“Not very elegant,” Sarah observed from Ferreth’s palm, “but it’ll do for now. Good job.”
Steve grunted as he fought a burst of wind from the south that threatened to tip him over. Forcing his left wing back down, Steve clamped his mouth shut and kept the obscenities to a minimum.
“I thought Rhamalli said the nest was close,” Steve complained loudly as he fought to keep up with Syrreth and Ferreth.
“It is.” Sarah pointed at the approaching western face of the lone mountain. “The mountain is right there. You can’t get any closer than that. We’ll start circling it to see if we can spot this fissure we were told about.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Sarah looked back at the large green dragon fighting valiantly to stay level and up in the air.
“Just circle around up here. We’ll find the lair and let you know when we do. Think you can do that?”
“I’ll try.”
Steve watched the strange two-headed dragon fly off to the north and slowly circle the rugged mountain. If Rhamalli called this home then his cave had to be there somewhere. Suddenly his head lifted. He had just detected a scent so strong that he could almost see the pheromones in the air leaving a trail for him to follow. In fact…
Steve blinked a few times. He did see a slight swirling mist dancing through the air much like a ribbon would do if held in front of a fan. Intrigued, he followed the mist as it twisted and turned in the air, drawing him ever closer to the mountain. Once he was within several hundred feet to the side of the mountain, the mists took an abrupt turn and headed straight down before disappearing into a large crack that extended to the top of the mountain all the way down to the base of the cliffs. The mists were emanating from a ledge just outside of the widened section of the fissure, approximately half way up the mountain. Wait. A fissure? Wasn’t this what Rhamalli was talking about? Didn’t that mean he was looking at the Zweigelan’s lair?
Right on cue Syrreth and Ferreth appeared. They flew straight towards the fissure and landed on the ledge. Ferreth noticed Steve flying closer and nodded his head in acknowledgment.
“Is there enough room for me to land, too?” Steve asked as soon as he passed by overhead.
Their two-headed companion jumped off the ledge and soared by him moments later.
“We can do it,” Syrreth informed him. “So you should be able to as well.”
“I should be able to land there,” he heard Pryllan say.
“While I appreciate your vote of confidence,” Steve told the dragon inhabiting his wife’s body, “my landings stink. That ledge looks small.”
“Use your wings to slow your descent,” Pryllan instructed. “The ledge is much larger than it looks. Once you’re close enough, use your talons to grip the rock. Once your talons take hold you will need to fold your wings flat against your back lest you injure them on the side of the mountain. I would prefer you return my body to me in the same condition as when I left it.”
“What if I start to fall?”
“Then push off from the mountain and fly away.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Steve accused.
Pryllan shrugged. “Because it is.”
“Uh huh. Can you walk around yet without falling over?”
Pryllan fell silent.
“I didn’t think so,” Steve continued. “You take flying for granted. What seems easy to you is damn near impossible for me. Just like walking is for you.”
“I concede the point. Do be careful.”
“Yep, I hear you. I think I got this. Hold on, I’m going to give it a try.”
Steve’s wings wavered as he inched closer and closer to the ledge in front of the widened fissure. Syrreth was right. It was big enough for him to land. Actually, there was more than enough room for both he and the Zweigelan on the ledge. From the air it looked as though the ledge was less than a dozen feet wide. Now, up close, it was easily twice that and perhaps fifty or so feet long. Dark discolorations were seen scattered all across the ledge.
Pretending he was a small aircraft coming in for a landing, he kept the runway in his sights and dipped his wings down to bring himself closer. It took several attempts but Steve finally managed to land on the ledge. He folded his wings before he could damage them against the mountainside. Proud of his accomplishment, Steve checked the area to see who might have witnessed his heroic feet.
“Nicely done!” Sarah called to him from within Syrreth’s clutches.
A grin appeared on Steve’s face, which unfortunately looked like a ferocious snarl on Pryllan’s. “Thanks!”
Within moments Syrreth and Ferreth had executed a perfect landing and was standing next to him. Sarah covered her nose with her hand.
“What’s that smell? It’s horrible!”
Steve’s gaze darted about the area. The dark splotches he had seen from the air turned out to be decomposing carcasses of dead animals. The grisly piles of matted fur and bones were everywhere: in front of the cave, shoved into crevasses, and even visible in the cave’s interior. Sure enough, as they all peered into the dark smelly cave, they could see the remains of at least three more animals lying just inside the cave entrance.
Steve snorted. The odor was almost overpowering his keen sense of smell. “Wow. That’ll clean out your nasal passages.”
Sarah turned to look up at the Zweigelan.
“What are their names?”
Syrreth shook his head. “Unknown. We were never close.”
They all waited to see if they could hear some signs of life from emanating from within the cave. However, once everyone had become still, not even the slightest sound could be heard. For that matter, they couldn’t even hear any birds, or insects, or anything else that typically made noise.
“Maybe he’s not here,” Sarah whispered.
Steve’s nostrils flared. Even though the scent of decay was strong and threatening to overpower everything else, he could still detect the unmistakable aroma of another dragon. He didn’t know how he knew it, as he hadn’t ever smelled this scent before, but he knew this body had. So it was time to listen to what Pryllan’s body was telling him.
“No, he’s in there.”
Sarah turned to look up at him.
“How do you know?”
“I just do. I can smell him.”
“Good lord, is he dead?”
Steve cast his powerful gaze into the cavern and scanned the interior, seeking out the darkest corners of the cave. There, fearfully crouching in the darkest deepest corner was the second Zweigelan. This one was silver with black stripes running across its chest. It looked like a cornered, frightened cat. There’s no way it was going to come out peacefully.
This one, Steve noted, was just as long and sinewy as Syrreth and Ferreth, but had longer, almost stretched out faces and neither one of them had horns. It was the first dragon Steve had ever seen that didn’t have some type of twisted, spiraled, or straight-as-a-poker horns extruding from their skull. He watched the left head look nervously towards the entrance of the cave.
“We are not dead,” a sinister voice hissed out at them, “but if you do not leave us alone you will be.”
“Come on out of there,” Sarah called out to the Zweigelan. “We’re friends. We’re not going to hurt you. We need to talk to you.”
“You are no friend to us,” the voice hissed back with annoyance. “Leave us be!”
“What do we have to do in order to prove we’re sincere? We aren’t here to hurt you.”
“We haven’t left the cave in several weeks,” the voice angrily responded. “Not safe, it is.”
“Why isn’t it safe?” Sarah asked, confused. “Do you feel your lives are in danger?”
“The outside is not safe for us.”
Sarah looked at the closest rotting carcass. “Because of all these dead animals? I can’t say that I blame you. They smell really nasty. We just figured they were remnants of your meals.”
“Left for us to c
onsume, they were,” another voice chimed in. “Tainted and unsafe for consumption, they are.”
Sarah automatically took several steps away from the rotting remains. “Tainted? Are you sure?”
“They are laced with deadly herbs. Another effort to drive us out, it is. They were dropped here in the hopes we would become drugged. Failed, they did.”
Sarah was appalled. “That’s horrible! We would never do that! We just want to talk to you.”
“No human ever wants to ‘just talk’,” the second Zweigelan coldly informed her.
“How do you know I’m human?”
“Because I can see you.”
“Then can you also see that I’m not alone?”
“Travelling with another human is not reassuring,” the Zweigelan haughtily informed her.
“What about the dragon? What about Syrreth or Ferreth?”
“All the more reason to remain concealed. Go away.”
“We must confer with you,” Syrreth loudly called out.
The silence was so loud it was deafening. Then they heard movement as the second Zweigelan emerged into the daylight.
“What are you doing here?” the Zweigelan’s left head angrily hissed out.
“Trying to break the curse,” Syrreth answered.
“What have you told them?”
“All that I know.”
The hornless Zweigelan began pacing in what little room remained on the ledge outside his cave. Sarah, Pryllan, and Steve were all ignored as the two Zweigelans angrily eyed one another.
“And that’s why we don’t include you, brother. You’re weak.”
“Shame on you!” Sarah instantly snapped out. “He’s doing what is right!”
The second Zweigelan ignored her. That is, until Steve stepped up beside her and cleared his throat. In his dragon body, it was the equivalent of giving a fairly loud roar. Syrreth and Ferreth, who had started to hang their heads, instantly jerked them up and twisted around to watch Steve glare at the second Zweigelan.
“Not bad,” Pryllan murmured quietly to herself. Sarah immediately smiled but was able to return her face to neutral before anyone could notice.
Their confidence returning, Syrreth raised his head and stared at the other two-headed dragon.
“We want to talk to the wizard who cast this curse.”
The Zweigelan’s right head finally spoke.
“I’m sure you do.”
“This curse has ramifications that weren’t realized,” Syrreth continued.
“The Dragon Lord has apologized,” Ferreth added.
The second Zweigelan focused both of its heads on him.
“Hasn’t apologized to us, has he? Even if he did, it doesn’t change anything.”
“We have pledged ourselves to ridding our dragon brethren of this curse.”
The second Zweigelan eyed Syrreth and Ferreth dangerously but elected to say nothing.
“Why did you do this?” Steve finally asked.
“To bring about the downfall of all dragons.”
“Well, Mr. Genius, you know you’re a dragon, too, right?”
The second Zweigelan stared at Steve for a full minute before finally shaking both heads and returning his attention to Syrreth and Ferreth. Steve glanced down at his wife, who shrugged as if to say the staring match happening between the two Zweigelans would have to be resolved by them and them alone. After another minute the hornless Zweigelan spoke.
“We are not dragons. We are Zweigelan.”
“You may not want to think so, buddy,” Steve told the petulant two-headed dragon, “but you are. ‘You are Zweigelan.’ Is that supposed to be some sort of catchphrase? You’re a type of dragon. End of story, so let it go. Besides, didn’t you say that you hadn’t ventured outside in several weeks? You claim it’s because you’re afraid of these poisoned carcasses. I say it’s because you can’t fly. You’re stage three, aren’t you?”
“Am not,” the hornless right head snapped back angrily.
“Prove it,” Steve challenged. “Try to fly. Take off! Let’s see what you can do. Oh! Better yet, try spitting out one blast of fire. Just one! I’m willing to bet all the tea in China that, ummm, that is, I’m willing to wager, er, anything that you’ve fallen victim to this curse. Syrreth and Ferreth here have become stricken, too. They can still fly, obviously, but they can’t use their flames. That makes them stage 2. You’re stage 3, aren’t you? Just fess up.”
Sarah let out an exclamation of surprise. She waved her arm to get Steve’s attention. “Did you catch that? You mentioned stage three and they didn’t ask what that was. They knew what it meant.”
Both of the second Zweigelan’s heads growled angrily. Steve’s growl in return instantly silenced everyone.
“You’ve fallen victim to this curse,” Steve told them. “And from the looks of it, it happened a while ago, didn’t it?”
“We’ve been feeling ill,” the right head told them. “We haven’t had a decent feeding in a while. It is related, we’re sure.”
“What are your names?” Pryllan asked. “What are you called?”
The hornless silver Zweigelan fell silent as the left head returned Pryllan’s frank stare while the right head kept an eye on Steve.
“No harm will befall you for just telling us your name,” Sarah added as gently as she could. “I’m Sarah. That’s Pryllan over there and my husband is the dragon standing next to you. Obviously you’ve already met Syrreth and Ferreth.”
Both of the second Zweigelan’s heads stared at Sarah for a few moments before turning to look incredulously at the large green dragon, and finally returning back to Sarah to stare at her a few moments longer.
Sarah laughed.
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s a long story.”
“I am Dirgath,” the left head said uncertainly.
“I am Tirgath,” the right head said a few moments later.
Sarah nodded, pleased.
“Dirgath, Tirgath, we’re pleased to meet you.”
“Okay you two,” Steve began, drawing Dirgath and Tirgath’s attention, “we know you’re at stage 3. We know you know it, too. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to happen that way, and judging from your reaction, I’d say that you’d agree. We really need to find this wizard. We have to nullify this curse. Will you help us?”
“We do not know where he is,” Dirgath answered.
Steve cleared his throat. “Tirgath, what about you? Do you know where he is?”
Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at Steve with a look of sheer incredulity on her face. His face. It was still confusing to him. Steve noticed and frowned, causing Pryllan’s body to bare her teeth.
“What? What’s that look for? Stop looking at me like I’m a complete moron.”
“If Dirgath doesn’t know where the wizard is, why would Tirgath? I can’t believe you’d ask that.” Steve was embarrassed, which caused his tail to automatically dart between his legs.
“Oh, don’t do that,” Pryllan pleaded. “I don’t ever tuck my tail between my legs. Makes me look silly. Weak.”
Steve wiggled his butt in an attempt to get his tail back out to where it was supposed to be.
“Sorry. Damn thing did that on its own accord.”
“You are a strange group,” Dirgath observed.
“You ain’t just whistling Dixie,” Sarah muttered before her eyes shot open. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say that, either. It just slipped out.” Sarah cleared her throat. “Back to the situation at hand. Dirgath, Tirgath, if you don’t know where the wizard is, you have to at least know how to break the curse. Can you tell us anything to help us out?”
Tirgath eyed Dirgath with a look that dared him to answer. Both heads were silent. Syrreth and Ferreth let out a small roar of frustration and advanced on Dirgath and Tirgath, who actually retreated a few steps.
“How is this curse lifted?” Syrreth snapped, growing angrier than anyone had ever seen him.
“We are not immune to the curse,” Ferreth reminded him. “What affects the dragons affects us as well. Agree with my brother, I do. We must lift this curse.”
Dirgath and Tirgath finally showed some nerve of their own. Both heads straightened and their noses lifted high into the air.
“Don’t turn on us, brother,” Dirgath warned with a vicious growl. “You won’t like the consequences.”
Anger flared and before Steve knew what was happening, he had given a rumbling growl and was standing beside Syrreth and Ferreth. Pryllan, with Sarah’s help as she was still not used to walking around on human legs, had appeared on Syrreth and Ferreth’s other side to show her support.
Dirgath’s shocked expression mirrored its twin. Tirgath addressed Steve.
“Stand beside them, do you?”
Steve nodded. “I do. He is a friend. He saved my wife’s life just a little while ago, as well as Pryllan’s. For that I will be forever indebted to them. You ask if I stand beside them? You bet your ass I do.”
Syrreth was angrily staring at Dirgath as if daring him to be the first to look away, which he was. Ferreth glanced left and gave Steve an appreciative nod of his head.
“Living like an outcast stinks, guys,” Steve said as he made a conscious effort to stop growling. “I will admit there are some advantages to living alone but the disadvantages number more.”
Hoping to alleviate some of the tension that was so thick she could have cut it with a knife, Sarah leaned Pryllan up against Steve’s right foreleg and took a few steps towards Dirgath and Tirgath.
“Let’s assume you had no idea that you’d be included with the others in the curse. Is it possible that the third Zweigelan specifically instructed the spellcaster to include you two? Does the third Zweigelan hate you two that much to do something like that?”
“It is a theory that fits the facts,” Pryllan observed as she tried to push herself up to a standing position and take a few steps. She stumbled after the second step and returned to her position of leaning up against one of her former legs. “Both Zweigelans have become affected which indicates either the third member of their species wanted it that way or else the human wizard engineered the curse to include them.”
Something Wyverian This Way Comes Page 20
