It
was a good hour later when Rynn finally reached the other side of the barrier
blocking the entrance. She could see Arokh waiting outside looking outwards back
towards the Desert.
"Arokh!" She shouted, grateful of the sight of her companion but there
was still the humming barrier between them. The dragon turned and a pleasing
smile appeared on his maw when his eyes spotted her.
"Been a while haven't you?" He greeted her shouting over the humming
of the barriers.
"Don't ask" Rynn shouted back turning her attention to disabling the
barriers. She had fought many of the soulless during her escapades through the
ruined building looking for a way to reach the front entrance. The Sanguinade
consisted of many rooms and halls interconnected like a vast maze and some were
impassable due to either locked doors or fallen debris.
"Now how do I turn these off?" She
wondered looking around the giant hallway for a switch or lever. Whoever
activated them must have used magic and she was beginning to suspect the only
way of disabling them would be via the same way until she finally found the
answer.
The barrier consisted of three beams about half a meter apart above each other
stretching from one side of the hallway to the other and almost reaching the
ceiling. There was another identical set just behind towards Arokh with a space
in between them. She could just make out two alcoves in the wall in the space
between the two barriers but at first there was no way to slide under the beams
without being hit.
"Great" Rynn mumbled to herself.
"What's the matter?" Arokh asked walking closer to the beams as far as
he dared.
"The switches are in between the beams but I can't reach them" Rynn
pointed out sitting down on a fallen stone.
Arokh looked into the hallway seeing nothing that immediately came to mind and
drew his gaze to his bonded who was still sat on the stone.
"Rynn. Can you push the stone you are sat on into the beam? If you could it
would block it enabling you to slide underneath and reach the switches."
"Of course!" Rynn exclaimed. "How could I have missed that?"
Arokh shook his head and watched her struggle with the heavy stone. Fortunately
for Rynn, the sand covered floor tiles made sliding it a little easier. Finally,
after much cursing and struggling, the lowest beam hit the stone heating it at
an alarming rate; it even began to glow as it absorbed the energy beam. Rynn
knew she had little time and crawled into the space between the two sets of
beams just as the stone block exploded enabling the beam to reach the other
side. The switches had better work or she was trapped...
The moment Rynn pressed the first switch,
about twenty soulless appeared in the hallway and closed in on her but she was
still protected by the beams. A few stupidly ran into the beams killing them
instantly whilst the rest waited for her to drop the second set of beams.
"Arokh! The moment the barrier is down, flame them!" Rynn shouted. The
dragon nodded in reply and Rynn ran to the opposite alcove and reached out for
the switch whilst keeping her eyes on the group of soulless. A loud grating
noise of stone upon stone sounded as the switch depressed into the wall. The
humming stopped and with a scream, the crowd began to advance on her but Arokh
was much quicker dousing them in a cloud of deadly flame.
"Am I glad to see you!" Rynn said thankfully, putting her arms around
the dragon's neck to hug him. "Honestly I don't know what I would do
without you."
Arokh grunted in reply and nervously looked around the hallway as he heard
distant cries of the soulless. "We must go Rynn before any more turn up.
Have you any idea where this tunnel leads?" He asked pointing to the huge
entrance ahead of them with an outstretched foreleg.
"No" Rynn said stepping away from the dragon. "But I have
searched everywhere. It must lead up to Stratos eventually; remember what
Perry's father told us about the floating platform that is used as a lift to the
Desert Lord's city?"
"I remember" Arokh replied. "We have no time to return to Surdana
for supplies now, we will have to make do with what we have."
"I have enough health potions and I found one invulnerability potion in the
ruins. Just stay with me and don't fly off" She said walking to his side to
mount him.
"Ill try not to" he grunted and began to walk into the tunnel.
The
tunnel soon changed from man made stone to sold rock as it led from the ancient
structure and into the mountain. The two walked in silence; Rynn did not have
anything to say and Arokh was not one for making idle chitchat, he liked to be
alone with his thoughts sometimes.
"It looks like there is an open topped cavern ahead" the dragon noted
breaking the silence first. He paused momentarily whilst Rynn glanced ahead
seeing a large basin like cavern full of rocky platforms, stalagmites and
stalactites. At the top were several holes where the strong sunlight shone
through from above. As they came closer, she could see several green doors set
into alcoves along the walls with a gold trim and a decorative window set into
them near the top.
"Strange place" Rynn whispered.
"It looks like we are reaching the beginning of the Desert Lords territory.
Their decor and buildings are similar to what was found in the Middle East on
the planet Earth" Arokh continued starting to walk forward again.
"Planet Earth?" Rynn questioned; surprised
that there was another planet in the Drakan solar system she had not heard of
before.
Arokh turned his head round and regarded her with a smile and a twinkle shone in
his eye where the torchlight caught it.
"Many wonders of the Golden Age" he said quietly. There was a slight
pause whilst the dragon dug up more memories from the Order's distant past and
continued. "Earth is another planet populated mainly by humans. Its
more or less on the other side of the galaxy Drakan and the sun resides in; we
managed to open a portal there long ago. Needless to say, it turned out to be a
bad idea and the portal was destroyed."
"Go on, I'm interested" Rynn encouraged nudging
his side.
The dragon sighed. "Navaros came from there."
"What?" Rynn exclaimed in horror.
The dragon laughed. "Oh a long story. We learned that there were dragons on
that planet who were being made rapidly extinct by the human population. We
brought back about eight with us along with a selected few humans who vowed to
protect them. You see the people of Earth saw them as evil creatures and
employed dragonslayers to rid the world of them; which I would imagine by now
they have." Arokh stopped again to take a breath. "Navaros was a
simple man, possessing no magical abilities. But, misfortune and a sad turn of
events turned him into a powerful necromancer. Navaros was not his real name
either."
Both were silent for a few minutes whilst Rynn
took this in. Eventually she spoke first. "There's more isn't there? Are
you one of the dragons from Earth?"
"Hah! No, I'm not" Arokh snapped. "As far as I know, Navaros
employed them in the Dark Union and they were slain in the war. No, there is
nothing else; it’s all in the past now. We must think about saving our own
race, not anyone else’s."
With that, Arokh walked out of the tunnel and into the open cavern.
No sooner had they emerged from the tunnel, a couple of familiar shrieks
reminded them that danger lurked nearby in the form of half eagle, half lion
winged death.
"Griffins. Again" Arokh whispered backing into the tunnel. A blast of
energy hit the ground where he had been stood melting the sand with the
instantaneous heat radiated by the blast.
The lower half of their attacker hovered just below the tunnel entrance and
Arokh shot a retaliatory strike at it making the beast cry out in pain.
"I have an idea" Arokh noted backing further into the tunnel. "I
can hit them from here if we are patient and we will be quite safe from their
attacks. The blast radius from their breath weapon is very small; they need a
direct hit to be able to harm us."
"Okay" Rynn mumbled reaching for some health potions just in case.
Again, one of the griffins was partially exposed in the tunnel mouth and Arokh
hit it with a sonic blast throwing
the creature to the floor stunning it for a few moments. He soon finished it off
with his flame breath and turned his attention to one of the others.
"If we continue like this, we should have them in no time. As long as they
don't try and follow us we should be okay" Arokh said confidently.
"I could help" Rynn pointed out readying the Bow of the Order.
"Well then, help" Arokh grunted firing another sonic blast at a
griffin that had strayed too close.
It
took a long time to clear out the cavern using their tactic of hiding in the
tunnel but it wasn't worth the risk of diving in and being rapidly overwhelmed.
The old dragon knew his limits and what he could and could not defeat face to
face. They flew around the cavern for a while finding numerous transportation
and storage crates bound for Stratos stacked against walls and in walkways.
There was no weapons of any use to be found and most were filled with Grimstone,
the same substance used to create the gateway into the rift through which Rynn's
brother was taken.
All of the green coloured doors were locked and there didn't seem to be any way
of opening them. As they followed the path around the cavern trying each door in
turn, Arokh suddenly stopped outside a much larger door and froze solid.
"What's the matter?" His companion asked.
"Look" Arokh snarled pointing to the centre of the door. "The
symbol of the Order!"
Slowly Rynn realised why the dragon was so surprised to see the long forgotten
symbol; they were deep inside the former Dark Union's lands, now occupied by the
Desert Lords.
"Why would a door with the Order's symbol on it be here?" Rynn asked.
"What do you suppose is beyond it?"
"I don't know" Arokh frowned.
"But there must have been something here at one point, I can't really
remember. I would imagine this door was within the ruins; it is stone after
all."
"Something important must be at the other side; its the only stone door
here and one large enough for you to fit through" she said slipping down
from the dragon's back. "Ill see if it’s
open."
"Locked" Rynn said in disappointment as she tried the door lever.
"Come on, there is one more door to try, back towards we came in."
"Somehow I have the feeling we aren't going to get in this way" Arokh
replied looking up through the hole in the cavern roof. "Up there seems to
be the only way out."
Rynn gazed up at the hole where the sunlight shone through creating streams of
golden light illuminating the semi dark cavern. "No" she disagreed.
"Let’s try the last one anyway."
Arokh sighed and followed behind on the narrow path as Rynn ran to the last
remaining door heart beating in anticipation. The platform going up to Stratos
must be close.
"There! What did I tell you?" She said with a smile as the green door
swung open revealing a stone corridor brightly lit by magical crystal wall
lights. Arokh grinned back. "Ill wait here, come
back and tell me what you find."
Rynn nodded and walked into the corridor turning around to look at her bonded
but the door slammed shut and automatically locked as if by some force.
"Arokh! I'm trapped I can't open it from here" She shouted in alarm
pushing at the door and surrounding stones. A few loud thuds came from the other
side as Arokh tried to force it open. "No good Rynn, you will have to find
an alternative way out. Ill watch your back and make
sure nobody follows you."
"Great!" She muttered to herself and looked around to get aquatinted
with her new surroundings.
Cushions and seating were placed at intervals
down the long hallway and ancient stone vases decorated the walls set into
recesses in the wall. There were even flowers in some of them - fresh ones at
that.
"I
wouldn't have thought the Desert Lords would be interested in flowers" she
muttered to herself as she reached the end of the corridor. There was a small
room at the end with a central foliage and floral arrangement surrounded by a
low wall. More of the golden couches and chairs were set against the wall with
their red cushions. Above there was a large chandelier fastened to a crystal
ceiling glowing with all sorts of colours. The entire place seemed like a rich
king's palace rather than the homelands of the evil Desert Lords.
"Where did they get all of this stuff?" She wondered taking another
corridor that branched off the room. Distant cries of the soulless were heard
and she decided to move quickly especially seem as
Arokh could not help. Her good sense of
direction led her through the labyrinth like system towards the door with the
Order's symbol she and Arokh saw earlier. It was the only logical way to reach
this so called lift to Stratos; if they were taking supplies up there, it was
unlikely they would take them through the corridor system, rather using the
large door to take the crates through.
Eventually, after meeting little resistance, Rynn reached a long open chasm
where another tunnel could be seen at the other side but there was no way
across. The chasm seemed to be full of glittering lights that shone and sparkled
in the infinite darkness below. A couple of soulless taunted her from the other
side but they sensibly stayed put; seemingly even they knew she couldn't reach
them.
"There must be another way,” she thought peering around in the
darkness for the area was not as well lit as the rooms and corridors behind her.
"Are you looking for the bridge?" A soft female human voice came from
behind her. Startled, Rynn turned round to see a well tanned woman slightly
older than her stood at the doorway.
"What?... Er.. Yeah. You are?" Rynn stuttered, surprised that she was
not the only human in there. She had no weapons and wore a simple robe and held
a bunch of flowers in her hand.
"I am one of the brides,” she said softly.
"Brides?!" Rynn exclaimed. "Brides for whom?"
"The Flesh Mage. Do you not know?" The woman answered. "Oh I am
looking forward to the wedding!"
"Flesh Mage?" Rynn said loudly as an eerie feeling came over her. The
woman appeared dazed, as if some kind of trance.
"You must have missed the ceremony dressed like that. There will be the
next batch of brides along in an hour. You can go along if you like."
"No thanks, I think Ill pass." Rynn mumbled resting a shoulder on the
wall. "What about this bridge?"
The woman giggled and pointed to a cave high up on the wall where a lever could
be seen. "That lever controls the bridge, that tunnel over there will take
you up to it" the woman said pointing into a pitched black corner.
"I don't see anything" Rynn said quietly, her voice drifting off when
she realised the woman had suddenly gone.
"The woman must have been one of the captured humans” she wondered
to herself. It looked to her that the men were enslaved and the women treat like
royalty, what for was anyone's guess.
There was a tunnel in the cave like she had been told and the young warrior
carefully made her way upwards towards the lever absently killing the soulless
that was in the room at the top. Standing by the lever, she saw that she was
overlooking the chasm below seeing nothing that remotely resembled a raised
bridge. Shrugging, she pulled the lever and to her surprise, the lights began to
arrange themselves into the shape of a bridge crossing the chasm. "I think
there was something similar in the Volcano" she mused remembering her
fateful quest to save her brother. She wiped away a tear as the thought came
back more vivid than before, she could not get the image of Delon falling to his
death out of her head.
Rynn
made her way back down to where she had met the woman earlier and instead of a
deep chasm in front of her; there was now a glittering walkway. The two soulless
leapt onto the bridge and come running towards her, obviously the lights could
hold her weight. Cautiously, Rynn stepped onto the bridge of light and began to
walk forward. There was no sound as her footsteps touched the 'solid' air
underneath her and she could not feel her feet touch solid ground. It was a
weird feeling, like walking on a vast carpet of cotton wool.
The soulless were soon no longer a threat to
her as she ran them through with the Mournbringer rewarding her with health as
each one died. Swallowing hard she looked into the corridor ahead; at the end, a
floating platform could be seen hovering inches from the floor.
"That's it!" She exclaimed running into the room. A quick glance to
her right revealed the other side of the stone door seen earlier. She knew Arokh
was waiting on the other side. All she had to do was reach the lever by the
door.
"Not so fast girl!" A familiar voice came from nearby.
"You!" Rynn snarled setting eyes on the traitor wizard once more. She
had almost died twice at the hands of his magic in the last day.
"What does it take for you to die?" Zola Dane said angrily. "How
did you get past Shaza and Tora? Hmm?"
Rynn gritted her teeth and went into a fighting stance holding the Mournbringer
firmly in her hands.
"You don't need to know that. But I can say that you have greatly
underestimated me and Arokh."
Zola drew his face into a scornful smirk. "You make me laugh. You are
useless on your own and there is no dragon here to save you. Its time you were
finished. Forever."
Lowering her sword, Rynn wanted more out of the wizard before she killed him.
"Tell me one thing Zola. Why did you do it?"
"Power. The Desert Lords are a superior race and they have promised me
much..."
"At the cost of your humanity?" Rynn snapped cutting him off. Zola
just continued his scornful smile. "Humans soon will be history. I do not
want to be part of a world where the strong bow down before the weak. No, I made
the right choice."
Rynn shook her head slowly. "You leave me little choice. Surrender now or
you will die."
"I doubt it somehow" Zola laughed scornfully and began casting a
spell. Rynn quickly rolled out of the way and moved in for melee combat.
Rynn
noticed that Zola was not wearing any armour of any kind or carrying any
weapons; a foolish thing to do so it would seem. Rynn grimaced at him and lashed
out with the Mournbringer cutting into him just below the shoulders, blood
flowing freely down his side. "He is human after all,” Rynn
thought to herself dodging another attack. As she moved in for another strike,
she felt herself immobilised lifted up off the ground and then thrown into the
cave wall knocking the breath out of her.
"See, the mind is mightier than the sword" he laughed walking over to
where Rynn laid on the ground nursing her leg where it had struck the wall.
Getting to her feet she put her hands up to protect herself as Zola prepared for
another attack; she knew he would easily throw her into the chasm behind and
that would mean certain death.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the energy blast coming towards her and
instinctively ducked and rolled towards him out of harms way. Now was the chance
to get another attack in; she did not want to give him time to heal himself so
she thrust her sword upwards into his gut.
There was a loud gasp of pain and Zola stumbled backwards clutching his stomach,
blood leaking through his fingers.
"You are good girl, but not good enough" Zola continued to taunt.
"What you want some more do you? Well, seem as I'm so good; ill give you
another chance. Surrender now and Ill make sure Lady Myschala does not have you
executed for your crimes. If not, you die now" Rynn answered edging around
the wall towards the large stone door.
Zola cast a quick glance to the door knowing that Arokh was at the other side,
there was no way he would reach Rynn before she pulled that lever. He didn't
want to face Arokh for death would come swiftly and painfully.
"See you at the top" he sniggered and began running for the platform.
"No you don't! You are not getting away this time,” she yelled after him
concentrating hard to bring forth the fireball spell.
"Concentrate Rynn. Concentrate, this is my only
chance" she whispered to herself momentarily closing her eyes. When she
opened them again, a neat ball of flame sat in her palms. One quick reflex
later, Zola Dane fell to the floor, his back aflame. Not waiting for him to
recover, Rynn ran up to him and finished him off with the Mournbringer. A sudden
wave of relief went through her, as she knew the only thing that needed to be
disposed of was Jassad. It would be a much harder battle but she had defeated
Navaros and was confident of herself and Arokh to finish their mission
successfully.
"Rynn. You alright?"
Came a muffled draconic voice from nearby.
"Arokh!" Rynn shouted in relief and ran
over to the door lever pulling the ancient wooden handle hoping it would not
break. A short moment later, the door retracted into the roof and locked home
with a satisfying crash.
The dragon sauntered into the room as if he had all the time in the world and
glanced at the remains of Zola Dane.
"I'm glad to see the back of him" he growled. "Well done
Rynn."
"Oh, he was easy" Rynn laughed walking over to the platform.
"This must be the lift that goes to Stratos,” she said pointing with a
finger at the hovering platform. Above it, daylight poured through a hole in the
cave roof through which the platform went up to its journey to the clouds where
the Desert Lords ruled from their floating islands.
"Yes, that's it. We should go now, unless" Arokh said clearly
nervously looking behind him.
"Unless what?" Rynn queried.
"Come here Rynn" Arokh beckoned. Rynn obeyed and stood by his side,
she could feel that he was nervous and worried about their destiny. The dragon
cleared his throat and continued "What we will face up there will be the
elite of Jassad's forces. Now that he knows we are here, he will throw
everything he has at us. It will not be easy. Are you sure you are up to the
task? Because if not, now is the time to speak. Once we start our journey to
Stratos, there will be no turning back."
Rynn paused for a moment like she did when Arokh first warned her about the
bonding ritual and that if he was killed, she would become a soul shadow. She
was certain then and she was certain now.
"Are you ready?" She said confidently.
The dragon turned his head to look at her and she stared into his eyes. "Of
course" he said with a smile.
"Then lets do it" Rynn stated walking towards the platform stopping to
see if Arokh was following. He stared at the ground and sighed then caught up
with her stopping by the edge of the platform.
"You first" he said waving her on
but instead she stepped back towards him and put her arms around his neck.
"Whatever happens to us up there, you know just in case we fail, I want you
to know that I love you" Rynn stuttered as a lump formed in her throat
through sheer emotional stress.
"I know" Arokh whispered softly putting one of his forelegs around her
to pull her closer. "I now feel the same about you. Don't worry about what
is up there, we will pull through, we always do. You won't fail, I won't fail. I
promise."
"Yeah, I'm sure we will. One more thing; promise you will never abandon
me" Rynn said quieter and through tears, her throat was becoming dry. She
didn't want to burst into tears now, not in front of Arokh although she knew he
would understand if she did.
Arokh laughed gently. "Of course I won't. We will always be together, we
are family now. It will be very difficult in the first few months of the New
Order's rule whilst Lady Myschala and I prepare and organise everything. I can't
say ill be around all the time but Ill try my best."
"Okay" Rynn sniffed pressing her face into his neck for a moment then
pulled away wiping her eyes. She looked around the cavern for a moment and
swallowed hard realising what must be done and there was no going back. She
smiled at the dragon and together they walked onto the platform, it immediately
beginning its ascent taking them to the final showdown against Jassad.
Jassad himself hid within his own palace protected by countless Elder Breed
dragons cloned from Shaza and Tora and many griffins. Through luck and pure
exceptional combat abilities, Arokh carried his rider forward into the palace
for the final confrontation. Jassad hid inside the pain Golem, an abomination of
stone and mud, which grew inside the palace shattering it around them revealing
the fourth gate. Rynn managed to severely injure Jassad but it was Arokh who
finished off the pain Golem, Jassad's life and reign ended by the thing toppling
and falling on him. With the remainder of Jassad's forces decimated and no
longer a real threat, Arokh activated the final gate and back in Surdana, the
spirit of Mala Shae, the Dragon Mother hung over the city like a white ghost.
Shortly after Rynn and Arokh's return to Surdana, the first of the Elder Breed
were brought back into the world through Mala Shae's magic. Far away in their
lairs, the dragons awoke and flocked to Surdana to meet their new leaders. It
was decided that only the dragons who were previously bonded should be awakened
first as they were loyal to the Order and were the finest fighters. A couple of
weeks later, the last of the Desert Lords were eradicated and their city of
In the few months that followed, the remainder of the dragons were awakened and many chose to join the New Order, bonding with Surdana's knights. Rigorous training was set up overseen by Rynn and Arokh as they were regarded as heroes and classed as the most superior and respected members of the Order. Arokh later retired from active service on the front line, the hard battle taking its toll on the 230 year old dragon who admitted himself he was getting past his prime for fighting despite his triumph over two powerful oppressors. He finally officially got his lordship becoming the leader of the Order's dragons, but yet still offering advice and training to anyone who requested it whenever he wasn’t involved in more pressing matters. Rynn, used to fighting for a living continued to serve as a trainer and instructor for ground troops whilst Arokh, along with the other leaders of the Order made the decisions that would affect their world.
Within
time, the New Order grew, building new cities and spreading throughout the
central continent sowing the seeds of a new civilisation as they went. As Arokh
had suggested, the Order did not spread to other continents, keeping their
affairs and philosophies local. Trying to rule a whole world would just lead
them to another apocalyptic disaster where people like Navaros would form groups
that opposed them. Many of the Order’s laws that could possibly lead to war
were also changed or eradicated. One of these was equality for all as it was
decided that the idea simply did not work and a democracy was established where
the public could choose their leaders every 5 years. Ultimately, it would always
be dragons that ruled the new nation as it is human nature to destroy each other
and a superior race was needed to watch over them and keep them free from
warfare. Humans alone could not be trusted by the dragons to run the new nation;
after all both races shared common enemies and the example of the bonded proved
that the two races could live side by side without conflict.
Finally, after six centuries of misery, death and destruction, the human and Dragon races could begin rebuilding their world and restoring it to its former glory. Arokh would go down in history as the one to save the world twice over. A statue of him and Rynn was erected in Surdana's city square as a reminder of their heroism for generations to come.
The End
P.S. A big thank you to all who contributed, I would have never completed this
work if it weren’t for you few people.