Curse of the Shadowmage - Mark Anthony [88]
Mari lowered her short sword. "They're gone," she said hoarsely. "They've given up."
Kellen moved to the wall. He pulled himself up rough stones and peered over the edge. "No, they haven't given up," he said quietly. "They're just… changing."
Drawn by his strange words, the others approached the wall.
"By all the gods of darkness!" Ferret swore.
The shadowhounds had gathered at the base of the hill, milling around in a growling throng. Two hounds brushed against each other, and, as if made of dark clay their separate forms merged into one. More shadowhounds pressed themselves against their brethren merging their bodies into shapeless blobs that oozed fluidly across the ground. Finally, the formless blobs coalesced with the remaining shadowhounds into one gigantic mass, which began to take on a new shape. Wings spread outward like midnight sails, a sinuous neck unfurled like a great serpent. Crimson eyes blinked to life in a huge, wedge-shaped head, and obsidian talons sprang from outstretched claws. The thing tilted its horned head back, its vast roar sundering the night.
"Milil save us," Mari whispered in awe.
It was a dragon. A dragon of shadows.
Seventeen
The shadowdragon spread its vast wings and rose into the sky, blotting out the stars.
Kellen had never seen anything so magnificent-or so terrifying. The shadowdragon soared higher, the surging sound of its pumping wings like that of white-capped waves breaking on a rocky shore. In moments, the gigantic beast circled far above hill and ruined tower, tilting its triangular head back to let out another trumpeting roar. "All right, now what?" Ferret rasped, his pointed nose twitching furiously. The little thief looked at the mage expectantly.
"I'm open to suggestions," Morhion snapped.
"What about Isela's ring?" Mari shouted over the dragon's roar. "It helped protect us against the shadowhounds."
"It is worth a try," the mage agreed. "Well, you might want to try soon," Ferret gulped, pointing upward.
Silhouetted against the starry sky, the shadowdragon folded its wings against its body and dove, stretching out scythelike talons. Morhion crossed his wrists and shouted the guttural words of an incantation. Crackling bolts of blue lightning sprang from his out-turned palms and shot upward. As the bolts sped toward the shadow dragon, the jeweled ring on his left hand blazed brilliantly.
The lightning changed from blue to deep violet. The diving dragon spread its sail-like wings, halting impossibly in midair. The beast cocked its neck, then thrust its head forward, jaws gaping open. Some dragons breathed fire, others emitted clouds of poisonous gas or flesh-searing acid. This was a dragon of shadow. Its breath was darkness.
A bolt of onyx streamed from the dragon's mouth and collided with the crackling purple lightning halfway between mage and beast. Tendrils of darkness coiled around the blazing pillar of lightning and spiraled rapidly downward, like black serpents slithering down a glowing column.
"Morhion, let go of the spell!" Kellen cried out.
His face twisting with effort, the mage uncrossed his wrists at the last possible second. The onyx dragonbreath engulfed the magical lightning, and the spell shattered violently, filling the night with hurtling shards of slick darkness and sizzling purple radiance. The force of the explosion threw Morhion backward against the stone wall. He slumped to the ground and Mari ran to him.
"I'm all right," he gasped hoarsely. "But if the ring has the power to help us now, I do not know the key…"
"Well, we'd better think of an alternate plan, and on the double," Ferret suggested nervously.
The shadowdragon swooped low over the hilltop, then soared into the sky to ready itself for another dive. As it passed overhead. Ferret hurled his dagger in a precise arc. The knife struck the creature's eye-and passed right through the shadowy substance of its body. The thief swore vehemently. "How can we fight something that's made of shadows?" he shouted. Ferret helped Mari pull