Parallel Inversion, page 32
part #1 of The Parellyrian Chronicles Series
As the group of giants lined up side by side along the edge of the pass, revealing their numbers and awaiting orders, Dictomin realized that was all about to change.
Right away Bandorf saw the large, red dragon for the meal it could become, and completely forgot about Levaricent. He sucked in as much air as he could, and then, at the top of his powerful lungs, yelled, “CHARGE!”
Dictomin watched the group of giants hurtle downwards from the ridge into the clearing, straight towards him. This was the moment where it would become necessary for him to fulfill his purpose. Squaring off against a hundred angry, starving giants would be a far greater challenge than he had ever faced in his life. Still, Levaricent trusted him to keep the castle and its occupants safe, and Dictomin was determined not to let the elf wizard down. He spread his wings, sat back on his hind legs, and lifted himself to his full height. He towered over the approaching giants like a bird over a conglomeration of worms. He built up the fire in his lungs and prepared for battle.
Karen and Dalius had fallen behind the pack somewhat, and were just now making their way up to the top of the ridge. Dalius accepted Karen's hand for help up the most technical aspect of the ascent, and together they clambered to the top. From there they saw the entire clearing, and the battle about to ensue, as the giants raced toward the dragon, undeterred by his size.
Dictomin released a stream of flame from his mouth as a warning to the giants. The fire hit the ground inches from Bandorf, who led the charge. He stopped running and raised his arm protectively in front of his face, feeling the heat of the flame close in front of him. The giants approaching behind him split up, running to either side to flank the dragon. Dictomin shot fireballs in both directions consecutively, one from each nostril, knocking a number of giants off their feet, and making their attempted approach less effective. Karen and Dalius continued to watch from afar.
“They're going to need my help,” Karen said, more to herself than anything, but loud enough for Dalius to hear.
“Be careful,” Dalius said, growing concerned for Karen's well-being. She recognized his sincerity and heeded his warning.
Karen sprinted down into the clearing, leaving a trail of dust and snow behind her, and Dalius slowly followed her. Dictomin was too preoccupied with the giants to notice either of them approaching. The giants would try to get closer to the dragon, only to be stopped by a wall of flame or a stomping foot, and they would be forced back again. Karen realized that Dictomin had not yet seen her, and she took advantage of it. At just the right moment, she launched herself into the air.
Dictomin saw the woman coming at her at the last possible moment and tried to dodge the attack. He rolled his shoulder back, so that she would glance off it and past him. Karen still hit him quite hard, though, clipping his shoulder and knocking him off balance. The dragon stopped himself from falling with a huge step back, and he looked over at Karen angrily as she landed on the ground to his left. While Dictomin was distracted, Bandorf had resumed his attack. The giant brought his club down hard onto his foot, crushing one of the bones.
Dictomin howled in pain and began flapping his wings to escape an onslaught. He was still determined to protect Levaricent and his castle, but figured he could do so from a safer, airborne position. He knew the elf wizard had reached an important point in his plans, and assumed that was the most likely reason the castle was being attacked for the first time in its twenty year existence. The dragon knew that now, more than ever, the elf wizard would need protection from the outside, and he was relying on Dictomin to provide it.
The only thing the giants knew, on the other hand, was that their dinner was trying to get away. A few of them piled onto his feet and legs before he flew completely out of reach, and they began climbing upwards on him. They beat at him with their clubs as he thrashed about to try to get them off, but they gripped the scales of his skin tightly. The added weight of the giants made it difficult for Dictomin to gain much altitude, so he tilted his head downward and began breathing fire at them one by one until they released. He burned his own skin at the same time, but felt it was worth it to loose the dragons from his body.
Three giants, including Bernax, remained on his back. Dictomin thrashed around some more to try to get them off. Two of the giants released their grip and fell safely onto the ground. They got up, dusted themselves off, and joined the rest of the giants whose eyes were fixed on the dragon. Bernax was still hanging on, and had nearly reached the dragon's vulnerable neck. The crowd below cheered him on, including Feknor, who hoped his friend would bring down their foe.
One especially violent lurch proved too much for Bernax. He lost his grip on the dragon's neck and went soaring through the air. He flew over the crowd of spectating giants and came crashing down to the ground, landing head first on a sharp stone, not far behind where Dalius had reached.
“Bernax!” Feknor cried. He raced back to where his friend had landed, too quickly for the terrain, and he stumbled over a loose stone. Dalius ran to try to help the giant up, uncertain how useful he would be, but Feknor gently pushed him aside and got up on his own, then continued toward his friend.
As Feknor approached, he saw that Bernax's body was strangely contorted, with limbs at angles that should have been impossible. Feknor slowed, hoping to glimpse something to suggest that his friend had survived the impact. But Bernax was completely still, and his neck was twisted, apparently broken. Feknor rolled the body over to look upon his friend's face, and saw right away that the life was no longer in his eyes. He was gone.
Feknor allowed a single tear to form on his face, work its way down his scraggly skin, and fall to the dirt. The giant looked back over his shoulder and saw his friend's killer. Dictomin was burned by his own flame, and bruised by a number of blows from the clubs of the giants who had scaled him, but continued to fend off his many combatants. Feknor could feel the grief for the loss of his friend gradually being replaced by rage. He squinted his eyes, growled, and prepared to retaliate.
Karen, meanwhile, was struggling for other reasons. She had felt her strength diminish following her leap into Dictomin's shoulder, and wondered whether her powers were beginning to wane. But her determination had remained intact, and she had used it to help her scale the wall of the castle. She now stood at the edge of the roof and waited for her strength to return, and for Dictomin to come into a more vulnerable position.
Completely occupied with all the giants attacking him, Dictomin was ignorant both to Karen, who watched from atop the castle, and to Feknor, who was closing in from the opposite direction. Karen felt her powers start returning, and now only waited for the dragon to get close enough for her to leap at him.
In the corner of his eye, Dalius saw that Karen was getting ready to attack, so he joined the horde of giants, helping to motivate them forward. Every coordinated offense he led helped push the dragon further back, and closer to the castle entrance. Karen watched Dictomin draw closer, closer...
She pounced, plunging her fists into the back of the dragon's long neck. Dictomin was surprised by the hit, and he dropped forward to the ground. Giants were sent scrambling in all directions to avoid being flattened by the dragon as he plunged into the dirt with all his weight.
Feknor was now only a few yards away, and seeing the dragon's head on the ground in front of him as Karen rolled off it, he recognized his opportunity. He leapt forward and smashed his club down onto Dictomin's head. The dragon felt a brief surge of unbelievable pain as his skull cracked.. Feknor raised his club again, and he brought it down hard in the same spot. Dictomin breathed a final puff of smoke out of his left nostril, then was silent forever.
In a rage over his lost friend, Feknor continued hammering down his club on Dictomin's skull. Soon it was little more than a mess of flesh and bone. Out of breath, Feknor looked up and saw that the rest of the giants were slowly converging on him. They were, for the moment, speechless, with a look of hunger on their faces. But they were also hesitant, uncertain whether the beast would move, waiting to see whether Feknor had indeed killed him.
No one wanted to be the first to come too close, until Bandorf shoved his way to the front of the crowd. He watched Dictomin for a moment, while everyone else had their eyes on him.
“The dragon is dead!” he finally cried. “Feknor killed the dragon!”
The crowd erupted in a chorus of celebratory cheers, making Feknor feel like a hero. Two giants, who he vaguely knew, lifted him up onto their shoulders and began carrying their jubilant savior home. Other giants gathered around Dictomin's huge perimeter to begin the long task of dragging him back to their village for a feast.
With their greatest obstacle removed, Dalius and Karen avoided being trampled by the horde of excited giants heading back to their village. They had all forgotten their intention to eat the elf wizard now that they had enough meat to feed the entire village for months. Karen did not mind, as she wanted to capture Levaricent, not to kill him. She imagined the elf wizard would prove to be an even greater test for her and Dalius than the dragon had been.
“Are you ready?” she asked him as they met in front of the castle door.
Dalius was still somewhat out of breath from the journey to the castle, and from his motivating yells to the giants as they were forcing the dragon back. He took a moment to catch his lost breath, then said, “Ready as I'm going to get.”
Karen took a deep breath and extended her hand, offering it to Dalius. He accepted it with a smile, their fingers interlocking. They looked up to the castle entrance, opened the door, and stepped through it together, neither entirely confident that they were prepared for what awaited them inside.
Chapter Thirty
The first nelodomite soldier appeared on the portal in Kulamahar in a helix of light, and was just as quickly swept away by the swing of a branchless tree. The soldier flew through the air, over the mountainous range that made up the perimeter of the island, and into the ocean. Romanbak resumed his stance and prepared to do the same to the next soldier.
A comfortable distance away, hidden amongst some smaller trees, Aseria was watching. She had begun to flee to Forsahn, but her youthful curiosity got the better of her, and she returned to see Romanbak in action. So far the hero's task seemed simple enough, even if he were the only person in Parellyria capable of performing it. Levaricent's army had the disadvantage of only being able to come through the portal one at a time, and Romanbak was handling them without any problem.
Then Aseria spotted something on the crest of a hill at the edge of the island. She squinted for a better look, and as the sunlight glinted off the metallic frame, she knew she was looking at one of the soldiers. She could not, at first, figure out how it had got there. Then she realized that it must be the first soldier Romanbak had knocked into the ocean. It had worked its way back over the mountain and onto the island. It walked awkwardly down the slope and continued in the general direction of Forsahn, soon followed by two more.
Romanbak saw them too, and he abandoned his post next to the portal to deal with them. He jabbed at them with the tree, forcing them back over the edge of the island. But he knew they would be back, and the tree was growing heavier with each swing.
Four soldiers had appeared through the portal before Romanbak could return. One of them had already made its way beyond the clearing. It was now hidden in the thick woods, so Romanbak only saw the remaining three. He chased them down and brushed them off the island with a sweeping flash of wood, which protected him from having to touch the army. He knew that even the slightest graze of nelodomite against his skin would send him right back out of Parellyria, and his efforts to protect Kulamahar would be wasted.
The fourth soldier pushed its way through a cluster of trees. While Romanbak had not seen it, Aseria had. She shuddered as she watched it approaching her, with its rigid, purposeful strides. She waited, watching the soldier--which looked less human the closer it came--with the knowledge that she could fly away from it at any moment she desired.
Suddenly something rustled in the bushes behind her, and Aseria whirled around in mid-air to see a metal soldier charging towards her. It was dripping wet, having made its way out of the ocean, and it moved with the same rigidity as the other soldier, which was now approaching from behind her. The difference was that this particular soldier was off balance from descending the summit on the island's perimeter, and as a result it moved very quickly, thrashing through thickets and branches as it went. It was not in complete control of its direction, but was still coming straight towards the fairy.
Aseria panicked and floated straight back away from the soldier. She was not paying attention to where she was going, except for away from the immediate threat. She failed to notice that she was heading straight towards the soldier that had escaped Romanbak's notice, until its clunky footsteps became audible behind her.
She spun around again and froze, paralyzed with fear. The soldier was only a few feet away, and closing fast. Try as she might, she could not even will herself to breathe, let alone to move away from it. She watched, stunned, as the final few inches of space between them disappeared.
Rather than the sting of cold metal she was expecting, she felt a strong whoosh of air that coincided with a flash of tan-colored light in front of her face. Her eyes had remained open, but what had occurred happened so quickly that she could only deduce its details by the aftermath. The soldier was no longer in front of her, but soaring through the air far to her right. Directly before her, though much further away, was Romanbak, approaching with his tree held towards the flying soldier.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Aseria gulped. Romanbak had saved her at the last possible moment with a very precise swing of his tree, and now she would need to explain why that had been necessary. She choked on her own words for a moment, then answered, “I just wanted to see you at work.”
“You need to get out of here!”
The fairy no longer felt frozen. She agreed, and hovered high up into the air. Then she spotted something, and pointed.
“Behind you!”
Romanbak swirled around and hit two speedily approaching soldiers with his tree in the process. Then he turned back to thank the fairy, adding, “Now go!”
Aseria nodded, and sped through the air towards Forsahn.
Romanbak breathed a sigh of relief that he had managed to save the fairy. His job was hard enough without having to worry about needing to rescue anyone nearby. He turned back to the portal and watched the soldiers coming through to the island like ants piling out of an anthill. An untouchable army of three thousand immortal machines, and he was taking them on single-handedly.
Romanbak's thoughts turned briefly to Karen. He hoped that she had found Dalius and Niffain, and that she had rescued them. He hoped that she would find a way to stop Levaricent. Perhaps Karen had the courage to face the elf wizard that Romanbak lacked, and she would end the threat the elf wizard and his army posed. But for now, Romanbak was alone against the army. With sweat dripping from his face and hands, he gritted his teeth, and set back to work.
Deep inside Levaricent's castle in the Koyin mountains, the elf wizard's frustration was mounting. How had Romanbak recovered from his spell so quickly? The paralysis should have lasted a week, more than enough time to do what he needed with his army. And yet, there was Romanbak, visible through the fog of magical light visually connecting Levaricent to his army. The hero was working alone to fend off the entire mechanical army, and so far he was succeeding.
Levaricent cursed his luck, kicking dust up from the floor. He had exhausted himself, both magically and physically, over the past day and a half. He had not allowed himself a wink of sleep, determined to remained focused on his task. He could see that Romanbak was also becoming fatigued, as he paused often to catch his breath or to wipe sweat out of his eyes. The sheer size of the army, along with the fact that Romanbak would not risk direct physical contact with any of the soldiers, was taking its toll. Levaricent believed that, with a few cunning maneuvers, his army might prove too much even for the most celebrated hero in Parellyria.
Before he could plan his next attack, however, the wizard became aware of a great deal of noise emanating from outside the castle. He cocked his head, turning an ear towards the commotion, and made an effort to pick out the audible details. He could hear his dragon, Dictomin, as well as some other indistinguishable voices, but could not make out any specific words or sounds, so was unable to determine the cause of the ruckus. He had been so focused on his task that he wasn't even sure when the commotion had begun.
“Kropht!” he called, hoping that his servant would be able to shed some light on the situation. He then shifted his focus back to his army as he waited for the hunchback to arrive.
A few minutes passed, and Levaricent managed to organize half his army in a strategic flanking position behind Romanbak. The hero was distracted by a flurry of soldiers charging toward him one after another, but he sensed the horde approaching from behind at the last moment, and flew into the air to avoid their reach.
Levaricent cursed once again, then shifted his attention away from his army. Kropht had still not responded to his call, and Levaricent was getting worried. While the hunchback had his quirks, Kropht's loyalty and punctuality had never been an issue. Now the commotion outside was growing louder, and Levaricent could not risk ignoring it any longer.
The wizard abandoned his direct efforts against Romanbak. He left his army with the singular collective instruction to move toward Forsahn, and enough magical energy to press on while he investigated the source of the noise. The haze of light faded away as he strode out of the room and down the corridors to the castle entrance to see what was going on.
