Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) (53 page)

Using his temporary blindness, Cheleya called forth a fire wall like the wizards she had watched in the tournament. It was a spell known to the girl, but one that she had barely trained to execute. In her desperation, a thick wall of the solid flame appeared between her and the stream of dragon breath while she released her wings dropping from the gale force winds.

Once more her magic created her crimson wings to glitter in the night like flame. Malaketh spotted the girl below him and used a dragon claw to try driving her from the air. It was a quick reaction, but not quick enough as Cheleya responded with a slash of her wing.

“Wing strike,” she declared making her wing like iron with the sharpness of a shrike blade. The glowing claw was split in two before the spell faltered into nothingness.

Lifting higher into the air, the two traded attacks with fireballs with little results as each simply caught them on their shields deflecting them away easily. Malaketh reassessed his student as they took stock of each other trying to think of a way to best their opponent. For the master, it was a humiliating moment. His strength and skill had made him a teacher of the art. How could a dragoness trapped in a little girl’s body, with only a year of training; be able to trade him blow for blow and more importantly how could she look so calm doing it?

He reached for the black amulet thinking to try his magic on the girl. It was a thought of frustration more than desperation. Malaketh was certain that he could defeat his student, but the wizard’s patience was dwindling after weeks of trying to rid him of the tenacious little dragoness.

Before he could try his attack, a scream of anger preceded a gargoyle winging like an arrow for the dragoness. Fireballs and flame were driven by anger and a newly created wind. Caught before the combined attacks, Cheleya called upon the defense of a dragon pulling her wings around her creating a cocoon. Her spell hardened the crimson membrane like armor as she dropped through the fire letting gravity take her below most of the projectiles, but Mor’treya wasn’t so easily put off by the stunt already seen before. It was a simple movement and lacked the speed to separate the dragoness from her magical ability.

As fire reached for the girl from the gargoyle’s newest attacks, she spun out of her protective wings letting them beat to halt her momentum. A shield of wind expanded from her left hand spinning and destroying Mor’treya’s small fireball spells with ease.

“Air lance,” the dragoness ordered the battle mage spell taught to her by Olan only days before. Flinging the spear, Cheleya willed the shaft to strike the mar’goyn’lya in the chest with enough force to knock the breath from her lungs. Unable to speak as she gasped for air, Mor’treya’s fires disappeared and her wings faltered forcing the gargoyle from the fight to recover.

“You fool, can you do nothing right?” Malaketh screamed at the injured woman as she descended to land on the ground beneath them. His eyes swept to the rest of the battleground seeing the mar’goyn’lya giving ground to the che’ther wizards. Anger swept through the man and his left hand grasped the black amulet again. “Fall!” he ordered pointing with his right hand and forefinger. Cheleya could feel a rise in magic around the master, but she held her ground waiting for the affect of his spell to manifest.

Confusion rippled across his face and he repeated the word once more.

Giggling to increase the man’s anger intentionally, Cheleya chided the human, “You can’t control a broken amulet, Malaketh, can you? Thanks to your attempt to kill me, you can no longer control me.”

A growl of irritation led the man to fall back from the girl stopping her words as Cheleya waited to see what he was about to do.

“Destroy Cheleya,” he ordered loudly descending towards Elenek as he used the power of his amulet. The che’ther paused in his battle with the mar’goyn’lya, Stas’kel. Eyes glazed over, the dragon turned his attention from the gargoyle blindly following Malaketh’s order to attack his new opponent. He said nothing but the magical words and didn’t seem to know her beyond being his target thanks to the black amulet.

“Destroy the girl!” the master ordered using his black magic on Lystheir. The second che’ther lifted into the air on dragon wings seeking her target as the little blond began to fly up and away from the people that had once been her defenders.

Before Malaketh could control her father, the che’ther tore the amulet from his neck throwing it to the ground as his human form began to change. Normally words of magic would exact the change, but the circumstances of the battle weakened the artifact’s ability. The change didn’t go quickly, however, and Cor’Dargan staggered as he tried to use his magic as dragon and human limbs shifted fighting for control of his final form.

Readying to attack the farmer wizard as he fought to control his body as it changed and grew ever larger, Malaketh was startled by a cascade of fireballs coming from the direction of the city walls. A roar could be heard uttering each word as the attack struck trying to end the human’s life.

Cheleya noted the fire came from the sky and wondered who it could be since most of those who could fly were suddenly pursuing the dragoness.

“Malaketh, you tried to kill me! Now I’ve come to return the favor,” a familiar voice to Cheleya sounded from the darkness. Kel’lor’s features lit briefly with each cast of flame, though the dragoness was too busy fending off the attacks of the other che’ther to see him for long.

“But you’re supposed to be dead!” the human cried giving way as if before a ghost. His shield caught the flames effortlessly as he desperately clung to the black amulet in his other hand. His eyes sought the confused mar’goyn’lya around him and he shouted, “Don’t just stand there. Stop, Kel’lor!”

Following the power of his amulet, the three mar’goyn’lya heeded the man’s command instantly. Their attacks were straightforward as they rose into the air from three places to attack the lone gargoyle.

Kel’lor’s transformation charm was nowhere in sight as the mage had learned from the lesson given in the hospital, but he was still facing the dark amulet’s power. Pulling back from his assault on the master, he was forced to defend himself from his three kinsmen attacking him now. His attempt to save the day thwarted, Kel’lor joined the fray but against his people instead of the man who had attempted to kill him.

Chapter 32- Winged Dragon

The air was alive with the sounds of wizards battling. Fire and wind roared through the sky as Cheleya and Kel’lor fought off the combined strength of the tracker team.

A dragon looked up watching from the ground wondering what he could do to help the two looking so alone as they fought their defensive battles. Cor’Dargan had been forgotten for the moment as had Mor’treya, who had landed near the pool where everything had started only minutes earlier.

Feeling clumsy walking on four legs after being in human form for so long, the che’ther moved to the grey skinned gargoyle. “Have you seen enough yet, woman?” the deep rumble of a dragon’s voice questioned the mar’goyn’lya.

A frown crossed her face and Mor’treya looked like she expected the giant creature to attack her, even as he greeted her in turn. She was still breathing hard from the blow of the air lance, but it was obvious that Cheleya had merely meant to stop her without intent to kill. They had been friends and the dragoness still hoped to salvage what they had once had, or so Cor’Dargan thought as he looked at the powerful gargoyle humbled but nearly unharmed.

“What have I seen?” the woman asked refusing to give in to him or anyone. A grudge had formed in her heart for the dragoness, which she had yet to reason through in her head. Whether it stemmed from watching Cheleya excel at flight beyond many mar’goyn’lya, which seemed unnatural to her at best; or being left behind without a word of goodbye, not even she knew.

“The amulet, of course. Can’t you see what he has done? Lystheir and Elenek were protecting Cheleya and now they are attacking with the intent to destroy her. Your own mar’goyn’lya blindly attack Kel’lor and you say that you can’t see the dark magic of your master? Perhaps his constant berating of you for a fool is well deserved after all,” the dragon finished with a sniff of disgust.

The frown deepened as her words came out in scathing fashion, “I am no fool, but I follow the will of the council. She needs to be taken back to Mar’kal for trial, so why am I a fool for doing what our people demand?”

“If you can’t answer that for yourself, then you are already lost. We are wizards and citizens of Mar’kal. The city and the council serve us as we serve them, but we still have freewill to know what is right and wrong. If you can’t see that, then stand aside while I see what I can do to help them survive. Malaketh isn’t trying to take them alive or have you missed his words as you gasp for breath, which you are only able to do because Cheleya spared you.”

The che’ther’s upper body bent like a snake freeing the front legs to operate like the hands of a human. He gave Mor’treya one last word of advice as the dragon began to summon his magic, “If you don’t wish to serve Malaketh even more blindly, I suggest you distance yourself from the transformation amulet. His black talisman can control your mind through it as he is coercing the others to fight for him now.”

As the woman looked at her amulet with confusion and worry, she missed the first movements of the dragon’s hands as he summoned powerful earth magic. Taking her amulet from around her neck to lay it on the side of the pool, the rumble in the ground brought her eyes back to the giant creature. There had been rumors of the Stone Runner told to her by the che’ther on their trek before the three had run off to help Cheleya. Lystheir and Elenek seemed to think he was a master of earth beyond any currently teaching in the academy. As she watched columns of stone rise up including the ground beneath Cor’Dargan, Mor’treya had to watch wide eyed with the belief that the rumors barely scratched the surface.

Cheleya twisted and turned with the grace of a ballet dancer who could dance in the air where gravity couldn’t restrain her movements with the earth. Her wings were used to bank and veer away from fireballs, wind attacks and various other spells from the mesmerized che’ther. Guardians and protectors only moments before, the two had become aggressive pursuers out to kill her with no remorse in their eyes.

On the other side of the battle, the girl refused to attack the two che’ther for fear of harming them. They didn’t know what they were doing and certainly had no control of their minds or bodies to stop their assault. The only way she could tell that they were under Malaketh’s mind control, however, was the slight hesitation to their movements as if their thoughts had to process through more than just the usual magical pathways and decisions of a free psyche.

“Dragon wind,” Cheleya called driving the air beneath her wings into Lystheir. The woman’s face showed no concern though the gale sent her out of control dropping dozens of feet towards the ground in a moment. A last second save, as her wings readjusted propelling the che’ther back into the air tenaciously trying to catch back up to Cheleya, brought her back from the ground swiftly.

“Glare!” the blond haired flyer called out closing her eyes as her hands directed a bright light into the faces of the two chasing her. Elenek was closest and drew up blinded by the light. He blinked to try and drive the spots from his eyes, but in that momentary pause Cheleya made her move.

Her wings drove the girl to Elenek in an instant where she crashed into him with her knees. Hands gripped his shoulders, but not just to adjust her perch. Kicking off from the man’s upper body with her legs, Cheleya stripped the che’ther of his amulet tossing it away from her just in case Malaketh could use the intact amulet to affect her.

Stripped off his charm, Elenek’s eyes widened in surprise as his body began to react to the abrupt release of the magic controlling the spell holding his form. Confused by Malaketh’s spell the che’ther reached for the girl even as his crimson wings struggled to hold the weight returning magically to his
body. Moment’s later, the rapidly changing Elenek was on the ground looking up trying to figure out how he could return to the air again.

Her hopes that Malaketh’s commands would fade with his humanity were dashed in that moment. Cheleya barely had time to feel disappointment, however, as Lystheir recovered to attack her again. A fireball passed to her left and the girl quickly changed direction to close the distance to the elder che’ther.

“Glare,” she commanded again, but the move was foreseen by Lystheir and she closed her eyes with the flash. It didn’t matter as Cheleya managed to slip behind the woman wrapping her arms and legs around her. Fingers searched blindly for the amulet with the wizard’s brunette hair in the younger girl’s face. This time she called on her power to alter matter. The silver amulet, which was unique to Lystheir, changed color to brown as the metal became mud. Cheleya hated destroying a valuable magical item, but as the red dragon, Elenek, searched for his amulet; she realized that the command of the master would keep them trying to find anything she tossed on the ground at least for a time. If the che’ther retrieved their charms before his influence wore off, it would simply restore with their retrieval.

With its very nature changed, the mud stretched with gravity and the struggling of the two women in air. Pushing away from Lystheir, the girl put distance between them as she watched the transformation take her in the absence of the magical item. Forced to land before her che’ther body overwhelmed the ability of her wings; the dragoness glared up at the little flyer with reptilian eyes out of her reach.