Pathway

Chapter 185: Life Or Death 4

"There's no such thing as safety."

King Laggarma said.

"I'd thought of everything. A vast underground city, heavily fortified with walls and magic, protected by the dwarves—my physical body could not have been safer while I traveled the Astral Sea. I was arrogant and left my spirit vulnerable."

"That's why you rule Myria."

Chang Chang said and continued after a pause.

"Why you dwell among the dwarves when you'd rather be soaring through the skies. They protected you, and in return you guided the city and shared your wisdom with the dwarves."

"I failed them."

King Laggarma said, glancing at Chang Chang.

"I was gone too long, and what came back from the Astral Sea … it's an empty shell."

"That's not true. You can still lead your people. They need you now more than ever."

"I see yaomo faces in my dreams. They strike at my body and reopen old wounds. I have to protect my city from them, from Gallazza."

King Laggarma's voice broke, and he sounded small again, like the old dwarf she knew.

"Gallazza isn't your torturers. His only power over you comes from what you allow him to have."

"No!"

The dragon snarled, making Icelin quail with fear.

"I let them catch me unawares once before. Never again! I will not let my people suffer the way I suffered."

"Is that what you're trying to do? Protect your people—or are you really just trying to protect yourself?"

"Of course I am!"

King Laggarma shouted, rage and anguish filling the dark corners of the Astral Sea.

"I would rather die than let myself be taken—used—again."

"You've lost so much, and you have scars that won't ever go away. Yet you live, and you are needed—you are also loved."

Chang Chang responded, watching the dragon keenly.

"You don't love a broken thing, something scarred beyond recognition. It's not worthy."

"You're wrong, king Laggarma. Those are the souls that have truly lived."

The stars around them faded, and shapes pushed out of the darkness—columns and a throne, the outlines of figures standing in a semicircle before them. Gradually, their faces resolved into those of the Yellowhorn family, and Ju Feng.

Chang Chang looked for king Laggarma, but her vision, caught for a breath between the Astral Sea and the dwarven cavern, perceived the shape of a great serpentine body of the dragon filling the room. Its skull brushed the vaulted ceiling, white scales arranged like a fall of pure snow. One of its curving claws stood as tall as Chang Chang's body. She saw her distorted reflection in its polished surface.

The moment passed, and the dragon's body faded into nothingness. Ki.ng Laggarma stood before her, shrunken, aged, and so weary that Icelin wanted nothing more than to step forward and wrap her arms around him.

Abron and Druya got to him first. They positioned themselves on either side of their king and lent him their shoulders when he wavered on his feet. Druya turned, likely intending to lead him to his throne, but king Laggarma resisted and instead sat down right where he was on the cold stone floor.

"Are you all right?"

Ju Feng stood at Chang Chang's shoulder, concern shining clearly from his muddy red eyes.

"I'm fine,"

Chang Chang assured him and nodded to Sull, who looked pale and scared.

"How much did you see and hear?"

"We heard you cry out, and in the end, when you came back from wherever you were …"

Ju Feng hesitated. Briefly, they had seen king Laggarma in a dragon form. Could he be a dragon who had achieved complete awareness? A sovereign at the least. Heaven's tears! How could such a powerful creature be in this situation? He had the power to level a city at a strike. Then, his mind went back to the black dragon he was fighting before he was transported to this planet. A powerful dragon who was yet to achieve transformation. Ju Feng could only wonder the level of power of king Laggarma.

"Was it real? Is he truly a dragon?"

Chang Chang nodded. She related in a low voice what she'd seen in the Astral Sea. King Laggarma stared off into the distance, seemingly unaware of their presence. Druya and Abron stood on either side of him while Orban looked on, fingering his axe helplessly.

"Did we do the right thing, forcing him to confront the past? Or did we do more harm? Did you know what had happened to him?"

Chang Chang asked, staring at the king. She addressed Druya, she who of all of them seemed closest to the king.

"Parts of it, I guessed the rest. My family—plus several others who are not here—knows what our king is. We know where he went, the dangers he faced. I thanked Mystra when he was restored to us, but I did not know how to heal his grief."

She looked at Mith Barak with sorrow-filled eyes.

King Laggarma stirred, blinked, and slowly pulled back from the vision that held him in its grip. He looked at Druya as if seeing her for the first time.

"You've too much grief already, girl, to think so much of an old wreck like me."

He patted her hand. When his gaze rested next on Chang Chang, she instinctively dropped her eyes, embarrassed at having seen him so exposed. He was an ancient dragon, and he'd given her glimpses of things beautiful and terrible. She hadn't meant to pry into those memories. No mortal was meant to see such things.

"No, don't look away."

Mith Barak said.

"You deserved to know the truth as much as those gathered here. I would have used you without regard for the consequences."

"You offered a fair bargain."

Chang Chang said.

"I was obsessed with knowing Zollgarza's secrets. I'd tried everything to break through that drow's magic and uncover the truth of his purpose here. Then you arrived in the city like a gift from the gods. I thought you'd find the sphere and use the Silver Fire, succeeding where I couldn't. I didn't care if I put you in danger. I was still half-dead, broken."

With Abron and Druya's aid, king Laggarma stood up. Silver light burned in his eyes. He stood straight and shook himself as if chasing away shadows.

"I made the choice.You didn't force me."

"You showed courage when you confronted me in the library—courage that I lacked. It shamed me out of hiding, if only for a little while."

"I would have hidden as well if I'd endured what you have. It's enough to break most people."

Chang Chang said, giving the king a nod.

"I was supposed to be stronger than that..I should never have let it happen in the first place."

Mith Barak said harshly.

"You mean because of what you are? That's a lot of rubbish. I mean, all beings in Wujin feel pain, don't they, whether they're among the high and mighty or the lowliest creatures. They can be hurt, and they can be broken. It's a sad truth, but it makes us all equal in somethin', at least."

King Laggarma stared silently at the young blood. Chang Chang thought she saw Abron nod in approval is right, she thought, though it gave her no comfort. We are equal in our ability to suffer—even Gallazza suffered at the hands of his inner demons.

In the battle ahead, there was no such equality. The yaomo outnumbered them, but if their target was the Arcane Script Sphere, if it had been the artifact all along, and its purpose was tied to Gallazza's memory loss, then there was only one thing left for them to try, one way to give back Gallazza's identity and discover what the yaomo were plotting. She'd refused to do it for herself, but if it saved the dwarves …

Chang Chang stepped forward, addressing the king.

"None of the yaomo know your secret, do they?"

"Not from what I've gathered from Gallazza's mind."

King Laggarma replied, turning towards Chang Chang.

"What are you getting at?"

Joya raised an eyebrow.

"I think she's suggesting you meet the yaomo as you truly are."

"As a dragon?"

Ju Fengl whistled.

"That'll surprise them. You can be sure of that. They'll think their king is willing to do whatever it takes to save his people. Even reveal a secret that makes him vulnerable."

Ju Feng uttered slowly.

But Abron shook his head in rejection of the idea.

"We'd never ask him to take such a risk."

"And why not? Earlier you said my people have shed blood for me, and you were right. How can I do less?"

King Laggarma quipped in. He looked at Chang Chang who nodded in return.

"And while you fight, I'll strip away the magic that cloak Gallazzza."

"No. "It's too late anyway. There's no time to find the sphere."

"But I think I know where it is."

Chang Chang said.

"Where?"

Chang Chang, sounding skeptical.

Chang Chang shook her head.