The Green Dragon: A Claire-Agon Dragon Book (Dragon Series 3) (13 page)

After several minutes, the fog cleared and the sky was overcast with black smoke and wisps of debris from the intense winds earlier. The dirt wall had collapsed back into the ground, forming a small mound that ran in either direction for over a hundred yards. They could hear the sounds of the beast howling, screeching, and hissing as it pursued the pair deeper into the fields and groves of Vulcrest. It would not rest until it succeeded.

“Call for Keros and Kelin,” Amsor ordered, and several servants and soldiers took off at once to fulfill their master’s commands.

“What do you intend to do?” Prince Egden asked.

Amsor watched as the servants ran off to fetch his other two wizards. “I will kill them personally,” he said.

“What about the attack on Vulkor?” General Gores asked, motioning for his troops to prepare to ride out.

“It will go on under your leadership,” Amsor stated. “I’ll leave most of our troops here to assist you, but we will pursue those murderers and bring them to justice.”

It was more than odd to listen to the Kesh mage discuss justice in such an abstract way, considering the murdering and plundering that the Kesh had performed the last fortnight, but no one was going to bring this minor detail to the mage’s attention.

Amsor retreated to his tent a few hundred yards away where they had the main bulk of their force, not far from the city’s front gate. There was no movement there except an occasional arrow that tested their defenses. He had orders for Kentos’ body to be brought back to his tent and readied for burial. Whatever rituals that involved, the Ekians did not know.

“Well, that’s just great,” Egden said once they had returned to camp and found a moment amongst themselves to sit and discuss the matter.

“Actually this shows something very revealing,” Gores said, taking off his armor but keeping his shield close by, the memory of the bowman still too vivid in their minds to dismiss all caution just yet, despite being in a heavily defended military camp.

“What would that be?” Solvang, the advisor, asked, still shaking from the encounter and trying to drink a cup of wine to calm his nerves.

“The Kesh are not invincible,” Gores stated rather smugly.

“How does that help us?” Solvang complained.

Gores came back around, bringing his shield with him and taking a seat next to his prince and across from Solvang. A small fire was recently lit as the sun started to set in the west and darkness would soon engulf them. “We should reconsider our actions in light of recent events.”

The other two men looked at the general in shock. “What are you suggesting?” Egden asked, reaching for his own cup of wine.

“My lord, we have always had tension between our realm and that of Vulcrest, but it has been many a generation since we were at open war with them. Trade has already been seriously curtailed, and it could take generations to heal the wounds of this war.”

“So,” Egden replied, “we have new trading partners from the sea that the Kesh have opened to us, and we have taken what we have once traded for. I don’t see how that is a bad thing.”

“You are still bitter from their rejection of you,” Gores said, waving off a servant who tried to give him a cup of wine. The general knew he needed to keep his wits about him this evening.

“That is not fair.” Solvang defended his liege. “The stupid Vulcrestians didn’t know a good thing when it hit them in the head.”

“No,” Egden said, taking a moment to sip his wine and set his cup back down. Looking at both men, he continued. “The general is right. I’m taking all this too personally, but I don’t see how we could have done this any differently. Besides, it was good to see them humbled this day. My father will be pleased at the news.”

“Perhaps your father will understand now the nature of the Kesh, and perhaps reconsider the Tynirian’s offer of alliance,” Solvang said.

“It’s too late for that,” Gores said, looking at the Kesh tents on the far side of the camp. Something the Ekians learned quickly was to keep the wizards as far away as possible. Their hearing was legendary, if not magical. “After our attack on Vulcrest here, both the king of Tyniria and the duke of Ulatha will refuse to consider any alliance with us. We are fated to endure whatever the Kesh have brought upon us, for better or for worse.”

“You don’t know that to be true. We’ve not even sent an emissary to their realms to discuss the matter,” Solvang countered.

“You think too much in terms of diplomacy,” Gores said.

“You think too much with your sword and shield,” Solvang shot back.

“Enough, both of you,” Egden said, waving them to be quiet and picking his cup back up again. This time, he’d keep it in his hands. He’d need it to be close by if their current conversation was any indication of the evening that was in store for them.

“You know, my father once told us of the great wood warriors who roamed these parts of the wild.” Egden sipped his wine after speaking.

“Us, my lord?” Solvang asked.

“Me and my sisters,” Egden said, looking up, searching for a distant memory from his childhood. “You know, my father said that these warriors roamed the wilds, protecting the woodsfolk and peasants from the dangers of the land.”

“Simple stories, my lord, from an ancient time,” Solvang said.

“I wonder,” Gores added.

“Yes?” Egden looked at his general.

“That warrior and that woman seemed to fit some of the stories that I heard as a child decades ago. If true, then they belong to a secret sect of pagans who worship animals and live in the forest.”

“I don’t remember hearing those stories,” Egden said, his brows raising in question.

“Well, the two of you come from very different upbringings,” Solvang said, explaining the difference in lore with a single sentence.

“Perhaps, but either way, the one thing that does stand out in my mind was what my parents always told me.” Gores nodded back.

“What would that be?” Egden took the bait.

“That if I ever encountered a pair of them wood pagans, I was to run home right away and not to stay and find out what they were up to.”

“Why would they say that?” Solvang asked.

“You know something?” Egden said.

Gores nodded again. “Only that if there was anything, or anyone, that could stand up to a Kesh magic-user, it would be one of them.”

“Today, we saw that with our own eyes, did we not?” Egden asked.

“Yes, my lord, we all saw it.” Solvang agreed with his prince.

“Which begs the question,” Egden said, taking a deep gulp of his wine.

“I hate to ask, my lord,” Solvang said.

Egden looked at both men and then lowered his voice. “What have we unleashed upon ourselves?”

The trio of men sat silently and allowed the question to hang, like a berry ripening on a vine. Finally, Gores spoke. “Whatever it is, we better hope the Kesh are stronger, because if not, it will spell doom for Ekins.”

Soon the sun set and the camp was bathed in firelight from the many campfires and torches set up to illuminate it and keep the enemy at bay.

The leaders of Ekins sat that evening and pondered their conversation, never seeing the small figure in the lone tree that had stood for a century, not more than thirty feet behind them. The figure was sitting on a branch, high in the leaves, listening intently to their conversation. She was dressed in a silk gown of green that blended in perfectly with the leaves, and her brown hair did nothing to give away her identity either.

She had waited for darkness to arrive before she jumped down, landing at the base of the tree, but on the far side from where a pair of sentries stood guard. They could see past the tree itself, and the idea that anyone could approach the tree, the camp, or their tents without being seen was impossible for them to comprehend. They had no idea that anyone could teleport to, or from, the tree, and took it for granted. This night they were focused on arrows and staves, not silken-clad tree nymphs.

“Did you learn enough to appease her?” a figure leaning against the tree bark said to the other as she landed and stood next to her.

Whispering back, the dark dryad answered her sister. “Enough to know that the Kesh and Ekins alliance is tentative at best.”

“Why is she interested in what these humans do so far from the forest?” the first nymph asked.

The other shrugged. “I do not know, but whatever it is that she has planned for them can’t end well.”

The other nodded in silent agreement, and one after the other, they teleported away from the camp, using the tree as their portal to another tree a hundred yards distant.

Tyranna would hear her news.

“Well, we are in a pretty pickle to be sure,” Beth said from her treetop perch.

“You shouldn’t have taunted them like that. What got into you?” Wulfric asked, tucking away his last arrow. It appeared that they did little to nothing to the beast, though the arrow that hit the snake’s eye seemed to blind that one orb but did little to slow the creature.

The pair had run toward the Greenfeld, with Beth having to use her earth wall spell to block the beast twice more. The third time, she was weak from the effort and could only cast it one more time, this time in a circle around a massive and tall oak tree. Beth called for a small sparrow and spoke to it, asking it to carry a message to her master. The bird complied, chirping merrily, and flew high above the treetops, heading northwest.

They did not know if the wall would hold, so they climbed the tree and now watched the beast below as it clawed and circled the thick wall of earth, looking for a weak section. Beth was too exhausted to do anything more than climb the tree. She needed rest, and despite the use of Agon’s force, she paid a price physically for her arcane exertions.

“I’ve never faced a Kesh before, though Master Greyson prepared us well. I guess I simply forgot my studies about the magic-users and how dangerous they can be,” Beth said.

Wulfric adjusted his position so he could strike at the beast should it reach their tree, ensuring he was on a lower branch than Beth was. “Your powers have increased dramatically. I’d say your awakening has arrived and you are ready, as indeed Master Greyson ordered, for your duties.”

“Thank you,” Beth said, feeling pleased that the massive warrior would compliment her so, though it was short-lived.

“It was foolish of you, however, to engage them without my counsel. That last Kesh could have killed us both.” Wulfric slung his bow over his back and drew his sword. It would be awkward to swing in a tree, but he had no choice.

“Who was he? He seemed rather . . .” Beth searched for a word to describe the man’s demeanor and power.

“He was a Kesh mage, not to be mistaken for a wizard,” Wulfric said. Seeing Beth’s look of confusion, the Ranger continued. “The one you struck down was a wizard, and deadly enough. Their leader is a mage, more powerful and older than his apprentices. We were lucky to escape alive.”

Beth pondered Wulfric’s words. Though she remembered him from decades ago, she hadn’t had any dealings with him in recent times. Still, she knew that of all the protectors that Greyson had introduced them to, Wulfric was the bravest, fearless and devoted to a fault. She marveled at what power that last Kesh had to strike this much concern into the huge man who stood watch just below her.

“He didn’t look any older than the first one,” Beth said.

Wulfric answered without taking his eyes off the beast that now paced silently around the wall, a head occasionally looking up and ensuring its prey was still there. “They age much like you, the Arnen, do.”

“What do you mean?” Beth asked, curious now.

“They reach a certain age, and if they mastered their skills, then they slow the aging process.”

“How slow?”

“Did Master Greyson not tell you?” Wulfic asked, taking the time now to look up at her.

“Well, no,” Beth said, feeling as if she was missing something important. “He did discuss the cycles of rest that you and we partake in, but I didn’t think that it applied to the Kesh as well.”

“It doesn’t. They use their sorcery to prolong their lives, though some can slumber as we do, if necessary.” Wulfric looked back down, not trusting the creature for more than a few seconds unattended.

“What would be necessary?” Beth asked.

“Their pursuit for power, though that usually causes them to remain in an active state. It takes a very calculating wizard to pace himself. The Kesh don’t pace; they crave power and will seize it at any opportunity.”

“So why did he send his student to attack us? Why not do it himself and be done with it?” Beth switched gears, trying to understand the Kesh’s motivation.

Wulfric nodded in approval of her line of questioning. “They are calculating, and I suspect this particular Kesh mage didn’t know what or who he was facing. It is their custom to send in a weaker champion in order to preserve themselves, much like they did with their soldiers, until they realized that no one would be able to approach us—”

“Yes,” Beth interrupted, “your arrows kept killing them until finally they sent a wizard to deal with you.”

“Correct,” Wulfric said. “Not knowing that you would show yourself. They only knew that they were dealing with an expert bowman.”

“One beyond the ability of their soldiers to dispense with,” Beth finished for the Ranger.

“Correct again,” Wulfric said. “Only they could have sent a large force into the orchard to deal with us, but that would leave them thin around Vulkor. They decided to send a single wizard to deal with us.”

“So we almost accomplished what we set out to, prevent the sacking of the Vulcrest capital.”

“Almost.” Wulfric nodded again for emphasis.

“Too bad they wised up and sent a wizard,” Beth finished.

“Perhaps,” Wulfric said, looking at Beth and then back to the creature below that had paused to sniff the air, tilting its wolf head as if straining to hear something. “That wizard’s weakness was his pride. He underestimated you and paid the price for it.”

Beth seemed to contemplate the Ranger’s words for a moment before responding. “I didn’t want to kill him. I have never killed anyone in my entire life.” Her words faltered at the end, and she struggled to finish them without stammering.

“It’s all right, Beth,” Wulfric said, uncharacteristic sympathy in his voice. “The Kesh are far from home, and you did the right thing. If you had not slain the wizard, he would have killed both of us for sure. In fact, when you think about it, he tried to kill you twice before you responded. That in and of itself can be considered a weakness out here in the wilds. Kill before being killed, defend before being attacked. Do you understand?”

Beth nodded and wiped away a tear. “I do, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

“That tear of yours had better be for the loss of your innocence and not shed for that Kesh wizard.” Wulfric’s remark was firm and stern, resuming his usual gruff tone and manner with the druid Initiate.

Beth sniffled once and nodded. “Yes, it’s for me, not him. I did what I had to do, but I take no joy in it.”

“Then Master Greyson has taught you well,” Wulfric finished.

Suddenly the creature below started to dig furiously with its massive front claws at the wall in front of it. It paused for only a split second to smell the air, and then it dug again, flinging dirt behind it in all directions.

“What’s it doing?” Beth asked, concern taking over.

“It senses something,” Wulfric said, looking up into the sky and struggling to peer beyond the canopy of leaves in the tree. “Do you sense anything or anyone approaching?”

Beth listened intently and heard nothing. “I think we’re alone. Will my wall hold?”

“You tell me,” Wulfric said, watching as an alarming amount of earth was being displaced by the beast. “I can only hope that the creature will weary from its efforts and perhaps be weaker in the process, but this is difficult to gauge when the arcane is involved. Use your staff and take your time, block out the beast and focus.”

Beth nodded, not knowing what Wulfric could do with his sword against a creature that was well bigger than the largest horse she had ever seen. Closing her eyes, she gripped her staff harder and tried to tune out the scratching sound and grunting of the beast. It took a moment, but slowly she felt the same power that she felt before rushing into her from her staff. The tree itself channeled the energy to her via her staff.

Far away but closing quickly, she sensed a strong living presence. It was above them, and she felt certain it was airborne, but other than a dragon, she had no idea what it could be. It seemed too large to be a bird; even the huge northern snow falcons weren’t as big as the life force approaching them now.

“Something is coming quickly, above us, but I don’t think it is any sort of aid from our master. The sparrow would not have enough time to fly to the abbey yet,” Beth said, opening her eyes and seeing that Wulfric had stood on a larger branch below, where he could strike at the beast should it breach their wall.

“From what direction is it approaching? I still don’t hear anything,” Wulfric asked.

“The north,” Beth said, motioning with her head in the same direction.

“That, at least, bodes well. It won’t be something else sent from the Kesh to hunt us.”

“But it could be the dragon, if it still exists.”

“Beth, it exists—” Wulfric started.

Beth interrupted. “I mean, if it woke up already.”

“Then our options are limited and your time of service in the order will come to a swift and abrupt end.”

“Are you always so positive, Wulfric?”

“Only with you, Initiate Elizabeth,” the Ranger answered formally.

“Then we shall find out how long my tenure with the order will be,” Beth stated, sighing at what could be their fate. “I’d hate to burn, though. Perhaps we should attack that Kesh beast?”

“If you are referring to the dragon, then Master Greyson terminated your studies too soon. The foul creature of the Greenfeld doesn’t use fire to kill.”

“I remember now, but what does it matter? We can’t kill either beast it would appear, so what good are we?” Beth said, defeat in her voice.

“You forget your training even more,” Wulfric said. “We are but one part of the puzzle. One sword in the arsenal of good. Together, we can do much.”

“I hope you’re right, because whatever is coming this way is getting closer, and it will be interesting to see if it arrives before that creature breaches my wall. Good thing it, at least, can’t fly.”

“You don’t think you can command the ground again?” Wulfric asked.

“No, I feel as if I have run all day and my weariness will not let a hold of me. I’m afraid it’s come down to your sword and my knife.”

“Then we make our last stand, if that’s what it takes.” Wulfric swung his blade gingerly in the confined space around the tree limbs, and the pair sat in silence other than the sound of dirt being scattered by the Kesh beast.

Minutes later, the sound of flapping was heard as something large approached their tree. At first they couldn’t see it, half-expecting a claw or fang to pierce the tree canopy, but instead a white steed drifted on large feathered wings, pulling them in just below the tree branches to land inside the earth wall, galloping around the tree until it arrested its momentum.

“I don’t believe it! How can it be?” Beth asked.

“Quick, give me your hand. Let’s get out of this tree before it’s too late,” Wulfric said, offering a hand to Beth and helping her down to a lower branch. In one leap, the Ranger landed on the ground and sheathed his sword, holding his arms up to catch Beth. She let go of her branch, and Wulfric helped slow her fall so that she landed on her feet.

They approached the white horse, which whinnied once and then snorted. The sounds of howling was heard from the other side of the wall, and the pace of the digging increased as the Kesh beast understood that aid had arrived for its prey.

Wulfric approached the winged horse and placed a hand up first, allowing the magnificent creature to smell him. Then with a nod, the animal lowered its head and stood still.

“Time to go,” Wulfric said, grabbing Beth around her waist and easily lifting her entire frame onto the winged steed. With a jump behind her, the Ranger also mounted and held onto its long mane of hair. “Grab tightly. It will be difficult for him to take off.”

Beth grabbed hold and repressed the urge to close her eyes. The horse started off at a gallop, circling the tree, gaining speed, and ensuring that its riders were firmly seated. The wings swept out and started to take short flaps as the animal gained speed running around the tree. When it had reached a full run, it actually started to climb the inner earthen wall, its massive hooves now pounding the dirt while Beth and Wulfric leaned outward to prevent themselves from falling toward the tree.