A Dark Tide (Book of One) (17 page)

Vana was about to give her furious response when she felt something. The young warrior had rested his hand on her foot, and it felt not like the hand of such a small creature, but the powerful and weighty claw of a dragon. She felt a thought directed to her, and her alone, bidding her to be calm.

"I will consider your words," Vana growled, breathing slowly and letting the fire within her subside.

"This is most regretful," Kroma rumbled. "It is sad to see dragonkind fallen so low as this."

"Do you challenge dragonkind?" one of the elders growled.

"No," Kroma said. "I wish you no harm, and I bid you well."

"
We must leave, now,
" Kroma said, and Brian turned and walked out of the cavernous chamber, with Vana following.

They exited into the cool, night air and heard several screeches as dragons, roused by the rumbling among the elders took to the sky, instinctively looking for a challenge. Vana looked down at Brian.

"
It might be better if neither of us were to remain here,
" she said, then she lowered her head. "
Will you come with me? Perhaps you might help my daughter.
"

"
Brian?
" Kroma said. "
Are you willing to travel in such a manner once again?
"

"
I think I could get used to it,
" Brian said.

"
I doubt it will become a regular thing,
" Kroma said.

"
Then, let's go,
" Brian said. "
I might as well enjoy it while I can.
"

"
You really are very young,
" Vana said and she sighed in momentary amusement as Brian climbed onto her neck.

It did not take long before they flew down into a deep canyon and the great green dragon landed heavily in front of a cavern guarded by four dragons. Vana let Brian down from her neck, and he followed her as she lumbered inside, leading him down a long tunnel until it opened up into a much larger space that was illuminated by strange roots and vines that Brian had never seen before. It was hot and humid in the cavern, with pools of steaming water and there were countless large round stones, sitting among the foliage upon the rocky ground. Brian quickly realized that what he thought were stones were actually dragon eggs and he was amazed at how many there were. Vale rumbled a low growl and two dragon eyes slowly opened in the shadowy corner of the cavern.

"Vale," Vana said, speaking aloud. "I have brought a visitor."

"Who are you?" Vale asked, sniffing the air.

"I'm Brian," Brian said, feeling a little awkward.

"You smell like stone, and the flows," Vale said, sniffing a little more. "There is something strange about you. You have two scents."

"I am Kroma," Kroma said, his deep voice rumbling through the cavern. "Brian has allowed me to have a form in this world."

"Kroma is the name of a god," Vale said as the distant memories of her inherited wisdom flashed with feeling and images and she knew that he spoke the truth, though he was different than he once was. "Your voice is more powerful than you look."

"I am not as powerful as I once was, but that is of little matter at the moment" Kroma said. "Your mother, the lady dragon, Vana has told me of your troubles, and there may be a chance that I can be of assistance."

"What can you do?" Vale asked. "The clutch is failing and I cannot give them fire enough to save them."

"Would you permit me to examine you and your eggs?" Kroma asked.

"Examine me?" Vale cocked an eye at him.

"I will use my power to see if you have been poisoned," he told her. "May I do this?"

"Poisoned? How could I be poisoned?"

"The flows have been corrupted," Kroma told her. "It is a matter of grave concern, yet the dragon elders have chosen to ignore it."

"And you think this could affect the clutch?"

"It is possible that this is the cause," Kroma said.

"His words ring true, Vale," Vana told her daughter. "Something is wrong among our kind and the elders refuse to consider it. They have now threatened to declare me a wildling if I persist any further."

"They would not do such a thing," Vale said, but she heard the truth in her mother's thoughts and she saw it in the eyes of the young man who spoke to her with the voice of a god.

"May I?" he asked, his voice rich and soothing.

"What must you do?"

"I merely need to place my hand upon you and feel with my power to see if you have been exposed to the poison among the flows."

"That is all?"

"That is all."

"Would it be easier if I took your form?"

"It would," Kroma said and Vale sighed, then her large dragon body began to shift, becoming smaller and changing until she looked almost like a human girl around the same age as Brian. At the sight of her naked form, Brian felt the blood rush to his cheeks and he looked away, a little embarrassed. "Forgive my young friend, I believe he finds you most attractive in this form."

Vale smiled tiredly, revealing a row of pointed teeth and short fangs, and Brian could not help but notice that her eyes had kept some of their dragon qualities.

"If I may?" Kroma asked and Vale nodded.

Brian blushed even more when Kroma turned back to look at her, sparing no modesty, then he stepped toward her and placed his hand low upon her abdomen. Brian felt the power of the god within him begin to move almost imperceptibly, like a soft, low rhythm. Vale exhaled at the sensation of it and she grabbed onto Brian's arm, her long nails digging into his flesh in the gaps in the armor he wore.

"This is not painful, I hope?" Kroma asked.

"No, it is not painful," she replied, and she leaned on Brian's shoulder.

"I must touch your thoughts as well," he said. "Only briefly, and only at the surface."

"If you must," Vale said, and Kroma moved Brian's hands up to either side of her head and his power flowed more gently now. After a few moments, he put his hands on her shoulders.

"It is true," he said. "Dragonkind has been exposed to the dark power, but fear not, while it has weakened you, it does not control you."

"What about my clutch?" Vale asked.

"First, we must expel the poison from you," Kroma told her.

"Will it be like what you did before?" she asked.

"No, this will not be so easy," he said. "It may be rather unpleasant."

"Do what you must," Vale said, glancing over at her mother, who stood by silently observing.

Vale felt the young man touch her stomach and at first his hand sent powerful pulses through her as it had before, and the feeling sent shivers of pleasure right down to her center. The strength in his touch was solid, like the mountain itself and she clung to his shoulder as his power thrummed deep inside her with primordial heat like the flows, and the sensation began to change and it was no longer pleasurable, but unnerving and uncomfortable. Vale gasped as she felt something she had never felt before, like her stomach was turning upside down. She suddenly doubled over as a spike of pain shot through her, and her nails scratched across an armored shoulder.

"It is almost done," he said, his voice softer, comforting her, and she realized it was the other one, the young man speaking to her.

Vale felt something bubble up within her, almost like she would spit fire, but it was something foul and she fell to her knees, with the young man following her down, crouching beside her as she began to retch. Dark, black, viscous liquid, like tar spilled out of her mouth and onto the rocky ground, and Vale felt like she was being choked by it, but she felt his other hand on her shoulder, holding her steady as she coughed and vomited more of it. The shooting pain that ran through her entire being began to subside as she spit the last of the thick liquid onto the ground, where a pool of it had gathered. Vale gasped for breath and realized that something was different, for even though the foul taste still clung to her mouth, the air was somehow better and her senses were suddenly much sharper. She felt the power of the god subside and she rose to her feet, wiping the foulness from where it had dribbled down her chin.

"What was in me?" she asked as he removed his hand from her.

"It is an ancient poison," the god replied. "It has properties of the shadow, a deadly power that destroys all things. There is much of it in the flows, and it appears that all dragonkind has been affected by it."

Vale stretched her fingertips and felt energy coursing through her entire body.

"I feel stronger," she said, suddenly unable to contain herself. "I want to fly."

Vale looked at Brian and then at her mother, her thoughts barely apologetic, as she pulled away and set off at a run, shifting to her dragon form and disappearing from the cavern with a powerful roar. Brian suddenly felt his entire body shudder with a deep exhaustion that went right to his bones and he walked over to a small boulder and leaned against it, catching his breath.

"Are you all right?" Vana asked.

"I will be fine," Brian answered. "I think Kroma used too much of his power to do what he did. He says to give you his regrets that he cannot speak right now."

"Yet you can hear him?"

"I can," Brian said.

"Then tell me, young Brian, how is it that a once powerful god, who broke open this land as a refuge for dragonkind, who raised the dragonmount from the earth itself, has become so weak?"

"Kroma was nearly destroyed by his brother, Kenra," Brian told her. "Kenra is the god who has the power of the shadow."

"We believed the shadow had gone from the world," Vana said. "I wonder how long the flows have been poisoned."

"Kroma isn't sure, but he says it has probably been for some time," Brian told her.

"What will become of dragonkind if we can no longer visit the flows?" Vana asked. "Do I have that foulness in me?"

Brian nodded. "It is most likely that you do," he told her, as he shook his head, trying to clear his vision, which had suddenly gone dark, but slowly began to return.

"Can you remove it like you did for Vale?" Vana asked.

"It may take some time," Brian said, breathing easier now. "Kroma came here hoping that the flows would give him back some of his power, but the poison makes it a lot more difficult."

"Can he not do to the flows what he did to Vale?"

"If he still had the strength he once did, but he doesn't, and without the blood of the world, he cannot regain his power."

"But surely the blood of the world flows in other places that have not been poisoned," Vana suggested.

"Only here where it is exposed is that possible," Brian said, relaying what he had learned from the god. Just traveling through the earth to get to the dragon lands had proven far more difficult than Kroma had expected, and unless he was able to regain some measure of his power, it was already looking like they might have to find another way to leave, when the time came.

"You touched Vale's thoughts, to see if the shadow had corrupted her," Vale said. "Is it possible that some dragons may have poisoned thoughts? The elders, perhaps? Could they be under the influence of the shadow?"

"It is possible," Brian replied. "The shadow takes away your strength and your will, eventually consuming you. The poison is from the shadow and so it is similar."

"That might explain why so many of the elders have become indifferent to the world," Vana said. "Now they don't even want to consider that there might be a problem, let alone admit one exists. Some of them are more receptive, but others might as well be deaf, they are so unwilling to hear."

"Maybe some of them are worse than others," Brian said. "It would be hard to tell how much poison they carry without examining them."

"What about the eggs?" Vana asked. "Can they be saved?"

Brian looked around the cavern and he felt Kroma sigh inwardly. Driving poison from a grown dragon was one thing, but performing such a feat on a dragon's egg would be far more difficult. Kroma's strength was returning so Brian walked over to one of them and placed his hand upon it, then he felt the power of the god flow through him, but far more gently than when he had touched Vale. He could tell that Kroma was being careful, so as not to harm the egg, but it took longer and required almost as much power as it had taken for him to discover the poison within Vale.

"This one will be fine if it is heated with truefire," he said, then he put his hand on another and repeated the process and Brian felt his own stomach lurch when he felt how wrong it was. Kroma continued, telling Vana what he had discovered. "This one is not something you would want to see. What life that may have been, has become something tragic and misshapen, and it already withers."

"I have seen it before," Vale told him. "I suffered the loss of nearly an entire clutch, and I am not the first wyvern to go through such torment. That is why I suspect this poisoning of dragonkind may have started long ago. It saddens me greatly that Vale would suffer as I did."