Knight Quest (The Champion Chronicles Book 5) Page 3

  “My name is Conner. I come from the Kingdom of Karmon. We come here to ask you for help.”

  “I care not why you come. This land is sacred, and only Hurai are allowed here.” Nikki looked at Glaerion and Ryshak. “You have brought two spawn of the devil onto our land. The punishment for such offense is death. Theirs and yours.”

  “We need your help. There is a war…”

  “Yes!” Nikki shouted, interrupting. “There is indeed a war, and you have brought the battle to our island. The Elves will be executed by fire, to ensure their souls are consumed. But you, as Human, may choose your manner of death. You may choose to fight me here and now, or you will die as the Elves do.”

  “But I am Hurai!”

  Nikki let out a long, loud laugh. “If you are Hurai, then the One God will allow you to prevail! I am Sak’Hurai. There is not a Human or Elf alive that can stand against me.”

  “Fight her!” Glaerion said.

  Nikki spun on Glaerion and pointed one of her swords at him. “Another word and you will survive your burning. I will allow you to live in ultimate agony. You will beg me a thousand times a day to kill you, but I will show no mercy on you.”

  Conner looked at Glaerion, and the Elf gave him an encouraging nod. With a deep breath, he knew their only chance at survival would be to defeat this princess. As an answer, Conner lifted his swords. The corners of her lips lifted into a slight smile.

  It took two long strides for her to reach him and then their swords crashed against one another. Almost instantly, Conner knew he was stronger, but not by much. The strength of his strikes caught her off guard, but she quickly adapted. For all his extra strength, she was much faster than he was. Faster than Ryshak. Faster than even Master Goshin. However, using the defenses that Master Goshin taught him, he was able to counter her moves. Like the Sak’Hurai he had faced in the gladiatorial ring in Tara City, Princess Nikki used tried and true offense techniques, but he was able to counter them with his own variants. His training as both Karmon Knight and under the tutelage of Master Goshin was saving his life.

  After several minutes of back and forth, he could feel the frustration coming from her. He was just fast enough and skilled enough to stay alive, but she was too skilled to give him an opening. It seemed as if the loser would be the one who tired first. With little chance to train on the ship, Conner had a sinking feeling that it would be his stamina that would give out first.

  Several times she stepped in close and tried to deliver another elbow to his chin or a knee to his abdomen, but he was ready for it. He was able to avoid a direct hit to his chin, but her knee strike glanced off his side. It didn’t hurt, but it distracted him enough that her follow-up attacks weren’t cleanly defended. She took a slice across his upper arm and another across the cheek. The smallest of margins kept him alive.

  Her attacks slowed while she recovered from trying to attack him with elbow and knee. It allowed him to switch tactics. He wished he had a shield, even a small one, but his left-hand sword would have to take its place. With a slight shift of position, he attacked as he had been taught as a squire: strong and slow, with the shield ready to counter any offensive strikes. It was his own style. A mix of what Master Goshin had taught him, what Glaerion had taught him, and what his Karmon Knight trainers had taught him. For the moment, it caught Princess Nikki off guard, and she turned from the aggressor to the defender.

  He pushed forward, seeing surprise in her wide eyes. Despite his unconventional style, he could not penetrate her defenses. She blocked each slash, and each thrust was countered with an attack of her own. With one last barrage, he drove her several steps back. Instead of continuing to press his advantage, he knew he needed to catch his breath and rest his arms. He skipped backward several steps and prepared himself for her to jump right at him, but she did not. She was breathing hard, but not quite as hard as he was. He bent over to put his hands on his knees as he sucked in air.

  “You have been taught well,” Nikki said. “Goshin did a commendable job training you.”

  “He is Hurai,” Glaerion shouted out. “None other could stand up against you. You know it!”

  Princess Nikki gave him another harsh look but did not respond.

  One of the warriors said something to her in their native language, and she snapped angrily back at him.

  With anger, or maybe frustration, clearly on her face, she said to Conner, “The swords you wield are for Sak’Hurai, not for someone like you. You will give them up, or we will continue this fight. You will not last much longer. Your arm bleeds heavily, and soon you will lose feeling in it. Then you will surely die.”

  “I’ve had worse,” Conner replied, holding her gaze for several heartbeats. “You will not kill my friends.”

  “That is not for you to decide. They have trespassed on sacred ground. The punishment for such an offense is not for discussion or debate. Our laws are clear on that matter.”

  Conner lifted his swords defiantly. “If you are to kill us anyway, then I will go down fighting.”

  She looked at him for a long time, studying his face. Finally, she relaxed and sheathed her swords in scabbards that were strapped to her back.

  “Their fate will be decided by my father. Until then, they will remain alive, as you will. But you must give up your swords.”

  Conner glanced back at Glaerion, silently asking him what to do.

  “We are outnumbered and outmatched,” Glaerion said. “Ryshak was struck on the head and will be of no use for some time. If we fight, the outcome will not be in our favor. Parlay with their king is the only option.”

  Conner looked around at the Hurai warriors who surrounded them, gauging the possibility of fighting them all.

  “Listen to the Elf,” Nikki said. “I will not give it a second thought to kill you, but we are not killers. We are defenders of our kingdom. The justice of the king will prevail.”

  With a final glance at Glaerion, who nodded back at him, Conner slowly sheathed his swords. He removed the scabbards that were strapped to his back and held them out. Nikki stepped forward and took them.

  The moment her hands wrapped around them, her eyes narrowed. She drew one and Conner flinched, expecting her to cut him. Instead, her eyes traveled up and down the blade. She opened her mouth to say something, but then she thought better of it. She sheathed the sword and barked out a command to her warriors.

  Ryshak was yanked to his feet and pushed towards Conner.

  “Did you expect this?” Conner asked.

  “Not quite,” Ryshak replied, rubbing his head. He had taken a blow to the back of his head that had sent him to the ground woozy, but conscious. “I knew we would be challenged, but I never thought we would be attacked like this. It has been many years since we have had contact with the Hurai. King Illichian was the last one, as far as I know. That was when he traded his ancient dagger for those two swords. I thought we left on good terms, but it seems not.”

  “Are you okay?”

  Ryshak grimaced. “All but my pride.”

  “Glaerion?”

  Glaerion gave a stiff nod as he watched his daggers get stuffed into the belts of the Hurai warriors.

  Princess Nikki started walking away quickly. Hurai warriors walked up to Conner and gave him a push to follow. He looked angrily at the warriors but said nothing. They had weapons, and he did not. Glaerion walked up to him and put a hand on his back and gave him a slight push to follow Princess Nikki. There would be a time and a place to fight back, and clearly, this was not it. Hopefully, they would have at least one more chance to either try and escape or fight back.

  With a Hurai warrior on either side, Conner, Glaerion, and Ryshak followed the Hurai princess into the forest.

  Chapter Two

  Myllia spread her wings wide, gliding through the cloudless sky towards the city that she had helped destroy. Slowly, she pumped her wide, leathery wings to rise high into the sky until she could see from one end of the kingdom to the other. Slowly, s
he began a circular descent, her sharp eyes scanning the forests and plains of the kingdom searching for the goblin army. Although many thousands of them had fallen at the hands of the Human mage, many more still survived. It was not the goblin army that she was concerned with, though. Goblins would do her no harm. There were other creatures of the Deceiver that were a threat to her. The beast Gregarious that attacked her back up in the mountains had put up a fight that she thought she might not win. It had taken every ounce of her viciousness to finally defeat him. Despite her victory, she had suffered several painful wounds that would take time to heal.

  Where the goblin army camped, other creatures of the Deceiver would be there as well. In time, she would hunt down those creatures, but her focus now was not on fighting a battle, but on saving Immerallis, her offspring. With no sign of the Deceiver’s army to be found, she knew her time for action had come. There were still Stone Ogres around the city. They seemed to be moving rocks and debris outwards from the Deceiver’s tall tower, slowly clearing the area around it. As she continued her slow circle around the city, she remained high in the air and well out of sight, waiting for the right moment.

  Immerallis remained chained inside the tower. Through their means of silent telepathic communication, she knew that he was still alive, but he had not been treated well. The Deceiver had taken some of his blood, which Myllia knew was used as a part of a spell to bring Gregarious from the Deceiver's domain to earth. Fortunately for all of them, the power that it took to open a portal to another dimension was so great, it could not be repeated too often. However, many days had passed since she had fought with Gregarious, so she expected another of the Deceiver’s powerful generals to be waiting for her. Carefully, she studied the ruins of the city, trying to seek out any shadow or hiding place where such a beast might hide.

  She knew that she was taking a big risk in returning to the city, but Immerallis deserved to be freed. She could feel the pain in his thoughts, even as he told her to stay away. As the last male dragon in existence, she could not just let him be imprisoned into slavery by the Deceiver. Eventually, the thick blood that ran through his veins would dry up, and the line of dragons would end with her. With the Deceiver hundreds of miles away leading his army towards the destruction of another Human city, there was no better time than now to strike.

  As she descended towards the city, she could see hundreds of goblins moving about, doing what the Stone Ogres could not. Despite being simple creatures of evil darkness, they were capable of complex tasks such as construction and forging weapons. Many buildings had thick black smoke coming from them, which told her that they were making weapons of war to support their army. Right now, she cared little for their army, although she hoped they were successful in eradicating more Humans. Her hatred of them still ran deep, despite letting a castle full of them live.

  They had the necklace half of the Ark of Life in their possession, which was the only reason why she allowed them to survive. The only thing worse than Humans was the Deceiver and his army. If he were able to get his hands on the necklace, then the earth would turn from a world of life to a world full of death. Humanity had done its best to destroy the world with their sprawl of cities and rampant use of magic, but it would not compare to a world ruled by the Deceiver. For the time being, she would allow the small group of Humans to be free of her wrath. However, that didn’t mean she should not wish all other Humans to die a fiery death.

  With the ground rushing towards her, she put aside all thoughts of Humans and focused on the stone tower that had been built from the ruins of the castle. It rose so high into the sky, she was able to circle around its top without the goblins and Stone Ogres noticing her. She didn’t pump her wings, she simply allowed the air currents to hold her aloft. When one of the larger Stone Ogres walked near the tower, she made her move.

  She folded her wings tight against her side and dove for the ground, aiming right for the large Stone Ogre. As she was about to reach it, she stretched her wings and began pumping hard to slow her down. The Stone Ogre noticed her shadow and looked up at her with a blank stare, but it did not react to her. It stood still, watching her descend. Using claws from her back legs, she grabbed the Stone Ogre around the shoulders and lifted it off the ground. It was incredibly heavy, but she had powerful wings and was able to lift it off the ground. Once the ogre realized what was happening, it started to thrash about, kicking and clawing at Myllia’s legs. Her grasp was strong, but she also knew that she couldn’t hold it for much longer. As quickly as she could, she flew up into the air. Suddenly the Stone Ogre let out a shriek. Never before had she heard it make a such a noise. The shrieking continued and even got louder as she rose up into the air. Other Stone Ogres looked up at them, but after a moment of stupified staring, they returned to their tasks.

  When Myllia reached the top of the tower, the Stone Ogre started rocking itself back and forth in her grasp, and she knew she couldn’t hold on any longer. Hoping that she was high enough above the ground, she released the creature, and it fell. It stopped shrieking as it tumbled towards the ground. When it landed, it hit the ground hard and bounced once. It remained still, its limbs stuck at crooked angles.

  Several arrows flew by her head. Goblins had armed themselves and started shooting at her. With a growl and a grunt, she turned her body in midair and dove at them, releasing a torrent of fiery death that instantly killed any goblin her breath touched. She kept the fire going as long as she could, setting the ground on fire, forcing any nearby goblin that didn't instantly die to run away.

  Sensing her as a threat, the Stone Ogres that were nearby all ran towards her. They had already proven that they were stronger than her, which is why Immerallis was a prisoner. Her breath of fire could not hurt them, and they knew it. She had seen what they could do if they got close, so she did her best to stay away from them. She flew away from the tower to draw them away. They had to crawl and force their way through rubble while she could just fly over it. In only a few moments, a dozen Stone Ogres were chasing after her.

  “There are too many of them.”

  Myllia let out an audible grunt at the voice that spoke in her head. “Immerallis, I am here to free you.”

  There were no words actually spoken, but as she thought about the words that she would say, they appeared in Immerallis’ mind. She did not need any special magical spell to speak to other creatures this way as it was how dragons communicated.

  “You must run away,” Immerallis said. “Save yourself. We cannot both be caught by the Deceiver.”

  Myllia wasn't going to argue. She needed to focus on getting into the tower. With a quick peek behind her, she saw that the dozen Stone Ogres were struggling to keep up with her. The further she got away from the tower, the more the rubble was impeding their progress. She had been flying just fast enough to keep them close, but now that she was nearing the broken outer walls of the city, it was time to leave them behind. She twisted in mid-air and pumped her wings as hard as she could, racing past them before they could react. One of them came close as it jumped up to grab at her leg, but she was too quick. She aimed right for the tower, leaving her pursuers far behind.

  Two of the larger Stone Ogres had remained at the tower to guard the entrance. They did not budge as she approached. Their empty eyes looked at her but showed no emotion or reaction to her appearance. She resigned herself to having to fight her way through them and came to a quick stop in the empty courtyard in front of the tower. As soon as she came to a skidding stop, three smaller Stone Ogres came running at her from behind the tower. She crouched low to the ground, a deep growl coming from deep inside her belly. Once the three Stone Ogres were close enough, she launched herself up into the air and over them. Her tail dragged behind her, and she pulled it in an instant before one of the large gray beasts grabbed for it.

  She landed with her legs pumping, kicking up loose stone dust behind her. The three Stone Ogres, surprised at her move, took a moment to react. Eventually, the
y gave chase, but she had a head start and was faster.

  As she neared the tower, the two Stone Ogres guarding the entrance lowered themselves into a defensive stance. Even though she knew her fire could not kill them, she opened her jaws and released a flood of fiery breath. It distracted them enough that she was able to strike her body against them without being attacked in return. She slipped past them before they could recover, darting through the wide main corridor and towards the inner chamber of the tower.

  The doorway was just large enough for her to squeeze through but was too small for the Stone Ogres to walk through. If they were intelligent and more agile, they might have been able to drop to the ground and squirm inside. Instead, they simply looked at her from outside the tower, faces showing no emotion.

  Immerallis was chained in the center of the room. Large shackles were bolted around each limb. Chain links ran through a ring on each shackle and were pulled tight enough to keep his legs almost immobile. A fifth shackle was put around her neck, and a chain ran from that shackle to the other chains. All the chains ran to the far wall where they were attached to a large ring firmly embedded in the walls of the tower. Two Stone Ogres had been resting peacefully next to the dragon but stood as she entered the room.

  There was not much more room for Myllia. The Stone Ogres could almost reach out and touch her, but they remained still. With a deep breath, she lifted her head and breathed her fire on the far wall where all five chains were attached. She pumped out her fiery death until there was nothing left inside her.

  With scales and thick skin to protect her and Immerallis, the backwash of the fire was simply ignored. The Stone Ogres stood still as statues as their stone skin repelled the fire. They looked blankly at her but did not react in any other way. They knew instinctively that the dragon fire could not hurt them and they did not need to react to it.

  “Do you not think I tried that and a hundred other ideas?” Immerallis said, his green eyes blazing with anger. When Myllia started to move forward, he continued. “The steel of the chains is stronger than anything I have ever seen. I have pulled and pulled, but I cannot break these chains. The Deceiver has placed an enchantment upon the metal so that we cannot break it.”