The Hearts of Dragons (27 page)

Minawë’s eyes flicked to
Iren and Rondel. Their fight hadn’t started yet; they were still circling each
other. She needed to stop them, but as long as Hana was here, she couldn’t.

There was no point in
hesitating. Minawë drew back the Chloryoblaka, and the bow created its own
arrow. The shot struck Hana between her nose and upper lip.

The arrow splintered on
impact. Its remnants clattered to the ground. Hana smirked, unharmed. “Is that
it?” she asked.

Minawë readied to shoot
again, but then the ground rumbled. Two walls of stone rose on either side of
her. She jumped back just before they slammed together. The impact shattered
the blocks, and shrapnel flew in every direction. Minawë shielded her face, but
she still received cuts on her arms and legs.

Rock shards struck Hana
too, but the Maantec didn’t flinch or even blink. The pieces bounced off her.

Minawë couldn’t
understand it. Hana wasn’t wearing armor. She couldn’t take all those hits, not
to mention the arrow from earlier, without injury.

Incensed, Minawë pulled
back the Chloryoblaka and loosed three arrows in quick succession. Hana
remained motionless, and once again the arrows snapped when they struck her.

“How many arrows can
that thing make?” Hana asked. “Why don’t you shoot them all now and be done
with it? I’ll stand here and let you attack.”

Minawë grabbed the
bowstring, but then she thought better of it. Hana wanted to drag out their
battle to keep Minawë from intervening with Rondel and Iren. The first four
arrows hadn’t worked. The rest wouldn’t either.

A sinking feeling grew
in Minawë’s stomach. Maybe she couldn’t win. After all, even Rondel had failed
to wound Hana. Attacking at full strength had only resulted in her mother
breaking her hand and dagger against Hana’s stone armor.

In this fight, though,
Hana didn’t have stone wrapped around her. She just stood there, barefoot, with
that arrogant smirk on her face.

Then Minawë understood.
Hana was wearing armor—her skin. With her feet in contact with the ground, Hana
was using magic to draw the rock’s strength into her body. She’d hardened
herself to the point that nothing could wound her, not even an arrow.

That defense had to have
a weakness. If Hana were truly invulnerable, she would have invaded Ziorsecth
and wiped out the Kodamas long ago.

Still, the armor was
formidable. Worse, Minawë didn’t have the magic of Ziorsecth or Aokigahara to
support her.

Perhaps, though, there
was more power here than appearances suggested. Grasses and shrubs filled the
plain where they stood, and farther up the hills, scraggly pines and hardwoods
grew. None of them had much magic, but if Minawë could combine them, she might
have a chance.

“Yoo-hoo!” Hana called. “Come
up with any ideas yet? Well, don’t expect me to wait. I get impatient.” The
three pebbles floating in front of Hana lifted another foot in the air. “You
shot me,” she said. “It’s only fair that I get to shoot you.”

Faster than any arrow,
the stones crossed the distance between Minawë and Hana. Minawë leapt and
avoided the pebbles by inches. On instinct she shot another useless arrow, but
Hana wasn’t even looking at her anymore. The Maantec’s eyes focused past
Minawë, who had the good sense to look behind her. The stones were coming back.

She dove aside a second
time, but the rocks seemed ready for her moves. They circled in midair. Minawë
readied to dodge again, but as she was about to jump, pain filled her right
arm. A fourth stone, trailing blood, flashed into her line of sight before
starting its own return arc.

Minawë fled, zigzagging
to avoid the rocks. Hana laughed and increased the number of pebbles to ten.
Minawë cursed. The stone that had struck her had only landed a glancing blow.
If one hit her directly, it would pierce her body even worse than an arrow
would.

She had only one hope of
survival, let alone victory. She dropped to her knees and placed her palm on
the ground. Her magic radiated out and tapped into the nearby plants. Under her
direction, they knit their roots together so they linked up like the shared
roots of Ziorsecth.

Hana’s pebbles converged
for a final strike, but as they neared, Minawë didn’t leap out of the way.
Instead, she held firm and commanded the plants in their strange language,
“Protect me!”

Vines sprouted around
her, and from them ten leaves unfolded. Each appeared in front of a pebble so
that it caught and held the stone in its grasp. The leaves twisted, bent, and
pushed against the stones. At last the rocks dropped to the ground, their
momentum spent.

Minawë looked at Hana
and mimicked the Maantec’s smirk. “I should thank you,” she said. “Because of
you, I figured out how to win this battle.”

Still kneeling on the
ground, Minawë unlaced her boots and removed them. She stood up, barefoot like
Hana.

“What, you’re going to
throw your shoes at me?” Hana asked.

Minawë didn’t bother
replying. She had to concentrate for the next part of her plan. She sent magic
through her feet into the soil and called to the plants she had connected.
Their roots wrapped themselves around her legs.

As if lightning had
struck her, a surge of energy ripped through Minawë’s body. The plants’ power
was incredible. Even when Minawë had drawn magic from the plants in Aokigahara,
it was nothing like this. Though smaller than Aokigahara’s trees, these plants
had a hardiness that gave them unexpected strength.

They were also far more
numerous. The circle of plants Minawë had connected was wider than what she’d
used against Azar. It was almost overwhelming.

Minawë looked across the
expanse between her and Hana. More than a hundred feet separated them, but the
distance mattered little. Minawë’s circle extended well beyond Hana. She
wouldn’t have to get close to the Stone Dragon Knight to attack her. She
wouldn’t even have to move.

Minawë half-smiled.
Considering the way Hana had fought up until now, Minawë’s strategy had an
irony to it.

She melded her magic
with the energy surging through her from the plants. Rather than speak, she
relayed her instructions as pictures, and the plants changed to reflect her
desire.

In front of her, a knee-high
shrub grew in seconds to a giant maple. It barreled toward Hana. The Maantec
blinked twice in astonishment, but otherwise she remained motionless.

Then the maple smashed
into her. It swung with its largest branch and caught Hana in the stomach. For
the first time, the Stone Dragon Knight stepped backward.

Now Minawë understood
why Hana had added another layer of stone when she’d fought Rondel. Hana’s
hardened skin was tough, but it wasn’t invincible. A powerful strike could
break it, and if that happened, Hana would have no time to recover before the
blow landed.

The tree raised a second
limb to strike again, but this time Hana ducked low and avoided it. She placed
a hand on the ground.

Energy pulsed through
Minawë’s feet. It felt different from the plants, and Minawë realized it was
Hana’s magic.

The plants near Hana
were tugged upward. She probably wanted to raise a rock shield for extra
protection. Minawë put her own magic into strengthening the plants’ roots. She
pictured them thick and vibrant, gripping the soil and holding it in place.

For a moment her magic
and Hana’s clashed in the ground, invisible to anyone observing. The pair of
them were motionless, yet their wills dueled against each other.

Distance determined the
outcome. Hana was closer to what she was manipulating, so her magic triumphed.
The plants’ roots ripped apart as the rock around Hana launched itself up. It
surrounded her in a stone cocoon.

Minawë put a hand to her
chest. The pain was immense. It felt like her own limbs had been ripped off
when the plants died. She recalled the time, shortly after she’d become the
Forest Dragon Knight, when she’d sensed a cougar kill a deer. When something
died that she was connected to, she felt that death as if it were her own.

Recovering, Minawë
directed her efforts back to her maple tree. It swung two limbs into Hana’s
rock shield. The shield pushed forward at the same time. Wood and stone slammed
together, and their combined might shattered both. Splinters, rock shards, and
dirt erupted over the battlefield. The debris engulfed Iren and Rondel.

As it did, Iren lunged.
He had taken advantage of the distraction to attack Rondel. Their battle had begun.

It wouldn’t last long.
With their speed, the winner could be decided any second. Minawë needed to end
this fight now. She poured energy into the plants and created a tangle of vines
each thicker than her calf. She would use them the same way she had against
Azar. Hana’s armor wouldn’t survive such a crushing force.

But Hana was ready for
her. Minawë felt the Stone Dragon Knight’s magic through the ground again as
Hana raised dozens of rocks and sent them to crush the vines. The plants
retaliated by smashing the stones into dust. It all happened without either
woman moving at all.

Amid the barrage, Hana
counterattacked. A hailstorm of pebbles converged on Minawë from every
direction.

The assault didn’t worry
her. Minawë had given the plants closest to her standing orders to protect her
in whatever way they needed. She was momentarily surprised when a tree sprouted
beside her and deflected the stones, but then she refocused on her attack.

Seconds passed, then
minutes. The battle was going nowhere. Minawë gritted her teeth. She and Hana
were evenly matched, each with defenses too flawless for the other to breach.
Both stood as motionless as they had throughout the fight, yet all around them
the ground had churned into fine sand as their magics clashed.

Then Minawë felt her
heart stop. A glint of metal reflected in the sky. Rondel’s dagger arced
through the air and landed on the ground.

Minawë screamed. She was
about to lose her mother a second time.

Rondel, however, ducked
Iren’s beheading strike and placed her hands on Iren’s chest. Minawë couldn’t
tell what Rondel did, but Iren’s body shook like a just-caught fish and then
flopped to the ground, unmoving.

“No!” Minawë cried. She
tapped into the grasses beneath Iren. She could feel him breathing. He was
alive.

He wouldn’t be for long.
Rondel retrieved her dagger and walked back to him.

Minawë had no idea what
to do. She wanted to stop them. She had to stop them. “Stop,” she murmured as
Rondel raised the Liryometa. “Stop,” she repeated, louder as the dagger fell.

“Stop!” The ground shook
with the word.

Rondel paused, her blade
an inch from Iren’s neck. The old Maantec retreated from her attack and glanced
around in concern. Minawë shifted her gaze to Hana, thinking the vibrations
were some trick of hers.

But the Stone Dragon
Knight looked as surprised as Minawë. Whatever this magic was, no one on the
battlefield was creating it.

Then Minawë dropped to
one knee. Her strength plummeted. Her breath came in gasps. Her vision tunneled,
and she threw up. She didn’t understand. Magic poured out of her, but she
hadn’t ordered the plants to do anything.

The tremors increased.
Finally, like a great beast ripping free of the earth, a swarm of vines erupted
from the plain. Five ensnared Rondel, restraining each of her limbs as well as
her neck. Others wrapped around Iren and covered his body in a shield of plant
life.

In a flash, Minawë
realized what had happened. She had given the plants an order: “Stop.” Stop
Rondel from killing Iren.

Now that Minawë knew the
devastation was her own doing, she felt more in control. She was exhausted, but
maybe, just maybe, she could last long enough to finish this battle.

She couldn’t kill Hana.
The Maantec’s armor wasn’t invincible, but it was stronger than what Minawë
could throw at it.

Fortunately, she didn’t
have to kill Hana to get what she wanted. With a grim smile, Minawë sent all
the vines not holding Iren or Rondel against the Stone Dragon Knight. Hana
raised new rock walls around herself, as Minawë had expected. Instead of
attacking the shields, she directed the vines to wrap around them. She then had
the plants rise as high in the air as they could so that Hana, stone barrier
and all, separated from the ground.

As Hana’s cocoon floated
higher, a long-hafted war hammer fell. It was the Maantec’s Ryokaiten.
Throughout the battle, she had kept it underground, her foot in contact with it
at all times.

Without her connection
to the Stone Dragon, Hana had only her own magical reserves to draw from. She could
attack or block, but she couldn’t do both. Minawë knew as much from her
experience with the plants. During the fight, she had combined her magic with
those of the Forest Dragon and the plants themselves. It took all of them
together to maintain the constant blend of offense and defense.

Hana sensibly settled
for defense. The rock attacks against Minawë stopped.

Minawë was almost out of
magic. She was furious that she couldn’t defeat Hana, but helping Iren and
Rondel was more important. They had to escape before more Maantecs showed up.

Severing her connection
with the plants’ roots, Minawë threw on her shoes and ran to Iren and Rondel.
When she reached them, she saw that her vines, in their mindless zeal to carry
out her orders, had squeezed Rondel to the point where the old woman had lost
consciousness. Fortunately, though, they had left her alive.

Minawë released the
magic controlling the vines and let them settle back into the ground.
Retrieving the Muryozaki, she slid it into Iren’s sheath. She knelt and heaved
both Iren and Rondel onto her back.