It was wonderful, sweet, and melodious as a waterfall of honey, removing all the anger and pain from my body. Fearless and carefree, I went forward, a smile stretching across my face, ignoring Fang throbbing in my hand.
“It’s all right, friend,” I said, sliding him into his sheath.
Drunk with elation, I hummed and twirled my way down the ancient corridor, its pictures and traces now colorful, vibrant, and real. I hadn’t felt this way in years. I laughed, a hundred laughs in one, following the music.
“Oh, dragons,” I half sang, half said, “Where are you, little dragons? Come and play with your brother. You cannot hide from me.”
The warm glow of a fire was in the distance and my compulsion drove me onward. Up there must be the most wonderful place in all of Nalzambor. The dragons, I thought as I drifted forward, they aren't prisoners at all, but instead the luckiest dragons in the world. And somewhere they were being sung to by the most beautiful woman in the world. I couldn't wait to see her as I passed from one room to the other. There she was, simply captivating.
“My, you are so beautiful.”
CHAPTER 36
She was everything I imagined. The kind of woman so magnificent that the entire room lights up in her glory. And it did. Fires burned with vibrant life, and many robed men sang praises to her along the walls. Every face was happy, joyous, elated, and my heart cried out in my chest as I longed to be with her. To hold her. To kiss her. To love her like no other.
“Who are you?” I said, stretching out my hands.
Her face was gorgeous: part human, part elf, part dragon, a combination of all the most beautiful faces I'd ever seen.
“Relax, Nath Dragon. Sing.” She poured me a goblet of wine. “Drink. You look thirsty.”
I took it as her hands caressed my face, and she unbuckled my sword belt and tossed it aside. I didn’t even notice the singing acolyte lifting my quiver and bow from my shoulder. No, I was too infatuated with her dark gossamer robes blended in with her lustrous hair and how her toes did not show as she floated over.
“We’ve been expecting you,” she said, draping her long, sensuous arm over my shoulder. “Come, sit, rest.” She led me toward a magnificent chair and sat me down. “Comfortable?”
My tongue clove to the roof of my mouth, and my mind swirled. I wanted to be with her so bad. I’d do anything she said. But why, the recesses of my mind asked, did she smell so bad? I had to ask.
“You are so amazing, but why do you smell… er… smell so funny?”
Her beautiful face suddenly turned dark as the music stopped.
I shook my head saying, “What’s happening?”
Whop!
A fist made of dragon scales lashed out, striking me in the chest. She howled in triumph, her face contorting with rage as she struck again.
Whop!
My neck snapped back, slamming me into the chair.
“What in Nalzambor are you?” I said, holding my busted face.
She growled. Part animal. Part something else.
All the colorful images began to fade, the beauty of the ancient sanctuary melting away, leaving only the fires (which were just torches) and the clerics (some bald as eagles, the others draped like purple curtains).
Behind me, the chair came to life, arms as strong as iron wrapping around me, crushing me.
My dream had become a nightmare, and it was just beginning.
The woman changed as well, her lustrous face and figure drifting like smoke and forming something else. A horrible, hulking abomination loomed over me, almost seven feet of meat, muscles, and bone. It was built like a man and armored, with a face like a dragon and scales, too.
It curled up its clawed hand as big as my face, drew back, and punched me again.
I groaned in pain. I'd thought it was over with the lizard men.
A human voice cackled as whatever it was that held me slammed me into the ground. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I could feel, though. I felt like a pane of glass catching a giant stone.
“Ugh…”
“Welcome to your party, Nath Dragon. I hope you like your surprise,” said a robed man with a slight limp in his step.
I looked up, face bleeding, getting a glimpse of the source of the familiar voice through my swelling eye.
“You, I know you,” I managed. It was the Cleric from Narnum, the one who had ratted out the Orcen Hold, where the blazed ruffie was freed. The one I saw the day before my arm turned black. I tried to smile. “Tell you what: if you let the dragons free, I’ll go easy on you. It won’t be nearly as easy walking with two limps instead of one.”
Finnius nodded at his dragonian goons.
One kicked me in the ribs, then the other wrapped his monstrous arm around my neck.
“Easy, draykis, we need something left of him before dinner.” Finnius squatted down beside me. “Tsk. Tsk. Catching you was so much easier than I'd thought it would be, Nath Dragon. Look around. The best plan is a well-executed one. See?” He motioned to the clerics in purple behind him. They pulled back their hoods, revealing the same bald heads with tattooed signs that I had seen in the garden.
I felt like a fool. They'd known I was coming all along. Ben!
“Oh, what is wrong, Nath?”
“It’s Lord Dragon to you,” I said, shifting his focus. Maybe he didn’t know about Ben.
He shoved my face into the dirty floor, saying, “Fool!”
“Don’t touch my hair, you little worm,” I warned. “Ow!” I felt a dragon claw poking into my leg. “What are these things… uh… what is your lowly name anyway? Ow!”
He rose, wrapping his hands behind his back, and said, “Finnius. Hah. And even you should know that it only takes a little worm to catch a big fish. A big bald fish once this day is over.” Some of the acolytes chuckled as he paced the sanctuary. “Perhaps some of the draykis would be more appealing with some of your locks attached. Or maybe I can fetch a fine price for your hair in the cities.”
“It would certainly do wonders for that bald head of yours, but these,” I stared over my shoulder, “draykis are well past ugly. I don’t think hair would help. What in Nalzambor are they?”
“Men fused with dragon skin, dragon blood, and magic,” he said, stepping on my dragon hand. “A glimpse into your future.” Looking at my hand under his boot, he went on. “My, what have we here? It seems there is part draykis in you. This is a fortunate day for you indeed, the day you get to see what you are about to become. Dragon? Draykis? Or one and the same.”
My stomach knotted. What he said didn’t so much anger me as worry me. But there was a ring of truth to it. I was a man with dragon blood and magic, and there was no telling what I might become.
“So, Finnius the Worm, now that you have me, what is in store for me? Death? Collect a bounty? Sell me off with the other dragons?”
“Oh, Nath, as much as the Clerics of Barnabus despise you and your heroic doings, we have no intention of killing you. You see, I follow orders whether I like them or not. It’s why I have this limp.” He tapped his thigh. “These signs.” He fingered the patterns on his head. “And more to command. More power. Why, I even control these powerful draykis.” He grabbed a torch off the wall and held it to the standing draykis's mouth. “Eat.”
The draykis snatched the torch from his hand and stuffed it inside its mouth, chomping it to splinters and swallowing it whole. It burped a puff of smoke.
“Charming.” I struggled to get out. “Show me some more tricks. Can it eat worms, too?”
Finnius bent over, picked up my sword belt and scabbard, and handed it to one of the acolytes. He tossed another one my bow and quiver.
“Take these away,” he said.
The bald men disappeared through the door that I had come in.
Finnius clapped his hands together. “Now the festivities shall begin.”
“You mean ole torch eater has more tricks?”
A wry smile formed on Finnius’s face, sending a c
hill down through my bones.
“I’m not supposed to kill you, Nath Dragon, but the High Priestess didn’t tell me how alive she needed you, either.”
Finnius almost pinched his fingers together when he said, “Almost dead will do.” He waved his arms over his head. “Algorzalahn!”
Finnius disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving me sealed in the room with the draykis.
“This is going to hurt, Nath Dragon,” one said, tugging on my hair.
CHAPTER 37
The one draykis, or whatever type of evil it was called, released me as the other watched me rise to my feet.
“So, are you monsters going to teach me a lesson?” I said, woozy.
Both were taller than me, framed like big men, coated in assorted dragon scales. One smiled, showing an extra row of teeth, as it continued to smack its man’s fist into its hand. The other wasn’t much different, aside from two horns, and both wore a mishmash of metal armor. I couldn’t imagine what they needed that for. Their eyes were bright yellow dots of evil that glowered at me as if I was their last meal.
“Aren’t you going to introduce yourselves?”
Circling me, both creatures howled and gnashed their teeth, their bare arms grasping the air.
One said, “Pain.”
The other said, “Destruction.”
“You,” one said in a growl as it waved me forward, “come fight. Come.”
“So many words you know; good for you. I imagine that's no small chore with all those rotten teeth in your mouth.” I stepped up, squared up, and raised my fists as it approached.
It chuckled.
“Have it your way, then,” I said, jabbing my hand into its rock-hard chin.
I danced back, shaking my human hand. Now my hand would be as swollen as my face.
Use your other arm, idiot! Sultans of Sulfur!
I ducked under one blow and sidestepped another. It was fast, but I was faster. I launched my dragon fist into its face, rocking its head back with a smack.
It staggered back, hissing and shaking its head, eyes narrowing.
“Rooooar!”
The other came, hard and fast, almost bowling me over as I leapt over the top of it.
“You’re fast for such a big and ugly thing. I’m impressed, but I can do this all day.”
No, I couldn’t do it all day. My body felt like it had been shot out of a catapult, and my strength was fading.
Roaring, they both charged again. I swept the legs out from under one and kicked the other in the gut, doubling it over. Shrugging off my blows, they snarled.
Great! Every monster, no matter how big or strong, has a weak spot. I just had to find it before they found mine―which was probably any place on my body right then.
I caught the charging draykis by its horn, swung onto its back, and slugged it in the ear. It shook its head like an angry bull. Like a gorilla, the other one pounced on my back and dragged me to the ground. I rammed my knee into its ribs. I drove my boot heel into its crotch. Nothing. And that move almost always worked.
“Sultans of Sulfur! What are you things made of?!”
The draykis tore into me, claws tearing into my legs and arms, shredding my clothes until I could see my blood dripping on the stone floor. Quicker, I wrestled out from underneath it and made a dash for the wall. Chest heaving, I stuck my arm out and said, “A moment… gasp… Please.”
Dragons are fast, and these dragon abominations were fast as well. I could outsmart them or out-quick them, but I didn’t have anywhere to go. It was like two big cats chasing a bird in a cage. Scanning the room, I saw no other doors or windows. Just columns, stone benches, and ancient symbols. Drat! I needed another plan. Fast.
Find a weakness. Save the dragons!
Catching my breath, I stepped out from behind the column. The two monsters stood tall, mouths snapping, claws bared, dripping my blood. They were fiends. Men turned into monsters against their wills. Like me. My arm, I saw, wasn’t so much different than theirs. But mine was perfect: black and shiny, a glorious work of art. Their scales were drab. They, unlike me, were monsters. Stone-cold killers. Heartless and cruel. I hated evil! A cauldron erupted inside me. A flood of energy came as I charged.
I struck like a viper―pow!―driving my fist into the nearest draykis's jaw. It wobbled on its knees.
“I AM!”
I ducked under the other's fist and shoved my elbow into its ribs. Crack!
“NOT!”
Like a tornado, I hit them with everything I could.
Whap! Whap! Whap! Pow! Pow! Pow! Boom!
“A DEMON!”
One fell face first to the mosaic floor.
“A FIEND!”
I hoisted the other one over my head and slammed it through a stone bench.
“OR A MONSTER LIKE YOU!”
Neither draykis moved while I fell to my knees, clutching my sides, shaking. I did it. I defeated them, but now what? I was still trapped.
“Impossible!” Somewhere, Finnius raged, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.
I brushed my hair from my eyes and spit the taste of blood and dirt from my mouth.
“Where are you, worm?”
Stone scraped against stone somewhere as a secret passage opened.
“Come, Nath Dragon. You’ve earned the right to live,” Finnius said from somewhere beyond, “but I’m not sure about your friend.”
I dashed into the tunnel as I heard the voice of a man, screaming.
“Ben!”
CHAPTER 38
Inside his cage, the male pixlyn fought against the bars. His mate sang encouraging words that filled him with power. With his straining, the bars began to bend. Exhausted, the pixlyn squeezed free. He flew over and grabbed a ring of keys that hung from a peg on the wall. Seconds later, he unlocked his mate’s cage, and they were free. Tossing the keys on the floor, neither looked back, and they were gone. From a lone cage in the corner, a little white dragon saw it all.
***
The temple was a series of catacombs that wound from one room or corridor to the next. I passed shelves, tombs, and altars but nothing undead. In pain, I trudged forward as fast as I could, worried, exhausted.
“Nath!” a voice cried from out of nowhere. Stopping, I turned and saw a familiar face in an ancient mirror bigger than me. It was Ben, bleeding and beaten. “Help me, Nath!”
All my hairs stood up on end as the haunting voice faded and the image disappeared.
I stood staring at the mirror and gawped at myself. I’d never looked so bad before. My face was swollen, my nose broken, and my ribs felt like scattered pieces from a dwarven puzzle. “Ben,” I muttered, touching the glass. I had to save him. I had to find him fast.
I turned my back to the mirror and yelled.
“Enough, Finnius Worm, show yourself!”
Nothing.
I decided to renew my search, and I was heading toward another tunnel when I heard Finnius say, “So close yet so far, fool.”
Now Finnius’s image was inside the large oval mirror, taunting me, mocking me. “You’ll never find your friend in time, but I thank you. He’ll make a fine meal for the draykis. Even monsters get hungry.”
Finnius’s words went straight through me.
“Noooooo!”
I charged across the chamber in two leaps, lowering my shoulder as I crashed through the mirror.
Glass shattered as I passed from one side to the other and kept going. Fear assailed me. I spiraled downward, free falling through the darkness before hitting the hard ground with a thud. I could have sworn I had broken every bone in my body when I tried to rise to my feet.
“Welcome, Nath Dragon. How fine of you it was to join us.”
Finnius stood on the other side of thick metal bars, gloating.
“My, I never imagined you would have fallen for that one. You actually ran through the mirror and fell into the pit. It’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. And coming from you, Nath Dragon, one o
f the greatest warriors of all. Tsk. Tsk. I can’t begin to express how disappointed and elated I am.” He drummed his chin with his fingers. “Then again, maybe I’m just, oh, I almost hate to say it… Brilliant!”
My prison was solid steel, corroded, but solid nonetheless. High above me, a trap door was being pulled up and into place. I wasn’t going anywhere, not without help.
“Where’s Ben?”
“Oh, the young man whom you have doomed? Why, he’s over there, dying,” Finnius said, pointing.
I felt my heart stop in my chest. Ben spun in midair, surrounded by acolytes muttering a spell. Ben’s eyes were watery with terror as his unmoving lips seemed to cry out for me. We locked eyes, but he couldn’t even blink.
“What are you doing to him, Finnius?” I shouted through the bars.
Finnius lifted his finger and said, “Ah, well, you are going to like this, really. You see, when the High Priestess arrives, she is going to teach me how to create a draykis. You see, Nath, all we have to do is add dragon parts.” He pointed farther back in the room. “And dragon blood.”
I could see several cages with coiled dragons inside. One was a yellow streak, the other two evergreens inside eerily glowing cages.
“That’s not going to happen, worm. I’ll see to that.”
Finnius let out a creepy, bubbly laugh as he walked over and grabbed my sword from one of his acolytes.
“I wouldn’t draw that blade if I were you.”
“What is the matter, Dragon? Are you afraid I’ll kill you with it?”
“It doesn’t like evil,” I said, pulling myself up by the bars. “You'd best let go of that.”
“Hah. Nice try, Dragon. But I believe I’ll be all right. Oh, and don’t worry: as I said, I’m not going to kill you. The High Priestess will do that. But, I will at some point, have to kill your young friend, Ben. And won’t it be agonizing to watch him die by your own blade? Hmmmm?”
“He dies, you die, worm.”
Holding Fang by the scabbard, Finnius eyed me then the sword and said, “Acolyte, withdraw this blade.”
The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) Page 32
