Exiles From The Sacred Land (Book 2) (33 page)

“The dragons of Kragodor!” Melias cried out as he changed his form. “Get back to the portal chamber!”

“No,” Morgoran countered. “The portal is useless now.”

Melias flew to intercept a green dragon bearing down on the party, but was struck from the side by a black dragon and again from the other side by another green. He fell to the ground and did not move. Morgoran looked upon the incident with horror. Trendan pumped arrows into the attackers, but they mostly bounced off the dragons’ hard scales, leaving the dragons without a scratch.

“Take cover, all of you! Fighting that many dragons alone is folly,” Morgoran commanded. The small party took cover in a mostly intact building nearby.

Fayne clung to Vesperin, much to Vesperin’s astonishment. Trendan perched below a window, watching as the dragons systematically swept the area with fire.

Morgoran rang his hands nervously. “I never should have allowed you to come through that portal. I am sorry. I thought we were going to deal with undead, and I thought I could use a couple of clerics. I didn’t know I was leading you to slaughter.”

“It was our choice too, Morgoran,” Vesperin said. “Don’t fill your last moments with regret.”

A crash of thunder rocked the building, and bits of stone crumbled from the ceiling.

“Something is happening out there,” Trendan told them. “Flashes of lighting.”

Morgoran moved to the window. Lightning outlined the skies and showed him the extent and sheer numbers of dragons. Hundreds of dragons swarmed above. Soon the lightning became more intense. Winds blew with impressive force just above the city, making it difficult for the dragons to maintain flight. Soon they gave up the search and flew away as fast as they had appeared. The storm continued to rage.

“What is happening?” Trendan was dismayed. “It’s as if the Plain of Storms moved over the city.”

Morgoran’s face lit up for a moment. “Maybe it has.”

“Or maybe this is a new threat we will have to deal with,” Vesperin said.

“We will wait out the storm here. As far as a building that is falling down goes, this one seems steady enough for now.”

Vesperin looked at the wavering structure and grimaced.

“I may be able to help stabilize it with essence for the duration of the storm,” Morgoran said.

The storm went on for two more hours before finally giving way. Morgoran had forgotten that it was actually daytime. The city was shrouded in darkness, first by the curse of the general, and second by the dark storm clouds. He looked upon the relieved faces of his young companions and noticed there was some kind of tension between Fayne and Trendan. Vesperin had managed to wiggle his way clear of Fayne’s grip and was peering at the sky from the opposite window.

“I found them!” came a voice from the doorway as Kyrie stepped, almost bounced, into the room.

“Kyrie? Who are you shouting to?” Morgoran asked.

“Ianthill, Sheyna, Gondrial, and the others.”

“How did you know we were here?”

“The mindwielders.” He grabbed Morgoran by the hand. “Come on, this way.”

Morgoran followed the little Kylerie elf out into the street where Ianthill, Gondrial, and the others waited. He looked for Melias in the rubble where he saw him fall, but he was not there.

Morgoran embraced Ianthill. “It’s so good to see you, brother. I thought it was over.”

“Not quite yet, brother, you aren’t getting out of work that easily. I would come to the spirit world and resurrect you if I had to!”

“I bet you would at that.” He moved to Lady Shey. “My apprentice, as lovely as ever.”

“I am thankful you are safe,” she replied.

“Enowene, we have a few issues to discuss. I ran into Kimala.”

“We will talk later. For now, I am pleased we found you.”

Morgoran looked at Ianthill. “Aye, how was that possible?”

Ianthill pointed to Rennon, who was busy hugging and being hugged by his own friends. “That boy has cured the afflicted, and he may have brought about the return of the mindwielders.”

“The storm was brought on by him?”

“He and about one hundred former afflicted camped out near the old gated entrance. We caught up to him just before the hoard of dragons appeared. We knew they had to be after something or someone. Deylia, Rennon’s female companion over there, could not sense the cursed ones anywhere in the city, but she could sense you. How did you defeat Sythril?”

“Did you see the body of Melias here? He was taken down by three dragons.”

“No, just the burning bodies of the cursed.”

“Dorenn was here. I put the general in the Aroanian Crystal right before Dorenn took it and flew off with one of the dragons.”

“The Aroanian Crystal? So he is looking for the keys.”

Gondrial and Theosus joined them.

“It is true, old friend, you are back and looking much better than the last time I saw you.”

“Theosus Fiderea, I see you managed to carry out our plan.”

“Aye, the boy was difficult to convince, but your vision was true to the letter.”

“I think we are missing something,” Gondrial said.

Morgoran gave him a reassuring gaze. “I will fill you all in.”

“Oh, I sent the Ganas boy to Draegodor as you wished,” Theosus said.

“Good, we need to get that army back here as soon as we can, but I fear we have a more pressing problem, and it’s going to take you coming out of exile and going back to Draegodor. Dorenn needs the golden serpent key from King Amarantus’ treasure hoard in Draegodor. I wasn’t worried about it before because I thought it would be impossible for him to get, but from what I just witnessed, Dorenn is cleverer than I thought. In order to defeat a stronghold of dragons, you—”

Theosus winced. “Attack it with a stronger force of dragons.”

“We need to get word to Draegodor.”

“I think we have a pretty quick way to get there,” Ianthill said.

Gondrial chuckled. “We managed to enchant a decently-sized ship. Sanmir is securing it by the front gates now.”

“That’s extraordinary. We needn’t waste any more time; we must get going then.”

“Morgoran, I can’t go with you to Draegodor. I am needed in Ardenia. There are people there still being executed.” Theosus was clearly struggling with his emotions. “I am also needed to help Rennon; he will need my guidance now more than ever.”

“All right, my friend. We can manage. Go rescue your afflicted.”

“Thank you, Morgoran. I will join the fight as soon as I return.”

Morgoran nodded. “Now, let’s go see this ship.”

As Ianthill led Morgoran away, Rennon stopped him. “Morgoran, I have some information that may be of some importance.”

Morgoran stopped. “What is it, Rennon?”

Rennon motioned to Deylia. “This is my friend Deylia. She is the one that sensed you were in the city.”

“I am indebted to you, Deylia, and nice to make your acquaintance.”

Deylia genuflected. “Likewise.”

“What is the matter?”

“When the dragons were overhead and I was trying to find the cursed of the city, I sensed something else, something vile and evil.”

“Was it coming from Dorenn?”

“I don’t know Dorenn, sir, but I don’t think it was him. What I felt was something I have felt before, in Trigothia. It was like a dragon, but smaller and twisted.”

“Are you certain it wasn’t one of the dragons?”

“Aye, it was looking for something, and as soon as it found it, the thing was gone.”

“Thank you, dear. I will think about what it could be.” He assured her by patting her on the back. He walked away more briskly than before. Ianthill had to make strides to catch up to him. “I know that look, what is it?”

Morgoran didn’t stop but still answered. “Melias fell to the dragons. I think a Drasmyd Duil must have taken the opportunity to steal his body.”

“Why would Toborne want Melias?”

“I am not certain, but I am sure he could twist something out of him.”

“Does he know anything?”

“I don’t think he knows anything that might hurt us. Most of what he heard is common knowledge. I didn’t discuss any real plans with him.”

“Good, then what’s to worry about?”

“Ianthill, we must get Dorenn back in control. We are fighting too many battles. While we chase after him, Toborne entrenches Naneden deeper into Lux Enor and makes his plans to conquer and control unopposed. We still have to get the army of the West back into the fight. I don’t want to do it, but if I am forced, I will have to kill Dorenn. His role in my vision is unclear now anyway.”

“I thought your vision was clear. Dorenn is supposed to bring the dragons of Draegodor back to help our cause, not to mention he is the only one that can find and take us to the Silver Drake. Don’t forget she chose him.”

“Well, now he has allied himself with Kragodor, and his dragon knight girlfriend has gone off and accidently married Bren, the other dragon knight, whose life Dorenn is supposed to save and become best friends with.”

“How do you get accidently married? Isn’t that like getting almost pregnant?”

“Never mind that. If Dorenn brings a battle to Draegodor, they will never follow him to fight against Toborne. The only plan that has worked out so far is Rennon.”

“So what is the next step?”

“We have to get to Draegodor. My hope is that if we warn them and prepare them, they will feel some kind of loyalty to us and we can still bring them into the coming war on our behalf. I need you to help me convince King Amarantus; you know how he feels about me. Then you and I will go after Dorenn together. He is growing far too powerful, and I need your help to defeat him, Shey and Gondrial’s help too. Enowene will have to get back to controlling her spy network and send Kimala back to Naneden before he gets suspicious.”

“What about Sanmir?”

Morgoran stopped from his brisk pace. “Sanmir is sentimental. I would love to have his abilities with us, but I think he may be too attached to Dorenn. If it comes to a fight, he might not be able to do what is necessary. I think we will send him with Dorenn’s friends, back to Symbor. I will send him after the king’s staff before Naneden takes over the capital.”

Morgoran picked up the pace again. “Once we get to your enchanted ship, we will round everyone up and get moving. Dorenn destroyed the portal, so the ship is our only means at the moment.”

“It is good to have you back, brother.”

Morgoran cracked a sly grin. “See if you still feel that way tomorrow.”

Toborne worked for two days and three nights to perfect his creation. He used all of the stolen power of the gods he had at his disposal, along with the power of the gods given to him. This creation could not be as commonplace as mere Dramyd or Drasmyd Duil. No, it had to be deadlier, stealthier, and more ruthless in order to exact his revenge on Dorenn. It might have taken him months to create the Drasmyd Duil, but now that he possessed the knowledge needed, this new creation would take only a few days of intense work. An abomination of dragonkind so cunning that it would not only dispatch Dorenn but it would be at Toborne’s side to do all of his dirty work after he secured the Sacred Land and the known world for himself.

Other than a few harmless tricks, Toborne had feared to allow his creations to use too much of the dragon magic in the past. In fact, it was dangerous to allow any of his creatures to wield magic of any kind other than what he could expressly control. Besides, training a creature to use magic took time and effort that he usually did not have, but this time he had found a way around that. He would use, in his creation, a being already capable of using and wielding magic, the Brae Daun. He carefully removed all the memories of the one called Melias and erased all vestiges of his old life. To insure that his old ways were truly eradicated, he magically infused the racial memories of the Duil brood, which he was using to stabilize his creation. This beast’s mind was a clean slate. He made sure the creature would remember how to take the form of the one called Melias, however, because the form might come in useful to give the element of surprise.