Chapter Twelve - A Lightkeeper

  51st Day of Spring - Year 1758 of the Golden Era

  Shorefarm Lighthouse, Yellowfield, Draya Calyrex

  They came up the hill to the lighthouse in the middle of the afternoon. The sun was directly overhead, casting a powerful warmth over the ground.

  A field of wildflowers grew around the lighthouse, golden and red petals catching the light while within that same field, several large flowers stuck out from the rest, with blooms that were grouped up in yellow and orange bunches.

  The base of the lighthouse was a boxy stone building, several pillars on every corner rising up until they met a roof that reached up and in towards the central pillar of the tower. A large stone platform extended from the base, with a wrought iron fence running along the edge of it except for at the very front where the arched entrance way leading into the lighthouse stood.

  Green stretched her head back and looked all the way up the tower. It was surprisingly large. From afar it hadn't seemed so imposing, but standing below it now? It felt like it was reaching to the sky far above.

  "No... one," Red said.

  Green glanced at Red, then scanned the area. It was empty at the moment. A fox was staring at them from the field of flowers, its head decorated by a crest of small scales, but it was quick to scurry away. A few birds were flitting about and singing, and in the distance she could see a herd of wild goats clinging to the side of a cliff. Otherwise, there was no one around.

  "Lights," Blue said. She pointed to the tower where narrow arrow-slit windows gave them a slight view within. There was light in there.

  "P-people," Green said. If there were lit lights, then there might be people.

  Red stepped up before them and slowly drew her sword which she held by her side in a low guard stance, just like how Jorvin had taught them. She stalked towards the door, and Green and Blue followed after her.

  They marched to the door where they paused. The door was a thick, wooden thing, covered in a single almost mural-like carving. It was of a dragon, with a long, long neck curved around a tower. The dragon's maw was opened, and from it came a blazing light.

  Red reached towards the door and wrapped her free hand around the handle. It was fashioned to be part of the dragon's wingtip. It cluncked, then the door slowly peeled open.

  The interior of the lighthouse opened into a large room. Smaller ones were tucked into the sides, but the main space was open and wide, an arena with tables along the edges and work desks, as well as several shelves filled with books and maps stuck to the walls.

  Across from them, at the far end of the room, was a man sitting on a high-backed chair. He wore simple clothes. He was wiry and thin, and yet rather tall, and while he seemed a little emaciated, he didn't strike Green as someone weak. The muscles she could see on him were well-defined and corded beneath salt-beaten skin.

  "H-hello," Green said.

  Then the man glanced up. His eyes were unclouded, and when he slowly, carefully, stood up, it was with the casual ease of a predator. Green had seen the same sort of easy motion in Mage-Knight Jorvin on the Gentle Tidings.

  The man reached over to his side, his hand wrapping around the hilt of a mace with a lantern head at its top. It clinked faintly as he raised it up and then pointed the end towards them. "You trespass onto the territory of dragon lord Thalmyrion, the Light Keeper. I am the watcher of this house of illumination, and though I can sense the distress of my lord, I will allow none to interfere with his sacred light."

  The man swept the mace to the side, then took a step towards them and into the centre of the room.

  Green glanced at her companions, but it looked as though diplomacy once again fell onto her jointed shoulders. "Hello," she repeated. "We... nice?"

  The man glared. "This isn't a hall of peace, automaton. You will find no deceit in this tower, only the light of my lord's truth."

  Green jumped as the door behind them slammed shut.

  The lamps hanging from chains along the edges of the ceiling lit up, then continued to grow brighter and brighter until the entire space was consumed in a light so bright it might have blinded a normal person.

  The puppets looked around, then glanced at the man with the mace. He glared right back. "Let us lay bare the sins of your souls," he said. "Are you here to steal from my lord?"

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  "No," Green said. They were here to inspect the tower for Magus Maldrak. He had said nothing about killing its keeper or stealing what was within.

  The light continued to glow, and the man nodded. "Are you murderers?"

  Green hesitated. Were they? "Yes," she said.

  The light remained strong.

  The man's grip on the mace's handle tightened. "In these times, I suppose that means little. Is your allegiance to the dragon lords of Draya Calyrex?"

  "No," Green said.

  "Empty vessels with stolen sparks. Servants of a foreign master," he growled. "Have you ever blasphemed against the dragon gods?"

  "No," Green said.

  "And the others?" he asked.

  "No," Red said.

  "No," Blue repeated.

  The lights in the room flickered.

  The man's eyes snapped to Blue. "Have you broken oath?" he asked.

  "No," Blue replied quickly.

  This time, the light remained steady, but as the man looked to Green and Red...

  "No," Green said.

  "No," Red repeated. This time the lights flickered a lot more.

  The lighthouse keeper grit his teeth. "Puppets of alien craft, blasphemers against the dragon gods, lies beneath the sacred light of Thalmyrion. Your bodies of kindling will feed the flame of this house."

  Green was about to try and ask what that meant, but before she could articulate anything, the man was moving.

  He moved with a slight limp, and now that she saw him fully, she could see that he was weakened by something. That didn't prevent him from racing across the room, his arm swinging back then around in a wide sweep that had his mace whistling through the air.

  Green bent backwards and it was almost not enough. The tips of the mace's spikes cut a line across her wooden torso and the slight contact had her stumbling back.

  Red was the first to react. She lunged forwards, swordpoint aimed right at the lighthouse keeper.

  The man reached out and backhanded her upper arm, sending her strike wide before he coiled his other arm in, then stabbed out with the end of his mace.

  It crunched into Red's chest and she made a disturbing noise as she was flung back, arms and legs ragdolling.

  Blue and Green both fumbled their short swords out, then fell into the stances they'd been taught. It was sloppy, even Green could tell, but it was better than nothing.

  "Red!" Green said as loudly as she could.

  "Bow to the will of Thalmyrion, and be remade in the light!" the man shouted as he rushed towards Blue. His mace rose and came back down in a devastating overhead strike that Blue only barely dodged.

  Green ran towards the man's exposed back, but before she could get a quick stab in, he spun around and his mace hummed through the air between them. She glanced to the side. Her joints felt weak as she saw Red climbing back to her feet. Her front was partially caved in, and the little plate that could move aside to hide her siphon was broken, but she seemed able to stand.

  "Die," Blue informed the man as she stepped in quick and stabbed at him.

  It was a feint. When he turned and moved his mace to smack her sword, it was already gone.

  Green saw the opening for what it was, however, and she moved in with a quick slash, most of the motion coming from her outstretched wrist.

  Were the man wearing any sort of armour, the cut might have glanced off, but as it was, it dug into the flesh of his back and he hissed as she left a long cut between his shoulder blades.

  That didn't look like anything lethal, even if it bled.

  "Thalmyrion! Bless my light," he growled.

  His eyes started to glow and the cut started to fizzle as it healed.

  Then Red rammed into him at a dead sprint. The man was bowled off his feet, and both he and Red rolled across the floor.

  Green stood still, shocked for a moment, but her wits returned to her when Red screamed. "Dog!"

  Running over, Green stabbed at the first thing that came into reach, the man's booted leg. Her first stab punctured his boot's leather, though it didn't penetrate deeply. Her next jabbed into his calf, then nearer to his knee.

  The man spun, kicking out at her even as he picked up Red by the face with one hand and flung her off of him.

  The glow coming from within him faded, and he quickly rolled back to his feet, but it was too close to Blue, and she got in a quick swipe that cut a long slice into his upper arm.

  Unlike some of the stabs earlier, that wound didn't fizzle and heal. His dragon lord's favour had run out.

  ***