A Dark Tide (Book of One) (34 page)

He reached the tops of the trees and leapt into the sky, beating his powerful wings, and flying out toward the clearing between the trees, where he saw the black and white dragons thrashing upon the ground, swarmed by his Darga warriors. Draxis could already feel his burned flesh begin to heal, but when glanced down, he saw that the heads of his axe were curved in an odd way, warped by the heat of Lexi's fire. She was more powerful than he had imagined, but Draxis was not alone, and he knew his Darga warriors would help him destroy her. Lexi had almost caught up to him, but he tightened his wings into a dive, heading straight for the battle on the ground. Draxis saw that many of his winged Darga were almost completely transformed into shapes resembling dragons, though they were still much smaller than he, and he let out a bellowing roar as he landed among them and turned to face the blue dragon.

A blast of heat scorched across the ground, killing several Darga at once as Lexi let loose another powerful roar. Others fell to the ground, snarling in pain as the flames burned through their scales and scorched their flesh. Draxis leapt up into the air, over the flames, and he brought his axe crashing down upon Lexi's horned skull, smashing her into the ground, and the Darga leapt atop her and began hacking at her with their weapons. Draxis landed on the ground and snarled when he saw that his axe had done so little damage and he realized that the blades were completely dull, their edges melted by dragon fire. Lexi rose to her feet, shook her head and shook off the Darga that had climbed atop her, then she dashed toward Draxis, who prepared himself for another attack. With a speed that was beyond her size, Lexi flashed from view, and seemingly from nowhere, she crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. Draxis scrambled to get up, but before he could move, Lexi shifted her form and, in another flash she drew her jeweled blade and had it pressed it to her brother's throat before he even realized it.

"Die, Draxis," she said, her voice quiet and calm, and her eyes blazing with fire and lightning, then she shoved the tip of the jeweled sword into his neck. Energy ran up the blade into Lexi and she was engulfed in blinding light, then a wave of energy exploded across the clearing, knocking the hundreds of Darga to the ground. Lexi looked down at her brother, and his form begin to shift beneath her, reverting to what he once was, and she saw the confusion in his eyes as the last of his essence was taken from him, and his lifeblood spilled out over the blade of the sword.

Lexi pulled the blade free, then she turned around, sensing something strange from the Darga. Like a receding tide, the lizard men and their winged brethren turned and began to flee from the field, retreating back the way they had come. No longer under attack, Borrican and Storm leapt into the sky and circled overhead, and they watched as the hundreds of Darga ran through the stand of trees, across the clearing, then disappeared into the forest beyond.

Not far from where Lexi stood, Quenta stopped at the edge of the trees of the red forest, his sword dripping black with Darga blood, and he stared at the girl who had defeated the creature that had killed so many of his people. A part of him seethed at being denied its destruction and the chance to take its power, but he realized that it was that same hunger that had driven the creature, the lust for power that had caused the deaths of so many, and he let his sword fall loosely to his side. He turned, and walked back through the trees in a daze until he came to the place where he had fought so many of the Darga, their reptilian bodies strewn about the forest floor and he sat down among them and placed the jeweled sword upon his knees, contemplating what he had done, and wondering what it was that he had become.

In the sky above, Borrican and Storm were about to head back to the center of the forest, both of them worried by the thoughts they had felt from Ariana, which told them she was in great pain, even though she was trying her best to hide it, but they held for a moment when they saw a shadow at the edge of the stand of trees. A second wave of enemies, led by a force of the dead and rotting soldiers that had fought at Kandara, appeared from the stand of trees and marched into the clearing, directly toward Lexi, while another much larger group of soldiers stopped at the edge of the trees.

Lexi stared at them and her nose rankled at the stench of their rotting flesh, which carried the familiar scent of the dark power that surrounded her mother. They stopped just short of where Lexi stood, over the fallen body of her brother, and one of the soldiers stepped forward and walked out toward her, his dead eyes glowing with dark power.

"Lexi," the soldier said, his voice a strange combination of the dry rasp of a dead man and the rich seduction of Calexis. "What have you done?"

"I killed him," Lexi said. "And I will kill you too."

"You had your chance," Calexis told her. "And you ran away like the scared little child you always were."

"I am no longer a child," Lexi said.

"You are nothing," Calexis told her. "You think you have won? None of this matters, for I will have my prize, and you will know the full extent of my wrath."

"I do not fear you, mother," Lexi said.

"Then you are a fool," Calexis said, then she laughed. "You always were a foolish child. Of course, what should I expect from an abomination, bred of those mindless Darga beasts."

A shadow suddenly appeared, and Storm snatched the soldier from the ground in one of his powerful claws. He flared his wings and landed, then he held up the soldier and looked into his dead, glowing eyes.

"You say foolish things," he said, then he took a deep breath, opened his claws and burned the soldier to ashes.

Another soldier walked forward toward Lexi, its eyes glowing with Calexis' power, and Borrican landed heavily on the ground between them.

"Your lies are not welcome here," he said, then he drew in a deep breath and blasted white hot fire at the soldier and the many hundreds that stood behind him. The dead soldiers tried to fight, but Storm and Borrican breathed the last of their fire, burning almost all of them to charred corpses on the ground as Lexi watched in silence. Panting, and out of breath, Borrican turned to her with a toothy dragon grin.

"You fought well today, Lexi," he said. "The people of this land, and those of Kandara and Maramyr, who shelter in this forest owe you their thanks. You have done a great thing."

Lexi tried to smile at him, but she was still focused on the thousands of soldiers, who stood at the edge of the clearing, staring blankly ahead, and she could see that a few of the dead soldiers had escaped the fire and were heading toward a man who stepped down from his horse as they approached.

"Berant," said one of the soldiers under Calexis' thrall. "Why haven't your soldiers attacked?"

"I no longer serve you, Calexis," Berant said, gripping the jewel in the pommel of his sword. "And this army may be under your spell, but it appears that without the greys to order them around, they are no longer yours to command."

"Fool," she said as she drew the soldier's sword. "Your defiance will be your greatest mistake."

"My greatest mistake was following that fool, Cerric, in the first place," Berant told her as several of the dead soldiers closed in on him, drawing their weapons.

Berant left his hand on the pommel of the sword at his waist and closed his eyes, but the feeling of sharp steel never came. He heard the sound of steel meeting flesh and bone, followed by that of bodies hitting the ground, and he opened his eyes and saw a girl with pale blue skin blazing with light, staring at him. She tilted her head and sniffed the air, then Berant felt a pain in the side of his head and the world seemed to spin around, and everything went dark.

*****

Calexis cursed as she stormed into the temple and found the young man hanging where she had left him. Aaron lifted his head and stared at her with a smile on his face and a defiant look in his eyes. In no mood for insolence, Calexis flew up to him and smacked him in the face, the force of her blow nearly snapping his neck.

"Your time is up, my young darling," she said. "You will give me what I want."

"You seem upset," Aaron said, spitting blood from his mouth, and doing his best to smile through the pain. Calexis hit him again, harder this time, and Aaron choked as blood ran down the inside of his throat. He coughed and wheezed, gasping for air, then he felt the magic that held him to the crystal let go of his arms and legs, and he fell to the floor. Calexis turned to the mages.

"Heal his face and get him cleaned up, then bring him to the palace" she told them.

The mage priests nodded obediently as Calexis turned and stormed out of the temple. Aaron looked up at the mages as they gathered around him, their eyes hollow and seemingly vacant, staring down at him, but deep inside of them, he could still see the faintest glimmer of life, that tiny spark of defiance that was in every living being. That knowledge strengthened his resolve to endure for a little longer. No matter what torments Calexis might have in store for him, he already knew they would pale in comparison to the dark power within him, which was but a sliver of the shadow within Calexis, a power that would consume all life, if he should fail.

High above the world, standing among the clouds, Ehlena felt her power beginning to wane as she commanded the great vortex in the sky, whirling the wind over the vast elven forest, drawing as much of the poisonous smoke up and away from the trees. The damage done by the winged Darga and the poison gems was already extensive, and now she faced another problem, for the poison had infected the clouds, and now that her control over the skies was beginning to falter, she could feel a front of cool air moving toward her, which she knew would cause the clouds to empty, dropping poison water onto the forest below. Frustrated that she had only delayed the problem, Ehlena tried to draw the dark, poisonous clouds together, hoping she at least limit the damage to one area, but no matter where she looked, there was a stream or a river that would spread the poison once more. Nearing exhaustion and so focused was she on the task at hand, that she did not notice the disturbance of wings in the sky, moving toward her, until they were almost upon her. With her own power disturbing the sky, Ehlena did not know how many there were, and she was barely able whisper a call for help.

The three dragons, Borrican, Storm and Lexi, flew toward the center of the clouds, amazed at what they saw. Though the giant vortex, which was visible from the ground was impressive enough, once they rose above the forest, they could see hundreds of whirling vortices across the land, reaching down from the blackening sky and touching the land, like swirling tendrils. As they neared the opening at the center of the vortex, they also caught the scent of the dark smoke that had already poisoned much of the forest, and though they knew it would not kill them, they could feel its effects weakening them. Brimming with the power she had taken from her brother, Lexi used her energy to move faster than her wings alone, though in dragon form she not accelerate to a blur of light, but she made it to the center of the vortex before Borrican and Storm, and she burst up through the clouds and found Ehlena surrounded by thick swirls of cloud and black smoke. Lexi flew up above her and saw that her skin had turned a sickly shade of purple, and she remembered how the blue potion had affected her until Aaron and Kasha were able to take it out of her, but Ehlena seemed to be drawing the poison toward her.

"Stop," she said. "It is hurting you."

"I cannot," Ehlena told her. "If I let go, then the poison will fall upon the world."

"What can we do?" Lexi asked as Borrican and Storm appeared through the clouds and flew over to where Ehlena stood amid the dark swirls.

"They are coming," Ehlena told them. "I cannot defend myself."

"We will protect you," Borrican said, and he scanned the skies. In the distance, he saw the movement of wings and he took off toward them. "They come from the north."

Storm and Lexi followed and Ehlena breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she could call upon dragons for help, and hoping they would not have much trouble. It was not long before she felt them returning toward her, and Ehlena was worried at first when she felt how fast they were moving, and with other sets of wings in pursuit, but her panic turned to joy when she saw that it was not the winged Darga, but dragons. She was even more pleased when she caught the familiar scent of earth and brimstone, and saw a figure perched atop one of the dragons, and she was amused when she saw his face, smiling at her.

"Ehlena!" Brian yelled as Vale spread her wings and circled around above her, though his excitement turned to concern when he caught sight of how sickly she looked.

"You have brought friends," Ehlena said, smiling weakly as she continued working the clouds.

"Arya," Brian said, his voice now rumbling with the power of the earth as Vale stopped and hovered, flapping her giant wings, while the other dragons circled above them. "It has been over a thousand years since I have seen you command the skies in such a manner. Why do you not burn this foul poison with truefire?"

"I have not the strength," Ehlena told him. "I am not as I once was."

"Neither of us are," Kroma said. "But I not as weak as before, and these dragons have the power to help with this task." He leaned down and spoke to Vale.

"We would be honored to help," Vale rumbled, then she looked to the four younger dragons, who had accompanied her. "We will burn it with our fire."

Vale flew up and joined the circle of dragons, and the eight of them began blasting the clouds with flame. At Kroma's urging, Brian leapt from Vale to Storm and he pressed his hand against the white dragon's neck.

"Fear not, friend, this will help you," Kroma rumbled, and Storm began to choke and cough as his body filled with a warm fire and a foul tasting lump of bile rose in his throat. A moment later, he spit a clot of thick, black pitch from his mouth, and Vale flew by, searing it from the sky with blazing hot fire. Storm took a deep breath of the clean air above the clouds and let out a blast of flame, hotter than he ever had before and he turned his flames to the dark, poisonous clouds, joining the other dragons as they lit up the sky.

*****

Laurana walked out of the wooden palace and looked up at the blazing sky, joining the many elves who had stopped what they were doing and stood watching the clouds burn as evening fell across the land. From the darkness and the flame, a white shape flew down toward the red forest and Laurana recognized the dragon, Storm, as he approached the makeshift city where the elves and the people of Kandara and Maramyr had taken refuge.

A young man, wearing ancient jeweled armor and two battle axes at his shoulders leapt from the dragon's back, and Laurana could see that he carried someone in his powerful arms. As he drew near, she saw that it was the young goddess, Ehlena, and her pale skin was sickly with blotches of purple, the telltale sign of the poison smoke. Storm shifted from his dragon form and followed the armored warrior as he walked toward the elven queen.

"You are Queen Laurana," the young man said with a voice that rumbled the earth. "I am told your healers have some skill against the poison of the shadowstones."

"Yes, please bring her inside," Laurana said. "How did she come to be like this?"

"She drew the poison from the land, bringing it to her," Storm answered. "The dragons now burn it from the sky."

Laurana knew from the reports of the elven scouts that winged Darga had flown out across the forest at the start of the battle, but there was nothing that could be done to stop them and she had feared that much of the forest would be destroyed. She knew the goddess was powerful, but the thought of covering such a vast area was beyond imagining. She led them into the wooden palace, past the many injured elves and humans, who were being tended to upon makeshift pallets in the main hall by healers, and she brought them to a small room down a side passage that had just been cleared. The young man laid Ehlena down in the simple bed, upon fresh sheets, and Laurana was surprised at how small and fragile she looked. The healers came and Laurana led the two young men out back out to the main room of the palace.

"They will do what they can," she told them. "They are very skilled."

"I would burn the poison from her," the young man rumbled. "But she is not a dragon and my rough power would do her harm."

"You speak with a strange voice," Laurana said. "Who are you?"

"I am the mountain and the earth below, though you see before you a young man, who has graciously allowed me to take form in this world, once again," he said. "Brian of Ashford is his name, and I am Kroma."

"Then it is our honor to have you as our guest," Laurana said. "It is strange that you should have two names, but I understand this from the Lady, who has become one with the girl Ehlena."

"They are one, we are not," Kroma said, then he closed his eyes and opened them again, this time speaking with a different voice. "Kroma is part of me, but I am still me. It is an honor to meet you, Queen Laurana, uh, highness." Brian bowed awkwardly and Laurana smiled at the noticeable change in his demeanor.

"You are welcome here, Brian of Ashford," she said. "You and Kroma are both welcome, and we are grateful for your help in saving our home."

Laurana saw a commotion by the arched entrance to the palace and a strange group entered the hall. Borrican and Lexi walked ahead of an odd group of people, one young woman with golden skin in the lead of four young men, and not one of the strangers was wearing a stitch of clothing. The people in the hall, both the healers and the wounded, were noticeably shocked, but the girl and the four who followed her paid no attention to them as they followed Borrican and Lexi toward Laurana.

"Where is Ariana?" Borrican asked.

"She is fine, Borrican," Laurana told him. "She is resting in a private chamber of her own creation. I can take you to her."

"Please," Borrican said. "Through the battle, I could tell she was in pain, but Ariana told us not to come."

"Of course," Laurana said. "She fought her own battle, and though she is weakened at the moment, Ariana is strong and will survive." She looked at the group of visitors. "May I ask who are these people?"

The young woman bowed her head, though unlike the young warrior, Brian, she kept her gaze fixed upon Laurana, who noticed a strange predatory quality to her eyes, then she smiled, revealing tiny, pointed fangs at the corners of her mouth.

"I am Vale, Queen of the Aledra," she said. "These are my vassals, Crag, Kiva, Raz and Kaz. We are dragonkind, and we would see the Queen of the Akandra."

Laurana looked over at Borrican, and he nodded his assent.

"Follow me, and I will take you to her," she said, and she turned and led them to the passage at the end of the room, and down the short flight of stone steps that led to another passage, which opened up into the large chamber that ran with water.

Stones embedded in the roots of the trees and behind the fountains glimmered with soft, white light, illuminating the room. A healer stepped aside from the stone platform, which was now covered with clean sheets and cushions, as Laurana approached with the group of visitors. Her eyes closed, resting peacefully, Ariana stirred as they neared, and she opened her eyes and immediately stared at Borrican.

"Go away, Borrican," she said, and she turned her head away from him. "I don't want to see you right now."

"What?" Borrican was confused. "I was worried about you, Ariana. Are you all right?"

"I am fine now, no thanks to you," she said. "Now please get out."

"Do you truly want us to leave?" Vale asked.

"No, just him," Ariana said, pointing at Borrican without looking at him.

Storm barely stifled a laugh.

"What did I do?" Borrican asked, not understanding why she wanted only him to leave, then Laurana motioned for him to follow her past the stone bed where Ariana lay. The others also looked past the bed and they saw three large dragon eggs sitting upright upon the stone floor. Borrican's eyes went wide and, without saying another word, he promptly turned around and walked out of the room, but as he left, he caught a flicker of a thought from Ariana, one that was angry yet pleased and frustrated yet proud, all at the same time, and he knew that she was not truly angry with him, or at least her temper might cool at some point, he hoped.

He walked back up the stone steps, through the hall, past the healers and the many wounded, and out into the cool night air, and he found the two Maramyrian commanders, Nathas and Kaleb, on their way to the palace to find Laurana.

"Prince Borrican," Kaleb said with a grin as he reached out and clasped his arm. "You fight with the strength of a hundred men. We are glad for your help."

"Lord General Kaleb, General Nathas," Borrican said, clasping Kaleb's arm and nodding to his former Senior Captain, noticing that they both appeared stronger than when he had last seen them, and it was obvious they had seen some battle that day.

"Are you all right, Borrican?" Nathas asked.

"I am fine," Borrican said, staring up at the stars. "It truly is a wondrous night."

"Yes, it is," Nathas said, looking at the young dragon prince. "We received word that the princess was with the healers. I gather you have just been to see her?"

"The dragons are with her," Borrican said. "Ariana is a little upset with me right now."

"But she is fine," Nathas said.

"Very much so," Borrican replied.

"I see," he said, then he looked over at Kaleb and gave him a nod. "Perhaps we will visit her and pay our respects on the morrow. In the meantime, our quarters are not too far from here, and Lord Kaleb managed to procure a bottle of Maeran sweetwater. Would you care to join us for a sip or two of the strong stuff?"

Borrican turned and looked at the two men.

"I cannot think of a better idea," he said.

They chuckled at the look of consternation that crossed his face, and the three of them walked from the palace together, and the two generals caught Borrican up on the fighting in the forest and kept him occupied with thoughts of what to do about the thousands of prisoners they had taken. As they disappeared between the thick tree roots, Laurana exited the palace and she walked over to the trunk of the great tree and touched her hand to it, listening to its whispers, then she set out through the forest, in the direction of where the trees had told her she would find her son, Quenta.