Emperor

by Isaac Hooke

  Furlantos, growing angry at their attacks, turned around to smite them. The dragon still had to lower its shield to do so, and Abigail and Sylfi used the opportunity to leap at the big Green. Abigail ripped into its neck with her sharp teeth, while Sylfi raked its back.

  The pair leaped away before Furlantos could reactivate its shield. The big dragon spun to strike at them, but then the other two greens threw themselves against the shield once again, draining it as they bounced away.

  They leaped again, but this time didn’t bounce away—they smashed into the back of Furlantos. Apparently, the shield had finally shut off permanently.

  Furlantos spun around in a rage, and ripped into the neck of the first green, tearing away a huge chunk. Tendons and muscle tissue formed a gory bridge between the ancient Green’s mouth and the neck of his prey before severing under their own weight.

  Furlantos spat out that chunk as the green collapsed, and then hurled itself at the remaining green dragon. It slashed its claws into its belly, freeing intestinal loops, and then it slammed its mouth into that of its opponent’s as the stricken dragon screamed. From the way the plumes of green mist arose from the edges of the joined mouths, Malem knew Furlantos was breathing poison down its throat—the kiss of death. The other dragon’s eyes became bloodshot, and then glazed over. Its form grew slack in the big dragon’s grip, and once again Malem quickly drained the creature entirely of its stamina before it died, narrowly avoiding the boomerang effect.

  When Furlantos released it, the dragon promptly dropped, dead.

  The other dragon was mortally wounded as well, and would be dead by the time Weyanna healed it. So, before the dragon died, Malem crushed the life out of it, taking its stamina as well.

  Furlantos had beaten its brethren rather quickly, compared to the Metals. But they were already severely injured, Malem reminded himself.

  I wonder if I should have had them healed before sending them in.

  Well, too late now.

  Furlantos turned, panting, toward the remaining six Metals that had crowded in a half circle around it, and roared defiantly.

  “Surrender,” Abigail thundered.

  “Never!” Furlantos responded, equally tumultuous.

  Wendolin waved a hand, and caused branches to grow from a large wooden chest Furlantos had knocked over in its struggles with the other dragons. These branches formed sharp tips that impaled the wounds Furlantos already had in its scales, and lifted the creature entirely off the ground.

  It screamed in pain.

  Wendolin flagged from the effort of controlling that powerful magic, and he fed her stamina from Gwen, Mauritania, and Ziatrice. He didn’t dare use any of his own stamina, not yet.

  Abigail leaped onto the back of Furlantos before the dragon could tear itself free, further driving those stakes home.

  Furlantos screeched wildly. The pain Malem sensed on his beast sense was incredible.

  He reached out, and he was finally able to touch the mind of Furlantos. The time for Breaking had come.

  He squeezed, hard, drawing on all his remaining strength, and crushed the will of the great dragon. It struggled frantically in his grasp while flailing about physically, but those movements only drove Wendolin’s stakes ever deeper into the dragon, and drained the monster of its fight even further.

  And then it was done. Malem had crushed its mind.

  He slumped, collapsing to the ground. It had taken him fifteen slots, like Nemertes.

  “Take my stamina!” Gwen said.

  Malem drained from her gratefully, along with Sylfi, and Brita, who seemed the least injured among the dragons, and then he stood to his feed.

  “Is it done?” Abigail asked, still clinging to the back of Furlantos. The green had stropped struggling.

  Malem nodded. “He’s mine. Cut him down, and heal him.”

  14

  Malem waded through the treasure as Abigail leaped off the back of Furlantos. Wendolin retracted the wooden spikes that had impaled the great Green, while Weyanna released healing mists to sooth its wounds.

  Malem drained stamina from the others to recoup what Weyanna lost during the process, and when Furlantos was healed enough to stand, he called her off.

  “So, you are Furlantos,” Malem told the dragon.

  The great green looked down upon him arrogantly, but didn’t deign to answer. The creature still had several open wounds in its belly and back, but those would eventually heal on their own.

  “Who were those other greens?” Malem asked.

  “My friends,” Furlantos replied. “You killed my friends.”

  “No,” Malem smiled. “Need I remind you… in your rage, you killed your friends.”

  Furlantos snarled, but then its features softened, and it closed its eyes and wept.

  Malem felt pity for the dragon.

  With a sigh, the dragon opened its eyes once more. “What do you want? Why have you disturbed my rest, and impelled me to kill my friends?”

  “We’re looking for the Light Pearl you stole from the Metals,” Malem said.

  “Ah,” Furlantos said. “I knew that particular raid would one day come to haunt me. I no longer have it.”

  Malem glanced at his companions, and exhaled. This was all for nothing.

  “Where is it?” Malem asked, expecting the dragon to say that it did not know, or to send them on a wild goose chase across the continent.

  “Oh, it’s here, inside this very mountain,” Furlantos said. “You see, trolden once lived here, deep underground. But in the Balor Wars, they were all slain, and by the time I came here, a slew of monsters had moved in. I took it upon myself to clear the upper levels to use as my nest.”

  “Trolden,” Wendolin said. “I haven’t met any of those in a long time.”

  “I’ve never heard of them,” Gwen said.

  “They’re similar to dwarves,” Abigail said. “And are distant cousins to halflings. They live only in caves.”

  “Yes, well, there are none here, I assure you,” Furlantos said. “Now then, the passages to the lower levels are too tight for a dragon, so I was unable to clear the entire cave system. As such, occasionally creatures from the lower levels still make their way up here. I don’t really mind—it means a free meal for me. But unfortunately, sometimes they take things. The pearl was one of those things. Somewhere, deep inside the mountain, it lies.”

  “Great,” Gwen said. “So now we have to go dungeon crawling.”

  “I haven’t been on a good dungeon crawl in a long time!” Xaxia said gleefully. “This should be fun.”

  “I hate confined spaces,” Abigail said.

  “You don’t have to come,” Malem said. “If you’re claustrophobic.”

  “It’s not that,” she said, reverting to human form. “It’s that I can’t become a dragon in tight places.” Conscious of her nakedness, and the effect it was having on the males of the party, she grabbed a regal cloak that was sprawled across a pile of gold coins nearby.

  “Hey, that’s mine!” Furlantos said.

  “Mine now,” she said.

  Furlantos struggled against Malem’s hold, but he tightened his grip, draining stamina. Finally, Furlantos surrendered, and turned away.

  “I can’t bear the sight of looters,” the dragon said.

  Abigail shrugged on the cloak—a purple affair lined with white ermine fur, and folded the front edges in front of herself to cover her nakedness. It looked like it had belonged to a king or queen, once. A suitable choice for the princess.

  Abigail frowned.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Nothing…” she replied.

  Malem glanced at the other dragons. “You might as well revert to human form, and get dressed.”

  The five remaining Metals returned to the tunnel that led from the hoard, and transformed into their human equivalents to begin donning the clothing they had left behind. Abigail joined them, momentarily removing the cloak so she could get dressed.


  “Maybe you should call in reinforcements,” Ziatrice said. “You do command an army… two hundred night elves could arrive here on dragon back in a few days. They could sweep the lower levels for us.”

  “I’m not sure I want to rely on night elves for something I can do myself,” Malem said. “What if they decide to keep the Light Pearl to themselves when they find it? And then claim there was nothing here? Besides, Vorgon’s Darkness could come again at any time. No, I don’t want to wait. We’re more than capable of handling this ourselves.”

  “Yeah, except you saw what that gazer did to Ziatrice,” Mauritania said. “There are more down there, no doubt.”

  “Then we’ll just have to be careful,” Malem said.

  “There could be worse things than Balors beneath these mountains…” Mauritania pressed.

  “What’s worse than a Balor?” Xaxia asked.

  But Mauritania didn’t answer.

  “She’s just trying to scare you,” Gwen said. “Right?”

  Still Mauritania remained silent.

  Malem glanced at Goldenthall. “You can summon oraks from the Black Realm to boost our ranks, correct?”

  “Only a few at a time,” Goldenthall agreed.

  “How long do they stay?” Malem pressed.

  “Until slain,” the former king replied.

  “Then you might as well bring some now,” Malem said. “They can act as our scouts.”

  “Cannon fodder, you mean,” Goldenthall corrected, bearing his teeth in a grin.

  A dark smear appeared behind him, and four oraks marched through. The smear vanished, and Goldenthall slumped.

  Malem stared at where the dark smear had been. “Could we use those portals you just made to enter the Black Realm?”

  “No,” Goldenthall said.

  “I thought all portals opened into existing locations between realms,” Ziatrice said. “It looks like our Balor-possessed friend doesn’t have to follow that rule.”

  “When summoning oraks, I can pluck them from wherever the closest exist in the Black Realm, this is true,” Goldenthall said. “But this is only for these specific creatures. It can’t be done with any other race. And as I mentioned, the portal is only one way—the oraks can’t go back.”

  “Why are you talking about us as if we can’t understand?” one of the oraks said. “And as if we actually approve of being ripped away from everything we know?”

  “Because you exist only to serve, as far as I’m concerned,” Goldenthall spat.

  The orak growled and took an angry step forward, but another raised a halting hand to block the monster. “Is it worth it to die for this?”

  “We’re dead already!” the orak snapped, but it did not approach further.

  “Watch them,” Malem told his companions.

  He returned to the entrance with Abigail, Ziatrice and Mauritania. Abigail had created her flaming globe of light once more and lit the way. She wore that regal cloak she’d stolen from the dragon’s hoard like royalty.

  The mountain lion was waiting at the entrance next to Nemertes.

  “We found Furlantos,” he updated Nemertes. “Apparently the dragon lost the Light Pearl to some denizens from deeper inside the mountain.”

  “So now you’re going spelunking,” Nemertes said.

  “Something like that,” Malem agreed.

  He reached out, and Broke more birds of prey he sensed nesting above. He warned them of the dragons that awaited, and calmed them well in advance. Two hawks and an eagle came down, and he sent them ahead of him into the cave. They remained within the cone of light produced by Abigail’s flaming globe.

  Then he returned to the others in the main chamber, and waded across the treasure hoard to join them. The half dragons were all dressed in their original armor or clothing, except for Abigail in that purple robe. It looked like they had looted fresh gear from the dragon’s treasure pile. Solan and Gannet had new cloaks hanging from behind their dragonscale armor, and they held bronze bucklers. Sylfi wore a pair of silver gauntlets, while Brita sported long, dryad-shaped golden earrings.

  Furlantos was scowling at the lot of them, but said nothing.

  “Show us the way to the lower levels,” Malem commanded Furlantos.

  The green dragon rose ponderously, and gold coins that had collected on his scales fell away, clinking. Furlantos crossed to the far side of the chamber, and led them into a smaller tunnel beyond that was free of treasure. It was the same tunnel where they had encountered the slimes and the gazer—their bodies lay on the tunnel floor.

  Malem was glad to leave the hoard behind, not just because it made walking difficult, but because he was tempted to spend a few hours sifting through the piles looking for valuables. He almost ordered Brita to stay behind to sort through the pile; she could use her skill at reading items to identify magic artifacts among the lot. But he decided it was too risky to leave her alone with the dragon. Plus, technically that hoard still belonged to Furlantos. Malem had come here for the Light Pearl, not to loot the dragon’s other belongings. He decided he was going to tell the Metals to return whatever items they had taken from the hoard when this was done.

  With Abigail’s flaming globe lighting the way, Furlantos guided them through the tunnel. Malem spotted the skeletons of different monsters along the sides of the tunnel. Some of them were vaguely humanoid, while others looked like little more than skulls with two arms on either side. The latter belonged to gazers, most likely.

  “How many gazers are down there?” Malem asked.

  The dragon shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve never been to the lower levels. But they’ve emerged consistently over the years, so I’d say there’s definitely at least a family, if not an entire tribe.”

  “And what do they eat?” Xaxia asked.

  “Other monsters, I’m sure,” Furlantos said.

  “No, but I mean… monsters trapped in a dungeon can’t survive forever,” Xaxia said. “They’ll eventually devour all the other monsters. Food is limited. They need herbivores to feed on, and such creatures in turn need plants to exist. But without sunlight, plants don’t grow in caves…”

  Furlantos pursed those big lips. “I see your point. I don’t know where they get their food, then.”

  “There has to be another entrance,” Wendolin said. “Or exit, as it were. Opening onto another side of the mountain. Somewhere animals and other monsters could accidentally wander inside. And a place where the existing monsters could make food runs when meals became scarce in the caves.”

  “It would make sense,” Malem said. “Though I’m hopeful we won’t have to explore very far to find what we’re looking for.”

  “Then again, we could be here for days,” Wendolin said.

  “It’s possible,” Malem agreed.

  “At that point, you’re going to wish you’d called in reinforcements…” Ziatrice said.

  “We’ll see,” Malem said.

  They reached the far side of the tunnel, where steps hewn into the rock led down into the darkness. It was definitely too small to fit a dragon.

  The birds perched on the cave floor nearby, waiting for their orders.

  Before Malem could order Abigail to send the light globe inside, he flinched.

  “What is it?” Gwen asked.

  “The mountain lion I have guarding the entrance just died,” Malem replied.

  “That means we have company,” Wendolin said. “And not the good kind.”

  He focused on the blue dragon’s energy bundle.

  Nemertes, report! he sent.

  No answer came.

  According to his beast sense, Nemertes was fast moving south.

  Nemertes, where are you going? he asked.

  I’m not fighting this! she replied.

  He wondered what could have spooked the blue dragon. He considered enforcing his will upon the monster, and ordering her to fly back, but from the fear he felt emanating from her energy bundle, he doubted he could get Nemertes to return wit
hout draining her almost completely, rendering her useless.

  Nemertes, tell me what enemy you flee, Malem said.

  No answer.

  Nemertes— he began again.

  Vorgon, she said. I flee Vorgon.

  Malem didn’t move. He remained motionless. He glanced at the others, who hadn’t heard this particular conversation. “Nemertes tells me Vorgon has arrived outside the mountain.”

  “What?” Gwen said.

  Malem focused on the energy bundle of Nemertes once more.

  You could have warned me before the demon arrived! Malem sent.

  Yes, except I had no warning! Nemertes told him. The Balor and his army literally appeared on the field before me!

  How big is this army? Malem asked.

  Too big for a lone dragon! Nemertes said.

  He tapped into Nemertes vision while he still could, and had the dragon look over its shoulder at the receding landscape behind. Sure enough, he saw Vorgon standing there in all its dark splendor, towering over the cave opening, demonic body silhouetted in blue flames. It held its black ax in hand.

  At the Balor’s feet a vast host of dark creatures crowded around the entrance. It looked like some of them were fighting amongst themselves, as if vying to be among the first inside, in order to please their master.

  Above the Balor, red dragons circled, seeking prey.

  Malem dismissed the blue dragon’s viewpoint when he heard hoots and howls coming from the main cavern behind him.

  “My treasure!” Furlantos said, turning back.

  Before Malem could stop him, the big green was racing back the way they had come. Malem decided to let the creature go.

  “Should we help the thing?” Sylfi asked.

  “We’re not ready to face Vorgon,” Mauritania replied. “Not without the Light Pearl.”

  Malem nodded. “Nor an army of uraks.”

  He tapped into the vision of Furlantos, and watched as the big beast tore into the main chamber.

  “Looters!” the green roared, and laid into the uraks that flooded into the compartment.

  Furlantos sprayed them with its poison breath and swiped at them with its claws. It summoned poison elementals to tear into their midst.