Chasing the Dragon (32 page)

"They're coming quickly," Aleena said. "Like the baron, I've been amazed at the progress."

Rosalyn smiled and nodded and then fell silent. After several seconds, the silence grew uncomfortable. The witch-queen glanced down at her book and then looked around, her eyes going to the silver statue towering in the background.

"Well," Aleena said, breaking the growing tension. "I'll check on the construction then. Whenever you’d like to talk
, send someone for me. I'll make myself available."

"I will," Rosalyn promised. She blinked again and offered another smile. "And thank you, Aleena, for everything."

Aleena curtsied and then excused herself. As she was walking out of the chamber, she walked slowly enough to hear a portion of Ketten's conversation.

"My queen, you look better than before," he said.

"These past weeks have forced me to neglect my studies," she snapped at him.

"Filled it with troublesome things like eating and drinking regularly?" Ketten said.

Rosalyn didn't respond to his quip but instead asked, "What of your quest? What have you learned?"

"Little," her servant admitted. "I can tell you that he went south and was in a spot of trouble and needed his friends to come and help him.
Word on the docks from sailors from the south is that he was seen returning to Mira."

"Returning?"

"Aye, he'd left a few weeks before but never made it back to Holgasford."

Aleena had stopped moving and listened with her breath caught in her throat. Her stomach was twisted and she had a lump in her throat that nagged at her. Who were they talking about?

"Why would he do that?" Rosalyn wondered aloud.

"That, my
lady, I do not know."

They fell silent long enough for Aleena to realize she'd overstayed her welcome. She hurried away, moving as quietly as possible. Her intuition told her they were talking about Alto, but for the life of her
, she couldn't begin to guess why. She'd thought her trip with the baron had been successful beyond her expectations but now she realized there was more to it. She had to find out what was going on and what Queen Rosalyn was really up to.

Chapter 31

"Karthor!" Alto yelled over his shoulder. The warrior turned and ran to one of the wheels and disengaged the lock from it. He started to unwind it and lower the chain when he realized only one of Namitus’s arms was coming down. He swung by the other and, if Alto continued, he might end up dragging his feet into the spikes.

Carson and Mordrim arrived first and the ranger ran to the other wheel. The others piled into the room quickly, each of them pausing to gasp at the abuse their friend had endured. Patrina was so distraught
, tears fell down her cheeks and she tried to climb onto the platform. Garrick pulled her back in time to stop her from impaling herself on the spikes.

"
Trina, stay back," Alto warned. "Carson and I will lower him. Garrick, can you grab him?"

"
Be gentle," Karthor warned.

Alto and Carson unwound the chains slowly, lowering the battered rogue until Garrick grabbed his boot and pulled him forward. Soon the barbarian held the blood
-soaked man in his arms. The chains had given all the slack they had to give and if Garrick had not kept a tight grip on the unconscious man, Namitus would have fallen back onto the spiked dais.

A
n echoing clang of metal against metal jerked Alto’s attention back down the hallway. His eyes narrowed and he turned to see Patrina and Mordrim looking his way. Patrina’s eyes were red and puffy and she bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

"
Go," he said in a voice thick with emotion. "You and Mordrim both. Guard that doorway."

Patrina nodded and hurried back down the hallway. Mordrim nodded to Alto and ran after her. Alto watched them go and then turned to head over to where Karthor was passing his holy symbol over Namitus’s body while he chanted. Garrick shifted once and stood still, holding the wounded rogue fast.

Carson jerked his head back when Alto glanced at him, earning the man’s attention. "These manacles aren’t made of any metal I’ve seen before," the woodsman said. "They look like that ramp below. We need a key to get them off."

"
Sand." Kar snapped his hands.

"
Sand?"

"
Yes, fetch me some. Hurry!" he ordered.

"
Do it," Alto said. Carson nodded and ran off, heading back out the hall to where Patrina and Mordrim stood guard. The wizard’s spell had turned much of the stone floor of the room outside the jail into sand.

Carson was back a few minutes later with both of his hands full of sand. He held it out for the wizard but the ranger looked at Alto.
"They’ve found us."

"
What happened?"

"
Be silent!" Kar hissed. "I must focus."

Alto’s nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply. Kar ignored him and chanted a spell that
sounded like a counterpoint to the priestly magic being employed by his son. The sand in Carson’s left hand lifted in a steady stream and floated through the air to the keyhole on Namitus’s left wrist. The wizard focused while he spoke the words of magic, turning the shifting sand into a solid mass that slowly turned until a click announced the manacle swinging free of the rogue’s left wrist.

The sand fell to the ground, inert and lifeless again. Kar focused on the other handful of sand and coerced it into doing his bidding. In moments
, the other locked clicked free and Garrick had to shift again to keep from overbalancing as Namitus fully slumped into his arms.

Kar backed away and let out a deep breath.
"Tricky stuff, those chains," he said. "Not too tricky for me, mind you, but that was neither a simple lock nor regular steel."

"
What were you saying?" Alto asked Carson and ignored the wizard.

"
Some of those snakemen were keeping to the ramp and peering over when I came out. That wizard I thought I killed with my bow was gone, too."

Alto nodded. He opened his mouth when he heard Trina’s voice cry out a warning. He shook his head.
"Time to go," he said.

"
I don’t expect Namitus can go," Kar cautioned while his son continued to pour his healing magic into the man.

"
Garrick, set him down—you’ll be needed for this," Alto said. "We’ll all be needed, but we’ll make do without Karthor and Namitus if we must."

Garrick watched Karthor as he lowered Namitus slowly to the ground. The priest moved with him, proving he was aware on some level of their conversation. In moments he straightened, the rogue
lying on the bloodstained floor while the priest knelt above him and prayed.

Alto motioned with his hand and turned away. He led the rush down the short hall to the main room of the jail and saw Mordrim and Patrina both pressing up against the heavy metal door.

"Are they trying to break in?" Alto asked as he ran up.

"
Not yet," Mordrim answered.

"
How’s Namitus?" Patrina asked.

Alto shook his head.
"I don’t know," he admitted.

The door budged as something crashed against it. Mordrim and Patrina budged but held the door shut.
"Damn lock’s on the other side," Mordrim said. "What kind of fool place is this?"

Alto scowled.
"Open it. We don’t need to be locked in."

"
But then they can get in!" Patrina reminded him. Another bump made her clench her teeth and throw her back against the door again.

"
Stand aside," Alto said. "We’ll teach whoever’s so anxious to get in a lesson."

Patrina and Mordrim shared a glance and then
, as one, stepped away from the door to either side. Alto stepped in front of the door but left a few feet of space in front of him. He reached for his sword when they felt a chill pass over them. Before they could take the time to do more than glance at one another, the door was blown free of its hinges. It slammed into Alto and drove the armored warrior to the floor.

Flames poured through the doorway, striking the door and turning it red with the heat. Liquid steel ran down its edges and dripped to the floor but the unlikely shield saved Alto’s life even as the fire sucked the air from his lungs.

As soon as the flames subsided, Alto heaved and Garrick helped by kicking the door aside. Alto rose up, coughing and gasping, and stared out the door at a small army of splisskin. At their center stood a snakeman easily nine feet tall and thicker around than Garrick, unlike his spindly kin that stood behind him with swords drawn.

"
You dare to defile this place?" he demanded.

"
I do," Alto said. He drew his sword and pulled his shield from his back as he walked forward and stepped through the doorway that still glowed red around the edges. The others followed behind him and spread out in the wedge they’d used so well in the past.

"
Who are you, softskin?" he hissed.

"
I’m the man who killed Sarya and every one of your puny knights you’ve sent against us," Alto proclaimed.

"
Alto," he snarled.

Alto nodded.

"You will die this day, human," the large lizardman promised.

Alto’s fatigue had been washed away by discovering Namitus. Even the rage he felt fell away from him, leaving him in
a calm place. He turned his head and saw his friends standing beside him. His family. They would stand at his side until their arms failed them and their legs were swept asunder. "The Band of the Dying Dragon will stand against your Order every time you dare to show your face. We will hunt you down and purge your evil from the world. Don’t tell me what will happen to me. I know what our future holds. Worry about your own shortened life."

The lizard hacked out a harsh sound Alto recognized as laughter.
"You fool! You have no knowledge of what you face! Sarya was old and decrepit. She should have passed years ago. She—"

"
You’re wasting my time," Alto growled, interrupting the splisskin leader. He lunged forward into a run, breaking ahead of his companions by a full two strides before they reacted and caught up with him.

They crashed into the splisskin line with Alto at the head of the van. The splisskin leader reacted
more quickly than Alto expected and parried aside his blade with his forearm. Alto was shocked by the man’s ability to turn his blade away without injury but he didn’t let it slow him down. It was the answering blow from the snakeman’s other arm that dented his breastplate and nearly tore his pauldron free that staggered him.

The rest of Alto’s companions fared better. The snakemen fought back but were overwhelmed at first. Only the unleashing of magic from the splisskin wizards prevented a total rout. Mordrim howled through clenched teeth and fought off energy that arced like electricity down his right side. Smoke rose from his beard and hair but he shook it off and managed to knock a splisskin sword away with his hammer.

Garrick leapt out of the way of a ruby beam of energy that struck the wall behind him and left the stone blackened and smoking. He spat out something foul about magic and leapt back into the splisskin ranks. The blue flames from his sword danced and spread with every lizardman they struck.

Patrina was struck
by several balls of green magic. Each was drawn to her armor but when they hit, they burst and made her cry out in pain. Her skin blistered and burned from the magic but she fought past it and even managed to shield herself from the three final magical balls with the body of a splisskin she’d buried her axe in.

Kar responded in kind, throwing out his own magic to counter the spells of the splisskin as fast as he could. He watched and reacted, deflecting their magic as soon as they cast it and saving his companions from further harm.

Better armed with knowledge of his opponent, Alto circled amid the chaos around the large splisskin. They traded blows, each deflecting the other’s strikes or dodging them altogether. Alto preferred the latter; the snakeman was so strong his shield arm was tiring from each blocked strike. The lizardman grew impatient with failed attacks. Alto watched, amazed, as his hands and the nails at the end of his fingers grew larger. The warrior spun away from an attack and wondered how much larger the splisskin leader could get. He led with his sword, hoping his blind strike would work when his more carefully aimed blows had failed.

As he finished his spin
, he felt the chill pass over him again. The snakeman drew his head back and then opened his mouth. Alto forgot about his attack and realized what was about to happen. He lifted his shield and ducked under it just in time to deflect the plume of flames that erupted from the splisskin’s mouth. The force of the fire dropped him to the ground and completed the job of stealing the air from his chest.