In the Shadow of the Dragon King

by J. Keller Ford

  David took his shirt back from Gildore, and pulled the fabric over his head. His nose wrinkled at the wetness in the sleeve. This is so, so gross.

  “Are you better?” Gildore asked. “Can you help David?”

  Eric nodded. “Yes, I think so.”

  “Good. While you’re up there, find my sword and bring it back. I swear it will be the last time anyone uses my own weapon against me.”

  Eric smirked. “Trust me. I plan to bring back as many weapons as I can carry.” He looked at David, a sly grin working its way to his lips. “Are you ready to work some magic?”

  A rat squeaked and scurried along the edge of the wall. David sucked in a breath and steeled his nerves. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Chapter 29

  Eric studied the steep steps, the wooden door at the top lost in the shadows. He wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers.

  “This will be interesting.”

  “Why?” David asked. The hesitation plucked his nerves. “What are you thinking?”

  “That door is sure to be guarded. Even if we do get past the sentries, I fear we won’t last long. I’m sure that beast knows every scent, every sound in this castle and in the forest around it. He’ll detect us right away, regardless of your skills.”

  David snorted. “If that were true, I wouldn’t still be talking to you, would I?”

  Eric stared at David, his mouth empty of a retort.

  “Yeah,” David grinned. “That’s what I thought.” David began to climb the steps. He glanced over his shoulder. “Are you coming or are you going to stay behind and let me take all the glory?”

  “Don’t get cocky,” Gildore said. “You may have the power to pop in and out of rooms, but you’re not exactly built for combat.”

  David rolled his eyes. “Yeah, so everyone keeps telling me.”

  Eric climbed the stairs, wincing with each step. “You heard the man. Let’s go, magic boy.”

  David scowled. “Don’t call me that.”

  “Why? That is what you are, right? All bang and no pow.”

  “Screw you.” David ascended the stairs. At the top, he pressed his ear to the door and listened.

  “Well?” Eric asked. “Are we alone in the universe?”

  “Will you shut up!” David whispered. “I can’t hear anything with your mouth running.”

  He continued to listen. Hearing nothing, he lightly tapped on the door.

  “Oh, that’s good,” Eric said. “Alert them to the fact that we’re behind the door.” He tapped his forefinger to his head. “Smart.”

  David glowered at Eric, his fingers balled into fists, his lips curled up in a snarl. He wanted nothing more than to knock the smug look from this jerk’s face, but that would solve nothing. He wasn’t worth it. Bullies never were. He exhaled, drew back his anger, and put his ear back to the door. Convinced there was no one on the other side, he gave the door a push, but it didn’t move.

  “It’s locked, imbecile,” Eric said.

  “Nah. You think? And do me a favor when you talk. Face the other way. Your breath smells like a rat crawled in it and died.”

  “And I guess yours smells like jasmine in springtime? Now, are you going to open the door or not?”

  “Yeah, I’ll open it. I just have to remember how.”

  “You’re a magician. Can’t you do a simple trick like open a door?”

  “I’m not a magician!”

  “Well, it’s about time you admitted it.”

  David groaned. “God, do you ever shut up!” He squeezed his eyes shut trying to remember the words Finn had taught him. After a few minutes he snapped his fingers, placed his hands on the door and said, “Tradoreo.”

  He passed through the door like a ghost and shivered. “Whoa, that was freaky.”

  “Hey, Mister I’m-not-a-magician,” Eric said. “You want to open the door?”

  Not really. David shook his arms and legs, ridding them of the remnants of the incantation, then slid back the bolt and released the hound.

  Eric’s gazed traveled up and down David’s body as he crossed the threshold. “I’m not even going to ask how you did that.” He glanced around, bolting the door behind him. “Well, this is interesting. A tower.”

  Holding onto the rail, Eric climbed the winding stone stairs. Sunlight filtered through dusty windows. Somewhere high above, a door screeched open.

  “Crap!” David whispered to Eric. “We’re going invisible. Don’t talk.” He grabbed Eric’s arm and muttered, Ibidem Evanescere!

  Footsteps pounded the stairs. A looming shadow appeared on the wall. They pressed their backs to the wall as a guard passed by. He tested the door, gave a final look around and went back the way he came. The door closed and the stairwell returned to blissful silence.

  David sighed and said, “Andor.”

  Eric doubled over at the waist, gagging like a finger had been shoved down his throat. “Please tell me we won’t have to do that again.” He staggered up the steps. “I don’t think I can take it.”

  David laughed. “Having trouble with that one, are we? Wait until I have to transport you.”

  At the top of the stairs, David pressed his ear to the door. “There’s something out there,” he whispered, his heart racing, “but I can’t make out what it is.”

  “Move. Let me listen.” Eric pressed the side of his face to the door and covered his other ear. “Sounds like the kennels at dinner time.”

  “What do you think it is?”

  “I don’t know, a dragon maybe?”

  A fist tightened around David’s lungs.

  Eric continued. “The only way you’re going to find out is to do that walking through door thing.”

  The knot in David’s stomach tugged tighter. “Easy for you to say. You haven’t come face-to-face with that thing.”

  “No?” Eric said, his brows drawn together. “See this gash on my back?” He twisted so David could see “That’s where Einar tried to pluck me from my horse. See this scrape on my ribs? That’s where a shadowmorth’s blade grazed me. Trust me. I know what that beast is capable of.”

  David swallowed, and looked away from Eric’s torso covered in shades of purple and blue. How the kid managed to walk around baffled his brain. He ran a shaky hand across his face.

  “Okay. I’ll pop over to the other side, see what’s there, then I’ll come back to get you.” David sucked in a deep breath, made himself invisible, and walked through the door.

  David wasn’t quite sure what happened next, whether it was the burning of his ring, the intense thrumming of his tattoo, or the cinching of the sash around his waist, almost to the point of pain. One thing was certain—they were all warning him of the big, black dragon sprawled on a stash of jewels no more than fifty feet away from him, chowing down on a pile of dead animals.

  David stifled his urgency to run, to escape the horror nipping at his limbs. The beast was freaking huge, like oh my God, holy shit big. If he sat straight up, his head would burst through the frescoed ceiling, which rose so high up, it probably touched the sky. The dragon’s body took up a colossal portion of the room, as well as two others, the walls once dividing them reduced to rubble.

  Einar scooped up a mouthful of food and tossed back his head and swallowed. A shiver rippled through David. That’ll be me if I’m not careful.

  He stepped to his left, toward the long, wide hallway that led into infinity. How freaking big is this place?

  Einar shifted and whipped his head around. David froze. The monstrosity’s nostrils flared. His amber eyes sharpened. His jawline tightened. A rumble from somewhere deep within his belly vibrated the floor. The dangerous, terrifying animal craned its neck, and keeping it low to the ground, sniffed like a dog for a treat.

  David stood petrified as the dragon’s head came closer and closer. Puffs of smoke drifted from Einar’s snoot. David threw a hand over his mouth and nose. The toxic smell of rotten eggs gag
ged his stomach, burned his eyes. He wanted to cry, run, dart to the dungeons for fresh air, until he saw it, the Eye of Kedge, dangling from the hilt of a sword sticking out of a floor vase. But how was he to get it? The vase sat between two jeweled thrones that rested on a dais behind a pile of jewels.

  Behind Einar.

  David’s heart pounded, the enormous dragon eye blinking not more than two arm’s lengths away. He pressed every inch of himself to the wall, too paralyzed to move. He held his breath. Go away. Please go away.

  The dragon snorted and shot out a baby flame big enough to set a small house on fire. Sweat exploded all over David’s body. His throat closed. His lungs screamed for air. He bit his lip and shut his eyes. If he was going to die, he didn’t want to see it happen.

  A rustle from the mound and David’s eyes sprang open. Einar scooped up another heaping mound of food and swallowed.

  David ordered his body to move, to flee back into the tower.

  He spoke the spell in his head, coughed with his mouth closed, the sound muffled by his sleeve, tears streaming down. He reappeared in the tower and held up his hand to Eric. “Don’t talk.” His voice came out as a raspy whisper. “Einar. In there.” He pointed to the door.

  “What?” Eric stared, unblinking, his chest rising and falling.

  Taking a steadying breath, David whispered the layout of the room as well as certain items of interest. “I can’t get them on my own. We need a distraction, which means you and I will have to go invisible again, and I’ll have to drag you through a solid wood door. Thing is, you can’t get sick. You can’t make a sound no matter how much you want to puke.” David removed his boots.

  “You don’t worry about that,” Eric said. “All you need to do is get me in there. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  David wiped the sweat from his brow and shook the nervousness from his hands.

  Breathe in. Out. In. Calm. Exhale. Peace, except for the glob of nerves that refused to move no matter how many times he swallowed.

  “Okay, wingman,” David said. “Let’s fly.”

  ***

  David and Eric materialized behind the velvet drapes framing the thrones. David clamped his hand over Eric’s mouth.

  Eric clawed at David’s arm. Get off of me! he mouthed. He dismissed David with a swish of his hand. “Go. What are you waiting for?” he whispered.

  David gritted his teeth and stepped out from behind the drapes, still shrouded in invisibility. Eric, however, was as visible as a deer in headlights. David gulped and crept forward.

  Einar lifted his head from beneath his wing and sniffed the air.

  David froze. Did he put off some sort of odor that Einar sensed?

  Einar raked his tail across wood and jewels. He rose to all fours, his nostrils flaring. The floor vibrated. The walls shook. The dragon brought his long neck around, his enormous head within feet of David. His amber cat-like eyes blinked. His mouth opened.

  Crap! Fireball!

  David spotted an alcove a football field away.

  Accelero Sil—

  “A-choo!”

  No! David’s heart thumped against his chest. Please tell me Eric did not just sneeze!

  Einar pivoted all the way around and roared, the sound so high and sharp it could cut glass. The dragon ripped the drapes from the wall, the fabric stuck to his talons.

  Shit. This was so not in the plan.

  David shed his invisibility, picked up a nearby vase and threw it at the beast. The dragon whipped around.

  David ran. “Come on, you overgrown lizard. Come get me!”

  Einar bounded from his bed, and then looked behind him at the sword. He belly-flopped and curled his tail around the vase.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” David yelled, nocking an arrow. “Get off your lazy ass! Don’t you know who I am? I’m the paladin, you foul-smelling winged bat.”

  The arrow sailed into Einar’s thigh.

  The beast bellowed and thundered toward David.

  David ran. “It’s all yours, Eric!”

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Earthquake.

  David zigzagged past broken columns and shards of marble no longer fixed to the walls. Einar followed, the ceiling raining plaster dust. And there was fire. Lots of fire.

  David rolled into a massive two-story room stuffed with carved furniture and thousands of books, and snuffed the flames on his trousers. Huge doors punctuated the walls to the right and left.

  Which way do I go?

  The doorway exploded, along with the entire wall, as Einar burst through.

  David plowed through the door to his right, heading back toward Eric.

  Einar screeched. Heavy stones shattered and crashed in the hallway. Walls behind him fell. David flicked a hurried glance over his shoulder. Einar was right behind, and a huge fireball hung in his throat, ready for launch.

  Accelero Silentium! He crammed into Eric.

  The Eye of Kedge hung from Eric’s neck. Gildore’s sword in his hand.

  “Hold on!” David grabbed Eric’s sleeve. Accelero Silentium!

  They tumbled into the cell with Gildore, weapons clanging around them. Upstairs, Einar wailed and stomped. Dust fell from the ceiling in the dungeon.

  Andor!

  David staggered to his feet. Sweat poured from his brow. “We have to go. Now!”

  Eric tossed Gildore his sword.

  High-pitched screams filled the tower.

  “Shadowmorths!” Eric said. “Get us out of here!”

  David grabbed Eric and Gildore’s arms.

  Wisps of smoke appeared at the top of the stairs.

  Ibidem Evanescere! Accelero Silentium!

  They jerked forward like fish caught in the gut by an invisible hook and slammed into the moist forest ground where David last saw Charlotte and Trog.

  Gildore puked.

  Eric grasped David’s shoulders. “Don’t ever do that again!”

  “They’re coming!” David said. “Where do we go?”

  Eric wiped the sweat from his brow. “There!” He pointed to an open field at the end of the path. “The Field of Valnor. Einar can’t touch us there!”

  David grasped Eric and the king. “Hold on! Accelero Silentium!”

  Air whipped by in a roar. They slammed into the ground, rolling and tumbling over rocks hidden in the green grass.

  A swarm of shadowmorths massed around them, thick like bees swirling and hissing and hacking.

  Icy hot electrical bursts surged from David’s ring through his veins to his tattoo. The sash tightened. A dome of pulsing energy formed around the field, a membrane of air and electrical currents.

  Zap!

  Zap!

  The shadowmorths popped like mosquitoes on a bug zapper. Their bodies disintegrated into vapor and disappeared.

  Einar screamed in tortured agony, the guttural sound thrummed the trees, like plucked strings on tree trunks. More shadowmorths hissed and snarled through the forest, rapidly approaching from the south and east.

  Soldiers, clad in black leather armor from head to foot, emerged from the trees. Horses pounded the ground. Trolls lumbered along the outer flanks, backhanding trees, flinging them in the air like toothpicks.

  Gildore stood. His scabbed lashings oozed droplets of blood over a skin covered with bruises. He limped forward, his jaw tight, his eyes unsettled. “There must be a hundred of them. David, take us to Gyllen.”

  David stared at the encroaching forces, panic doing backflips in his belly. “I-I can’t. I can only transport us to places I can see or where I’ve been.”

  Shadowmorths swarmed overhead, their forms darkening the sky. The cacophony of their hissing and screeching grew louder, penetrating.

  “We’ll be safe here, sir,” Eric said. “We’re in mage territory.”

  “We’re only safe from the dragon and his minions, not from them.” Gildore nodded toward the soldiers marching toward them. “Davi
d, get us to that bridge!”

  He pointed to a stone crossing near a huge waterfall.

  “Yes, sir!” He grabbed the king and Eric. “Accelero Silentium!”

  Nothing.

  He spoke the incantation again.

  Still nothing.

  Panic infiltrated every pore. No. This can’t be happening! Not now!

  He ran through the gamut of spells he knew to see if any of them worked.

  Nothing.

  He gulped, his breathing coming in short bursts. “I can’t get any spells to work. I don’t understand.”

  “Of course,” Eric said, his teeth gritted. “It’s mage territory. You can’t use magic here. It’s protected! We’ll have to run for it!”

  A line of soldiers on foot broke into a run toward them.

  Gildore yelled in agony.

  The painful cry ripped through David. He turned, his gaze pinned by the dagger stuck in the king’s thigh.

  Gildore stumbled forward, dragging his leg behind him.

  “No!” Eric cried.

  David’s heart raced. Panic set in. Soldiers rushed forward. Getting nearer.

  Gildore grasped the hilt of the dagger with both hands and pulled.

  Eric yelled, “David! Give me your sash! Hurry!”

  Blades flashed in the sunlight. A solid line of black death raced toward them.

  David flicked his gaze from the encroaching enemy to the king, and his lungs collapsed.

  Eric hurled a string of obscenities at David, picked up Gildore’s sword and spun around, slicing two men across their stomachs in one swipe. Sweat flew from his brow as he whirled and danced around his opponents, droplets of blood raining down around him.

  “Damn it, David! Move your ass! Do something!”

  David’s feet unhinged from the ground. He sprinted to the king’s side, and ripped off the sash. It was the least he could do to bind the wound. Pain, unlike anything he’d ever felt before, shot through his brain. Sharp. Stabbing. Burning. He collapsed, his body no stronger than a spaghetti noodle.