Chapter 6 - King Clai

"Are you sure this will work Dak?" asked Dulain as they positioned themselves on the dragon's back.

"No."

"What?"

"Only kidding."

"Are monks allowed to make jokes?"

"They are when certain elves have been making too many jokes about haircuts and carrying extra weight."

"Point taken, oh diminutive one."

"If you want your ears to remain pointy I'd suggest you knock that off," muttered Dak.

"Now, now children," rumbled Kwil. "Let's not fall out shall we? It's only going to be a short journey. Hold on tight, for if you let go you will be lost in the dark depths, and there are far worse things down there than the occasional pike."

Kwil moved to the edge of the lake and pushed into the gentle waves lapping the pebbled shoreline. As the water rose, a shimmering bubble of air enveloped them and the dragon swept into the depths, his powerful tail propelling them along.

Sorenna inspected the bubble and smiled. "Good spell Dak, I'm glad one of us can cast in these waters."

"Let's hope it holds long enough to get us to the city," said Dak.

As they descended, the waters darkened, the pale blue darkening to an inky night that sucked all heat from their bones. Ghostly shapes drifted past as they traveled on, ethereal shapes beckoning from the mists of time.

Once a massive pair of eyes opened in front of them, beacons of bright like shocking their retinas as the dragon veered sharply to avoid multiple sets of razorlike teeth.

"I don't even want to know what that was," said Dulain, his teeth chattering with cold and fear.

Edoran leaned forward. "I think I can see something."

A faint blue glow lit the way ahead, a dome of blue energy pulsing like a heartbeat in the depths of the lake.

"The City of Ai," breathed Sorenna. "Clai, I'm coming."

"Queen Sorenna, I think we may need to use the daggers." Dak held the dagger of his people in a vice-like grip, the jewel glowing in the blackness. Sorenna reached to her hip and withdrew the blade she had taken from the statue. Her jewel remained dark.

"Damn it. Dulain, you try."

"Me?"

"You're an elf. The daggers were given to the dwarven and elven people to hold until we could try and raise the city once more to the light."

Sorenna passed the dagger to the elf, an expectant look on her face. Dulain held the dagger, but again nothing happened. "Edoran, you try."

As Dulain made to pass the dagger, their hands touched. The jewel lit brightly.

"It needs both of you this time. Both, keep hold, we're approaching the shield."

Kwil stopped at the edge of the shield, his claws sinking into a thousand years of mud and bones, bare rock visible on the other side of the energy shield.

He looked over his shoulder at his passengers and Sorenna nodded, motioning to the dragon to go through.

Setting his shoulders, the dragon took a step forward and his head disappeared.

~

The four passengers froze as the dragon's shoulders went rigid for several long moments, but relaxed again as they felt him breathing. After a few more seconds he moved forward, the shield sliding like water over his scales. As it hit the bubble of air protecting them, the edge shimmered like sun on the surface of a pond, and then they were through.

The warmth of the air inside the dome after the cold depths of the lake hit them like a furnace and it took a few seconds for them to acclimatize. Bones surrounded them, the bare rock before them littered with weapons and armour from the kobold horde who had perished in the past. 

A stone arch rose before them.

"The city is dead ahead Kwil," said Sorenna, emotion heavy in her voice.

"Yes m'lady."

The massive stride of the dragon ate up the distance and as he moved onto the arch, the queen gave a cry and clasped her hand to her mouth. "He's still there."

As Kwil moved on, a pair of golden statues hove into view, one the absolute match of the statue in the Great Hall in the City of Sand, the other the figure of a powerful warrior.

The queen dismounted the dragon, muttering a 'thank you' as she passed his head to his obvious delight, and ran to the golden figure of her husband, tracing a hand across one cheek, tears running down her cheeks.

"I have returned, my love."

Closing her eyes, she lifted a hand and with an audible click the last of the Eyes detached from the keystone of the bridge and rose into the air, coming to rest in her outstretched hand. 

"Are you ready, my friends? When I place this jewel in the hilt of Clai's sword, Elise will regain control of this body, as is only right. You must place the daggers in the hilt alongside the eye, and then you must all touch the sword to lift it from the bridge. When it is released you must place it in my husband's hand and we will be released."

"We're ready Sorenna," said Dak.

"Thank you. If all goes well I will see you again shortly."

She placed the stone in the cup of the pommel and spoke a single word of power. As she released the stone, the figure of the human swayed, and Edoran leapt forward to catch her as she fell. "My lady?"

"Hello, Edoran. Thank you for catching me."

Dak moved to her side and rested a hand on her forehead for a moment. "Elise?" he said smiling.

"Yes, sir. Sorenna has released me, but in doing so she has healed me."

"Welcome back," said Dulain. "Right, shall we get this thing finished?"

"Aye, sounds like a plan," said Dak.

"Not Eye, or Ai?"

"Honestly Dulain, one moment of seriousness. Is that too much to ask?"

The dwarf inserted the dagger of the dwarves into the hilt, Dulain doing the same a moment later with the elven blade. The three stones glowed momentarily and Kwil leaned in close to watch as Dak gave instructions.

"Elise, you grab the hilt please, Dulain and Edoran touch your dagger and I'll touch mine. I think that's it. Right Elise, lift."

The sword rasped through the stone and rose, more blade lifting from the bridge as they watched. A foot or so of the blade was exposed, but then Elise stopped. "It won't move anymore."

"I don't understand," said Dak scratching his head. "We touched the sword."

"Kwil didn't," said Edoran. 

"But there were no dragons involved in the original spell."

"Maybe not," persisted the elf, "but there's one here now and we couldn't have done this without him."

"True. Sir dragon would you mind joining in?"

"Worth another deer Edoran?" asked Kwil with a massive grin.

"Definitely. If this works I'll hunt enough deer to feed you for a week."

"Done."

As the dragon reached around and extended a claw to touch the exposed blade, the three jewels exploded into light, and Elise drew the sword from the bridge with one smooth pull. A tremor ran through the city and there was a sensation of movement.

"I think we're lifting to the surface," said Dak in a hushed whisper. "Elise, give the sword to the king."

The girl held the sword carefully by the blade and placed the hilt in the outstretched hand of the golden king. As the hilt touched his palm, there was a grating sound and metallic fingers closed over the wire wrapped hilt. Gold drained away from him, and colour returned to the cheeks of the long-frozen king. As the shield dissolved, water fell away from the cliffs and sunlight fell across the time-darkened city for the first time in a thousand years.

"Sunlight," rasped the voice of the king. His eyes rose to take in the form of the dragon resting on the bridge, and the group who had affected his release. "Hmm... sunlight, two elves, a dwarf, a rather pretty young woman, and a dragon. An impressive start to a new day."

He turned to the still golden form of his wife. "Sorenna. Sorenna, come back to me. Please, my love." He leaned forward and kissed the golden form. Instantly, her eyes opened with a flash, fire coruscating over her body, the gold sheen vanishing in a rage of energy.

Clai stepped back as the Queen was enveloped in the towering pillar of flame. "You've got to admit, she's got class," he said to Dak who nodded mutely, his mouth open in awe. A flaming arm raised and one clenched fist aimed at the doors of the city. A jet of flame washed over them and a vertical crack split the fused doors, which swept open.

The flames dispersed as suddenly as they had come and Sorenna stepped into the circle of her king's arms. After a long embrace, she lifted her head from his shoulder and gestured to Elise who stood quietly nearby.

"Clai, this is Elise. She is without a home."

"Not anymore. Welcome to the City of Ai, Elise, and welcome to you too my new friends." Clai took a breath of clean air and lifted his sword dramatically.

"The darkness is a shattered dream. No longer shall we run or hide, or fear. Evil gathers in the once glorious Castle of Sand defiling its goodness. We must stand up and face the enemy together: together we will be invincible. And with the power of conviction, there is no sacrifice. We, the combined peoples of human, elf, dwarf, and now dragon must stand together in force against the darkness, and we will triumph. The Eyes of Glan are once more reunited; we have the power, the might, and the unity.

"But first, we must breathe life back into the City of Ai."

Dak shot Dulain a warning glance as the elf opened his mouth, and Edoran shook his head, a smile playing across his lips.

A dragon's head lowered to hang in the air near the elf. "Now then, about those deer..."

~~~ The End ~~~

Author's Notes.

This unusually long short story (for me anyway) was the final round in the Fantasy Smackdown hosted in the Pub by MagicalRealms. A great contest that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The premise for this one was to do a High Fantasy style short, all magic and swordplay, using the various prompts listed below, and pictures included at various points on the right hand side.

To do the story I had to use the following:

A Song - Pat Benatar - Invincible (mainly incorporated in the rather wordy King Clai's speeches, but with a few other little bits here and there). YouTube vid included at the top of this chapter.

A Quote - it does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him - which was included in Chapter 5.

And a selection of five pictures. The pictures used are placed in the various chapters, but I had to include a saw (which I chose), the pictures of the underwater city, the yellow city, and the monk (which were chosen for me), and I was allowed to choose one other from my competitor's pictures and a random selection. I chose the Elven city at night.

As a final little twist, I had to set part of the story underwater.

The story had to be between 2000 and 10000 words long. I came in at about 9000.

It was a fun task. And the story you've just read is the result =]

~~

Lovely new cover more recently done by bobjan70 - Thank you, kind sir =]

Re-edited August 2022