Amadea and the Divinity Blade - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

At the end of the three days, Boreus had a new respect for Zephyr. Even after having killed quite a few monsters, the villagers still shied away from Boreus, nearly treating him like he was a monster himself. Plus, because Boreus and Notus didn't have magic like Zephyr – or so they thought not knowing that everyone could use magic if they simply learned how – Boreus learned quite a bit about how useful Zephyr's magic really was.

Boreus had always been a dedicated swordsman, and scorned his eldest brother, and their youngest brother Eutus' use of magic. Now, he realized that magic could compliment swordsmanship well, and that it could even be more effective against monsters at times.

All in all, Boreus was almost sorry to return to normal. Almost, but not quite, since his own woman had refused to look at him for the entire three days.

Zephyr actually spent the rest of the three days in bed, recovering from the incident. As he rested, he mulled over something Boreus had said to him about Amadea having the power to cure him anytime. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that having her do so would be a mistake. His body protected him from harm almost as well as Amadea's shield did her. Not to mention that it seemed to be tied to his magic, and that he definitely did not want to lose.

The moment his body was back to "normal," Zephyr recited several spells in a row, just to see if he could. Amadea laughed as he played with his magic like a brand new toy, but was also thankful her spell hadn't caused any permanent damage. Soon enough, they were ready to depart on their journey once more.

*******

Amadea flung herself onto a patch of clean grass in exhaustion. They had been on the road for more than three weeks now, and had already sealed two more mysterious lesser doorways.

"Zira, why are there so many doorways?" She asked.

"I have been giving that some thought." Zira sat next to Amadea, leaving Zephyr to continue fighting monsters alone. Well, not entirely alone, he had some local men helping him. "I think it's that warlock's fault. I think he had purposely set up these doorways to open if he failed. Maybe he even decided on a date he figured to be significant somehow as the trigger that opened them. Though why they seem to be attracted to the two of you..." Zira shrugged.

"Well, I have given that some thought. I think that they are attracted to us for the same reason we are hunting them down, to destroy what we perceive to be a threat," Amadea replied.

"Oh, so you're saying that they can sense your power somehow, and wish to kill its source. That actually makes sense," Zira mused. "Well, in any case, we still have to figure out what to do with all these dead monsters. Everything we have tried has damaged the land so badly, nothing will likely grow there for at least ten years."

"I know, it grieves my heart to come to the aid of my citizens, only to destroy their livelihood by ruining the land," Amadea sympathized. The sun was overshadowed by a cloud, and Amadea tilted her head to look up at it.

"I overheard your conversation as I was hunting for some food." The voice came from a huge purple dragon. The same dragon they had befriended while Zira was still alive, and had agreed to allow the Emperor to send men to claim a token from her.

"Amethyst!" Amadea greeted happily. The dragon – who was actually a darker, royal purple, despite her name – nuzzled Amadea affectionately.

"I think I have a solution to your problem. Did you know that I currently have four eggs due to hatch any day now?"

"You do! Congratulations!" Amadea hugged as much of the dragon as she could.

"Yes, it's the most eggs to be laid by a dragon in a very long time. As you can imagine, not too long after they hatch, it will be extremely time consuming to find enough food to feed them all until they can hunt for themselves."

"So, you want us to send you the dead monsters!" Amadea finished for the dragon excitedly.

"Exactly, dragons love to eat monsters, you know. And monster bodies rot into the most delicious delicacy you can imagine."

"You don't say," Amadea grimaced in revulsion.

"Plus, they have all of the nutrition a mother could want, and they fuel such wonderful fire breath," Amethyst explained in an obviously motherly fashion.

"Well, I'll be happy to send them your way, but you may quickly come to regret it, there are hundreds of them everywhere we go," Amadea warned.

"That may seem like a lot to you, but just imagine having to feed four constantly hungry mouths. Too much is better than not enough." Amethyst surveyed their surroundings. The men were finished slaughtering the monsters, and quite a few had run away in terror at the sight of the dragon. Some of the braver ones made themselves stay to help slay the dragon, if necessary.

Only about half of the known dragons were courteous to humans, the other half would eat a person if nothing better could be found. Though it was true that dragons preferred to eat monsters.

Zephyr smiled, calmly strode up to Amethyst, and hugged her as she nuzzled him. The dragon had blocked the women from the view of the villagers, but they noticed them now as she lowered her massive head to lay it in Amadea's lap. The combination of events was simply too much awe for the villagers to handle, and they fled to their pub to drink, and talk it over.

"Amethyst has presented us with a solution to our problems," Amadea informed her husband.

After the explanation was complete, Zephyr nodded in understanding, and stood to concentrate on the mounds of monster bodies. He visualized the Dragon’s lair, amplified his focus by touching the dragon's token, and sent all of the bodies to a clearing near the mouth of her cave.

Amethyst immediately knew it when anything approached her lair, no matter where she was, and she moaned in anticipation. "Please excuse me; I have monsters to go eat." She carefully lifted her head from Amadea, backed away a few feet, and flew off. Then she stopped, turned around, and spoke to them.

"Zephyr, why do you not use the token I gave you?" She asked.

"Because you never did get around to telling me what it was," Zephyr replied as if she were standing right next to him for dragon hearing was very keen.

"Didn't I? I do apologize. It appears to be nothing more than a ring, but it is in fact the legendary Spirit Bow. I know one of your favorite spells is the spirit arrow. If you wear the ring on your finger rather than on a chain around your neck, you will be able to amplify your spell more than ten times," Amethyst explained.

"I don't wear it because it's far too small, it must have been made for a child," Zephyr protested.

"Indeed, the previous owner was a young girl, but that matters not, the ring will fit itself to your finger." Amethyst turned to leave once more.

"Wait! What happened to the little girl?" Amadea wondered.

"She was caught unaware one evening and... Well, I punished that human to be sure." The dragon left in an instant.

"The poor girl." Amadea sighed.

Zephyr personally felt he could have done without the information, but prepared to try the ring on anyway. As stated, it immediately grew bigger to fit his finger. He put it on his left middle finger since he was right handed, and it seemed right to have it there next to his wedding band.

He began to practice using it by clenching his hand as if he were holding a bow. He used his right hand to draw an imaginary string with an imaginary arrow ready to fire. There was a red glow in the shape of a bow and arrow in his hands, and he let it fly to a target some 50 feet away.

The arrow hit the target exactly where he aimed with a small explosion, and Zephyr let out a small gasp of surprise. The arrow really was more powerful than his spell, but Amethyst had said shoot it with the spell, so he did. The tree he aimed for blew up, and rained splinters for miles. Zephyr flinched, and sincerely hoped no one got hurt because of his stupidity.

Amadea had always thought she would have made an excellent archer, and decided to mimic Zephyr to see if she could use a spirit arrow, but was amazed to see the Divinity Blade shape itself into a bow for her. Unlike Zephyr's red glow of a bow, hers took a solid form same as her sword did once it was unsheathed. She pulled on the string, and released.

Nothing happened, so Amadea recited the spell for spirit arrow. This time an arrow about the same strength as Zephyr's fired from the bow. Luckily, Amadea had aimed hers at a pond, so all that happened was the water splashed high into the air, causing it to rain a few moments for miles around. The water would make its way back to the pond soon enough.

Amadea and Zephyr gave each other a sheepish grin that said "Oops!" giggled, mounted their horses, and left the area.

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