Richard Knaak - The Fire Rose

“Fascinating! So much to explore once everything has been put in order.”

A blazing light emanated from his palm. Its hue matched that of the Fire Rose.

Golgren immediately knew the fragment in Safrag’s palm was what was missing from the artifact. Safrag had used the fragment to keep on the trail of the Fire Rose.

“There is nowhere left to run, mongrel! Surrender the Fire Rose to me willingly, and perhaps I’ll let you live to watch the rebirth of the ogre race!”

“Its further downfall is what you mean.”

The Titan eyed him with disdain. “You will never understand exactly what I truly mean.”

Safrag gripped the fragment, glaring at the Grand Khan.

The Fire Rose fought Golgren’s hold. The half-breed clutched it tight, refusing to let it go though it shook him powerfully. Idaria grabbed hold of him from behind.

The Grand Khan was yanked into the air. Idaria lost her hold. Golgren and the Fire Rose flew toward the sorcerer.

“Surrender is inevitable, mongrel,” the towering spell-caster smoothly remarked as he clamped the hand with the fragment against another part of the Fire Rose’s stem. “Inevitable as my rise to master of the Titans!”

“Yes, Dauroth was blind,” murmured Golgren, pulling hard. “But Safrag is blinder.”

He let go with his right hand-the hand restored-and struck the Titan soundly below the spellcaster’s rib cage.

Safrag let out a gasping cough and bent forward. That enabled Golgren to reach out and slug him again, under the jaw.

Tearing the artifact free, the Grand Khan turned back to Idaria. “Flee!”

But instead she rushed to him, helping Golgren to carry his burden. Golgren cradled the crystalline form as they ran from Safrag. “Would that I understood better the thing’s use,” he muttered.

“There may be-”

Idaria got no farther. A terrible sound wave struck them, deafening the pair and sending them tumbling. The Fire Rose slipped from Golgren’s grasp and immediately flew back toward Safrag.

The half-breed managed to grab onto the stem of the crystalline artifact as it flew past. It dragged him along.

“You are as persistent as a meredrake following a blood trail,” the blue-skinned sorcerer said tersely as both the artifact and Golgren sped toward him. “And when I have the Fire Rose, perhaps I’ll leave you to one of those damned reptiles!”

Suddenly Golgren felt a deep hatred for Safrag and his grandiose ambitions. Suddenly he knew he would never surrender the Fire Rose to the Titan because he intended to use it himself. Forever and ever. If there was anyone who should wield the artifact, it was him. Only him. He had felt the touch of its power, and would give it up only upon death.

Golgren collided with Safrag, the prize pressed between them, the Titan preparing another one of his spells.

“Your hand,” Safrag growled, their eyes locking. “Your new hand. How astounding is the Rose, which grows all anew! Why are you so blind to what it will do for our race, mongrel? Why, it could even wash you clean of that foul elven taint! You could become a true ogre at last! Think of it!”

“If that is the best you can offer, you offer nothing.”

The sorcerer sneered. “You really do take pride in your tainted existence! More than ever, you have proven yourself unfit to live among our kind, much less pretend to rule it!”

The Fire Rose burned bright all the while. Flames had erupted around the pair. From somewhere, Idaria cried out, but Golgren did not so much as glance at her. To break from the struggle even for an instant was to lose everything to Safrag.

The ground rose, and the walls and ceiling of the chamber melted away with the heat. Safrag and Golgren were borne aloft by flames as they wrestled close for the artifact. The sky opened up above them, and a hill formed to their side.

The flames lessened. Golgren’s foe laughed shrilly. “Do you see what it can do? It is said that as our race degraded, a band of High Ogre spellcasters gathered together to try to stem the fall! They spoke to all gods who might listen, but only one replied. Sirrion , the one they least expected! God of Fire and Alchemy, he had always remained in the background, helping those gods who came to him without judgment! Yet Sirrion heard the plea of the spellcasters looking for some way to reforge the ogre race and found that a fitting request for him!”

The Fire Rose burned hotter. The ground swirled, spinning the two combatants and their disputed prize around and around. The hill that had just formed melted , before becoming a small grove of fantastic trees with spiked leaves and blossoms as white-gold as the sun. Golgren and Safrag suddenly found themselves on another hill overlooking the grove. An orange-red glow covered everything, including the two opponents locked in struggle.

“But like you, the spellcasters were shortsighted! A fear arose in them as they began to use the Fire Rose! Instead of accepting it as a miracle, some of them decided to bury it forever for fear of what their own ambition would cause it to do!”

The Titan’s eyes flashed with fury. Golgren felt his feet grow numb. He stared into the Fire Rose, silently commanding it to serve him and him alone. He was no spellcaster, yet for some reason, even without the signet, the artifact responded to him.

Golgren threw his willpower into the effort.

The Fire Rose stirred.

Not only did the flames rise up again, but the very ground beneath them turned into molten lava that spat and churned as if eager to devour the loser of the struggle. The Grand Khan did not for a moment think that he would be the loser, though the pain and heat and numbness spread and enveloped him.

Golgren had to have the Fire Rose. The desire was stronger than ever.

The numbness suddenly faded. Golgren stared up triumphantly into Safrag’s dark visage. The Titan tried to shake him off, but the half-breed held tight.

Their surroundings continued to shift, with the tide of their battling minds. Hills rose and fell, lakes blossomed and dried, plants of all shapes and sizes sprouted and withered to dust. Whether they were momentary creations of the Fire Rose or would have remained permanent changes, Golgren neither knew nor cared. Such was the might of Sirrion’s gift.

As the combatants were caught up in their clash, the sky darkened. Both looked up and saw the return of a common foe.

The gargoyles dove down in greater numbers than before, the winged monsters seemingly oblivious to the hot treacherous landscape beneath them. They skirted the rising flames with ease and fell upon the area where the Titan and the Grand Khan battled.

A jutting hill shot up at first, sprouting into existence with such swiftness that the gargoyles slammed against it at full speed. The crack of bone briefly overwhelmed all other sound.

Those behind the unfortunate first group immediately ascended. Yet the hill continued to grow until it reached the gargoyles, earth and stone subsuming a number of the hapless creatures.

It was impossible to say if it was by Golgren’s will, Safrag’s, or both in conjunction somehow. But surely the Grand Khan and the sorcerer were joined in their desire to keep the gargoyles from claiming the trophy. The pair looked around, seeking to counter the dangerous attackers.

“You’ll not have it!” Safrag roared at more of the oncoming fiends. “Neither you nor your master!”

Black bolts of lightning shot not from the sky, but rather up from the ground. Each struck their target with deadly accuracy, searing the flesh of the gargoyles and leaving nothing but charred bones that clattered to the ground.

The landscape shifted anew, with Golgren and the Titan raised to soaring heights. They stood upon a towering peak, so high, and such an astounding transformation of the landscape, that it almost made the Grand Khan fumble his grip.