The Dragonswarm (35 page)

Caleb rose to his feet, "You
tried
it? Without consulting us, you risked this thing—"

"Sit down, Caleb." He didn't budge, and I said more sharply, "Take your seat. Good. Now, I know how my magic works—I am the only man alive who knows as much. That made consulting with you unprofitable."

"We've spoken of your recklessness," Caleb began, but Lareth shook his head.

"No. This was his caution. What good would it have done to speak with you?"

"I don't mean me," Caleb said. "In this. It should be you. And you've told him all along—"

Lareth narrowed his eyes. He turned something over and over in his fingers. The Chaos shard I'd left him. He nodded. "It's caution, as I said. Daven couldn't trust me. If it worked—he's told us that it works—if it had worked, he couldn't risk letting me know. He couldn't trust me when I told him not to try. Not if he suspected I'd betray him to another lord."

I didn't meet his eyes. He spoke the truth. And for his part, he didn't seem the least offended. He did turn back to me to say, "I wasn't lying, though. I genuinely thought you'd be destroyed. I can't conceive that kind of travel being safe."

I shrugged. "Mine's not a delicate control like yours. It's a simple thing—a blunt thing. I knew that it would work. The only question was whether the mind made the body, or the body made the mind."

Caleb let out a long, low sigh. He shook his head, still unbelieving.

Lareth said, "That's
no
small question, there. I cannot even find some hope that you took my good advice and tried it on another?"

I met his gaze and shook my head. "I'm not that kind of man. And it would not have worked on any but my own. You'll ask that next."

Lareth's eye went wide. "But it will work on others? On your men?"

"If they are willing. If they trust me. I've tried with Garret Dain, and Isabelle as well."

"Then it's safe," Caleb said, breathing out at last. The worry left his face. "If he risked Isabelle at all, he knows it's safe."

"Safer than Lareth's magic, now," I said. "It creates no similarities, it bends none of the superstructure, and it should leave no trails for the wizards."

"So it's a perfect way," Caleb said.

"As close as we could hope to find. And that is good, because as I said before, I mean to start the hunt today."

"But why?" the wizard asked. "Why so much haste?"

"To clear their heads. The king himself laid siege around the stronghold late last night, and that could be a powerful distraction. I want to guarantee we all remember who we're fighting. The king is not our enemy. That's not our war."

Lareth leaned back, considering. "How many will you sacrifice to send that message? They cannot possibly be ready to go out."

"They're ready," Caleb said. "They have learned fast. They've skipped their meals and skimped on sleep to learn whenever I'd allow it."

"And you?" the wizard asked the warrior. "I thought you thirsted for their blood. Why don't you clamor for a chance to go along?"

I turned to my general, curious what he'd say. It had surprised me that he never even brought it up.

He only shrugged. "I am the leader of these men. I take my pride in their accomplishments. I could swing one sword at the beasts, or I could train up thirty swords to swing themselves."

Lareth grinned. He looked from Caleb to me and shook his head. "You choose them well."

"No," I told the wizard. "He chose me. And I am grateful every day."

Caleb grunted and climbed to his feet. "I'll send your men. You'd better bring them back."

"I'll bring them back," I said. "If any of them falls, I'll die inside."

Caleb only shook his head, resignation in his eyes. Beside me, Lareth asked, "And if you fall?"

"If I fall, there's no reason to keep up any of this. If I do not come back today, surrender to the king."

Caleb snorted and went out. Lareth stayed a moment longer, his eyes searching my face. "You really mean to do this?"

"This is why we're here."

"Do you even know where to begin?"

"The hunters spent an afternoon interviewing refugees. I know at least twelve locations in the hills out west of here, and I could probably find a den in any given mile if I went a little closer to the sea."

He licked his lips. "Then I suppose you're as prepared as you can be." He started to turn away, then said, "Just...please be sure you come back home tonight. If you should fall, I won't surrender to that king. Even Seriphenes could not protect me now."

"Then I'll be back. You can count on it. Even if it's just to keep you from gaining that army again."

He didn't laugh. He didn't grin. He nodded, satisfied, then turned and left. I watched him go, then went to find my dame. Isabelle did not fight me half as much as my lieutenants had. She nodded understanding, said she'd miss me, then sent me off dizzy from her kiss.

My Captains of the Hunt met me in the warm light of early morning, just below the shadow of the tower. Every one of them showed up, the thirty who had trained from that first day. They stood in a loose half-circle waiting, shuffling their feet and talking nervously among themselves. I was the last one to arrive, and I wasted no time.

"Gentlemen," I said, "this army was made with one purpose in mind, and you have been trained for a week now to serve that purpose. I count on those of you assembled here as the point of my blade. I have prepared you as best I can, honed you to a fighting edge, but tonight I'll have to test you in combat. I will not always be able to go out with you, but I will do everything within my power to make you successful. Understood?"

They nodded. No one spoke.

I hesitated, then, but there was no more need for speeches. "To the battle, then." I closed my mind and looked with the wizard's sight, stretching my focus as far out as I could. I stared out over the vast array of the king's encampment, still mostly sprawled across the roads up north. They'd stretched to fill the plains, but Caleb promised that in time they'd creep around to east and west until they had surrounded the whole tower.

That could become a challenge, but I had hopes for this night beyond the murder of one monster. I had high hopes. But first we had to get away.

I found a place out in the unforgiving highlands to the west, more than a mile from the fortress and well beyond the farthest edge of Timmon's camp. Then I reached out to the glowing power of my hunters, wildfires I could not begin to tame or bend but that I could embrace, and sent my will along the vast network of earth energies to that point that I had chosen. I tugged and leaped at the same time, and the world washed away around us.

Then we were standing on a high ridge in the early light of day. Far away beneath us we could see the king's soldiers, and that drew nervous exclamations from my men. My mind was already scouting on ahead, tracing the flow of earth and wind to find the spot the farmers spoke of. I found it: a rocky ledge beneath a wild pass where trees grew thin and tall. I grabbed and tugged, and two more miles flew by.

It only took a glance to see the signs of dragon activity—clear in the way they marked their territory, clear in the lack of animal life among the hills, and most obvious in the remains of their meals. Here and there in the night, swarms of flies buzzed around bloody, mangled carcasses of sheep or cows, left out in the open but untouched by the scavengers that no longer roamed the night.

As we stalked the empty mountainside, making our way by the silvery light of the full moon, the men whispered among themselves as they noticed the same signs. I smiled to myself each time they pointed out a charred tree in the center of a stand or a boulder cloven with the five-pointed star.

I could sense excitement among them at knowledge made real, and for a moment it overwhelmed their nervousness. As we moved up the slope I recognized more and more telling signs, and I finally took over the lead, moving more slowly, more cautiously, as they whispered behind me. None of them seemed surprised when I suddenly held up a hand to halt and pointed at the small, dark crack of a cave on a hillside some twenty yards above us.

From there I didn't need the refugees' reports, the hunters' carefully constructed details. From there, I only had to close my eyes and look to see the heavy, sucking shadow hanging underneath the earth. A dragon's lair. I traced its shape within my mind, and I could feel the quiet, hostile power of the place. I'd meant us to sneak in—we'd dressed for stealth—but now that I looked upon the lair, I thought of my own.

Even now, even miles away, I felt the sentiment of the place. I could pick Caleb from the crowd, hard at work and venting anger to mask his fear. Lareth was atop the eastern tower, staring north and drinking. Isabelle alone was not afraid, but she was thinking of me. I could feel her slippered footsteps on the spiral stairs.

Stealth would do no good. If we meant to raid a dragon's lair, we had to go in force. I nearly took us home to reevaluate the plan. To make new tactics for the new approach. Instead I caught their attention with a wave of my hand. I weighed them in my eyes. Then I told them gravely as I could, "Our plans have changed. We charge the beast and kill before it comprehends."

I met each gaze, and no one looked away. They knew too much to play like they were brave, but none among them looked away. That was enough for me. I caught the quiet breeze and draped it around them all in threads, and as I worked I spoke.

"The moment we attack, he will lash out. After that, if we score any strikes at all, he'll try to escape, or at least to rise out of range of our weapons. Do
not
allow him to get off of the ground, or he will overcome us all. Remember his weaknesses, remember his strengths, and be prepared for anything."

There was fear in their eyes, which was good, but it was tempered with excitement. These were men of action. "Remember, you have been trained to deal with him, and he is only one against thirty. And I am fighting with you. Remember your training, work together, and we will win the day." There were nods all around the circle, and I took a deep breath.

"We will not bother to sneak in, but I've still hidden you from his sight, so once the fight's engaged remain as silent as the shadows. Four-fifths of his awareness of you will be sound. Attack where he is weakest, and always anticipate his next move. I will draw his head, you move for his flanks." They all nodded once again, impatient to begin, and I'd done as much as I could.

I made two Chaos blades, drawing nervous grins from the hunters, then caught their eyes and caught their fires and threw us in.

We landed in a cavern ten paces tall and thirty long, and all along one side a fetid pool. The dragon at its edge was fully-grown, but all alone, and it was sleeping when we appeared paces away. I took one step toward it, swords already raised, but behind me the redhead whispered, "Haven's name."

I shouted, "Down!" as one cauldron eye snapped open and hit the stone floor hard just as the monster struck. A body larger than a house uncoiled and sprang into the air as fast as I could blink. It soared above my head and blasted the air with searing flame.

The men were quick, though, and I was quicker, reaching out and dragging the very essence of the dragon's flame from his mouth and tying it in place around the room so that glowing pillars of pure fire raged in place and provided light for my men to fight by. The dragon coughed, a painful sound that shook his whole frame, and landed with surprise clear in his eyes. My men were already on their feet again, and as the dragon swung its head back and forth angrily, they began to form a loose circle around it.

The fight began.

The dragon's rich green scales would have concealed him well within the forest, but in the harsh light between the gray stone walls, he was easy enough to see. Anxious to keep his attention away from my men, I dropped the threads of shield around me and lashed out with them like a whip. He threw back his head and roared at the assault, but then his eyes were on me. He came waddling forward, mouth opening and closing as he approached. I watched him warily, gauging his pace, and at the last minute I snapped the threads around his eyes like a blindfold and swung my sword.

He jerked instinctively away, bellowing again in anger and frustration, but I could see the airy energy melting against his own power. The flash of my steel was a signal, though, and even as his tongue flicked and he stumbled a blind step forward, my men darted in, soft leather boots whispering across the cool stone floor.

I struck a blade against the floor, a noisy
clang
, and watched his head snap back at the sound, then I lunged and stabbed the other blade high, just as the monster struck down toward the sound. My blade bit deep behind his jaw, but too far back for a kill. At the same time my hunters fell upon him from both flanks, darting past his flashing talons to strike at exposed ribs or underbelly.

He tried to roar when their blades began to sink home, but it came out a wet howl, pitiful and weak, and the men laughed. The great head turned then, the beast's eyes straining to pierce the wash of energy around the men, and I took advantage of its distraction. I moved in and struck fast, opening a long gash under its left eye. The dragon snapped his head at me like a whip, the tip of its long fang missing my head by an inch.

My men fought on, and slowly the beast weakened from the blood lost. Twice more the dragon tried to turn its rage against the men on its flanks, but each time I hurt it sorely, and it turned back again. I fought unshielded, without any energy to hide me from it eyes, but it was all I could do to keep the beast's attention on me as they hacked it down.

The long neck pulled back a fourth time, eyes rolling toward the hunters, and I thought at last I had lost its attention, but then the snakelike tail shot forward, and only my reflexes saved me from the attack. I dove to the side, rolling, and came up in a full sprint, but the dragon was already striking with its head, deadly teeth flashing down to bite me.

I waited until the last second, running hard, then caught myself short on a sudden wall of air as the scaled head smashed into the stone floor a pace ahead of me. I held the air for only a heartbeat, and when it dissolved I fell forward, dove forward, and grabbed one of the short horns above the eyes that protected its skull. It was a desperate bid, but I held on tight as it reared up and flung its head back.