Mississippi DEAD (14 page)
Authors: Shawn Weaver
Tyree looked towards the wygern‘s head. The dark dragon-kin seemed to suck in all of the light around it, making the creature even darker. Its red eyes glowed menacingly. With no visible pupils, Tyree could not tell if it looked his way or not. But it‘s slightly open maw showed rows of dagger sharp teeth. It swung its long tapered neck downward, and scanned the ground below as it passed by.
Tyree reached around the white demon‘s still form. Taking hold of the dangling strap, he pulled up and tried to shimmy the pack around the demon. That is when the wygern dropped from the sky.
The force of the dragon-kin changing directions flung the backpack upwards, striking the white demon. The pack forced the dead body to jerk as if alive. Frightened for a moment, Tyree tried to move out of the way, only to lose grip on the strap.
Falling back by gravity, the demon flopped in the wygern‘s grip. Realizing that the demon had not come back to life, Tyree looked down to see if he could regain the strap, only to see the rugged cliffs of the mountains zooming closer. A mass of dead trees reached up in their direction. Leafless limbs poked out to the sky. Through the mass of trees, Tyree could see a dark cave coming into view. The wygern‘s mighty wingspan cast long shadows across the mountain‘s rocky surface.
Tyree had no idea how the wygern was going to pass through the trees into the cave. The boulders strewn around the ground showed that something had once lived here, and tried to make this unpleasant place its home. Barren branches reached out for them as they swept lower along the ground. The dragon-kin turned onto its side, one wing grazing the rocky ground below it.
Rushing past the branches, the wygern did not think of the burden that it carried and did not judge the distance it had from the trees.
Sharp branches grabbed at Tyree, missing him by mere inches. The demon fared worse as the stark branches slapped its dead form, cutting gouges into its body, ripping flesh and bone away. Branches whipped out, striking the backpack, threatening to rip it free.
Tyree grabbed the dangling strap just as a branch snapped against it. Swinging free of the demon‘s body, the strap broke, tangling around Tyree‘s hand. Pain shot up his arm as he pulled back to keep out of the way of the flashing branches. But he did not pull up fast enough; the broken strap caught in the notch of a thick limb. The wygern‘s grip and the tree‘s still strength pulled Tyree both ways. The dragon, not noticing his predicament, did not stop, but continued towards the cave.
Ripping through flesh and bone of the white demon, the final remaining strap held to the pack. With the sickening tear of the demon‘s body, Tyree found himself propelled out of the wygern‘s grip. Jerked free, Tyree saw the ragged upper torso of the demon plummet into the trees and spear on the branches. Bits and pieces of viscera expelled from its body to scatter on the rocky cliff below.
Tyree dangled from the strap still lodged within the crook of the tree. The branch swung under his weight and the momentum of the wygern‘s passing. Spinning, Tyree caught a glimpse of the black dragon-kin disappearing into the depths of the cave, still unaware that it had lost most of its night‘s dinner.
The pain from Tyree‘s shoulder was excruciating. As his spinning slowed, Tyree caught closer glimpses of the dark cave not more than a few yards away from his feet. He knew that, once the wygern realized that its prey was gone, it would swoop out of the hole to reclaim him.
But Tyree did not have time to dwell on that, as the branch above cracked under his weight. He felt himself drop a little when the branch began to separate from the rest of the tree.
He tried to grab a nearby branch, but the weight of his movement caused the wood to crack further.
At a sudden jerk on the dead branch, it split in two. Tyree grasped at another close branch, but his backpack crashed down on him, flinging his body away from the broken tree and toward the dark hole where the wygern had passed moments ago.
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Volume Four
:
Rose Marie
PROLOUGE:
Fires burned and molten rock flowed from crevices releasing noxious gasses. Heat poured from every crack in the caves’ floor making one sweat. That is, one would sweat if he had pours like the groveling humanoid creatures swarming over the land above, but the hard insect like casing surrounding his body kept him from the heat that would otherwise burn the living in seconds.
Walking from red hot stone to red hot stone, his bare feet kept sure footing, not allowing him to fall into the molten mass below. Spurts of lava shot from the cracks and landed on his shell-like skin only to slide off like water and harden on the stones in his wake. If he could feel pain, he surely would have cried out. Instead, he only snickered at the thought of the destruction and pain in the coming days ahead.
Turning through a small tunnel, he stepped out onto a shelf of rock overlooking a vast cavern. Underneath the shelf, lava spewed like a waterfall down into a lake of red hot death. Steam flowed up causing the hot air to ripple and distort his vision.
Over the sound of the liquid rock, heavy steps thudded through the cavern and its many passages. He could not pinpoint the direction the steps were coming from. But the sound echoed in the tiny ear holes in his smooth plated skull. He didn’t want to be here, having to report the failure of Commander Forcite in retrieving the chest which the damned white dragon, Newtine, had delivered too Master Well.
How the commander had failed was beyond his comprehension. He had blessed the foul human with his insect-like grace, giving him power and changing his body to a more perfect being. A painful change, taking him beyond the needs of the flesh, blessing him with immense power unlike anything the world had ever seen.
“Do you have the egg?” A voice deeper than the valley between two mountains said.
His eyes darted nervously around the cavern, unable to locate the source of the voice as it echoed through the vast space. Pain suddenly lanced through his body forcing him down onto his knees. As his chitin-like shell cracked across the chest as four unseen and powerful fingers grabbed him and squeezed. Unable to take a full breath, he screamed in pain. Then the hand released, letting hot air rush back into his aching lungs. Between razor sharp teeth, a red tongue tasted the hot air as he panted.
“Do you have the egg?” the voice boomed again, so loud this time he thought his head would explode.
“NO…” he cried out as the hand tightened around him again. The shell across his chest cracked again in numerous places, allowing the hot steam to burn the flesh underneath.
“Then why do you return?” the voice continued as he was released to collapse on the hot ground.
“My insurance has failed. Commander Forcite was unable to acquire the chest. It is gone.”
A powerful roar raced through the cavern, pressing him to the ground. The walls shook in a deep tremor, making hot lava splash high into the air as stalagmites fell from the ceiling.
“What do you intend?” the voice growled.
Thinking quickly for the correct response, he knew that he would never make it out of the molten mountain alive if the response to the question was not what his master deemed was the right path to go. “The commander’s metamorphous is complete. We can try again,” he said, hoping to get another chance, and not be cast down into the molten lake to burn away.
“One last try,” the voice said.
As the powerful voice echoed away into the far reaches of the tunnels and holes, he could feel the crushing grasp release. Sucking in air he would have smiled if the hard shell covering his face allowed him to do so. Lying on the ground a wave of relief flooded his body; he would live to see another day. From this moment on failure was not an option.
Slowly he rose to his unsteady feet as the hidden voice spoke again, “Before you try to reach the chest, you must do one thing first.”
“Anything,” he said, bowing his head in supplication.
“You must bring me the boy.”
“Yes, sire,” he said
“Then you
will
retrieve the chest.”
“What if it has hatched?” he asked, fearing the worst.
“Then bring me the red from within. I will not tolerate another failure.”
“I will not fail,” he said, turning from the cavern and stepping back into the tunnel.
