Return of the Dragon (The Dragon's Champion Book 6) (17 page)

Had he not understood that the Tear of Goresym had
transformed him and sent him to a plane between the realm of the living and the
dead, he might have been confused that his clothes were still intact. Even
still, he knew the battles were no less real.

“Now do you see?” Tatev asked as he returned to stand
before Erik. “You are the champion. There is nothing that you have done with
help that you couldn’t do on your own now.”

“The crystal didn’t let me fight Tu’luh again,” Erik
pointed out.

Tatev nodded. “His spirit is highly guarded. The Tear
of Goresym was not powerful enough to summon him. Still, this should open your
eyes and broaden your understanding.”

Erik nodded. “Let’s go find those glasses of yours.
You have helped me find peace, so let me return the favor.”

Tatev smiled. “Let’s get the book first,” he said
wryly. “It’s just a short walk to the south.”

Erik returned the smile. “Lead the way.”

For the next several weeks, Erik carried the Infinium
in his pack while he and Tatev walked through the land to find the Eyes of
Dowr. With the blanket of snow fallen over the ground it was hard to recognize
where they had been on their journey into the Eastern Wilds. Eventually they came
to the brook where they had been captured and Erik spent several days digging
through the snow.

As the days wore on, Erik built a lean-to and dug a
fire pit. The search for the glasses was fruitless and frustrating. The days
turned to weeks. Two months passed and Erik was out of ground to search. The
only place left was the brook itself, but it was far too cold to wade into the
water.

Tatev grew quiet again, pacing in circles around the
cleared camp and dragging his feet.

Erik ran low on food, and soon had to start foraging
around. Erik fashioned several snares and managed to catch a couple of snow
hares. One of them was dismembered by a fox before Erik could get to it, but
the other was whole and would supply meat. He stopped looking for the glasses long
enough to stock up on food. Soon he had several hares. He skinned them and
fashioned a tight string from their sinews. Next he cut a long branch and
trimmed it into a smooth pole. He bored a hole through the top end and tied the
string through it. He then tied a loop on the other end of the string. He took
the
pole
to the brook and used the thick end to smash
up the bits of ice that covered the water. He inserted the end with the string
and began fishing along the bottom of the brook for the glasses.

“That won’t work,” Tatev said as he appeared next to
Erik.

Erik jumped. Tatev hadn’t spoken to him since they
arrived at this spot. Any previous attempt to get Tatev’s attention had been
fruitless. He wasn’t sure if Tatev’s sudden change in behavior was a good or
ill omen. Either way, he wasn’t about to lose the opportunity to enjoy some
company. Erik shrugged. “I have looked everywhere else. The glasses have got to
be in the water.”

Tatev frowned. “You’ll never find them like that.”

“Well I can’t very well go into the water and spend
time swimming around for them.” Erik then stopped and looked at Tatev. An idea
came to him and he grinned. “Why don’t you go in the water?”

Tatev looked at Erik with a curious expression and
then wrinkled his nose. “I can’t swim.”

“You’re a ghost,” Erik pointed out. “You don’t need to
swim. Just go in and look around.” Tatev frowned. Erik grinned wider and
motioned to the water. “You can follow the pole and look along the bottom.”

Tatev arched a brow and shook his head. “I don’t like
this, not one bit.” The ghost moved toward the water and walked out over the
surface. “I don’t see anything,” he said.

“Go down,” Erik pressed. “You can’t possibly see the
bottom from there. Go in the water.”

Tatev mumbled something and then drifted down into the
water. Erik soon lost sight of his image. The minutes passed. After a while,
Erik was sure that Tatev was either pacing along the bottom uselessly or had
gone back to wherever he went when he disappeared. Erik continued raking the
bottom with his improvised tool. Whenever he felt a snag he would carefully
pull the pole up to reveal his prize. After an hour and a half he had collected
three sticks, countless patches of algae, and a large bone from some sort of
animal.

“Tatev was right. This is stupid.” Erik walked a ways
down the bank and began raking a new patch of brook bed. Then he heard a sharp
whistle to his left. Erik turned to see Tatev rising above the water some sixty
yards away.

“I found them,” he said with a great grin. “I
remembered that the glasses would have been carried by the current, so I
started to walk downstream after I searched the area you are looking in and I
found them tangled in a patch of algae down here.”

Erik could hardly believe his ears. “Are you sure?”

“Well of course I am sure. They are
my
glasses
after all. Don’t you think I would know the Eyes of Dowr when I see them? Come
on,
get them out of the water. I can’t pull them out.”

Erik rushed down to where Tatev hovered over the ice
and broke through the frozen layer with his pole. He started to slip his pole
in but Tatev shook his head.

“You’ll need to go in after them. The algae has grown
around them and entangled them pretty securely.”

Erik nodded. He tested the depth with his pole, but
failed to touch the bottom. “It’s pretty deep,” Erik said.

“We are too close to stop now,” Tatev said.

Erik went back toward the camp and began cutting
branches and logs into a pile. “I’ll need a strong fire as soon as I come out
if I am going to survive this.”

No response.

Erik turned back around and saw Tatev kneeling over
the spot in the brook where the glasses were. Erik sighed and went back to work
gathering wood. He spent the rest of the day creating a fire pit near where he
would enter the water and piling the wood tall and wide in the pit. He would
wait until the next morning, to maximize the time he would have in the sun to
dry out and try to regain his warmth.

When morning came he laid out his two blankets near
the bank as well. One he planned to use as a towel, and the other he would wrap
around himself after he dressed, assuming he could dress again after diving
into the water.

He looked to the brook and already his bones felt cold.

He used his flaming sword to set fire to the great
pile of wood. Once the flames took hold he moved to the bank. With the sword
still burning brightly he stabbed it into the dirt. Then he extinguished the
flames and slipped the looped end of the string around the handle. He undressed
and placed his clothes on the second blanket. The cold air tightened his skin
and caused him to shiver. He kept telling himself that it wasn’t cold.

“It’s warm outside,” he said. “The sun is soooo hot.”

Neither his mind, nor his body bought into the lie.

Feeling the urgency as the heat left his body he
grabbed onto the pole and tested the water with his right foot. Cold didn’t
even begin to describe it. Still, spring was several weeks away. That was time
he didn’t have to wait. He ran into the water, splashing and falling in as he
gasped for breath. All of his muscles contracted simultaneously and he nearly
turned back, but by the sheer power of his will he continued on.

The air in his lungs felt as though it was going to
explode out of him as the water enveloped him and he swam down toward the bottom.
With his right hand he held the pole, knowing he would need it to help pull
himself
up with once he had the glasses.

His legs curled up under him and his torso shuddered
and quaked. His shoulders barely responded to his commands. His body started to
drift with the current, and then Tatev appeared before him.

“This way,” Tatev said as he pointed toward a patch of
green at the bottom of the brook. At first, Erik was surprised he could hear
Tatev speak, but then he realized that Tatev also didn’t appear wet either. The
ghost occupied an existence that was not bound by the same restrictions placed
upon a mortal body. Erik pushed on, encouraged by his friend. He stopped and
looked back when he reached the end of the pole. He was still several yards
away from the glasses and he could feel his strength leaving him.

“Call upon your power, Erik,” Tatev said.

Erik summoned his power as though he would release the
great column of light from his mouth. The warmth it created in his chest wasn’t
much when compared to the crushing cold of the water all around him, but it
gave him enough courage to move on. He released the pole and fought against the
current. He swam to the glasses and ripped the whole patch of algae free. The
glasses tumbled out and started to drift away, but Erik managed to catch them.
Then he turned back for the bank.

He saw there was little point going for the pole now.
The wood had floated up and now was slapping against a patch of ice near the
bank as far downstream as the tether would allow.

Erik clutched the glasses in his left hand while he
used his right to climb up the sloping bank and emerge from the water. He
managed to pull himself half way out of the brook, but then he collapsed and
gasped for breath. His body shivered uncontrollably. His fingers curled
painfully and he pulled his arms in close to his chest. His teeth made a
chattering noise that would rival any woodpecker he had ever known in terms of
speed.

The bonfire wasn’t far away, but it did little to help
him. He felt as though he had not the power to even crawl to his blanket.

“Put on the glasses, Erik,” Tatev said.

Erik scrunched his brow and tried to tell Tatev how
stupid that sounded, but his jaw wouldn’t hold still long enough for him to
gain control of it.

“Put them on.”

Erik fumbled with the Eyes of Dowr for a few seconds
and then finally managed to get them onto his face. No sooner did he do that
than he saw several others standing around him. There were dwarves and soldiers
standing around that he did not recognize. Tatev stood in their midst and held
out his hands to them.

“There are many who have fought and sacrificed in this
effort. They are all pulling for you. They didn’t come this far just to watch
you freeze to death.”

Seeing the scores of people around him, Erik felt a
mix of embarrassment and courage at the same time. He slowly pulled himself out
of the water and crawled to the first blanket. He began to towel himself off
and scoot closer to the fire. The warmth pierced his shivering skin and
assuaged the cramps in his body.

As he looked around, still wearing the Eyes of Dowr,
he saw Master Orres standing on the opposite side of the fire. The large man
was smiling at him, but he didn’t say anything. Then, out from the crowd came
Al’s apprentice. The young man smiled and nodded to Erik approvingly. Erik felt
no blame coming from anyone there, only love and compassion.

“Erik,” Tatev called out as he stepped up next to him.
“My time with you grows short. Now that the Eyes of Dowr have been found, I can
complete my mission.”

“Your mission?”
Erik echoed.
“I thought finding the glasses was your mission.”

Tatev shook his head. “My mission is to dispel your
doubts. I am, and always have been, helping you to fully understand your
potential and your role. As my last lesson, I will leave you with this.” Tatev
smiled and stepped back to reveal Lord Lokton standing behind him.

Erik’s mouth fell open and tears filled his eyes.

Lord Lokton stepped forward and stopped only inches
before Erik. He knelt down and looked up to Erik’s eyes. “You must know how
proud I am of you,” he said. “Remember your duty. You took an oath at your Konn
Deta. You live to defend the realm, and our house.”

“Our
homes is
destroyed,”
Erik said tearfully.

“No,” Lord Lokton said. “The building was destroyed,
but that can be rebuilt. Our house consists of all the people we serve. House
Lokton still stands. We are diminished, but we are not all gone. Keep fighting
for us, Erik. Keep pushing through.”

“I am sorry I couldn’t save you,” Erik said. He
dropped down to his knees and the glasses almost fell from his face. He caught
them and pushed them back up on his nose so he could see his father. “I did
everything I could.”

Lord Lokton nodded and smiled. “That is all anyone can
ask, of a man, and that is why I am proud of you. Now, rise up, and finish your
training. You have an oath to fulfill.”

“You don’t blame me?”

Lord Lokton smiled and shook his head. “One cannot
blame the candle for the shadows that dance upon the walls. Be that light,
Erik. Chase away the darkness. That is what House Lokton stands for. That is
what Master Lepkin fights for. As for me, I am, and always will be proud to
call myself your father. Know that we are watching you, and there are far more
of us than will ever stand with the likes of Tu’luh the Red.”

“I love you, father,” Erik said in a whisper.

“And I love you, Erik,” Lord Lokton replied.

“Our time is up,” Tatev said. “We must go now.”

“Where?
Why?” Erik asked.

Lord Lokton stood up and smiled wide. “Who do you
think helps the Immortal Mystic see his visions of the future?” he asked. “The
good and just that have passed on try to gather the bits of wisdom they can and
help him make sense of the world. Until the rainbow bridge is reestablished and
the path back to the Heaven City, Volganor, is open, it is the best we can do.”

“You help the Immortal Mystic?” Erik asked
incredulously.

“And others, in times of great need,” Lord Lokton
replied.

“Then I will see you back at the palace?”

Lord Lokton smirked.
“Perhaps from
time to time.
I am going now to look in on your mother.”

A great wind picked up and then the many spirits
vanished as if nothing more than wisps of smoke. Erik stood there in front of
the fire for a long while. He no longer felt the chill of the water. In fact,
he no longer felt anything other than warmth and courage. The ghosts that had
haunted him were now at peace. No more screams. No more nightmares. His mind
and soul were clear. He dressed and began the long trek back to the Immortal
Mystic, securing the Eyes of Dowr safely within his pack.