Test of the Dragon

by Jessica Drake

  "Better him eating the serpent than the serpent eating us," Halldor said, and I shuddered as Lessie landed next to him with the other half, which included the intact head. Was it just me, or was that thing still wriggling? "I think that if I walked over to that thing right now, it would still try to eat me," he added.

  We made it to Laoras, and Rhia and I went ashore with the captain and five other men to get supplies. Ykos and Kiethara stayed with Halldor aboard the ship to make sure the sailors stayed in line, while Lessie flew overhead to discourage Drakis and his sailors from trying anything with us. The locals were terrified of Lessie's presence, but that actually ended up working in our favor. The merchants were very quick to help and gave us what we needed without haggling, clearly wanting to get us out of there as soon as possible.

  "You know, I thought your dragons were going to be a pain in the ass, but they're actually quite handy," Drakis said as we returned to the ship. "Usually our ship takes damage from the sea serpents whenever we go this far south, but so far, we've survived this trip intact. Maybe we'll make it to the Hellmouth in one piece after all."

  When we set sail again, despite being held hostage on their own ship, the crew was in good spirits. For once, the cook made a decent meal, and this time the dragons didn't even detect any poison in the portions served to us.

  "I wonder what's going to be waiting for us," Halldor said as we stood at the railing, looking out at the ocean. We were still too far away to see the Hellmouth, but my skin tingled as I imagined it rising up from the sea, a black volcano rumbling its displeasure at the sight of humans drawing near. "Do you think Derynnis will even let us inside?"

  "He'd better," Rhia grumbled. "We didn't come all this way just to be stonewalled at the entrance."

  "We'll dig a hole in the side of the volcano if that's what we have to do to get in," I said, though I really hoped it didn't come to that. I had a feeling the death god would take even less kindly to us breaking into his home than he would to us knocking on the door.

  The next five days of sailing were rough. During the days, we were assailed by terrifying storms full of lightning that seemed determined to steer us off course, and by night, we were pummeled with horrible nightmares from the dragon god. On the second night, we were awoken by sailors trying to break down the doors of our cabins, only to blink at us in bewilderment the moment we disarmed them, a bleary look in their eyes as if they'd only just awakened.

  "It's the dragon god," Lessie hissed, her wings furled as we battled through yet another storm. Lightning arced across the boiling sky, briefly illuminating her body before all but those fiery eyes melted back into the darkness. "He's the cause of these storms, the reason these pirates tried to kill everyone in their sleep."

  "I know," I said wearily as crew members rushed across the deck, following the shouted orders from their captain. Drakis was standing on the upper deck, fighting against the storm with everything he had as he wrestled with the helm. His coat and hair whipped around his body, and I wondered if it was some kind of sorcery that kept his tri-cornered hat firmly on his head. "But if the worst the dragon god can do is terrorize us in our sleep and throw a little weather our way, then he's not as strong as we feared. Besides, we're almost there." Only one more day of sailing, and we'd finally reach land.

  But Lessie gave me a wary look. "I wouldn't be too sure of that," she said. "A lot can happen in twenty-four hours."

  The storm finally broke with the dawn, and I went belowdecks with Rhia to get some sleep along with half the crew, while Halldor stayed up to make sure the other half didn't try anything at the last minute. But I'd only managed to doze for an hour when Lessie awakened me.

  "Zara." Her voice was tight with nerves. "We've got company."

  "Company?" I rubbed at my bleary eyes. "Who the hell would be out here in the middle of nowhere with us?"

  "I'm not sure. But it's an Elantian warship, and its approaching very fast. Halldor says there are close to one hundred men aboard."

  Shaking the cobwebs of sleep from my head, I dragged myself upstairs to see what was going on.

  "It's unnatural," Drakis said, using a spyglass to study the warship from the starboard rail. "That ship is approaching far too quickly given how calm the winds are. Look at us. We're barely moving ten knots. That ship has to be going at least twenty."

  Fear knotted my stomach, and I slid my goggles on to get a better look. Unfortunately, the ship was still too far away for me to see much, but the flags appeared to be Elantian. Still...

  "Lessie, let's go check this out with Ykos. Kiethara is going to stay by the ship, but she should fly up too, just in case."

  "Will do."

  Rhia and I jumped onto our dragons' backs and took off. The sailors cried out as we lifted off, and I glanced back to see that the ship had risen ten feet. The dragons had been weighing it down more than I thought.

  As we arrowed toward the Elantian ship, it suddenly put on a burst of speed.

  "Zara!" Lessie cried, her voice full of alarm. "It's Salcombe at the helm!"

  "I know," I growled. The bastard stood behind another sailor, his arms raised. A black glow surrounded him, and I had a feeling he was using the dragon god's power to create the strong backwind that was giving the ship its frightening speed.

  "Halldor," I said into the earpiece. "Tell Drakis to get those cannons ready!"

  "He's already on it," Halldor said. "Do you need us to come out there with you?"

  "No. Stay with the ship."

  Cannon fire exploded from the warship at the same time Lessie and Ykos dove toward it. The warship was technically too far away to fire on the Borcas, but somehow the cannonball managed to cross the distance, at least judging by the sound of splintering wood and shrieks coming from behind us. Ignoring it, Lessie and Ykos opened their maws wide and unleashed a torrent of fire on the enemy ship.

  A black shield flared to life around the warship, and the flames harmlessly scurried along it. Rhia and I exchanged horrified looks as the flames disappeared beneath the waves, leaving the ship completely unharmed.

  "We're screwed," Halldor said into my ear over the sound of more cannon fire. Twisting around, my heart sank into my shoes at the sight of the Borcas. The poop deck had been badly damaged, and one of the masts was broken in half. "Completely, totally screwed."

  "Like hell we are," I snarled, turning toward Rhia. She nodded when I explained what I wanted, and the two of us flanked the port side of Salcombe's ship. Our dragons began to beat their wings furiously. The men aboard Salcombe's ship shouted in dismay as their ship was pushed back, in the opposite direction of the Borcas.

  "Tell Kiethara to do the same thing, but in the other direction," I told Halldor through the earpiece. "Let’s get as much distance between us and Salcombe's ship as you can."

  "Excuse me." Drakis was suddenly speaking in my ear, and I gathered he'd snatched Halldor's earpiece away from him. "Not that I'm complaining that you seem to be sacrificing yourself to save us, but how do you plan on reaching the Hellmouth if you stay behind while we get away?"

  "I'm hoping we can figure out a way to defeat these bastards and then catch up with you," I said, glancing down at the ship. To my dismay, it looked like Salcombe was already fighting back—he circled his arms in a forward direction, using the dragon god's dark power to rally the winds behind their ship.

  "That may be a bit difficult, considering he's got a magic shield and cannons that seem to defy gravity," he said dryly. "However, I might just have a plan."

  Lessie snorted when Drakis told us what it was. "That's never going to work," she protested. "You can't just create something like that out of thin air."

  "What do you think?" I said to Rhia.

  "It's insane." But she grinned at me, her chestnut hair whipping around her face like a dark banner. "Insane, but also brilliant. I've read something about this before, and I think—"

  "We don't have time for a science lesson," Drakis interrupted. "Your dragons are st
arting to tire. It's now or never."

  I sighed. He was right. I could feel Lessie flagging from the strain of beating her wings while staying in one place. "You think we can do this?" I asked Lessie.

  "Yes. But we're going to need Kiethara."

  Kiethara winged her way toward us, and the three dragons flew in a circle, with Lessie and me in the lead. With their wings spread as far as they could, the dragons chased each other round and round the ship, breathing streams of fire into the air to heat it up. Salcombe scowled up at us and shouted orders for the crew to fire on us, but the cannons flew harmlessly into the ocean, angled too far down to reach us.

  "Do you really think you can find a way to penetrate my shield?" His voice echoed in my head, dripping with malevolence. "I have two of the relics now, and they augment my power even as the ones you have continue to drain you. You're never going to win."

  "I may not have a powerful dragon god on my side," I said. We passed close enough to lock eyes, and I gave him a fierce grin. "But I've got something better—nature."

  A large wave suddenly battered the ship, and Salcombe slammed into the railing, nearly going overboard.

  "Faster," I urged Lessie as the water churned, following the same pattern as the dragons. The waves rose higher and higher, tangling with the heated air, and Salcombe's sailors swore as they realized what was happening.

  "Widen the circle!" I shouted, and Lessie banked right as the swirling water continued to rise. Soon it was no longer a circle of crashing waves, but a twisting cylinder of wind and water that howled across the opening sea, taking on a life of its own.

  "Yes!" Rhia cried, face flushed and eyes blazing as she punched the air. "We did it!"

  "You're damn right we did," Halldor shouted as the cyclone turned toward us. "Now let's fly!"

  The dragons put on a burst of speed, flying back toward the ship as fast as they could. My heart pounded as the cyclone roared behind us, and I swore under my breath, wondering if Salcombe had somehow managed to harness the winds to his advantage.

  I sighed, turning back to lean against the railing. "Lessie, I need you and Ykos to start flying counterclockwise around the ship."

  "It would be just like him to do something like that," Lessie snarled. Her body trembled beneath me. She couldn't take much more. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

  "Maybe if Tavarian were here," I said. He might have been able to use his magic to change the cyclone's direction, but he was a world away. "Either way, we've got to get back to the ship before you collapse. If we die, well, the gods will just have to find a different champion."

  We turned toward the ship, and the three of us landed heavily, nearly launching several pirates overboard.

  "I didn't mean for you to bring the storm to us!" Drakis yelled over the shrieking winds. The ship was in chaos as the sailors fought to secure everything on deck from the rapidly increasing winds.

  "Don't look at me like that!" I yelled back. I dodged out of the way as a loose cannon barreled toward me, then swore. "This cyclone thing was your idea!"

  We were still bickering when lightning sizzled through the air, followed by a deafening thunderclap. I braced myself, almost sure that this was the end, but the winds shifted, and the cyclone inexplicably began spinning in the other direction, headed north, Salcombe’s ship still trapped within.

  "Wha—" Halldor sputtered as the winds around us quieted. "What just happened?"

  Rhia laughed at the thunderstruck look on his face. "I think that might have been a little divine intervention," she said, her eyes twinkling as she looked at me.

  As soon as she had said the words, Caor's smug voice echoed in my head. "If you think we're going to let you out of your champion duties so soon, you can think again, little mortal."

  I snorted. "Just because you're thousands of years old doesn't mean you get to call me ‘little.’ You're not that much bigger than me."

  "If that's your way of saying thank you, then I think you need to work on your gratitude. Perhaps praying to me several times a day, with offerings, would be a good start. Building a few statues in my honor would be nice, too."

  I was saved from having to come up with a retort for that absurd idea by Drakis. "I'm still not sure about all this divine intervention crap," he said, folding his arms across his chest. He was quite disheveled, his face smeared with soot, his hair tangled, and he finally seemed to have lost his hat. "What happened there was a miracle, I'll give you that, but two of our masts are down and I've lost five men. How are we going to make it to the Hellmouth now?"

  "We don't have to," Rhia said as the last of the storm disappeared. The clouds parted, and several crew members gasped as the volcanic island loomed in front of us, barely half a day's journey away. "Looks like the gods gave us a push. We're here."

  20

  Even with only one mast left, the Borcas still managed to limp into a deep bay on the island that served as a natural harbor. Steep hills of volcanic stone rose all around us as we beached the ship, and a greenish haze tinted the sky, blocking out much of the natural sunlight.

  "This place is foul," Lessie growled as we stared up at the volcano. Despite the haze, it was perfectly visible, a behemoth of a mountain that loomed over us, casting long shadows across the rest of the island. The green haze seemed to come from the smoke drifting out of the top of the volcano. "The air here is poisoned by whatever is coming out of that accursed mountain."

  "Yeah, it doesn't look good." I didn't seem to be affected, but Rhia and Halldor looked a bit green around the gills, and I could feel the nausea roiling in Lessie's stomach. I could only imagine that the air quality would get even worse the closer we got. Would we even be able to breathe? What would that smoke do to us?

  "Well, you've made a good run of it," Drakis said, slinging an arm around my shoulder. He gave me a grin, but he was looking a bit ill himself. "And I will have the distinction of saying I'm the only captain who’s ever made it to the Hellmouth, if we ever get back to civilization. But unless you want to risk your entire team being poisoned, I don't see how you can go any farther."

  I batted his hand away as his sneaky fingers went for the pouch tied to my waist, and he laughed. "Just because you're trying to distract me from my impending doom doesn't mean you can steal from me," I said mildly. "I was a thief in my former life, and I know all the tricks."

  "You won't have to worry about the smoke," Caor said, stepping out from behind a rocky outcropping. Drakis and his men immediately drew their swords, but Caor continued to stroll toward us as if the men were waving feathers instead of blades. "Your amulet will protect you from the worst of it. Your friends, however, will not survive it. You're going to have to go it alone."

  "Alone?" Halldor yelled, incensed. "We've come all this way only to be told we have to sit on our thumbs and wait?"

  "I'm not letting you go in there without me," Lessie snarled, snapping her teeth at Caor. "I don't care what this slimy bastard says. You're not facing a death god by yourself."

  "Who is this guy, and where did he come from?" Drakis demanded. "Does he live on this island? Is he the reason you came?"

  "In a manner of speaking," I said wryly. "Drakis, this is Caor. He's a messenger of the old gods and likes to think he can tell me what to do. He's also occasionally helpful."

  "Occasionally?" Caor was highly offended. "I've saved your life twice now, Zara. If not for me, Salcombe would have steered that cyclone directly into the Borcas and destroyed all of you. Not to mention, I gave you all a little boost to the island."

  "Wait a minute," Drakis said faintly. "You're actually serious about all this."

  "Unfortunately. He really is a god." I flipped a dagger into my hand and tossed it at Caor before anyone could blink. The blade sailed right through him and bounced off the stone behind him, then passed through him again before landing on the ground at his feet.

  Scowling, Caor picked up the dagger. "Since I know you weren't deliberately trying to hurt me, I won't take th
at as an insult," he said as he handed it back to me.

  "Guh..." Drakis sputtered, his eyes wide. "How can you touch things if daggers can pass through you?"

  Caor winked. "One of the perks of being in two realms at once. Now listen closely," he said, a deadly serious expression on his face as he turned his attention to me, "because there are many dangers ahead, and I am only going to say this once."

  "Are you sure you're ready for this, Zara?"

  Rhia and I stood at the edge of a skeletal forest, about a mile away from the bay we'd camped in last night. After Caor had left, I'd taken a few hours to pack as many provisions and supplies as I could comfortably carry, then wrote letters to my friends and loved ones using parchment and ink from the Borcas. There was nothing more that I could do—the only way now was forward.

  "Ready as I'll ever be." I sucked in a deep breath as I glanced skyward, to the looming mountain waiting for me.

  Lessie and I had taken a short flight last night to see what we could glean, and we'd managed to catch a glimpse of a glowing cavern about halfway up the side of the volcano before she'd been forced to retreat, hacking as her lungs rebelled against the toxic smoke.

  "I actually got a surprisingly good night of sleep last night,” I said. “I thought for sure that the dragon god would do his best to terrorize me again."

  "I think Caor must have done something, because I didn't have any nightmares either," Halldor said. "Do you really think he's just a messenger god? He seems to have an awful lot of power."

  I frowned. The thought that Caor might be lying about his identity had never occurred to me, but... "It could be he's been calling on the other gods to help us," I said. "After all, he is the messenger."

  "And of course, the other gods wouldn't deign to speak to us directly." Lessie snorted as she nudged me in the back with her snout, and I turned around to hug her. She was still a bit weakened from last night's flight, but she'd insisted on coming this far with me. "I'd like to send them a message to tell them what I think about forcing you into danger like this, without anyone to help."