Defenders of The Sacred Land: Book One of The Sacred Land Saga (33 page)

Amadace bowed his head in acceptance. “My child, I am sorry to frighten you. Welcome, my daughter and my champion. If you were not to be my knight, you would now be dead in the waking world as well as here. No soul unworthy of the title of dragon knight can withstand the fire cleansing.”

Tatrice’s heart swelled, and she knew she loved Amadace as a child would love a father. She did not understand the spell she seemed to be under, but she now understood that dragons were indeed magical creatures. “I never knew. I—”

“Shush, my child, take the Lora Daine and complete your quest. Though it will be perilous, you are protected by my trial of fire. Awaken now.”

Tatrice opened her eyes; she was still aboard ship and was standing in the same spot where she had stood when she first grasped the stone. She peered down at the scaled armor to find it now fit her perfectly; the scales had let out to fit the shape of a woman’s chest, and they were softer to her touch. The Lora Daine had affixed itself to the center of a new shield. As she looked on it fondly, it turned from red to blue before her eyes. Not knowing what she should do, she felt happy and sad at the same time, and she fell on her bed, sobbing into her pillow.

Drakkius entered Naneden’s private chamber and sat down on an overstuffed, red velvet chair, his red skull pipe bellowing out white smoke. “What is it, dark lord?” he asked in a puff of smoke breath.

Naneden was staring straight ahead, and he did not move nor flinch at the entrance of Drakkius. After a long moment he spoke. “I want you to go to the Sacred Land. My plan is unfolding beautifully.”

“You have discovered how to capture the Silver Drake then?” Drakkius asked.

“I have gazed into the black pool of my fathers and I have foreseen it. Brightonhold Keep is the key. I have already taken steps to fulfill my destiny, but I cannot go there myself. You must go.” Naneden stopped to gaze into the dead, mummified face of the late highlord. “Your lands come under attack, my liege, whatever will you do? Now that I have sent my underlings to take what you have left, what will you do?”

Drakkius rolled his eyes up into his head. “Naneden, do try to focus on the task at hand. I grow wary of your unnatural obsession with the dead highlord’s remains,” Drakkius stated disgusted.

Naneden glared at the lord of Abaddonia for a moment before speaking. “You will go to the Sacred Land. Take with you whomever you wish.”

Drakkius narrowed his eyes. “I have seen a path of my own. I will go alone.”

Naneden raised an eyebrow. “Do you think you are ready?” He smiled maliciously. “Do you think they are ready? Dragons are very difficult to control.”

“They do serve us now, do they not? Or has your magic grown weak and your contempt soft?”

Naneden pointed a skeletal finger at Drakkius. “My contempt is strong and my magic potent.” He turned his back to Drakkius and waved him away with his hand. “Use them; they will serve you well, if you can control them.” Naneden opened a tome with red runes on his desk. “Here, use the travel spell. They have already gone to the sacred land to meet with Kimala. I am sure they have arrived by now,” Naneden said.

Drakkius smiled and rounded Naneden’s desk.

Kimala shivered at the chill of the night as Bhavare, her Scarov escort, fanned the flame of their fledgling campfire. Braful, her other Scarov companion, dressed two hares for cooking. “Have you any skill at lighting campfires or do we need to wait for a bolt of lightning?” she said to Bhavare sarcastically.

Bhavare growled as the flames he fanned slowly caught wood and burned higher. “Are you not supposed to meet with the Enforcers?”

“That is my business, not yours.”

“Well, the fire is burning now,” Bhavare said.

Kimala scowled. “It’s about time.”

Braful set the hares on a stick, spit style, and turned them over the fire. The fire spit and crackled as the juices from the meat dripped down onto it. Soon the aroma of fresh roasted meat filled the air around the campsite.

“Did you hear something?” Braful asked Bhavare.

“Like what?” Bhavare replied.

Braful looked upward into the night sky. “Like the faint beating of wings.”

Bhavare listened intently, and soon he could hear the sound in the distance as well. “Aye, I hear it. It sounds as if it’s coming nearer.”

“Nearer!” Braful exclaimed. “Run!”

Kimala was amused. “You will do no such thing, Scarov. Stay where you are and nothing will harm you.” They both stopped in mid stride.

A few moments, the ground beneath their feet shook as the weight of a huge black dragon unsettled the camp. Its huge beating wings almost extinguished the fire. It stood above the spit for a moment before it swooped down its maw and gulped up the rabbits, spit and all. Braful tried to protest, but the dragon did not seem satisfied with such a small meal, so in two large bites the Scarov servant was gone as well.

“I suppose I was wrong,” Kimala stated coldly. “He should have run.”

Bhavare backed slowly away from the creature, but the dragon turned on him in an instant, breathing hot smoke on him. He froze.

“Dragon, are you not yet full?” Kimala asked. “Because if you are planning to eat my other servant, I will have no one to help me on my task and my purpose will fail.”

The dragon turned his huge, scaled head to her and in a booming voice said, “I shall eat him if I wish, witch.” It snorted hot ash onto her.

Kimala’s indifference turned to pure anger as she tried in vain to wipe the black ash from her clothes and hair. “Well then, eat him if you must and be done with it you giant, overgrown lizard!”

Bhavare gasped as the dragon turned to him once more. Fear welled up in him, and the servant fainted dead away.

The dragon folded his wings onto his back and rested the bulk of his body on the ground like a giant house cat on a comfortable divan. “I am full for the moment; perhaps I will save him for later.”

“Where is Drakkius?” she asked.

“How should I know? I left Scarovia before he arrived. You had better be in position when he arrives though, or I may get to eat you as well.” Kimala could have sworn she saw the semblance of a smile form on the dragon’s scaled mouth.

“Don’t bet your hide on it, broodling,” She retorted and the dragon scoffed. “How much farther to the Sacred Land anyway?”

“What does it matter to you? I will get you close enough in the morning to walk the distance in a few hours,” the dragon scoffed.

“And what will you do then, fly around until Drakkius calls you? I thought you dragons were done with the likes of men anyway.”

“Ah,” the dragon laughed, “you speak of the Draegodor dragons; my brood does not care for their kind. They exiled us long ago from the red city in the mountains and stole our treasures, treasures we are now replacing on our own.”

“So you are in this for the money,” Kimala said.

“Of course we are. You have nothing more to offer us than wealth.”

“Why not just take it then if you are powerful enough. Why work for it at all?”

“Because we are sporting dragons, my brood. Where is the fun in wealth if you didn’t kill filthy, question asking, power mad beings like yourself for?”

“Indeed, Dragon, and I thought you were doing it for revenge.”

The dragon reared its head. “What do you know of revenge?”

“Not much, but it was rumored the army of the West stumbled onto one of your lairs and destroyed hundreds of your eggs. How many times a decade do your females spawn eggs again?”

The dragon’s eyes burned with fury. “Be careful of your tongue, witch, I may eat you yet.”

“Sorry, I hadn’t realized dragons were so touchy.”

The dragon huffed out a cloud of smoke from its maw. “Once every one hundred seasons.”

“What was that?” Kimala asked, pretending not to hear.

“Our females, they spawn eggs once every one hundred seasons, not that you are actually concerned.”

Bhavare woke up from his faint, feeling his chest with his hands. “I am not eaten?” he said surprised. “Was it a bad dream?” He stood laughing and dancing a little jig until he danced face to face with the dragon. The dragon puffed out a cloud of hot smoke on the servant, and he fainted dead away again.

“Stop that, you are going to kill him from fright, and since you have already eaten one of my servants, I would like to have him in tact physically and mentally.”

The dragon laughed. “No promises, witch.”

Kimala smiled in spite of herself. “Are all dragons as incorrigible as you?”

“I can’t speak for every brood, but mine generally is.” He thought for a moment. “Why do you not fear me?”

Kimala glared at the dragon as if the answer to his question was obvious. “Because fear was driven from me long ago. Nothing can frighten me now; I have been through too much to care for fear.” She turned away from the dragon. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have to catch something else for supper since you ate the hares and the cook.” She started to leave the camp then stopped. “I expect Bhavare to be alive when I return.”

“Don’t worry, witch, I think the other one is giving me a stomachache.”

“It serves you right,” she said.

“All right, witch, go on. He will come to no harm.” The dragon said, “And my name is Dravenclaw.”

“Thank you, Dravenclaw,” she said and then she disappeared into the darkness.

Bhavare slept until morning and when he finally awakened, Dravenclaw kept his word and did no harm; although he did frighten the servant once more. The sun had barely topped the horizon when Kimala climbed onto the dragon’s back. It took her some time and effort to get Bhavare to join her, but he did not wish to be left behind, so he capitulated and also climbed onto the dragon’s back. The Sacred Land was vast, but the dragon flew over the dead terrain with ease and speed. Before the sun had reached midday, the dragon had put them within a league of Brightonhold Keep and bid them farewell. To get any closer to the keep would put the dragon in danger, even though it would take the whole of the Enforcers to down the beast.

“We will wait until nightfall to enter the fortress, Bhavare; I do not wish to be seen.”

“As you wish, my lady, but where will we hide?”

Kimala scanned the area until she saw a dense group of dead trees in the distance. “In those trees,” she said. “Let’s make for them before the Defenders catch us.”

“The Defenders? Do they not patrol the woods as well?” Bhavare asked.

“The Sacred Land is vast. I’m sure we will be gone by the time they patrol this area; besides, we are too close to the Enforcers’ keep for them to even worry about us.”

“I hope you are right. I do not wish to be captured and thrown into a dungeon any more than I want to be eaten by that dragon.”

“Bhavare, after I talk to our contact it is likely I will be taken away from you. I think you should find a hiding place and wait for me to contact you. We will need to get away from the Sacred Land very quickly if our plans do not go as we foresee them.”

“It may help if I know what the plan is, mistress,” Bhavare said.

Kimala wrinkled her nose at the statement. “Help who, certainly not you. If you knew the plan and were captured, you would have knowledge that could get you killed.”