Titans nest, p.23
Titan's Nest, page 23
“Your connection with your companion is your most powerful tool,” Aragor explained as his dragon uncoiled from his neck. “They can read your thoughtz, memoriez, and feelingz. See, what you cannot. Hear what you cannot. Sense what you cannot.” He pressed his hands together and his eyes shined bright and Amaryllis released a mesmerizing whistle. Pink thorns erected from the Knights shoulders, back, and arms like some sort of cactus. I jumped as the toxic blades sprung from his body.Then a wall of vines began to intertwine in front of each Ward, the leafy snakes slithered into a structure until my vision of Aragor became completely blocked, but the wall was low enough that if I stood, I would see over fine.
Amazing.
“Dragonz,” Aragor declared from behind the hedges, “take your place on the opposite side of the vinez, acrozz from your partner.” The little dragons did as they were instructed and navigated their way past the obstacle, now invisible to their Ward.
Tenebros still hid in the jungle hunting.
“Maximuz?” Aragor asked, curious why Tenebros had not joined us. I sighed in embarrassment, rose from where I stood, marched into the foliage and grabbed Tenebros before he could scurry away. I walked him back as he clawed and wiggled to free himself, then placed him down on the end of my stone platform.
“Please, just stay,” I whispered. Aragor stared at me either in confusion or disgust, maybe both.
Six servants, hooded in forest green, hurried into the Garden. Each carried a box and came to each of us. In every box they had a set of three items. They placed the objects on the stone in front of me. A black crystal, a star shaped leaf, and a small bone.
The servant went on the other side of the vine, out of my vision, and placed something in front of Tenebros as well.
“You have been given three objectz,” Aragor announced, hidden behind the vines. “Your dragon haz been given the same three objectz. Your dragon will choose an object. Using your mental connection, you must decipher what item your partner chose. Once you know which item
they chose, hold it in the air, and I will see if you have chosen the same item. We will do thiz until you and your partner choose the same object every time, without fail. You have one hour.”
I looked to my left, Sampson had his eyes sealed and he twitched as if he were deep in thought. I looked to my right, and Nyphea’s eyes were open wide, glowing a lime-green. She picked up the crystal and held it in the air above the vines.
“Akuto, Nyphea,” Aragor announced, her rose lips pulled into a grin and she whispered in the Primal Tongue as if her dragon sat before her.
She’s already got it? I thought in disbelief.
I couldn’t see any of the other Wards around me because of the hedge of vines. I sighed and closed my eyes and nuzzled into my spot. I fought to clear my thoughts.
Tenebros? I tried to beckon him. Can you hear me? Are you even there?
“Akuto, Acheel,” Aragor said again. I wasn’t surprised by that one, Acheel and Verglas’ bond was obvious, they never separated.
Do you think that could ever be us, Tenebros? I asked thoughtfully, Tenebros, please. Give me something. Anything. I found only darkness and silence in my mind.
“Akuto, Ajax,” Aragor’s voice broke my thought.
Crystal? Leaf? Bone? I asked in desperation. Crystal? Leaf? Bone? “Bezz, Sampson,” Aragor scolded.
“Damn,” Sampson growled, Scorch moaned through the hedge.
“Akuto, Nyphea. Akuto,” The instructor encouraged her again. “Ah, akuto, Kaia.”
In the emptiness, my mind began to wonder. I thought of home. I thought of a time before Maximus had been bitten. There I sat on a stool in the tavern before we opened and listened to
mother sing as she wiped down the counter. I polished off silverware with a clean cloth as Maximus swept the floor. I could hear mother’s sweet voice. She sang of heroes and dangers far off in a distant land, leagues away from our little tavern. Songs about ancient dragons that flew too high and raged war with one another in the heavens, and their Fury burned so bright in the heat of battle you could see it twinkling against the black sky at night. Or maybe one of her songs about bashful lovers? Unfolding a plot to meet their sweetheart beneath the summer moon, hidden in the shadows of the evening. I liked that one. I suppose I liked all her songs. I wondered if I would hear them again.
I thought of helping Maximus pull all the chairs down from the tables, and we’d race to see who finished the quickest. Then Father would fuss that we set the seats too far or too close to one another and redo it anyways. Then we’d help him roll in a fresh barrel of mead and he’d tell us how taxes were too high and how winter was too cold.
I’d probably have done all those same things this morning if I had stayed home. Instead, I woke up in my own chamber across from a dragon. I ate like a king, instead of eating stale bread. Then learned how a knight wields a sword, instead of polishing spoons. I wondered what they would say if they knew. I wondered what Mother will say when I come gliding in on Tenebros one day and not Maximus. I thought about what Father would do when he saw me. Would he love me then? I wondered how I would tell them about Maximus.
At the thought of Maximus' death, I thought I felt Tenebros waver.
Tenebros, can you hear me? Tenebros! I barked in frustration. I felt a tear forming in the side of my eye, then another. Answer me! Now!
“Your time iz up,” Aragor said.
“What?” I asked, opening my eyes and blinking rapidly so they could adjust to the sunlight. I was quick to wipe away the single droplet that had run down my cheek. “I thought we had an hour?” The vines unraveled slowly and began to slide back into the earth.
“An hour you had, Maximuz. And an hour you used,” Aragor’s bright eyes watched me carefully.
“It felt like a few moments,” I mumbled.
“Those who connected, akuto. Now make your connectionz stronger. Those who did not connect,” Just myself and Sampson, although he and Scorch got a few right, I think. “Listen to your dragon’z heart. Find out what they desire, and who they truly are.”
The vines no longer blocked my vision. Tenebros laid curled in an armored ball, fast asleep, right where I had left him.
Well, at least you stayed put, I covered my face with my hands.
“More tomorrow. You are excused,” Aragor said, pulling his hood back over him and Amaryllis, the thorns he had conjured fell back into his skin. Aragor lifted his hand dramatically towards the sky, and the petals of the massive plant he sat upon swallowed him and his dragon whole.
23
DARREN DUSKFELL
We marched in single file out of the Garden with Kaia in the lead. Once we were back inside the main structure of Titan’s Nest, Doppler awaited us.
“And Lord Thornverne showed you mercy as well?” Doppler asked. “Apparently,” Kaia said as she nuzzled her face into her dragon’s.
“How lovely. To the Vault then, for your next lesson. Keep up,” Doppler spun and trotted down the hallway. Thankfulness filled my heart when he passed the staircase, revealing the Vault had been built on the same level as the Garden. We walked down a long stretch of hallway until we reached a single circular door. The door appeared to be forged from obsidian, a reflective black stone. Two dragons pursuing one another in a circle had been etched into the face of the stone, as well as complex and ancient runes.
“Best of luck, Wards,” Doppler said ominously, just before scurrying away faster than usual. The mighty stone door suddenly moaned and then the slab shifted. The dragons and runes began to rotate before us in opposite directions and we all took a step back. The Vault door separated into two pieces, an inner portion and an outer. The outer ring floated backwards, freeing the inner. The inner ring rolled through the air, suspended by nothing, to the right. The outer ring did the same to the left, revealing a dark cave with walls of glass, or some sort of crystal.
No one moved, everyone looked into the dark chamber as if it were the open fangs of a terrible monster. Even the dragons seemed weary to enter.
“Well, this looks inviting,” I sighed.
Ajax stepped forward first, King right beside him. Together they marched into the un- known, their chests puffed out before them. The rest of us followed soon after.Once we all stepped through, the obsidian door reformed and closed behind us with an empty thud. The stone floor beneath us seemed dry and smooth, and our footsteps echoed against its face, we pushed further into the dark Vault. Even with my enhanced vision, the shadows seemed overpowering and fluid. Although it felt as if we were deep below a dreadful dungeon, the air seemed fresh, crisp and light.
A terrible roar broke out behind us, we all whipped around.
“What in the Six Kingdoms?” Sampson snarled, both his and Scorch’s eyes flickered crimson as his entire hand became engulfed in an orange flame. The flame looked as if it duplicated into a thousand stars throughout the reflective walls, floors, and ceilings surrounding us.
Another vicious roar caused me to jump and forced Sampson and Scorch’s flame to be extinguished instantly. The dragons all hissed and snarled, except Verglas who hid beneath Acheel’s Scale.
We stared into the darkness awaiting a monster to come charging at us.
Stay close Tenebros, I reached out with my thoughts.
“It starts like a whisper in the back of your mind…” A dark and seductive voice curled up my neck. “A sharp rush of primal energy races through you.” We all rotated, frantically trying to find the source of the whisper. “You have no idea the immense power that sits on your shoulders. You have no idea what they have unlocked inside your body with their bite. Soon, your very breath will crackle with power. Men will run in terror at the sound of your approaching footsteps... hide in horror at the beat of your wings,” the voice grew louder. “I will teach you to rip a mountain in two. I will teach you to bring an entire kingdom to its knees. I will teach you to draw that whisper into a deafening ROAR.”We covered our ears as the voice became replaced with the cry of an enraged dragon.
At the center of the circle the six of us had naturally formed, a pool of black ink manifested itself. It spread to our feet, a lilac goo, and forced us to scurry back. Then, the crown of a head appeared. It slowly rose from the floor, higher and higher. A woman rose from the void.
“I am Ravyn Shadecrest, Bitten Knight of Dazawrath,” she announced. Black hair covered her shoulders and neck, her eyes glowing like violet crystals. Her frame ran thin and her collar bones popped from her shoulders. She wore her Scale open and flowing. A black circlet ran across her brow housing a purple stone at the center of her forehead. In her left hand floated a black sphere of swirling shadows. In her right hand spun what appeared to be a sphere of living amethyst identical to the glow in her eyes. A gauntlet of iron and bone armored her left hand. She levitated just above the ground in a weightless drift, a talon shaped short-sword buckled to her thigh.
“And this is my sister, Shavara,” Ravyn declared. From the darkness of the cave two massive, purple, and diamond shaped eyes appeared above her. Shavara released a deafening roar as the rest of her mighty figure came into view. Fangs, larger than me, and sharper than any blade, surrounded us. The violet dragon with bat-like wings appeared armored in an onyx exoskeleton that made its head look like it was helmeted with a skull. Its jagged horns were curled forward like that of a ram. A dragon that had been pulled from a gruesome nightmare stood before us.
Even Tenebros growled nervously as Shavara’s overwhelming size and energy loomed over us.“Enough, Ravyn,” a steady voice rolled through the cave. Suddenly, the chamber became bright and as clear as natural sunlight. The crystal-like walls and ceiling shimmered with a soft blue light that illuminated the whole Vault.
With proper lighting I realized how mighty the Vault truly was. The dark dragon before us, although in its enlarged form, had more than enough room to maneuver beneath the nearly forty-foot-tall ceiling. Each end of the Vault appeared to be infinite the way the stone walls captured our reflection.
“It's like I could run forever and nothing would ever stop me,” I murmured curiously.
Ravyn’s eyes blinked and softened and she lowered herself to the floor. Shavara, still towering over us, fell consumed with shadows, then returned to her natural size. She floated to Ravyn and landed upon her shoulder.
“Fear can be an effective teacher, Yul,” Ravyn spun around and faced the mountain-like man stomping toward us. “Do not interrupt my lessons in the future,” Ravyn’s voice cut fierce and commanding.
Yul ignored Ravyn’s request and saluted to us all. “Yul Berghammer, Bitten Knight of Dazawrath.” His voice shook the cavern. His skin was a dark brown like Acheel’s. A frosted white beard covered his face and most of his meaty neck. Boulder-like arms formed out of his shoulders and a massive two-handed claymore had been slung across his back, the blade ran parallel to his spine.
“Glaze,” Yul gestured toward the broad chested dragon on his shoulder. The dragon, an icy grey, flashed silver eyes that gleamed beneath his strong brow. Two ivory tusks protruded from his powerful jaws, and a dense white fur wrapped around his neck and down his back.“Yul, Glaze, Shavara, and myself,” Ravyn stated, drawing our attention back to her, “will be teaching you how to master your Fury.” She crossed her arms and leaned back.
“Aye,” added Yul.
“Your Fury is the reflection of your bond with your dragon. Every Bitten Knight has a unique style and abilities because every knight and dragon is different,” Ravyn walked to the other side of the room, revealing a long rectangular design in the floor. When she stepped on one end, and Yul on the other, the panel broke free from the surface and erected from the floor, bringing them about five feet higher than us on a long stage.
Ravyn and Yul now faced one another nearly twenty-five feet apart. Their eyes both flashed with energy. The walls surrounding Ravyn matched her fury, and shined as if they were amethyst. The walls near Yul resembled a frosted quartz.
“The Fury flowing between you and your dragon allows for two things,” Ravyn stated, “Attack…” Shavara shifted to Ravyn’s other shoulder as she raised her right hand. A spinning ball of dark energy formed in her open palm; a lavender glow danced at the center. A mesmerizing hum sung out from the orb. She released the sphere.
“Or defense,” Yul barked after he raised his arm in a powerful thrust. Frost gathered on the platform and an iceberg formed a few feet before him. The shadowy orb struck the ice with such force I was thrown to my back from the shock wave and Tenebros had to dodge my falling body. When the steam and debris cleared, only half of Yul’s structure still stood, but he remained unharmed. “In order to defend the defenseless, a Bitten Knight must be immovable.”
I hurried back to my feet. Sampson and Kaia roared their approval and bounced up and down. Ajax and Acheel showed complete indifference, and Nyphea clapped her hands together in quick and light slaps.
The stone stage lowered itself and our instructors met in the middle as we joined them. “May I ask,” Nyphea spoke up, her green eyes surveying her surroundings, “why thiz place?”
Yul grunted and nodded his boxy head as if he appreciated the question, but looked to Ravyn.
“Ah, yes, the Vault,” Ravyn said, unfolding her clawed finger tips and gesturing to the cavern. “The walls you see around you are made of a sort of… living Fury.”
“What do you mean?” I butted in, confused by her explanation.
“You will learn with the Tarok Sheen, that Fury can flow through some objects, just as it can flow through you and I. Fury flows through the minerals that construct this cave,” again, her and Shavara’s eyes glowed a fierce purple and a lavender-colored blade of shadow formed around her hand. Maximus had done something similar the night of the storm. In a slash of her arm, she dragged the violet blade across the floor. “It absorbs the energy you conjure, and dis- places it throughout the structure.” The ground around us fluttered with purple waves, then dissipated them into infinity until the cave returned to its natural dark hue.
The area where Ravyn had slashed remained unscathed.
“We can’t destroy anything in here…” I said, now grasping the Vault’s purpose. Yul grunted.
“Precisely, Maximus,” Ravyn agreed. “If you were to practice using your Fury anywhere else, except maybe the Scarab’s Pass, you would be an immediate threat to people and structures alike. Not even our dragons releasing all of their Fury could scratch one of these walls.”
Amazing.
“Flint is teaching you how to engage an enemy at close range,” Ravyn continued, “we will teach you combat at mid and long rage... To wield the elemental power that is inside of your dragon, they must lend it to you willingly, and generously.”
Great, I thought nervously. There had been a part of me that had hoped I would learn to draw on Tenebros’ Fury on my own, but it remained clear I was at his mercy. I looked down at him, he had retaken his favorite position, a tight ball, and began drifting off to sleep. How do I get him to trust me… better yet, like me?
“For today’s lesson we will simply have you conjure your Fury before you in a tight sphere. We are looking for control,” Ravyn flicked her wrist to and fro as if she were asking us to do something terribly simple. I felt sick for the hundredth time that day.
“I advise having your dragon on your shoulder,” Yul spoke up, his voice like ice cracking slowly.
“Aye,” Ravyn conquered. “You have probably noticed, the closer your dragon is the easier it is to call upon their Fury. If your dragon moves too far away, the connection will be completed severed. Your Fury is at its strongest when you are physically touching.”
“Flametongue,” Ravyn said swiftly, pointing a sharp claw at Sampson, “you first.”
Sampson smiled and stepped forward after rubbing his red locks against Scorch on his shoulder, Scorch hissed with excitement. “You might wanna step back,” Sampson said with an arrogant chuckle.
