The Dragon Prince - Book 1: Cold War

Penance Part 2

Splitting the night sky with a terrible screech the indigo blue dragon circled above the group high, its belly and neck fully alighted with blue flame. Callum knew all too well that meant the dragon was a hair trigger away from unleashing a torrent of fire. The mage carved glowing blue/green runes in the air the words of a spell his mentor mentioned only in passing.

"Helio... volans... photalis!!" the mage shouted, thrusting his hands upwards as the runes fizzled and a puff of smoke left his finger tips.

Claudia watched Callum carve runes with such skill she could hardly believe it. It took her a second to notice what he was trying to do, "Callum! I didn't know you could cast a shield spell!"

"Oh, hey Claudia! It's been awhile hasn't it?"

"Yeah, you've gotten taller," said the darkmage.

Rayla frowned and cleared her throat, "deal with the dragon now, have your little reunion later!"

Claudia loosened a large pouch from her belt, tossed the contents onto the ground and dove into the random pile of components. She picked through each piece tossing aside bits until she pulled out a thin shard that glinted with a pearlescent sheen.

"The shell from an electric sea snail. If I imbue this you should fill in for the parts of the spell you are missing."

Callum lifted an eyebrow, "imbue with dark magic you mean..."

"Of course I mean using dark magic! But can we argue the ethics after we deal with the dragon please?"

From above a powerful gust of wind washed over the group, buffeting the heroes and whipping dust into their eyes. Soren and Nivin had their backs together as they continued to hack at the gooey, black tentacles.

"Do the finger wagglers come up with a plan before that dragon is about to land and burn us all to a crisp?" said the knight.

Nivin swung his fiery brand at the whipping tentacles causing the goo to sizzle and give off a deathly reek. The bard sang some more notes and both he and the human knight felt invigorated by the heavenly notes.

"Rayla!" Nivin shouted back as the three continued to argue, "remember your bardic training!"

Rayla's eyes furrowed for a moment then opened wide. She looked over at Callum and Claudia who was staring blankly at the moonshadow elf.

"You're a bard now?" Claudia asked quizzically.

"Yes, NO!" Rayla shook her head, "I can't do magic. I almost killed everyone."

Nivin and Soren had cut a swath through the mire of goo and joined the trio.

"Rayla, you are way more advanced bard naturally than I am through years of training," Nivin said looking at the elf then his eyes darted to Claudia then to Soren, "uh, who are you two exactly?"

"They're friends of ours." Callum said then turned to Rayla and with softened eyes said, "you don't have to be a bard if you don't want to, Rayla."

Rayla's mouth twisted as she looked away.

A giant crash knocked everyone to the ground as the dragon slammed into the garden. Trees cracked and snapped like kindling under the weight of the creature and it swung its massive head from side looking for its target. From the dragon's perspective the group appeared like tiny ants scurrying to stand back up on their hind legs. The dragon always found it amusing and he would chuckle at how ridiculous bipedal creatures looked. To humans and elves, a dragon's chuckle sounded like boulders cracking under the weight of a mountain.

"Do it!" Soren screamed.

Claudia began to chant the dark words of activation, her eyes began to glue an ethereal blue and her hair black hair whipped backwards from some ghostly wind. Callum closed his eyes and could feel the spell prickle his skin and he could feel Claudia's words fill his mind not through her voice but through a shared, magical connection. The tip of Callum's fingers began to glow and he felt his arm move on its own, forming a rune born from the unification of both his and Claudia's minds.

Rayla watched the two mages speak the same dark magic words in unison as a magical blue bubble crackled and fizzled around the group. A vein throbbed on Callum's head and Rayla knew what she had to do. She removed the delicate bardic threads from her backpack and wrapped it around her body using her foot and the horns on her head to give it a bow-like tautness.

Rayla closed her eyes and began to sing a hymnal of safe journeys that Runaan had sung to her whenever Rayla parents had to leave on long dragon guard missions. It reminded Rayla that people still loved her despite them being away and always lifted her up. As she held this thought in her mind, her bardic threads began to glow golden yellow. The golden aura lept from the string and surrounded the rest of the party including Callum and Claudia.

"Now please!" Soren pleaded as the blue shield fizzled and roiled.

The dragon exhaled a column of fire so intense, it turned rocks into glass. Arcs of lightning crackled inside twisting black smoke that curled around blazing hot flames. On and on the dragon exhaled as the roar of fire ignited the very air creating a madding howl like the earth itself was mortally wounded. When it seemed like the hellish vision would go on forever, the flames stopped and the world around them hissed in relief.

The roar of the flames had blocked out the sound of a one hundred sunfire elf villagers who, during all the commotion - had taken up arms and charged up the hill to where the battle was taking place. Arrows and spears began to pelt the dragon's side and though none broke its tough skin, it was enough to distract the creature from its former target.

The dragon snarled and clawed at a few Sunfire knights who launched an attack using polearms. Several bards emerged from the charred hedgerows and launched magical bolts in the shape of musical notes. Some of the novice bards formed a line behind the knights and began to chant encouraging songs that made everyone's hands swing twice as fast as normally possible. Within moments, the gooey tentacles and dragon were reeling.

A Sunfire elf wearing the adornments of higher rank scanned the yard. "This is Zelmai's house. Look for survivors!" he shouted to a subordinate.

A few elves not involved with fighting searched the ground around the now thoroughly annihilated house and gardens. An elf recoiled as he spotted the gruesome charred remains of an old elf.

"Zelmai," the Captain said, closing his eyes and shaking his head, "what a shame..."

"Look at this, sir!" came a cry from a younger elf knight.

The Captain and a few others rounded a hole in the ground. Looking up from the hole were three humans and two elves, caked in soot.

"I can explain..." said a dopey sounding human.

"CAPTAIN!" screamed an elven voice from the corner of the garden. They turned to look as the remaining goo had congealed into the form of a tall humanoid figure. It whistled and the dragon retreated from fighting a squad of Sunfire elves, leaning down with its head and allowing the figure to mount its back.

"This isn't over yet, Callum!" the thing howled and laughed and with a flash, the dragon launched itself into the air dodging arrows and magical bolts until it disappeared into the night. What wasn't noticed was how the brightly glowing cube tucked neatly inside Callum's backpack had now opened up a crack.

Ears rang as sudden silence filled the night. The elf Captain looked back down into the hole.

"Lil' help?" asked a moonshadow elf.