The Dragon God (Book 2) (27 page)

The Guul-Fenn Mountain range, an isolated section within the fallen North Horn King’s territory, extended for hundreds of miles to the
northwest. The largest peak, known only as the Shield, contained the legendary fortress of the frost dwarves.

Raina and the group found themselves before an opening in the mountain. Frigid air encircled them. Icicles formed at the cave entrance like jagged teeth. They had been transported to an icy ledge thousands of feet above the ground, high in the clouds, where they saw the peaks of mountains poking through the billowy blanket.

Raina said, “My spell has only brought us close to our destination. We must travel by foot the rest of the way. This cave must lead to the Chamber of Cleansing.”

El’Korr shivered, “Let’s get movin before we freeze to death.”

“I will take the chill off our travels.” Raina waved her arms about and whispered incantations until lanterns materialized and hovered over each of them, producing light and the warmth they yearned for.

Trillius snapped, “I prefer not to have a beacon over my head alerting every creature, ‘here I am’.”

“As you wish,” Raina said and then dispelled his lantern.

Trillius stomped ahead of everyone, snow crunching under foot, as if bothered to be in the presence of the group that followed. Raina edged close to King El’Korr. “Be mindful of the gnome. I have noticed a shift in his attitude since he discovered the Pearl.”

“Aye, so have I. Do your magical senses tell you more?”

“There is a cloud around him that obscures my detections. I didn’t notice it before.”

Xan and Rondee were also discreetly warned of the change in Trillius. Rozelle noticed close whispers from the back of the pack and her gnomish instinct immediately sensed it was about Trillius.

The six of them wended their way slowly on the slippery blue ice floor of the tunnel a few miles into the mountain. The massive tube snaked through until bursting into a gigantic cave. Icicles clung to the ceiling, some of which were the size of large tree bases. Frozen stalagmites and boulders dotted the surface and a distinct odor of frozen meat greeted them at the entrance.

“Is this the chamber you were talking about, Raina?” El’Korr asked.

“No, according to Yasooma’s journal, it is much smaller. He also mentioned being greeted by frost dwarves at some point—the militia of the Shield.”

“It is deathly quiet,” Xan said in a low voice.

Rondee sniffed the air with short intakes, and snarled, “Draco piete.”

“What did he say?” Rozelle asked.

“Dragon shit,” El’Korr translated.

“Where is Trillius?” Raina asked.

Everyone turned and scanned the area. They spotted him on top of a large ice encrusted boulder twenty-yards ahead. The three-foot gnome raised his hands and smiled.

“C’mon! It is only dragons, nothing to fear.”

As he called to them, a majestic, white, horned dragon with scales that glistened like mirrors, rose behind him and flapped its leathery, translucent wings. Its streamlined head had a high crest at the back of the skull and a frothy frost built at the edges of its jaw line. The cottage sized wyrmling roared forth an ear splitting screech. It reeked of a vague chemical odor.

Raina, fearful to cast a spell as Trillius was in the way, yelled to him, “Duck!”

Trillius grinned and said, “You have your own friends to deal with, don’t worry about me little-Elf.”

Suddenly, two more white flying beasts, sleek like the other, dropped from the ceiling behind them, camouflaged amongst the stalactites.

The heroes spun and Raina shouted, “Get behind me!”

The group did as instructed. The two white dragons swooped in and released their breath weapon—cones of freezing air intended to engulf everyone, but Raina had quickly cast a spell and their blasts were blocked by a fiery shield that she leaned into as the two energy forces collided. The hiss of steam combined with the howling frozen wind assailed their ears while huddled tightly behind Raina.

Thanks to the broken curse of the Burning Forest, El’Korr and Rondee were granted the innate ability to summon fire. They broke away with their weapons ignited. El’Korr hurled his magical warhammer and it toppled end over end until finding its mark. It slammed into the right leg of the pearlescent creature who had just zoomed past them. Glistening scales shattered and fell. The beast craned its neck while in flight to see who had damaged it. Rondee did not have a missile weapon, but instead waited for it to come back around for another attack.

Xan made his way toward Trillius, longsword drawn, “Take cover, Trillius!”

The gnome crossed his arms, confidently smiling, “My dear Xan, the time has come for you to witness the true power of the Great Trillius.”

The elf watched as the dragon that stood behind the gnome ignored Trillius and flew toward the other two serpents, crashing into one and engaging it with a claw-raking frenzy until it fell to the ground. The third shot passed the jumbled mess of its kin and narrowed in on the dwarves instead.

Raina quickly launched another invocation. Rays of scorching heat sprouted from her fingertips and bore into the beast, melting its scales. With its flesh sizzling, it screeched in pain, but continued its attack with alabaster eyes focused on Rondee, who frantically waved his arms around to grab the attention of the beast.

The wild dwarf stood his ground, pointed his tiny golden hammer toward it and felt the surge of his wild magic bursting from inside him. His arms vibrated and then his entire body transformed. Skin, clothes, armor, and weapon, all morphed into a gigantic steel-tipped spear anchored into the ground.

The dragon flew into the suddenly changed dwarf, impaled itself, and toppled to the floor of the cave, crashing through iced stalagmites, lifeless. Raina, El’Korr, and Xan ran to the carnage and watched the pointed tip of the spear sticking through the neck of the dragon, convert back to Rondee the Wild. He smiled, his yellow teeth prominently glowing amongst the gore, as blood dripped down his face. His head was all they could see as the rest of his body was stuck inside the fallen creature.

Echoed claps resounded behind them. They turned to see Trillius applauding the outcome. “Very entertaining.”

Rozelle had moved closer to her partner while the fighting had gone on, thinking she would protect him, “What are you doing, Trillius?”

He smiled down at her. His eyes glowed a bright blue. She backed away, fearful. The other two dragons continued their internal fighting in the background. Each had deadlocked jaws into the other’s body in an all-out death grapple.

El’Korr and Xan cut open the dead dragon to release Rondee, who shook the guts and blood from himself and scraped off larger chunks from his arms and chest. Raina kept her wary eyes on Trillius. The heroes gathered next to Rozelle.

Raina addressed the male gnome, “Trillius, are you okay?”

He scoffed, “Of course I’m okay. I feel great!”

Rozelle said, “What’s going on Trillius? You are different.”

Trillius took a proud stance, “I am no longer weak, and all those who stand against me will feel the wrath of my power.” Electrical snaps sparkled in his eyes.

“You have to fight, Trillius; don’t let it overcome you,” Raina commanded.

“My dear little-Elf, you have no more say over me. You are indeed powerful, but the time is coming when you will bow before me. All of you will bow before me.” Trillius laughed as he raised his arms, and a bolt of lightning materialized. The heroes quickly turned away from the intense light. With a booming crack of thunder, Trillius instantly disappeared.

E
l’Korr, reacting to Trillius’ disappearance, approached Raina, “Who was that? It sure wasn’t Trillius.”

“Trillius has succumbed to the power of an ancient soul of a blue-wyrm. He has the fifth dragon stone.”

“What do you mean succumb to the power?” Rozelle asked.

“The dragons held captive within these stones are the most powerful of the entire realm. They look for the weak minded so they can dominate them. Only those with the strongest will can compete with the warring spirit, but even then it is a constant battle.”

Xan joined the group, “Where did he acquire it?”

“I suspect it was at the time he found the Pearl. We all noticed how his attitude shifted after the kelpie encounter. Even Captain Romann saw a change in him.”

“We have to save him! Stupid Trillius. He has a sickness, Raina.”

“What ailment do you speak of, Rozelle?”

“He can’t stop stealing things. He is always in search of the next big thing.”

“But where did he go? How are we supposed to find him?” asked El’Korr.

“In order for the dragon to come back, which is its ultimate goal, it would have gone to the Chamber of Cleansing.”

“But why?” Xan asked, puzzled.

“From what I have gathered, the chamber was used as a conduit in conjunction with the elements to summon, entrap, and then banish the dragon god.”

“But we can use the elements to destroy the blue rock, right?”

Raina paused, “Yes, but,” she turned to Rozelle before continuing, “I am uncertain as to what will happen to Trillius.”

Rozelle began to walk away. Glancing over her shoulder she cried, “C’mon, we need to get him back before it is too late. He is a thief on the run, nothing else. I know that his mind is still in there fighting this dragon entity.”

“You understand, now that he has the fifth stone, the other dragon spirits will be coming. It will be difficult to get to Trillius and destroy it before it destroys him.”

“Then why are we still here talking about it? Come on, let’s go,” Rozelle snapped.

They marched on across the immense chamber to find a marked tunnel. Four symbols, indicating the four elements, surrounded a star in the middle.

El’Korr lingered at the back of the group with Rondee. He spoke to his guardian in Dwarvish so the others could not understand, “Rondee, do what you have to do in order to stop Trillius. This Dragon God cannot come back.”

Rondee the Wild nodded his understanding.

Unbeknownst to the dwarves, Rozelle understood most of the languages in the realms, including the dwarven tongue.
“They don’t understand you Trillius. You do have good in you. I won’t let them hurt you,”
she thought to herself. The entire situation caused anger to boil inside of her, but regardless, her anger was focused on Trillius and this blue stone that had corrupted his mind.

Trillius appeared inside the doorway to the Chamber of Cleansing. Blue electrical discharges snapped around his body and his eyes were brighter than ever. He surveyed the room. It was circular: four stone pedestals surrounded a gaping hole in the earth almost as large as the room itself, where it plunged
into an unknown depth. A catwalk archway, inscribed with ancient runes, ran across the middle of the opening. At the apex of the curved walkway was another pedestal with five colored markers that looked like clawed hands to hold the dragon stones. Trillius stepped forward and peered down, seeing a swirling black and grey cloud, like a whirlpool, moving slowly.

Dal Draydian’s voice vibrated excitedly in Trillius’ mind,
“I can sense the other spirits coming. Now place me in my position in the center of the room, bondserv-ant, where I will be set free.”

“Bondservant?” Trillius felt groggy, trying to comprehend why something didn’t quite feel right. “Oh yeah, I guess I am a bondservant,” the queasy feeling passing as he relaxed into the idea. “I wish Rozelle were here; she always takes care of me when I feel sick. Hey- where is Rozelle anyway?” His mind and body began to ache in the swirl of confusion. The gnome felt as if he was losing control of himself. “Where are all my friends?”

“Friends? I’m your only friend now. You have been picked on by every race, you have been unloved by your own family, no one knows you like I do, and no one will give you what I can give you. Riches!”

Fighting against the power in his brain, touching his temples and scrunching his face, Trillius cried, “No, it can’t be true. They like me, I’m different than the others, but they still like me. I can’t see them get hurt.”

Suddenly, a forgotten memory flooded into the forefront of his mind as Dal-Draydian manipulated the gnomes deepest and darkest secrets. Trillius was huddled in the corner of a dark room, arms wrapped around his knees, and his head buried between them. Muffled yelling slowly transformed into his father’s voice. Trillius was young and fear gripped him in his solitude. Then the blocked words hurdled toward his heart from his father, “I wish it was he that was dead and not my oldest boy! He is a waste of the air we breathe and is no son of mine!”