The White Dragon (18 page)

Lucius understood the plan. Minimizing the damage caused was the first priority,
though that was like draining the ocean with a spoon,
he thought to himself. “All right, I’ll do it, but only because it could help him in light of what has happened here today.”

“Good,” Alexi said. “Now, we don’t have much time. We must leave within the hour.”

“I’m ready. Where to?” Gabby said, throwing away her rag that she had been using to clean her neck earlier.

Alexi looked at her intently. “We chase the white devil.”

“Oh, joy,” Gabby said. “Let’s get moving. I don’t want to be late for that meeting.”

Lucius wondered if his daughter had hit her head during the battle.

The smoke on the horizon was hardly visible, but there was no doubting that something huge was burning to their west.

“That is Moartown,” Argos stated simply.

“I don’t know . . .” Eric tried to sound hopeful and looked at Diamedes.

The small historian shook his head. “I’m of the same mind as Master Argos here. I fear that something unwarranted has happened to your town.”

“But Gabby and Lucius would be there by now, no?” Eric said, holding a hand up again to clear the overhead sun and see better.

“Yes, as well as my protector, the Fist Alexi,” Diamedes added. “We should go now.”

“Hmm, you were the one who wanted to climb these stairs and explore. Ready to return so early?” Eric sounded a bit mocking.

“No need for that,” Diamedes said. “The smoke tells us much and answers little.” He walked over to the throne-like chair. “I doubt it would work, but what do you make of this indention?”

Eric watched as the smaller man pointed to the arm of the chair. “What is that?” he asked, walking next to Diamedes.

“Try it,” he said.

Eric took the key and inserted it into the small hole. Suddenly, the base of the chair moved back silently, exposing a cavity underneath it filled only with a simple wooden chest. “What’s this?”

Diamedes bent over to retrieve it.

“Wait,” Argos practically screamed.

The historian looked over at the man in mid-movement, looking rather awkward. “What is it?”

“It could be booby trapped,” Argos said wisely.

Diamedes looked up at Eric, who shrugged. “All right, I’ll take that risk,” Diamedes said, finishing his move and grabbing the small chest and then standing with it.

“Well, that went well,” Eric noted.

“It could have been trapped.” Argos sounded defeated.

“You were correct, but I ventured a guess that this was never intended for us to find,” Diamedes explained. “There is much we don’t know.”

“Shall I?” Eric asked again, waving his key.

“Please do,” Diamedes said, setting the box on the pedestal nearby and stepping back.

Eric opened the box by repeating the same movements with the key. He opened the small chest and looked inside. Diamedes leaned over as well to look inside, while Argos stayed a good distance away, half expecting something to either jump out of the box at them or explode in a life-ending blast. Neither occurred.

“I don’t dare touch that,” Eric said.

“I agree,” Diamedes said, closing the box and reaching for his pack.

“What was it?” Argos asked.

Eric looked at the other man, a tinge of fear and awe in his expression. “I don’t know for sure, but by its markings, I won’t lay a finger on it.”

“I’ll carry it till I can turn it over to the king,” Diamedes said. The historian packed the bulky but lightweight mini chest into his pack and then shouldered it and tested its weight.

“Let’s go,” Eric said, moving toward the stairs, and then stopping, he turned back to the pedestal and inserted the key one last time. The grinding stone moved in the opposite direction and closed, sealing out the light from the mountaintop.

“Why’d you do that?” Argos asked.

“Seems the right thing to do. This place must remained sealed till someone wiser than us decides what to do with it,” Eric said.

“Interesting,” Diamedes said to no one in particular.

“What?” Eric asked.

“I seriously doubt that Master Zokar understood the true nature of that key he gave you,” the historian said, moving to the top of the stairwell.

“He seemed to know that it would open the doors into this place. That would seem enough for me to indicate that he understood what this place was,” Eric said, holding his sword back over his head to illuminate their path.

“He understood enough to know that to get into Ulatha from Kesh, one could use this secret path, though the full extent of this place was either not understood or not deemed necessary,” Diamedes explained.

“What are you two talking about?” Argos said, following them down the stairs with the historian in the lead.

Eric answered, “The dragon’s lair looked familiar when I place my memory of it in the context that I have now.”

“Yes, it would make sense,” Diamedes said.

“What would make sense?” Argos asked another question.

“I think,” Eric said, looking back so that the man could hear him clearly, “I may know a way into the dragon’s lair, a secret way.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Argos said. “Who would want that?”

“We do,” Eric said.

The magic-using humans lit their tower on fire.
So typical
, thought Artika as she glided overhead, conveniently out of range of their magic spells. Well, actually, the parapet and the base of the fortification burned from some sort of oil or other flammable liquid. The cowardly humans retreated to the relative safety of their creation.

Artika had hit the tower several times with her spiked tail, feeling the impact shudder into her body through her tail. The magical resilience of it was obvious, and she had dealt with Kesh mages before. This would be no different; it simply called for a more patient approach. The one thing her kind could count on when dealing with these magic-using humans was their abundance of hubris. In their pride, they always missed their weaknesses, and she was about to exploit one now.

Swooping low, she hit the base of the tower with her breath weapon three times, while Askia, her protective drone, flew cover overhead with his stinger tail at the ready in case one of the wizards showed himself on top of the structure. The intense cold of her breath managed to extinguish a small section of the raging fire at the base. It wasn’t just any location where the tower sat atop the rocky cliff; it was at the very edge where it overlooked the human town.

She ordered her small ice elementals to attack not the tower itself, but the rock that supported it. The small spirits were a whirl of slashing, razor-sharp ice blades, and for everyone who chipped or broke an entire limb, two more moved into place to take up the task at hand. It would take time, but she would see the odds evened more in her favor. What they were up to she did not know, but she saw only two of the three and felt certain that their numbers had diminished as well.

The sun began to set when the humans from the town approached, trudging over the rocky and snowy ground. She was accustomed to humans chasing her back to her lair after a raid on one of their settlements, but she didn’t expect to see this many. Perhaps her attack on the town had not gone as well as it had first appeared. No matter, she would deal with them once and for all.

Before she could swing around and attack, howls came from down below as a second group of humans swarmed toward the tower from around a deep draw set farther back in the mountain. How they approached without raising an alarm could only have been accomplished with magic. She eyed the tower top with suspiciously and saw the small trapdoor there open as the two magic-using humans popped out to do battle with her and her minions.

Now she understood what they had waited for. The reinforcements would engage her army so that the powerful wizards could deal with her alone, without interference. They may have known about the townspeople as well, or not. No matter, battle was engaged on all sides, and she was sure that their pesky balls of fire would soon bathe her skin. They seemed to have it all planned out and only failed to account for one small detail in their short-lived lives—they were dealing with a dragon.

Screams of death, battle, and pain filled the mountainside air as fire and frost erupted into the twilight. Death had come, yet again, to Agon.

“You’re sure this is the way?” Argos asked, following Eric’s lead as they traveled off their intended path, heading in a northerly direction, if they had any sense of direction at all.

“I’m not sure of anything,” Eric began, “but I feel that the sword is pulling me in this direction. It’s as if it knows where to go, and I have a tendency to agree with it.”

“That’s most remarkable,” Diamedes said, huffing from their brutal pace through the mountainside.

“No, that’s crazy. That’s what that is,” Argos said, shaking his head, and only the historian could see the gesture. “Following a magical sword is not my idea of wisdom.”

“What would you know of that?” Eric asked, looking over his shoulder at the raider.

“Enough to stay alive for a day longer,” Argos defended himself.

Diamedes interrupted. “So you say that you weren’t the only group hired to head into the badlands?”

“Who, me?” Argos asked. Eric looked back as well.

“Well, yes,” Diamedes explained. “I meant the raiding parties that were sent after Eric’s group.”

“They never told us, but I heard rumors that there were several mobilized for something big.” Argos turned back and raced forward to catch up to Eric, who had increased his pace.

“Why are you asking?” Eric asked, not looking back this time.

“We only encountered Argos’ group.” Diamedes struggled to talk and walk quickly at the same time. “I would be certain that there are several more groups close by, somehow involved in whatever plans the Kesh are executing.”

Argos never got to ask the historian his question as Eric pulled up, and the three men bumped and jostled into each other. “What is it?” He directed his question at Eric.

“I think we are under the dragon’s lair. This should be the staircase into the upper chambers,” Eric said.

“You sure?” Argos asked.

“Never,” Eric said. “Still, this is what I think. Let’s find out.” Eric began to ascend the long staircase cut into the mountain rock.

“I hope the dragon isn’t home,” Argos said.

Diamedes nodded but disagreed. “I’m thinking it’s not only going to be home, but it’s going to be ready for us.”

“You’re such an optimist,” Eric shot back.

“No, I’m just being pragmatic,” Diamedes answered.

“Prag what?” Argos looked confused.

“Just be ready to draw your blade,” Eric said.

“Watch out,” Gabby yelled for the third time as the white wolf leaped from a rocky overhang at Alexi’s head.

The Fist of Astor was unbelievably fast even in her plate armor. She jumped back with quick reflexes and swung her broadsword yet again, drawing a line of red into the attacking animal’s white fur.

“They don’t seem to be letting up.” Gabby swung at two of the small ice creatures that tried to flank the Fist and cut her legs. Each one parried her blows with their ice limbs and countered with their own razor-sharp arms. The ice clanged on her steel, and she kicked one away from her, watching it sail through the air a good dozen feet. It hurt her foot, but she needed every advantage she could find.

“I wasn’t thinking we would be fighting on the same side as the Kesh,” Alexi noted, bringing her sword down on the occupied ice devil that had tried to cut Gabby. It shattered into dozens of pieces and no longer poised a threat to them.

The battle raged around the tower as the Kesh troops, mercenaries, and raiders, by the look of them, had surprised the dragon and its minions and engaged them in combat. Their own party, smaller by far than the other two, engaged from below, led by Alexi. Lucius would have evacuated the town for sure, and now they fought to avenge their dead. The two score troops used their pikes and formation to great effect, and the wolves and ice devils were pressed on both sides.

Then the wizards had showed themselves. They hurled huge balls of fire that stayed compressed until they exploded on their exposed enemies. They were quickly forced to stand back to back as the dragon and its scorpion-looking companion tried several times to close on them.

“These creatures don’t seem to be attacking as intently as before,” Gabby noted, gaining a moment of rest, a lull in the battle as a dozen wolves fanned out, keeping their distance but preparing for another assault. Their bared fangs dripped with blood, and their drool hit the ground, solidifying in the intense cold, a cold that was unnatural, as if the mere presence of the dragon had lowered the ambient air temperature considerably.

“They’re fighting for time.” Alexi stepped back, swinging her blade at one of the ice creatures that got too near. Ice chips were flung into the air, and the small ice devil screamed in what was a supernatural sound, evoking the idea that it suffered pain. Either that or the frustration of not being able to hurt the humans was emotionally intense for them.

“Time for what?” Gabby asked.

Alexi looked up at the tower. “Time for that,” she said, pointing with her blade.

“They are taking too long to clear the base,” Kirost said, noticing that their troops were heavily engaged and, while making progress, were being held at bay from reaching the base of their tower where the sounds of wolves and ice elementals close by assaulted their ears.

“We will clear a path for them,” Amora said matter-of-factly.

The dragon swooped low again, disappearing below their line of sight along the tower top, but the wizards prepared another round of fire spells to hit the dragon when it rose again. What they knew was that the magic of their tower could not be climbed by the wolves or ice creatures. What they did not know was that a sheet of ice could be laid down against the side of the tower and the several passes that the white dragon had made were not to attack them. No, instead it had been laying a wall of ice alongside the Kesh tower.

“I do not think the draconus is trying to attack us.” Kirost finally voiced his concern as the dragon appeared low, but flying away from the tower. “Why would it do that?”

“It is up to something,” Amora said, the first sign of concern entering his voice. He was an Arch-Mage of Kesh, one of the most powerful entities on the entire planet of Agon, and yet, he felt the first inkling of doubt creeping into his armor of self-assuredness and confidence.