rear legs clawed and tore at the shining god.
Not knowing what else to do I started running to reach them, at least I tried to run. I quickly discovered that my size prohibited such activities and I was forced to proceed at a hurried lumbering gait. I still covered much more ground than I could have in my normal human form.
Even as I neared them Celior recovered his balance and twisted free of the dragon’s grip. Rolling the two of them fought on the ground like two drunken brawlers. If drunks had scales, wings, and glowed… I thought. Celior had the advantage now, using the weight of his body to press the dragon into the crater they had formed while his hands attempted to rip the beast’s head from its neck. The deity’s wounds had already vanished and his beauty was horrible to watch as he began to exert himself, pulling the dragon’s head inexorably upward.
How do you kill something that heals instantly? I wondered. My anger had faded somewhat, slowly being replaced by fear. Despite everything, Celior seemed more powerful than ever and there were no signs of him weakening.
I had little time for thinking, since it appeared my only ally was about to lose his head. Diving into the fray I wrapped the shining god in my arms and squeezed. Laughing Celior began glowing brighter than the sun and I felt my body beginning to melt and sag where it touched him. I couldn’t afford to let him get airborne again, so I did the opposite.
“Let’s see how you like the center of my power,” I ground out between granite teeth and I redoubled my efforts. Contracting my arms I felt his back break and the god twisted in pain. Stretching outward with my thoughts I let my body sink downward, into the ground, dragging the struggling deity with me. Sorry Penny, I thought with regret. I couldn’t keep that promise Rose wanted me to make for you.
Ever deeper we went and still I clutched Celior tightly. I could feel him weakening now, or perhaps it was just my growing strength, but I was able to encase him in the massive stone coffin that my body had become for him. Moira Centyr had defeated Balinthor this way, I remembered. She had drawn him down and when her power had been great enough she had crushed him to death. The resulting explosion had changed the face of the earth and created a new sea.
That will kill everyone above for tens of miles, came Moira’s voice in my mind.
How close is Penny?
What of your other friends? What of the people? she answered.
I felt a sense of anguish and desperation. I can’t have everything, I replied.
You cannot do this, not here.
Then I’ll move him, I said mentally.
There is a better way, she replied and then her mind touched mine and showed me.
Descending deeper I moved down beneath the crust of the world, into a realm of extreme heat and pressures. There I began crushing Celior, until his size was what it had been when I first saw him. Pushing further I compressed him until he had become nothing more than a brilliantly glowing sphere about two inches across. I reached within my massive rocky body and drew forth a power that was intensely concentrated and began weaving it in deep red lines around the trapped god. The blood of the earth, I thought to myself, for blood was the closest thing I could think to the appearance of that power.
Using my memory of the stasis enchantment and something akin to intuition I wove a series of runes that would lock the god’s twisted mind into a timeless and unchanging state. When I had finished he no longer struggled against his gem-like form but still his power was so great that it warped even time around it, causing energy to bleed outward. Drawing upon my strength I encased his enchanted form with a dense crystal that would absorb his power as it leaked out.
I’ll have to make sure the power is used or drained away regularly, I thought. Otherwise the giant diamond would eventually explode with a force that would make my iron bombs seem paltry in comparison. And the malign being within would be free again, I mentally added.
When I had finished I spent long minutes resting. The deep earth was comfortable and now that I no longer had to struggle against my foe it soothed my ragged emotions. My pains began ebbing away. My body no longer had any distinct margin or border and the deep drumming of the earth drew my tired spirit out. I should sleep, came a thought I hardly recognized as my own any longer.
Mordecai, no! Wake up! You must return. Don’t give up now. Moira Centyr’s voice nagged at my consciousness.
More from irritation than any desire to please her I lifted myself up through the dark layers of earth and stone until I once again lay upon the street in Albamarl. The dragon still lay nearby, bleeding and nursing a terrible wound to its neck. The sight of it roused my mind and brought back thoughts of my humanity.
Lifting my massive stone form I moved carefully closer to the dragon, unsure what it might do. “Can you understand me?” I said in a voice so deep and booming it surprised me.
Its eyes opened and fixed on me with a look of such intelligence I could not help but think it understood my language. Its mouth opened for a second but no sound emerged and a look of what I thought must be frustration passed across its strange reptilian features. “Are you Gareth Gaelyn?” I asked, thinking it might be able to nod or respond in some other way.
Before my eyes the creature began to shrink and its flesh flowed like water reshaping itself into something far different and much smaller. Seconds later I found myself staring down at a bizarre looking man. His skin held a strange lustrous tint and his eyes were slitted like those of a cat… or a dragon. Utterly naked he had no evidence of external genitalia and his belly was covered in large scales much like those of a snake.
Looking down at himself he cursed, “This isn’t right.” He seemed surprised when he heard the words emerge from his mouth.
I repeated my question, “Are you Gareth Gaelyn?”
Staring upward he answered, “I think I used to be, but I am unsure. I was human once.”
“Why did you help me?”
“I heard the earth rouse itself a few days ago. I came to find the reason, and to feed,” he said in slow and oddly accented words. “The shining god reminded me of my crime and my shame.”
His words made me anxious, particularly his mention of ‘feeding’. I wondered if he might repeat his first slaughter of the men he had meant to save. Before I could put my fears into words he spoke again, “Are you a wizard?”
“I am,” I replied simply, not knowing what more to add.
“That form is dangerous. More so even than mine, it will eat at your mind,” he said somberly.
His words reminded me that I still had not resumed my original flesh and blood body. Closing my great stone eyes I remembered Moira’s lesson and visualized myself as I had been before. The memory of my burns flitted through my mind for a second and I stopped, that thought had come close to killing me. Clearing my thoughts again I remembered myself as I had been before the burning light, healthy and whole.
When I opened my eyes again I saw the world in more normal hues and standing in front of me was Gareth Gaelyn. He was close enough now I could see how thoroughly reptilian he looked in every particular. “I think I still have my mind intact,” I told him.
He smiled oddly, showing rows of needle sharp teeth. “You think so, but each time you leave bits of yourself behind. Small things you don’t even notice. And you bring new things back without realizing it.”
“Will you return to the world of men?” I asked him.
He shook his head, “This is as close as I can come to your form now. The very thought of going further repulses me.”
“Then why did you take this form?” I asked, gesturing at his humanoid body.
“I’m not sure,” he said carefully. “I think just to warn you, and to thank you for helping me settle my debt.”
“Debt?”
“I failed to stop Balinthor, but I think today has settled the score,” he replied walking away from me.
“Where are you going?”
“To feed,” he replied.
“On what?” I asked.
He glanced back and showed me his teeth, “Whatever I find, human. My debt is settled and I must eat.” Saying that he began changing again and moments later the dragon was back.
