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Arion, Lord of Atlantis
Damsels and Dragons
The new residents of the ancient city of Mu, royal capitol of the vast Atlantean Empire, were comfortable with the leather winged dragons that regularly patrolled their community. The ten Dragon-Riders were looked up to by the children who admired their green and gold uniforms and more than one adult felt more passionately about their leader the golden haired Glynda or the youngest Rider the handsome youth called Gavanon.
However, that level of security changed abruptly one morning when the heroic squadron deviated from their normal routine by swooping low over the busy central market place and igniting the many stands and booths with blasts of dragon fire! "Deedra's Chain! They've gone wild!" gasped Glynda as she fought to turn her steed's long reptilian head. The creature ignored her skillful touch as the beautiful woman struggled to stop the terrible attack!
Gavanon grunted as he pulled back on the reins with all of his might. The young man had a real rapport with his steed but that connection was broken on this day as he fought to do more than keep his balance on its broad and scaly back!
Glynda shouted orders as she saw all of her fellow Riders were suffering from the same problem! The Dragons had rebelled and nothing the humans could do could stop their violent attack on those below! "Seri! Gavanon! Demetrios! Jump off now! You are lower than the rest of us! Find Arion! His power alone may tame these beasts gone mad!"
As Glynda saw her followers safely leap down to a roof below their dragons, she frowned as the tenth Rider suddenly rose up before her and gazed at the scene with eyes of a gleaming red! "Mistress Glynda! Your days of dominating usss have ended! Now we ssshall ssshow our true natures and the age of humansss shall cease to exist!" he hissed in a serpentine manner.
Glynda saw the brown haired and bearded man called Thirion was not bothering to even touch the reins on his dragon as it obeyed his slightest movement. He had always been strange and never associated with the other Riders during their time off. Now, it appeared as if Thirion might not even be fully human! He drew out an ornate sword and raised it over his head. "By the power of the Dragonsword I will raze this city to ashes and then rebuild it as a shrine for the Shadow lords!" he shouted.
Glynda gasped in surprise. She knew the Shadow lords were a mysterious group of other-dimensional beings that had entered the world from some darker realm and now they sought to conquer the entire world. Arion himself had explained that they had already driven the known seven gods and goddess into flight or had even killed them. Clearly, their attack on Atlantis had begun all too soon!
She gazed down at the streets below her as Thirion leveled the sword at her chest and a burst of fire erupted directly in her path. She rolled off the back of the dragon and plunged to the streets below. It was better to risk death by impact than to be burned alive!
Neither fate befell the golden rider as a bright blue platform of magical energy suddenly appeared to stop her fall and lower her and the rest of the falling riders to safety.
She sighed with relief as the creator of the platform flew into sight. He was a young man in blue and red with long auburn hair and a determined manner. His regal nobility contained a tinge of arrogance but he lived up to his own self-image by working wonders with apparent ease. He was the Empire's High Mage Arion and he was not willing to let his people fall to the infernal power of the shadow lords! "Do not worry, Glynda. I will calm those beasts or end their rampage!" he vowed as he flew higher and drew closer to the soaring dragons.
Glynda nodded and watched as Arion followed the ten dragons away from the heart of Mu. She wondered how even Arion could stop ten dragons and their dark overlord but then again, she also wondered how anyone but Arion could achieve such a feat!
***
Lt. Wynnde of the Khewanna-te tribe would have had complete faith in Arion's ability to handle the dragons but then Wynnde was devoted to Arion and owed his very life to the Mage's power. Now, the tall and powerfully built Wynnde owed his recovery of both mental and physical health to another enigmatic being. She had appeared in his sick room and healed him with a kiss. Her beauty was as evident as her amazing powers.
She had long blonde hair and wore a two piece white outfit that left her back, stomach, and legs bare. She spoke with a majestic assurance that was equaled by the confidence with which she had magically spirited Wynnde away from Mu itself.
"Milady, I know nothing of you except that you restored me to myself and for that I thank you sincerely. Still, I must have answers to the questions that plague my now restored mind. Who are you? Where have you taken us? Why did you heal me?" he asked.
She gazed up at the big man with eyes of clear blue and she smiled. "Wynnde, I will satisfy you but in my own time. For now, surely you trust me, do you not?" she said.
He nodded slowly and said, "I do. I know not what matter of being you are or what purpose you seek to achieve but I do trust you!"
She said, "Good. That is how it should be since we are going on a quest that will force us to act together in total unison and complete concord!"
Wynnde said, "These mountains that surround us are unlike any I have known in my travels. Can you tell me where we are?"
She nodded and said, "This mountain range is called the Dragon's Teeth and that name arose out of the simple truth that here be dragons!"
He gripped his broadsword and said, "Dragons? You've brought me here to slay dragons?"
She raised one eyebrow in amusement and replied, "Nay! I've brought you to do something more difficult still. I've brought you to save the soul of a dragon!" Wynnde gazed down at her with stunned amazement but nonetheless he followed where she led as they began to climb the steep cliffs around them.
***
Meanwhile, Arion's pursuit of the dragons had taken him across the city and near the gates of Mu. He noticed the creatures were preparing for some type of action. They did not leave the city limits but they flew higher and then turned to line up before him in a battle formation. The dragons used by the riders are not sophisticated creatures with cunning minds. Yet, clearly they are being led by a human intellect. Thirion's boast that he serves the Shadow lords told me all I needed to know to identify that evil mind. The witless dolt must be in thrall to my new enemies! he thought.
He casually shielded himself for a burst of dragon fire and then he confronted the mocking Thirion. "You would sell your self to invaders from beyond mortal realms in exchange for their promises of personal power? How base a motive for one entrusted to defend noble Atlantis!" he said.
Thirion spun his ornate sword around and around in one hand and then brought it down until the blade was in front of his face. His eyes gleamed an inhuman red and he spoke in the sibilant manner of a serpent. "You are naïve, Mage! I come from realms beyond this one. I have witnessed much that even you could never comprehend. Then, again, why should I try to justify myself to you when my brethren will soon feast 'pon your charred and broken body?"
He laughed as the dragons charged forward from every direction to kill the brave Mage of Atlantis. That laughter died in his throat when his army suddenly found itself alone. "Bah! He fled through sssome ssspell!" hissed Thirion. He turned around and dismounted from his own dragon in order to search the terrain on foot. There were places a dragon could no go and the winding streets and narrow alleyways made a search on foot more practical.
Thirion had barely entered the nearest alley when he was bodily tackled and hurled to the ground. Arion had attacked him physically and the dragon rider had not expected such a means of combat from the celebrated mage. "A spell of concealment left your pets confused and made you all too vulnerable!" declared Arion as he fought with the bearded warrior.
Thiron's own attack was fierce and overpowering. Arion had mastered many elements of physical combat but he was not in the same class as the sinister Thirion. "You are clever! My pets can't reach us here but then you knew that all along, didn't you? The Shadow lords were wrong to view you with such disdain!" he said.
Arion ducked as a swinging arch of the ornate sword barely missed him. He raised one hand and dazzling sparks exploded in the air before them. Thirion reeled backward as his eyes watered and he fought to find his foe as the world grew ever dimmer around him.
"You've lost your hiss. Could it be your masters have yet to fully favor you with their tainted gifts?" said a taunting Arion. He reached out and grabbed the hilt of the sword as Thirion staggered backward under his magical assault.
No sooner had Arion touched the sword than he screamed as magical lightning ran along his arm. He released the sword and rubbed at his arm as he drew back. "Caculha! Your weapon is accursed! Curse me for a blind fool for not seeing that all along! That sword is more master than you are!" he said.
Thirion snarled in a monstrous manner and then retrieved his fallen blade. "The Dragonsword gave me the power to control the other dragons. I came to your world for that purpose. I came to usher in the Age of the Shadow lords!" he said. He screamed in anger and then ran directly at Arion.
Arion darted aside but he was too slow and the bigger warrior crashed into him and swept him backward out of the alley. As soon as Arion came into view again the dragons came closer and he hurled himself away as claws descended to snatch and tear at his back. This Thirion is a man possessed in the literal sense! I think his blade is alive in some manner! Still, it little matters unless I can subdue his army before they close in upon me! he thought.
Arion was used to having to think on his feet. What he lacked in physical agility, he more than made up for when it came to dexterity and his hands wove an intricate pattern of magical glyphs and wards as his strong will power enabled him to tap into the source of Thirion's weird power.
The dragons turned and flew away from the scene of battle as Thirion scowled in concern and then shouted in an increasingly mad tone. "You've bewitched my brethren! You've done something to them! What have you done? Tell me or I will kill you on the spot!" he said through clinched teeth.
Arion smiled confidently and said, "I? I did nothing. Twas your voice, your mind that ordered them away!"
Thirion said, "You used your wizardry to mimic my mental orders! They thought it was me that gave them that command! Your mind is subtle. You would make a fine dragon!"
Arion laughed bitterly and said, "Aye? High praise from one who is apparently more dragon than man! That foul sword robbed you of your humanity, did it not?"
Thirion said, "Say rather that the Dragonsword freed me from the limitations of frail mankind!" He convulsed as if in pain and then slowly his body began to change shape. His body elongated and ridges began to run across his back and scalp. Scales of iridescent hues covered his skin and he transformed from man to dragon!
Arion inhaled sharply. "Caculha! It is worse than I imagined! He is not just a pawn of the sword. He is bodily linked to that dire weapon!"
Thrion hissed and said, "Aye! The Dragonsword and I share a soul. We share all things. We defend one another and together we serve the Shadow lords!"
Arion smiled grimly. "Then, I will have no choice but to stop you, be you willing instrument of evil or mindless pawn!" He concentrated and a sphere of magical energy formed around the dragon. He knew it would not hold him for long but he never intended to contain Thirion for a long time. He merely entrapped him and then prepared to work a more complex enchantment.
Arion sighed as he started to work on a spell that he knew would tax even his resources to their limit. "Caculha give me strength! If I am ever to learn what became of the gods and goddesses of our world then I must be rid of their usurpers. Thus, I begin that quest even as I speak!" he said.
His mind reached out and made contact with the dragon. He reeled back in disgust as images from a lifetime of brutality and malice assailed his mind. Still, he made his link secure and he watched the scenes taken directly from the mind of his inhuman enemy.
"Thirion was once a man. He was a good warrior and he was duped by higher beings who served the Balance itself into destroying one of their enemies. That enemy was a slave to Chaos or Shadow. In ridding that world of the Shadow, Thirion became bonded to his magical blade in which a dragon's soul lay coiled and ready to strike. He had been manipulated by those who sought good ends through devious tactics and thus, he rebelled against them and left his realm. He sought only freedom but with every moment in which he was away from their benign magic, he fell deeper under the siren song of the dragon in the sword. Finally, the Shadow lords gained a prize more precious to them than the world they had lost. They acquired Thirion himself as their champion and sought to use him to conquer other realms."
He shook his head and said, "That in turn led them here. I could end his life but rather will I seek to free him from his curse. To do any less would brand me as no better than the dark forces he serves!" Arion allowed the magic to envelop him and then he stepped miraculously inside the world within the Dragonsword.
***
Wynnde was engaged in a struggle all his own as he fought his way through the snowstorm that raged across the mountains as he and his female companion made their way ever higher. "Milady, what is the goal we seek? Is the cavern above us?" he asked.
She said, "That cavern is indeed our goal since any journey must begin with but a single step!"
Wynnde shook his head and cleared the way as he tried to find some answers to his guide's enigmatic words. This lady gave me back my wits yet what good are they when her every word is a twisting and turning mire through which I am blindly wandering! he thought.
He shoved her down when his keen ears caught the whizzing sound of an arrow. Indeed, arrows thudded down around them as Wynnde shielded the blonde woman and sought to spot the archers who were bent on stopping their ascent.
He tried to see through the swirling snow and he did make out the vague shapes of a few figures who scrambled along the rocks and called to each other in strident tones. Beast men! The Sub men are here! These rocky cliffs must shelter them. While Arion made peace with one such tribe, every clan lives by laws all their own and this group wants us dead! he thought.
He spoke hurriedly and tones of command. In battle, the mild mannered guardsman could assume a bolder manner. He was fearless and he was capable and he knew these traits could serve him well in perilous times. "Stay down! I will take care of them!" he said.
He darted forward and plunged off the ridge to roll to his feet on a lower slope. He jumped across a narrow chasm and found himself looking down upon the tribe of beastmen. They were clad in fur cloaks and possessed the harsh features and hairy forms common to their kind.
Wynnde's shadow fell across them as he waited for them to turn and look up before he dropped down amongst them and lashed out with his large broadsword. He brought the weapon down across the chest of one rugged warrior and as he yelled out in pain, Wynnde smashed him across the head with the hilt.
He shoved the warrior into his allies and made use of the shield his burly body offered to move closer and take aim with his own hastily drawn crossbow. Two skillful shots left his foes dead at his feet and he sighed as he took stock of the situation. A waste of life but then what can I expect on a quest without any reason or rhyme! he thought.
He rejoined his guide and she smiled at him with beneficent warmth. She retained the same strangely calm manner in spite of their ordeal and she seemed as content to stand in the middle of a blizzard on the side of a rough and deadly mountain range as other women would be to recline on a divan in a palace. "Well done, good Wynnde! Now, shall we continue onward? It grows dark and we must ever work while light remains!" she announced.
He nodded and they continued up the slope and soon reached the cavern itself. "The dragon you spoke of lives inside that cavern?" he asked.
She shook her head and pushed one blonde strand of hair away from her blue eyes. "No. That cavern is merely the portal through which we will find the means by which you will locate that dragon!" she said.
Wynnde nodded and plunged into the dark opening of the cave. He quickly noticed a strong smell that permeated the cavern and he tried to recognize the scent. A hulking creature with black fur all over its body roared in anger and charged forward to tackle him.
Some type of troll! I little expected to find this kind of opposition! he thought as he reached out and grasped the creature's shaggy arms and pried its claws away from his throat. He strained and slowly succeeded in forcing it away from him. He turned to where the blonde guide stood watching the battle and he said, "My sword!"
She shrugged demurely and said, "I fear I may not help you with ought save prayer!"
Wynnde had no time to react to her strange comment since the troll was back on its feet and headed for him. He frowned as it started to approach the woman but veered off as if repelled by some unseen force. Wynnde used that time to grab his own blade and he managed to swing it up and across the path of the maddened creature.
The troll impaled itself on the blade and ripped it from Wynnde's grasp as he slammed into him and fell out of the cave and down the mountain.
Wynnde said, "Are you hurt? Why did you refuse to give me my blade? My delay has cost me that sword!"
She stared up at him with wide blue eyes and sighed sadly. "Wynnde, I am forbidden to act directly. Just as you live by a code of honor so am I bound to do nothing violent. I may heal and guide and instruct but that is all!"
Wynnde said, "I respect your values. I wish you had made them clear to me before I was left weaponless against the troll!"
She laughed softly and said, "Gentle Wynnde! I do owe you answers. I will start with my name. I am known as the Lady Anna."
He bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement and said, "Very well, Lady Anna. Now, where do we go? The cavern holds no other unexpected guests I hope!"
She said, "It holds something infinitely superior but even more deadly than occupants. It holds possibilities!"
Wynnde sighed and wished he had developed more of a fondness for abstract philosophical concept! It was not the last time he would feel that way!
***
Back in the city of Mu, Arion's allies were facing a threat of their own, one of the dragons dispersed by Arion's mental command, had gone wild and was flying aimless over the city and creating panic in its wake.
Queen T'Gallah grunted in frustration as she saw the winged predator high overhead. She was not a typical aristocratic monarch. She had spent years among a barbarian tribe beyond the Empire's borders and she possessed a rough and ready brawling, bawdy manner that left some courtiers aghast. She wore a leopard skinned wrap around her hips and a copper colored breastplate across her chest. She fingered a long spear and then hurled it skyward from the vantage point of a balcony outside the palace.
The spear sliced through the dragon's left wing and the beast crashed down to the ground. She yelled in triumph as her guardsmen rushed out to finish off the crazed creature. "Majesty, you have grounded the beast! Now, perhaps, you will turn your attention to some diplomatic matters and allow the guardsmen to finish your noble work!" said Wing.
Wing was a small man in green who served loyally as royal advisor. He spent more time than even he liked to admit in a ceaseless effort to get his queen to act more like a demure lady and not a two fisted fighter!
She laughed loudly and slapped him on the back so hard that he staggered forward a step or two. "Well, Wing, I will heed your sound advice. What is the matter that so concerns you?" she asked.
He smiled and said, "Queen T'Gallah, as you know your late father ruled the Empire from the lost City of the Golden Gate but he also had loyal vassals in place in the other cities. While Arion led us to reclaim long abandoned Mu to replace our lost home, you still have to find trusted administration for the city of Thamuz!"
She nodded sadly and said, "My late brother was a weakling but he did rule Thamuz. I suppose I must find someone to perform in a royal capacity for me. I even wondered about our lost city itself. That sunken giant of a city is now nothing more than a vast sea or sorts. Could a type of floating government be established there upon those waters?"
Wing's eyes widened as he contemplated the possibilities. "My Queen! I never imagined such a thing. A ship or barge large enough to support a mobile government could indeed be based there and reduce the damage done to our commerce and trade by the loss of the City!" he said.
Queen T'Gallah tried to lose herself in business of Empire since her heart ached for Wynnde. Due to Lady Anna's enchantment, no one realized he had left the sick ward and not even his lover had been able to see through the illusion left behind by Anna's magic! She wrongly assumed the brave warrior was still trapped in the coma that had claimed him days before.
They continued their discussion while others tracked down the dragon.
***
Back in the streets of Mu, Lady Chian and Owyns raced through the scattering crowds and tried to reach the fallen dragon before it could do more damage.
Owyns was a lithe woman with delicate features beneath a row of jagged bangs. Her hair was bright red and she wore a sleeveless top of black leather that matched her pants of the same fabric and hue. She moved swiftly and tirelessly as befitted a member of her tribe of nomads. "Ye know life here in the city is never dull! I rather like the challenges of livin' among such civilized folks!" she said with a mocking smile.
Lady Chian, a petite but deadly woman from the Hoshan region, failed to smile back at the other warrior woman, but she nodded in agreement. "True! No doubt your life in the outlands was tame compared to this!" she said. She was the Captain of the Royal Guards and as such she worked closely with Queen T'Gallah, Lt. Wynnde, and most of all with Arion. She and Arion were lovers and she longed to see him safely returned to the city. She knew he was up to facing any threat but she preferred to be by his side when he did so
She spotted the dragon and nodded in approval. "The beast is injured. Let's finish it off swiftly. That would be a kindness to the creature as well as a necessary precaution!" she said.
Owyns raised her own sword and said, "Well, never let it be said that I'm not in favor of mercy to dumb animals!" She rolled forward and rose up directly beneath the dragon's left side wing. A skillful slice of her sword removed the wing entirely as she cut along the line of T'Gallah's spear thrust. She flipped out of reach of the angry dragon as Lady Chian brought her own sword and a small dagger into play.
The two women managed to dodge the dragon's claws and flames in a ballet of precision and skill. Neither of them said much as they grimly and relentlessly attacked the dragon. It roared and lunged forward to catch Owyns with the side of its massive and sinewy body.
She cried out and cursed as she slid down beneath its raised claw. Before Lady Chian could get to her ally's side, a white dragon dropped out of sky and hurled the wounded dragon away from the women.
Lady Chian smiled in pleasure as the same dragon slammed the wild beast into the walls nearby and held it down as Chian delivered a final killing thrust.
"Mara! You arrived in the nick of time!" she said as the white dragon changed into a pretty girl with platinum blonde hair and a impish grin.
Mara said, "Yeah? I'm glad I got here in time! Visiting the old home town of Thamuz was kinda sad and empty. With my father gone, there's nothing left for me there but memories!"
Owyns said, "My thanks to ye, Mara! You are one dragon that is a welcome sight to these two eyes!"
Mara said, "I heard the dragons went crazy! You don't think they are all shape shifters too like me…and Dharel?" She referred to a musician whose soothing manner had seduced her long enough for the cult he belonged to to take over her mind. That cult had been routed by Arion and the shape changing Dharel had died at Wynnde's hands.
Lady Chian draped one arm over the girl's shoulders and said, "No, Mara! I think that nightmare is behind us. Arion will tell us more when he returns!"
Mara said, "When he returns? Why don't we go find him? He may need us!"
Chian nodded and said, "You make sense, girl! Let's do just that! Arion may be more than mortal but he is still my beloved and I would gladly risk all for him!"
Mara nodded and thought to herself. You don't know it and I'm trying to hide it from you, but I feel the same way! Ever since Arion freed me from the cult and our minds met in that telepathic bond, I've been crazy about him!
They hurried through the city in search of the missing Mage.
***
Even as Arion and Wynnde were involved in desperate missions, one of their new found allies was fighting for his life as well. His name was Valcan or Claw and the situation was nothing new to him! The brawny warrior had long black hair, a reddish tan, and most striking of all, a gauntlet of red that covered one of his hands.
None of these details mattered to the gang of thugs who had jumped him outside a tavern in the city of Thamuz. The brigands were far more concerned with simply staying alive as they realized Claw was a force to be reckoned with!
He scowled and swung his sword Moonthorn in a spinning arc that sliced open three of the thugs before they could even reach him with their own drawn swords. He grunted and jumped forward to knock another blade out of a warrior's outstretched hand before ramming his shoulder into the man's stomach.
He hefted the man over his head and hurled him into his allies before stopping to glanced around and take stock of the situation. "By the Balance, a man can not walk the streets these days without running afoul of a band of rats! Luckily, I am carrying my own brand of pest control!" he said.
A bald man with a jagged scar across his face shouted, "Jest while you may, barbarian! What you carry makes you a target! We want that fine blade of yours! It will fetch a pretty price!"
Claw grinned slightly and said, "You want Moonthorn? Well, you shall have it to your fill!" He lunged forward and impaled the man before he could raise his own sword. With a deftness born of far too many battles, Claw withdrew his sword and blocked an attack from a fat black man.
"You are a large man to carry such a small brain! Surely, the fate that downed your allies is clear enough to teach you better sense!" scoffed Claw as he punched the man in the face and left him stunned at his feet.
Suddenly, Claw's gauntlet covered hand reached out with lightning speed and caught a tossed dagger! "What madness is this? I have not removed the gauntlet and still the infernal hand acts with a will of its own!" he muttered as he charged into the remaining three thugs and scattered them with a display of blindingly fast swordplay. He stood over the bodies and shook his head.
"What a waste of life! With the Shadow lords spreading their malice into this dimension after I drove them from my former home, these idiots little suspect the danger they are in! Every stunt like this delays me from saving their world for them!"
Claw stared at his red gauntlet and said, "I carry the demonic hand of the Shadow spawn and that makes me do things I would never do of my own free will. Still, if I can resist the urges it brings to me, I may use this cursed hand to kill the Shadow lords before they can conquer this realm. That is my vow and that is what I intend to do!"
He waited a moment and saw his elegant sword glow with a white light. "Moonthorn's light tells me I am near magic. That is good. I left Arion behind to track down the other dimensional evil his spell detected in this realm and so I shall!"
Claw stalked forward through the streets of Thamuz and ignored the stares of the curious, the fearful, and the lustful. As he made his way along the city streets, he saw an image flash before his eyes for a moment before fading away. She haunts me still! What is the meaning of this ghostly vision? Why does she plague me thusly? he thought.
He referred to a recurring dream or vision that started appearing to his waking mind when he first entered the world of Arion's Atlantis. He had been trapped and lost within a magical dimension known as the Darkworld for an indefinite amount of time. Time itself was meaningless in that weird place in which the magic of this world originated. He had entered that realm in pursuit of the Shadow lords whom he had driven out of his own world. He knew that even with his impressive resources, he might still be lost in that ever changing , multi-dimensional void had the Mage of Atlantis not brought him to this world.
He felt as if the world he had left no longer needed him since he had freed it of the Shadow lords and he had no sentimental attachment to a place he had in truth only experienced for a short time. He had been taken to yet another realm when he was an orphaned infant by powerful beings known as the lords of Light.
They had trained him to be a master of every form of combat and they had equipped him with both the magical sword Moonthorn and a red gauntlet of magic defying Orachulum which he used to suppress the evil impulses of the inhuman furred and clawed hand that had been his since birth.
He remembered the lords of Light had been manipulative and he had found himself used as a pawn in one struggle after another upon returning to his birth realm for the first time since his infancy. Thus, he carried no real love for the place and he cared little about the few differences that he had found in Atlantis and his old home.
"Home? That word is hollow to me. I've never known a home. The lords of Light were nothing more than teachers who saw me as a living weapon who could hurt their foes with power drawn from their own resources. My parents died before I could know them or the world around me. What home can there ever be for me?" he said as he brooded.
Still, once more the image came to him. She was a beautiful woman with delicate features and long, flowing silvery platinum blonde hair. Her violet eyes were expressive and soulful and her movements were graceful, alluring, and confident. She wore what would be called a bikini in another age and time. The garment was beaded with costly and rare minute gems and her translucent skirt revealed more than it covered though it reached below her thigh high silver boots. A gleaming tiara rested among her shining locks of hair. She gazed at Claw with affectionate even imploring eyes and he almost recalled something more!
A name? Her name?
"Trysannda?" he whispered.
He rubbed at his eyes and moved faster. He could not identify the woman. He had never met her and yet she seemed so real to him. Perhaps, his departure from one realm to another had driven him mad?
He stopped in his tracks as the light from his sword increased and he gazed upward at a tower that reached far above the rest of the city. "That tower contains a Shadow lord or one of their spawn. My mission is simple. I will kill them all before they can flee or triumph here. It may take me years to accomplish but I will achieve that goal!" he said.
He did not know that tower had once been occupied by one who hated Arion like no other. He did not know that mad mage had used many such towers during his 100,000 years of tyranny and evil. In truth, Claw, being Claw, did not care!
***
Wynnde and Lady Anna had penetrated deep into the cavern and the blonde woman had indicated that they should stop for a moment. "Wyynde, this may appear to be an empty cavern devoid of life or purpose; however, in truth a great magical power is at work to create exactly that impression. I wager yon troll never knew his shelter from winter storms housed a world of possibilities!" she said.
Wynnde nodded and replied, "You said as much before, Lady Anna. Now, could you please share some of those possibilities with me?"
She laughed and placed one small, dainty hand on Wynnde's brawny arm as she said, "Oh Wynnde, you do amuse me! I can say no more. What will happen next is entirely up to the one who governs this portal!"
Wynnde frowned as he searched around the cavern to find anything however small that could serve as a portal. He saw nothing and yet he expected that to be the case. Nothing had been easy or clear since Lady Anna had entered his life.
They waited for what seemed to be hours but might have been mere minutes and then everything altered. "By the Seven! What is this place?" whispered Wynnde as he found himself alone in a new and startlingly different place. No longer did bare cavern walls surround him. Instead, he saw an wide open expanse with a blue sky above and a gentle breeze wafting over him. There were trees and wildlife and birds and no sign of the confined cavern of before. Neither could Lady Anna be seen.
Wynnde scowled even as he admired the beauty of the place. He had traveled through magical means before when it the company of Arion and thus, he was not entirely confused or surprised by what had occurred. He raised his hands defensively and longed for his lost sword as a giant figure emerged from the forest to stand before him.
The dragon towered above him and sunlight gleamed off of its many golden scales. It gazed down at him with hypnotic eyes that seemed to look directly into his mind and heart. It did not make any movement of attack or flight. Obviously, the dragon felt no need for either when faced with such a puny being based on its own vast size!
Wynnde slowly reached for his crossbow and then dropped the weapon to the ground. Something inside, some warrior's instinct, something that appealed to his basic sensitive nature led him to choose not to face the dragon in any spirit of aggression. He stood his ground as the dragon came closer and the ground itself shook as it moved.
"I am Magisar! I have allowed you to enter my domain in order to test you. Should you prove worthy, you will depart again. Should you fail then you will also depart although you will be in no condition to care!"
The words echoed in his mind as the dragon's hypnotic eyes burned into him.
***
Claw had made his way into the tower without encountering any offensive force. He wondered if that was due to a lack of care on the part of the occupant or if it was merely designed to lull him off his guard. "Shalieka would call me a fool but venturing in without first determining how many foes await me but then the Warrior Princess of the Rose always had a dim view of my way of thinking. Odd, how she comes to my mind now after so long a time apart!"
He remembered Shalieka to the Rose. The female warrior had been leading her army against the Shadow lords when Claw had found himself facing the very demon whose inhuman hand had been magically grafted upon the arm of every male descendent of the ancestor who first found himself bound to the monster!
That demon's own furry arm ended in the human hand of one of Claw's ancestors and since the family curse had first come into being, the monster had vowed to find and end the life of the mortals who dared usurp his limb.
Thus, Claw had vowed to kill the monster and rid himself of the curse once and for all! The lords of Light had promised him that a victory in that battle would result in the freedom of their world from the dark forces that had plagued them for so long. Claw had readily accepted the challenge since he knew of no other way to be free of his long nightmare.
Slicing off the hand did nothing to help me. It returned and magically reattached itself to me not long afterwards! If I am to live with this curse then I will do so free of the fiends who torment me! he had thought.
Shalieka had witnessed his battle against that demon and unlike the typical woman he had encountered in his time out of the realm of Light, she neither fled from the scene nor did she express either admiration for Claw or try to betray him.
Rather, the beautiful warrior woman had lowered her large oval shield with the symbol of the Rose emblazoned upon its gleaming front. She had lowered her bloodied sword and she had gazed at both Claw and the monster with dark deep set eyes that flashed with contempt.
"Enough, your way is futile! Only a magical ritual can undo what your ancestor's flawed first spell wrought. Only I Shalieka know the proper ceremony!" she had said in her booming voice.
Claw and the purple hued demon had readily agreed to follow the terms of the ritual and in moments after the black haired warrior woman had performed the spell, the two had attacked each other with a fierceness unseen among the other combatants.
Claw had moved with the instinct of a proven hero. He had taken a dagger and sliced off the demon's human hand. That one gesture brought him victory over the demon and more importantly broke the hold the Shadow lords had on him or so he had thought. With their champion defeated and rotting in death, surely they had lost their hold on him! He was free! At long last, Valcan could be Claw no more!
Claw was suddenly celebrated as a champion, a liberator, a king if he so desired. He had heard the cheers of the army that followed the battle maiden and he allowed himself to be led into the capitol city as a hero.
He came to know Shalieka and he grew to respect her even though her acidic tongue and almost insufferable ego grated upon him at times. Their friendship never grew into anything more because only days into his time as "ruler", he came to realize that his old impulses still came to him.
The Shadow lords were gone and yet he still found that terrible hand drawing him onward to acts of violence and cruelty that were alien to his nature. He had angrily turned to Shalieka and asked her to explain how such a thing could be so and she had displayed a softer side for once. Through sorrowful eyes and a remorseful tone, she confessed the truth.
"Valcan, I led my army against the Shadow lords and yet there is something about me you do not know. It was through a pact with them that I gained that army to begin with! I rebelled against them and sought their defeat when I found myself feeling as if my life had been devoid of meaning. That was how I knew of the ritual that would allow you to slay the demon. I only drew upon knowledge that came from my former masters. You see I served them for many years before repenting of my lifestyle of death!"
He said, "I care nothing for your past. I've found betrayal at every hand all my life. What matters how you started your career since you ended it on the side of Light?"
She said, "You misunderstand me. I only knew that ritual because in the moment of battle, the words and the way came to me. It was not something I had learned before that instant. The Shadow lords themselves spoke to me and I listened. Although I had defied them to the point of leading an army against them, I still obeyed their commands."
He said, "You mean you wanted me to lose? You were setting up for defeat!"
She said, "No! I wanted you to win! I didn't even realize until much later that the Shadow lords had given me the ritual rules. It just seemed to be something that came to my mind as if I had read about it or witnessed it of old!"
Claw gripped her arm and shook her in his excitement. "What do you mean? Are you saying the Shadow lords wanted me to win? What madness is this? And yet how can it not be true when even after slaying their champion I still feel the call of the hand!" he said.
Shalieka lowered her kohl blackened eyes and said, "Valcan, they wanted you to win because they saw you as superior to the demon. They hoped to use you as their new champion! That was their goal. You were to slay the old champion and replace him when the hand took over your mind and soul!"
Claw cursed and shoved her aside as he shouted to the skies. "Curse them all! I will never bow down to them! Rather than yield to their siren call and rule this world in their dark names, I will use all my power to destroy them! I will not give them a world to rule. I will drive them out of this realm entirely!"
He had raced out of the castle and left the Warrior Princess of the Rose behind. That had been the last time he had seen her. He had used the hand to lead him to the Shadow lords hidden realm and he had vanquished them or so he had thought.
In truth, he had merely chased them out of one world and into another. Thus, he had entered the Darkworld and eventually found himself drawn here with Arion to battle them again on a new field of combat!
Now, for the first time in so long, he thought of Shalieka with a mixture of regret and a bit of affection.
She had been as much of a pawn and dupe as he had been.
He banished the memories and raced up the steep stairs of the tower.
There would be death and blood and that was fine with him!
***
In a strange world within the Dragonsword itself, Arion was battling a dragon as well! He spoke confidently as his magic flashed around him and bolts of power rained down on the coiled green dragon as he lunged up at the floating mage. "You live within this realm inside the sword and it is your malice that has turned Thirion to the service of the Shadow lords. I have little doubt that once I exorcise your foul spirit from the blade, he will be a different man!" said Arion.
The dragon roared and blasted out with an intense burst of flame.
Arion deflected the fires with a mystical shield for a moment but fell back as the dragon's power shattered the shield into fragments and then melted the wizard to ashes!
The dragon exulted in its victory and hissed, "Nothing and no one may challenge me within my own realm!" His gloating ended abruptly when magical white light penetrated his body and exploded from within. His spirit dissolved like mist and Arion came back into view.
"And yet your realm's reality is subject to change at the whim of one mightier still!" he said.
"A simple phantasmic image of my death was enough to lull you into lowering your guard! That was to be expected from one as egotistical as you were!" he said. He emerged from the sword and stood over a now tranquil Thirion. His magical containment of the warrior had been broken earlier but now the bearded man was still and seemed oddly quiet.
Arion bent over him and noticed that he was staring straight ahead with vacant eyes. "Thirion? He is not responding. I fear the dragon's destruction has left him devoid of his faculties!" he said.
"He will be fine again when we give him this!" said a voice from thin air as Lady Anna and Wynnde appeared before Arion.
"Wynnde! My friend! How is it you are well again?" gasped Arion.
Wynnde clasped hands with his friend and said, "This lady healed me and in return I helped her achieve her goal of obtaining this!" He held out a sword with an ornate hilt and carefully placed it in the hands of the staring Thirion.
Lady Anna said, "Poor Thirion! I assure you he will be well in a few moments!" Arion glanced in amazement at the newcomers and the dazed warrior called Thirion. "I would not have him go from enslavement to one dark force from another!"
The blonde smiled and said, "Arion, forgive my cryptic conduct. I am his benefactress from old!"
Wynnde shrugged and said, "Lord Arion, she speaks in riddles! I have yet to gain a direct answer from her!"
Thirion spoke and for the first time his voice sounded fully human. "She always was a mystery to me as well! Her deceptions were part of what led me to refuse to serve her cause on my own world!"
Arion said, "That sword you gave him seemed to revive him. Will he revert to his dazed condition without that blade? Have you merely exchanged one magical talisman for another?"
Lady Anna smiled and helped Thirion get to his feet. "Speak for yourself, my friend!" she said.
Thirion shook his head and said, "By the Balance, I am myself again for the first time since shortly after leaving the Isle of Battles. Lady Anna, I would not serve you before and that stubbornness led me to fall directly into the clutches of that demonic dragonsword!"
Lady Anna said, "I am to blame as well. I should have been candid with you from the start. I have regretted my actions and this quest was my way of making up for it. Will you forgive me?"
Thirion took her hand and said, "Aye! I will do so. I ask only that my own misdeeds be forgiven by these people!"
Arion said, "We do not blame you for what the dragon spirit made you do. Again, I do ask that Lady Anna explain the reason she gave you yon sword?"
Anna said, "That sword is known as Dragontear! It comes from a dragon who serves the Balance! I only acquired it since I knew it would restore you after noble Arion freed you from the thrall of the original dragon!"
Arion said, "You knew of my actions before I ventured to do them. You healed Wynnde when all my own resources failed! Just who are you, Lady Anna?"
Lady Anna said, "I embodied Order and the Balance upon a world no unlikely this one. I have come here since my own world no longer needs me and this one does!"
Thirion said, "And yet you said you came to help me? Is there no easy truth to be had from you?"
She laughed and said, "Can the truth ever be easy? Is not all of life a balance betwixt shade and light?"
Arion said, "You restored my friend and I thank you for it! Now, Thirion, can you tell me of the other dragons? Are you still in control of them?"
He said, "I may direct them via the sword Dragontear! I feel as though it will allow me to do so but will not give me the power to become a dragon as did the accursed sword you destroyed!"
Lady Anna said, "Such was my desire! Good Wynnde here earned the blade when I could not! You see Magisar the Dragon weighed Wynnde in the balance and found him to be so noble and his past suffering so great that he granted us this sword Dragontear and the purification that came with it!"
Thirion turned to Wynnde and said, "Then, surely this blade is yours and not mine!"
Wynnde shook his head. "It was my past suffering that earned the blade and thus, it is mine to do with as I choose. I gladly give it to you with the request that you use it for the good of Atlantis!"
Arion said, "Well put! I agree. Will you join our cause and continue to fight for the Empire?"
Thirion extended his hand and said, "I will! I will gladly risk life and limb to redeem myself for untold years of enslavement to that foul blade!"
Arion said, "Then this day's work was worthwhile!"
***
Lady Chian, Owyns, and Mara rushed up at that moment and greeted Arion and Wynnde with excitement and surprise in their expressions. "Arion! I am glad to see you well. I am even happier to see Wynnde back on his feet!" said Lady Chian.
Wynnde smiled and said, "I am myself again and eager to return to service!"
Mara hesitated for a minute as she gazed at up Wynnde. "Big guy, I'm happy to see you too!" she said.
He leaned closer and said, "Mara, I am glad to hear that. I am also sorry for the way I acted when I was still trapped with the instincts of an animal! I remember what I did and said as though I witnessed it all through a nightmare!"
She said, "Thanks! I guess I always knew you weren't to blame. You're just not that kinda guy!"
Owyns said, "The dragons are returning!"
Thirion said, "I've summoned them back and they will obey the commands of the dragon riders again!"
He said, "I wonder if there is still a place for me in that group?"
Arion said, "I think I might have an idea that would make you both of use to Queen T'Gallah!"
***
Meanwhile, Claw had entered the highest chamber within the Tower and he found himself facing a strange man with a palpable menace about him. He was taller than Claw and much broader than a normal man. His hair was long and black and his eyes were deep set and reptilian in appearance.
"I am Duke Wyvern! My brethren in the Shadow lords have told me about you Claw! You carry a bit of our power beneath yon red gauntlet! Many of them see you as a potential champion for our cause. I think I'd rather just kill you and roast your corpse upon yon hearth!" He gestured to where a huge fire blazed beneath a bubbling cauldron. A red liquid hissed and popped within the huge pot.
Claw said, "The only dining that will be done here will happen when I make you eat your words!" He charged forward and whirled his sword until it came down on the bigger man's arm.
"Your weapon burns me but it does nothing to serious injury me. I'm immune to most weapons and that is why I have never lost a battle. My brethren see me as a brute because I prefer simple bloodshed to their scheming. Still, I do my part for our cause and your death will prove that!" said Duke Wyvern as he simply removed Moonthorn from his arm and stepped back ward to confront Claw.
Duke Wyvern laughed and lunged for Claw. He caught him and began to crush him in a powerful embrace.
Claw struggled as he felt his feet leave the ground. He had lost any leverage that a good position might have granted him. He kicked and twisted until he had managed to pry himself free from the bigger man's grip. He connected with a series of blows but none of them slowed down his savage enemy.
"You can't harm me! No mortal can! Nothing mortal can!" roared Duke Wyvern.
Claw scowled and glanced around the room. "My weapon will not harm you but perhaps, your own foul brew will do the trick!" He removed his gauntlet and allowed the demonic furred hand to reach out and grasp Duke Wyvern by his throat. He strained for a moment and then managed to hurl the Shadow lord backward into the bubbling cauldron.
Wyvern shrieked in agony as the toxic mixture in the huge vat began to boil him. "The Dragon fire can harm me! It comes from non-mortal sources!" he screamed.
Claw ignored the heat and continued to hold the now frightening being down. By the gods! If this other-dimensional brew can kill him, then perhaps, it can free me of the curse I carry as well! he thought. He plunged his inhuman hand deeper into the red liquid and felt it begin to scorch away his monstrous hand.
The pain nearly left him senseless but he resisted the urge to quit and he kept the hand under the burning liquid until Wyvern ceased to struggle and his own hand had melted away along with the bone. He fell to his knees and gasped in pain. The room dimmed before his eyes and he passed out.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in Mu in the royal palace's medical chambers. Arion sat beside his bed and waited for him to awaken! "Valcan! By Caculha, you were out for a long time! I feared you might slumber until another Ice Age comes again!" he said.
Claw frowned and sat up rapidly as he gazed down at his red gauntlet and noticed several notable changes. "By the Seven! My gauntlet is now a hand? Someone had turned it into a fully fingered hand!"
Arion said, "That was my doing. When I realized that your inhuman hand was gone I acted swiftly to fashion a substitute. I realized the advantages a hand made completely of magic resistant Orachulum could be to you so I used my magics to craft one!"
Claw closed the fingers of the reddish hand and said, "Magic resistant? Then, this hand will give me some protection from magical beings or spells as did the gauntlet of old! Surely, that solution will fail when the spell makes the hand return again. I fear it will return if it regenerates from the wound left where I burned off the previous one!"
Arion said, "It will not return in this realm. That spell applied to you only in your native realm. As long as you do not return to that world then your infernal hand will never return!"
Claw grasped Arion's arm and said, "I did not trust you when first we met. I have been betrayed by many so called allies and I've been a pawn to other forces of both good and evil intent. I lack the words to thank you properly but I do say that I owe you greatly and will repay the debt should you ever call!"
Arion said, "You sound like you are leaving Mu? I take it you will continue your quest to hunt down all beings from the Shadow lord's realm and slay them. I intend to oppose them as well and try to locate our missing gods and goddesses but I will remain based here in the heart of the Empire!"
Claw nodded and said, "We will both serve the same cause and we will meet again, my friend!" He started to leave the room when he turned and said, "Arion, how did you find me in the tower? Was it some spell of your devising?"
Arion shook his head and said, "I did not find you. Wing told me that a woman brought you here. She seems to have departed while you were being treated."
Claw frowned as he once again saw the phantom –like image of the Lady Trysannda even as he also recalled once more Shalieka of the Rose.
I have a feeling this woman will find me again and then I will have the answers I seek! thought Claw as he walked away from the palace. He was right and his quest had just begun!