Alni Read online

  “Go, get me Elladora, my sweets,” Mallor purred, and they hissed and growled in response, disappearing back into the mist from once they came.

  “She isn’t here, good luck. I came alone in hopes of returning this shard to you. I wanted to ensure you weren’t going to trick me so I used some magic I learned to get into your head. That’s all. I left her behind a village back. If you’ll let me go, I can come right to your castle and give you the stone. So irrational,” Alni sighed, the words leaving his lips quickly as he struggled to relay the lie and stop the dragons from their hunt.

  “We have wronged our world, children, but there’s hope that one day things will be as they were with King Herrick…even better, perhaps. Things must be put right and freedom restored. Then and only then will we ever hope to create a good future for us all.”

  Mallor was laughing, the sound clipped and icy as it surrounded them both in the spell.

  “You are quick, boy. Almost had me believing you for a moment. Except herein lies the issue. My dragons are already falling down upon the city of Glade and surrounding farmlands, I know you are both here and have a pathetic army. I know you have assistance coming and I am aware they will be too late. There’s a dragon coming now to your exact location, and they will bring you to me. Then we can do things the right way, by killing all those who oppose the throne, starting with the Princess who should have died so very long ago.”

  Alni could not stop his movements, could not get a grasp on his mind or what he was doing until it was too late. He had started on Mallor, ignoring the power and size, the very title of the enemy he faced. The memory that he was a sniveling half-breed buried behind with the reminders of Orlon and his bullies of the past.

  When faced with real evil, things changed a great deal.

  He could feel the power pulsing through him, a growl deep from within his chest as Mallor’s promise filled his ears; the threat against Dora and the innocents that had done nothing but support her. His hands rose to Mallor’s cloak, yanking him down towards his face. Dark hair swarmed around the air between them like the reaching arms of a poisonous jellyfish. Surprise crossed Mallor’s face for a brief moment before his mouth twisted into a sneer of rage.

  “The magic is still within us all, buried beneath mistakes but still it believes in us. It trusts that deep down in our souls, we will do the right thing. We will fight for justice.”

  “I’ll be seeing you really soon then, won’t I? I really look forward to it,” Alni spat, pushing the man before him as hard as he could muster towards the dark mists behind them.

  When he did so, waves of magic erupted from his fingertips, sending Mallor back into the dark mist and out of sight. His enraged screams were deep and guttural, threats that sent shivers down Alni’s spine.

  Turning on the darkness around him, Alni felt his own fear and anger fill him. He was glowing, every inch of his body was changing into the shimmering amethyst hue of the Mystic Dragon. The light scared away mist, slowly exposing the surrounding cottages and the one he had been desperately trying to reach. Each step he took exposed the world around him further and further but still it felt as though he trudged through mud.

  “Alni?”

  He ignored the words muffled beyond the magic, reaching for the door to the cottage as he forced it open, but there was no one there and already he could hear the screeching of the dark, evil creatures under Mallor’s control in the distance.

  “Alni!”

  He started to smell smoke as something began to burn around him. There was a thick smog surrounding his face and body, clouding his vision as he entered the cottage further. The thick billowing waves of heat were far more dense than the magic from before, choking him and strangling the air in his lungs. Alni was struggling for air as he forced his way deeper into the cottage in search of Dora, of anyone.

  “ALNI!”

  The cottage disappeared, all the walls around Alni falling as he stared…upward? Yes, upward, he could feel the hard ground at his back. Slowly the world started to come into focus, gusts of wind sweeping by his face. Although the smoke was still heavy around him, he had come out of the magically-induced vision Mallor subjected him to.

  Staring up into the golden eyes of Dora, Alni could see the flames behind her beautiful, panicked face.

  Around them, Glade was burning to the ground.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Alni’s body was being pulled up from the ground, limbs feeling as though they weighed a thousand pounds. His head was pounding as he fought to distinguish from reality, and what he had just experienced with King Mallor. Only Dora’s hands on his shoulders seemed to steady him and force him to regain focus.

  “Alni, are you okay? Come on, we need to go!”

  She was pulled away suddenly, two large men heavily clad in armor surrounded her as she was herded away from him and in the opposite direction. Alni rushed towards her, hand on one of the men as he tried to bully his way to her.

  A dark shadow was cast over them, a roar filling the area and shaking the very ground at their feet. Looking above, Alni froze like prey as his eyes fell on an enormous green dragon before them in the sky. Its scales reflected off the sun, making the dragon glow like a massive orb above. Black talons reached downward as it beat the air to keep in flight despite how fast it descended upon them.

  “Go! Go go go!” Alni shrieked, the sounds coming from him foreign and squeaking as he kicked up heel to escape the shadow and get away.

  Ahead, something large was being wheeled out onto the cobblestone streets. The head of the catapult reached upward towards the top of a nearby apothecary shop, enormous wheels protruding from either side. Armed men and women stood around it, loading heavy rocks into it as fast as they could from piles just inside a nearby cottage. They were frantically moving, eyes on the large dragon before them as they rushed to start their attack against it.

  Dora and her guards were running towards them, the dragon soaring ahead. There was a humming that filled the air, one that made Alni involuntarily raise his hands to cover his ears, the pitch piercing through his mind. With a growl, the beast lowered swiftly and landed with a thud right before Dora. Its body blocked her way to the catapult and forced her to stop running and take several steps backward.

  Alni caught sight of one of the barrels of weaponry just inside the cottage, slipping into the darkness of the empty home as quickly as he could. The dragon’s focus was on Dora. There was no way they’d be able to fight against a dragon, but he wouldn’t be able to help at all without a weapon. Without the reassuring warmth from the stone in his pocket, Alni needed something that gave him a chance. He had grabbed the stone on his way out of the barn, but it did not respond and give him reason to believe it would help him.

  As if wielding something unfamiliar like a sword would give him any chance against an ancient dragon, truly.

  Alni reached into his pocket and grasped onto his stone, looking down to it briefly before grabbing the handle of a longsword, pulling it from the confines of the barrel with a huff of strength.

  “Just work with me here. We are so close…” he whispered to the stone, keeping it in his palm as he held the sword in both hands and raced from the cottage and back out into the city streets.

  The dragon was rearing up, the humming coming from deep within its long throat as its lips curled back and revealed fangs and…a small red orb that seemed to grow brighter and closer with each moment.

  Fire.

  Alni yelled out like a madman, slamming the sword into the side of the cottage as he growled and shrieked aloud in an attempt to gain the attention of the dragon. The dragon’s mouth closed and its crimson eyes darted over to Alni, focusing in anger and confusion. It was just the moment the others needed, releasing the catapult towards the massive dragon just as it looked away. Dora and the guards were running the opposite direction, immediately aware of the distraction taking place, and using it to their advantage; Dora’s eyes catching Alni’s one last time
along the way.

  The dragon whimpered and roared as heavy rocks landed on its back and tail, sharp edges tearing into the scales. But the dragon took several bounds towards Alni, teeth bared as it opened its mouth. There was blood trailing down the side of its head, movements slow and messy as it stumbled to reach its victim, to reach Alni.

  Through all the fear that came from seeing a full-grown dragon racing towards him in anger, Alni knew what was about to happen right before it did. The entire energy around him shifted and warmed, the humming sound starting once again as the dragon peeled back its lips.

  Flames erupted in waves like a hot furnace eating away at air for the first time. They were coming at Alni, destroying the air it touched, forcing him to his knees with the heat. Unsure of what he was doing, Alni took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Listening to what his instincts were telling him to do, he raised the sword towards the leaping flames that surrounded him.

  A blast of magic erupted from the stone in his clenched hand, trailing up the blade of the sword and exploding out from the sharp-edged point. The magic rained down around Alni, consuming him in a warm embrace as the dragon’s flame fought to destroy it. When Alni opened his eyes, all he could see was the endless flames to his front and sides, yet they did not touch his body. There was faint screaming that sounded much like Dora’s yelling all around him, but still the dragon’s flame continued, as if the dragon would not cease until he was nothing.

  Not even bones left behind on the ground.

  Alni slowly stood, keeping the sword held high as the magical protection kept him safe from the licking flames. The dragon roared and the fire finally stopped, smoke lifting as Alni peered ahead at the shadows of others slowly coming into view.

  They were all tearing into the dragon with their swords, taking final blows on an elegant beast that had walked Desin long before they had. Dora was at the lead, rage and tears in her eyes as her sword bore down. None of them had a choice but to end the creature before it had a chance to destroy them, but the dragon had stopped fighting and was no longer a threat to them, only an enormous, unmoving mound upon the ground.

  Dora screamed at the dragon, releasing all her emotion to a beast that could no longer hurt them. Then, slowly, she turned towards where she had seen it destroy Alni, eyes shining.

  Her sword lowered to her side as she caught sight of him, blinking wordlessly as her mouth fell agape and she tried to make sense of what she saw. There were cheers from the others, but Dora seemed to pay them no mind as she took one slow step towards him. The slow step was followed by many more, legs flying as she raced towards him faster and faster.

  Alni laughed in relief, lowering his own sword as the magical field fell to the ground around him. He was running towards her, the glee on her face filling him with a joy that far outweighed the fear he had felt only a moment before. In the end, no matter how much was thrown at him, somehow the stone had his back. A protector he could depend on.

  “Ah, but you did that yourself. Your job is almost done, Alni.”

  The voice of the Mystic Dragon engulfed Alni’s mind as he almost reached Dora’s outstretched hands, but he did not stop running. She was so close…

  The happiness and relief on Dora’s face had turned to horror and she pulled her sword before her, the screams of villagers around them suddenly so earshatterng. The smoke from burning buildings filled the clearing and tore at Alni’s throat as he ran. There was apprehension and…another emotion on Dora’s face. One Alni could not put a finger on.

  He didn’t even have time to turn and see what she was looking at before he was yanked from the ground and into the air, sword falling from his hands. Wind flew by his face, giant talons gripped around his body. Dora was yelling below, screaming for him but as he flew further and further away all Alni could see was the dark, twitching dragons that slithered along the earth towards the fighters, towards Dora.

  He looked up at the dragon that carried him over burning farmlands and gasped, hands beating at the talons as his legs kicked the air.

  “Let me go! Silthia…what are you doing! We have to get Dora!”

  “She’ll be along soon enough,” Silthia responded, staring ahead as she soared towards a large, ominous structure in the distance.

  Elven lands were appearing below them, citizens looking up into the sky and the dragons that filled it, fingers pointing towards Silthia and the boy she held dangling in the air. He looked up to where she was heading, dark towers in the horizon as they came closer.

  “No! Stop! STOP!” Alni was screaming, fighting with all his might but to no avail.

  Silthia was taking him straight to Castle Mallor.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Alni didn’t stop fighting the entire way to the castle, not even as the dark, slithering dragons hissed from their positions at him. Their eyes were gleaming with excitement as he drew near, an excitement that was a mirror to Mallor’s own in the magic dreams from before. All of them were controlled by the stone in the King’s possession, forced to kill and ravage Glade on his behalf.

  Even Silthia, something Alni had been certain was not the case. He had seen her smile, had seen her sing…never the blank, evil glints the other dragons had held. Hers was always warm and welcoming. Even in the height of his suspicion, Alni had not wanted to believe she was a part of this entire plan.

  Perhaps this was the one reason it made her the perfect candidate to deliver him, herself. His blind trust in her. Everything started to fall into place, all the situations Alni had wanted to ignore or leave to chance. The good intentions that had never been there to begin with. Used, a pawn at Mallor’s disposal.

  Alni’s body dropped downward towards stone, landing painfully on the ground a few feet below. The black towers loomed over him, dragons slowly gliding down towards his body on the ground of the courtyard. He grunted, slowly rising to his feet, stone still clenched in his hand. Turning to Silthia, his emerald eyes narrowed, and despite his voice cracking with emotion and the force of his screams for her to stop, it was still strong.

  “How could you?”

  She landed in the courtyard, wings folding to her sides as her long head lifted and her crimson eyes looked down at the angry boy. His small, pointed ears were pinned against his head, brow furrowed and hands in fists as he approached her; walking up to her as though she were a mere human and he stood a chance.

  “How could you?!” He yelled once more, angry tears in his eyes as his fists pounded into her scales.

  Silthia made no move to shake him away from her, eyes looking away from him as his small hands did no damage to her. The dark dragons from above had reached the ground around them, shrieking and hissing at each other as they approached.

  “So nice of you to join us, Alni,” King Mallor’s icy tone rang out.

  His footsteps echoed around the courtyard as he slowly walked down the stone steps leading into the castle. Elf warriors followed behind him, weapons held close as their eyes nervously darted to all the dragons surrounding. Although they must have been used to the ancient creatures at that point, it was clear they still caused unease.

  Alni slowly turned from Silthia, eyes focusing on the man who meant to kill him, kill Dora. The one that would bring genocide to Desin, and who had murdered Dora’s own father to do so. Alni had threatened Mallor just earlier and there he was, prepared to finish what he had started.

  “Bring him with us, Silthia. We have much to discuss…Alni and I,” Mallor turned and made his way back within the castle.

  Silthia dipped her head low and snapped at the air behind Alni, forcing his body to jump with surprise and start after Mallor into the castle; the dark dragons hissing and giggling amongst themselves as they watched him slowly enter. Alni watched them, trying his hardest not to portray the apprehension and defeat he felt as they studied him. Their shapes consumed the doorway behind him the moment he stepped inside, prohibiting him from turning and leaving. Not that he would be able to get past Silthia, wh
o was close behind.

  Silthia dipped into the massive opening, her body tight against the walls as she ducked and moved forward with them. Hallways she clearly already knew she could fit through, ones she had surely walked a great many times before, Alni assumed. For some reason that only managed to anger him further.

  Mallor paused, the elf guards crossed their swords behind his body with a loud clang, keeping Alni from walking any closer to the King.

  “Oh, Alni?” He said, grey eyes taking the boy in as he looked over his shoulder with a snarl, “I never did get an apology for putting your hands on me in such a way earlier. I see you do not understand that you must obey your King,” Mallor said as he began walking forward once more, entering a large room at the end of the hallway.

  Pillars on all four sides of the room reached upwards, like hands that kept the castle standing tall. The wall was a shining stone. Light sparkled off it and danced in beautiful shapes along the ground beneath it and around their feet. In the middle of the room, a massive fire raged on.

  Stones as large as Alni surrounded the fire and kept the flames at bay. But they were not red as the dragon’s fire had been, no. The ends of the flames were a rich, deep purple that almost seemed blue at the base. The fire burned hotter than any Alni had been near as it warmed his face upon entry to the room.

  “I don’t think I’ll be apologizing,” Alni said slowly, eyes not able to leave the purple fire before him.

  Silthia had moved towards the wall, eyes on the fire for several moments before returning to Mallor. She waited wordlessly and without movement for her next instructions from the King, watching the situation that played out in front of her.

  Mallor turned and walked slowly towards Alni. His red robes scratching against the stone upon the ground, a deep smile took over his face, a dangerous glint in his dark eyes. Two guards behind him came to Alni’s sides before he could turn or do anything, they forced him down upon his knees.