The Roar of a Dragon (22 page)

‘Follow me,’ Kirra said. ‘I have an idea.’

We followed Kirra across the lush, green grass to the northern wall. Once there, she stopped and looked slowly to her right, then to her left. Then she looked right again and started to walk along the wall.

‘The wall being round, the night being cloudy…it’s hard to tell where I am,’ she said.

We followed her for a while, until she came to a drain in the wall, set in the ground. The hole in the wall had been reinforced with metal bars — I remembered when they had been put in place.

‘There didn’t used to be metal bars here, once,’ Kirra said longingly. ‘You have no idea how much frustration has been caused by these little bars.’

I rolled my eyes but didn’t answer. Derrick snickered. We watched as Kirra took a good look at the drain, then turned to me.

‘Aidan, see if you can rip these bars out.’

I gave her an incredulous look. But Kirra’s expression was thoughtful, then she looked at me and spoke confidently. ‘You might be able to do it, Aidan; with your enhanced powers, it’s possible.’

‘No way,’ Derrick said, scoffing. ‘If he can do that, I
will
go somewhere and cry.’

Smiling inwardly to myself at the image, I stepped down into the muddy drain water. I wasn’t as sure in my abilities as the others seemed to be, but that would be all right; after I tried, we could figure something else out.

I knelt down and grabbed a tight hold on the metal bars, slowly leaning back, using the strength in my legs, beginning to gently pull with my arms —

Pulling, harder and harder…and harder…

It felt like my arms were about to be ripped from their sockets…

Next thing I knew, I was lying on my back in the mud, the metal drain ripped from the wall and lying behind me.

Kirra had her eyebrows raised in fascination. Derrick was wearing a look of shock. Kirra looked over at the bewildered Derrick.

‘Well, when do we get to see you cry like a little baby?’ she asked him, smiling.

‘I’m not going to do it in front of all of you,’ Derrick said, half-whining. ‘That wasn’t part of the deal.’

‘Oh, come on,’ Kirra said, mock pleading. ‘Just a little?’

‘No,’ Derrick said, moping.

I just smiled. ‘What are you whining about? I’m the one covered in mud.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ Derrick said, rolling his eyes, ‘like
that
couldn’t happen any day of the week.’

‘All right,’ I said, a half-grin on my lips. ‘Let’s go.’

I crawled through the drain, and the others silently followed. We came out on the street, which was completely empty — until I glanced to my right, and saw all of the Ther-lor in the city gathered toward the western wall nearby, about fifty feet away, their backs to us.

The cathedral was diagonally across the street, the door right behind the gathered Ther-lor.

‘Well, that’s a crappy deal,’ Derrick cracked. ‘What do we do now?’

I shrugged and sighed. ‘Try and cross behind them. Hope that Sirak either hasn’t given them orders to be on the lookout for us, or that their only order is to be ready at the wall.’

‘Are you insane?’ Kirra asked, shocked. ‘They’re all right there — they’ll hear us.’

‘It’s our only hope,’ I reasoned. ‘Let’s go,’ Our destination is in front of us, yet we linger.’

But although I had given the order, I
couldn’t
move; not because I was refusing to, it was because I
feared
what was behind those doors, feared what I would find.

Suddenly, some of the Ther-lor turned around, and fixed their crimson eyes on us.

Sirak knew we were here.

The Ther-lor, upon receiving their orders, charged at us, and Derrick drew his broadsword while shouting at me. ‘Go, Aidan! Find the barrier, and destroy it!’

‘How?!’ I asked incredulously.

‘Find a way!’ Derrick screamed. ‘We’ll hold them off!’

I wanted to argue further, but that would have just been a waste of time. Taking one last look at my friends who were holding off the Ther-lor, I pushed open the double doors of the cathedral.

The cathedral, like most of the buildings in Alexia, was a white stone building; enormous, elegant, and beautiful. There was a beautiful stained glass picture on the front of the building, depicting a scene of the gods meeting to create the world; a very popular picture among the people. Inside, on a normal day, the cathedral was also very beautiful, but now it just seemed dark and sinister. I knew what lay in here, and expected to be attacked and mauled to death as soon as I walked in the door, by whatever might be guarding the barrier containing the souls of the people of Delmar. But the immediate inside (a small lobby) was empty, and there were no signs that anyone was around. Still, I proceeded cautiously. I drew my shortswords, trying to be ready for anything, not liking how
still
the place was.

There were doors ahead of me, to my right, and to my left in this warmly decorated room. Ahead of me was where the main part of the cathedral was, where the ritual had most likely taken place. I should have headed there first, but for some reason, I felt that a thorough check to make sure there was no one around was more important. I had no idea what I was going to do about the barrier, anyway; it was going to be very difficult to get a message back to Timor now, especially with the battle taking place right outside the cathedral.

I decided to try the door to my right first. I was starting to push it open with my shoulder, when something
slammed
against it from the other side, closing the door tightly and shoving me backward.

Startled, I took a second to regain my bearings, and waited for whatever had collided with the door to open it and stumble through. For some reason, I expected one of the Ther-lor. But the air remained still, and nothing happened, so I went up to the door and kicked it open.

Expecting no less than a mob of Ther-lor on the other side, I went in with my swords at the ready…but what I found was another man slumped on the floor, bleeding from a wound on his side. He was dressed in the armor of a Delmar knight, and he was a knight that I knew well.

Norvin!

This was certainly not how I expected to find him. After the deal he had made with Sirak, I expected to find Norvin at his side, arrogant in his power. Instead, I found him near death, attacked by someone, or some
thing
.

The moment of revenge I had been dreaming about now left a sour taste in my mouth.

Sheathing my swords, I grabbed him by his shoulder and rolled him over on his back, staring at him with the full force of my white eyes.

‘Norvin,’ I growled.

Norvin opened his eyes, and grinned up at me. ‘Aidan…it seems you are not going to get what you want…the revenge I know you so desperately wanted has been stolen from you, by Lord Sirak.’

I narrowed my eyes at him. ‘
Sirak
did this?’

Norvin chuckled. ‘Yes…when he knew you were coming… and he
does
know, Aidan…he figured
I
might have had something to do with it.’ He chuckled again, then broke into coughing. Blood began to slowly dribble from his mouth. ‘Imagine that…
me,
in collusion with
you
. I cannot think of an idea more ludicrous.’

‘Nor I,’ I said in a low voice. ‘Where is he?’

Norvin smiled again. ‘He’s waiting for you, Aidan.’

I knew exactly where Sirak was waiting, though Norvin never mentioned the place.

I grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him toward me. ‘You
will
survive, Norvin. You
will
live so that everyone can see you pay for your crimes.’

Norvin’s smile disappeared. ‘We’ll see,’ he whispered.

Gently lowering him down to the floor, I left the room back through the door I had entered from, ready to head through the door that led to the main part of the cathedral.

As I passed through the main lobby, I could still hear the sounds of battle outside. I could also hear the voices of my friends, which sounded clear enough. I longed to check on them, but there was no time; the sooner I could take care of Sirak, the sooner I could save my friends.

I also thought of Lady Mirabelle, the courageous warrior. It was clear in my mind that I was in love with her, and the thought of possibly never seeing her again broke my heart.

I also thought of Iskandor, circling around the city, using his dragon form to distract everyone as much as he could. This was also dangerous — all it would take is a single, well-placed arrow through his wing, and the dragon would be in deep trouble. Granted, it would take a lot for an arrow to go through a dragon wing, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility; I feared for my friend.

But I had to put all of that aside now, because on the other side of the double doors in front of me were not only the magical barrier that was holding all of the souls in Delmar in thrall, but the personification of evil that was behind it all.

The wooden, double doors creaked as I pushed them opened. Inside, I saw it immediately (it was hard to miss). A light blue, clear cylindrical tower of magic near the alter of the cathedral, and inside, balls of white floated around (hundreds of them, if not thousands), occupying the entire cylindrical barrier that stretched all the way to the high ceiling.

I slowly walked down the main aisle, swords drawn, creeping ever closer to the magical cylinder, when a whispering voice sounded from overhead, jovial in its sinister greeting.

‘Welcome, Aidan of Delmar.’

My head darted upward, to a stone platform that jutted out from another stain glass picture of the gods. The hooded figure strolled out from behind a curtain on the left side of the platform, not yet facing me.

‘I have been waiting for you, Aidan,’ Sirak said, his voice quiet.

‘So I was told,’ I responded.

‘You look different than what I remember of you,’ Sirak said, facing me for the first time.

I chuckled to myself. ‘I remember you saying those exact same words once before.’

The hooded figure stopped, as it had been pacing toward me on the outstretched platform above. ‘How can that be?’

‘I came from a future time,’ I replied matter-of-factly. ‘You said those exact same words then too.’

‘You came from the future…and you saw me?’ Sirak replied in wonder. ‘How far into the future, may I ask?’

‘Three thousand years,’ I answered.

The quiet voice became filled with wonder. ‘What was the state of the world then?’

‘Very nearly taken over by you,’ I replied evenly. ‘Only the mountain elves had remained unconquered.’

Even though I could barely see Sirak’s face for the shadows from his hood, I could tell his was breathless with the ecstasy of his accomplishment. He looked away slightly, and was quiet for a while. I let this sit in his mind for a very simple reason: he was letting down his guard, on the verge of being overconfident, and in battle, that was never a bad thing.

Finally, the shadowed face turned its gaze back to me. ‘So I will be victorious then.’ I could hear the smile in his voice.

‘You
would
be,’ I corrected him. ‘Remember, there’s one big difference between that time and this one —
I
wasn’t present.’

The decrepit face that I knew was there was seething from the shadows of the hood. ‘That will make
no
difference, Aidan of Delmar.’

‘It won’t?’ I asked, slightly amused. ‘Then tell me — when you were planning your infiltration of this city, why did you single
me
out as one of your biggest threats? Because I could have stopped you, that’s why.’

I wasn’t sure if this was true or not — but Sirak was enraged, so I considered that a check in my favor.

Sirak was still seething, apparently insulted into silence, so I continued my verbal assault.

‘So…I would ask what you are doing here —’ I gestured to the magic cylinder containing the souls of the people of Delmar ‘— but it looks to be just another run-of-the-mill, garden-variety, take-over-the-world scheme to me.’

Sirak was shaking with anger. ‘If you have seen the future, then you, of all people, know that that’s not the case,’ Sirak hissed. ‘These people have been purified, created into the perfect race. There are no flaws, no blemishes, not one type of imperfection. They are the Ther-lor — the greatest race
ever
created!’

‘People must not have listened to you much when you were a child,’ I observed casually. ‘Is that why the Ther-lor have no minds of their own and must obey your every command?’

The face behind the black hood just stared at me for a moment, and then two white hands reached up and removed the hood. The face of Sirak was every bit as grotesque as I remembered, the bald head normal on its top half aside from the black eyes and the runes carved into the flesh on the head; the lower half rotted, decayed, displaying only the white bone of his jaw.

‘Enough of the banter, Aidan of Delmar. I
am
going to stop you — but before we engage in needless combat, I’m going to give you one last chance to join the Dyn’osi, the Infinite Curtain. You look like you would fit right in with us.’ Sirak cackled quietly.

‘I don’t recall you giving me a “first” chance, but whatever,’ I shrugged. Then I feigned thought. ‘Mmm…I don’t think so. I saw your other associate by the doors — he didn’t seem to be well rewarded for his loyalty.’

‘Norvin was a useless fool,’ Sirak growled. ‘I had no more need of him. Now someone of
your
caliber would be quite useful.’

‘I appreciate the compliment, but still — I decline,’ I said calmly.

Sirak shrugged. ‘So be it.’

He turned a walked back down the platform a little, seemingly speaking to himself. I remembered seeing this before, and began to feel the first tingling needles of dread down my spine.

I knew that it was likely to be useless, but I had to try because I knew who Sirak was going to summon. If my tactic worked, I wouldn’t be forced to fight
him
again. I had to try — before it was too late.

I took of couple of leaping steps to my right and swung a backhand swing with my right-hand sword, and the second my sword connected with the magical barrier, a surge of lightning ran down my arm and jolted my whole body. I painfully writhed in the grasp of the barrier’s magic, moaning and trying desperately to release myself. But the magic held me fast, and before I reached the edge of death, it released me, and I collapsed to the floor, my swords clattering next to me.

Above me, Sirak cackled with glee. ‘
Very
entertaining, Sir Aidan!’

Lying face-down on the ground, I was defenseless. I could barely move, couldn’t even open my mouth to reply. With an effort, I dragged my head off the ground, and looked ahead of me — and saw…him.

He looked exactly the same as when I had seen him in the future — except for the armor, which wasn’t nearly as rotted. The other thing that was different was that the lock of hair that flowed down from the helmet — with the eagle etched on the front of it — was still white, rather than dark gray. The Ther-lor was also wielding a sword and shield, the same weapons as it had when we had fought before.

‘Garridan,’ I whispered. I tried to pull myself up, but my limbs felt as if they had heavy steel chains wrapped around them. Slowly, I dragged myself to my knees, reaching for my swords. Slowly, the Ther-lor Garridan closed in.

‘Ah, so you recognize him!’ Sirak bellowed, unconsciously uttering almost the same words as in our last confrontation. ‘Let there be no doubt! Garridan, remove your —’

But time had passed, and the nightmares of this moment that tortured me daily had finally gotten to me. I was tired of the fear that those horrible dreams had generated — and here I was, in that very same situation again.

No more. No more.

In a very un-knight-like move on my part, before the Ther-lor Garridan could remove his helmet, I jumped up to my feet and kicked him straight in the chest, knocking him backward. While he wallowed on the ground, I stepped back, picked up my swords, and I was ready for battle.

Sirak was staring down at me in a state of shock. ‘You appall me with your act of cowardice, Aidan. Get up, Garridan! Finish him!’

As Garridan pulled himself to his feet, I looked around desperately — where were Timor and the others? How was I going to destroy this barricade? It was the only way to save him…

Even though I was ready to fight as I was going to be, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down my face, as I began to accept reality. I was going to have to fight him, just like I had before.

Garridan was approaching me, raising his sword over his head, just like I had seen so many times in my nightmares.

I blocked his swing by crossing both of my swords in front of me, and kicked Garridan away again. Twirling my swords, I prepared for his next attack. I had to buy time somehow, block his attacks, keep him safe…

As the Ther-lor Garridan prepared to swing a horizontal slash with his sword, I could hear chanting from overhead, and then the sizzling crackle of lightning as Sirak tried to blindside me with his magic. I ducked low, somehow managing to dodge both the lightning attack and the sword slash from Garridan. Immediately following his swing, Garridan followed up with a backhand slash, which I blocked with my sword, and I kicked him away again. Sirak’s plan was clear — use Garridan as a distraction, and dispatch me with his magic.

My irritation began to grow — Sirak had no intention of fighting me on his own, and I had no idea how long I could dodge everything that was being thrown at me.

After a minute of dodging Garridan’s attacks, as well as Sirak’s magical projectiles, and trying to create space from Garridan until I came up with a plan, I finally became desperate.

Sirak, at his point, was now positioned behind me, as I had ducked when Garridan made a lunging attack at me, causing him to stumble right past me. Garridan attacked again — I dodged, kicked him away again, then turned and made a desperate running and jumping lunge for the high platform, where Sirak was preparing another magic spell.

Sirak’s eyes grew wide in alarm as he saw what I was trying to do, but he stayed focused on his magic, showing a supreme concentration that I had not yet mastered. He tried to surprise me as I regained my feet, hurling a fireball before he thought I was ready, but I dropped straight back down to my stomach on the platform, and the fireball flew past me. I jumped back up, and quickly lunged forward to slash with my sword —

But Sirak had disappeared.

Confused, I turned around —

Sirak was there, and he delivered a hard kick that knocked me off the platform, and into the magical barrier.

The pain of the magic lightning charging through my body was intense, searing. I was stuck in the barrier for several seconds while the lightning continued to electrocute me, and those few seconds felt like an eternity. Finally, the magical barrier released me, and I fell hard to the ground. Above, I could hear chanting, and not far away, I could heard Garridan’s booted footsteps coming closer, the Ther-lor coming to finish Sirak’s dirty work. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I could dodge again — the barrier’s magic had drained me of my strength — but I had to try.

I heard Sirak unleash his magic, and I lunged with all of my might, colliding with Garridan and knocking him backward once again. It was a good thing I had, because if I hadn’t, Sirak’s spell would have hit Garridan.

I had more strength in my lunge than I thought — I had ended up twenty feet away from the barrier. Sirak was chanting again, and the Ther-lor Garridan was turning to come after me again. This wasn’t going to end, I realized — not until Sirak made a mistake, or I made one. I couldn’t keep dodging forever; attacking Sirak had already proven pointless (at least as long as he was on that platform), and I was no closer to stopping him or destroying the barrier. I had to take a chance…

I had my powers, but they were unrefined, erratic, and my concentration was still a work in progress. But I had no choice; it was my only hope —
his
only hope.

I dropped my swords, and dropped down to one knee. My body was wracked with pain, concentrating was an effort as it was — but I thought of my friends, fighting for their lives; Iskandor, risking his life to save us all; Mirabelle, risking
her
life for my country; Garridan, a mindless Ther-lor, blindly following a leader he didn’t even know existed previously.

Before I knew it, my powers were surging through my veins, flowing through my body, somehow burning and freezing my blood at the same time. I had never felt the presence of my powers that strongly before; the feeling was not unpleasant. As a matter of fact, the feeling was pure ecstasy; it was a strength and a power that I had never felt before, and it felt
amazing
.

Sirak had ceased his chanting when he saw me gathering my powers. Despite all of the rumors, I think he was completely unaware of the power I now possessed — or perhaps he had underestimated its strength, or didn’t think that I could control it. Either way, he began chanting again, but the chanting was hurried, frantic, and I thought that he must have figured out what I was going to try to do —

I don’t have a choice. If I have to risk my life, so be it — Sirak may kill me with his next spell, but at least I will have destroyed the barrier
.

I had no doubts: I
knew
my powers were strong enough.

I could no longer contain my powers. It felt as if I was about to explode. I looked up, and flung my hands, palms outward, toward the magical barrier. At the same time, Sirak’s magic took effect, and I noticed that it wasn’t a magical projectile this time.

Sirak’s magic had moved Garridan about ten feet from where he was standing…

Right into the path of my magic.

It was too late; I had already unleashed my power — I couldn’t stop it.

My projectile of magical energy went toward Garridan,
through
Garridan, and I elatedly thought for a moment that my powers had had no effect on him. But the joy of that thought disintegrated into terror as I saw that my powers had torn right through his armor, ripped flesh from muscle, muscle from bone. The impact spun my former mentor around, and knocked him to the ground.