Gloria Oliver (46 page)

The dragon sighed again. The sigh sounded weary beyond measure.
Perhaps, perhaps there is
another way to do this … But I can’t do it alone. I might not—might not understand what I find
.

She had never heard the dragon sound so unsure of himself.
I’ve studied humans for a long time and
still understand them only a little
. He glanced at her as if to say she was one of those.
I’m afraid of
doing more harm than good
.

“So you
can
do it! Please, you have to. Nothing you could do could make things worse than they are now.” She felt herself flush with hope.

I’ll need an intermediary or buffer, if you prefer. Someone who can rightly interpret the things we
might see
.

“I’m sure Lareen can find someone who can do that. She has to!” Talia prayed it was so, not totally understanding what it was Clarence was looking for.

That won’t be necessary
, he said.
You will do. Too many are involved already. And much of what
you may discover will not necessarily be new to you.
He paused.
And I believe any additional
knowledge you gain will be safe
.

She swallowed hard. “I swear it will.” She put as much conviction into the statement as she could. “Just tell me what to do.”

Clarence stared at her long and hard with his crooked eyes, then finally nodded. A large claw reached for one of the small chests in the back and brought it forward. Gingerly, he flicked the lock open with his sharp nail. Nestled inside was the crystal ball Clarence had played with before. He picked the ball up with his massive claw and brought it over to her.
Take this and go to Kel’s side. Once you are there,
hold the crystal in one hand and take his in the other. We will go from there
.

Talia nodded and took the ball. It felt strangely warm in her hands. It was the size of a large melon but light in weight. “I’ll go there right away.” She turned to go, but glanced behind her for a moment before leaving. “Thank you.”

She left, the crystal ball held tightly in her arms.

Not wanting to have to answer any questions if she was seen holding the strange object, she headed for the concealment of the garden as soon as she got outside. Following the path the students traveled every day, she made her way to the dining room doors. As she’d hoped, they weren’t locked. But before making her way in, she listened at them intently to make as sure as she could no one was inside. Hearing nothing, she sneaked on in. She crossed the dining hall quietly until she reached the doors leading out into the hall.

Again she hesitated, trying her best to make sure no one was out there. Easing the door open, she peeked into the hallway and then slipped out.

She rushed along as quietly as possible and headed for the stairs leading to the level below. Still sensing no one, she hesitated at the closed door into LaSeren’s healing room. Listening intently, she crept up close to the door and then opened it slightly to take a look inside.

A lone globe lit the room, its light subdued. Kel was in the bed across the way, his pale face in the half-light looking even more wan, except for the angry tendrils reaching out across it. Talia spotted no one else in the room. She went inside.

Once in, she closed the door. Grabbing LaSeren’s stool, she placed it beside Kel’s bed and sat down.

The crystal ball warmed even more in her grip, but she only half noticed. Most of her attention was fixed on the young man on the bed.

Kel lay pretty much as she last saw him, his body covered over with a light blanket. His face was slack, his lips no longer moving, and his eyes were mercifully closed. Studying him, she felt a shiver course down her as she noticed the progression of the redness. With any luck, they might be able to do something about it soon.

Taking a deep breath, not knowing really what to expect, she held the warm crystal ball on her lap and then took Kel’s cold hand in the other. After a moment, the ball grew hotter and she felt a sudden bout of vertigo. Quickly closing her eyes, trying hard not to be afraid, she hoped Clarence knew what he was doing.

When she opened her eyes again, she found she wasn’t where she’d been. Rather than in LaSeren’s small, comforting room, Talia found herself in a vast, gray plain which spread out in all directions as far as she could see. The crystal ball was glowing in her hand with a soft, green luminescence. She was sitting on nothing but air yet did not fall. She felt fear nipping at the edge of her consciousness. “Clarence?”

I am here
.

She felt a weight settle on her shoulders and jumped a little even as she turned to look. She gasped quietly as she spotted a miniature replica of the dragon sitting there. His crossed eyes looked up into her startled face.

Shall we begin?

She couldn’t read the dragon’s tone and didn’t trust herself to speak, so she just nodded.

Nothing happened immediately. Talia glanced at Clarence but saw the dragon had closed his eyes. After an interminable set of moments, the air before them changed. The gray landscape was gone. In its place, she found they were inside Kel’s room, or something barely resembling it, for this one was misshapen, and the walls appeared to be breathing.

“What is this?” She hugged the crystal ball to herself, frightened by what she was seeing.

I believe it is where Kel feels the most at home, safe, but something or someone is changing it,
was Clarence’s response.

Talia stood up and took a step further into the room, trying not to look at the changing walls, but instead searching for the one they sought.

Over there.

Though he didn’t point, she somehow knew which direction Clarence meant. Looking at the far corner, a figure was scrunched up next to a bookcase, partially hidden in shadow.

“Kel?” Talia took a step closer.

The figure moved, turning partially in their direction. “Who’s there?”

She took another step, relieved at seeing Kel’s profile. “It’s us, Talia and Clarence. We’ve come to try and help you.”

“No.” Kel cringed away. “It’s a trick, a lie. None of this is real, none of this is real.”

“We’re real. Please believe me. Remember the Maeloon? One of them poisoned you. Right now, you’re in a bed at the school, its poison slowly killing you. Clarence and I have come to see if there’s something that can be done. LaSeren says the poison can’t be cured like others can, that there might be magical properties to it? She though … she thought if you and Clarence could fix your bond, maybe we could learn enough to…” she left the rest unsaid.

Kel laughed. The mad tone twining through it made her hair stand on end. “It won’t happen. Especially not now. I’ve found someone else to bond with. Whether I want to or not.” He turned to face them fully, coming out partially into the light.

Talia took a step back, bile rising in her throat. While the right side of Kel’s face and body was normal, in this other place, the left side—the side showing the signs of the poison—had turned into the features of a Maeloon. And even as she watched, she could tell it was spreading. “I don’t understand…”

Kel turned away from her, hiding himself once more in the shadows. “I do. It’s all in here now.” She saw his hand move to point at his head. “These, things, they don’t breed the same way as other creatures.

Instead, they make others into themselves. They take them over, drive them mad, and then they change them, change them until they, too, are Maeloon.”

“No.” Talia felt horror growing inside her. “How can they…?”

It must be the poison itself, the magic in it
, Clarence said quietly.
I can feel the power from here.

It’s very strong
.

“But how can no one know about this? There are hundreds of stories about Maeloon, and none of them talk about this.” It just couldn’t be true.

“It’s why they raid towns on occasion,” Kel said in a deceptively calm voice. “To make more of themselves. Not all the bodies are found when they do, and this is the reason. They’re not killing humans just for sport, but because they need to make more of their own. And once started, the process can’t be stopped.”

“No, I won’t believe that!”

Kel laughed again, the sound echoing in the room. “It won’t make any difference. It
will
happen. I’m growing weaker—I can feel it. You can see it.” He lunged out, showing her his face again, and just as quickly retreated back into the darkness. “In a true bonding, the minds are linked, awareness shared, but in this, their mind takes over yours. And it’s not alone. All the others it has been are there as well. You can’t resist them. Soon they will beat me and I will cease to exist altogether. And this is why if you’re truly here, if you’re not just a hallucination, you will leave and you will kill me before I am totally lost.”

“No…” Talia fell to her knees, her last hope crushed by the truth she heard in his words. All of it had been for nothing. She was too late.

“Clarence…” Kel hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know who the men are, the Maeloon don’t care and don’t think that way, but I thought you should know … They’ve promised them a reward for their work.

They—” Kel suddenly gasped in pain. He fell out into the light, his hands holding onto either side of his head. One of them was normal, the other was a five-fingered claw.

“Kel!” Talia half stood, not sure what she could do, but willing to do anything. He waved her back.

“They gave them … they gave them people to change.” His voice quivered with the effort. “But they also promised them a higher reward. Something they let them taste, something they now hunger for.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Dragon eggs.”

Kel laughed again, this time sounding close to the laughing snarl she’d heard at the forest, and went back into the shadows once more. “Delicious…”

Anger suddenly radiated from Clarence in waves.
They would dare?
Amidst the anger, she sensed a deep-running sadness, as if from something long ago, but it was quickly tucked from view.

“Now go, go and kill me. And be free.”

Talia didn’t move. She knew he was only asking for a kindness, but she wasn’t sure she could ever bring herself to do such a thing.

“Go!” Kel’s voice was changing. “I can’t hold on much longer.”

We don’t have much time.

“What?” She turned her head to look at the dragon on her shoulder, not believing he would just leave Kel like this.

You have done my kind a service with your warning, though you had no reason to give it, and
perhaps more not to bother. All deeds must be repaid
. Clarence spoke almost in a monotone, as if even more weight were heaped upon him. It held a note of resignation.

His crossed eyes locked with Talia’s own.
I will now complete the joining. I will lend my strength to
his. We will either both succumb or the Maeloon will be driven out. If purged, you will have to
deal with it. I doubt we will have the strength to drive it out a second time if we succeed at all.

Purged? Deal with it? “But how?” She tried her best not to feel her fear.

Here, reality can be what you make it. Use the truth of your feelings, your convictions to arm
yourself. I will show you how
.

The globe in her hands flashed, and she reeled but still stayed on her feet. Her eyes were round as the knowledge of what she needed to do grew prominently in her mind from his. Was this really possible?

It might be dangerous. We might lose. Or he might prove too strong for you. If you feel it
necessary, you can escape purely by letting go of the orb.
His decision made, Clarence’s voice sounded clear.
No dishonor would touch you for this. All I ask is that you pass the information you
have learned about the enemy to the guild. The eggs must be protected. Only if you live will
someone know.

Talia nodded, suddenly feeling the importance of all which might soon rest on her.

Our fates are in your hands
. With that said, Clarence leapt from her shoulder toward a cowering Kel.

His form grew to twice its size and pierced the squire’s body like an arrow before disappearing within.

Kel howled in pain and rage, his features twisting madly.

As she watched, the young man’s face split into three distinct forms: human, Maeloon, and dragon. A moment later, the dragon and human parts of him merged and seemed to grow. The Maeloon screamed once more, struggling to injure itself even as Kel’s human/dragon half fought to hold it at bay.

Talia watched the struggle and started to smile, her heart beating fast, as more and more of the body reverted back to Kel and the Maeloon piece got smaller and smaller. As it was crowded toward the original entry wound on Kel’s neck, the wound began to ooze. The ooze soon became a stream and pooled on the floor. From it, a Maeloon began to grow.

It was her turn. She wouldn’t cower away. This was what she came to do. Using the knowledge Clarence gave her, she gathered her feelings for the two of them as well as her need to save them from the abomination before her. Molding these things, she was suddenly encased in golden, shimmering armor. The crystal ball in her hand shifted and changed, covering her hand and then elongating itself into a thin sword. She felt herself fill with strength and purpose.

The Maeloon finished forming and turned, snarling, in Kel and Clarence’s direction. Kel/Clarence held up an arm to try and protect himself, but she could see he was weak and could barely move. She knew if she did nothing, it would kill them since it could not take them. She wouldn’t let it happen.

“You will not have them.” She lunged forward and stabbed the Maeloon through the back. Snarling, it turned on the blade, injuring itself further, pure hatred coming from its maddened eyes.

Talia jumped back, freeing her blade, as the Maeloon swept its talons at her. This thing would not hurt her, this thing would not hurt her friends again. “You will
not
have them.”

The Maeloon jumped. She put one leg behind her, but did not run. As the Maeloon came down, she partially turned, and with a calmness she didn’t know she possessed, cut the Maeloon in half even as he grazed past her, making sparks flare from her armor where it attempted to grab at her face.