Dragon Choir (38 page)

Wyggen handed
his spear to Hurn. “Take this and defend the innocent with your
life.”

Obst passed
his trident to Jaspa. “Ready yourself to repel any who threaten our
sanctuary.”

Qarim hung an
amulet around Delik’s neck. “This will shield you from the storm
you summoned.”

Tetula
unsheathed her sword and held it before Elrin. “Show me the weapon
you carry.”

Elrin pulled
the dagger from his belt and held it next to Tetula’s elegantly
inscribed, exotic sabre. The same foreign symbols were etched
across the gentle curve of both blades, their hilts were of the
same design, each pommel held a stone as black as the abyss. The
arcane sigils on both weapons pulsed, as if in recognition of each
other’s presence, two long lost friends united again.

“
Is it yours? Did my father take it from you?”

“
No.” Tetula’s face softened, her eyes moist. “It was
given.”

“
You knew my father?”

Obst chuckled.
“How could we not?”

Elrin was
ready to burst with questions. “Then you’ll help me find him?”

“
First we must join in mind and battle,” said Qarim. “Behold
our true forms and stand strong.”

Tetula and her
sword vanished, as did the other avatars of the choir. They
dissolved in a flare of light, extinguishing the illusion from
Elrin’s mind. Before them were four dragons, their serpentine necks
arcing around the column, their intelligent eyes regarding them in
cool omnipotence. This was no flash of truth, it was an awful
reality; the dragons’ power set their fragile mortality into stark
relief. Elrin and the others fought against every impulse to
crumble before their might.

Elrin was
snatched up in a cage of claws and dropped astride the great silver
shoulders of Tetula. Her frosted honey voice entered his mind.
“Hold tight.”

Tetula’s
muscular body was plated with smooth metallic scales, each as big
as a warrior’s shield. Thick tufts of hair sprouted down her spine
from head to tail. Elrin grasped a handful of her blonde mane and
shifted into the dip between two vertebrae. “I’m ready.”

Tetula leapt
into the air, her powerful wings beat twice, flying them up to the
cavern ceiling. Elrin thought he would be impaled by the shafts of
rock that jutted out like an army of upside-down pikes, but instead
Tetula tucked in her wings and they slipped into a dark tunnel
hidden in the side of the cavern. Elrin hugged close to the
dragon’s back. Her claws scraped along the stone while her body
half crawled and half slithered, gaining speed as they careened
down the black tunnel. They shot out from the top of the caldera
wall into bright daylight. The silver dragon spread her wings and
lifted them over the sea.

Elrin screamed
into the wind. The thrill of the speed and the height ignited his
insides with an ecstatic joy that buzzed through his body; the
ultimate wish to fly coupled with the ultimate test of courage,
both exposed to the whim of the most formidable being under the
gods. He was living the fantasy every child dreamed of and every
adult grew to fear.

With several
beats, her wings caught a thermal current, circling them up in a
grand lazy spiral, borne of the rising warm air. Clutching Tetula’s
mane and gripping her neck with his thighs, Elrin dared himself to
lean over and look straight down.

***

Qarim emerged from
the sanctuary like a bolt from a crossbow. Delik clung to the
spines protruding like giant needles from the dragon’s long slim
body. As he wedged his ankles and hooked his feet under the spines,
his only thought was for the long fall down if Qarim decided to
flip over in some daft manoeuvre. Tetula circled in a thermal above
with Elrin leaning over her neck, gawking down at them. The
shankakin’s stomach sank to think of doing the same. Bloody fool,
grinning like an idiot. Delik had a fine enough view without
hanging out into the empty sky. Qarim beat his mottled purple and
gold wings hard, lifting them to catch up and join the same air
current. The late morning sun reflected on Qarim’s golden scales
and the islands of treasure far below.

The armada was
a plague of white sails on the blue-green ocean, swarming the
advance pirate fleet. Kobb’s feint retreat had lured the armada
amongst the islands as planned, fanning out in a fragmented chase
through the passages, but there was a problem. The sheer number of
ships deployed against them was far larger than anything Delik had
estimated. His father couldn’t have received accurate intelligence
on the true size of the Jandan fleet. Or had he known and bet
everything on the choir? How else could they win?

The armada
pushed along the east and west flank of the archipelago, sealing
each passage to open water as they went. They were leaving no
chance of escape, confident that they had the numbers and
positioning sentries to guard from a surprise attack. The bulk of
Kobb’s ragtag pirate fleet sailed to the west of the sanctuary,
amounting to no more than the Jandan contingent flanking the
islands from the same direction.

Treasure
glimmered through the patches of dense green forest scattered
across the islands. Even from high above the rebels were invisible.
What good was he up in the air, riding this beast? He should be
down there with his comrades, ready to stitch up the ships in the
channels.

Qarim
stretched his long neck around and eyeballed Delik, prodding him
with his thoughts. “This ‘beast’ can hear your little mind tripping
over itself. Think with some decency, please.”

Delik directed
his thoughts to Qarim. “Sorry, I didn’t think a tough old stick
would be so sensitive. What keeps us from the battle?”

“
You are brave to goad a dragon, perhaps stupid. I find there
is small difference amongst the shortlives.”

“
Then, we have that in common.”

***

Minni pulled Amber to
the deck as another shot from the Jandan bow chaser blasted
into
Bone Dancer
,
tearing through her mizzen rigging.

Kobb yelled up
at them from the quarterdeck. “Cough it ladies! Give us more
puff!”

Minni helped
Amber to her feet, glaring at Kobb. “Make up your mind. You just
told her to slow down.”

Kobb ignored
her, shouting at his bosun. “Get another lateen up!”

Amber was enjoying herself. Even under fire her magic flowed,
directing the wind and water to speed
Bone
Dancer
ahead of her pursuers. It was a
fine game. She was a child playing with a new toy at season’s end.
She sung and giggled, weaving the elements to her whim. Ample gusts
of wind filled their sails and tiny water creations leapt out of
her buckets and into the sea. Once overboard they swam toward the
pursuing Jandan ships, growing as they went, magnified in the open
water. Dolphins and sharks, monstrous fish and sea serpents made
from water and magic harried the Jandans. They leapt onto the ships
causing havoc, their life only as long as Amber’s own entertainment
saw fit. She laughed and played, experimenting with strange and
ridiculous shapes. Amber favoured the comic relief of cows leaping
onto their decks, though they didn’t last very long before she
disintegrated into fits of mirth.

The redeemer
on board the leading ship showed himself on the forecastle. His
white robes billowed around him like angry clouds. His acolyte set
down a cage of unsettled doves and the redeemer cast a spell,
waving his arms in strange patterns. The cage shimmered and the
birds churned in a craze of feathers, their energy funnelling to
the redeemer.

Minni nocked
an arrow. “Amber! Get down!” The arrow loosed, falling short of the
redeemer. Out of range.

A bolt of
energy shot from the redeemer’s palm. It seared through the air,
white and blue lightning twisting around itself in a lance of
destruction. Amber dove flat on the deck and the bolt crackled past
where she had been standing, tearing through the new lateen sail,
setting it aflame and blasting splinters off the mizzenmast.

Kobb yelled
orders, a man screamed in pain. Minni sharpened her attention on
the redeemer. She knocked another arrow, knowing it would likely
miss. It was all she could do. She drew back and aimed high,
praying for the Welcome Stranger to bring her luck.

Amber cupped
her hand in one of her water pails and ran to Minni. She dripped
the water over the broadhead and it hugged the steel like a bubble
of glue. Amber pointed to the sea, then at the redeemer, her mouth
set firm, an eerie tune curling from the back of her throat. Minni
released just as a second bolt of lightning sizzled from the
redeemer’s hands, careening towards them. The arrow plunged into
the water then Amber raised her fist and the enchanted missile
emerged faster than when it was shot, surrounded by a vortex of
water. She thrust her palm forward and the water arrow streaked
into the bolt of lightning absorbing its energy. With a shout the
young elementalist cast the deadly missile into the redeemer’s
chest, blasting him open and knocking him off the forecastle.

***

Far beneath Elrin,
Obst and Wyggen emerged from the tunnel in the caldera cliff face.
Wyggen’s enormous wings fanned out, lifting in a thermal without a
single beat. His lazy circles above the caldera darkened Kobbton in
shadow. Obst had no wings and yet she flew through the air, weaving
in and out of the sea. Her long serpent body was an aquamarine
ribbon, flowing along the junction of water and air. Her sturdy
limbs were needles stitching the elements together. She patrolled
the sea around the caldera then retired to the caldera wall,
draping herself across the mountainside, guarding the
entrance.

Tetula and
Qarim banked out of their thermal at a dizzying height and flew
toward Kobb’s ships fleeing through the channels. White smoke
drifted in the wake of the chase. The crash of cannon fire split
into the sky, distant and violent, spoiling the peace of the
altitude like a smith in a temple.

Elrin shouted
into the wind. “We have to protect the last of the fleeing ships!”
His words were consumed by the wind and the dragon’s wings carving
through the air.

Tetula’s voice
resonated in his head. “Use your thoughts, young one. I am
listening, but keep it clear.”

Elrin closed
his eyes and pronounced his mind, imagining the words radiating
through the air. “We have to help those fleeing ships.”

“
Why help them? They are pirates. I can destroy
both.”

“
No! My friends might be on those ships.” Elrin thought of
Amber and hoped Minni and Tikis were there to protect her. They
were seasoned in battle, but Amber was just a child trapped in this
mess. She had to be rescued.

“
An innocent?”

“
How did you know?”

“
Your thoughts are clear, if not concise.”

Tetula
stretched her long neck to Qarim, flying at her side. They
exchanged a euphonious song of high-pitched whistles and clicks.
Qarim lifted his long spiny neck and Tetula returned the gesture. A
mental flash of Tetula attacking the ships below accompanied her
words.

“
Ready yourself.”

Qarim dipped
his graceful neck and tucked in his wings like a falcon. Delik
screamed as they dropped from the sky, shooting down like a falling
star toward the armada advancing up the western flank. Tetula dove
a moment later, her angle so steep, Elrin clutched her body close
for fear the wind streaking by would tear him off her back. The
wind sang chaos in his ears and whipped at his skin. Elrin held on
with white knuckles, sure they would crash into the sea. A rumble
grew deep in Tetula’s chest as she extended her wings, pulling from
the dive at the last moment. Her body dipped, skimming her claws
into the sea before rising again and spewing flames over the Jandan
ships.

Searing hot
air coursed by. The silver dragon beat her wings to gain some
altitude then circled back to survey the damage. Two leading ships
were floating pyres, those behind wheeled hard, confronted with
either running aground in the narrow channel, or colliding with the
flaming ships.

A bolt of
lightning shot towards Tetula from a frigate sailing up the other
side of the island. She banked hard and it sizzled past them.
Another bolt followed from a different vessel below and the dragon
dove toward the closer enemy, twisting away at the last moment and
setting it afire. A volley of arrows arced across from the ship
behind and a swivel-mounted cannon blasted. Shot thudded into
Tetula’s chest. She reared up and roared, buffeting the vessel with
a gale that knocked the crew off their feet.

***

Qarim and Delik
streamed over the western fleet. The dragon hung his head low and
breathed noxious gas over them then pulled up and around, avoiding
the volleys of bolts and arrows. Delik’s amulet glowed as Qarim
cast chaos upon the Jandans. Illusory kraken emerged from the
ocean, wrapping their tentacles about the vessels and sending men
overboard, fighting each other to get away. Cannons opened fire in
a wild effort to blast the sea monsters back into the depths, but
the shots went straight through the illusions and into the
neighbouring ships, inflicting extensive damage to the
fleet.

Qarim circled,
bending the magic of the weave to his will. Water beaded on Delik’s
skin and thick storm clouds built around them. It was cold inside
the clouds. The glow from his amulet pulsed and his hair stood on
end. A crack of lightning struck down, splitting through a mast and
setting the sails aflame. Strike after strike carved through the
western fleet. Damaged ships limped south in retreat while others
advanced north, trying to escape Qarim’s storm. The remainder
fought on, battling the monstrous illusions and themselves.