by John Corwin
"Construction golems," Shelton said. "They must be importing stone through the arch and building those monsters here."
"The stadium has all the tools they need for building golems that size," Takei said. "They can easily import the raw materials through the arch."
"I see only a skeleton crew." Michael rotated the image, marking locations of people as he went. "We need to lock down this place now before the rest of the enemy forces make it up the mountain."
"Agreed," Takei said. "I dispatched a flying carpet to keep an eye on the retreating forces so we'll know when they're on the way."
The faint sound of crackling branches and the thud of heavy feet caught my ear. This sound wasn't coming from the stadium, it was coming from the Dark Forest. The noise of the departing golems must have caught the tragon's attention. I'd used the creature to fight a giant stone golem once. Used was something of an overstatement. I'd goaded the tragon into chasing me inside the stadium and very narrowly missed becoming its next meal thanks to Elyssa knocking it out.
"Let's hit them hard," I said.
"Those construction golems have been modified," Shelton said. He pointed to large gemstones set in the faceless foreheads of the bulky humanoid shapes. "They're weaponized."
Captain Takei grunted. "He's right. We'll need to take down the golems first."
Michael rotated the recorded image. "I count six."
"We don't have any siege equipment," Takei said. "If we focus all our firepower on the leg of one golem, we might bring it down quickly, unless they've also added magic-resistant charms to them."
"Dollars to donuts they did." Shelton frowned. "There's no sense adding weaponry to those things if they don't have armor."
A distant roar echoed through the forest. I looked in the direction it had come from and sighed. "I think the answer to our problems is on the way."
"Not the tragon again," Elyssa said. "Do you know how many Lancer darts it took to knock that thing out before it ate you?"
A flock of spider-bats burst from a giant oak tree near us with shrieks of panic as the thud of breaking branches grew closer. One of the freaky-looking creatures smacked into the shield surrounding the forest and plummeted onto the ground only a few feet away, all eight of its legs twitching.
I shuddered and turned back to my girlfriend. "I'm not sick with the vampling curse like I was last time, plus I have a few more tricks up my sleeve."
The ground trembled beneath us. A group of saplings bent to the side and a red-scaled reptilian snout poked through. It sniffed the air, plumes of smoke rising from nostrils the size of manhole covers. The rest of the muzzle pressed through the foliage followed by a creature the shape of a Tyrannosaurus rex and nearly twice the size. Tiny wings fluttered uselessly atop the monster's bony, ridged back.
The tragon saw our little army and bellowed loud enough to wake a deaf corpse.
Shelton backed away a few feet despite the shield keeping the tragon inside its forest prison. He looked up at the looming beast and shivered. "You're insane if you think you can make that thing fight for us."
Lowering its head level with us, the tragon regarded me with one beady eye. Seeing its head this close gave me a better appreciation for just how massive it was. Its mouth looked large enough to swallow a car in one bite. It huffed. A blast of fire splashed against the shield. A low rumble built in its throat. Its muzzle parted to display rows of sharp teeth.
"Do you remember me?" I asked it.
The tragon growled louder.
"I think it does." Shelton shook his head. "And it ain't a happy kind of memory." He glanced toward the stadium. "All this noise is going to attract attention."
"Doubtful," Takei said. "The noise from the golems in the stadium attracted the tragon in the first place. I'm sure this isn't the first time it's come here and made a scene."
"A territorial reaction," Michael said. "It sensed something threatening in the vicinity and challenged it."
The tragon wasn't as large as the colossal golems, but it was easily larger than the construction golems. Maybe I was feeling cocky. Maybe I felt a little bit too cool for school after my fight against Aerianas. Maybe I felt like I still had something to prove. Whatever my reason, I decided having the tragon fight for us was the way to go.
The shield was designed to keep monsters in. It didn't keep people out.
So, I stepped across the line.
Before I had a chance to do anything, the tragon ate me.
Even with my supernatural reflexes, I was barely fast enough to put up a bubble shield before everything went dark. I heard teeth grinding against the shield. The tragon's mouth opened and closed as it tried to bite down on the barrier of Murk keeping me alive. It sounded like someone cracking their teeth on a jawbreaker.
I caught a glimpse of Elyssa's stunned face as the tragon opened its mouth wide and chomped down again. My view spun as the spherical shield rolled in the creature's mouth.
"How stupid are you?" I shouted. How stupid am I? With an effort of will, I flexed the shield, making it larger and larger until the tragon could no longer keep it in its mouth and dropped me on the ground. It took every ounce of concentration I had to keep the shield in place as I moved. Using the bubble like a giant gerbil wheel, I rolled away from the tragon.
It stalked around me like a cat looking in a fishbowl, obviously trying to figure out how to eat me. It whipped its long tail around and sent me and my shield tumbling through the trees. My concentration broke. The shield vanished. I landed on my feet just as the tragon leapt, claws extended. I dodged behind a tree. Wood splintered as the monster shredded the trunk.
I gripped a fallen tree and swung it hard over the tragon's head. It hit with a loud crack. The impact jarred my arms but did absolutely nothing to hurt the tragon. It was like hitting a person with a toothpick.
The beast reared back its head and roared. I formed a giant slab of ultraviolet murk in the air and slammed it into the monster's head. This time, the tragon staggered backwards. I threw a volley of boulder-sized Murk spheres at the tragon. Each one knocked the monster back a few yards.
"Stop trying to eat me!" I shouted.
It lunged forward. I channeled a solid beam of ultraviolet and speared it into the tragon's snout. The creature made a whimpering sound and fell against a tree, toppling it in the process. Before it could recover, I ran around the monster and used the bony spines on its back like a staircase. The beast spun like a dog chasing its tail in an attempt to throw me off.
I shot a rope of aether at the topmost spine and pulled myself forward. The tragon whipped its head and the tether jerked me forward. My feet left the tragon's back for an instant. Somehow, I locked a foot on a spine and kept myself from falling off. Using the aether rope for balance, I jerked myself back up and made another run for the tragon's head. The beast bucked and roared but I lassoed its top spine with another loop of magical energy, ran between the bat-like wings, and anchored myself.
Judging from the creature's un-tragonlike reaction when I'd nailed it in the nose, I took a slightly informed guess as to how I might maintain control of the thing. Once I took it out of the woods, I definitely didn't want it eating any of my friends or allies. I channeled a solid ring of Murk around the tragon's mouth just above the nostrils.
The creature tried to roar, but its mouth was clamped shut. The sheer power of the monster's jaw pressed against my spell, which, in turn, squeezed my head, much like when I'd fought the stone elemental Aerianas had used against me. But like an alligator—a really, really big alligator—this thing didn't have nearly the force when trying to open its mouth as it did when closing it. Its wings swooshed the air. Relative to the creature's size, they looked ridiculously small. Up close, each one spanned about ten feet—enough to knock me silly if I didn't stay out of the way.
The tragon shook its head violently. Slammed against trees. Ran in circles. Flapped its wings like crazy. I held on tight to its top ridge. I began to wonder if maybe the cre
ature was too stupid to realize it was beaten. For all I knew, it'd keep on running and bucking until it collapsed from exhaustion. It took another several minutes, but the tragon finally stopped and stood still, a high-pitched, unhappy growl in its throat.
"Had enough?" I asked. I'd firmly anchored to the spine at the top of its neck.
It snorted and stomped the ground.
"I know your relatives, the earth dragons," I said. "We get along okay. There's no reason you and I couldn't."
It simply stood still.
"How would you like to destroy a bunch of stuff?" I asked.
Its head tilted and a parietal eye regarded me.
"I can get you out of the forest." I pointed toward the stadium. "We could go on a rampage in there."
It snorted and looked where I was pointing.
I nodded. "Destroy. Kill. Much fun."
"Do you really think it understands you?" Elyssa said from behind me.
I almost jumped out of my pants. I looked back and saw her gripping one of the spines just below the tragon's wings. "When did you come in here?"
"Just now." She shook her head and sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Imagine how Daelissa's people will feel when they see me and Trago coming."
Her forehead wrinkled. "Now it has a name?"
"He has a name." I patted the tragon's neck. "Let's kick some ass, Trago."
"You are the absolute worst at coming up with names." Elyssa situated herself between two of the spines. She kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear. "You're so sexy when you're wrestling giant dinosaurs."
I squeezed her hand. "If I didn't have a war to fight, I'd take you on a ride through the countryside."
She nipped my ear. "If only." A sigh escaped her throat. "Let's go. We don't have a lot of time before the army we pushed back in the way station makes it up here."
I really wanted to make out with her right then and there. How many people could scratch an experience like this off their bucket list? Unfortunately, duty called. "Giddyup, Trago." I gave the tragon a light slap on the neck.
It didn't move.
I wiggled around. "C'mon. Move. Let's go blow up some stuff."
Trago apparently wasn't having any of it. He snorted and started to walk back into the forest.
"So much for being the first tragon whisperer," Elyssa said in a wry tone.
"Seriously?" I shouted. "I offer you the chance to go ham and you just walk back into the woods? Don't you want a little adventure in your life?"
"Either it doesn't understand you, or it's a lot smarter than it looks," Elyssa said.
As the tragon pushed further into the forest, I realized we'd either have to get off and hoof it back, or figure out a quick way to turn around this reptilian tank. Since I knew the thing's snout was a tender spot, I channeled two thick coils of Murk, curving the ends and hooking them into Trago's nose. I pulled on the right rope. The tragon trumpeted with pain. Its head rotated to alleviate the pressure, but I kept pulling until it was forced to turn its entire body.
When we were headed the way I wanted, I released the pressure and the monster stayed on course. We reached the edge of the forest.
"Open the shield, Shelton!" I called down.
He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I sure as hell hope you got that thing under control."
"Of course," I lied. "Total control."
Shelton waved his staff, and a section of the forest shield flickered off. I nudged the tragon forward. For a second, he didn't move so I willed the hooks in his nose to pull forward. The beast made a whining noise and stepped forward slowly, almost as if he expected to run into the shield at any moment.
The Blue Cloaks and Templars gave the creature a wide berth as it tromped past. Once he reached the grassy field, the tragon looked around. He sniffed the air and looked toward the distant stadium.
"Let's go kick some ass," I said and released the spell keeping the monster's mouth clamped shut.
A low rumble sounded in Trago's throat. He looked back at me for a moment. I figured if he had eyebrows, he would have arched one. His head flicked forward. Without warning, Trago sprang forward at incredible speed. He trumpeted a loud roar. Clods of earth flew up behind us. Every time the tragon panted, I felt heat wash across my face. I looked back and saw the bulk of our troops rushing across the field behind the tragon.
I saw two men exit through the massive archway leading inside the stadium. Their faces lit with horror and they ran screaming back inside. Trago roared. His claws clacked as he ran across the stone-paved walkway around the stadium. My mount rushed through the archway and burst into the arena. Two massive construction golems turned to face the beast. The gems on their heads glowed.
Dazzling light beams shot at my monster. At first, the lasers seemed to do nothing to the tragon's scaly hide, but wisps of smoke appeared, and he roared with pain. Trago leapt through the air, his tiny wings fluttering. I heard Elyssa gasp. I braced for impact just as the tragon's claw slammed into one golem's chest and took it down. Trago roared and a gout of ruby flames melted the golem's head to lava.
The other golem focused on us and fired a beam at the tragon's back. I shielded us, but was forced to release the spell forming the hooks in Trago's snout. My mount turned its head, seemingly oblivious to me and Elyssa, and leapt for the second golem. Elyssa and I grunted in tandem as the tragon landed on its second victim.
"I'm getting off!" she shouted.
My crotch was already rubbing raw from the constant bucking and swaying. "Me too."
The tragon slammed a claw on the second golem's chest and stood still to blast it in the face with a gout of flames that looked like a solar flare. Elyssa and I took the opportunity to abandon ship—err, dinosaur. Channeling a rope of Murk, I lowered us to the ground as Trago turned toward the remaining construction golems converging on him.
The sun disappeared in shadow. I looked up just in time to see a block of granite falling straight for us.
Chapter 6
Trago's tail swept across the ground, sending me and Elyssa tumbling out from under the block of granite. It slammed to earth inches away from us. The tragon didn't seem to notice it had inadvertently saved us as it thudded toward its giant attackers.
Battle mages standing near a half-constructed leviathan golem aimed their staffs at us and fired. Beams of energy rippled through the air. I shielded us from the first volley as we raced for cover behind a massive block of rough-hewn granite. The rest of our forces stormed onto the field. A group of demolition Blue Cloaks raced toward a construction golem as it flanked the tragon.
Trago roared in pain as energy from multiple sources lanced into his tough hide. I peeked out from cover and aimed my fist at the nearest construction golem. Focusing my supernatural vision on the laser gem, I fired a beam of Brilliance at it. The golem fired a laser at the same time. My blast met the energy. The two forces coalesced into a ball of boiling energy. I pushed with everything I had. The energy ball exploded. The laser gem shattered and the golem stumbled backward. Its huge body slammed against the tall wall beneath the stands.
My inner demon stirred. I wondered if it would be able to challenge me even if I was in human form. I braced my consciousness, but my demon side didn't surge as it had when I was manifested.
The demolition Blue Cloaks reached their target. Dodging the giant stone creature's feet as it tried to crush them, they traced runes on its knee with their staffs. One of them gave a signal, and they cleared the area. I expected an explosion. Instead, the stone around the runes crumbled as if it had lost all cohesion. The golem toppled forward and smashed into the ground with a tremendous, earth-shaking thud. A wave of earth and sod slammed into a group of battle mages and sent them screaming to their deaths as Trago incinerated them with a blast of fiery breath.
Templars threw sticky aether bombs on the legs of another golem. Battle mages fired volley after volley of deadly energy at them. One blast caught a Templar and hur
led him beneath the feet of the golem. I looked away as the monstrous foot slammed down. A small contingent of crimson-clad vampires appeared from behind stone blocks and engaged another squad of Templars.
Elyssa ran to help. I raced after her, but it was all I could do to keep up. I was beyond exhausted. Hunger for soul essence clawed at my insides.
My girlfriend whipped out her sai swords and intercepted a sword thrust meant to cleave off a fellow Templar's head. She twisted the sword from the vampire's hand. Ducked. Ran him through with both her swords.
I channeled a blade of Brilliance and sliced through an attacker's sword like butter. The vampire snarled, fangs flashing, and dove at me. I moved my sword to intercept, but the blade flickered off. He slammed into me. Somehow, I managed to throw him off. I staggered to my feet just as my attacker did. My insides screamed with hunger. Survival instinct took over. My hands shot up, fingers outstretched.
A look of surprise came over the vampire's face as his hands splayed out in front of him. White light poured from the fingers of his right hand while thick oily essence flowed from the fingers of his left. Some of the numbing exhaustion left me. The vampire cried out in pain as blackened veins pressed hard against the right side of his face, while glowing white veins pulsed on the opposite. Unfortunately, feeding from a vampire was unsatisfying compared to a human. The essence seemed watered down.
I snapped to my senses and released my victim. He fell to the ground in a heap. A final cry faded away and the battlefield went silent except for a crunching noise. I turned to see Trago eating the tragon-fried bodies of battle mages.
Elyssa made a gagging noise. I echoed the sentiment. Shelton skirted wide around the monster, a grimace on his face.
Captain Takei approached us. "The people I sent to watch for the enemy troops retreating from the way station just checked in. Apparently, the troops evacuated through omniarch portals only moments ago."
Michael, a grim look on his face, joined us. "Any danger of them using portals to attack us here?"
"I'll have a perimeter of portal-blocking statues established," Elyssa said.
