The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (novels in english .TXT) 📗

I removed one of my gauntlets to lookat my hand again. Physically it still appeared to be normal, but tomy magesight it was like looking at the sun. I no longer lookedlike the shiggreth. Rather than an empty void, my magicalappearance was more similar to that of a being made of pure liquidsunlight. I wore the armor now to make it easier to hide mypresence. Without it, shielding myself enough to avoid detectionwould be much more difficult.

What would happen if Itook the power from the God-Stone as well? I wondered. Following that line of reasoning, I could do thesame with Millicenth and Doron as well, if I could find them. Wouldthe strength of all four be enough to face Mal’goroth on eventerms? I mentally considered the vision Penny and I had bothwitnessed when the gods had physically crossed over into the world.I had gained a clear understanding of their relative strengths atthat time, and they had been dwarfed by Mal’goroth. I couldn’t evenmake a reasonable guess, but I had a lot of doubt.I can’t afford to risk everything in a head tohead confrontation. Dead, immortal, whatever I am, I need to stackthe deck in my favor. A lot of people werestill depending on me, whether they realized it or not. I couldprobably survive just about anything now, but the people relying onme needed more than that, they needed me to win.

A shadow fell over me, followed by arush of wind as the dragon descended to land in front of me. GarethGaelyn stared for a long minute before he spoke, “What have youdone now?”

“I had a conversation with one of theShining Gods. I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” I saidcryptically.

“And he climbed into that suit ofarmor with you?” The dragon’s facial expressions were limited, butif he’d been using a human face, one eyebrow would have most likelybeen lifted.

I grinned, “Not a chance. The onlything in here is me. I sent what was left of him on anerrand.”

“I cannot decide whether your fortunesare rising or falling,” retorted the dragon. “You keep badcompany.”

“Gods and dragons?”

“The latter does not cancel out yourassociation with the former,” replied Gareth.

Who would have imagined adragon that enjoyed a bit of banter? Ithought. “Enough,” I said, abandoning the topic. “I needtransportation—and advice.”

“Tell me where you wish to go, and Iwill take you. My advice is to return my aystrylin when we arrive,”he answered immediately.

I glared at him, “I’m not ready toforgo your services yet.” Then I climbed up his bent foreleg andsituated myself at the base of his neck, slightly forward of hisshoulders and massive wings.

“Your power is such at this point,that I would think friends would be more valuable to you thanservants,” observed the dragon that had once been human. Withoutwaiting for instruction he launched himself into the air, usingpowerful wing-strokes to gain altitude. He immediately beganheading south, although I hadn’t given him a destinationyet.

Now that we were airborne,the rushing wind made it difficult to be heard so I sent mythoughts directly to the dragon. Am Imeant to believe that you wish to be friends? I asked with a sarcastic mental inflection.

That would beunlikely, he returned. I meant your current tactics in general. Your predominantactions of late have been to compel obedience, first with me, nowwith the gods. Meanwhile, you have forsaken your friends andfamily.

I didn’t like thejudgmental turn of his observations. Ididn’t forsake them, they forsook me. I am still working to protectthem.

Semantics,Gareth disagreed. Younever gave them a chance to make an informed choice.

They made the same choiceI would have, I thought backbitterly. I’m dead. I’m amonster.

I’m not so sure aboutthat, speculated the dragon.

Which part, me being dead,or me being a monster?

The dead part, there is nodoubt you’ve become a monster, heresponded dryly.

Then it hardly matterswhether I’m alive or not.

I don’t know,said the dragon, being amonster isn’t so bad. I think I would miss being alivemore.

***

This is good. Set downhere for a bit, I commanded.

We had been flying for a couple ofhours, making our way back toward Albamarl, when I had spotted anisolated cottage. My emotions were still functioning, albeit at amuch lower level than when I had been alive, but I didn’t want tolet them drop below the point I considered safe. I had decided tofeed before I was too far gone again.

“Why are we here?” asked Gareth aloud.Apparently he preferred the use of his voice when the wind was nolonger a problem.

“I need to feed,” I repliedbluntly.

“You already have as much aytharcrammed inside you as one of the gods. Are you so greedy that youmust take even the tiny amount these people have?” he askedme.

I made my helm permeable to aythar, sothat my magesight could function normally. As Gareth’s words hadalluded, there were several people in the nearby home, five, to beprecise. Given their relative ages and genders, it appeared to betwo parents and their three children.

“It isn’t really the quantity thatmatters to me,” I told him, and then I proceeded to explain what Ihad discovered about my condition and its relation to human aythar.He seemed to accept what I told him calmly enough.

“You have definitely become amonster,” stated the dragon.

“Your amazing clarity and succinctanalysis never cease to amaze me,” I replied drolly.

Gareth snorted, “I could care lesswhether you value my opinions, just don’t touch thechildren.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t whispering,” said the dragoncalmly.

Every time I thought I had a solidunderstanding of the draconic archmage, he surprised me. “Was thata threat?”

“Do what you wish with the adults, butif you wish to retain my assistance, don’t touch the younglings,”he reiterated.

Now that I thought about it, he hadalso insisted I leave my son behind when I had first awoken from mytransformation. Did the dragon have a soft spot for children? Ipulled out the small figurine in my pouch. “I still have youraystrylin. Have you considered the consequences of arguing withme?”

“I have my limits. Some things costmore than the threat of my aystrylin will buy you,” said thedragon, rebuking me.

“I thought you cared nothing for humanbeings,” I stated, but