Chapter 18: A visit to the dragon’s lair

Over the next month Kendra visited often and I knew she was the one I wanted to share my life with. It was a foggy evening when the Imperial Ambassador came to the inn. I had finished all the chores and relaxed just inside the stables. I was cleaning weapons and sharpening them when he came out the back door and crossed to stand in the doorway. He watched me for a moment and then cleared his throat, “My lord Peacemaker?”

I guess I knew he would come or the Emperor’s Voice, “Yes my lord?”

He smiled and came closer, taking a deep breath, “My lord Peacemaker, the Emperor’s ward is destined to marry one of title. Your ... relationship must end.”

I looked at him and then back at the knife I was sharpening, “Does Kendra know?”

He sighed, “No.”

I wiped the knife clean and looked at the Ambassador, “May I speak with her?”

He frowned but nodded, “You can tell her.”

I stood and carefully replaced all my weapons. I nodded to the Ambassador and walked out. I think the darkness in my heart frightened people because they went out of their way to avoid me. The guards at the Curtain wall quickly moved aside without challenging me. When I arrived at the Ambassador’s Keep, the guards moved out of my way. I knocked on Kendra’s door and waited even after she called for me to enter. She pulled the door open with a frown and started, “Edward.”

I smiled slightly, “Walk with me?”

She hesitated and then came out, “What is wrong?”

I took her hand absently as I headed down the hall, “I have been asked to not see you anymore. I was reminded that you are destined to marry someone with noble blood.”

Kendra looked at me and sighed, “I know. I have always known, it is just that ... since I met you I hoped...”

She went quiet as we turned and walked back down the hall. I did not want to leave, to let her hand go. Kendra finally stopped and looked at me as she bit her lip, “Do you love me Edward?”

I smiled, “We can not run away Kendra.”

She slashed the air, “Do you love me?”

I caressed her face, “Yes.”

Kendra took a breath, “There might be a way. This kingdom has an Imperial Dragon’s lair.”

I looked at her, “No one comes out of a Dragon’s lair.”

Kendra grinned, “That is because a Peacemaker has never tried it.”

I thought about it, “A Dragon’s lair dates back to before Peacemakers.”

She nodded, “You are very good Edward. Just take your time and pay attention.”

I thought about what she was asking. Risking myself for something beyond my sworn duty ... I looked into Kendra’s eyes and finally nodded, “Very well.”

She kissed me, something she had never done. It was like breathing in light or smelling sound. Kendra seemed to fill my senses like no one and nothing before. When she pulled back slowly her eyes were wide. I finally turned and walked away. The Dragon’s Lair was created by a mage council when the empire was first born. It was always beyond the Keep of king or empire, located where the common man could find it.

In this case the Dragon’s lair in this kingdom was located in the center of the city commons. A large park like area set aside for travelers and fairs. I do not remember my steps as I walked away from Kendra. I remember standing on the flagstones before the wide stairway leading down into the lair. I sank to my knees and bowed, waiting.

The lair can only be entered during the first mark when the sun rises. People seemed to know and slowly began to gather. When the sun began to rise, I stood and took a breath before walking through the wide arch and started down the stairs. The stone wall before me seemed to melt into vapor as I approached. I walked through and it became solid behind me as I stopped walking. I knew a huge magical sphere was showing everything I did.

I carefully looked down the sloping hall and noticed the way the floor stones were positioned. I stepped forward and began a strange dance of tiny steps and leaps and large side steps. I was halfway down the hall when the stones changed. I stopped to look as a wall of flames exploded behind me. I concentrated on the floor in front of me before turning to the right hand wall.

The wall of flame behind me was still moving closer as I leaped. My fingers gripped the tiny ledge and my toes landed on another. I began moving down the hall using just my fingers and toes on the tiny ledges. I was almost to an intersection and the wall of flames was much closer when I stopped. I looked at the slightly raised ledge next to my fingers and glanced back and down.

I leaped back to land on a single tile before turning carefully to face the other side of the hall. I leaped and landed on the small ledges and started moving quickly. When I reached the intersection I jumped to the side and landed in the intersection as the wall of flame just died. I looked at the three hallways thinking quickly since I knew if I waited to long something bad would happen.

I turned to the left or the sinister hallway. Like the last hallway this one slanted down. It had silver bars below the ceiling that ran parallel to each other down the hall. I jumped and grabbed both bars and started down the hall. I slid each hand down the bars keeping constant contact. The floor was suddenly replaced with something that bubbled and seemed to boil, it also gave off a foul odor.

A quarter of the way down the hall spears began stabbing out of the walls in a seemingly random pattern. I took a moment to watch and then shifted to the bar on the right and move a few feet before moving over to the left. I went back and forth as I continued. I was also watching the bars. Halfway down the hall I dropped onto the floor.

I landed on a single tile using just one foot. I did not pause and hopped to the side to land on my other foot. Jets of seemly liquid fire began shooting down onto the floor and I began a dance of springing from one tile to another. A little later the dance changed as spikes began appearing at random. I went from hopping on tiles to a sideways leap to the wall where I stepped and jumped back to grab a bar on the ceiling. I swung to the other bar and swung again to the far wall where I again pushed off. This time to land on a tile painted like a dragon.

The wild dance continued all the way to the next intersection. I moved to the center as four huge men appeared in each of the hallways and rushed at me. I shifted sideways pulling swords and blocking and then stabbing up under a chin. I spun forward and around his falling body before slapping a short sword from another man away and stabbing under the extended arm and into his heart.

I spun to block a lunging sword and slice across the man’s throat. I sidestepped the last man’s rush and stabbed into his neck and up into his head as he went past me. I looked around and knelt to quickly wipe my weapons clean before looking at four identical hallways. Someone that did not know better would not have been able to tell which they had come out of.

The bodies of the four dead men began sinking into the floor as I walked towards the next sinister hallway. I took a brief moment before slowly walking down one side. The hall seemed to shift and suddenly it seemed as if I was walking on the wall. The huge serpent that appeared, hissed as it began to coil. I knew that if I took even one step back it would kill me.

I stepped towards the serpent as I pulled my knives. I shifted and turned my body sideways as it suddenly struck. I stabbed through the back of the skull and continued past the body ignoring the vertigo that swept over me as I was suddenly walking on the ceiling and the body of the serpent was falling to the floor above me. I glanced at the hall and jumped to the other side before continuing. This time it was a huge scorpion that appeared in front of me.

I turned sideways as the sting flashed towards me and sliced down. I faced the screaming scorpion and lunged forward, one knife slipping into its sheath and the other sliding into the head. The scorpion’s claws were closing as I flipped up and yanked the knife out. I rolled across the scorpion’s back and dropped to the hallway floor, well, ceiling.

I jumped back to the other side of the hall just before it rolled again. I was back to walking on what seemed like the wall as I moved towards the other end. I shifted to the center of the hallway and jumped. I grabbed the silver bar that seemed to protrude from the wall and started moving hand over hand. A spider appeared and as I moved closer it grew larger.

As the spider rushed at me, I let one hand go. I was hanging from one hand as I pulled a spike and threw. The spider screamed and writhed around as the spike struck its head. I continued moving as the spider flailed. I swung over it and dropped to the other wall before stepping into the next intersection. Everything righted itself as I walked to the center of the intersection.

I was not surprised at the six men that appeared. This time four were carrying short swords that seemed to glow as if straight from a forge, the other two held throwing daggers. I shifted sideways and bent backwards as two daggers flashed by me for each man. I pulled both swords and moved forward into one of the men, blocking his sword and slicing his throat with the other.

I moved sideways and turned, slapping a dagger away and blocking a man’s lunge. I parried and lunged into him and held him as I turned. A dagger hit his back as I released him to block a sword and kneel suddenly. I stabbing into one man as a dagger went past my head to strike the last man with a sword in the chest. I spun and rolled before coming to my feet and brushing a dagger out of the air.

I blocked the stabbing dagger, shifted sideway and turning to bend backwards. Another dagger went past me and struck the man in the shoulder. I lashed out and ripped the point of my sword through his throat before turning to walk towards the last man. I slapped two more daggers away before I reached him. He fainted a lunge with a dagger and then tried to stab down into my hand. One sword took the hand and the other stabbed through his eye.

I turned to look at the hallways as the room turned and then showed four new hallways. I quickly glanced at each and started for the one with a Sheppard’s staff engraved above it. I saw the other three and thought they were meant to draw someone. As I stepped into the hallway it began to rock and shake. I shifted my balance but kept going.