Tail of the Dragon (12 page)

CHAPTER 32

Azorath led now. Nath, Brenwar, and Selene followed. The former shade, now a man, picked his way through the subterranean levels of the fallen city. They climbed over huge chunks of road that had been heaved up. Passageways that weren’t made by men. Their eerie guide talked the entire time.

“This was the square here,” Azorath said, running his hands over a piece of twisted metal. “Many celebrations and ceremonies. Weddings. Feasts. Grand times, at least until the titans came. They had a different way of celebrating. They killed and ate people. Pitted one against the other. Horrible times, but the dragons liberated the races.” He pointed at Nath. “You understand that. A brave and noble thing, fighting for the weak and saving them from the strong.”

“Yes, you’ve said that before, shade,” Brenwar said. “How much more walking and talking? You say you know where Nath’s mother is. How much farther is she?”

“Almost there,” Azorath said, climbing down over a ledge and stopping before a stream of water that trickled. He pushed his hands down in the water and giggled. “I have not drunk nor eaten. I thirst!” He stuck his face in the water and drank. “Ah!”

Brenwar stepped into Nath and Selene’s path. “That thing is not right. Don’t trust it.”

“I know, Brenwar,” Nath said, watching Azorath continue to drink and giggle. “But if he knows anything, we have to take that chance.”

Brenwar shook his head and followed after Azorath.

“You’ve been awfully quiet, Selene. What do you make of this?” asked Nath.

She rubbed his shoulder. “It’s not for me to decide. It’s your quest. You lead, I’ll follow.”

Nath nodded. Despite the creepy feeling he couldn’t shake out from under his scales, he found a ring of truth in Azorath’s words. He wanted to believe the strange man knew where his mother was.
Why am I trusting someone who just sucked a huge part of my life from me? How did he know I was searching for my mother? Did he steal my memories as well?”

After finishing off another handful of water, Azorath continued. “You’re probably wondering if I’m the only survivor left of this once-great city.”

“No,” Brenwar said.

“Sure you are, so I will tell you. Yes, I am.” Azorath ducked between two buildings that had collided and formed an unnatural archway. “I was chosen to be the gatekeeper. To be the last. You see, the titans were defeated, but their dark ways were not. Borgash broke out in civil war once the deity-like beings were out of the picture. This faction fought with that one. Everything began to come apart at the seams. The wizards and priests battled for rule and order. Earthquakes broke out. Tornadoes screamed. It went on and on until everyone fought and no one survived. It was madness.”

“Still don’t care,” Brenwar said. He shoved Azorath forward. “Now get us to where we need to be getting.”

“I can’t help but share my speech. It’s been so long since I spoke to anyone. Forgive me for enjoying your miserable company.” He ducked his head underneath a low archway that led into a tunnel. “I find it delightful.”

Nath rubbed his temples.

I feel like a fool. Just don’t look like one, Nath. Be wary of a trap.

He trod over the grime-slickened stones, keeping Azorath in sight. The lanky man had a spring in his step. His whistles echoed, too.

That doesn’t make my head much better.

Finally, the gatekeeper came to a stop in front of an archway that was broken in half. Above it, two massive rocks had collided. Pitch blackness was on the other side of the archway. “Through here,” he pointed. “Answers to the questions you seek.” He reached for Brenwar’s torch. “May I?”

“Get yer own.”

“Brenwar,” Nath said, “please, oblige him.”

With a grunt, Brenwar handed the torch over.

Azorath waved it back and forth and erupted in a short series of giggles then said, “I can’t help it. I feel the warmth from it. It’s delightful.” He stuck it through the archway. The flames vanished in the blackness. He pulled it back out, and the flames were still alive. “I warn you. It’s very dark in there, but not far.” Showing a row of big, smiling teeth, he said, “Who goes in first?”

Nath didn’t move, and neither did Selene or Brenwar.

“I see,” Azorath said, “then I guess it will be me.” He hopped into the blackness and vanished.

Selene let out a sigh.

“What was that for?” Nath said to her.

“He bothers me,” she said.

“Me too,” Brenwar agreed.

“Nath, now that he—or it—is gone, I’m more prone to speak freely. I’m not so sure there is anything to be gained from this venture. You don’t have any evidence to go on about your mother, just the word of a fairy, and now this creature. They are both far from trustworthy.”

“Aye,” Brenwar said.

“I’ve considered that,” Nath said, “But what if my mother is down inside this horrible place? I can’t bear the thought of that. Not to mention I want my years of life back.”

“But why would she be?” Selene said. “This place fell more than a thousand years ago. Your mother gave birth to you maybe two hundred and fifty years ago. Why would she come here?”

“Those are good arguments,” he said, “but my gut tells me that I need to at least eliminate the possibility.” He stepped up to the arch and stuck his hand in it. It felt like he had stuck his fingers in ice. “I’m going in.” He extended his free hand. “Anyone else?”

Brenwar came forward. “I’m going, but I’m not holding your hand.”

“I will take it,” Selene said, taking his hand in hers. “But don’t get used to it.”

Head ducking down, Nath led them into the archway.

CHAPTER 33

Emptiness. There was no worse feeling than nothing at all.

Guzan, what madness is this?

He tumbled through the blackness, yet there was no wind in his hair. Selene’s touch was gone. His heartbeat was missing. Only his thoughts remained. A mind without a body. Soundless, he drifted in nowhere.

I’ve been deceived!

Struggling to find his own self, he noted a small window of light. He swam toward it. It became bigger, brighter, and it swallowed him whole. Wind rushed by his ears. His arms and legs flailed. “Gah!”

He crashed into a soft bed of sand. He spat the sand from his mouth and shook it from his hair. A shadow fell over him. He glanced up.

“Incoming!” Brenwar yelled. The dwarf landed on Nath’s chest.

“Ooof!” He pushed Brenwar off and helped him to his feet.

Brenwar shook the sand from his beard. “This is a fine place.”

They stood on a huge bed of cool, wet sand. Water trickled from all around, running down slick, polished cave walls. A soft green light illuminated the cavern like a spectral sky. It was humid and sweaty.

“This will probably be a regrettable decision,” Selene said. She was standing behind Brenwar and Nath, dusting the grimy sand from her clothes. Her black hair was matted to her face. She parted it and brushed it back behind her shoulders. Hands on hips, she said, “So, where is your friend?”

Nath shrugged. There was nothing in the cavern but them, and the archway they had entered from was gone. “Any idea how deep we are, Brenwar?”

Brenwar rumbled a reply. “I can’t say.”

Nath kicked the sand. “Just great.”

“Oh, stop being so grim. I was only scouting ahead. Frankly, I didn’t think you would come.” It was Azorath. He lumbered up a sandy hill where water ran like a stream below. “Time has a funny way of working down here, and it’s been quite some time since I’ve been in this area. And with a body?” He felt himself. “Tee hee!”

“Listen, Azorath, enough of the games. Take me to see my mother like you promised,” Nath said.

“I don’t recall promising anything. But if it makes you feel any better, I promise to show you your mother.”

Nath didn’t reply. He’d spent almost all of his natural life wondering who and where his mother was. Other dragons knew, but he never did, and his father had never told him. Deep down it bothered him, severely, but he never dwelled on it for long. Now, to think he might find the answer to his question? He wasn’t sure he was ready. He pulled his shoulders back, marched forward, and said, “Lead the way, then.”

Shuffling over the strange landscape, they moved forward at a depressive gate. Never in his life had Nath felt so displaced. His surroundings were so unnatural and odd. Light without a source from above. An eerie tingle in the air. His heightened instincts choked back and waited to cry for danger. He had to see it through, though. Have faith that his heart would lead him to his mother.

I hope I am not deceived.

He recalled his father, Balzurth, often saying, “Be careful of your heart’s desires. Sometimes it can deceive you. Seek wisdom first. It will always prevail.”

Azorath slogged into the ankle-deep waters and forged away. The strange man’s shoulders swung left to right as he moved. The oddness about him made Nath wonder about the people that had lived in Borgash and the culture they’d shared. He felt Selene take his hand in hers. Softly he said back to her, “You must feel as out of place as I do.”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see Nalzambor’s sun again. It seems we’ve been in here for weeks already.”

“Almost there,” Azorath said, picking up the pace. “Oh, that was quick. It seems we are already there. Now gaze, my liberators. Gaze at the Great Wall of Dragons!”

Selene squeezed Nath’s hand and gasped.

Ahead was a great wall indeed. The most magnificent wall that Nath had ever seen. A wall made of dragons. It was expansive, too. It stretched up several stories high and was just as wide. The dragons were a tight cluster of scales, claws, tails, horns, and teeth. They were a colorful mix of stone and marble. Every detail was just as realistic as the next. Dragons, great and small. Nath could tell what they were by the shapes of their heads. There were dragon breeds from the large bull dragons to the smaller fire bites. Finding his breath, Nath said, “Who created this wonder?”

“Why, the dragons did,” Azorath replied. He had his hands clasped behind his back and was studying the wall with adoration. “Quite the sacrifice, isn’t it?”

“I don’t take your meaning,” Nath said. “Are you saying that dragons carved this?”

“No, no, you don’t understand. Come, come,” Azorath said, beckoning with his hand. “Touch it. Feel it. That is the best way to answer your question.”

“I don’t like this,” Selene said, not hiding the concern in her voice.

“I’ve never seen stonework so grand as this,” Brenwar added. “Not outside of Morgdon for certain.”

Nath’s heart beat faster. Drawn to the great wall, he ventured forward and stretched out his hand. With the slightest tremble in his claw-tipped fingers, he laid his scaled palm on the wall. It was warm to the touch. His jaw dropped, and then with amazement he said, “Sultans of Sulfur! It’s beating!”

CHAPTER 34

“I can’t believe this,” Nath said with incredulity. “Selene, you must feel it.”

The raven-headed woman hesitated. “I don’t know about this, Nath. How can they live such a fate? I don’t understand.”

Nath swallowed. Sweat dripped into his eyes, and his heart continued to race. Hundreds of heartbeats, slow and steady, thumped through his palm, igniting his entire body. So many dragons clustered together as one.
Why?

Finally, Selene stretched out her hand and touched the wall of dragons. She took in a sharp breath. Tears swelled in her eyes. Her normal calm and cool expression switched back and forth between sorrow and joy. “This is madness. But I don’t sense any torment. Do you?”

Nath searched his feelings. He searched the feelings in the life within the dragon wall. There was no sadness. Just duty. Honor. Comfort for one another. “They aren’t alone in this. They have united together. But why, Azorath?” He tore his hand away. “Why?”

Rubbing his chin, Azorath said with sad dark eyes, “They formed a barrier to keep the titans within. Never to escape again.”

“Didn’t they kill them all?” Nath said.

“The dragons showed mercy in hopes that one day the titans might redeem themselves.” He sighed. “There was a time when they served the world for good, not evil. At least some of them. That is how I remember it, anyway.”

Eyes fixed on the dragon wall, Nath said, “The price is too high. These dragons have lives to live. Certainly there must be a better way to seal those foul monsters within.”

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Azorath said, “but dragons live a long time. And I’ve seen dragons take other dragons’ places.” He walked up to the wall and touched the face of a red rock dragon. Running his hands over its curled tail, he said, “See, this one is new. I’d guess he came here not fifty years ago, when another one left.”

“You’re telling me the dragons know about this, but I don’t? How can that be? Selene?”

“I don’t know either, Nath. It’s a mystery to me,” she said.

“It’s a big world, and it’s full of surprises.” Azorath placed his hand on the wall. “How sad, I don’t feel what you feel. It just feels like a wall to me. Interesting.”

“You were a shade before. Have you ever been on the other side?” Nath asked.

“No, not possible. Nothing can pass through it. No shade, spirit, titan, nor dragon.”

It made sense enough to Nath. Staring at the dragons, he began picking out the details of their faces. He knew every breed. Beyond the color of their scales, each dragon breed had a unique design to its claws, horns, and even the flecks of their iron-hard scales. There wasn’t any type that he didn’t recognize. “I have no idea what my mother looks like or what type of dragon she is. Have you seen her, Azorath?”

“I’ve seen many dragons come and go.”

“You said my mother was here. How would you know that if you hadn’t seen her?” Nath’s brow furrowed. “Show me which one she is.”

“Ask them yourself. It might take me years to sort through all of them. I’m not so bored that I note every detail.”

“This smells, Nath,” Brenwar said. “Smells really bad. This Azorath is a liar. A stealer. I wouldn’t trust another word he said.”

“Don’t be such a dwarf,” Azorath said. “I haven’t done anything you wouldn’t have done given my situation. Again, I’m grateful. I have flesh again, but I do miss my people.”

Nath spread his arms out, held them in front of the wall, and said, “I’m going to ask them.”

“Be patient, Nath,” Selene said, walking in front of him and staying his arms. “We need to learn more about what we’re dealing with. Let’s study the histories and research it.”

“You felt it, too, Selene. We can’t just let them live like this. We must see what they need. Maybe we can help them.”

“They might not want help,” Selene said. “It seems they made their own decision.”

“That’s only a guess.”

“It makes no difference to me. You wanted to find your mother. I care not if you find her or not. But if I could find my mother, I’d probably venture the extra step,” Azorath said, stretching his arms and yawning. “Oh my, did you see that? My limbs tire. What a feeling!”

Nath glanced at Brenwar. The dwarf’s stern expression didn’t offer any advice. He found Selene’s eyes. Beautiful and mysterious, there was doubt lurking deep within. It wasn’t like her at all. Perhaps it was guilt. She’d unleashed something terrible with the wurmers. Sounding as reassuring as he could, he said, “It’s only a question.”

“Then I hope you are prepared for the answer.” Selene stepped away and found a place behind him. “You might not like it.”

Nath placed both hands on the wall. Life flowed through the structure like a living stream. A powerful network of dragons forming a cohesive unit. It was a marvel the likes of which he’d never seen. Without hesitation, he spoke to it with thoughts instead of words.

“Brothers and sisters, I am Nath Dragon, and I am searching for my mother. Is she here?”

The wall trembled. Dragon thoughts assaulted his mind. They probed. They questioned. Nath felt every bit of them. Patient and strong they were. Formidable. Dedicated. His body shook.

“Go away, Son of Balzurth,” they said. “Go away!”

Nath felt them holding back. They protected something. Something that wasn’t beyond the wall. He didn’t back off. “I want to know where my mother is,” Nath fired back. “I am the Dragon Prince. I demand it. Is she here or not?”

Boom!

The dragon wall shook, juttering Nath’s arms. Something had slammed into it from the other side. Nath grimaced. He could feel the dragons’ pain.

Boom!

The wall shook again.

“Go, Nath Dragon, go. We cannot afford this distraction,” they said with fierce desperation. “We must stay focused.”

Nath held on and said again, “Is my mother here or not?”

“I am, Son,” said a female voice.

Every fiber of Nath’s being came to new life. The warmth of her voice enveloped him.

“Mother?” he said, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Son, you must go. You endanger all of us. You’ll see me when the time is right.”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Something raged on the other side of the wall. It was fierce. Unrelenting.

Nath sensed confusion among the dragons. There was pain and worry. How often did the dragons have to endure this?

“Mother! Let me help you! Let me see your face!”

“Nath, you must go before it’s too late. Trust me!” Her words were no longer soothing but worried. “Flee this place with urgency!”

“I cannot let you suffer!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Brenwar rammed into him, knocking him away from the wall. “We have to go! This entire place is coming down!”

“Noooooooooooooooooo!” Nath screamed, clutching at the wall. Selene and Brenwar hooked his arms and dragged him backward. Gaping, Nath watched the entire wall of dragons come to life. Their colors returned. They moved and shifted. Eyes snapped open. Dragon jaws grimaced. They squeezed into as tight a knot as they could.

Boom!

The entire wall buckled.

“Perfect,” Azorath said. He found Nath’s eyes. “We thank you for the long-overdue distraction.”

Boom!

The center of the wall of dragons burst open. Dragons were flung from the air. Something evil and colossal emerged.