Draconis' Bane (40 page)

“Is that all you have
Antonius?” She shot.

“I’ve waited a long
time for this Danica.” Rossi admitted. “You’re about to die. Are
you ready for the afterlife?” He provoked.

Both of them had
barely visible protective barriers surrounding themselves. As they
cast progressively more powerful spells at each other the domes of
protection wavered slightly before the defender reasserted their
spell. The room around them took the majority of the damage as a
result. Each more powerful spell disturbed the others dome slightly
until both of them were drenched in sweat from the effort of
keeping their defenses in place. The walls around them sported
numerous scorch marks from spells that missed their targets, or
ricocheted off of their protective spells.

“Bastard!” Danica
screamed as she unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning. It crossed
the gap between their defenses and struck Rossi’s dome, crackling
and hissing as it dissipated down the sides. Antonius dropped down
to one knee under her power. The effort of keeping his defenses in
place to her onslaught was beginning to take its toll.

“Whore!” He seethed
unleashing a powerful gust of hurricane wind at her. Rhodes and her
defensive dome slid backwards on the cobblestone floor until she
focused her power and stopped her movement. Behind her the tome’s
pages continued to rip out of the book from the power of the spell.
Three windows, stained black to keep the sun out of this room,
shattered as the wind tossed one of the candelabrums’ into
them.

~

It had taken quite a
bit on convincing on Tristan’s part to get the filthy little man to
come out of his hiding spot. When he had, Ben had become a fountain
of information about the town and what had happened to the
citizens. Thirty years ago this town had been a major port for
sailors who wanted a certain freedom that most civilized countries
didn’t appreciate.

“A pirate’s cove.”
The ship Captain had chuckled.

The little man nodded
in response and took another greedy bite of the fish. The sailors
had caught their dinner off the coast and cooked it in the
ramshackle fireplace of the pub Tristan had discovered. The little
man explained the pirate’s paid homage to Henjis, bringing him
books, tomes and magical items of worth in exchange for his
protection and advice.

“Henjis was the
smartest o’ all of them dragons; his knowledge served thi’ town for
hundreds o’ years.” The little man explained between mouthfuls of
food and wine.

“So what happened
then?” The first-mate prodded.

The little man
swallowed and regarded the young man.

“Those damn fools at
the top o’ the cliff scared ‘em off, eh?” He growled. “After Henjis
lef’, them pirate’s were raided by ‘very tribe in th’ Expanse.” He
said with disgust. “Them that survived fled fer safer ports.” He
explained.

“Wait a minute.”
William interrupted. “What damned fools?”

“Them
Bane
jokers.” He replied darkly. “Bunch of dofers if I ever seen ‘em.
They made this big crystal ya see? The damned thing sucks all tha
magic outta them dragons. Was nothin’ ol’ Henjis coul’ do. Had ta
make a run fer it, ya know?” He explained.

“How do you know this
old man?” Tristan accused.

“Everyone knows
that!” The old man shouted, guzzling his wine down and spilling it
all over his filthy beard and shirt.

Tristan looked up at
William and Euri, seeing his shock registered in their faces as
well. This filthy beggar knew more than anyone had thus far.
Tristan thought to himself for a moment while the Captain and
first-mate continued to interrogate the man as he stuffed his mouth
full of fish and wine.

“How do I get up the
cliff?” Tristan interrupted.

The old filthy man
stopped chewing for a moment, looked the young man in the eyes and
then swallowed. “There’s a cave a’ the edge o’ town. Yer gotta go
in there, climb up the staircase.”

Tristan nodded to
Euri and William as the three of them stood and walked towards the
door. “Wait Prince Tristan!” The old man shouted.

Tristan’s eyes
narrowed, he turned and stalked back to the table. He reached
across the table and grabbed a hold of the front of his wine soaked
tunic and pulled him unceremoniously over the table and lifted him
easily with one hand so that they were eye to eye.

“Who are you old
man?” Tristan shouted.

“I’m just a simple
man who wants to see the end of the
Bane
as much as you do
Tristan Vallious.” He replied evenly and without the usual
stuttering or slurring of words.

Tristans’ eyes
narrowed dangerously, pulling the man close enough to cause the
gorge in his throat to rise at the smell of him.

“What are you leaving
out?” He asked through clenched teeth.

The old man smiled,
his teeth were black and rotting in his mouth and mixed with the
smell of fish and wine, it was enough to make most men vomit right
where they stood. Tristan was too angry to succumb to that at this
point. His anger served to focus his attention on the old man’s
words.

“Nothing.” He replied
calmly. “But you must hurry young Prince. Time is of the essence!”
He shouted at the last. A blinding flash and man had wriggled his
way free of his tunic and disappeared from the room.

“I don’t like it.”
William said quietly at his side.

“This is what we came
here for.” Tristan explained. “Trap or no trap we need to find that
cave and somehow get into their headquarters and finish this once
and for all.”

“Oh don’t be so
dramatic.” Euri chastised. “It sounds like fun!” Her youthful
enthusiasm made the cousins laugh.

“Captain, wait here a
three days.” Tristan instructed, turning to the sailor. “If we’re
not back by then we’ll find another way home or we’ll be dead.” The
Captain nodded gravely as he motioned for his sailors to follow him
out of the pub, leaving the three adventurers alone to plan their
next move.

~

Danica Rhodes gasped
for breath. Across the hall Antonius Rossi was doing the same. For
the last six hours they had slowly destroyed their surroundings.
Four pillars lay on the ground, the roof they held up was groaning
and flexing under the strain of the missing support. The last of
the windows had been knocked out when Rhodes had hit Rossi with a
blast of frost and ice. Even now the shards of ice were melting in
the holes they cut into the main doorway.

Rossi took a deep
breath, waved his arms around himself in an arc and sent a blast of
red hot air at Rhodes. Her defenses held, but she could still feel
the heat of the blast, it blistered her hands as she held them in
front of her, adding her waning strength to the defensive dome.
Around her any remaining ice evaporated with audible hisses. The
cobblestones around began to glow an angry red color and several of
them burst from the pressure.

Her eyes narrowed in
anger; twirling in spot she shot her arm forward. Little missiles
of freezing rain pelted Rossi’s defenses. A score of them cut their
way through the dome and sliced at his robes and arms. He raised
his arms, putting his palms out suffering cuts as he did so, but
strengthening his defenses enough to stop the icy razors from
penetrating. Both of them were panting with exhaustion as another
pillar gave way brining half the roof down on top of them.

~

“This place is huge!”
William exclaimed.

They’d searched for
the entrance to the cave for hours before finding little more than
a fissure in the cliff face when they had sat down to eat a light
supper. Euri had noticed steam coming out of the top of the fissure
and had walked over to investigate. The cave entrance was turned
into the cliff-side slightly, looking straight at it the entrance
looked like little more than a slit in the face of a never-ending
rock. She walked a little to the left to find a hole in the side of
the cliff that was large enough to admit a man on horseback.

A long winding tunnel
rose and sank for at least a mile before it emptied out into an
enormous chamber. A single ray of light poured into the cavern from
above, the heavily jeweled walls of the chamber refracted the light
a hundredfold until a reassuring light was created.

The light began to
dim and falter, Tristan assumed this meant that a storm was
gathering and the clouds had rolled in. Still, there was enough
light even now as his eyes adjusted to the gloom to make out some
minor details. Off to their right a giant staircase rose, winding
its way up the side of the chamber out of sight. Directly in front
of them was a large circular pad cut into the floor of the chamber.
Tristan guessed that it might be thirty feet in circumference, he
couldn’t guess at its purpose though.

Along the southern
wall large bookcases rose easily twenty feet high, loaded to the
breaking point with books, trinkets and objects of the strangest
sort. A study had more or less been setup where the southern and
western walls connected, desks were laden with strange devices that
made odd sounds and issued smoke every now and then. A plush chair
sat behind one of the many desks, this one cleared and orderly.

Books were stacked on
it as well, though most of them were written in a language Tristan
couldn’t discern. Eurydice walked over and began thumbing through
one of the larger books, her eyes darting along the page.

“You can read that?”
Tristan blurted.

“Of course.” She
replied without looking up. “It’s in draconic.”

“How come I can’t?”
Tristan asked.

“Don’t worry.” She
replied evenly, making eye contact with him. “You never could.”

She continued to read
the book, sitting down in the chair while William and Tristan
walked off to investigate the rest of the chamber. They nibbled at
the smoked fish they had brought along as they observed with great
interest the moving objects on one of the desks. Neither of them
had much inclination to touch them. Every time one of them would
reach out to grab an object, it would blast steam out at them.

Shaking their heads
in irritation, the cousins continued to walk around the chamber.
The dimmed light made it hard to fully appreciate the art drawn all
over the northern wall. Though the color was vibrant, Tristan
wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing.

“That’s the history
of this world.” A voice called out from the shadows.

The little wretch
walked out from under the staircase, a playful smile on his face.
He’d clearly bathed and changed since their last encounter as his
long black hair was pulled back into a tail, his beard was trimmed
and short. His clothes were well serviced, given the age of them.
He shook his staff, closing his eyes and contorting his mouth with
the effort. The end of the staff lit up again and the area around
them became just bright enough for them to see the vibrant painting
on the wall.

Depicted on the wall
were seven great dragons, the colors seemed un-faded by time.
Tristan could clearly see silver, bronze, blue, red, white, green
and finally black emerge from a circular vortex of lightning. In
the next panel they settled into different parts of the main
continent on a mainly sea covered globe. The next panel showed the
landscape changing in those areas, deep green forests in the east,
tan sands north of it, patches of green and blue where Vallius
should be, volcanoes to the west, swamps and marshes south of that
and vast amber fields of grain and tundra to the far north.

“Each one of the
mighty seven found a home on this world; they formed the land to
their will and created a utopia for themselves. They escaped
madness and war for peace and tranquility.” Ben explained.

The next panel showed
a great war as the next generation of dragons fought with humans
and dwarves. A great silver dragon rose as the mightiest of the
dragon force and forged a peace with a mortal king. The last panel
showed peace as the dragon king and the mortal king stood
overlooking the world shaking hands.

“Draconis rose as the
most powerful. He alone was the voice of reason among the dragon
host. He wanted peace, fearing the dragons would create another
world of atrocities. He made a pact with a mortal king; the dragons
would serve as patrons to the emerging kingdoms.” Ben went on.

Tristan and William
looked at one another, then the old man. Neither one of them knew
what to say or how to proceed. Ben saved them the trouble as he
continued his history lesson.

“There was peace for
six generations of man. Then, the sorcerers of Deus, jealous to be
left out of such an arrangement, orchestrated the assassination of
the great green dragon; Ryanite.” The old man explained, pointing
to a small mural to the right.

“They could not kill
the dragon with their magic, so they employed the aid of
mercenaries. A force of men, orcs, trolls and sorcerers hunted down
Ryanite and slew him. They quartered him like some low beast of
burden.” He spat.

The Prince was
awestruck, he always enjoyed learning, but this oratory of the
history of this world had him captivated. He absentmindedly ripped
off another chunk of smoked fish with his teeth as Ben continued
recounting the tale.

“The great black
dragon, Henjis, was disgusted by this action. He called for dragons
to rise up and subjugate mankind. Preferring to keep his would be
assassins under heel rather than allow another vile murder to
happen. Draconis stopped him though, believing that between men and
dragons they could come to a compromise that everyone could live
with, man and beast alike.” Ben said.

“Then folly of
follies happened. Henjis, envious of the Dragon King, formed the
group that first used the name
Draconis’ Bane
.” He accounted
quietly.