“Now you have too few allies, Magnar.” Beth’s eyes shone bright blue, and her voice rumbled like distant thunder. “It is finally time to face justice.”
Jason checked his sword in his scabbard and grabbed Frederick’s sleeve. “Let’s go!” They ran side by side toward Taushin. Mallerin passed them going in the opposite direction. Blind and alone, Taushin shouted something in the dragon language, but his mother continued her flying charge toward Magnar.
“I’ll get the neck,” Jason said. “You go after the belly.”
“I hear you, fiends!” Taushin shouted in the human tongue as he reared back his head. “Do not approach or—”
“Or what?” Jason leaped up his tail and ran across his spiny ridge. When he reached the top of Taushin’s back, he grabbed the black neck and pulled back as hard as he could.
When Taushin reared up, Frederick pricked the vulnerable spot with his blade. “Don’t move a muscle!”
Taushin froze, his head high and Jason riding his neck eight feet in the air. “Imbeciles! I am your only hope against the Benefile! My plan was proceeding perfectly, but you are ruining it. You are blinder than I am.”
“You’re not fooling anyone,” Jason growled. “The day of dragon deception is over. Just be quiet and still, or you’re dead.”
Back at the portico, Mallerin landed on Beth’s back and began clawing and biting. The other two Benefile sprayed her with ice. Edison, Captain Reed, and the other soldiers charged into the fray. Magnar joined them. Swinging blades gleamed. Wings and tails thrashed. Flames splashed against shields. Spears cracked and splintered. The other Southlands dragons launched toward the chaos. In seconds, the battle would turn into a bloodbath.
“Jason!” Frederick called. “Let’s go!”
“What about Taushin?”
“We brought the battle to the ground. It’s time for us to join it.” Frederick flexed his arm, as if ready to plunge the blade. Taushin beat his wings, shot backwards, and whipped his neck, flinging Jason off.
Jason rolled and sat up. Frederick grabbed Jason’s wrist and hoisted him to his feet. As they ran, Taushin flew toward the battle. Just as he slammed into the turmoil, the other dragons crashed in as well.
A light flashed in the sky, and a loud cry sounded. “Stop! Cease your fighting!”
Every swinging arm, beating wing, and snapping jaw fell limp. Heads angled toward the light, eyes wide. Exodus floated toward them from the direction of the barrier wall, still high but descending. Cassabrie stood within on the curved floor, her arms and cloak spread. Streams of light flowed from her eyes, though her face seemed strained, labored.
As she drew nearer to the crowd, she slowed. Jason jogged alongside, his scabbard whipping his leg. Humans and dragons alike squinted, some lifting arms or wings to block the brilliant glow. Blood flowed from cuts and gashes, but no one seemed to notice.
Jason slowed his pace to stay abreast of the decelerating star. “Is something wrong?”
“Something is pulling me, drawing me away.” Cassabrie’s voice was strained, as if she were carrying a heavy load. “The force is almost irresistible.”
“Can I help?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure what’s causing it.”
“I might know. Maybe I should try —”
“Oh! I think I have it under control now.” Exodus stopped a few paces from the edge of the battleground. Cassabrie lowered her arms, her face pain-streaked. Sighing, she looked at Jason. “So it has come to this? All-out war?”
“Unfortunately.” Jason let his gaze pass across the scene. Dragons sat in various positions in a haphazard line from the bottom of the portico’s western stairway westward about a hundred paces. Soldiers stood in their midst. With swords and spears drawn and clutched stiffly, they looked like life-sized toys. Edison and Frederick stood back to back. Although blood trickled from a cut on Frederick’s cheek, they both seemed healthy. Some dead slaves lay here and there, while most of the living stayed under the portico roof. They, including Benjamin, stared without moving.
“Why am I not hypnotized?” Jason asked.
“You were. I released you immediately.”
Taushin shuffled out from the crowd, his body teetering. “I see you, Starlighter. My mother has her gaze fixed on you.” He stopped next to Jason and settled on his haunches. “What do you intend to do?”
“I am the liberator.” Cassabrie grimaced, and a grunt blended with her words. “I assume you know what that means.”
“I do, and I also know what is causing your struggle. If you will release my mother so that I will have mobile eyes, I will tell you so that you may fight it more effectively.”
“So you can escape the battle like a coward,” Jason said. “You plan to fly to a hiding place.”
“The human who attacks a blind enemy speaks against cowardice. Your hypocrisy astounds me.” Taushin cast his eyebeams on Cassabrie. “I need you to release my mother.”
Cassabrie batted through the beams. “You have no influence over me. I renounced my alliance with darkness long ago.”
“Then hear my appeal. I need my mother’s vision and power so that we can destroy the Benefile while they are entranced. It is our only hope of survival. They will destroy me and all the other Southlands dragons, and when they learn that all the humans are infected, they will destroy them as well.”
“Now who is the hypocrite?” Cassabrie asked. “Would you slaughter the Benefile while they are unable to defend themselves?”
Taushin dipped his head. “I grant your point, but I will choose hypocrisy over annihilation.”
“Cassabrie”—Jason pulled the wrapped finger from his pocket—”there’s a cure to the disease. If we can make more, the Benefile won’t kill us. All we need is stardrop material. We have the immune genetics.”
She drew Exodus closer and looked at his hand. “You have immune genetics in that cloth?”
Jason opened it over his palm, revealing the blood-smeared finger. “Yes.”
Cassabrie lifted her hand and looked at the gap in her fingers. “Your search for a cure is misguided. You are masking the symptoms but not killing the disease. It will return.”
“But it could buy us some time. Fewer people will die, and maybe the Benefile won’t know the difference.”
“Fear neither death nor the Benefile. Mercy will triumph over both.”
Exodus began drawing away. Cassabrie pushed against the forward wall, slowing its motion, but it continued backing up.
“Release Mallerin!” Taushin shouted. “We must destroy the Benefile or we all will perish!”
Jason pushed the finger back into his pocket. “If you release her, I’ll need protection! Give me Magnar and my father and brother!”
Her eyes wide, Cassabrie waved her arms. “I release you all!” Then she lifted higher.
Jason leaped and grasped for Exodus. His fingers dug into the membrane but quickly slipped away, leaving his hands filled with scalding radiance.
As he molded the particles into a big ball, the battlers shook their heads as if waking from a deep sleep.
Taushin shouted, “Mother! We must take Jason to Arxad’s cave!”
Mallerin leaped into the air, grabbed Jason’s tunic with her back claws, and lifted him into the air. Taushin joined them and flew at Jason’s side.
Still molding the ball, Jason glared at him. “What are you up to now?”
“Saving your people and foiling the Benefile.”
“For what purpose? There must be something in it for you.”
“There is, but I need not tell you. Just be assured that I will help you make and deliver the medicine. As you told Cassabrie, at least this will buy you some time.”
His hands burning terribly, Jason twisted and looked back. The battle continued, but the low angle allowed only a view from the side. Above the portico, Cassabrie pushed Exodus toward the north, but the Reflections Crystal pulled her back toward the dome room.
Jason gritted his tee
th. If only he could help Cassabrie break free. Yet, that was impossible. She would have to fight that battle herself. Fortunately, she had the power to do so.
As Mallerin flew close to Arxad’s cave, she dropped Jason off in front of the entrance, then swerved to avoid it. Hitting the ground running, Jason let his momentum carry him inside. A lantern sat on a tabletop, creating a pair of silhouettes on the table’s surface in the shape of a human and a dragon.
Jason dashed to the table and held out his hands. The radiance lit up the surrounding faces — Elyssa and Fellina. “Quick!” Jason shouted. “There’s a container in my trousers pocket. Get it out!”
“The crucible?” Elyssa yanked it from his pocket and set it on the table. Jason balanced the ball on top.
“Stories later!” Jason blew on one hand while pulling the cloth from his tunic pocket. He laid it out on the table and peeled the sticky material from the finger. “Now you should have all the ingredients. When you make the medicine, bring it to the Zodiac. My father and brother are in mortal combat, so I have to go.”
When he turned to leave, Elyssa grabbed his wrist. “Tibber is dead.”
Jason stared at her. A huge lump swelled in his throat.
“Tibber? Dead?”
Her lips trembling, she nodded. “He died a hero.” Her voice pitched higher. “He saved Fellina’s life.”
Jason looked at Fellina. With his throat so tight, he couldn’t squeeze out a word.
“It is true,” Fellina said. “Magnar would not let me join the battle because of my open wound, but Elyssa has stitched me quite well, so I will now fight in Tibalt’s name.”
Jason swallowed, loosening his throat. “So where is his body?”
“Don’t worry. We have someone guarding him.” Elyssa pulled Jason into her arms and whispered into his ear. “Don’t forget our promise. We all go home together, dead or alive. And you know what to do with the medallion.”
Heat from her medallion radiated across his skin and into the recent incision. Warmth flowed, similar to the warmth Cassabrie brought when she dwelt within. Yet this sensation was fuller, more luxuriant, a message of love and healing. Every ache and pain in his body eased.
He pulled back, keeping a hold on her hand. “I will honor the promise, and that medallion will be around your neck when I walk down the wedding aisle.”
Tears welling, Elyssa kissed him on the cheek and stepped back. “Go get ‘em, warrior!”
Jason spun in place and ran from the cave, his sword again slapping his leg. The sounds of battle rolled down the rise—grunts, growls, screams, and clashing of metal on scales. In a matter of moments, he would be battling for his life and for the lives of his family and newfound friends.
Drawing his sword, he continued running. And that’s exactly what I came here to do.
Twenty-One
Koren stared at the open ceiling. Surely Taushin would show up soon. Even if Fellina was badly hurt, what could Taushin and Mallerin do to help her? Bring her to the Zodiac? She looked at Randall, still unconscious at her side. If only he would wake up and show some sign that he wasn’t near death. At least she wouldn’t worry about him so much.
She shifted her gaze to the hidden door Jason and Deference had gone through. Deference should have returned by now. Only she could bring the key, but she had to wait for Taushin to arrive first. Once he was convinced that Jason had escaped on his own, Deference could slip the key to her. But when would everyone show up? With all the terrible noises outside, maybe it would take a long time.
A light glimmered above. High in the sky, Exodus descended.
Koren rose to her knees. Taushin wasn’t here yet to hatch his plan. Maybe she could secretly warn Cassabrie before he arrived.
Her heart pounding, she looked again at Exodus. The star flew straight toward the dome room. Inside, Cassabrie shoved frantically against the wall to her right, as if trying to redirect its course.
As Exodus continued downward, the Reflections Crystal pulsed wildly. A shaft of light shot out from the sphere and attached to the star, like a radiant spear stabbing a flying dragon. As if pulled by the beam, Exodus drew closer and closer. Cassabrie pounded on the star’s back wall but to no avail. Finally, Exodus rested on top of the crystal, wobbling for a moment before settling in a perfectly balanced position, a large sphere atop a smaller one.
The Reflections Crystal slowly grew brighter, while Exodus dimmed at the same rate. Cassabrie fell to her knees and covered the connection point with her hands, white radiance streaming from her eyes. “Don’t drain the star!” she shouted. “I need its energy!”
Koren lunged, but the chains held fast. “Cassabrie! Is there any way I can help?”
“Koren?” Cassabrie stared at her. “Are you all right?”
She jerked at a chain. “I’m trapped.”
Cassabrie’s eyebeams penetrated the star’s membrane and washed across Koren’s face. “Who put you in chains?”
“I did it myself to fool Taushin, but I have access to a key.” Koren shouted toward the hidden door. “Deference! Where are you?”
“Deference is here?” Cassabrie shook her head and refocused on the connection point between the two spheres. “Never mind. I need some kind of plug to stop Exodus from draining into the Reflections Crystal. Long ago, the crystal was beneath the floor of the star chamber in the Northlands, so there were rocks between it and Exodus. That barrier made the energy drainage too slow to notice.”
“What do you need? A rock? A board?”
“Almost anything solid.” Cassabrie jumped up and threw herself against the inner wall. Exodus vibrated slightly but didn’t budge. Cassabrie slid on her back down to the star’s floor and sighed. “If you have any ideas, I’m listening. Once Exodus is drained, it will die, and I will die with it.”
Koren jerked both chains as hard as she could. The links rang, but the manacles just tore at her wrists. The hooks embedded in the floor creaked but wouldn’t give way. The granite tiles were too strong. “I’m so sorry, Cassabrie. I did this so Jason could get away. I thought I would have access to the key, but Deference isn’t here to get it for me.”
“How strange that I didn’t know this.” Cassabrie knelt again at the connection point and touched the inner membrane. “Maybe the Reflections Crystal is not allowing the events in here to reach me. It seems to absorb various kinds of energy, so the tales are not exiting this room.”
Koren rose to her knees and leaned as close as she could. With Exodus taking up half of the dome room, the outer wall was only a few paces away. “Taushin probably knows you can’t see what he’s been plotting here. He wants to trap you and use you to heal the slaves. I think he wants to influence you to give him parts of your body.”
Cassabrie furrowed her brow. “Parts of my body? What makes you think Taushin wants that?”
“To make more medicine to heal the slaves. He thinks I will give myself over to him if more than half the slaves are healed. He wants me to be his eyes.”
Cassabrie shoved the wall with her hands to no avail. “Well, it seems that the trap has already been sprung, but don’t fool yourself. He has no desire to use my body parts to help the slaves. He simply wants vision and power, and he is skillfully filling your ears with lies and guiding events in hopes that one of us will be persuaded to give in.”
“His schemes will fail. I won’t be persuaded.”
Cassabrie’s pained expression returned. “Are you listening to yourself? You put your own wrists in manacles! Koren, how many more times are you going to enslave yourself? You think you won’t be persuaded to join the darkness, but your bonds say otherwise.”
Koren jerked a chain again, but the effort brought only more pain. “I provided for a key. It’s just not here yet. My reason for locking myself in this room was to explain Jason’s escape and to be sure I could warn you about Taushin’s plot.”
“I appreciate your loving motivations, but don’t expect to outwit a master deceiver by playing his game.??
? Cassabrie nodded toward the exit doorway. “Taushin knows Jason is free, and he has not come here to see how or why he escaped. He has thrown a net over you by giving you the idea that he wants to hurt me. Even if you were not in chains, he knows you would not leave. He is using your love against you. Such is his devilry.”
Koren shook her chains. “Then all of this was a waste!”
“Not necessarily.” Cassabrie’s voice weakened to a whisper. “Your confinement might be just what I need.”
“What you need? How?”
Cassabrie laid herself down in a curl, her eyes still on Koren. “When mercy is offered to the many, and the one who is supposed to deliver it fails to act, we never know when or if another offer will come. Invitations are precious.” She closed her eyes and said no more.
“Cassabrie!” Koren lunged, but the chains again held her in place. “What do you mean? Am I supposed to deliver the mercy? How can I do it while in chains?”
Koren closed her eyes and slapped her hand against the floor. How much more frustrating could it get? She locked herself here to warn and protect Cassabrie, and now Cassabrie was dying and the chains and manacles kept her from helping at all.
“Koren?”
Koren looked toward the voice. “Yes?”
Deference appeared at the doorway to the main entry corridor. “I’m here. Sorry about the delay. Jason needed me, and it took longer to crawl along the wall than I thought it would.”
“Do you have the key?”
As Deference approached, she pointed at the hidden door. “It’s still where Jason hid it. I’ll get it now.”
“No. Wait.” Koren nodded toward at the trunk. “The lid to that trunk is loose. Can you move it?”
Deference glided to the trunk and set her fingers under the lid. “A little at a time, I think. It has to be lighter than Randall.”
“We don’t have much time. Cassabrie is dying. Someone has to push the lid between Exodus and the Reflections Crystal, or maybe even knock Exodus away.”
“I’ll try,” Deference said, “but the crystal draws me toward it. I think it might swallow me if I get too close.” As she stood in place, she slowly faded away.