Dragonwatch, vol. 4: Champion of the Titan Games

by Brandon Mull

  Her heart remained heavy about Vanessa losing her sight and Cyllia falling prey to Velrog. But Kendra also felt relieved that Seth had appeared in time to bail them out, bringing with him one of the legendary Dragon Slayers. If they could claim the Harp of Ages soon, at least the sacrifices made to get this far might lead to positive outcomes.

  It was odd to see Seth with wings. Though he showed more acceptance of her than he had previously, there was little recognition in his gaze, and the wings made him seem even less like the brother she knew. Was that how her family would view her if she ever became an Eternal? Would she become increasingly foreign to those she loved most?

  The treasure room was organized like a museum, with items artfully displayed on raised platforms, tidy racks, tables, and pedestals. The lavish style in Jinzen’s lair seemed echoed here, so she assumed he had influenced the layout and design.

  “Lots of choices,” Warren said, indicating a corner of the room crowded with harps great and small. Kendra hoped the Harp of Ages wasn’t one of the massive ones.

  “No need to worry,” Merek said, striding confidently to a little golden harp with twelve strings. “This is the one we want.”

  “Are you sure?” Tanu asked.

  “I remember it,” Merek said.

  “You’ve seen the Harp of Ages before?” Kendra asked.

  “I remember when it was created,” Merek said. “Archadius led the team that produced it.”

  “Is it hard to play?” Kendra asked.

  Merek smiled. “It wasn’t designed for recitals. You just strum it. There is no effect on humans.”

  “Should we go?” Seth asked.

  “Give me a moment,” Merek said. “This wouldn’t be the first time I rescued some of my old gear from a dragon’s hoard.”

  Kendra used the opportunity to approach Seth. “That’s a scary weapon.”

  He held it up. “It’s called the Unforgiving Blade. No wound from it ever heals.”

  “Shouldn’t you keep it in a sheath?” Kendra asked.

  “Merek doesn’t think any sheath can contain it,” Seth said.

  “Sounds . . . dark,” Kendra said.

  “I’m playing Humbuggle’s Game,” Seth said, glancing at Merek. “This blade is part of it.”

  “Are you still trying to win the Wizenstone?” Kendra asked.

  “Merek is more interested in the stone than I am,” Seth said. “Both of us want to keep it away from Celebrant. He’s after it too.”

  “Is he here at Titan Valley?” Kendra asked.

  “Yes,” Seth said. “He tried to kidnap me in Humburgh.”

  Kendra sighed. If Celebrant was here, the main attack was coming. “What about the Sphinx?”

  “I haven’t heard of him since the Under Realm,” Seth said. “Maybe he’s helping Ronodin.”

  “Nothing of mine here,” Merek announced. “But I found a better sword and shield.” He held them up. “Warren, consider that sword over in the corner. No, don’t be fooled by the jeweled hilt. I mean the one to the left. That blade is made of adamant.”

  “Does adamant get that red?” Warren said.

  “It’s an alloy,” Merek said. “And Tanu, you might like that crossbow. The bolts come out ten times larger than they go in, and white-hot. I see only eight bolts, but a direct hit with any of them could drop a dragon.”

  Tanu promptly claimed the crossbow.

  “Where should we go?” Kendra asked.

  “Beacon Hill?” Raxtus suggested.

  “It has a good view of Terastios without being too close,” Merek agreed. “We could get a sense for the scale of the dragon invasion. Good choice, Raxtus. Do you know Titan Valley well?”

  “I was a loner for many years,” Raxtus said. “I visited all of the dragon sanctuaries. I quietly explored. I can carry Kendra.”

  “We won’t be able to carry everyone,” Merek said.

  “I’m coming for sure,” Kendra said. “My cousins and the satyrs are out there.”

  “You guys go ahead,” Warren said. “Tanu and I will catch up. We’ll also need to help Vanessa.”

  “I can give her a shrinking potion so we can carry her,” Tanu said.

  “Great idea,” Warren said.

  “Be ready for an ambush outside the Dragon Temple,” Tanu warned Raxtus. “Or even inside.”

  “I’ll stay alert,” Raxtus committed. “Shall we?”

  “We’ll follow you,” Merek said. “Kendra, would you carry the Harp?”

  “All right,” she said, a little daunted by the crucial responsibility. She supposed Merek and Seth wanted their hands free for their weapons.

  “The Harp could help quell an invasion,” Merek said. “Doing so will take time and solid strategy. Hopefully we can catch the dragons off guard. The range is decent but not incredible.”

  Raxtus seized Kendra by the shoulders and pulled her into the air. The corridors and caverns were mostly wide enough for the dragon to fly, though occasionally Raxtus had to land, and Kendra would jog beside him. They went back through the web-tangled chamber where Velrog lay dead, up the steep slope, and eventually into the cavern where they had fought Pioleen. In the lair of Jinzen, they paused to check on Vanessa.

  “We have the Harp,” Kendra announced.

  “Great!” Vanessa said with a smile, her milky white eyes shifting toward Kendra but not quite in line with her. “Is Warren all right?”

  “Yes, but we lost Cyllia,” Kendra said. “The others are fine.”

  “Tragic,” Vanessa said. “Cyllia seemed stalwart. Her death is a loss. Seth found you?”

  “I’m here,” Seth said.

  “He and Merek saved us,” Kendra reported. “Now we’re off to see what this Harp can do. Warren and Tanu are coming behind us.”

  “Don’t wait,” Vanessa urged. “Go. I haven’t heard any dragons yet, but I expect they’re coming. Or lying in wait. Take care.”

  “I’ll sense them,” Raxtus said.

  They raced through the mirror maze on foot. Raxtus became frustrated as he led them into a couple of dead ends, but before long, the group was flying toward the temple’s entrance. Raxtus landed just before the hall ended.

  “Lots of dragons outside,” Raxtus whispered.

  “The entrance is closed now,” Seth whispered. “It was open when we came through.”

  “It probably closed when the storm ended,” Raxtus said. “But I can smell and hear dragons on the far side.”

  After searching the end of the hall, Merek demonstrated how the removal of a stone block exposed a lever. Placing a hand on the lever, Merek whispered, “Raxtus, become your avatar. It should let you avoid the effects of the Harp.”

  The sparkly dragon gave a nod and took the shape of a young male fairy, about the height of Kendra’s knee.

  Merek looked surprised. “Your avatar is a fairy?” he whispered.

  Raxtus shrugged.

  Merek looked at Kendra. She held up the Harp, and Merek pantomimed playing it. Kendra took a deep breath. She hoped the instrument really was foolproof. What if she struck a sour chord and a bunch of dragons stormed in and devoured them?

  Kendra strummed her hand over the strings, producing a lovely glissando. Merek pulled the lever, and, with a deep grinding, a stone slab slid inward. Merek motioned for Kendra to strum again, and she complied.

  The Dragon Slayer held up both hands, gesturing for them to wait, then flew out of the opening. Kendra held her breath for a long, tense moment until his voice called, “Come on out!”

  After exiting, Kendra paused to absorb the scene. In a loose semicircle around the entryway, a dozen huge dragons lay fast asleep. Kendra stepped forward gingerly.

  “Can we prevent them from following us?” Seth whispered.

  “Leave them,” Merek said. “These will slumber for more than a week. And since they are already subdued, it would be dishonorable to harm them. Let’s go see how Titan Valley has fared. Kendra, remember, if dragons get near, Raxtus will land and becom
e his avatar, and you strum that Harp. There is no limit to how often you can use it.”

  “It’s so powerful,” Seth said, still surveying the unconscious dragons.

  “It’s the single greatest limited-range weapon against dragons ever devised,” Merek said. “Few items in existence are more potent.”

  Jumping and flapping his wings, Merek shot into the air. Seth followed, and Raxtus transformed into his dragon shape and lifted Kendra. The box canyon and the slumbering dragons fell away beneath her, and a vista of the mountainous region unfolded. Had Bernosh really traversed these rocky slopes, perilous cliffs, and deep canyons on foot?

  “Dragons at two o’clock,” Raxtus announced.

  “I see them,” Merek replied. “Sharp eyes. Those are far off. We went from an abundance of clouds to scant options for cover. Let’s fly low.”

  Raxtus, Seth, and Merek hugged the terrain, staying well below the surrounding summits, often dipping into ravines or swooping across clearings at heights lower than the treetops. The combination of high speed and tight turns kept Kendra on edge. Several times she lifted her legs, worried they would hit branches, but Raxtus always maneuvered with sufficient skill to make her precautions unnecessary.

  When the wilderness gave way to farmland, Raxtus, Seth, and Merek skimmed along just above fields, some flat, some furrowed, staying lower than windmills, barns, and even haystacks. Before long, they began to pass the charred skeletons of buildings adjoining scorched acreage. Occasionally, farmhouses or rows of crops were still burning.

  “Dragons,” Merek proclaimed, pointing.

  Kendra spied a small yellow dragon and a larger, horned one diving toward them from off to one side. Raxtus abruptly landed and shrank into a fairy. Merek and Seth alighted beside Kendra. She readied the Harp, hand poised above the strings, but Merek held up a hand to stall her. As the dragons swooped near enough that their mouths opened to use their breath weapons, Merek gave a signal, and Kendra strummed the instrument. Both dragons immediately went limp, heads sagging, and dropped out of the air, sliding and bouncing over the flat ground before flopping awkwardly to a halt.

  “Quick,” Merek said, leaping into the air.

  Raxtus changed back into a dragon, gripped Kendra, and took off. Not far ahead, they reached rolling terrain, allowing them to weave around the hillsides, out of view. When they ran into a gray dragon with horns like a ram, Raxtus landed and became a fairy, and Kendra ran her fingers over the harp strings. The dragon fell heavily, wings splayed.

  “Beacon Hill, dead ahead,” Raxtus said a few minutes after they returned to the air.

  Merek, Seth, and Raxtus flew low up the slope of the tall hill, landing just shy of the summit. Raxtus immediately shrank into a fairy. “Just in case,” he said.

  Kendra ran with the others to the hilltop, then paused to absorb the sight. As they stood on the highest point for miles around, the panorama from the top left Kendra stunned by the massive destruction underway. Flying low had prevented her from witnessing the extent of the onslaught. Turning in a full circle, Kendra observed that more than half of the visible countryside had burned or was burning. Smoke obscured much of the sky, and ashes fluttered like snowflakes. Long lines of dragons flew wing to wing, heads down, torching the landscape.

  In the distance Kendra saw Terastios, where the demolition appeared most concentrated. Lightning crackled and flames billowed. The fortress was already in blackened ruins, and yet the dragons seemed determined to see it utterly razed.

  “In all my years, I’ve not seen this behavior from dragons,” Merek said soberly. “They will fight and hunt and kill. They will despoil a castle or a town. They will go to war. But I have never beheld dragons systematically obliterating the natural world. Even the vilest dragons I have known respect resources. They preserve game to hunt and a wilderness to live in. This is a crime against nature. Wasteful to the point of suicidal.”

  “There is much anger about the conditions at Titan Valley,” Raxtus said.

  “Then fight the giants,” Merek replied. “Not the forests and the fields.”

  “I agree,” Raxtus said sadly.

  “Heads up,” Seth said.

  A group of the nearest dragons had broken from their firestorm formation and were gliding directly toward Beacon Hill. Merek took cover behind some bushes, and Kendra followed his lead.

  “They’ve spotted us,” Merek said. “Kendra, ready the Harp, but wait until the last possible moment. I did not envision so many dragons. I count hundreds. I never saw a host like this in all of the dragon war.”

  “They’re coming right at us,” Seth warned.

  “Patience, Kendra,” Merek said.

  Glancing up, Kendra counted nine dragons approaching the hilltop. She kept her hand near the harp strings.

  “Now,” Merek said.

  Kendra slid her hand over the strings, producing a beautiful glissando, and dragons promptly littered the hillside. From all directions, dragons began veering their way.

  “Please let them gather here,” Merek said. “Putting big groups to sleep is our best hope. Kendra, stay ready.”

  The next wave of oncoming dragons landed before reaching the hill. Dozens were gathering. A few dragons flew away in various directions.

  “They’re sending messengers,” Raxtus warned.

  The dragons who landed began transforming into their human avatars. The incoming dragons changed shape as soon as they landed. Dozens of avatars started marching to Beacon Hill from all sides.

  “The Harp won’t work on their avatars,” Kendra said.

  “How many of them can you defeat?” Seth asked Merek.

  “In their human form?” he asked. “Four at my leisure. Probably six if they make mistakes. More are coming. We will be squaring off against hundreds.”

  “Do we fly away?” Kendra asked.

  “Too many have spotted us,” Merek said. “They know we have the Harp, which makes us the most valuable targets at this sanctuary. If we leave, they will follow at a distance. When we land, we’ll be in the same circumstance. There are too many of them. They could take shifts, wear us out. If we have a card to play, now is the time.”

  “What can we do?” Kendra asked.

  “Seth,” Merek said. “It’s time.”

  Seth nodded. “Kendra, I need the Harp.”

  “Why?” Kendra asked.

  “There is something I need to do while we can,” Seth said. “Before Celebrant or anyone else can do it.”

  “What?” Kendra asked.

  Seth held out a hand. “I’ll show you.”

  Kendra gave her brother the Harp.

  Seth accepted it. Men and women, all of them dragon avatars, were charging up the hill. Dozens more dragons converged from all directions. There was no other option. If they failed to act, they would lose the Harp, and Celebrant might figure out how to gain the Wizenstone.

  Seth knelt and set the Unforgiving Blade against the first string of the Harp.

  “What are you doing?” Kendra cried.

  Merek grabbed her from behind, holding her as she struggled.

  “This is necessary,” Seth said.

  “He’s right,” Merek confirmed. “Let him do it. We’re sacrificing something great for something better.”

  Seth pressed the dark blade against the golden string, and, for the first time since he had started using the knife, something resisted the edge. The string refused to break. Bracing one hand against the top of the Harp, Seth pushed harder with the long knife, and it jerkily cut through the first two strings, making a pair of ugly twangs, before stopping against the third.

  “This is hard,” Seth said.

  “Hurry,” Merek encouraged.

  Seth forced the blade forward, strings making tortured sounds as they parted in ones and twos. Soon only one remained. As Seth added pressure, the last string snapped with a discordant clang that sank into the earth and sprang into the sky.

  Seth no longer knelt on a hilltop.

/>   The Harp was gone.

  He still held the Unforgiving Blade, but he knelt on a marble floor in a light and airy room of modern design, as if severing the final harp string had altered reality. Seth stared in confusion at a white grand piano, chrome fixtures and furnishings, and oversized windows.

  “Congratulations,” a voice spoke from behind.

  Seth knew the voice. Standing and turning, he faced Humbuggle. The dwarf grinned hugely.

  “Where are my friends?” Seth asked.

  “Right where you left them,” Humbuggle said.

  “Will they be all right?” Seth asked.

  “That is up to them,” Humbuggle said. “And partly up to you.”

  “Where are we?” Seth asked. “Humburgh?”

  “No, my boy, this is my treasury,” Humbuggle said. “It’s where I keep the good stuff. Nobody knows the location.”

  “I cut the harp strings,” Seth said, holding up the Unforgiving Blade.

  “My compliments,” Humbuggle said with a bow. “You are the champion of the Titan Games.” Almost as an afterthought, he threw a handful of sparkly confetti.

  “The Games are over?” Seth asked.

  “That is up to you,” Humbuggle said. “But you have indeed won the Wizenstone. Shall we adjourn to the relevant treasure room?”

  “How much treasure do you have here?” Seth asked.

  “Plenty,” Humbuggle said. “But all my other riches combined do not approach the value of the Wizenstone. Come.”

  Humbuggle led Seth to an elevator.

  “You have electricity here?” Seth asked as he stepped inside.

  “All of the modern conveniences,” Humbuggle said. “This is where I do most of my actual living. The manor in Humburgh is primarily for show. I prefer refrigerators, hot showers, the indoor saltwater pool, my theater room—the good life.”

  Humbuggle pressed the bottommost button, labeled B3. The elevator started down.

  “Seven floors?” Seth asked, checking the buttons.

  “Six with natural light,” Humbuggle said. “My treasury is built into a hillside. I didn’t expect you to win so quickly. I thought it would be another seven years before you could access the Dragon Temple.”