Dave Smeds: The Sorcery Within

"The blood of the Dragonslayer!" it said.

The remainder of the skeleton dissolved rapidly, momentarily leaving a cauldronish puddle; then this, too, boiled away. Only the sword remained.

The mountain trembled with the sound of a thundercrack. The wall opposite the pool vanished. A small pentagonal chamber was revealed. Another loud boom followed, and abruptly the side walls disappeared as well. The new chamber was now the center of a much larger pentagon, the increased area composed of Alemar's room and four other identical spaces, obviously the end points of the other routes into the citadel. In one of them, Elenya was lowering her rapier, amazement on her face. She spotted Alemar and gasped. Together they stared at the center of the room.

On a five-sided dais in the center of the area stood a short dark-haired man, clothed in wizard's robes. In his hands he held two jewel-studded mail gauntlets. He stared out at an indeterminate location, as if unable to see either of the twins.

"I am Alemar Dragonslayer," the wizard said.

The twins blinked. No, it wasn't their famous ancestor in the flesh. The figure was translucent. If they tried, they could see the far walls through him. Only the gauntlets seemed substantial.

"That you can see this image means that the blood of my blood has successfully unwrought the spell I laid upon this sanctuary. You can only have come because the child of Faroc and Triss has at last appeared, and that which I prepared to meet this eventuality is now needed." He raised the gauntlets. "These are my greatest creations. Wear these, and you cannot be dragon-touched. Their very proximity will cause any dragon great pain. You must have these if you are to successfully challenge this monster. Dragons can weave illusions on a grandiose scale – only the wearer of these gloves will be able to utterly thwart this power. But do not depend on these alone. I have left other things, as you no doubt know. I hope that there are those among the present generation of my family with the proper attunement to use any or all of my legacies. But have caution. These and all my talismans were designed for use by me or my sister. They will not work as well for any other. Put your trust not merely in my trinkets, but in your own abilities and courage."

The wizard dropped the gauntlets to the floor. They grew more solid than ever, while the man began to fade. "I can offer you only one other small bit of advice, and hope that not so much time has passed as to make it useless: Seek the followers of Struth, the frog god. In my time, their main temple was in Headwater, the capital of Serthe, where I spent my boyhood. They will know how to defeat a dragon."

Then he was gone. The gauntlets waited on the floor where he had stood. Alemar walked forward and picked them up.

They were light, lighter in fact than if they had been made of leather or cloth, but the feel was that of cold metal and polished gems. Tiny jewels were strewn like sequins everywhere except the palms. A large gemstone, each of a different type and color, decorated the base knuckle of every finger and thumb. The mail seemed to be made of gold. Alemar tried one on.

The weight increased so suddenly he dropped to his knees, his hand slamming into the floor. The impact dented the stone. At once, the world changed. He could see that the floor beneath him was actually the lid of a well. A few feet below him lay another branch of the pool that ran under Setan, a passage leading away toward what Alemar guessed was the outside. He could see waves of light around Elenya, each one exuding a particular character and intensity. Stretching his new perceptions, he could see the gossamer web of sorcery knit into every crack of the mountain. Even as he watched, its structure was dissipating. The purpose of the magic had been fulfilled; there was no longer any need for the energies to maintain their ancient cycles. It was so potent a work of thaumaturgy that it might take hours for the entire work to vanish. Setan, as Gast had feared, would never again serve the ken as it had for centuries.

He was so mesmerized that he only belatedly realized that he was standing, buoyed up by a strength greater than any he had ever felt. It flowed from the gauntlet, but he could sense that the source, as in the case of his father's belt, came from himself. The gauntlet took that power, magnified it, returned it to him, and then drew off of the increased amount, recirculating the same energy to ever-higher levels. Its principle was much the same as his and Elenya's necklaces, but instead of the strength being squared, it was limited only by what he could physically endure. Unlike his father's belt, it would not enable him to lift boulders. He sensed that it suited itself to its wearer's character. In his case, more than anything else it multiplied his endurance.

"Here," he said, holding out the other gauntlet to Elenya. "No one person could wear both of these."

She came and took it. He watched her go through a similar period of orientation. When it was over, he noticed a phenomenal quickness to some of her movements. She tested it, sheathing her weapon and drawing it again, spinning, flipping, and simply running. She uttered a laugh of pure enjoyment.

"The Dragon doesn't stand a chance," she said.

He pursed his lips. That, unfortunately, was simply not true. "Come. Let's be on our way."

They retrieved their airmakers from where they had dropped them, found the handle in the dais that opened the hatch, and jumped into the water.

Gast sat at the edge of the pool of Setan, slightly apart from the others who waited for the two who had gone into the citadel. He was almost forgotten now. A knot of several dozen members of the ken, as well as the Po-no-pha who had arrived with Lonal, had surrounded the entrance. Gast could see their angry faces by the torches they held, and he wished for the return of the High Scholar and the latter's calming influence.

Gast wondered how long the vigil would last. When the twins failed to emerge, how many days would they wait? Would they send men inside to find them? He thought not.

The healer's eyes wandered to the mountain's face. Was it his imagination, or was the emblem – the sigil that his apprentice had assured him was that of Alemar Dragonslayer – actually glowing? Though the night was dark, he could clearly see the outline of the convulsing dragon. It seemed to be growing brighter, although curiously, the arrow in its belly remained dim, like the stone it had been carved in.

Suddenly the water of the pool bubbled. A moment later, two heads broke the surface. The Po-no-pha beside him jumped up. Gast shouted with joy.

The twins clambered out onto the tile at the pool's edge, only a few yards from Gast. They stood naked, shivering, and marked by wounds, their skin pale in the starlight. They were alive! God had been merciful.

As the twins drew off the strange devices covering their heads and dropped them back into the water, the crowd of warriors and priests rushed to the site. But even as the twins turned to face the charge, all present stopped short and gasped.

The emblem in the mountain blazed. The figure of the dragon moved, became three-dimensional, a phantasmal bluish outline – abstract, obviously not real, but more terrifying by that fact. It spread wings wide and pounced toward Alemar and Elenya.

Both twins raised the strange gauntlets they wore. A nimbus of orange light surrounded them. The dragon veered off, uttering an angry cry. It circled three times, then streaked away into the northwestern sky. Toward Elandris.

"He knows," Alemar said.

As everyone's disorientation faded, the Zyraii pressed forward, surrounding the twins on three sides. Angry voices murmured. Gast sighed. The westerners had come so far and done so much. His countrymen had always been their greatest obstacle. Including himself.