Myrkron (Volume Two of The Chronicles of the Myrkron) (26 page)

Michael now knew what it was, a Garolith.  The maliciousness Michael had sensed through the
vision hit him once again.  It felt as if hate had been condensed into a single nightmarish entity.  The weapon it had swung at the dragon was clearly visible now, a large bone white scythe.

With the sun glaring straight at the creature, Michael could see the skeletal visage within the hood of the tattered black robe.  His mind and body went numb with fright.  How could this be real? 
The massive tail of the Garolith grated as scales crunched the sand beneath them.  A ringing sound reached his ear accompanied by a faint twanging.  Michael saw several dozen arrows pierce the robe of the creature.  He vaguely heard Merric’s voice, but couldn’t comprehend what was being said. A shimmering wave of heat blasted forth from beside him and engulfed the Garolith.  Michael saw the arrows protruding from the creatures body turn to ash and drift away.  Merric’s spell had done no more harm than the arrows.  The Garolith ignored both and continued to advance on Michael’s position.

A blur moved in front of Michael and sped toward the Garolith.  He felt himself pulled from behind and tossed like a ragdoll.  Michael heard Branik yell something as massive arms covered in camouflage caught him.  The present came rushing back along with comprehension.  Reek had been the blur he
'd seen.  Branik was close behind him as they raced to engage the Garolith.  Seeing the danger they were in, Michael began to struggle against the powerful arms holding him.  Neither the arms nor the man they were connected to gave an inch.

“Easy my friend, it is I, Bastise,” the Colonel said.

“Let me go!  I have to help them!”  Michael yelled increasing his efforts to break the Colonel’s grip.

“I am sorry, Michael, I cannot do that.”

Michael growled and yelled out, “
Pulsus!
”

Instantly the arms holding him were gone and he heard a tight grunt from behind him.  Michael ran forward a couple dozen steps and stopped.  Reek had reached the Garolith and was fending off the giant scythe while landing cut after cut on the massive body.  Incredibly
, his blades seemed to have no effect on the creature.  Michael could see the blades strike true, but no wounds appeared.  Reek’s fighting style instantly changed; he went from predominantly offensive to completely defensive.  Branik was almost at the Garolith.  Michael had to do something quickly.

Taking a deep breath, Michael threw his arms out to his sides and brought them together forcefully out in front of him as he chanted, “
Attero meus hostilis!
”

Michael felt the magic blast through him and out his clasped hands.  The wave of force hit the Garolith and it swayed slightly
, but so too did Reek and Branik.  The monster recovered instantly and swung its scythe again at Reek.  Reek was able to partially deflect the blow but in doing so he was knocked from his feet.  He lay stunned on the sand.  With astonishing speed, the Garolith reversed its stroke and struck again at Reek.

Everything seemed to go into slow motion.  Michael saw the scythe
descending on Reek’s prone body.  At that moment the scene looked like Death himself come to harvest his victim. Branik managed to interpose himself between the descending blade and his friend.  He raised his swords, crossed, to block the scythe.  The huge blade hit the swords at the point where they crossed.  There was the explosive sound of steel shattering and then the sickening sound of flesh parting.

Michael stood stunned.  He could not believe what his eyes beheld.  The great blade of the scythe had pierced Branik’s body just below his throat.  Michael could see the bloody blade exiting the Avari’s body at his lower back.  Branik’s hands convulsed and shot forward
gripping the shaft of the scythe.

Michael’s mind seemed to act on its own.  He heard himself chanting
, but was unsure what he was saying.  Instantly, his surrounding changed and he found himself standing not on sand, but on grass surrounded by rocks of varying sizes.  With an almost audible snap, time seemed to move normally again, and Michael ran toward the prone body of Branik.  Reek was on his feet once again and looking around for danger, his body posture rigid and his movements sharp.  Michael fell to his knees at Branik’s side, his mouth already shouting words of magic as his hands covered the wound in Branik’s chest.  A golden light flared around his hands as he felt Branik’s chest fall with a released breath.

The golden glow felt warm
, and the top of Michael’s head began to tingle.  Branik’s chest was still and unmoving.  He knew the wound was healed.  He had felt it mend, but Branik was dreadfully still.  Only seconds had passed.  Why was Branik not moving?  Michael felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, but he could not tear his eyes away from Branik’s chest.  Any second now the big Avari would draw a breath.  He felt the hand shift to his arm and gently pull on him.  Michael violently shrugged the hand off and hurriedly felt for a pulse in Branik’s neck.  There was no pulse.

From a long distance away, Michael heard Reek’s voice, “Come brother, there is nothing more you can do for him.”

“No!”  Michael screamed.  “He is healed!  I healed his wound!”

“He has been called.  No man may reverse the Great One’s call once it has been made,” Reek said gently.

There was no reason Branik should be dead.  His wound was healed.  He should be breathing.  Michael clenched his fists together and slammed them violently down on Branik’s chest.  He felt hands try to pull him away from Branik.

“
Pulsus!
  Get away from me!”  Michael yelled and felt the hands leave him.  He instantly started CPR on the prone Avari.  He compressed Branik’s chest several times then breathed into his mouth.

Reek started to move forward again to remove Michael
, but he felt a strong hand on his arm.  Looking to his right he saw Colonel Bastise.

“Let him try.
  In our world, if the life has not been gone too long it can be brought back in this way,” Bastise said and moved around Branik’s body and knelt down opposite Michael.

Michael looked up sharply
, his blue eyes red rimmed and dark with anger. Colonel Bastise nodded grimly to him and crossed his hands over Branik’s chest taking over the compressions.  Michael breathed again into Branik’s mouth and waited for Bastise to complete another set of compressions.  After several sets there was still no response from the big Avari and Michael grew frantic.  “Back away, Colonel.”

The finality in Michael’s voice left no room for debate.  Colonel Bastise rocked back on his heels and bowed his head removing his black beret.

Michael grew calm and placed his right hand over Branik’s heart.  “
Fulgor
,” Michael said softly.

Branik’s body convulsed and his back arched
then lay still.  Michael breathed into Branik’s mouth once again.  As he was about to breathe again, Colonel Bastise leaned in; but Branik suddenly gasped a huge breath and his arms flew out to the sides striking both the Colonel and Michael.  The instinctive strikes sent Colonel Bastise tumbling over backward, but Michael was flung through the air, landing ten feet away on his stomach.  Branik was instantly on his feet and had taken up a fighting stance before he was aware of his surroundings.

Reek was so stunned by Branik being alive that he failed to see Michael lying unmoving beside him. 
Merric, however, rushed to Michael’s side and turned him over.  Reek watched Branik scan the situation and Colonel Bastise rise to his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

Branik
, having realized there was no longer any eminent danger, relaxed.  He was unsure what had happened.  The last thing he remembered was being struck by the Garolith’s scythe and the explosive pain.  Now he was in the Kantwell rock garden and he felt no pain.  His eyes locked on Reek then fell to the prone figure beside him.  Seeing the purple robe, he knew it to be Michael; but Michael was not moving, and Merric was having no luck in bringing him around.

“
Brother, you are alive!”  Reek exclaimed in shock.

Branik ignored Reek and moved quickly to Michael’s side.
  “What has happened to Michael?”  Branik asked Merric.

Reek finally notice
d Michael lying on the ground, Merric kneeling over his unmoving form.  Michael’s jaw looked odd and misshapen.  Branik’s strike must have caught Michael in the face and shattered his jaw.  Reek knelt down in concern next to Michael.

“Your strike seems to have knocked him unconscious and looks to have broken his jaw,” Merric said analytically.

“My strike?”  Branik asked in surprise.

“Aye.  When Michael brought you back you lashed out; obviously still thinking you were in the midst of battle.  Let’s get him inside and see what is to be done.”

Branik’s expression showed that he was distressed at Michael’s injury and that he was the cause of it.  He gently slid his hands under Michael and easily lifted him up.  He turned and walked quickly to the castle’s back door with Reek, Merric and a shaky, panting Bastise behind him.

Merric turned around almost as an afterthought.
  “Please, King Westan, Gregory, bring your men inside; there is plenty of room within the dining halls for everyone.”  Having invited them all inside, Merric turned once more and quickly followed the others through the door.

Chapter Twenty-
One

The Garolith returned its scythe to a resting position and scanned the shore.  All the men were gone.  There were far too many and too widely spread for any wizard to have transported them all at one time.  A tendril of fear invaded the Garolith’s mind.  It was an unfamiliar and maddening feeling.  Only a Myrkron could have transported them all, and a Myrkron meant danger to it and its kind.

A thought crossed its mind; why did the Myrkron not slay it?  Perhaps it could not, or perhaps it does not know how.  The Garolith’s thought turned to the destruction of Kantwell and her magi.  It was still quite a distance to travel and best begun.  It started to move toward the cliff, but paused as it heard a great roar from the sky.  Scanning the clouds above the cliff, it saw no immediate threat; but as it resumed its movement, one of the dragons it had encountered out in the ocean crested the cliff venting a ground shaking roar.

The dragon had its wings tucked back along its m
assive body as it dove, like an arrow loosed from an elvish bow, straight at the Garolith.  The Garolith stopped and raised its scythe to a ready position.  Dragons of this size were stupid and direct.  It would breathe on him and attempt to bite.

As the dragon came within range, the Garolith swung its scythe in a scathing arc aimed at the outstretched neck.  As the strike was about to connect, the dragon retracted its neck, turned its head and bit down on the scythe, shattering the shaft and causing the great blade to go spinning off.  It landed thirty feet away, st
anding point down in the sand.

The Garolith was surprised by the action and
, as it tried to recover from the momentum of the swing, the dragon hit it with its full weight, causing both to roll and tumble toward the ocean.  The Garolith lashed out with its tail and coiled around the dragon’s neck.  The dragon’s head reared and struck, catching the Garolith around its torso in its great mouth.  Both monsters began to squeeze their opponent.  The Garolith struck several times with its taloned hands at the armored plates on the dragon’s face, causing great gashes and rupturing one of the massive eyes.

The dragon planted it
s hind feet in the wet sand and, ignoring the pain shooting through its face, raised its upper body, with the Garolith still coiled about its neck, up off the sand.  The dragon grasped the Garolith’s serpentine body, just below its robe in its front claws and with the massive power of its body gave a great heave.  The upper body of the Garolith was torn from its scaly tail.  The dragon slammed the Garolith’s upper body to the ground like a hound shaking a snake.  Spitting the body out of its mouth, the dragon reared its head once again and struck at the Garolith, driving its massive snout like a battering ram down on the Garolith’s chest.  The bones under the robe shattered like dry twigs.  As the dragon reared up once more, it noticed that the glowing red eyes of the Garolith were now dark and lifeless.

The dragon shook its neck, dislodging the serpentine body and sending it sliding down to the sand.  Turning from the broken body of its foe, the dragon took a few shaky steps toward the cliff and collapsed on the beach.  As its one good eye closed and it exhaled, a human voice came from the cavernous mouth.

“For Rena.”

After seeing all of the men safely back to Kantwell, Prince Rein hid himself among the rocks by the cliff face.  He wanted to determine which direction the Garolith would go and he was concerned about Quin and Rena.  He had seen Quin carry a limp Rena off after the encounter with the Garolith, and he worried that she may be gravely injured or even dead.

Rein watched as the Garolith started to move forward and was relieved when he heard the roar of a dragon.  Rein’s relief quickly turned to fear as he saw Quin go into a dive aimed straight at the Garolith.  Before Rein could react, the two giants were locked in combat.  Seeing how ferocious
ly Quin acted brought tears to Rein’s eyes.  For Quin to attack like that must mean Rena had died.  Quin was throwing his life away in an attempt to avenge her.

Rein saw the damage the Garolith inflicted upon his friend’s face and rose from his concealment.  He threw his hands out, palms pointing at the ocean.  The water obeyed and receded from the shore.  As Rein raised his hands, the water gathered and began to build into a giant wave.  He held the water poised to slam down on the Garolith
, but he would not do so until Quin was dead.  Rein saw Quin rear up and suddenly the Garolith was torn asunder.

Rein was so stunned by the event that he lost control over the water and it collapsed, returning to its natural state.  He saw Quin hammer his snout down on the torn body and rear his head up to strike again
, but instead paused, turned, took a few steps and sank to the sand.  Rein rushed to his friend’s side.

A
s he approached, Quin reverted to his human form.  Rein knelt and turned Quin over.  He could see that Quin was still breathing so he picked him up and carried him over to the bush they had been using as a portal.  Rein whispered softly to the bush and stepped into it.

Rein stepped out of a large shrub outside Kantwell’s main entrance.  He climbed the step
s to the door with Quin, still unconscious, cradled in his arms.  Just as he was about to kick lightly on the door, it swung open.  Mathis stood inside the entry.

“Please come in
, Prince Rein.  Merric is upstairs attending to Michael, but I believe your father and his men are in the dining hall.  Do you require assistance?”  Mathis asked looking at Rein’s burden.

“Only in the form of a room so my friend may rest,” Rein answered.

“As you wish,” Mathis replied then spoke the words of transport, taking them to the hall where Michael’s room was located.

“You may use any room in this hallway with the exception of those three,” Mathis informed him, pointing to Michael’s door and the two before it.

“That one is Michael’s, and the other two house his Avari bodyguards.  All of them should be in Michael’s room at the present, along with Merric.”

Prince Rein turned to the nearest door across the hall from the rooms Mathis had indicated.  Mathis moved forward quickly and opened the door for him, standing aside so he could enter.

“Thank you, Wizard Mathis.  If you would inform Wizard Merric and my father that I have returned and have vital news, I would be most appreciative.  I would speak with them at their earliest convenience,” Prince Rein said, laying Quin down on the bed.

“I shall so inform them.  Do you require any medical supplies for your friend?”

“That will not be necessary.  Thank you,” Prince Rein informed him.

Mathis bowed to Prince Rein then as he straightened, he spoke the word
lumen
, causing the candle on the bedside stand to flare to life.  Mathis smiled at Prince Rein and turned to Michael’s room.  As Rein closed the door, he heard Mathis knocking softly on the door across the hall.

Rein pulled a chair from the small table over to the bed and sat down on it.  He examined Quin’s face.  The wounds had closed already and were beginning to heal.  He lifted the eyelid of the injured eye and saw that the orb had sealed itself
, but was still mostly white and milky.  It would take longer for the orb to heal than the flesh, but he had no doubt that Quin would have his site back soon.

Satisfied at Quin’s condition he gently shook his friend’s shoulder
.  Quin did not respond.  He did not want his friend to wake up in a strange place all alone so he reached into his pouch and pulled out a root.  He scraped the root with his thumbnail exposing the softer flesh underneath.  As he did an acrid odor wafted up from it.  He held it under Quin’s nose and saw, with satisfaction, Quin’s eye fly open.  Quin inhaled deeply and began to cough violently.  Rein turned him on his side and rapped him on the back.

“Well
, my friend, it seems this is a momentous day,” Rein said between Quin’s coughing fits.  Rein waited until the coughing spasm passed and then rose to his feet.  “If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe it possible,” Rein said with a smile, trying to avoid the inevitable subject just a little longer.

Quin had rolled over onto his back still panting from the coughing spell,
and then he bolted upright.  “My Prince, where are we?”

“We are within Kantwell.  I brought you here after your little scuffle,” Rein said trying to lighten the mood.

Quin shot out of bed quickly and headed for the door.

Rein stopped him with an outstretched arm.
  “The beast is dead my friend.  There is no need for alarm,” Rein said gently.

“My Prince, I must get back to Rena.  She is badly injured and now all alone,” Quin said tightly.

“She still lives?”  Prince Rein asked stunned.  "The way you attacked that monster, I assumed her to have perished in the first engagement.”

“She was hurt badly
, but not dead when I left her.  She made me promise to go back and help battle the creature.  She would not allow me to tend to her wound or remain with her.  Now if she has survived, she will be all alone.  I must return to her.”

“Alright, easy
, Quin.  I will take you back, but first we must find you something to wear.  We are not in our lands and these people tend to frown on going out without clothing,” Rein explained.

Rein walked over to the wardrobe and opened the doors.  Inside he found several gray robes of varying size.  He pulled one that looked about the right size and tossed it to Quin
.  He also grabbed a second smaller one and hurriedly folded it.

Quin caught the robe and quickly slipped it over his head.  The robe was a bit big on his lean frame but it was not overly so.
  “Can we go now?”  Quin asked, tugging the robe into place.

“Aye, my friend,” Rein answered and walked to the door.
  Opening it, he led Quin from the room and down the hall.  They took the steps two at a time then sprinted across the Great Hall into the foyer.  Once outside again, Rein whispered to the shrub, grabbed Quin by the shoulder and walked into the shrub.  They emerged from a large pine tree well back from the cliff face, overlooking the beach where they had fought.  Quin immediately took off at a dead run into the forest surrounding them.  Prince Rein was caught off guard by the suddenness of his departure and bolted after him.

Quin ran for nearly five minutes, dodging between trees, ducking low hanging branches and leaping over fallen logs.  Rein kept him in sight
, but was unable to catch up with him until he came to a stop at an oak tree and knelt down.  Rein could see Rena sitting with her back to the tree, her right arm cradled over a large wound in her abdomen.  Judging by the look of the wound now, given the rate of healing his people were capable of, Rein deduced it must have been a very terrible wound indeed.

Rein knelt down on the opposite side of Rena from Quin and gently moved Rena’s arm from the wound.  It had been very deep and ran almost completely across her stomach.
  “This should have been tended immediately, Rena,” Prince Rein said with a scowl, gently chiding her.

“It was tended, by me.  There were more important matters to be addressed at the time,” Rena replied
, smiling up at Quin.  “Did you get him, my love?”  Rena asked Quin as she ran the finger of her left hand over the scars on Quin’s face.

“Aye.  That beast will harm no one ever again,” Quin replied taking her hand from his face and holding it in his own.

“Good.  Now help me up.”

“Not just yet, Rena.  You still have some healing to do before you can travel,” Rein said shaking his head.
  “With a wound like that, I am surprised you are still to be counted among the living.  Stay here.  I will see if I can find some herbs to help speed the process,” Rein told her, pushing her shoulder back against the tree and handing her the spare robe he had brought along.

“Is that an order, my Prince?” Rena asked with a smile.

“No.  It is a Royal edict,” Rein replied smiling down at both of them as he rose.  “And Quin, make sure she follows it.”

“Aye
, my Prince,” Quin replied never taking his eyes from Rena’s face.