Dragon Blood (Short Story)

2. Silverhead

"No one is going to interrupt you now," Omar reassured Andy. "I know you will amaze us."

Andy nodded, giving him a grateful smile. The mage closed his eyes for a moment, as if collecting his thoughts, before he muttered with more incomprehensible words. He poured two drops of the purple liquid on the handful of grass in his palm, and then, he closed his hand into a fist and slowly he moved his arm in circles. To his amazement, dots of light appeared around the center of the imaginary circle. As the circular movement was getting faster, the dots became bigger, joining each other. A small sun was born in Andy's hand.

Omar could hear the grass crunching under Malanda's wary steps. The girl stood next to him, her hands on her waist. Even she couldn't pretend the show wasn't tempting to watch.

Suddenly the light ball grew, swallowing them inside. Nervously, Malanda stepped back, but Omar held her hand before she got away from the light. She glared at him, probably reminding him with her arrow menace. Don't be stupid, Malanda, he wanted to tell her.

There was no sky when the ball shone like a thousand suns, golden yellow reigning over the whole world. Though Omar hid his eyes with his arms, he felt as if the bright light crept inside his head. His feet couldn't find grass beneath, but he wasn't falling or flying. He was a ray of light himself.

The ground was back, rocky this time. Omar's jaw dropped in awe when the light faded, revealing a cave ahead. The great Andy had done it. Before Omar uttered a word, Malanda's firm hand covered his mouth, her other hand pointing upward behind him. Slowly, he turned his head to contemplate the iron gate they were standing before. A postern gate, he thought to himself. Its structure wasn't as majestic as the front side of the fortress, but it was still guarded. Luckily, from inside.

With a finger on her lips, Malanda gestured to Omar and Andy to remain silent. She walked backward, facing the gate, her hands on her quiver and bow. After she nodded to them, Omar and the mage crept forward toward the cave. Looking over his shoulder, Omar spotted three archers atop the gate, but like the guards, they weren't expecting intruders from the cave direction. But who could bet on that? A whole army would be unleashed if one archer or guard looked back. If you could just take us a bit farther, Andy.

The silent march went peacefully until they reached the cave mouth. "Down." Malanda's voice was low and firm, leaving no room for discussion. Omar was down to the floor on his belly, still curious to know what was happening behind him. Malanda was the only one facing the damned postern gate. "Crawl inside before they see us," she demanded, her eyes gazing at the gate behind him. The archers must have decided to look at the other side of the gate, Omar presumed. But no one from the fortress was yelling so far. That was good news. He knew they were safe to get up when Malanda rose to her feet.

The air was stale inside the cave as they followed the flickering torches hanged on the side walls. "Are we sure we are in the right cave?" Omar wondered. "I expected a heavier guard than this."

"If you didn't notice, there was an entire fortress to guard it," Malanda pointed out.

"Ah, right! You mean the fortress we skipped thanks to Andy, our great mage." Omar knew she bore no affection to the mage.

Someone was coming, Omar heard the echoing footsteps. Two. Six. Thirteen. Now they became too many to count. Malanda held her bow, ready to receive the newcomers. "Now we know we're in the right cave, don't we?" she said.

Andy drew his sword, standing behind Omar and Malanda. "I'll watch your back," he said.

Seriously? Yet the time to discuss battle formations was over. A double column of swordsmen was now visible at the end of the rocky passage. Without waiting for an invitation to show her generosity with arrows, Malanda hunted down three swordsmen before they even charged. The rest of men roared in fury, rushing toward them, but Malanda's pace didn't slow a bit. She kept snipping them with her arrows, one after the other, but she could never hold them on her own forever, Omar knew. He had to keep them at a distance.