XXIV

 

Lady of the Amber

Duke Kyrg’s grip on his riding drake’s reins tightened hard as the stunning behemoth poured up through the roof of the palace and spread wings that reached from one side of the defensive wall to the opposite. He had no trouble recognizing the familiar color, but what now flew above Penacles was not exactly the former lord of the realm.

One of the dragons assailing the invisible shield could not stop his momentum. He veered just shy of the fiery head.

The huge jaws snapped forward, engulfing the smaller dragon.

As the jaws snapped shut, the incredible heat incinerated the gold beast.

A hush fell over the entire battle. Kyrg hissed. No, this was not Lord Purple resurrected. It wore the general form, but it was more primal, more volatile.

And apparently no more friend of the attacking drake forces than it was the enemy.

“My lord,” one of his aides whispered. “My lord...”

“Be sssilent!” Kyrg tried to think.

“My lord! From the northwest!”

Wondering what could possibly concern his subordinate at all as much as the creature hovering above, Kyrg finally looked.

The sky to the northwest was filled with human-sized, avian forms.

Despite their previous disastrous assault, the Seekers were once again falling upon Penacles.

 

 

Gwendolyn materialized near the Manor only a second after leaving Nathan. Although she did not personally know which scroll he had studied, she knew simple spells that would bring the proper one to her. Nathan had only had time to study a handful of the library’s work and among that handful had only been two or three scrolls. If she had to, she would even take all three to him.

She came to a halt. There before Gwendolyn --- and forgotten by both Nathan and her --- stood the three frozen female drakes. Their eyes watched her with a combination of fear and anger, especially Camilla.

The enchantress considered releasing them, but now was not the time. Leaving the ensnared trio behind, she started for the Manor.

Yet, as Gwendolyn approached the steps, she beheld another sight, one that put her on edge. The heavy doors were shut. In all the times she had visited the Manor, they had never remained shut when she neared. The crimson-tressed enchantress took another step up, but the doors did not open.

She probed them, but did not find the cause. However, Gwendolyn did sense that the doors were shut because the edifice itself desired them so.

Confused but determined to retrieve the scroll Nathan needed, Gwendolyn concentrated. The steps of the Manor became the lush garden just a few yards short of the rear entry to the ancient structure. Gwendolyn rushed toward the second pair of doors ---

“They’re sealed tightly. I though you might have some special trick of gaining entrance, but it’s clear you’re no more able to do so than I am. How curious. It’s probably because of me, isn’t it?”

She stumbled to a halt. Somehow, despite her heightened senses, Gwendolyn had failed to sense that she was not alone here. “I don’t know. It could be because of the drakes we captured here earlier.”

“Yes, I saw them. I doubt they’re the cause.” Stepping out of the shadowing trees to her right, Azran grinned. “I keep forgetting just how beautiful you are! What a blind man Father is -- and what a fool you are for thinking you could ever have him! He’ll always be Mother’s. Always.”

Although his words did sting some, Gwendolyn was more interested in Azran’s foul creation, which currently hung sheathed at his side. While she had confidence in her abilities, this was Nathan’s son and a murderer of many, including his brother.

He chuckled. “You needn’t worrying about him. You’re under my protection and that’s no small thing.” He started toward her. “She was entertaining, but even with all that, you were and still are the only one I ever desired.”

Gwendolyn had to assume that the ‘she’ of his rambling comments was either Hadrea or the insidious spirit inside her. Either way, the enchantress did not like the thought of being the continual obsession of Nathan’s son. Still, for the moment, she had to do what she could to keep him from doing anything rash.

“I’m complimented, and I ---”

He frowned, then signaled with one hand for silence. After a moment, the knowing smile returned. “Ah! So, that’s why we had to stop here first. You could have just told me.”

As he spoke --- evidently to the sword, Gwendolyn understood --- three tall forms materialized around Azran, three winged figures that had remained hidden even from Gwendolyn’s senses but apparently not completely from either Azran or the sword. Seekers, but Seekers armed with crystals and with long, thin ropes that looked to be made of silver.

Yet, even as they appeared, the Horned Blade returned to Azran’s hand. With astounding speed, the black sword came around and cut through the throat of the nearest.

Even as the first attacker perished, the second Seeker brought his crystal forward. The crystal flared. Azran’s gaze became fixated on the glow. He hesitated.

The third avian used the silver rope like a whip, lashing the wizard’s throat. Gwendolyn nearly moved to defend Nathan, but a sudden image in her mind caused her to halt. She saw Penacles under assault, but then the scene shifted to above the walls, above the palace.

Gwendolyn stumbled back as the vision of the great purple behemoth filled her head.

Almost immediately, another vision formed. This one had, of all foul creatures, the hooded warlock, Shade. He held some magical stone between him and a glittering figure the enchantress knew had to be none other than the Crystal Dragon.

A traitor! I knew he would betray us to the drake lords ---

In response, a sense of urgency from the unseen force behind the images washed over the enchantress. The scene with Shade altered, showing Shade and Yalak ---

And then the visions and the link broke abruptly as, with a wide, animalistic grin, Azran easily drove the Horned Blade into the chest of the Seeker bearing the crystal. The Seeker shivered, then let out a horrific squawk as his body twisted into itself. Bones cracked and muscle and sinew snapped. The body contorted, then exploded into dust.

Azran did not wait while this happened. With his free hand, he touched the silver cord. Despite the clear tightness of the band around his throat, Azran’s breathing was clearly unimpeded.

A shock of black energy coursed from his fingertips through the silver rope and to the taloned hand of his remaining attacker. The Seeker’s hand sizzled and burned.

Gwendolyn finally reacted. Whatever the Seekers’ reasons for ambushing Azran, she could now easily feel the intense darkness raging through him, a darkness that made it clear to her that he had no remorse for any of the murders he had committed.

The tendrils of the grass at his feet shot up, then wrapped around his torso. Despite being simple plants, they now had the strength of good steel. Gwendolyn managed to pin his sword arm to his side and pull his other hand down.

Unfortunately for the remaining avian, it was already too late. Azran’s spell burned the Seeker to a crisp. The silver rope turned to ash, ending the only thing keeping the roasted corpse standing.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Azran said in a voice so cold it made Gwendolyn shiver. “I still wanted to offer you everything, but I can see that you’ll never accept me...”

The Horned Blade flared. The binding grass crackled and turned to smoke.

At her urgent command, the trees behind Azran reached down for him. He raised the Horned Blade and the branches recoiled.

“It’ll always be him. Here I am, the greatest spellcaster the world has ever seen and all you can do is pine for my father.”

Gwendolyn knew that there was no reasoning with Azran. She could have told him that she had understood for some time that Nathan’s heart would always belong to his late wife, but doubted Azran would even hear her words. All that mattered now was to put an end to his reign of terror.

The trees had only been a distraction. A hole --- a blink hole --- opened up not in front of Azran, but below him. Azran slipped into the hole, vanishing.

Forgive me, Nathan, the exhausted enchantress thought remorsefully. With no other choice left to her, she had created a portal to the Hell Plains...and to the midst of one of its most notorious, most violent volcanic craters ---

She gasped as a numbness overtook her body.

“I have to say, I will always admire you. Beautiful, as I said, and certainly skilled and adaptive...” Azran walked around to face her. “You nearly did kill me.”

Gwendolyn might have retorted, but her mouth could no longer move. A cool, golden liquid already covered her up to her lips. Only the upper half of her head remained untouched, at least for the moment.

“It does make for a fascinating prison. You were right again,” Nathan’s son remarked to the empty air. “I would have never thought about it. How did you --- yes, you’re right. No time for such little things.” To Gwendolyn, he bitterly said, “This is your fault, you know. Just like the rest, you continue to look down on me, to think me Father’s shadow or Dayn’s little brother!” Azran brought the Horned Blade’s tip just under her eyes. “None of you can appreciate all I’ve already accomplished! I’ve taken on the Seekers, who wanted Terin’s head for generations. I’ve killed Shade not once but twice and usurped the plots he set into play with both Dragon Kings and good old Uncle Yalak!”

Yalak? The enchantress momentarily forgot her own desperate situation as she wondered just what the wizard had arranged with the accursed warlock.

Withdrawing his sword, Azran leaned near. Gwendolyn struggled in vain as he kissed her on the upper part of one cheek.

“Don’t think I’m abandoning you. I still want you of all people to see my triumph,” he whispered in her ear. “I want you to see everything.”

The golden liquid --- amber, she belatedly realized --- shot up and covered the rest of her. Once it had her engulfed, the liquid swelled, growing nearly a foot thick. Azran and the outside world rippled.

His voice resounded in her head. “You’ll stay like that until I return. Then, we’ll decide what’s best for you. In the meantime, So you don’t suffer much, I’ll enable you to experience every wonderful moment to come...especially my singlehandedly seizing the City of Knowledge from under the eyes of the drake lords and the Gryphon! Oh, and probably Father, too.”

Gwendolyn wanted desperately to wipe away Azran’s smug expression, but all she could do was stare. She could not even blink.

He placed his free palm on the shell just before her gaze. The imprisoned enchantress felt a surge of energy course through her.

Suddenly, her perspective changed to a view of herself. The image shocked Gwendolyn at first, before she realized that she saw things through Azran’s eyes.

“You will be amazed, I promise! By the time I return, you will see that I am the one you should adore!”

The enchantress knew that Azran could not read her thoughts or else he would have retreated in fear. She tried her best to glare, but could see from her new view that even that much movement had been taken from her.

“Farewell, my Gwendolyn...for now.”

Her view shifted again as Azran turned from her. She caught glimpses of the remains of the three Seekers and wondered just what their plan had truly entailed.

And then the walls of Penacles --- and what hovered above it --- filled her horrified gaze.

 

 

Nathan straightened with the intention of confronting the purple leviathan, but suddenly his legs buckled. He barely managed to keep from falling.

With time, he knew he could recover what he had given to Cabe, but time was something neither he nor Penacles had at the moment. Perched atop the palace, the weary mage studied the monster.

The more he saw of it, the more Nathan knew that something was amiss. It looked like the Purple Dragon. It even seemed to have the power of the drake lord.

Yet, when Nathan surreptitiously probed the winged terror, he sensed only an emptiness. It was as if what he saw before him only existed in his mind, not in reality. However, the wizard could still also sense the gathered energies that formed the dragon permeating the area.

What has Azran and that damned blade wrought? Nathan knew that as skilled as his son was, much of this had to be the work of the force residing in the weapon. The spirit of Jekrith Terin. The seneschal had surely been planning much of this decades before finding Azran. Indeed, Nathan suspected that there would come a point where Jekrith Terin would no longer find Azran of value.

Or vice versa. It was also very possible the seneschal would underestimate Nathan’s wayward son.

Not for a moment did that in any manner encourage Nathan to forgive his son for the havoc he had created. Azran had made his own choices. Nathan knew his younger child well enough to understand that Azran had not been seduced. Encouraged, perhaps, but not seduced.

Nathan’s hand dropped to the pouch where he kept the stone. Yalak had wanted him to have Shade’s creation for a particular reason, a reason Nathan felt certain concerned this threat. The wizard removed the stone, letting the light play up its iridescence. As with the dragon, he could detect its powerful, unique nature, but could not define its purpose.

Holding it toward the dragon did nothing. Trying to summon its power proved just as futile.

The behemoth continued to hover above Penacles. Now and then it would roar so loud that the palace shook. Beyond that, it did nothing but seem to guard its territory and wait.

But for what? Nathan wondered. Then, the simple answer came to him. It was waiting.

Waiting for Azran and the Horned Blade.

Nathan... The Gryphon’s voice came so very faint, the libraries almost seeming a world away. Nathan...he said we need to find the right book...the one that’s the key to the spell summoning this monster...

The wizard did not have to ask who the lionbird meant. He remembered the mist dragon. Where is he?

Gone for certain this time...I think. He went to face the thing while it was still forming down here and it absorbed him!

It was not the answer for which Nathan had been hoping. The mist dragon had at least had some notion of Jekrith Terin’s ultimate plans. Now, they only had the guardian’s last warning.

Do you know where it is? the wizard asked.

He seemed to think I would, but I’ll be damned if I have any idea...

Nathan took another glance at the beast above. If the thing intended to wait, then perhaps the mage still had an opportunity to help the Gryphon find this enigmatic book.

I’m coming. Nathan thrust the stone back in the pouch. Using the link the lionbird had created, he then concentrated.

The dragon suddenly twisted its head around to Nathan.

The wizard’s spell faded without warning.

Nathan threw himself from the roof just before the huge jaws would have snapped him up. He braced himself for impact with one of the balconies below.

The wizard struck the marble platform hard. Had he not been of his calling, Nathan would have perished, his bones broken and his head cracked open. Instead, it was the balcony that suffered worse, the floor cracked at the point of his collision and the bolts sealing it to the palace pulled free in some places. Nathan’s defensive spells had made him hit harder than any catapult missile.

Unfortunately, he barely had time to rise before the jaws reached for him again. Nathan dropped to a second balcony as the dragon sought again to devour him.

The new collision shook the mage far more than the first, a warning that his magical shields were failing him. Despite the increasing danger of that happening, Nathan did nothing to reinforce them. He already felt more exhausted just from evading the dragon. Whatever strength he still had, he had to conserve it for his own attacks.

Painfully aware that the behemoth could also negate some of his spellwork, Nathan tried to gather his thoughts enough to bring the battle to his gargantuan adversary. He was still not certain why he had suddenly drawn the attention of the beast, but assumed that any major spell would continue to attract it.

Which gave him his first notion as to how to combat the dragon.

The fiery giant alighted on the palace, then reached with one forepaw for the tiny human. Rather than flee this time, Nathan summoned together the energies needed for a powerful assault.

The dragon roared, then lunged.

The energies gathered by Nathan continued to build...but the wizard himself vanished.

Nathan reappeared behind his adversary on another section of the roof. As he had suspected, although it resembled Lord Purple, the dragon was in fact more of a primal force. It followed instinct, not reason. The energies that the wizard had gathered had been enough to draw its attention, but make it forget the true danger.

Nathan focused a spell on the area where the head linked to the sinewy neck. The wizard knew that with such a magical creation as the dragon, the area there had to contain a vital nexus point keeping the beast’s own energies together.

The gleaming bow formed. The long shaft known as a Sunlance formed.

Nathan fired.

The Sunlance bolt struck true, as he knew it would. The dragon reared and cried out as the area Nathan hit briefly burned with the cleansing illumination of the true sun.

But as it did, it also revealed something startling to the mage.

He had found the book the mist dragon had mentioned to the Gryphon.

The book was the nexus.

 

 

Silence reigned in and around the Manor, a silence broken finally by the creaking of doors. Azran Bedlam’s departure was a part of the reason that the ancient edifice now let the doors swing wide. A part of the reason.

The other part quietly stepped out of the Manor. A figure clad in a hooded cloak so voluminous that neither the race nor the sex of the wearer could be identified. Gloved hands gently touched the doorframe as if in gratitude. The hooded figure then stepped out and peered around.

Its gaze fell upon Gwendolyn.