"He claims to be under attack by a cabal of sorceresses and warriors who have combined to drive him out of the homeland that he has carved out for himself on the surface. He wants to use my chambers as a sort of headquarters and resting place between battles up on the surface of Home. Frankly, I don't like it, but what can I do—after all, he is my cousin."
A bell seemed to ring for both Alison and Emett. Emett asked, "Your cousin—is his name Taos by any chance?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"Taos is the name of the dastardly villain who killed our parents and caused us to be exiled on another world for 17 years. Is there any chance that there could be more than one dragon with the name of Taos?"
"No, that would be impossible! A dragon's name is written in the Great Book of Life the moment he is born and no other dragon can ever use that name."
"TU, Alison and I have a serious moral problem here. Taos has spent several months trying to kill us and enslave our country. Yet, Taos is your cousin. How is our fight with Taos going to influence our relationship with you, whom we respect and admire? We must fight Taos until either he or we are dead. Does this mean that we will lose you as our friend?"
"Lord Emett, I am truly touched that our friendship means that much to you. You do what you must do in your fight with Taos. I cannot fight him, as the Great Book of Life makes that impossible, but that does not mean that I have to help him. I have long known that Taos was evil, I just have not been sufficiently moved to get involved. Based on what you have said, I will bar him from my cavern. That I can do."
"TRAITOR!" The shout rang out with all of the venom that can be packed into two syllables. Taos was standing in the doorway, his scales purple with rage. In his foolish rage, he ignored Alison and Emett. Instead, he hurled bolt after bolt of magic energy at TU, all to no avail. The bolts got close to TU and simply dissipated, rather than striking the other dragon.
This gave Alison time to gather her magic forces. The first thing she did was to establish a cage large enough to hold all four of the people in the chamber and to prevent Taos from escaping. The cage was harmless in itself, and that made it impervious to any of Taos's efforts to pass through.
Meanwhile, Emett had pulled out his pike that was specifically ensorcelled to penetrate dragon scales. At 14 feet, it was simply too long to be used within the confines of the chamber, so he broke it over his knee to a more manageable seven feet long. Holding his spear in his right hand and his shield on his left arm, Emett took a flying leap at Taos's back and landed straddle within reach of his head and at a place where he could grip the dragon's neck with his legs. He was confident that there was no way that Taos could buck him off.
Emett began to stab Taos in the head and neck, penetrating deeply with each stroke. Taos reacted by trying to smash Emett by whipping his tail, but Taos was so stunted and misshapen that this was very hard to do. Emett was able to guard against direct hits on his body by using his shield, but the shield was taking quite a beating. Periodically, Alison would have to cast a spell to repair the shield, as well as to recharge Emett's stamina.
Taos's brain was small and well protected by bone and muscle. A lot of his muscle control was distributed about his body, so he did not need a large conventional brain to control automatic things like breathing, etc. Thus, Emett's stabs and jabs were painful, but not fatal. However, Emett was stabbing and jabbing so much in so many places that he was bound, eventually, to hit a vital point. All he could do was keep trying.
Little active magic was in use during the fight, since all combatants were concentrating on a single task. Alison was trying to keep Emett alive and active, Emett was trying to kill Taos by stabbing him in the brain, and Taos was trying to kill Emett by swatting him with that great club of a tail. Over all, they were playing hell with TU's chambers, which were well on their way to being reduced to rubble.
Taos did try to resort to magic at one point by levitating quickly to the ceiling, hoping to smash Emett against the rocks up there. Emett evaded that ploy by slipping to one side on Taos's neck so that the knobs and bumps that Taos was covered with actually protected Emett at contact time. Taos decided that he was doing more harm than good, so quickly gave up that effort.
All three combatants were tiring, so the battle could not last much longer. It had gotten to the point that Taos could no longer swing his tail with the great force necessary to have any effect against Emett's armor. At the same time, Emett was so tired that he was having to use both hands to plunge the spear into Taos's head. Alison's spells were not able to recharge Emett to 100% of his original level, so her stamina-recharge spell was accomplishing less and less.
Eventually, what everybody had been expecting finally happened. The spear point reached a vital part of Taos's brain and he died. Unfortunately, it took a while for the rest of his body to get the message, so the fight lasted for nearly another 10 minutes before it was completely over.
Emett jumped off Taos's neck as the Dragon's body was consumed by a plasma-hot flame that reduced the corpse to nothing but heated air. Flesh, bones, scales, teeth, everything was burned beyond ash to mere carbon dioxide and water vapor. The fire had been so hot that a section of the rock floor of the chamber had been melted into a pool of lava. TU remarked that it would be at least a week before the lava would cool enough for him to move back in.
Neither Alison nor Emett were physically injured by the combat, but they were both so tired that they simply collapsed where they stood. TU tenderly placed them in a comfortable bed to sleep off their exertions. When they awoke, they apologized to TU for the mess they had made of his chambers, but he said, "Don't worry about it. I finally have the excuse I needed to redecorate. Mother has been after me for years to let her make my place over into something more fashionable, so I guess that this is her chance."
Alison and Emett transported back to the palace, and Alison began making plans for the State wedding.
Journey to the Unknown Page 11
