Crossroads 04 - The Dragon Isles (37 page)

 
          
The
kender dodged through the temple pillars and caught the ancient key on the fly.
The gems in the artifact sparked, but it did not bum him. He gazed at it in
rapt attention.

 
          
“Look
out, you fool!” Kell shouted.

 
          
Trip
ducked just in time to avoid the jaws of a speeding razorfish.

 
          
The
enraged and bleeding Mog lunged down into the plaza and commanded his fishy
allies to destroy the kender. The sharks and razorfish swarmed in on Trip,
trying to surround him.

 
          
But
the sea serpent cloak gave Trip greater speed and maneuverability. He raced
away from his pursuers, darting in and out of the terrace’s pillars. Mik, Ula,
Shimmer, and Kell tried to cover Trip’s position, but their enemies crowded
between them, making it impossible for anyone to help the kender.

 
          
“Up the stairs!”
Mik said. “The next plaza is above water.
The fish can’t touch us there.” He and the others formed a tight group at the
stairway’s base, using the pillars on each side to protect their flanks.
Karista retrieved her fallen dagger, stained black wijth Mog’s sticky blood,
but kept well back of the fray.

 
          
“Fight
your way to us!” Mik called to Trip.

 
          
“Duck
your head, little one!” Shimmer shouted.

 
          
The
visor of the bronze knight’s helmet opened and his scintillating dragon breath
blasted across the briny deep. Dragon-enthralled fish withered and died where
Shiman- loreth’s power struck them, cutting a path through the swirling
predators. Exhausted, the bronze knight collapsed to one knee, nearly toppling
off the edge of the plaza.

 
          
Trip
darted through the opening toward his friends, but Mog rose up before him. The
dragonspawn grabbed the kender’s cloak. His talonlike fingers raked toward
Trip’s eyes. Trip struggled frantically in Mog’s grip.

 
          
Mik
and Ula shot through the gap in their enemies and drove straight for Mog.

 
          
Ula
thrust her spear under the dragonspawn’s arm,
but ,
the point got caught in the armor of the dead guard that Mog had been
impersonating. Mik cut at the creature’s head, but Mog ducked out of the way.
He whirled in a tight circle, yanking Ula and her spear with him.

 
          
The
sea elf smashed into Mik and the kender just as her spear yanked free from
Mog’s stolen armor. The three of them tumbled back, limbs flailing, as a group
of razorfish flashed past. The fishes’ sharp teeth missed the treasure hunters
by mere inches.

 
          
The
key flew from Trip’s hand and landed near the steps ascending from the plaza.
Lord Kell snatched it up before anyone else could reach it. “Up the stairs!” he
called, and he, Karista, and Shimmer began to climb.

 
          
“Give
me the key, Kell,” Shimmer said. They’d gone a dozen steps, and the spell over
the stairs was keeping the evil fish from following. The bronze knight looked
pained and exhausted, but his orange eyes blazed. The bottom of his visor
raised
slightly, showing the scintillating energies within.

 
          
The
brass lord gritted his teeth and handed Shimmer the artifact. “We’re all in
this together,” he said, barely meaning it.

 
          
In
a flash, Karista smashed the pommel of her dagger across Kell’s helmet. He
reeled, dropping his coral lance, and tumbled down the stairs into the plaza
where Mik, Ula, and Trip were still fighting for their lives. Karista picked up
Kell’s fallen weapon.

 
          
“Why
did you . . . ?” Shimmer began. But he never finished his sentence.

 
          
Karista
thrust the weapon between Shimanloreth’s ribs. The coral lance’s magic pierced
the dragon’s bronze armor and drove deep into his side. Shimmer’s humanlike
eyes went wide, and he dropped the bejeweled key. “Why . . . ?” he gasped.

 
          
The
aristocrat gave the spear a final twist and pushed Shimmer off the side of the
stairway. He disappeared into the dark waters below, Kell’s lance still
protruding from his side.

 
          
Karista
smiled, and spoke in a voice as much Tempest’s as her own.

 
          
“The
key is mine!”

The Fight to the
Summit

 
         
Mik
and Trip stood frozen in disbelief as Karista pushed Shimmer’s bleeding body
off the stairway.

           
“No!” Ula shrieked. She broke off
fighting and leaped off the platform into the darkness after her wounded
companion.

 
          
Karista
picked up die ancient key.

 
          
“No!”
Mog wailed.

 
          
Fire
burned in Karista’s steely eyes. “You haven’t the strength necessary to open
the Veil,” she said.
“So Tempest has chosen a more suitable
vessel.”

 
          
She
clutched the key to her breast and began climbing the stairs once more.

 
          
“Lady
Meinor! What are you doing?” Trip cried.

 
          
The
aristocrat paused and turned toward her former companions.
Her
pretty face cold and distant.
“What I
must!
She would have killed me if I hadn’t become her thrall. I
didn’t want to die there, in the middle of the ocean, like Bok had. I
had
to do what Tempest wanted. She
spared me, and put her leech on me, and made me one of her own. The world is so
clear
now.”

 
          
Karista
held the key out before her, and in the temple far above, a bright blue-white
light flared, and the island shook. “Protect me while I do our mistress’s
will!” she called.

 
          
Immediately,
the remaining enthralled fish swam across the plaza and formed a wall at the
base of die stairs.

 
          
“It
weakens, Mistress!” Karista called. “Can you feel it?!” Her steely eyes flashed
with mad glee.

 
          
Lord
Kell raised himself woozdy from the coral flagstones. “By the Gods!” he cried.
“She means to rend the Veil and let the dragon through! We’ve brought
destruction upon all the Dragon Isles!”

 
          
Mik
and Trip charged past the lord and began hacking at the phalanx of evil fish
protecting the stairs.

 
          
Mik’s
jaw tightened. “I’ve been a fool!” he hissed, cutting down a razorfish. “The
treasure we sought—the great diamond—it wasn’t just part of the ceremony to
create the Veil. It’s part of the
fabric
of the Veil. It’s a cornerstone of its defense!”

 
          
“The
key is the key to the Veil?” Trip said.

 
          
“Yes,”
Mik replied. “It opens the magic of the diamond.”

 
          
“What
can we do?” Trip asked. He grabbed a Turbidus leech as big as his arm and
smashed it into a redtip shark.

 
          
“We
have to stop Karista before she reaches the diamond,” Mik said.

 
          
The
water around them became a bloody cloud as Mik and Trip fought their way toward
the stairway separating them from Tempest’s thrall.

 
          
* * * * *

 
          
The
sea dragon’s mighty flukes propelled her toward the wavering barrier. Her evil
hordes swam with her: sharks, razorfish, Turbidus leeches, and a half dozen
dragonspawn— all ready to die at their mistress’ command.

 
          
Tempest
threw herself against the Veil. It shuddered but did not break. Her mind
remained clear, though; the barrier’s vexing enchantment had failed. Tempest
roared with laughter.

 
          
Now
it was only a matter of time. Her thrall’s power grew as she brought the key
closer to the great enchanted diamond. As Karista’s power—and through her, the
power of Tempest—escalated, the Veil weakened. After the sea dragon passed
through, she would then snatch the key and use the great diamond to destroy the
Veil once and for all.

 
          
Again
and again, Tempest crashed against the barrier as Karista bent the Veil’s magic
to her mistress’ will. Finally, a tiny rift formed in the shield’s magical
surface. The sea dragon ripped it open.

 
          
With
a hideous bellow of triumph, Tempest and her minions surged through the breach
into the Dragon Isles.

 
          
* * * * *

 
          
“She’s
coming!” the aristocrat cried. “She’s coming!” She held the key high overhead
and rejoiced. Mog glanced from the glowing key toward the bright temple at the
top of the stairs. The diamond within the temple flared as the key summoned its
power. The sky opened up and lightning flashed.

 
          
Mik
and Trip pushed forward through the cloud of blood, killing many of Karista’s
fishy bodyguards as they came. Lord Kell charged the rear of the frenzied mass,
but he was far behind the sailor and the kender.

 
          
“Fight
it, Karista! Fight the dragon!” Mik shouted.

 
          
“Milady,”
Kell called, “this is not you. You do not want to destroy the isles!” His voice
sounded tinny and strained through the magic of his helmet.

 
          
“Of
course it’s what I want, fool!” Karista shrieked. “It’s what Tempest wants, and
I am her creature! The Veil will open to ... to my ships, as well.” She turned
and began to climb once more. The wave-tossed surface loomed just twenty steps
over her head.

 
          
“The
isles will be destroyed!” Mik called. “There will
be
no trade!”

 
          
“Fight
back!” Trip yelled.

 
          
Mik
and Trip broke through the line of enthralled fish and ran up the stairs toward
Karista. The fish remaining in the plaza tried to follow them, but the stairs’
enchantment pushed them back down. A few left the plaza to try and circle down
from above, though the ocean’s surface left them little room to do so.

 
          
“Karista!”
Mik called.

 
          
She
turned and looked back.

 
          
Mik
pulled his dagger and threw it at her.

 
          
Mog
stepped between them and batted the blade aside. It settled on the stairway
near the dragonspawn’s feet.

 
          
Madness
played across the aristocrat’s face. She turned toward her former companions
and extended the key.

 
          
“Flee
or I shall kill you!” she cried.

 
          
The
gems on the key blazed to life, and lightning flashed from the artifact toward
Mik and Trip. They dodged aside, and the bolt cracked a coral pillar in the
plaza behind them. The kender hurtled off the stairway and into the swirling
waters beyond.

 
          
Mik
picked himself off the stairs and kept climbing.

 
          
Mog
charged down the stairway at Mik. The sailor ducked under Mog’s spearthrust and
grabbed the dragonspawn by the front of its stolen armor. The sailor fell
backward, thrusting hard with his legs as he did.

 
          
Tempest’s
lieutenant sailed over Mik’s head, down the stairs, and into the cracked
pillar. The column broke into smaller pieces and toppled onto the startled
dragonspawn, burying him beneath it.

 
          
Mik
ran up the stairs and retrieved his dagger from where it had fallen. “Karista,”
he called, surging forward, “I don’t want to hurt you, but you
must
stop.”

 
          
“I
can’t!” she cried. The power of the key coursed around her, building for
another strike. She pointed her hand toward Mik’s heart, her fingers glowing
with deadly energy.