Silver Dragon (17 page)

Alto snorted. "How can a dragon be feeble?"

"Troof!"
Thork clapped his hand over his heart to emphasize his point. "Her been around more than hunnerds of years. Hunnerds and hunnerds and hunnerds. More dan Thork can count!"

"Two is more than you can count!" Alto reminded him.

Thork shook his head. "Nope! Thork can count to twenty-one, him just has to get nekkid to do it."

Alto closed his eyes and turned away. The troll was disgusting and infuriating, but he needed him. He turned back. "Fine, tell me more. What must I do?"

"Well, dragons know when dey is supposed to die."

"Die? Not get bashed?" Alto interrupted.

"No stupid, getting bashed is when someone else makes yous dead. Dying is when you just doesn't live no more."

Alto blinked at the troll's explanation. It made sense, even if it frustrated him to admit it. "Okay, so dragons know how long they'll live if nothing stops them from living that long."

"Troof! Now Sarya is old, her been around and tried running da show around here once before."

"What? So is it true that she's the dragon that Sir Gareth fought three hundred years past?"

Thork nodded. "Him couldn't bash her, but it was close. Took her years to rest up. Den she started gathering her forces again, but dis time she was fearing for her life."

"How do you know all this?"

"You just gots to listen to fings and put em together," Thork said. "So her was fearing for her life and her knew dat her wasn't gonna live forever. At least not da way she was."

Alto stiffened. "You're telling me something, aren't you?"

The troll grinned. "All da silver in da mountains Sarya's been digging up, dat's part of her plan."

"Her plan to live forever?" Alto guessed.

Thork struck the rock he was sitting on with his fist. "Yous isn't as much of a dumb dumb as Thork thought!"

"How is silver going to help her?" Alto asked. He gasped as he remembered Beck and the knights. "Knights of the Silver Dragon! They're involved in this
, too!"

Thork cackled. "Yeppers! Silver can take a lot of mojo in it. It's stronger dan gold but
dere's enough of it dat her can get it shaped da way she wants."

"Shaped?"

Thork nodded and grinned, waiting for Alto to continue thinking out loud.

"Silver dragon," he muttered out loud. He looked up at the troll. "She means to make a magical silver dragon?"

"She is gonna be da silver dragon!" Thork clapped his hands together. "Fizzuldork and dem knights is gonna use magic to put her soul in da construct."

"Construct?"

"Dats what dese fings is called," Thork explained. "Statues dat can move is called constructs. Prolly because dem is constructed, yous get it?"

Alto nodded.

"So dat's da plan!" Thork said.

Alto nodded his head as he digested it. It seemed amazing and impossible, but it finally made sense. In an outlandish and magical way, at least. He turned back to the troll. "Okay, so how do I kill her?"

"Yous still fink yous can do dat?"

"I do, but before she becomes this silver dragon construct thing."

"Dats using yous noggin!" Thork praised him. "Even old and feeble and not able to fly, Sarya is still tough as da mountains."

"You blew up a mountain for me," Alto reminded him.

Thork laughed. "Thork never said it couldn't be done, just dat it was tough. Yous gots to get to her when she's weakest and den yous gots to bash her. Yous gonna need a sword for dat."

"I have a sword."

Thork frowned. "No, dat's not da right sword. Maybe for a stupid like dat knight, but not for yous. Yous should give dat one to me. It's not good for yous."

Alto frowned. "It's been working very good for me."

Thork shrugged. "Fink about it. But yous gots to get a new one if yous wants to bash Sarya."

"Okay, what do I need to do?"

"Yous gots to earn it," Thork said with a grin.

Alto caught himself with his hand on a rock as his knees threatened to buckle. He shook his head but couldn't rid himself of the memory of his father telling him that he couldn't have his father's sword
; he had to earn his own. "What do you mean?" Alto asked in a subdued voice.

"Well, we need a bunch of fings," Thork said. "Yous gonna need some of da bestest steel dese mountains ever seen and a smif dat can forge it. Den yous gonna need mojo. Lots of it, and
dat's not just me talking. Thork can do the shaping but if Thork uses his magic den its gonna be a weapon of fear, not a weapon dat's linked to yous. Den dere's da part about all da blood."

"A weapon of fear? Linked to me? What's that mean
?"

"Thork is shaman. Dat means my mojo comes from Jarook and him's all about scaring the pants off of stupids.
Dis sword has to be part of yous, not a weapon of fear. So it's gonna need a wizard to put mojo into it, then Thork can connect dat mojo with yous."

"Connect it with me? How?"

Thork sucked on one of his tusk-like canine teeth for a moment before he said in a rush, "Dats where da blood comes in."

"Wait, I'm sorry. Blood?"

Thork nodded. "To slake da blade. It's got to be yous blood. Dat and da magic will bind it to yous soul."

"That's a lot of blood," Alto said.

Thork nodded. "More den yous has."

"Uh," Alto stumbled, not understanding how this process was supposed to work. Unless he meant to do something like Sarya was doing and put himself into the sword. That wouldn't work
; he could be a weapon for the rest of his life. Or forever, since he didn't know how long he'd be able to live as a sword.

"Thork gonna have to bleed you out good, but den yous drink a potion like yous done before, dat heal you up and yous make more blood. Den Thork drain you again."

"Sounds painful."

Thork nodded. "Yep! More pain den yous ever felt. It's gonna suck!" The troll realized what he'd said and started guffawing with laughter at his own unintentional joke.

"All right, I'll do it," Alto said.

Thork's laughter faded away. He stared at Alto and nodded. "Isn't you scared?"

Alto shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It has to be done."

"It matters," Thork assured him.

"Fine," Alto said. "Yes, it scares me. But if the mightiest champion the Church of Leander can field couldn't best this dragon while it was in a flesh and blood body, what hope does anybody have of beating it when it becomes a metal monster?"

"Is dis still payback?" Thork asked.

Alto tried to think of all the people who would suffer if Sarya were to succeed and overrun the northern reaches. Instead, the image of his house burning and Caitlyn screaming for help inside came to him. He'd saved her but not in time to stop the monsters from hurting her. What's worse was that he hadn't arrived in time to save the others. Alto closed his eyes but couldn't banish the image of his crucified parents on either end of a row of pikes that held the heads of his brothers and sisters.

"I won't rest until she's dead."

Thork nodded. "Dat'll work."

Bonky walked over and dropped his collection of dead fish on the ground at Thork's feet. The troll grinned and looked at Alto. "Bonky's hungry. Thork cook dese up den yous can be yous way."

The thought of a properly cooked meal instead of the stolen food he'd been surviving on appealed to him. Alto looked at the slavering goblin and the toothsome troll and realized that even dinner companions like these didn't ruin the thought of a meal. "How will I find you when I have what I need?"

"Dere's no forge here. Thork will find you when yous's got da stuff."

"How will you know?"

Thork chuckled. "Dere's fear in everyfing, ain't you figured dat out yet? If
dere's fear, Thork will know."

With that chilling thought
, Alto nodded and waited for Thork to clean and cook the fish over the eldritch green flames. He knew what to do now; it was only a matter of doing it that remained. He took the first fish that was speared on a dagger and ate without regard to how hot it was. He was ravenous and there was no telling how long it was going to be until his next meal.

Chapter 11

Patrina
removed the hood she'd used to hide herself through Highpeak and curtsied before the man who was rising from behind his desk. "Lady Patrina, I'm honored by your unexpected visit," he managed to say before bowing in return.

"Baron Mackay, I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see a neighbor," Patrina said. She winced when his brow furrowed. "I mean to say that it is a pleasure, but the times have brought me here for a difficult reason."

The baron's expression eased at her explanation. "For the help your nation has given to the people of Highpeak, please tell me how I can assist."

"It's for more than my own help,
baron," Patrina said. "We're searching for the very hero of Highpeak, Alto."

The
baron had started to return to his seat but hearing that, he stood fully. "The mercenary? I heard troubling news about him recently. Something about his family murdered and their home burned to the ground?"

Patrin
a nodded. "This is true. He is well, or he was. He's in the Northern Divide searching for information on our enemies."

"Enemies? I thought they were defeated?" the baron interrupted.

"Alto discovered a massing of men and monsters from the mountains, deep in abandoned dwarven mines. I was there; I saw it with my own eyes. He secured our freedom and then found a means of collapsing the tunnels on them. It was one of many such camps throughout the mountains."

"To what point and purpose?" Baron Mackay asked. He shook his head and sat down. "
I've heard of no reports of further problems. The goblins were driven back and Highpeak retaken. We've seen a steady flow of miners rushing north to reopen the mines."

"To overrun Highpeak and the northern reaches of your kingdom," Patrina snapped. She took a breath and held it. "I'm sorry, we've been on the road for weeks and we're always a step behind him."

"Him? Alto?"

"Yes."

"Why? If he's spying on this elusive enemy, why not let him be about it?"

"He has accepted a position with my father's guard and is needed back," Patrina stretched the truth to say.

"So your father sends his daughter to fetch him?"

Patrina stiffened. "Baron,
we are friends in a time of crisis."

"Crisis? What crisis? The mines are open
; we've rebuilt Highpeak stronger than ever. We'll not be taken unawares on my watch!"

"Baron Mackay," Patrina seethed. "I've seen with my own eyes these villainous creatures and the men
who fight alongside them. They are murderous and evil. They will not stop until they had destroyed us all."

The baron held up his hands to calm her. "My
lady, I apologize if I sound doubtful. I've seen no cause for alarm, but I beg of you to let me look into it. I shall send scouts into the mountains and see to it that all of our mines are contacted. Now please, if you've been on the road as much as you say, you must be tired."

Patrina confirmed his guess
. "Exhausted! We've been in and out of the mountains a dozen times searching for him and avoiding everyone we could for fear we'd be discovered by the wrong people."

"
Yet you came here?"

"Yes, my resolve does not waver but some of the men with me thought a proper meal and a warm bed for a night would be a fitting change."

Tristam coughed lightly from his place behind her. The others waited outside the baron's office. Tristam and Kar had been proponents of stopping by Highpeak rather than passing through it to resupply themselves.

"Kelgryn or not, a lady such as yourself deserves proper lodging and treatment. I'll see to it that you and your men are quartered in the palace. Stay as my guest while I look into this matter," the
baron insisted. He stood up and walked around his desk and then led them to the door of his office.

"I'd like my presence to remain unknown, if you don't mind," Patrina said.

The baron smiled and nodded. "Of course. Put your hood up and I'll have my aide escort you to our guest wing."

Patrina shrugged her hood up and then followed the
baron to an office next to his where his aide was working. In moments, he was up and leading them through the palace to a wing of rooms that looked to have been only recently built.

"These have only been finished for a few weeks now. The last of the reconstruction since we reclaimed Highpeak," the baron's aid
e confirmed as he showed them each to a separate room. Patrina's was the last at the end of the hall.