The Dragon Eaters

by Duke Kittle

  * * *

  Tina pulled the last rock shard from Luna's shoulder and set it down with the others she'd removed. There had been almost a dozen lodged under Luna's skin. Sitting back down, Tina picked up the last piece of clean gauze she could find to wipe her hands. “That should do it. Wrap her shoulder back up while I work on getting us out of here.”

  Kravek pulled the bandages over Luna's shoulder and across her chest to redress them. “You have a plan?”

  “Maybe. I was thinking while I was working on Luna's wounds.” Tina looked up at the side of the dome she knew to be facing the tunnel which led back out to the cave mouth. “It occurred to me it would take a truly exceptional wizard to collapse an entire mountain. I think it far more likely only the surface rocks fell on us. And if that's the case--”

  “Then there'd be a gap.” Kravek paused in wrapping Luna's shoulder. “You think maybe it left behind another tunnel?”

  Tina nodded. She felt a mild sense of reassurance that Kravek had picked up on the same idea. “It's possible. Of course, the loss of support could have caused a greater cave in. But if I can bore a hole large enough for you to get through, we might be able to find that gap, if it's there, and get out of here.”

  Tina reached for her glasses again and had to remind herself they weren't there. She rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. “It's risky, though. What I've basically created here is just a shell. If I start boring holes, it could give way and bury us.”

  Kravek laid Luna back down after finishing with her bandages. “It's a risk. But the alternative is worse.”

  Tina thought back on Kravek's last assessment of risk. It was worth a shot. “All right, Kravek. Do you mind acting as a bit of a body shield for Luna while I do this?”

  He shook his head. “Of course not. You do what you need to. I'll keep her safe.” Kravek leaned over to pick up his and Luna's backpacks. He put his own on and slung hers onto the front of his load-bearing harness. “When you're ready.” Kravek leaned over Luna with his back to Tina.

  Tina scooted back until she was on the opposite side of the dome and raised her hands. She had a few hopes to express, but it wasn't the time for wishing. Drawing on her gift, she put the thumbs and forefingers on both hands together and focused on the spot she could see on the other side. From her hands lashed out a ray of pure force which struck the stone. She sustained the ray which cast off chips of stone as it chewed away at the rock. The ray then made rapid, circular sweeps. It cut away at the rock in a growing spiral until there was a circle an inch deep with a four foot diameter.

  For what came next, Tina would need control. She pressed her hands together to form a sphere of pure force. Spreading her hands from one another, she let the sphere grow in size until it matched the size of the missing layer on the wall. She then looked at Kravek. “Luck to us all.”

  She drew in a deep breath, and then forced it from her lungs in a cry. The sphere slammed into the weakened layer of stone and cracked it outward. Tina held the ball of force in place with one hand raised and drew the other one back. She punched the back of her hand, and the ball lodged itself deeper into the break. Another punch and it broke through the weakened wall, and Tina stopped. There was nothing on the other side. Putting both hands together, she shoved firmly, and the ball of force broke through, scattering the pieces of the weak spot into the darkness.

  No rocks fell into the dome. Tina moved closer to the wall, but realized she didn't have a way to reach the hole. “Kravek, Luna's out of danger now. Quickly, lift me up.”

  Kravek rose from Luna and put his hand down on the ground so Tina could step into it. He then lifted her through the hole. “Do you think we can get out?”

  Tina looked as far as her eyesight and the light would let her. Stretching on in both directions was a passageway almost as large as the tunnel had originally been. But the floor was covered in gravel several feet deep. Even so, it would do. “Yes, Kravek, I think we can.” She leapt from Kravek's hand onto the gravel and stood up. Pointing at the light above her head, she cast it back through the hole. “Get Luna out.”

  It took Kravek less than a minute to push Luna through the hole. He then tossed both backpacks through it and grabbed hold of the top of the dome to lift himself up and pull himself out.

  The light followed Kravek out, and then floated to Tina with her rucksack sitting on top of it. She pulled the rucksack off and tied it back around her shoulders. “Time to go.”

  Kravek reattached both backpacks to his load-bearing harness and scooped Luna up. “Hop on.”

  Tina jumped onto Luna's stomach as Kravek stood up. She cast the light out in front of them to illuminate the path ahead. Kravek had run halfway down the tunnel to the first bend when they heard a crash and shifting gravel behind them. He looked back over his shoulder.

  Tina's ears flattened against her hair. “Thank goodness the dome held long enough.”

  “Thank you, too.” Kravek turned and continued down the tunnel.

  The gravel was at a relatively even level as Kravek moved along. Tina's light led the way and rounded the next bend, and they would reach the main cavern before long. The condition of the large cavern wasn't much different than that of the tunnel, but Tina sharply whistled before Kravek could enter.

  The light stopped as did Kravek, and he glanced down at her. “What? What is it?”

  Tina beckoned the light back to her, and positioned it above Kravek's head. “You remember what the rocks in here were doing before?”

  Kravek grunted. “Exploding.”

  Tina nodded. “I'll levitate us across this room. Just keep a firm grip on Luna and try not to move around too much. Levitation spells are simple but can easily be disrupted. How much do you weigh, Kravek?”

  “About five hundred pounds.”

  Tina wrinkled her muzzle. “I'll estimate Luna is around a hundred and forty. She's got some muscle.” Tina held her hands out together in front of her and spread them in a circle before they met again closer to her body. She rolled her hands over and lifted them. Kravek's feet rose from the ground slowly. “Steady your feet.” Once Kravek had widened his stance, Tina pushed her hands forward, and the three of them moved forward.

  “I didn't know you could make us fly.”

  “I can't.” Tina kept her hands held forward as they drifted across the chamber. “Levitation is easy. Flight is much more difficult, and it usually takes a sustained modification to a levitation spell keyed off an object, like a broom or a boat.”

  “A boat?” Kravek glanced down at Tina.

  “That's more theory, but such a project is being worked on in Kerovnia right now. If it works, we'll see the first flying ship ever created.” Tina smiled at the thought of a flying ship. “It would be a huge step in the advancement of magic.”

  Kravek chuckled.

  As they crossed a third of the chamber, one of Tina's ears flicked. She kept her hands forward, but turned her head to look back. All she could see was Luna's backpack strapped to Kravek's chest. “Do you hear that?”

  Kravek looked back over his shoulder. “Something's rumbling.” He looked down at Tina. “Another cave in?”

  “It's too constant.”

  The sound of rumbling grew louder, and as Kravek looked back to see what was causing it, a large, rigid sphere of stone rolled into the mouth of the tunnel behind them. It unrolled into the large stone figure which Tina had trapped.

  “It's that stone monster!” Kravek looked down at Tina. “It's following us!”

  “If it starts walking on these rocks, they could start shattering again.” Tina wanted to think of a solution, but she needed to concentrate on her levitation spell. Thrusting her hands forward, Tina doubled their pace in crossing the cavern.

  The stone figure rumbled. “This is your grave.” It curled up into a ball again and rolled out onto the rocks. Barreling after them, it crushed rocks beneath it
, and as Tina suspected, the rocks crushed under it started shattering one after another, setting off a chain reaction. Blast after blast erupted around the rolling stone, but the explosions didn't seem to do more than cause the boulder to bounce as it remained on its path straight for the three of them.

  Tina didn't know how close it was, and she couldn't look back with Kravek blocking her way. But they were close to the cavern's entrance, and as they passed through it, Tina set them down on the ground. “Get us out of here!”

  Kravek lunged to take a step forward, but as he did, he felt something grab his ankle. He threw Luna forward to keep from falling on top of her and managed to soften his own landing with his hands. Turning over, he saw a stone hand sticking up through the rocks. A mound of gravel rose next to the hand as the other stone figure, the one which had blocked their exit before, emerged. It growled at Kravek.

  Kravek lifted his other foot, showing the creature the metal shoe on the bottom of his hoof. The black bull snarled and slammed the metal shoe into the creature's head. It jerked back with a crack in its forehead. Kravek slammed his hoof into its head two more times before it broke into pieces, and the hand grasping his ankle let go.

  Tina rose from the gravel. The second creature was still rolling after them. She saw the body of the first creature as Kravek scrambled away from it. With an upward thrust of her hands, Tina slammed the creature's body into the ceiling of the tunnel and kept one hand in the air. The ball remained levitating as she spun her other hand in a circle. “I've had just about enough of you two.”

  The creature reformed into a large boulder and started spinning. After a few seconds, Tina dropped her hands and the boulder hit the ground rolling. She then threw her hands out to the sides to form a wall of force in the tunnel entrance, and as the boulders collided, they careened off of one another in several pieces. The shattering stones in the chamber pelted the wall of force, throwing ripples throughout it. But the wall held. After a few moments, the shattering of the stones died down, and Tina let the wall fade. She released a sigh of relief. “We made it.”