The Dragon's Champion (21 page)

All of the
Marlins disappeared, save one.

“Why did you
stop?” Erik asked. “I wasn’t giving up. I was just-”

Marlin held a
hand up in the air. Erik noticed that the man’s mouth was hanging open. “In all
of my years, I have never heard of anything like this.”

“What?” Erik
asked.

“I did not stop
the trial,” Marlin said. “Erik, somehow you have harnessed a power so great
that all of my magic was not enough to sustain the false images in your
presence.”

Erik looked
around. “You
mean,
I did that?” he asked. He then
realized that he was still sitting on the stool.

Marlin nodded
slowly. “From the stool, you have torn through the false magic to discover the
truth. I have never even thought that such a thing was possible.” Marlin
crossed his arms and thought for a moment. “Return to the dwarf and assist him
with the chores he has been given. I need to go and speak with the prelate.”

*****

Lepkin bent over
the stream and scooped a couple handfuls of water into his mouth. He pushed
back and leaned against a boulder for support. The wound in his chest was
beyond agonizing. After he had defeated the warlock and the Blacktongues he had
changed back into his human form and pulled the arrowhead from his chest. The
tip had broken off in his sternum, but he had forced through the pain. Failure
was too steep a price for the Keeper to pay.

The wound was
hardly even noticeable in dragon form, but every moment he spent as a dragon he
became more susceptible to the evil of Nagar’s Secret, despite the fact that it
was far from him at the time. He was caught in an agonizing dilemma. He could
remain human and deal with the pain and possibility of infection, or remain as
the dragon and suffer the evils of the book. Ultimately he had chosen to remain
human. Death was a fate he was willing to accept if need be. But he could not
allow himself to become twisted by the evil of Nagar’s Secret. He knew it had
the power to turn him to the other side. That could not be allowed to happen.
Lepkin knew too much about the upcoming events, and he knew far too much about
Erik. No. He would rather die than allow any possibility of betrayal.

He pinched his
shirt between his forefinger and thumb, gently pulling the cloth back to look
at the poultice he had secured across his chest. With his other hand he pulled
the old poultice out from the wound. His chest burned, stinging as bits of him
clung to the poultice. He gritted his teeth and continued until he could see
the wound. The
hole
gaped back at him, a tiny rivulet
of fresh, bright blood running out from within. Master Lepkin knew he could not
stitch the wound closed. He had to let it heal from the inside first. His main
concern now was to avoid infection.

He turned back
to the tin cup of boiling water he had over a small campfire. Lepkin pulled a
cloth from the boiling water and sprinkled what little bit of salt he had left
onto the cloth. He wrapped it around his little finger and gently wormed it
inside his chest. He groaned with the pain, taking care to be as gentle as
possible. Once he had finished cleaning the wound out he discarded the cloth
and reach for a small vial of green liquid. He poured half of the contents over
his wound. It stung almost as badly as the salt, but he knew it would help. It
was a mixture taught to him long ago, consisting of herbs that accelerated the
healing process in addition to keeping the wound sterile. When he was finished
with the vial, he set it down and picked up a fresh poultice. It contained many
of the same herbs as the vial, but these were the leaves of the herbs, in
addition to leaves and roots of other herbs, instead of the juices. He fastened
the poultice to his chest and wiggled it a bit to make sure it wouldn’t come
undone while he walked.

Once Lepkin was
satisfied he let his shirt down and cleaned up around him. He didn’t want to
leave any sign of his passing. He had no way of knowing how many more
Blacktongues might be after him. Since his horse had died during the encounter
with the warlock, Lepkin was forced to make the already long journey to Valtuu
Temple by foot. That would take a lot more time than he had originally planned
on. Time, Lepkin knew, that he did not have.

“Come, do it
again,” Marlin said.

Erik sat on the
stool in the training hall and waited for Marlin to prepare the next trial. The
prelate was standing off to the side, as he had the past two days, watching.
Marlin created twenty replicas of himself and all of them moved, walking around
Erik quickly, to confuse him. Erik watched the Marlins pass by for a few
moments and then he closed his eyes and fell within himself again. He went deep
into his soul and found his power. It was not an emotion, as he had thought
when he began this training that gave him the power to discern truth. It was
the reason he trained, the fact that he felt others were in danger and counting
on him to succeed, that gave him the power he needed. He opened his eyes and all
of the false Marlins were gone.

The real Marlin
turned to the prelate. “Do you see?” Marlin asked.

“Quite
remarkable,” the prelate said. “I have not heard or read of anything of this
nature.” The prelate walked forward and nodded to Marlin. “Let us see what he
can do with both of us combined.” An instant later there were over one hundred
people in the training room. Half of them were in the image of the prelate, and
the other half looked like Marlin.

Erik didn’t have
to close his eyes this time. He had already tapped into his power, and so he
was warmed up and ready to go. He waved his hand and all of the false images
vanished. He was again alone with just the real prelate and Marlin looking at
him.

“Remarkable,”
the prelate said again. “Move on to the last three trials, he is ready.” The
prelate began to walk away and then he turned back to face Marlin. “He is more
than ready,” the prelate added.

“What are the
last three trials?” Erik asked after the prelate left.

“They are
designed to help the trainee fuse combat skills with the ability to discern
truth,” Marlin replied. “Follow me into the next chamber.”

Erik rose from
the stool and walked behind Marlin. The two of them passed through another
golden door to stand in a room filled with strange machines. Erik puzzled at
them as he stepped into the room. Large, wooden maces dangled from ropes
attached to poles. Erik quickly realized that this was a type of gauntlet, an
obstacle course for him to cross.

“Stand where you
are, and don’t move until I tell you too,” Marlin said. Marlin then walked
across the room and pulled a lever on the far wall. The poles began to spin,
swinging the wooden maces out. Erik quickly realized that there was no clear
path between the contraptions. No matter where he went, he would be hit by the
maces. “Now, you must learn to use both your natural eyes, and your spiritual
eyes,” Marlin said. “This trial is completed once you reach me and shut the
machines off with the lever.”

Erik looked
through the blur of twirling weapons to see the lever that Marlin had pulled to
start the test. “Do I get a shield or anything?” Erik asked over the whirr of
the machines.

“No,” Marlin
said.

“Great,” Erik
muttered to himself. He suddenly found himself wishing that he was back at
Kuldiga Academy dueling with the other apprentices. He slowly inched forward,
trying to discern which maces were real. His hair whipped to the side as a mace
grazed his head. Erik jumped back with a yelp. This was not a child’s game, he
thought. He focused on his power and waved his hand. All of the maces remained.
If these weapons were illusions, the magic that made them was much stronger
than the magic used in the previous challenge.

Erik focused all
of his mental strength on his inner power. He knew that he had to clear out the
illusions in order to see the correct path to take. He mentally held onto his
reason for training and then loosed his power on the machines in the room. All
of them remained. There was no path cut out for him. He didn’t know what to do.
He could try to wield his power as he ran through the gauntlet, hoping not to
get slammed by one of the swinging weapons, or he could wait for the answer to
come to him.

“Come, Erik,”
Marlin called out over the din of the machines.

Erik looked to
his left, then to his right. He burst into action, running straight into the
fray. He unleashed his power with every step, but none of the maces or poles
disappeared. He ducked under the heavy sweep of one mace and then sidestepped
just in time to dodge another. He jumped straight up, grabbing one of the ropes
and swung with it around the pole. He looked ahead and realized that the poles
were all placed in such a way that the maces of nearby poles meshed with each
other like giant cogs of death. Erik held his breath. He was about to enter the
range of a nearby pole.

A mace came
soaring at him, but he dropped from the rope just in time to avoid it. He rose
to his feet and dashed in a zigzag pattern. He allowed some of the maces to
glance off of him, knowing that he couldn’t dodge them all. One of the maces
caught his leg and flung him to the floor. He slammed hard onto the wooden
planks, but he kept rolling, using the momentum to propel forward through the
room.

He flopped to
his stomach and used his elbows to crawl forward, just under the reach of some
of the maces. Erik heard the things whizzing by his head as the machines
twirled above him. He was almost there. He took heart, gathered his courage,
and unleashed his power again. Still, none of the maces disappeared. Erik
rolled to his back, taking a glancing hit on his shoulder as he did so, and
watched the two poles nearest him. He mentally timed their rotation speed. He
had to time his move exactly right. He waited for two more cycles before he
jumped to his feet.

Up he went. He
sprang left, then right, then somersaulted forward. His movements were quick as
lightning. The maces spun furiously around him, but none touched him. Finally
he was across. He stood next to Marlin, panting heavily.

“Thought you
could outsmart me eh?” Erik quipped. Marlin smiled and nodded. Erik reached up
and pushed the lever back into place. A clicking sound echoed over the roar of
the twirling poles. Erik smiled and turned back to Marlin. “None of the maces
are
fake
. They are all real.”

“Very good,”
Marlin replied. “But not good enough.”

Erik looked out
to the poles. They were still spinning. Slots opened up in the floor and bamboo
poles shot out from below, as though an army of spearmen had come alive under
the wooden planks. Erik looked back to Marlin and felt his face flush when he
realized his mistake. He used his power and the false Marlin vanished. Erik
searched through the blur of spinning weapons and saw another Marlin standing
on the side of the room, next to another lever.

Erik started to
walk forward, but then he thought better of it. He used his power and again
Marlin disappeared. No one was in the room with him. Erik looked up and all
around, but no one was there. He unleashed his power a final time and then
Marlin came into view. The man was standing in the doorway that they had
entered through. Erik realized that Marlin had never left his side.

“Sometimes you
must be able to discern when others are leading you into a trap,” Marlin called
out. “You must be able to tell the truth from all lies. You let your guard
down, and because of this, you believed what
your
natural eyes showed you. You believed that I had crossed the room, but I never
did.”

“I know,” Erik
shouted angrily. “I get it. But it’s over now right? I know that you are the
real Marlin, so how do I make this contraption stop so I can get back to you?”

“I’m sorry
Erik,” Marlin said with a shake of his head. “I told you that this trial would
only be successfully completed once you reached me and pulled the lever.”

Erik couldn’t
believe it. Somehow he had to find a way back through this mess; that now
included the bamboo poles coming out of the floor. This was going to hurt, a
lot.

*****

Lady Dimwater
stepped through the magical portal and stood in front of the gates of Kuressar.
Before she could announce who she was an angry guard shouted a warning to her.
She dismissed it and approached the gate. She was not in the mood for games
this day.

“Open the gate
and tell Lord Hischurn that I have returned, as promised,” Lady Dimwater
announced.

“I ain’t gonna
open the gate for you, miss puppet of the kingdom. Lord Hischurn gave us orders
to turn you away,” the guard shouted back down.

Lady Dimwater
looked up at the gatehouse and saw that this guard was not the same she had
seen previously when she had Erik along. This man was different. “I will give
one warning to you, and then I will open the gates myself,” Dimwater
threatened.

The man held his
arm up and shouted orders to his men. “Kill the witch!”

“Wrong answer,”
Lady Dimwater said under her breath. A hailstorm of arrows flew down at her.
She waved her hand and they all turned away from her, carried on magical wind
to places far away from her. She muttered an ancient spell and the gates burst
open in front of her. Wood and iron split and creaked against the strain of the
spell, but there was nothing the guards inside could do to shut the gates
again.

Men charged out
from the inside with swords. Lady Dimwater shook her head and blew a kiss at
them. A gust of wind knocked each soldier to the ground. The men rolled across
the dirt. Their armor clanked and fell apart and their swords slid away from
them.

A cloud gathered
at Dimwater’s feet and lifted her up into the air. Arrows continued to fly at
her, but none of them ever got close. She scanned the battlements of the wall
and then summoned forth a gale so powerful that all of the archers were swept
from the wall. Only the captain remained in place in the gatehouse, but that
was what she had intended.

Lady Dimwater
floated down beside the hard faced man and smiled slyly. “I am an agent of King
Mathias,” she said. “I gave you a proper warning.”

“Do your worst,
witch,” the captain hissed. “Not even you can defeat what is inside this
castle.”

Lady Dimwater arched
an eyebrow. There was something in the man’s tone that unnerved her. She
snapped her fingers and all of the wind stopped. Every soldier and archer froze
in place, as if turned to stone. She knew the paralysis spell wouldn’t hurt the
men, but it would buy her time to interrogate this captain. “Pray tell,
captain, what is inside this castle that I should worry about?”

“It’s too late,”
the captain said with a grin. “You can’t escape now. Jerutho already knows you
are here.”

“Jerutho,”
Dimwater repeated the name. Suddenly she realized that the name belonged to a
powerful warlock. Jerutho was an associate of Tukai. “
All the
better,” Lady Dimwater said confidently. “I shall have the pleasure of
disposing of two traitors today instead of one.” She winked at the captain and
he fell lifeless to the ground.

Lady Dimwater
walked to the back of the gatehouse and looked down into the courtyard. Her
paralysis spell had affected not only the soldiers and archers, but also
chickens, street vendors, and even a bard in the middle of his song. She
gathered her cloud again and floated out above the scene.

The castle keep
was made of gray granite. Its single tower rose fifty feet into the air,
affording a grand view of the valley below to anyone who looked out the top
window. Down below her a grand, sweeping staircase led up from the courtyard to
the front entrance. The door was made of wood with iron plating for added
strength. As she looked down at the door, it opened and out walked a man in
black robes.

“Ah, Lady
Dimwater,” the man said.
“Nice to see you.”

“Take a good
look, warlock, for I will be the last thing you see on this plane.”

“Oh, I think
not,” the warlock said. “Tukai may have fallen by your hand, but he was not the
strongest member of our order. In fact, the others are in play right now. We
have had our eyes on you for a long time.
You, and Master
Lepkin too.”

“Enough talk,”
Lady Dimwater said. She sent a spiraling tornado of flame down to consume the
warlock. The flames roared through the air and engulfed the man, and part of
the entrance as well.

Suddenly the
flames died out. Smoke rose from the stairs, but the warlock stood tall. “That
is a nice trick. I’ll have to use that the next time I attend a feast and the
boar is undercooked.”

Lady Dimwater
sent a bolt of lightning from her left hand. The magical energy slammed into
the warlock and knocked him back into the wall next to the door. “How is that?”
Dimwater asked slyly.

“Good,” Jerutho
said. “That one actually tickled.” The warlock rose back to his feet and waved
his hand. A wave of energy slammed into Lady Dimwater and her cloud. She was
flung back into the top of the gatehouse. “Perhaps it is time for you to stop
looking down on people,” Jerutho called out. A magical force wrapped around
Lady Dimwater and brought her down to the courtyard. “There, that’s better.”

Lady Dimwater
dispelled the magic with a snap of her fingers and sent a psionic blast at
Jerutho. He held out his left hand, palm facing her, and the spell reversed
course and struck her with its force. Lady Dimwater fell to the ground on her
back.

“I expected more
from the legendary Lady Dimwater,” Jerutho scolded. He clapped his hands twice
and all of the soldiers and archers were freed from the paralysis spell. “How
will you deal with this?” The soldiers all quickly rearmed themselves and
prepared to strike.

The men raced
toward her. She clambered to her knees and uttered the words of a charm spell.
As she finished the words all of the men within a forty foot radius of her
stopped in their tracks and turned on the other soldiers that were still
charging. Steel rang against steel. Bloodcurdling screams erupted as some of
the soldiers felt the sting of death.