Dragons trial, p.31
Dragon's Trial, page 31
part #3 of The Demon's Blade Series
“Wait,” Nia said. “Darien said we should wait.”
Jerris paused. He should do as Darien asked, and he remembered the dire warnings that had been spoken in the morning. Still, he wanted to do this himself. He wanted to be the one to do this. Most of all, he wanted to believe that the faerie had lied, that Darien would be fine, that her prophecy could be avoided.
“I know he did, but it’s right there,” Jerris said. “If there were a trap, wouldn’t it have activated when we pulled the switches?”
Nia put a finger to her chin and shrugged. “You’re right I guess. We probably shouldn’t have done that, but I just was so excited.”
“Well it’s done now, and nothing happened.”
“True, but at least let me look around. There could still be a spell of protection, but if there is, I’ll find it. Locating enchanted objects is my specialty.” She smiled at him, and walked over to the alcove. She ran her hands along the wall around the alcove, and the sides of the alcove itself. She let her hand float in the space in front of the sword. Her eyes were shut, and she concentrated, seeming to almost vibrate. “There’s nothing,” She finally said.
Alright then, let’s do this,” Jerris said. He walked towards the alcove. His heart raced. To think he would be the one to hold the famous Star Sword. He’d be the one to journey with Darien, to face the Demon King. It would fall to him to strike down the most powerful sorcerer the world had ever known. He reached up slowly into the alcove, and wrapped his fingers round the hilt.
He knew something was wrong almost immediately, as his hand started to burn like it was on fire, and he felt the unbearable urge to let go. He fought against it for a few seconds, but it grew. It seemed the sword was pushing him away. He could feel an immense magic opposing him, an overwhelming force that pushed against him like a strong current. He held as long as he could, but when he felt the skin of his fingers start to blister, he relented, and let go.
“What’s wrong?” Nia asked. “Are you alright?”
“There must be some kind of enchantment protecting it.” Jerris gasped. “As soon as I touched it, it pushed away, and it burned me.” Jerris showed Nia his hand, but she only stared blankly, so Jerris looked at it himself. There was nothing there, no visible injury. As soon as he looked at his hand, the pain vanished, some kind of illusion? Perhaps the sword had some protection on it after all. “Well I thought it burned me. It felt that way.”
For several minutes, they both stared at the glowing blade. “Let me try,” Nia said. “Maybe if I can tell what kind of enchantment is on it, I can counter it.”
“Alright, but be careful.”
Nia slowly approached the sword, reached out with great hesitation, and grasped it, and suddenly she began to shake.
“Let go!” Jerris yelled.
“I… I can’t.” Nia looked at Jerris with frightened, pleading eyes, and he ran to her, and tried to dislodge the sword, but it opposed him even more strongly than before, and he found he couldn’t even manage to touch it. Nia looked to him with fear once again, and he took her in his arms and held her, trying to somehow lend her his strength, as she had lent him hers during the battle only days ago. She shook violently for a minute or two, and gasped for breath, and tears poured from her eyes. He had to do something for her, anything, but what? Suddenly, without thinking, he drew her close, and put his lips against hers, and kissed her. It was at that moment, that Jerris felt her energy flow into him, and his into her. Their auras blended into one. The sudden feeling of intimacy stoked a powerful desire in Jerris, and he kissed her more deeply, and she leaned into him, pouring herself into him, without reservation. He felt her power, and his own, immeasurably greater than either one alone. Unlike the fight with Zariel, the connection did not break, and Jerris reveled in it.
Who was human and who was elven no longer mattered. He wanted her, and she him. He wished they could remain this way forever, and he felt her wish the same. The feeling of being completely joined to Nia’s soul rushed through him like a wave, and he held her all the fiercer. He pulled away for just a moment, to look into her eyes. She seemed confused, and he felt her desire. He knew that she felt the same wondrous thing that he did. She pulled herself up and kissed him again. The energy flowed between them like a burning river, and he could scarcely tell where he ended, and she began. The kiss lasted for several minutes of exquisite, complete joy, and then the energy pulled back, and he was himself again. He looked down at her, and in their eyes, it seemed a thousand tomes of the most profound poetry passed between them. He didn’t need to ask her if she had felt it too, he knew she did, and he knew that she knew it as well. The power of the experience left them speechless for several minutes, while they simply stood holding one another. Nia’s shaking had ceased, and the terror seemed to have left her.
It took a while before Jerris mind began functioning properly once again, but slowly, it did, and he began to realize, that whatever happened with the sword needed an explanation, even if what happened between them did not. They were also alone in the depths of a cave. He released Nia, and suddenly she dropped the sword.
“What happened?” Jerris asked. “I thought you couldn’t drop it.”
“I… I couldn’t before,” Nia stammered. “It was like it pulled on my hand, and held it, and my whole arm went cold and numb, like there was ice running up my arm, and then through my whole body. I was so afraid, but you held onto me, and it just slowly went away, and then…” She blushed furiously at the last, and Jerris realized he must have as well. “But anyway, I can drop it now.”
Jerris went to pick it up again, but once again, he felt its opposition, and didn’t want to burn himself anymore, so he stared at it. “Nia, I hate to ask this, but we need to take it with us. Can you pick it up and try to put it in the sheath?” She nodded, then picked up the sheath first, then grabbed the sword where it had fallen, and picked it up, and sheathed it without difficulty. The light immediately vanished, and they were once again left in darkness, until Jerris raised his ball of light again.
“Well, that’s good. I guess whatever it did to you, it’s done now.” Jerris scratched his head. “I wonder why it affected us differently. I still can’t seem to touch it, but now it doesn’t affect you at all.”
“Maybe Darien will have some idea,” Nia speculated.
“Or maybe his friend will,” Jerris added. It was unquestionably time to signal the others. Jerris went over to where he’d laid the homing stone, and looked down, then froze in horror. The lights were gone. Something was wrong.
Chapter 35: A Knife in the Dark
How long will this take, Darien thought to himself. His frustration had been building since the party had split up. He had lost track of the time wandering through the empty tunnels. He had seen nothing but cave rats, a few salamanders and several juvenile gloom crawlers. Seems the purge had been incomplete. Perhaps the dragons had missed some, or perhaps some had been left on purpose as a challenge for the baby dragons, or as food, likely both. Darien had passed several half-devoured gloom crawler carcasses. As he understood dragons, the younger ones would be deeper in the caves, where it was warmer, and wetter. As they matured, they would move higher up, to drier ground, about the same time they grew large enough to take on the young gloom crawlers. There had to be larger crawlers somewhere, but likely not many. The dragons would handle them if they grew too numerous or aggressive.
Darien shook his head. His mind had begun to wander in the empty darkness. He considered his position, for perhaps the hundredth time. He had not descended much, if at all, since the party split, though he had not retraced his steps, nor seen any sign of the others. He took out his homing stone to check it again. The points of light on Darien’s homing stone had gradually moved apart by about the same distance, except for Jerris, who seemed to have gone off in a different direction entirely. Perhaps it meant he was making better progress. Then again, perhaps he had wandered into a side tunnel and gotten lost entirely. These tunnels were extensive, far larger than he had expected or even imagined. This seemed fairly typical of gloom crawlers, who made tunnels around a large central nest in almost random patterns, though the tunnels somehow never connected. How the creatures avoided running their tunnels together was quite a mystery.
Bah! Darien shook his head again, trying to keep his mind focused. He stopped to listen. There was no sound, no hissing of salamanders, no clicking talons of gloom crawlers, no skittering of cave rats, nothing at all. It seemed odd. He had not noticed the complete silence until he had stopped walking. He remembered hearing sounds some time ago, but not recently. When had this quiet descended, and more importantly, why? Have I come to the gloom crawler’s nest? No, they would have reacted to my presence, either by attacking or fleeing. Either way, there should be some sound, so what is this?
Darien held still, concentrated, and reached out with his mage sight. He could just barely make out a dim sense of Jerris and Nia, far below and quite distant. He felt Rana as well, much closer, but he could not tell exactly how far. It was always more difficult underground. The others he could not sense at all. The weaker auras of Geoffray and Ceres blended into the background so easily. He started moving forward, leaving his eyes closed to focus on his mage sight. If the Demon King did have some way to track him, it was possible he had sent an assassin, perhaps someone with an invisibility spell and an aura of silence, but they could not hide their mage aura, not completely. Even if the Demon King had an assassin with an ability to mask their aura like the pashka, Kesz, it would leave some unnatural variance in the background energy that could be noticed, at least at close range, when moving.
Darien took a few steps forward, but felt nothing. He thought he heard the soft padding of feet behind him, just barely. He suddenly sensed the presence of someone behind him and started to turn, but just as he shifted his weight, he felt a stab like lightning tear through his armor and the flesh of his back on the right side. The blow fell like a hammer and he heard a screeching in his ears. He looked down just long enough to see the tip of a long dagger protruding from his midsection, then his vision went black and his muscles went limp. The homing stone that he still held in his hand clattered onto the floor. This was no ordinary knife attack. The blow had not hit any vital arteries or internal organs, he had turned just in time to avoid a fatal strike, yet even so, the blow had knocked him to the floor, and halted all his motion. The screeching still echoed in his ears, and his vision was dim and blurry. Already, he found he could barely move the right half of his body, which felt like it was rapidly filling with lead. He managed to raise his head and he saw his assailant standing a few yards ahead, casually twirling the Demon’s blade and giggling like a madman.
Impossible! He had never suspected. It made no sense. He could have taken the Demon Sword weeks ago. Why go through all this? Did he want the Demon Sword for himself? What could his plan possibly be?
“Traiz, what is this…” Darien stammered, finding it difficult to speak. He tried to command a spell of earth, to make the ground swallow up Traiz’s foot and immobilize him, but nothing happened. His magical energy felt as sluggish and disabled as his body did.
“Don’t act quite so surprised. You really should have seen it coming. You knew what I was, so it shouldn’t be so hard to believe I had my own plans.” Traiz laughed maniacally. “And do you know what the best part was? You suspected everyone else, literally everyone else, Geoffray, Oswald, Nia, and even Rana, that was best. Did you really not notice she was in love with you? You’re a bigger fool than the Master imagined.” He laughed loudly again, as he stalked around the tunnel.
He looked at the homing stone that lay on the ground, then bent down to pick it up. “Ah, so you have a way to keep track of the others in this maze. Suppose I should get rid of it.” Traiz pulled what looked like a small hammer from a pocket on his belt. He smashed the stone in his hand. “There, now we won’t have to worry about that. Smashing one should disable all of them, if you’re using the standard technique. I call this device a spell breaker. It reacts to the magical energies of an object, disables them, and usually completely destroys enchanted devices.” He took the hammer and tapped it gently against the Demon Sword, mocking him. “Too bad it doesn’t work on this, eh? You know, I’ve learned all sorts of tricks like this hammer to use against mages over the years, a profitable habit for someone of my meager abilities.”
Traiz frowned and his eyes fairly glowed with hate and envy. “It’s almost too funny. I beat you. It wasn’t Avirosa, or Alistair, just little old me. You would have noticed a mage closing in on you thanks to that damned sense you all have for each other. You rely on it too much. You don’t really expect someone normal to even be a threat, do you?” Traiz paused to cackle maniacally again, a sound completely different than the practiced poise Darien had grown used to. “I love it. I’ve spent my life envying your gifts, but in the end, it was the thing that allowed me to win. I beat you, without your power, without your gifts. Just a simple knife in the back. The simplest weapons really are the most effective.”
“If that was all you had, you’d be dead already.”
“Oh, yes, the poison. Well, I can’t claim full credit. I did have the Master supply the poison I used on you. I don’t know what it is, but he promised me it would ruin you, and so it has. I must admit I worried that it wouldn’t work, but every worthwhile endeavor involves risk, doesn’t it?”
“You had the Demon Sword. You could have taken it, in Trinium.”
“And how far did you imagine I would have gotten. I have no magic. How would I have evaded the entire Golden Shield, then crossed the Saldean? And as long as you’re alive, I can’t use it myself, and I knew I could never kill you if you saw me coming.”
“But you spoke for me. You helped me at the Tribunal, when you could have had me executed.”
“I thought of that, but the Master’s commands are absolute. He gave very specific instructions how you were to be killed so the sword could be collected by Alistair and brought back. We should have had you at the crossing, but Alistair made it too obvious he was stalling, and that love-struck woman got in my way. I couldn’t get to you without her noticing. I suppose Alistair thought you couldn’t beat him anyway. His mistake. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the opportunity, some time when you were alone, and these caves were perfect. Now I don’t even have to share the credit.”
“I…” Darien coughed and sputtered. Even speaking was becoming more difficult. “You left for Trinium, how did you find me?”
“Oh come now, my escort was actually two spies who wanted a better life for their child than dragon society would provide, him being a ‘lesser dragon’ born in the lesser way after all. As for finding you, that was easy. You gave us a way to track you yourself.”
“What?”
“Oh come now.” Traiz feigned surprise. Arrogance dripped from his giggling rants. “You really don’t know? Whatever else you may be, you’re no spy. Remember the homing stone you placed in the Demon Sword’s sheath?”
“But that was my enchantment. You shouldn’t have been able to track it yourself. I still have the counterpart.”
“Oh yes, that.” Traiz twirled his dagger in the air and sauntered about confidently. “Well, how did you think the inquisition keeps track of all the mages in the free kingdoms? Each mage’s enchantments have a tiny piece of their own mage aura, a signature if you will. The first High Inquisitor started as a regular Golden Shield mage, but he had a knack for enchantments, and he discovered a way to tap into a mage’s signature, and track their enchanted items. All he needed was a sample, so he could copy the signature. Why did you suppose we’ve made such an effort to confiscate all those magical items? We knew the mages would make more, and we could track the devices they carried, from leagues away, farther than the best mystics. The Inquisition now tracks all the mages of the free kingdoms with their own devices, just as we tracked you.”
Damn, Darien thought to himself. It was a brilliant scheme, and he had never suspected. The Shining Inquisition’s power had always been based upon their superior information. Now he understood how they knew so much. The Demon King must have also wondered what their secret was, and looked for an inquisitor who ranked highly enough to know their trick.
“So you gave the Demon King this secret, and he took you into his service, but why? What did he promise you?”
“Why anything, fool. For power of course. All my life, I have been disadvantaged, without magic, without wealth, without land or title. How I envied you, with your gifts, your long lives, your strength in battle, your ability to turn your very thoughts into reality. I want that power, and I deserve it. Even without your gifts, without your privilege, I rose to high office, became powerful as anyone in the Order, and I even killed the Executioner, the greatest of the Order of the Shade, the only living person to defy the Demon King and live. The Master promised he would grant me powers like the Black Council. Now that Alistair is gone, he’ll be needing a replacement. I’m thinking of calling myself Traiz the Manipulator, or perhaps Traiz the Invisible, then again, maybe Traiz the Summoner is more appropriate.” Traiz then produced a small round red stone, the size of a grape, and perfectly smooth, a bloodstone. Darien’s eyes flew open wide. “Oh so you know what this is? I wondered if you might. Who told you about bloodstones, the elves of Kadanar, the faeries, the dragons?”
“The Greatmother warned me that she sensed their presence.” Darien said
“Ah, well it’s too late for her to do anything about it now. The Master always knew how to summon demons. He just lacked the proper materials, and the way to control them. Now he has both. He also knew how the swords worked, why the Star Sword was important, what it did, but he didn’t know where the Star Sword was, and now he does. Thanks to you, he knows everything.” Traiz smiled wickedly. “He even knows about your invisible friend.” Darien’s horror grew once again, and he pulled himself towards Traiz, but every movement was agony, and his body seemed to weigh ten times what it should. “But now I think I’ve said quite enough. You’re going to die soon, but before that, I want you to see just how badly you’ve been beaten.”
