Kaleon stuttered awake, water splashing him in the face.
“Owwww!” There was a gnawing pain on his arm. Kaleon wiped his face, finding himself chest-deep in the channel. The current tried to carry him away, but Gumbo bit his arm so he wouldn’t go under. He looked around, trying to get acquainted with his surroundings, and his eyes widened.
He hadn’t been out long, yet Teon had become a hellish parody of its former self. Fires had broken out across the island as ships continued to fall. The walls making Teons natural defenses shuddered with the blasts of distant explosions—a sign of a battle raging outside the island just as much as the one within. Kaleon heard screams, but they came from every direction.
Picking himself up out of the water, Kaleon flopped onto the ground. His chest wheezing, then coughing as he swallowed a lungful of smoke. Groaning, Kaleon slowly got to his feet. A worried Gumbo huddled between his legs.
The floral labyrinth was in flames. Hedge constructs ran about the burning grounds. Small clouds from the maze sprinkler system tried to put them out, but they couldn’t keep up with the spread. Kaleon didn’t know if the constructs were sentient or just hyper-realistic, but watching them silently scatter in a futile attempt to escape the fire brought a level of dread he couldn’t stomach.
“Hewa, help us,” Kaleon whispered and knelt to give Gumbo a reassuring scratch behind his ears.
Kaleon looked back to the boathouse. By some miracle, it was still standing. Likely because it was on the edge of the grounds. That idea from earlier popped into his head again, which, as a best-case scenario, ended with him getting killed. This time, however, he didn’t push it away.
“Alright, Gumbo, here’s what we’ll do.” Kaleon looked at his familiar. He could sense the blimp pigs' fear and confusion through their bond, just like Gumbo felt coming from him. “You’re going to stay in the boathouse while I try to see if I can help the people on the Manor.” Gumbo quickly whined in protest, but Kaleon shook his head. “It’s way too dangerous out here. If you’re safe, that’s one less thing I’d have to worry about.”
As if to punctuate his point, there was another explosion as a ship crashed down a few yards away, flattening a panicked group of nearby Duulis constructs.
“Go!” Kaleon insisted, pushing Gumbo toward the Manor, “I’ll come back for you when everything’s safe!”
Kaleon stood up and ran for the Manor. He didn’t look to see if Gumbo had done as he instructed because his fear might’ve gotten the better of him and changed his mind.
Rolling waves of heat lashed at Kaleon from all sides. He tried to stay low and not breathe in the smoke, but the fire was everywhere. Flames cut off entire sections of the labyrinth, forcing Kaleon to double back and find different routes continuously.
Kaleons eyes watered so badly he could hardly see, but it didn’t so much as slow him down. Maybe it was because of the fire and smoke, but even as Kaleon raced toward the Manor, his thoughts kept returning to that pervasive nightmare.
His parent’s loving but distraught faces filled his mind, and Kaleon had to focus on stopping himself from turning around as if he were expecting their ghosts to follow behind him. “This won’t be like last time,” Kaleon said through gritted teeth.
If it hadn’t been for Kaleon’s extensive familiarity traversing the floral labyrinth, he wouldn’t have been able to find his way back to the Manor through the fire and smoke.
Coming up on the fortress ring surrounding the building, Kaleon was surprised to find his situation may not be as dire as he first thought. The shadow dome still held, rising nearly a hundred feet in the air. He hadn’t seen the hairline fractures running throughout the barrier from the boathouse that seemed to run throughout. Without the faint traces of light spilling out, Kaleon wouldn’t have noticed them now. He reached out to touch it, stopping just as his instincts suddenly screamed at him.
“Okay,” Kaleon muttered to himself, “If that’s not-“
There was another explosion above Kaleons head. He looked up in time to see the flaming wreckage of a ship crash into the dome. A dislodged fan would’ve crushed him, but something slammed into him.
Kaleon tumbled to the floor. The heat from the flaming fan washed over him. As Kaleon pushed himself away from the fire, he screamed as another piece of debris dropped onto his stomach. The debris squealed.
"Gumbo?" Kaleon blinked, looking between his familiar and the flaming wreckage just a few feet away. He wiped soot and sweat off his face and sighed, "I owe you big time, bud."
Gumbo let out a happy squeal and hopped off his chest. Kaleon got to his feet and focused back on the dome. The light between the cracks was starting to fade. Kaleon swallowed hard. He'd need to act fast.
Kaleon summoned all three sets of arms and walked over to the largest nearby crack. “Okay, let’s try-oh crap!” Kaleon thought he’d be able to pry the cracks wide enough to climb through. That plan quickly fell apart as whatever shadows had affected the fortress ring spread up the arms.
Kaleon hopped back and dispelled the arms. The shadows inside turned into smoke as they went away, trailing back into the dome and dimming the light as it started sealing the cracks.
He took a steadying breath to ignore the night's chaos and focus on the task at hand. Kaleon summoned the arms and, bereft of other better options, had them start punching the crack in the dome. Every second that passed meant another person died because of something he did. Kaleon tried to keep his thoughts from drifting to Rynnelle, but it was like her ghost had joined that of his parents. They watched him over his shoulder, only to disappear if he turned around. Strange as it was, Kaleon hoped it was some hallucination from inhaling too much smoke. That would’ve been better than the alternative.
Kaleons arms moved in a whirlwind of motion as its fists relentlessly hammered the dome. The crack had widened only a sliver before the shadows sealing the dome shut worked overtime to defend against this sudden assault. Kaleon's real hands repeatedly clenched as he fought the impatient urge to tear a hole in the dome with his bare hands. Infuriating wasn’t even the word for it. Kaleon might’ve gotten through by sunrise at the rate he was going, but even that was optimistic.
There was another explosion. Kaleon reflexively flinched as he watched the ship crash into the town, releasing a small mushroom cloud of fire and smoke.
Gumbo whined nervously, leaning against Kaleon's leg for support. The familiar looked up at his partner, but Kaleon focused on the dome.
"I need more power." His voice was a primal growl of frustration. Then, beyond anything that Kaleon could explain. He heard singing through the screams, roars, and explosions. No, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't words, not exactly. "The final song of the fallen dragon..." Kaleon trailed off as he recalled the source of the song. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to have heard it. Kaleon passed that section on the way over here, and flames had engulfed it, forcing him to go around.
His thoughts drifted to a particular aspect of Silverhand’s magic lesson. The soul stores magic inside the body, but the mind regulates how much magic the body can store. The way Silverhand spoke, Kaleon's ‘mastery’ meant he could consciously do the things that his body and soul had done automatically before. So, in theory, he could alter how much magic his soul allowed the body to use and store.
“Or I die trying,” Kaleon told himself grimly. Gumbo whined at the sudden phrase, but he wasn’t listening. If he thought about it too much, he’d psych himself out of it, so he focused on the song instead.
Kaleon closed his eyes, let the song lift his consciousness off its proverbial feet, and drifted along the current of its melody for what could’ve been hours to the core of his being. He saw something there, in his mind’s eye. It was a sphere surrounded by an aura of blue wind. Kaleon didn’t dare contemplate the situation floating in an empty room. He reached out as if to touch the object. Kaleon didn’t know how he knew what to do. It was more like a feeling guiding him. Whatever the case, the wind swirling around the sphere expanded, becoming a massive vortex of energy that jolted Kaleon back into reality.
When Kaleon opened his eyes, he was immediately aware of two things. Only a few seconds in real time had passed, and he'd only get one shot at this.
A surge of energy erupted in Kaleons chest as almost all of his magic left his body. A rush of wind enveloped Kaleon and Gumbo, forming a cobalt typhoon that drew the attention of one of the Wyrmlings. It screeched in rage, then launched itself at them.
Kaleons clothes rippled in the wake of the blue gale surrounding them. The wind coalesced into another pair of floating arms so large they belonged to a giant.
One of the arms balled its gigantic hand into a fist and uppercutted the wymling before it could reach them. The blow sent out a shockwave that caused a lull in the night’s violence, followed by a pained, shrill screech of the wyrmling that got hit. Fifty grey heads swiveled in Kaleons direction.
Before the wyrmlings could react, Kaleon grabbed Gumbo and pulled him to his chest while a pair of giant hands clasped around them, lifting them off their feet. There was another unified, ear-piercing screech, but Kaleon could barely hear it over the rush of wind. The arms reared back and slammed against the dome in a double hammer fist strike.
There was the sound of shattered glass. Then Kaleon and Gumbo were sent tumbling on the cobblestone path leading to the Manor.
Kaleon rubbed the back of his head, feeling the lump from hitting it earlier, “I can’t believe that worked,” He could tell that his authority on the wind had dispelled, which was fine because Kaleon needed to take a moment to get his bearings. “I guess I should thank Silverhand for the lesson after all.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
He looked back toward the Fortress ring. Kaleon could see his reflection in the blackened barrier, the jagged and shrinking hole looking like a window to another world. Kaleon heard one last explosion before the hole shut, cutting out all sound from outside entirely.
Beside him, Gumbo lay on his back, panting heavily. “You alright, Gumbo?” Gumbo gave Kaleon a disgruntled squeal to signal that he was far from enjoying the situation, even if he wasn't hurt. “I know, bud, I know. Just remember, I’ll make it up to you when this is all over. I promise.” Kaleon groaned as he got to his feet. He looked down at Gumbo, who’d rolled onto his back and looked like he had no intentions of moving. Without wasting time coaxing Gumbo to continue, Kaleon added the four magic words, “All you can eat.”
Gumbo’s air bladders quickly expanded, and the familiar bounced off the ground to excitedly circle in the air around Kaleons head.
“Don’t get too excited yet,” Kaleon said with a short laugh before turning his attention to the Manor. He swallowed and said, “That wasn’t even the hard part.”
They faced the back left corner of the building. Dazzling lights illuminated the Manor's exterior and revealed what happened to the Wyrm. It jammed its head into the hole where the Manors' illustrious dome used to sit. The creature's massive body wriggled as if to push it deeper inside. If that thought wasn’t terrifying enough, the same black veins that corrupted the Fortress ring barrier were spreading across the Manor. The veins had avoided the light but had blackened out the windows, preventing Kaleon from seeing inside.
Kaleon stowed away his fears and doubts and went ahead. Knowing whatever was going on inside couldn’t be worse than the guilt he’d feel having done nothing. Gumbo hesitated but soon followed behind.
It was dumb luck that they’d winded up towards the back door toward the kitchen. The black veins formed a web around the door. Not wanting to touch what was something dangerous, Kaleon tried to reclaim his authority on the wind. He’d gathered enough to cause a slight breeze before going into a coughing fit. It felt like someone had taken a jackhammer to Kaleons chest. He felt another surge of magical power course through him, although much weaker than before. Kaleon pawed at his chest, and Gumbo nudged him, whining in concern.
“I’m good, bud, I’m good,” Kaleon reassured him after wiping his mouth with his sleeve. “I think that was my body's way of telling me not to try anything crazy like that again.”
Kaleon cleared his throat and focused. He’d pushed his body to the maximum limit of its magic capacity, then dumped almost all of it into a single spell. Blue wind swirled around him, and three sets of arms appeared. Kaleon noted the lag time between his thoughts and how fast the arms moved when he first started, having to resummon them several times before they regained their average speed and finished the task.
"Let's do this." Kaleon put his hands on the door handle but hesitated. There's no telling what's waiting behind these doors, so stick behind me. Gumbo snorted and tilted his head. "No, we're not going in for a midnight snack." Gumbo whined softly, "Okay if we have time for some, we can, but don't be upset if we can't." Kaleon blew out his cheeks, opened the doors, and was by someone throwing a rolling pin at his head.
Kaleon yelped and flinched. One of his arms moved to catch the pin before it gave his head a second lump.
There was a beat, and a familiar voice called from inside the kitchen, "Kaleon? Boy, that you?"
The radantum lights were on their brightest setting and were almost blinding. Chef Cybil and eight other cooks cowered behind the center island, clutching knives and other cooking utensils. It looked like a tornado had run through the kitchen. Pots and pans lay on the floor, along with piles of wasted food to Kaleons horror. Drag marks crisscrossed the floor where the chefs had blocked the doors leading to the dining room and hallway with the fridge and a few large ovens.
“Chef Cybil? What’re you-” Kaleon started before being cut off.
“By Hewas Beard. Don't just stand there, Kaleon! Close the door!” Kaleon dispelled his control on the wind as Chef Cybil rushed forward, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him inside. Gumbo grunted as he pulled the doors shut, pushing him inside after Kaleon. Chef Cybil looks Kaleon up and down suspiciously. “How’d you even get out of the Manor? That gunk is blocking every doorway; none of our spells could get through it. Not that it would matter with that damn defective Fortress ring.”
Kaleon's brow furrowed. Sure, it had been difficult for him to break through the barrier, but he had done it. Clearing the door was easy enough, too, “I wasn’t in the Manor.”
There was an awkward silence as everyone stared at him. Gumbo took the opportunity to start eating the food spilled on the floor.
Chef Cybil asked, “Where did you come from?”
“Across the grounds, and it’s no better outside the dome either,” Kaleon said grimly.
“How’d you get inside the dome?” Asked one of the cooks.
“I uh punched it,” Kaleon said sheepishly, rubbing his head.
Muffled shouts came from the dining room as something hard started to bang on the door. Chef Cybil scrambled back to the island. “Now you’ve done it!” he hissed. Stay quiet! Hopefully, the pirates’ll go away.”
Kaleon looked at the door wearily. The sound coming from the door sounded like a frantic slapping. Not someone trying to break it down.
“I don’t think those are pirates.” Kaleon cautiously moved to the door, and Chef Cybil snapped at him.
“What’re you doing? Get back!” Kaleon ignored him, pushing one of the ovens slightly so he could press his ear to the door. “You’re going to get us all killed!”
Kaleon grunted as he hefted the ovens out of the way. They were heavy, and it likely took a couple of the cooks to move them, but Kaleon was strong enough to unobscure the door himself without magic. “Stop him!” one of the cooks shouted. A couple got up to stop him, but Gumbo stood between them, growling in warning. Kaleon opened the door a crack and a tangled mess of shouting filled the kitchen.
"Let us in! Hurry! Before those animals find us." Members of Parliament piled on the door, and Kaleon stepped back to let them through. There were fifteen of them, making the usually spacious kitchen feel cramped.
"Thanks, Kal." Chef Cybil yanked Kaleon's arm, and he turned towards him. Now, the pirates can just shoot us like fish in a barrel.
The guest who'd spoken was a Lord. He was a chubby man with a button nose and robes that reminded Kaleon of a bumble bee. The Lord's face was flush as if hitting the door had exerted all his energy. “You! You were going to leave us out there! I could have you arrested!”
“Really?” Chef Cybil said, directing his anger at the Lord, “Pirates crashing down all around us, and you think the Navy has time to arrest me? Jaq qwe.”
The Lord and several others in his group gasped. “How dare you!” The Lord said, looking affronted. You should know better than to speak that gutter language to me. Do you know who I am?”
“Why should I care?” Chef Cybil got in the Lord's face, “Think you deserve any special treatment at a time like this? We would’ve been fine without you lot bursting in here. I don’t want to die because some pirates come sniffing around to rob you for all you’re worth.”
Kaleon winced as the two continued to argue. He was about to step up and intervene when he felt the light tug on his arm, "Kaleon?"
"Mr.Gaspar? Sir, are you alright?" Kaleon reached out to support the elderly Yana. The man was shaking and had a haunting look on his face. What shocked Kaleon was the amount of blood on his robes. "Where are you hurt? Sit down over here."
"It's...quite alright." Mr. Gaspar winced as he spoke, taking a seat on the overturned oven. "Most of it's not mine. I'm glad you avoided that unpleasantness in the ballroom."
Kaleon fought to keep his composure. Mr. Gaspar took long, raspy breaths. He put a hand on his side, and Kaleon noticed blood coming through his fingers. Kaleon grabbed a hand towel off one of the counters and knelt to put pressure on the wound. He needed a Dicina from the Medical Guild or someone with a healing spell. "Have you seen Rynnelle? Or Dashard?" He caught himself before asking about Silverhand, too.
"Dashard is still in the ballroom, keeping the pirates back so everyone can escape." Mr. Gaspar covered his mouth as he coughed, and Kaleon noticed black veins coming up his wrist. "I saw Miss Rynnelle with Silverhand, but-" He broke out into bloody coughs, cutting off his sentence.
Behind them, the Lord and Chef Cybil were still arguing. Others had gotten involved, and the tension threatened to boil over into a whole new altercation entirely.
"Hold tight, try to keep some pressure on this." Kaleon stood up. "Gumbo, bud, I'm going to need you to watch over him, okay?" Gumbo grunted. He hopped onto the oven to sit beside Mr. Gaspar, letting the man lean against him.
Kaleon went to step between the Lord and Chef Cybil. Both men looked past him to continue to glare at each other. To the crowd, Kaleon asked, "Does anyone know any healing spells?" He gestured to Mr. Gaspar, "This man is hurt."
"We’re all hurt," The Lord scoffed, his glare of contempt still on Chef Cybil, "You want to get him help? Then you and the rest of the staff can get us out of here."
"You don't listen!" Chef Cybil shouted, "There's no point in getting out of the Manor if the island is under attack."
"Enough!" Kaleon shouted so loud it silenced all other conversations in the room. It even surprised himself, but he didn't show it. "We're all scared and want to make it out of here. That's not going to happen by us arguing. Again, this man’s hurt." Kaleon looked around the room, "Can anybody help?"
"I used to be an Acolyte of the M.G.," One of the cooks sheepishly stepped up, "Wasn't really good at it, though. It's why I'm doing the dishes."
Kaleon sighed in relief and put a hand on the cook's shoulder. He was a younger Yana, barely out of his teens, with a face full of freckles. "Please, do what you can." The cook nodded, then went to tend to Mr. Gaspar. Kaleon looked between the Lord and Chef Cybil. "I'm going out there to see if I can help. Barricade the doors behind me and wait here. I’ll see if I can get someone to come help."
"And what makes you think we should listen to you?" The Lord snapped, directing his glare toward Kaleon. “I’ll have you know-“ The Lord's words trailed off. He hadn’t fully registered Kaleon until this moment. The Lord stood tall enough to be barely above Kaleon's navel and slowly panned his gaze until he met Kaleon's eyes.
Kaleon wasn’t sure why all the color drained out of the man’s face when he did, but when the Lord hesitated to continue, he said, “I’m not saying you have to listen to me.” He said carefully, “But we’re in enough danger without trying to fight each other.”
The Lord and Chef Cybil looked like they had more to say, but the men looked around at the terrified faces of the kitchen’s other occupants. Kaleon finally saw it click for both of them that this was neither the time nor place for an argument. They nodded reluctantly, and Kaleon breathed a sigh of relief before returning to Mr. Gaspar and Gumbo.
“How does it look?” Kaleon looked towards the former Acolyte, and the expression on the young man’s face told Kaleon everything he needed to know.
“I know enough to stop the bleeding and help with the pain, but there’s something else,” The cook trailed off as he rolled up Mr. Gaspar's sleeve. The elder Yana tried to protest but was too weak. Sickening black veins had spread up his arm, continuing underneath his robes. In a frightened whisper, the cook said, “I don’t know what this is. It keeps spreading, and I don’t mean, I told you I’m not-”
Kaleon put a hand on the man’s shoulder, steadying him before he could go into a full-blown panic, “I know, you're just doing what you can. It's more than I could've done, so thank you. Try to keep him comfortable for a little while while I get help,” Kaleon said, forcing that false confidence back into his voice. The cook blinked the crazed look in his eyes away and audibly gulped before nodding.
To Mr. Gaspar, he said, “I'm going to find Rynnelle or Lord Reinard. Their bloodline magic should be enough to heal you until we get someone to take a look at this. Just sit tight.”
Mr. Gaspar smiled weakly, “Don't worry about this old soul; just make sure that Lord Reinard and Miss Rynnelle are safe.”
Kaleon felt his mouth go dry, and guilt reared its ugly head in his mind. How many more people were hurt or dying because of him?
Gumbo whined, and Kaleon patted him on the head. They shared a look, and Kaleon felt Gumbo's worry and fear through their familiar link. “Sit tight, bud. I'll be back.”
Kaleon ran through the Manor halls, hoping it would be a simple feat to get to the ballroom. It was far from it.
The black veins that crept along the Manor exterior were inside, too. It forced Kaleon to cut through rooms to avoid the stretches of hall rendered impassable, each crowded with panicked people trying to hide.
“Don’t worry, Buttons,” Kaleon whispered as he finally set his eyes on the doors leading into the ballroom. “I’m coming.”