Kirsten heard Tony spit, but she returned her sights to the dragon and rider. The rider dismounted and stood at the dragon’s side. For some reason, Kirsten felt as though they were staring at her and nobody else. Suddenly she felt a stabbing sensation in her head. Following the piercing pain, she heard a voice ask her, Where did you get the crystal?
Kirsten clutched her head and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Who are you talking to?” Tony snapped.
Kirsten looked around confused, then said to Rune, “The rider is talking to me.”
“We should kill him before he turns against us,” Tony said.
“And risk losing the chance to form an alliance with a dragonrider!?” Rune shouted.
“This could be the one Anders met in the mountains,” Hensal suggested.
Kirsten tried to focus on keeping the woman’s voice out of her thoughts the way Anders had shown them, but this rider was far more powerful than anything Kirsten could defend against. The rider spoke silently again, I am not here to fight. I wish to talk.
Kirsten looked at Rune, “She said she doesn’t want to fight, she just wants to talk.”
“She?” He repeated, looking at the rider standing alongside the fierce violet dragon. “See what she wants.”
“No, we should kill them. It’s too risky,” Tony said. Several others around them shouted in agreement. Others disagreed.
While the soldiers debated amongst themselves, Kirsten summoned her courage and pushed through the shield wall. She walked out toward the strange dragonrider. As she got closer to the large purple-scaled dragon where the armored rider stood at its side, she began to see more dragons standing in the darkness behind this first pair. Kirsten hoped that she could trust the rider, that she actually did want to talk rather than attack.
***
Merglan sat on a downed tree, resting in empty space that had once been the elven court. With his energy stores replenishing more quickly now that he’d managed to harness a portion of the ancient city’s magic, the dark sorcerer didn’t need to wait long. The source of pure magic that he’d been so committed to gaining control over still eluded his total control.
I just need a little more time, he said to himself, not letting his thoughts be transmitted to Killdoor who lay in the shadows nearby. The dragon’s loyalty to him had never wavered in the many years they’d been bonded. Even when Merglan chose to kill their master and doom the Norfolk by sealing off the only breach in a magical barrier separating them from the rest of Kartania, Killdoor had not questioned Merglan’s motives.
Once I have the true source under my control, no prophecy can stop me from complete domination, he assured himself.
As he relished the tingling warmth of magic returning to his wells of storage, Merglan’s mind flashed with the faces of those he’d killed; those who he’d hated the most and who’d deserved what he’d given them. He saw his father, the sorceress of the north who had prophesied his doom, the copious riders who’d tried to stop him. One face seemed to be missing, a face that he wished he’d seen among all the others.
“I should’ve killed her,” he said aloud.
Killdoor’s thoughts spoke into Merglan’s mind now, She died.
But not by my hand, he replied.
It may as well have been by our doing, she was trapped, unable to return.
If William weren’t stupid enough to think he could’ve stopped it…
She’d dead and has been for decades, Killdoor said.
Merglan rose from the log and said, “Come. We have work to do.”
Chapter 88
Burning in Aquina
Anders sat tall in his saddle and searched the expansive plains before them. Focusing his magical abilities to spot and locate anything out of the ordinary had become as routine as making sure his saddle was fitted right on Zahara. The most recent attack on Brookside, however, reminded Anders that he didn’t catch everything. Whether Merglan had learned a new way to mask his minions, or Anders had slipped up, both Anders and Zahara were determined to ensure nothing snuck under their noses again. With the City of Aquina two day’s march away, Anders and Maija had to keep themselves at attention. Merglan had already sent agents of evil to disrupt them and, from what Anders could gather, Aquina was the first target on Merglan’s westward expansion.
Why couldn’t we have kept some of the smaller crystals and given a few of these larger ones to Nadir or Natalia? Zahara asked him.
Because they couldn’t carry them as easily as we can, Anders said.
But they have their own saddlebags, Zahara said.
Those are travel packs; they won’t have them when the fighting starts, Anders said.
I don’t want to fly into battle with my saddlebags loaded with rocks.
I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do that. We might just need to keep them somewhere safe and retrieve a few at a time as we need them, Anders suggested.
That is not a good idea, I would rather carry them all in these uncomfortable bags than see them back in the hands of Merglan.
He was able to use them at a long distance. If I could figure out how he did that, we wouldn’t need to carry them with us.
You had better figure that out quickly. We’re getting awfully close and I can sense a strange scent in the air.
What do you mean?
I mean, we are coming up on the first major population Merglan would come across to get to us. We’re going to have to face him again soon and I don’t like the smell of it.
We escaped once, Anders said, trying to reassure her.
With Ivan taking the brunt of the attack. And the second time Merglan let us go to get into the elven city. The next time will be the last. No running, no surrender. One of us will die.
