Thomas Harlan - The Dark Lord

"We will," Zenobia nodded, and then-with a sigh-let her mind fall back, yielding hands, eyes, legs, even the beat of her heart to Zoe. The girl surged forward, filling the body with her quick energy. "Here they come," she cried, spying the glittering flight of arrows and javelins lofting into the afternoon sky. The Arab skirmishers were already among the higher dunes. Her hand sketched a complicated sign and a wavering gleam filled the air as the wind rushed into a near-solid barrier before the advancing army.

The Sahaba surged up the beach, voices booming like the sea, crying Allau, Allau ak-bar! Horns and trumpets wailed, answering the skirling call of the Roman bucinas . The men of Mekkah were used to running in sand and they loped towards the enemy with glad hearts. Every step taken away from the unsteady sea raised their spirits.

Zoe walked forward, surrounded by a ring of armed men and she stretched her power, feeling the heavy blue strength of the sea behind and shining red streams of power in the earth ahead. "This land is strong," she cried, though Odenathus was now beyond earshot.

A huge shadow suddenly rushed overhead and Zoe yelped in alarm. Shocked, she looked up, catching a glimpse of vast wings, a snaky head and a sinuous tail lashing in the air. Stunned, she and the men around her saw the thing roar past, the sound of its passage deafening everyone and snap into a tight circle over a stand of trees a half-mile away. Flame vomited down, spewing from gaping, black jaws and the entire copse burst into flame, men fleeing in all directions, the trailing black banner of the Serpent Lord engulfed in a blast of greenish-white fire.

The Queen heard a piercing howl echo in her mind and staggered, clutching her ears in pain. The cold, clammy touch of the lord Dahak faltered and she felt him struggle, wrapped in flame. In a single, crystalline moment, his control slackened, lifting iron chains from her will.

Cousin! Zoe screamed at Odenathus, her thought leaping across their battle meld, mind and mind meshing violently into one. The young man's mind was awhirl and he groped to match her thought. We are free! Zoe's shouted giddily.

Not yet, Zenobia forced herself into their meld, unexpectedly filling the apex of a triangle she'd not known existed between them. Odenathus recoiled, but then she felt glad wonder touch her like the glow of a warm fire on a cold night. Hello, nephew. Zenobia thought wryly. Zoe-the Roman prince?

The girl's exultation faded, dashed by chilling reality. Yes, she thought in unison with Odenathus. It's him!

Zenobia recoiled, faced with a secondhand image of a storm-dark titan astride a steed of iron, wreathed in rippling flame, circled by flickering blue-white signs and glyphs. A constellation of bright spirits whirled around him, shrieking with rage. Power cracked from his hand like the stroke of a forge hammer. Her body's hearing shuddered in response, the air thundering with a long, echoing crash. Lightning stabbed along the beach, darkening the air.

Our men come first, Zenobia snapped, capturing the stunned attention of the two young wizards. We must protect them!

The Lord of the Ten Serpents writhed on the ground, flames roaring around him, scaly limbs glowing cherry-red with intense heat. The copse of trees roared, slender trunks wrapped in greenish fire and the sandy ground bubbled and popped, turning to a glassy slurry under the sorcerer's feet. Wailing, barely able to breath, Dahak lunged away from the sea, bounding up into the air. Power wicked around him, the tormented core of his mind struggling to ignore the searing pain stabbing from ruined flesh and summon a shield of defense.

Gusts of wind slammed the sorcerer to the ground, sending him crashing into a stand of brambles. The iron monster in the sky banked sharply, wing rolling over and a searing trail of phlogiston smoked in the air. The viscous fluid streaked across the ground in a long arc. Dahak rolled away from the tongue of flame. Everything-trees, brambles, sand, old tufa-lit with brilliant greenish-white fire. Smoke roared up, climbing to the heavens in a thick, black cloud. The iron drake shrieked upwards, gaining altitude.

Coughing up soot and burning ash, the sorcerer scrambled down the dune. The sandy crown burned fiercely, streams of molten glass spilling after him. The T'u-chueh fled, leaving smoldering corpses scattered under the trees. Dahak wailed, a long, sobbing moan escaping his seared throat. He'd only felt such dreadful pain once before and he splashed desperately into a muddy pond, crying in relief as cool water hissed against his skin. Taloned fingers plunged into the mud, feeling strength throbbing in the rich soil.

A rising, hurricane shriek snapped his head around, the sorcerer catching sight of the flying machine-now he could sense gears and wheels, cunning skeletal limbs sheathed in hammered copper and bronze, a blazing crystalline heart-sweeping towards him. Even the brief respite had been enough, letting his mind settle, confusion flee, and power rush into his body from the living earth.

"Now we'll see, stripling!" Dahak turned, one black hand slashing across the pale blue sky. The sun had settled behind the mountains, but the heavens were still flush with day and the rising smoke was only a smear against a perfect field of azure. Lightning leapt up with his motion and the iron drake plowed into a massive, earth-shaking discharge. A thunderclap smote the ground, shaking leaves from the trees and making the surface of the muddy pond jump.

The machine staggered in flight and Dahak felt his enemies' surprise. Iron plates glowed bright, groaning as iron expanded in the wake of the strike. The sorcerer rose from the pond, delighted to see his opponent veer away, a spiral of smoke hanging in the air. He scrambled out of the pool, eager to gain some high ground.

Smoke hissed away from the turning drake as it rushed through the upper air and then petered out. A faint blue-white flash rippled across the massive head, deep-set eyes blazing orange and red. The machine banked around with a shriek, the wind of its passage bending the trees.

Dahak cursed, summoning every power and ward he knew. A wave of darkness rushed away from him, killing grass, flowers, trees in a great circle. "Come then!" he screamed at the sky, "test my strength!" At a great distance, the door of stone quivered, feeling binding signs upon the ancient granite weaken and fray.

Stunned, the Sahaba raised their heads from the sand, every man's eyes wide in fear. The Queen was already standing, searching the sky with liquid brown eyes, her lips a harsh line. Three more of the great creatures plunged towards her from the west. Against the sun-bright sky, they were almost invisible, but the earthshaking roar of their passage rolled before them like the clash of a massive drum. Zoe grasped the air, her fingers tangling in the last rays of the sun. A hazy wall flickered above the dunes, fierce zephyrs rushing over the ocean hurrying to her aid. "Keep down," she managed to shout as the first of the enemy cracked past overhead.

The drake's wingtip, tending low towards the ground as the leviathan body slewed into an S-curve towards the fleet, clipped the trembling, near-invisible wall. Zoe was slammed back into the sand, breath driven from her body and the shield of wind disintegrated in a whirlwind of sand and dust and debris. The iron machine cartwheeled unexpectedly, flame spilling away from a twisting snout, and slammed at great speed into the merchantman Der'a . The colossal impact broke the ship in half, iron wings tangling in the mast, planks and keel shattering with a roar. A huge spout of water fountained up, vaporizing to steam as the drake coughed up a bellyful of phlogiston. Fire rained down in blazing droplets, engulfing the broken foredeck of the Der'a , and spreading on the tossing sea in great, hissing sheets.