Oathen (54 page)

Salvor dismissed Geret’s words with a cynical
shake of his head. “Force of habit. Besides, as you see, there are
no more dragons to be impressed by my charming good looks. More’s
the pity.”

Ahm chuckled at the snort that ripped from
Geret’s nose, but Meena said, “Not true, Salvor.”

Everyone turned to her. She unstrapped the
Tome
and stepped away from it, exhaling in relief as
distance eased its effects. “This room, these tunnels, were created
by the dragons, back in the era when they still lived plentifully
among us: back when magic was thick upon the world.”

Sanych’s eyes played over the hot water pool,
the lava pools across the room, and the dusty depression filled
with pale, powdered rock. Three enormous tunnels were visible in
the hazy distance. One of them glowed brightly with the fervent
heat-ripples of molten lava.

“But there aren’t any more dragons now,” Ahm
said. “There’s not enough magic to sustain them.”

“But there are,” Meena corrected, her eyes
reaching up to the high, orange ceiling. “Because there
is.”

“Oh, Wisdom!” Sanych whispered, taking a step
back in shock, as the pieces of Meena’s yet-to-be-voiced argument
fell into place in her head.

“Stealing my thunder again, Archivist?” Meena
said with a half-smile. “Go ahead. It’s time you relied on each
other, instead of me.”

The others’ eyes turned to Sanych, whose eyes
were locked on Meena.

“Well?” Salvor prompted, crossing his
arms.

Sanych’s mouth opened, and she took a breath
before speaking. “Meena’s always said she needed to bring the
Dire Tome
to the Green Dragon to destroy it. We all thought
she meant the mountain itself. But that’s not what you meant, is
it, Meena?”

Meena shook her head.

“Did you see the carving of dragons swimming
in lava, back in the water chamber?” Sanych asked. When they
nodded, she continued, “Earth magic is most powerful where
volcanoes rise. Surely, here in the volcano’s magic-rich lava, a
dragon could remain alive indefinitely. Meena’s not taking the
Tome
to throw it into the volcano. She’s taking it to the
green dragon that lives
inside
it. Singing a song to save
the world means singing to the dragon.”

Everyone looked at Meena, who nodded once
more, then stepped back to pick up the
Tome
again. “We’d
better get going. I’m not sure how to find the main lava chamber
unless I’m in the Heart of the Dragon.”

“Wait,” Sanych said, catching Meena’s wrist.
“There’s more, isn’t there.” It wasn’t a question.

Meena’s eyes searched Sanych’s.
“Yes.”

“What do you mean?” Ahm asked.

Geret sensed Sanych’s emotions, apparently
managing to deduce the truth as she had. “But…why, Meena? After all
you’ve done?” he asked.

“It’s because of everything I’ve already done
that I must also do this, Geret,” Meena said. “
Halla hablah
‘anna ‘lah
.”

“‘
Beyond death, victory,’“ Geret
translated. “The original expedition’s motto.”

“Its other translations are ‘success through
death’, and ‘die trying’.”

Geret’s brows lowered, and he exchanged a
glance with Sanych, whose lip trembled.

“Can we have the whole conversation out loud,
please?” Salvor asked.

“Meena’s going to die with the
Tome
.”
Sanych’s words were flat.

“No!” Ahm protested, stepping forward and
putting his hands on the Shanallar’s shoulders. “We’ve just found
you. Please, don’t leave us now.”

Meena shrugged off his hands. “I’ve spent most
of my life working to destroy this book right here,” she said,
pointing down. Its wrapping was black and had nearly disintegrated
in places. “I have made it my entire purpose. The one thing I
constantly strived toward, no matter what else I was doing: whom I
killed; whom I saved; which empires I raised or destroyed. I’ve
dedicated my life to finding a way to rid the world of its evil
forever. Now I have that way.”

“But what does that have to do with you
dying?” Sanych asked, her voice plaintive.

“The dragon can destroy the
Tome
. My
long life is a product of the
Tome
. Therefore, it can
destroy me. And I want nothing less.”

“Why?” Ahm asked. “You’ve done so much for the
world; so much more awaits you!”

Meena bit the inside of her lip. “You think
I’m some grand heroine, wandering the world doing good. Well, I’m
not. I’m a tool of my own making. I took this curse of immortality
and turned it against the
Dire Tome
. My long life enabled me
to plan this day, this very day, and execute it. I’ve used you
mercilessly to make today happen—especially you, Sanych—and I make
no apology for that. None whatsoever.

“Don’t you see,” she asked, nearly pleading,
“that in a world without the
Dire Tome
, there is no place
for the selfish tool that destroyed it?”

Sanych’s lip trembled. “But…the
Tome
’s
making you say those things,” she said. “You’ve been carrying it
for a while now, and it’s affecting you.”

“It might be,” Meena agreed, “but that doesn’t
make my words less true. Geret, you asked me our first day out of
Highnave what it was I quested for. I suppose I owe you an answer,
after all we’ve been through: One of my goals is revenge, for
Arisson. The other is, and always was, death. I’ve lived too long,
done too many terrible things. I want there to be a world in which
no one has to fear the evil reach of the
Dire Tome
. But I
also know I have no place in that world. It’s a sacrifice I’m more
than willing to make. And standing around talking isn’t going to
get this book destroyed.”

Sanych threw her arms around Meena and
wept.

“Don’t try to dissuade me, child,” Meena
warned.

“I’m not,” Sanych said between sobs. “I’m just
saying my goodbye now. Once you pick up that book, I might never
get another chance.” She pulled back, wiping her eyes, and saw
Meena pause as if struggling to recall a long-lost detail. Was the
Shanallar fading before her very eyes?

Then Meena smiled and hugged Sanych back.
“You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in many, many years.”
She bent and whispered a secret into Sanych’s ear. “And that’s
enough chatter,” Meena added, stepping away and slinging the
Dire Tome
onto her back. She headed for the tunnel that
glowed with lava-light. “Four hundred years is long
enough.”

The import of Meena’s choice pressed down on
Sanych more strongly anything she’d ever felt; it seemed to weight
her very feet. “Then I’ll
blink
us to the next corner,” she
said, “and the next, until we find the lava pit.”

Safely transported in Sanych’s light, they
flashed past stunning scapes, the likes of which mortal eyes had
not seen in millennia: gloriously fervent fountains of lava; grand,
many-storied hot water pools that poured into one another down
gentle stone slopes; more dragon sculptures. Once they saw a sunlit
cavern that was open to the blindingly blue sky above. Its
brightness made them wince, and Geret quipped that at least the
weather outside was clearing up.

“I’m glad for you,” Meena said; her tone made
it clear she never expected to see the sky again.

Sanych’s eyes welled with tears. Geret
squeezed her hand, sending her his support and
affection.

“Not alone,” he murmured.

Sanych leaned against his arm, wondering at
how quickly she’d accepted the Oathbinding. Even now, she wasn’t
sure if it was love or hardship that drove her to embrace his
presence in her head.

Many
blinks
later, Salvor raised his
sword to mark the wall again, but paused at Meena’s excited
voice.

“There!” she breathed, pointing up a short
tunnel to where a vivid orange glow filled the air. “Come, Sanych;
we’re nearly finished!”

Sanych
blinked
everyone to the end of
the tunnel, where the rush and throb of pure earth magic nearly
overwhelmed her. Her pupils dilated, and she squinted at the sight
before her.

The stone floor fell away near her feet,
revealing a massive, lava-filled pit that dominated the large
chamber. To the right of the tunnel mouth lay a wide, flat area,
large enough to accommodate a few relaxing dragons. A smooth path
of stone ran all the way around the pit in front of them. Several
flat areas had been carved out of the sheer walls below: cozy
perches with close-up views of the bubbling lava. Only one small
island rose above the yellow glops of molten rock. Overhead, the
walls rose, rough and blackened, to form the central cone of the
volcano. The blue sky above was dimmed by wisps of smoke and
ash.

Meena suddenly staggered, nearly falling. When
Ahm tried to steady her, she jerked away. “Get back,” she rasped.
“The
Tome
senses my purpose.”

A groan escaped her, and as the others
watched, horrified, the flesh melted from her arms, then healed
back into place. Meena cried out, panting.

“Meena, what do we do?” Sanych
asked.

“Why I needed you, here at the end,” Meena
grated. Her words blurred as her face burned to ash and regrew
before their eyes. “
Blink
me down to the island, Sanych.
Only you can help me s-sing the song to save the world.” Her body
went into a seizure, and Sanych rushed to her side, bracing herself
for the pain she knew the
Tome
would inflict on
her.

Geret held his arms out to keep his friends
from getting too close to the vicious book, grimacing as he felt
Sanych’s pain.

Sanych and Meena
blinked
.

Sanych’s light stream drilled through the molten lava,
evaporating it at a touch as she searched for the slumbering dragon
Meena believed lived there. The island rose a sheer distance above
the lava’s surface and was slightly concave on top, as if worn down
by untold generations of dragons. Above on the ledge, she sensed
Geret’s worry and wariness. Even with the Oath protecting her, she
felt herself growing faint under the strain of the heat and the
Tome
’s efforts to kill her.

Then, long after Sanych’s skin had begun to
pour sweat, her magic found the dragon’s slumberous form, dark and
featureless in the small circle of light in the lava
below.

“Meena!”

The Shanallar raised her hands to her mouth.
Strange, writhing words flowed out, lilting an otherworldly tune,
echoing down the tunnel Sanych was burning open. Sanych had never
heard their like; they had no relation to Shanallese, or any other
language she had ever encountered.

Long moments passed.

A pair of curved, gleaming horns rose from the
lava—silver-tipped, darkening to a light copper—followed by an
olive-green forehead the size of a wagon, and a pair of bright
silvery eyes that were each larger than Sanych’s head. A great
snout appeared next; the molten rock drained away from the beast’s
skin like water from oiled leather. The creature’s mouth, filled
with pointed white teeth, parted below a pair of sealable nostrils.
The dragon inhaled the superheated, smoky air, and its great
silvery eyes closed as if smelling freshness after a
rainstorm

Sanych cut off the light tunnel in
awe.

The dragon’s head tilted to eye them on the
small rocky island.

Mortals
, he greeted them, his massive
mental voice echoing with surprise in their minds. Sanych
staggered, nearly losing her footing as she craned her neck up to
look at the dragon’s massive head.

Yet
, he corrected himself,
one of
you is not mortal
.

~~~

Above, the three men looked down into the lava
pit. The pain of the intense heat added to the strain on Sanych,
and Geret twitched and staggered, taking part of her pain through
their bond. Salvor caught and steadied him.

“Hold fast, Geret. They’ve found that dragon
after all. She’ll be back soon.”

“With the Oath protecting her, she’s going to
stay with Meena ‘til the end,” Geret said, grimacing.

“That end is closer than you think,” said a
voice behind them. Geret whirled, seeing Oolat step from a
camouflaged doorway into the broad resting area beside the tunnel.
The Hand of Power crossed his arms and raised his chin. “Kill
them!” he called.

Dozens of Enforcers ran past either side of
him, racing toward their prey at the edge of the volcanic pit.
Salvor whipped his sword up, and Geret raised his as
well.

Ahm, however, slapped a hand on both of their
shoulders and shouted, “Follow me!”

Geret spun to see a silvery bridge that arched
all the way across the broad lava pit. He and Salvor pivoted and
bolted onto it, following on Ahm’s heels. The heat and wind was
intense, swirling around Geret and tousling his hair.

Many of the Enforcers raced across after them,
while others began the long journey around the edge of the lava
pit. Oolat shouted something from far behind, though his words were
lost in the rumbling of the lava.