The White Dragon (19 page)

“Well, it is swinging back this way,” Kirost said, looking to his right up the mountainside as the white beast banked and flapped its immense wings to gain altitude.

“It is all right, Kirost,” Amora said, trying to regain a measure of confidence. “Everything is going according to plan.”

Whose plan?
Kirost thought to himself, and then he readied his staff while keeping an eye on the flying wyvern with the stinger directly in front of him. It seemed odd to him that the beast seemed content to keep him busy, to keep his attention focused on itself and not . . . “By the Nine.”

Kirost never got to finish his sentence. A half-dozen ice devils swarmed over the top of the fire-lit parapet to his left, attacking him. Two had hit his legs, drawing blood, and a third had leaped toward his face, razor-sharp edges protruding from what looked like its arm. The tower buckled physically, and Kirost tried to maintain his footing. Finally, he did the only thing he could think to do, especially when he saw the white dragon flying as fast as it could directly at them.

Kirost called forth his fireball directly at his feet.

This is going to hurt
, Artika thought to herself as she flew furiously at full speed toward the wizards. It was never pleasant dispatching a magic-using human. She had no choice; against their magic, she would only have this one chance to change the tide of battle. She had timed it perfectly. Her ice elemental servants had climbed her ice wall and attacked the wizards, surprising them and giving her the moment she needed.

Askia had done his job in keeping their attention focused away from what she was doing, and even now the ground at the base of the tower, next to the edge of the cliff, was fragile, barely holding its weight. Oh, it would still take an immense force to dislodge the tons of rock and earth that still stood there, holding the fortification in place, but a white dragon’s spiked tail carried such a force. She needed only one more pass.

She knew the pain would be intense when the leader of the wizards, the most powerful, turned at her and conjured his fireball. Its heat would be hotter and more intense than the other wizard’s. She would counter what she could with an intense wave of her frost breath as she flew in and close her armored eyelids when they collided. The last thing she saw before doing just that brought her a measure of joy. The second wizard drew forth the force of his magic as he erupted in flames, and the tower ignited in a ball of fire that started to engulf the other wizard as well.

In a split second, ice met fire.

“Agon help us,” Alexi said, watching the spectacle unfold above them.

“By the Nine,” Gabby added.

The entire top of the tower erupted in a huge fireball, and the dragon hit the top of the structure at speed, sending shards of rock, ice, fire, and flesh flying in every direction. The Fist had no idea of what a true explosion would look like, having witnessed only the intense furnaces of the king’s blacksmith when they melted a ton of iron ore at a time. This seemed worse to her senses. She could feel the intense heat mingled with pockets of frigid air assault them from even this distance over a hundred feet away.

The dragon cleared the structure and banked out over the cliff face, turning to return to the Kesh tower. When it approached again, its scales smoked from the heat; several of them fell off due to the impact, and for a moment, both Alexi and Gabby thought the beast was going to fly directly into the base of the tower.

Instead, it banked sharply right and brought its immense spiked tail into the rock at the base of the structure where its ice devils still worked. The dragon never waited for the creatures to clear, instead, hitting them, rock, ground, earth, and part of the tower itself with a fury that was unmatched in either of their memories.

The cracking sound of the tail flying faster than the speed of sound as it snapped into the base of the tower deafened them. The rock exploded into shards and flew in all directions as dirt and ground gave way, sliding into the chasm that the cliff stood against. It wasn’t a huge fall, only a few hundred feet, but it was far enough.

“Duck,” Gabby yelled, and the women hit the icy ground, avoiding the white dragon that banked above them.

They looked behind them and then scrambled to their feet as the dragon dove down into the chasm before banking and beating its wings again. The sound of stone and rock giving way brought their attention back to the Kesh tower.

It groaned in defiance for a second before finally starting a slow tilt toward the chasm. The flailing body of one of the Kesh wizards, his clothing on fire, fell first, disappearing below the rim of the cliff. Then, as if in slow motion, the tower followed suit. Once reaching a forty-five-degree angle, it slid off the cliff edge and followed into the abyss.

The last thing they saw was the puzzled look of a wizard, his face contorted in pain and anger, but confusion seemed to be the most evident. He looked at them for a moment as if they were passing on a busy city street, and then, just as quickly and surreally, he disappeared, riding his tower below.

It took nearly half a minute before the sound of impact reached them. Without warning, the wolves and ice devils dispersed, running in all directions, but most of them heading toward the high mountain peaks of the Felsics.

Right behind them, the white dragon flew slowly, gaining altitude, returning to its lair. The battle was over.

It took the Ulathan group most of the next day to reach the dragon’s lair. The Kesh raiders had also fled after the fall of their wizard leaders, and the trail left for them to follow could be read by a child. The snow was bloodied and trampled, and it would be many years before the white wolves could muster a force enough to threaten the inhabitants who lived near the Felsic Mountains.

“I’m not so sure we’re going to survive this encounter,” Gabby noted sourly as they walked single file on the game trail that was still covered in snow despite the approach of summer.

Alexi nodded without looking back. “You saw the dragon after its encounter with the Kesh wizards. This may be the only time we have an advantage, and we need to strike before it can recover.”

“Did you just mention the words advantage and dragon in the same sentence?” Gabby scoffed. “I don’t think anyone ever has an advantage when dealing with their kind. Besides, you’re so hell bent on bringing Eric to justice that it has clouded your mind.”

“I am honor bound to fulfill the justiciar’s last order. Eric may still appeal the decision to the king or duke,” Alexi said.

“Don’t you think it was odd that the Kesh were here in Ulatha?” Gabby began. “They obviously were involved and had something to do with the rise of the white dragon. You give Eric too much credit if you think he managed this all on his own.”

“He is a capable man,” Alexi said.

“Not that capable,” Gabby snorted. “You don’t know him the way I do.”

Alexi did stop then and turned to face Gabby. “You have an odd relationship with your ex-husband. I thought he did you wrong, and yet you defend him now. This makes no sense.”

“Have you ever been married?” Gabby asked.

“No, that is not part of our duties,” Alexi said, shrugging.

“Then you won’t understand,” Gabby said, motioning for the tall holy warrior to continue. “It’s a love-hate relationship, even when married at times.”

Alexi turned and continued her march. “I see that now.”

You see that now, do you?
Gabby mouthed, but remained silent. The dragon remained, and Gabby didn’t know what could be worse. Where was Eric? They should have waited for him and that Balarian fellow, but the Fist was adamant in the fulfillment of her duties.

She doubted that either of them would live much longer.

“Go to the red queen and inform her of our situation here,” Artika commanded her drone. “She must know what has happened.”

Askia bowed his head, speaking in a hissing tone yet keeping it respectful. “As you command, Mistress of Frost, it will be done. Shall I inform her of your wounds?”

Artika scoffed, snorting a blast of cold air into her cavern lair. “You inform her that the Kesh have instigated a war. Be sure she understands the ramifications of their actions and . . . you may inform her that I have suffered in dispatching two of the magic-using humans on my own.”

The drone bowed again in deference. What Artika had done was not something common. A battle between a wizard and a dragon often ended poorly for both species. Usually, however, the dragons prevailed by virtue of their size and the fact that not all magic-using humans were equal. Some were more powerful than others, and then there were the Arnen. They were the worst, always vigilant and powerful. It was a good thing that they didn’t have to deal with one of Agon’s servants as well. They were the antithesis of Akun, the Mother against the Father. Only one could prevail.

“I will inform Her Majesty exactly as you command.” Askia kept his bow for a good minute before raising his head and looking at the white dragon that he served.

Many scales had been blasted from her body, and steam still rose from residual heat that was shedding from parts of her body that had been superheated by the magical inferno the Kesh unleashed before their demise. Her tail was bloodied, and one of her two spikes was broken in much the same manner as two of her claws. Gooey ichor bled solely from a half-dozen wounds, and the great creature seemed tired for the first time since she had awoken.

“Good,” Artika said. “Go now and with all speed.”

Askia nodded, crawling to the edge of the cavern entrance. With a long look back at his mistress, he nodded one last time and took flight, heading north. He would fly day and night until he reached the great red queen that ruled over all of dragon kind while here on Agon. He knew the queen would be angry when she learned of the humans’ actions and would reward his own mistress for killing two of the more dangerous humans. The purge would commence sooner than normal, and it would be more deadly than ever before.

When the drone had left, Fangus entered, waiting his turn. “You call?”

“Yes,” Artika said, her voice low. “Keep a watch around my lair. Alert me should anyone or anything approach. Do not let me down.”

“Yes,” Fangus affirmed. “I smell humans.”

“I do too,” Artika said, sniffing the air. “It’s a smell I haven’t experienced since I took this place for my lair.”

“Town humans come,” Fangus said.

“I know. Alert me when they arrive.”

Fangus nodded and trotted out of the cavern to keep a watch. They would not have to wait long.

“Did you see that?” The commanding officer pointed to the side of a mountain peak where a few clouds sailed lazily by.

Both Gabby and Alexi shaded their eyes from the sun’s rays as it bounced off the white snow caps, giving a glare to almost everything they looked at. There, heading north, was a large creature flying, and it looked like a dragon with a scorpion’s tail.

“I see it,” Alexi said, nodding and continuing past the officer at a brisk pace.

“That has to be the lair,” Gabby said, trudging through the snow that had been laid flat by the retreat of the wolves and ice devils.

Alexi nodded her head without looking back. “Let’s finish this.”

Distances were distorted in the rarified air, and it took them half the afternoon to reach the peak that had a black hole facing west, the very same one that they had witnessed the wyvern departing hours earlier.

“Do we have a plan?” Gabby asked, assessing the fact that they were down to about thirty soldiers from a peak of forty.

“Face the foul white beast and be done with it,” Alexi said, pulling her sword and motioning to the same officer for a dispersal across the cavern entrance. The soldiers complied, and the entire area was eerily quiet. No sign of the wolves or other creatures.

Before they could enter the cavernous lair, they heard the sound of something large approaching on the interior ice. Looking up, they watched as the white dragon appeared, and it attacked immediately.

Gabby rolled to her right, drawing both her swords, while Alexi brought her shield in front of her and held her broadsword out at the dragon. The breath weapon went right at the Fist. Alexi knelt, ensuring her entire body was behind her shield, which took the brunt of the attack. Her clothing still froze in mid-flap, giving the holy warrior the appearance of turning into a statue, but her flesh, though pale white now where exposed, still lived. Then the wolves appeared from either side, engaging the pikemen to keep them from flanking the dragon. It was a well laid out plan, and the women recognized the cunning needed to execute it. This was no stupid beast they were dealing with.

With a thrust of her broadsword, Alexi hit the incoming claw as it tried to gore her. The impact reverberated throughout both the warrior and the dragon as sparks actually flew from the steel on scale.

Gabby killed a wolf that closed on her and then felt the fangs of another trying to close around her neck where it had jumped on her.
Not again
, she thought to herself, rolling to try to dislodge her attacker. She ended up on her back with the wolf pinned beneath her. There were no signs of the ice devils—that, at least, went in her favor—but the dragon now loomed over her, and she saw death approaching anyway.

The gaping maw of the dragon came down at Gabby, and she instinctively flinched, closing her eyes and expecting her life to end. The Fist was faster, running with her shield held over her head. Alexi stood over Gabby and took the brunt of the attack, driving the holy warrior to her knees and saving Gabby’s life, but for how long?

Alexi screamed in pain as one dragon fang pierced her shield arm, coming around the shield, which was the only thing keeping the jaws of death from closing and slicing the Fist in half. Gabby felt the wolf beneath her clawing to break free, and she felt the ice cold breath of the dragon even when it wasn’t breathing. That was quickly fading as it inhaled, cool air entering its lungs as it prepared to blast them at point-blank range, turning them both into ice.

Gabby saw a shadow pass overhead and heard a familiar voice shout. “For The Hunt!”

She managed to see just past the dragon’s immense head, Eric jumping from the lip of the entrance, a sword held in both hands above his head, point tip down. He disappeared from sight behind the dragon’s head, and then she felt a shudder and the cold air dissipate in mid-breath. A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she felt the wolf go still. She was violently pulled by someone away from the dragon.

Alexi struggled to free herself, finally pulling her arm from the shield straps, and fell back just as the dragon’s head collapsed onto the lip of the cavern. The dragon was dead.

Disoriented, their mistress dead, the alpha white wolf howled and the pack departed, disengaging and fleeing the mountaintop. The pikemen collapsed in exhaustion as well, a third of them having died in the brief attack.

“Are you all right, Lady Gabby?” a familiar voice said behind her.

Gabby turned to face the small historian, who stood next to Argos, the raider whose life she spared earlier. “Yes, I think so. Where in the abyss have you four been?”

“Three, I’m afraid,” Diamedes answered. “Master Zokar has returned on business. It’s just Eric, Argos, and myself.”

This caught Gabby’s attention. She turned to face the dragon’s head and saw Eric rise from on top of it. The sword he wielded was glowing, though fading fast. The dragon started to freeze in place, and Eric tried to free the sword but to no avail. Quickly, he jumped down to the ground below and took a few steps back to face the beast and watch what was happening.