Blood of the Earth (54 page)

Knight Raja was falling away toward the ocean, frozen solid, already dead before he shattered against the surface of the water. He’d put himself between her and the dragon, saved her with his sacrifice, preserved her for one more try at the dragon.

Abigail swallowed her grief. Raja had been a good teacher and a loyal wing rider. She’d liked him. His gruff, no-nonsense demeanor only thinly veiled his sincere love for the Sky Knights.

The dragon matched her turn, coming around behind her again, but this time Magda and Corina were behind him. The rider saw the danger and banked away toward the Ithilian fleet, dodging a light-lance spell cast by Corina. Abigail turned back toward the dragon to rejoin the fight.

Magda cast her spell, an orb of darkness, not netherworld darkness, but simply a place where light could not be. It engulfed the wizard riding the dragon, shrouding his brilliance and dimming the morning. Abigail tipped Kallistos forward into a reckless dive, quickly gaining on the dragon, desperate to reach him before the wizard could unmake Magda’s spell.

His staff came streaking out of the orb of darkness surrounding him, shooting toward the ocean below. It hit the water in the midst of the Ithilian fleet and stopped at the surface as if time itself had stopped, freezing it in place. One heartbeat passed, then two, and then the ocean began to freeze solid around the staff. It started slowly at first, a few feet in a second or so, then spread with terrible quickness, freezing the ocean to a depth of five feet for a league in every direction, encasing the entire Ithilian fleet in ice, locking them in place and rendering them impotent to pursue the now seven ships slipping out of the bay. The bulk of Zuhl’s fleet was escaping.

Abigail took all of this in as she closed the gap to the dragon, the wind tearing at her, ripping the breath from her lungs. Her plan was madness. If she failed she would die—if she succeeded she would still most likely die, but she was the only one who could do what needed to be done.

The dragon banked again, bringing it closer to her and easing the angle she would need for her plan to work. The dragon rider was still blinded by Magda’s spell, but it looked like the brilliant light emanating from his armor was starting to burn through the darkness surrounding him.

Abigail came in behind and above him. She tried not to think about the risk she was taking, tried to focus on the task at hand, but she couldn’t help feeling a little relief when the dragon passed away from the frozen armada below and out over open ocean.

She slipped her hand through the leather thong she’d tied to the hilt of the Thinblade, pulled the loop tight around her wrist and drew her sword. With her left hand, she guided Kallistos directly above and just slightly behind the dragon.

The darkness was fading, allowing the brilliance of the wizard’s armor to shine through again. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, “what ifs” vied for her attention but she ignored them all as she yanked on the release cord, pulling dozens of locking pins free in a staccato cascade of pops muffled by the roaring wind.

She was free of her saddle.

Then she was falling.

Somewhere very far away she heard Magda shout her name.

It was only eight feet, ten at the most, but the instant she was in the air, unattached to her wyvern, utterly at gravity’s mercy, she felt her heart rise up in her throat. Wild panic threatened to overcome her.

Then she crashed into the spiny back of the dragon and the desperate needs of the moment shoved everything else aside. As she scrambled for a grip, the Thinblade whipped around wildly, cleanly slicing off one of the dragon’s back spines, almost without resistance. Abigail caught a saddle strap, stopping herself from sliding off the side of the dragon.

Magda’s spell failed. The wizard’s armor started glowing brighter and brighter until he was painful to look at, like staring into the sun. Abigail shut her eyes tight and held on with all her strength as the dragon banked to come around on Corina. Abigail dangled freely from the side of the dragon as it cut through the air. She heard the wizard begin to mutter arcane words but before he could release his spell, a series of half a dozen bluish magical spikes slammed into his shield from the other side. The repeated impact distracted him, breaking the concentration he needed to finish his spell.

Corina corkscrewed down, spiraling toward the ocean in a desperate attempt to avoid an icy death. The dragon banked sharply in the other direction and Abigail slammed into its side, gasping to catch her breath from the sudden impact.

She thrust her knees under herself, still holding on to the saddle strap, eyes still tightly shut against the brilliance of Zuhl’s enchanted armor, and she lunged forward, bringing her sword around in a wild arc toward the brightness. She felt a slight tremor of resistance reverberate through the hilt of the Thinblade as it broke the magical barrier and cleaved Zuhl in half. The brightness evaporated, plunging the world into seeming darkness, even though the sun shone brightly overhead. She watched his upper body fall away toward the ocean, trailing a streamer of blood.

Abigail swung her leg over the ridge on the dragon’s back, sliding in between two spikes and spinning the Thinblade around in her hand so she could thrust down into the back of the beast. Then she heard him speak.

“Stop!” the dragon said. “Free me and I will leave you in peace.”

“Land,” Abigail shouted over the roaring wind, the Thinblade still poised for a kill strike.

The dragon turned and settled into a gentle dive toward a section of the frozen surface of the ocean, flaring his wings gracefully and lighting on the ice. Abigail didn’t let go or lower the Thinblade but she felt a tremendous relief to be closer to the ground. Magda and Corina flitted past overhead, banking hard to come around again.

“Why should I spare you, Dragon?” Abigail said.

“I did not attack your people of my own free will,” the dragon said. “The collar I’m forced to wear gives Zuhl the power to command me. Free me before he reasserts his control or you may find that you are not fast enough to survive.”

“Reasserts his control? Zuhl’s dead. I just cut him in half.” The lower portion of his torso was still strapped into the saddle, blood spatter staining the side of the dragon.

“I’ve seen him killed before,” the dragon said. “My sire killed him once, ate him whole, but before he could remove the collar, Zuhl rose from the dead and took control over us again.”

“Us?” Abigail said.

“My sire and dam and my siblings,” the dragon said. “Seven of us, my whole family lives in bondage, slaves to Zuhl. Free me and I will leave you in peace.”

“What’s to stop you from killing me the moment you can?” Abigail asked.

“Only my word,” the dragon said.

Abigail thought about it for a moment. She remembered how majestic Tanis looked gliding gracefully toward the dragon temple. Her nobility was humbling. The thought of her in bondage made Abigail flinch, recoiling against something that felt instinctively wrong.

She threw her leg over the side of the dragon and slid down to the ice, nearly losing her footing in the process. Carefully, she half walked, half slid around in front of the dragon that had killed so many Sky Knights and sailors.

“What’s your name, Dragon?” she asked.

“I am Ixabrax,” he said.

“Lower your head so I can reach the collar,” Abigail said.

Ixabrax slowly and warily lowered his head, keeping his eye on the Thinblade.

“Hold still,” Abigail said. “My sword’s really sharp.”

She carefully slipped the blade under the collar and pulled up through the enchanted metal. As it gave, a wave of force blew her backward to the ground. She shook off the daze and looked up into the sapphire-blue, catlike eyes of Ixabrax.

“I have never known a human to be honorable,” he said. “My sire told me stories of human kindness but I have only known cruelty and dominance from your kind.”

Abigail got back to her feet, wiping the frost off her backside.

“Turn your side toward me and I’ll cut that saddle off you,” she said.

Ixabrax frowned in confusion for a moment but complied without a word.

Abigail sliced the straps holding the saddle in place and let it fall, Zuhl’s corpse splattering blood across the ice.

“I’m Abigail Ruatha,” she said, sheathing the Thinblade. “I’ve freed you and now I stand defenseless before you.” She held her hands out to her sides, palms facing him. “Will you honor your word?”

“I will, Abigail Ruatha,” Ixabrax said. “You have made a friend this day.”

With that, he thrust into the air, chilling Abigail further with the downdraft. He flew low over the ocean toward the nearest of Zuhl’s ships, coming in under the shield, breathing frost into the side of the ship, freezing the hull solid before pulling up sharply and shattering the side of the ship with a tail strike. The ship shuddered with the impact and listed violently, throwing most of the crew on deck overboard as it began to take on water.

Ixabrax roared as he gained altitude, flying through the underside of the shield as if it wasn’t even there, then turning north toward the Isle of Zuhl.

***

Abigail watched anxiously as the scouts returned, landing just south of the encampment. She hurried to her command tent with Anatoly right beside her. Her command staff was already there. The two scout riders arrived a few minutes later, still wearing their jangling riding armor.

The battle had lasted for the entire day and into the night, but the bulk of the four legions guarding the shipyard had been destroyed with a few thousand fleeing into the darkness. Abigail had sent the Rangers to track them down and finish them off. She’d also sent Sky Knights to determine where the rest of Zuhl’s army was and where they were headed.

“Report,” Abigail said.

“The enemy has regrouped and are moving northeast toward the forest,” the Sky Knight said. “They appear to be headed for either Irondale or Dunston.”

Abigail leaned over the map spread out on the table and frowned.

“I’d bet they’re headed for Irondale, but we’d better send warning to both cities,” she said.

“We certainly can’t move the entire army to defend either city in time,” General Markos said. “But we could do some damage with the Rangers and the Sky Knights, harass them a bit before they reach their objective, maybe slow them down.”

“I like it,” Abigail said. “General Kern, you’ll take the two legions of Rangers. Don’t engage the enemy, just pick at them. Bleed them a little bit at a time. Flight Commander Corina, you’ll take two wings with General Kern. Leave the remaining two squads with us for message riders and scouts. As soon as we receive reinforcements from Cassandra, I’ll send another wing north.”

“Neither Irondale nor Dunston can hold against four legions of those brutes,” Torin said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think we can reach them before the snows start in the north. Once they do, it’ll be almost impossible to move so many men that far without losing a great number of them to the cold.”

“As much as I hate it,” Abigail said, “I’m afraid we’re going to have to wait for spring to attack what’s left of Zuhl’s forces. Let’s focus on getting ourselves ready for winter first.”

“I recommend we move the refugees back to Fellenden City,” Torin said. “Now that we know the barbarians aren’t looking for another fight at the moment, we have time to get people back indoors before winter sets in.”

“Would there be enough room to barrack our entire army?” Abigail said.

“I don’t see why not,” Torin said. “Honestly, we could use their help rebuilding the city and disposing of the dead.” Torin spoke like a man detached from his emotions.

“That would give the soldiers something to do for the winter,” General Markos said. “I always feel better when the men have something to keep them busy.”

“Admiral Tybalt, what’s the state of the navy?” Abigail asked.

“Forty-seven seaworthy ships, including the one master Grace and the Strikers captured,” Admiral Tybalt said. “We have a number of others we’re scavenging materials and equipment from. I have crews for them all, and then some.”

“Good, any progress figuring out those things?” Abigail asked, pointing to the five devices they’d found on board the captured ship. Each was a cube three feet on a side. The four sides were made of a clear substance revealing a crystal spinning in the center, balanced between opposing pyramids jutting up and down from inside the bottom and top of the cube. Another pyramid rose from the top of the cube, culminating in a crystal that seamlessly formed the top three inches of the pyramid.

“I believe they’re the devices that projected the shields over Zuhl’s ships,” Mage Dax said, “although I have yet to discover how to operate them.”

Abigail nodded. “Admiral Tybalt, deploy four of them on your four biggest ships. We’ll take one back to Ruatha for Mage Gamaliel to examine.”

“We might find a few more in the wreckage of the two vessels that sank,” Wizard Sark said.

“How would we get to them?” Abigail asked.

He shrugged. “Magic, of course, Lady Abigail. My specialty is the manipulation of air. I know a spell that will allow me to breathe underwater. With the assistance of a ship and a few strong men to hoist the devices out of the water, I believe I can locate and retrieve the devices that went down with those vessels.”