***
Kah—Kah—Kah—Roooooooooom!
Kah—Kah—Kah—Roooooooooom!
Dragons tore at one another. The sky was filled with firework-like destruction: lightning, fire, black acid, streams of lava, smoky eruptions. Dragons big and small battled for it all. Wings were torn and shredded. Dragons fell like great scaled birds from the air. Once so beautiful and majestic, now they were razor-clawed, fire-breathing terrors. The roars of battle were angry, painful, deafening. It was mayhem. Carnage.
“Stay close to me,” Bayzog said to his wife Sasha, “no matter what.”
“I will.” Rising up on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek. “But I have to admit, I feel great. What potion did you give me?”
He looked into her eyes. They were aglow with radiant fire. Her hands tingled with mystic life in his. “One that will increase your powers.”
“How much?”
“Did you drink the entire thing?”
“Yes.”
He showed a little smile. “Five-fold at least. But remember, its effects are only temporary. ”
Sasha faced the oncoming wave of dragons in the sky and clenched her charged-up fist. “Then temporary will just have to do. It’s time to let those rotten lizards have it!”
Bayzog summoned the power of the Elderwood Staff. The gemstone carved into the ancient wood flared with brilliant tangerine light. It fed him. Empowered him. His eyes smoldered with mystic light.
“Everyone!” Bayzog yelled. “Don’t strike until you see the green of their eyes!”
The clamor of battle in the sky subsided. The swarm of steel-hard, dark-scaled beasts would be on them at any moment. Bayzog heard Brenwar cry out.
“What are you waiting for, Haarviik? Get to firing that thing!”
Bayzog turned and looked. Something was wrong. Laedorn and Haarviik were frozen.
Selene! he thought. Where is Selene?
CHAPTER 43
Nath’s mind was a race of thoughts. Gorn loomed over him with his beloved sword Fang, whose keen blade reflected dark powers. All over Nath, dragons pinned him down. They’d latched onto his legs, his arms. Tails encircled his neck, ankles, and wrists. Other dragons, strange ones of a dark-green hue, bit into his body with a leech-like quality. They drained his power.
He groaned. He strained.
For decades he’d fought to save them, only to see them destroying him. His friends would die as well. Gorn was right. He didn’t want to see it. So many things he considered that he didn’t even notice the blade descending.
Boooooooooooooom!
Boooooooooooooom!
More blasts shook the city. Gorn lost his balance. The sword missed its mark, cleaving into a copper dragon, who exploded.
Nath swallowed the lump in his throat.
That was close!
Gorn held his free clawed hand up in the air and said with venom, “Perhaps I should rip your heart out of your chest myself!”
Nath started to reply, but, choking, he couldn’t speak. But another voice did.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Gorn’s head twisted to the side. A dragon, lavender and white scaled, stood nearby. It was Selene.
“You!” Gorn said. “Impossible!”
“Oh, Gorn, you should know better than that. After all, you came back from the brink of death. Why can’t I?”
He huffed a blast of fire at her feet, but she remained still. “What game are you playing, Selene?”
Her magnificent lavender wings spread out and fluttered, then folded behind her back. She was as captivating as a dragon as she ever had been as a woman. Her eyes were dark-purple gems, pretty. She batted her lashes.
“I’ve brought you a gift,” she said.
“A gift,” Gorn growled. “What sort of gift?”
Nath couldn’t believe his eyes. His ears. Selene had betrayed him … again!
She opened up her dragon hands, and bright brilliant light spilled out.
Gorn’s eyes widened like moons. “You have the Ocular!” he said, excited.
“It was worth dying for, my lord. And it’s all yours.”
“You have exceeded my grandest expectations, Selene. My most diabolical plan has come to fruition. You fooled the elves, the dwarves, and Nath Dragon most of all.” He belted out a monstrous laugh. “Ha ha ha! You have restored your lost honor.”
Her eyes slid over to Nath’s before she said, “Sometimes, you just have to have a little faith.”
Gorn stretched his fingers out and started to wrap them around the Ocular of Orray. He paused and withdrew.
“A moment, Selene.” He turned his attention to Nath. “I have some business to finish first. I’ll deal with the Ocular and its uncanny powers next.” Once more he towered over Nath. “Do you have anything you would like to say before you perish, Nath Dragon?”
Nath fastened his eyes on Selene. “I have nothing to say. Just kill me.”
CHAPTER 44
Dragon fire rained down toward the apparatus.
Bayzog unleashed the power of the Elderwood Staff. A powerful arc of energy scattered the ranks of dragons. Beside him, Sasha deflected fire and lightning with shield after shield.
“There’s too many!” she yelled.
Dragons landed and rushed.
Two towering figures, more than twenty feet tall, stepped into their path. It was Shum and Hoven. Their Dragon Needles had become gigantic lances. They skewered one dragon after the other. There was smoke and fire, and the dust of battle began to roll. Bayzog heard Brenwar shouting out in the clamor.
“Take that!”
Wham!
“And that!”
Crack!
“And that, you foul lizards!”
Crunch!
“War hammer! War hammer! Hoooooooo!”
A grey scaler, little bigger than him, slid between Shum and Hoven’s ranks and charged at Sasha’s blind side. Bayzog swung his staff around and connected with its head.
Ka-Koom!
The dragon sagged into the ground, dead, leaving Sasha gasping.
“Are you all right?” he said.
Sasha nodded. “Yes, now keep fighting!”
Wupash!
A dragon tail licked out of the smoke and swept Bayzog from his feet. His head hit hard on the ground.
“Oof!”
A dragon pounced on him, copper scaled and copper eyed. It pinned Bayzog under his staff and snapped at him with its jaws. Its breath was as foul as the acid that dripped from its mouth onto Bayzog’s chest.
He moaned. He heard Sasha scream for help. His power ignited. The Elderwood Staff flared, and the copper dragon exploded into ashes.
Chest burning, Bayzog scrambled to his feet. Sasha strained to fend off two grey scalers with her mystic shield. Superior in size and power, the dragons pressed in for a lethal attack. One of the dragons’ long tails coiled back to strike. Bayzog wouldn’t make it in time.
“Sasha! Watch out!”
A blur whizzed by Bayzog and sliced into the nearest dragon. It was Rerry. His body and blades moved at impossible speeds. He was a whirling dervish of flashing steel. The grey scaler growled and hissed as Rerry ripped through his scales.
Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice!
“Get away from my mother, dragon!” Rerry cried out.
On the other side, a bulk fell out of the sky, landed on the other dragon’s neck, and wrestled it to the ground. It was Samaz. He punched at the dragon with fists made of iron. With tremendous punches, he pummeled the beast into submission.
Whop! Whop! Whop!
Bayzog caught Sasha up in his arms. Her forehead was beaded in sweat. All around them was the clamorous chaos of battle.
“Can you still fight?” he said to her.
“I still have plenty left in me, I’ve just never fought two dragons before.” She squinted. “And these dragons better not hurt my boys.” Her hands charged up with blue light. She summoned a fireball and hurled it at a dragon engaged wi
th Rerry. The blast knocked off its scales.
“Mother!” Rerry said. “I’m a big elf! I can take care of myself!” In a flash of speed, he assaulted another.
Whump!
A sky raider landed on top of the barn, crushing it to splinters. Another one landed behind it, followed by another. There was enough fire in them to lay waste to the farm in one breath.
“Everyone to me!” Bayzog yelled. “Everyone now!”
The giants Shum and Hoven kept fighting the dragons that hung all over them. They both bled from at least a dozen wounds. Valiant. Unfailing.
Bayzog heard the first sky raider taking in a breath. Any second, it would wipe them out. Then, out of the sky, a blur of fur and muscle appeared.
Sansla Libor, fists ready, flew into the dragon and smote him in the face with ram-like force.
Another figure ran through the streets toward the sky raiders, getting bigger with every stride. It was Gorlee, transforming into a giant made of stone. He tackled the sky raider and drove it to the ground. The other sky raiders pounced Gorlee the Stone Giant. They attacked with fire and claws.
“No!” Bayzog yelled. “Come back! Come back to me!”
Shum, Hoven, Sansla, and Gorlee kept fighting. So did Samaz and Rerry, close by.
“Samaz! Rerry! To me!”
The sons broke off their attack and hurried back to their parents. Bayzog jammed the butt of his staff to the ground.
Wuh-Wuuuuuuuuuum!
A mystic yellow dome formed around them and the apparatus, protecting them, with a few dragons inside.
Sasha unleashed her power on the dragons.
Sssraz! Ssssraz! Ssssraz!
Rerry and Samaz cut and pounded down the others.
Slice! Whop! Slice! Whop! Slice!
Rerry stuck his tongue out at Samaz. “I whipped many more than you.”
“Wizard!” Brenwar said, emerging from behind the apparatus with Pilpin. The pair were bloody and battered. “What do we do?”
Dragons, eyes glowing green, pressed the mystic dome from all over. Bayzog could feel their full weight on him. Sweat dripped down his face.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”
His violet eyes darted around their surroundings. The Apparatus of Ruune sat quiet. Laedorn and Haarviik’s bodies sat behind it frozen stiff. How could a weapon so powerful fail?
The protective dome began to crack. The dragons were too many. He could only hold them off for seconds longer.
Sasha wrapped her arms around his waist and lent him all the strength she had left.
“You did your best, husband. You did your best. Being your wife has been an honor.”
Shards of magic cracked away from the shield. His sons joined in the hug as well.
“Keep fighting, Father!” Rerry yelled. “Keep fighting!”
Bayzog found new strength, and a desperate thought emerged.
“Brenwar!”
“What!”
“Aim the Apparatus of Ruune at the jaxite!”
“Then what?”
“Fire it!”
Pilpin scrambled up the ladder and shoved Laedorn and Haarviik out of their seats.
“Sorry, Commanders.”
Brenwar huffed up behind him.
More shards of energy fell. Dragon horns pounded through the mystic dome. Dragons squirmed through.
“Hurry, Brenwar! Hurry!”
Pilpin and Brenwar worked the gears with the handles, and Brenwar yelled, “I can’t even see what I’m aiming at!”
“Just do your best for the love of Morgdon and fire!”
Assault on the Floating City
CHAPTER 45
“It’s over,” Gorn said. “Nalzambor will be mine forever!”
Nath, straining with all his might, gave one final heave against the dragons. The effort was futile. He glared at Selene. “You picked the wrong side.”
“Oh, did I?” she replied with a smirk on her face.
Fang flashed in the sun.
Selene spoke a word of power, and the Ocular of Orray burst with brilliant blinding light.
“Argh!” Gorn said, staggering back and covering his eyes in his elbow. “What are you doing, Selene?”
Tendrils of energy stretched out from the Ocular and ripped into the dragons that held Nath down. The dark dragons screamed and scurried. Others darted into the sky, and several suddenly died.
“Ultimate betrayer!” Gorn bellowed. “You shall pay for this!” Gorn blasted Selene with the fire of ten thousand furnaces. It buried her in the buildings, leaving her out of sight beneath a smoking pile of rubble. “Fool!”
Nath sprang to his feet and charged.
Gorn turned on him and swung. The blade sheared through Nath’s wing and into his side.
Nath screamed. “Argh!” He blocked out the pain. He kept fighting. He grabbed Gorn’s wrists and blasted him in the chest with his own dragon fire. He and Gorn butted horned heads.
Klock! Klock! Klock!
“You are no match for me!” Bigger and stronger, Gorn scooped the exhausted Nath up in one arm and slammed him down hard.
Fang’s blade flashed in the sun and came down.
Nath rolled to the side, avoiding a fatal blow that still sank into the meat of him. “Ugh!” He twisted his body around and swept Gorn from his feet with his tail and sprang up, clutching the side of his dragon body. It was bleeding. Bleeding badly. It burned, too. Nothing felt worse than being wounded by a friend. It angered him.
Gorn made his way back to his feet with ease and laughed. “Ha ha ha! Give up, Nath Dragon. I’ve too much power. I have your sword. The jaxite. Thousands of dragons under my command.” He lifted his chin and snorted smoke. “I have more than your father ever had. I am disappointed. It seems you are less of a fighter than he.”
“Maybe so,” Nath said, “but I’ll fight you to the end. This fight isn’t over yet.” He summoned all of his courage and all of his strength and charged. “Dragon! Dragon!”
Fang licked out faster than a snake’s tongue.
Nath stopped short of its tip, spun to one side, and countered with a punch to Gorn’s chin.
The Dragon Warlord staggered back and howled.
Nath unleashed radiant beams of fire from his eyes, striking Gorn in the throat.
Again the dragon lord fell back. “I see you learned one of my tricks,” Gorn said, “but it will take more than that to save you.”
Nath pressed his attack. He brought fire. Rays. Punches. Claws. He gasped in pain with every offensive blow but kept on swinging. He used his speed. All of his energy. He was a hornet stinging a larger enemy.
Gorn chopped one heavy swing after the other. He missed time after time. “Stand still!” Gorn roared. “You annoying fly!”
Nath filled Gorn’s face with his dragon fire, but then his inner fires went dim.
Guzan!
He’d used all of his breath up. His body became weak and wobbly.
“Tired,” Gorn said, leering down at him, “little dragon?”
Nath punched Gorn in the face with arms that felt like lead.
Gorn unleashed a final blast from his eyes.
Ssssraaaaat!
Nath’s body skidded down the street, stopping when he crashed into an ancient fountain. Everything hurt. Everything felt broken. He forced open his swollen eyes. Fifty feet of Gorn towered over him.
What happened?
He’d exhausted his powers and shrunk back down to the size of a man.
“I should squash you like a bug,” Gorn said. “But that won’t do.”
Gasping for his breath, Nath watched Gorn and Fang shrink in size, but he still stood a full ten feet in height.
Gorn reached down, grabbed Nath by the neck, and hoisted him up high. He squeezed Nath’s neck in his grip.
Nath kicked his feet, and his face turned beet red, almost purple.
“Oddly silent now isn’t it?” Gorn said with a hiss. “The lonely sound of death. Ah, but is tha
t the distant screaming of your friends that I hear? I believe it is. They are dying. But don’t fret, Nath Dragon, I’ll give all of you a fiery funeral.” He rested Fang’s tip against Nath’s chest. “How nice. I can even feel the last beats of your heart in your chest.”
Nath tried to speak, but all he could do was squirm and think about his friends.
Keep fighting until the end.
He felt Fang’s tip begin to sink into his scales, but in the distance he heard something else.
Kah—Kah—Kah—Roooooooooom!
“Ah, it seems your friends got off one final shot before they died,” Gorn mocked. “A pity it will do neither them nor you any good.” He glanced up at the protective dome. “Let’s watch the final ricochet together, shall we?”
Nath’s golden eyes made their final glance. The magic torpedo soared overhead and kept on going, a shooting star in the night. His heart sank. They’d missed.
Kah—Kah—Kah—Roooooooooom!
A second torpedo skipped off the shield, making a blast of fiery sparks.
He heard another shot and closed his eyes.
“Oh well,” Gorn said, “at least they still fight. That’s more than I can say for you.”
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire Floating City shook so hard that it half tilted over.
“What?” Gorn cried out.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The city shook again, and he dropped Nath on the ground. Out of control, the city started rocking back and forth and spinning in a wobbling fashion.
“Impossible!” Gorn said, shaking his head. “No matter! The end of you is the end of this world.”
“You know what your problem is, Gorn?” Nath said, rubbing his neck.
“What might that be, foolish little dragon?”
“You talk too much!” Nath lunged for Fang and jerked Dragon Claw from the hilt. In a flash, he buried the blade in Gorn’s chest to the hilt. “And you’re too darn slow!”
“No!” Gorn cried out with widening eyes. “Impossible! Nooooooooooo!”
Gorn’s body crackled and fizzled, illuminated with light. An eerier cry went out.
The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) Page 131
