Chained By Fear: 2 Page 14

  Instead, he would make Invictus’ army pay.

  Vedana watched with fascination as a supernatural battle between Bhayatupa and the other monsters unfolded. But before the entertaining spectacle became really interesting, she was forced to leave her perch.

  Her granddaughter and the two conspirators stood like idiots, wasting the most golden of opportunities.

  Must she do everything?

  She flew down—barely avoiding blasts of dragon fire and hurtled chunks of debris—and circled around Izumo and Lucius’ heads.

  “Now, you morons!” she said.

  Even with their magic removed, the chains holding the conspirators remained strong enough to constrain Lucius, but Izumo tore both of them free. As the bizarre darkness deepened, the firstborn climbed onto the back of the dracool, who then took flight, following Vedana as she wove through the chaos toward Laylah.

  Vedana had to admit she was impressed when Izumo swooped down just above Laylah’s head, plucked her from the ground and tossed her onto his back next to Lucius, all in one slick move. But with Laylah now aboard, the overloaded dracool was barely able to limp into the air and struggle northward.

  Vedana flapped alongside, shouting encouragement. “Good job! Now, follow me. I can lead you to safety.”

  “Leave us, demon,” Lucius screamed back. “You’ve done enough foul work for one lifetime.”

  “Hmmph!” Vedana said, and then swerved away and vanished.

  Bhayatupa screeched his rage.

  Below him, Mala had regained consciousness and was coordinating a counterattack. A thousand of the bravest golden soldiers loosed arrows, and the trolls continued to hurl rocks and other debris. Whenever Bhayatupa landed, the wolves snapped at his talons. The numbers massed against him were formidable. None among the creatures—Mala included—dared to stand against him alone, but not even Mahaasupanna could defeat an army of this caliber himself. The assaults weakened him and diminished his anger.

  For the first time in his life, he was forced to retreat.

  As the peculiar darkness deepened, Bhayatupa soared westward as fast as the wind. Dracools pursued him, but this time an army on the ground did not back them up. Bhayatupa was not yet so weak that he couldn’t deal with baby dragons, no matter how many dared accost him.

  After he’d flown safely away from Avici, he turned suddenly and attacked. He was faster, stronger and far more deadly than an army of dracools. Still, they fought bravely. But when the thirtieth fell, the others recognized the futility of their efforts and gave up the chase. Bhayatupa snarled one last time and then sped away, a crimson comet in the blue-again sky, speeding toward his lair in a remote mountaintop.

  18

  The dragon had finally retreated.

  Mala watched the dracools chase after him. His chain continued its erratic behavior, but he forced himself to ignore it. Blood oozed from a wound near his right temple and also from his mouth and nostrils. He wasn’t sure if the fall had caused the injuries or Invictus’ unpredictable ravings. Probably a combination of the two.

  Mala sent trolls and a Kojin after the maddened giant, hoping they could find a way to put it out of its misery before it did too much damage. For a short while, the day became as dark as night, and then the brightness of the sun returned with a vengeance. Mala did his best to restore order. In the midst of all this, the hideous vampire assigned to watch Laylah came up and pestered him.

  “But master, don’t you see? She is gone.”

  “Who is gone? Speak up!”

  “Queen Laylah is gone. The bitch has escaped.”

  Mala looked toward the platform and saw that Lucius and Izumo also were missing. The day had gone from really good to really bad in a hurry.

  Mala left orders with the leaders of the witches and Stone-Eaters to calm things down and clean up the mess. After that, he rushed into Uccheda and descended the passageways in the bedrock that led to Invictus’ chamber. When he opened the door, he was frightened to see that all of the furniture in the room had been reduced to cinders.

  Invictus lay on the stone floor in a fetal position. Mala closed the door and went to his master, sitting down and taking the Sun God in his arms. Invictus sweated and trembled.

  “Don’t let them hurt me,” the king whispered. Then he arched his back and screamed. In response, yellow energy surged through the chain. Mala screamed too.

  “Please don’t let them hurt me.”

  “I’ll protect you, my king.”

  “Do you love me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Because I love you.”

  At that moment, Mala realized Invictus was vulnerable enough to be killed. And if the sorcerer were destroyed, Mala would return to being Yama-Deva. But the part of him that yearned to do so also stayed his hand. Murdering a helpless being was not part of a snow giant’s makeup. Furthermore, the far more dominant part of him had no desire to kill the king. As long as Invictus lived, Mala’s life would be filled with every conceivable pleasure, not the least of which would be leading the greatest army in history to victory over the infidels that dared oppose him. In the near future, all of Triken would be under the rule of Invictus. Once Nissaya, Jivita and Anna fell, most other resistance would collapse. After that, there would be plenty of opportunities elsewhere to provide entertainment, including the unexplored lands east of Tējo and south of Dibbu-Loka. The fun was in the slaughter, not the ensuing peace.

  Instead of killing Invictus, Mala tended him the rest of that day and night and through the following day. The sorcerer slept most of that time, but he was wracked by violent nightmares. Interspersed with gibberish, he alternately shouted and whispered words from the ancient tongue. It went on for what seemed like forever.

  As Bhayatupa lay within his smoldering cavern, his treasure glimmering all about him, he licked his wounds and wondered how he, mightiest of all dragons, had come to this.

  In the end, it was the corpse that had betrayed him. He was sure of it.

  On one of the final days of winter, the sorcerer had asked the dragon to carry him to Mount Asubha. Bhayatupa had agreed, knowing the windy slopes would be navigable if they arrived between storms. Secretly, he was confident nothing was on the mountaintop that could reveal his betrayal. Except for Mala, anyone or anything else that had once occupied the prison was dead. Even Dukkhatu. Bhayatupa had discovered and then eaten the spider’s shredded carcass, enjoying the gooey flesh. The explosions that had torn the summit apart left nothing but a rooftop of jagged rock.

  When they’d arrived at Asubha on that early morning, Bhayatupa perched on a pillar of gneiss. The sorcerer pounced off his back, scrambling deftly among the debris. Bhayatupa was amazed as he watched Invictus leap from boulder to boulder, unafraid of falling. Actually, once or twice the sorcerer did fall a few dozen cubits or so, but he never appeared to be the slightest bit injured. Bhayatupa doubted Invictus would be harmed if he plunged a thousand cubits onto solid granite. The dragon had never been in the presence of anyone or anything like the sorcerer, and that was saying a lot, considering Bhayatupa had lived for more than eighty thousand years.

  Eventually, Invictus climbed far enough down the side of the mountain to reach the former lair of Dukkhatu. Then he disappeared inside the dark hole and did not emerge for quite some time. When he finally emerged from the cave, his expression was changed. When Bhayatupa asked him what he had found, he replied, “Nothing but skin and bones.”

  However, Bhayatupa realized, to someone like Invictus skin and bones were valuable. The sorcerer was bursting with demon blood and was a master of their spells. So it only made sense that he knew the one that woke the remains of the dead. Ironically, it must have been Sōbhana—who hated Invictus as much as anyone—who had betrayed Bhayatupa. Her remains must have told the truth.

  As they’d flown back to Avici, Invictus played coy, but Bhayatupa became suspicious when the sorcerer asked him to land in the valley instead of on the rooftop of Uccheda.

  “T
here is someone I wish to see before I retire,” the sorcerer said.

  “As you say,” Bhayatupa responded.

  But when Invictus dismounted, he revealed his anger.

  “Do you believe you are greater than I?” he said, facing Bhayatupa. A disturbing yellow light smoldered in the sorcerer’s eyes. “You dared to defy me. Surely you must know the price of treason.”

  Bhayatupa’s eyes also smoldered. He was unused to other dragons challenging him, much less a creature smaller than one of his talons. “Defy you? Since you woke me from my long sleep, I’ve been your constant ally.”

  “Liar! You conspired to free the Death-Knower, knowing full well the consequences of such a traitorous act.”

  Bhayatupa’s anger, seasoned over the millennia, rose to the surface. “I needed the Death-Knower for reasons of my own. It had nothing to do with betraying you. Besides, Bhayatupa does not ask permission.”

  “Fool! Any who stand against me will perish. I am Akanittha, highest of the high. I am GOD!” With that, Invictus raised his hands and spewed golden energy from his fingertips.

  Bhayatupa attempted to escape, but a glowing whirlwind of liquid sunlight encircled his wings and squeezed them against his ribs, causing him to crash to the ground. During his long life Bhayatupa had been responsible for dispensing more pain, perhaps, than any living creature. But rarely had he felt pain—and never like this. The golden fire ravaged him from head to tail, including the tender flesh beneath his scales.

  For the first time in his existence, Bhayatupa lost consciousness for a reason other than sleep. When he finally woke, he was strapped to a massive stone platform with more than a dozen glowing chains. He could barely breathe, and the more he struggled, the tighter the chains wound about him.

  That’s when Vedana, the troublesome demon, had come to him, a voice out of nowhere whispering in his ear. “You’ve gotten yourself into quite a mess, Mahaasupanna. You need to choose your friends more wisely.”

  Bhayatupa did not believe it possible to experience such anger. He tore at his restraints frenetically, but the power of Invictus was too strong, even for him.

  “Are you going to just lie there and let them treat you this way?” Vedana said. “I’ve seen starved dogs with more fight in them.”

  He heaved against the glowing chains with all his magnificent strength. But the restraints drew ever tighter, threatening to strangle him. His rage gave way to doubt.

  “Do not fear, Mahaasupanna,” Vedana taunted. “The tide is about to turn. Just remember who was nice to you when things were going poorly. You and I may need each other before all is said and done.” And then she chanted, in a singsong manner, “I know something you don’t know. I know something you don’t know.”

  The humiliation had been worse than the pain. He’d ruled a hundred kingdoms, terrorized entire cities, slaughtered countless foes. No one could stand against him, not even Vedana. And yet he’d been paraded through the streets of Avici like a freak.

  Now, hidden deep within his smoldering cavern, he pondered his options.

  He had wounds throughout his body, and his ribs were especially sore where the boulder had struck him. Blood seeped from beneath several scales, one of his fangs was chipped, and a talon on his rear left foot was snapped almost in half. He had never suffered such severe injuries, and they would take months to fully heal. He had to admit the might of Invictus’ army impressed him. If Bhayatupa the Great had to flee from it, all others would do the same.

  Bhayatupa wasn’t sure where to go from here. This lair remained undiscovered for now; it was far from where the sorcerer originally had found him. But eventually Invictus would re-focus his attention on Bhayatupa’s whereabouts, and when he did, he would find him. What a predicament—the greatest of all dragons running scared. And to make matters worse, his best chance at eternal existence had perished when The Torgon had fallen on Mount Asubha. Now all he could do was hope that another Death-Knower as accomplished as Torg would arise before Bhayatupa’s long life finally faded away.

  Bhayatupa closed his eyes and tried to rest. But Vedana’s singsong words echoed within the numerous chambers of his enormous brain.

  “I know something you don’t know. I know something you don’t know.”

  Escape

  19

  When Laylah finally woke, it was past midnight. Her bed of straw swayed much as the ground had before, only more subtly. Above her, a thatched roof blocked her view of the sky. She sat up too quickly, and she became dizzy and tumbled backward. Strong hands caught her halfway down.

  “Laylah, are you all right?”

  It was the steady voice of General Lucius, who held her in his arms, his face partly hidden in shadow. To Laylah, he looked much older than before, his eyes bloodshot, his cheeks covered with stubble, and his hair greasy and tangled—all unusual for the general, who took pride in his grooming.

  “What happened?” she said, hoarsely. “Where am I?”

  Laylah sat up again. This time she was less dizzy. Lucius looked relieved. She saw the love in his eyes, and it made her sad. She could never return it. But she wouldn’t tell him that now.

  “We’re among the boat dwellers of Lake Ti-ratana,” Lucius said, sitting near her in a narrow dugout hull. “We’re many leagues from shore, floating within a community of kabangs, maybe fifty in all. Do you know anything about the boat dwellers?”

  “My father . . . Takoda . . . used to talk about them,” Laylah said. “He crossed the lake several times on kabangs.”

  The kabang that carried her and Lucius was twenty cubits long but only four cubits wide. Beneath its thatched roof were two straw beds and a small, metal stove. When Laylah looked over the side of the hull, she saw other boats floating lazily beneath a moonless sky, but no other passengers.

  “Where’s Izumo?”

  “I don’t know. We waited on the eastern bank until darkness and then flew just above the surface of the lake all the way here. After that, he disappeared. I suppose he was exhausted and needed to feed. And like dragons, dracools are not fond of open water. But he said he’ll return at midnight and check on us. You illness concerned him greatly. Were you injured somehow during the battle? I could find no bruises or scratches.”

  Laylah blushed, wondering how thoroughly Lucius had examined her while she was unconscious.

  “I don’t know what happened to me. When Invictus screamed and ran, I suddenly felt very weak. I still feel shaky. But enough about my problems. Were we followed? Are we safe? This is the first time in seventy-two years that I’ve been more than a league from Avici. I’m terrified we’ll be hunted down.”

  “As far as I can tell, we weren’t followed. But before our flight, something occurred that nearly ruined us. Invictus somehow discovered that Izumo and I were scheming to help you escape. I’m not sure what happened, but the dracool believes your brother found Bhacca’s body and gleaned information from it, using dark sorcery.”

  As if Bhacca’s death weren’t bad enough, even her corpse had been befouled. Laylah felt ashamed.

  Lucius grew quiet, gazing at her face. His expression softened. “Are you hungry?”

  “Not very. My body still feels . . . hollow. Maybe I should try to eat something, just to get back some strength.”

  “We have dried fish, dark bread and hickory butter. Also some wine. We won’t starve. Ti-ratana is well-stocked with fish and clams.”

  Lucius arranged her meal in a scraped-out turtle shell and poured wine into a clay mug. Although she didn’t feel hungry, Laylah forced herself to eat. She felt somewhat better afterward and tried to take her mind off her discomfort with conversation.

  “I suppose we should be celebrating,” Laylah said. “But it doesn’t feel right, just yet. Now that we’re away from Avici, you must tell me everything.”

  “Yes, my queen. What would you have me say?”

  “Many things. How is it that we came to be here? I knew you would arrange something, but I had always assumed we
would flee to the mountains.”

  “Which is one of the places Invictus would expect us to go. We may end up in Mahaggata eventually—or farther south in Kolankold—but there’s nowhere in the mountains you can go where one of his Mogols won’t find you. During the tedious years before our escape, I thought long about where we should go after we fled. And Ti-ratana began to make more sense than anywhere else.”

  Lucius took a swig of wine and refilled Laylah’s cup. His brown eyes glistened in the starlight that reflected off the surface of the lake.

  “The boat dwellers are an unusual breed,” the firstborn said. “They love only their own kind and have no allegiance to Invictus or anyone else. They’re not obsessed with wealth or power, and they go months at a time without ever stepping on dry land, and then only to trade for supplies they can’t acquire on their own. They dive for pearls, which the drylanders prize, and trade them for salt and spices. I’ve seen them travel as far inland as Kamupadana, but for the most part they rarely go more than a league from shore.”

  Lucius patted the kabang. “In planning our escape, I knew we’d need a place to hide that Invictus would not expect. His bond with you might enable him to sense your whereabouts, and I feared he would find us no matter where we ran. But we all know that open bodies of water have a deadening effect on sorcery, and I gambled that the immensity of Ti-ratana would be enough to thwart even Invictus’ abilities and throw him off our trail. I also believed it would not enter his mind that we might choose to go here.”

  “That all makes sense, except for one thing. If the boat dwellers love only themselves, as you say, why did they risk their lives to protect us? It sounds as if we have nothing to offer as payment.”

  Lucius drank more wine. “The boat dwellers do not desire wealth. At least, not what drylanders consider wealth. But I didn’t say that they’re without need.”