Carton had brought him back to his office and ordered food and wine to be sent, but it hadn’t arrived yet. A guard stood nearby with the strange rod weapon.
“It was warm,” Adam continued, “and sort of… tingly. And it felt good. It felt better than I’d felt in a long time. It felt… hopeful. It was like I knew everything would be okay – that things were getting better, and that I would have a hand in making it so.”
Carton let him talk. The man was strange – a shock of red hair topped his round face, sticking out in all directions. His eyes were shining green and he kept gesturing with his still-bound hands as though they usually formed an integral part of his language. He looked about fifteen.
“It might have been only a few seconds, or a minute, but eventually the feeling faded and I could see again. I turned around and there it was.”
“The demon.”
“Yes.”
“Where did it come from?”
“I’ve no idea. It was just there. I’m pretty sure it hadn’t been there before. I was terrified. I threw my hands up as it attacked…” he threw his bound hands in front of his face in demonstration… “and this flash of green light came out and hit the thing in the face.”
There was a knock on the door. A pair of castle servants brought a tray of bread and cheese, and a pitcher of wine. Carton had not asked for two goblets, but they had been provided anyway. He poured wine into one of them and sliced off a piece of cheese. Adam stared. Carton raised the piece of cheese in inquiry and Adam nodded hungrily.
“If I unbind your hands, are you going to throw green light in my face and try to escape?” he asked.
“There’s no need for you to do anything,” Adam replied as the bandages around his hands exploded into thousands of tiny pieces and drifted to the floor. Carton stared. “And if I wanted to escape, neither you nor anyone else could stop me.”
Adam reached for the wine pitcher and filled the other goblet, taking a long drink from it as Carton just continued to stare.
“And,” Adam added, “I’ll thank you to point that thing somewhere else.” He gestured to the guard, who had the rod out and pointed at him.
Carton gave the man a signal and the guard lowered the device, a confused look on his face.
“So… the demon?” Carton asked after had had a few bites of bread and cheese.
“Oh yes. Well, I put that first bolt into its face, and it staggered back, but it came for me again. I didn’t know what I’d done the first time, but I knew that if I didn’t do it again I was dead. This time I blew the damn thing’s head off.”
“Really?” Carton was starting to realise why Pragen, if he had this young man in his army, thought that he might have been able to take on the might of the Bridgeport military.
“I can see what you’re thinking,” said Adam, “and no, I’m not that good. I proved that in the battle. I can do mostly small things.”
He drained the cup and leaned over the table to place it at one end, away from both of them. “Ready?” he asked, glancing at Carton, and at the guard. When Carton nodded, he said “Pow,” and the goblet flew across the room, clanging off the wall and falling to the floor, dented. Carton nodded. This was a similar power to how Adam had killed the demon, though tight and controlled. He suspected that under threat of death, Adam might well be able to produce an effect that could take someone’s head off. It could certainly be useful in a fight, but he wondered if Adam could sustain the effort for a whole battle. Probably not. Rather than risk another demonstration, he changed the subject.
“You mentioned this sword on the way down to the dungeons.”
“The glowing one.”
“It’s not glowing.” Carton picked up the sword from where he had leaned it up against his desk and placed it across the table between them. Adam squinted a little, as though the sword was shedding enough light to make looking at it uncomfortable.
“You can’t see that? It’s just like that rod thing, only red.” Adam pointed towards the guard, who still had the tube stuck in his belt. Carton looked at the guard, who shrugged. The tube certainly wasn’t glowing either, but it was clearly what Adam was referring to.
“What colour is the rod glowing?” he asked.
“Pale blue, like the sky on a clear day. You seriously can’t see that?”
“I seriously can’t see that,” replied Carton.
“Huh,” said Adam as he reached for more bread and cheese. Carton let him eat in silence, taking the opportunity to do some thinking.
Finally, he said “You’re not a prisoner, but I’d like you to stay in the castle for a while if you don’t mind.” Adam shrugged. “Arrange for guest quarters,” to the guard.
When the guard and “guest” left, Carton sat and pondered all that he had heard. He really didn’t know what to make of it. The man had clearly demonstrated abilities that were difficult to explain. It almost reminded him of the old children’s stories – of wizards and heroes who had brought about the Cataclysm by using powers they didn’t fully understand. He laughed at that.
When the guard returned, he was lost in thought. The wine, bread and cheese were untouched.
“Sir,” the guard reported, “I’ve settled our guest in the room in the north tower.”
“Good, good,” said Carton absently. It was a good room, luxurious enough to be an incentive for Adam to stay. “Who has the rod now?”
“I gave it over to Willem, sir, with orders that he escort Adam at all times if he leaves his rooms, and to hand he rod over to his relief with the same instructions.”
“Good,” said Carton again. The guard’s name was Dalph, and he had been recruited a year ago. Carton had immediately taken a liking to the man’s initiative and loyalty, and promoted him to be his personal adjutant. “So tell me about this… rod.”
“Well, sir, we had it from the military when they brought Adam in. Apparently they had it on the King’s orders. As a sign of His Majesty’s favour or something. The King had it as a gift from one of the nobles.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“Find out, would you?”
“Yes sir.”
“Was there any sign of it having unusual properties of any kind before the battle?”
“No, sir, but it is supposedly pre-Cataclysm, so I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s certainly never glowed, though. But it does… sort of… vibrate, when you point it at him.”
“Does it? That’s very interesting.”
“Yes, sir. Sort of a… hum. It’s a bit hard to describe. And when you flick the stud, he just drops.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that, sir.”
“Fascinating.”
“Yes, sir. It’s…”
“Wait – what is that noise?”
A commotion was building outside his office. He could hear people running and shouting. Was the castle under attack?
“I’ll go find out, sir,” said Dalph as he went to the door and opened it. One of the guardsmen running past stopped and looked into the office.
“Sir, you’d better come take a look.” the man said breathlessly. “It’s… well, just come see!”
Glancing at Dalph, Carton rose and accompanied the man to a crowded balcony. From here he had a commanding view of the city below. The sun was just beginning to set.
He pushed his way to the railing. Guards and nobles made way, the former obediently, the latter resentfully. The crowd was babbling.
“Where is it?”
“Where did it go?”
“Is it coming back?”
“Where did it come from?”
“Did you see it? Is it what it looks like?”
In Carton’s opinion, that was a stupid question. If it wasn’t what it looked like, then what could it be?
Carton was looking down over the city, but most of the others seemed to be looking up. He could see a great swath of the merchant quarter was on fire. Why in the Master’s name were they all looking at the sky?
And then it came from over the castle. A great beast, scaled in black like the night. Its wings must have spanned the entire castle, and its tail sent stones from the highest tower crashing down as it passed by.
As he watched, the gigantic creature swooped low over the city. He saw it take a great breath in, and a gout of flame descended on the south residential area. He heard distant screams as people panicked.
Was it what it looked like? The alternative was that he, and everyone else, was going mad. It was a legend come to life.
It was a dragon.
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