Episode Eight: Duels and Dralions
"There is no need for this." Kieme Aemonstane and Lady Nele stood face to face. The mistress of Namaia was somewhere around forty, with her straight brown hair pulled under a silver helmet. She wore armor and looked ready to draw her sword and fight at any moment. Behind the lady was a smaller figure, her face and body obscured by the black, hooded cloak she wore. Kieme and Aradel exchanged a glance, and Kieme stepped closer to Nele, the smaller girl watching her back.
"We aren't going to just let you walk in here and take over," Nele said, her voice icy.
"I don't want meaningless bloodshed," Kieme replied. "If you surrender, the Queen will not-"
Nele snorted. "Your Queen of Shadows. Does she ever emerge from these shadows from which she takes her name? Instead, she leaves you and the others like you to do her dirty work, never showing her face-"
"She has other things to concern herself with," said Kieme. "We stray from the subject. Now, I am willing to negotiate. In return for-"
"I know your idea of negotiation! Under only one condition will I not send my army against you now!"
"And what is that?" Kieme wondered.
"Sephoni, come forth." The shadowy figure behind Nele pushed back her hood and bowed stiffly to her lady.
"Yes, Lady Nele?" The armored woman nodded to her, then faced Kieme.
"You must choose a champion to face mine in a duel. If you win, Namaia is yours. If you lose, however, you must never set foot on this land again. I give you twenty-four hours to make your decision."
Sephoni pushed back her hair to reveal an ear no more Elorhan than Kreis's. She smiled and turned to follow her lady back to their camp.
*
"Where are we going?" Amercy wondered meekly.
"Kieme wants you out of danger, but she's too stupid to think of her own safety," Re muttered. "She's been lucky so far, but..."
"You know her well, then?" Gregan inquired. He seemed to be the only one unafflicted by the feeling of being a prisoner.
"For longer than I want to remember," Re groaned.
"I feel the same way," sighed Traian. Kreis thought about it but remained silent.
"She's not such a bad person, though she does have her problems," commented Re. "My name is Re Sakarta, by the way. May I ask whom you might be?"
The group introduced themselves, and then Amercy told them his name.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what's the diamond-thing on your forehead for?" Triana wondered. Amercy blinked.
"Well, I'm Tresuan," he said. "I mean, I'm not a real Tresuan, but I am linked to the line and I have a bit of the gift."
"The gift for what? Triana began to ask, but Re hushed them.
"Did you hear that?" he hissed.
"Hear what?" wondered Arik, and Re hushed them again.
"Thunder in a blue sky," muttered Gregan.
"Oh, god, they're after me!" Amercy cried in a panic. "He sent the dralions after me! I'm gonna-" He was cut off as Re clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Be quiet," Re said through clenched teeth. Triana readied her bow and reached into her quiver.
"Get down!" Arik shrieked, and the group fell to the ground just in time as a winged snake swooped over them. It wheeled around, seething with anger.
"I didn't even hear it!" Triana cried, hopping up and putting an arrow to the string. Kreis and Re drew swords.
Amercy was still crumpled up on the ground. "It's their magic," he said. "They're protected with magic-oh, god, there's more of them!"
Arik readied his own bow, and Gregan, feeling as if he should have some sort of weapon, pulled a knife. Triana aimed and shot at the creature, but it only grazed its tail, making the dralion even angrier.
"There are more? I can't see them!" Re began, and Kreis cast up a shield-just in time, as two more dralions struck the invisible wall and appeared. They shrieked in thunderous fury, sounding like a raging storm. The three monsters seemed to converse with each other, and then all struck the shield at once. Kreis cried out in pain.
"Triana-"
Triana was already there, and he clasped her hand in his. Together they held the shield as the dralions struck again, and Arik shot an arrow that took one of the creatures in the throat.
"All right!" he cheered as the monster fell lifeless to the ground. Amercy stared intently at another one of the creatures, and a moment later it burst into flames. Kreis's jaw dropped-he'd never seen a spell like that. The burning corpse fell against the shield, and pain seared through Kreis and Triana as the shield broke. Kreis looked around dizzily, his head aching. Where had the third dralion gone?
Flames erupted in the sky, less violent this time but still astounding. Amercy collapsed from overexertion and the dralion swept down. It seemed to know it was doomed, but it still had enough energy to take out Amercy in a final stroke. Re dashed between the boy and the burning streak, striking with his sword to remove the dralion's head. He was sprayed with flames and green blood an instant before the lifeless body slammed into him, sending him sprawling back under its weight with a cry of excruciating pain.
Triana quickly cast a spell that smothered the flames and helped Gregan and Arik to roll the lifeless dralion off Re. Kreis was just beginning to regain his balance after the shield fell, his head pounding and his vision still fuzzy. Amercy was barely conscious, but he stared at Re and the dralion in awe.
"He saved me?" Amercy whispered.
Re was conscious, but he was still in a great deal of pain. He moaned, and Triana shuddered as she looked at the raw burns on his body. The dralion had been heavy for its slenderness-Re would probably have broken some bones as well. "Way to keep us out of danger, Kieme," he murmured, and Triana touched his forehead and made him sleep.
"Is he gonna be all right?" wondered Gregan, looking over her shoulder. She looked back at him, her face sad.
"I think so, eventually," she replied. "I don't know much about healing, though." She stood up again, shaking. Both Arik and Kreis looked nauseated, and Gregan's habitual smile had vanished from his face.
"Will one of his people heal him?" wondered Gregan.
"I can heal," offered Amercy softly. "I'm drained, but I should do something..."
Triana smiled at him. "Let me help," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "We'll see what we can do."
At last, the world didn't look so blurry, although his head still ached horribly. Kreis felt exhausted, and his legs threatened to give out under him at any second. Gregan had gone into the trees, but Kreis could hear him vomiting. Arik sat on the ground, hugging his knees and staring at the corpse of the dralion he'd brought down.
"What the hell is that...monster?" he whispered. His face was pale, his eyes huge, making him look even younger than usual.
"It's a dralion," Amercy replied. "A monster that was designed to kill people."
"How do you know so much about it?" wondered Triana.
Amercy looked down at the ground, hoping to hide the fact that he was crying. "I...I helped to design it," he whispered. Suddenly, all eyes were on him.
"You-you helped to design-that thing?" Triana gasped. "Something-something doesn't fit here."
"I didn't have a choice," Amercy sobbed. "Don't you believe me? I hated those things from the beginning-I didn't want to have anything to do with it. But I didn't have a choice...I hate them. That's why I ran away. Oh, god, I hate myself!"
"Shh," Triana said awkwardly. "You're exhausted. Don't worry about it now, you're going to be all right."
*
"I wish Grandpa were here," Aradel whispered. Kieme nodded. General Hirokitan wasn't really Aradel's grandfather, but she wished he were there all the same.
"Can't you get in touch with him?" wondered Aradel.
"I'm trying," Kieme replied through clenched teeth. She closed her eyes and saw dralions in the sky. "Oh, god-" she began, searching the sky above her, then cut off.
"What?" Aradel wondered.
"Nothing," Kieme murmured. "Damn her-she would keep up with the Earth traditions."
"What do you mean?"
"Normally, only the human mages bothered with duels," Kieme explained. "It was more of a chance for them to show off their magic and swordsmanship, without any real meaning to it. Stupid. But, of course, Nele did have a half-human up her sleeve all along. And we didn't even know about it."
"Are you going to fight her? You haven't even touched a sword since-"
"I know," Kieme interrupted.
Aradel looked panicked. "All of our best mages are with Grandpa at the Westwall-"
"I know that," Kieme said firmly. "We've got one day to answer the challenge..."
"You're not going to do it, are you? If you're killed-"
"It won't be me," Kieme replied. Her voice softened. "We have a half-human mage on our side, and he's trained with a sword."
"Yeah, but do you really expect him to fight for us? You told me how Kreis feels about the whole affair."
"Yes, but he also owes me his life. If he does this, he will be able to consider his debt paid in full." She kept silent on the uncomfortable thought that lingered in her mind. But will he ever forgive me for it?
"We'd better go," she said aloud. "I think Re's in trouble."