by Isaac Hooke
Solan and Gannet joined her, along with Weyanna, Sylfi, and Brita a moment later. All six dragons had transformed. They were smaller than the green, but together formed a formidable force.
Mauritania tried to stand, but once again he felt pain from her energy bundle. The pile of gold coins she had landed on wouldn’t have really done much to cushion her fall…
Weyanna, heal Mauritania, Malem instructed.
Weyanna broke away from the others to send streams of white healing magic into Mauritania. The half Eldritch woman promptly stood up from the ground.
Malem fed the pair stamina.
Thank you, Mauritania sent.
Weyanna joined the fighting once more. The other five dragons were struggling to pin down Furlantos, who kept snapping and clawing at them.
Goldenthall, Timlir, Xaxia and Ziatrice stood at his left with their weapons ready. On his right was Wendolin, with her eyes closed and her arms extended. She would be searching for any items of wood out there that she could use. Malem considered tossing in one of the bows abandoned by Sylfi or Brita, but then branches erupted from a coin pile not far from Furlantos, no doubt from the haft of some mace, or perhaps a treasure chest.
In moments those branches had wrapped around the dragon’s neck, pulling it to the floor. More branches enclosed its arms and legs, allowing the smaller dragons to subdue the creature. Only four of them were needed.
Solan, Gannet, secure the side passages, Malem sent.
The two dragons released Furlantos, and split up to search the tunnels that led away from the main cavern.
Wendolin slumped from the effort of creating those branches, and Malem fed her stamina he drew from those in humanoid form.
He tried to Break Furlantos, but the creature was nowhere near injured enough.
Malem stepped out onto the treasure pile, and made his way toward the struggling Green with the others. Mauritania and Gwen joined him. With each step, the coins shifted around him, usually swallowing his feet up to the ankles, but sometimes deeper. He lost his balance more than a few times.
He wanted to get closer to improve his chances of Breaking the creature. While it was dangerous, for a dragon as ancient as this, he wanted every advantage he could get.
You’re going to have to injure the creature more, Malem told Abigail. I can’t Break the dragon yet.
Maybe you don’t have to, Abigail said. Why not try asking, first? I hate to wound a defenseless creature.
I doubt it’s going to surrender… Malem said.
Why not? Abigail said. Nemertes did.
Only because Mauritania ordered her to, Malem told her.
“We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way,” Abigail boomed to the Green. Apparently she had decided to take the initiative.
The dragon ceased struggling beneath her.
“Good,” Abigail said.
Malem came forward, approaching one side of the pinned head. The dragon glared at him with that yellow eye.
“You are Furlantos, I presume?” Malem asked the Green.
In answer, it broke the branches that held its head in place to breathe poison gas his way.
Malem and the others were forced to disperse.
More branches grew from those that had broken, pinning Furlantos once more.
Now how do you feel about injuring the ‘defenseless’ creature? Malem asked Abigail as the poison dissipated nearby.
“Guess we’re doing this the hard way,” Abigail told the dragon.
I have company! Gannet sent.
Here, too, Solan added.
The two dragons burst from the side tunnels and into the well-lit main cavern, scattering gold coins around them as they raced inside.
Behind them, two more green dragons burst from each tunnel, for a total of four. They weren’t as big as Furlantos, but they were still sizable enemies, most of them larger than the Metals.
“Apparently the cave system harbors an entire dragon family!” Xaxia said.
Malem attempted to Break the new arrivals, but could not.
Branches thrust upward from the pile of gold coins beneath one of the newcomers, where Wendolin had apparently found another item of wood, but before those branches could snatch the dragon up, it was bounding away toward Solan. It flapped its wings, momentarily taking flight in the expansive chamber, before landing on top of the Bronze dragon’s back. It ripped open a wide gash before Solan could turn around.
Wendolin sent those branches toward the other nearby dragon, but it was already leaping toward Furlantos. It landed on Sylfi, and tore her away.
One of the other two Greens launched itself at Gannet, while the second joined its companion in helping Furlantos. It latched onto Weyanna’s white form, and ripped her from the ancient dragon.
That left only Abigail and Brita holding down Furlantos, along with Wendolin’s branches.
Poison elementals sprung up around the latter two Metals. Their forms were vaguely humanoid, though composed of green mist. Where they struck at the scales of Abigail and Brita, they left poison burns.
“There we go,” Furlantos said. “It’s all coming back to me. I’d almost forgotten how to use my magic.”
“That’s right, go and announce it to the rest of us, why don’t you,” Gwen muttered. She was firing arrows from her Infitas Quiver at the green dragons. She tried to target the eye regions, but her arrows kept hitting scales and bouncing away.
Abigail turned her head to breath an arc of flame at the poison elementals. She got one, scorching it away, but the others quickly dispersed. She summoned fire elementals and directed these to intercept the poisons that were attacking her so she could concentrate on Furlantos.
The fire beings created swords of flame that cut swaths through the poison elementals, burning away the mist wherever the weapons struck; however, the attacks otherwise left the main bodies of the poison entities mostly intact. The remaining mist would simply fill in the areas that had burned away. It would take quite a while for the fire elementals to destroy the poisons at this rate, but at least they were keeping them from the dragons, as well as from Malem and the others.
Abigail, meanwhile, scraped a talon down the belly of Furlantos, but then she was thrown backward by an invisible force. Brita was also tossed away, and the branches that held the ancient Green were pushed backward, breaking.
“It’s created some kind of magical force field around itself!” Abigail said, shaking her head as she rose.
Ziatrice threw her chains of mist at the dragon, aiming for the neck, but the chains were stopped by an invisible barrier a few paces from the creature’s neck.
“It’s like my own magic shield,” Ziatrice said. “But on a more massive scale.”
Furlantos ignored Ziatrice’s attack, and concentrated all of its attention on Abigail and Brita. The three of them circled one another, the gold coins and valuables clinking around them.
Meanwhile, the other Metals remained occupied by the less powerful Greens.
Things weren’t looking good…
13
Malem tried to Break Furlantos again, but the dragon still wasn’t injured enough.
Furlantos snapped forward, wrapping its teeth around Abigail’s neck.
Brita slammed into its side, raking its side with her talons, forcing the Green to release Abigail. Evidently, the creature had to lower its force field to strike.
It bashed Brita with its head, forcing her aside. Abigail breathed flames at Furlantos, intending to irritate the fresh tear in its side, but once again that magic field activated, and deflected the fire in a half-sphere pattern.
Furlantos laughed, taunting her. “I haven’t seen a silver dragon in these parts in a long time. I still use its skull as a toilet sometimes. And what a beautiful toilet it is. I can’t wait to make another!”
Abigail directed two of the elementals toward the dragon’s eyes, but they were also stopped by the magic field.
Two of the poison elementals, now free
of attack from the fire entities, turned to intercept Malem and company.
Malem backed away as those elementals came near. He reached out, trying to Break those elementals, but his will evaporated.
Abigail, I think we need those fire beings back!
The creatures of flame swerved away from Furlantos, and intercepted the elementals. But the poison beings seemed insistent on attacking the humans, because they swerved past, and ignored the continuing blows inflicted by the fire elementals. The poison elementals were taking damage, yes, and were slowly being worn down, but it wasn’t enough to stop them from reaching Malem.
Streams of dark magic erupted from Goldenthall and Ziatrice, and struck the poison elementals. Black veins spread throughout the green mist, but otherwise the creatures kept coming. In moments, that darkness was flushed aside, and the green dominated once more. Likely the same thing was happening as when fire struck: it would damage a portion of the creature, but mist from other parts of its body would simply fill in the missing areas.
Mauritania tried launching her Eldritch magic at the elementals, and her green darts carved gaping holes through the poison bodies, but the remaining mist merely rushed in to fill the gaps. The elementals were getting visibly smaller as they lost more and more of that mist, however they were still a major threat.
A huge green form suddenly slammed down in front of them, crushing the closest poison elemental. It was one of the other dragons. Solan pinned it down, but it chewed at his neck, forcing him to release it.
Malem decided to risk a forward rush. He swooped in, and stabbed Balethorn to the hilt.
He withdrew the blade as stamina filled him—it was much more than he expected. Balethorn was definitely no longer holding back, and giving him all the of endurance that it drained.
He quickly retreated before the dragon could strike him. He’d struck a superficial wound to the rib area, and the dragon rose, opening its mouth to breath poison at him.
But Solan threw himself on the dragon once more, and tackled it.
From underneath the dragon the green mist of the crushed elemental oozed forth, reforming into a humanoid next to the wrestling bodies.
“Back up!” Malem said. He distributed the stamina he’d stolen to the other dragons.
The fire elemental attacked the poison elemental, but the poison being once again ignored the attacks, and continued toward Malem.
“Run!” Malem and the others turned around and ran outright. He knew when he was defeated.
He waded through the coins, nearly losing his balance several times. Finally, he reached the edge of the treasure hoard and stepped out onto bare rock. A side corridor lay just in front of him.
On the cave floor of that side passage, several green, amorphous shapes oozed forward menacingly, blocking the path. He counted ten of them.
“Slimes!” Ziatrice said. “I hate these fuckers!”
She swung Wither down, scoring a hit on one of the slimes. It promptly dissolved.
Following her example, Malem stabbed Balethorn into another slime, and it similarly dissipated.
“Don’t let them touch you, unless you want a good burn!” Mauritania said, stabbing Tiercel and Peregrine into other slimes.
Timlir chopped a fifth slime with Hamstringer, Gwen shot down a sixth, Xaxia terminated a seventh, Goldenthall an eighth.
The poison elemental was fast closing behind them.
But then a stream of flame launched from Gannet, and burned the poison clean away.
Why didn’t you do that earlier? Gwen complained.
I was kinda occupied, Gannet answered.
He was tackled a moment later by his Green opponent. The enemy dragon opened its mouth wide, and was about to lay into Gannet’s neck, when Ziatrice launched her chains of dark mist across the room and wrapped them around the creature’s mouth, forming a muzzle. She pulled on it like a leash, forcing that massive head aside.
And then a new monster appeared in the side tunnel, hovering behind the two remaining slimes. It looked like a massive eyeball with two white, grotesquely muscular arms protruding from either side, made of the same material as the sclera.
“A gazer!” Mauritania said. “Don’t look at it!”
But Ziatrice had already turned back to check on the progress of the nearby slimes, and she suddenly released the chains of dark mist. Her features grew slack.
She turned to attack Mauritania, who deflected her halberd with Tiercel and Peregrine.
Malem clamped down on Ziatrice with his will, but she didn’t respond.
“What do we do?” he asked as the pair fought.
“Kill the gazer!” Mauritania said, continuing to fight the night elf. “While it lives, it maddens her! But do so without looking at it.”
“You heard her, don’t look at the gazer!” Malem shut his eyes. With his beast sense, he could detect the slimes in front of him, along with the gazer.
He tried to wrap is will around the gazer, but failed.
The two slimes, however, were a different story. He Broke them immediately. Though it did weaken him somewhat.
Should have done this in the first place.
But he had been so instinctively repulsed by the slimes that he hadn’t even thought of Breaking them. No, his first thought had been to kill them.
He sent the two slimes toward the gazer.
He followed behind them, and proceeded toward the common foe.
But before he reached it, he was struck by a terrible force of air, and was hurled backwards. He landed in the treasure of the main chamber, partially swallowed by the coins. He realized the gazer was using magic as well.
He scrambled to his feet. His connection to the slimes had severed.
Bastard killed them already. He concentrated on Gwen. I’m going to guide your bow arm. Keep your eyes closed. Aim… here!
He sent her the approximate position of the gazer, trying to guess its location in three-dimensional space by offsetting his sense of it from her own location. He painted a picture of that location in her mind. Or tried to.
Got it! she sent.
He heard the thwack as she fired her bow. He sensed nothing from the gazer, and knew she’d missed.
He heard several more bow vibrations, and the clatter as arrows bounced harmless off the cave wall and floor.
Mm, doesn’t seem to be working, Gwen said. I don’t think I’m hitting it.
Though he couldn’t influence Ziatrice, he assumed he still had access to her viewpoint. Sure enough, when he tried, he was able to watch from her perspective as she fought Mauritania. The half Eldritch was fighting with her eyes open of course, but that was because she wasn’t looking at the gazer.
Above the sound of their clashing blades, he could still hear the dragons fighting behind him, with the occasional roars, the clang of disturbed coins, and the scrape of talons across flesh.
He backed away as he sensed the gazer closing on him.
“Get back, everyone,” Malem said. “The gazer is getting closer.”
Mauritania, see if you can position your back to the gazer, Malem sent. I want Ziatrice’s eyes to guide Gwen.
The half Eldritch swiveled to the side so that her back was to the gazer. Malem could see it from Ziatrice’s perspective. It was very close to Malem. He couldn’t quite see Gwen, though.
A bit more to the right… Malem sent.
Mauritania shifted, and he fell out of Ziatrice’s sightline.
Left, I mean, he said.
Make up your mind! Mauritania sent.
Malem once more came into view as Mauritania led Ziatrice his way, and then a moment later he saw Gwen, holding her bow high, so that she and the gazer were both in sight.
He transmitted Ziatrice’s vision to Gwen, and she began firing rapidly. It took a few moments for her to get used to observing herself in third-person perspective like that, but in moments she had her bow lined up, and she pincushioned the gazer. It dropped to the ground, yellow blood oozing from the woun
ds.
“Eyes open!” Malem said. “The gazer is down!”
He reached out, wondering if he could Break it, but Gwen had killed the creature.
Ziatrice promptly lowered her blade. “What am I doing?”
“You tell me,” Mauritania said, turning away to observe the dragons.
Gannet and Solan had defeated their Greens—the creatures lay on the hoard with their necks torn open, their blood painting the gold coins red. They had teamed up with Sylfi and Weyanna, and as Malem watched, they breathed fire into the wounds the other dragons had caused, irritating the exposed tissue.
Malem reached out, and found that he was able to wrap the tendrils of his mind around them both. He squeezed tightly, enforcing the iron vise of his will, and Broke them. They took up ten slots each in his mind.
The Breaking weakened him, and he slumped. Xaxia was at his side, and caught him, letting her lean upon him.
Stand down, Sylfi and Weyanna! Malem said. The two dragons are mine. Solan and Gannet pulled away to stand protectively near the other pair.
What about Furlantos? Abigail asked from where she was still struggling against the ancient green with Brita.
He tried to touch the main creature’s mind, but could not. No.
Sylfi rushed Furlantos to help her sister, but was thrown back when she hit that magical shield.
Malem drew stamina from the two green dragons themselves, and straightened. Then he addressed them.
You serve Furlantos? he asked.
Furlantos is our comrade, one of them replied. We do not serve him.
How can we penetrate its magical shield? Malem asked.
Furlantos can’t maintain that shield forever, the Green replied. He will tire eventually. Every strike against it weakens him.
Good, Malem said. Then you will throw yourselves at that shield. Repeatedly.
But doing so also damages us! the dragon said.
I know, Malem said coldly. To show them how little he cared, he drained stamina from the two of them, and gave it to Abigail, Sylfi and Brita.
The two green dragons rushed Furlantos, and repeatedly hurled themselves upon the magical shield. It flashed into existence each time, and they bounced away.
