Key of Living Fire (The Sword of the Dragon) (50 page)

A smile crept over Specter’s face as he stepped in a puddle of water and rendered himself invisible. With a growl, the black dragon Valorian dropped from the ceiling. But from the water Specter formed a hand of ice and a scythe to match. He vaulted a house stone and ran toward the cathedral, slowing his pace as he neared and twirling the scythe in his hands. Both of his enemies stood on their feet, unaware of his presence. It had been so long since that awful day. Valorian had been more than a match for him on the ancient field of battle. In those days age had hindered his speed. But now, over a thousand years later, Providence had restored Specter’s youth and bestowed on him these gifts to enhance his abilities. It was time to end this, time to bring the traitor and the perpetrator to a just end.

Auron fell prostrate before Valorian, and the dragon shook its head as it rose. “What sort of trickery be this? Who art thou and how camest thee here?”

“Mighty wizard, it is I, Auron. Over a thousand years have passed since the great battle wherein your master was slain. The world is a new place, but I have come to awaken thee to reap retribution on your enemies. And, if thou art willing, I place myself in thy service.”

The dragon’s body rippled like an uncoiling snake. Its tail lashed dangerously close to Specter, smashing a stone. It gazed around the dark ruins, and its eyes glanced down the steps at Ilfedo and the witch. “If a new world has arisen, then where, pray tell, is my servant the Reaper?”

“Slain, mighty one—”

“What’s this? Slain by whom?” It scraped its claws along the stones.

Rendering himself visible, Specter stepped up to face the dragon and the traitor. “Slain by me, Valorian.”

The creature growled, though a smiling sneer played across its oily face. “Then I welcome thee, Xavion. I welcome thee to thy final hour.” It roared, and the steps of the cathedral cracked. “The white dragon is not here to save thee from me.” Then its wings spread, eclipsing the citadel spires, even as its dark eyes glinted with life restored. “I am!” the creature roared. It seemed to claw the air, walking upon it. It plummeted to the earth. It speared into the stony ground, eagerly digging its way under the stones and into the soil. Its serpentine head buried in the soil; its muscle-ridden arms pulled it as a rodent into its hole.

Dropping to his knees in front of the hole, the traitor cried out, “It is I that has awakened you, mighty wizard. I am humble before you, begging indeed for your favor.”

The key still glowed atop the pedestal, but the pedestal vibrated as if shaken at its base. The stone floor rose and fell beneath Auron, yet the man maintained his kneeling position.

Specter ran toward the pedestal even as the ground rose closer to it. Valorian was going for it. He was going to try to take the key—or maybe destroy it. Destroy it would be more likely. Specter grimaced and pushed his legs to speed. Valorian hated the key. He hated all that it had been, all of the prophet’s power that it represented.

The dragon rose through the stones. A volcano of dirt rose around his head, and Specter saw glee in the dragon’s face as it reached its sharp claws for the key. But its claws glanced off the shield, and the creature growled. “The end, the end, the end for all is near,” the creature hissed. “It is I who comes to destroy you.” It reached yet again for the key.

Specter ascended the steps, stumbled on an upturned stone, and then stood straight beside the pedestal. He sensed the dragon’s hesitation.

“Xavion? Thou desirest to stop me. Ah, at last I can deal with your thorny head—”

Specter chose to ignore the beast. He reached his real hand into the shield. His skin tickled upon contact, and he smiled. Grasping the key, he held it before him. The burning thing was so beautiful, deceptively small. It was the center of such conflict, horrible and far-reaching.

Over the desolation, amid the ancient stonework and broken buildings, Ilfedo subdued the woman. She knelt before him, breaking her staff across her knees. Specter was reminded of a young man on another battlefield. Young Brian broke his white-bladed scimitar. Although, thinking back, it was not in defeat. It was an act of strength and pure intent. Perhaps this young woman’s evil could be stopped by this man of honor. Perhaps he would turn her from corruption to serve the Creator. The Living Fire burned upon Ilfedo’s blade, and he stood tall and strong, a warrior rivaling Specter himself.
No
, Specter told himself,
Ilfedo is stronger than I
.

“Give thou the key to me, Xavion,” Valorian hissed.

The dragon raked its claws forward, and Specter rolled to the side and stabbed his ice blade into the creature’s hand. The dragon roared and swatted him. Specter flew through the air, the wind knocked from his lungs. He held on to the key, all his focus bent on it as he landed in stones and dirt. As dust settled around him, he looked at the dragon. He had not the strength to rise and fight.

The creature formed a cage around Auron with its claws. Black lightning shot from its hand, sizzling along Auron’s body. The traitor screamed with agony and twisted and thrashed against the claws, seeking escape from a destiny he had brought upon himself. Auron’s flesh burned, but the dragon smiled. “Rise anew, my Grim Reaper. From ashes only canst thou be born. Death, Death is now thy name!” Black smoke obscured the traitor from Specter’s eyes, but the dragon pulled away its mighty claws, and the Grim Reaper stepped out of the smoke to kneel before Valorian.

No, this could not happen. Specter ran toward the pair. He would kill Auron. The man must not perpetuate the evil he had begun. “It is time to pay for your sins, Auron.”

Auron faced him, but it was not the man Specter had known. He didn’t even look like the traitor. His face was a blackened skull, and his hands were skeletal. The traitor had become the accursed Reaper.

As a tear formed in Specter’s eye, the traitor floated toward him and crossed his serrated scythe blade with Specter’s ice one.

Valorian roared and leaped to the ceiling. “Awaken now, all my servants. The world shall fall under me. Awaken and serve me!” Dark energy sizzled from the dragon’s claws as it held itself upside down on the cavern ceiling. The energy dispersed to all the bodies suspended above Specter, and one by one, black-scale-clad warriors dropped to the ground and stood with swords in hand.

“Ilfedo,” Specter shouted with all his might, “get out of this place! I will hold them off.”

But Escentra had surrendered, and Ilfedo had spared her. Ordering her to wait for him, he advanced as the dragon’s army awoke, rising with swords and shields. Beyond the lines of scale-clad warriors he glimpsed the Grim Reaper. The evil being swung its scythe at the man who safeguarded the key. It drove back the brave but foolish man. It slashed across his forehead, drawing blood.

The black dragon dropped from the ceiling, taking powerful steps toward the duelists.

The scale-clad warriors flooded towards Ilfedo, and he met them alone. Thrusting at one man, he dropped him to the ground and stole his sword, stabbing it into another. Living Fire danced along the sword of the dragon’s blade, consuming those who drew near. He stood atop the bodies and threw himself into the horde, hacking and cutting his way until bodies padded the ground behind him.

Someone smote him in the back of his leg, and he fell to his knee, turned, and thrust the man through. But the warriors did not heed the danger to themselves. They poured upon him, fearless and unrelenting.

“You blind and vile men, do you think I will be stopped?” Ilfedo frowned and hefted his sword yet again. “I will prevail!” Side to side he wove, upswing, downswing. His sword slew all within his reach.

The dragon’s horde flooded around Ilfedo. Those who did not fall to his sword marched into the city. Escentra screamed, and Ilfedo turned as several warriors drew their swords and veered out of the main army to face her. She picked through a suit of armor laid upon the ground and took a sword. She flailed at the men, but they parried her blows, and one of them smote her with his fist. As the fist landed on her head, her eyes closed and she slumped to the ground.

“Ilfedo, get her out of here!” Specter stared at Ilfedo. The man was standing there, as if split between coming to Specter’s aid or helping the girl. “Fool, can you not see that we will all die here?”

“I will not die,” Ilfedo shouted back. “But you will if I don’t help you.” He struck down another dragon-scale-covered warrior.

Specter screamed his rage, and the anger fed him as he turned against Auron. “I am going to die today,” he said. “But so will you.” The admission of defeat left him strangely free. He pocketed the key as the specter of death approached.

Auron swung his serrated blade, and Specter stepped into it. The blade stabbed his leg below the knee. The pain was great, but he chose to ignore it. He stabbed his ice blade into Auron’s side, released his hold on the weapon, and grabbed the traitor’s neck with his ice hand. He formed the ice around Auron’s skeletal head, and the Reaper’s mouth opened in a silent scream as it dropped the serrated scythe.

Specter’s leg, now bleeding, collapsed under him. He pulled Auron to the ground with him. He had left himself open, and the traitor had fallen into his trap. The ice held the Reaper’s head, though its hands clawed Specter’s back. Specter reached his free hand under the traitor’s tattered cloak and pulled the skeleton arm away from the body, tossing it across the stone landing.

Auron’s remaining hand somehow slipped the key out of Specter’s pocket, but Specter kicked it away. The key flashed with fire, then reappeared under the energy dome atop the pedestal.

Specter glanced at the Reaper’s face. Beneath the ice covering, the face of Auron reformed. The look on his face was one of terror and pain beyond endurance. The man’s eyes froze open, and the body turned to dust in Specter’s hands. Auron the traitor was dead.

At that moment something soothing touched Specter’s leg. He glanced at it only to find Ilfedo leaning over him with the sword of the dragon in his hand. The man’s body blazed with Living Fire, and his face radiated glorious determination. He stood and hefted the body of the young woman over his shoulder with one arm, then stabbed behind his back. Crying out, one of Valorian’s warriors fell beside Ilfedo.