Erin Evans - The God Catcher

The ground vibrated as Dareun moved toward Nazra Mrays, who had crumpled to her knees still overwhelmed by the choking gas. Nestrix had been caught in the gas as well, and was climbing unsteadily to her feet.

"Give me the dragonstaff!" he bellowed. "Or I'll make certain your son knows he's an orphan before he dies."

Tennora took hold of her staff and shouted another ornate word. A spiderweb the size of a cart bed burst into being and spun toward Dareun's face. He turned as she shouted, and the web caught him across the snout, pinning his jaws together.

He thrashed his head and tried to rub the web off with the side of his claw, with his leg, with the willow tree. The silk was strong, but it snapped and frayed as Dareun worried at it, his stifled roars caught in his mouth.

Nestrix gained her feet and screamed.

Once more the lightning breath coursed through her, stronger than any mage's spell. From as close as she stood, Tennora could see the electricity arcing between Nestrix's fingers and eyelids, her whole body consumed by the storm. The static blew the deepnight cloak back over her shoulders, rippling the fabric out behind her. For a moment she seemed to flicker, and Tennora could swear she saw the shape of wide-spread wings curling around Nestrix's back, the sinuous curve of another neck and head stretched out above her.

The lightning raced over Dareun, building in strength with the flawed magic of the Songdragon's gorget. He screamed and the pain forced his jaws wide, shredding the web. The thunderclap drowned him out.

From above, Aundra threw another ball of flickering light. From the ground the remaining soldiers fired arrows.

The lightning faded; Nestrix collapsed as if the storm had been all that was holding her up. She did not move. Tennora sprinted to her.

But Andareunarthex was not fallen. His wings were torn and his scales scorched-but his eyes were still keen, and he dived for Tennora as she raced across the garden.

His damp, choking breath rushed over her. The side of his head struck her, knocking her backward onto the sod. She rolled and narrowly avoided the snap of his teeth. He drew back again.

"You'll die with your mistress!" he hissed.

Heart pounding, thoughts racing, Tennora rolled to her feet. She couldn't bring any spells to mind. She pulled one of the carvestars free and threw it as hard as she could toward Dareun's head. The delicate blade caught him under the jaw, where his scales were thin, and lodged there. Distracted, Dareun rubbed his chin against his neck, trying to dislodge it.

Nazra and the half-orc escaped the straggling line of archers and came at the dragon with swords, the half-elf woman holding up her skirts in one hand. The sword strokes were mere stings, but they kept Dareun's attention.

"The gorget!" Nazra cried.

The moonstone winked in the moonlight. The key is the singer's collar. Not the key to saving Nestrix-the key to stopping Dareun. Without the gorget's protection, the dragonward would overtake him.

The green dragon roared again, lashing his tail. It hit Nazra's half-orc bodyguard and threw him across the garden and into a shadowtop tree. Nazra shouted and plunged her sword into the underside of the dragon's front leg. He screamed and nearly brought his foot down on her.

Tennora ran as fast as her feet would carry her and leaped, pulling herself up on Dareun's wing joint. He thrashed and beat his wings, struggling to throw her off or fly away. They started to lift.

She clung to the spikes that lined his spine. The clasp lay along the side of the gorget, and as he moved, it kept slipping out of reach.

Dareun snarled at her. "Flea! Insect! You think you can stop me?"

Still clinging to the spike, Tennora threw herself out over his shoulder, grabbing at the gorget. Her body yanked painfully away from her arm, but as she fell, she caught hold of the closure.

Dareun's wings flapped harder. Damaged though they were, he was gaining height. Tennora let go of the spike, hanging all her weight on the clasp. It slipped partway. She pulled against it, throwing all her strength against the metal latch.

Another blast of scintillating light from Aundra rained down. Dareun threw back his head and blew a stream of the poisonous gas into her path. Her wings went stiff, and she tumbled several feet before catching the wind again.

Then the clasp gave. The gorget opened and slid from Dareun's neck. There was no sound, no flash of magical light, but the change was palpable as the protection of the gorget ran off Dareun's scales like rain off roof shingles.

Tennora fell, accompanied by a shrill, pained roar more deafening than thunder. Racked by the renewed power of the dragonward, Andareunarthex twisted in its grip. For a moment, it seemed he too would fall. Then-his wings flapping uncoordinated and loose-he gained the air and took off, still roaring, toward the south, chased by a hail of arrows.

Tennora landed with a bone-shaking thud in a bough of a shadowtop tree. She felt her ribs crack with the impact, and she nearly fell again as she slid from her landing place. She caught herself and nearly screamed at the pain that burst across her chest. Biting her lip, she lowered herself down and collapsed on her bruised and aching legs.

They had done it.

Between the destroyed garden beds and scorched paths, bodies lay broken. A dozen guardsmen were dead. Nestrix lay still and unmoving. Limping, Tennora ran to her. Her pulse was faint but present. Veron, too, lay unmoving, but for the twitch of his eyelids.

Nazra Mrays, disheveled and marked by blood, mud, and char, climbed to her feet and surveyed her garden, her eyes wide. She met Tennora's gaze, and the shock in them faded into a cautious relief. Andareunarthex was gone.

"Antoum!" she shouted. She threw down the bloodied sword. "Antoum! Antoum! My boy, my darling, come out! It's safe now! Antoum!" She raced inside, and Tennora followed in time to see the boy creeping cautiously down the stairs. At the sight of his mother, all the fear fled his features and he ran to her.

Nazra Mrays enfolded her son in her arms, rested her head against his, and wept as if the world had nearly ended.

Both Veron and Nestrix were beating down the gates to the Fugue Plane and the world of the dead beyond by the time Dareun fled. The half-orc guard was badly wounded as well. Tennora and Shava helped the remaining guardsmen bind wounds and pass out tinctures. Tennora found that she moved without thought or focus, her hands twisting cloth while her mind worried about her compatriots, taken away to recover in another room. She had asked whether it was likely either would live, and no one seemed to want to say-only that she had to wait for the cleric.

How strange it was, she thought, that these two, utter strangers to her in so many ways even still, had become so dear to her in the span of mere days. They had saved her life, and she had saved theirs in turn. She supposed that was a bond that wouldn't break easily.

She shook her head. It sounded like something Mardin would say.

Tennora was so distracted that the hand of Agnea on her shoulder made her jump.

"Goodwoman Mrays wants to see you," the chamberlain said. She led Tennora up the sweeping stair and down a long hallway to the office of Nazra Mrays. The Masked Lord was sitting on a settee, looking exhausted and as if she meant to never sleep again.

"Do you want me to take him?" the woman asked, nodding at the sleeping form of Antoum beside Nazra. Nazra laid a protective hand on his shoulder.

"He's fine," she said. "Leave us."

The gray-robed woman shut the door. Tennora folded her hands neatly in her lap, as if she were wearing a gown and not bloodied, scorched leathers. Nazra Mrays watched her, her face tired, but all signs she had ever had a moment's discomfort were erased for the present.