Faith Of The Dragon Tamer (Book 2) (43 page)

A black fog rose from the forest, far larger than any Ren had seen, and bolted through the reddish air. Ren realized the Mynher strove to stop him from neutralizing the Red Eye. The keeper of the undead would do anything to trap him.

The shadow swooped closer, whistling with speed.

Ren did the only thing he could: he dove off his mount. Oblivious, the others rode on. The undead moved closer.

His horse screamed as the black shadow pounded into her flesh. Ren watched in horror as the mare shriveled before his eyes, then collapsed in a heap of bones.

He felt a chill behind him and spun. Bloodless, pallid eyes looked at him. The specter reached out to touch him. Ren plunged his blade into the apparition and watched it dissolve. Its screams rose above the plaintive howls of the others, but as quickly as he could draw a breath the same specter reformed. Ren took a step back, but more of the undead came, and even more were forming.

The others were already halfway down the embankment. Galvin turned and called his name, but Ren knew his friends would be unable to reach him. He spun, impaling a few more specters, but they only reformed heartbeats later.

One specter came from the left, another from the right. Before him were two more. When he backed up he saw others. If he ran between them one could easily touch him.

The hooves of Galvin’s mount pounded up the hillside. Ren swung his weapon, impaling the one to his left, but it only reformed closer. He was surrounded.

A keening wail caused him to turn. Keena rose against the blood-red sky, hooves pawing the air, and impaled two of the specters. Without thought, Ren jumped on her back. She reared, scattering more specters with her ivory hooves and sprang forward. As Ren released the calm, emotions pounded inside him. He clutched the kota’s neck and whispered his thanks. When he looked back at the distant camp the entire hillside was flooded with specters.

They would have never been able to fight so many.

The Mynher watched him, jaundiced eyes filled with rage. The black fog remained behind. It needed to stay close to its master.

He spurred Keena faster. Specters came from everywhere, but they were sparse, not concentrated. It was easy to evade them.

Ren looked up at the sky. He could almost feel the hate churning to be released. How much time did they have?

As if reading his thoughts, Zorc rode to flank him. “Ista wants us to come.”

Ren turned toward him, the silent question in his eyes.

Zorc’s eyes blazed. “She knows I’ll come to stop her with the Silver Eye. She knows you’ll be with me. Let’s pray she’s able to control the hate until we get there. We have no defense if the full power of the Red Eye is released.”

Ren turned to the rolling hills of his home, now bathed in a revolting red luster. It seemed like his old life was only a brief dream. In a way, he supposed it was. He would never go back to that life or be that man.

His spiral had started.

The blood-red sky mocked him. Clouds churned violently as dawn finally broke.

Over the next rise was the city of Zier.

The closer they moved toward Zier the more worried Ren became. They had passed hundreds, if not thousands of specters since leaving the hideaway. The Desolation Plain’s dead came from all directions, as far as the eye could see, slowly creeping closer to Zier. None of them paid Ren and his companions any heed. They just ambled on as if pulled by invisible threads.

Ista was calling them, but why?

Zorc’s somber gaze only emphasized Ren’s worry. Zorc didn’t know either, and the ramifications were too fearful to imagine.

Ista’s reasoning became clear when they reached the outer wall. Bodies littered the countryside. Although most were from the Collective, others were soldiers from Yor, Crape, Ketes, and Fest. Ramie had mounted an offensive. The outer gate hung open. There had been a fight here, and Ista had lost. Ramie had marched to the inner wall.

Specters slowly inched toward the open gate, arms outstretched in answer to Ista’s silent demand. Many had already migrated through. Ren could see them in the distance, slowly making their way down the main street of town.

“She’s trapping them,” Nigel said. “The armies won’t be able to retreat. We have to warn them.”

Nigel spurred Rage forward before Ren had a chance to reply. Ren rode to flank him. “Follow me. I know a back way.”

Nigel fell in behind Ren as the others followed. They dodged thickening specters as they entered the open gate. Ren took a sharp left, veering through back streets that wove their way down the poorer sections of Ziera.

The streets were deserted. The clipping of their horses’ hooves ricocheted off buildings, making their small group sound like a passing brigade. Doors stood open and smoke from deserted fires billowed in the cool air. A few discarded black garments littered the ground. Stray dogs roamed in and out of houses to claim whatever morsels had been left in the open.

The dark structure of the New Alcazar loomed in the distance, dwarfing the Stardom castle. Its black surface devoured the early dawn light. From the base of the Alcazar the red light emanated its fury. Death and destruction seemed to lurk around every corner. The red sky did nothing to soothe Ren’s nerves.

Ren glanced down a side alley. Although he didn’t see any specters, he knew they weren’t far behind.

He urged Keena faster and soon they had broken into the fields. Yor’s colors of navy and white, Fest’s colors of maroon and silver, Crape’s colors of gray and green, and Ketes’s colors of rust and gold were commingled as one.

But the armies weren’t what brought tears to Ren’s eyes. Hundreds upon hundreds of commoners from Zier had black sashes tied to their arms. They surrounded the army, many holding up flags of the Razon dragon. Little did they know within a few short breaths they would be fighting the unthinkable. The specters were heartbeats away.

Ren felt something in his palm and turned to see Zorc wrapping his hand around the shrunken Silver Eye. “The specters will be banished once you neutralize the Red Eye.”

Ren took the small crystal, overwhelmed. Although he knew how to reach the calm, was that enough? Would he be able to awaken the power within the hazy glass?

When Ren turned to dismount, Zorc stopped him. “Not here. If you open the Silver Eye now its complete effect will be lost. It has to be beside the Red Eye to exert its full influence.”

Ren turned his gaze to the army. A lone sentry released a shout and pointed down the main street. The masses at the edge of the army turned as one. Ren watched helplessly as many ran toward the new threat without knowing the futility of their bravado. Others fell back, causing mass panic. He would never be able to pass through the horde.

“The Dragon’s Bane,” Ren said. “There’s a passage there.”

- - -

Chris barely took notice as Presario swung his sword at the haze of orange light where Manda indicated the flaw resided. He didn’t step back as the Collective circle shuddered under the blow. He didn’t realize until too late how their attack would force Ista’s hand.

As the circle fell in one horrendous shriek, Chris’ eyes were on the red light. They should have thought it through. Ista only had one counter defense.

Chris watched as the red light slowly turned dark. Presario yelled for everyone to move toward the gate, but now the light was almost black at its core.

And then he felt it, sluicing its way under his skin, claiming his soul – hate.

- - -

Ren clutched his head as the dark tendrils of evil seeped inside him. He gritted his teeth as a dark anger boiled to the surface. Then the hate came. It was a hate so intense he could scarcely breathe.

He fell to his knees, clawing at his chest, trying to banish the hate. It only intensified. He felt himself start panting with the need to kill.

No!

Opening his internal door, Ren slammed all of himself behind it, like Nigel had taught him. He held the door firm with his calling power. He stood back inside his mind, searching for the evil he had felt only a breath ago. It was gone.

The hate was gone.

His mind cleared.

Ren opened his eyes and looked at the men around him holding their heads, faces twisting into heinous paradigms of who they truly were.

Because the Black Knight was used to the brush of hate, he fought better than the others, but even Nigel screamed in effort as the hate began to take control. Ren grabbed Nigel and forced the Black Knight to look at him. “Go behind your door, Nigel!”

Nigel squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he nodded. “I’m there.”

Ren watched in complete horror as his friends began to fight, the hate of the Red Eye overcoming their reason. In the distance he heard screams of bloodlust. The army was falling by the hundreds, not battling the specters, but their own kind. Voices mad with hate echoed through the murky light. Ren felt as though he looked in on a nightmare, observing, as Markum did, another’s dream.

Nigel clasped his arm. “There’s nothing you can do, Ren. Many will die this day, but many more will die if you don’t leave them. You have to do what you came to do, even though they’re your friends.”

Ren knew Nigel was right, but that certainty made it no easier. He remembered the first truth. If a doubt enters your soul you will give it fire, and if the fire glows hotter it will cause you to fail. He couldn’t let any doubts cloud his judgment or impair the true mission. With the Maker’s help, he had to stop this destruction.

“We must hurry,” the Black Knight said, “the more we wait the more our friends will tear each other apart.”

Ren didn’t hesitate a second time.

He drew his sword and urged Keena into a gallop, back the way they had come, toward the Dragon’s Bane. The three elements inside him quivered in response to the stones. Then a thought struck him. He couldn’t use magic behind the door. He couldn’t open the Silver Eye without magic.

Panic gripped him, but then he sensed Nigel’s presence beside him. Ren turned to the third defender with sudden understanding. Although he couldn’t use magic behind his door he could use the calling power. And with it he could draw upon the defender’s power.

Ren reached out for the defenders with the Druid ability. He tugged their miens to him, calling them to him.

The sword’s triangle roared to life.

Ren turned to Nigel. His friend smiled and nodded, indicating he felt Ren’s drain. Ren took more, testing the limits. He brought all three powers together, each with its own distinct colors and emotions. He merged them to one and rushed upward to claim the calm. Before he could reach it, he stopped with a sudden impact, unable to rise higher, unable to find the pinnacle and make the feet of the triangle collapse into the sharp sword of the Quy. That was his power, the synergy’s power. Only the union could make the straight-line syzygy; the defenders could only strengthen it.

He felt Chris, Aaron, and Nigel’s strength individually and collectively. He could pull from each of their emotions at whim, and although each contributed to the legs of the whole, each had his own hate, his own love, and his own pain. Some were more or less excessive, but together they made a virtually unbreakable force.

Around the next corner was the Dragon’s Bane.

- - -

Ren chose a small entryway under the castle’s main stairwell to emerge. He didn’t have to hide his sudden appearance. The halls were deserted. Ista had used everyone, down to the last man.

The castle was filthy. Bedrolls and garbage littered the grimy black floor, curtains hung in shreds, and the carpets’ golden threads had turned a somber gray.

Ren led Nigel through the desecrated hallway onto the main landing. The Alcazar towered over Stardom. The symbol for magic was spaced intermittently on its surface, and as they approached Ren saw heat waves seeping from the runes to shroud the temple in a slight fog.

Ista stood in the fog beside the Red Eye. Collective women’s lifeless bodies were heaped in one corner. Ista had somehow drained their power in order to control the Red Eye.

The strain of keeping hold of the Red Eye without the calm had weakened her, but it by no means drained her. She had released the wrath of the Red Eye by choice, not by necessity. But she couldn’t reclaim it. Although you could contain a power stronger than yourself, you couldn’t overcome it. Now that the Red Eye’s power was released only the Silver Eye could subdue it.

The silver dragon stood behind Ista, glistening amidst the dark walls of the Alcazar. It was chained, just as the painting in the Oracle portrayed, and there were lacerations marring its beauty. Its violet eyes sent a splinter into Ren’s heart. Aidan had merged with the dragon. That realization startled him and saddened him at the same time. Aidan would never know his feelings. He would never know if she reciprocated those feelings.

When Ista saw Ren the avarice in her gaze deepened, but so did the hunger. She wanted him for his power, and she would do anything to claim him. He stepped in front of Nigel, suddenly fearful Ista would use his friend to force his hand, but Ista only smiled and motioned him forward, inviting him to do what he came to do.

A shiver of warning overcame him, but he quickly shook it aside. No matter Ista’s reasons for letting him neutralize the threat, it still had to be done.

Ren dropped the Silver Eye on the ground. Three roaring dragons, blue eyes glimmering in the darkness, exploded to life and cradled the Silver Eye in their wings. The Red Eye’s stand mirrored the Silver’s, but its dragons’ eyes were blood, and the dragons held the Eye in the hollows of their backs.

Just as he was about to call upon the defenders’ power to awaken the Silver Eye, he realized the full implications of the Red Eye’s hate. Without the synergy’s power the calm was unreachable. He couldn’t awaken the Silver Eye.

Then he knew what he had to do. He understood the prophecy. He understood the legend. He understood the Oracle.

His eyes flickered to the dragon.

Although the Silver Eye was cast out of the essence of the silver dragon, the silver dragon couldn’t awaken the Silver Eye because dragons were incapable of love.