He slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes. He smiled.
“No one can evade Barnabus.”
Nath Dragon and his party had been caught leaving Quintuklen. It was the last place he’d been seen since they trapped him at the temple. That’s where the drultures came in, flying notes back and forth faster than eagles. They tracked his every move southeast, toward Narnum.
Kryzak’s guess at Nath Dragon’s destination was the elven city of Elome, judging by the direction of his travel and the company he kept. An elven wizard. A Roaming Ranger. Why there he didn’t know, so he kept his distance. He had to work fast, though. Find any help he could get.
That’s how he’d found Ettin Cove. The giant brutes had taken some convincing, but in the end, they had agreed. Kryzak had his ways. Now the ettins laid into one small village after the other. There was no way Nath Dragon and his party would miss them. No way the cries and despair of the voices wouldn’t lure him.
Especially when Kryzak had spies within the ranks of the Legionnaires.
“I wish I could see it.” He mumbled some words, and smoke billowed from his mouth and nose, filling the tent in thick layer of gloom. “But we’ll see how it goes.”
CHAPTER 10
On horseback, Shum and Bayzog made their way from the village. Shum the Roaming Ranger was leading the way, following the trail of the ettins, when he pulled his horse to a stop. The big-boned elf slid off his horse, stepped into one of the giant foot impressions in the tall grass, and kneeled.
Bayzog, a bit weary, prepared a spell on his lips. He didn’t feel comfortable. He wasn’t ready. Over the decades, he’d spent most of his time indoors. Studying. Crafting. And it had been a decade since he’d last ventured into the wilderness. He was a little unsettled. He sneezed.
Shum looked up at him with a funny expression on his face.
“What?” Bayzog said, “Nothing to worry about. Probably from the excitement.”
Shum shook his head and sniffed the air. The smoke in the distance was dying down.
“I could smell them before,” Shum said, pushing his long hair from his face, “but the wind has changed. The tracks, however, hmmm, well, they come from separate directions.”
Bayzog coughed a little. Tapped his chest with his fist. He’d been uncomfortable since they had left. Not so much about the woodland but about heading back home. To Elome. He was an outsider. Part elf. Part human. His human side didn’t fight off the elements like the elven blood did. It bothered him. It always had. Shum was different, too, but a pure elf. One born in the harsh outdoors, living among the beasts and the monsters. A part of nature itself. The big elf stood in the footprint as tall as himself, staring over the horizon. Bayzog wondered if Shum felt the same.
“I say we follow the bigger one. Away from the smoke.” Shum swung himself into his saddle. “Their lair can’t be too far.” Shum looked at him. Waiting.
“After you,” Bayzog said.
They rode until the hills became steep and the terrain rugged, moss over rock-covered ground. This was the part Bayzog didn’t like. The sudden changes. The air. The wind. The setting sun. No roof over his head. He wasn’t sure if it was the man or the elf that preferred the indoors over the out. Elves, by nature, liked open spaces, the comfort of greenery blended with stone and tree trunks.
Shum slowed. Hooves splashed over a creek bed into a denser patch of woods. He looked over his shoulder at Bayzog with narrow eyes.
Bayzog felt it too. A shift. A darkness. The fine hairs on his arms tingled. That was the elf in him. He was certain. He still had the instincts, just a little dormant. He thought of Sasha. He hated not having her by his side. She gave him comfort. Security. She understood his nervousness and the edginess he fought so hard to hide. He made a sound in Elvish. A hoot of sorts.
Shum let him catch up.
“I should check in with Dragon. It’s been awhile,” he said. “And if we go too far, I can’t connect.”
“Do as you will, wizard. I’ll scout ahead.”
“No,” Bayzog said.
“Beg pardon?”
“Oh, nothing,” he said, scanning the area. “Don’t let me hold you up. I’ll be fine.”
Shum and his horse blended into the brush and out of sight.
Bayzog took a deep breath. It was still day but dark under the heavier foliage. The trees seemed foreboding. The sounds of nature―the trickle of the creek, the buzzing wings―did little to soothe him. He was alone and anything could happen. Like running into an ettin. He shuddered. They were some of the most fearsome things he’d ever seen. So big. Strong. Unpleasant.
“Ease yourself, Bayzog,” he said to himself. “Check in with Dragon and Sasha.”
He started the incantation for the communication spell, and magic filled his body. His mind became a spring of energy.
Thoom.
The ground shook. He lost his concentration.
Thoom.
His horse stamped and snorted. He clutched at the reins, heart pounding.
“All right, Shum, where are you?”
CHAPTER 11
The villagers. The Legionnaires. Sasha and Brenwar. They all fell silent.
The ettin had said, in words all could understand, “The women are all dead.”
Children sobbed. Tears watered in men’s eyes. The hardened soldiers’ faces were creased in worry. And there stood the second ettin, arms folded over its chest, gloating.
“NO WOMEN TO TRADE.” All four of its brows lifted. “BUT, LET MY BROTHER GO, NO MORE HARM. NO MORE DEATH … SCALY ONE.”
“You lie!” I said.
I’ve said it before. I’m good at telling the truth from a lie. And Brenwar had already told me a thousand times that giants are liars.
But the villagers didn’t know that. The soldiers didn’t either.
I searched for Sasha. She was tending to the wounded in the field. I hoped maybe she could contact Bayzog. Tell him to hurry. At the moment, we were at a standstill. I had to buy time. I had to calm the villagers.
“Ben!”
He ran over to me. Marveled at the ettins, then turned to me.
“Yes, Dragon?”
“He’s lying. The women aren’t dead. Spread the word around.”
He started to run off.
“And be convincing!”
The villagers wouldn’t stand for this much longer. They’d attack. So would the soldiers, and more of them would die. I couldn’t let that happen.
“I’m losing my patience, ettin.” I turned my bow on the second ettin. “Perhaps it’s you that would be better off without one head. Perhaps one doesn’t agree so much with the other.”
The ettins scratched their heads. Turned to one another and whispered in Ettish.
I could understand it.
I whispered to Brenwar. “Get your chest.”
“Why?” he said.
“Just do it.”
“And what?”
“I don’t know. Think of something. Ask Sasha.”
Brenwar looked at me and the ettin’s knee.
“Just one more lick, ay?” He lifted his bushy black brows.
“Go!”
“All right, then.” He hopped down and marched off.
The ettins turned back to me. The second one scratched one of its heads. The first one looked worried. At least I had them thinking.
“YOU WON’T SHOOT. YOU SHOOT, WE SMASH PEOPLE.”
“I shoot, one of you won’t be smashing anything. And need I remind you I have plenty of arrows?”
I knew one of my arrows would hurt them. But kill them? Maybe. And I wasn’t so sure it was all right to kill an ettin. Even if it had killed many innocent people. It was all confusing. But I should be able to outsmart an ettin.
Twang!
The ettin ducked. My arrow sailed high over its head.
“HA! YOU MISSED!”
“No, no I didn’t. Take a look behind you,” I said.
The ettin’s heads turned.
>
KABOOM!
The ettin flinched and covered its eyes.
Everyone screamed.
Less than a hundred yards past the second ettin, a hundred-foot-tall oak cracked and groaned. Its trunk was bigger than the ettin’s hairy legs. It wavered. Teetered and toppled and crashed to the ground.
The second ettin turned to me, grunting. Scratching its heads. A worried look grew on its faces.
I had another arrow aimed right at it.
“HMRPH,” it said. “We think about this.”
“You do that, ettin. In the meantime,” I said, pointing my bow at its brother, “I’ll keep a close eye, a very close one, on your brother.”
“No shoot!” it said. “No shoot!”
Its chest rose up and down under my feet. I could feel its heart beating in my toes. Heavy rapid thumps. It was worried. The more worried the better. It gave me control.
For some reason, I was thirsty. I felt really hot and uncomfortable, not to mention the ettin’s hot breath was so foul and nasty. It took away my appetite. Still, something else was gnawing at my stomach.
Earlier, I’d felt great. I had two dragon arms. I was bigger, faster, and stronger. Now I felt so small and ineffective. I wasn’t sure how to fight a monster more than thirty feet tall. Its hands were so big that it could squeeze my head off. Snap me like a twig. Perhaps I wasn’t such a big deal in Nalzambor after all.
The second ettin turned and took a knee, facing me and its brother. It spoke more quietly.
“Let my brother go and we’ll bring back your women,” the head on the left said.
“I thought you said they were all dead.”
“I didn’t say they were alive,” he head on the right said, “but at least you could bury them.” It chuckled and showed a toothy grin.
Now I had to wonder, did one head lie? Did the other head tell the truth? It was best to assume they both lied. But it angered me. It was a horrible thought, them killing innocent women. I adjusted my bow. Drew it tight. Aimed at the last head that had spoken.
“I’ve had enough! Take us to the women or your brother will suffer.”
“All right! All right!” it said. “We’ll take you. Just, please, put down your bow. We don’t want to lose a head. We don’t want to have a hole in us.” It leaned back. “You win, dragon man.”
“That’s better.” I unnocked my arrow. “Now, tell me where—”
“ACHOO!”
The first ettin sneezed. My footing shifted, and I dropped to my seat. The disgusting spray was all over me.
“Yuck!” I said, slinging my hands and wiping my face.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
The first ettin’s bindings were breaking. A howl of villagers and soldiers filled the air.
“What is going—”
Whap!
The recumbent ettin’s big hand swatted me from its chest. I tumbled to the ground and Akron fell from my grasp. Above me, the second ettin was cutting the cords with a stone knife I hadn’t noticed earlier. I dove for my bow. The first ettin slapped its hand over it.
“No ‘Boom Boom’ for you, dragon man!”
They had me surrounded. A pair of great hands clutched after me. I ducked under a swinging fist and hopped over a clutching hand. They were quick for being so big. Their size negated my speed.
Wham! Wham! Wham!
Fists bigger than barrels shook the ground. Big fingers grasped for me. I went for my sword.
Swat!
The second ettin backhanded me and flattened me to the ground. The first ettin scooped me up in both hands, pinning my arms to my sides.
I flexed my dragon arms. I tried to kick. But I could only move my toes.
The ettins chuckled.
“Look what we have here, Big Brother,” the first ettin said. “We got us a dragon man. Let’s take him, throw him in a pot, and turn him to stew like the others.”
CHAPTER 12
The ground shook. Bayzog shuddered. Pictures of angry ettins danced in his head. He had to run. Hide. Do something. He muttered a protection spell. A mystic surge coursed through his blood. Calmness and security followed.
He sighed.
“That’s better.”
Thoom.
The footsteps were distant, and he didn’t have to be an elven ranger to know that. But how close was too close?
Something else caught his ears, and he hunkered down in his saddle, eyes searching. The rustling foliage. Darting. Jumping. It was fast and coming right at him. He dove to the ground and covered his head. A herd of gazelles burst across the path, leapt over him, and disappeared. His spooked horse trotted out of sight.
“Oh, great,” he said, rising and dusting off his robes. “Shum would laugh, maybe, if he saw that. Every elf in Nalzambor would. Shameful.”
He ambled down the path―tripping over his robes before pulling them up―and went after the horse. The beast was well trained and wouldn’t run far unless it was really spooked. He figured on the worst-case scenario for Shum. Probably being eaten by an ettin by now. He forged ahead, pushing branch after branch from his face. He caught his robes on one, jerked the material free, and tore it.
“Drat it all,” he said, under his breath. He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Thoom.
His heart skipped and beat faster.
“Thank goodness for protection spells. Otherwise I’d be on the other side of the creek by now.”
He moved on.
Thoom.
He stopped.
Breathe, Bayzog. Breathe.
The points on his ears bent a little. Something else was running toward him.
He grabbed a stick and waited. I’m not getting my robes dirty this time.
A woman’s voice cried out.
“Aiiyee!”
He ran toward the sound of her voice.
She screamed again.
He jumped over a log, smashed through the branches, and ran right into her. They both tumbled to the ground. The woman was distraught and her clothes were in tatters. She had to be one of the villagers.
“Woman,” he said, “it’s all right. You are safe now.”
Her eyes were wide, darting, and glossy. Her entire body trembled. Bayzog brushed her dark hair from her scraped-up face. She just blinked at him like he wasn’t there.
“Did the ettins have you?”
She nodded.
Thoom!
She grabbed his robes and said, “Please! Please! Take me home! Get me away from here!”
“Easy,” he said. “We’ll get you home—”
Thoom!
She tore away from him and dashed into the woods.
“Wait!” he said, jumping after her.
“Aiiyee!” she said.
Bayzog ran after her, darted behind the trees, and stopped. Someone had a hold of the woman, and she beat and clawed at his chest. It was Shum. The big elf grabbed her by the back of the neck and squeezed. The woman collapsed in his arms.
“Is she all right?” Bayzog said.
“She’ll be fine.”
“What happened? Is she hurt?”
Shum showed a few teeth and said, “No, just a little Roaming Ranger trick.”
Thoom!
“That thing’s getting closer,” Bayzog said. “Is it an ettin?”
“I suppose. And looking for her, no doubt. Come on.”
They wove in and out of the trees. Shum carried the woman in his arms like a baby. Seconds later they found both horses.
“Ah, good,” Bayzog said, “I thought he was lost.”
“No worries,” Shum said, “can you ride with her?”
“Me? Why not you?”
“I’m not going back,” Shum said, “you are.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What I always do,” Shum said, “find the missing.”
Bayzog swung himself up on the horse. Shum handed up the woman and draped her over the saddle. Then Shum whispered in the horse’s ear.
; “Can you speak Horse?”
Shum nodded.
“What did you tell it?”
“To carry you right back to where we came from,” Shum said, guiding the horse away.
Thoom!
The trees shook and birds scattered. Several critters dashed under the horses’ bellies.
Bayzog was saying, “I’ll come back with the others—”
When Shum whacked the horse on the rear, and it leapt forward.
Bayzog surged ahead, glancing back over his shoulder.
Shum leapt onto his horse and disappeared.
A tree crashed down right behind Shum, followed by a loud yell.
“WHERE ARE YOU?”
An ettin emerged. It stood as tall as the trees. Its dark eyes found Bayzog.
“Oh no!” he said, snapping the reins.
Thoom! Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!
The ettin ran right after him.
***
Shum realized his error. He had assumed the ettin would come for him, not Bayzog. That had been his plan, but plans change. He turned his horse and galloped after the ettin.
Ahead, two big heads bobbed up and down. Massive arms swung at its sides like hammers. The ettin’s giant strides covered the ground as fast as a horse. He dug his heels into his steed.
“Yah!”
The horse thundered ahead. Shum’s horse wasn’t just any horse but a special one bred by the Roaming Rangers. Big and sleek, the Roamer Stallions were the rarest breed in the land. This was one of the fastest creatures on four hooves. In seconds, the chestnut horse was on the heels of the ettin, but Shum rode right by with the wind whistling in his long, pointed ears.
Ahead, Bayzog was doing little to distance himself from the ettin despite his mare’s efforts.
Shum ran out in front of the ettin and angled the other way. The ettin didn’t follow. It kept after Bayzog. It wanted the woman. Time for plan two.
Shum’s long fingers wrapped around the shaft of a short spear that was hooked to the saddle. Its tip was intricate. Elven crafted. Only two feet long. He charged after the ettin. Its big steps would close in on Bayzog at any moment. Shum caught the worried look in Bayzog’s eyes.
The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) Page 38
