Dragons Shining (26 page)

Owen laughed as he stood to make his way to his room. "Surely if I survive, Baird, I shall have the time, a pen and a blank tome to fill. There will be additions to pen by then, I'll warrant."

Several young ladies watched him curiously as he climbed the stairs. He was wary of them, with no real interest. He could feel Briana now, always. How far apart? Perhaps forty leagues, and he could feel her still. The pull was there and so very strong. He wanted to seek her. Wanted to see what she saw, feel what she felt, but no. Not yet. Such temptation in itself was a warning. "
My past dalliance seems so shallow compared to this
", he thought as he felt a pang of conscience.

No-one followed him to his room.

Owen filled the wash basin from a large pitcher of water and set it on the floor where he sat cross legged facing it. He calmed himself and concentrated on the Forest Mother many leagues inside her forest. He perceived the Heart Tree in the forest center, and an image appeared in the water. He guarded his thoughts with a powerful incantation, daring anyone or anything to enter by force on pain of death. In the forest, a pool of water in the roots of the great tree sparkled brightly, spewing sparks into the air. He was calling the fairies in a place they could not ignore. Before long, Owen could see movement around the edges of the pool. He felt his wards tested so gently, they did not trigger. Then he was looking into the pixie eyes of a Forest Fairy. An old female if he was any judge, with a crown. There was laughter like a tinkling chime.

"I know you, Owen. I saw you with the Archangel that night in the glade, just a babe then. I see sadness in your eyes now, and caring. That is good, the caring. But sadness over things that must be has no place in your heart. I am Delishaterina, Queen of the fairies in Mother's Forest. I think I know why you disturb us, Dragon King."

"I seek your aid by the alliance you have sworn repeatedly in the ages past, Delishaterina. I am traveling the waterway to the Hills under Dragon Forest, heading to Dragon Mount. I am traveling with the Toss and a few of the human swamp people. Baird is with me as well as Barlow. We expect to be attacked in force as soon as we reach the Hills. I believe there will be Wyrms with wizard riders, many perhaps also carrying Orcs and Trolls. We would greatly appreciate your assistance in this matter so close to your doorstep."

"They are closer than you think, young one; as you have surmised, eleveb dark Wizards on their Back Wyrms, and more with Orcs and four Trolls. They dare to camp this night in a forest clearing. One or two shall not leave that place. They have transgressed, and even the Demon knows better. There are many Dragons on the mountainside watching the dark ones. They are cloaked in Dragon Magic, but we know they are there brooding upon the slaughter to come. The dark ones do not see them. The Wyrms can reach the Hills in half a day from there, and must be planning to attack you in the Bayou. We will wait until just before dawn to strike them in the forest. If we help you on the Hill, we will greatly anger the Demon by assisting you directly, Dragon King. What protection will you offer against his vengeance?"

"You know, Majesty, why you agreed to the alliance. For the same reason as that of the ogres who joined us just yesterday, I believe. You know the Demon despises fairies and ogres. His kind hates the Forest Mother as she hates them. Whether or not you help us, he will strike at you because he fears you. The dragons though, will always watch over your forest, Delishaterina. They love it as much as you."

"The Ogres have agreed to an alliance, you say? Tell them not to cut our trees and we will honor it! So that was the reason for your song. Yes we heard it as did the Mother. She wakes, slowly. The forest is crackling with new life and energy. Our magic waxes. Soon the Demon would attack, before she wakes fully. We will show our strength to him on the Hills tomorrow where our magic cannot hurt the forest. Mayhap he will have second thoughts and offer more time while pondering a nasty defeat. We will be there tomorrow, Owen. Tell your archers to be careful with those arrows I expect you to curse. You don't want them shooting the dragons, and especially not us fairies!"

She reached down chuckling, and splashed the pool of water from the root bed. The connection was lost.

Owen left his room and looked down on the throng of people below. "
Hear me friends
."

The mental message got everyone's attention, most having never experienced such a thing.

"I have spoken with the fairy queen, Delishaterina." There were exclamations of surprise. "There are eleven Wyrm riding wizards, four trolls and many orcs at rest in a Dragon Forest meadow, six hours from the Hills. They will be attacked by the fairies just before dawn. No doubt those enemies that survive will fly on to attack us at that time, from only half a day’s flight. That means unless we sail tonight, in the next hour, we could be caught on the water. So make ready to depart in one hour. The fairies will aid us on the Hills, where their magic will be unfettered. May the Maker watch over us. That is all."

After returning to his room, there came a knock at Owen's door. When he opened it there were three lovely ladies carrying large pitchers of warm water for his bath. He thanked them and ushered them back out again after they filled the small tub near one of the tall windows. The quick bath felt very good. Then he dressed and went to fetch Gander and the horses.

This time when Owen returned to the boats with the horses there was no crowd of people waiting to speak with him. The hustle and bustle of small sail craft being launched, the clanging of steel reinforced armor and the clomping of steel shod boots rang in the air. A surprising number of combatants emerged from the swamp all around to fill the boats before they cast off the ropes and began sailing down the bayou.

Baird and the other magi shouted
"illumus"
and cast a dozen brilliant wizard lights
all around and in front of the boats. Alligators and other night roving denizens of the water recoiled, their wakes splashing back into the swamp on both sides.

"This is quite a spectacle" said Rolph. He, Purdy, Tamaris, and Ender had moved to Owen's side.

"It’s something to tell our grandchildren. How can such a dreadful swamp produce such feisty and healthy a people?" asked Tamaris.

"I have seen the whole of it", said Owen. "This swamp is teeming with life, even more so than the forests I know of. Most is in and under the water, yet there is much that can survive in or out of the water. There are fat, juicy turkeys that live in the swamp trees above. It is dangerous, old and primal, as old as the eldest forest, and I believe it does have a keeper. I have seen a glimmer, a cold and implacable something that slips from my most careful seeking. This is a place where the fittest survive and the rest perish, by this entity's law."

"So it's good that Tamaris is leaving as quickly as possible", said Purdy.

"Hey, what's so fit about being a huge slab of slow witted muscle?" replied Tamaris with a smile.

Purdy swung to give Tamaris a clout, but only swung on air as Tamaris ducked, laughing and scampered away into the crowd of swamp people.

"I wonder if these people can shoot as well as they claim", said Ender.

Baird had approached and overheard. "I have seen them shoot a gator in the eye and take fish with an arrow as they dart through the water and birds in the air as they fly by. Try shooting one of those trout sometime, Ender."

"What would be so hard about that, Baird?"

"Well the water disguises the true position of the fish, which is always really below where it appears. How much below depends on the depth and distance from you. This takes quick and instinctive shooting that no mere practice can perfect. It is bred into these people for thousands of years. They shoot entirely from instinct, and can hit at any speed or direction their prey cares to take. Even the elves give due credit to these people and their skill."

"I hope they can shoot the dark ones as well", Owen said. "It's time for me to spell those arrows."

For several hours Owen made his way around the boat and quivers were passed to him from the other boats. He gathered as many as he could at one time and said the words that helped him focus his blood magic on every shaft and head coated in alligator blood. By the time he was done, he had to don the harness with the blood stones to aid his flagging strength.
"At least this spell will make those killed by it give up their life energy back to the stones without my asking",
he thought
.
He had thought on this spell ever since learning that he was a blood mage, yet he had not actually used it. The spell would first detect the kind of blood that he had sampled from the various dark ones he had killed. If detected, the spell would release and start a chain reaction in the target's blood. He made certain to warn the archers that although the spell would not affect them the same way, they might be stung worse than by a snake bite for a time if they were cut by an arrow head, as the spell dissipated.

Owen went below and found a hammock to rest. On the way he met with Barlow and suggested everyone take shifts through the night. "Everyone needs some rest, whether or not they can actually sleep." Owen didn't have any problem sleeping because he was very tired. He had not wanted to drain the Blood Stones, so bore the brunt of his spell casting himself.

He fell asleep before Ralph and Ender both came down to plant themselves on either side of his hammock. They took turns on watch until Baird came down later and joined them. Ender let Baird sleep as well and later Ralph woke Baird about an hour before dawn.

Barlow came down at pre-dawn to wake them all with the news they had arrived at the end dock. "I have counted the men and women of the swamp that will support the Toss this day. There are a total of ninety six, thirty five archers, forty swords and twenty one axes."

"That's ten times as many as I had thought would fight upon the Hills with me. May the Maker help them survive this", said Owen. He felt well rested yet hungry. "We have time for a meal I believe. The fairies should be waking our enemies with a nasty surprise already this morning."

The entire company ate a quick breakfast and drank the bittersweet root brew that chased the cobwebs from their sleep fogged minds.

Owen embarked in the pre-dawn hint the day was nigh. He led Gander across to the grassy hill side where everyone was gathered, mounted and spoke. "We have several hours before we can expect our enemies to arrive. We will travel toward the forest as swiftly as possible, looking for an advantageous place to stand. The further we get from the boats the safer they will be. If you see fairies, remember they are there to help us. Do not attack them. Let's move."

The only mounts were those of the Toss, so Owen and his Toss walked their horses, leading the column four abreast.

Chapter Nine – The Fairy Surprise

Vazlos had not wanted to stop here in the Mother's Forest, but the others had insisted. The blasted wyrms were tired of carrying trolls, and the damn orcs were howling that the wyrms were crushing them in their claws and trying to throw them off their backs. There were times he wished he had simply remained a hermit wizard, experimenting with the wayward travelers that sometimes passed his cave in the Remoss Pass, to the wasteland side of the mountains. He had enjoyed the games he played with them before stealing their life force and making his zombie slaves. Vazlos needed little rest. His magic sustained him, at the expense of the occasional prisoner he drained of life force and blood. While the orcs and the two trolls slept in the near dawn light, he was partaking of one of the provisions they had brought with them, slating his hunger and thirst. Even wide awake, the first indication to Vazlos that something was wrong was when the larger Troll woke with a howl and killed one of the others with his monstrous club. Before Vazlos removed its head with a bolt of iridescent lightning, it also bashed the skull of the wyrm closest to it and the sleeping wizard, Koth. It was then that three behemoth earth elementals began pushing themselves from the ground. His wizard's sight detected the fairies, shimmering in their summoning spells in the tree tops surrounding them.

"Flee! Mount and Ride. The fairies attack", he screamed. "Blast the trees!" As he ran to his wyrm, Vazlos shouted "
Inflamonos"
and cast fireballs with each hand at the tree tops. He cursed as the fireballs met waves of rain conjured by the fairies. So he blasted them with lightning instead and heard their dying cries. The resulting smoke and steam from his and the other wizard attacks on the trees filled the meadow. He heard the screams of dying wyrms and wizards, and the pounding of rock elementals on dead flesh. He made it to Kell, his wyrm, and they lifted, snatching two orcs from the ground. In the blood red and smoke filled dawn, seven Wyrms with their vampire wizard masters and more, carrying only Orcs or Trolls, flew toward the hills below the Dragon Forest. Vazlos did not sense the dragons as they patiently flew above and behind the wyrms. "
Damn fairies
.
Belaros will make them pay dearly for this
.
I wonder if this young Owen knows we are coming. The fairies probably warned him by now. Belaros said there were only a few Toss, so this should not be too hard even if there were a few minor wizards among them. I am the strongest wizard alive since Baird was killed, and now I have learned blood magic from the Demon himself. Perhaps they do know, so what shall we find on that bayou? Perhaps they have fled. If so, we will overtake them soon enough."