Dragon Alliance: Rise Against Shadow (69 page)

Ordin walked up to the anvil with Donnac in his hand. He spoke in dwarvish to his brother and Eldir, who moved the metal to a particular angle, which he then struck. The resulting thunderous clap and shower of sparks was like a small but brilliant explosion. He, his brother, and Eldir had performed this ritual many times, for it was they who created Toderan’ s holy avenger sword, Dorin’s axe, Lupek’s javelin, Pekram’s great sword, and Lawrent’s frost sword, just to name a few. It was a very arduous and delicate process, but incredible to observe. This was the ultimate in arms smithy. Ordin’s hammer rung throughout the Weir’s landing with every calculated blow.

Silvanth’s roar announced her arrival. Mkel took out his seeing crystal and spoke directly to the Weir sentinel itself, the dragonstones that were the eyes of the dragon head statue that looked over the archway of the Weir entrance. He asked it who was accompanying Silvanth and to show what it saw over the Weir lake. The image of the brilliant silver dragon appeared over the calm water, with twelve griffons flanking her, all heading for the entrance.

Without interrupting his gaze at the trio working on forming precious metal alloy, Gallanth spoke out, “I see Captain Decray brought friends; General Daddonan is accompanying him, along with several of his rangers.”

“I better let Colonel Wierangan know,” Mkel said. “Maybe they can hash out this whole support pact issue while they are both together.”

Silvanth soared in from the entrance, flew over the lake, and back winged next to the group, just in time as Dorin and Eldir picked up the still glowing piece of mithril and moved it back to the hearth. Annan dismounted, gave Mkel a sideward look and smile, and proceeded to their quarters. Mkel knew she had no interest in the whole weapon making process and ceremony, but she would come back as soon as she changed, if not just to be by her husband. Mkel was surprised she had left with Silvanth for Battle Point without him knowing.

As Dorin and Eldir backed away from the hearth, Silvanth reared back and breathed a narrow icy beam onto the forming sword. The sword quickly cooled, with a billowing cloud of steam rising from the metal. Gallanth then moved in and engulfed the blade in his searing hot dragon’s fire again. A gold dragon’s fire could melt iron and steel in seconds, depending on its quality, but this heat only made mithril malleable. Ordin quickly placed a steel rod into the rough mithril sword blank to increase its mass. With the intense heat, the steel only took seconds to melt into the mithril.

The rapid heating and cooling of the mithril both sped up the forging process and strengthened the metal itself. Once mithril was actually brought up to forging temperatures, it would take hundreds of gallons of water to cool the metal and a fair amount of time. A silver dragon can do this in seconds. Dorin and Eldir moved the glowing mithril back to the anvil, where they and Ordin again proceeded to make coordinated and successive blows with Donnac.

A crowd began to form to watch the delicate and brilliant display of teamwork in the forging of this new weapon of power. Decray and General Daddonan walked through the crowd to Mkel and Toderan. Mkel gave the general a quick salute and motioned them over.

“I hope your trip with Silvanth was a pleasant one,” Mkel whispered.

“Your silver dragon is very precocious,” General Daddonan said with a smile.

“Females are females, sir, regardless of the species,” Mkel smiled back, as everyone around him muffled their laughter. “This is something that should not be missed,” he added, confident that Decray did not know that this weapon was being formed for him. Ordin’s hammer strikes rang again and again as the blade of the sword began to take shape. The process took almost three hours before Ordin’s final blow signaled the sword was ready for finishing. Gallanth and Silvanth had to heat and cool the weapon over a dozen times. Ordin had mixed about 20 percent steel with the mithril in the sword, for 100 percent mithril weapons were reserved for dragonriders only. Plus with mithril being such a rare metal, that the other 20 percent of the left over metal would be mixed with dwarven steel to make stronger weapons for several soldiers or arrow and bolt tips for Mkel and Dekeen.

As Silvanth gave the bare blade one last quick cooling, Eldir then went to work preparing the pommel with a tight and intricate wrap of dragon hide from one of the many chromatics that Gallanth had felled, interwoven with mithril-laced twine. As he was preparing this, all that had gathered moved to refresh their drinks and eat some of the food on the trays that were brought out from the Weir’s tavern as snacks. Jodem had the gems that were to be made into the dragonstones and was preparing the spell he needed to aid Gallanth and Silvanth for the ceremony.

After a short time, Jodem spoke up in a slightly enhanced voice for all to gather and be silent. “Please all gather for the merging ceremony,” the wizard called out. By now, Dekeen and Beckann had arrived. Beckann was always present at the creation of a dragonstone weapon, for she also aided Jodem in the process.

Jodem raised his staff, and the dragonstone at its top glowed brightly, at which all grew quiet. “This merging of a dragonstone and man is a momentous occasion,” he began. “Every time a new instrument of power is created, this not only brings dragon and man closer, but also springs forth new power to fight for justice, freedom, and the Alliance. These brothers in arms that have been chosen to accept this trial and responsibility will be rewarded with the newfound strength to bring light to the world by vanquishing darkness. This bonding will yield a new extension of themselves and create a powerful ally in their ability to protect the weak, bring justice to the wicked, and further the righteous cause of the Creator in his benevolence. Cleric Watterseth, please grace us with a prayer.” Jodem finished as he looked to the Weir cleric.

The tall cleric moved beside Jodem and raised both his hands as he said, “Let us pray; Great Creator, may your grace through your ever living spirit shine upon these candidates and their hearts be pure enough to accept this gift. May they pass your trial to serve you for the greater good and enable them to demonstrate your power and mercy. We pray they will remain your faithful servants and honor all those who have sacrificed in your name for the good of the Alliance and the light that it sheds, as well as our thanks for our dragon protectors and the wisdom and strength they bring to the world. Amen.” As Watterseth finished, everyone raised their bowed heads.

“Lord Gallanth, I yield to you,” Jodem said, stepping back from the dragon pair for the actual performance of the ceremony.

“My mate, please proceed,” Gallanth said, letting Silvanth perform her ceremony first.

“Rainebard, step forth,” she said in her feminine but deeply commanding voice. Lawrent’s young wizard apprentice cautiously walked toward the silver dragon. “Raise your right hand and echo my words. Do you, Freiland raider, ally to the Alliance and friend of this Weir, accept this trial of your own free will, which if successful will bestow upon you a heavy responsibility to pursue justice, confront and vanquish evil, and protect the weak for the rest of your years?”

“I do and enter the trial of my own free will,” Rainebard replied.

“Then prepare yourself, young wizard,” she finished. With her final words, Jodem and Beckann both raised their staffs, dragonstones glowing. The well-cut sapphire gently rose from the dwarf’s hand and levitated in front of the Silvanth. She raised her right front foot and deftly pierced her one toe with her opposite talon. She then placed a sizable drop of greenish blue blood on the gem, which immediately soaked into the sapphire and began to glow. “With my blood does this consecrate. Raise your hand, Rainebard,” she requested.

The young man raised his right hand, upon which she very deftly cut his palm with her huge talon. This was the critical moment in that when he grasped the suspended gem, it could either accept him or kill him. Swallowing hard, he reached forward and grabbed the swollen, glowing sapphire. He immediately felt his whole body start to tremble as if he were about to be struck by lightning; the stone glowed in his hand with an intense brightness. Just when he thought he was going to pass out from the pulsating energy emanating from the palm of his hand, the sensation ceased and he felt a distant but noticeable presence in his mind. Dorin and Eldir moved in quickly and began to fasten the new dragonstone to the elven oak staff with tiny mithril-woven bands, aided by magic from Silvanth, Jodem, and Beckann.

They finished very quickly and together handed Rainebard his new wizard’s staff, which he quickly grasped, for dragonstone weapons will defend themselves and their bonded wielder. At this point, the crowd erupted into applause at the successful union of dragonstone and its wielder as well as for another wizard to join their ranks.

“Welcome to the order, brother,” Jodem whispered to the young wizard as he released his grip from the new staff.

“Thank you, Silvanth, and your entire Weir for this,” Rainebard answered with a tear in his eye. All mentioned gave a slight bow in acknowledgment.

“My mate,” Silvanth said, looking to Gallanth and taking a couple steps back as the gold dragon moved forward.

“Captain Decray, ranger leader of Battle Point, step forward and prepare for the trial of blood and stone,” Gallanth said to the ranger, who looked puzzled. “This is long overdue, my friend, and may the Creator be with you,” the smiling Mkel whispered to Decray as he walked over to him and then led him up to face Gallanth. With a quick shake of his right hand, Mkel walked back over beside his dragon.

Jodem and Beckann released the emerald gemstone and levitated it directly between Gallanth and Decay. “Decray, do you, as an officer of the Alliance, enter this trial of your own free will, which if successful will bestow upon you the enhanced power to pursue justice, confront and vanquish evil, liberate the oppressed, and protect the Alliance and all her citizens in accordance to the Creator’s merciful decree?”
Gallanth said in a firm yet almost hopeful tone.

“I do, of my own free will, enter this trial,” Decray replied. The ceremony then began. Just as Silvanth had done, Gallanth raised his left front foot and made a small puncture of his toe with the opposite talon and placed a large drop of glowing blood on the gem. The blood, which was almost pure blue with a hint of green, quickly absorbed into the emerald, increasing its mass.

“Decray, raise your right hand. With my blood does this consecrate,”
Gallanth said to the senior ranger. Just like his mate, the point of his long talon made a small thin cut on Decray’s palm. Without hesitation, Decray reached out and grasped the glowing emerald. He felt its power immediately course through his hand and up his arm, rapidly progressing throughout his shoulder and chest. The energy emanating from the stone started every muscle in his body to tremble. Just when he thought he would shake apart, it suddenly ceased. Like Rainebard, he then felt an echo or a subtle presence in his mind as if something were communicating to him through notion or urges, not a distinct voice but a remotely intelligible presence nonetheless.

He then released the newly complete dragonstone, which was again levitated by Jodem and Beckann. Ordin, Dorin, and Eldir quickly walked to the floating, glowing gem and prepared to finish the weapon. Dorin lifted the mithril alloy sword, and then Eldir grasped the dragonstone with the clasp, for even now it could defend itself from being touched by someone other than its master. The elf smith put the gem into its final resting place in the bottom of the hilt of the sword. Dorin then grasped the hilt and pommel with both hands and braced himself. Gallanth looked down and fired a very thin sunburst beam at the mithril bands that surrounded the gem. This heated the metal along a narrow part, and Ordin then struck it with his hammer, sealing the emerald in the hilt. The strike forced the blade partially into the stone floor of the Weir landing.

The three moved away from the new weapon and looked toward Decray. “Go and call for it, my friend,” Mkel whispered to the ranger. He nodded with a smile and walked over to the gleaming sword. He reached out, grasped the hilt, and with a heft called it by its name: “Palador, the Anvil of Light, arise,” Decray said, upon which the long sword almost leapt from the solid stone floor. He held his new weapon of power aloft as the gathered crowd erupted in applause. Gallanth’s and Silvanth’s roars drowned out even the collected shouts and clapping of the throng. The ceremony was now complete.

“It’s time to celebrate!” Ordin shouted as he wiped the sweat from his crumpled brow. It was rare to see a dwarf perspire from just forge heat, but the high temperatures needed to make the mithril malleable made even him break a sweat.

“I agree,” echoed Toderan. Jodem and Beckann were visibly exhausted from their part in the process and bid their retirement, but not before talking to Rainebard and giving him instructions on how to begin his training and journey into his newfound power in creating spells and magic through his staff. They basically warned him not to try anything too ambitious until they could properly instruct him, lest he hurt himself or someone else.

“You will learn your sword’s abilities in time,” Mkel said to the ranger captain. “It is an art to learn to listen to it, but I have faith you will master it quickly. Now we need an ale, this is your and Rainebard’s night.” Decray was looking forward to exploring the powers that Palador possessed, but he was still surprised and honored at being chosen to accept this gift.

The celebration lasted well into the night, adding on to the already festive mood from the Freilanders being at the Weir. This was the first time the Battle Point rangers had dealt with the raiders, and like all Alliance soldiers, they found them good natured but very undisciplined and rawdy. Their reputation for ferocity, however, was still widely known.