‘Yes,’ wheezed Bel. ‘I doubt there is any reasoning with him.’
‘We do not lie!’ called Hiza hopelessly. ‘There were others, Mireforms, monsters from Fenvarrow – they killed your mother! Smell them out and you will have your revenge!’
‘Smell?’ hissed the dragon. ‘Smell nothing but little Varenkai in my cave, her cave, our cave, no longer, no more.’ He gave an odd whimper, and his claw went to his malformed eye as if to scratch it, but halted. He blinked rapidly, still not managing to cover it fully with his lid. ‘Itchy, itchy,’ he whined. ‘The itchy knows you lie, lie, LIE!’
Flames burst through the trees again, too distant to do them any harm. Smoke was beginning to waft through the forest, however, black and choking. Great claws uprooted tree trunks as the dragon forced his bulk further into the wood. His progress was slow but steady.
‘We need to move,’ said Jaya, holding a sleeve to her mouth.
‘Before he sets the whole forest aflame,’ agreed Hiza.
‘Maybe he do that anyway,’ said M’Meska.
They went deeper into the wood. The sounds of the dragon fell away behind them, although there now came the distinct crackling of an inferno.
‘Which way?’ said Hiza.
A whooshing made them all jump. ‘Down!’ shouted Bel. The canopy was instantly dripping with fire as the treetops above them turned to torches, and they heard wing beats as the dragon flew overhead.
‘Lizards should be small,’ rasped M’Meska, getting to her feet. ‘Like me. That lizard too big.’
‘He means to smoke us out,’ said Hiza.
‘Let’s head north,’ said Bel, ‘away from where he found us, away from this patch of forest altogether.’
‘The dragon’s cave is back north,’ said Jaya.
‘We’ll aim west of it,’ said Bel. ‘Where there’s still cover, where the wood thins to a band that runs along the mountains. All right?’
The others nodded, and they began to run. Soon the worst of the smoke was behind them, but an acrid haze permeated everything, making breathing painful. Off to the side somewhere they heard another outpouring of dragon fire, and then minutes later it came from ahead.
‘He’s trying to enclose us!’ said Hiza.
‘Keep going!’ shouted Bel, and they passed beneath fiery treetops with flames edging down the trunks, where the dragon had flown only moments before. ‘Perhaps he will think us trapped in the circle he’s creating!’
There came a snapping as the dragon landed almost atop them, sending branches crashing down, breaking a hole in the canopy. He scrambled clumsily for purchase on the uneven platform of crushed wood beneath him and lowered his head under the canopy.
‘Run, scoundrels!’ he snarled as they veered away. ‘Run, but you won’t find any place to hide, except perhaps inside your own black bones.’ He chortled a strange, almost musical chortle, like a wind chime whipped by a storm.
Bel felt his blood simmering, yet still all paths led away, in any direction save towards the dragon. Sometimes he had wondered what patterns he would see if he faced an opponent he could not best. Guess I have my answer , he thought. Guess I don’t have to like it.
‘In your own souls?’ roared Olakanzar. ‘Can you hide in your souls, inside your own fear? Do you think you can, do you wonder how? I can tell you how if you come back! I will show you how to hide in fire, hide you forever! Hide in the reflection of my tears, wept for my only mother gone!’
They heard him grunting as he struggled free, heard the fire crackle again as his beating wings poured air upon the flames.
Bel thought he was still leading them north, but in their scrambling he’d become disoriented. He chanced a glimpse at the sky flashing past above, trying to find the sun. Yes, they were still heading north, or maybe north-west, as he had planned. Then the dragon covered the sun, and Bel’s eyes returned to the way ahead, as he skirted stumps and leaped over logs.
They heard Olakanzar land again, but this time way off to the side. He had misjudged their location, and there was a long and unearthly howl of rage. Behind them the forest was black with smoke, with a blazing red heart. The other denizens of the wood fled as well, animals bounding past, birds twittering as they flew off in alarm.
‘Faster,’ said Bel, and M’Meska bounded away ahead, making better time than any of them.
They crossed a stream, over which few branches hung, and some distance away the dragon stood, waiting to see if they had entered a clear line of sight. He was facing the wrong direction.
‘He’s lost track of us,’ said Jaya.
‘Keep going,’ was Bel’s only reply. He hoped the stream might stop the fire but doubted it, for the fierceness of the fire was unlike any natural flame. Maybe at least it would buy them some time.
They ran until they could not run any more, then slowed to a walk, breathing hard. Olakanzar’s roar came again, this time from far away. Finally Bel allowed them to stop for a few moments, and Hiza leaned over a log to throw up. It was difficult to tell if the smoke still followed them, or simply clung to their clothes.
‘Water,’ said M’Meska, handing Bel a flask, and he drank deeply before handing it to Jaya.
No, the smoke still followed.
‘The whole wood is ablaze,’ wheezed Hiza.
A lizard of some kind dashed past.
‘Too little,’ said M’Meska, then thrust a claw at herself. ‘Right size.’ And then the claw pointed away behind them. ‘Too big! Too big by much!’
‘Agreed,’ said Bel.
‘We should continue,’ said Hiza, wiping his mouth.
‘Yes,’ said Bel. ‘Maybe he’ll stop chasing us, come nightfall.’
‘The fire won’t,’ said Jaya.
Without another word, they moved on.
As Losara sped away amongst the grasses, it felt good to be unconstricted by the maintenance of illusion. Finally he was heading back home to his people, to Lalenda. His wound did not bother him greatly in shadowform, but he knew that when he was flesh again it would need seeing to. The malevolence of Bel was truly remarkable – or maybe it was he who should be taking things more seriously? The two of them were enemies, after all, he supposed. Had he expected Bel to be pleased to see him revealed, to respect his cunning ruse? Was he so naive as to think they could have discussed the situation rationally?
His failure to retrieve the Stone bothered him, as Bel now had a way to stand against any magic thrown at him. As for the intent that had led Bel to hunt for it in the first place, this idea of putting them back together …perhaps Losara would be well served by Bel retaining the Stone after all.
An enormous gamble to think so? he wondered. Was the idea he had considered during his travels with Bel, the idea that had upset Lalenda so greatly, strong enough to warrant conviction?
Either way, fate had seen to it that the Stone was out of his hands.
Part Three
Legacy’s Scion
—
Balance – that eternal problem between our lands, a force requiring upheaval for there to be a victor. Balance – a concept almost the same as harmony, but perhaps not this time. This was not the balance of a great juggler, keeping many balls flowing through the air, or the balance that exists in a forest, where lives feeding into each other keep the generations turning.
If two men stand facing each other, each with a sword to the other’s breast, ready to plunge yet unwilling to try lest the other do the same …is that balance?
Each waits for any advantage …a cry that distracts, or a crack of thunder. A readjustment of footing, a bead of sweat rolling into the eye, or a beautiful butterfly flitting past, leading the eye astray at just the wrong moment.
What troublesome things butterflies can be.