Lady of My Heart Ch. 05

"Dragon, listen to me. We searched down stream for Ames. We found her hart and all her gear washed up on the bank of the river but she was not with it. There were tracks, Yelani says it is the Ruoh that have taken her. Do you feel she is in distress? If she is hurt or frightened or being harmed you will feel it through your bond."

"Let me up now! I need Bore and my sword. They will pay!"

"Dragon listen, she is not badly hurt and you feel no great distress. We have to go on. We can all go to get her when we have the second stone, but we have to go on now because the army needs us to weaken the Demon. Warriors are dying, Dragon, in droves, we must weaken the Demon to help them. Rest now and recover your strength, Cordial and shaman Bregali will work to repair the staff, just rest."

I fall back in the near total darkness of the shaman's cave and listen to Cordial talking, Yelani is translating his words to the shaman. I realize now that the shaman was the one behind those sightless golden eyes. That is why the cave is so dark; she has no need for light.

-----

The Queen screams in agony and the two healers the King left with her scramble to her bedside. They look to each other over her hugely swollen belly and shake their heads. This is unprecedented. The Queen is about to give birth and there is no way the child can live, surely. It has not been long enough, no matter how large it has grown.

"Rotomalo! Where is my King? Can he not be here to see his son born? Damn him!"

"Just rest Your Majesty, the child comes and you must save your strength."

Sabatarria whimpers and screams again as a contraction hits her. She is but a shriveled husk of a woman now. All of her being has gone into producing this child and she is angry and resentful of the king's absence.

Her screams echo through the corridors of the palace, as she shrieks repeatedly. Then silence descends to be pierced only by the frail cries of a newborn.

One of the healers pokes his head out from the chamber to yell to the guard.

"Send word to the King. He has a son that may yet live but the Queen has expired."

-----

I follow along behind Cordial, still chuckling. We have made it through the ruins of this ancient city, encountering nothing more serious than a few snakes and scorpions. I chuckle because Cordial is terrified of snakes and nearly pissed himself when the last one slithered from under his very feet. We pause and wait for the rest of the group to catch up to us, as we approach a large set of stone doors angled as to appear as if they lead downward into the earth itself.

Yelani and the Cinos warriors will stay here at the doors as a rearguard. Cordial, Jax, Bregali and myself will enter to retrieve the stone. According to Cordial, there are complicated traps inside, designed to keep anyone from nearing the stone. The myths claim there is a guardian there as well, though we know not what kind.

Cordial approaches the doors and peers up at the intricate carvings covering its surface. He presses his hand into several places on the stones of the doors and suddenly they swing inward revealing a deep, dark passage leading downward. Jax produces a small clear ball and tosses it into the air, chanting. It glows with a bright bluish light and floats along ahead of us, lighting the way.

Stopping before he reaches a long, level, tiled section of passage, each tile bearing a symbol, Cordial unrolls a scroll to consult it.

"Dragon, you will need to go on alone from here. See the platform there at the end? You will place the staff in that hole in the floor of it. No! Not yet! Let me explain."

I pause and wait for him to decipher whatever is within the scroll.

"Now, these tiles are part of a trap. I will tell you which tiles to step on. Do not go any farther, even by one step, than I tell you, and step only on the tiles I mention. Watch this."

He takes a small rock from his pocket and pitches it out onto the tiles. When it lands on a tile it depresses slightly and immediately an arrow zings forth from the wall beside it. Had I stepped on that tile I would have been shot through.

I drop all my gear, save my sword slung across my back and the staff in my right hand, stepping up beside him.

"I am ready."

"Step on each tile in turn diagonally left from center for five tiles then stop."

I step out onto the first tile and when it depresses I am unbalanced and nearly step on a wrong tile in an attempt to keep from falling. Making it to the one he said to stop on, I balance precariously on one foot waiting for more instructions.

"Go two forward, then four to the right and then six more forward."

I complete the ordered maneuvers then pause again balanced on one foot. I am almost there now.

"Four to your left, two forward, three right and seven forward."

As I follow his instructions I find myself just to the back edge of the tiles. One more run and I should be there.

"Six left, two forward, four right and step onto the base of the platform directly on top of the image of a snake."

I complete the last sequence and find myself before the hole in the floor of the platform.

"Cordial does it say what will happen when I place the staff in the hole?"

"No, Dragon, it does not but I can only assume that it will open some way to continue on."

"Is everyone ready? Here I go!"

I slide the staff into the hole in the platform and there is a great grinding. Slowly the back wall of the passage begins to rise and I gasp at what is revealed. The stone of power sits upon a pedestal glowing faintly but it is what stands before it that makes me gasp and grab for my sword.

It is a huge Nagini. It must stand eight feet tall at the least and its human-like head swings around to focus strange, red, snake like eyes upon me. It has the head of a human but the body of a snake, save the two large muscular arms each holding a sword.

I brace myself for its attack. I parry blows from both swords with difficulty, for it is very strong and the blows vibrate through my sword, nearly stunning me. I take a calming breath and counterattack. Slash, parry, thrust, block, we whirl about each other trying to gain advantage. The Nagini seems angered by its failure to dispatch me immediately and begins raining constant blows upon me.

It is then that I see it. When it strikes with the left sword it leaves an opening each time. I concentrate beyond the block and parry dance I am engaged in, and suddenly thrust for the opening, piercing the Nagini's defenses and running it through. There is a great sibilant squeal and it sinks to the ground, a pool of green ichor spreading around it.

I reach to take the stone form the pedestal and reach for the staff.

"No! Dragon leave the staff!.

Oh shit, it is too late I have the staff in my hand and as I begin to work my way back across the stones the walls of the passage begin to heave and quake. The place is coming down around us. Cordial is trying his best to read the sequence to me backwards but just as I near the end of the tiles the quaking intensifies and I watch in horror as a scroll falls from the bundle in his arms and drops onto a tile. The arrow zings forth and he is hit in the right shoulder, going down with a scream. Jax rushes to his side and I make a giant leap barely clearing all the tiles and landing safely beside him.

"Cordial! No!"

Jax is applying pressure to the hole in his shoulder as the blood pours out of him, but we cannot take the time for that now, or we will be crushed by the collapsing passage. I hand the stone of power and staff off to Bregali and pick Cordial up in my arms. We all run out of the passage to safety just as it collapses.

I lay Cordial down on the ground and Jax begins to tend him. She places her hands over the wound and begins chanting, then the shaman steps up and joins in adding her strength to that of Jax. Cordial reaches up to me and I lean down to hear what he wants to say.

"Dragon, tell, tell Stephan that I love him and I am sorry."

With that his eyes roll back in his head and he passes out. I look to Jax and her eyes meet mine.

"He will survive, if we can get him to decent shelter. Send Yelani and her troops to the palace with the stone. We will need to move too slowly with Cordial, and that stone must get there as soon as possible to keep the Demon from regaining it."

-----

The battle rages on. Though we are still steadily gaining ground we are also still taking heavy losses on the field. Suddenly there is a great howling scream and all the enemy troops stop in their tracks. I look over to Captain Coby to see if he knows what is happening.

"Captain what is it? Have they done this before?"

"No Your Majesty they have not. I have not a clue what is going on here. Men! Brace yourselves! We don't know what is coming next!"

Then I realize what has happened. Dragon has taken the stone. The Demon's power has been cut in half and he can no longer control so many soldiers at once. As I turn to tell the Captain a messenger runs up from the rear.

"Your Majesty I have news of the Queen."

"Yes, what is it?"

" Your Majesty, I am sorry, but the Queen has died in childbirth, and you have a son."

-----

The wet nurse rocks gently in her chair as she nurses the new prince. He opens his strange eyes and looks up at her. Never in all the history of the kingdom has one been seen with such odd eyes. They are blood red with slits for pupils.

-----

Eraat shrieks in terror as Master blasts him yet again with the terrible blue fire.

"You have failed me for the last time Eraat!"

"Master no Master, please no!"

"I no longer require your assistance, I have a new servant to do my bidding. One that is stronger and will be of far more help once he has aged some. I will have my revenge without you, Eraat, you bungling little troll. I have a son to help me now."

-----

I watch as the wagon with Cordial and Jax rolls away toward the Capital. Cordial is still weak but on the mend. As the wagon passes from sight around a bend, I sling myself up into Bore's saddle and reach out through the bond searching for Ames.

I am coming my love, I am coming. Stay strong for me!