Heir To The Nova (Book 3) (25 page)

“It’s so beautiful down here, Winya. How is it that I’m not drowning?”

“Another of Alex and Nia’s special design features that they didn’t tell us about, I suppose,”
Winya growled in a minor snit.

I couldn’t help myself, and I started giggling madly. “Alex Martin–oh, how I love you,” I shouted gleefully into the suit. “Now let’s get back to work, girl!”

The dragon swam around for a few more minutes. I could almost feel its body sag in disappointment that I hadn’t drowned or let go. Finally, it must have decided on yet another course of action as it swam into the shallows and used its huge back legs to blast itself out of the water and back into the air. Once airborne, it flew erratically for a while, twisting around and snapping those eight-inch incisors emptily in the air. For my part, I watched as the lenses over my eye slots retracted and the holes in my armor allowed fresh air to flow again. Ah, now that’s better.

The dragon was still flying like he had a burr in his butt. I could only assume that with the water penetrating his scales, he could now feel that something was exposed on his neck; and didn’t like it one bit. With another trumpeting bellow, the huge beast glided down to land in a small alfalfa field a mile or so from the walls of Xarparion.

Suddenly, I felt strong, armored hands grasp me around the waist as Alex settled onto the dragon behind me and retracted his wings.

“Alex, where did you come from and what are you doing here? I don’t need any help,” I said defensively as Winya and I continued to dig at the white’s neck scales.

“I’ve been following and watching, sweetheart; and I really do think you are about to need my help,” he answered, pointing at the dragon. A few seconds later, I was extremely grateful for his assistance as the dragon planted its butt down and reached up with its scythe-shaped hind foot claws and tried to scratch us off like a dog scratching at ear fleas. Alex’s massive shield came up, and we were both nestled safely behind it while the claws raked it from the other side relentlessly, the metal screeching madly in protest. All the while, I worked feverishly to clear the last of the scales from the dragon’s neck.

Another attempt failed; the big white growled irritably and leapt once more into the air. The air catching under his leathery wings sounded like war drums. He took us up high this time; and I’ll have to admit, he was a magnificently powerful beast. Here he was carrying both Alex and me in our full suits of armor on its neck, and we weren’t slowing him down in the least. In a few minutes, we were a couple miles high, and the lake below looked like a mug of water sitting on a very large table.

“
That should do it, Maya,”
Winya voiced her opinion through the link.
“I have slit the warty hide and, hopefully, we can damage the spine from here.”

“We would have the best shot if the neck was fully extended though. That way the vertebrae are at their widest apart,” I reasoned.

“Well, if that’s all you need,” Alex laughed easily, “I can help with that.” He strapped his shield to the side of his arm and pushed himself back away from me, unfurling his wings as he did. With a wind assisted whoosh of air, he was gone and well behind us.

Dragon eyes have an even wider range of vision than a raptor. Along with the sudden lifting of weight from his neck, the big dragon noticed Alex’s departure right away. Growling fiercely, it banked sharply and gave chase. Pursued and pursuer both plummeted down quickly, Alex flapping his magnificent white wings as the wind raced past him. Normally, Alex would be faster, but the sheer weight of the dragon allowed him to make up ground in a straight dive. Still, my mate had enough of a lead that I judged he would easily make the safety of the forest before falling prey to the snapping jaws of the cold beast.

The white must have come to the same conclusion, and I felt him tense up and hunch his back slightly, readying for a blast of ice breath.

“Ready, Winya?”

“Oh, yeah!”

The white dragon’s back hunched like a spring and then he vomited massive gouts of sheer white flame-like ice. His neck extended like a honking goose as it sought to put everything it had left into the attack. Rising up in the ‘saddle’ a bit, I carefully guided Winya’s tip down through the slit in the dense hide; and with a scream of martial fury, I slammed my sword down with all my strength.

I felt the blade tear through flesh, muscle and scrape past the bony neck joints. With a vicious, sideways twist, I made sure that not even the neck muscles of a dragon would be enough to keep this beast functioning. A few quick sawing motions up and down broke through gristle and arteries alike, and I watched with satisfaction as the great orbs it had for eyes dimmed and finally flickered out. The head slumped down, blood dripping and blowing back, splattering across the body of the creature.

I extended my own wings and disengaged, watching in fascination as the dragon spiraled down, unguided, and crashed into the tops of the trees below. He sheared the tops of the huge trees off, but then came to a halt, impaled on a ragged stump of an ancient white pine sixty feet or more off the ground. Winya and I screamed a dark elf victory yell high above Xarparion, which echoed across the entire valley.

..................................................

Alex

Ok, maybe I was a little cocky and might possibly have been showing off for Maya’s benefit a little, but I really didn’t think the dragon could touch me at this range. Apparently, they can ‘push’ their breath weapon a bit farther if they give up some damage for range. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that. But the reduced effectiveness of the trade-off probably saved my life. One minute I was diving and about to flash down into the deep woods, and the next I am enveloped in a whiteout. The cold hit me hard, causing my wing joints to lock up and made my armor impossible to flex or move. When my mage vision cleared, I had the sickening realization that I was plummeting out of control toward the treetops at an amazing rate of speed.

Unable to move, I did the only thing that came to mind, I glowed.

“Glow harder, Alex,”
Winya advised excitedly in my mind,
“I think it is working!”

How exactly does one ‘glow harder’? Anyway, I tried doing what she said, but it’s difficult to envision warm, bright sun-filled afternoons when one’s teeth are chattering. My body was crashing through the tops of the white pines, when it seemed like sensation started coming back to my wings. Searing pain is a sensation, right? At least pine branches typically sweep downward. If this was an oak forest, I would already be dead.

“Concentrate, Alex! Flap! Pull out of it!”
Winya screamed.

I imagined myself flying just tens of feet off the ground, the lift of my wings carrying me gently to the forest floor…just as a giant fern-covered wall rushed toward me, blocking out all view but it, which was the last thing I remembered.

When I next saw some light in the darkness, I rested a little, gaining strength. After what seemed like a long while, my vision returned, somewhat shakily at first. But this was real vision, not mage sight. I was lying on the ground, my wings a busted up mess, feathers everywhere. At least my head was resting on the lap of a very, very concerned-looking gorgeous dark elf lass. Gazing fondly up at her face, I noticed that she was trying to smile and wipe the last stray tears from her dusky cheeks at the same time.

“So…how are you feeling, Magic Boy?” she sniffled, her voice catching ever so slightly.

“Better now,” I whispered as I watched her eyes and the soft way she looked at me.

“Are you up to going home?”

“Yeah, sure.” I grimaced as I attempted to roll off her lap and get to my knees. That’s when the pain in my head struck and threatened to put me back down in a hurry. I took some deep breaths, and with Maya’s help, got to my feet and looked around for the first time. The forest, at least in this area, was completely trashed. Broken tree limbs, needles, pine cones and bark littered the ground in piles of debris. A few feet away, there was a large deep hole in the ground. Feeling a little better, my sense of humor attempted to make a comeback as well.

“What did you dig the hole for? In case I didn’t wake up, you wouldn’t have to drag the body all the way back to Sky Raven?” I joked.

White hot anger swept across my dark elf mate’s face as she sobbed haltingly and slapped my breastplate hard enough to break ribs on a normal human.

“I didn’t dig the hole, you clueless idiot, you did! Like with your body! Anyone else would be dead right now from a fall like that. But you don’t even have any broken bones, you’re just bruised up and your wings are shredded.”

Wincing, I moved my arms and tried to stretch out my wings; every movement burned like fire. “Umm, I don’t see Alera around. How do you know all this?” I asked, trying to take it all in and calm her down at the same time.

Maya sniffled, “I put Winya’s blade on your forehead. I thought you were dead, but she ghosted through your body and couldn’t find anything drastically wrong. Since you were unconscious, we couldn’t even contact Rosa to open up a portal to get help.”

“She ghosted through my body?” Ok, that sounds really creepy. “At least tell me the dragon is dead.”

Maya nodded, and I clung to my mate for support because I was still a little unsteady on my feet. I tried to clear my mind so I could reach out to Rosa.

“Fool! Imbecile!” Loose plaster and shards of rock fell like hail from the ceiling and walls of the wretched old keep. Even the howling winds and crashing ocean seemed to have muted themselves in the face of the being’s wrath. Once again, she had visited the keep in the guise of the Duke’s old lover, a move she knew was sure to cause him pain. Her black dress was slit past her thigh on one side, her coppery skin reflecting shadowy shapes from the odd torch lights that lined the chamber. With all the sinuous moves of a snake and the eyes to match, she enjoyed his discomfort.

The creature that was once the dreaded Duke Pharmon lay prostrate on the stone floor, bony hands over his head; but still he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“I warned you, Lifebane,” she sneered, exposing her long black teeth, making the words sound like a hilarious joke, “that I would not tolerate magic being restored to this world. Yet again, you fail me!”

“Mistress, my forces have overrun all of Ocance and are advancing into Anshea. We are making great progress,” he sputtered.

“Recall them, recall them now,” she demanded. “During this progress you are touting, the Child of Light has again evaded your trap and rescued two towers of wizards, right from under your nonexistent nose! He’s playing you for a complete fool; you have all the cards and yet the Nova are winning this hand. For the last time, my Lord Duke, marshal your forces and destroy them. Do it personally!”

“I’ll need more than zombies and skeletons to topple that fortress,” he grated in a voice like rusty chains.

“Idiot, it would never have come to this if you had been halfway competent in the first place. A full frontal assault on the fortress is the last thing we wanted.”

The Kerr stopped her rant abruptly and tilted her head as if listening to some unheard missive. After a few moments, she looked up and directed her words toward the crumbling ceiling. “I agree, Brothers; we cannot afford to allow the Nova this victory.” She sighed wearily and muttered, “In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose.”

Redirecting her attention to the Duke, she booted him harshly with her tall-heeled shoe.

“Get up! Marshal your forces! Attack Sky Raven!”

“And what other support will you provide, Mistress,” he spat angrily.

“For you, Duke, just for you.” The demon smiled sweetly, and then her voice shifted to a hollow dirge-like tone “For you, I will open the gates of hell itself; and if that’s not enough, the Kerr will intervene directly and the universe itself will burn!”

Entering a small glade a short way from the crater, we saw a portal already shining open in front of us. Rosa’s mind was a jumble of stress and irritation, so I couldn’t clearly make out what the issue was back in Sky Raven; but I guess I would find out soon enough.

Still using Maya for support, the two of us hobbled over the threshold. I know Winya said I didn’t break anything, but it sure felt like I did. The new version of the enchanter’s portal thankfully didn’t involve having to walk through a pool of water. Rather, it was more like walking up to a wall of midnight black curtains, putting your hands out to find a seam, and then sliding through. With our heads through the “curtain”, the view was as expected; we were back in Sky Raven’s portal enclosure from whence we had left earlier.

What was different was that the place was in an uproar. Not all of the water or air wizards had been led to their quarters yet, and they were in a tizzy. The strike teams were still moving gear and boxes, and healers were circulating around checking everyone for scrapes and cuts. One of them, a young boy in healer’s robes rushed up to offer us assistance, but then took a look at the two of us. His eyes grew very large and he shook his head firmly, pointing us toward the infirmary building. Great, more walking.

We had only made it a few feet up the cobblestone street before I felt the pitter-patter of tiny gauntlets on my chest. Looking down, I saw Nia angrily hovering and beating on my armor. She looked up at me and growled, “By the stars, what is wrong with you two? How do you always manage to leave me out of these things?” She was incredibly angry, but I could see concern and a large measure of relief on her face, too.

Maya cooed and held out her hands for the pixie to land. “We’re fine, Nia. There’s no need to be so upset.”

“You’re fine?” my bodyguard screeched, not wanting to be mollified in the least. “No need to be upset? Look at you; you’re a filthy, soggy mess! And Alex…” Nia landed on Maya’s hands and turned on me, pointing angrily at my wings. “Mr. Alex, I once saw a pigeon get eaten whole by a wyvern, and when it was crapped out the other end, it still looked better than you do right now!”

A bit daunted by that visual, I tried to explain. “Nia, you know we aren’t doing this on purpose. It’s just how things keep turning out.”

She sighed and put her hands back on her hips. “I know, I know. But I still don’t like it one bit.”

“
And she isn’t the only one! Believe me when I say you both are getting a stern talking to tonight once this is dealt with. An adult dragon of all things! Now get your butts over to the healers and then help me deal with this mess already!”
Rosa radiated irritation across the link, but I had the feeling most of it wasn’t directed at us.

Several blocks of hard travel later, we finally made it to the infirmary, only to find what seemed to be a dwarven kegger in progress on the steps outside. Most of Elsa’s ‘boys’ were well into their cups already. They had broken into one of the food crates that they had rescued and were snacking down on crackers, bacon, and salt pork. From what I could gather, they were both celebrating their victory and honoring their dead. A few healers buzzed around them trying to repair some of the lesser cuts and burns, but the dwarves wouldn’t stand still long enough for them to accomplish anything. Similarly, the young healers were having no luck in keeping the infirmary area quiet with all the bawdy singing going on either. Finally, they just resigned themselves to passing out wax ear plugs to the non-dwarf wounded.

From what I was hearing, they lost four dwarves in the raid, and a number of them were in Alera’s hospital with terrible burns. The revelers seemed to bounce from teary sadness to unbridled triumph from minute to minute. I guess Elsa’s people process grief differently than humans.

Frustrated, one of the healer girls gave up trying to work on the partiers and, instead, ushered us through the crowd and into the infirmary proper. She handed us some light-colored patient robes and pointed toward a changing room. Realizing there was no arguing with a healer in her own infirmary, we shed our armor and leather undersuits, donned the robes and walked out, sitting on the offered stools.

“Wings out, please,” she commanded, and we both basically had to slide out of the arms of our robes, with Maya holding onto the front of hers to preserve some modesty. In a few moments, we had five or six students swarming over each of us with small blades and tweezers. It took them a fair amount of time to dig the wood shards, pine needles, and rocks out of my wings and stop the bleeding. My dark elf wasn’t nearly as bad off, and they finished with her long before me. Once they started the actual healing process, one of the girls, noticing that Maya was struggling to keep covered throughout all of this, dashed into a side room and came back with a apron that they helped her put on so that she had use of her hands.

“Got yourselves banged up again, I see,” Alera intoned from behind us, sliding gracefully into the room. She started checking over her protégés’ work with a critical eye, eventually shooing them away with a wink and a smile. “Well, they didn’t do too badly, considering they’ve never worked on anyone with even a remotely similar physique as you two before. Still, they missed some bruising and we should take care of it.” She called in some older students and quickly gave them precise instructions on the bruise repairs before she walked around and addressed us again. “Your bodies are fine, but you’ve both lost a lot of feathers. Hmmm, I think I might have just the thing for that now that we’ve been getting fresh herbs delivered nearly every day.”

She walked off into another section of the healers’ building as Maya and I exchanged glances, wondering what she was going to bring out. As we sat there exposed and waiting, Elsa and Darroth walked through the door.

“I see you two didn’t get by cleanly with that fight,” commented Elsa, who didn’t look all that great either at the moment.

“I heard about your losses, Elsa, and I’m sorry,” I said, looking down, not really knowing what else to say.

She dropped her head slightly. “We lost four on the way back. The undead were easy to get past, but those bat things don’t seem to use their eyes. Nonetheless, it was a good day; nay, make that an epic day for us. They died on the battlefield, and for a dwarf warrior, that is the highest honor we have. Tonight their spirits will be hosted in the great halls of our hallowed forbearers. That honor has become rare to us now that we have closed our walls.” She smiled at us. “But if I overheard Rosa correctly, you two had a bit more than a few demons. Am I right? An adult dragon, really?”

Darroth’s eyes bulged and his mouth dropped open. “You two faced a dragon out in the open? How did you get away?”

Maya smiled savagely. “Get away? We didn’t get away, we defeated and killed it!”

“You killed it…so…it’s dead then? Just outside the portal?” he asked with a dazed and wistful look.

“Yep.”

“Wait, you two didn’t become attached to this one, did you? No relative of the twins? It didn’t save your life or anything? No lasting words of wisdom to be grateful for?”

“Well, no, I don’t think it really said anything to us; too busy trying to kill us and all,” I said, wondering what he was getting at.

“Great beards afire!” Darroth exclaimed, roughly dropping his plate of food and his tankard of ale on a nearby table as he turned and ran out the door screaming, “Clara! Gemma! Get ready, girls, we’re gonna need the cart!”

Elsa looked at us with a shocked expression on her face. “What the…?”

“Don’t ask me,” Maya chuckled. “I’ve never seen him move that fast, and he even spilled his ale!” They both looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Dragon hides, claws and teeth,” I sighed. “He just realized there’s a fortune in rare materials out there. To an armor and weapons smith, it’s just about irresistible.”

Maya snickered, “Then why aren’t you out there with him, oh master smith?”

I smiled, and made my hand simulate a pair of minotaur horns. “Demon parts are better!”

They both laughed as Alera came back around with two jars in her hands. “Not interrupting, am I?”

“No, of course not,” said Maya.

“I’ll just take my leave then. We dwarves get queasy watching people drink anything but good honest ale.” Elsa chuckled and stalked out the door to rejoin her men.

Alera handed us each one of the jars of liquid. “From what I hear, you have some knowledge in potions, Alex; but I think you’ll find a healer’s potion to be a bit…different.”

Maya and I looked at each other and downed the potion in two gulps each. That was when I realized that my tongue was registering the strong taste of black ginger. Oh-oh, my dark elf became deathly pale and looked like she really needed to cough, but just couldn’t quite find enough air in her lungs to accomplish it. Her emerald eyes started watering, and the look on her face was of unimaginable disgust. Somehow, through sheer strength of will, she managed to keep it down and started fanning her face to try and cool herself.

Alera was practically ready to fall on the floor laughing at our plight. “Oh, come on, it’s not that bad; in fact, I think it tastes rather good,” she said in between bursts of laughter.

I quickly grabbed Darroth’s half-empty tankard of ale off the table and passed it to Maya, who gulped it down eagerly to rid her mouth of the awful taste. I looked at Alera and shook my head sadly. “Alera, most dark elves are extremely repulsed by ginger. Your average adult would take an arrow over a ginger cookie any day.”

Her laughter quickly died out, finally realizing what I had actually said. And then her expression ranged from horror to extreme panic. “By the stars, my Princess, I am so sorry! I had no idea!”

Maya wiped her mouth, and gratefully handed me the now empty mug. Her normally silky voice now registered a choking roughness that made me wince. “Don’t worry about it. The only one here who I expect to know about dark elves is Alex, so you’re forgiven. Besides, consider it payback for all the unkind thoughts I had about you when you were touching Alex during the tournament at Xarparion.”

“Maya, I hope you realize I would never…” Alera protested, practically hyperventilating in obvious distress.

“I know…now,” my silver-haired girl whispered and reached out, enveloping Alera in a sisterly hug. “I really hope we can be better friends someday.”

Alera had tears running down her cheeks as she nodded eagerly.

Nia, who had been watching all this silently from the table where she had been polishing off the last of Darroth’s lunch, stood up, launched herself into the air, and buzzed around us.

“Black ginger or not, that stuff works great. Look at your wings, you guys.”

I looked at our wings and was stunned to see that many of my feathers were already mended, and the lost ones were regrowing from the broken quills at a phenomenal rate. In a few minutes, you won’t be able to tell they were ever damaged. I flexed them and did a partial slow extension and contraction, and there was no pain or tenderness at all.

“All ginger aside, well done, Alera,” Maya complimented, as we both stood up. Alera bowed gratefully and took her leave as we headed back into the dressing room to change.

Back in armor and feeling a lot better, we retracted our wings and headed toward the keep. Nia flew off to visit Rosa for a while, leaving us to our own devices. On our way, we passed Mingt in his red fire wizard robes. Trailing behind him were the four older Fire Tower students from Xarparion and our two stable boys. Maya’s grandfather noticed our approach and stopped the procession, bowing slightly.

“Granddaughter, Sir Alex, checking on our progress, I see.”

Maya smiled. “Yes, Grandfather, I hope things are going well for you.”

“Yes, very well; very well, indeed. We haven’t had all that much time to talk since we arrived here, have we?”

“I am sorry to say; no, we haven’t,” I said. “How are you settling in?”

“Quite well, actually. Your fortress is an absolute marvel, and I am very glad to have made it here before the end of my days. As for these fellows, I think they are starting to come around, if only a little.” The older students nodded and bowed slightly to us, a little nervous; and I could see their eyes searching with some trepidation for a certain six-inch dynamo with wings.

“I have taught them how to better control their magic, how to limit their flow and still achieve that they need; although it took a long time to teach them not to overdo it. You don’t need a rock the size of a wagon to squash a bug when, with a little control, you can do it with a pebble. No, I’d say these boys are progressing rather well.”

“And how about these two, Grandfather?” Maya asked, bending down and hugging our two stable boys. “Jaython and Wyeth, you two get bigger every time I see you!” They, of course, melted at the attention, looking at her with shy, worshipful grins. She tousled their hair fondly and gave each a motherly peck on the cheek.

“A little young yet to be casting spells, but I’m hoping if I can get them on the right track mentally early enough, in a few years they will be powerful wizards indeed,” Mingt said proudly. “Well, I do believe you two have other places to be at the moment, although I don’t envy you in that role. Also, I realize I have been extremely lax in my role as a pre-nuptial chaperone, but I think the whole wings thing threw all that out the window. Granddaughter, you and Alex are obviously made for each other; the ceremony is just a formality. And one more thing, Maya. Do stop by every now and again; we have much to catch up on.”