Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon (3 page)

Lloyd kicked the severed head of the dead Daemon in frustration “I’m fed up with these distractions!”

Allen, the light brown haired, brown eyed, former soldier of Seaguard, looked up at the prince with a smile while wiping the blood from his sword.

“Do not worry your Highness; it is important that we kill these stragglers when we find them, besides Redflame enjoys its time out of its sheath.

“Redflame?” Lloyd asked with a bemused look.

“Every magical sword needs a name friend Lloyd.” Kenelm interrupted as he dragged the Daemon’s body away from the dirt path upon which they stood. “Friend Allen, it’s a very public show of affection to name your sword after friend Bethany so.” The monk grinned at Allen who blushed as he protested “It’s named after the powers that his Royal Highness gave it!”

“For the thousandth time knuckle brain, he told you to call him Lloyd!” Bethany added with a chuckle as she emerged from the edge of the nearby Daydark forest. She threw an armful of firewood at the bashful soldier’s feet.

“There you go, get a fire started.” She added with a teasing punch on Allen’s arm.

The young soldier hoped she had not heard the rest of the conversation with the monk and began to separate the tinder from the larger pieces and construct the fire to a standard that any boy scout would have been happy with.

“Do you want me to light it for you?” Lloyd asked as he finished spreading out his sleeping bag.

“No it’s okay your high….Lloyd, it’s good not to get too lazy!” Allen replied beginning to strike flint against steel.

Kenelm, Lloyd and Bethany sat on their bedding near the edge of the woods, a good twenty feet from the path. “I wonder why so many Daemen did not get dispelled back to their realm when Hextar died?” Lloyd asked the monk.

“From what I read in the tomes about summoning Daemen I wonder if it’s  because many of the Daemen were either not greeted properly when they arrived in this world, or whether the person or Daemon that did still lives?” the monk replied.

“What about all those other dead Daemen, the ebony midgets and women, you saw when you returned to the palace with Boadaiska to close the portal. Maybe they have something to do with it?” Bethany added.

“Maybe,” Lloyd mused “I fear a lot more happened in that throne room than we are aware of.”

Bethany nodded and untied her hair from the pony tail she currently had it constrained in, she ruffled her hair and it filled with body to frame her face. Lloyd noted that she was not as spotty these days and had also lost some of her puppy fat since their departure from the Isle of Retreat many weeks ago.

Allen plonked down on his bedding next to the redhead.

“Allen, do me a favour and massage my neck please? It’s really tight from all the translocation spells we have been casting!”

The young man's cheeks blushed again as he moved to kneel behind Bethany to do as she asked. Lloyd suppressed a chuckle as his fellow initiate threw a triumphant look at him which, of course, Allen could not see. She then closed her eyes with a pleasurable sigh. Lloyd mouthed the word “MUG” at his protector followed by a grin, causing his personal guard to blush still further with a bashful smile at Lloyd.

Lloyd removed his boots and climbed into his sleeping bag. He then lifted the quilt fabric to his nose and sniffed deeply...he could still smell Edala’s flowery perfume from the many times she had shared the bag with him. He closed his eyes to hopefully dream of happier times.

“I will take first watch your Highness.” Allen said forgetting yet again Lloyd’s un-comfortableness at being royalty.

The next morning Bethany was sitting awake, when Lloyd finally dared to emerge from his sleeping bag and face the daylight. “Morning” he said to her, his stomach then rumbled hungrily when he smelt the rabbit cooking on a rudimentary spit above the fire.

“You really are getting good at this outdoor malarkey Beth!”

“Yes I am!” she grinned back at Lloyd whose face was getting increasingly covered by a threadbare beard. “Allen, my sweetheart, breakfast is ready!” she said in a fake lovey-dovey voice to wind up the young soldier who was putty in her hands.

“I really think you are going to regret this one day you know.” Lloyd whispered to the redhead as Allen’s head appeared from under his blankets, his brown hair all a tussle and his eyes full of sleep.

Kenelm also sat up and stretched, discomfort showing on his face from a back too long away from home comforts “I really can’t wait to be back at Arrenloft in my soft comfy bed with plenty of serving girls to see to my every need!”

Lloyd rolled his eyes “I’m surprised you didn’t decide to stay in Fish Town when we passed through. It looks like you were well received at the Monk’s Habit”...Lloyd and the others had decided it was safer to stay at the Admiral at Sea.

“It must have been pleasing to know your son was well?” Lloyd threw at the monk with a cunning grin. “Friend Lloyd! How did you find out?”

“Right now actually, thanks for confirming my guess.” Lloyd chuckled. The monk chuckled as well and laughter lines showed around his eyes, he then became serious. “I am glad I can share this with you my friends, but please keep it to yourselves, the Monks of Arrenloft do not swear to be celibate...heaven forbid… but we are sworn to not have children.”

“It seems a strange custom to let you, you know, be intimate, but not let you have offspring?” Bethany said.

“Friend Bethany, your beauty and your mind are an inspiration to us all, and you are correct, I guess it is the weakness of men which played on the minds of Arren and the first monks when they founded our rules. It is sensible for us not to have children or family because these are things that can be used against us, perhaps for blackmail to obtain some magical secret or item, but selfishly, I would guess, none of the men making the rules wanted to forgo the longings of their loins!”

“Do not worry Kenelm; we can keep a secret as good as any.” Said the serious Allen.

After breakfast had been finished and their belongings packed, Lloyd and Bethany faced each other, “You ready he asked?” She nodded and lifted a palm sized crystal ball between them; they then both spoke in unison. “Zephyrair, Zephyrmight”, opening their soul portals. Lloyd and Bethany had been evolving the way they performed the translocation spell over the last few weeks, so that they could accommodate, far easier, the two non-magicians in their small party. The ability to include others within the translocation spell was something which no other mage had been able to do, although it was at a cost to the overall distance that could be travelled. The two air mages both eased their soul portals together and shivered with tingly excitement when they became one, each could feel the others emotions, if not their actual thoughts. Lloyd forced down an inappropriate feeling of arousal, this was not Edala and indeed, although it was unfortunately an exciting experience merging soul portals, the level of sexual excitement he had felt when sharing his power with the girl he loved was incredible. Before he had managed to completely suppress his excitement, however, he did feel humour emanating from Bethany.

She then gently forced their combined consciousness through the crystal ball and sent them skimming through the trees toward the northeast and as far as she could push towards Dragonmight Mountain. “Here.” she said and Lloyd memorised the location and the position of the trees surrounding the small clearing in which they stood. They both returned the twenty odd leagues back to their bodies, but kept their portals together. “After three” Bethany directed “One, two, Three...Zephyrair, Zephyrmight, from my mind, far of sight, carry us there, true and right!” Bethany drew as much power as she dare from their combined portals and surrounded the group of companions with the energy while both she and Lloyd pictured the destination. The now familiar white flash and crack of thunder indicated that the spell had worked and the four companions were now in the clearing. Both Lloyd and Bethany were on their knees. Lloyd never asked how she was anymore; he could just tell from her pallor that she pushed herself to the extreme, as usual. Her wane smile; however, as she stood up by pushing down on using his shoulders, told him that she would soon be strong enough to continue.

“I think that another ten leagues would have taken us to Dragonmight” Kenelm said pointing at the spire of the mountain showing in the distance through a break in the tree canopy.

“Yes not far now.” Allen added as he passed a water skin to Bethany.

Lloyd knew that, without the burden of carrying both Kenelm and Allen, he and Beth alone could have easily made the mountain days ago. He tempered his frustration with the knowledge that it was better to be protected, especially with the number of Daemen they had encountered on their travels.

“Come; let’s walk slowly towards the mountain while Beth and I recover.” Lloyd then lead the way.

The flash of light and thunder, in the early evening, on the outskirts of the village of Daria caused the people to come out from their houses with a collection of weapons. Their nervous faces relaxed when some recognised both Kenelm and Lloyd. The young Sorcerer blushed when some of the villagers bowed to him “Welcome back to the village your Highness.” Fortunately, Lloyd’s blushes these days, were getting increasingly concealed by the beard he was refusing to shave off until he found Edala.

“They are all as they should be.” Bethany said scanning the group of people, Lloyd was annoyed with himself that he had forgot to turn on his soul vision to check for Daemon Possessed, a protocol he now insisted upon since  they were surprised by the attack at the Southgate, resulting in the loss of Boadaiska.

Lloyd smiled when he recognised the tall village leader Malin, pushing through the crowd, a grin on his face, his fair had a few more streaks of grey than when they last met. Lloyd remembered that he had met Malin’s son Rufus, a fire apprentice, at Arrenloft. He also suddenly remembered that, although Malin himself did not realise it, he was Edala’s uncle.

“Hello Malin it is good to see you again” he said firmly shaking the middle aged man’s hand.

“It is good to see you Lloyd, or is it your Highness or just Sorcerer these days?”

“Lloyd is fine!” the young man replied. “Is it too late to make it up to see Ingemar today?” he said indicating towards the huge mountain looming over the village. “There’s not enough daylight left I’m afraid Lloyd. I will take you up to see our Lord first thing in the morning, but for tonight I insist you stay with me in my home, I can’t have royalty staying in the inn!”

They made their way towards the centre of the village, where buildings were of a far better construction and where some form of thought had been made to set the layout of the buildings.  Lloyd noticed the large village well protected on either side by a statue of a dragon. One of these he now knew was a reasonable facsimile of the Dragon King, he felt his heart tighten when he walked to inspect the female Dragon Queen Daria, he laid his hand on her back, her fine form so like Edala’s had been on that horrible day. He sighed with remorse, what must she have thought of him when she saw the terror and hatred on his face...will she still be able to love him?

He turned and smiled sadly at his friends and Malin. “I know who Edala is.” The man said in a gentle voice, “she stopped by here to tell us everything, instructing us, as well, to care for her father. He’s not doing that well I’m afraid.”

“Tell us more when we have cleaned up and are sharing a meal friend Malin” Kenelm butted in seeing that the conversation was taking Lloyd to a dark place.

--

Malin’s house was one of the larger white stone constructed buildings, a stone throw from the village square, unlike in many places, where the mayor or elder might get the right to move into a special house while in power, in Daria people stayed in their own abodes. Mind you Malin’s abode would have put the mansions of many a mayor to shame. It was two storeys high, with a grand entrance porch and a solid black wooden front door. Three large windows stood on either side of the door, on the second storey the windows were actually double doors opening out onto small balconies.

Inside; the property was well furnished with a kitchen, dining and reception room on the ground floor and six bedrooms on the second; each bedroom shared a small plumbed in bathroom and simple flushing toilet; at the cutting edge of Kalanan domestic technology. “This must have cost you a pretty penny, friend Malin!” Kenelm said as he took his boots and travelling cloak off.

“Ingemar well rewarded my family when Larissa left with him.” The man said with a smile.

After they had each been shown to a room by several servants; another benefit of being rich, they each got cleaned up and then joined Malin in the reception room to wait for word from the kitchen that dinner was served.

While the others Mumbled idle chatter, Bethany walked around the room looking at various paintings, “LLOYD come look at this!” she said looking at a hand sized picture of a young woman sitting in a small gilded frame on the mantelpiece. Lloyd gasped when Bethany passed it to him, apart from long hair braided in a ponytail which the young lady in the picture held between her hands, this could have been Edala, her enigmatic smile and blue green eyes were hauntingly like the girl he loved.

“That’s my sister Larissa.” Malin said as he moved to look over Lloyd’s shoulder “Edala looks very much like her. It’s a shame that dying in childbirth seems to be a bit of a curse in my family.” The man said sadly; looking up at a large portrait of a red haired woman above the fireplace. “Your wife?” Bethany asked with a sad smile.

“Yes, Rafaela…”

“Dinner is served Master.” The voice of the servant was a welcome distraction for Lloyd and Bethany, as they had reached an awkward point in the conversation with the village elder.

The meal laid before them looked more like a feast to those with bellies who had been on the trail for weeks. The centrepiece was a platter of steaming beef and mutton, this was surrounded by other platters of vegetables, including, Lloyd noticed for the first time in his experience of this world, potatoes. A large stomach rumble made all heads turn to Bethany with a laugh. “Sorry” she said with an embarrassed grin.

“Tuck in my friends!” Malin said, still chuckling, he began to pour each guest some wine or ale.

For the first few minutes there was very little conversation, all focus on the succulent foods in front of them. At the first break in the onslaught, Kenelm took the opportunity to speak “So what news from the mountain friend Malin?”

Malin took a swig of ale before responding “It’s a place that will dampen even your indomitable spirits my friend. Now that the veil of mystery has been removed from King Ingemar, with all secrets shared, some of our people have moved up to the palace of the dragons to tend him in his desolation. He is not the creature...man you once knew.” The village elder’s face was incredibly sad when he finished the sentence.

“So why is Edala no longer with him?” Lloyd asked struggling to hide the frustration from his voice.

“I think she felt that being so close to her father, whose heart was an absolute wreck, would not be good for either of them with her own state of mind.”

“Do you know where she went?” Lloyd asked.

“She did not say.” Malin replied.

“Tomorrow, when we reach the palace, you will have to try your best to tease it out of King Ingemar, but do not hold on to too much hope young Lloyd.”

A snore from Bethany’s end of the table made them turn to the girl mage. Kenelm and Malin chuckled; Lloyd smiled fondly at the girl who, after a combination of weary spell casting and a belly full of food and wine, had fallen asleep head hanging forward. Allen caught her just in time as she sank head first, towards the food on her plate. He then gently scooped her into his strong arms and headed towards the exit of the room to carry the young lady to her bedroom. Bethany stirred slightly and smiled affectionately up at the young man “My soldier.” she said with a drunken smile while patting the blushing young man on the cheek. She then fell back to sleep.

Lloyd watched his two friends leave the room and wondered how their story would pan out. Hopefully better than his own he added as an afterthought.

--

The next morning Bethany was the last to join them for breakfast, deciding instead to nurture her hangover in a hot bath. Her hair shone like red gold as it framed her face, having yet to be restrained in either bun or ponytail. She looked at each of the others with a slight challenge before sitting at the table.

“Do not worry friend Bethany, everyone needs to let their hair down once in a while!”

Lloyd chuckled at the monk’s play on words and then chuckled again as it seemed to completely pass over his fellow mage’s head.

After breakfast Malin furnished each of them with some fur clothing, “You will need them for the altitude we will be walking to, it can get quite chilly.”

Upon leaving the village they headed northwest and within only a few minutes they were already heading up gentle green slopes at the foot of the mountain.  A fine slightly worn dirt path indicated that they were on, recently at least, a well-trodden route. Lloyd looked up at the mountain which now filled his vision, “How high are we going?”

“Don’t worry; it’s not to the top!” Malin said with a smile.

Within an hour the vegetation had reduced to just the occasional mountain bush and the dirt path became one which had been hewn at some time in the past from the rock face. Occasionally the winding path, which now zigzagged up the mountain, was covered with a black glass like substance and the companions had to tread with care. “Melted by dragon fire.” Malin indicated helpfully.

In particularly slippery areas new rope handrails had been installed, no doubt by the villagers of Daria now serving Ingemar.

Several hours into the climb Bethany was the first to feel the cold and they all paused to adorn their furs. Lloyd looked up and could see they were approaching a thick mist of cloud cover. Within half an hour they passed through the clouds and gasped as the temperature dropped noticeably.

“Not much further now my friends, it’s a shame the cloud cover is so widespread because on a clear day you can see Dragonmouth Bay and with a spying device even the walls of the capital!”

Lloyd pondered how the city was doing since Hegan returned. He shuddered remembering his last visit with Boadaiska; when he had sealed the Daemon portal. The clean-up was not going to be pleasant and Lloyd, for one, was certainly in no hurry ever to return there!

The companions pressed on, their breath smoke before their eyes. After a few minutes, however, their breath again became invisible and the air seemed to noticeably warm. Within a few minutes more grass began to cover the mountain face and even the occasional flower made an appearance. It soon became warm enough for the companions to remove their furs.

“What causes this?” Allen asked intrigued.

“I do not know, but apparently it has always been so, legend says it is the power of the lord creator, his last touch on this world, as it were, before he departed with his children.”

Lloyd, ever the mix of mage and scientist, wondered if the truth may be some kind of thermal vents from deep within the mountain that brought heat near to the surface at this location. At this point the path levelled out and they followed it for about fifteen minutes before the grand entrance to the Palace of the Dragon’s stood menacingly before them.

“My God, I wasn’t expecting it to look that threatening!” Lloyd said, not necessarily intending it to be said out loud. The main entrance was indeed a terrifying site; first it was huge, being very wide and very tall, wide enough to allow two dragons to pass through side by side. The stone was very smooth, similar to that melted by dragon fire below and it had been formed into a huge arch suspended across two tall monolithic pillars. Carved into each pillar was the image of a creature that Lloyd could only describe as an Angel. He quickly realised that if Arden had Ingemar's wings then this was what the image represented.  What was eerie, however, was the soft thrum of power that emanated from each as a pulse of red energy would highlight the outline of each image every couple of seconds. Lloyd turned on his soul vision and gasped at the intricate designs and symbols that now surrounded the image of the angel. They were very similar to some of those seen on the stone circles he had seen both here and on Earth.

“Wards to prevent Daemen from entering I think.” he said, mainly to Bethany, who would also be able to see the strange inscriptions.

They passed cautiously between the pillars and entered a passage about thirty feet long. The temperature, once past the pillars, became like a comfortable summer day. Every few feet along the passage, a small white crystal embedded in the wall, emanated a soft white light. At the end of the passage their way was barred by a highly ornate silver door, this was engraved with images of dragons kneeling before seven large humanoid beings that Lloyd imagined represented the children of the Lord Creator.

Lloyd realised that within the left hand giant door panel was also a much smaller man sized door with a large round knocker. Malin reached for this and banged three times, the sound echoing around the passage.

They could hear discussion behind the door and after about twenty seconds a bolt could be heard being slid back and the door opened. They were greeted by a lady in her sixties with grey hair tied back in a bun; she wore a grey woollen dress. Her blue eyes smiled in welcome when she recognised Malin.

“Hello Malin, it’s good to see you, please come in.”

“Hello Lisa, my friends here have come to see him.”

She smiled with doubt at the rest of the companions “Then you had better come in, but be warned he has not spoken, or even responded, to anyone for weeks now!”

As she led them into the chamber beyond, Lloyd, Bethany and Allen all gasped in unison. Far from being a dank dragon hole, or cave, as one might have imagined from tales of legend, the reception chamber was a shiny, ballroom sized, piece of art. Here the walls, ceiling and floor were still smooth dragon melted stone, but they had been polished to almost a silver sheen and every surface featured the tiny glowing crystals they had seen in the entrance palace. There was nothing gloomy about this place. The walls also featured ornate engravings showing key events in the history of the dragons, on the opposite wall, which also had the entrance to a large passage, the engravings only filled about a quarter of the surface, they soon thinned and then stopped.