Destiny of Sapphire - Book One: The Baron and His Elf

Chapter 12 - Death Everywhere

Death Everywhere

The roar shook the earth so hard that some of the old trees toppled, killing those humans who were unfortunate enough to be in the path instantly. A black dragon snorted, wishing for a longer painful death for them. It was not fond of how they had been treated and took delight in torturing them before killing them. Letting them bleed to death slowly was one of its favourite moves, puncturing a lung or cutting a blood vessel that connected directly to the heart was how it killed. The laborious breaths and the heaving of their chests gave it pleasure. The soft whispers of begging to be killed instantly sounded like music to its ears. ‘Valagh!’

Valagh swore before turning around. His pleasure at looking at the dying humans was interrupted by another brown dragon. He never had a liking for this new addition to his group. Malagzt joined them a few moons ago and had proven himself as an excellent finder, whatever needed to be found, he could find. That was the reason that Valagh kept him around. He had been drawn towards a direction and the rest of the group often went along with him. Only Rilace voiced her concern at the direction. She had felt it the moment they destroyed the first village they came to.

Although Valagh wanted to agree with her, something prevented him from doing so. Now, Malagzt was heading towards him and he surveyed the village or what was left of it casually. So far, no surviving humans, satisfied, he merely gave a nod to the brown dragon before heading towards the direction that was now calling stronger upon him. The rest of the dragons left the place when Valagh gave a low growl. It was a sight; six dragons of different colours heading towards the direction that only Valagh knew and felt.

They had not travelled far when they saw another village, Valagh decided to ignore this one, surprising the rest of the dragons, he ignored their questioning look. The pull towards the North-east was getting stronger and he wanted to know why. The need to know why was so strong that he ignored at least 3 villages before attacking the 4th one. This time, he wanted food and humans were food. The rest of the dragons took part in the rampage, Valagh enjoyed hearing the screams of fear and pain.

Taking a lazy swipe at a man who was attempting to crawl away, he glared at him before swallowing him whole. Rilace watched him warily. Something was wrong but she did not know what, it felt dark and even more evil than Valagh himself. Valagh was cruel but ever since they left the land of the Dragons, he was giving her an uneasy aura of dark vibes. His obsession with pillaging villages was scary; he had never done it in so many villages despite the three villages that were spared. It felt like he was being controlled and did not know it.

Rilace shivered involuntarily at the thought, something was using them but for what? What was the reason that Valagh was chosen to be led towards North-east? Something niggled at her mind, it was important as it represented fear in her. For some reason, she dreaded what they would find when they finally reach the place that Valagh was leading them towards.

The village was destroyed, Ladon had not caught up with them, was it because the three villages that were spared had thrown him off track? Rilace shivered yet again. Somehow, she wanted him to catch up before they reach the place. ‘Rilace! We are going!’ Duroyn called out, flapping his green wings. She envied his ease with flight, although they had wings, she was never comfortable with flying long distances. Her violet wings flapped a while until she launched herself into the air, unwilling to lose sight of them.

What followed in the next few days haunted Rilace, they created death in all the villages that Valagh wanted. Often, it was so random that she was not sure if he were sane but she was starting to see a pattern. It was as if he was trying to throw off their pursuers, namely, Ladon who had by now caught up with their antics and trickery. With him, she had seen a glimpse of two humans riding him. However, before she could be sure, they had to flee again. It was a game of hide and seek to Valagh who was enjoying it. They were not heading directly towards North-east but circling around the borders.

‘Rilace,’ Duroyn settled next to her when they took a rest at nightfall.

She turned to look at him with one eye, ‘Duroyn, what do you seek?’

‘Have you seen Valagh?’ he whispered. That was unlike him, he was the one in the group who would make his presence felt.

‘He is over there,’ she replied.

‘That’s not what I meant.’

‘Be careful, he might hear you,’ she hissed lowly at him when Valagh seemed to turn his head towards them. However, he merely scratched his neck and settled down to sleep. Relived, she eyed Duroyn, ‘We have to be careful. Something is changing and I do not know what it is.’

‘Is there a way to find out?’

‘My guess is that it is magic,’ Rilace surprised herself with the answer. That seemed to come out from nowhere but the way things had been going, magic was the most likely answer.

‘I thought the Dark Mage is dead?’ Duroyn was worried. He could deal with killing but magic was not his favourite enemy.

Rilace gave a soft sigh, ‘I do not know. That’s what I think so too but this reminds me of the time when a few humans and dragons were being drawn to something sinister.’

‘What do we do?’

‘Nothing. We are just dragons, there is nothing we can do,’ Rilace settled down, this time, she needed the rest. The day had been long.

‘We seek the White Witches,’ Duroyn said firmly.

Rilace lifted her head and looked at him incredulously, ‘We are dragons, we do not seek humans for help!’ hissing softly in case Valagh noticed, thankfully, he laid still.

‘We are dragons but we do not have magic, Rilace,’ was Duroyn’s calm answer. While it infuriated her, he was right. They were battle dragons, not magical dragons who could cast spells. Not even Queen Chessune had magic. That was how King Belantar died, he fought against the magic and killed the Dark Mage with a fatal blow. How Belantar managed to do it physically was a mystery as the body of the Dark Mage was never found.

That year, all the dragons mourned for the lost king who cared for all the dragons. Chessune kept the ruling as Belantar did and earned the love from the dragons aside from the rogue dragons who felt that she should let another rule. However, no one else complained about her rule and everything was peaceful till now. This time, the rogues were the cause of the death of the human villagers.

Rilace was afraid. The change in Valagh scared her but there was nothing she could do, they would have to wait till morning. Every time Valagh raided the villages, Rilace fell back a little. She saw Ladon each time they stopped at a village for too long when Valagh wanted to enjoy hearing the screams from the dying villagers. However, he managed to evade the blue dragon each time and Rilace wondered if they would ever get caught. Part of her wanted to be caught, she was tired and wary of Valagh’s actions. His mood swings were so random that even Malagzt was staying away unless he was reporting a find.

Death was everywhere, this time, Valagh went on a rampage at every village, he did not go for destroying the whole village, he merely lost interest after he got tired or something else was calling him. By now, the other dragons were making a show of killing. Only Valagh continued his kills.

Ladon was now closer to them and somehow, Rilace was filled with hope. Perhaps, Valagh would be stopped before they reached the dreaded place, it was where the Dark Mage’s castle was located. She had sent Malagzt on a mission to find out some information discreetly. When Duroyn knew of the location, he wanted to flee. The Dark Mage may be dead or he could have escaped death. He was after all, known for his cunning mind in evading death several times.

However, when Rilace opted to stay, Duroyn stayed too; in hopes that somehow Ladon would be able to stop Valagh who was by now made. His black scales was so dark that they did not know that scales could change colours so deep.

Each day, they woke up to the smell of death that was now permeating the air. It seemed to stain the air permanently now that Valagh was on a killing mode. None of the dragons had the blood lust to continue the mindless journey that Valagh was bringing them on. They longed to return home. However, no one dared to utter any objections.