A Land Of Fire (Book 12) (4 page)

Thor rode on the back of Mycoples, the
clouds whipping his face, going so fast he could hardly breathe, as they raced
for the host of dragons and prepared for battle. Thor’s bracelet throbbed on
his wrist, and he felt that his mother had infused him with a new power which
he could hardly understand; it was as if there were little sense of space and
time. Thor had barely thought of flying back, had barely lifted from the shores
of the Land of the Druids, when he was suddenly here already, above the Upper
Isles, racing into the nest of dragons. Thor felt as if he had been magically
transported here, as though they had traveled through a gap in time or space—as
if his mother had launched them here, had somehow allowed them to achieve the
impossible, to fly faster and farther than he ever had before. He felt it was
his mother sending him off with a gift of speed.

As Thor squinted through the cloud
cover, the immense dragons came into view, circling the Upper Isles, diving
down and preparing to breathe fire. Thor looked down and his heart dropped to
see that the island was already engulfed in flame, razed to the ground. He wondered
with dread if anyone had managed to survive; he did not see how they could
have. Was he too late?

Yet as Mycoples dove down, came ever
closer, Thor’s eyes narrowed in on a single person, drawing him in like a
magnet as he singled her out in the chaos: Gwendolyn.

There she was, his wife-to-be, standing
in the courtyard proudly, fearlessly, clutching a baby, surrounded by everyone
Thor loved, all of them encircling her and raising shields to the sky as the
dragons dove down to attack. Thor watched in horror as the dragons opened their
great jaws and prepared to breathe flames that Thor knew, in but a moment,
would consume Gwendolyn and everyone he loved.

“DIVE!” Thor screamed to Mycoples.

Mycoples needed no encouragement: she
dove down faster than Thor could imagine, so fast he could hardly catch his
breath, and he held on for dear life as she did, nearly upside down. Within
moments she reached the three dragons about to attack Gwendolyn, and with a
great roar, her jaw opened wide, her talons out before her, Mycoples attacked
the unsuspecting beasts.

Mycoples smashed into the dragons, her
downward momentum carrying her, landing on their backs, clawing one and biting
another—and swiping the third with her wings. She stopped them right before
they breathed fire, driving them face-first into the earth.

They all impacted the ground together,
and there came a great rumble and clouds of dust as Mycoples drove their faces
down beneath the earth, until they were lodged so deeply in it that they were
stuck, only their rear talons sticking up out of the ground. As they touched
down, Thor turned and saw Gwendolyn’s shocked expression, and he thanked God
that he’d saved her just in time.

There came a great roar, and Thor turned
and looked back up to the sky, and faced an onslaught of approaching dragons.

Mycoples was already turning and flying
upwards, launching, heading up for the dragons fearlessly. Thor was weaponless,
but he felt different than he ever had entering a battle: for the first time in
his life, he felt he did not need weapons. He felt he could summon and rely on
the power within him. His true power. The power his mother had instilled him
with.

As they approached, Thor held up his
wrist, aiming his golden bracelet, and a light shot forth from the black diamond
in its center. The yellow light engulfed the dragon closest to them, in the
center of the pack, and knocked him backwards, sending him racing through the
air, upwards, colliding into the others.

Mycoples, in a rage, determined to wreak
havoc, dove fearlessly into the nest of dragons, fighting and clawing her way
through, sinking her teeth into one, throwing another, and cutting a path
through them as she knocked several of them back. She clamped down on one until
it went limp and then dropped it; it fell to earth like a huge boulder falling
from the sky, and hit the ground, shaking it. Thor could hear the impact from
here as it caused another earthquake down below.

Thor glanced down below and saw Gwen and
the others running to take cover, and he knew that he needed to direct all
these dragons away from the island, away from Gwendolyn, in order to give them
a chance to escape. If he led the dragons out to the ocean, he figured he could
lure them away and take the fight out there.

“To the open sea!” Thor cried.

Mycoples followed his command, and they
turned and flew through the nest of dragons and out the other side.

Thor turned as he heard a roar, and felt
a distant heat as flames launched his way. He was satisfied to see his plan was
working: all the dragons had abandoned the Upper Isles, and were now following
him out to the open sea. In the distance, down below, Thor spotted Romulus’s
fleet blanketing the sea, and he knew that even if somehow he survived against
the dragons—he would still have a million-man army to face on his own. He knew
he likely would not survive this encounter. But at least it would buy the
others some time.

At least Gwendolyn could make it.

*

Gwen stood in the razed and smoldering
courtyard of what remained of Tirus’s court, still clutching the baby, looking
up at the sky in wonder and relief and sadness all at once. Her heart soared to
see Thor again, the love of her life, alive, returned, and on Mycoples, no
less. With him here, she felt a part of her had been restored, felt as if
anything was possible. She felt something she had not felt in a long time: the
will to live again.

Her men slowly lowered their shields as
they watched the dragons turn and fly off, finally leaving the Isles and
heading out to open sea. Gwen looked around and saw the devastation they had
left, the huge piles of rubble, the flames everywhere, and the dead dragons
lying on their backs. It looked like an island ravaged by war.

Gwen also saw what must have been the
baby’s parents, two corpses lying nearby, right beside where Gwen had found
her. Gwen looked into the baby’s eyes and realized she was all she had left in
the world. She clutched her tight.

“This is our chance, my lady!” Kendrick
said. “We must evacuate now!”

“The dragons are distracted,” Godfrey
added. “For now, at least. Who knows when they shall return. We must all leave
this place at once.”

“But the Ring is no more,” Aberthol
said. “Where will we go?”

“Anywhere but here,” Kendrick replied.

Gwen heard their words, yet they felt
distant in her mind; she instead turned and searched the skies, watching Thor
fly off in the distance, filled with longing.

“And what of Thorgrin?” she asked.
“Shall we leave him, alone up there?”

Kendrick and the others grimaced, their
faces falling in disappointment. Clearly, the thought disturbed them, too.

 “We would fight with Thorgrin to the
death if we could, my lady,” Reece said. “But we cannot. He is in the sky, over
the sea, far from here. None of us have a dragon. Nor do we have his power. We
cannot help him. Now we must help those we can help. That is what Thor
sacrificed for. That is what Thor has given his life for. We must take the
opportunity he has given us.”

“What remains of our fleet still lies on
the far side of the island,” Srog added. “It was wise of you to hide those
ships. Now we must use them. Whoever is left of our people, we must leave this
place at once—before their return.”

Gwendolyn’s mind raced with mixed
emotions. She wanted so badly to go and save Thor; yet at the same time, she
knew that waiting here, with all these people, would do him no good. The others
were right: Thor had just given his life for their safety. It would make his
actions worth nothing if she did not try to save these people while she could.

Another thought loomed in Gwen’s mind:
Guwayne. If they left now, rushed out to the open sea, maybe, just maybe, they
could find him. And the thought of seeing her son again filled with her a new
will to live.

Finally, Gwen nodded, holding the baby,
preparing to move.

“Okay,” she said. “Let us go and find my
son.”

*

The roar of the dragons grew louder
behind Thor, the group getting closer, chasing them, as he and Mycoples flew
farther out to sea. Thor felt a wave of flame rolling toward his back, about to
engulf them, and he knew that if he did not do something soon, he would soon be
dead.

Thor closed his eyes, no longer afraid
to call on the power within him, no longer feeling the need to rely upon
physical weapons. As he closed his eyes, he recalled his time in the Land of
the Druids, recalled how powerful he had been, how much he had been able to
influence everything around him with his mind. He recalled the power within
him, how the physical universe was just an extension of his mind.

Thor willed his mind power to the
surface, and he imagined a great wall of ice behind him, shielding him from
fire, protecting him. He imagined himself completely covered in a protective
bubble, he and Mycoples, safe from the dragons’ wall of fire.

Thor opened his eyes and was amazed to
feel himself encased in cold, and to see a tremendous wall of ice all around
him, just as he’d envisioned, three feet thick and sparkling blue. He turned
and watched the dragons’ wall of flame approach—and get stopped by the wall of
ice, the flames hissing, huge clouds of steam rising up. The dragons were
irate.

Thor circled around as the wall of ice
melted, and he decided to meet the nest of dragons head on. Mycoples fearlessly
flew into the dragons—and clearly, they were not expecting this attack.

Mycoples lunged forward, extended her
talons, grabbed one dragon by its jaw, and swung around and threw it; the
dragon went hurtling, end over end, spinning out of control, and down into the
ocean below.

Before she could regroup, Mycoples was
attacked by another dragon, which clamped its jaws on her side. Mycoples
shrieked, and Thor reacted immediately. He jumped off Mycoples’s back onto the
dragon’s nose, and ran along its head and re-mounted himself on the dragon’s
back. The dragon kept its hold on Mycoples, bucking wildly to knock Thor off,
and Thor held on for dear life as he rode the hostile dragon.

Mycoples lurched forward and with her
jaws clamped down on the tail of another dragon, tearing it off. The dragon
screamed and plummeted to the ocean—but no sooner had she done so than Mycoples
was pounced on by several more dragons, who sank their teeth into her legs.

Thor, meanwhile, still held on for dear
life, determined to take control of this dragon. He forced himself to remain
calm and to remember that it was all a matter of his mind. He could feel the
tremendous power of this ancient, primordial beast raging through his veins.
And as he closed his eyes, he stopped resisting, and began to feel in tune with
it. He felt its heart, its pulse, its mind. He felt himself become one with it.

Thor opened his eyes, and the dragon
opened its eyes too, now glowing a different color. Thor saw the world through
the dragon’s eyes. This dragon, this hostile beast, became an extension of
Thor. What it saw, Thor saw. Thor commanded it—and it listened.

The dragon, at Thor’s command, released
its grip on Mycoples; it then roared and lurched forward, sinking its teeth
into the three dragons attacking Mycoples, and tearing them to pieces.

The other dragons were caught off guard,
clearly not expecting one of their own to attack them; before they could
regroup, Thor had already attacked a half dozen of them, using this dragon to
clamp down on the back of their necks, catching them unaware, maiming one
dragon after the next. Thor dove into three more and had the dragon bite down
on their wings, tearing them from their backs, the dragons tumbling into the
sea.

Suddenly Thor was attacked from the
side, and did not see it coming; the dragon opened its jaws and sank its teeth
into Thor.

Thor shrieked as a long, jagged tooth
punctured his rib cage and knocked him off his dragon, sending him tumbling
through the air. He felt himself plunging down toward the ocean, wounded, and
he realized he was about to die.

Out of the corner of his eye, Thor
spotted Mycoples diving down beneath him—and the next thing Thor knew, he
landed on Mycoples’s back, saved by his old friend. The two of them were back
together again, both wounded.

Thor, breathing hard, clutching his rib,
surveyed the damage they had done: a dozen dragons now lay dead or maimed,
bobbing in the ocean. They had done well, just the two of them, far better than
he would have imagined.

Yet Thor heard a tremendous shriek, and
he looked up to see several dozen dragons left. Gasping for breath, Thor
realized it been a valiant fight, but their chance of winning looked grim.
Still, he did not hesitate; he flew fearlessly upward, racing to meet the
dragons that challenged them.

Mycoples shrieked and breathed back fire
as they sent fire at Thor. Thor again used his powers to put up a wall of ice
before him, stopping the dragons’ flames from reaching him. He held onto
Mycoples as she impacted the group, as she thrashed and clawed and bit,
fighting for her life. She took wounds, but she did not let it slow her down as
she wounded dragons on all sides of her. Thor, joining in, raised his bracelet
and took aim at dragon after dragon, and as a beam of white light shot forth,
it knocked one dragon after the next off of Mycoples as she fought.