Rick Shelley - Son of the Hero

He couldn't have been any older than Harkane-fourteen, maybe fifteen. Blue eyes opened in wide surprise. The muscles in his face relaxed. Blood spurted from his neck and he died. For a moment, all I could do was stare down at him. He was just a kid. I gagged and almost threw up.

I backed Gold around, trying to see how things were going around me. Horns sounded near the Etevar, and his army moved farther east, clear of Castle Thyme. The Dorthinis marched into what little was left of the village's spring crops. Suddenly, the Etevar and I were in the open, between our armies, with only our own guards to support us, I spurred Gold forward again, knowing that I had to take a chance to reach the Etevar before he got behind another wall of soldiers-and before the Dorthinis could cut me off from my support.

Then my danger sense went berserk, and so did my horse, but the Dorthinis weren't the cause. It was a distant shadow, first in my mind and then in the sky, and a cry like metal ripping in an auto wreck. A familiar feeling, a familiar shadow. A dragon-a mother-huge dragon-was heading straight for me.

While I fought to control Gold, the two armies moved farther apart-and away from me-as though I had just broken out with the stigmata of every infectious disease ever known or imagined. Even most of the troop right with me decided that they belonged somewhere else. All I had left were the people I would have bet on to stay-Annick, Lesh, Harkane, Hambert-and a very few others. Annick sheathed her sword and got out her bow. She dismounted when I did. So did Lesh and Hambert. Lesh had his battle-axe. We passed our reins to others and got ready to meet the new threat.

This dragon was coming specifically for me, just like all of the threats in Fairy. My danger sense was very definite about that, and there was more. The Etevar's wizard loomed in my sight again, appearing much closer than he actually was. His hands-delicate-looking, with long, pointed fingers-grasped a broad medallion that hung from his neck on a heavy gold chain. I could see each link in the chain, but his hands covered whatever device the medallion bore. The Dorthini wizard squinted, concentrating on me. I saw his mouth move as he chanted, flashes of white teeth and almost purple lips and tongue.

This is it, I thought. I looked around for Dad and Vara and the rest of the congregation of Heroes. This dragon was much larger than the one the elf warrior had died fighting on that beach by the Mist. Even if I somehow managed to drop this beast, I had to expect to go the way of the elf. And there was nowhere to run.

I stepped several paces in front of my companions to get room to swing the elf sword. Dragon's Death-a meager hope. My mouth was moving too. The whistling that came when I used the long blade got louder and louder until there were almost words to it, a magical chant of the incoherent sort I had heard Parthet use. And Annick was humming some kind of counterpoint as she raised her bow. The air fairly crackled with all the magics. I wondered if they were subject to static, interference, the way radio signals are.

What did the elf think about when he faced this? I asked myself. The dragon was coming on fast, but I still seemed to have plenty of time. There was even time for me to feel amazed at how calm I felt. I accepted the outcome… as long as I could reach it with the fortitude that the elf warrior had shown.

"Steady, lad. Keep your wits about you," sounded right next to my ear. It was Parthet's voice, but he was still standing on the castle wall. I glanced that way. The same sort of alteration of perspective that had made the Dorthini wizard appear close let me see Parthet up close too. Then I recalled-from our first ride east-that Parthet had said that there had been so much magic used around Castle Thyme that it was unpredictable.

"Put on a good show, Uncle," I whispered. He nodded as if he heard me. I turned and stared at the Dorthini wizard and made a short cutting gesture with my sword-something like drawing a bow sharply across a violin-as my whistling reached a peak. The Dorthini wizard frowned and clutched his medallion tighter. I felt a trickle of exhilaration. I could reach him, touch him. I remembered that Parthet had suggested that I might have some gift toward wizardry. And there were the magics of the sword and the Hero that I still didn't know everything about…

… in an arena where magic wasn't predictable anyway.

What do I have to lose? I asked myself. The answer was an easy nothing.

I attempted to use magic that I didn't know I had-that I didn't know that anybody had. While the dragon folded his wings for a fast glide, I concentrated on the Dorthini wizard, trying to superimpose my image over his, hoping to confuse the dragon and deflect it toward the wizard who-so far-appeared to be controlling it. The wizard fought back, stabbing deeply into my mind, loosing a flash of light in my head that made him invisible for a dangerous moment.

I blinked over and over. There were spots in front of my eyes… spots large enough to hide a dragon. I looked up quickly, squinted against the light and the sky.

The dragon wasn't deflected even for a second. It swooped toward me, suddenly appearing to be as fast as a jet. Its talons were stretched open, its jaws gaping wide. It had all its weapons ready, just like the dragon in Fairy. I thought back to the way the elf warrior had met that dragon's attack. I replayed it in my mind-except for the way it ended for the elf.

And then the dragon was on me.

I swung Dragon's Death and dove to the left, rolling and coming back to my feet in time to take a whack at the dragon's tail. I connected with its hide both times but didn't do much damage. Lord, was that sucker big. It made the one on the beach look like a runt.

No mortal can kill a dragon and live! Those words burned themselves into my mind the way the hinges had burned into Thyme's postern. No mortal can kill a dragon and live! The Etevar's wizard showed his face-and a malicious grin-behind the words.

As I turned to keep facing the dragon, I beamed, I have killed one dragon and lived! straight at the Etevar's wizard with all the force I could muster. I felt Parthet strengthening my boast. The Etevar's wizard wavered in an instant of doubt. And I turned the Elflord of Xayber out of Varay! I added.

The dragon's second pass was a carbon copy of the first. Dragons didn't seem to have a very wide repertory of offensive moves. This time I saw an arrow blossom from the dragon's forehead, so I knew that Annick had found the range. But the arrow didn't weaken or deflect the beast any more than my first swipes had. I slashed at the snout and jumped right this time, while the dragon's jaws snapped toward the other side, where I had gone the first time.

Odds and evens.

Something new came over me then. I'm not sure I can describe it. Maybe it doesn't need any more than to say that I became fey-deathbound and crazy with it, manic. A new power seemed to settle in me, or waken. I felt as if I were growing inside my skin, but I wasn't turning into the Incredible Hulk or anything like that. It was all-I don't know-just a sensation within my mind. I moved a few steps toward the watching Etevar and his wizard. I drew the wizard's eyes to me again, somehow forced him to meet my stare.

I am Vara returned! my mind screamed at him.

I had no idea at all where that boast originated, certainly not in my brain. Sure, I had been told that the magic of Varay's Hero was supposed to include some of Vara's strength and skill, but I hadn't been idling away at that kind of musing. With a dragon coming at me? The boast just sprang from my head. I didn't even have time just then to look around to see if Vara and Dad were there with me.

When the dragon dove at me this time, I planted my feet and held my sword at full reach over my head-just the way I had seen the elf warrior do it. I didn't duck to either side this time either, and that was sheer madness. I just brought Dragon's Death straight forward with all of my strength, and then some, I guess, as if I seriously thought that I might be able to split that dragon fore to aft.