The Dragon Hunter and the Mage (60 page)

“What’s the matter with you?” Aric asked.

Everyone jumped as a few rocks and pebbles skittered down the ravine to their left, startling them. Then, a shadow covered them and a Dragon swooshed by, screeching.

The Company scrambled to hide between the crevices around them. Only Geric stayed put.

“Damn stupid cat,” Aric said, leaving his hiding place and pushing Geric out of sight. He practically had to drag the cat across the ground.

The Dragon swirled above the valley’s crater, roaring.

Aric cursed. “I should’ve seen this coming,” he said.

“It’s an Eastern Short-tail,” Tharius noted.

“Oh, shut up Tharius,” Trissa snapped. “No one cares.”

“We have to know what we’re fighting,” Tharius retorted angrily.

“We’re not fighting it,” Aric said.

“Why not?” Tharius asked. “We’ve killed a Dragon before.”

“Will you listen to him?” Dothea pressed. “We killed
one
Dragon. Probably because we got luck
y
‒
‒
”

“And we didn’t do it out in the open,” Aric added.

“What do we do then?” Clea asked.

Aric thought about it for a moment. “We need to send it away,” he said, then looked at his Hunters. “I need you guys to lure it away from the crater so that I can enter the tunnels.”

There were no odd looks, nervous glances, or shifting feet. Only a couple of nods.

“Alright,” Trissa said. “But I don’t think you should go in alone.”

“I agree,” Leth said. “It’s probably safer up here with the Dragon than in there with… whomever.”

Aric took a little while but ended up nodding an agreement. “Alright,” he relented. “Leth and Clea will come with me then. Everyone else will be bait, but I need you to stay away from it. Show yourselves, then hide.  Whatever happens,
don’t engage that Dragon
.”

Once again, there were several nods, and even a couple of “
Yes
,
Captain
s”.

Aric took another deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

The diversion worked like a charm. With the help of some arrows, the bait group led the Dragon away from the crater, screaming and shouting. Still, Aric, Leth, and Clea couldn’t help but keep looking over their shoulders as they raced towards the tunnels’ entrance. They jumped in, and the Glowstone on Aric’s armor immediately lit up, the same happening with the shards encrusted in the corridor’s wall.

Aric drew the Glowstone sword from across his back with one hand and a steel sword at his hip with another. “Let’s go,” he ordered.

“Wait,” Clea said. “Shouldn’t we light a torch? You know, in case those blue things come after us.”

“No need,” Aric replied, marching away. “We’re carrying enough Glowstone to keep them away.”

“Alright,” Clea said with a sigh. “Here we go.” She drew one of her daggers and followed after Aric.

“I think it’s fairly safe to assume that what we’re looking for is that large hallway with the statues,” Leth said. He was the only one of the three who hadn’t drawn any of his weapons. “You remember? Where we found the blue creatures attacking Orisius and the others?”

Aric nodded. “There was that huge steel gate with the engraved runes.”

“I bet you my land and titles that’s the crypt the Mages built for the Dragon God,” Leth said. “Oh, wait… I already lost those when I joined the Guild.” He shrugged. “Well, it’s the intention that counts.”

Clea shot him a serious frown. “Please don’t be cheeky,” she said.

“I thought you liked my cheekiness,” Leth shot back.

“I do,” Clea replied, checking the shadows around her with a nervous look. “But right now I hate it.”

Leth was going to reply but was silenced as Aric raised an arm, cutting him off.

“You hear that?” Aric asked. He pointed towards a corridor to their left. “That way.”

As they crossed the threshold, a faint female voice echoed around them. She was mumbling something, but it was impossible to understand a word.

Aric signaled Leth and Clea to follow him, then tiptoed down a stairwell. They spiraled downwards for what felt like an age, the gloomy blue lights from the Glowstone shards in the walls lighting the way. The female voice gradually became louder and louder, but the words remained undecipherable.

“Eliran,” Aric whispered as he exchanged a look with the others.

The stairwell turned and kept turning until it felt like they were stuck in a bottomless well. Eliran’s voice became louder with every step, and suddenly the great hall jumped out to meet them. They shrank against themselves, trying to remain out of sight. Eliran stood at the very center of the hall, surrounded by the army of statues that lined the hall’s floor like a Lagaht board. She had her palms facing the gargantuan steel gate and seemed to be chanting something in a foreign language.

Aric gritted his teeth. “She tricked us!”

The three of them exchanged another look, and Aric signaled for them to follow him. Keeping to the shadows, they lurched from statue to statue, sneaking closer and closer to Eliran. The Witch showed no sign of noticing their presence as she continued her chant, almost as though she were in some sort of deep trance.

Aric reached the statue closest to her and tried to lower his breath, tiptoeing as carefully as he possibly could. He readied his blades. Behind the two statues adjacent to his, Leth and Clea steeled themselves as well. Eliran was surrounded.

A blue halo pulsed from the Witch like a wave of heat, and in front of her the runes etched upon the massive gate began to gleam like blue flames.

Leth and Clea had their eyes fixed on Aric, ready to jump at his slightest movement. He made a count-down with his fingers, and as he reached zero the three of them jumped, a total of four blades collapsing on Elira
n
‒‒

BOOM!

They were sent flying backwards across the hall and crashed into the forest of statues.

Aric felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. He reached to brush his hand against the back of his head, and his fingers came back bloody. He made to stand back up as fast as he could, searching for his swords. Stumbling, he found only the one made of Glowstone, but the crystal had shattered.

He looked at Eliran as he drew a Glowstone dagger from his arm. The Witch was unperturbed. She kept up her trance-like chant as if their attack hadn’t even happened. Aric tried to look for his friends among the shadows and saw Leth using a steel sword as a cane to help him back up. He had blood dripping from his mouth. A few feet away from him, Clea was already standing straight. She drew out her bow and fired an arrow.

Then, at the last possible moment, a shado
w‒
no, a hooded figur
e‒
came out of nowhere and deflected the arrow away as if it was no more than an annoying mosquito.

“Now, now,” the hooded man said in a deep, thundering voice, “that is most impolite. Our Sorceress here is in the middle of an important task. We mustn’t bother her.”

He wore robes as black as night, its shadows making it impossible to see his face. It sent a shiver down Aric’s spine.

Then, without another word, the hooded man gave a flick of a hand, and all three Hunters were sent flying upwards. Aric felt his throat tighten and burn. He tried to breathe in, opened his mouth as wide as he could, but found no air would come. Legs dangling three feet above the ground, he grabbed at his throat, instinctively searching for whatever was squeezing it, but there was nothing.

In the meantime, Eliran kept conjuring her spell as if nothing at all was happening around her. In front of her, the great steel gates screeched, and a slither of light poured between them as they parted open.

The dark Mage chuckled.

Aric tried to scream, but his throat couldn’t produce a sound. His lungs began to burn, and the world became blurry. He felt as though he was going to pass out at any moment when all of a sudden there was a growl, followed by a scream. The grip around Aric’s neck loosened, letting him fall to the floor. Gasping for air, he raised his head and saw some wild beast standing over the hooded man, gnawing at his neck.

It was Geric.

Only then did Aric realize Eliran’s chant had died out, and the gates had stopped opening. Aric looked at the Witch and saw her lower her arms with an extremely confused look.

“What…” she muttered.

A whimper echoed across the hall and Geric flew into the air, disappearing into the shadows. The hooded Mage stood back up, growling.

“Fire take you!” Eliran screamed, furious. She sent her palms at him, and a wave of blue power came pouring out from them.

The dark Mage casually raised a hand, absorbing Eliran’s attack. It sounded like a piece of meat searing in a pan, but he gave no sign of feeling any pain.

“Don’t just stand there!” Eliran yelled. “Help me, you fools!”

Aric snapped back to himself and lunged forward, screaming, with his dagger in hand. Leth and Clea did the same. Their charge never reached the target, however, as Sohtyr raised his free hand and sent a gush of flames towards them.

The blaze came flying at them with lightning speed. Aric halted, skidding through the floor and shrinking into himself. He covered his eyes and face, expecting the flames to engulf him at once, but the burning never came. He opened his eyes and saw a massive wall of fire hovering above him about an arm’s length away.

Sohtyr chuckled. “You won’t be able to protect them for much longer, Sorceress,” he said. “And they can’t help you either.” He extinguished the flames, then swung his arm flamboyantly above his head. Stone began to crackle everywhere.

Aric looked around and saw the army of statues coming to life. One foot after the other, the statues yanked themselves out of their stupor and stepped down from their pedestals, the indigo light from Eliran’s relentless energy attack casting a ghostly hue over them.

“Oh, crap,” Leth said as a statue carrying a lance twice as tall as him stepped closer. He parried a blow from the lance and thrust his sword into the statue’s chest in one single, elegant move.

The statue fell to its knees with a loud thud.

“Good news,” Leth said. “They can die.” With the help of a foot, he pulled his sword from the statue’s chest, and just as he did, the creature climbed back onto its feet. “No, spoke too soon!”

He staggered back and stopped just in time to avoid bumping into another living statue.

Finding himself surrounded, Leth deflected the blows coming from both sides, sweat breaking out over his forehead.

A few feet to his left, Clea unsheathed two daggers from the low of her back, raced towards Leth, and in a swift, scissor-like movement snapped the head off one of the statues. She then twirled and snapped the head off the second one. Both of the statues fell awkwardly onto the floor, and this time, they stayed there.

“Okay,” Leth said with a sigh of relief. “I was right the first time. They
can
die.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time to discuss it as another, far more numerous wave of statues fell upon them.

“Aric!” Clea yelled, deflecting an attack. “Decapitating them works. Just snap their heads off!”

You make it sound like it’s easy,
Aric thought, grinding his teeth and spinning as he parried the attacks from three different statues. He rolled to his left, then backwards, trying to get enough room to launch an attack, but everywhere he went more statues surrounded him.

Aric parried a sword and swung back to parry another attack, but this time from a massive battle axe. The two weapons clanged loudly and Aric’s hand went numb. His sword went flying beyond another cluster of living statues, and he was forced to roll backwards to avoid another swing of the axe. He searched his arms, legs, and waist, trying to find some other weapon to fight with. He found only a dagger. It was long, but it was made of Glowstone. It would have been perfect for killing a Dragon, but it would certainly shatter against creatures made of stone or their steel weapons.

A pair of statues marched towards him on both sides, lances at the ready. Aric backtracked and found himself trapped against a wall, a third statue joining the other two. There was nowhere to go. This was it.