Omnixius
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DKP 5-1 A pawn on the board
🕑 Added 2020-02-13 20:41:59 +0000 UTC
A long red banner flapped in the breeze that passed over the city. From the heights of the palace in Calathen, he looked out over the buildings below. The streets were crowded with people who went about their business as they always did. The feeling in the city was muted despite the proclamations, and many still supported the old king. The old king refused to kneel to the call of empire, claiming Dellain was unfit to rule such a body.
Dellain didn't care what the old king thought; he was the one they people would praise, and the empire would be his. From the balcony of the palace, he looked down at the masses who knew him as dragon knight. The Father Abbot made a big spectacle of naming him dragon knight, but few people cheered. The city seemed to simmer in anger at the decree, and rumors began to spread about another dragon knight far to the north.
It wasn't a rumor, of course. Gersius was in the north, and their spy had kept them appraised of the situation, while at the same time leaving out vital details. He marched southward, gathering to his banner anyone willing to fight for him. The reports put his army at nearly two thousand men and women, and two dragons. This detail hadn't come from their spy. It was revealed later in the most inopportune moment. Dellain now questioned the reliability of the information they received, too much of it was incomplete.
His mind turned back to the man who had been hounded since the day he set out. Gersius had been broken, beaten, and chased across the land, and yet, he was still coming.
“Gersius, why don't you ever give up?” he asked to the wind. Behind him came the distinct sound of footsteps, disturbing his private thoughts.
“Surveying your empire?” the dry voice of Mathius asked from behind.
Dellain turned around to regard the man who was his second in command. Mathius recently returned with news that a prison camp was attacked. The guards revolted from within and were supported by Jessivel from without. Several hundred women escaped and were undoubtedly heading north.
Worse, the force sent to shatter Gersius was defeated. The report of the battle conveyed two disturbing facts, one the priests the of Vellis had come to his rescue, and two, Gersius had a second dragon. The point was raised about how their spy had failed to alert them to the second dragon. The question was set aside as if a minor detail by the Father Abbot and his council members. When Dellain pressed the reliability of this spy, he was told the matter was closed.
The Father Abbot didn't seem to care about the dragon, but the priests of Vellis made him rage. He ordered the temple in Calathen seized only to find it was abandoned over a week ago. All across the old empire, temples of Vellis were found empty of priests and items of value. It was a planned maneuver to deprive them of prisoners and a bargaining chip.
With an angry hand, the Father Abbot penned the declaration that the order of Vellis had gone over the enemy. Copies were sent out across the old empire, but in two provinces, the riders were arrested. It never occurred to the old man that some of the rulers of the provinces might be priests of Vellis, or might have family who were. At least five of the provinces openly declared their refusal to join the empire, and two of them instituted a conscription to increase the size of their armies. Already these lands moved against the forces of Astikar, declaring them to be the enemy and temples were now burning. One of the smaller areas on the border even attacked a prisoner camp inside a rival territory. The duke liberated the camp with heavy losses but freed another four hundred angry women. All around them, the lands were torn over the sudden conflict between the faiths, and Dellains ascension to Dragon knight only added to the fire.
“Sir?” Mathius said to remind him that he was still there.
“It isn't my empire yet. Gersius has to be defeated, and the lands that are refusing to join need to be brought to heel,” he said, looking out over the city.
“This plan to make an example of Tarishan is foolish,” Mathius pressed.
“The Father Abbot wishes to avoid war with half the kingdoms while we are already engaged in a war with the Doan, and waiting for Gersius to march down our throats,” Dellain reminded him.
“Maybe you need to show them the power of the dragon,” Mathius suggested. “That will show your right to the title and put them in their place.”
Dellain wasn't sure that was wise. Much of the land knew his reputation as a man who would use any tactic to get the job done. He was despised for it, but much was accomplished by his rather blunt methods. With the unrestrained application of violence, he solved problems that might have taken years of negotiations and bribes to settle. Half of the war effort was due to his interventions. Supplies of men and material flowed to the front because the houses knew Dellain would come to collect it if it didn't.
“The dragon's efforts are limited to the northern regions in Gersius's path,” Dellain answered. These towns owed no loyalty to the old empire, but could easily be manipulated. A few well-placed dragon attacks would make them frightened, if not outright hostile to dragons. Gersius would find them very unwelcoming when he arrived with dragons of his own.
“If you will forgive me, my Lord, but why are we staying our hand? We know Gersius is in the north, and every day we allow him to march south, he grows in strength. We should marshal all we have and ride to him before he grows too powerful.”
“We already sent a force to deal with him, it was annihilated,” Dellain replied with a growl.
“What we sent was a collection of rabble pressed into service from across the lands. They had no hope of victory save for overwhelming him with the strength of numbers.”
“We sent a proper siege force and two dozen priests to see the dragons dealt with,” Dellain reminded him. “They had more than enough to ensure victory.”
“Assuming nothing went wrong,” Mathius replied. “If they had a proper army and the bulk of the raven guard, they could have adapted to the change in the battlefield. The priests of Vellis would only have delayed the inevitable, not routed them.”
Dellain nodded and scratched at his beard. It was a perfectly sound and logical observation. Gersius was growing stronger day by day as he marched south. If they sat behind the walls and waited, Gersius would have another month to build his army. In that month, he could double or triple in size. It made sense to ride out with his men and the city garrison. Had they done so and brought the extra men from the towns they passed, Gersius would have been ground to dust. However, the Father Abbot refused all suggestions to do just that. The raven guard was to remain in the city, except where small units operated in support of other goals. Despite that, Dellain arranged some of his men to meet in secret and form a task force. He had a plan of his own to hinder Gersius, but it was a gamble with unfavorable odds.
“You know why we're still here,” Dellain replied as the thought circled his mind. “The Father Abbot won't allow it.”
“But why?” Mathius pressed. “Were only playing into Gersius’s hands.”
Dellain turned to face his captain and give him a nod.
“He wants to make an example of Gersius,” Dellain said. “He wants the whole land to see how futile it was to march an army all the way here to die on the walls. If Gersius fails here, he can claim that Gersius was a false dragon knight and that the lands must support me.”
“Do you honestly think Gersius won't find a way in?”
Dellain was silent as he considered it. No army in recorded history had ever breached the walls of Calathen and several much larger than Gersius's had tried. There was even a giant attack from four hundred years ago that failed and died at the walls. The city had a reputation as being the grave of any army foolish enough to attack. The people often chanted the old sayings: Calathen, the tombstone of fools, and gravesite of armies, the city of unbroken walls. But Gersius was no fool king lusting after power, and he had a reputation as a city breaker.
“Even Gersius couldn't breach these walls,” Dellain said to sound confident even though he wasn't. “And if he tries to fly over them, we will fill the sky with spears and hammers.”
“You heard what the spy said,” Mathius reported. “Gersius boasted he would take the city in one hour.”
Dellain laughed at the boldness of that claim. Not even Gersius couldn't pull that off. Even if the whole empire rose up to join him and attacked the city on every side, it would take a week to batter a single gate down.
“Gersius was only boasting to improve the morale of his men,” Dellain said as he dismissed the ridiculous statement.
“We should focus all our defenses at the golden gate,” Mathius suggested. “Gersius will strike them to complete the prophecy.”
Dellain smiled with a slight laugh. The golden gate was the largest and most heavily fortified gate in the known world. It was made of ironwood eight feet thick and bound by steel bands thicker than shields. The outer surface was covered in bronze polished to a golden sheen. It had internal bracing that took thirty men working the wheels to raise. An ingenious system of reservoirs built into the keep towers collected rainwater. When needed, the water could be released to pour down the doors in the event of a fire. A dragon couldn't tear them down with claw or breath.
“Gersius will die beating his hands on the gate,” Dellain said once again, trying to sound confident. “If he reaches the gate at all.”
“Are you being blinded by the empty promises of the Father Abbot? We both know what Gersius is capable of.”
Dellain snapped his eyes to meet those of Mathius and saw the same determined stare coming back.
“I am well aware of who Gersius is, and that he is coming,” Dellain said. “He has to cross the borders of the empire and deal with the kings in his path. He will find the road soaked with blood so that his army will wither even before it takes the field. If he does take the field, we can hurl so many arrows and stones that he will lose half more before he reaches the walls. What's left will die at the foundation stones as they realize how futile this effort was.”
“And what about the second dragon?”
“A second dragon won't tip the tides. Three hundred giants couldn't break these walls. Two dragons aren't going to matter.”
“The arrogance to call it all a rumor,” Mathius said with a smooth, calculated tone. “There were over a hundred witnesses, and word has already spread into the city. The people believe there is a challenger to your title, and they are already whispering that it is Gersius. News that he survived a pillar of holy flame is making him a legend.”
That was a detail that made Dellain uncomfortable. The whole battle plan had been to keep the dragon grounded with ballista fire. They would press Gersius's army in tight and call down holy fire on top of them. Then the Calvary would charge with banners waiving to chase down any survivors.
It would be a quick victory and one the Father Abbot would use to his advantage. He would declare that Astikar had sent the fire himself to show the world he denied Gersius. The plan had apparently worked, even with two dragons. One was wounded, and the other forced to land in the middle of their ranks. His army was hemmed in, and the fire called down. What happened next was a mystery to them all.
A green light formed over Gersius's forces and shielded them from the fire. There was only one priest strong enough to call the flames, and doing so left him exhausted; there would be no second pillar of fire. When the plan failed, they tried to take advantage of the strength of their numbers.
Deprived of his dragons using the sky, Gersius was now at a disadvantage. Militias and small groups of trained soldiers from a hundred towns had been pressed into that force, and they greatly outnumbered him. This fallback plan was also working, and by all accounts, Gersius's line was failing, but then the priests of Vellis arrived.
With such a wealth of healing power, Gersius quickly recovered his wounded and pressed them into the fight. In addition, the priests of Vellis recreated an ancient armed force that hadn't seen battle in hundreds of years. These men arrived in heavy armor and fought like champions, shrugging off wounds and pressing on. The tide turned almost immediately, and the Father Abbots priests fled before being captured. The ballista were abandoned on the field and left for Gersius to claim.
“I heard the reports,” Dellain said as he started to pace. “I questioned two of the men myself.”
“Then you know the danger, why are you playing this game?”
“Because I have no choice!” Dellain shouted as he came to a standstill. He took a moment to calm himself and resumed his pacing. “The old fool refuses to believe Gersius can grow to such a threat. He is willing to burn the world down around him for the sake of this plan of his.”
Just mentioning the plan made Dellain shake his head. It seemed like a plan of madness, and yet so many were working to see it fulfilled. Strange envoys came to the city to speak with the heads of the various orders, or as close to them as they could get. There was even a high priest of Vellis and a prime of Ulustrah sitting on the council overseeing the efforts.
“So, we are on the board after all?” Mathius asked.
Dellain nodded in silent agreement. Months ago, he compared what was happening to a game of chess, but Mathius questioned who were the ones playing it. Dellain was sure he could keep control and stay off the board, but it was clear an unseen hand was guiding things. Only the Father Abbot and the other heads seemed to know who it was. Dellain met some of these mysterious envoys, but they were unwilling to give away any secrets. For now, he was a pawn in the game, and Gersius was moving across the board. He paused to wonder, was Gersius playing the game, or was he a pawn as well?
“What do we know about Jessivel?” Dellain asked to take his mind off the mystery of who was in charge. “You are absolutely sure it was a force of seekers?”
“I was there. I saw his men charge,” Mathius said. “They managed to get a spy inside who disrupted the ward and set the women free.”
“And what of the mission you were sent on?”
“I found nothing of this mysterious woman save rumor and questionable witnesses,” Mathius replied and took a step closer. “Whoever she is, she is gifted in the art of hiding.”
Dellain looked over his shoulder to the man who stood just behind him. Mathius was his most trusted lieutenant and diligent in his tasks. Had he not fallen from grace, he would have made a fine seeker himself.
Mathius was dispatched to hunt down a rumor about a strange woman who was asking pointed questions about Gersius and his dragon. She even traveled to Calathen, going to the high districts and demanding an audience with the king. She was turned away but later snuck in and was caught well inside the palace. The guards chased her, but she eluded them in the maze of halls and rooms cut into the mountains. She would have gained no more attention if not for one mysterious feature; she had blue hair. It was well known Gersius was traveling with such a woman, but how could she have gotten here?
When word of the mysterious woman reached the Father Abbot, he was in audience with the other heads, including the high priest of Youthan. The man flipped his silver coin and looked down as the smile vanished from his face.
“A storm that has hidden for a thousand years has returned. The shadow now waits to strike when the light of the moon fades.”
The copper-skinned envoy of their hidden master looked distressed at the prediction and demanded the woman be found. It was the first time Dellain had ever seen the man agitated. Jessivel and his seekers were nowhere to be found, so word was sent to the thousands of scattered militia hunting the women of Ulustrah.
Dellain was ordered to remain in Calathen, but he sent Mathius to see if he could catch her. Whoever this woman was unnerved the copper-skinned man who represented their benefactor, and he wanted to know why.
Rumor had it she was moving northeast, heading inexorably toward Gersius. Rumor placed her at every town between Calathen and the northern borders. There was a stroke of luck on the far border. She was sighted just as the region was swept for the woman of Ulustrah. Supposedly she was seized when she refused to answer the questions and was detained in one of the camps. Mathius was sent to search the camps, and if possible, sneak her back to Calathen, where Dellain himself could question her.
“I doubt she was ever there,” Dellain said, finally responding to the statement.
“Who do you think she is?”
“Somebody who has a vested interest in the game,” Dellain said as he leaned on the wall of the terrace garden. “I suspect she can tell us more about who is playing it.”
“You want to try and get control back,” Mathius surmised.
“I don't like being left in the dark,” Dellain stated. “We have done all that was asked of us. Now we're told to sit and wait while events spiral out of control around us.”
“You could press your right to empire,” Mathius said. “You could rise above the authority of the Father Abbot.”
Such words were heresy, but the thought ran through Dellain's mind a hundred times a day. The Father Abbot assured him that once Gersius was destroyed, the plan could move forward quickly. Not only would Dellain be emperor, but he would be a hero of the people. For now, Dellain was to sit and wait. Since the army was destroyed, there was no way to press enough men into service fast enough to make another attempt. There was a second army, of course, but it was marching to the northeast into the hills. Dellain knew little about this sudden maneuver. Word was delivered from a spy, and the Father Abbot diverted men immediately.
“I have the Father Abbots assurance I will be much more than an emperor if I wait just a little longer,” he replied with little commitment.
“As you wish,” Mathius sighed.
“What about this other woman, this Cariggara?” he asked to punish himself with even more.
She was another mystery but one that seemed welcome into the fold. She arrived as if by invitation to assist in the organized collection and detention of the women of Ulustrah. A weaver of incredible skill, she was able to craft a ward that denied the followers of Ulustrah access to their power. He understood the need, but the thought of being cut off from the divine power made his skin crawl. Until the strange woman's arrival, the idea that a weaver could sever the power of a priest was abhorrent. Thankfully the wards took time to prepare and craft, and couldn't be used on a priest actively fighting back.
“We know nothing about her,” Mathius admitted. “Maybe she is working with the blue-haired woman?”
“She has the support of the council,” Dellain said. “The Father Abbot has assured me she is an ally. I was also present to see her reaction to the news of the blue-haired woman. She was not pleased.”
“Did he happen to tell you how she is moving about so quickly?” Mathius asked. “The both of them seem to travel a week's worth in a day.”
“He doesn't want to answer my questions of late,” Dellain replied. He had already heard the reports of the woman laying the wards in several camps on the same day. Curiously those camps were a day's travel apart, thus leaving the question of how she reached them so quickly. With a sigh, Dellain folded his arms.
“He uses us to further his plans but doesn't share any of them with us,” Mathius pointed out. “You are on the verge of being an emperor. Surely, he has to answer your questions.”
“As a brother of the faith, I am bound to obey until I relinquish my rank to assume my role as emperor. I will get no answers from him by pressing my impending status.”
“We must find some way of learning more,” Mathius insisted.
“Do you have any suggestions?” Dellain asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Have you considered asking him?” Mathius suggested with a nod of his head to the city.
Dellain looked out over the city to a walled yard near the east side of the mountain. Even from here, he could see the red shape coiled in the yard that it now called its lair. Since the dragon arrived, the mood in the city had changed. The people spoke in hushed whispers as if mentioning the dragon might bring it's wrath down on them. The day Dellain walked through the gate with the dragon following behind, sent a bolt of lightning through the land. The dragon knight was proclaimed, and he made an impassioned speech to the city and a call for empire. They would unite once again to throw back the age-old enemy and return the land to peace.
The first objector was the king, of course. He and his household had to be arrested, and lives were lost battling his palace guards. Several noble houses then rebelled, calling for people to oppose the notion that Dellain could ever be a worthy leader. This included quite a large number from Gersius's homelands of Tarishan. They were contained for now, but plans were in the works to make an example of them. For supporting Gersius, they would suffer the most and see all their holdings forfeit. The Father Abbot hoped that a bloody response in Tarishan would bring the other unruly kingdoms to heel. The empire would form under Dellain's banner, but it would bleed before it was done.
He looked to the distant yard, considering the beast who slumbered inside. Would he answer the questions? With so many variables in play, and the Father Abbot keeping so many secrets, he had to try.
“Let's find out,” Dellain said as he turned to walk into the palace.
The upper palace of Calathen was a fantastic construction of yellow stone carved in intricate patterns. It was built into the side of a shallow mountain and deep into its inner stone. It wasn't so high that it ever snowed, or suffered the cold air, but it lifted the palace well above the surrounding city. Chiseled into the slopes were a dozen terrace gardens watered by a mountain spring. These were considered the most beautiful gardens in the land and were serviced by the priestesses of Ulustrah. Since the condemnation of Ulustrah, the gardens were left to their own and were already starting to look overgrown. There were no women of Ulustrah to tend them, as the local temples were sealed and under guard.
He passed through the servant's levels before reaching the upper city that clustered around the mountain's base. The city was thousands of years old and rumored to predate the ancient war. It was one of the few cities that survived the upheaval that shattered the lands. Though it was also rumored, the mountain was much taller back then, and the city was rebuilt on what was left. This would mean it was nearly five thousand years old at it's youngest, but some claimed it was twice that. Whatever the age, the city was a bastion of defense. Layered in districts that ringed the palace, each divided by a thick wall. Nobody had ever breached the outer wall in the cities known history. Even if Gersius could breach them, could he get through the next two?
The walk through the palace and the lower grounds gave him plenty of time to think. He puzzled over the mysteries and the plans. When he arrived at the lower walls, he organized a guard to escort him to the dragon. They formed up quickly and, with little fanfare, made their way into the city, clearing a path through the people.
As he passed, a few people called out praises to the dragon knight, but more often than not, people were silent. Many simply got out of the way and kept their heads down. Some were bold enough to stare with blank expressions or slight scowls. Few were happy with the state of things, and fewer still looked forward to his rule as emperor. He didn't care what they thought about it. Once he was established and this fool plan was complete, he would rule, or so the Father Abbot said.
As the guards arrived at the wall that lined the lonely compound, Dellain bid them wait while he went to the gates. Thirty more men stood guard here, preventing anyone but him from bothering the dragon.
“Open it,” Dellain said as he approached the men moved quickly. The pulled the gates open just wide enough for him to step inside and quickly shut them behind him.
The yard was a broad flat lawn with a stone walk that ran right up the center. Immediately to his left was a statue of white stone that stood some ten feet taller than the gates. It was a dragon with a long slender neck standing on its hind legs and holding aloft a curved sword. The statue was all that remained of the failure of the first dragon knight and his dragon.
Across the yard following the stone walkway was a temple. Two grand stone blocks, twice as tall as a man, flanked the walkway before the steps to the temple. The left block was made of red stone, and right of white. A massive bowl of brass rested on the red pillar. Its interior was blackened on the inside from a thousand fires. A similar bowl of blue marble rested on the white pillar. He could never remember anything every being burned in that bowl, and now it served as a bath for birds. Both blocks had the bronze head of a dragon set into their face, looking out over the empty yard. On the red block was a dragon whose horns curled forward, and on the white a dragon whose horns curled back
Behind the bowls were the steps of a great temple. It led up to a building that had a door large enough for the dragon to enter without having to duck. The doorway was flanked by soaring pillars holding up a simple peaked roof of stone. The temple itself was nondescript and unadorned. It had never been finished, and the surfaces were left unadorned.
The whole place now served as the home of a great red beast. Malizon the dragon of the black peaks opened an eye and watched Dellains approach with a narrowed black slit. It unnerved him how the dragon always sensed his approach and was never taken by surprise.
“Why have you come?” the dragon said as it lifted it’s head from the ground to look down on him.
Dellain hated how the dragon liked to sneer at him from above. It took every chance it could to remind him of its strength and power. He felt like a mouse staring up at a cat toying with its prey.
“I want to ask you some questions,” Dellain said.
“I am not here to answer your questions,” the beast replied and thrashed its tail in annoyance.
Dellain looked up and kept his wits. He intentionally began to pace as if unimpressed by the dragons display and held a firm countenance.
“What do you know about Lady Carrigara?” Dellain asked.
“I told you I am not here to answer your questions,” the dragon repeated, lowering his head slightly to make his point.
Dellain whirled about to glare back at the beast and held firm.
“So you know nothing then?”
“I know everything!” the beast shouted. “But I do not wish to be your teacher. Go and ask your Father Abbot,” Malizon replied in annoyance.
Dellain didn’t move and frowned slightly in annoyance.
“He seems to think I don’t need to know,” Dellain said as he folded his arms. “I don’t like being used and not told what for. You agreed to help us with this, so you must know more about what is going on. It has to be important enough to warrant your cooperation, or I doubt you would tolerate me.”
The beast lifted its head high and let out a bellow. “So, you are not as big a fool as I thought. Alright, rodent, I will humor you. The Lady is an ally of my master and a weaver of great power. She was given the secret”s of this power from my master to aid in our cause. You need know nothing more about her.”
“How does she travel so quickly?” Dellain pressed.
“I said no more!” the dragon hissed.
Dellain held his glare and waited a moment before asking his next question.
“Who is your master?”
“Now you are getting bold,” the dragon said with almost a pleased tone.
“So you won't tell me that either?” Dellain pressed.
“I cannot tell you want you want to know, but I can tell you he is a friend to you rodents,” the dragon replied. “You do not know it yet, but he works in your best interest, much to my distaste.”
“Why would he help us?”
“Because you're in the way!” Malizon growled. “You rodents cover the land with your cities. You dig into every rock and tunnel into every hill. We dragons are driven to the remotest of places just to avoid stepping on you. He wishes to restore the order that was lost so that our kinds might once again have balance.”
“Will he keep the promises he made the Father Abbot?”
“He has given you his word!” the dragon growled. “Do not equate him with your petty leadership. He does what he says he will do; he need give no vow or assurances. If he tells you he will do something, then he will. He gave you his word only because your kind demands such a thing to establish trust.”
“What about this storm that has waited a thousand years? Why did that upset your master's envoys?”
“You are observant as well,” Malizon said with a pleased tone.
“She is a threat to this plan of yours then?” Dellain guessed to push the dragon along.
The dragon's eyes narrowed, and he lowered his head to look Delain in the eyes. Dellain could feel the heat of its breath but stood firm determined not to buckle under the beast's presence.
“She has already failed. Her time is long gone, and her mission futile.”
“Is she helping Gersius?”
The dragon raised its head and laughed with a deep rumbling bellow. “She helps no one! She is all that remains of a dream that was doomed from the very beginning. She should have stayed in her hole and let the age pass her by.”
Dellain was annoyed that the dragon was being vague, but there were some interesting details to be gleaned. Whoever was playing the game was trying to fix something. This mysterious woman was an enemy from the past who had resurfaced to hinder him. More interesting was the notion that she lived in a hole. Was he implying she should have stayed hidden, or that she was a dragon living in a cave? And who but a dragon could let an age pass them by? But she was a woman, not a dragon? What did he not understand? How could this woman live long enough for an age to go by? He gave up when the picture refused to come clear and moved on to another question.
“What about this second dragon that is helping Gersius,” Dellain asked.
The red looked down on him and let out a snort and caused smoke to drift from his nostrils.
“A weakling who was beaten and tamed. He or she will be dealt with when the times comes. They will join my master or die.”
Dellain smiled at that comment. Malizon didn't realize it, but he just admitted that dragons could be beaten and tamed by humans.
“Will you give the blue dragon the same offer?”
The dragon paused and looked down with a snarl, and his tail thrashed in annoyance.
“No, she is beyond redemption and will pay the price for her choices. I will rip the wings and legs from her this time. I will force her to crawl in the dirt like a worm before I crush her.”
Dellain felt the anger and contempt that the beast had for Gersius's blue dragon. He himself had little respect for her. She cried like a child when caught, and curled up in a ball as they disciplined her. She was nothing like the red whose very presence exuded power.
“Have I answered your questions?”
Dellain looked up with a firm gaze. He'd done nothing but reiterated what the Father abbot already said. In fact, there were now more mysteries to solve.
“No,” he replied. “You have only shrouded them in more mystery. What is it about dragons I don’t know? What are you not telling us?”
“I have nothing to tell you,” the dragon said with narrow eyes.
“Who are these women with blue hair? Gersius travels with one, is that the same one you speak about or another? How did he escape across the land and yet manage to hide his dragon? It only ever shows up when he needs it or wants it too. I am not a fool; there is something you're not telling me, Something vitally important to all of this. If you are here to help us, then answer me, how are these mysteries connected?”
Malizon was quiet a long moment and alarmed Dellain when he rose to his feet to tower above him.
“You were chosen wisely,” Malizon said. “You pay careful attention, and you see that things are connected where others do not. Very well, dragon knight, I will reveal the secret to you, and tell you of the power you will soon wield, but know this, you will speak of this secret to no one.”
Dellain stood by in awe as black smoke began to ooze from the dragon's scales. What happened next filled his mind with confusion and shock as he stumbled back.
“Look on me, and see the secret we keep,” the man who stepped out of the cloud said. His eyes burned with the same red light as he smiled at Dellain's shock. “Now, let me tell you how you and I are going to kill this Gersius and his pet.”
