The dark valley stirred with silent movement and the dragon queen followed
the progress in silence. The fearsome Scarag soldiers strolled to their
positions while joking and laughing. The Arctic Payoya cats wagged their tails
and sharpened their claws. A mighty sight they were, larger than elephants,
white with grey patterns. They were all seasoned warriors, all aware that they
faced an almighty enemy. The weakness in her forces was the humans, weak, naïve
and unaware of the power of the Ig-y.
“Why do you do this?” El-i asked. “You can’t win. You know that.”
“I will win this battle.”
“But you can’t win the war.”
“It depends on how you define winning.” She rubbed her muzzle against his
shapeless body. “I want to stall them long enough for the children to get to
safety.”
“This is madness,” he muttered and turned into a rock.
The magical dome that covered the valley trembled under a new attack.
“Your Majesty,” a Scarag general bowed before her. “I thought you might
want to handle this…”
A young man stood beside the general.
“Find him armour and a weapon,” she ordered the general. “Be brave and
fight well young man. I expect you to come back to your parents alive.”
The air went out of him. “I thought you’d send me back.”
“I don’t have time for such foolishness.” She pointed into the valley. “The
beginning is near. Hurry up! Get in place.”
“Thanks nan!” He almost hugged her, but changed his mind and stretched his
hand out instead. “Thank you my majesty.”
She took his hand in her paw, shook it a formal manner and hid her smile
until he was out of sight.
“You don’t trust me,” El-i said and took the shape of a Scarag soldier.
“True. I still don’t know if you betrayed me, or if they betrayed us both.”
“I didn’t betray you.”
An explosion shook the magic dome in its foundations.
“Time to go. You better cling on.”
El-i turned himself into fluid goo, flowed over her body and turned into a
thin armour. She spread her wings and flew in a wide circle around the valley
in the cover of the dark. The generals were in place and she turned to the
dragon lords. One of them signalled for more time and she circled the valley
while waiting.
“Show me where the Triad is,” she told El-i.
The transparent image of a mountain range floated before her eyes.
“Kaidun,” El-i whispered in her ear.
The four-sided mountain reached high above the clouds.
“Axis mundi,” he whispered. “In the palace at the top.”
The dragon lord signalled and she stopped to hover at the centre of the
dome.
She made a deep rumbling sound that rolled between the mountains and the
dragon lords and their legions filled the air. One rumble and the ground
soldiers drew their weapons. The Scarag and Payoya mages dropped the magic dome.
The Widbie attackers dropped through the air and the dragon legions attacked
them.
“Up!” she roared and the mages lifted the magical dome again. “Kill them
all!”
The Widbies missed by the dragons fell to the ground and the soldiers slaughtered
them.
“Others will take their place,” El-i whispered.
“Of course.”
She landed on a cliff, El-i let go of her and turned himself into a concerned
Payoya.
“I don’t understand how you’ll be able to win.”
“You’re not supposed to.”
“I’ve told you, you can trust me.”
“I can’t risk you telling your kin.” She scratched him behind the ear and
tickled his whiskers. “I never stopped loving you. Not even when I thought you
betrayed me.”
He purred and rubbed himself against her. “I never stopped loving you
either. Not even when you tried to kill me.”
“Don’t be silly. I know you and other Ig-y can’t be killed. I just wanted
you to hurt a little.”
“Trust me. It hurt.”
His whiskers shivered, his big eyes filled with sadness, and she couldn’t
resist kissing him.
The dragon lords landed on the cliff beside her and she turned her
attention to the soldiers in the valley again. They were regrouping and helping
their injured after killing the last Widbie.
“Can you heal the wounded?” she asked El-i and kissed him again.
He turned into a soft shimmering cloud and floated through the valley
without hesitating.
“Can we trust him?” Lord Waitr asked.
“I think so. Look. He’s even raising the dead.”
“That doesn’t mean much,” Lord Skala growled.
“He can easily kill us all in a blink of an eye,” Lord Grad snarled.
“My point exactly. He hasn’t. He also showed me where to find the other
Ig-y.”
“A trap perhaps.” Lord Waitr scratched his beard and studied El-i as he
flowed through the valley.
“I don’t think so.”
“He betrayed us.”
“The Ig-y betrayed us, and him.”
“Your heart makes you blind. If I may say so, my majesty.”
“Blind or not. We’re going to follow the plan.”
El-i returned and took the shape of a dragon. Lord Grad sneaked his tail up
behind him but she stopped him before he pushed him off the cliff.
“Cling on to me again. We have to leave.”
The lords went to their legions and she flew around the dome. Clouds
covered the midnight sky and she wouldn’t have seen much hadn’t it been for her
dragon senses.
“At least ten Sylex hovers around out there,” she whispered.
“They have fifteen of them.” El-i whispered back.
She signalled to the dragon lords and kept on hovering. “Did you meet
Robert?”
“You can be proud of him.”
“Good.” She put on a mask and covered her eyes. “You better cover your
eyes. If you have any.”
“I see through your eyes.”
“Good.” She rumbled and roared, “Now!”
The Scarag mages dropped the magical dome, the Payoya mages filled the air
with blinding light and the dragon soldiers soared up to catch the Sylex. The
light blinded the Sylex and the Widbies and gave her troops an advantage.
She swooped over the mountain tops and dived into a valley leading away
from the dome. Her heart ached when she saw the devastation the Ig-y had
caused. The forests and villages burned, thick smoke hung in the air and the
water in the rivers had turned to acid. Dead and dying beings scattered the
ground.
“I hate your kin for this,” she whispered to El-i.
“We did not do it. The Triad did.”
“None of you stopped them, and you snuck out as a thief in the night to
come to me.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Cowardliness always is.”
“How dare you! I came here. I helped. While you are running from battle as
we speak.”
“I need to buy more time,” she growled.
“Out here! In the wastelands?”
“Just wait.”
She flew out of the mountain range, across the plains and to the desert
edge, where she landed on a rocky hill. Lord Waitr landed beside her shortly
after. One by one the other dragon lords and their most trusted soldiers
carrying Scarag riders landed around them. When all had arrived a Scarag mage
opened a gate to an invisible tunnel. She led the way and the others followed.
Through the transparent walls they saw dark shapes of the landscape outside
flashing by.
“Amazing,” El-i whispered in her ear. “What kind of magic is this?”
“Magic so ancient, even I don’t know its origin.” She wanted to touch him
and then she remembered that she did. “I’m sorry. So much is at stake.”
“I understand.”
The living armour grew tighter, as if he hugged her.
“I live and I’ll die for my children.”
“I
know.”
“The tunnel takes us to the foot of the mountain.”
“You can’t attack them. You’ll be dead before you get near.”
“That’s why you’re going to help me.”
“I can’t harm my kin.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“I won’t be able to protect you.”
“I know.” She slowed down and shouted, “Right!”
They came to a fork in the tunnel and she turned down the right path. The
rain and ashes drew stripes on transparent surface of the tunnel, lightning cut
through the air and thunder rolled around them. The mountain range in the
distance grew larger by every second.
“Show me a safe place to stay,” she ordered El-i.
A transparent map appeared before her eyes and led her to a sheltered
gorge. When they reached the foot of the mountain the tunnel ended with two
large gates.
“Wós bwa urjë!” She held her ring up and the gates opened.
The following dragon stopped and his Scarag rider held the gate open for
the others while she kept on flying. She flew close to the ground, passed the
mountain tops and dived into the gorge. Burned trees guarded a murky pond and
she landed on a large rock close to it. El-i flowed down to the ground and took
the shape of a mountain goat.
“I wouldn’t take that shape if I were you. The dragons are hungry, you
might end up on their menu.”
El-i changed into a butterfly and fluttered to the side as the dragon lords
landed by her side.
“Everything goes according to plan your highness,” Lord Grad growled.
“The acid in the rain causes problems for the Scarags,” Lord Waitr said. “The
acid irritates their skin, another hour or two and they will have painful soars.”
She looked around to find El-i and found him healing plants and making
flowers bloom.
“El-i I need your help,” she said.
He landed on her shoulder and turned into a bright blue poison dart frog.
“The acid rain is harming the Scarags. Can you help them?”
“Of course,” El-i said and turned into glowing mist. “I’ll cover their skin
with a protective surface. It won’t last long, a decade at most.”
“Good,” she replied and smiled at his sense of time as he drifted through
the gorge to help the Scarags.
“You can still change the plan,” Lord Waitr said. “I don’t trust him.”
“Then trust me,” she hissed. “Stop worrying and follow my orders.”
“Yes, my majesty.”
El-i came back to her and turned into a fig tree. “They are safe for now.
I’ve also stilled their hunger and thirst.”
“Thank you my love.” She rubbed her muzzle against his trunk and turned to
the lords. “Good hunting my friends. I’ll see you on the other side.”
The Lords bowed and ordered their men to take off.
“Are not going to lead them?” El-i asked and turned into a human.
“No.”
“Because you don’t trust me?”
“No. This is the plan.” She leant forward to drink from the brook and
noticed the trees were alive again. “I will break through the palace defence,
with your help.”
“The Triad will stop you.”
“They will try, but I’ll be unstoppable once I get inside.”
“No one can stop Ig-ys.”
“I’m changing that.”
“You’re crazy.”
She laughed. “You have to be crazy to take on the Ig-y. Time to go now.”
El-i flowed over her skin and she flew straight up into the thin fresh air
above the clouds. The Ig-y Triad always started the day by greeting the sunrise
and that gave her an ideal opportunity.
“It’s time,” she said when the triad entered the courtyard. “Open a hole we
can get through, then leave me and drop the whole shield.”
She dived straight towards the palace. A light pull let told her that El-i
had left her and she opened her magic bag and pulled out a barrel. The triad
stood in the middle of the yard and she kept her eyes on them while rubbed her
paws with sticky goo from the barrel. A servant spotted her and screamed in
warning a split second before she dug her claws into the triad. Roaring in pain
she tumbled across the yard whiles pulling them with her. The goo worked as
planned, the triad could not free themselves from her, and she felt their shock
and pain.
The dragon lords and their men swarmed in over the palace and attacked with
full force. The servants cried in horror and the Scarag warriors followed them
with their weapons drawn.
“Leave no survivors!” Lord Grad shouted.
She smashed her triad covered paws into walls and pillars to keep them
occupied. The poisonous goo harmed her as much as it harmed them and the pain
started to drain her. In a collected effort they attacked her and one of them
cut her leg off. With her leg sticking out of his essence he swiftly cut off
her other limbs to free his kin. Once freed, they bolted through the air and
high up into the sky while shrilling from the pain.
“I can’t heal you! Why can’t I heal you?” El-i cried beside her.
“I had to kill the Triad.” The pain filled every part of her body and burnt
worse than hellfire.
“You can’t kill them.” El-i touched her neck and the pain faded.
“An Ig-y can choose to die,” she said calmly. “The tormenting pain they
experience now will never fade. Remember how much pain upset you the first time
you experienced it? Theirs are far worse.”
“Why can’t I heal you?”
“If you could heal me then they could heal themselves.”
“But, you can’t live like this!”
“I told you. I’d die for my children.” The sunrise painted the palace in
warm colours, the surrounding sounds faded and her vision grew dim. “Look after
them. Promise.”
“I promise.”
“Swear.”
“I swear.”
His sworn word was everything she needed since the Ig-y must fulfil what
they swear to. Joy and pleasure filled her and she felt the essence of every
living being in the world. Her soul searched for her children and she found
them in a cave far to the north. Her sons, their wives and their children were
all safe.
“Goodbye my love,” El-i whispered.
She reached out for him and he held her as she faded away.
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