Amazon Apocalypse 7: Chapter 24 [Eowyn] (Patreon)

Queen Eowyn, Supreme Commander of the Expeditionary Army

The beast waves had grown worse since the black dragon appeared.

Eowyn stood atop the rocky outcropping that served as their forward observation post, watching her scouts return from yet another failed expedition. Three had gone out. Two returned.

"Your Majesty, the northern pass is blocked," Sir Dernwine reported, still favoring his left side where his ribs had been cracked by the dragon's tail. The healers had done what they could, but proper rest was a luxury none of them could afford. "More of those scaled hounds. Dozens of them. They weren't there yesterday."

"And the southern route?" Eowyn asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Worse. Sir Aldric spotted what he thinks was a Shadowblade Beast. We turned back before it spotted us."

Eowyn's jaw tightened. Before the black dragon's appearance, they had been making progress into new lands. Slow, bloody progress, but progress nonetheless. Her expeditionary force had carved out trails, established supply caches, and mapped safe passages through this endless wilderness.

Now, all of that was crumbling.

Monsters that had previously kept to their territories now roamed freely, driven from their lairs by something they feared far more than some two thousand knights and their retainers. The beast waves that struck their camps had tripled in frequency and intensity.

"The men are frightened," Dernwine admitted quietly, glancing back to ensure no one else could hear. "They whisper that the black dragon has claimed this land as its hunting ground, and we'll be its prey sooner or later."

"Let them whisper," Eowyn said. "Fear keeps men sharp."

But inwardly, she shared their dread. She had faced the Demon Lord's armies. She had watched her kingdom fall and rebuilt what she could from the ashes. She had led her people through these expeditions time and time again.

But none of that had prepared her for something like that black dragon. She hadn't been able to examine creatures or things for levels back when they were fighting the Demon King, but she had a feeling that the Black Dragon was as far above her now as the Demon King had been above her then. For her knights, standing in its presence had to be terrifying.

But for Eowyn, there was something else. Something about the dragon was familiar, though she dared not give too much to the thought or what it might mean.

***

"We're boxed in."

Sir Lodo's voice was grim as he traced the boundaries on their map. He had earned his knighthood through the battle with the Pseudo-Drake, though he still seemed uncomfortable with the title. Now he stood before the assembled commanders with the weight of terrible news on his shoulders.

"Every route we've scouted in the past week has been blocked," he continued. "The eastern valleys are swarming with Razorfang packs. The western cliffs have been claimed by something that flies. Our scouts didn't get close enough to identify it before they had to retreat. The northern pass..." He glanced at Dernwine.

"Sealed by a recent landslide," Dernwine confimred.

How had they gotten themselves caught so far from home?

In her heart, she knew the answer. They'd been following arrows, ancient treasures, and waves of attacking beasts. The little prizes here and there had overcome their caution with greed, and now they were far beyond safety.

"What of the south? That's back the way we came," she asked.

Lodo hesitated. "The southern pass remains open, Your Majesty. But..."

"But?"

"It leads directly through the dragon's territory. The mountain where it lairs overlooks the only viable path."

The tent fell silent. Every commander present understood what that meant. They were being herded like sheep into an ever-shrinking pen. But by what? Or who?

Everyone had an answer to that question. It was big, black, and covered in scales.

"That damn dragon!" said Sir Aldric. He'd been among the first to join Eowyn's expeditionary army and was an old veteran. Despite his cantankerous demeanor, Eowyn valued his council. As queen, many followed her orders blindly. He wasn't one of them.

Her commanders thought her mad when she suggested approaching the dragon directly. She'd dropped the subject rather than face a mutiny, but she knew the truth none of them were willing to accept. If the dragon wanted them dead, it could kill them all easily.

***

That night, Eowyn sat alone in her tent, turning the beacon over in her hands.

The Hero's Beacon. A divine artifact created by the System and given to her knights after fighting a battle in a distant realm called Crownhill, which they'd been certain was connected to the hero.

She'd taken the artifact when they presented it to her, not out of greed but because both she and they were certain the System meant for her to have it.

The beacon pulsed with a soft golden light, warm against her palms. Since emerging from their home, which Eowyn suspected was called a Pocket World, this thing had guided her like a compass needle pointing true north. She'd journeyed and mapped the land in its direction, and it never budged at all. Not until recently, when suddenly it was pointing all around her and seemed to have completely lost its way.

But then the black dragon appeared, and in that moment when it had been looming over her, she realized the beacon was pointing straight at it.

Before, she'd assumed it would lead her to Carter. The Hero who had saved her kingdom and then vanished never to be seen again. He must have been sent to save their home in the same way she and her knights were sometimes sent to defend other lands.

She had spent years searching for him. The beacon had led her across worlds, through dangers that would have killed lesser souls, until finally it brought her here.

And then the black dragon appeared, and the beacon's pull shifted.

Now it pointed directly at the monster.

"What are you trying to tell me?" she murmured to the artifact. "Is he dead? Did that creature devour him?"

The beacon offered no answers, only that insistent, maddening pull.

She remembered the way the dragon had looked at her after killing the Pseudo-Drake. Not with hunger or malice, but with something almost like... recognition.

She'd put the thought out of mind almost as soon as she'd had it. It was insane. Absurd. Absolutely mad.

And yet the thought returned to her again that night.

When it freed her from beneath her fallen horse, its movements had been careful. Clumsy claws unused to gentle motions had lifted her horse from atop her, like a giant trying desperately not to crush an ant.

No mindless beast would show such restraint. And if the beast wasn't mindless, whose mind was behind it?

She thought of the arrows carved into stone that had guided them to healing enchantments and hunting grounds. She thought of the beast waves that always seemed to drive them in specific directions, never quite overwhelming them, always leaving just enough survivors to press on.

She thought of a dragon that could have slaughtered her entire army in moments, yet chose instead to flee when her knights attacked it.

The beacon pulsed in her hands, and Eowyn knew what her gut was telling her.

***

The next three days were brutal. Beasts came at them in waves. Their army grew in level like never before, but they paid a price for every victory in blood.

There was not one fight that did it. No one beast to blame. It was a host of weaker foes nipping away at anyone who made too many mistakes.

The result was a changed aura among the expeditionary army. Years of peace back home had turned the warrior spirit of many of her knights to rust. Now that rust was shaken off, and even the younger knights who never knew the demon king at all had been sharpened into true veterans.

Even discounting the many levels gained, what remained of her army could defeat the one she'd left home with in the blink of an eye.

But such power came at a cost. Nearly a fifth of her forces had fallen, and three times that were wounded. Every able body was taking turns hauling cots, and already they were moving slower than before. They might have abandoned their wounded already if not for the occasional magical healing grounds they'd still be stumbling upon. Those things could even restore lost limbs, and without them their dead and wounded would be five times as many.

But despite those healing carvings, they couldn't sustain losses like this for much longer. One bad battle was all it would take to break the back of the expeditionary army. They'd developed tactics to fight against B-Grade monsters, but only one at a time and only after carefully studying it from afar.

On the evening of the third day, after finally finding another healing area, Eowyn called another council.

"We've delayed long enough," she said, cutting off the usual reports before they could begin. "Tomorrow, we march for the southern pass."

The tent erupted, just as it had before.

"That's absurd!" Alric said. "The dragon will eat us alive!"

"My queen, I must protest," Dernwine said.

Others soon joined in.

She let them protest for a full minute before raising her hand. The tent fell silent.

"I know what I'm asking. But look at what's happened in the past three days. Look at the men we've lost. These healing places have grown fewer and further between. We searched for this one for days." She met each of their eyes in turn. "Do you truly believe we can survive another week of this?"

No one answered.

She pulled the beacon from her belt and set it on the table. "The hero is close. The beacon has been moving, and now it points toward the dragon's mountain. I intend to find him."

Sir Lodo's eyes went wide with awe at the mention of the hero. As the youngest of the knights, warriors of his generation had grown up on the stories of his legendary leadership. At mention of the hero, even Sir Aldric stopped protesting.

"The army can hardly move with all our wounded," Aldric said slowly. "If the hero is out there, he'll have slipped past the dragon before we can catch him."

"That's why we won't be taking the army. I will go with a small group to meet him and convince him to lead the expeditionary army to safety," Eowyn said.

Sir Dernwine shook his head. "My Queen, I can't in good conscience let you go alone."

"The beacon only responds to me. I need to go."

"You'll have to execute us for treason then, your majesty," Sir Dernwine said as he adjusted his sword belt and prepared to leave. Many of the others bore similar expressions. The message was clear. If Eowyn was going on a potential suicide mission, they planned to die right alongside her.

***

By taking only C-Grades, a journey that should have taken them days only took them hours. They left behind their horses, supplies, and instructions to their forces. They were to fortify the position around the healing area and nurse the wounded until they could fight again.

The closer they got to the dragon's lair, the quieter the wilderness became. Even the crickets didn't dare chirp in that terrifying thing's presence.

Before any of the knights realized it, Eowyn had guided them just beneath the dragon's perch.

"The beacon," Dernwine said, fingers twitching. "Check it again."

Eowyn pulled it free. The golden light blazed brighter than she'd ever seen it, warm enough to feel through her gloves. It pointed straight up the mountain.

"He's close," she said. "Very close."

"Then where is he?" Aldric demanded, scanning the cliffs. "I don't see anyone. Just rocks and... and..."

He was looking up toward the dragon's perch. And atop the perch, the dragon was looking straight back at them. Those keen and cold eyes were full of equal parts ruthless malice and cruel calculation. It struck each of the knights to the core as surely as the sight of a hawk terrifies a mouse.

All of them stopped and ducked for cover behind a large boulder.

"The beacon is pointing at the dragon," Sir Aldric hissed. "Not past it, not around it. It's pointing at the bloody dragon!"

Eowyn was silent for a moment. "I know. Thank you, my good knights. You were brave to accompany me this far. But I must make the rest of the journey alone."

Then she stood and walked out from behind the boulder.

"Your majesty!" Dernwine hissed in a terrified whisper.

"Someone stop her before that thing decides we look tasty!" Sir Aldric hissed. He looked at his fellow knights, each stricken with terror and indecision.

Eventually, Aldric took matters into his own hands. He grabbed Eowyn by the arm and pulled her back.

"Some strange spell has overcome our queen. Perhaps the dragon has used its magic to seduce her. Help me restrain her. We'll haul her down the mountain by force!"

But the moment he grabbed Eowyn, the dragon's lazy posture shifted. In the distance, it tensed like a coiled spring.

One moment Eowyn felt Sir Aldric grabbing her arm. Then there was a flash of terrifying light from the dragon's position, and his insistent pull was gone. She turned to see him tumbling down the mountain. His severed hand fell to the ground by her feet.

She blinked, and from one moment to the next the dragon had left its perch and now stood before her. Something so large shouldn't have possibly been that fast.

"Ancestors protect us..." Sir Dernwine cursed as he reached for his sword. But he must have known it would do no good. His sword had been useless against it before, and from how it had moved so fast, it was clear it hadn't even shown a fraction of its power.

"Wait!" Eowyn said, holding up bare and empty hands. "I'm here to talk."

"We can't negotiate with a bloody monster! Your majesty, let's—" Sir Dernwine tried to draw his sword, but he was interrupted.

Interrupted by the dragon.

"Go," the dragon said, voice gravelly and coarse, like it hadn't spoken in some time. But the mere fact that it could speak human words at all was a shock.

"Sorry for disturbing you, sir dragon! We'll leave right away!" Sir Dernwine immediately sheathed his sword, face pale as snow. He positioned himself between Eowyn and the dragon and made to nudge her back with him.

"Not her," the dragon said. Then it flapped its wings, and a gust of wind blew out. It felt as strong as a hurricane to Dernwine, Lodo, and all the other knights who were blown straight off the mountain. But Eowyn seemed rooted firmly in place by power none of them could counter.

When the mighty winds finally faded, Eowyn and the dragon stared at one another.

"Do you remember me? How much of you is left in there?" Eowyn pulled the gauntlets from her hands and reached toward the dragon's snout. She was certain of her instincts now, and if she was wrong she'd die soon after, so she could only trust what her gut was telling her.

This was the man she'd been searching for all this time. She couldn't fathom why he was a dragon now, but even back then he'd worked with mysterious powers she couldn't hope to understand.

The dragon scoffed.

"Why are you here, Eowyn? What happened to rebuilding your father's kingdom?" the terrifying black dragon asked.

And Eowyn's heart leaped for joy.

She'd finally found him.

<Note>

Book 6 comes out on ebook soon!