Paul Kemp - Shadowstorm

"What in the Hells?" Tamlin asked.

Brennus intoned the words to a spell and gazed down on the earth before the walls as if he could see through it. "They are there," he said to Rivalen and Tamlin. "They are waiting."

"For what?" Tamlin asked.

"Our nerve is being tested," Brennus said.

Tamlin feared he would fail the test. He could hardly breathe.

Saerloonian drums began to beat anew, slowly at first, but gathering tempo.

The red-robed wizard incanted another spell and vanished from the field along with two more fire elementals. Eyes turned back to the city to see where the elementals would appear. A young soldier near Tamlin pointed up into the sky, toward the bay.

"There! Gods preserve us!"

Gasps and oaths sounded from all along the wall. Tamlin looked into the sky expecting to see fire elementals, but what he saw was much worse.

A huge green form bore down on the city from out of the sky. Even from his distance Tamlin could see the creature was enormous. Vermillion scales glittered in the sunlight. Huge, leathery wings stretched from its sinuous reptilian form. Terror went before the creature in a palpable wave. It roared and Tamlin's breath left him entirely.

"Merelith has a dragon," Brennus observed.

His homunculi cursed.

Cale, Riven, and Magadon awoke, ate in silence, and checked their gear.

"I think every arrow in this quiver is enchanted," Magadon said, examining the arrows he had taken from the elf woman in Kesson's spire. "I have never seen such craftsmanship. Look at these."

He held one up for Cale and Riven to see. To Cale, it looked like any other arrow.

Riven chuckled. "It's an arrow, Mags, not a woman. Don't get so attached to it you won't let it fly."

Magadon stuffed the missile back into the quiver. "You need not worry about that."

Cale figured they were as ready as they could be. "Link us, Mags. And see through my eyes."

Magadon, the circles under his eyes as dark as the shadowy air, nodded. A burst of orange light haloed his head and a faint hum sounded. Cale felt the tickle under his scalp, behind his eyes.

Done, Magadon projected.

"We play it as a feint and finish," Cale said.

Riven nodded. "Like old times."

Cale donned his mask and cast a series of spells in rapid succession. He warded himself, Riven, and Magadon against the dragon's life-stealing breath. He enchanted his armor, increased his strength and speed, and finally summoned unadulterated power directly from Mask. When the spell's energy filled him, the shadows around him deepened. He grew to twice his normal size, gained the strength of a giant. Riven watched him throughout.

"Put the same spell in the stone," Riven said to Cale, and withdrew from his belt pouch the small spell-storing stone he had taken from the Sojourner. He tossed it into the air before his face and it took up orbit around his head, whirring softly.

A year ago, Cale would not have considered sharing such a spell with Riven. He had been too protective of his unique relationship with Mask. No longer. He and Riven were the First and Second, the Right and Left. They had killed Kesson Rel together. He cast the spell and Riven's stone absorbed the energy.

Come when I call, he said to them.

Riven held up his ringed finger. "We'll be there."

Magadon concentrated for a moment and a sheath of mental energy formed around his body. He took an arrow and nocked it in the bow he had taken from the elf in Kesson Rel's tower. The arrow's tip flared red as his mind charged it with power.

I will be watching, Magadon said, and Cale felt the tingle in his eyes that indicated Magadon was seeing what Cale saw.

Cale imagined Furlinastis's swamp in his mind, pulled the shadows about him, and rode them there. He materialized in the fetid shallow water of the swamp, Weaveshear in hand. Sickly, brownish fog floated around his knees. The stink of decay filled his nostrils. He heard none of the usual shrieks, howls, or buzzing of insects. The swamp was silent.

Furlinastis was near.

He tested the mindlink to ensure it was working at his unknown distance from his companions.

Mags, Riven?

Here, Riven answered.

Here, Magadon said. And I see what you see.

He's near, Cale said.

Shadows and fog walled him in on all sides. Stands of broad-leafed malformed trees jutted from the bog. Cale did not see the dragon. Furlinastis was as much shadow as Cale. He could be anywhere.

A hiss and the sound of a whispered incantation sounded from Cale's left. He chose a random stand of trees fifty paces away and stepped through the space between shadows. He materialized in the trees, but not before the spell took effect and stripped him of every ward and enhancement spell he had cast.

He cursed, shaped the shadows around him into illusory duplicates of himself that mimicked his every move. He looked back in the direction from which he had heard the dragon cast its dispelling incantation.

He saw nothing. His breath came fast.

The dragon's a spellcaster, he said to Magadon and Riven. My wards are gone.

Riven cursed. Get clear, Cale. We'll rethink it.

A soft splash from behind him whirled Cale around.

He had only a fraction of a heartbeat to process the sight of an onrushing mountain of scales, claws, teeth, and shadows before the dragon's gargantuan form buried him, his shadow duplicates, and the entirety of the copse of trees.

Tamlin fought his fear enough to utter the words to a weak spell as the dragon neared. He pointed his hand at the dragon and four bolts of orange energy streaked from his fingertips, hit the dragons scales, and bounced off harmlessly. Bolts of lightning, a beam of gray energy, and a series of silver orbs streaked into the air on the heels of his spell but none seemed to harm the onrushing dragon.

Beside him, Brennus and Rivalen incanted spells of their own as the dragon closed. A black beam went forth from Rivalen's hand and hit the dragon in the chest. Several scales shattered and rained down on the city. The creature roared with anger and pain, beat its wings, but did not slow its approach. A green beam shot from Brennus's finger, hit the creature in the wing, but did no harm that Tamlin could see.

The men around them shouted, screamed, pointed, cowered. Onthul tried to maintain order, called for crossbows, but his commands went unheeded. The dragon angled itself lower, streaked directly for the walls. The Saerloonian drums beat so fast they sounded like one long, loud hum.

The fear that accompanied the dragon intensified and drove Tamlin to his knees. Some of the men cowered in their positions on the wall. Others jumped down in their terror and shattered legs and ankles. A few tried to run for the gatehouse, knocking others down, trampling them. The dragon roared.

"Disperse!" Rivalen shouted down at the men in the streets. "Get back! Spread out!"

Brennus and Rivalen began to cast again. The dragon roared, swooped over them, opened its mouth, and exhaled a thick cloud of green vapor. Rivalen and Brennus completed their spells. Tamlin felt a hand on him, felt his body shimmer into mist. The screams and shouts sounded far off. The walls around him appeared to be only gray shadows. Rivalen and Brennus stood beside him.

"The ethereal plane, Hulorn," Rivalen said. "The dragon's breath cannot affect us here."

Tamlin saw the shadows of men near him writhing in pain, clutching at their throats, digging fists into their eyes.

"Put an end to the conjurer bringing fire elementals into the city," Rivalen said to Brennus. "Then summon Yder."

"The earth elementals?" Brennus asked.

"Variance and the priests, as best they can."

Brennus nodded. "The dragon?"

"I will handle the dragon," Rivalen said, and his golden eyes flared. "Prepare yourself, Hulorn."