A Dark Tide (Book of One) (9 page)

Borrican was irritated at the small quarters of the throne room, and he wished he could use his dragon form to thrash the lizard men to pieces, but his target was Mirdel and he kept an eye on the duke while fighting his way through the Darga. So focused was he on his opponents, he almost did not notice the number of lizard men that flooded into the room, and within a few moments he, Ariana and Keira were completely surrounded, with points of steel at every angle.

"My flames do nothing to them," Ariana said. "And the creatures are stronger than before, much stronger."

"The wood of this room is too old and dry to command it with my power," Keira commented. "We are caught."

"Not if I can help it," Borrican growled, and his face began to change along with his body, not transforming completely, but enough that he could take advantage of his armored scales and the power of his dragon form.

He leapt toward the Darga, slashing their swords away with sword in one hand and swiping at them with the claws of his other. Ariana and Keira were about to dash after him when the Darga moved in on Borrican all at once, like a swarm, and they smothered him on the floor and began to hack at him with their weapons.

"Stop!" Mirdel yelled and the Darga slowly pulled their blades from Borrican and rose from atop him, revealing his bleeding body that was cut in dozens of places. The Darga growled and hissed but they moved aside as the duke stepped down from his litter and approached Borrican, with sword in hand. "He is mine."

"Look at the blade," Ariana said to Keira. "It is made from silvergold, and the gems are like those used by Dala and her people. It may be one of the blades of old, and some of the Darga carry them as well."

"If that is true, then we may be in considerable danger," Keira said. "There is no telling how powerful these creatures might have become since we last faced them."

"They have become very powerful," Mirdel said, having heard them and he kicked Borrican over with the heel of his boot. "As have I." He held up his sword. "This blade has drunk the blood of a thousand and my power has grown with every life I have taken. You are no match for me, Akandar, not as you are, and not even if you were to take your dragon form, though it is something I would like to see."

Borrican slowly got up to his knees, shaking his head, and his color began to return as his wounds closed up and healed over, a benefit of his dragon blood.

"You have killed a thousand Kandarans?" he rasped.

"At least," Mirdel said with a shrug and a laugh. "Truth be told, I stopped counting after a while."

"You are sick," Borrican spat.

"Oh no, my young prince, I assure you, I have never felt better," Mirdel said. "Now, if you will accompany me down to that lovely cavern you and your family made underneath the palace, we can get this over with."

"And what is it that you want?"

"A fight to the death," Mirdel said. "It will be quite simple. You will do that thing you do and change in to a big fearsome dragon, and then I will slay you and my blade will drink your power."

"What of the Darga?" growled one of the lizard men. "We should have the dragon's power."

"You can have the flaming wench and the elf," Mirdel snapped and the Darga backed away from him. "Akandar is mine.

Ariana found it odd that the lizard creatures would show deference to Mirdel, for they were powerful warriors in their own right there were at least several dozen of them in the room. However, despite Mirdel's girth, he moved with an unnatural lightness of step that indicated a warrior's strength and speed, which was likely due to all the lives he had taken with his jeweled blade.

"Come, ladies," Mirdel said. "You may watch, and then you will die."

Mirdel smiled at them as the Darga closed in to take Ariana's and Keira's weapons, but a blade suddenly emerged from his chest, dripping in blood. Mirdel's eyes went wide and his bloated, oversized body began to shrink, like a bladder bag slowly being emptied of its contents. Behind him, a thin young man with silver hair, who looked to be barely more than a boy, and wearing armor of silvergold that was far too big for him, drove the sword deeper, his eyes wide with surprise as power flowed from the duke, down the blade and into him. The sword in his hands began to smoke and shake, enveloping him in a cloud as Mirdel fell forward with a lifeless thud upon the wooden floor. The smoke cleared and the sword shattered into pieces, and where the pale, skinny boy had stood, was the same young man, only he appeared to be far stronger now. He stared at the broken blade in his hand as the stones embedded in the hilt cracked and crumbled. He dropped the remains of the weapon to the floor and looked up at everyone in the room, then he smiled at Ariana, turned around and ran back the way he had come, dashing down the dark passageway to the cavern below.

Borrican was already on the move, having recovered from his wounds and he attacked the Darga, pushing toward the entrance to the passage. Both Ariana and Keira took advantage of the disruption and flew into action. The Darga tried to stop them, while several pursued the young man through the passage. The trio fought as hard as they could against the powerful lizard creatures. Ariana and Keira both drew power from the stones embedded in their bodies, pushing their strength and speed to even greater levels, and Borrican began to change once more, the fire in his belly burning hot as he cut and slashed at the Darga. It was difficult going, even more so with Mirdel's dead soldiers joining the fray, but the trio managed to cut their way to the entrance to the passage. Once inside, their enemies could only attack from two directions and the passage ahead was clear, the rest of the Darga having followed the young man down into the cavern. Bringing up the rear, Borrican killed another lizard man and shoved his body into the others, who were trying to follow, then he ran down the tunnel a ways and stopped, as the Darga tried to disentangle themselves and resumed their pursuit. Borrican slid his hand up and down the stone wall of the passage, and when he found the particular place he was looking for, he pressed upon it, and a heavy stone slab blocked the passageway. With the rest of the Darga blocked, he ran to catch up to Ariana and Keira who were already racing down the steps to the floor of the large cavern below.

"Who was that young man who helped us?" Borrican asked as he caught up to the two women.

"You don't know?" Ariana grinned at him with amusement.

A bellowing screech echoed through the cavern, followed by a blast of fire and the greyish white, leathery wings and silhouette of dragon became visible in the dim light below. Another blast of fire lit up the cavern and they caught sight of Storm twisting and rolling, covered in Darga.

"Go, help him," Keira said to Borrican, then she turned to the opening of the passage as the sound of stone scraping against stone and the snarling voices of angry Darga could be heard above them. "We can stop them here."

Borrican broke into a run and leapt from the staircase head first, transforming himself into the fearsome black and gold dragon and he streaked toward Storm, his claws outstretched. He practically smashed into the white dragon, sending them both tumbling across the dirt and stone floor of the cavern, but the impact knocked the Darga loose, which had been his goal. Borrican leapt to his feet and Storm rolled over and got up as well. There were streaks of blood dripping across his leathery scales where he had been cut by the Darga blades, but the wounds appeared minor.

Both dragons roared as the Darga gathered before them. Storm blasted the creatures with fire, but they stood their ground, unaffected by the flames. Borrican took a deep breath, then he let out a powerful roar, letting his fire burn white hot as it shot toward the Darga. The lizard creatures screamed and bellowed as the fire cut through them, searing their flesh and stripping it from their bones. The ones the fire had missed paused for a moment, unsure of themselves, then they scattered into the shadows and ran away, fleeing toward the far end of the cavern.

Borrican looked over at Storm and the two dragons nodded to one another, then leapt into the air, flying up into the darkness. Like birds of prey hunting an open field, the two dragons dove, snatching lizard men from the ground and crushing them in the powerful hind claws, until none of the Darga remained. Borrican angled through the air, looking to where Ariana and Keira now battled a group of Darga and several of the dead ensorceled soldiers on the stone stairway that led to the cavern floor. From the bodies that lay dead, fallen from the steps, it appeared they were handling themselves well enough, but they were being pushed back along the stairway by the sheer number of their opponents. Borrican let out a loud bellow and flew toward them, and through his thoughts, he let Ariana know what he intended to do. She and Keira leapt backward, out of the way, as the black dragon flew past the stone stairway in and let loose another powerful blast of flame. Darga fell from the high stairs to the cavern floor below, dripping in liquid fire, screaming all the way down then abruptly silent when they hit the ground. Borrican latched onto the rough stone ceiling of the cavern, and he turned toward Ariana and Keira and grinned with fire dripping from his mouth. He let go and flew down to the floor of the cavern, coming to land at the foot of the stairs where Storm awaited.

"The fire of the Akandra burns hot," Storm commented.

"And the bravery of the Akendra burns true," Borrican replied, using an expression he had learned from his father and his uncle.

"If the two of you are done complimenting one another, there are a lot more Darga and those dead soldiers that need to be dealt with up in the city," Ariana said.

"Of course," Storm said, then he turned to Borrican. "Shall we take to the skies?"

"It would be best if you and Keira came with us," Borrican said to Ariana.

"I am not riding a dragon," Keira said.

"You can ride Borrican," Ariana offered. "He will fly in a polite and gentle manner."

"Keira," Borrican said. "Our ploy to sneak past the guards failed, and it would be best if we joined up with Margo, Dala and the rest of the Watchers, that we may take the city with strength of numbers. I will not have you and Ariana surrounded by dozens of Darga as we were in the throne room."

"There is some wisdom in that," Keira admitted grudgingly, then she stepped toward the enormous black dragon.

Borrican lowered his head, then he glanced over at Ariana, who kicked over one of the dead Darga. She reached down and yanked a jeweled sword from the creature's clawed hand.

"Interesting weapons, these," she commented as she walked over to Storm and swung herself up onto his neck. "They are very similar to the ones Dala and her people make, only they appear to be far older." She turned the blade over in her hand, comparing it to her dagger, which had changed, becoming larger, when she had fallen into the flows. "It is like my dagger."

"It appears to be the power of the stones and the metal that makes these weapons dangerous," Storm rumbled. "I now understand why they were hidden away."

"Why?" Ariana asked.

"The taking of power is exhilarating," he said. "It would be very tempting to use such a weapon perhaps too much. Though I have not yet bonded, I imagine it is like that, for it is certainly far more pleasurable than swimming among the flows, and it gives great power."

"Is that what happened when you killed Mirdel?" Ariana asked.

"Yes," Storm said, as he leapt into the air and beat his powerful wings. "It was unexpected and the sword I received was unfortunately destroyed."

"Do not worry about the sword, you can have this one," Ariana told him. "I am just glad you came when you did."

"I felt your distress," Storm said. "And I will always defend my queen."

"Well, thank you, Storm," Ariana said and she rubbed his neck as they flew out of the opening at the far end of the cavern and she noticed that he had grown much larger than before.

"Of course," he said, his powerful voice rumbling beneath her.

*****

At first, Calexis felt only a slight tremor from somewhere far to the north, so focused was she in the opposite direction, waiting for the one she sought, that it was too late when she suddenly felt her dead soldiers in Kandara being destroyed. She reached out through the link that connected her to Mirdel but she could not find him, and she realized that it had been some time since she had heard the thoughts of the oversized duke. Calexis turned away from the window where she had taken to waiting, listening and feeling for the presence of the power that was slowly moving toward her, and she put her energy into her soldiers in Kandara, trying to discern what was happening. As they were killed, almost all of them at once, she saw only flashes of strange looking people with white hair and dark markings upon their bodies as they attacked with blinding speed.

One of the soldiers heard a deep and powerful sound above him, causing him to look up into the sky and Calexis caught a glimpse of a shape she recognized. Far larger than the last time she had seen it, and much more powerful, the black dragon bellowed and screeched across the grey northern sky, then the vision abruptly ended. Calexis growled and hissed, infuriated that she had been so careless, and confused that she would not have noticed that Mirdel was no longer under her magic. Somehow the power that bound him to her had weakened, but she was not sure how such a thing could have happened. In a moment of panic, she reached out through her connection to her army and found Berant and the other soldiers dutifully traveling toward the elven forests, and all of them still appeared to be firmly in the grip of her power.