XXII

 

Yalak

A war made for the most inopportune time for someone to tell the Gryphon he had worse problems, even more so when the news came courtesy of a walking corpse animated by an ethereal spirit. The Gryphon would have rejected the warning, but the mist dragon had saved him in the past, including when the lionbird’s predecessor had nearly slain both the Gryphon and Nathan in the libraries.

And now it was to the libraries that the mist dragon --- through Samir --- insisted that the Gryphon go.

The palace shook as if something very large and very heavy had just struck Penacles hard. The Gryphon shook his head, not at all pleased by anything that distracted him from the struggle. “I have three armies assaulting our walls and you say it’s better we go into the depths of the libraries?”

“My time usssing thisss body isss short,” the dragon hissed through his mortal shell. “When I aided you, I expended more than I dared. I did believe that wasss the end of me, but I found I could draw myssself enough for thisss.”

“And why do you keep helping?”

“Becaussse the true danger to everyone remainsss the most foul of fowlsss. Becaussse even now, Penaclesss and all the Dragonrealm ssstill teeter on the brink. Becaussse if the fowl hasss hisss way, he will raze the continent to appease his need for vengeance...and alssso to make of himssself a god greater than the old onesss.”

“The ‘old ones’? You mean ---”

Samir/the mist dragon waved aside his response. “If you wish to sssave thisss city and more, our one chance isss to hurry to the librariesss.”

The palace shook again. “Damn it, what will we accomplish there?”

An expression of frustration spread across the face of Samir/the mist dragon. The corpse grabbed the Gryphon’s wrist.

“Wait ---”

The palace vanished, to be immediately replaced by the infernally endless corridors of the fabled depository.

The Gryphon’s protest died as he beheld what the mist dragon sought to show him. Despite the battle, the lord of Penacles had to agree that here was potentially a worse, even more imminent threat to the kingdom.

Everywhere, the great books of the libraries hovered in the air, their pages flipping back and forth madly. From between those pages radiated magical forces with a rainbow of hues.

Even had he not been a spellcaster himself, the Gryphon suspected that he would have felt the incredible flow of power before him. It was as if something literally drew the magic from the libraries’ holdings.

Something...or someone.

“Yesss,” Samir/the mist dragon agreed to his unspoken declaration. “Yesss, thisss isss the work of Jekrith Terin.”

But it was not merely that which so disturbed the Gryphon. Despite all the endless corridors, he knew exactly where he stood. There could be no mistake...and with Jekrith Terin, that also meant there had to be tremendous purpose with this the supposedly-dead seneschal’s choice.

They stood in the same corridor where the Gryphon himself had aided Nathan Bedlam in destroying the Purple Dragon, the same corridor where the lionbird and the wizard had only just returned a short time before, thanks to the mist dragon.

The same corridor where now all the rivers of power intertwined, blended, and became of one color.

Purple.

 

 

No great disaster such as created by the Dragon Masters in the realm of the Brown Dragon could long escape the notice of the drake lords, especially those whose domains bordered the ruined, barren lands that had once been the Adajian Fields. The first to stir was the reclusive master of the glittering Legar Peninsula, but he only observed, as always. The war had meant little to him and still did so long as it did not encroach on his kingdom.

But others were more vocal. Thus, it fell to Duke Toma to be the bearer of such bad news to his father. Gor one of the few rare times in his life, the younger drake feared he would not leave the audience alive.

The great golden behemoth draped around the huge stone throne, one paw draped protectively over the back. Even though the dragon appeared to be asleep, Toma knew better.

“What newsss do you bring me now, my ssson?” the leviathan abruptly rumbled even though his eyes remained shut. “Isss it victory already? Isss Penaclesss mine? Your brother isss very capable...”

Toma swallowed. “No, my lord. Penacles isss --- is --- assailed, but still stands defiant for now.”

One huge orb opened. Toma saw himself partly reflected in it. “Then, what other good newsss could you possibly bring me?”

That his father’s sibilance was so evident was not a good sign of the emperor’s state of mind, Toma knew, and so he dared risk the one good piece of information he had before telling his father the bad. “I am pleased to tell my father that nearly all the Dragon Masters are dead, slaughtered by drake forces.”

Now both eyes peered at the tiny figure. Toma quickly went down on one knee.

“’Dead?’” The massive head rose. “’Ssslaughtered?’ By whose hand? By whossse command?”

“The massster --- master --- of the Adajian Fields,” Toma replied, quietly cursing his own slip into sibilance. If his father noticed it, he would quickly realize that with the good news came bad.

Sure enough, the leviathan’s searing gaze narrowed. “Our vassal Lord Brown hasss overssstepped himssself! He may thank my benevolent nature that I will take in account hisss triumph when I consider hisss punishment...”

Toma could not stifle a hiss. That, too, was caught by the Gold Dragon. The glistening behemoth reared.

“What other newsss of import do you bring me, my ssson? You have sssomething not ssso pleasing? What else hasss Lord Brown done?”

“Father --- the Adajian Fieldsss --- they ---”

The Dragon Emperor swung his head to the side. As he did, before him opened up a tear in reality. It quickly shaped itself into a silver sphere in which a scene formed.

Toma fought his desire to retreat from the throne chamber.

“What isss thisss? What isss thisss?”

The duke glanced up. Even though he had beheld the site earlier after his unsuccessful attempt to contact Lord Brown, it still shook him when he saw the devastation wrought by the human spellcasters.

Asss if the very land were turned over on itsss ssself, Toma could not help but think again. Turned over and dropped on all living there...

“Toma!” The Gold Dragon spun from the vision back to his son. “Toma! Explain thisss!!! Explain it now!”

The younger drake shivered, but not just because of his rapidly growing concern for his life. Mixed in with the fury and surprise tainting the Dragon Emperor’s voice was another, barely stifled emotion, one with which Toma could very much identify at this moment.

Fear.

 

 

As he and Gwendolyn materialized on the steps of the Manor, Nathan wondered just what it was that Yalak had seen that had made the other wizard so insistent that the pair had to rush to the ancient edifice immediately. The Manor was a sight of calm and beauty, a place that normally would have set even Nathan’s troubled heart somewhat at ease if not for the reason he was here.

“I --- I sense nothing amiss,” Gwendolyn said.

“Nor do I.” Releasing her hand, Nathan took a step down. Concentrating, he tried another sweep of the area. A few of the Manor’s peculiar magical traces briefly caught his attention, but after brief inspections, Nathan determined them to not be any possible source for Yalak’s concern.

From inside the Manor came a voice. Gwendolyn immediately rushed inside. Nathan started to follow, but then sensed something new. The peculiar magical trace so demanded his attention that despite knowing that he should see to the enchantress Nathan instead transported himself to the mysterious energy source.

There, he found the stone. Its iridescent sheen immediately marked it as something not the creation of any of his counterparts. The unsettling nature pointed specifically at one person. Shade.

Once more, Nathan magically surveyed the Manor grounds, but of the warlock there was no hint. Still, Nathan knew that Shade would not simply have dropped off such a thing and then left. Either the hooded spellcaster had been interrupted or ---

Nathan!

Gwendolyn’s urgent summons eradicated any further thought concerning just who had left the stone. Aware of the chance he took, the wizard nonetheless seized the mysterious discovery, then thrust it in a belt pouch even as he transported himself to the enchantress.

Gwendolyn confronted not one, not two, but three intruders, all of them very familiar to both humans. Teeth and claws bared, Camilla and her sisters hissed and spat at the spellcasters. Gone was the seductive nature of their elven guises. The sisters were ready for blood.

They were also, he noted, very frightened.

“I found two of them sneaking out of the Manor library. The third attempted to take me from behind while I was confronting her sisters.”

“What are you three doing here?” Nathan demanded. “What is the Green Dragon up to?”

Although Camilla revealed nothing, her sisters started. Nathan realized then that the trio was not part of any plot by the lord of the Dagora Forest. Rather, they were hiding from him.

“They’re renegades, outcasts,” he told Gwendolyn. “They’ve done something to earn the Green Dragon’s wrath.”

The drake called Magda lunged.

Gwendolyn reacted. The female drake froze in mid-air.

Her siblings attacked. Nathan knew that they felt that they had no choice now. Despite the three being drakes, the wizard merely followed Gwendolyn’s example and left the pair motionless.

He and Gwendolyn eyed the petrified drakes.

“What do we do with them?”

“If we want answers, the best to do is start with her.” Nathan drew Camilla toward them. Even though she was frozen, her eyes glared hatred. “Yalak wanted us here for a reason. She may know the reason.”

With a thought, he allowed the drake her ability to speak. Despite that, all Camilla did was clamp her mouth shut.

“Not a wise choice,” Gwendolyn warned.

“Tell us what you know,” urged Nathan. “You have no choice.”

“What isss there to tell, human? Your hisss friend. Surely, he’sss told you all hisss misdeeds!”

Despite Camilla’s look of defiance, her increased sibilance was a clear sign of her distress. Yet, at first, Nathan did not understand her words. Nathan was his friend? “Explain.”

Camilla hissed. “Explain what? Assk him yourssself if you need an explanation...or have you and the wizard Yalak fallen out?”

Yalak. Nathan stiffened as not for the first time a sense of tremendous foreboding washed over him. Again, Yalak, he suddenly thought. Yalak, who tricked me to keep me from trying to go Pagras for what he insisted were good reasons.

“Nathan...do you know what she’s talking about?”

Ignoring her, he stepped closer to the drake. Camilla made no attempt to entice him. She continued to radiate hatred and fear.

“Tell me what you know about Yalak.”

She hesitated. “I only know what I sssaw here.”

That in itself was enough to startle Nathan. Keeping his expression neutral, he asked, “And what did you see here?”

Camilla’s eyes widened. “I --- and Magda --- saw him ssslay his female companion.”

“She’s mad, Nathan!”

He gritted his teeth. “This female companion. You saw her face.”

“Yesss.”

“Describe her.” Nathan’s pulse pounded.

Camilla did.

As he feared, there was but one among the Dragon Masters who fit the description.

“He would never do anything to Salicia!” Gwendolyn snapped. “She’s lying!”

Camilla warily eyed the enchantress. Nathan studied the drake’s reactions, then glanced at Magda. He returned his gaze to the eldest sister, then, with some effort, said, “What exactly did he do?”

Eyes more focused on Gwendolyn than Nathan, Camilla related the short but horrific story. It had taken place barely after all three sisters had entered the Manor grounds. Thanks to Camilla having been inside when Gwendolyn had altered her spell, the eldest drake had been able to give her siblings sanctuary as well.

“A mistake I’ll be sure to rectify,” Gwendolyn muttered. “Why did you flee here in the first place?”

“Our lord dissscovered hisss son’s treachery. He no longer blamesss you humansss...but we he doesss, since I wasss to be firsst consort.”

Nathan had no time for imperial intrigues save that he was pleased that the Green Dragon no longer sought his life. Nathan had always hoped that Lord Green might still prove at some point a mediator between the rebels and the drakes. “Go on.”

With some hesitation, Camilla described how the three had hidden when they had sensed the arrival of humans. Camilla and Magda had witnessed the actual arrival. They both knew who Yalak was, but not the woman. However, the wizard quickly identified her.

“Sssalicia, he called her. She looked very troubled,” Camilla continued. “She asssked if he had to do what he planned, if there wasss not ssssome alternative. She sssaid the othersss should have been given a chance.”

Nathan had to assume that Salicia had been speaking about the other Dragon Masters. That made him fear that Yalak had known more about the slaughter of Solomon Rhine and the rest than he had let on. This cannot be...surely even Yalak...

“What happened then?” Gwendolyn urged.

“It wasss...it was quick, if that pleassses you, Massster Nathan. He kissed her. Told her he loved her. Then, the hand that touched her cheek glowed very red. She did not even have time to ssscream.”

Before the drakes’ very eyes, the fiery energies quickly engulfed Salicia, reducing her to a wisp of smoke in barely a breath.

“He ssstood there for a moment, looking ssso sssad.” Camilla’s tone dripped with sarcasm as she spoke the last word. “Then, the foul wizard himssself vanished.”

Nathan waited for more, but the wary drake merely continued to stare at him. Growing impatient, the mage finally blurted, “And the stone? Why did he leave it?”

“I know of no ssstone. I have told you all I know! Releassse usss!”

He silenced her with a gesture. Camilla continued to glare at him, but her sisters stared at the wizard in open fear. They no doubt expected him to act as a drake would, executing them now that their usefulness was at an end.

Turning from the trio, Nathan focused. Yalak! Yalak!

There was no reply. Nathan tried again, this time concentrating as hard as he could.

Again, there was no reply, but now he also noticed something more troubling. No matter how hard Nathan tried, he could not sense his old friend. Nowhere. It was as if Yalak did not even exist.

Or no longer did.

Frowning, Nathan contacted Adam...or tried to contact him. As with Yalak, Nathan could no longer sense the woodland mage.

The sense of foreboding magnified. He reached out to Basil, to Tyr, to even Tragaro...and all with the same horrific results.

Gwendolyn had stood by quietly all this while, her attention shifting back and forth between the veteran mage and their captives. Now, though, she could plainly read Nathan’s growing unease. “What is it? What now?”

What now? Nathan thought the enchantress could not have asked a more appropriate question. What now?

He forgot all else. He had to know.

He vanished from the Manor.

Silence reigned at the border near what had once been the Adajian Fields. The devastation the spellcasters had wrought had sent every creature that could fleeing, leaving a ghostly land.

Peering around, Nathan saw nothing but ruin. Yet, the huge carcasses nearby indicated that here was where Yalak and Adam had positioned themselves.

Gwendolyn materialized a few yards away. “Nathan! Are you all ---”

The enchantress fell silent, but her body shook. She stared beyond Nathan’s right.

He whirled around, at first not seeing what she did.

Then, he saw the body.

The reason Nathan had not noticed it at first had to do not just with how it lay, but also because the head could not be seen. Brow furrowed, the wizard rushed toward the still form.

Nathan had already recognized Yalak’s preferred robes, but even then, he prayed he was wrong about the corpse’s identity. Whatever arguments he had with his old comrade, Yalak had still been like a brother to him.

He came up short. The entire torso lay revealed, yet, Nathan could still not see the head. He stood there for a moment, trying to digest the monstrous sight, trying to accept what must be the truth.

Gwendolyn stumbled up next to him. Nathan instinctively reached over to keep her steady. He did not fear that she would lose her footing, but that the revelation before them would perhaps prove too much for her.

The enchantress looked deathly pale, but proved as sturdy as --- and perhaps even sturdier than --- the mage.

“Nathan! His head! It’s Yalak, I know, but his head...”

“It’s gone, yes.” How simple that came out, Nathan Bedlam thought. How simple so horrible a thing can be said...

His attention shifted to the torso. There, another cauterized would greeted the wizard’s eyes.

A weapon strong with magic did this. A weapon very strong.

Nathan mouthed Azran’s name. His son had truly gone mad.

Without warning, a faint hint of magical energy bearing Yalak’s trace stirred. Nathan knelt by the body, seeking the source.

He sensed something in a pouch attached to Yalak’s belt. Nathan cautiously reach inside.

A bright light burst from the pouch, blinding him. He heard Gwendolyn exhale in surprise.

A few blinks restored Nathan’s sight...and revealed to him a shocking sight.

Yalak stood over his own body, the balding wizard solemnly eyeing Nathan.

“I am so sorry, Nathan,” the other spellcaster muttered. “I am so sorry for lying so long to you, for betraying the others...and for even all but making certain that we failed in our struggle.”

“Yalak...” Nathan reached for the figure and was not at all surprised when his hand went through Yalak. What stood before him was not his friend, nor even a true ghost of his friend. This was some vision created by Yalak prior to his death...a death that clearly he had foreseen and yet could not avoid.

“So many times, I wanted to tell you, but the paths I foresaw demanded that I keep quiet and keep with the subterfuge.”

“Damn you, Yalak!”

The vision nodded dourly. “Yes, I will be...and, no, it takes no ability at premonition to calculate what you just said to me.” Yalak gestured at his body. “Only the beginning of my damnation, I’m afraid to say. Still, what happens to me hardly matters. This is about you and yours, Nathan, and the one hope we ever truly had. This is about your bloodline and the hope it brings to the entire Dragonrealm.”

“The only hope I have concerning Azran is that I can stop him from killing anyone else before I slay him myself,” the elder Bedlam retorted before again remembering that he only spoke to a shadow.

The vision rewarded him with a grim smile. “But I am not talking about your son, my old friend. Certainly not him.” Yalak gestured and another image joined the dead wizard, the vision of a very pregnant female half-elf.

“Hadrea,” Nathan whispered.

Yalak pointed at the swollen stomach area. “There is the true future for the Dragonrealm, Nathan...assuming Azran hasn’t already killed him.”