Dragon Tamer

by J. A. Culican

  The people below me readied themselves for the attack, but I already knew it wasn’t going to be enough. The Goblins may have been small, but the Slayers and Wolvren were hopelessly outnumbered. The dragons, after hearing what I’d said, followed Ash back up the mountain. The Goblins were still running down. In less than five minutes, they would be at the lower entrance and our people couldn’t hope to fight them.

  “Maybe we should call it off,” I whispered. If we could get everyone on the backs of the dragons, we could get them all down to safety.

  Ash shook his head. He was right, we couldn’t call it off. If we did, the Goblins would only come right down the mountain to Frokontas or Dronias and kill everyone in the villages. We had to fight them, to stop them, but how?

  On either side of me, the dragons flew past, circling the angry Goblins from above. Every so often, they’d let out a burst of fire, but just as it had with Ash, their fire didn’t penetrate their protective field. I panicked, not knowing what to do. I could jump down from Ash and try to kill them with my sword, but there were too many. I’d be dead in less than a minute. I was just about to ask Ash to turn back to the others when inspiration hit.

  “Fly higher!” I shouted at Ash, pointing to the mountain peak.

  As we neared the top of the mountain, I began to scream. I shouted at the top of my voice. At first, Ash turned his head to see if I was alright, but when he understood what I was doing, he joined in, letting a loud roar escape his lips. The other dragons came to investigate and when they saw our plan, one by one, they added their voices to the mix. Our combined efforts rattled down the valley. Anyone below us would wonder what was going on.

  “Blow fire down there,” I instructed, pointing at a particularly precarious patch of snow. He did as I asked and it was all it needed to give way. Thousands of tons of snow began to crash down the mountain. We’d caused a massive avalanche.

  In my head, I’d only thought to cover the goblins. I thought that we’d dislodge only enough snow to reach them, leaving our people free, but now I saw what we’d done. What I’d done. Snow, too much snow, was hurtling down the mountain at an impressive rate. It wasn’t only going to envelop the goblins, it was going to smother those on our side too.

  “Quick! Go down and pick up the others,” I instructed, urging him to speed up.

  Ash turned and flew as fast as he could down the mountain, letting gravity help. We flew over the Goblins who had now noticed the snow tumbling towards them and had picked up their pace. But it wasn’t enough. The snow rumbled down, knocking the Goblins over and smothering them. Their forcefield was not a match for the sheer weight of the snow. Ash flew over them and swooped down so we could pick up some of the Slayers and Wolvren by the lower entrance, but it was too late. The snow was almost upon us.

  “Ash!” I screamed as we were engulfed in white powder. I tumbled from Ash’s back and rolled, unable to stop the motion. What had I done? I thought I’ be saving us, but I’d only succeeded in getting everyone caught in the avalanche.

  Everything went from white to black as the snow above me got deeper and still I was tumbling, spinning over and over with only the roar of the snow in my ears.

  Then everything stopped. The tumbling ceased and I found myself encased in snow. Snow that would become my grave if I didn’t find a way out soon. I cried out for Ash but my voice disappeared into the snow. I was completely alone.

  I was disoriented and didn’t know which way to dig. I tried listening, hoping that someone would be shouting for me, but everything was silent, the snow drowning out all sounds from above. I took in a couple of breaths, knowing that I didn’t have much oxygen left, and tried to clear my head. Trying to figure out which way was up was impossible, but to stay still and do nothing was a death sentence.

  I chose a direction, not knowing if it was the right one, and began to dig, pushing freezing snow away from my face. I knew I only had minutes left, so I worked hard and fast, trying to get as much snow away from me as possible. I was just about to give up when a strange vibration passed through me and the snow. It was enough to loosen the snow and for me to punch my way out. From there, someone grabbed hold of my hand and yanked me free. I took a great lungful of air to shake the dizzy feeling, then looked about me.

  The whole mountainside was covered in snow, but at least it had stopped moving. All around me I could see people clamoring out of the snow. Many people. The avalanche had not been as deadly as I thought it might be, but it had done damage. I could see that. The entrance to the Goblin village was now buried.

  “Morganna used the last of her goblin magic to loosen the snow,” my father said, pulling me to my feet. “I think you are the last to be pulled free.”

  “Everyone survived?” I asked incredulously.

  My father nodded. “Thanks to Morganna and the dragons, yes, I believe they did.”

  “The dragons?”

  “They used fire to melt the top layer of snow.”

  “What about the...” I hadn’t finished my question before I got my answer. A mob of angry Goblins was heading our way.

  Weapons raised and angry looks on their faces, they charged at us. As the farthest down the hill, I watched as they began their attack. There were about a third of them than there had been before. The snow had taken them by surprise, crushing their forcefield and burying many of them.

  The thought of it was enough to spur me on. We were now on an even footing. Pulling my sword out from its sheath, I raced uphill, ready for battle, my father following closely behind.

  Ahead of me, Morganna and Xander were locked in a battle of swords with a couple of the Goblins. Jasper had forgotten his sword completely and was using his fists to clobber one of the taller Goblins. Above, the dragons spat fire and snapped at the Goblins at the back, picking them up with their teeth and flinging them over the precipice. I watched as Ash swooped down and grabbed one of the Goblins. He flew over me and hurled the screaming creature down the mountain.

  A pack of wolves ran past me, their teeth bared, ready for a fight. I jumped, wondering for a second where they had come from, before realizing they were just the Wolvren who had shifted into their wolf form. It had been such a long time since I’d seen them as anything but human that I’d forgotten they were shifters. Snarling and snapping, the wolves attacked the Goblins, biting down on any limb they could sink their teeth in to.

  Everywhere I looked, people and Goblins were fighting. Some with weapons, some with fire, and some with magic. I scanned the chaos, looking for Krikor, but before I found him, I saw Alpha being held upside down in the air by some invisible force. Below him, a Goblin held up his hands, using what was left of his magic.

  I ran toward him, and before he had time to react, I barged into him, knocking us both to the ground. Without the magic holding him up, Alpha fell on top of the pair of us, knocking the air out of all of us.

  “Thanks,” Alpha said getting to his feet. He held his hand out to pull me up, but another Goblin was already upon him. Without any weapon, Alpha was at a disadvantage, but the small goblin underestimated his strength. As I pulled myself up, Alpha turned into a wolf, surprising both me and the Goblin on his back. He turned and with his huge jaw, he grabbed the Goblin, pulling its arm clean away from its body. I closed my eyes and tried not to throw up at the sight of blood spurting from the Goblin’s arm socket as the piercing scream hit my ears.

  “No time for dawdling.” Someone pulled me up. I opened my eyes to find my father once again. He was locked in a sword fight with one of the Goblins but had still managed to take my arm and pull me out of harm’s way. Behind him, another sword-wielding goblin attacked. I jumped between them and pointed my sword at the attacker. Behind me, I heard the sound of metal clanging together, of sword upon sword as my father fought. In front of me, I knew I’d have to do the same. It had been a long time since I’d had to battle anyone with a sword but it came naturally. The Goblin came right at me, his sword outstretched, but I managed to knock i
t to one side. I quickly recovered from the attack to get in my own blow, but the Goblin was good. He parried my blow and lunged forward, but I was too quick for him. I jumped to my left and attacked again, this time ripping a hole in his sleeve and tearing the skin of his arm slightly. He kept up with me, defending my attacks expertly and getting in some jabs of his own. Behind me, I still heard my father fighting with the other Goblin, his back against mine.

  I tried another move, this time shocking the Goblin into taking a step back. I was winning! As I was about to deliver a final blow, another Goblin jumped in. Now I was fighting two of them. I was good, but not that good. Keeping two swords at bay was taking up all of my concentration and skill.

  “Daddy!” I shouted as the first one leaped forward.

  A flash of silver from my father’s sword and the Goblin’s head came clean off his shoulders, flying down the mountain. The shock of it was enough to make the second Goblin pause. I took my opportunity and lunged at him, but he was quick and managed to dodge out of the way. He turned and fled, leaving me with just my father.

  “Thank you, you saved my life,” I said, turning to my father, but he wasn’t standing behind me as I’d expected. He was on the ground, a sword protruding from his eye socket. I knelt, feeling numb, and pressed a finger to his throat. There was no life in him.

  He was dead because of me.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  At that moment, the world ceased to exist. Everything went quiet, the fighting stopped. Nothing mattered. My father was dead. I tried to shake him awake even though I knew it was pointless. The Goblin sword had pierced his brain.

  All around me, the battle raged on. We’d started off strong thanks to the avalanche, but the Goblins were using both magic and weapons stronger than ours. I recognized the sword that killed my father as one that had disappeared from Spear’s house.

  Tears fell down my cheek, dropping onto my father’s face, mixing with the blood. I pulled the sword from his eye and threw it as far as I could away from him.

  My father had given his life to save me. If I’d not called out his name, called to him for help, he wouldn’t have lost concentration. There was no way a lowly Goblin would have been able to kill my father, not even with my father’s sword empty of dragon souls as it was. My father was a slayer, a warrior, a protector. It was all he ever had been. He’d died on the battlefield as he always wanted to.

  Movement to my right jolted me out of my reverie. It was the Goblin that had killed him, and he no longer had a sword. Jumping to my feet and with an anger I would never have thought I could possess, I charged at him, screaming. My sword pierced his heart.

  He dropped to the ground, blood pouring out of him as he took his last breath. He died, his eyes still open, now unseeing. He was my first kill, but he wouldn’t be my last. Anger and frustration surged through me. I screamed so loudly that I was sure they heard me at the bottom of the mountain. I lifted my sword skyward and vowed to kill the Goblins. I’d kill all of them for what they had done, not just to my father, but to all the Slayers and dragons.

  My sword felt different, heavier somehow, and yet more powerful. It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened. I’d not killed the goblin at all, despite driving the sword right through his chest. I’d stolen his soul just as the goblins had taken the dragons’ souls.

  I could feel the magic around me, and for the first time, understood what it felt like to own a soul-filled sword. I felt invincible. Invincible and extremely angry.

  People were fighting all around me. It was chaos. Fire rained down, melting the blood covered snow, revealing the dead bodies of those Goblins who had fallen in the avalanche. The smell of burning meat, which could only be coming from the charred bodies of the Goblins that the dragons had attacked, permeated the air. To my side, a couple of the Wolvren still in their human form were fending off a particularly nasty group. I ran past them, slaying each Goblin in turn before they even saw I was there. With each kill, my sword grew stronger and my anger deepened. Adrenaline fueled my rage as I killed Goblin after Goblin, not pausing between each kill, and not caring for the souls I was taking.

  It was just desserts for all the years we’d suffered, for the dragons who’d lost family members. To have the soul sucked out of them by their own magic served them right.

  I swung left and right, sucking away soul after soul, and with each one, I felt stronger. Not just because I now held a soul-filled sword, but because I felt sure of myself. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was to be a Slayer. I wasn’t doing it for glory or for tradition, as the others in my village had. I was doing it for survival, but I had to admit to myself, it felt good. I now knew why my father had fought the dragons for so long. This was what I was born to do.

  I looked around. Morganna was the closest ally to me. She was expertly fighting two Goblins at once, but she was sure of herself. She didn’t need my help. The Wolvren were also fine without me. In battle, they’d shown themselves to be aggressive. They didn’t need weapons; they had their teeth and they were using them brutally. The strewn-about limbs of fallen Goblins were testament to that.

  That’s not to say we hadn’t suffered casualties of our own. A couple of Wolvren were down, as was one of the dragons. It’s blue-green scales told me it wasn’t Ash. I wanted to go to them, to see if they were still alive, but there were more pressing needs I had to attend to. Slightly farther up the mountain, I could see Jasper. He was hopelessly outnumbered, and yet he was doing a magnificent job of keeping them at bay. I ran, jumping over the scattered bodies, pushing my muscles to the extreme, to get to him. I wasn’t about to lose another family member.

  There were six or seven of them surrounding him and he was struggling. I jumped in the circle of Goblins and brother and sister fought together for the first time, engaged in a battle for our lives.

  These particular Goblins were good. Not because they had superior skill at fighting, but because they were using magic to fool us. One minute they were there, then they were gone, only to reappear moments later a few inches to the right or left. I could tell that their magic was waning by the way they were jittering in and out of vision. Their glimmer wasn’t working as well as it should, thankfully for us, because if it did, I was positive Jasper and I would both be dead. As it was, we were able to anticipate their movements and attack as soon as they appeared. I speared the first and he went down quickly, giving a slow death rattle before succumbing to his wound. I felt a slight jolt as this soul left his body and entered my sword, strengthening it further. Behind me, Jasper fought as we circled around back-to-back, trying to keep one step ahead of our opponents. I heard a scream, too high-pitched to be Jasper. He must have killed one, too.

  I was currently battling three of them, one of which kept disappearing on me. He was the one I needed to get first. The other two would then be a piece of cake. He was sneaky, though. As I did everything I could to defend myself from the other two, he’d appear and try to get an attack in. As soon as I lunged for him, he was already gone.

  I knew he was still there, just invisible, but he was quick, and every time I delved my sword into what should have been his body, he had already jumped to the side.

  Suddenly, a sharp pain in my side made me jump. I looked down to see a bloom of blood appear on my tunic. The pain seared through me, clearing my head. I didn’t need to fight these guys. I didn’t even need to see them. I could kill them all with one swoop. The two Goblins I could see had hesitated, taking in my injury. They were probably waiting to see if it would kill me. I raised my sword to my side and with a cry of “Not today!” I swiped it at their neck level. One, two, and finally three heads flew clean off, the invisible one suddenly appearing long enough for me to see his head roll down the mountainside.

  Feeling triumphant and stronger than ever thanks to the souls of the three I’d just killed, I turned to help Jasper. He was down to two Goblins himself, neither of whom were using magic. I crashed my sword down to the
first, who jumped to the side and launched an attack of his own. I was ready, though, and as he ran forward, I held out my sword at arm’s length. The stupid fool was running too quickly to stop and impaled himself on my sword way before his reached my body. His eyes went wide with shock before he slumped, his lifeforce leaving him. I lowered my sword to let his body fall off and once again, I felt the now familiar jolt of his soul entering my sword. At that moment, another Goblin fell. I turned to see Jasper with a huge grin on his face. At some point, he would find out about our father, but now was not the time to tell him. I let him indulge in his victory for a few moments before pointing down the hill at a group of Goblins who were attacking Alpha.

  He ran down the mountain with a war cry, leaving me alone. I looked down once again at my tunic. The Goblin had managed to spear me at the very edge of my body in the one place the protective leather didn’t cover. It was a flesh wound and hadn’t hit any major organs, but if I didn’t get it bandaged soon, I was at risk of bleeding to death. Ripping a bit of clothing from one of the dead Goblins, I did the best I could to make a bandage. I wrapped it around my waist and at the point of the wound, I stuffed in more fabric to stem the bleeding. It was gross but better than dying.

  I scanned the scene below me. As I was the highest person on the mountain, I was able to see the whole battle. It was still going strong, although with far fewer people and Goblins. Bodies littered the ground and the stench of blood was unmistakable. It filled my nose, making me want to vomit. I had to keep breathing, though. I was feeling dizzy with grief and with loss of blood, but I couldn’t fall now. Fainting would probably kill me. I didn’t want to have to go through all this to die because of exposure to the cold. I felt weak now, but my sword and my heart felt strong. If I could keep myself standing, I could see this through to the end.