Chapter 186 - Judgement

I followed Peter down as he dropped. About halfway to the ground he must have recovered enough to use his Flight spell again, because he began slowing down. It wasn’t enough to stop him from imitating a lawn dart in his landing. He hit pretty hard. But he wasn’t dead, not yet anyway. I saw him moving on the ground as I hastened by descent.

A few seconds after Peter hit the cobbles of the courtyard, a large window overlooking the area blew apart, shattering and sending shards of glass in all directions. I cast a quick, low-powered Dark Pulse to blast the shards away from me and readied myself for some new threat.

But it was just Farnsworth. My heart warmed, seeing him. Then I spied what he carried in his arms—two small, wriggling creatures, both of them the same bright red as their mother. He’d found them! Clay had the dragonets!

He hit the ground not far from where Peter crash-landed and staggered a few steps steadying himself. The dragonets in his arms saw their mother right away and started struggling.

“Get them to her!” I shouted.

Clay saw me and gave me a quick nod, then stepped closer to Big Red, still carrying her squirming young. As I landed behind him, he spoke.

“We rescued your young,” he told the mother. “We know you didn’t want to serve Eddings. Once we found out how he was keeping power over you, we came here to rescue them.”

Then he released the young dragons. They fluttered to the ground and then dashed to their mom at top speed.

Her eyes lit up upon seeing them. She stepped off Tenebris, who was still thankfully alive, but badly hurt, and walked toward her young, wrapping them in her tail and claws as they came near.

”You OK?” I thought toward Tenebris.

Damaged but living.

Now I just had to make sure he and all the rest of us stayed that way!

I returned my gaze to the red dragon family, watching them reunite. There was so much joy evident in all three of them it almost brought a tear to my eye. If I’d been sure Big Red was on our side now, I probably would have let the tears drop, but as it stood we still didn’t know if saving her babies was going to be enough to make her friendly to us, or just hostile to all humans. After her experiences with Peter, I wouldn’t blame her.

The massive red dragon lifted her head from her babies and stared down at Clay. For a second I thought she was going to roast him, and I got myself ready to step in and stop her. A quick Dark Pulse ought to force her head aside… But instead of breathing fire, she spoke directly into all our minds.

Thank you. You have returned my young to me and freed us all, human. I owe you a vast debt. Then she turned toward Peter, a growl rumbling in her throat. I owe this one a debt, as well, which I can finally repay.

Peter got himself to his feet just in time to look up into her dark and furious eyes. His eyes widened in shock and realization. He knew what was coming. Peter turned toward me, but there was no mercy in my face. At the last minute, as the flames poured down around him, Peter tried to dive behind a chunk of stonework the dragons had knocked down from the walls.

It shielded him, somewhat, but everyone still heard his screams over the sound of dragonfire.

She stopped her blast, nodding as if satisfied, then turned back to her young. Meanwhile I wrinkled my nose at the smell of burnt ham spreading through the courtyard. I was the closest to Peter, so I got to see firsthand the damage those flames did.

Peter’s body was a wreck. Hiding behind the chunk of rock might have reduced the damage a little, but it wasn’t nearly enough. His steel armor had melted partway. Chunks of the metal were still cherry-red, although that faded as they cooled off. No human could have survived that blast, pre-Event. Only his Stamina crystals were keeping him alive even now, and every bit of exposed skin was blackened with horrible third degree burns.

He was still alive, somehow. I took a step closer as I saw him twitch, then move an arm. There was something in his hand. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was, but he held it with great care, so I knew it had to be important.

Once he’d brought a second hand next to the first, I realized what was going on. He had another healing potion. Somehow, he’d managed to use his body to shelter the thing from Big Red’s fire, keeping it hidden someplace the fire couldn’t reach. All this struggle was because his fingers were so badly burned they didn’t want to move right, but he’d almost worked off the cap of the little potion bottle.

Once he drank it, he’d be back on his feet again.

I took another two steps nearer, which made him look up at me. His face was blackened, burned, and bleeding from cracks in the burns. Peter never said a word. I figured maybe he couldn’t speak, as injured as he was. But his eyes said everything for him. They pleaded with me for mercy, for me to let him heal, allow him to come back again.

He was barking up the wrong tree.

“Sorry, Peter. You’ve hurt people, enslaved others, murdered, lied, and basically made life hell for everyone else around you,” I told him. “No more.”

Then I cast Drain Life on him. The spell shot from my fingertips, wreathing around him, sucking the last of the vitality from his body and then bringing it back to me. By the time the Drain was complete, it was over. Peter’s hands and face went slack, and I could sense he was gone.

Well done, Sky-Fire human, Big Red said into my mind. Your dragon tells me he is a willing ally, not a slave, so I shall allow you to live. Even a dead dragon deserves respect.

“I completely agree,” I told her. “Thank you.”

She gave me a solemn nod before turning back to Clay. She pulled a scale about the size of a paperback book from her body and tossed it to his feet. Clay hesitated a moment, then picked it up.

As I said, I owe you a debt. Anything you need, whenever you need it. Simply place this scale into flames until it breaks apart into ashes. I will come.

Clay bowed deeply to her. “Thank you. We did this to free you, not for other rewards, but I appreciate your gift more than words can say.”

Big Red sighed, then looked back to her children. I must return my young to their nest. It’s been too long, and they still have much to learn. Be well, humans. You have shown me not all of you are like the one I burned.

Then she scooped her young into her fore-claws and with a mighty beat of her wings, took to the air. She flew from the courtyard, spiraling up until she was level with the towers, then shot off into the night, soaring ever higher as she flew away into the west.

I looked back at Peter’s body. It was over, at last. This whole stupid war was finally done.

You should collect his crystals, Tenebris said.

”Not sure I can claim sole credit for his kill, I replied in my mind.

Nonsense! Who led the mission? Who fought him on dragon back, then again in the air, and finally killed him before he could heal himself and become a bigger threat again?

”Point taken,” I replied in my thoughts.

I leaned in and touched Peter’s body.

Instantly, my hand filled with crystals. Overfilled, really. Some poured down over the sides of my palm, and I had to pick them back up from the floor.

The largest crystal to pop out was his control stone. Peter had his Domain, but also had made vassals of a ratkin domain, the Air Guard base, Camp Johnson, the orc Domain, and Carver’s fortress. Collectively, that made it a tier three control stone, which was the same tier as mine.

As soon as I touched it, the stone melded into me, merging with my stone into a single tier four control stone. Everything Peter had owned was now mine. I owned KingsHaven as well as my Farm, and all the vassals Peter had collected were now mine to command, instead. That was going to take some figuring out. I wondered what Turner was going to think about being my vassal instead of Peter’s? Probably wouldn’t be a fan, I figured.

The thought made me grin.

More stones merged, jolting my body as they filled me with additional magic. Peter had a tier six Agility stone which merged right into mine, making me tier seven. His tier eight stamina merged with mine, jumping to tier nine. He had a tier four intellect that merged with mine, and then that tier five merged with my other tier five, making it tier six. That opened up an empty spot, so the tier seven Strength stone he had merged in there.

The shock of so much magical energy flooding me all at once was too much. I threw my head back and screamed as the power burned its way into my veins, muscles, and bones. I crashed to my knees, vaguely aware of my friends coming closer to help, but unable to speak as the magic lashed me with greater force. Was it the control stone boost doing this? The stat stones? The combination? I didn’t know.

Magical Stones

Point 1: Black Stone (Tier 6) - Control Undead

Point 1, Second Ring: Black Stone (Tier 5) - Augment Undead

Point 1, Third Ring: Black Stone (Tier 10) - Animate Dead

Point 1, Fourth Ring: Black Stone (Tier 5) - NightVision

Point 1, Fifth Ring: Black Stone (Tier 3) - Dark Pulse

+

Point 2: Black Stone (Tier 7) - Animate Dead

Point 2, Second Ring: Black Stone (Tier 5) - Heal Undead

Point 2: Third Ring: Black Stone (Tier 6) - Drain Life

Point 2: Fourth Ring: Black Stone (Tier 3) - Health to Mana

+

Point 3: Yellow Stone (Tier 8) - Lightning Bolt

Point 3: Second Ring: Yellow Stone(Tier 2) - Flight

+

Point 4: Clear Stone (Tier 6) - Will

Point 4, Second Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 7) - Agility

Point 4, Third Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 7) - Stamina

Point 4, Fourth Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 6) - Strength

Point 4, Fifth Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 6) - Intellect

Point 4, Sixth Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 5) - Will

Point 4, Seventh Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 6) - Charisma

Point 4, Eighth Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 9) - Stamina

Point 4, Ninth Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 5) - Strength

Point 4, Tenth Ring: Clear Stone (Tier 7) - Strength

+

Point 5: Brown Stone (Tier 3) - Alchemy

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Point 6: Green Stone (Tier 3) - Stoneskin

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Control Stone (Tier 4) - Two Domains Active (Farm, KingsHaven), Five Vassals

Domain: Tier Four

Eventually, the pain faded, and I was left panting, kneeling on the cobbles. I ran a hand through sweat-damp hair and managed to get myself halfway back to my feet before stumbling and losing my balance.

“Easy there, hero,” Clay said, his strong hands holding my shoulders to keep me from tumbling to the ground. He turned me toward him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I replied, still a little breathless. “Lot of crystals.”

I still held some more in my hand. Peter had a nice Flight crystal I wanted to swap in for the tier two one I had, and there were a number of other spells I’d have to check out later. I slipped those all into a pocket, something to deal with when there was time to relax.

You did well, Tenebris said.

Behind me, there was a clatter of weapons as guards dropped their swords, captured by Alfred’s people. I turned toward them and raised my voice.

“King Eddings is dead. I am the new monarch here,” I called out. “There will be no retribution against people who served him, but fair warning: a lot will change in this place. People who enjoy bullying those weaker than they should find somewhere else to be. Those looking for a safe home to defend, and allies who will have their back, should stay.”

The guards still looked worried and confused, and I couldn’t blame them. It was going to take a while to get things back to anything resembling normalcy. But the massive threat to peace that Peter had represented was past, which was a terrific way to start anew.