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

by Craig Halloran

  Krang-Boom!

  Scales shattered. Bones splintered. The dragon staggered backward on its haunches and fell.

  Hoven, like a shadow, moved in and struck.

  Glitch!

  He pierced the dragon’s chest, straight into its heart.

  The beast huffed one last breath of fire, and its glowing eyes went out as it died.

  “Ben! Rerry!” Brenwar rushed over to them. They were breathing. “Wake up!”

  “Perhaps a gentler approach,” Shum said, strolling over.

  Brenwar shoved him away and kneeled down to pinch Ben.

  Ben’s eyes snapped open. “Ow!” The warrior started to his feet. “Ow!”

  “I didn’t even touch you that time,” Brenwar said.

  Ben winced. “I think my arm is broken.”

  “Well, you should have been paying better attention,” Brenwar said. “Ducked, jumped, or something.”

  “Not everyone is made out of stone like you dwarves.”

  “Oh!” Rerry said, as Shum and Hoven jostled him up, “and I think my leg is broken.”

  Brenwar shook his head. “Great, just great. Now I’m going to have to carry the both of you.”

  “You aren’t carrying me,” said Ben, “My legs are just fine.”

  A branch cracked from somewhere nearby. Everyone’s stance became battle ready. Shum and Hoven crept forward and spread out wide just as a figure emerged.

  It was Pilpin. “Save any dragon for me?” he said, lifting his brow.

  “Did you find us a cave yet?” Brenwar said.

  “No, did you?”

  “Pah!”

  A moment later, Bayzog, Sasha, and Samaz emerged from the brush.

  “Rerry!” Sasha said, rushing over to his side.

  “I’ll be fine, Mother. I’m just glad you and Father are well.” He looked at his brother, who had the faintest smile on his grim face. “Even Samaz.”

  ***

  Change form! Change form!

  Gorlee could feel the emerald dragons biting down into his flesh, sinking their teeth in deeper and deeper. He screamed. “Ee-yah!”

  One tugged on his arm and the other pulled on his leg, stretching his body taut as a bowstring.

  Come on, change, Gorlee!

  It was hard to concentrate and fight the blinding pain at the same time. All his life, he’d been clever enough to avoid such unpleasant circumstances. But today, this very minute, it had all caught up with him.

  They’re going to eat me! Guzan, no!

  He squeezed his eyes shut, blocked out the pain, and thought of the hardest thing that he knew. He saw the great stones in the valley, and his skin began turning to living stone. His pain faded, and his strength renewed. With his free arm, he punched one of the dragons in the head. Its jaws loosened, and it recoiled with a hiss. He grabbed the other one by the horns and twisted its neck until it released his arm. Its claws raked at his stony skin. Gorlee flung it away.

  “Be gone, lizards!”

  With leery eyes and tongues flickering from their mouths, the dragons flanked him. Their black tails slithered from side to side.

  Gorlee kicked at them. “Go away if you know what’s good for you!”

  Together, the dragons opened their mouths and spat out blasts of bright-green fire. The flames engulfed Gorlee from head to toe.

  “Argh!”

  His stony skin was tough, but nothing was completely resistant to dragon fire. The suffocating heat dropped him to his knees, and he curled up into a ball. His stone-hard skin sizzled.

  Hang on, Gorlee! They can’t breathe out forever! Hang on!

  The roar of fire filled his ears. Every second felt like ten. The heat was excruciating. Unbearable. He felt faint and dizzy. He tried to concentrate on something else, anything else, but he couldn’t focus.

  I’m not going to make it.

  Whoosh!

  The flames stopped. The air felt ice cold on his smoking skin. He opened his eyes and started to rise.

  “Stay still, lizard man,” a voice said. It was familiar, dwarven.

  Two tall elven men with pot bellies stood over the emerald dragons with spears driven into them. The dragons were dead, and the dwarf who spoke was …

  “Brenwar?”

  “What kind of lizard man are you?” Brenwar said.

  Another dwarf, much smaller than Brenwar, rushed in and chopped his axe into Gorlee’s leg. The blade skipped off.

  “This lizard man is a living statue,” Pilpin said. He swung his axe into the back of Gorlee’s legs this time, sweeping him off his feet. “A fallen statue.”

  Suddenly, Gorlee was hemmed in with spear tips and axe blades.

  One of the elven men spoke, pointing a spear tip at his neck, saying, “This will penetrate anything.”

  Brenwar jostled his axe over him, saying, “And this will do much worse than what this elf thinks he can do.”

  Gorlee swallowed hard. His friends weren’t toying with him. And judging by the hard looks in their battle-scarred faces, he’d better be careful how he chose his next words. Slowly, he held up his palms, closed his eyes, turned his cheek and said, “I’m Gorlee. Please don’t kill me, friends?”

  CHAPTER 19

  “You say he’s down there?” Bayzog said. He stood on an overlook, hidden by the trees. All the others were there except Ben, Sasha, and Rerry. She was treating the wounded. “The Half Moon Valley of Stones. Interesting.”

  “What’s so interesting about it?” Brenwar said, looking through a spyglass. “Just roughhewn stones.”

  “They’re portals.”

  “To where?”

  Bayzog ignored him. He was more interested in what Gorlee, who stood beside him in the form of a large roughhewn stone himself, had to say. He stared at the changeling.

  “What? Better than a goblin—or a dwarf,” Gorlee said to Brenwar.

  “Hah!”

  “Perhaps you’d prefer an orc,” Gorlee said. “I expected you’d be glad to see me.”

  “Glad … har, never!”

  “It’s not your appearance,” Bayzog said, “it’s your story. Nath Dragon and Selene. Why would he do such a thing?”

  Gorlee had already told them about his abduction and Selene’s betrayal, but he still didn’t understand Nath’s motivation.

  “I guess Nath needed to see what he was up against.”

  “You should have stopped him,” Brenwar said.

  “And blown my cover? I couldn’t do that. They’d have killed us all, not that they didn’t try once already.” Gorlee towered over Brenwar with his hands on his hips. “Hundreds of men died just after he left.”

  “Back up, changeling, or whatever you are.” Brenwar poked at him with the war hammer. “I’m not going to mourn men who served on the side of evil. Now, get out of my way. I’m going down there and dragging him out myself.”

  “There’s scores of dragons down there,” Bayzog said, stepping in his way. “Not to mention the hundreds that watch from above in the city. Set your frustration and anger aside. Let’s think about this. At least we know Nath is close, and I’m grateful for that.”

  “Hrmph!”

  “We need a plan,” Shum said, stepping in. “But I fear we might be too late.”

  “Why do you say that?” Brenwar said.

  Shum pointed toward the Floating City. The jaxite glowed with new life, and the dragons tethered to the chains were flying again, with their great wings beating. Slowly, the city began to turn in the sky. Little by little, it picked up speed.

  Eyes tilted upward, Bayzog said, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “What do you mean?” Brenwar said. “Spit it out, elf.”

  “If I were to guess … that city and all that stone, it’s a beacon.”

  “A beacon for what?”

  “A beacon that will not only attract but control more dragons.”

  “And how many of those do you think it will control?” Gorlee said.

  “With that much
jaxite? I’d say all of them.”

  ***

  Brenwar stormed away, found his chest, and picked it up by the outside handles. He headed back to the rest of the party and dropped it at their feet. They all stared.

  “What are you looking at me like that for?”

  “What do you propose we do with that,” Shum said, eyeing it, “put our boots in it?”

  Hoven laughed.

  “Brenwar,” Bayzog said, kneeling down and opening the chest up wide. “I understand what you’re thinking, but even this and all the powers stored within, I don’t think it will help us enough.”

  “Nath went in there with nothing at all, as I understand it. At least we have this. Now is the time to help him.” Brenwar looked into the darkening sky. Lightning streaked across it, and more dragons flew into the city. “Now is the time. I feel it in these bones of mine.”

  Bayzog fingered the items in the chest. There were rows of potions in small, bright vials, ornate tokens and objects, strangely woven cloths, wands, orbs, tools, and stones of many colors. He plucked a yellow vial from the shelf and tossed it to Hoven.

  “Take that to Sasha and tell her to use it on Ben and Rerry, if you please.”

  Hoven started to slide away, but Ben’s strong voice stopped him.

  “I’ll take it from here,” he said, coming closer and looking into the chest. His arm was in a sling, and his bearded face was scratched up something fierce. “I think what you have in there can certainly help us, but this is what Dragon needs.”

  Ben held out Fang, who was still sheathed in his scabbard. The dragonhead hilt’s tiny gemstone eyes were glowing, and puffs of smoke flared from their nostrils. “Fang’s trying to talk to me. I think he misses Dragon.”

  Eyes resting on Fang’s hilt, the wizard’s face brightened a little. He was certain Nath was alive. The possible futures shown in Samaz’s dreams didn’t always come to pass. It was clear to Bayzog, inside his gut, that Nath still lived. He’d been hesitant before to let his friends rush in, fearing the venture might be futile, that Nath was gone. For now, this was not the case. There was still time to help their lost friend.

  “That settles it, then,” Brenwar said, standing tall and picking up his war hammer, “we’re going down there now.”

  And then the ground shook. Stones cracked. A gut-wrenching dragon bellow rose up out of the valley and swayed the trees and timbers.

  “BAH-ROOOOOOOO!”

  “What in Guzan’s beard was that?” Brenwar said.

  Another thunderous dragon cry rose up. Dragon flames blasted into the sky down from the valley.

  “What was it?” Bayzog said, unable to hide his bewilderment. “‘Who was it’ is more like it…” All of his fears came to life. “I don’t know why, but I’m certain that was—”

  Brenwar stepped out on the overlook and finished his sentence.

  “Nath Dragon.”

  CHAPTER 20

  “Selene!” Nath cried.

  Gorn ripped the spear out of her chest. “Fool of a traitor!”

  Nath caught her as she teetered backward, gasping, and fell into his arms.

  “Why, Selene, why?”

  Her dark eyes were spacey as she touched his cheek. “Because you are the only one who can stop him, Nath.” She coughed and spat a little blood. “Only you can.” Her tail snaked around his shoulder and stroked his mane of hair. “And because”—cough-cough—“I…”

  Her tail slipped off his shoulders. Her eyes turned glassy. Selene was gone.

  Tears swelled in Nath’s eyes as his thoughts raced and he tried to make sense of it all. “Nooooooooo!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Nooooooooo!”

  His bloodshot eyes locked on Gorn, who stood nearby leaning on the bloody spear.

  There was a smile on the dragon warlord’s face. “She was a pawn, nothing more. Her weakness was her end.” He flashed a face filled with razor-sharp teeth. “I see you share the same weakness as hers.” He shrugged. “Oh well, it seems now I have to finish this.” He flicked up the spear. In a snap, he flung it at Nath Dragon.

  Nath shifted his shoulders and snatched the spear out of the air. “No! Now it’s your time to die, Gorn! I’m going to make you pay. For this, and for everything else you’ve done!” He lowered the spear point. In a blur of motion, he charged.

  The spear plunged through Gorn’s chest with ram-like force, pinning his back against the rock.

  Gorn groaned, and then suddenly he started to laugh. Loud and thunderous. “Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

  Slap!

  Gorn’s backhand sent Nath flying through the air.

  After crashing into the throne, Nath scurried to his feet. His chest was heaving.

  Gorn pulled the spear out of his body and flung it aside. “No stick can kill me, boy. Nothing can kill a heartless dragon.”

  Nath glanced at Selene’s broken body. She was dead. It was impossible to believe. Eyeing Gorn, all he could do was scream at the top of his lungs, “BAH-ROOOOOOOO!”

  His dragon heart charged. His dragon blood pumped like never before. His scales popped and rippled. Gorn, the stones, and Selene started shrinking. Power filled him. Awesome power that he had never felt before. At least not since that time he flew with Selene.

  Gorn cocked his horned head and stared at him with suspicion. Then he glanced down at Selene with anger in his eyes. “Traitor of a daughter! You did this! You let the poison wear off!” He dipped his chin. “So be it, then.”

  Nath’s enraged thoughts clicked into place. The food she fed him. It stifled his powers and his ability to change into a dragon. Selene had always fussed about him not eating enough, and now he understood why. But these last few days, she hadn’t made him eat.

  Gorn clenched his fists at his sides. His horns charged up with power. He grew and transformed, from a huge draykis-like being to a full-sized dragon and then some. He had gigantic arms, powerful legs, and a beastly and ancient smile. He let out a roar the sound of a hundred dragons in one.

  “BAH-RHOOOOOOOO-THAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

  It shook the valley.

  Nath Dragon, still growing, let out a thunderous roar of his own. “BAH-RHOOOOOOOO-THAA!” Nath charged.

  The dragon titans, each thirty feet tall, collided.

  BOOM!

  Gorn’s tail caught Nath behind the neck and jerked him down to the ground. A bright blast of deep-purple power shot from his mouth, pounding into Nath. It sent him skidding across the ground and back into the throne. Bright, painful spots formed in his eyes.

  “Stay down, foolish Nath!” Gorn said, lording it over him. “You might have a dragon’s body now, but you have no experience in how to use it. Let me teach you.”

  Nath shook his head and started up on his feet. He glared at Gorn. “Teach me? Hah! I’ll teach you!” His chest charged up in brilliant yellow light. He unleashed the fury within. Dragon fire blasted from his mouth, slamming Gorn in the chest.

  The dragon warlord teetered backward, covering his face, and fell.

  Nath pounced. Landing on Gorn, he started punching with all his might. He landed one earth-shaking punch after the other.

  Gorn flailed wildly and tried to scurry away, but Nath held him down and kept hammering.

  Whop! Whop! Smack! Smack! Smack!

  Gorn groaned. His bright-yellow eyes became wild with fear. “Yield! I yield, Nath Dragon!”

  Nath paused. His dragon chest was heaving. He started to speak, changed his mind, and started to hit.

  Wham! Wham! Wham!

  “Please stop!” Gorn cried out. “Please stop!”

  Nath held back.

  “Your powers, Nath, I underestimated them. You have more mastery than I imagined.” Gorn’s yellow eyes turned bright as the sun. “But not more mastery than me!”

  Beams of power blasted from Gorn’s eyes.

  Nath jerked away a split second too late.

  The blast ripped through his shoulder and sent him backward.

  Holding his burn
ing shoulder, Nath forced himself up to one knee.

  “Dragons,” Gorn ordered to the sky, “Kill the prince. Kill Nath Dragon!”

  The dragons who were patiently waiting perched on the stones spread their wings and attacked.

  One of the stone portals flared with a strange swirl of mystic life nearby.

  Gorn dashed through it and disappeared.

  Nath raced after him, stopping short as a hull dragon, dark purple, launched itself out of the portal.

  The two collided with a thunderous crash and became an angry knot of scales battling for their lives on the ground.

  CHAPTER 21

  In his dragon form, Nath smashed his clawed fist into the hull dragon, rocking its head backward.

  It regained its balance and unleashed the churning forces of its powerful breath.

  Nath ducked under the searing heat and tackled it. It was bigger and slower, and Nath’s superior speed and claws tore into it.

  It howled in pain and fury.

  Nath howled back. Angry now, he clutched its neck, pinned it down, and unleashed the fires within. The flames engulfed the hull dragon’s face.

  It writhed and twisted, but Nath held it fast, letting his flames do the work until the monster moved no more. Nothing but a searing, smoking skull remained when Nath stood up and pounded its face in triumph.

  The celebration was cut short.

  Sa-Boom! Sa-Boom! Sa-Boom!

  Fireballs, lightning, acid bombs, and mystic needles assaulted him from above, where dragons filled the air, circling and diving: sky raiders, grey scalers, bull dragons, blue streaks... One right after the other, they dove and nipped, unleashing breath weapons from their mouths.

  The furious assault overwhelmed Nath and dropped him to his knees. He covered up with his arms.

  There must be a hundred up there!

  A bull dragon flew straight into him, knocking him over. Grey scalers latched onto his legs with their teeth. Fireball after lightning bolt and lightning bolt after fireball rocked every scale on his body.