The Azure Dragon

by Vladimir Vasilenko

  On the game map, this area was marked with a warning sign—it was a special zone called the Kongamato Nest. Usually, these signs were placed next to dungeons as a warning of danger. However, there was no dungeon here; otherwise, there would be another icon, indicating the maximum number of players in a group allowed by the system for the task.

  I also saw Genghis's detachment approaching the Nest on the game trail from the north. Judging by the route, they were going straight into a deep gorge, dissecting the rocks almost in the middle. The entrances to the caves were somewhere there.

  But we were going to go another way.

  We were going to approach from the southeast and climb over the rocks. Fortunately, we wouldn’t require any special skills as the slopes are quite flat. Our goal was to get to the huge and round like a crater gap leading into the cave, most of which was occupied by an underground lake. One of the fiery tears rested at the bottom of this lake. Actually, that's what struck and broke the ceiling of the cave a long time ago.

  Getting to the lake could be done through the gorge and a cave system on the bottom. That's the way that Genghis’s detachment was following. They just followed the Janji Hae compass, though this tool was very capricious and inaccurate. They were going to reach the nest, and then they would have to search every nook and cranny there for the tear. It'd give us a little more time. In general, everything seemed to be working out quite well. It was almost too easy.

  I realized what the catch was when I got to the place and climbed on the tree to get a better look at the Nest. This is when I learned the meaning of Kongamato.

  Pterodactyls. It was an evil flying cross between a lizard and a bat with sharp beaks that could pierce through a person. They almost killed me when I was going down the river. It was a little flock back then. There were dozens of them now!

  Spread-eagled on a branch and sincerely hoping that I merged with it like a chameleon, I surveyed the mountains that were in front of me. Kongamato were swarming everywhere here. Most of them were puttering around coves or nests built of wood. These creatures could move pretty fast on the ground. They folded their wings to rest their... uh, elbows or knees on the ground. In this position they were like huge skinny lizards with disproportionately long snouts and angular bony legs. It was hard to tell that they could actually fly.

  "Hanuman?" I called.

  I wasn't sure if it would work, but I really wanted to check something with the monkey king.

  The vanara cub left my back and sat on a branch across from my face. His eyes opened even wider than usual, and I could see them darkening. The kid’s pupils quickly dilated, filling the entire iris.

  "Oh, you have reached your destination, my hairless friend!" The cub said in Hanuman's voice. "Very nice!"

  "Look, don't jive me! Look down once. What am I supposed to do with all this?"

  Puzzled, the cub scratched his head.

  "Oh yeah! The birds are here."

  "Birds?!"

  "Don't get mad! The Great Hanuman will fix it! He promised you his help. Although…"

  Little vanara ran to the end of the branch to get a better look at the situation below. He stayed there for quite a long time, and my attempts to attract his attention were unsuccessful.

  Meanwhile, a part of the winged beasts had risen in the air as if disturbed by something. A couple dozen, no less. For a while, they circled high above the nest and then lined up in a jamb and, like a squadron of fighters, moved somewhere to the north.

  The vanara came back to me.

  "I managed to distract the males. At the same time, I set them on your friends who are moving here in search of the fiery tear."

  Okay, now that was better! I could not resist a gloating grin, imagining the surprise on the faces of Genghis’s team members. However, I doubted that the flying creatures could be a serious danger to his thugs. I didn't think that the whole squad would be sent to the menhir. But they would take enough of their time. That was good.

  "Great! But there is still a whole horde of these creatures on the rocks!

  The cub shrugged apologetically.

  "Females protect the nests. This is not a good time. Kongamato have just recently built new masonry, so they won't leave the nest at all for a while. You will have to somehow distract them so that one of you could make his way to the lake. To get the tear, it is not necessary for the whole squad to break into the Holy of holies. Heh heh heh, I would even say it would be suicidal."

  "Wait a minute. I suppose there is something I should be aware of in the cave with a lake?"

  "Oh yes. It's the nest of the mother of the flock. Try not to disturb her."

  I almost gritted my teeth in annoyance.

  He must have been pretty sure that I will be the one who's going to have to go in there. Anyway... If not me, then who? One other option is to send Edge cloaked. But how will she get down into the crater? And most importantly, how will she get out of it?

  "Well, okay. How hard will it be to find the tear? Is the lake deep?"

  "Not along the edges. But deeper in the middle. Just look for the deepest spot. That's where the tear is."

  I nodded, and the cub shook his head, freeing himself from the spell. He had shaky legs, and I was afraid he was going to fall off the branch. I picked up his little furry body under the armpits and pulled it to myself. The cub immediately climbed back on top of me and wrapped his arms around my neck.

  "Yeah, buddy, we're in a lot of trouble," I muttered, scratching him behind the ear. "But we can do this, right?"

  Instead of answering, he clung to my armor straps. It was his way of saying that he was ready to get going.

  I went down to the lower branch of the tree and meditated while waiting for the Hounds. Fortunately, they made it here without any incidents. Even mobs weren't aggravated on the way. Perhaps, it was thanks to Hanuman's help or Doc's new ward, who scared away all living creatures.

  The most difficult thing was to formulate a plan of action that would not expose us to Viper. He did not know where we were going and why, and especially after Terekhov put him in his place, he didn't argue. But surely the next day, he would report everything to Genghis, and it would not be difficult to add two and two together. So by the end of this session, we needed to get our hands on a couple of powerful trumps.

  "It's better to stay away from the deep parts of the area. You can see, there is a warning sign. Let's go around the southern border. But there is one of vanara altars. I'll try to check quickly. I'll make an exit, and you distract the winged ones. But keep your head down. If they start to push, pull back into the bushes. These creatures are most dangerous in the open, where they can attack from the air.”

  “Even on the ground, they can get you with their beaks pretty good," Viper responded skeptically. "Also, they use their tails as a whip. They have sharp growths on them that cut skin like a knife.”

  "Well, let's not expose ourselves," retorted Terekhov. "Okay, Mongoose. We distract them and try to kill a dozen or two while we are at it. Level up. You do your research. If you succeed, destroy the altar. If you see small groups of vanaras, we can try to arrange an ambush.”

  "Do you have any shadow crystals left?" Edge asked. "Remember, I gave you a few in the Spider gorge during Dahamesh chase?"

  I shook my head.

  "I spent all of them there. Have you got a couple of extras?"

  The assassin spent a while, rummaging in the pouches and finally fished one crystal.

  "The last. It's a small one. Enough for a minute."

  I weighed the crystal in my hand. It was similar to a shard of murky glass, inside of which a barely visible smoke was curling. Well, a moment of invisibility... That's not enough. But it would be better than nothing.

  "The vanaras are unlikely to appear directly in the nest itself," Viper said again. "It's like poking a paw into a beehive. They're the guardians of the jungle, of course, and all that. But they also have the instinct of self-preservation.”

 
"It seems that we don't though," grinned Bers, taking his axes out. "Let's get moving. At least we'll put on a fight.”

  Bers's wish was to come true in just a few minutes. Before we even entered the Kongamato territory, we heard an angry cackling and clapping of heavy leathery wings in the air.

  Fighting unknown beasts is always more difficult than fighting people. Martial arts, tactics, and strategy don’t help here. Due to the difference in anatomy, it's not always possible to understand what to expect from the enemy.

  However, there is an upside—beasts have no armor or magic. This was our main advantage.

  From the first moments of the battle, Doc proved that his familiar was a good investment. The first kongamato that swooped down towards us, was shot down by a direct hit of two huge icicles in the chest. With a heart-rending shriek, the winged lizard rolled down the slope in a shapeless ball of bone and skin. Daniel took the lead and killed it with a whack of his dreadful mace.

  The squad went slightly higher on the slope and got out onto a small flat area, on the edge of which there were three big nests. A whole flock came at us there. Some kongamato attacked from the air, and some rushed at us right on the ground.

  Fortunately for us, the females were smaller than the males. When walking on land, they were the size of a Great Dane, but their beaks were huge, almost 3 feet long. Their necks were long and flexible, which made their beak attacks pretty strong. Even though my breastplate was made of terrask skin and proved to be quite hard, I wouldn't have dared to have close contact with that creature because its sharp hefty beak could easily penetrate through it and come out between the shoulder blades.

  Our clad guys—Terekhov, Dan, and Viper—formed a front, diverting the attention of the winged creatures. The Asia zombies helped them out a lot. By then, Doc had already managed to raise the second one. Bers and Kata tried to stay behind the tanks, occasionally leaning out to attack some of the creatures from the flank while Sting, Edge, Doc and Karachun were having a blast. Arrows, ordinary and magic, whistled in the air.

  I was the third wheel at this party, but I wasn't really eager to participate. I spurred myself with Splash and dashed to the crater. The distance was a little over a couple of hundred yards in a straight shot, but of course, it wasn't like a red carpet leading straight to the destination. The terrain had a steep slope, which wasn't exactly upright, so the Stinger couldn't help me much.

  The rocks were rough, porous as a sponge, and in the open areas hot because of the sun. I quickly scrambled up the slope, maneuvering between uncomfortable ledges and thorny bushes that sprouted from almost every crack. From time to time I looked around, but then I realized that this was unnecessary. On my back, I had a live detector that could warn me about attacks from the air. The little vanara looked like a frightened kitten, his back arched and his fur tousled. But his face projected the expression of desperate determination. His head twirled around, watching out for enemies. He looked rather funny, but only until I realized that I probably looked just as hilarious.

  Winged silhouettes flashed over our heads from time to time. Some of them were very low, so I could feel the air in the back of my head, and a couple of times their jagged tails scratched the rocks nearby. But fortunately for me, kongamato were distracted by the Hounds, who gathered at the site below. They slowly crept to their nests, making all the females frantic. A lone ranger sneaking up to the top bothered no one just yet.

  But when I got to the top, I realized that the most difficult part was ahead of me. The upper part of these rocks was a more or less flat horizontal surface. A small layer of soil was blown here by the wind, and the rocks were overgrown with grass and small shrubs. There were far more nests here than at the bottom and on the slopes. In addition to that, not all mothers left their clutches and rushed to fight with strangers.

  That's when I sprawled on the ground, making my way on all fours and praying to all the gods of Artar that I was not noticed.

  Kongamato were preoccupied by other things though. In one of the nests nearest to me, there were already hatched chicks, and their nasty screams made me shiver. The sound was like a knife scratching glass. No, not even that. It was like a dozen rusty blunt knives screeching on a huge sheet of glass. However, for a kongamato mother, it must have sounded like angels singing. She spread her wings and fussed over a brood of skinny, long-billed babes, throwing them pieces of meat, which she plucked from a torn carcass lying on the edge of the nest. The carcass was the size of a sheep, but something told me that it was just a snack for the kids.

  The very design of the nests turned out to be beneficial to me. Pterodactyls built their nests as quite an impressive bowl-shaped structure of twigs, skins, and tatters of moss. They were about fifteen feet in diameter rose five feet above the ground. Moreover, the edges of the nests were uneven, with branches sticking out from everywhere. If I tried to make my way quietly on the edge, I could slip literally under the nose of the mother sitting in the nest.

  The crater was already visible within fifty steps from me. Around it, as luck would have it, was quite a vast open space, completely free of anything, even grass.

  I crept on, thinking of whether I should make just one mighty heave or go slowly but surely. I gathered that pterodactyls' vision wasn't great. Their eyes were located on the sides of the muzzles, and when they looked at something, they tilted their heads to the side in a bird-like way. At the same time, they seemed to react primarily to sharp movements. Once one of the females was staring right at me, and I froze, pretending to be a rag. She stared for a long time, fifteen seconds or so, and then simply turned away. However, I wasn't sure that this trick would work again. You never know—what if one of them decides to bite an unfamiliar object just for the sake of double-checking. I didn't want to check what it felt like being pecked with a beak the size of a jackhammer.

  I continued creeping on all fours, trying to use any object that came in the way as a disguise. I had just one crystal shadow, and it needed to be spent only in the most extreme case. I also had one Qi pearl, the last one. All the more reason to save it. I didn't know what was waiting for me down below.

  The whole time I had a feeling that some invisible clock was ticking in my head, counting down the seconds before the explosion. The longer I stayed there, the worse this feeling got. On the one hand, the guys gave me the opportunity for this outing, literally shedding blood. I hoped it was someone else's blood, not theirs. On the other hand, Genghis’s detachment was getting closer, and we certainly could not come across them.

  The crater was around the bend when the cub on my back stirred restlessly and tugged at my ear. He didn't even squeak.

  Well done, kid, you understand what a covert operation is.

  I looked around slowly and saw an empty nest to my left. I crouched on the edge, hidden from kongamato view. To the right was a vast bare land, adjacent to the nest about thirty feet, but the female was sitting in it with her back towards me. She shouldn't have noticed me. Behind…

  Holy crap!

  I never thought that these stupid, squealing for any reason creatures could sneak up so quietly! One of kongamato was right behind me and seemed to have been sizing me up, figuring out how to stab me with the beak in the back. Noticing it, I involuntarily twitched, which served as the signal for it to attack.

  The vanara cub subtly cried out when a huge beak banged the stone, missing my leg only by the size of a palm. Kongamato abruptly screamed in frustration. Its cry immediately summoned another half-dozen of its comrades.

  Realizing that there was no point in hiding, I jumped to my feet and rushed to the crater.

  Splash!

  I had to run only fifty feet to get to my destination, but it seemed to me that the air itself thickened like jelly, holding me back. My legs weren't listening to me and being sluggish like I was a paralytic. In fact, it was a notable dash. I covered the distance to the crater in a few giant jumps. Kongamato raced behind me, striking something with the beak on the
move once more. The others only pulled closer, but obviously couldn’t catch up with me. The only problem for me was to slow down in front of the crater and start my descent—a problem I solved it quickly, right on the move. I didn't slow down at all.

  I jumped straight into the abyss and threw the tip of the Stinger into the opposite wall of the crater in flight and, like a pendulum, I went down into the cave cavity hidden in the twilight. My chest ached from the sensation of flight, and most importantly, from the possibility of an impact against the cave wall. I must have had quite a funny face at the time.

  I was worried for nothing—the cave was huge, and a fifty-feet crater looked like a small auditory window. I dangled freely from the ceiling for some time, gradually shortening the rope to slow the amplitude of the oscillations. Over me flashed dark winged silhouettes, sweeping over the crater, but none of the creatures tried to go down.

  Phew. That's good. I can catch my breath.

  My eyes gradually got used to the light. Outside, the light was a bright slanting stream from the crater, like a spotlight, and at first, its brightness was blocking the view of everything else. But then the outlines of the cave gradually began to appear around me. A huge domed ceiling, partly overgrown with local climbing vegetation and long rags hanging down in some places. Gaping black entrances to the side branches of the cave. The muddy mirror of the lake below with still water of an unusual turquoise shade.

  Strange thing—from here it seemed that the lake glowed. It didn't reflect the sun rays but glowed on its own, like a pool with lighting.

  Well, well, well, well. I need to take a closer look. But I won't be able to go down to the surface of the water using the Stinger. I have to jump. Although, first, I should use the entire length of the rope.

  I slowly began to descend, feeling like bait on a hook. The only difference was that bait was usually thrown into the water immediately, not carefully dipped.