Liberator (28 page)

“Will do.” Jason charged toward the line of soldiers. He, too, felt stronger than he could ever recall, his legs and arms filled with energy.

The enemy dragons approached, fire already blazing. Magnar and Fellina launched to meet them, but they
suddenly multiplied from two dragons to four, then to eight, then sixteen. Soon the sky was filled with images of Magnar and Fellina. When the original pair blew fire, the others copied their assault perfectly.

On the ground, the soldiers also multiplied until it seemed that a thousand armed men crowded the street. They ran into the field, cheering and waving their weapons and shields. As Jason ran, he glanced back. Koren stood with her arms spread out wide and her face glowing almost as brightly as Exodus itself.

The enemy dragons swerved to avoid the onslaught. Taushin shouted, “Fools! They are decoys! Insubstantial copies!” He and Mallerin shot out fireballs, incinerating duplicates of Magnar and Fellina, then flew right through several more.

The real Magnar and Fellina took advantage of the distractions and attacked unsuspecting dragons, although some regrouped and broke through their defense to rain fire on the soldiers. Although they raised their shields as one, hundreds of duplicates disintegrated. At least five dragons landed and began sweeping their tails through the false ranks, destroying many fake soldiers and toppling several real ones.

Jason jumped over a tail, narrowly avoiding a sharp spine. When he landed, he ran straight to the dragon, slid feet first under its belly, and rammed his sword into the vulnerable spot. When he yanked out the blade, fluids gushed over his chest. The dragon’s legs gave way, and his huge body came crashing down.

Thrusting his legs, Jason tried to slide, but his feet slipped in the fluids. Something grabbed his arm and
jerked him out of the way just in time, then hoisted him to his feet. “Didn’t you learn better dragon-combat methods in warrior school?”

Jason turned in place. “Randall! How did you —”

“Best doctor in Starlight energized me.” Randall pointed with his sword. “Let’s go. More dragons to kill.”

As Jason and Randall advanced on the field, the enemy dragons continued burning away the copies and bowling over more real soldiers.

Jason hacked at a dragon’s neck and drove the blade in deeply. Randall sliced a wing in half. Shrieking, the dragons launched fire and slashed with their tails, but with so many duplicate soldiers, they had no idea whom to attack.

Just as Jason pulled his sword back to strike another scaly neck, a great shadow swooped over him and jerked him off his feet. Above, Mallerin carried him over the battlefield and back toward the Zodiac. Taushin followed behind, his blue beams pulsing.

Jason hacked at Mallerin’s legs, but a crushing pinch from her claws paralyzed his arm, forcing him to drop his sword. Below, his father and brother lay near each other on the battlefield, both with bloody leg wounds and scorched clothes.

Mallerin deposited him in front of Koren and pinned him face down with her massive tail. When Taushin landed next to his mother, he shouted, “Koren! Dissolve the copies immediately, or I will kill Jason!”

Koren lowered her arms and glared at Taushin. “Haven’t you yet learned that you have no control over me?”

“I do as long as I hold Jason captive. Your love for him is the only chain I need.”

“No, Koren,” Jason grunted. “Don’t give in. This is war. You can’t give up the battle just to save one warrior.”

Close by, the mass of slaves parted, and Elyssa walked out from their midst, Wallace and Dorman at her side. With her arms crossed and her face glowing, she looked ready to take on Mallerin herself.

Koren looked at Elyssa. “What do you think?”

“The warrior has led the way. It’s time to follow his lead.” Elyssa waved her arm. “Now!”

Elyssa, Wallace, and Dorman charged, followed by dozens of slaves. They jumped on Mallerin, scratching and punching. Elyssa climbed Mallerin’s neck and clawed at her eyes. Taushin blew fire aimlessly, keeping the slaves at bay.

Seconds later, Mallerin toppled over. Jason squirmed out and leaped to his feet as Mallerin began slinging people left and right. Dorman flew one way, Wallace another, but Elyssa hung on ferociously. Finally, Mallerin shook like a wet dog, flung everyone off, and launched into the air.

Elyssa fell on top of a slave and rolled over two more before coming to a stop. Shaking her head, she took Jason’s hand and rose.

“Thanks for the rescue,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

“I have to stay here and protect Koren.”

“I know.” She released his hand, but let her fingers brush his arm. “And I have a lot of healing to do.”

Jason caught her hand and interlocked their fingers. “I’ll see you again. I promise.”

“And I’ll hold you to that promise.” As soon as Elyssa slid her finger away, she ran into the battlefield and found
Wallace helping Randall climb to his feet next to a dead dragon.

Jason scanned the ground and spotted his sword only a few steps away. He ran to it and and snatched it up. Now he had something to protect Koren with.

Taushin leaped into the air and joined Mallerin in a slow orbit just out of the reach of swords and spears. A drone entered the orbit with them. “The field is clear,” the drone announced. “Magnar and Fellina have fallen. All the soldiers are either dead or disabled, and the duplicates are gone.”

“Have everyone land. They will not dare attack us again.” Turning his beams on Koren as he circled, Taushin laughed. “It seems that you are not as free from me as you would like to believe.”

Staring at him, Koren crossed her arms over her chest. Dirty and bloodied, she looked defeated but defiant.

Jason ran to her side. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Just watching the tales of Starlight, recent tales.”

“Good ones?”

“Trust me.” She spoke through clenched teeth. “It’s not over yet.”

W
hen the fifteen or so remaining dragons, including Mallerin, had landed, Taushin skittered to the ground in front of them, while the messenger drone kept watch from above. Taushin cast his beams into Koren’s eyes again. Without a flinch, she kept her defiant pose.

“Be my vision, Koren,” Taushin said, his head swaying hypnotically, “and I will let your loved ones live.”

“Soldiers are coming from the mining mesa!” the drone called. “And more dragons.”

Taushin snorted. “Another Starlighter trick. The real enemies are defeated. Come and help me with a final task that will ensure our dominion here.”

“Very well.” The drone landed and joined the line. Taushin kept his beams aimed at Koren’s eyes. “Cease this nonsense. You and your duplicates are defeated. If
you refuse to let me in, we will begin setting your friends ablaze, beginning with a child among the slaves.”

Clutching the hilt of his sword tightly, Jason stayed quiet. Koren’s entreaty kept repeating in his mind.
Trust me.

He looked beyond the dragons. Hundreds of soldiers ran toward them from the direction of the mesa, getting closer and closer, while two dragons flew above the leading line. Why was Koren bringing these duplicates? They couldn’t be the reinforcements. Even running full speed, they couldn’t have traveled here from the Northlands in such a short time. Besides, they were coming from the south, not the north.

On the battlefield, Magnar struggled to his haunches, but he teetered, and his head swayed. He couldn’t possibly help now. Fellina lay nearby, motionless.

Koren lifted a hand and lowered her hood. Her dirty red hair spread across her shoulders, and her green eyes sparkled. “I am the last Starlighter,” she said with a boom in her voice. “You have no power over me. Begone, before I cast you from my sight. You saw what I did to Jason when I protected you. You will soon experience a force far greater.”

Jason glanced again. The soldiers continued running, their footfalls sounding like thunder. They would arrive in seconds, but what would a bunch of phantoms be able to do?

“You are becoming tedious.” Taushin waved a wing at Mallerin. “Make a torch out of a child and bring her here to show Koren the light.”

Just as Mallerin turned, a chorus of whistles sailed in. Ropes slung around each dragon’s neck including Taushin’s and Mallerin’s. With weights tied at both
ends and a metal tube embedded in each one, the ropes whipped around and around until they slapped the dragons’ scales. The tubes pressed against the dragons’ throats with layers of rope holding them in place.

As the dragons reeled back, hundreds of soldiers flew into the line with swords and spears slashing, Adrian and Marcelle leading the way. Adrian plunged his sword deep into a dragon’s belly. Marcelle grabbed a dragon’s spine, swung up to its neck, and gouged its eyes with her sword.

Jason tried to leap at Taushin, but Koren grabbed his wrist and held him back. “Wait!”

Taushin and most of the dragons beat their wings and lifted over the fray. Six dragons fell victim to the onslaught and writhed under the pummeling swords, spears, and fists. Adrian stood atop a fallen dragon’s flank and shouted, “Arxad! Xenith! Let them fly but keep them close! We want to account for them all.”

Arxad and Xenith flew around the escaping dragons and kept them hemmed in with their flames, claws, and whipping tails. Magnar broke into the orbit, bit through Mallerin’s ropes, and forced her to the ground.

When the other dragons rose about fifty feet, Koren withdrew the box from her pocket and pointed it at Taushin. “It is time for the hatchling from the black egg to meet the Creator.”

“What?” Taushin shouted. “No! Have mercy!”

“Sometimes justice triumphs over mercy.” Then, Koren whispered, “For Cassabrie.”

She pushed the button. Explosions rocked the ground. Soldiers fell like toys, toppling into each other in a chain reaction that swept across the field.

Jason caught Koren and fell with her. As they sat on the street, pieces of dragon rained all around—necks, wings, midsections, and tails. Finally, Taushin’s neck and attached head dropped next to them, writhing like a dying serpent. A hint of blue still radiated from his eyes. As the head’s movement slowed, a pair of weak beams found their way to Koren’s chest. The light pulsed brighter, then the eyes closed.

Jason helped Koren rise. They walked hand in hand toward the battlefield. With so many men climbing to their feet, it seemed that someone had blown a wake-up call on a bugle. In the midst of the field, Adrian and Marcelle were helping others rise, soldiers and slaves alike, while Elyssa, her face and pendant glowing, hurried here and there, checking for injuries.

Mallerin threw off Magnar and bolted into the air. With her wings beating madly, she flew away. Magnar rose slowly to his haunches and watched her shrink in the distance.

Jason and Koren walked into the throng, helping people to their feet. When Jason reached Edison and Frederick, they were already sitting with their trousers cuffs rolled up to their knees. Bloody gashes striped their legs, but smiles dressed their faces.

Jason crouched next to them. “Are you two okay?”

“I’ve had worse,” Edison said. “It’ll take more than a few licks from dragon fire to keep me down.”

Frederick laughed. “I think I’ll stay down till Elyssa comes. This ground is feeling pretty comfortable right now.”

Jason rose. All around the field, former slaves checked each other’s arms and torsos for signs of the disease. The
ones who had taken stardrops appeared to be disease free, while others, even those who claimed no need for Cassabrie’s cure, now lay motionless with sores on their arms and faces.

“Jason!” Adrian ran up from the side and embraced him in his powerful arms. “It’s about time you showed up here!”

“Me? I’ve been here for ages!” Jason shoved Adrian away and punched his arm. “Where did you come from?”

“To make a long story short, the portal at the mining mesa.” Adrian mussed Jason’s hair. “The rest will have to wait. There’s a lot to tell.”

“That’s an understatement,” Marcelle said as she jogged to their side. After giving her sword an expert twirl, she slid it into its scabbard. “Probably more than you’d ever want to hear.”

“Soon we’ll have time to tell everything.” Jason grasped Adrian’s forearm. “For now, though, there’s still a lot to be done.”

Marcelle looped her arm through Adrian’s. “He’s right. Let’s go help the wounded.”

As soon as they left, Dorman and Benjamin limped up to Jason, Dorman now carrying a beaming Reesa in his arms. “What’s the word?” Dorman asked. “Are we going to your world? Or should we stay here and make a new world for ourselves?”

“That’s a good question.” Jason looked ahead. Arxad and Xenith had landed and joined a huddle with Magnar and Fellina. Although the latter two hung their heads low, and their wings sagged, they appeared to be recovering from their wounds. “Why don’t you talk about it among yourselves, and I’ll see what the dragons say.”

“What about those who wouldn’t take the stardrops?” Dorman asked. “Should they have any say in the matter?”

“I don’t think they’ll feel like saying much, but I’ll leave it up to you.”

Jason and Koren continued on, hand in hand. When they met Elyssa, she gave Koren a warm hug, then took Jason’s hand on the other side and walked with them. “We lost twenty-seven of the original soldiers,” she said, a tremor in her voice. “I’m guessing about two hundred slaves died, either from dragon fire or ice or from the disease.”

“What happened to those who didn’t take a stardrop?” Jason asked.

“They’re all dead. Every one of them, as far as I can tell. It looks like the disease sped up, almost like the presence of the stardrops made it stronger.”

Koren nodded. “Cassabrie said this would happen. She said those who refused the real cure would die right away and that the air would be purged by the falling stardrops.”

“Then the disease is gone,” Jason said. “Forever. The soldiers who came from the mesa portal won’t catch it.”

Elyssa picked up a shredded piece of blue fabric. “Good thing, since we have no cure. No stardrops. No Exodus material.” She pushed the fabric into her pocket. “And no Cassabrie.”

“Right. No Cassabrie.” Jason dragged his shoe along the ground. What more could he say? Losing her was a tragedy, and no words could describe the loss. “So … how are things at the butcher’s shop?”

Elyssa lifted her pendant, still glowing orange. “I treated those with the worst injuries. Wallace, Randall,
Adrian, and Marcelle are carrying others who need treatment to the shop. Captain Reed is there with a broken arm and ribs, but he’s not complaining. I’ll be joining them after I get a few minutes to rest. They’ve all swallowed stardrops, so they’ll be fine.”

When they reached the gathering, the four dragons greeted them with tired nods. With dragon blood and mismatched scales coating their bodies, they looked like a child had put them together with the wrong puzzle pieces.

Jason nodded in return. “The slaves are wondering about what’s going to happen to them.”

“Yes,” Arxad said. “We were just discussing that. Although it is tragic, it seems that we will have to wait for the infected slaves to die before you can safely transport anyone to Major Four. For them to watch while their fellow slaves march to freedom would be the ultimate torture.”

“Is there no hope for them at all?” Fellina asked.

“They’re already dead,” Jason said quietly. “The disease accelerated after the stardrops fell.” For a moment, silence ensued. Jason glanced at each sad face. It seemed that no one wanted to state the obvious. The cure had been available to all, and those who refused it had paid the price.

Jason looked around at the carnage of fallen dragons surrounding them. “Arxad, how are you handling these deaths? They were your friends, your neighbors.”

Arxad lowered his head and looked at the humans at their eye level. “It seems,” he said, tears sparkling in his eyes, “that justice has come to Starlight. Although many of our dragon friends have died, we will learn to cope
with the tragedy. It is my hope that mercy will now reign among dragons and humans alike.”

Koren threw her arms around Arxad’s neck and pulled him close. As they nuzzled, steaming tears dripped from Arxad’s eyes. When she drew back, she laid a hand on his cheek. “Although I lived as a slave in your abode, Arxad, high priest of Starlight, I served you as a daughter who had lost her father. I was lonely and afraid, yet trusting in you as a wise counselor. Now loosed from my chains, I will again look to you for advice, because my father has sacrificed his life for mine and has left this world.”

“Orson is dead?” Arxad asked.

Koren’s chin trembled. “He would want his little K to be well cared for, don’t you think?”

Arxad wrapped a wing around her and held her close again. “You are the first human I ever truly loved, and that love will never falter. You will always be welcome in my home.”

“And we will gather our own honey,” Xenith said, smiling. “No more bee adventures for you.”

After Arxad, Fellina, Xenith, and Koren laughed together for a moment, Arxad spread out his wings and gestured for attention. “We have spoken of love and mercy, so with those blessings in mind, may I suggest that the king of this land should make a proclamation regarding the slaves? It seems to me that since the army from Major Four has triumphed and dragons have been conquered, capitulation is in order.”

Magnar, who had been quietly scanning his devastated domain, turned toward the group. “Are you asking for a formal surrender?”

Arxad nodded. “It seems appropriate, considering the circumstances.”

“Agreed, but I will do even more.” Magnar extended his neck toward Koren and lowered his head to the ground. “Starlighter, if you would give me the honor, I will take you to the Zodiac’s remains, where we will address the people together.”

Koren spread out her cloak and bent her knee. “The honor is mine, good dragon.” She climbed up his neck and settled on his back, her scorched cloak flowing behind her.

“Follow us, my friends.” Magnar spread out his wings and flew over the battlefield toward the pile of rubble.

Xenith nudged Jason with a wing. “You and Elyssa look like you need a ride, too.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Smiling at Elyssa, he curled his ring finger around hers. “We’ll walk.”

“Very well.” Xenith flew toward the Zodiac.

“If you do not mind,” Arxad said, “Fellina and I would like to walk with you. It will take some time for Magnar and Koren to gather such a large crowd.”

“Please do.” Jason and Elyssa set out at a slow pace, Arxad and Fellina to their right. Arxad bent his neck toward Jason and Elyssa as they walked. “When the difficulties in your world are settled, will you return to us? We hope to establish peaceful relations between our worlds. The two of you would make excellent ambassadors.”

“Thank you,” Jason said. “I don’t know about being an ambassador, but I hope we return someday.”

By the time they neared the remains of the Zodiac, Magnar and Koren were standing side by side on the
debris with hundreds of slaves and soldiers looking on. Koren shifted her weight from foot to foot, her eyes darting. Her face radiated her familiar glow, but her clothes and cloak were torn and dirty. With the glittering crown of light on her head, she looked like a shining angel disguised as a peasant.

The street was now clear of casualties. The original soldiers had moved the dead human bodies and smaller dragon parts away, perhaps to the Basilica. The fire there still burned, a good place to incinerate the dead.

At Magnar’s request, the crowd made room for Jason and the others to come to the front. As Jason passed, he glanced from face to face, each one clear of symptoms. He didn’t bother to try to count them to verify Elyssa’s number. At this point, it didn’t really matter.

When everyone settled again, Magnar waved a wing and spoke with a loud voice. “I will be brief. This is a day of new beginnings, and it behooves us all to move on. It is impossible to express my regret for all the evil I have committed, and it is equally impossible for me to amend every wrong, but I will do all that is in my power. My mate and I will retire in peace to a place where we will no longer be a scourge to anyone.”