Dimwater's Dragon (22 page)

The laugh returned. Leatherback snapped toward the direction of the laugh and blew another great wave of fire into the forest. Now the fire rose all around them, casting the nest in an orange glow of death as thick smoke rose over the nest and blotted out the stars.

Kyra tried to stand, but the sharp pain shooting through her left leg brought her down in terrible agony. Something flew in from the side and Leatherback snarled as his whole body jolted. Kyra looked up, but she could not see what it was that was attacking her friend. The dragon danced and stamped around her snarling and hissing as his tail flailed about and fire spewed from his mouth. He swung with his forelegs and there were screams and shrieks all around her.

Then there was a crash to her left, she looked up to see a great winged beast with the face of a bat, but much larger than a man. It growled at her to reveal fangs sharp and long. It fanned its wings and let out a shriek that nearly ripped her ears apart. She covered her ears and cried out. She could not concentrate or think of anything else but the sound. She was effectively paralyzed, and it seemed this time that Leatherback was too consumed fighting off other creatures to have noticed the one that approached Kyra now.

The shriek grew louder and louder as the beast ran toward her. It leapt up and glided the remaining ten feet between them and dropped down on her with tremendous force. There were talons on its feet that now dug into her legs, piercing through the leather armor pants and crushing her thighs. She called out for help, but none came. The beast came down fast, seizing each of her arms and digging with its claws deep into her wrists. The screeching stopped and she looked up to see blood crazed eyes that shone red the firelight. The gaping snout hovered over her face, the nostrils flaring as it caught the scent of her blood. The wings wrapped around them, closing her in darkness and then there was a flash of his fangs as he opened his mouth and began to lurch downward toward her neck.

Just as she felt the hot, moist breath upon her skin the beast was ripped away from her. Her body jolted as its claws and talons disengaged from her body and she just barely caught sight of the giant bat creature flailing and clawing at Leatherback’s snout before Leatherback flipped him out from under the dragon and then blasted him to smithereens in a wave of fire. All of the shrieking around her was gone and the dragon roared triumphantly.

“That was impressive,” the shade commented. “Let’s see how he does with me.”

“Over there!” Kyra shouted when she caught sight of the shade off to her left. He held a great, gleaming scimitar in his hands and was walking calmly toward them.

“No, over here,” the shade called out from the right. Kyra turned around and saw another two forms, each identical to the first and understood that he was using illusions.

“Kill them all!” Kyra shrieked.

Leatherback launched a furious assault. He drenched three of the forms in fire and used his tail to blast another two. He snatched out with his claws, seizing the shade in his grasp and bringing him up to his mouth, but the shade vanished into nothingness before he could finish it. Kyra was unable to tell which one was the real shade. With focus born out of desperation she was finally able to summon another javelin of flame and she sent it flying toward the closest shade. The javelin pierced through his chest and the form disappeared, turning into vapor.

For every one the duo destroyed, three more appeared. What was worse, was that each illusion seemed capable of casting spells. One of them threw a fireball at Kyra that blasted her in the side, disintegrating her robes and leather armor and blackening the feather mail beneath. In answer she sent a fire javelin at him just as Leatherback snapped down with his great sharp teeth. The shade turned into vapor as had each of the others they managed to strike down up to this point.

Soon they were surrounded by more than one hundred shades, each of them launching spells and pummeling Leatherback with a barrage of assaults.

A great spray of blood erupted over the rocks near Kyra and she looked up to see jagged scales falling from Leatherback’s left foreleg and an open gash over his unprotected skin. She knew she had to do something. She couldn’t stand, so she crawled to get closer to the fight. She summoned the same whirlwind she had used on the wraith, trying to direct it and whisk away the illusions. It worked on a few, but then the other shades were able to counter the spell and they turned it back on Kyra. The tornado flew at her with tremendous force and power. It snaked beneath Leatherback and picked Kyra up and slammed her into Leatherback’s belly and then dropped her back down to the rocks below. When she fell, her head cracked against a boulder and she heard a loud ringing sound. Her vision began to fade and her breathing slowed. It took great effort to reach her hand up toward her head but when she finally managed to touch the spot that had hit the rock, all she felt was a great amount of warm liquid that smelled slightly of iron.

Leatherback’s knees buckled above her. His hind legs failed and dropped and he roared in pain as his front legs quaked. He only barely managed to catch himself before crushing Kyra beneath him. His roars grew more and more frantic. There were too many enemies. Kyra tried to whisper an apology, but she had not the strength to make the words.

A great force shook the earth around them and a mighty thunder ripped the air apart over the nest. In her fading consciousness, Kyra was certain this was the end. The shade had tired of toying with them, and would now devour them both.

A mighty wind rushed into the nest, carrying with it the flames from the forest. Mighty screams rose from the battle and it took some time for Kyra to realize that it was not Leatherback who was screaming. It was the shade.

Golden light swirled around Leatherback’s feet and created a large shell over Kyra and her dragon. The shell protected them from all the spells that the shades threw at them, but also dampened the sound as if the battlefield was now far away from them. Kyra rolled over and just before the darkness closed in on her vision she saw a thin man with a long, gray beard walking through the nest, vaporizing the illusions as he made his way toward a single image of the shade and pummeled it relentlessly with great bouts of lightning.

Her body went numb and her head fell to the ground.

Kyra awoke in her bed and startled when she saw several men hovering over her. Their hands weaved and danced over her body methodically as the men chanted in unison over her. She moved her head and looked at the nearest one. He was a red haired man with large faded freckles covering his cheeks. He didn’t take any notice of her as he continued to work.

“She’s awake,” one of them said suddenly.

“Move, move! Move away I said!” Cyrus bellowed. The men stepped back from her and the old wizard rushed up to the side of her bed and leaned down toward her face. His fierce, unflinching eyes bored down into hers as he studied her with a somber expression. He placed a thumb on her forehead and held it there for several seconds before moving his palm to cover her eyes. “Mhm, she’s fine. Everyone out. Go tell the headmaster that I will bring her shortly. Have the tribunal prepared.”

Kyra heard many footsteps leaving her room and the door closing behind them. Cyrus pulled his hand away from her face and held it out for her. She took it and started to rise as Cyrus scooped his other hand behind her back to prop her up.

She was awake, but not fully aware of where she was. She knew she was in her room, but she had no recollection of how she got there. Worse than that, she had no idea what had happened to Leatherback. All she knew for certain was that Cyrus was the last thing she had seen before she had lost consciousness.

“Your friend is safe, if that is what you are wondering,” Cyrus said.

Kyra looked around her room as if somehow expecting the giant dragon to be curled up in a corner somewhere. “Where is he?”

“I sent him home,” Cyrus said.

Home? What could Cyrus know about Leatherback’s home? He had never been there. “Where is he?” Kyra pressed.

Cyrus shook his head and waved a finger in the air. “It took some doing to convince him to let me take you,” Cyrus said. “Once I persuaded him to believe that I would help you, I told him to go home. I told him that when you are better you would come back, that he should wait for you at home. He watched you for a long time and waited until I had created a portal to bring you back here before he finally leapt into the air. He was flying south from the mountain, but that is all I know. I assume you know where he is?”

Kyra nodded. “Who else knows?”

Cyrus smiled slyly and sat down on the bed next to her as he folded his arms and reached up with his right hand to place one finger alongside his right nostril. “As far as Kuldiga Academy is concerned, you went out to a secluded place to study. You were there reading the book that I had assigned to you, and then you were attacked by the shade and did your best to defend yourself and fight it.”

“And everybody believes that?”

Cyrus smiled wider and nodded his head. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of tying it with the strange events that happened at your home. They were more than willing to believe that the same creature that had invaded your home was still wandering about the countryside. Given the time that has passed between the attack at your home and the fight you had near the mountain, it is extremely plausible the shade had moved to that area. Also, I told them that that was where you went when you got frustrated, or needed to be alone and reflect on things. So I let them draw the conclusion that perhaps the shade was a creature of opportunity and saw an easy fight in a single apprentice alone in the woods.”

Kyra nodded and asked one more question. “How did you know to find me?”

Cyrus’ eyebrows shot up and he took in a deep breath as he nodded slowly. “Let’s just say when I saw a large fire rolling up the mountainside, I had a feeling you might be involved. Given the fact that I have instructed you not to practice your spells on trees, I knew that if it was you, you were in serious trouble. I know you are anxious to find the shade, and I had suspected that you might try and find him on your own. I must say that I share a great portion of the blame for what has happened. I am hoping we can put that behind us and move forward from here.” Kyra nodded in agreement and the two were silent for a few moments before Cyrus said, “The other apprentices are busy spreading another rumor about you.”

Kyra looked up, a puzzled expression on her face.

Cyrus smiled slyly. “Let’s just say I don’t think any of them are anxious to pester you anymore now that you have gone toe to toe with a shade and lived.”

The two of them shared a laugh.

“What do you intend to do with Leatherback?” Kyra asked suddenly.

“So he has a name,” Cyrus commented. The wizard offered a close lipped smile and shrugged. “Keep him out of sight, and let’s see if perhaps we can train him a little better. His fighting style was lacking, if you know what I mean.”

“Will you tell the headmaster?” Kyra asked.

Cyrus shook his head. “No, but there is going to be a tribunal and you are expected to attend. As fortune would have it, or perhaps as misfortune would have it in this case, there are three priests from Valtuu Temple here. There are also several dragon slayers with them. I think it would be wise to make sure Leatherback, as you called him, stays hidden so long as they are here.”

“The priests came to investigate what happened with Kathair,” Kyra said.

Cyrus nodded. “That’s why they came, but they have stayed for you. I can’t tell you any more than that, other than to say you have been unconscious for a little over a week. They are anxious to speak with you.”

Kyra’s eyes went wide and she glanced to the center of the room. “Leatherback is going to be worried,” she said. “I have to get to him.” She moved to swing her legs out over the bed, but stopped when a shooting pain stabbed up from her ankle to her hip. Then she remembered she had broken her left ankle.

“Keep still. You need your rest.”

“I have to go, if I do not tell him that I am okay, he will come looking for me. If the dragon slayers were to find him, I fear for his safety.”

Cyrus sighed and pushed off from the bed. “The last time I held you back, I had to rescue you from the shade. This time I’m going to help you, on the condition that you do exactly as I say and return here before the hour is out. Are we agreed?”

Kyra nodded emphatically. “Can you help me get to him?”

Cyrus pulled several strips of sturdy, thin wood from the folds of his robe. From another pocket he pulled a long roll of gauze. “I had a feeling that when you woke the first thing you would want to do would be to go back to him. I can place a splint on your ankle, and then cast a spell that will numb the pain for a short time. Do try not to walk on it. Try to hop as much as you can.” Cyrus reached under the bed and pulled out a cane made of alderwood and set it next to Kyra. “This will help you maintain your balance.”

Cyrus braced her ankle in the splint and then cast a spell to numb her leg. He then cautioned her again to be back as quickly as she could. Then he moved to the door, locked it, and exited the room.

Kyra rose gently at first until she knew for sure that the numbing spell had worked. Despite not feeling any pain, she did as Cyrus instructed her and tried to keep off of her left foot. She cast the spell to open the portal and then went through.

Leatherback nearly jumped like a puppy when he saw her come through the portal. He bent his head down low and stopped just short of nuzzling her when his eyes saw her limping hop. He inspected the splint that was tied onto her leg sniffed it.

“I’m alright,” Kyra said. “I can’t stay long, but are you okay?”

Leatherback smiled and with a twinkle in his eye he said, “I am okay, dragon friend.”

“You can talk! I mean, you spoke to me before, but now you are using sentences. This is incredible!”

From around the other side, Njar approached her and came into view. “He has made a good deal of progress in your absence,” the satyr said dryly. “What you did was extremely foolish.” The satyr walked up to her with a harsh look in his eye. Kyra shrank back away from him, and even Leatherback retreated a few steps.

“You don’t understand,” Kyra started.

The satyr chief cut her off and stopped just inches short of her face so that she could smell his warm, moist breath. “No, it is you who does not understand. That much was evident when you decided to attack a shade. If it was a creature that I thought you could defeat, I would not have made you run from it before. A creature of such power is not to be trifled with. Even I avoid them unless I am forced to confront them.”

“That shade killed my mother,” Kyra said. “What I did was foolish, but it will not happen again.”

The satyr’s expression did not soften. He folded his arms and studied her for quite a few moments before he spoke again. Kyra expected him to continue chiding her for foolish behavior, but what he said next was most unexpected. “I have been able to catch a glimpse of your future,” he said. “What you did with the shade was extremely foolish, and I am not sure how you survived, because Leatherback will not tell me everything that happened, but what I do know is that Leatherback does not suffer from the curse. More surprising than that, is that in the glimpses of the future that I saw of you and him together, you were riding upon his back and chasing demons. I’m not saying that the curse will never come to him, but I do believe now that you may just have enough of a chance to save him. Maybe you will fly north and find freedom for both of you. If that is a possibility within the grand designs of fate, then I will help you do that.”

Kyra looked at him incredulously. “You have changed,” she commented.

The satyr smiled warmly for the first time since she had seen him again. “I still seek balance,” he said. “But now I see that helping the two of you will ensure balance for this realm. If the two of you perform the things that I saw in the visions, then you will do much to protect the balance. You have me as an ally. Go back, rest your leg and heal. I will watch over Leatherback until your return.”

Kyra hopped toward Leatherback and the dragon moved his head and softly nuzzled her right side, careful not to knock her off balance. Kyra reached out with her right arm and hugged him as best she could and placed a small kiss on the top of his head. When she pulled back she realized that there was a new color in the dragon’s eyes. They were no longer dominated by the gold with green flecks she had seen before. The gold was still there, but it was a thin rim around a wide iris of sky-blue.

“His eyes have changed,” Kyra noted.

“Apparently the magic of the glade and the spells that I have used to accelerate his maturity, have had some effect on him.” The satyr chief smiled and shrugged sheepishly. “When he began speaking more than just the odd word here and there, his eyes changed and they have started to take on the color that you now see.”

“I thought you said there would be no side effects,” Kyra said.

“Then I am twice wrong,” Njar said. “For apparently there is a minor side effect, and you do have a chance to protect him from the curse. All things considered, these are not such terrible things to have been incorrect about.”

*****

Cyrus sat at the stone table in the cave and waited for the warlock to approach. This time he saw two others, dressed in the same robes and wearing the same golden amulet, they remained by the open door and did not come any closer.

“You were supposed to control the girl,” the warlock said as he sat opposite Cyrus.

“I misjudged her tenacity, but that will not happen again.” Cyrus took in a breath and folded his arms. “Severin has fled.”

The warlock slammed his fist on the table. “Of course he has fled!” The warlock lifted a hand and pointed a finger at Cyrus. “You let the girl tip him off. When you stormed in to save her, he knew that he had been discovered. He has turned to hiding, and even we cannot scry his location.”

“Have a little more faith,” Cyrus said. “He will resurface again, for he does not have the dagger.”

“How can you possibly know that?” the warlock hissed.

Cyrus sneered wickedly. “Because the shade was still looking for it.”

The warlock reached up and pulled his hood back to reveal a face of sharp angular features. A long, thin pointed nose sat between prominent cheekbones over a narrow mouth. The thin lips stretched into a smile and the warlock’s eyes seemed to sparkle. “Then finish it, Cyrus. Find him and kill him.”

Cyrus nodded. “I will. I have no doubt that I will be able to find him again. I have come to warn you, but Kyra is more powerful than you had first thought. There is a tribunal at the academy. I was invited to give my testimony of what happened, but I am not to be there when she receives her final judgment. You should be aware that there are priests from Valtuu Temple. They will be able to see what she is.”

The warlock reached up and stroked his pointy chin. If they expel her, it would be easy to bring her into our fold. Then again, if the priests were to condemn her, that might complicate things.”

Cyrus nodded his agreement. “If she were condemned, then she would be exiled. She would become hunted.”

“Your task remains the same nevertheless,” the warlock asserted. “Find Severin and kill him. If the girl is allowed to stay, then forge her into an ally for us. If she is exiled, then either ensure she will go so far away as to never interfere with us, or kill her.”