Zollin had come to rest on a pile of stone. His body suddenly felt more tired than he could ever remember. Blood flowed down his leg and he took a moment as the creatures moved toward him to stop the bleeding. The muscle and tendons were severed, making his leg useless, but with the bleeding stopped he knew he could heal the rest later. He couldn’t put any weight on the leg though, and with his mobility gone, he knew he would have to rely on his magic to go anywhere.
The creatures were fast approaching, their arms reaching out for him and their stingers raised and ready to strike. Ferno flew down and landed behind Zollin, sending a mental image of the two of them fighting together. It brought a smile to Zollin’s grimy face. Ferno climbed up the rock heap, the green dragon’s body low to the ground, its teeth bared in a growl of fury.
The centaur creatures attacked en masse, charging toward Zollin. Ferno blew a fiery pillar right into the face of their charge. The fire didn’t stop their forward momentum, but a dozens of the creatures were roasted alive. Zollin levitated the hurdling carcasses over his head and sent them crashing down on the far side of the pile of rubble where he and Ferno fought. The beasts that still lived parted around the fiery attack, flying past Zollin and reforming behind them both.
“Get in the air,” Zollin said.
Ferno obeyed instantly, jumping up and flapping the great leathery wings. Zollin hopped around, turning toward the crowd of monsters that were wheeling in mid-air to renew their attack. But the demon appeared above them, one furry arm hanging at an obscene angle. A patch of the gray skin on its dome-shaped head was gone, revealing the bloody skull underneath. The larger of its two eyes was swollen almost shut and blood ran down from the pointy ear on the right side of it’s head, dripping onto the large, hairy shoulder where it trickled down the long, bony arm.
The demon rose up on flaming wings and then dove toward Zollin. The centaur creatures hesitated, blank looks in their glowing green eyes. Zollin raised an invisible magical shield, but the demon either saw the invisible barrier or had been expecting it. The grotesque creature slammed into the shield with its good shoulder, knocking Zollin backward. Zollin rolled down the pile of stones he had been perched on, the pain in his injured hip making him scream in agony. Still, he managed to keep the shield up, like a bubble of protection around his body that kept the sharp stones and protruding timber from ripping him to shreds.
The demon pounced on Zollin, raising its good arm, and Zollin knew it was about to strike him in a way that he could not recover from. Zollin put all his magical prowess into his shield. The demon drove its hand down, the fingers penetrating the magical barrier but stopping short of reaching Zollin. The demon’s eye, spreading wide in furious anger, flashed with the same green light Zollin had seen in Gwendolyn’s eyes. Zollin could feel his magic pushing against the dark magical energy of the demon that wasn’t deterred by its initial failure. The vile creature merely pushed harder against the barrier. Zollin was reminded of when the black dragon Bartoom had managed to catch him in its lair and tried to crush him. His magic had held then, but now he wasn’t sure. His body shook as he poured all his power into the magical barrier, the heat inside him roaring like a forest fire that was out of control.
Then Ferno arrived again, swooping down and snapping its razor sharp teeth into the demon’s wounded shoulder. The teeth sank deep and the dragon’s momentum carried it away, ripping the arm from the demon’s body. There was a roar and then an explosion of fire. Zollin closed his eyes and held tight to his magical shield. Then the world went black.
Chapter 36
Zollin came to a moment later. He was lying defenseless in the rubble. His magical shield was gone, and so was the containment he normally kept around his magic at all times. He could feel the magic like a scorching summer wind, blowing through him like a desert storm. He rolled to his good knee, careful not bend or put any weight on his wounded hip. Fire was everywhere around him. Anything that could burn was burning, unless it had been protected by Zollin’s magical shield. He could see the bodies of dozens of the centaur-like creatures, all smoking, their flesh burning. Black smoke rose all around Zollin, choking him and making him feel weak. He coughed and sputtered, then sank back down onto the rough ground where the air was cleaner. He lay back, gasping for breath. He knew he couldn’t stay there for long, but he needed time to catch his breath. His magic felt like it was eating him alive, so he rebuilt the containment around the magic, funneling it so that it was at its peak potency.
Then, he took a second to block the ravaged nerve ending in his leg. He didn’t have the time to heal the wound correctly, so he just blocked the signals from the nerves so that the pain didn’t rob him of his strength and concentration. Then he struggled back up, using his magic to lift his body into an upright position. His stomach felt like a tiny little knot and his mouth was so dry his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. Still, he levitated himself up and out of the smoke. It was difficult to see much of what was happening-the light from the fires below Zollin made the Grand City seem even darker. Zollin heard a rumble, like the groan of a giant old man. The rumble was followed by the sounds of rock crunching and rolling down into the crevice.
Zollin strained to see what was happening. Then a huge, shadowy hand appeared out of the deep, black abyss. The hand crashed down into the rubble of the city and pulled up a giant.
Zollin felt despair rise up into his throat and he started to fall. Then a green shadow swooped below him and Zollin landed hard on Ferno’s back. The dragon’s scales were like gravel, but Zollin clung tight. They circled the giant as it climbed up from the great pit that the demon had formed. The giant had no eyes, and no hair on its head. It’s shoulders were huge, easily the size of a large house. Its neck was so short and thick that it seemed like an extension of the great bulbous head.
“Ready to have more fun?” Zollin shouted.
Ferno roared in response. Zollin didn’t know if the dragon was as tired as he was, but the green beast didn’t hesitate. As they flew closer, the giant rose to its full height. Zollin had seen a giant deep in the Northern Highlands, but that giant was a dwarf compared to the great, sightless monstrosity before them. Even Ferno seemed small compared to the giant from the abyss.
Ferno swooped up, unleashing a pillar of fire at the giant, which did nothing to avoid the flames. The dragon’s fiery breath spread across the giant’s naked upper body, singing the thick wiry hair that covered its chest and shoulders, but didn’t harm the otherworldly creature.
“Fly,” Zollin said. “Get us higher.”
Ferno obeyed, flapping the wide green wings. They rose in the air, the giant turning its head as if it could see them. Zollin’s mind was racing. He had never fought anything so massive and he was sure the giant had been sent to kill him. It was extremely powerful, that much was clear, although whether it was acting on Gwendolyn’s command or the creature who had come down from the sky was a complete mystery to Zollin. There had been no sign of the demon after the explosion, but somehow he doubted that he had seen the last of the flaming creature, or at least the last of its kind.
“Keep moving,” Zollin told Ferno. “No matter what happens. If I fall, go back to Brianna.”
Ferno growled, flames licking around the dragon’s broad green head, but it didn’t argue. Zollin closed his eyes and let his magic flow out toward the giant. The creature was repellent, like a strong odor. Zollin’s magic didn’t seem to want to go near it. He forced it closer even as his skin seemed to crawl and he felt goose bumps break out on his arms and neck. The giant was built like a man, but there was nothing human about it. Zollin could feel emotions but no intelligence; he could get no sense of the substance of the creature. It was so huge he had no idea how to fight it. Ferno circled close to the giant’s head, billowing fire as Zollin unleashed magical energy. The giant roared, its mouth full of blackened teeth the size of large doors, and a blackened mark appeared on the giant’s grayish skin where Zollin’s magic had raked acros
s its forehead. Zollin had trouble seeing it in the darkness, but Ferno sent mental images to Zollin that showed the mark. The dragon was hopeful that they had hurt the giant, but Zollin wasn’t convinced.
He needed to find something that would stop the creature. He wasn’t all that interested in harming the giant, but he needed to send it back to where it had come from. In his mind he remembered Brianna saying that she had created the dragons deep under the mountains. At first he rejected the idea, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Brianna was the only one who could stand against the giant. He hated himself for considering it and felt like a coward, but he could think of nothing else.
“We have to go to Brianna,” Zollin said. “Take me to her.”
Ferno banked sharply and flew out away from the city. Zollin glanced back and saw the giant following. His stomach felt like he was going to vomit. He couldn’t believe what he was doing. He was a wizard. He could do practically anything he could imagine, but he knew instinctively that he couldn’t stop the giant without killing it, and he wasn’t even sure he could do that.
“Tell Brianna we’re coming,” Zollin said.
In the distance, Zollin could see Selix and Tig, both engaging the centaur-like creatures. The dragons’ fiery breath had done more damage than Zollin would have thought possible. The ground beneath them was scorched and littered with the smoldering bodies of the centaur creatures. Shrubs were burning. There were very few trees across the wide plain, but the short grass burned and smoked. It made Zollin cough, but the ground fires didn’t deter the monsters. Then Selix pulled up and flew to meet them. Zollin wished they could find a place to land, but the ground was covered in the creatures, like bees crawling over their hive. Still, he had to talk with Brianna, had to tell her what he was thinking.
“Clear a spot on the ground,” Zollin said. “Then help me fend off those monsters.”
Ferno spewed fire onto the ground. The flames hit the ground and spread in a big circle. The monsters that flew low to the ground swerved to avoid the flames. Zollin gathered his good leg under him as Ferno landed. Zollin then jumped to the ground, using magic to soften his landing and steady his balance so that he didn’t end up putting weight on his wounded leg. Ferno didn’t wait with Zollin but jumped back into the air, the downdraft from the dragon’s wings stirring up the ash from the grass that had just been incinerated so that the ash floated around Zollin like snowflakes.
Zollin waited while the swarm started to return, then lashed out with magical energy, killing several of the beasts at once. Then Brianna landed lightly beside him, as if she had just stepped down off a ladder instead of leaping to the ground from over a hundred feet in the air.
“What is that thing?” she said, already staring at the giant lumbering slowly toward them.
“I don’t know for sure,” Zollin said. He couldn’t see the giant anymore, but he could hear the huge beast’s thunderous footsteps. “This may sound crazy, but I think you’re the only one who can stop it.”
“Why me?” Brianna asked.
“It’s just a hunch,” Zollin explained, “but it came from underground. I just thought maybe since you made the dragons underground that you could convince it to turn back.”
The dragons were laying down rows of fire to keep the swarms of centaur monsters away from Zollin and Brianna.
Brianna looked at Zollin as if he had lost his mind. He started to tell her to forget the whole thing, but then she turned toward the lumbering creature, her face determined.
“Well then,” she said, her voice harsh, “keep those other things off me for a while.”
“Be careful,” Zollin said.
The giant smashed through the city walls and the mighty crashes of the thick stone walls falling around it’s legs shook the ground. Brianna’s face was full of awe as she watched the giant approaching. To Zollin it was just a vast shadow, but Brianna’s eyes were much like those of her dragons. She could see in the dark almost as well as in the daylight, and even at a great distance she could make out the smallest details. Zollin was waiting for fear to cloud her features, but instead he saw compassion.
As the giant approached, its great tree-like legs stepping wide across the plain, the centaur creatures gave it a wide berth. It tilted its head down, as if it were looking down even though it had no eyes. Ferno and Tig circled the giant’s head like large mosquitos but the giant ignored them.
“What do I do?” Brianna asked.
“I’m not sure, maybe tell it who you are.”
Brianna again looked at Zollin like he was insane. The young wizard just shrugged his shoulders. He was going on instinct. He wished more than ever that Kelvich were alive to tell him he was doing the right thing.
“My name is Brianna,” she said in a loud voice. “I am a fire spirit. I am dragon-kind.” The giant just groaned as it hunched over and raised a huge fist.
Zollin was standing behind Brianna, ready to throw up a magical shield to protect her. He felt ill, like he was hiding behind Brianna, or worse yet, sacrificing her to save himself. “No,” Brianna said. “You don’t want to do that. We don’t want to hurt you. Go back where you came from.”
The fist came hurtling down and Brianna jumped back, summersaulting in the air to avoid the blow. Zollin’s magical shield protected him, but he was knocked off his feet. In the dark he saw bright spots flashing.
“We mean you no harm,” Brianna shouted. She had landed on Selix’s back and was soaring up toward the giant’s head.
The giant raised its other fist, intent on swatting Brianna and Selix from the air. Brianna lashed out with heat so intense that it penetrated the giant’s thick skin. Zollin saw the white-hot flame, almost as bright as a flash of lightning. Then the giant’s gray skin curled back over it’s huge knuckle bones as the fire penetrated. The giant roared in pain, but brought its upraised fist down once again.
Selix dove out of harm’s way, but Brianna jumped from the golden dragon’s back. She flew down near the giant’s feet and turned her intense heat onto the ground. The soil looked for a moment like red-hot embers, then the ground under the giant transformed into lava. Zollin was forced to run back from the giant to avoid the blistering heat. The giant’s legs sank down into the pool of red-hot lava, howling in fury and pain. It flapped its arms and struggled to get up, but Ferno came by and swatted the giant’s head with its spiked tail. The lumbering giant lost its balance and fell back down.
The molten rock splashed up like candle wax, still too hot to touch, but thickening as the air cooled it. Brianna continued to blast the ground with heat so intense that even the dragons seemed uncomfortable. The giant sank back down into the lava, falling onto its hands and knees, then sinking down until only its chest and head were above the molten rock.
It bellowed in fury and pain.
“You left us no choice,” Brianna said. “I’m sorry, but you shall be remembered.”
Brianna then jumped high into the air, her body arched like a diver, then she dove head first into the lava. Zollin had to hold back a scream of despair, trusting that Brianna knew what she was doing. She had told him of heating the rock in the mountains and swimming in the lava, but seeing her disappear into the molten rock scared him more than the giant.
The lava began to bubble and Zollin knew that Brianna was heating the bedrock further down beneath the giant. He just hoped that she didn’t get caught under the massive creature as it continued to sink down.
In a matter of moments the lava was up to the giant’s neck, its arms flailing in an effort to escape the molten rock. The centaur creatures seemed to have stopped coming out of the great crevice, and those that were still in the city were now going around the giant, spreading out to the east and west. Zollin lowered himself to the ground and the dragons came and landed near him. Zollin’s leg was numb and he felt nauseous, but he didn’t want to do anything until he made sure that Brianna was okay.
It took several minutes before the giant’s head sank beneath th
e surface of the molten pool. Its arms at last went limp and it ceased struggling. Zollin expected Brianna to appear at any minute, but she didn’t.
“Can you communicate with her?” Zollin asked Selix.
The golden dragon looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook its head. Zollin wanted to scream and curse, but he knew it was a waste of energy. He limped as close as he could get to the molten pool. The melting rock gave the area a soft, orange glow, but the darkness around Zollin seemed oppressive. He wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep. He wanted to close his eyes and forget everything, to make the pain of losing Brianna all over again disappear. Then she rose up out of the molten rock like a fiery goddess and Zollin understood why the dwarves called them fire spirits.
“Are you okay?” Zollin asked when Brianna came close, the worry making his voice hoarse.
“Yes, I think so,” Brianna managed to say. She had no clothes on, but flames covered her body and her hair was smoking, although not a single strand was singed. Zollin thought she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her.
“What happened?”
“The giant just sank down. It took a while, but it finally succumbed to the heat.” Brianna closed her eyes. “How long was I gone?”
“About half an hour,” Zollin said. He could see that she was exhausted. Her body was trembling and her eyes blinked slowly. “It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he said, stepping close to her.
“No we aren’t, Zollin,” she said. “I saw what the witch is preparing. No one is safe. Maybe not ever again.”
Chapter 37
The sky was beginning to clear over the ruins of the Grand City. Stars began to shine through the haze. The moon was just rising and the last of the swarming hordes were flying up out of the great crevice that now split the Five Kingdoms apart. The creatures moved on, destroying everything they touched.
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