DemonWars Saga Volume 2: Mortalis - Ascendance - Transcendence - Immortalis (The DemonWars Saga) (208 page)

“Not the villagers!” Juraviel and Cazzira, and then Brynn cried out repeatedly
to the dragon, and it seemed to Brynn as if it took the mighty beast a long while to turn away from the tempting sight of the fleeing mob.

“Fly over them, but bring no harm!” Juraviel instructed, and then he yelled to Brynn, “Tell them who you are! Tell them to take heart, for Brynn Dharielle, the Dragon of To-gai, has come to free them!”

Thus was the legend born.

A
fter shouting her message of freedom to the escaping villagers Brynn directed the mighty dragon to settle near a brown-and-white figure she had seen from on high. She slid down and hurried to her pony, whom she had feared mortally wounded. As she inspected Runtly, though, she breathed a profound sigh of relief, for the stings of the Chezhou-Lei arrows were not serious.

“We are not done with our work,” Belli’mar Juraviel called to her, and she turned to see him and Cazzira standing beside an obviously anxious Agradeleous.

Brynn looked back to her pony. “I will come back to you soon and clean those wounds better,” she whispered to him. “You just run to the open fields and stay far from danger!”

As if he understood her every word, the pony nickered and galloped away, and it did Brynn’s heart good to see him run.

Much later on, after many, many Behrenese soldiers and Chezhou-Lei had been hunted down and killed, Agradeleous, bearing his three riders, pulled up before the bridge at the Walk of Clouds, hanging there for a moment with his great wings beating, as Brynn slipped down to stand before Masters Cheyes and Pagonel, with many others standing in the background, gawking.

Without any hesitation, and without a word from either of the remaining riders, Agradeleous turned and swooped down into the clouds, disappearing from view.

Pagonel started to say something to Brynn, but he just stopped and stood there helplessly, his arms out to the side. And what might be expected of him, after all, since he had just witnessed the arrival of three of the legendary—and, many would argue, imaginary—races of Corona, including the sheer size and power of a dragon!

“I was trained by the Touel’alfar,” Brynn stated at once. She held forth her beautiful sword. “And this is elvenmade, forged in the distant valley of Andur’blough Inninness, north of the great mountains. One of my companions is of the Touel’alfar, another is a cousin, a Doc’alfar, and the third … well, you have seen the third.”

“All in the region have seen the third, dear Brynn,” said Master Cheyes, managing a little smile. “Our gratitude is with you this day, for the treachery of the Chezhou-Lei would have brought even more tragedy to the Walk of Clouds had it not been for you and your … friends.”

“Nearly a score of my brethren are dead,” Pagonel added. “And many more are wounded, some badly. But all of us who went down to do honorable battle would have died this day, had it not been for the arrival of the dragon.”

“I count the Behrenese losses in the hundreds,” the woman replied. “Including nearly all of the Chezhou-Lei who came against you. It is a great victory.”

“Victory?” Master Cheyes echoed skeptically. “We do not view war of any kind as a victory, dear Brynn, but as a loss for all of mankind.”

Brynn steeled her jaw, not about to agree. “Yet war lies in my path, undoubtedly so,” she declared. “And I go with my heart full of hope that my homeland will be free once more. The arrival of the dragon, and of my other two friends, gives me the beginning I will need to drive the Behrenese from the steppes.”

“Beware the power of your dragon,” Master Cheyes gravely warned.

“More important than the companions are the reputation that they have allowed me this day,” Brynn explained, not wavering in the least. “All of the To-gai-ru who witnessed the flight of the Dragon of To-gai will whisper to their fellows, and so the news shall spread throughout the steppes, and so I shall find many, many warriors willing to rush to my side!”

“Many of whom will die,” the pacifistic Master Cheyes pointed out.

But again, Brynn was not to be deterred, not in the least. “Then so be it.”

Master Cheyes looked to Pagonel then. The other Jhesta Tu did not return the stare, but kept his eyes locked on the remarkable Brynn.

“My time here has come to an end,” the woman announced.

“This stay, perhaps,” said Pagonel. “The future may hold a day when you, and I, might return to the Walk of Clouds, to study together as we try to make sense of this existence.”

His words had Brynn’s jaw dropping open, and had Master Cheyes closing his eyes tightly, as if wanting to deny them.

“You will come with me?”

Pagonel nodded. “This is my course, I do not doubt, though neither do I understand. But if you and your friends will have me, then yes, I will stand beside you.”

“When I walk into Dharyan,” said Brynn.

When first I encountered Agradeleous in his cavern lair, I recognized, or thought I had, the power of the beast. The mere sight of the dragon froze me in my tracks, for a moment at least. I have seen volcanoes and mighty rivers, wild hailstorms on the open steppes, and heard—felt!—the thunder of a buffalo herd charging through the grasses. In all these things I am reminded of the sheer power of the world around us, dwarfing us in our hopes and dreams
.

So it is with Agradeleous. He is a volcano, a flood, an earthquake, a catastrophe of the highest order, and unbelievably, his power has been given to me! That Juraviel even managed to make such a friend boggles my sensibilities
.

With Agradeleous has come hope, so say the elves. Upon his back, I can fly the length of the steppes in but a day or two, gathering my armies, inspiring them with the knowledge that they will travel into combat against the hated Behrenese behind the power of a dragon. Is any outposter settlement too great a fortress for us now?

Is Dharyan? Is Jacintha itself?

But there is another side to the lucky coin that is Agradeleous the dragon. Is his a power truly leashed, truly under my control?

I have sought out my answers in Oracle, but have found nothing more than the reminder of my murdered parents. I feel their anger keenly, more at the loss of our old ways than at the particular injustices they suffered. At Oracle, I am convinced more than ever that the ancient traditions of the To-gai-ru must be returned to the steppes, that we cannot tolerate our subjugation to the Chezru Chieftain and his Yatols
.

Still, I cannot dismiss this power I have been given, this awesome and awful responsibility. Agradeleous will heed to my commands, so said Belli’mar Juraviel. But in those terrible minutes after the ranks of Behrenese had broken, when the dragon went in pursuit with the three of us riding, I understood that Agradeleous truly follows only the commands of Agradeleous. How he blasted through the ranks of the fleeing Behrenese, with his fiery breath and his raking claws, his snapping maw and that crushing tail!

I fear what I might see if ever I allow Agradeleous to run loose against a Behrenese city. Will the dragon distinguish between soldier and civilian? Between man and child?

And so I have been given a choice, and it is one that surely tugs at my heart. With Agradeleous, I can take great strides toward my long-desired goal. Flying high across
the To-gai sky atop the great beast, I can give my people a rallying point, using my own reputation as the “Dragon of To-gai” to give them hope and a focus. Who would not stand behind me?

And then I can watch the death and the misery of Agradeleous unleashed. I can turn my head and block my ears, but not my heart, to the screams of the innocents as the dragon fire immolates them. I can watch the outposter settlements burn, perhaps even the great cities of western Behren, burn
.

Agradeleous is not invulnerable, by the words of Juraviel. An army prepared for the dragon might bring it down
.

There is within me a small part that might hope for such a thing, after the To-gai-ru have rallied, after enough victories are secured so that the Behrenese will not return to our land. For what might Agradeleous do after the fighting is ended? When and if To-gai is free, what am I then to do with the dragon?

For his is a power, I fear, that, once unleashed, cannot be put back in its hole. It is possible that I will lead an army against Agradeleous if I somehow achieve victory over Behren, and that is not a prospect that I enjoy entertaining
.

Like the Touel’alfar as a whole, Belli’mar Juraviel has brought me hope, but that hope lies along a path made even darker by the prospects of this new and magnificent weapon. Many times during our journey south did Belli’mar Juraviel warn me that to pursue my victory would mean steeling myself to the horrors of war
.

Agradeleous merely accentuates that point
.

I pray for strength
.

—B
RYNN
D
HARIELLE

Chapter 25
 

K
ALIIT
T
IMIG SAT IN A DARKENED ROOM
,
ALONE WITH HIS THOUGHTS
,
HIS GUILT
, as he had been for most days since the return of the few Chezhou-Lei who had survived the disaster at the Mountains of Fire, and the few dozen Jacintha soldiers who had escaped and who had not subsequently deserted in the wild southland.

All had spoken of a sudden turn in the battle, of the arrival of a dragon, ridden by a warrior woman wielding a flaming sword!

A dragon! Whoever had heard of such a thing? Certainly there were tales of such creatures, the great wurms of legend, but never had any dragon been known actually to take a side in a conflict!

It was all too much for Kaliit Timig to comprehend, or to accept. He was convinced that the beast had been a manifestation of Jhesta Tu magic; the mystics were known for such powers, though never as dramatically as this. The returning Chezhou-Lei had reported that none of the mystic line that had stood against them had shown any indications of any magic use, nor any gemstones, though the hated Jhesta Tu were known to possess a few of those, as well.

Perhaps their greatest wizards had remained high above the conflict, Kaliit Timig reasoned, combining their powers to create the beast, or the illusion of the beast.

Whatever the case, the disaster could not be denied. His vaunted order had been cut in half in one day, with scores of superbly trained warriors, the best in all of Behren, perhaps in all the world, cut down in that barren wasteland. That was his burden, and many times, the old Chezhou-Lei Kaliit had thought it more than he could possibly shoulder. How badly had he erred, how great a failure was his reign as the Kaliit of the elite and ancient order.

He heard the shake of the door chimes outside his chamber, but didn’t let it take him from his profound contemplations. He heard the door open, but wouldn’t open his eyes and thus, did not see the light filtering into the darkened room.

“Kaliit Timig,” came a call, a voice that he could not ignore, no matter how great his desire to be alone. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head, to see the silhouette of a familiar figure standing in the doorway.

“God-Voice,” he welcomed.

“How many more weeks will you spend in here, Kaliit?” Chezru Chieftain Douan asked bluntly. “Hiding away while your order tries to find some way to recover from the catastrophe.”

“This disaster is unprecedented,” Timig answered softly. “I know not where to turn my attention now. I meditate for guidance.”

“You cower in the dark,” Douan accused, and behind the Chezru Chieftain
there came a gasp, which Kaliit Timig knew to be the surprise of Merwan Ma, Douan’s ever-present attendant, who had so conveniently turned away from the army before the disaster.

“I seek to guide my order properly, and nothing more,” Timig answered with as much conviction as he could muster.

Chezru Douan laughed at him. “You would have led all of your order to complete destruction if I had not intervened and forced you to hold some of your warriors back. Where would the Chezhou-Lei be now if all of you had gone marching to your destruction in that forsaken land of rock and fire? And for what, Kaliit Timig? To avenge the death of a single Chezhou-Lei, killed in open and honest battle?”