The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10)

by Craig Halloran

  “People will die,” he said again. “I see no way around that.”

  “It’s their choice. Warriors wage war. It gives their life meaning.”

  With that, Nath agreed. He’d been around enough fighters to understand their way of life. But a mad dash for a pile of clubs? By the look of things, skulls would be crushed. Except for the dwarves’.

  Still, Nath’s blood was charged.

  “So, what does the winner receive?” he said.

  “I’ll let that be a surprise.” She nodded to one of her acolytes. He motioned to another, and a moment later, brass horns trumpeted. The crowd sat down and fell silent.

  Selene rose from her chair and said to Nath, “Stand up and say it for them.”

  Slowly he came to his feet and said, “Say what for them?”

  “Say, ‘Let the battle royale begin’,” she said, “and use your dragon voice. Say it with some flare.”

  Caught up in the moment, Nath raised his arms over his head and shouted with his power,

  “LET THE BATTLE ROYALE COMMENCE!”

  CHAPTER 30

  It was a mad dash to the middle. The smaller, quicker warriors arrived first, snatched up clubs of metal and wood, pooled their forces, and started swinging. Three men, wiry and lean, clubbed down a lizardman and an orc in seconds.

  Nath clenched his fists.

  “Yes!”

  He hadn’t considered that the smaller warriors would form teams and take it to the bigger threats.

  “You like this,” Selene said, keeping her eyes fixed on the games.

  “I am a warrior.”

  Clubs went up and down, banging off shields and metal helmets.

  An orc broke a wooden club on a red-bearded dwarf’s head. The dwarf ripped the club away and dashed the brute across the knee. It teetered into a heap, and the dwarf whacked it into submission.

  The fast, hard-fought spectacle ignited screeching cheers from the crowd.

  Man fought gnoll.

  Orc fought lizardman.

  Women fought men.

  Speed verses skill versus strength.

  Four fell in the first seconds. Soldiers scrambled in, wearing yellow smocks draped over full armor. They dragged the wounded out by their arms and legs, but one man managed to walk on his own power, holding his broken arm by the elbow.

  “Once you surrender, you cannot return,” Selene said, “but so long as you are in the arena, you are fair game. The games are merciful.”

  Three warriors, two men and one woman who carried shields and swung clubs, hemmed in another warrior, a brute who swung two clubs like a wild man. He busted one man’s shield, knocking him to the ground, and caught a striking blow in his ribs by the woman.

  Whack! Whack! Whack!

  The club came down with wroth force on all three of them, splintering chips off her shield. She collapsed on her knees. The third warrior slammed his club into the back of the towering fighter’s knees, dropping him.

  Sticks clattered on sticks with feverish madness.

  The woman rolled out of harm’s way from a thunderous blow. She scrambled back to her feet and twisted behind the third fighter and slipped behind the brute.

  Well played, Nath thought.

  The monster fighter didn’t see it coming. She clobbered him in the back of the skull. His clubs slipped from his fingertips. The pair of small men dashed him from knees to shoulder.

  Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!

  The frenzied crowd howled.

  “Yield!” the brute cried from bloody lips. “Yield!”

  The three warriors paused, conversed, and pounced back into the fracas.

  Nath felt his blood churning in his veins. The fighters were rugged, hardy, and well-trained, all of them. They were fierce. Some showed compassion. Others did not.

  A gnoll crushed a man’s helmet with a two-handed blow.

  An orc had a long-haired woman in a choke hold.

  They bit, they scratched, they smashed.

  Wang!

  A large man adorned in dark purple robes and wearing a helmet of iron clocked a gnoll in the head. Its body collapsed and shuddered. He slung the blood from his gauntlets and eased into the fray once more. The heavy-shouldered warrior caught a club in his armored hand, ripped it away from a lizardman, and struck.

  Crack!

  The lizardman crumpled and threw his arms up.

  Crack!

  The warrior broke his wrists and moved on.

  “He’s quite the fighter,” Selene commented. “Size, skill, and speed.”

  Nath’s eyes darted from battle to battle. Over a score of fighters had fallen and withdrawn, leaving less than a dozen. His fingers twitched.

  “You want to jump in there, don’t you?” Selene said, sipping her wine.

  “It wouldn’t be fair,” he said.

  “So sure of yourself, are you?” she replied.

  He glanced at her, then back in the arena.

  “They might surprise you,” she added, “if things were a little more even. After all, you’ll still be here next year. Maybe we can make the stakes higher.”

  He huffed a silent laugh. He’d battled and killed full-grown dragons. It was absurd to think one of those warriors could best him.

  “Why? Next year do you plan to have dragons fighting dragons?”

  “That would be interesting,” she said.

  “That’s what poachers sell them for,” he said, glaring at her. “Being a dragon, you should be ashamed of what you say.”

  She shrugged it off and said, “I say if they want to do it, as warriors, then let them. No one is making them do it. If you wanted to fight, wouldn’t you want me to let you?”

  He didn’t reply. Instead, he kept his eyes intent on the battle in the arena. Iron Helm held the dwarf down by the neck and hammered into his ribs. It stirred Nath’s blood. Dwarves never yielded, whether you were beating them to death or not. The battered dwarf struggled to rise, only to be beaten down again by the superior foe until it moved no more.

  The three warriors walloped a pair of orcs that had been fighting as a team. A swift clattering of sticks disarmed the dismayed orcs, and another succession of blows drove them to their hands and knees. Knotted and bruised, covered in dirt and sweat, hairy chests heaving, the pair feigned surrender and tossed dirt into the eyes of the three aggressors and pounced.

  The crowd went wild, pumping their fists up at the sun.

  One of the team of three warriors went down under the weight of the two orcs. His head slammed into the ground. The orcs stomped and kicked him. The warrior curled up under his shield, screaming for help. The woman charged, ramming her shield into the back of one orc and barreling him over. A swift strike of her club caught him in the chin, knocking him out cold. She whirled back toward the remaining orc.

  She’s a fine fighter. All three are.

  The warrior on the ground wrapped his arms around the second orc’s legs. The second warrior wailed on the orc with his club until it pleaded for mercy.

  Thunder boomed, startling the crowd. The skies darkened. Drizzling rain came.

  “They’ll be fighting in the mud soon enough,” Selene said, holding out her hand to feel the rain. “I like this weather. It’s so … soothing.”

  It could have been raining buckets, and Nath would not have noticed. His eyes were glued on the conflict. Amidst the moans and groans, only four fighters were left standing: the large robed man in the iron helm, and the three crafty warriors, one of which, a man, was limping. Shields raised and clubs ready, they surrounded the larger fighter and barked commands to each other.

  Interesting, Nath thought, if they defeat this goon, they’ll have to battle one another. Nath rested his chin on his knuckles. Humph.

  The rain came a little harder, plittering off the three warriors’ metal helmets. In perfect synchronization, they advanced. They struck.

  Cat quick, Iron Helm caught a club of the flanking men in each mailed hand. The woman, in the middle,
smote him in the chest with a thud. In a heave, Iron Helm twisted the clubs from the men and slung them to the ground. He drove his boot into the woman’s gut, knocking her off her feet.

  The crowd exploded. The big warrior was fast.

  Too fast, Nath thought.

  The warriors scrambled over the muddy dirt, snatched more clubs off the ground, and charged.

  Wood clocked off wood. Iron Helm parried, deflected, and countered. Clubs licked out, popping him in the arms, knees and legs. The woman rapped on his helmet with a metal rod, clanging it like a bell. The mighty fighter waded through it all. His blows became fierce. Harder. The three warriors’ chests were heaving now. They looked back and forth at one another. It was fatal.

  Iron Helm attacked the limping man, drumming him all over with his mighty clubs. Snakes couldn’t have struck faster.

  Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

  The man crumpled.

  A blistering series of blows rained down on Iron Helm’s backside. He spun, grabbed the nearest man’s arms, jerked him off the ground, pushed him over his head, and slammed him head first into the ground.

  “Ooooooooooh,” the ignited crowd said.

  Iron Helm was a giant compared to the woman. Her shoulders sagged, and her arms were shaking. Slowly, she raised her sticks up.

  “She should yield,” Selene said, leaning back, “don’t you think?”

  It would be wise, Nath thought. Be he didn’t see it happening. She’d fought harder than anybody.

  “Someone once told me, ‘The best surprises come in small packages,’” he said.

  Iron Helm dropped his clubs and beckoned the woman with his metal fingers.

  She let out a battle cry and charged. Her clubs slammed into his ribs. His fingers locked around her throat and hoisted her off the ground. With his free hand, he ripped her helmet off.

  The crowd gasped.

  She was dark-haired and pretty, but one eye was missing. She kicked at Iron Helm’s chest. His grip was a vice, and her skin began to purple. Life drained from her face.

  Selene leaned toward Nath and said, “You were saying?”

  Nath’s jaw muscles tensed.

  “He should release her!” he said to Selene, astounded.

  “She hasn’t pleaded. She hasn’t withdrawn.”

  “She can’t speak. He holds her by the neck.”

  Selene leaned back in her chair and said, “There are no rules against that.”

  Nath rose to his feet, watching the woman slap at Iron Helm’s arms.

  “She’s tapping his arms. That’s a submission!”

  “She’ll be well remembered,” Selene said, looking at her nails. “A funeral. Flowers, perhaps.”

  “This isn’t a death match! End this!”

  “Mercy!” someone screamed.

  “Release her!” shouted another.

  “If you won’t stop it, I will!”

  Selene shrugged.

  Nath turned to leap into the arena. The woman stopped flailing. Heart sinking into his toes, he fell down into his seat.

  Crack!

  CHAPTER 31

  “You are a monster,” Nath said to Selene. “A monster.”

  “Oh come now. She died with honor. And with a bad eye, she didn’t have much to live for.” Selene huffed. “Nath, I didn’t kill her. That warrior did. Perhaps you should speak to him about it.”

  The emptiness inside him stirred. His claws dug into the arms of his chair.

  “But first,” Selene said, “we must honor the champion.” She rose from her seat and quieted the crowd with her arms. Heavy drops of rain pelted her face.

  Nath’s eyes were fixed on the warrior woman’s broken form, lying still in the mud.

  She didn’t deserve that. His scaly biceps flexed. But he does.

  “Champion!” Selene said. “You have won the Battle Royale. Your skills are without equal. And now, anything in the city is within your grasp. Fame. Fortune. Notoriety. An army of your own men to lead, perhaps.”

  Boots sinking into the mud, the warrior came forward and stood before the thrones. The eyes behind the helmet leered at Nath and focused back on Selene.

  “High Priestess,” the champion said. His voice was gruff and throaty. “I do not desire any of those things.”

  “Then what is it you wish?” she said.

  “I want to fight Nath Dragon … to the death!”

  The silent crowd ruptured in howls and cheers.

  Nath glanced at Selene. Her eyes were wide, and her jaw hung open. In a moment, she recovered and focused on him.

  “That isn’t part of the custom,” she said without batting an eye, “but the champion is entitled to such a bold request.” Her eyes flitted toward the champion. His big arms roused the crowd. “I’m sure they wouldn’t think any less of you if you declined. And I’m certainly not going to make you do it. That’s up to you.”

  Nath’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t what Selene said that bothered him. It was what she didn’t say. Omission was one of the best ways to hide the truth and bury a lie. Wrap meaningless words around it. She’s hiding something. I can feel it. His eyes drifted to the fallen warriors in the mud. Why would he avenge people he didn’t know? They knew what they were in for. And that man in the arena, he would love to teach him a lesson, but it was beneath him. At least it should be.

  “I think I’ve seen enough,” he said, getting up and turning away. “I wish to return to the tower.”

  “Understood,” Selene said, “understood.” She addressed the citizens. “Citizens, the Battle Royale is over. And you, Champion, will have to make another request. Nath Dragon is our guest, and we dishonor him by challenging him to a death match.”

  The crowd became restless and started to boo and shout.

  “Teach him a lesson, Nath Dragon!”

  “Avenge that brave woman!”

  “Feed that brute his helmet!”

  “Stuff those gauntlets in his mouth!”

  The comments stirred his blood, making him turn and look down on the challenger.

  “Yes, teach me a lesson, Nath Dragon,” Iron Helm said, “or be a coward and walk away.”

  Nath set his jaw and headed for the wall.

  Selene grabbed him by the crook of his arm and said, “It’s not worth it. You’re right. You are better than this. Let’s go. The crowd will forget about it soon enough, and who knows, maybe you can dazzle them someday with other awesome feats.”

  “He called me a coward,” Nath said.

  “A word, a meaningless word. Come,” she said, “Come.”

  As Nath began to turn away, the champion removed his helmet and said, “Come back and play, Dragon, or are you afraid I might kill you!”

  Nath’s face flushed red. He recognized the face. The voice.

  But it was Selene who spoke first.

  “Kryzak!” she yelled. “You traitor! You dog! How dare you infiltrate this honorable event! I should have your head for this.”

  “I only wish to please you, High Priestess!” the war cleric said. “To win my honor back. Return to your side. I’ve learned the error of my ways. ”

  Nath glared at the man with the tattooed forehead, taking it all in. The war cleric had changed. And he was bigger. Uglier, with scales on his head. Ah, part draykis. Barnabus had to have done this. Why would he not side with Selene?

  “You are a failure, Kryzak,” she continued. “Trying to overthrow me was a fatal mistake. I rule this army, not you. I am done with you.”

  “But I am the champion now!” He thumped his chest. “Let me fight him. Let me earn the right to rule by your side.”

  “You have no right, aside from one. A champion’s request. And if you have any wisdom left, you should plead for your life.” She motioned to her soldiers. They surrounded Kryzak. “I suggest you move on.”

  Kryzak laughed. “My request stands.” He shot a look at Nath. “Come down here, big mouth. You know you want to. Please the crowd. Please yourself.”
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br />   The crowd began the chant.

  Nath! Nath! Nath! Nath!

  His claws dug into his paws. He hated Kryzak after what he’d done, drowning Shum and almost killing Brenwar, Sasha and Bayzog.

  He has it coming!

  He leapt into the arena, and the crowd went into a frenzy.

  “Nath!” Selene yelled. “You don’t have to do this!”

  He glanced back at her and said, “Yes, I do.” He turned, oblivious to the veiled smile on her lips, and faced Kryzak. The war cleric stood tall, his girth thick and unnatural. A crooked smile crossed over his lips. He said, “Anything goes?”

  Nath replied, “Anything you have won’t be enough.”

  The fighters squared off in the middle of the arena, and the soldiers disbursed along the wall. Selene rose her arms and hushed the crowd.

  “The Champion of Narnum versus the great Nath Dragon.”

  The people cheered. The rain poured down.

  “Anything goes. This match is to the death.”

  “Aren’t you going to put your helmet on?” Nath said to Kryzak. “You’re going to need it.”

  Kryzak sneered and strapped it on.

  Selene dropped her arms, and the brass trumpets blared.

  Nath sprang and knocked Kryzak’s helmet from his head.

  The big man staggered back, wiping the blood from his jaw and shaking his head.

  “You looked better with it,” Nath said, “I’ll say that much.”

  “Try that again,” Kryzak said.

  “Am I supposed to wait for you to put the helmet back on?”

  “That’s not what I meant.” Kryzak shook his head. “You and that tongue of yours. It’s time I ripped it out.” He muttered an incantation, lowered his head, and charged.

  Nath braced himself. A smacking collision of bone, muscle, and scales followed, jolting Nath’s entire body.

  Sultans of Sulfur! What is he made of?

  Kryzak punched hard. Swift. A donkey didn’t kick that hard.

  “Oof!”

  The war cleric socked his belly, doubling him down. A nasty uppercut followed.

  Clack!

  Nath’s feet left the ground. He splashed back-first into the mud, his jaw loosened and his face hurt. The roaring crowd surged in his head. He pushed his fist in the mud and gathered his feet beneath him, teetering a little. His skin tingled.