“Sasha!” Bayzog said, reaching out for her.
A roar of flame coated the shield. The bright-orange, blistering flames blinded his eyes. A bolt of lightning lanced through the shield, and again it began to crack.
Ssszram!
Another bright blast came, shattering the shield into shards and knocking Bayzog from his feet. Numb and shaking, he rolled off his back and tried to gather his feet. Strong hands hoisted him up. He looked back and saw Samaz.
“Look!” Samaz said with wide fear-filled eyes. “Mother!”
Twenty feet away, Sasha was hemmed in by a pair of dragons, a blue streak and a grey scaler, each standing one head taller than Sasha. Tongues licked from their mouths, and angry hisses came forth.
Brow buckled, Bayzog unleashed power from the Elderwood Staff.
Kra-Cow!
A blinding bolt of intense golden power erupted from the staff, incinerating the grey scaler. The blue streak darted away.
Bayzog and Samaz rushed over to Sasha and helped her stand. Her robes were torn, and one knee was bleeding.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she said, dusting off her robes. “I should have been able to handle that. What a fool I am. I had a spell on my lips and could not—”
A great shadow filled the ravine, and all parties looked up. A huge sky raider descended, its great jaws wide open. In an instant, Bayzog finally realized his shield was gone. The scales on the beast’s chest became bright like flame, and it blasted the ravine with an ear-splintering roar. Covering his ears, Bayzog fell to his knees. Sasha was shaking, and the heat alone from the great dragon’s breath was suffocating. A snort of flame shot from its nose, and the blackness of its massive maw began to glow.
“Do something, Father!” Samaz said.
Bayzog’s thoughts went blank.
***
“Did you find it?” Ben said to Brenwar, bow ready, eyeing the sky.
“No,” Brenwar yelled, ripping a small tree out of the earth.
A dragon burst from the foliage, little bigger than him. Its mouth filled with flames that began to gush out.
Brenwar stuffed the small tree into its mouth. “Chew on that, fire breather!”
A copper dragon head emerged from the woodland and dashed into the clearing. Its tail swiped the ground and lifted Brenwar from his feet.
Brenwar’s head cracked a rock. “I’ve had enough of you lizards!” He snatched up the rock his head had broken and hurled it at the dragon.
The monster slithered aside and pounced on Brenwar. Claws tore at his eyes and limbs. Its tail curled around his throat.
“Now yer making me mad,” Brenwar spat at the beast. He cocked back his arm and punched it with all the power of his bracer.
Whop! Whop! Whop!
The dragon hissed. Acid flames dripped from its mouth, but the stubborn monster held on, dripping acid onto Brenwar’s armor so that it sizzled and burned holes in his now-smoking beard.
“Now you’ve done it!”
Whop whop whop!
Whop whop whop!
The dragon’s ribs cracked, making tree-like splintering sounds.
Cri-crick crick!
Its body softened and wavered. Its tail went slack around his neck.
Brenwar grabbed its tail and slung the two-hundred-pound dragon like a man slinging a cat.
It crashed into a tree and moved no more.
Nearby, Ben loosed another arrow into a dragon’s neck, dropping it from the sky. The warrior locked eyes with him and nocked another arrow.
“Brenwar, look out!”
Out of nowhere, a grey scaler pounced on his back, driving him face first to the ground.
“Blasted lizards!” Fighting to regain his footing and ignoring the clawing at his back, Brenwar twisted over. He shoved the limp form of the dragon off him. “What happened?” he said. “I didn’t even hit it.” And then he noticed Rerry.
The young part-elf warrior brushed his light hair from his eyes, staring at the blood on his sword. “I—I killed it,” Rerry said, staring down at the dragon. “With my sword.”
Brenwar got up on his feet. “You did well, part of a part-elf. Now stop gawking and help me find my hammer.” His eyes scoured the landscape. “Ah, there it is.” Making his way toward the brush, he stopped and picked up his war hammer.
Above, a great dragon blotted out the light of the sun and landed over the ravine. Another one circled over the first.
“Sultans of Sulfur,” Ben said. “Not another one.”
“We have to get back,” Rerry said, “Mother and Father are up there!”
CHAPTER 16
A storm brewed inside Nath Dragon. The mere idea of shedding innocent blood infuriated him. After all, he was the one destined to protect the dragons from such horrific things. Now Gorn and Selene had tried in a more subtle way to get him to kill an innocent dragon, a female. It was madness. Why would he ever do such a thing?
He looked the dragon in the eye and petted her snout. She wasn’t young, but perhaps the same age as him. Bright scaled and beautiful. A beautiful vision most people only dreamed of seeing.
“I’ll save you,” he softly said under his breath. “Somehow.” He closed his eyes and thought of his friends. They were dying out there, all because of him. Gorn offered to save them if he killed this one dragon. And then what? His thoughts raced.
Think it through, Dragon. Think it through.
“Time is up, Nath Dragon,” Gorn said. “And I’m certain your dear friends’ lives hang by a thread. Seconds remain, maybe.”
Lies!
Evil always lies.
Perhaps, Nath thought, everything I’ve seen is a lie. Why should I do anything Gorn says? Or Selene, for that matter? His mind turned it over in those moments. What of his friends, who he feared he’d never see again? They’d made it clear to him before that they were ready to die for him. He had never understood what that meant until right now.
He turned and faced Gorn Grattack. Stepping forward, he grabbed Gorn’s spear by the tip and held it to his chest.
Gorn leered down at him, brow lifted.
“You win, Gorn. But I offer you something better. My life for hers and the lives of my friends. I need your word on that.”
“What?” Selene said, coming forward, hands balled up into fists. “Don’t be a fool, Nath!”
“Back away, Selene!” Gorn said, sneering at her. “You disappoint me!” Gorn pulled the spear away from Nath and rested it on his shoulder. Glowering at Nath with blazing eyes, he said, “You disappoint me as well.”
“My father, Balzurth, didn’t raise me to kill dragons. He raised me to save them.” He swallowed. He could feel something swelling inside his chest. A wonderful epiphany of sorts. “I understand that now.”
“What sort of fool would die for those who don’t even care about him? All your life, have the dragons not rejected you?”
“I’m over it,” Nath said, stepping forward and taking a knee with a newfound inner strength. “If I have to die for them, then so be it.”
“Nath, don’t!” Selene said.
“Silence!” Gorn said, in more of a roar than a word. His rumbling voice shook the ground. “Nath Dragon, do you know what a pawn is?”
“Of course I do,” Nath said, looking up at Gorn’s terrifying face. “And I suppose you’re going to tell me I’ve been a pawn all along. A tool of my father’s. Even so, I stand by my word and his words. If it’s his will for me to be his pawn, then so be it. I believe in him.”
Gorn sneered and tossed back his head and let out a frightening roar.
Nath wasn’t sure if Gorn felt angry or triumphant.
Above, the Floating City continued to spin around and around, getting faster and faster.
“Your father has his pawn,” Gorn said. “And I have mine. The jaxite combined with my power will bring even more dragons under my control. Once I have them, I’ll take over your father’s precious Dragon Home and make it once again
my Mountain of Doom.”
“Not without a fight.”
“He won’t put up much of a fight after you’re gone, let me assure you.” Gorn bounced the spear off his shoulder. “Huh,” he said, snorting smoke, “part of me wants to thank you, but I don’t thank anyone.” He started to lower the spear. “And I’ve waited long enough for this.”
Nath lifted his chin and closed his eyes. He heard his heartbeat in his ears and felt Gorn poised to strike. He didn’t flinch when the spear sliced through the air.
Glitch!
He heard the tip pierce through scales, separating bone and marrow. He didn’t feel a thing.
A soft, painful moan caught Nath’s ears.
His eyes snapped open, and he screamed.
“Selene!”
CHAPTER 17
After the slaughter, Gorlee had scraped up fragments of armor, strapped them on, and taken on the form of a lizard man. He’d pushed though the heavy brush of the hillside, avoiding the path Selene and Nath had taken. Wingless dragons patrolled the path along the harsh woodland, escorted by draykis. He’d already had enough close calls the past few days. He’d gotten close, only to be pushed back again. His thick lizard hide saved him aggravation when hiding in the thorns and thistles.
Why do I have the feeling I’ll not get within a mile of Nath Dragon?
He kept hoping a human patrol or squad of the army would come down the path, but it didn’t happen. It was just draykis and dragons, not to mention the fiery eyes that peered down at him. The valley he sought to invade was a well-fortified hole.
Through the trees, he eyed two armored draykis leading a pair of six-legged blue dragons the size of ponies. The dragons snorted at the path, sniffing the leaves on the trees and growling.
Gorlee hunkered down deep into the brush. His heart started pounding. He’d been evading the dragons for days, but he couldn’t keep it up much longer. They knew he was near. They’d figure him out.
Be still. Don’t take any chances.
“Come on,” a draykis said, tugging on the chain that held the dragon by a heavy collar on its neck. “All you’re doing is sniffing branches.” He jerked the chain.
The dragon blasted fire at his feet.
The draykis hopped over the flame toward the dragon and swatted its horned head.
Whop!
“Don’t do that again!”
The dragon’s throat rumbled, but its neck bent down. Slowly, it turned and headed back down the path. The other draykis and dragon followed.
Gorlee gave it a few minutes and let out a breath.
Whew!
Once again, he pushed through the thickets and came to a stop on a crag that overlooked a crescent moon–shaped valley. It was distant, but among the treetops he could make out great stones standing tall in the valley. At least a dozen dragons were perched on those rocks, and more were coming. They glided in and landed while others departed and disappeared. But that wasn’t what enamored Gorlee at the moment.
I never would have believed it if I wasn’t seeing it for myself.
The Floating City hovered above, with the jaxite stones twinkling and throbbing with life. Nath Dragon had caught him up on a few things, and the Floating City this had to be. He also recalled the undead army that waited inside, and he started to count all the dragons perched on the building tops. There must have been at least a hundred that he could see, and others that weren’t tethered by chains were still flying in and out. A chill went through him.
What kind of army can stand against such a fortress?
Ignoring the trepidation within, he renewed his descent to the bottom of the mountain and the crescent-moon valley below.
I don’t know if Nath Dragon needs me, or if I need him.
Gorlee had made it another hundred yards or so when a loud commotion cut through the trees. It sounded like a fire and a skirmish of sorts. He swore his keen ears heard a woman cry out. He shook his head.
It’s a trap. It must be.
Nath had told him how some dragons played games when they baited their prey. He needed to be careful when he heard strange calls that cried out through the darkness. He glanced down the hill. He was getting closer to his goal, and he felt drawn to those great stones, but the sounds he heard were too tempting. Trusting his instincts, he rushed off toward the sound of danger.
Heroes do stupid things like this all the time.
He hopped a fallen tree, sped down into a clearing, and surged toward the other side.
Ssslap! Ssslap!
Dragon tails hanging like vines from the branches knocked him onto his backside. Two forest-green-scaled dragons plopped to the ground, heads low and hissing. In an instant, they had scrambled over the ground, and fierce jaws seized him by the leg and arm.
Gorlee screamed. The pain was blinding.
Change form! Change form!
The jaws of the black-tailed emerald dragons locked, and like angry bulldogs they tried to tug him apart.
“Nooooo!”
CHAPTER 18
Blank. Bayzog, who prided himself on being prepared for anything great or small, was dumbstruck.
“Father!” Samaz said again.
Eyes filled with destruction, the sky-raider dragon’s chest glowed with new light. Flames shot out of its nose.
Screaming, “Give me that!” Sasha snatched the Elderwood Staff from his grip and held it out before them.
The ancient piece of polished wood glowed with an intense, brilliant white light.
The dragon roared and recoiled.
“Be gone, monster!” Sasha yelled as the staff’s light became brighter and brighter.
Samaz rushed alongside his mother and yelled as well. “Go!”
The dragon turned its neck and shielded its eyes with its wing, letting out an awful-sounding roar that shook the mountain.
Bayzog shook his head, blinking. What am I doing?
Suddenly, the radiant light winked out, and he heard Sasha say, “Oh no!” She didn’t have control over the staff, but she’d had just enough to distract the dragon.
Baring its claws, it turned on them again with a nasty angry growl.
They were still cornered.
Gathering his wits, he bounded over and grabbed the staff.
“I’m sorry, Bayzog,” Sasha said, “I tried.”
“You did well! Now get behind me and hold on to me and the staff. Both of you!”
As the dragon started to let loose its breath, Bayzog felt power surge through him like never before. The wills of Sasha and Samaz forged a desperate bond with his and let loose a cannon of power.
Sssrazz-Booom!
A blast of blue-white energy punched a hole clean through the dragon and sent it spinning in the air. It flopped in midair and tumbled crashing through the trees, toppling timbers and pines in its death throes. Its ear-splitting howl was knee bending.
Bayzog took a deep breath and let both his own power and that of the staff fill him. He’d been holding back for years, decades even, but he couldn’t hold back now. This was it.
“Stay close,” he said to his family, “And thank you. Your bravery saved us.”
“We are here to help,” Sasha said, catching her breath, “I’m more than a lovely face, you know.”
“Father,” Samaz yelled, pointing toward the sky. “Another dragon comes!”
***
“Kill that dragon!” Brenwar yelled, winding up his hammer. “I’ve had my fill of them!”
Just as he finished saying it, a bolt of power ripped through the back of the sky raider that landed, sending it hurtling through the trees.
The second dragon sailed downward in its place, its claws and fangs bared.
Twang!
An exploding arrow rocketed through the air and hit the dragon underneath its wings, which sent it spinning out of control.
“Good shot,” Rerry said, “but we need to finish it.”
Ben and Rerry darted ahead and sprinted for the ravine. Legs churning,
Brenwar huffed along behind them, dragging Pilpin along with him. He glanced above and noted that the skies were clear. Only the Floating City remained behind them, and it had dragons whizzing out of it and draped all over it. He clambered up the hill as fast as his stout legs would take him, following the busted trees in the forest.
“Where’d you go?”
Crack!
Out of nowhere, a tail whipped out and sent both Brenwar and Pilpin spinning head over heels. He pushed his face out of the dirt and shook his beard. Head low, a grey scaler crept in with its tongue slithering out of its mouth.
Brenwar swung and missed.
Whoosh!
Pilpin was going in when a bolt of lightning shot from the dragon’s mouth and hit Brenwar square in his chest plate.
Zap!
Every hair stood up on end, and he staggered back into the trees with a painful tingling from head to toe. He shook his head like an angry bull and said, “Now you’ve made me mad!”
The dragon darted in at full speed, knocking Pilpin clean away with its tail.
“Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!” Pilpin cried as he sailed over the trees.
Timing it, Brenwar brought War Hammer around with all his power. A thunder clap followed.
Ka-Pow!
A dragon horn shattered, and the beast sagged to the ground.
Still tingling, Brenwar forged ahead.
The sky raider, ten tons of scales and towering twenty feet high, fought everything coming. Shum and Hoven darted in and out with their Dragon Needles. Ben volleyed arrow after arrow, and Rerry taunted the beast.
Mad and confused, the dragon struck. Its claws tore up the ground as it pounced after Rerry.
“Eep!” Rerry said, springing away from the snapping jaws of the dragon at the last second.
Shum knifed inside and jammed a Dragon Needle in its eye.
The dragon reared up with a roar, and a blast of yellow flames shot out of its mouth. In a flash, its great tail swept over the ground.
Ben and Rerry moved, but not fast enough. The tail swept them aside and flung them across the ground. Both man and part elf lay still and broken.
“No!” Brenwar yelled, charging straight for the dragon’s belly. Speeding underneath its swinging tail, he smashed it in the belly. Ancient metal powered by magic bracers met ancient scale.
The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) Page 122
