The Half Dragon of Yaerna: The Gathering Arc Box Set: Books 1-3

by Hans Bezdek

  She yanked the dagger out, scanning the group of orcs and goblins staring at her in shock. She asked them all a single question.

  “Who’s next?”

  Chapter 9

  The orcs and goblins looked around at each other. Still in the one orc’s arms, I was trying to get a feel for what was going to happen next. Cassandra seemed like she knew what she was doing, but I wasn’t sure if she could actually take out a group of Greeners by herself. However, with their leader down, maybe they would back off?

  They didn’t.

  Three of the goblins rushed at the elf, drawing their weapons as they went.

  “You’ll pay for that!” screamed on of them. “Time for you to-UGH!”

  The goblin fell backwards, revealing a dagger between his eyes.

  The two other goblins hesitated, glancing back at their fallen comrade. Cassandra wasted no time, quickly flinging two more daggers out and having the two other threats join their friend dead on the ground.

  “RAAA!” shouted an orc, charging at the elf who no longer held a dagger.

  “Watch out!” I shouted at her, but she was already moving.

  Pulling another dagger out of her boot, Cassandra rushed up to meet the orc. As he swung down with his club, she jumped to the right, striking at the inside of his elbow. The orc let out a cry, backhanding the elf with his free hand. Cassandra stumbled back a few feet, before rushing at him again. The orc tried to raise the club again, but his arm wasn’t cooperating. He looked down at it, not processing what was happening. Cassandra took the opening, tackling him with her dagger pointed at his heart.

  Momentum took them both to the ground, the orc landing dead on his back. Cassandra wasted no time, yanking her dagger out and hopping back to her feet to meet with the next orc, who kept his distance with a spear.

  “You kill friends,” he growled. He was one of the orcs initially blocking our path, the one that had a scar under his neck.

  “And you tried to kill mine,” she hissed back.

  “You die now,” he grunted, rushing forward with both hands on the shaft of the spear.

  He lunged out at her when he got in range, narrowly missing as she dove to the side. Bringing her free hand down, she scooped up a handful of dirt and flung it at the orc’s face. The orc brought up a hand to block the dirt, temporarily blocking his view. Before he could lower his hand back, the elf dashed up, jutting her dagger into the scar at his neck.

  Making a horrible gurgling noise, the orc grabbed the back of her hair and tossed her back. Cassandra wasn’t prepared, losing her grip on the dagger as she flew back.

  We both watched in horror as the orc took the dagger out of his own neck, holding it out towards her. Out of weapons, she scanned her surroundings. The orc ran at her, spear in one hand and dagger in the other.

  “Goblin behind you!” I shouted.

  She glanced behind her, finding one of the first goblins she killed.

  “He’s already dead!” she shouted back.

  “I know that! Take the dagger back!”

  Realization hit her face as the back of the orc’s spear did, knocking her to the ground. I tried to buck off the orc holding me again, but he held strong.

  The bleeding orc stood over her, laughing as she crawled away from him. He brought the spear up again, this time with the head pointing down at her back. She made it to the dead goblin before the orc could thrust down, wrenching the dagger out of the goblin’s head. Flipping around, she brought the dagger up just in time to block the spear, redirecting it into the ground next to her.

  The orc struggled to pick the spear back up, but wasn’t able to get it out of the ground with just one hand. Abandoning it, he stabbed down at her with the dagger. Using the spear’s shaft, Cassandra pivoted her body around the dagger, landing back on her feet.

  The orc took a step towards her before stumbling. He held his neck with his free hand, trying to catch his breath. The hole in his neck had been pouring out blood the whole time, and it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to keep the fight up for much longer. Cassandra realized this, too, and jump at him with her dagger high. The orc tried to parry it, but he was too slow. The elf sank her dagger into his skull, and he dropped to the floor.

  Cassandra looked like she was handling her own, but I figured now was as good a time as any to start helping. The orc holding me was intently watching the action, unsure of what to do. I needed to use that confusion to my advantage.

  Pressing the palms of my hands against the side of the orc, I began mumbling a spell.

  “Huh?” asked the orc, leaning in closer. “What you saying?”

  Electricity shot from my hands into the orc’s body. The beast tensed up as I upped the voltage, squeezing me even harder than before and causing quite a bit of pain in my ribs. I hadn’t exactly thought this through. I needed him to die before he broke my ribs.

  I knew luck was on my side this time as he fell backwards, taking me with him. I released the spell, pushing his arms off me and getting to my feet. I looked down at the orc’s twitching body. The smell of cooked orc filled the air, which reminded me of hot trash on a summer afternoon.

  “Ew,” I said, covering my nose.

  “Fancy work there, dragon scum.”

  I turned around to see the goblin that had clocked me just a moment ago charging at me, arm bent back.

  “Why are you still fighting?” I asked, jumping back as he hopped up and threw a punch. He missed, landed on his feet, and kept advancing. “Your master is dead!”

  “Master?” asked the goblin, raising an eyebrow. “Ha! He was just some guy that promised to pay us good for helping him keep track of everyone passing through.”

  “Why did he want to know that?” I asked. Why would a human care who passed through Gorland? There wasn’t anything worthwhile in these lands. Anybody with any money and any sense would keep their possession as far west as they could. Even if Stalrik was just trying to avoid taxes, you could hide a lot in Truska.

  “Not paid to know,” he said, rushing forward again and diving for my face. I dove under him, eating a pile of dirt as I crashed into the ground. I quickly got up on my knees as I heard him land on the ground behind me.

  “He’s not here to pay you anymore, though,” I said, putting a hand up while keeping the other on the ground. I had an idea, but needed him to stay still. “There’s no reason to fight us anymore.”

  “You’re a green dragon,” said the goblin, pointing at me. “Even if Stalrik isn’t helping us, we can still try to force you to change and go for your eyes.”

  “Even if he’s right, look around you,” I said, gesturing over to the bodies of the slain goblins and orcs nearest him. Energy began flowing from my body and into the ground. “So many of your friends are dead.”

  The goblin looked around at the bodies of the other Greeners, then spit on the orc nearest him. “Less ways to split the quat for your eyes.”

  “Yikes, that’s a little harsh don’t you think,” I said, watching as the goblin’s spit rolled down the side of the dead orc’s leg. I was nearly done pouring my magic into the dirt.

  “They’d do the same,” he grunted, shrugging.

  “Maybe you need better friends?” I asked. “You seem to be able to throw a solid punch. Want to join up with us instead?”

  “Enough stalling!” shouted the goblin. “If you don’t get up and fight me, I’ll just come and finish you off right now!”

  “If you say so,” I said, releasing the spell.

  The ground near the goblin shook for half a second before eight spires of earth shot up at the same time, piercing the goblin from every angle. The goblin’s eyes widened in surprise, and it was the last thing they ever did.

  “Should’ve taken my offer,” I mumbled, getting to my feet.

  “Took you long enough to kill one measly goblin,” came Cassandra’s voice.

  “Hey, it had way more style points than any of the kills I saw you get,” I said, turning to
wards her.

  “So, you killed two,” said Cassandra, patiently watching me. She had a few specks of blood on her, but none looked to be hers. I looked past her to see how many Greeners were left standing, but it looked like the answer was none. “And I killed… fourteen.”

  “Hey, I was tied up,” I pointed out. “If I was free to fight the whole time like you were, I’d have probably managed fifteen.”

  “Oh really? You’d kill exactly one more than I did?” she asked.

  “It isn’t polite to take all the kills for myself. I’d leave one for you.”

  “How kind,” she smirked, moving over to a nearby orc’s body. “Feel free to loot some of the ones I killed, or I’ll be picking pockets all night.”

  I would take her up on that, but first I wanted to get a closer look at the goblin’s weird metal fist. I grabbed his arms, finding a leather attachment that strapped around his hand. Taking it off, I examined it a little closer. While the thing looked like a strange mesh of metal and leather, it sure did pack a punch. Playing with the straps, I found that I could expand the makeshift glove, and tried it on myself.

  “Not too bad,” I mumbled, throwing a few right hooks. I could hardly feel any weight difference, and it didn’t slow me down at all. I wasn’t much of a fist fighter, but maybe it could come in handy.

  Pun intended.

  Cassandra and I looted the remaining bodies, disappointed by how little they had on them. I assumed that the Greeners had this ambush for a while, and maybe there would be something worth having here. That didn’t appear to be the case. We must have just got unlucky, and happened to pass through at the wrong time.

  “Where’s Stalrik?” asked Cassandra, looking around at the bodies. “I didn’t think I did enough to kill him, and he’s not among the bodies.”

  I turned around, checking in each direction. There was no sign of the guy.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said, shoving some of the quat into my bag. “It’s not like he’ll want to mess with us again after that beat down.”

  “I hope not,” she mumbled, checking the ground for markings. “I think I see his footprints… want to follow him?”

  “No. Let’s just get to Kra’Gar,” I said, wiping some blood from my lip. It worried my that he knew I was a green dragon, let alone a half one, but I used up most of my magic. I needed to rest. “I’m really craving a bed and a nice shower after that. Hopefully the quat we got from this will cover at least that much.”

  Chapter 10

  It did.

  I woke up the next morning and stared at the ceiling of the old stone building. We had made it to Kra’Gar just a couple of hours after our fight with Stalrik’s group. The city was wide and flat, made up mostly of stone buildings or makeshift tents. We found this inn on the edge of town and decided to stop. We would look for the next clue to the Shattered Sword today, and hopefully be gone by tonight.

  I got up from the bed, checking to make sure I still had everything. It seemed like only goblins ran inns in this part of Yaerna, and I wanted to make sure nothing was stolen while I slept. After seeing everything was in order, I packed it all up into my bag and equipped the goblin-made glove.

  Closing the door behind me, I walked over to the room where Cassandra was staying and knocked twice.

  “Time to wake up,” I called out.

  “Just a minute!” she shouted back.

  I leaned against the wall and waited. What were we even doing here? I didn’t believe the Shattered Sword existed. Even if it did, what were the odds the the crazy old kobold was right, and that the we may find answers here in Kra’Gar?

  At the thought of the kobold, my mind went back to when she grabbed me. Even if I thought she was crazy, the babble about a winged one and The Gathering wigged me out. I felt like I had heard about this Gathering thing before, but I couldn’t quite place it. And how did she know I was a dragon? Did she hunt my people down like Stalrik had, and she could see the difference in my eyes?

  Cassandra’s door finally opened, cutting off my train of thought.

  “About time,” I muttered. “What were you doing in there?”

  “Lamenting about how I had this pushy, weak mage that kept following me around.”

  “Good one.”

  The goblin inn keeper nodded at us as we walked over to the front door, peering out through the window and looking around the town. Even though it was morning, everything was dark. A mix of smog and dark clouds covered everything in Gorland, and there wasn’t much hope of escaping it until we left for either Truska or Brumark in the north.

  “Where should we go now?” I asked, already eager to be gone from this place.

  “The seer didn’t specify,” she shrugged.

  “Wait… what?” I asked, eyes widening. “That old kobold said to go to a far away town and you didn’t even bother to ask who the contact was?”

  “I’m sure it won’t be too difficult.”

  “Do you know what the person looks like? Race? Sex? Any distinguishing features? Favorite lunch spots?”

  “No.”

  “How will this not be too difficult, then?” I demanded.

  “We just go around asking if anyone knows where to find-”

  “Your brilliant idea is to just wander around town. Really.”

  “I don’t hear you throwing out any better alternatives!”

  “Because I’m not the one that wanted to come to this stupid tent town!”

  “What’s up with all the tents, by the way?” wondered Cassandra. “Why aren’t there any wooden buildings? Surely it’d be nicer than what they currently have.”

  “Don’t try to change the sub-”

  “Wooden buildings? In Gorland?” asked the inn keeper, leaning forward at his desk. “You’re joking right?”

  “No, why would I be joking?” she replied. “Are the people allergic to trees, or something?”

  “Hardly,” he chuckled. “When the black and reds came a few hundred years ago to take over the lands, they leveled all the towns in this territory. We once had great structures all across Gorland, even rivaling the ones that the gray dwarves came up with in Brumark. When those dragons flew over, they breathed fire on every last one of our buildings. Everything went up in flame. When the war was over, none of the other territories even offered to help us. We had to rebuild from scratch.”

  “That sounds horrible,” nodded Cassandra solemnly. “I’m so sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry, elf,” laughed the goblin. “We’re just prepared for when the next Dragon War starts again.”

  “You think there will be another Dragon War?” I asked, a bit surprised. “The last one nearly wiped all life off the planet, and that goes for both sides!”

  “Of course,” snorted the goblin. “As long as there are dragons left in Yaerna, they will always be a threat.”

  “You want to kill all the red and black dragons?” I asked.

  “Not just the two. I say we get rid of all the dragons, regardless of color.”

  The hair on the back of my neck rose slightly. I had to keep my cool.

  “Why all dragons?” asked Cassandra. “The other colors stood with the rest of Yaerna against the black and reds. They were clearly on our side.”

  “Were, being the operative word,” said the goblin. “Who’s to say that they won’t all unite one day in order to take over Yaerna, hmm? The black and reds alone were almost enough to do it. With the help of the gold, silver, blue, browns, and whatever greens are left, they could easily do it.”

  “So, naturally, genocide is the only reasonable answer,” I said sarcastically.

  “Exactly,” smiled the goblin, misunderstanding my tone.

  “While this has been a lovely conversation, we unfortunately need to get going,” I said, putting a hand on the door.

  “Where you off to?” asked the goblin. “From the sounds of it, you two are in search of someone or something that you don’t know much about. I’d be happy to help point you i
n the right direction.”

  The irony of a genocidal goblin offering to help out a half green dragon was not lost on me.

  “My naive friend, here, is looking for the Shattered Sword,” I said, gesturing to Cassandra.

  “Hey! I’m not naive!”

  “Do you know where we could find someone equally as slow of thought?” I asked.

  “Slow of thought? Well, you can go shove a-”

  “Actually, I do,” nodded the goblin.

  “Really?!” Cassandra and I said at the same time.

  “There’s a man that believes in those weapons of old,” shrugged the goblin.

  “Where does he live?” asked Cassandra.

  “Well, he doesn’t exactly have a place…” said the goblin.

  “Why is it always a crazy homeless person?” I groaned.

  Cassandra slapped my arm. “Where can we find him, then?”

  “He spends most of his time at a tavern tent a few blocks down from here called Devil’s Keep. I can’t guarantee he’s there, but even if he isn’t, someone might be able to point you in his direction.”

  “Thank you so much,” smiled Cassandra. The goblin nodded back, and the two of us left.

  We traveled down a few streets, looking for a tent with a Devil’s Keep sign on it. After half an hour of searching, we finally found a tent that had a red monster on it next to a castle. We guessed that was it.

  As we tried to enter, a group composed of humans and dwarves pushed through the flap.

  “Make way for The Guild!” shouted a human woman at the front of the pack. She appeared to be their leader, and was decked out in shining armor. The group followed behind her, big smiles on their faces. The lot of them looked like they had never spent a night in the cold or without food, and exuded something that just said we’re better than all of you.

  I wanted to punch them all in the face so badly.

  A dwarf towards the back of the group took a step over and slammed into me, knocking me on my back.

  “Watch where yer goin, gutter trash!” he shouted, not bothering to look back at me.

  My eyes flared as I got to my feet, energy flowing into my palm. It would be so easy to just chuck a fireball at their backs. I bet they’d think twice before storming through people next time.