Power of the Dragon (The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 2, Book 9 of 10): Dragon Fantasy Series (Tail of the Dragon)

by Craig Halloran

  Bayzog walked with his hand clasped in Sasha’s. She hadn’t let him go since he’d returned. Rerry and Samaz were close by.

  One of the elves lifted his fist. They all came to a stop. Another elf brought over a spear and started poking into the snow.

  “I’d better go check it out,” Brenwar said to Bayzog. “Looks like the snow has them spooked.”

  Ben and Rip eased up to the others.

  “What do you suppose it is?” Ben said.

  “Perhaps this lake of snow we stand on is not stable,” Bayzog suggested. “I’ve heard many stories about expanses like this swallowing people into a frozen cavity below. Nature disguises many traps.”

  Brenwar twisted his head over his shoulder and said, “There’s nothing but mountain beneath your toes. Trust me on that. I know. Apparently the elves don’t.” He turned back. A snowbank in front of him burst open. “Gah! Wurmers!”

  A wurmer blasted Brenwar with a purple ball of fire.

  Brenwar tackled it into the snow.

  All around them, wurmer after wingless wurmer erupted out of the snow. One took an elf down with a quick bite to the neck. Two wurmers buried one elf in the snow. Blood was shed. Before anyone could blink, the party was fighting for their lives.

  Ben fired a moorite arrow. It tore through an oncoming wurmer’s chest.

  With a single swing, Rip hacked the head off another.

  Rerry struggled against a tail that coiled around his neck. His brother Samaz pounced on the wurmer’s back. Tendrils of energy shot through his fingertips on a verbal command. The wurmer bucked. Its scales sizzled.

  The Elderwood Staff gripped in Bayzog’s hands ignited. An arc of energy cleared a clod of wurmers surging his way.

  Steel bit into scales. Talons tore away flesh. The fight in the snow turned into a brawl of blood. The wurmers continued to appear. For every one cut down, two more came.

  Brenwar pounded skulls like a hammer crushing nuts. “I’m sick and tired of these things!” Whack! Whack! Whack!

  Finding mark after mark, Ben realized he’d be out of arrows soon if the wurmers kept coming. “There’s too many!” he cried out. “We need cover!”

  “There!” Rip pointed his dripping blade at a cave mouth uphill and west of their position. “We can defend better from there. Let’s make a path!” His words spread quickly as fire.

  Every able body fought its way up the path. Brenwar carried a gravely wounded elf on his shoulders. Bayzog sent waves of the fiends skipping over the snow. In ones, twos, and threes, they entered the expansive mouth of the icy cave.

  From her fingertips, Selene loosed shards of energy that tore scales off the wurmers. “This opening is too big!” she declared. Wingless wurmers climbed up the walls and out of harm’s way. “We’ve waltzed ourselves into our own trap.”

  “Fear not!” Bayzog lassoed the tip of the Elderwood Staff in the air, and a citrine yellow shield sealed off the cave entrance. Wurmers on the outside slammed into it. The ones inside, the elves and the party finished off one by one.

  “A fine plan, but how long will it last?” Selene said to Bayzog while the wurmers piled up in a screeching and scratching wall of their own.

  Bayzog shrugged. His face was a mask of concentration. “I don’t know, but we’ll see, won’t we.”

  CHAPTER 26

  The titan army bustled all over the ziggurat with hungry activity. Their chants were as loud as they were foul. Every face was drawn up in an angry sneer. They wanted blood. They chanted death.

  Nath’s muscles were taut as bowstrings. He forced himself through the raucous crowd, fighting to keep his anger in check. Every fiber of his being wanted to lash out. Strike. Kill.

  Settle down, Dragon. You still need to find a way to get her out of this.

  “Her” being the female copper dragon tethered to the altar. The dragon’s eyes were wide with fear. The long lashes over her beautiful eyes flickered. She was innocent, a sweet wondrous creature captured by the cruelest of beings. They had laid her on the slab of stone like a fattened calf.

  Nath shouldered into the front row of the spectacle.

  I can’t let this happen.

  Every eye was fixed on the copper dragon and the nuurg priest. This nuurg was a big one, standing a full ten feet in height. He unhitched a dagger sheathed in a gaudy ceremonial scabbard and raised it over his head. A thunderous roar of cheers seemed to shake the foundations of the ziggurat. The nuurg removed the blade from the sheath. The edge was razor sharp. It had a unique shine to the blade.

  A dragon skinner! I should have known.

  Now, it was up to him. At best, he could hop onto the slab and cut the copper dragon free. They’d be swarmed instantly. The copper looked weak. Nath wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to fly to safety.

  I won’t stand here and watch her die, even if it kills me.

  A gnoll shoved into his back. The dog-faced warrior was screaming, “Blood! Blood! Fill our cups with dragon blood!”

  Nath shoved the gnoll backward into the crowd.

  The gnoll tripped up and fell, then sprang back to his feet. “Why did you do that, orc?”

  Speaking in Orcen, Nath said, “Because I don’t like you yelling.” He pushed the gnoll again. The surrounding crowd began pushing and shoving. The gnoll grabbed Nath’s arm and tried to wrench it out of the socket. It would have been easy for the gnoll to twist a piece of iron.

  The whites of the gnoll’s eyes grew. “What kind of orc are you? I’ve never met an orc stronger than me.”

  Then, in a polite manner, Nath said, “Apologies, my friend. I didn’t mean any harm. After all, today is a day of celebration. A time for peace. Harmony. Why don’t you give me a hug?”

  “What?”

  Nath opened up his arms. He had the mob’s attention. “You know, a hug, just me and you.”

  The gnoll’s perplexed eyes slid over the other bewildered faces and tilted necks. “I’d never hug an orc. That’s disgusting.”

  “Fair enough. How about a punch in the face then?”

  The gnoll’s chin shrank into his neck. “Huh?”

  Nath popped him in the face really good. He merged with the throng, shoving and punching everyone. He was yelling absurdities. “The gnolls say they are better fighters than orcs! They get more grub.”

  Like wildfire, the chaos spread. In acts of lunacy, orcs, gnolls, goblins, and men broke out into fights.

  The nuurg cracked whips, trying to separate the fighters in the frenzy.

  In a voice that was unnaturally loud, Nath said in the guttural ogre tongue, “The nuurg say the ogres are worthless, that giant halflings would fight better.”

  An ogre with blood in his eye jumped down from one level of the ziggurat to the other. The ogre landed on a nuurg and crushed it to the ground.

  Shoving his way through the crowd, Nath noticed he had the nuurg priest’s attention. The priest belted out commands. The giants at the top turned their backs on the sacrificial slab.

  Nath tore his way out of the crowd and snuck up to the slab. Cutting the bonds on the copper dragon with Dragon Claw, he said to her, “Do you have the strength to fly to safety?”

  “More than enough, your majesty, but what about you? I won’t leave your side. It wouldn’t be fair. I’ll fight to the end with you.”

  Nath cut the last of her bonds but held her fast. “No, you will go. That’s an order.” He spied the wurmers. They were everywhere. It would be impossible to avoid them. In his heart he knew the copper couldn’t escape all of them. His distraction was good, but he needed an even bigger one. He noticed the flame and smoke coming out of the urns on the corners of the top level.

  “That’s it,” he said to her. “Wait for my signal.” Nath took in a lungful of air and let it out in a thick steady stream of smoke, spinning in a full circle as he did so.

  Cries of shock and alarm went up. Many were screaming.

  “Fire! Fire! Fire!”

  The smoke spilled over the a
rmy and down the ziggurat in a thick, milky haze. Nath caught a glimpse of the giants turning back toward the slab. Their huge necks bent downward. They fanned the smoke, peering right at him. Nath kept blowing. The smoke thickened. He lost sight of everyone around him.

  The nuurg priest swam through the smoke with the ceremonial dagger clutched in its hand. It caught sight of the copper dragon and lunged at her.

  The copper loosed a stream of acid. The black liquid splashed into the nuurg’s body.

  Instantly, its armor and skin began to melt. Howling, it dropped the dagger and crumbled in a bubbling hiss.

  “Go now,” Nath said to the copper dragon. “Use the smoke for cover. Head for the woodland. There are too many wurmers in the sky.”

  “Thank you, your majesty. I can never repay you, but my service is yours, forever.” The copper leapt from the slab with her wings spread out. She disappeared in the smoke.

  Nath dusted off his hands. “Another thanks, from a dragon no less. I must be doing something right after all these years.” He found himself reflecting on the time when he had lived to rescue dragons. They’d never thanked him back then.

  Out of the smoke, a stone giant’s fist came. The blow hit Nath flush in the chest. He bounced off the altar and hit the ground, sucking for wind. Bright spots floated in his eyes. The smoke thinned. Giant legs straddled the altar. Fingers as big as men clutched for him.

  Nath jabbed Dragon Claw into one of them.

  The hand turned to ice. The giant’s limbs stiffened.

  Holding his side, Nath forced his way through the blinding smoke and ran right into a nuurg.

  “Get out of my way. Can’t you see I’m going somewhere?” The nuurg took a swing.

  Nath sidestepped and spat a flaming spitball on it. The flames spread quickly.

  The nuurg fled into the crowd.

  Using the smoke for cover, Nath spewed out a geyser of flame, torching everything in sight. Flaming bodies jumped from the upper levels to the lower ones. Panic spread. Still disguised, Nath converged with the stream of fleeing people trampling each other on their way down the great steps.

  Nath didn’t make any apologies for the ones he crushed beneath his toes, but he took a backward glance when he hit the bottom. The top of the ziggurat was a pyre of fire and plumes of yellow smoke. The giants and nuurg were tamping out the flames with anything they could find, including people. One stone giant was a block of ice. The other stone giant shoved it on top of the flames. The frozen giant shattered into huge chunks of ice that doused much of the fire.

  “That’s what I call teamwork.” Turning his back to the chaos, Nath slunk back into the woods. He retrieved Fang with a broad smile on his face.

  CHAPTER 27

  Wurmer faces pressed against the shield Bayzog had created. Other wurmers bit and clawed at it. The translucent barrier warbled. His cheeks were flushed red.

  Selene hung by Bayzog’s side. “If you’re going to give way, let us know before it happens. We don’t need any more surprises.”

  “I will.”

  Sasha, Rerry, and Samaz huddled around Bayzog.

  “Let us help, Bayzog,” Sasha said.

  Sweat dripped from his chin. He nodded. “Fasten yourselves to me then.”

  Rerry and Samaz locked arms around his legs. Sasha hugged him from behind.

  “Now grab the staff.”

  All three of them clutched the staff at the same time. All four of them stiffened as if they were statues. A moon-white glow came from their eyes. None of them spoke. Their eyes were fixed on the barrier. They all became one.

  “That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” Brenwar rested Mortuun on his shoulder. “I’ll see if there’s a tunnel out of here, but I doubt it. It’s probably a tomb for the elves.”

  “Be quick,” Selene said.

  He waved her off.

  The cave was wide. The giant icicles that hung over the mouth made it seem smaller than it was from the outside. Brenwar, Ben, and Rip wove through the fallen rock into the belly of the cavern. Rip’s sword gave off a green hue. Aside from some small stalactites at the top, there wasn’t anything. It went back about a hundred yards and ended.

  Ben leaned against the back cave wall. “I guess this is a dead end. It seems we’re going to have to make a final stand.”

  “Don’t be sure.” Brenwar ran his hands over the walls. “In my experience, none of these holes ever lead to nowhere. They always go somewhere.”

  “Maybe we can use a potion to get us out of this mess.” Ben held a potion vial up to his eyes and shook it. Fiery orange and sparkling yellow swirled. “This one might do.”

  “You can’t use that one in close quarters. You’ll scorch us all.”

  “Oh.”

  Rip poked at the walls with his sword. “I beg your pardon, but this rock doesn’t quite feel like rock. It’s got some give to it.”

  Brenwar swung his shoulders around. “What are you talking about? I’ve never heard of soft rocks—aside from the ones in Ben’s head.”

  “I didn’t say soft, I said it’s got give.” Rip stuck his sword tip in the bumpy stone. Mushrooms were growing out of the rock. He sliced one off. “That’s an odd thing.”

  “Let me see that.” Brenwar snatched the sliver of mushroom from Rip and held it to the sword’s dim light. “Ooh.”

  “Ooh, what?”

  “I don’t think this is a wall at all.”

  “If it’s not a wall, then what is it?”

  With Mortuun hanging in his grip, he backed away. “Ben, get away from that.”

  “Why?”

  The entire wall lurched.

  Ben jumped away and scurried over to Brenwar. Fumbling, he nocked another arrow. “Sultans of Sulfur, that wall is alive!”

  An eye filled with a deep green glow opened up. It was bigger than Brenwar’s head. A snort of hot air came out of nowhere in a hair-raising sigh.

  All three warriors slowly backed away.

  “I think we just woke something that’s not ready to come out of its slumber,” Brenwar said. “Well done, Rip. You poked a dragon. What kind of idgit pokes a dragon when it’s sleeping?”

  “I didn’t know. You’re the one who should have known.”

  The rocks cracked. Debris fell. The tremendous beast filled the entirety of the cave. The huge thing had crammed its entire body inside, and now it was coming out. It didn’t seem happy. It snorted again. Its breath was bristling, hot steam.

  Brenwar raced back toward the front. “Selene, we have company!”

  Taking her eyes from the wurmer hole, she said, “What are you talking about?”

  “I think my message is clear. You need to get in there and talk to that thing before we have another fight on our hands.”

  Ben and Rip were huffing for breath. The elves drew steel and nocked arrows. They braced themselves on both sides of the cave.

  It sounded like the stone tunnel was bursting.

  Something squeezed through. Its head appeared, almost filling the mouth of the tunnel. Its jaws were a cave all on their own. A powerful hulking beast of scales like rock, covered in another skin of natural vegetation, part of the mountain itself come to life.

  “A stone dragon,” Selene said. “I’ve never even seen one before. I never thought they grew so big.”

  The stone dragon’s eyes flicked from person to person. He pushed through even closer.

  Brenwar drew Mortuun back. “Is it on our side or not? Can you speak to it?”

  “They don’t talk.” Selene crept forward with her hands out. “They’re stupid.”

  “Maybe you should let Brenwar try talking to it then.” Ben laughed. “Sorry, I get a little giddy when eminent death is upon me.”

  Selene called out in Dragonese.

  The stone dragon’s eyes fixed on her. Its thin lips drew back over its teeth. It snorted another blast of steam that bathed them all. Everyone was drenched in sweat. The tunnel became a sauna.

  Brenwar eyed
her. “What did you say to it, ‘It’s chilly, can you warm me up?’ Need I remind you we’ve got another enemy still nipping at our backside?”

  “You’re the one who found this beast, not me. Dragon or not, he’s not listening, and I’m thinking that after years of slumber, he’s hungry.”

  “I’ve got some jerky,” Ben suggested.

  The dragon let out an angry growl. Its eyes narrowed.

  “Take cover! Take cover!” Selene dove out of the way just as the dragon let out a cone of wet breath that coated the walls of the cave.

  Brenwar’s arms froze in mid-swing. His eyes were wide open. He couldn’t blink. No one still moved but the dragon. They were paralyzed.

  CHAPTER 28

  After a long run under the cover of the trees, Nath took to the skies again. His smile hadn’t left his face. It felt good, sticking it to the titans. He’d managed to free the copper dragon too, which made it even better. It was like old times. He wasn’t so old, not for a dragon, but what had happened made him feel young again.

  Those were the days. I’d forgotten how much fun rescuing dragons used to be.

  Better yet, he had managed to beat the titan army’s servants using his wits and not so much his powers. He was fairly certain that fight would have been a knock-down drag-out, but he’d come up with something and it had worked well. He was gleeful after seeing the army of the wicked scrambling all over the ziggurat in a full-blown panic.

  I can’t wait to share this adventure with Brenwar. He’ll have a fit. The look on his face will be priceless.

  He had made it another league when the green seeker appeared at his side.

  Nath spoke to it. “Let me guess, Selene’s mad. Well, feel free to tell her I’m on my way back, so there’s no need to pitch a fit.”

  The seeker’s wings made a warning buzz.

  “What?” Nath said at the startling news. “Wurmers? They’re trapped? Lead me to them.”