The Urn

Chapter 8: Shadows

Simon walked past Ariana and looked around the fortress' hallways. "Clear." He looked over his shoulder. "Can you sense anything?" He stopped, seeing something ahead. "Wait, there's something there." A door was slightly open ahead . . . and torchlight flickered inside the room.

A voice came from the door, and Simon was chilled. It was Shadow. "Come on, Simon, and see what I have done for you." Another laugh cut through the air, and Ariana stiffened behind him. They looked at each other and moved into the doorway.

Shadow was standing in front of a staircase with a woman in front of him. She was dressed in a red evening gown and turing a ruby ring on her finger. She smiled, and spoke up. "Hello, Simon, and my creator."

Ariana stopped, and took a half-step backwards. "What?"

Simon looked at the two of them, and caught what he had missed earlier; this woman looked almost exactly like Ariana . . . except she was fully human. "Who are you?" He asked, drawing his sword.

"Well, I'm Ariana's creation . . . she wanted so badly to remain pure of heart." The other woman sniffed disdainfully. "Pity, she doesn't look as pure as she thought."

"Who are you?"

"Her name is Lilith, and it just goes to show what hours of careful spellcasting can accomplish." Shadow smiled. "Come now, Simon, did you expect me to be gone after that stunt you pulled to get ahold of the Book?"

Lilith looked over her shoulder. "Do you want me to kill her now?"

"No, actually, she can wait. Simon and I have a small matter to finish." Shadow started up the staircase. "It can wait, Lilith."

"I'd like to settle my score with her now." Lilith smiled at Ariana baring her teeth.

"Very well, but remember that if you kill her before I finish, you won't be able to come to 'real' life." Shadow smiled, laughed, and started up the staircase. "I'll be waiting, Simon."

Simon looked at Ariana, and sighed. "I have to," he said, "else he'll get away." After offering Ariana a silent apology with his eyes, he turned and rushed up the stairs. He saw Shadow ahead of him, ground his teeth, and made an effort to catch up . . .

In a cell below the fortress, Timat stirred. "Ugh, what the heck happened?" Then she remembered. "Ariana . . . why did she do this?" She opened her eyes and raised her head. Pain came quickly, and she closed her eyes again.

"She's coming around." Maiya's voice said. "Mother? Are you fine?"

"Ask me in a year . . . what do you two remember?"

"Well, I remember seeing Ariana on the other side of some bars, then everything going dark." Maiya seemed confused. "What about you, Ilth?"

"I saw Ariana wave her hands and change . . . she wasn't a centaur anymore and had on a red gown. I don't quite remember anything other than the darkness." Timat heard Ilth from her other side, and opened her eyes again. The pain didn't come back, so she turned her head to look at him. "Why?"

"Because I think she betrayed us." Timat closed one eye as she felt pain on her neck. "Is there anything on my neck? I've got this real pain . . . "

"Yes, that's where you got hit." Maiya looked at the other side of the bars, and pointed to a group of younger dragons laughing at some private joke and playing with some oversized cards. "THEY stuck us in here and beat you up while you slept. Then they just left you in here to die, I guess. They're Gevillan's crowd."

Timat groaned inwardly. "I can't see them . . . what do they look like?"

"They're younger than me or Ilth, but they've got some sort of gloves on their foreclaws. They hurt a lot when they only touch you!"

Ilth broke in suddenly. "They're actually coating those gloves in dragonbane, an oily potion that is extremely dangerous to us. And them."

"Yes." Both other dragons spoke at once, and exchaned a brief smile.

"Well, maybe we should get our own glove." She winced. "Where's my sword?" She looked around the damp cell, not seeing anything.

"You're laying on it."

"That might explain why it hurts." She reached under her and pulled it out. With some effort,she stood up and leaned against a wall. "Ooh, I'm dizzy . . ."

"They got you rather good, Timat." Ilth walked forward and looked at Maiya. "Can you still heal these wounds?"

"I can try." She walked forward and concentrated. Timat felt something tickle, and tried not to laugh. Then the pain began to vanish. "There, that's as good as I can do."

"Thanks, Mai. I barely feel it now." Timat grinned. "Now . . . about those guards." She began to shrink a little, and eventually was only three feet long. With a tiny giggle, she was relieved to find that she still could change sizes.

"Perhaps Ariana did help me and I never let myself realize it." She said to herself, and decided that now was not the time to muse on that subject. She flew towards the bars and found she could squeeze through easily. On the other side, she flew towards one of the gloves on the table and picked it up carefully. There were razor-sharp blades on the fingers; no wonder they had stung!

Dragging the heavy glove back to the cell, she was amazed and relieved that nobody had seen her. She pushed the glove away, and changed size back to thirty feet. She pulled the glove on, and smiled. It fit well enough. She flexed it experimentally and started towards the guards.

They still hadn't noticed, absorbed in their game. She grinned as she tapped one on the shoulder. He turned, still laughing, and she smacked him across the muzzle. He fell to the ground, and the others stopped to stare at her.

"Now, gentlemen, if you'd be so kind as to guide the three of us out, I'm sure you won't wind up like your friend here." She smiled and flexed the glove again. "Or do I need to make a second demonstration?"

The guards looked at each other, smiled, and moved to stand. Timat sighed, turned around, and pulled the door to the cell open. "You two go on, I'll join you shortly."

Ilth and Maiya nodded, and walked by. One of the guards spoke up. "Hey, those are out prisoners!"

"Were." Timat corrected him gently. "Now, which way to the surface?"

"Listen, I don't take orders from a female, even if she IS armed!" The guard belligerently stuck his face in Timat's. "Got it?"

She took off the glove. "Ok, I'll order you around unarmed." She allowed herself to grow to a hundred feet long and smiled down at the guard, whose mouth was hanging open. "Please, lead me to the surface."

The guards mutely pointed to a staircase, and Timat bowed her head, resuming her former size and moving slowly towards it. Ilth and Maiya were waiting there and they looked at her. "What about the guards?"

"They won't bother us." Timat said off-handedly, and continued past them up the stairs. "I think it's this way."

Maiya and Ilth looked at each other. "Do you think she lost it?" Ilth asked.

"If she did, I'm not going to tell her." Maiya replied, and both dragons nodded agreement as they continued up the stairs. "You don't contradict someone who could face down those guards without much violence."

Ilth silently agreed, but began to wonder about whether he could really help Maiya if she was in trouble. The doubts started to form when he woke up in the cell and had found he hadn't been able to get them out. Then after Timat got them out without much apparent effort, his doubt increased.

"Am I really the one for you, Maiya, who couldn't do anything to help you?" He murmured to himself, and started to follow her up the staircase.

Simon pursued Shadow up the stairs, drawing the runed sword he kept into his hand. When he came to the top of the stairs, he was in a room where a window looked out into the courtyard. "Shadow?"

"Here." He moved from where he had been leaning against the white stone wall. "It's almost a pity, you know . . . I thought you'd understood me." He looked at Simon's sword. "Still a mage that needs a weapon of steel to fight, Simon?"

"I use whatever I can." Simon looked around once more. "Just the two of us, here."

"As it was meant to be." Shadow didn't seem overly concerned. "However, this isn't the real battle. Anything that happens here won't matter one week, one month from now." He took a step closer. "It's Ariana that matters, not you."

"Why is she so important? Why do you think I'm not?"

"I know you're not, Simon. Lilith and Ariana are all that matter now, and if Ariana loses . . . well, I win whether I'm dead or alive." He looked out the window. "Odd, isn't it? That you struggles so much to defeat me, and when you finally reach the point where you can, it doesn't matter? That's poetic justice, isn't it?"

Simon frowned, thinking on something Shadow had said earlier. "How did you create Lilith from Ariana?"

"It was quite simple. Remember how I came into being? In a dream first, then from magic?" Shadow smiled darkly. "I simply used a bit of the art you once knew and watched Ariana from a distance. When she was weakest, I 'nudged' Lilith to emerge . . . you remember those times? When Ariana attacked you for no apparent reason?"

"Why did you want Lilith to do that?" Simon shook his head, confused. "After all, if she killed me, she couldn't learn any more from the Book. Ariana would never study the Book if it had been the cause of my death."

"Exactly. I had to be patient; that's something you never understood." Shadow made a show of stretching. "I have eternity, Simon . . . and all I had to do was wait until Lilith was not stronger than Ariana, but exactly as powerful. Then I could remove her and not destroy both of them." He laughed. "Except Lilith was a fast learner . . . I doubt Ariana's alive anymore."

"Why? Why do you want her dead?"

"Not dead, in my control. You see, she has power that could restore the power of my creator to what it used to be. To what it was before your friend Dreamspinner started to diminish his prominence here. First by bringing the dragons on the Isle to a semi-perfect peace, then by repeatedly stopping his efforts to work against that peace." Shadow seemed distant, detached from the present situation. "Oh, he was patient, and discovered an archmage ready to come over to his side. You let yourself focus on making certain you knew a little of everything, but you should have left the dark arts alone. That is how I got started; remember that you couldn't seem to stop using them for a while, and you even turned them on yourself to protect you? Every single time, when you doubted you would ever be the same again, and it was true. Each time I gained a small victory, and it was the Master who brought me to life. He took the dark parts you had been separating from yourself and started binding them to other qualities you despised . . . your lust for power one of them."

Simon was speechless, staring at Shadow. This was incredible to hear . . . that there was something behind all evil? That he had been manipulated into destroying himself and creating Shadow. "So what came after that?"

"You fed my growing essence with doubts that you could defeat your enemies and save your friends. Each time you overextended your magic, I took a little extra for myself. But at last I got enough to break free . . . when your fear of a possible future pushed you over the edge into an abyss of doubt."

Simon felt anger rising. "So, I was a pawn all along?"

"What else? You were the perfect pawn, convinced that you were free, yet always dancing to the tunes of the Powers." Shadow let out a laugh. "And here you are at last . . . unable to swing the balance of power one way or another. The side I favored will win, with Lilith's assumption of Ariana's powers, and you will lose everything."

"Not if I can stop this." Simon said, stepping forward.

"You're welcome to try, but first you have to stop me." Shadow grinned and dodged away as Simon sliced the sword down. Freezing black energy crept from Shadow's hand and washed over Simon.

Simon drew back and looked at Shadow. "It's not as if you need to kill me."

"No, that is purely for my pleasure." Shadow laughed coldly and threw his hands forward. Dark magic gathered and thrust forward like a spear. Simon dodged aside, and drew his sword up. When he stood still, he sliced forward again, this time catching Shadow's shoulder. There was no blood, and Shadow laughed.

"Pathetic . . . you don't yet understand the full picture. Let me help you." He put his hand on Simon's head, darting forward faster than Simon could see.

Simon let out a cry of surprise, and felt his sword clatter to the floor. A vision filled his head, of Gevillan and Dreamspinner fighting in the air above. Dreamspinner had numerous small wounds, but was shrugging them off. Gevillan, however, seemed to be staying alive only by will. Simon frowned nad willed his mind's eye to see what magic was at work.

When the vision appeared again, he saw a black, shadowy mask on Gevillan's face, violently clashing with the white scaled hide. Threads of dark magic ran along his sides and wings, and Simon felt power flowing along them. Somehow, this dark magic was sustaining Gevillan, and keeping him from dying. But where was the source of the spell?

Simon opened his eyes, and saw Shadow smiling. "You . . . you're the one!"

"Yes, I've had a chance to improve my skill in magic. I'm the one keeping that dragon alive, along with Lilith." He laughed, and looked out the window. "Ah, that is why you can't win, Simon . . . you can't kill me and abate the spell on Gevillan."

Simon grimly raised his sword and his other hand. A white light began around his hand, and a blue light around his sword. "I can't kill you, but I can abate the spell." He lunged before Shadow could react and sent both magics into Shadow, feeling for the spell he had on Gevillan and blasting it apart.

Shadow screamed and threw Simon away. "Wretch! You'll ruin everything!" Outside, a dragon roared in pain. Simon recognized who it was; it was Aurous. Shadow watched Simon's face. "Oh, the young gold dragon means something to you?" Then he laughed and rushed out a side door that had been left open.

Simon followed, and looked at the scene that Shadow had given him. Gevillan and Dreamspinner were indeed fighting above the courtyard, but Aurous and Dreamer were helping the blue dragon. All three were striking in unison, and Gevillan could not keep them all away.

Shadow muttered something about fools, and began a spell to snuff out the life of Aurous. Simon dived, and knocked Shadow down. Shadow's spell was flung aside, and blasted the wall under them. "You idiot!" Shadow screamed as Simon brought his hands to pin Shadow to the ground. "You can't stop it now!"

Simon brought his hands closer to Shadow's face, and they started to glow a bluish-white. "I can and I will." He willed the magic out into Shadow, and closed his eyes. Nothing mattered but the magic, and if he failed, then all was lost.

Timat, Maiya, and Ilth scrambled out of the caves and looked around in astonishment. They were in a fortress of some kind. "This way." Ilth said, feeling something guid him. Maiya and Timat exchanged glances, but didn't stop him.

At last, they reached a large chamber where double doors to the courtyard were barred shut. Two young dragons were lazily guarding it, both convinced there wouldn't be any trouble. Then they looked up and saw Ilth. "Ilthanos! What are you doing here? Going to join us?"

"Not if you paid me with all the gold in this fortress." Ilth replied icily. "I saw what you were doing, down below, and you've perverted the teachings of Selitha."

"Grow up!" One of the guards sneered. "You don't understand yet that we decide how to use our powers, not some old green female!"

Timat let out a rumble of disapproval, but Maiya spoke faster. "You were there, weren't you? You know that there was not only dragons from the Isle, but off of it too!"

"The first mistake was to let outsiders like you tell us how to run things." The second guard stood up. "You haven't even bothered to learn why the Isle is the way it is. It's at peace because the strongest ruled, because Dreamspinner wouldn't tolerate questioning of his rule."

"You're bigger idiots than I thought!" Maiya shot back. "If you had half a brain between you two, you'd realize that with as many different dragons that life on the Island ther CAN'T be only one way to rule!"

"Uh . . ." One guard struggled to speak, but Timat glared him into silence.

"It doesn't matter where you were born, or what gender you are, it's what you have and know that's important." She contemptously shook them once. "Am I clear?"

"Sure . . ." The other guard said, but stopped.

"I hope so. Because if any tales come to my ears about your kind making those kind of statements and trying to make them law, I'm going to personally make certain that the responsible dragon is run off the Island."

Ilth murmured to Maiya. "I hope I never make her that mad."

Ilth walked up to Timat. "That was great!"

"Just don't ever say things like that, or harm Mai, or you'll find out how I am when I'm really angry." She turned the sweet smile on Ilth, and the dragon shivered. "Come on, we might just be in time to get a piece of Gevillan, and find out what's wrong with Ariana."