Gold Dragon Codex (10 page)

Something inside the guardian shrieked, the awful sound of metal on metal. A cog flew out of the opening, followed by the twisted end of a spring. The light inside flickered brilliantly, casting rays out through the frame, and the guardian’s outstretched arm shivered in the midst of its punch. The massive stone creature lost its balance, wobbling from side to side with the impetus of its own movement, and finally, the arm toppled, crashing into the floor nearly a foot short of its goal. Kine groaned, staring up at the massive rock figure above him through bleary eyes. It shuddered. It tottered. Arms flopping about and its body crumpling over its legs, the guardian hit the ground and went still.

“Kine!” Sandon pulled himself to his feet and limped over to the soldier. “Are you all right?”

The soldier rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. “I feel like I just got hit by a mountain.”

“Well … you sort of did.” Sandon crouched down beside Kine and pulled the soldier up to a sitting position.

Kine winced, gasping and clutching at his ribs in pain. “Ow,” he grunted. “Go easy, Sandon. I’m not made of putty.”

Sandon helped more gently, pulling Kine over to the stone pillar where the soldier could sit and lean. Placing the soldier’s sword beside him, he gave the grizzly man a smile. “Thanks. That was a really brave thing you did.”

“Don’t mention it, kiddo.” Kine sighed, then clamped his teeth together and closed his eyes. “You were the one who said you wanted to be brave. Did a good job of it too, if you ask me.”

Glowing at the compliment, Sandon looked over his shoulder at the unmoving lump of stone that had been so dangerous just a few moments ago. “What was that thing?”

“Some sort of golem, I think.” Kine eased back against the pillar. “A magical construct. Based on the cogs and gears, I’d say it was built by gnomes.”

“Do you think that dragon’s the same sort of thing? A gnomish machine?”

Kine winced, gripping his side. “Probably. Go take a look at it.”

Sandon choked. “What if it comes to life?”

Matter of factly, the soldier replied, “Then it eats us both.” The smile faded from his face. “I think that if the dragon were going to move, it already would have, what with us running all over the place like rabid squirrels.” He pushed Sandon away gently. “Keep talking to me.
Let me know what you find. I need to take a rest here and get my wind back.” His face was pale, and the hand he kept clamped over his rib cage was white knuckled. With a nod, Sandon rose. He tested his aching leg and found that it would hold. The muscle was bruised, but his bones weren’t broken. He’d have a heck of a blue and purple mark in the morning, but Sandon judged himself to be fine. He wasn’t so sure about Kine.

He walked over to the great gold dragon, circling it warily. Now that he was looking for them, there were several small signs of artificial construction—the even, perfect pattern of the tiny golden scales, the silken texture of the flanges that ran from the creature’s horned forehead down the topmost arch of its neck. The claws had faint creases, like forged blades, and when Sandon squatted down and looked at the shoulder jointing of the massive wings, he could see little cogs and springs set in perfect unison to make the wings flex. “It’s definitely a gnomish construct,” he called out to Kine. “I can see seams where the legs meet the body, and underneath the scaled skin, there’s some sort of smooth frame. There’s a little window here, in its chest. I can see inside!” Sandon ducked down under the gold dragon’s arched neck and peered into the opening. “There’s a chair in there, and a bunch
of levers and stuff! Kine, I think someone used to fly this thing!”

“Gnomes,” Kine sighed. “Ingenious little creatures. It probably has a command word or a magical key or something in order to make it work. They’re all about protecting secrets, those gnomes. Too bad they’re not as concerned about safety.”

“It’s amazing … completely amazing … and that’s … that’s …” A sudden realization hit him. “That’s absolutely horrible.” He pressed his hand to his forehead and shuddered. “That means it’s all been a lie. Everything. The golden dragon protecting this valley for generations. My uncle’s stories about how the dragon’s goodness ‘inspires us all.’ Even the village festivals where they carry candles to the bottom of the mountain—”

“They do that?” Kine perked up, staring at him with interest.

“We’ve been tricked by some … stupid … gnomes.” Sandon ignored him. “Those stories are all a waste of time, and so was my coming up here. This broken old thing can’t help fight Lazuli, and it can’t save my father.” He slunk back to the pillar where Kine was resting and sank onto a padded, dusty bench nearby. “We came all this way for nothing.”

Kine rubbed his chin. “I met my first gnome when I was just about your age.” The soldier drew his sword up off the ground and inspected the blade carefully before shoving it into the scabbard at his side. “They’re completely crazy. Don’t talk about anything but their inventions, and those don’t ever work right. Something about gnomes makes them either forget the details or overreach the specifications. I don’t know, but no matter what kind of crazy thing they build, it’s always got a tragic flaw.” Kine managed a smile. “Sort of made me like ‘em more, to be honest. Not that I’d ever visit one at home.”

“Aren’t you listening?” Sandon looked over at him dully. “My father’s going to die.”

“Not to insult you, Sandon, but that hasn’t changed since this morning. Coming out here didn’t make anything worse.”

“It didn’t make it better either.”

“Trying’s the most important part even if you fail miserably.”

Sandon frowned, looking sideways at the soldier. “I thought Knights of Solamnia were supposed to be a little more cheerful. You know, ‘never say die’ and all that?”

“You’re the one who said I’m a knight. I never claimed to be one.”

“But the sword—”

“Oh, this? I found it on the battlefield when mine broke. Pretty nice sword, so I kept it. I guess you could say that the guy who had it before me didn’t need it anymore.” Kine lifted the sword and looked at the hilt appraisingly. He scraped a fingernail along the edge of the kingfisher. “What kind of bird is this, anyway? Some sort of raven?”

Sandon sighed. Perfect. Not only was Kine not a knight, he stole things off dead knights on the battlefield. This whole adventure was going downhill fast. Out of morbid curiosity, Sandon asked, “What happened to him?”

“Who? Oh, the guy with the sword?” The soldier put the weapon away again, knitting his eyebrows into a single line. “Don’t worry about him, Sandon. People die when they go to war.” Kine’s voice went hard and flat, like winter ice. “For all kinds of reasons.”

Worse and worse. Chills rippled down Sandon’s spine, and it wasn’t just from being in the cool stone cave. Sandon cleared his throat and stood up. “We need to look for another way out of here. There’s no way you’re climbing down.”

“You got that right. Maybe there’s a trail or a staircase or something in the back of the cave,” Kine said.
“I don’t see that the gnomes lived here in the cave, so they must have had a way to get up and down without the dragon construct.”

“I didn’t go that far when the stone guardian was chasing me, but I did see something flashing back there.”

“Flashing?”

“Like a glitter … or a glow.”

“Like that guardian’s magical energy?” Kine asked. “The glow from inside the stone and copper shell?”

“Sort of.” Sandon paused at the thought, but pushed himself on to the back of the cave. Even though the soldier had saved his life by jumping in front of the guardian’s punch, he’d also allowed Sandon to believe he was a Knight of Solamnia. He’d lied. And what had happened to the real knight that day on the battlefield?

Sandon saw it again as he approached the rear of the cave, gently shimmering with a soft, bluish light. “There it is!” Sandon hurried toward it, his wounded leg making him limp across the floor. When he reached it, he found a large, roundish object standing on a dais, the whole covered with a dusty white sheet. Inside the sheet was the blue glow, ebbing and brightening in slow, rhythmic pattern. “It’s covered up,” Sandon called back. “But it doesn’t look like another construct.”

Moving more slowly, Kine followed. He paused to lean against the closest pillar, lips twisted in a sardonic smile. “Don’t worry. If it comes to life and attacks us, I’ll beat it up for you by slamming myself into it, just like the last one.”

Sandon couldn’t help but chuckle. He reached to grip the fabric, twisting his fingers into the weave. “Here goes.”

With a tug, he pulled the dusty sheet free.

eneath the sheet was a strange contraption like nothing Sandon had seen before. The round base looked like Gallia’s largest washing tub turned upside down, but made of gold and brass and bound with odd blue metal. On either side of the raised base were two curved prongs shaped like half circles, arching upward toward one another at the top. They didn’t quite touch there, leaving a gap between them about two feet wide. The center of the big metal prongs was open, like a disk, and slightly translucent. It was like looking into glistening water—Sandon could see objects through the disk when he looked, but they were all blurry and rippled by the effect. Like heat waves radiating upward, ripples lifted from the base and radiated along the length of the prongs, flickering lightly when they reached the open top of the machine.

“This isn’t like the others.” Sandon squatted,
looking more closely at the base. Inside, he could hear the faint whir of cogs and springs, and the crackle of magical energy. “Still gnome made, I think. It sounds like the others.”

“Great. That means it’s flawed,” Kine said.

“Flawed?”

“Like the stone guardians. Remember how they had a weak spot when they lifted their arms?”

“Oh!” Sandon said. “You could see the gears under them.”

“Right. It was easy enough to kill them if you could just hit them in their weak spot. Everything gnomes make is that way—some sort of crazy flaw, or far too easily breakable, or otherwise completely messed up, no matter how well it works otherwise.” Kine crouched beside the boy and peered through the glassy disk. “If I had to guess, I’d say this was a portal. It’s probably how the person who flew that dragon apparatus got up here. It’d be a lot easier than climbing up the cliff.”

“Well, until three or four years ago, when the village was attacked by bandits or there was some threat in the area, my dad would climb to the top of the tower and blow the ancestral horn. It wouldn’t take long before the gold dragon would rise up from the mountains and fly over the valley.” Sandon reached out and touched
the base of the arch. A prickly energy flowed beneath his fingers. “They wouldn’t have had more than a few minutes to get up here, so there’s no way they could have traveled the way we did.”

“Well, if this got them here, I’m willing to believe it got them out too.” Kine straightened gingerly and shifted the weight of the sword at his belt. “I’m going to go first. You follow me after a count of fifty.” The soldier furrowed his brow. “Whoever’s on the other side won’t be happy to see unexpected visitors, so be ready for a fight.”

“Yeah, well, they’ve abandoned the barony. I don’t care if it’s because there’s a real dragon here now and they’re afraid of Lazuli. It’s not all right, the way they vanished when we needed them.”

Straightening, Kine nodded. “Well, you’ll get your chance to tell them that in just a minute. Remember, count first. Then follow.”

“Got it.”

Kine drew his sword again, hand clamping over the symbols on the hilt. He held it out in front of him and stepped into the circular area between the two big prongs. Like stepping into water, his body pierced the rippling area and was surrounded by crackling energy. The light radiated from the soldier’s form, completely obscuring
him. Then, with a bright flash, the light died, leaving sparks flashing in Sandon’s eyes and smoke rising from the base. Flawed? More like barely working! Blinking and rubbing his eyes, Sandon looked around, glancing to both sides of the portal. Kine was gone.

Either the portal worked, Sandon thought to himself, or Kine just got disintegrated.