It was a complete shock to him when he passed through the thing without the faintest resistance, as though the dragon had been conjured from nothing but smoke. Light and shadow swirled around him until he emerged from the other side. A glance backward revealed the dragon still rampaging behind him but if he had any doubts about its solidity they were dispelled as its tail swept through his chest while he watched.
Ignoring the phantom monster behind him Dorian faced the main gate. No longer distracted by the dragon he spotted the now visible abductors passing through the open castle entrance. The portcullis was part way down but had stopped before reaching the ground, held up by some invisible force. The wizard stood next to it, red-faced and sweating. It was obvious that the strain of maintaining both the illusion and keeping the portcullis from closing had pushed him to his limit.
Wasting no more time Dorian ran after them, toward the wizard first, he understood now the man was too dangerous to ignore. The older man watched him come, sweat running down his cheeks, as he tried to do too many things at once. He was almost under the heavy steel portcullis by the time Dorian reached him and he had already given up trying to maintain the illusion of the dragon.
At the end, seeing he could not escape, the stranger released the barrier that was holding the portcullis and threw himself down, trying to roll under before it struck the ground. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t quite make it, and one of the massive steel spikes ripped through his right thigh, pinning him under the heavy metal.
It also barred Dorian from pursuing the men carrying Penny and Miriam steadily away. He could see someone riding hard from the tree-line, followed by a string of horses. The abductors had obviously planned carefully, within moments they would have their targets on horseback and any chance of catching them would be much smaller.
In a fit of rage Dorian struck at the metal bars that kept him from following. Although his sword was enchanted and razor sharp the metal was far too thick to cut through, his blade kept sticking a half an inch or so into the heavy two inch iron bar. The wizard on the ground beneath him groaned audibly. “Raise the portcullis!” Dorian screamed, but he knew it was futile. The sight of the dragon had unmanned the guards. It was doubtful anyone was within earshot to obey him anyway.
Sheathing his sword, he eyed the iron portcullis carefully. He knew from experience that it weighed many tons. It was designed that way to enable it to be dropped quickly in time of emergency, and its weight was all that prevented an enemy from lifting it. Since the day he had received the earth bond Dorian had been aware of a noticeable increase in his strength and stamina, but this seemed far beyond possibility.
In the distance he could see them loading Penny and Miriam onto the waiting horses. “To hell with what’s possible,” he said and crouching down he took a firm grip of the bottom of the portcullis. Drawing a deep breath he began to lift, keeping his back straight and his arms locked while his legs strained to lift him up. At first nothing happened, but while he struggled he began to hear a great thumping beneath him, like a massive heart, beating in time with his own. Give me the strength, he thought.
Something answered his call, for he felt energy suffusing his limbs and while his face turned red and his body trembled, the portcullis began to lift. As he came up a long drawn out cry of pain and effort issued from deep within him, while the portcullis gathered upward momentum, rising faster as it approached chest height. Not daring to pause he used that momentum and centering himself under the heavy metal he thrust it upward above him.
Time slowed for a moment as he held the massive structure above him, and by all rights the weight alone should have crushed him. Looking downward he saw the wizard watching him. “If you’re going to move, now would be a good time…” he ground out slowly between clenched teeth. Comprehension dawned on the stranger’s face and he began dragging himself out of the way… leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Once he was clear, Dorian stepped outward and let gravity take its course and the massive portcullis slammed down behind him. He looked at the wizard lying on the ground on the other side. “Let them help you when they finally get over their fear of your ‘dragon’ and you might live. I want to talk to you when I get back,” he told him. He wasn’t sure if the fellow was still conscious but he thought he saw him nod an acknowledgement. The man was in such a bad state he might have imagined it.
Turning away Dorian began to run toward the group of men and horses that were beginning to ride away. They were over fifty yards away and he could clearly see Penny being held in front of one of the riders. Miriam had been slung sideways over the back end of another horse. He took that as a bad sign, since in general only corpses were slung across horses like that. If she were alive the position would do nothing to keep her that way.
Running in armor was an interesting proposition normally, something usually reserved for very short charges. In the chain mail that most men wore it was a difficult affair… the weight of the armor served as a limiting factor. In the plate armor he now wore it should have been even more awkward, not because of weight, plate actually weighed slightly less than chain, but because of the more restricted mobility the armor afforded. Yet again Mort had worked a miracle. The armor was cunningly crafted and moved very freely with his body. It still would have hindered a run, but because it worked to augment his own motions it made it feel almost as though he were running without armor at all.
It still wasn’t perfect however, and it did slow him down more than running in normal clothes would have. Fifty yards wouldn’t have been too much for a normal charge, but the riders were now spurring their mounts to a canter, creating more distance between him and those he was determined to reach. Hopeless as it was he ran anyway.
Dorian thought of nothing else besides running. He had never been a great sprinter but being tall and athletic he was no slouch either. His breath quickened as his legs drove him forward, pumping rhythmically. A minute passed and still he ran, and the riders seemed no further away than when he had started. The party ahead of him consisted of six horses bearing riders and several without a rider; those had probably been for the men he had slain. One horse carried double, having an armsman plus Penny aboard, while another carried Miriam alone slung across it like so much dead weight.
Because of the heavy burden on the horse carrying Penny and her captor the others were forced to maintain a slower pace, and incredibly it appeared to be one he could match. He pushed himself harder, hoping to close the gap though in the back of his mind he couldn’t help but wonder when his stamina would run out.
Apparently his quarry had begun to wonder the same thing. Two of the riders, who had brought the horses to meet the fugitives, were looking backward with incredulous faces as they watched him run. On the face of it, it was ridiculous… a man in heavy armor could not hope to keep up with horses, even at a moderate pace such as they were riding at now, yet he was beginning to gain on them.
Finally with a word to his fellows one of the riders turned aside and made to intercept him. Drawing his sword the man urged his mount to a full gallop, charging directly at the maniac following them. With barely forty yards between them when he turned Dorian’s opponent wasn’t able to get his horse up to full speed; not that he needed to do so.
Dorian crossed the distance rapidly while the fellow turned his horse and prepared to ride him down. They drew together with surprising speed but Dorian never slowed, opting instead to run straight for the horse rather than try to avoid it. Seconds later the animal grew large in his view and he could see its rider leaning out to catch him in the sweep of his sword. Just before they met the horse tried to adjust its course enough to avoid a collision, but Dorian wasn’t having that and he headed straight into it.