AngelHeart

Chapter Ten

Zamor took every hidden side street he knew of on the way to the main gate, finally making it there in record time to see Sebastion, still arguing with the gate guard. "Why are you keeping from entering the city," Sebastian shouted, "Do you even know who I am?" Zamor approached the guard in his peasant's attire, "It's okay, stand down," he said with the authority of a king. The guard turned to face Zamor, seeing him dressed in ragged peasant's garb and said arrogantly, "And just who the hell do you think you are giving me orders?" "I am King Zamor Evergardon, ruler of the Kingdom of Artania," he said, still carrying his son, " And I will not stand for such insolence from a lowborn guard." Upon seeing his king, draped in the ragged dirty garments, the guards mouth went agape as he tried to find the corect words, Zamor said, "Dismiss." Yes, my liege," the gaurd finally managed to sputter out, before walking away as fast as he could. "Zamor, my king, what is the reason for you unsightly apearrance," Sebastian asked, seeing a baby in the king's arms, "Is that my grandson?" "Aye," he said in response, "And his life is in danger. I need you to take him from this place and tell no one." "And what of my daughter," the elderly elf asked. "Especially not her," the king said, "for my plan to work she can never know the truth."
***
Raziel led the party to the hidden cave that was the secret entrance to the dungeons just outside of the town, off the beaten path, when Caiyne asked, "So what exactly is your grand plan to get into the castle and steal the dragon eggs that you so desperately seek?" "Go in, slay the dragon and take the eggs," Raziel said. "A little too straight forwatd and simplistic don't you think," Malachi said. "Unless you have a better idea," he said. "Unfortunatley, I do not," Malachi said. "Then shall we proceed," Raziel replied, lighting a few torches, passing them amongst the party.
As they traveled down the twisting tunnels beneath the dungeons of the Shadow Dragon's Fortress, they passed the many burnt corpses and bones of the previous adventurer's to walk the caverns before them. "Poor bastards," Rowan said. "Yeah, this could be us if we aren't careful," James said, clutching the amber brooch pinned to his cloak. "Check the bodies for anything of use," Caiyne said, "these unlucky souls won't be needing their possessions any longer." Malachi saw the hilt of an elegant sword, its cross guard, a pair of fiery angel wings made of gold, its grip a high quality black leather, split halfway down with a golden ring, the pommel a lion's head with ruby inlaid eyes. "Gladius Flammae," Malachi said to himself, seeing the words of a long dead language roughly translating to Sword of the Flames engraved on the sword's one meter mythrial blade, taking the scabbard, made of the same high quality black leather wrapped around the wood from the mighty Everwood tree off of the skeleton of it previous owner, sheathing the blade and tying it to his side. "Rowan," James said, "I have something to tell you." "As long as you're not about to give me bad news, I'm all ears," Rowan stated. "Yeah about that," James said, pointing at a piece of Rowan's cape that had caught fire. " Son of bitch," Rowan shouted, his vioce echoing down the tunnel, as he threw off his cape and proceeded to stamp out the fire. "Look Rowan," Raziel said stern and calmly trying to retain his compsore, Rowan's echo still reverbrating off the walls of the cavern, "You yell like that again, I WILL set you on fire myself, dragon be damned." "Yessir," Rowan said sheepishly as his echo finally faded, James still chuckling to himself.
***
"What are your terms," Caiyne said to Wrath. Wrath in his raspy voice said, "Like I said before, I'm tired of all the war, all the Wrath, I want to settle down, live a normal life, but in order to do that I need to pass on my Sin, like my predecessor before me and hers before her." Caiyne, puzzled by this new revelation said, "Pass on a Sin? Is such a thing truly possible, I thought the Sins were eternal." With a sigh Wrath said, "No the power of the Sins is eternal." "I'm not sure I follow," Caiyne said. "Think of the power of each individual Sin as an heirloom, passed down from generation to generation," Wrath explained, "With each new owner weaker or stronger than last, but always more powerful than they were previously, whether they are elf, human or even angel." "I see," Caiyne said. "Do you really though," Wrath continued his explanation, "The transformation of a 'New Sin' takes quite the toll on the body. And in order for this power to be inherited the previous sin has to die at the hands of the deemed successor and be reborn anew, their soul returned to the cycle. The new Sin should they survive the transformation will gain unimaginable power, at a price. The price varies from Sin to Sin, I only know the price of the Sin of Wrath." "And what is the price," Caiyne asked. "You have one year to slay a target specified by the previous Wrath," He said, taking a swig of the Merivale brandy he had poured only moments earlier. "Who did you have to kill," Caiyne asked.
***
Caiyne was walking just behind Raziel thinking about how easy it would be to summon the Blade of Chaos, and sever his head from his shoulders, but now was not the time she had to stick to her plan. "Raziel, do you even know where we are going," Caiyne said, stepping over a charred corpse. "I'm following the magical energies being emitted from the dragon," he said. "I know that much," Caiyne said, "but we've passed this crispy critter that used to be a man five times." "How can you be so sure,"Raziel asked. "Because, one, this crispy bastard's helmet here is missing half of the horn on the left side, two this is the shield I wiped the soot off of revealing the sigil of a phoenix, and three you've stepped in that same pile of dragon dung twice," she said, pointing to this dung-covered boots. "I have been wondering what that smell was," James said "I thought it was just Rowan's brown pants," Malachi retorted to James' comment. "Very funny," Rowan said as Malachi started to suppress his laughter.
"It's obvious that the dragon has a cloaking barrier surrounding it and its eggs," Caiyne said. "Malachi," Raziel said, scraping the shit off off his boots, " Cloaking barriers are your area of expertise, what do you suggest?" "Well, for starters, since we can't rely on tracking magic, we'll need to rely on more primitive methods," Malachi said, picking up a rock from the ground and scraping an X onto the wall. "I see," James said, walking up to him, "A bit archaic, but it works." "I thought you would have some magical way of dispelling the barrier," Raziel said. "I did, on the carts that are back in Deadman's Gulch," Malachi said rathrer smuggly, "So unless you have a better idea," he finished saying while tossing him the rock.
***
AnnMarie was sitting on her bed in her chambers, her eyeliner and mascara ruined from the many tears that she cried, her emotions that of sorrow, greif, and even anger. She looked into the mirror on her vanity, seeing the groveling mess she had become, she took a deep breath, stood up, walked over to her vanity and sat down while undoing the desheveled mess that was previously her dragon's braid. "My own husband killed our only child," she said quietly to herself, grabbing a wet rag from the vanity and wiping her ruined make-up off of her face, before beginning to cry again. The queen finally managed to get all the smeared make-up off her face before grabbing her elegant silver hairbrush, no longer than just starting to brush her hair, the feeling of rage set and she smashed the mirror in front of her with the brush. "Curse you Zamor," she screamed, " And curse you Rozara," she shrieked, getting up and grabbing the poker by the fireplace and smashing and stabbing everything in sight in a blind rage. "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you," she screamed over and over and over again will smashing the mannequin that had dawned her once elegant wedding gown, embroidered with emeralds, rubies, and pearls, that were now strewn about the room, the dress in tatters with each repeated swing and every stab.
The queen tired, finally dropped the poker and fell to the ground her hair a mess, her eyes read and puffy, mucus running from her nose looking around her saw her once neat and tidy room covered in feathers and fabric from her bedding, glass from the mirrors and pots other various fixtures, splintered wood from her bedframe and vanity, and the jewels from her wedding gown. She looked at herself in the shattered mirror, the once strong and proud queen saw a desheveled and helpless woman, in the cracks of what remained of her mirror, a person that she didn't immediately recognize, a person that she had seen nearly thirty years, not since the day that she had met Zamor.
***
"So your name is James," Sebastian said, holding the young babe whilst in the driver's seat of his wagon on his way back to his cabin in the middle of the Shadowglen forest, hitting a bump on the road waking the baby. "Hush now little one," Sebastian said, trying to calm the now crying infant, rocking him back and forth. "Zamor, I really hope your plan works," he said with a sigh, "As heartless as it may be it is the only way to keep him alive."
***
Zamor returned to the dragon Rozara infant in hand, now dressed in fine ramient worthy of a king, comfortable and not at itchy he thought to himself. "Is this your son," Rozara asked the king calmy, her eyes focused on the infant child in front of her. His eyes a deep blue, his hair dark blonde almost golden in color. "So this is your offering for the blood price," Rozara asked. "Yes," Zamor said, presenting his 'son' to the mighty dragon before him. As Rozara took the infant the king knew what was about to happen, he couldn't force himself to watch, the tears streaming down his eyes, as the dragon ate the infant, the tiny screams that the little one could manage could be heard along with the little bones crunching, until there was silence in the chamber connecting to the cave. "The blood price has been paid," Rozara's voice echoed, as Zamor was sobbing at the thought of what he had just done to protect his son. "At what cost," he said, sobbing, "My son is dead, I'm to blame, and the laws of my ancestors prevent me from taking vengenace." "The laws of your ancestors forbid you from killing dragons," Rozara said to him, "what's stopping you, the current king, from rewriting the laws." "And what risk losing the respect of the people for killing the first dragon seen in generations," he shouted, "that would cause civil unrest among the populace, and I don't have the time to quash such rebellions. Not while war with angel's threatens to spill over into my kingdom's borders." "Dragon's are feared and respected by all races, mortal and otherwise," Rozara stated, "None would dare attack you, if I was to defend your castle." Zamor looked at the dragon, tears still streaming down his cheeks and shouted at the creature, "And why should I trust the word of a dragon, especially the one responsible for my son's death?" "Because I would be bound by honor and magic," Rozara replied.