A Shadow Flame (Book 7) (4 page)

"Very good," Borrican said, nodding at the blue-scaled dragon girl, and he turned to Vale. "Though you will remain here, can we count on the support of your vassals against the enemy? Now that the army nears the edge of the elven forest, the threat of the Darga attacking without warning is that much greater"

"Yes," Vale said. "My vassals are Ariana's vassals. While Kiva flies to the north, the other three will accompany you and guard the skies to make sure your army remains safe, and they will fight." She turned and looked at Kiva, Crag, Raz and Kaz, and the dragons, each of them, in an almost human form, and looking like little more than boys, nodded, with looks of determination on their faces. Vale turned to Borrican again. "Borrican, if any of them give you any trouble, you have my permission to tear a few scales off of them."

"We are loyal vassals, and will fight as you command," Crag growled. "But we will gladly fight these foul Darga creatures if they dare to show themselves and we will burn the shadow with our fire."

"You drakes have our gratitude, Crag, and your strength and fire will be needed against the enemy," Borrican said, looking at the dragon warriors with a serious expression on his face, showing them that he respected their strength. "And Kiva, you will fly north to fetch the stones from the watchers."

"Consider it done, Akandra," Kiva said. "I will return before you even know I am gone." Then he looked over at the other drakes. "I am fast upon the wing."

"Fast at flying away from danger," Raz growled.

"Then it is settled," Borrican said. "Lexi and Brian, and Kroma, of course, will carry word to others who would stand with us. We will free Maramyr and destroy Calexis and this dark god, once and for all."

"What of the elves?" Kroma rumbled. "Will they assist?"

"Quenta says he will lead a contingent of elven warriors," Ariana said. "They will travel on their own."

"It would make more sense to have the elves join up with the rest of our forces," Nathas suggested. "If we are to retake Maramyr and spare the people, it will require proper military coordination and command."

"The elves will honor the call to battle," Ariana told him. "And they will fight, but they will do so in their own way."

"Fair enough, highness," Nathas replied, quickly sensing that it would be better not to press the issue further. "We should depart soon, for the army already approaches Rivergate, and it is likely we will encounter strong resistance."

"It will literally be an uphill battle, and Rivergate is well fortified," Kaleb commented, then he looked over at Storm and the other four dragons. "Although, I do suppose we will have one advantage, or six, to be more precise." He glanced at Borrican as well.

"There are tunnels beneath Rivergate that lead up into the city," Ariana said. "We may be able to use them to get into the city."

"Excellent, we will attack them above and below," Borrican said as he rolled up the map and everyone began making their way from the room.

Brian smiled at Lexi as she walked with him out of the wooden palace. "I appreciate your willingness to fly me to the places I must travel," he told her.

"I want to help," Lexi said, her voice quiet and unsure. "We will make it to Maramyr for the battle? I have to be there."

"Of course," Brian said. "We will both be needed at Maramyr."

"Good," Lexi replied, her full lips pursing under her cowl. "This time she will die."

Brian had learned from the others that Calexis was her mother, and from what little they had told him, from the things he had seen and heard about the Xallan Queen, he did not imagine that things would have been easy for Lexi, being raised by someone so cold and ruthless. Even so, as shy and unassuming as her personality was, as soon as they walked out of the palace and into the large clearing, she seemed to be almost a complete contradiction when she became a dangerous and powerful dragon, her entire being emanating a fearsome killing fury. Energy crackled along her blue scales as she lowered her head, and as Brian climbed aboard her back, and when he touched her, he could tell that the god within him found it strange to feel the power of Stroma coursing through her.

As he settled in above her Lexi's powerful shoulders, Brian glanced over at the other dragons, who were shifting to their true forms, along with Borrican, and Lexi turned her head back and looked at him with a deep blue reptilian eye, catching his attention.

"Hang on to me," she said. "I fly very fast."

"Then let us fly, dragon!" Kroma rumbled deeply, and even the god was surprised when Lexi flexed her wings then leapt from the ground so quickly that they almost became a flash of light.

"You do fly fast, Lexi," Brian gasped, clinging to her armored scales as she climbed high into the sky, adjusting her wings only to stay level and change her trajectory while her power propelled them faster. As they angled to the east, they flew over the grey and black patches of the elven forest that had been destroyed by the withering poison smoke, and they also saw vast areas where the ground still smoldered from dragonfire, which had been the only way to burn away the poison smoke that had the goddess had not been able to pull away from the trees and into the sky with her power.

In the forest below, at the edge of the destruction, Laurana and Ehlena looked to the sky as the blue dragon disappeared from the horizon, followed by Borrican, Storm and the other dragons as they flew off toward the army that was already marching to Rivergate. Laurana placed her hand on the trunk of a tree that had been mostly withered by poison but was still alive, though only barely. Its naked branches shuddered as she let some of her power flow into it, and the tree whispered its gratitude mixed with a feeling of sorrow, for though its pain was lessened a little, it knew that it was beyond saving. Near to its roots, on the side where the poison had not yet spread, the tree sprouted several small, green shoots that Laurana gently plucked and cradled them carefully in the crook of her arm.

"You will live, and the forest will return," Laurana said, and the tree shuddered once more and the faint hint of life withered away as it died. Ehlena followed the elven queen as she stepped away from the tree, and moments later its branches began to crack and fall, suddenly dry and brittle, as though it had died long ago, an effect of the poison smoke.

"The poison of the shadow still lingers here," Ehlena commented as she knelt down to touch the ground and felt the dark magic seeping from the dirt.

"The dragons have burned much of it away," Laurana said as one of her people passed by and collected the tree shoots from her, then continued on to where other elves were at work saving what life they could. "For that we are grateful, but it has been difficult to watch so much of the forest turned to ash. The god, Kroma has told us of ways we might cleanse the ground, with water and ash, but it will take some time before anything will grow again in these places. For now, we will plant saplings such as these elsewhere, and perhaps someday they, in turn, will make others can be safely returned. With patience and time, both the forest and its people will recover from this."

"It is not the first time the forest has fallen to the shadow," Ehlena said as she rose to her feet. "Let us hope it will be the last."

"You speak of ancient times." Laurana stared at her, wondering how much the girl goddess remembered of things that were almost considered legend even among her people, who were longer lived than most, and Ehlena answered her question.

"It is like a distant vision, yet somehow vivid, as though it was only yesterday," she said. "We again fight the shadow, but I hope things will not become so dire as they once did, so long ago."

"We have stopped the shadow here and driven it back," Laurana said, defiantly at first, then her expression turned somber. "It has been at great cost to many, and the war yet continues, and though we may not be as strong as we once were, the shadow has not yet spread across the land."

"No," Ehlena said. "We are fortunate that it is not so powerful yet."

Laurana commented about her worry for Ariana and the others, but Ehlena only half heard the elven queen, for she was distracted by a whisper among the trees, and she let her senses flow outward and listened with her power. A moment later, Laurana heard the warning from the forest, and the two women turned as branches snapped and the ground shook. An angry bellow echoed through the trees and a large, scaled creature that looked almost like a dragon, emerged from the forest, its grey scales scarred and bleeding, and the wings upon its back torn and cut in many places as well.

Leaping after it, was a tall creature wearing tattered clothes and carrying a jeweled sword, and Laurana quickly recognized from the remnants of its garb and its features that it was Rolan, who had become like Quenta, though far more so than had her son, the elven prince. The lizard creature turned and swung at him with its claws and Rolan stepped back beyond its reach, then he dashed forward, plunging the tip of his blade into its shoulder. Black blood spurted from the wound and sizzled upon the ground as Rolan pulled his sword free and dodged another swipe from the creature. Laurana felt the air around them grow thick and she saw the movement of the giant lizard slow as Rolan struck again, taking advantage of the opening to ram his sword deep into its throat, and she knew that Ehlena had used her power to help him.

"Rolan has become like Quenta," Laurana said.

"Yes, he is almost completely become Alvar," Ehlena replied as Rolan howled and drove the blade deeper into the creature.

"It is the power of these weapons that does this." Laurana glanced down at the jeweled blade she wore at her hip. "Did you know of the danger of this when you gave them to us?"

"It is not a danger, Laurana," Ehlena told her. "There was a time when becoming Alvar was honored among your people, and there is a need for such warriors once again."

"I have spoken with Quenta, and he offers no complaint," Laurana said. "Though his transformation is far less than Rolan, and he has found a way to shift back to something like what he was before, I would have preferred that we would have learned of this before using such power."

"It is the power to defeat the shadow and to restore the forest," Ehlena said as Rolan pulled the sword free from the giant lizard that slumped to the ground. "Did you know that trees of this forest are descended from Alvar?"

"I thought that to be an old legend," Laurana said.

"It is a very old legend," Ehlena replied. "It is a legend that is also true."

Rolan stood over the creature as it died, then he turned and looked at the two women and began walking toward them, his sword slick with black blood and his angular eyes smoldering behind the ridges of wood-like bone that now covered his face and looked much like the masks the elves wore into battle. His mouth cracked open wide and he let out a loud howl, and Laurana stepped back, fearful when he raised his sword as though he meant to strike.

A sword held by a long, bone-covered arm met Rolan's blade and Quenta suddenly stood between him and the two women. Rolan groaned angrily, but after a moment he lowered his sword, then turned and walked away, across the open clearing toward the forest on the other side. Quenta turned to his mother and the young goddess and slowly shifted his form, reverting back to something similar to what he had been before he had taken up the godsword, but many of his features still remained changed and his limbs were noticeably longer than they had once been.

"Quenta," Laurana said warmly. "It pleases me to see you well, and glad you were near. It seemed as though Rolan meant to attack us?"

"I am well enough," he said, his voice distant. "But I fear Rolan may be lost to the wilderness and I would advise that he not be approached."

"Did he intend harm?" Laurana asked.

"I do not believe so," Quenta replied. "He is angry about the forest, but he can no longer speak with words as we do now, and it frustrates him, though I can understand him." He turned to Ehlena. "You have done this to him, and to me."

"I have done nothing but give you the power of old," Ehlena said. "As you have discovered, it is your choice to become Alvar if you wish, and it remains your choice."

"And what of Rolan?" Quenta asked.

"He is also as he chooses to be," Ehlena replied. "He protects the forest. That was always his wish, and it has been granted."

"The dragons have left to join the army that travels to Maramyr," Laurana said, changing the topic of the conversation. "It is good of you, Quenta, to offer your aid."

"It is my duty to respond, after what has been done to our home," he replied, then his angular features turned to a dour expression. "I fear the darkness at Maramyr is far greater than what we have seen here. It is as though the land itself cries out."

"You can feel the world," Ehlena said, knowing from the memories of the goddess that the power of the Alvar was far greater than the way the elves could talk with the trees, for like the trees themselves, they were connected to all things in the world.

"Yes," Quenta said, looking off in the distance in the direction of Maramyr. "It is not so overwhelming as what you once shared with the court but I can feel many things even beyond the forest. There is much death and desolation to the east, a fear and emptiness that fills me with both dread and anger."

"Ariana said she is glad that you have agreed to help in the battle," Laurana told him.