hallway to this lair. His suspicion was confirmed when Bridget appeared over the lip and her eyes went as wide as plums.

  “Grab yours and go,” Leera blurted, snatching her watery egg. “Pillar Olaf’s the closest! Go go go go!” She took a breath and focused on the Teleport spell. As soon as Bridget landed on her feet, she did the same.

  “Impetus peragro!” the girls chorused, and teleported off with a thwomp just as a frightfully powerful Fear aura washed over Augum, followed by a deafening and enraged roar.

  Augum, who had used up the majority of his precious stamina with the Telekinesis spell, now found a good chunk of it getting wasted away holding up his Mind Armor. He telekinetically yanked his egg and made the mistake of turning around.

  The largest of the dragons—the six-barn one—was galloping right at him, its eyes, one crimson and the other milky, narrowed in lethal slits.

  And Augum could only gape stupidly.

  Snap out of it, you fool!

  He inhaled, focused on Pillar Olaf, and spat, “Impetus peragro!”

  But nothing happened—he didn’t have enough arcane stamina left to teleport, having used most of it on Telekinesis and Mind Armor.

  The enraged dragon was perhaps thirty feet away—and would be upon him within two heartbeats—when it slammed its two forepaws together. A monstrous black-and-crimson bolt of light shot at him.

  Augum instinctively shielded the egg with his right arm and leaned into the strike with his left. He focused on the offensive spell, summoned his shield, and ro
ared, “Mimicus!” using up more precious stamina.

  The shaft of dark energy mirrored back at the dragon and slammed into it with a mighty twang. The beast squealed and careened into the ground.

  But the shaft of dark energy had been strong enough to send Augum flying into the pile behind him. All at once, the entire nest of bones began moving. Augum gasped in a panic as bones reformed around him. He managed to free himself from the pile only to see the dragon rise, a fresh cut about the size of a man gaping in its chest.

  It reared up on its hind legs, a black mountain of muscle and wings and teeth, opened its maw, and roared mightily. The sound was so loud that Augum winced, deaf from its power, conscious that the huge pile of bones behind him was squirming and reforming into undead jungle beasts. And along with that roar came a renewed wave of the Fear spell, crashing over his soul, smothering it, choking it. With his precious arcanery bleeding away merely fighting that aura, Augum could think of only one desperate thing to do …

  He became aware of the ground trembling beneath his body; of pebbles as they danced; of tiny-boned monsters scurrying toward his feet, foreshadowing the larger ones; of the dragon’s matte black muscles flexing in rage, accented by crimson lines of lethality; of its countless battle scars … and he thought of his house motto, Adversi alua probata—Against all odds.

  Yet a question lingered … who in their right mind would take on a dragon?

  “Only this fool,” Augum said. Then he lowered like a cat ready to spring and incanted, “Centeratoraye xao xen.”

  Centarro, arguably the most powerful spell in his arsenal, shot through his being, quickening his already rushing blood and turning everything he saw into a fluid poem. The dragon became a monster from childhood and he a knight wanting to rescue his dame. In his hands was a mythic artifact. And all he had to do was find the arcane stamina to teleport out of there. Eight blue rings exploded around his forearm and his eyes crackled with lightning. Time slowed to a crawl.