Friya uttered the last of the magic words, and the last of the concealment spells fell away. I sensed the full radiance of the power of the item as Friya opened the first chest, which was big enough to fit a body in. The second was large enough for a child to hide in, and the next would have fit a big helm. The final chest, the one holding my key to victory, was so small, I had to wonder just what sort of potent weapon would be able to fit inside.
She opened it carefully and took out a single gauntlet. It was majestic, ornately wrought in a rich blue metal.
“This was your ancestor’s,” Friya simply said as she handed it to me.
A jolt of power surged through me as soon as I touched the blue metal.
“Too bad Uger couldn’t have left both of them in one place,” I mused.
“He couldn’t. The other belonged to Kemji.”
“They each only had one gauntlet?”
“Uger used the right, and Kemji used the left. They were both extremely powerful warriors in their time, yes… but they were both mortals. The power of the united pair of gauntlets would destroy a mortal man. I don’t need to remind you that you, Vance, are a god…”
“And because of that, I can use both of the gauntlets?”
“Not just because of that; you’re a powerful god too, one who’s gone some ways to prove his mettle, one who has not rested his divine tush on his divine laurels but has worked endlessly to grow his power. A fresh god wouldn’t have anywhere near the strength to use these gauntlets.”
“Have I made it up to that point yet, or do I need to accrue more powers?”
“The only way you’ll find out for sure is by putting them both on. If you are able to use both at once, well, then you are strong enough, but if you aren’t… you won’t know because you will be dead the instant you slip the other one over your hand.”
I chuckled dryly. “Well, that’s quite the gamble, isn’t it? Ha, you know exactly how to entice me, Wise Woman, You’ve proven it in several ways now. I like a gamble. I live dangerously. Now, though, for the million-coin question: what the fuck is it that these gauntlets actually do once they’re united?”
“They will allow you to control something that cannot be controlled, not by any other means.”
“Okay.” I stared at her through the fire-tinged gloom with a raised eyebrow. “And what are these things that ‘cannot be controlled’ but by the mysterious gauntlets?”
No sooner had I pronounced the question than the answer came rushing into my mind: a vivid recollection of my brief journey into the memories of Uger’s last moments, when I had touched his skull in the crypts beneath the Keep of Brakith. Kemji’s grandson Tendo had mentioned gauntlets used to control. . .
“Storm drakes,” I whispered, staring at the blue gauntlet in awe. “These gauntlets will allow me to control storm drakes.”
My awe and excitement faded quickly, though, when another realization hit me with brutal force.
“Damn it, Friya,” I muttered, “you got my hopes up for nothing. Fuck, you might as well throw this damn gauntlet down the deepest shaft in this mine, for all the good it’s going to do me.”
“What are you talking about, Vance?” Friya said.
“Dragons have been extinct for hundreds of years. And before I put my hand on Uger’s skull, I had no idea that anything like a storm drake had even existed. And even if one did exist, it’s just a freakin’ animal, not some demon of the ancient world like the Demogorgon.”
“You’re right about dragons being extinct, but you’re wrong about what dragons are, or were.”
“The fact remains that they’re all dead and gone.”
Friya’s gorgeous face radiated a broad smile. “You’re forgetting something very important, Vance.”
“And what might that be?”
“You’re the Raiser of the Dead. You’re the one person—the one god—with the power to bring any creature back to life. You alone have the power to resurrect a storm drake from the dead.”
“Well shit on me,” I murmured, staring at the glossy blue gauntlet with renewed awe. “Shit on me, I didn’t even think of that! But… hell, if I did resurrect a dragon, it’d be a brittle skeleton. Could it do anything beyond moving around, like my skeletal horses?”
“As I just said, you’re wrong about what dragons really are. First, they’re not just animals; they’re beings of the ancient world, just like the Demogorgon. They, like the Demogorgon, possess powers that existed before most of the gods, and it is with these powers that they can fight and destroy a demon like the Demogorgon. These beings were semi-immortal; they lived for many thousands of years before either being killed, or, like the last of the storm drakes a few hundred years ago, simply withering away from old age. But their spirits, like the spirit of the Demogorgon and other ancient entities, endure on another plane. You resurrected the Wind Goddess, whose soul, I imagine, was very weak after having been dead for so long, and of whose mortal remains little was left but bones, yes, but now I have met her, and she exists as a living, breathing goddess again. Surely you can do this for a dragon?”
“I could, if I could find the dragon’s soul. But you said that dragons, like the Demogorgon, inhabit a different plane. I only know how to get
