Azure bonds - Kate Novak [140]
Alias felt like cheering as well, though not exactly for the dragon. If Mist were still alive, the warrior woman realized, then so might Dragonbait, Akabar, and Olive be. Moander's failure to mention the dragon's survival gave Alias reason to suspect he had lied about her friends.
Fury and hope surged within her and gave her strength. She assessed the lanky man holding her chain. He was armed with a cudgel dotted with crude shards of crystal. She was weaponless. But they made me a weapon, she thought. She drew her feet up beneath her knees, remaining crouched near the ground, her eyes fixed on her guard, waiting for an opportunity to attack.
The man's body shielded her vision from the brilliant explosion that threw the landscape into highlights of white contrasted against shadows of the deepest black. Alias stood up, but was immediately knocked to the ground by a powerful, booming wind. All her captors fell as well, thrown like rag dolls by the wind that ripped over the top of the hill.
A sudden pain shot up Alias's sword arm, as though the cold iron that bound it had suddenly turned red hot. She ignored the ache and the burning star in the.sky. Taking advantage of her guard's fall, she pulled the iron chain from his numb fingers. The man lay staring sightlessly at her, blinded by the death of his deity. Rising to her feet, she gave him a kick, knocking him out. Then she stole the sharded cudgel from his other hand.
Moander's minions went to pieces. Some stared blindly at the sky like statues, while many flung themselves on the ground and wept. Alias shot a glance skyward in time to see the last bits of Moander drift down over the city. A fell grin crept over her face. She spat good riddance to the god.
She slipped toward the far side of the hillock, but the priest in the white mask rushed forward to intercept her. He caught a cudgel in the face. Blood spattered from beneath the mask. The priest dropped to the ground.
Alias slid down the hill on the wet, slippery grass. At the bottom, she circled the mound and began to make for the road that led to the city gates.
No pursuit seemed imminent from Moander's worshipers, but Alias was sure that her respite was only temporary. If they did not hold her responsible for the destruction of their master's earthly form, they would still consider her part of their property. And without the power of their god behind them, they would fight for any scrap left to them.
Tired of carrying the weight of the chain, Alias held her arm forward to inspect the lock on the band. Perhaps she could smash or pick it open somehow. She smiled with glee as she spotted the cause of the earlier pain on her arm.
Moander's sigil was gone.
Just as Moander claimed, death destroyed the bond each master had on her. For Moander, that meant his material body in the Realms.
Death had cut the connection. But could she defeat the other four? Should she? She remembered Meander's threat that without the purpose of her masters she would not live. If she eliminated the rest, could she function without someone pulling her strings? She didn't feel lessened any by Moander's death. Her heart felt lighter, but she most certainly was not lost without his godly guidance.
A man's voice interrupted her thoughts. The sound came from the plain stretched out before her.
"Now, Daisyeye," the man's voice said, "you've been a very naughty girl, though I was afraid, too, the first time I met a dragon."
A wizard addressing his familiar, perhaps, Alias guessed. Cautiously, he crept closer.
"But, you have nothing to worry about, even if that dragon was Mist. The nasty old beast is dead."
With a start, Alias recognized the gold, green, and black markings stitched onto the back of the man's cloak. The coat-of-arms of the Wyvernspurs. And the voice was familiar, though its tone was somewhat braver than it had been the last time she'd heard it. This was too great a coincidence. Yet, she could not be mistaken. It was the same voice that had desperately tried to excuse its