The Roar of a Dragon (17 page)

Spinning through deep blackness, then through colors flashing past…

…and then I was deposited on a hard, rock floor, landing painfully on my side.

As I began to realize that the journey through the portal was complete, I immediately recognized the changes between the time I had just left and time that I was in now — the air smelled much fresher, not nearly as musty as in the previous time, even outdoors; outside the cave, the sounds of wildlife were rife, even in the far distance.

My long, black hair fell in front of my face as I pushed myself up to my hands and knees and looked around. Iskandor was sitting not too far away from me, and Timor was standing and leaning against the cave wall, his head bent over the time-traveling jewel — or rather, the
pieces
of the time-traveling jewel. The portal had closed behind us.

‘Well, there will be no more traveling through time,’ he said wistfully. In fact, he looked downright despondent. ‘Are you alright, Aidan?’ Timor asked me.

‘I’m…just…lovely,’ I groaned, a little surprised that Timor was standing. ‘How can you be standing when Iskandor and I were thrown through the portal onto the ground?’

Timor smiled. ‘I have done this many, many times, Aidan — with enough experience, walking through the portal becomes no different than walking through an ordinary door.’

I nodded in understanding. I noticed then that he appeared exhausted. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Yes,’ Timor said, though it clearly seemed like something was on his mind. ‘Casting the time travel spell has drained me, that’s all.’

‘I see,’ I responded, not believing him at all. But I decided to let it drop. ‘Iskandor, are you okay?’

‘Yes, Aidan,’ Iskandor answered. ‘I am fine.’

‘We must get outside the cave, so Iskandor can destroy the entrance; I’m too exhausted to cast another spell at the moment,’ Timor said.

So I pulled myself off of the cave floor, noticing as I did that my limbs weren’t responding normally; it was almost as if my clothing had been weighed down with sand. My whole body felt lethargic; it took much longer than normal to get myself moving. Iskandor wasn’t faring much better.

‘It’s an effect of the time travel,’ Timor observed. ‘It’ll only last for a few moments; you get used to it over time.’

Finally, with more effort than would normally be needed, we dragged ourselves out of the cave. For a few seconds, once we reached the outside, I immediately took notice of more changes between the future and the present time, things I didn’t always notice in my previous life.

The sun was shining brightly overhead, illuminating the beauty of the world resting beneath it. The sky was a clear, deep-sea blue, and the few sparse pine trees scattered about the mountain were a vibrant green. An eagle flew through the air, likely hunting for something to eat. The world was so
alive;
it made my heart ache to think of what it was destined to become.

Iskandor was suddenly behind me. ‘Does it feel good to be back in your own time?’

‘Actually, it does,’ I responded with a smile. It really did feel good.

Iskandor walked to the center of the large clearing in front of the cave. There was a flash of light, bright even in the daylight, and he had shape-shifted into his dragon form; and as I saw that bright light, the questions I had had about the moment of my death suddenly came sharply — and shockingly — into focus.

I was dying…there was a bright light that seemed like it would last forever…and then I saw the sad little boy. And the next thing I remember is…

The roar of a dragon.

But how is it that I never noticed the flash of light associated with Iskandor’s shape-shifting before?

I thought back, remembering all of the times Iskandor had changed from man to dragon and back again. It seemed like months had gone by, though it had only been a few days.

The first morning, after my ‘resurrection’, he had already changed into human form before I woke up —

—
then, during our first battle with the Ther-lor, I didn’t notice because I was distracted in the heat of battle —

—
he was already a dragon when he saved us at the Dead Citadel…I had just killed
…him…
I wasn’t noticing much of anything then —

By strange circumstance, I was always away or distracted when Iskandor shape-shifted — and therefore, I never made the connection that he had always had with my death and his feelings of guilt surrounding it.

‘There!’ Timor said proudly, though I barely heard him. ‘Even if Sirak somehow knows the time portal spell or has a time traveling jewel, at least he won’t be able to follow us. Destroying the portal now means that he won’t have it for use in the future — Aidan? Are you alright?’

My eyes were fixed on Iskandor, wide with realization. ‘You were the little boy.’

Iskandor looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

‘I don’t know how I didn’t see it sooner,’ I continued in a low voice. ‘I supposed my mind was just consumed with too much grief, turmoil, and information…I didn’t see what was right in front of me. I always thought the boy was just a hallucination, but it was you in that blinding light.’

Iskandor just stared at me in silence.

‘The light, as you now know, was Iskandor shape-shifting,’ Timor explained in an even voice; he wasn’t attempting to patronize or talk down to me in any way — merely helping me put things in perspective. ‘But he was still a baby dragon, his powers weren’t fully developed yet. The transformation took too long; by the time it was complete, it was already too late.’

My eyes drifted away from them for a moment, and I glanced around vacantly. All this time, though I hadn’t spoken of it since that first night, I had silently placed some blame on Iskandor for not saving me when he had the chance — when the truth was that Iskandor had, in reality, risked his own life to do that very thing; and because he, in his own mind, had failed, he carried the guilt of that failure…for three thousand years.

I looked over at Iskandor. He was sitting in the clearing, and his head was down; but I could see his eyes clearly, and the tears that came from them.

Iskandor — a dragon — was crying. All because he had failed to save my life. A
human
life.

‘I’ve seen many things in my short life,’ Timor said in a voice so low I barely heard it, ‘but I’ve never seen, nor heard of, a dragon crying.’

Drawing myself up against my own sadness and shame, I walked over to Iskandor. No sob escaped his body; he wept silently. I stood by his head, and dropped down to both knees — something I had never done before. I had never worshipped any gods, so I never had cause to do it for that reason, and I had bowed on one knee for King Baladir, as was proper. But I got down on both knees for my dragon friend.

‘Forgive me, Iskandor. I have been a true fool. My death was no fault of yours. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but if you will grant it to me, I give you my word that I will never place blame on you for anything ever again.’

Despite his tears, Iskandor chuckled. ‘You are human, Aidan — don’t make promises you cannot keep.’

I was somewhat dispirited at this, but conceded that he was right. ‘Fair enough — I give you my word that I will never question your loyalty ever again.’

Iskandor smiled. ‘I can accept that.’

***

After Iskandor and I had finally cleared the air between us concerning my death, the three of us settled down for a quick meal of dried meat and dried fruit that Timor had in his pack, and then we discussed our immediate plans. As our options were quite limited, we decided that we would travel to the nearest city to stock up on supplies and see if we could pick up any gossip and news from the time period we currently occupied.

Now that I had learned the truth about Iskandor’s sacrifice and attempt to save my life, I felt as if a fog had been lifted from my heart and my mind; I had already trusted him with my life, but when it came to the moment of my death, there was always that moment of underlying doubt. Now that the truth had been uncovered, that last wall that kept Iskandor and I from true friendship had melted away.

The city we were traveling to was called Knol, a city that stood quite literally in the shadow of the Elven/Dwarven unified nation. As a result, Knol suffered from a lack of tourism and business; though elves and dwarves are friendly enough races, they’re not exactly fond of humans (or any other race for that matter) coming into their land uninvited and without reason.

‘Iskandor,’ I said as the three of us walked through the mountain pass, ‘what did I do during the battle with Sirak in the cave? Whatever I did seemed to stop the spell that he cast.’

‘I do not know, Aidan,’ Iskandor responded. ‘You knelt in front of me, put both of your fists on the ground — and it seemed to me that you generated a force field that, even unstable, was still strong enough to stop a very powerful magic spell.’

‘Fascinating,’ Timor observed. ‘I know you don’t want to hear this, Aidan, but you really should put more thought into developing these powers — they will prove quite useful to you and to all of us in our upcoming trials.’

What was ‘fascinating’ to me is that he didn’t quite have the same amount of enthusiasm that he usually had when he said things like that.

However, he was right; I didn’t want to hear it — but I swallowed my words of irritation. ‘I have no intention of doing that. I never wanted these powers, and I can get by without them.’

‘Aidan, do you realize how much stronger you would be if —’

‘Let it go, Timor,’ Iskandor said. ‘We have company.’

We had just reached the Valley of Amity, and I turned to see three elves heading in our direction. Timor let out a slight gasp. ‘That’s not good.’

I frowned a little. ‘Why is that?’

‘Think about this, Aidan — at this very moment, your dead body is being guarded by Iskandor’s younger self in a cave not too far from here, in their territory.’

The thought hadn’t occurred to me. ‘Hmm…you’re right.’

‘Better to not mention anything we experienced in the future,’ Iskandor said in a low voice. ‘We would never be believed.’

I looked at Timor and spoke quickly. ‘Aren’t you on friendly terms with the elves?’

‘Not until they are driven into the mountains by the Ther-lor,’ Timor answered. ‘That doesn’t happen for a few more centuries.’

I sighed. ‘This time-travel stuff is too confusing.’

‘Greetings, travelers,’ the head elf said as he approached. ‘I am Liem, leader of the elven military, and this is Taden, and Nydel.’

Nydel!
I stole a quick glance at the female elf on Liem’s right, directly across from me, trying not to make my curiosity seem to obvious. But it was definitely her, the elf that would go on to be the leader of the elven/dwarven military when I would meet her in three thousand years. She was dressed in tree-colored light clothing, the same as the other two elves, and she didn’t look a bit different than when I would see her in the future.

Liem was staring at Iskandor. ‘I sense a presence about you…’

It occurred to me suddenly that Liem was being more pleasant than usual for an elf who just found some travelers a little too close to elven borders; under normal circumstances, the travelers would have been asked if they were injured, offered medical assistance, then politely asked to leave.

But Liem was staring at Iskandor, and at my face —

My scar —

‘Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the cave?’ Liem asked Iskandor.

All three of us sat there in shock.

We should have prepared for this…

Iskandor sighed. ‘It is true, Liem. Aidan has been somehow resurrected — so to speak — though you’ll find that his body still remains in that cave. It is a long, confusing story, and we do not have time to explain it all now.’

‘But listen carefully, Liem,’ Timor added, ‘Aidan’s body
must
remain in that cave undisturbed; if anything happens to his body, the Aidan you see in front of you will cease to exist.’

Shock
doesn’t even begin to cover what I felt at Timor’s words. It took everything in my power not to glare at him and say, ‘Excuse me?’ Remembering, though, that we had to keep as much as we could from the elves in this time, I masked as much of my shock and bewilderment as I could. It wasn’t an easy task.

That seemed to be fine, because Liem, Nydel, and Taden all expressed it for me. Liem stared at me with wide eyes.

‘Are you some kind of…specter?’ he asked incredulously

I sighed again, thinking that I was probably going to be facing these kinds of questions for the rest of my life. I figured I might as well get used to it.

‘In all honesty, Liem, I wish I had answers for you, and for myself, for that matter. However, I need to ask you and the elves to keep this a secret for as long as possible.’

Liem nodded. ‘Of course, Aidan. We will also help guard your body, at least as much as we can — the dragon doesn’t let us anywhere near the cave.’

I smiled a little at that statement — the young dragon Iskandor was determined to guard the cave alone.

With that, we said farewell to the elves and departed. As soon as we were out of their elven hearing range (we had to walk for a while), I turned to Timor and spoke low and quickly.

‘What do you mean, if something happens to my body in this time, I will cease to exist as you see me now?’

Timor gave me a slightly patronizing look. ‘Again, think about it, Aidan, if something were to happen to your body in this time, it wouldn’t be available when you awoke in the future, now, would it?’

I exhaled a deep breath and shook my head. ‘I’m getting a headache.’

We began our short journey north to Knol, just as some rain clouds started to roll across the sky. As I mentioned earlier, Knol is a town that suffers from its close proximity to the elven and dwarven lands; as a result, it was mostly overrun by thieves and other criminals. The few brave merchants that attempted to operate there never stayed long, but always carried weapons. There were no guards to speak of.

As we approached the south gate, I felt the need to warn the others. ‘Be on your guard, though I don’t think we’ll have too many problems.’

‘Why do you say that?’ Timor asked.

I shrugged. ‘Well, what with me looking the way I do, you being a mage, and the fact that Iskandor practically is a mage, the thieves are likely to avoid us.’

‘If no one really lives here other than the mages, who do the thieves steal from?’ Timor wondered.

‘Mostly each other,’ I answered, ‘though the few merchants that come through town always make great targets.’

‘Why do the merchants even bother coming here if there’s no business to speak of and they’re likely to get robbed?’ Timor asked incredulously.

‘Hope,’ Iskandor answered. ‘The merchants have always thought that Knol would be a great trade city to do business with the elves or the dwarves. They would probably be right — but the criminal element there makes it impossible. The nearby kingdoms don’t believe Knol is worth the effort to clean up and build into a trade city, so they just leave it there to rot.’ He then noticed Timor and I staring at him. ‘I heard some things every now and again while I was guarding the cave.’

‘That seems short-sighted,’ Timor said. ‘So why are we coming here?’

‘Well, you wanted to get supplies, and there’s likely to be a few merchants that will have some,’ I answered. ‘But more importantly, we’re here for information; thieves travel all over the place, lurking in shadows, getting into places most people never see — thieves see and hear more things than most people do…and odd as it may seem, their information is likely to be more accurate than the gossip we’ll hear anywhere else.’

Timor seemed dubious, but didn’t question any further. We were now about to enter the south gate of Knol; the low, crumbling wall of the town was once much higher, but was now practically worthless to those who could just climb over it.

‘All right,’ I said to the others, pulling my black hood over my head, ‘ready yourselves. Here we go.’

We stepped through the south gate, into the town of Knol — and I suddenly felt like I’d just stepped into a tavern in a strange town where no one knows who you are.

As soon as we entered the gate, everyone on the street stopped and stared at us. Some even peeked out from the windows of buildings. What they were thinking was plain on their faces; some were thinking fresh meat (for robbing), others were thinking they weren’t going to go anywhere near us (due to our peculiar look), and still others were simply shocked that we came in through the south gate (from the elven/dwarven lands).

We stopped and stared back, both at the people and at our surroundings. The inside of Knol was as rundown as the outside of it was; several buildings looked completely deserted, and there were no banners or decorations to speak of. The fact that it was starting to rain only seemed to add to the depressing ambiance.

We glared at Knol’s inhabitants a few seconds longer, and then started walking right down the middle of the street. As we did, we could hear them speaking in low voices to each other:

‘The one could be an easy target.’

‘He’s a wizard! He only needs one arm to turn you into a slug!’

‘How ‘bout the young wizard? He might not know a lot ‘bout magic yet…’

‘You willing to take that risk? Besides, I don’t think the guy in the dark getup and two swords is gonna let you get close enough.’

Just then, one of the thieves decided to bump into me. I’d seen plenty of thieves in my days as a knight, and instantly recognized the classic pickpocketing technique, but I had nothing for him to pickpocket.

I turned my head and glared at the thief, using the full force of my white eyes. The thief recoiled in horror, and just as I was about to reach out and grab him, he let out a high-pitched scream and ran for his life, yelling, ‘Demon! Demon!’

‘Dammit,’ I muttered.

‘Do not worry yourself too much, Aidan,’ Iskandor said. ‘We will have plenty more chances, I am sure.’

Timor stopped in front of a large building. ‘Why don’t we go in here? There may be a merchant inside.’

I shrugged. ‘I suppose it’s as good a place as any to check.’

The building we entered looked like it might have once been an inn, but now it was just like every other building in Knol: nameless, rundown, and without a higher purpose. The large room we entered was filthy, with pieces of destroyed furniture littering the area and, as with the streets themselves, no decorations to speak of. There were a couple of members of Knol’s ‘citizens’ at the far right end of the room, next to a set of stairs leading to the second floor, but in the left corner, directly across from where we entered, was a man, wearing brightly colored middle-class clothing, standing behind a wooden booth with some goods spread out across the front of it. The booth was guarded by two large, ferocious-looking dogs.

As we approached the booth, both dogs stood up and slunk toward us, emitting low growls. The dogs could easily have been twins; both came up to my waist in height, both had mean, dark eyes, both had long, sharp teeth, and both had brown and black fur. The only difference was in the pattern of the fur. I also noticed that neither dog was chained up — they were allowed to roam wherever they wanted, but chose to stay by their master.

The man smiled as we approached, though we halted our approach at the warning growl from the dogs. ‘Hello, strangers! My name is Edwin — what can I do for you today?’ His greeting was extremely friendly, but I noticed that he was reaching with his right hand to his belt, possibly for a weapon.

Timor took a step forward. The dogs’ growling didn’t alter. ‘Do you have some goods for sale today?’

Edwin nodded. ‘I do…but you see, this is a dangerous town, so I hope you’ll understand if I insist on seeing some coin before I show you my wares.’

Timor took a step forward. ‘Certainly —’

I grabbed a hold of his sleeve. ‘Hold it, Timor —’ I looked at Edwin, who seemed disconcerted by the nature of my eyes. ‘You are correct, sir, this is a very dangerous town — and I notice your hand a little too close to your belt for my comfort. So why don’t you pull out the weapon you’re keeping there, and my friend will show you his coin?’

Just then, the dog on my right let out a loud bark, accompanied by a deep growl.

‘Using the dogs to guard you is a great idea,’ I added, ‘but if either of them makes a move toward me, I will slice them in half.’

Edwin, eyes glued to my appearance, gave a low whistle which apparently told the dogs to back down.

‘Now, Aidan,’ Iskandor said lightly, ‘There’s no need for hostility. I can see these dogs have served him well.’

‘They have indeed,’ Edwin agreed. ‘The thieves — even a whole band of them — always think twice before trying to rob me. They have saved me many times. That one —’ he nodded toward one of them ‘— is named Copper, and the other is named Mikey.’

‘Hey!’ shouted one of the thieves who was across the room when we entered. He was speaking to the other thief in the room, and they were heading toward us. ‘Those three have the dogs out of the way — let’s roll Edwin!’

I spun around, pulling out one of my swords in the same motion, and held the tip of the blade just inches from the speaker’s throat.

The thief’s eyes were wide with surprise. ‘O-or,’ he stuttered, ‘we’ll just go back to where we come from.’

‘I would,’ I said, and when the thieves had returned to their original places, I half-turned back to Edwin (who seemed to be having a bit of trouble recovering from our interruption). ‘We’ll help guard you while you do business with my friend.’

‘Aidan?’

The voice didn’t belong to either Timor or Iskandor, but it was very familiar.

How does everyone in this time recognize me?

I turned toward the door we’d entered, and there, almost blocking the doorway, stood a mountain of a man, wearing a suit of armor, with a huge broadsword sheathed to his back. He still had long, brown hair, but the dark, brown eyes no longer seemed to dance with as much humor and life as they used to.

‘Derrick?’ I whispered.

Derrick’s eyes seemed to stare right through me. ‘It is you. By the gods…what happened to you? When I saw you standing there, I literally thought that I’d seen a ghost! Of course, I’d stood by your side for a long time, so even when you just moved, my instinct told me that it was you, even though you look nothing like you. But when you pulled your sword on that thief, I knew you were no ghost…a ghost would have just eviscerated him or something.’

I smiled; maybe there was some of the old Derrick in there after all.

Derrick took a couple of steps toward me. ‘I had heard that you were dead.’

I sighed. ‘You didn’t necessarily hear wrong, but now is not really the time and place to talk about it. I promise you, though, that you will hear the full story soon enough.’

Derrick was then standing in front of me. He continued to stare at me for a couple of seconds longer, then he shook his head slowly from side-to-side — and then his face burst into an expression of joy. ‘Aidan!’ Then he grabbed me in a crushing embrace. ‘It is so good to see you, my friend!’

I embraced him back, genuinely happy to see him as well; Derrick had remained a good and loyal friend throughout all my time serving in Delmar’s military. And it pleased me that my new, ghostly appearance didn’t intimidate him.

I released him and started talking, pleased at our good fortune. ‘It must be an act of the gods that we meet like this! Derrick…bad things are about to happen in Delmar.’

Derrick gave me a puzzled look, but didn’t answer.

His reaction distracted me for a second, but I continued, in a low voice. ‘In a few months, the castle will be infiltrated by dark clerics called the Dyn’osi —’

‘Aidan —’

‘— who will perform an ancient ritual that will turn everyone in the city into strange beings —’

‘Aidan —’

‘— and this cult will spread like a cancer over the entire world!’

‘Aidan — stop.’

I looked at Derrick, astonished at his reaction. ‘Why?’

He sighed, and his eyes were far away. ‘Everything you just said, everything you described…has already happened. It all happened six months ago.’

I felt the blood drain from my face almost immediately. My first thought was,
I’m not going to get my chance to save…to save —

In one motion, I had spun and grabbed Timor by the throat. ‘You told me…’

The next thing I knew, I was down on my knees, clutching my head with both hands, while in my mind, I was back in the Dead Citadel, locked in mortal combat with a crimson-eyed, obsidian-skinned version of my mentor. In the distance, I could hear familiar voices, trying to break through my subconscious, but they were unsuccessful.

***

When I came to, I was on the far side of the room (I’d later be told that Derrick had ‘persuaded’ the other two thieves to leave), Iskandor kneeling next to me, speaking to me in low, soothing tones. His words weren’t really registering in my mind, but his voice was having a very calming effect on me.

Not far away, Timor seemed to be concluding our story to Derrick, who, despite the fantastic nature of it all, was listening very intently. That probably had a lot to do with witnessing my latest mental breakdown, though. On the other side of the room, Edwin watched everything that was going on with a look of concern, mixed with curiosity.

‘So…this Sirak forced Aidan to fight…Garridan,’ Derrick said his name in a low tone, apparently at Timor’s urging, but it made no difference at this point anyway, ‘who had been turned into one of those…
things?’

‘Yes,’ Timor answered. ‘As you have seen and might expect, he hasn’t been nearly the same since.’

‘I wouldn’t expect him to be,’ Derrick said quietly. ‘The General took this farm boy, with nothing but dreams of becoming a knight, and made everything he ever dreamed for come true, beyond his wildest imagination. He was Aidan’s mentor, father, friend — everything to him, really. And then Aidan is forced to kill him, or be killed himself — the fact that he’s gone a little cuckoo doesn’t surprise me at all.’

There was a pause in conversation, and then Derrick said, ‘If I ever get my hands on this Sirak guy, I’ll make him wish he never left this Netherealm, or whatever the place is.’

‘If we could return to our key conundrum,’ Iskandor said in a stern voice, ‘what do we do now that we’ve arrived too late to save Delmar?’

Timor sighed. ‘Well, I can only think of two options. One, we try and find out if there is a way that we can reverse the effects of the ritual, or two, we find out when the cultists are going to make their move the next city and ambush them as they do.’

‘How can we find out if the effects of the ritual can be reversed?’ Iskandor asked.

Timor thought for a moment. ‘Well, I know of a great wizard who lives in the castle in the kingdom of Longchester, a couple of weeks north of here — it’s our next best bet.’

‘Then that should be our destination,’ Iskandor said. ‘Conduct whatever business you need to with Edwin and then we’ll be on our way. Derrick, will you be joining us?’

Derrick smiled. ‘Of course! That is, if you’ll have me.’

Iskandor smiled in return. ‘You’ve been Aidan’s faithful companion for many years; I would be pleased if you would accompany us.’

Derrick bowed respectfully. ‘Then consider me part of the group. Although…we may have another joining us, if that would be alright. I’m supposed to be meeting someone here.’ He turned his gaze to me. ‘That’s the reason I’m all the way out here.’

Just as I was about to ask who Derrick was waiting for, I heard a voice yell, ‘Get them!’ My mental fatigue forgotten, I jumped up and drew my swords, and saw Derrick draw his broadsword. Timor rejoined us from Edwin’s booth and started chanting in a low voice. Copper and Mikey were up and growling and a split second. From the second floor, eleven thieves flooded into the room, including the two that were in the room originally.