Dealings in the Council of Avalhein - Chapter 19

Dealings in the Council of Avalhein

Chapter 19

When Dervyn shot a puzzled glance at the woman, rather, dragon, she bared her fangs. The dragon’s eyes glowed and the lad felt a tingle run down his spine. “Stop!” Dervyn yelled at the she-dragon. He nervously held the dagger up. With shaking hands, he pointed it at the blue. “I know how to use this!”

“You can sense it?” the blue muttered, apparently amused. “Child, don’t be foolish, put the dagger down. Tell me, boy, can you sense magic being used around you?” She had a twisted smile on her draconic face. “If you can, well, I may just have to pay you extra”

“I… don’t know” Dervyn trailed off. “But I want no tricks!” He brought the dagger down on the table with a grunt. The metal sliced through the wood like it was butter. Dervyn couldn’t help but yelp and let loose a nervous laugh when the wood started to darken and smoke. “No tricks, please…” He trailed off, clutching the edge of the table, all confidence drained by everything that happened that day.

“A simple test will suffice, dear child.” She nodded to the purple and almost instantly Dervyn shivered in his place. A fire flickered to life eerily atop one of the wooden beams in the room. With a wicked smile, the blue said “That should make your job easier… Not that you’d survive it either way”

“What do you mean?!” Dervyn demanded an answer and he glared at the two who had taken away all of his life in moments. He sniffled a bit, the child within him forcing its way to the surface. A single tear rolled down his cheek, but he hardened himself, remembering the countless times the old man had punished him for crying. Being weak, the elder had called it. Any thoughts of sadness immediately became rueful loathe. “I demand to know what you mean!”

“Child, you are in no position to demand anything!” the blue dragon laughed mockingly, her voice resounding in the small room. The purple shrank into the shadows as the flames that were the female’s eyes burned brighter and seemed to bore into Dervyn’s very soul. “You still possess something that is mine, boy. Return it and perhaps I shall let you survive your ordeal.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” yelled Dervyn in frustration. All the while he had racked his mind for something that was the blue dragon’s. Nothing came to him. He was on the verge of despair, and he knew that he was walking the knife’s edge. That was when it hit him, the dagger. One more look at the blue dragon’s eyes and he knew that she was the old woman he had taken the dagger from all those years ago.

“The dagger, boy!” the dragon said both sternly and impatiently. “I cannot take it for it holds a powerful spell that prevents any Ceree from taking it without consent from the present owner.”

Dervyn had not the vaguest idea of what a Ceree was, but he knew taking chances with the dragon lady was not the wisest of decisions. He reached out for the blade. As he did, the purple snarled and a shadow crossed the blue’s face. He started pulling it out from the wood when all of a sudden, a chill pierced his bones. “Stop!” said the blue, but she was too late. Dervyn had pulled the dagger out.

An unseen wave of energy washed over Dervyn, but he felt his fingers turn ice cold. A whirlwind of shadow attached to the edge of the blade and crept up his hand. The dagger dissolved and in horror he watched as dark lines traced themselves from the tips of his fingers and met in the middle of the back of his hand. He turned his hand over and yelped when he saw the same had happened on his palm.

The pool of black on both sides warped into an elegant insignia, an elaborate thunderbolt in a field of swirling clouds. “Interesting…” muttered the blue. Dervyn thought of the dagger and it reformed in his hand as it did, the mark faded. He threw it away in horror only to watch it disintegrate in midair. The ensign gradually eased itself back into existence on his skin.

“Very interesting…” whispered the blue, an uncertain smile touching her lips.