Forbidden Fantasy Ch. 06

Dawn will ever be the time of new beginnings, but also the time of old things to end. I knew that soon we would meet face to face with the black, but as I stood looking at the rising sun I wondered why I felt so calm. Around me stood my companions and loved ones and I could scarcely know their minds for the blank expressions on their faces, but I could feel what they felt.

For the Orren, he felt grim. He knew that this day many would die from our group, himself included, but he still went with us. His lot would be aerial combat, a place the Orren held better ground against the larger, slower dragon, where his speed and agility would allow for stinging hits that wore him down. I knew all of this though his face was neutral.

Golden Wings sat on Flora's shoulder and I could feel the humming of magical energies around them. The dragonkin queen was teaching my friend, giving her centuries of magic in a short time, forcing into her mind the knowledge she possessed that might tip the battle in their favor. The sweat on Flora's brow said it was taxing to receive knowledge this way, but she would be better prepared for the battle. Both were determined to bring this fell wyrm down or die trying.

The drow, Cor'Undum by name, was looking at the new dawn with something I never thought to see in the eyes of her accursed race. Hope...and longing. She hoped for a chance to see this again, to see this thing called Dawn. No drow looked upon the sun without flinching and crying out from the pain, yet she stood facing the morning with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face. She longed for a time when she might walk the surface under the moon and no one would condemn her because of her skin, as so many had done...as I had done.

Jon's thoughts were still. He was waiting. His focus was precise, his body ready for this beast. Hundreds of years of training would be used this day. Yet in that calm state Jon thought of one person. He thought of me. His heart was full of joy that I had found someone so perfect for me and yet just as full of sorrow because he would lose me this day. Whether to death or to Jacob, he would lose me.

Jacob looked only at me. With such an outpouring of love as I have never felt, he loved me with more fire than a thousand suns, hotter than a red dragon's breath and more fiercely than a battle raging dwarf. I would never reject him and he would never stop loving me...yet that undercurrent was there. As plain as the morning was his worry, but I just smiled and held his gaze with mine.

"Is everything ready?" I asked. There were only nods. "Orren, lead on." We laid out our plans. Jacob and I would come from the south to the cave's opening in the Spine Ridge Peaks. Orren would be carrying the others except for Cor'Undum. She would come from below with Golden wings. Seven against a monstrous blight...it would work...Two healers, two warriors, two mages and Orren who would fit in however he was needed. "Let us go."

The trek overland was fraught with sorrow. Villages gone, the smell of acidic carrion stinging the nostrils. Destruction and plague had wiped out the land, leaving it fallow and useless for decades. Trees were uprooted or looked like they were melting from the fearsome power Ingalome'stracazillio. How could one dragon do all of this?

I was jogged out of my reverie by Jacob touching my arm. "Here is where we split up." I followed his pointing to the small cave that was being opened by magic the drow was using.

"Healer, should I die this day, bury me under the gaze of the moon so She may guide me to Her side." The drow looked at me with certainty.

"If you fall, your name will be sung as a hero in the Histories and your body shall lay to rest in our sacred grounds, as only the true followers have been." She bowed her head with a smile. I could offer her no higher honor than that. To rest eternally with those who shared her soul's beliefs, to watch the moonrise eternally.

"Now comes the fun part," said Jon as the Orren changed his shape and the two elves leaped gracefully to his back. "Jacob, you take care of him or you will answer to me. In this life or the next." Jacob was grinning but both knew Jon was serious.

Our party split and Jacob and I were alone. True, Jon, Flora and the Orren were above us in the low clouds, but they could not see us really. We walked with our weapons drawn in case of surprise. "Jacob, I had another dream last night."

"Was it of him?" The way he said it was like bile in his mouth.

"No, it was of us." He looked at me with a smile.

"Tell me about this dream."

"The battle was won, although at a cost. Two of our group had died, but they would be reborn by the power of Luna." Jon winced but smiled. "I stood, injured and alone in the cave with the dragon dead, but you and the Red were there. He spoke of slumbering for many years. After we flew away that is. He offered to carry us all back to the forest, torching the remaining goblins as he went." Jacob laughed at that. He could see them roasting from the heat of dragonfire. "We dropped off Flora and the others and then we left. Just us. The Red went his way and we went ours. Away from my roots, away from the misery, to a new life where we would be happy together for many years."

Jacob was smiling. "If only the happy parts are true. I would want no one to die this day but that monster."

"Ah, but Luna, in Her infinite wisdom, gave life back to our fallen as new creatures. New dragons." That made him laugh. "I did say it was a dream."

"And who would be given this ill fate?"

"Jon and Cor'Undum. They would be reborn as a mating pair." The last was totally fabricated just to make him laugh and it worked.

"Jon would cringe if he heard you say that. I could imagine him swinging his sword for your head for even giving him the mental picture." He would at that. What I didn't tell Jacob was that it was Jon and Cor'Undum that would fall. I knew it as I knew the rest. Jacob and I would be together happily for many years after this battle, but I would be losing one I held dear.

We rounded a bend in the trail and there were two dozen goblins waiting for us. I had not felt them and Jacob had not known either so we were caught off guard. The goblins were not. They attacked as a cohesive unit, far better than the best of humans could. Jacob's shock lasted only a fraction longer than my own and we brought our weapons to bare. We could only defend as they attacked, slicing and bashing at all angles, but not a blow landed. Most was our skill, yet some were the enchantments placed on our armor by the dwarven smiths, turning a few blows or softening them to nothing.

The first one that scored a hit on Jacob sent him into a rage and it was over from then on. His dancing blade would strike, cleaving a body in twain, and he would roll away as my maces came crashing in to bash in the skulls of two more. When my maces hit, the goblins disintegrated into fine powders.

"Jacob, they're undead!" I knew zombie dust when I saw it.

Sure enough, the ones he had killed were still coming on, headless though some were. "You kill, I have you flanks." I nodded and went on the all out offensive. With no regard for simple kills, I went right for their heads. My maces seemed to be enchanted against the foul lifeless horde, turning them to nothing but dust should the maces kill. I knew Jacob would have my flank and I didn't fear I would hit him.

Only moments had passed but them goblins were gone. Neither of us were truly winded, but Jacob was favoring the injury he took. "Let me see." He showed me the already infected wound. I held out one hand and cast a spell, the infection drawing out and into the rocky ground. I then watched as the wound closed of its own accord. "Umm..."

"The armor. Spelled to heal me of mundane hurts." I nodded like that was handy. With the magical infection gone the wound would be mundane, it had been only a scratch anyway.

"I do believe that he knows we're here. I never sensed them."

"Do you sense him?" Jacob asked and I nodded. There was no mistaking him. I knew now what dragons felt like, even their smaller kin, and he was waiting for us. "Never was a chance to surprise him."

"Nope. So, my love, shall we go on like we know we can kill him?" Jacob laughed and nodded.

"This brazen side of you is a bit of a turn on."

"When we live through this, you will find how brazen I can be." His grin was sultry, showing he was in a sort of battle lust. Truth be told I was too. I was coming to love fighting beside him, hearing his heart thundering beneath the clanging of battle.

"Then lets get through this." We jogged.

* * * * *

The cave's entrance was larger than our great oak had been. Two hundred feet tall and twice again as wide, it looked like the biggest maw about to swallow us whole. Here the smell was strongest. Acid and brimstone, the foetid stench of decay and mold, foul corruption seeping into the ground, permeating the air with its evil. Jacob stepped forward and bellowed, "Come out, lizard. We have waited long enough for this day."

That we have, whelp. I should have killed you with the rest. The sound of Ingalome'stracazillio was like the most disheartening thing. It was an unearthly, rumbling and scraping that spoke.

"Yes, you should have. Kiven, leave your maces alone, they won't touch him." I nodded, preparing more than a few spells I had in mind for him. My first was to protect Jacob from acid so the breath of the wyrm would be useless.

The ground beneath us trembled once, and then again. I realized it was the dragon walking towards us. How big was he? I got my answer as the head could be seen in the gloom. Each eye was ten feet across, each nostril fifteen feet tall and thirty-two feet long. I had no words for just how gigantic this beast was. The neck was ticker than my tree and kept getting thicker, even as the first monstrous claw came into view, each talon big enough to slice a war elephant into ribbons. His spine was ridged with spikes longer than I was tall and the scales were blacker than the darkest night reflected off of slime ridden cesspools.

Yes, little changling, your maces will do nothing to me. You have brought me the human and I shall not attack your forest a third time. Third? That meant it was already under attack. In fact, you may leave. My quarrel is with the human. He turned away from me and looked at Jacob. Big mistake.

A smart creature would turn tail and run, blessing the dragon for his moment of mercy. I never said I was smart. "You sent undead into the heart of my forest," I was drawing energy for a nice spell, "you desecrate our lands," Ingalome'stracazillio must know what I was doing, "your minions have killed my people, and you say your quarrel is not with me?" I grinned and loosed my spell as he swung back to me. "You're a fool." He was too late to stop my spell as it triggered.

Jacob roared as it hit him. His body grew and grew and with it his armor and weapons, until Jacob stood over two hundred feet tall. With the new size came even more strength, something the wyrm was not ready for. My beloved swung his sword, the sounds of it a thrum through the air like no other ever heard in history. Yet the bellowing roar of the dragon as it scored was enough to knock me flat against the ground. The hit was not deadly, it barely scratched his impervious scales, but that is not to say it was painless. I rolled back as fast as I could to get out of Jacob's dancing feet because the Black had come out of his cave fully and was ready for battle now. Those massive claws rent the air, but Jacob parried or dodged. He was ready for this fight, had been for years.

The Dragon could not score a hit and Jacob's dealt little damage except for one thing. Jacob only struck one spot, just where the neck met the back of the monster's head, its weakest point. Yet my spell would end long before this beast expired. "Heads up," I heard from above and down came Jacob's reinforcements. Jon landed on the beast's back, himself the same height as Jacob. It leveled the dragon for a moment, long enough for both to score a few nasty hits to the same spot. Jon's twin blades rained down on the neck, chipping away little by little.

Ingalome'stracazillio rolled, dislodging Jon who jumped and rolled to his feet. He was best when against vicious foes, but nothing prepared him for the baleful glare of an ancient wyrm. It froze him where he stood, his limbs unable to move. Acid came spewing from the maw of the great beast, but it was frozen before it hit Jon, a chunk of acidic ice made solid by Flora still astride the Orren. Her attack made the Black recoil, its worst bane being deep cold. With a loud snap, Ingalome'stracazillio unfurled his sail-like wings and flapped once to get airborne. He knew he could not face two foes his own size and a spell caster. "Ready, Flora?" asked the Orren and she nodded. She knew her part was to keep the hostile spells from grounding them as the dragonkin harried the gigantic beast back to the ground.

Over and under the Orren flew, dodging the acid and evil glare of the dragon. I watched in fascination as I had never seen such flying. I knew what small falcons could do to a large eagle in the air, but the dragon was easily a hundred times the size of the Orren. Still, the silver scaled aerial wonder was forcing the beast back to the ground with it's frigid breath. Back to the waiting blades of our fighters. We needed to keep him grounded...where were our ground troops?

That was when the feel wyrm roared and made a bee line straight for his cave. "They're in," I said and Jacob nodded. A dragon's biggest weakness: its treasure. Golden Wings and Cor'Undum had made the dragon's lair and touched the treasure, all that was needed to bring him back inside to where he could not fly, where we could surround him and come at him from all sides. "Jon?" He still could not move, even as his enchanted growth began to reverse. "Stay here then. Make sure the dragon does not get past you without you seeing where he goes." That was something he could do, and while I know it chaffed him, he could not fight the beast as he was.

Jacob and I stormed in to see the drake queen was weaving intricate patterns over the head of the dragon, blinding the beast. It would hardly slow him down, but at least he could not freeze us with his gaze. We paid no mind to the treasure, it was not our goal. The drow incanted a few words I did not know and I saw hundreds of spiders appear. Had she deceived me? Did she serve the Spider Queen? No, those were no spiders from her lightless home, these were moonwidows. Their webs were very strong, their venom only a sedative, but enough of them could slow the colossus down. I scent you drow. You who touched my horde. I started to cast a spell and thankfully it was there before that vile acid was. My barrier would hold against a few hits, but not the onslaught Ingalome'stracazillio was capable of. What it did do was bide her some time to complete her summoning and use a gateway to get to me.

"Dance with me, lizard," taunted Jacob. He swung his sword and got the first real hit against the beast, the blade biting deep into the flesh. I was deafened by the sound but I watched as Ingalome'stracazillio thrashed, his deadly blood spraying everywhere, melting his own precious gold and gems like ice.

Ice, thought I, and cast a small spell to freeze the bloody wound closed lest he spray us all. A powerful slam of that tail threw us all into the air as a tidal wave of coins lifted us up. When Jacob landed, he saw his sword was useless, the blood having eaten the metal. Yet he was not done. I marveled at how long my spell was lasting and even more at how the blood he was bathed in was not harming him...it was true.

Golden Wings was pelting the beast with icy spikes now, tearing shreds in the wings and sensitive areas. Her spells were powerful, but not against this foe. She knew she was no match, but it was enough to keep him from homing in on one enemy. I was able to stumble to my feet, and I was reaching for Cor'Undum, when that mighty tail came back down. There was no chance. The drow died on impact and was flung into the air by the concussive force. I spared only a small thought to Luna to keep her safe so she may rest among our heroes. Her spiders were still active though and were binding and biting the beast, making its reactions more sluggish. Even in death, the drow was proving to be an insidious foe.

Like a spinning top Ingalome'stracazillio twirled, no longer caring about its horde, but casting about for Jacob. His othersense pinpointed my love who was close enough for a massive claw rake across his armor, rending it and score a hit in his flesh. Jacob roared too as he was flung into a far wall and through it. That crash brought the opening to the cave down. The other half of our troupe was outside...and only Golden Wings and I were up and able.

I began raining spells on the beast, my anger high. "Attack him, will you? You oversized lizard, I'm going to turn you into a new pair of boots!" My spell was a wall of swords, the slashing and slicing targeting his neck area near the only opening in his armor. Each was one more sliver or an opening to the vital parts, and this time the wyrm could not react as quickly. I needed to get to Jacob, but he was hundreds of feet away on the other side of a rockslide. My blades became ice, slowing him down even more. Golden Wings was continuing her assault while I could hear Flora chanting outside. She might not be able to fight, but she could feed her energy to us. The Orren was doing something, saying something in the dragon tongue I did not understand, and I heard a pop above me.

There was Jon, his swords now ten times the size as he dropped right over the wound we had been rending. "NO!" I cried, but Jon could not stop gravity. The swords weighed more than they looked as he fell, their razor edges slicing into and through the neck of Ingalome'stracazillio. The was a shudder that ran through the cave and then all was silent as the great wyrm died. "Jacob!" I cried. My feet were unsteady over this shifting, acid strewn terrain, but I got to the rubble. Golden Wings was going to see to Jon, so I knew if he was still alive he would be fine.

"Stay away, Kiven, it's not safe." I heard Jacob's voice, although he sounded strained and hoarse.

"Like hell. Stay where you are..."

"NO! My love, stay there...the Red is in here." I cared not. I kept coming and the stone that sealed him was blasted away as I screamed at it. I don't know how I did it other than sheer primal rage, but the stone was gone.

There was the Red. He was not as huge as the Black, but still he was a massive sight. A gorgeous deep red with a mane of hair and flames that licked from his nostrils and his tail's tip. Only half the size, he looked back in the cave as if he could not believe he was out of there. "Great dragon, please hear me, we come as allies against Ingalome'stracazillio, whom you see dead!" I cried out, hoping I could get to Jacob before the Red was aware of everything. The huge head bobbed as it still looked back. "I ask you, please Mighty One, to allow my mate to leave unharmed. I ask that you listen to our words."

I will listen, Kiven of No Tribe. He somehow knew my father had disowned me. For you, I will obey.

I halted. Obey? "Splendid One, is my mate alive?" Please say yes. I had heard him, but he might have succumbed to injury since

As alive as one may be when one does not exist. Not exist? No, I would feel it had he died. The Red turned his head and looked right at me.I saw Jacob looking out of his eyes. My heart thundered in my chest as I gazed up at him. There was no denying the love I saw there, the raw emotions laid bare that I would now reject him. Kiven...I did not wish you to know.