Spirit Blade: Book III of the Dragon Mage Trilogy (28 page)

Chapter 25

K
azin circled the small clearing slowly as he prepared to make his landing. There wasn’t a great deal of room to land, especially in the twilight of early dawn, but he managed it with a great deal of alacrity. Once he came to a stop, he lowered his wing to the ground to allow Amelia and Sherman to disembark. Once they were safely on the ground, he transformed himself back into his human form. He still wore the ring of youth as per Amelia’s wishes and looked like a youthful mage freshly graduated from the Tower of Sorcery.

“This place will do for the night,” said Sherman, looking around the clearing.

“There’s a small stream just south of here,” said Kazin, “not that there are any horses to water.”

The companions had been nearly as far as the city of Arral when Amelia informed them they were losing ground on their quarry. It was evident from her orb that those they pursued were making time by not sleeping for the night, and in the process they were avoiding making any changes to the flow of history. In order to gain time, the companions came to the conclusion that they needed to risk flying instead of riding. With rumours rapidly spreading about dragons being ridden by mages, it was now less of a concern for Kazin to fly. If he were spotted from below, it would only add fuel to the rumours that they already knew to be truths. One of the only dangers would be if the mages below them considered them to be a threat and decided to do something about it. The other danger was if mages, who were trying to capture a dragon with an orb, unleashed a spell to capture Kazin without realizing he was already a dragon mage.

This concern was put to the test when that very situation had occurred as Kazin flew south around Arral to avoid detection by its inhabitants. Some mages far south of the city had been concealed in the woods and had brought their magic to bear on the companions as they had flown overhead. Kazin had lost his concentration and almost fainted, while his altitude suddenly dropped. Sherman and Amelia had been warned something like this could happen, and Amelia had reacted by raising a shield to protect Kazin from the magic below. Kazin had immediately recovered mentally, but had continued to lose altitude. Sherman hung on while Amelia had switched her spell from a shield to a haste spell. Kazin had been alert enough by then to mentally resist the spell from the mages, and he rapidly shot out of range of the spell casters below, much to their astonishment. Once clear, Kazin had turned back to Amelia and thanked her for her quick actions. From there, they had made wise use of the haste spell to cover ground more rapidly than before. After that, Kazin had found a place to land and he apologized for the rough ride. He had forgotten the mages of old had more powerful magic than in his time. From then on, the companions had unanimously agreed to travel only at night when humans would not be able to see well enough to cast such spells.

Now they prepared to make camp for the day in an area that was well away from any human habitation. Several tree branches were gathered to make a shady area where they could sleep.

Sherman took the first watch, knowing Kazin was exhausted from his flight, and Amelia had expended some energy with her spell casting. Shortly before his watch ended, he made breakfast and gave some to Amelia when he woke her for her shift.

Kazin was woken up later to relieve Amelia and he looked around their campsite curiously. Something was different. “That’s odd,” he said. “I don’t remember the trees as being so dense this morning. The clearing was bigger. I’m sure of it.”

Amelia smiled at him. “You’re right. It was getting a bit too bright for you to sleep properly, so I called the trees in closer to provide additional shade. It also helped to cut out the wind that had picked up.”

Kazin could hear the tree branches as the wind whistled through them, yet not a single gust could be felt in their sleeping area.

“Where did you learn to do that?” asked Kazin.

“Some of it was in the old spell book we found,” said Amelia. “Unfortunately, much of that page was missing, so I had to improvise. Your lessons in improvisation came in handy. Without your training, I wouldn’t have been able to make it work.”

“You are a very capable student,” said Kazin, beaming. He rose, gave Amelia a kiss on the cheek, and then walked past the protective trees to find the stream and wash up before taking his turn with watch duty.

Amelia blushed as she prepared to get a few hours’ sleep before dusk. Her dreams were romantic in nature, prevailed by a young, blond haired, blue eyed mage.

Kazin’s watch was initially uneventful, but near dusk he heard a shriek that he instantly recognized as that of a dragon. Fully alert, he waited and, sure enough, he heard it again. Ordinarily it shouldn’t have bothered him, but for some unknown reason it caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. Looking at his companions, he saw that they still slept soundly, so he put up some magical warding to protect them and prepared himself to investigate the sounds he had heard.

He transformed into a dragon and leapt quietly into the air. As he flew low over the trees to avoid being spotted in the day’s dying light, he didn’t notice the pulsing, red light of Amelia’s orb as it peeked out of her cloak beside her blanket.

Kazin reveled in the wind as it rushed past him, cooling his reptilian body. It would be too easy to become a dragon full time. Only his mental discipline kept him from succumbing to that temptation. Many mages did not have that discipline, especially in this time in history, and they wound up controlled by the dragons they were supposed to be controlling. Those mages and dragons were extremely dangerous, and were ultimately chased down and destroyed by other dragons and their mounts, or other mercenaries hired strictly for this purpose. How Kazin had managed to control the dragon within his orb for so many years was beyond him.

Now he flew toward where he thought the dragon cries had come from. Peering intently through the long shadows cast by the trees below, he caught a glimpse of what could have been a dragon below. He also sensed a magic similar to the one he had experienced earlier when he had almost fainted. Choosing a suitable spot not too far away, he made his landing stealthy and silent. Then he became his human self again.

Quickly and carefully, he made his way to where the dragon was. As he got closer, he could hear voices. It was the voice of a dragon conversing with a mage.

Kazin cast a silence spell on himself and crept as quietly as he dared through the forest to get close enough to not only hear, but see the speakers as well. Once he got close enough, Kazin was surprised by what he saw. Not by the mage, who was an ordinary, middle aged man with dark hair and a traditional black cloak worn by black mages, but by the dragon. It was the tiniest dragon he had ever seen. It must have been a very young one.

“I didn’t want one so young,” grumbled the mage. “Go away!”

The dragon eyed the mage’s orb warily. “I cannot! Please don’t make me do that!” it pleaded. “I cannot abandon the orb!”

The mage swore. “I don’t know how to reverse the spell,” he muttered. “Remove your essence from the orb so I can draw in another dragon!”

“I can’t!” cried the dragon. “I don’t know how! It’s your magic!”

The mage swore again. “Great. If I show up with you, I’ll be the laughingstock of the entire conclave of mages!”

The dragon drew back in surprise. “What? Why? What’s wrong with me?”

“You’re a puny runt!” retorted the mage. “What use would you be to us?”

“I’m not a puny runt!” snapped the dragon. “I just haven’t grown up yet!”

“Exactly,” said the mage with a wave of his hand. “Now go away!”

“Not without the orb,” said the dragon coldly.

“I can’t do that,” said the mage flatly. “If I do that, the arch mages would have my hide. Orbs are not easy to manufacture. The orb stays with me.”

“And I stay with the orb,” said the dragon firmly. “If you want to get rid of me, you’ll have to part with the orb.”

“I will not,” said the mage. “Now be gone, or I’ll have to use magic on you.”

“I’ll fry you on the spot if you so much as open your mouth to cast a spell,” said the dragon.

“You can’t hurt me!” said the mage scornfully. He held up the orb. “If you do, you’ll destroy the orb and you will die!”

The dragon recoiled somewhat. “Maybe. But I’ll die if I’m away from the orb anyway. Either way, it makes no difference to me. You, on the other hand - …”

The mage shook his head. “You can’t have the orb, so you might as well go away and die in dignity. Maybe then your essence will leave the orb and I can use it to find a real dragon to control.”

The dragon straightened its neck. “I am a real dragon!”

“You give me no choice,” said the mage. He did a quick chant and shot an ice bolt at the dragon’s chest.

The ice bolt struck true and the dragon shrieked in pain. At the same moment, Kazin felt a stinging sensation in his chest. He doubled over in pain and fell down, revealing his presence.

The dragon glanced at Kazin and then back at the mage. “So!” he cried. “You are trying to trick me! Well, I’m not as useless as you think, mage!” With a great blast of flame, he spewed a sizeable fireball at the mage. Without time to react, the mage screamed and held his hands over his face instinctively, throwing the orb aside in the process. His hands were a useless means of protection as the fireball struck him. He was thrown to the ground and his body was consumed so quickly that he could not utter another sound.

The mage’s body was still engulfed in flames as the dragon lunged beyond him to pounce on the orb. The orb was intact, pulsing with the dragon’s life force. Gingerly, the dragon held it up to admire it. In so doing, it noticed Kazin, who had recovered from his mysterious pain.

“So,” said the dragon slowly, “now that I have the orb, you cannot control me. You shall die the same way as your friend!” With that, he blasted another fireball in Kazin’s direction.

Kazin casually deflected the fireball, his spell not even audible to the dragon. When the flames subsided, Kazin stood unharmed.

The dragon was taken aback. “What? How did you do that?”

“I used magic,” said Kazin quietly.

“Well, you can’t have my orb!” said the dragon, turning its claw to hide it from view.

“I don’t want it,” said Kazin. He held up his staff. “I already have one of my own.”

The dragon eyed the orb on Kazin’s staff and then looked at its own. “It’s the same!”

At those words, the ground shook vehemently as another earthquake struck. The quake lasted for a good half minute and both Kazin and the dragon waited for it to subside.

“I want that orb too,” said the dragon finally.

“You already have one,” said Kazin. “You don’t need another one.”

“I don’t care,” said the dragon. “Give me yours and you won’t get hurt.”

“I can’t do that,” said Kazin.

“You saw what I did to your friend!” said the dragon, pointing to the smoking remains of the mage.

“He wasn’t my friend,” said Kazin. “I didn’t even know him.”

“I don’t believe you,” said the dragon.

Kazin shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

The mage and dragon stared at one another for a few moments in silence.

“Well?” said the dragon.

“Well, what?”

“Give me the orb!”

“No.”

Without warning, the dragon pounced on Kazin, but the mage vanished from sight at the last second. Scrambling to its feet, the dragon looked around.

“Looking for me?” asked a voice behind him.

The dragon spun to the sound and faced a grinning, young mage.

“I’ve been practicing that spell for a few dozen years,” said Kazin, “but this is the first time I’ve ever needed it.”

“A few dozen years?” said the dragon, perplexed. “But you’re not that old.”

“You shouldn’t believe everything you see,” said Kazin. “That last spell should have taught you that. I’m actually much older than I look.”

Without warning, the dragon let loose with another blast of fire.

Again Kazin batted it aside like a harmless fly.

Enraged, the dragon lunged again but stopped short, expecting Kazin to teleport himself away like last time. But this time Kazin didn’t move. He didn’t even flinch.

“You can’t defeat me,” said Kazin. “It’s time to put your greed aside and go away. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Again the dragon lunged in Kazin’s direction, but this time Kazin cast another spell as he teleported a short distance away. At the same time he fired a lightning bolt at the dragon’s left side.

The dragon cried out as the projectile struck it and Kazin simultaneously felt a burst of pain in his own side. At the same moment, another earthquake struck just as fiercely as before.

Kazin stumbled around to observe the dragon, who was already in motion. This time the mage could only put up a shield as the dragon pounced on him. The impact of the dragon landing on the shield caused a great thunderclap and the ground heaved worse than it had ever done thus far. The heaving did not stop as both the dragon and Kazin fell to the ground in agony, both suffering from the pain of the lightning generated at their contact.

Kazin got to his feet slowly, as did the dragon. Neither could hold their balance very well. Fear was in the dragon’s eyes as it regarded Kazin intently.

Then something dawned on Kazin and his eyes widened. “Is - is your name Filbar, by any chance?”

The dragon’s eyes widened and it nearly fell down again, but instinctively opened its wings to maintain balance. Then it launched itself into the air with a shriek. “No!” it wailed. “You cannot know that my name is Filbar! It’s impossible! Leave me alone!” The dragon then flew out of sight as fast as it could fly.

Kazin shuddered in the dying light of the dragon’s flames around him. The quaking had finally stopped. It was impossible, but he had encountered the dragon he would become in the future - or his own past. That was why he had felt everything the young dragon had felt. When Filbar was in pain, so was he. Whatever happened to Filbar, happened to him. But that was not the worst of it. His contact with himself - at least his dragon half - was not something that was supposed to happen. This encounter was what he had dreaded above all else. Contact with himself at the same moment in time could very well be the catalyst that caused his history in the future to fall apart!