by C. K. Rieke
Lily looked over at Zaan, ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him, and kissed his cheek. Zelestiana’s eyes shot open, Astor smiled, and Tilda turned her head to look away.
“Goodbye. Good luck, Zaan,” Lily said in a soft voice as she turned and ran quickly over to the tower. Zaan watched her golden curls sway back and forth as she ran, until she disappeared back into Palanzal’s tower.
Astor grabbed him by the shoulder. “Ready?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
DARKNESS gripped the air, and silence spread across the great stronghold. Nervousness and anxiety fell over the soldiers and remaining people, still in sight to fight the unknown enemy. Lightning shot directly overhead, and many soldiers were startled as loud thunder cracked. They looked up to see the last slit of sunlight as the darkness fell underneath, and shadow engulfed Barrier Cliff.
A cool wind from the north brushed down on the men and women as they held their ground. They examined the sky, looking for a trace of what imminent threat was upon them.
Zaan stood at the northern cliffs of the city, with Astor, Tilda, Zelestiana, and Gar. That location would give them the best view of not only the incoming enemy, but it laid out the best downwards view of the city, besides the towers. They didn’t speak, they only held their weapons in anticipation for battle, and as ready as Zaan felt for battle, there lingered that bit of fear, and he gripped his slaver’s sword tight. He looked over at Gar, who now looked like a seasoned soldier. In his light silver armor with an ocean blue-sash, he looked back at Zaan. In his eyes, Zaan saw a rage he had never seen in his friend, and it made Zaan feel more secure. Together they’d fight whatever came.
“There,” Astor said. “You see it?” He pointed into the northern distance. “Just dipping out of the clouds.”
They all attempted to see what he saw underneath the dark, looming clouds that glimmered with sporadic lightning. “I see it,” Zelestiana said.
“It’s not an it-” Tilda said, “-there are many. Are you ready, Gar? Zaan?” They both nodded, and felt the weight of their swords in their hands.
An ear-piercing scream let out in the distance, and a loud grumbling roar followed. Claws dipped beneath the clouds, and then disappeared. Black, sharp talons, tore through the cloud line again. Then yellow teeth and scaly skin appeared. Then exposed bone and hanging flesh could be seen. Black fog danced past the rotting flesh as the monsters appeared in the dark clouds.
Loud screams and yells came from behind the group in the lower parts of Barrier Cliff. “What the hell are those things?” Astor asked.
“Damned evil beasts,” Zelestiana said.
I never imagined in my wildest dreams I’d live to see monsters such as these. Let alone, go into a battle against them. I can feel my heart beating hard in my chest just from the roars of them. There’s going to have to be a miracle for us to get out of this alive.
Giant wings dipped lower out of the cloud line, and the large creatures started their descent upon the city. Ragged, long tails followed the bodies of the beasts, rotting flesh hanging off every part of their scaly bodies. Bones pierced through their chests, stomachs and wings. They flew down closer, and closer, until they were nearly on top of the Zaan’s group.
“There are so many of them,” Zaan said.
“Stay focused, Zaan,” Zelestiana said, as the shadow of a silhouetted beast flew over her, and Zaan ducked low. “These are no ogres we face. These are the dragons of Riverend, brought back from the grave.”
***
As they exited the wilderness of the dense forest, all became clear to Gogenanth and Wollen. “We are too late,” Gogenanth said, exasperated.
“What in God’s name?” Wollen said. “The city has no hope to fight off damned dragons.”
Gogenanth looked at the oncoming swarm the dragons, “I hoped this day would never come. Barrier Cliff under full attack by Armoz.” Ezmerelda and Yule stood silently, in shock. “Head back into the woods Ezmerelda, and take Yule with you, this doesn’t have to be your fight.”
She wiped the shock off her face and walked towards Gogenanth. She grabbed his hand and held it between her smaller hands. “You sure your friends are in there?” she asked. He nodded, with a sigh. “We’re going with you then.”
Wollen smiled, “I told you I liked this one.”
***
The loud horns began their call again from the towers. “Attack!” Zaan heard Major Gylem’s call from down below towards the front gate of the city.
“No mercy!” Zelestiana yelled to her friends as her black hair blew around from the downbeat of strong, deathly wings pattered down on them. “They will show you none.”
“Let’s kill some dragons!” Astor yelled back, shaking his sword in his hands. At that, they all ran single-file down the stairways to a lower section of the city. As they turned their first corner, the rotten, decomposing body a large dragon appeared. It was on all four of its feet and clawing at the entrance to one of the tower’s main doors. As it clawed at the door, it left long, ragged, deep cuts.
The dragon had a long curling neck with exposed muscles tensed and stretched all down its body. It had crimson-colored wings longer than two body lengths and were tattered and littered with small, black spots. Atop its head were four yellowed, curled horns and its eyes were a deep, blood red.
Here we go, this is the fight of our lives here. The fight of the century possibly. Please, Ojiin protect us.
Zelestiana rushed forward at the dragon with her sharp sword slashing. Astor ran its side, and Tilda drew back light arrows in her bow and quickly let them fly at the dragon. Gar hesitated only a moment, and then with a battle cry ran at the beast.
Zaan watched as it let out a roar that nearly knocked him to the ground, and it twisted and slashed at them. He’d never seen something so fast and ferocious, but he regained his wits, and ran at the dragon, ready to fight.
In the chaos of the dragon’s slashing claws, and snapping, sharp teeth, Zelestiana found her sword sink into its side, dark blood poured from the wound. Not able to react quick enough, Zaan watched as its long tail went and caught her in the shoulder, knocking her hard to the ground.
Should I use the Azulūz? Or should I just go in and attack? She needs my help, now. He ran in with his sword held firmly in his hand. The dragon, which stood twice as tall as him, was six times the size of a grown man. It slithered about, snapped its sharp teeth, and was wholly unpredictable in its chaotic movements. Tilda continued to lay arrow after arrow into it, patiently waiting for clear, clean landing shots.
They’d surrounded it, but it only seemed to drive the dragon more mad, and it roared and rushed straight at Tilda, infuriated by the barrage of arrows. Zaan saw the panic in her eyes, and unexpectedly, as he ran it, Astor had crawled up its back slashing at it. The dragons stopped and thrashed wildly, roaring and twisting its neck back to bite at Astor, and it’s teeth found his sword. The dragon easily ripped his sword from his hand, and he found himself utterly defenseless then.
“Astor!” Tilda cried.
The dragon bit to sink its teeth into him, but instead found itself being hacked at by Gar and Zaan, who poured everything they had into slashing and stabbing it.
“Kill it!” Gar yelled to Zaan. “Find its heart.”
Quickly, Astor rolled to safety and grabbed his sword, and helped Zelestiana to her feet. Tilda let more arrows fly.
Zaan could feel the heat from the dragon’s breath, he could smell the stench of its rotting flesh, and he could sense the danger he was in. Any second one of these wings could come and rip me in half. Stay alert, stay focused, remember what the Major taught you, keep moving your feet and wait for your chance to strike deep and hard.
As they tried to stab their swords through its thick hide, an arrow zipped through the air, and lodged itself into one of the dragon’s eyes. It roared and screamed as its dark blood shot onto Zaan’s face. Blinding him temporarily, he drew back and wiped the thick, stinging b
lood from his eyes.
“Zaan, get back,” Zelestiana yelled and she and Astor ran at the beast, slashing and berating it. He got the blood from his eyes, and watched his friends fighting the dragon, they’d been hitting it with everything they had, and it barely slowed it. What’s it going to take to kill this thing? If we don’t take it down soon, someone’s going to die.
The swirling blades of Astor and Zelestiana battered the dragon as it had its attention on Gar, who wasn’t letting up, he just kept hammering at it while it thrashed from the arrow sticking from its head.
Suddenly, the great beast stood up on its hind legs and began to flap its wings, and strong gusts of wind blew down on it while it growled and hissed.
“What do we do?” Gar asked Zelestiana. “It’s too strong.”
From nowhere, dozens of rocks began to fly at the dragon, hitting it in the face and neck. “Now!” Zelestiana said, and they all ran at it.
Zaan continued to pummel the dragon with his Azulūz, letting stone after stone fly at the dragon, infuriating it further. Swords flashed, and arrows flew at the dragon, until finally Gar’s sword found a soft crack in its chest. It stuck in, black blood poured, and with a yell, he shoved his sword clear through, into the beast.
It writhed and screamed but crawled back as far as it could before it collapsed to the ground. As it struggled to breath, Astor ran over and drove his sword through its other eyes, and the body of the beast lay still in a pool of black blood, dead.
They didn’t have time to enjoy the victory as many screams from people were heard below. Zaan looked over the cliff to see many other dragons roaming the city, and there were many bodies that lay on the black stones.
“Let’s move,” Zelestiana said, and they ran off down the winding stair together.
“Way to go, Gar,” Zaan said as they ran.
“Not so bad yourself,” he said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
WINDS blew in harshly from the north, and Palanzal had to hold his spectacles firmly against his face to keep them from flying away as he peered down onto the city. A dozen, half-decomposed dragons scattered themselves throughout the city. He watched as the Major’s battalion confronted the two of them together at the gate.
One after one, he was losing his soldiers to the dragons, and they barely managed to get in close enough to do any damage. They’d lost many already, and the fight had barely begun. He looked and saw one dragon’s corpse on the higher cliffs, and Zaan and the others ran down towards the ferocious other dragons.
The strong winds made Palanzal’s eyes water. “How is this all possible Elindrill? How is it possible such monsters can exist?” He stepped back from the terrace. “How has the world come to witness such things?”
“I fear the worst, my friend,” she said as she walked over to him crossed her arms in front of her chest. “This indeed is a siege that will echo through generations. This is a battle unprecedented in time. Even with the one death dragon slain, there are another forty-nine left, by the numbers of history books. And there are already so many of us gone.”
***
The group ran down the stairs to the courtyard, seeing a massive dragon rampaging through the gardens. They found it bigger than the one before, it had a menacing stare with hollow eyes lit with deep red and greens. Half of its chest had its ribs exposed, and Zaan could smell its rank insides. Three soldier’s bodies and a citizen’s body lay before it. One soldier stood his ground, terrified before the beast.
Here we go, this one has fresh blood on its teeth. It’s ready to kill us all.
Swiftly, it took a step towards the soldier, and knocked him on his back. “Quick Tilda,” Gar said, pointing his sword in its direction, but it was too late, the dragon stepped on the soldier’s chest, crushing him. Zaan heard the last puff of air leave his chest.
Astor and Zelestiana were already running at the dragon, bloody swords in hand. Gar and Zaan followed, and Tilda shot her whistling arrows. An arrow ricocheted off its head, and it turned to square off with Zelestiana and Astor. Its long, slender tongue dripped fresh blood. They stopped and squared off with it, just out of reach of the long neck of the giant dragon. As it roared, exposed bone shown through its cheeks, which tore and hung from its mouth. It was a hideous beast.
It moved towards them quickly, biting and clawing. Not able to react quickly enough, it pinned Gar against one of the stone garden beds with its wings, and he began to panic. Zaan saw his friend in trouble beneath the statue of Gildur, and ran over to help him. Gar fought to free himself, and Zelestiana and Astor were stuck trying to defend themselves from the dragon’s teeth, snapping at them.
“Help!” Gar yelled, and Zaan could see the dragon was crushing him. “Zaan . . .”
Zaan stood in place, and began a chant. “Halanal.” Close your eyes, feel for it, feel its weight. I can feel it, but it’s so heavy. You have to do it. You must lift it. It doesn’t matter how heavy it is. You can do it. Your friend’s life’s at stake.
Cracking stone was heard, and small pebbles began to fall to the feet of the dragon. The great death dragon turned to see the crumbling pebbles turn to stones, and the giant statue of Gildur crashed down onto the dragon, shaking the ground beneath their feet, and it let out a massive roar. It found itself pinned to the ground. It squirmed and roared, but did little to budge the monument of their friend.
Gar crawled away to safety, holding his chest. “Zaan-”
“I hope he wouldn’t mind,” Zaan said. “Gildur, that is.”
Tilda approached the dragon as its thrashing slowed. She pulled an arrow taught into her bow, and let it fly into the center of the dragon’s head, “I think he would have loved it, actually.” Astor and Zelestiana let their swords stick into its chest, and blood poured onto the black rock. Zaan felt woozy, and his mind fogged, he had to sit on a bench to the side.
“What’s wrong, Zaan?” Tilda asked.
“Its . . . It’s the blood, I think, it’s clouding my mind.” He heard the roars and screams from the soldiers and people further below. “I’ll be fine, just give me a second.”
Zaan saw Zelestiana looking up to the high peaks of Headmaster Tower, and she said, “Yes, Palanzal, I hear you.”
“He must be talking to her with his power,” Gar said.
“We are doing our share, but I fear if we get surrounded, we may be in trouble,” she said, looking up into the sky with the dozens of dragons swirling overhead. She walked over to the edge of the courtyard and looked down towards the front gate of the city. “If these are indeed the dragons of Riverend resurrected, what do we need to do to defeat them?” She paused, and then she looked back at Zaan and the others.
“Well, what did he say?” Tilda asked.
“He said, if we see Riverend, we should try killing him.”
Zaan looked down to see the battle unfold below them, with the Major and his forces fighting off three dragons now, each a different color: one as red as blood, one stone grey, and one a dark, deep brown with white stripes.
“We need to find Riverend,” Astor said.
“Riverend is here?” Zaan said, trying shake off the weakness he felt. Might this all end if we can find him and kill him? I guess if there’s any chance it will, we need to do it, and quickly.
“I’m not sure, I don’t see him,” Zelestiana said, surveying the skies.
“Well,” Astor said, “if he’s up on one of those dragons, it’ll be hard to get him down. Arrows won’t reach that high.”
“I don’t know if I want them to come down,” Gar said, watching the swirling legion of dragons above.
Just as Gar said that, a dozen dragons began to glide down towards Barrier Cliff, continuing their swirling pattern. From Zaan’s perspective, it was as if they were in the center of a tornado of claws and teeth.
“Get ready,” Tilda said. “They’re coming in a second wave.”
The dragons began to land around the city. One by
one they dropped out to the sky and landed on houses, in the streets, even on the great towers and began poking their heads in, snapping at anything that moved. Screams were heard around the city, all around the group. The Major yelled orders down below and scores of soldiers hollered and yelled. Loud roars of angry dragons followed.
As the group gathered in a tight circle, waiting for any dragons to come and attack, a single, loud roar came from the center of the funnel overhead. Zaan looked up at the beast that made such a horrific roar. So far overhead, it looked like the others, but as it slowly descended downwards, he realized this was not at all like the others. As it floated down, its massive wings moved giant swaths of air down onto him and his friends.
Zaan could hardly see, even with his hands over his eyes, protecting them from the biting winds. His heart beat nervously in his chest, and he felt the presence of something new— powerful and terrifying, entering the fight.
The winds died down as a great dragon landed in front of them loudly, and there was something. . . someone on its back. Zaan gulped, and bounced his sword in his hands. What has Armoz sent after us now? It this Riverend? Or something even worse?
“I do not now, but we shall soon find out,” Zelestiana yelled over to him.
“What is that?” Gar asked.
“I’m not sure we want to know,” Tilda said.
The dragon was white, with crimson blood stripes down its sides and wings. Its black, rotting insides were exposed. Huge yellow eyes like a snake’s stared at them, they were the hue of a golden sun, encompassed by the color of a blood moon. Zaan shook the slaver’s sword in his hand.
Atop the great dragon was the figure Zaan felt, and he sat, staring at Zaan. There was a light the figure carried, however, it wasn’t a light from their world. It was a bright, blinding white fire that wrapped the sharp edges of a black, devilish battleax. Stepping down from the beast, a single, silver clad figure jumped heavily to the ground. He landed and dropped to a knee, his long black leather cape fell behind him.
