The Sword and the Flame: The Forging

Chapter 25

The blast obliterated the rock to Viola's right and the shards from it dug into her flesh. The pain shot through her arm, straining her concentration. The giant skeleton of what had once been a blue dragon, reared its head back in a howl that was closer to a laugh. Where the sound came from Viola could only guess, as everything but the dragon's bones had turned to dust centuries earlier. If she had the time, she would love to examine them and the source of the dragon's lightning breath, but as she was under attack, it was something that could wait for later.

Viola watched the dragon lower its head back into its natural attack position with its neck curved, as if it were a snake about to strike. Without hesitation, she began the incantation she needed. The dragon skeleton opened its mouth and a powerful arc of lightning burst forth. The power and beauty would've overwhelmed her under normal circumstances, but she was lost in concentration. As the arc neared her, she cast the spell, creating an invisible, convex shield between her and the dragon.

Viola wanted to flinch, she wanted to take cover, but a voice in her mind urged her, ordered her, to remain where she was and have faith in her magic. She obeyed and remained where she stood, waiting for the explosion and pain every fiber of her mind knew was going to follow. Before her eyes, the lightning arc struck the field, but there was no explosion. Instead of the two canceling each other out or dispersing the energy, as was common with the widely used concave shield spells, the arc formed a ball, or puddle, of energy in the center of the shield.

"Now, close your hand and speak the command."

The familiar voice instructed her as though time wasn't a factor. Viola mirrored the calmness by following the instructions, raising her right arm, hand extended despite the pain, and spoke the magical command while closing her hand into a fist. She watched in amazement as the shield closed and tightened around the lightning until it was the size of a grapefruit. Viola raised her eyes to the empty sockets of the skeleton as she heard the voice once more.

"The final command is yours."

She smiled and spoke a single word. The orb of magic lightning streaked towards the giant skeleton. As if it could sense its coming demise a second time, the skeleton raised its head for another lighting arc, but as the lighting appeared in its mouth the orb struck. A brilliant white light covered the landscape when the lightning was released from its binding. The dragon skeleton let out a horrific roar that shook the ground Viola stood on before the bones exploded into hundreds of dust clouds that floated back to the ground.

"Well done, apprentice, very well done." The voice and accompanying clapping caused Viola to turn towards Mern.

"Is this everything for the day then?" Viola asked, her voice sounding hurt. She wanted to continue with her studies. She learned so much in the days since their arrival.

Mern watched her with a sense of pride he'd only felt for himself before then. Soon, she would be ready, but not yet. She had much to learn before she was ready to face Fyrelynx. "Not quite, child. You still must practice the spell until it's second nature. You hesitated. Do that against a living dragon with a will of its own, and it'll use your bones to pick its teeth." He saw her disappointment, but it was replaced by a hunger few knew or understood.

"Again!" With a motion of Mern's arm, the dragon skeleton reassembled from the dust and debris and roared once more.

*****

Humans were such fools. They built walled cities to defend themselves from all sorts of thieves, bandits, and even armies. But not one, not a single one, was designed to defend against a winged enemy. Fech chuckled at the foolishness of the humans. Granted, a single gargoyle was no threat to a city, or even a town, for that matter, but there have been numerous occurrences of clans of gargoyles banding together to attack human settlements. Sure, it may have been done in an effort to defend their own territory after having it violated by the presence of humans, but did the why really matter?