The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) (136 page)

CHAPTER 14

There it was. Dragons. Devastation. Towns burned. People dead. Prisoners shackled. Nath had to catch his breath. Never had he imagined such horrors.

“How can this be?” he said in little more than a whisper.

The dwarves marched from Morgdon. The elves from Elome. The orcs of Thraag and their horded army descended from the north. The image in the great portal gave Nath glimpses of the entire world. He’d watch long enough, enthralled, only to see the image change into another. His blood raced.

“What of the Truce?” he yelled a Selene. “You knew of all this!”

“As I said,” Gorn began, “the Truce, or rather, the Lie, has ended. It ended before it even started.”

Nath turned back to the portal. Dragons soared the skies, scraping the building tops with roaring flames gushing from their mouths. Towns he’d seen before were now cinders, the people dead, enslaved, or lost.

“What is the meaning of all this?” he said, turning and not holding back his anger. He clenched his fists, chest heaving. “Tell me why you do such wretched things!”

“I do this because dragons were meant to rule this world. Not men. Not elves. Not dwarves. Dragons!” Gorn said, stepping closer. He poked Nath in the shoulder, knocking him a step backward. “All will submit to me. Those who don’t will perish. Especially your friends, Nath Dragon.” He pointed at the grand mural. “Take a look. See.”

He saw Brenwar wielding his war hammer and barking orders. Ben unleashed exploding arrows from Akron. Bayzog stood behind them, face in distress, arms shaking, shielding them and the others behind them. Dragons had them pinned down in the mountains, raining down blasts of fire upon them. They wouldn’t last. They needed his help. Now. The image faded from one form to another. In Quintuklen, the city of humans, tall towers burned. The Legionnaires fought dragons and giants on the hillsides. Wave after wave of gnolls and goblins assaulted them.

Stretching his hand toward the portal, Nath said, “Wait!” He needed to see what happened to Brenwar, Ben, and Bayzog.

“I’ve waited long enough,” Gorn said with a sneer. “The end is what it is.”

Nath’s knees weakened. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, was it? How had everything happened so fast? The portal must indeed have moved him through time. He needed to move it back. The image changed from one scene to another. He saw a blast of dragon fire shatter Bayzog’s shield and drive Brenwar to his knees.

“Nooooo!” Nath yelled. He gathered his legs and sprang through the portal. The image faded, and he fell face first on the ground. Spitting the dirt out of his mouth, he glared back at Gorn and Selene.

Gorn was laughing. “Fool!” the dragon warlord said, crossing his arms over his chest. “A fool indeed. Perhaps this fool would like to make a bargain.”

Nath came to his feet. “I don’t bargain with evil.”

“Is that so?” Gorn lifted a scaly brow. “Even if it could save your friends? Save most of the world, perhaps?”

“No.”

“I think you should at least look and see what I have to offer, Nath.” Gorn turned and started to walk away, and Selene followed. “Come.”

Eyeing the dragons perched on the stones above, Nath followed after them with a heavy heart. His friends were in danger. Possibly dying. And all he was doing was nothing.

This can’t be happening. It can’t be!

Above, he heard a rattle of chains. He stopped to look. The dragons tethered to the Floating City took flight. With great effort in their wings and angry growls coming from their throats, they began pulling at the chains tethered to the city. Slowly, inch by inch, foot by foot, the city began to spin clockwise.

Sultans of Sulfur! What are they doing?

He followed Gorn and Selene behind the great stone throne. Ahead, Gorn had stopped. His broad, muscular, scale-ridged back blocked the view of something that captured his attention. Selene stood at the monster’s side, tail sliding side to side in unison with Gorn’s. She seemed insignificant beside him. It reminded him of how Nath felt ofttimes when he stood beside his father.

Could he be her father? That would explain a lot.

If that were the case, his cause might be lost already. Nath proceeded, coming to a stop beside Selene, where a large altar of stone sat on the brown and dusty ground. A dragon was chained down on the bloodstained slab. A gold one.

“You dare!” Nath said. He jumped up on top of the dais and tugged at the moorite chains, straining.

The dragon’s eyes fluttered open. She had long lashes and beautiful pink- and gold-flecked eyes. She moaned, soft and miserable.

“Release her!”

“No,” Gorn said, slowly shaking the great horns on his head. “I cannot do that. But you can, Nath Dragon. You can release her from this life that offers only a horrible end.” Gorn reached over and grabbed a great spear that was stuck in the ground. It was eight feet in length and had a large, barbed head and a razor-sharp tip. “Her life for your friends’ lives.”

Still tugging at the unbreakable links, Nath groaned, “Aaarererer!” and his brow beaded with sweat. “I don’t do your evil deeds!” he said through clenched teeth. “Not now! Not ever!”

Gorn eyed the spear tip. “Please. Settle yourself. You’re in no condition to break those chains.” He thumbed the edge. “Sharp. Now Nath, do you know the best way to kill a dragon? After all, we have scales, harder than steel. Armor all over. We are fast, but we can still be defeated. What is it that kills us so well?”

Nath didn’t answer. Instead, he eased his efforts and rubbed the dragon’s head. She snorted a little. Selene had already tried to fool him into killing one dragon, a rose blossom, before. Why would they tempt him now and try to make him kill a magnificent golden-tailed lady, the sweetest and gentlest of all the dragon breeds, if not the rarest as well?

“The heart,” Gorn continued. “One swift, hard strike will do it. But not with just anything. It takes magic steel, or an enchanted dragon part, such as a horn. That is what this fine tip is crafted from, the horn of a steel dragon. I think you knew this one once.”

Nath sneered. All he could think of was the one he had met guarding the tombs in the Shale Hills. That dragon was a powerful one. More powerful than inferno, maybe.

“Take it,” Gorn said. “Better her life be lost to a friend than to my kind.” Somehow, the dragon warlord smiled. “Consider it mercy, far better treatment than what I have in store for your friends.”

A lump formed in Nath’s throat. He glanced at Selene.

There was a glimmer of sympathy in her dark eyes.

“I’m not feeling very patient, Nath Dragon.” He held the spear out toward Nath. “Her life for your friends’ lives. You must decide now.”

CHAPTER 15

“Hold on! Hold on!” Sasha yelled. She’d locked her hands around Bayzog’s waist and now began feeding him power. “I’m with you!”

They’d followed the Floating City for three days, trying to keep up as it moved swiftly beneath the clouds. The dragons that hauled it along had paid them so little mind that for a long time, Bayzog had no reason to believe they even saw them. Then they had struck.

Huddled inside a small ravine in the hills, Bayzog secured them with his shield. It had begun to crack under the blistering heat. Dragons dove from the air, blasting fire one right after the other.

“We have to find a way out of here,” Brenwar yelled. “Pilpin, find us a hole!” The grizzled dwarf wound up his war hammer. Beside him, Ben reloaded his bow. “Let them have it!” He released the hammer. Ben shot his bow.

The war hammer shattered the teeth of a diving grey scaler.

Crack!

An exploding arrow busted the wing of another.

Boom!

Both dragons spun out of control and slammed into the rocky slopes of the mountain.

“For Morgdon, lizards!”

Another series of flames danced and sizzled on Bayzog’s shield. Gripping the Elderwood Staff with all his might, he summoned more power. The cracks in the shield strengthened. Above, in the nooks in the rock, Shum and Hoven went to work with their Dragon Needles, jabbing at anything that came close enough to attack, keeping some of the smaller crawling dragons at bay.

“Father,” Rerry said, brandishing his sword, “let me fight!”

“No, Son! Stay back.”

“But—”

“I said
no
.”

“Brenwar,” Ben said, firing another shot, “what about your hammer?”

“Guzan!” Brenwar yelled. He dashed away and disappeared over the edge of the ravine.

“Get back here!” Ben yelled. ”You’ll get slaughtered out there!” He looked back at Bayzog. “I have to go after him.”

“Don’t,” Bayzog said, starting his argument, but Ben was already dashing out of the ravine. Rerry followed, lithe as a gazelle. “Rerry, come back!”

“Rerry!” Sasha screamed after her son. “No!” She released Bayzog, stumbled over the loose stones in the ravine, and fell. Pain erupted in her face.

“Sasha!” Bayzog said, reaching out for her.

A roar of flame coated the shield. The bright-orange, blistering flames blinded his eyes. A bolt of lightning lanced through the shield, and again it began to crack.

Ssszram!

Another bright blast came, shattering the shield into shards and knocking Bayzog from his feet. Numb and shaking, he rolled off his back and tried to gather his feet. Strong hands hoisted him up. He looked back and saw Samaz.

“Look!” Samaz said with wide fear-filled eyes. “Mother!”

Twenty feet away, Sasha was hemmed in by a pair of dragons, a blue streak and a grey scaler, each standing one head taller than Sasha. Tongues licked from their mouths, and angry hisses came forth.

Brow buckled, Bayzog unleashed power from the Elderwood Staff.

Kra-Cow!

A blinding bolt of intense golden power erupted from the staff, incinerating the grey scaler. The blue streak darted away.

Bayzog and Samaz rushed over to Sasha and helped her stand. Her robes were torn, and one knee was bleeding.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she said, dusting off her robes. “I should have been able to handle that. What a fool I am. I had a spell on my lips and could not—”

A great shadow filled the ravine, and all parties looked up. A huge sky raider descended, its great jaws wide open. In an instant, Bayzog finally realized his shield was gone. The scales on the beast’s chest became bright like flame, and it blasted the ravine with an ear-splintering roar. Covering his ears, Bayzog fell to his knees. Sasha was shaking, and the heat alone from the great dragon’s breath was suffocating. A snort of flame shot from its nose, and the blackness of its massive maw began to glow.

“Do something, Father!” Samaz said.

Bayzog’s thoughts went blank.

***

“Did you find it?” Ben said to Brenwar, bow ready, eyeing the sky.

“No,” Brenwar yelled, ripping a small tree out of the earth.

A dragon burst from the foliage, little bigger than him. Its mouth filled with flames that began to gush out.

Brenwar stuffed the small tree into its mouth. “Chew on that, fire breather!”

A copper dragon head emerged from the woodland and dashed into the clearing. Its tail swiped the ground and lifted Brenwar from his feet.

Brenwar’s head cracked a rock. “I’ve had enough of you lizards!” He snatched up the rock his head had broken and hurled it at the dragon.

The monster slithered aside and pounced on Brenwar. Claws tore at his eyes and limbs. Its tail curled around his throat.

“Now yer making me mad,” Brenwar spat at the beast. He cocked back his arm and punched it with all the power of his bracer.

Whop! Whop! Whop!

The dragon hissed. Acid flames dripped from its mouth, but the stubborn monster held on, dripping acid onto Brenwar’s armor so that it sizzled and burned holes in his now-smoking beard.

“Now you’ve done it!”

Whop whop whop!

Whop whop whop!

The dragon’s ribs cracked, making tree-like splintering sounds.

Cri-crick crick!

Its body softened and wavered. Its tail went slack around his neck.

Brenwar grabbed its tail and slung the two-hundred-pound dragon like a man slinging a cat.

It crashed into a tree and moved no more.

Nearby, Ben loosed another arrow into a dragon’s neck, dropping it from the sky. The warrior locked eyes with him and nocked another arrow.

“Brenwar, look out!”

Out of nowhere, a grey scaler pounced on his back, driving him face first to the ground.

“Blasted lizards!” Fighting to regain his footing and ignoring the clawing at his back, Brenwar twisted over. He shoved the limp form of the dragon off him. “What happened?” he said. “I didn’t even hit it.” And then he noticed Rerry.

The young part-elf warrior brushed his light hair from his eyes, staring at the blood on his sword. “I—I killed it,” Rerry said, staring down at the dragon. “With my sword.”

Brenwar got up on his feet. “You did well, part of a part-elf. Now stop gawking and help me find my hammer.” His eyes scoured the landscape. “Ah, there it is.” Making his way toward the brush, he stopped and picked up his war hammer.

Above, a great dragon blotted out the light of the sun and landed over the ravine. Another one circled over the first.

“Sultans of Sulfur,” Ben said. “Not another one.”

“We have to get back,” Rerry said, “Mother and Father are up there!”