by Otto Schafer
“We know of your followers, the ones who call themselves the Keepers of the Light. They have already suffered great loss on their journey, but still they push forward. As we speak, they are moving toward the portal.”
Great loss? Breanne looked over at Paul. He returned her desperate look. Their father was traveling with the Keepers.
“No! No deal!” Garrett shouted. “Leave them alone!”
The queen’s smile stretched across her face farther than should be possible. “Ah, now we are negotiating.”
“No. No, we aren’t. We will do everything within our power not to fail, but if we do, we aren’t letting you kill our families,” Garrett said.
“Isn’t holding the world hostage enough for you?” Breanne snapped.
“No, Breanne Moore, it is not! However, if you and your sages make it through the portal, I will not interfere with your Keepers’ passage. But I will stay close, and at the first sign of betrayal, we will kill them,” Pando said, turning her face toward Breanne. “This satisfies ensuring you actually go through the portal, yet this is still not enough to ensure you return. If the seven of you leave no one behind for whom you genuinely care, I fear once you are safe on the other side, you may forget your promise to me.”
Garrett went rigid. “Not happening, Pando! You can’t keep one of us! We all have to go. The sages stick together, no matter what!”
“You love her?” Pando asked, not taking her eyes off Garrett but nodding toward Breanne.
Breanne’s breath caught. She couldn’t tell through all the dirt on his face, but she was sure his breath caught too.
“You can’t keep her,” Garrett said through gritted teeth. “I won’t lose her again!”
Breanne reached for his hand but stopped when she saw he had balled it into a fist.
“If you try to take her, I promise you will have to kill me!”
“And me!” Paul said.
“All of us!” Lenny said.
Breanne looked from left to right to find David and Pete nodding too.
“All of us!” David said.
“All of us!” Pete said.
“All of us!” Gabi shouted.
In that moment, Breanne felt like she possessed something she hadn’t let herself have since her mom died – friends, true friends. Friends who would die for her.
“Ah, this is delicious!” Pando said, clapping her hands for effect. “But it is not your sages I am going to take away from you.” Pando pointed to the edge of the clearing.
The white trees with golden leaves parted.
“I want to give you a bit more motivation,” Pando said, folding her hands. “Bring him forward, Angel.”
From between the trees, a long leafless tree branch reached out several meters like the arm of some massive demon slamming its claws down into the earth, where they stuck fast. From the shadowy gap came another long branch, and another, each as thick as a telephone pole that tapered at the ends before branching off into smaller limbs. Like talons digging into prey, they gripped the earth, dragging the rest of it forward into the clearing. Breanne saw it then, a monster. The trunk of the tree was large, maybe thirty feet around but only twenty feet tall before it split out into dozens of branches longer than the tree was tall, giving it the appearance of a tentacled monster. Spanish moss draped across every branch like dried-out seaweed, as if it had dragged itself all the way here from the deepest part of the ocean.
“Jesus, that thing looks like an upside-down kraken!” David said.
“What the hell is a kraken?” Lenny asked.
“You got to be kidding me! How do you not know what a kraken is, Lenny? Your knowledge of mythical creatures continues to disappoint me.”
“Yeah, well, your knowledge of proper bathing continues to disappoint me, you stinky little freak…”
Breanne tuned out the banter as she watched the monster stretch its thick arms out and drop them onto the ground, continuing to drag itself. Behind the beast, other long arms bowed in half like giant inchworms. On the ends, the smaller branches sank deep in the soft forest floor, finding purchase to push the bulk of the tree forward. But when the last long arm pulled free from the edge of the wood, Breanne saw it was dragging something.
Crisscrossed vines thick as Breanne’s wrists wrapped around what appeared to be an oversized wooden chest. As the giant tree approached, Breanne could make out intricate golden flowers, silver leaves, and precious gems adorning the chest.
Angel stopped moving forward. With a single moan of bending wood, the unusual tree dragged its long branch around in a swooping motion until the object stopped next to Pando.
“Thank you, Angel,” Pando said.
Angel spoke in a young, feminine Southern drawl that in no way seemed appropriate for the menacing creature that stood towering over them. “A delight to serve you, my queen.”
“What the?” Lenny said.
“Angel oak,” Pete said, like that was supposed to mean something. Then he followed with, “She’s a famous tree from Georgia.”
“You’re weird, Pete. I’m sorry, there is just no other way to tell you, you’re weird, bro,” Lenny said.
“Breanne Moore, would you like to open the trunk, seeing how you Moores love to open treasure chests?” Pando asked.
“What is this, Pando?” Garrett asked, motioning her to wait. “We aren’t opening anything.”
Pando sighed dramatically. “But, Garrett Turek, if you do not see inside, how can you possibly know what you stand to lose should you fail me? Ah, very well. Allow me then.”
Pando’s eyes brightened, and the vines unwound and fell away from the enormous chest. Although the chest appeared to be bejeweled with ornate silver and gold designs, it was all fake – it was all wood. There was no gold or silver or jewels. There was only what Pando wanted them to see. Breanne knew this. What she didn’t know was if this chest was part of Pando or something else. Something else, she thought. Then she got her confirmation.
The chest itself didn’t open. Instead, it changed. The wood and all its adornments began to shift, fibers stretching and weaving. Soon she could see small gaps forming as the chest changed shape. Something was inside. Not something – someone.
A second later, a giant of a man wearing what appeared to be silver and gold armor was standing behind another man, holding the man’s wrists behind his back.
Breanne’s heart stalled in her chest. “Ed!”
42
The Dragons Fight with Us
Friday, April 29 – God Stones Day 23
State of Amazonas, Brazil
Dragon fire singed Helreginn’s back and arms, filling the surrounding air with the stench of sulfur and burning hair. It was the most welcome pain the great king had ever felt!
They had been fighting forward for hours, their mighty Shard Mountain steel, forged in fires of Agartha, slicing and smashing, chopping back tree branches with swords, and splintering tree trunks in single blows from their war hammers. Still the angry forest pressed in from all sides, killing hundreds of nephilbock. His giant warriors had fought ferociously. For every one of his men to fall, his nephilbock were felling the cursed trees by the dozens. Yet this godforsaken forest seemed without end! And his tribe’s progress was slow. He feared the forest was endless, and even the great nephilbock could not fight forever.
Then, as the battle had worn on, trees began flying over their defensive fires! The flying trees sailed above only to drop from the sky as if the gods themselves were throwing them. What had they done to anger the gods so? Some of the trees flew lower, igniting in the fires lining their flanks, before crashing down in showers of wood and flame. Nephilbock screamed as trees burst apart, throwing flaming chunks of wood in all directions. But still they held formation, protecting the children in the center of the triangle, just like Helreginn had taught them.
Helreginn was proud of his people. Proud to be a nephilbock. When it looked like all hope was lost, his son, Gato, commander of the High Guard,
had appeared next to him. “Father, we cannot keep this up,” he had said. “More and more are pressing our flanks, and not just more in number – the bigger ones are becoming more frequent. They are using their roots to churn the earth under our fires, squelching them and pushing into our flanks on all sides.”
“Have you come to me with a plan, Gato, or just to complain?” Helreginn had asked, swinging his great sword into the lower trunk of a tree. The tree screamed in a combination of rage and agony that sounded altogether wrong coming from a tree. By now, the king was not only used to it but also found the cries of pain from his enemy motivating. How discouraging would it be if he couldn’t hear their cries? The tree had been larger than most, and the force of Helreginn’s sword had failed to fell the wooden beast, leaving the black steel wedged deep in its flesh. As the tree’s roots tangled around him, Helreginn released his sword, wrapped the roots in his giant fist, and yanked them, snapping them apart like the bones of an enemy.
Gato swung his heavy spiked hammer into the trunk above Helreginn’s sword. The tree’s trunk exploded in splintering shards as though struck by the fist of god Ogliosh himself.
Gato smiled. “No, my king, I did not come to complain.”
“Then what?” Helreginn had asked, bending to retrieve his sword.
“I came to die beside you… Father.”
Helreginn smiled, baring his sharp double row of teeth as he shouted to the sky. “You make me proud, Gato! Come, let us show the gods how nephilbock die!”
Already in the thick of battle near the front of the fight, Helreginn and Gato pushed everyone aside, struck down branches, and sliced through roots bursting from the ground all around them as they fought their way to the very tip of the pyramid formation. His warriors cheered as they passed, beating their shields as their king stepped forward, ready to be the first to meet the gods in death.
But the gods had been watching, and they had different plans for King Helreginn and his nephilbock. In the distance, the blue sky went dark as thousands upon thousands of flying beasts blotted out the sun. The king knew the creatures coming must be great in size because they were still far off. Helreginn had only seen one beast this size take to the sky.
“Dragons!” the king shouted.
At first, Helreginn thought the dragons had come to finish his people off, but then, surrounded and defenseless, at the mercy of the dragons, the king of the nephilbock watched, awestruck. The dragons did not attack his people! They defended them. Dividing into three hordes, they began burning trees! Helreginn looked at his son and smiled. “The gods are rewarding our bravery, my son!”
“The dragons fight with us, Father!” Gato had cheered, then turning to his people, repeated, “The dragons fight with us!”
Shouts spread through the nephilbock and with them a renewed energy. Forward they surged.
That was hours ago. With the dragons’ help, the battle should have been an easy one. But more trees came, then more still. Bigger trees. Taller trees. More and more in an endless, ever-pressing stream. Trees were somehow being thrown farther and farther into the pyramid of nephilbock, and now that the dragons laid down more flaming breath, almost all the trees were catching fire before they landed. Moments ago, a dead dragon nearly killed Gato when it landed in the ranks behind them; exploding pieces maimed two other warriors. Even with the help of the dragons, progress was slow, and the eventuality of their deaths only seemed prolonged.
Then the gods, in all their wonder, sent a boon as strange as is it was magnificent. From the smoke came a three-headed dragon god with a human riding atop it. The mighty beast was the largest dragon Helreginn had ever seen. He let his sword fall to his side as he watched the great beast and its human rider swoop down low. As he did, all the giant trees at their flanks started to die, and some even fell over. The king couldn’t understand what he was seeing! A moment later, the human screamed from the sky and the three-headed dragon god roared, releasing the wrath of the gods over the forest!
Helreginn stood in awe, his back, arms, and face stinging from the kiss of flame. The most wonderful pain he’d ever felt! Helreginn lifted his sword to the sky and shouted to his people! “The gods smile upon us, my children. Show them we hear them! Show them we are grateful! Pound your shields, my mighty nephilbock! Let the gods hear your thanks!”
Twenty-five thousand beat their shields with sword, spear, and hammer.
The three-headed dragon god flew to the eastern flank and again lit the forest on fire! Gods in the form of humans and dragons, helping his people. He could never have imagined such a thing. The only explanation was the obvious one. His mighty god had defeated all the others; thus, it must be that all served his god, King Ogliosh – even the other gods!
Thanks to the dragon god, the distance between the forest and his tribe was too great for the trees to throw each other, boulders, or dead dragons.
As darkness fell, thousands of shadows descended onto the ground at the rear and sides of the nephilbock pyramid formation while hundreds more stayed airborne. Late into the night, the king led his Agarthians onward along a trail of burnt forest. The grounded dragons stayed on the scorched earth at his warriors’ flanks, moving with them, ensuring all trees that dared push forward into the charred earth were met with flame. The only fighting for the king’s warriors to contend with now was at the tip of the triangle. These battles were manageable, as the trees still had to cross burnt ground to reach them. Not an easy task with hundreds of dragons still airborne, burning most who dared enter the blackened earth.
Exhausted and hungry, King Helreginn finally ordered his warriors to set camp. He tried to have his High Guard speak to the dragons, but they didn’t understand his language nor did his people understand theirs. But they understood his actions. They seemed to need rest too, and like the nephilbock they had a system of defense. While a third of the dragons’ force slept, a third stood sentinel, spread across the charred grounds, as the final third circled the skies above. Bursts of fire lit the night sky, igniting the distant forest in flashes of orange flame as the dragons continued to work all throughout the night.
Helreginn lay on the ground atop the pelt of the great wolf he had slain on a hunt in the Sunken Forest. Past the point of exhaustion, he was unable to sleep. Around him lay his wives and three of the great wolves he had raised from pups after killing their mother. It was so strange to see the sky so far above. Until a couple days ago, some of his people had never seen a star-filled sky. His son Gato hadn’t. How blessed were his people? How blessed were they to have such a righteous king, a king blessed by the gods, a king to lead them home?
Helreginn lay there, listening and thinking. Even over the miles of scorched earth, occasional screams from burning trees made their way to his ears as his eyes became heavy. In the pained cries of the burning forest, King Helreginn found peace, and sleep finally took him. The gods were smiling on the nephilbock this night. His people were safe.
When morning came, Helreginn woke in a good mood. He ordered several warriors to scavenge and butcher whatever dead dragons and nephilbock they could find. His tribe was hungry, and they needed sustenance. As they skinned out the dragons, Helreginn was unsure if they should take the scales. Dragon scales would make armor more impenetrable than anything his tribe wore. Stronger than any of the hides his women and children had, stronger than the Blood Sea serpent scales most of his warriors donned, and even though these dragons seemed to be juvenile, their scales would be stronger than any bone armor, even stronger than the kraki bone armor he and his High Guard wore. He didn’t want to offend the dragons, but he couldn’t waste such an abundant prize. He ordered the dead dragons skinned and their scales collected.
To ensure good relations, Helreginn ordered all the dead, whether dragon or nephilbock, to be shared evenly with the dragons. Sharing food with the dragons wasn’t something he had ever imagined himself doing, but he never imagined his army being rescued by the beasts either.
“You’re giving
them food, Father?” Gato asked.
“Yes. There are rules to war, my son. The spoils go to the warriors. All beings that wage war understand this, and you can be certain dragons do too. Go. Have their share piled outside our flanks onto the charred earth. On this, let any who question my command bring their grievance forward. We can always use more food, Gato.”
“Yes, my king!” Gato said, pounding a fist to his chest.
Helreginn watched as his famished people dragged half the dead dragons and nephilbock onto the charred earth. If not for the dragons, they would still be in a fight to the death. Instead, they were rested and at least all his people would eat a little. But to not share this bounty would risk the dragons becoming insulted and leaving them to contend with the forest on their own, or worse, the dragons could turn on them. He could hear his elder council in his ear. Are you sure you want to share food when your own people are starving? This may be unwise, my king. Part of him wished he could bring Yurazu and the rest of his council back from the dead just to kill them again. How dare they call him unwise!
King Helreginn’s decision to share food was further reinforced as the right one when Zebrog, a giant of a nephilbock with shoulders nearly as wide as Helreginn’s sword was long, approached.
“My king!” Zebrog said, bowing then standing rigid he beat a fist against his chest and looked down at his king.
“What is it, Zebrog?” Helreginn answered, looking up at the giant. Every generation since the king had taken his people to Agartha, his nephilbock had grown bigger. With no humans to breed with, he had built his thousands from the meager hundred he had taken with him. Zebrog was of the youngest of his High Guard warriors, a recent generation. A few more generations and he might have been breeding nephilbock as big as King Ogliosh himself.
“The dragons have eaten the offerings.”
Of course they have. Do you hear that, Yurazu? I am my own wise man. King Helreginn looked up at Zebrog. “Good! We have rested enough. It is time to move. The gods bless us, Zebrog. Let us make them proud on this day! Let us show them how eager we are to be with them. Tell everyone, today, your king feels like running.”
