Siege At The Settlements (Book 6)

by Craig Halloran

  “Didn’t think orcs could speak so many words,” Pilpin shot back.

  The orc kicked him again.

  “Ooph!”

  “Go ahead,” the Orc said. “Kill him. There’s probably more around here anyway.”

  “Ahem.”

  The orcs turned.

  Brenwar stood behind them with War Hammer over his shoulder.

  “Ye be right about one thing,” Brenwar said, raising War Hammer over his head, “There’s more of us alright.” He slung it from his hand.

  Whop!

  The first orc flopped on the ground.

  The second orc lowered its spear and charged the grizzled dwarf.

  Crack!

  The spear tip shattered on the chest of Brenwar’s armor.

  Brenwar swiped the orc’s legs with his knotty arms and knocked him to his knees, saying, “You’re just as ugly short as you are tall.”

  Pilpin hopped to his feet and swung his mace into the back of the standing orc’s head.

  Clok!

  It fell face first to the ground.

  “That was fun,” Pilpin said. “Why don’t we do that more often?”

  Squawk!

  The dragon sound was close.

  “‘Cause if we make too much noise,” Brenwar said, peering back between the buildings, “a bunch of evil things start coming.”

  On the road ahead, something slithered through the mud and fog.

  Brenwar stayed Pilpin back with his hand. A pair of bright eyes was looking right at him.

  Squawk!

  Gorlee Stood on the road near the outskirts of town, watching the muddy waters run between his boots. The town was dark and foggy, but lanterns glowed outside the buildings along the streets. The warm glow of fire could be seen in many windows, but the atmosphere was still gloomy. The dragon sounds were startling. It made him more curious than fearful. Being a chameleon, he didn’t fear much of anything. Still, his fingertips were tingling.

  Squawk!

  He felt the sound inside his chest. A few lights in the buildings went dim. The dragon was coming. Two lights hovered down the road like glowing moths. Closer they came, swaying in the fog, back and forth. Dark silhouettes appeared next. Then large figures that carried the lanterns. Lizard men.

  Judging by their gait, they were making their rounds. Heading right toward him. He edged closer to the road and waved. Hopefully, they’ll move right on by me.

  A long serpentine head stretched out between the two lizard men. Gorlee caught his breath. The dragon’s body was big enough to ride. It had six short, powerful legs. It looked more like a great lizard with a long neck and small horns on its head. Its scales were purple and maroon. Its long tongue whipped over razor-sharp teeth. It had small wings folded down over its back. Its eyes shone bright and evil.

  Gorlee took a half step back. Dragons fascinated him and he’d studied them for years, but he was still getting accustomed to the more aggressive sort. The evil dragons didn’t value the lives of the other races. They’d rather snap men in two or incinerate them just for staring. A sweep of their tail could break a man’s back in an instant. Yet somehow, the men, the Clerics of Barnabus, were controlling them.

  Gorlee remained still, awaiting their approach and watching the dragon’s long black tail sweep back and forth. He rubbed his hands together. He was exposed at the moment. His fleshy form would not hold against the dragon, but becoming something thicker such as stone or metal could be detrimental. Dragons were very sensitive to magic. Things out of the ordinary did not escape their notice.

  The dragon’s eyes grazed over him. It snorted and stopped.

  Gorlee kept his eyes down. Waved at the lizard men again and stepped back.

  Squawk!

  The sound shook his bones.

  A lizard man approached and pulled off his helmet.

  Gorlee blinked wide eyes.

  I’m still an orc. I’m still an orc.

  The dragon turned and faced him. Eyed him up and down. A rumble started in its throat, and it stepped back.

  I can fool men, but can I fool dragons?

  It snorted a blast of hot steam in his face.

  Gorlee choked and spat. Spit the foul taste in his mouth on the ground. He cringed. This dragon was a hunter. A predator. He could tell by its legs and the small wings on its back. Like a great cat it prowled, and it probably ran like an antelope.

  I bet it hates orcs. I’m going to die. Everything hates orcs but orcs.

  Its jaws opened wide and snapped shut again.

  Gorlee flinched.

  Its tongue rolled from its mouth right toward Gorlee’s eyes.

  Drat! I might look like an orc, but I don’t smell and taste like one. I’m done for!

  CHAPTER 7

  Nath snapped the crossbow bolt in half and tossed it to the ground.

  Speed. I love speed!

  The gnolls rushed in with spiked balls of steel whirling in the air. They both swung at the same time. Nath ducked beneath the lethal blows, popped up, and punched the first gnoll in the belly, lifting him off the ground. The second gnoll struck him across the back with a fierce blow.

  “That didn’t even tickle,” Nath growled. He snatched the flail out of the gnoll’s face and slung it to the floor, then lifted the gnoll and slung him across the room and into the wall. His keen ears picked up the heavy steps of the lizard men coming right at him.

  Nath whirled.

  A sword blade arced down toward his head. He caught it in the palm of his dragon-scaled hand. The other lizard man chopped into his ribs. Nath laughed. It took more than ordinary steel to hurt him. His scales were as hard as black diamonds. The power of a dragon was awesome. One lizard man soared through the window. The other busted through the front door.

  “So much for being subtle.”

  He turned to the Overseer. Sweat dripped off the man’s face. His greasy fingers fumbled with the amulet around his neck. He licked his lips and said, “Who are you?”

  Nath removed his hood.

  “Nath Dragon?” Dormus said, swallowing hard and eyelids fluttering like a girl’s.

  Nath grabbed the edge of the large wooden table and flipped it aside.

  Dormus sunk back toward the fireplace. “They said you might come, but I didn’t believe it. So many small towns and villages for you to save, and you pick this one. I must admit you surprised me.” He pulled out a long dagger that had a glow around its blade. “But word of your exploits is well traveled. The Clerics of Barnabus are well prepared. Heh. Heh.” He ran his forearm over the sweat in his eyes. “But you cannot stop armies that control the dragons.”

  “I’m not here to stop any armies,” Nath said, coming forward. “I’m just here to stop you.”

  Dormus squeezed the amulet around his neck. “I’ll be a bit more challenging than gnolls and lizard men.” The crystal glowed bright red. “Come, dragons! Come!”

  Squawk!

  Brenwar remained still. His heart thumped loudly in his chest. The dragon made its way through fog and rain right toward them. He readied War Hammer. The dragon’s head slid back and forth between its great shoulders and stopped between the buildings.

  Squawk!

  The sound rattled the shed.

  “Come on then, Dragon. Let me bop the ugly nose on your head.”

  The dragon took a deep breath.

  Brenwar shoved Pilpin and scurried away. He took a moment. Gathered his thoughts. The sound of heavy footfalls was moving away. He peeked around the corner of the shed. The dragon had made its way into the street and was moving onward.

  Squawk!

  Another dark-scaled dragon with six legs appeared. The pair seemed to converse with one another and then they moved on, deeper into the town.

  Squawk!

  Squawk!

  Squawk!

  “There be two of them,” Pilpin said.

  “Nay,” Brenwar said. “I hear three.”

  “Why would this little town have so many dragons?
” Pilpin asked.

  Brenwar’s muscles knotted in the small of his back. “Because it’s a trap.”

  “What kind of trap?”

  “A Nath Dragon trap.” Brenwar grabbed Pilpin’s horn and stuck it between the little dwarf’s lips. “Blow and hope it isn’t too late.”

  The dragon’s hot breath felt like a furnace near Gorlee’s neck. He couldn’t help but notice the numerous razor-sharp teeth. One bite. One bite and it’s “Goodbye, Gorlee.” The tongue eased in like a snake, just inches from his face. Just turn to stone, Gorlee. But he couldn’t do that fast enough. The dragon would detect it. Before he could change to stone, its claws would rip him apart like a rake rips into a bale of hay. I’m an orc. I’m an orc. I’m an orc.

  The dragon’s head reared back.

  Gorlee hunkered down. This is it! He summoned his magic and his skin began to gradually turn to stone.

  The dragon’s six legs stomped in the mud. It turned, lowered its head, and squawked.

  Others squawked back.

  There’s more of them! Oh no!

  The dragon stomped onward into the town.

  Whew!

  Its tail cracked back as it went, striking Gorlee full in the chest and flinging him through the air. Pain filled him from head to toe where he landed in the wet grass, cracked stone that was unable to move.

  A six-legged bluu dragon crashed through the front doors of the assembly room and made an awful sound.

  “SQUAWK!”

  The glass panes shattered.

  Nath’s spine shivered and his knees buckled. He teetered back against the wall and braced himself. Normal weapons might not hurt him, but dragon fangs and claws were made of different matter.

  The dragon came inside, eyes narrowed, claws scraping all over the floor.

  Blast!

  Nath could handle most things, but having his sword and bow, Fang and Akron, would have been extremely helpful right now.

  “Not feeling so invincible now, are we?” Dormus yelled over from the fireplace, dangling the crystal amulet. “My, won’t this be interesting, seeing you eaten by one of your own.”

  Drool dripped on the floor from the dragon’s fangs and sizzled on the planks.

  Perhaps dragons have begun eating people like the little boy said. Things change.

  “We’ll see,” Nath said. He straightened himself on the wall. Beckoned the dragon on. “Come on, Fella. Show your cousin what you’ve got.”

  The dragon charged, jaws wide, claws ripping up the wooden planks like a chicken’s beak rips through straw.

  Nath leapt into the rafters and watched the dragon crash through the wall.

  Dormus howled, but inside came another dragon.

  Great Guzan!

  There were two of them.

  Another came inside the busted front doors right after the other.

  Three of them! The boy was right. Tell me there are no more!

  Nath and his friends had fought plenty since they’d taken down the hull dragon, a titan, outside of Troghlin, but that was mostly people. These dragons were ferocious predators. Real killers. Powerful. Mature. Magical. Their black tails banged into the walls and off the floor with a thunderous sound.

  Squawk!

  Squawk!

  The dragons reared up on their back four legs beneath him. Jaws snapped open and shut like giant bear traps.

  Nath clung to the rafters. Need a plan! Need a plan!

  The first dragon popped his head back inside the wall and climbed back in. The room was filled with dragons now. Dark eyed and dark tailed. Possessed. Controlled.

  “Hahaha,” Dormus howled, holding up the amulet. “Such power in the palm of my hand. Rip him to pieces, dragons. Iddy biddy pieces!”

  A dragon jumped up and snapped at the rafters, landed, and burst through the floor.

  Nath scurried from rafter to rafter. The dragons crashed through the room. Out of the corner of his eye he spied Dormus heading for the front door. I need to get that amulet.

  The dragons jumped up one after the other. Their great jaws clamped on the wood beam rafters and ripped them down, where they broke the planked floor. The entire assembly room shook and the building started to sway. Nath found himself cornered in the rafters above the fireplace.

  One of the dragons took a deep breath inward.

  Guzan! I’ve got to get out of here!

  A stream of fire shot right at him.

  CHAPTER 8

  Pilpin blew the horn, but no trumpet blast came forth. The little dwarf shook it. “Awfully quiet for a horn, don’t you think?”

  “Blow it again. Harder this time!” Brenwar said, taking off at a run straight into town.

  Pilpin took a deep breath and gave it all he had.

  KA-KA-ROOOOOOOOOOOM!

  It sounded like something a giant moose would say.

  “Good!” Brenwar said. “That ought to do it.”

  “Do what exactly?” Pilpin said, running along his side. “You’ve never let me use the horn before. You just make me wear it like a necklace, which wouldn’t be so bad if it were made of gold perhaps. Not a lot of bling to it.”

  They splashed through the muddy streets, following the dragon tracks and rounding the corner.

  “By my beard!” Brenwar exclaimed. “There’s more of them!”

  Dragons, one by one, burst into a large building.

  “Nath must be in there!”

  “Why do you say that?” Pilpin said.

  A streak of flames shot through the room.

  “Because where there’s fire, there’s Nath Dragon.” He readied War Hammer. “You stay back, Pilpin. Wait.”

  “I’ll certainly not. I’ll fight when I want to. I’ll die when I want, too.”

  It wasn’t easy, telling a dwarf to stay away from a fight. It was like telling a bear he couldn’t have honey, and it didn’t matter how big or small a dwarf you were. But orders were orders and Brenwar gave the orders.

  “You’ll be in the fight soon enough. Wait.”

  A jangle of armor caught his ears. Soldiers of Barnabus filed into the streets from out of nowhere. Brenwar hadn’t thought there were a dozen in the whole town, but a full score showed up, fully armed for battle, orcs, gnolls and lizard men. One race just as ugly as the other. Their dark eyes locked on the two dwarves. Their faces turned to snarls.

  “So,” Pilpin said, toying with a mace in one hand and a hand axe in the other, “do you still want me to wait?”

  “I think you’ve waited long enough,” Brenwar said, lowering his powerful shoulders. “Charge!”

  Gorlee pushed his face out of the grass and rolled onto his back. Everything in his body tingled. Stung with pain. It was the first time he had felt the full wrath of a dragon’s tail.

  “I hope that never happens again,” he said, sitting up and rubbing his head.

  Squawk!

  Squawk!

  His head snapped around. No dragons were there. Just pain and rain. He heard a sound in the field behind him. A lone barn stood isolated from the others. Its massive doors swung open and soldiers came out.

  Not more of those guys.

  The soldiers of Barnabus. A mishmash of the rotten races working together in the battle for evil. Gorlee was sick of seeing them. Determined. Obnoxious. Dangerous. Every last one of them. They cut through the grasses, armor and weapons rattling, and went into the streets.

  Gorlee groaned and forced himself up on his feet. He checked his hands. One was stone and one was still orcen.

  “I’m going to have to do better than this if I’m to go after them.”

  He summoned his power and staggered into the streets behind them.

  Nath jumped away from the shower of fire onto the floor.

  The roof and rafters burst into flames.

  “Kill him!” Dormus screamed. “Stupid lizards! Kill him!”

  Nath hopped over a swishing tail.

  A second tail lashed out.

  Whop!

  He l
eft his feet and hit the wall.

  Crack!

  He fell to his knees, clutching his chest. He had felt every bit of that. He shook his head and stood up with clenched teeth.

  “That’s enough of that now.”

  A dragon jumped on top of him, pinning him to the floor by the chest.

  “Get off me!” Nath pushed back its great neck with both hands.

  Saliva dripped from its fangs and sizzled on his chest.

  “Argh!” he said, “You’re making me mad now!”

  Memories flashed in his head. Childhood. He’d wrestled with dragons then, and they had walloped him good, time and time again. Sometimes in fun. Sometimes not. He could tell way back when that some dragons liked him but many dragons didn’t. They didn’t respect him for some reason. Maybe because he looked more like a man than a dragon. Maybe something else. But he had learned one thing: every time they beat him down, he had better get back up again.

  He threw a roundhouse punch into the dragon’s nose.

  Pop!

  The dragon reared up with a roar.

  Nath rolled away and sprang to his feet. He ducked and dodged claws and teeth. Pieces of the roof fell down in big chunks of burning wood. The room filled with smoke and heat. Nath jumped on the back of one and wrapped his arms around its neck. He squeezed with all his might. His muscles bulged and popped.

  Squawk!

  The dragon thrashed. Wood splintered. Flames and smoke were everywhere. The dragon slung its head back and forth, but Nath held on. He squeezed harder. The dragon slammed him into the fireplace, ripping out the rock. Still Nath held on.

  The dragon staggered on its feet and sagged to the ground beneath the ruined floor.

  “That’s it! Go to sleep!” Nath said. He didn’t want to kill it. And he didn’t have to. He could put it to sleep if he could hold on long enough. His arms started to quiver. His dragon heart gave him a lot of power, but he couldn’t hold on forever.