The Dragon Eaters

by Duke Kittle

  Chapter 14

  After Tina emerged from her doorway in the wall of the Stumble Drum, she found herself walking into an almost empty inn. Captain Morgan, Mr. Kilba, and even Beth were nowhere to be found. Standing at the doorway to the outside, Kravek looked anxious. His tail lashed about behind him in agitation as he stood with his hand on the door frame. Tina noted he was looking outside. “Kravek?”

  Kravek looked back at Tina and then quickly moved to the counter and put his hand down on it. “Something's been spotted at the edge of the woods, Tina. Something big.”

  Tina stepped onto his hand. “One of the Dragon Eaters?”

  Kravek shook his head. “I don't know. But it's got everyone running for cover, and the guards have loaded the trebuchets. We better get out there.” He lifted Tina up to his shoulder, and she stepped off onto it.

  Outside the inn, the streets were quickly emptying. Tina adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her muzzle as she watched guards running from the port to the western gate leading out of the town. “Take me to the gates.”

  Kravek nodded and was quick to leave the tavern. He sidestepped a family of foxes, a mother and two boys, as they ran in the direction of the port. The black bull made his way to the gate swiftly, but even with Kravek's towering height, Tina couldn't see over the wall.

  “We need to get up there.” Tina pointed up to the walkway on the inside of the wall.

  “I'm not a guard, Tina. Town folk aren't allowed up on the battlements.” Kravek looked at her on his shoulder.

  “Then just put me up on the stairs.” Tina ran down Kravek's arm. He lifted his hand to the platform at the top of the first set of stairs where they turned to lead up to the walkway. Tina leapt off and climbed the stairs until she could reach the wall itself. Guards were already in position on the wall as Tina climbed up to the top to perch between two of the carved spikes. She adjusted her glasses as she looked outward.

  At the edge of the woods, she could see something moving in circles. It looked like a mound of soil. Next to it was another massive mound of soil, but it was unmoving. The runic circle appeared in the right lens of Tina's glasses, and it didn't take long for her to figure out what was moving the soil. “Belthazuul?”

  Governor Keldo, who was standing on the bridge over the closed gateway of the town, turned his head at hearing Tina's voice. “Wizard!” He quickly moved to the end of the bridge where Tina was perched. Tina could see Captain Cephalin standing behind him, but the wolverine's attention was entirely on the mound of soil on the other side of the open field.

  “Open the gates.” Tina jumped down from the wall and landed on the walkway in front of the governor.

  “What?”

  “Open the gates. They won't do much good either way. That's a Maldavian of Cerra out there. Maybe he wants to talk, and I want to be able to talk back. And stand your men down.”

  “But Wizard--”

  “Governor, I'm here to deal with the problem of the Dragon Eaters. If the dragons can help, I wish to speak with them.”

  Keldo considered Tina for a moment, then turned and called out to Captain Cephalin. “Captain, open the gates.”

  The wolverine turned his head to glare at the governor. “I don't think I heard you right, Governor.”

  “I said open the gates. Now do it, Captain.”

  Captain Cephalin grunted, but his glare melted, and he called down to the guards standing inside the gates. “Open the gates!”

  The guards looked confused but knew better than to question the order. They lifted the board barring the gates and pushed them open.

  Tina ran down the stairs and jumped back onto Kravek's shoulder. “Take me outside.”

  Kravek nodded and walked through the gates. “Where are we going?”

  “Take me to that mound of soil.”

  Kravek nodded, but before he could take three steps, he stopped. “I might not have to.”

  On the far side of the field, the mound of soil had suddenly started on its way to the city. It wound back and forth like a giant snake moving beneath the soil as it rapidly approached. The other mound of soil which had been moving around in circles remained at the edge of the woods but had finally stopped circling.

  “Farther out. Let's keep him away from the city.” Tina climbed to the top of Kravek's head and seated herself with her hands gripping his hair.

  Kravek hesitated but ran away from the city. Once he'd gotten about a hundred feet away from the walls, the moving mound of soil had redirected its path straight for him. The black bull snorted as his pace slowed. “I think we're far enough out, Tina.”

  Tina tugged on Kravek's hair. “This will do, then.” She climbed down his body and dropped to the ground. Tina ran a few feet in front of Kravek and threw her hands up before calling out in a voice amplified well beyond her normal speaking range. “Belthazuul!”

  The mound of soil came to a slow stop thirty feet in front of Tina and collapsed back into the soil. The ground shook. A being much larger than the initial mound of soil emerged from beneath the ground. The top of its head was flat and sloped forward into a gigantic maw of stone filled with hundreds of crystal teeth. Its eyes were golden as it looked down at Tina and placed one of its massive arms on the ground. It pushed itself up from the soil as if emerging from water with rocks falling all around it. Its other arm, easily twenty feet tall up to the elbow, settled on the ground as it rose. The dragon's entire body was made of stone with plates of raw, metallic ore covering its chest, the backs of its arms, and the top of its head. Even its wings, which had a massive span of more than sixty feet, had plates of raw ore covering the backs. They slammed down against the ground as the Maldavian's upper torso emerged, and it looked down at Tina.

  The Maldavian's voice was deep and firm as he spoke slowly, and his bass tone resonated outward like a wall of air. “Tina van Schtoffen.”

  Tina had to pick herself up after Belthazuul's wings had shaken the ground. She dusted off her robes, folded her arms, and bowed to the stone dragon. She replied in fluent Maldavian. “Belthazuul, it is good to see you again.”

  “Perhaps not so good once you learn of my purpose here.” Belthazuul straightened up, though his lower torso remained hidden beneath the soil. He then spoke with equal fluency in the trade language. “I have been sent by the Word of Shahdazhan to force these interlopers to flee. And then, I am to destroy their town, their farms, and their port.” In spite of what he said, Belthazuul spoke calmly.

  “Belthazuul, these people are not the enemies of Maldavia.” Tina straightened up as well. “Why has the Word of Shahdazhan sent you to destroy their town?”

  Belthazuul shook his massive head which threw dirt and rocks away from the top of it. “It is not mine to ask the reasons of the Word of Shahdazhan, Lady van Schtoffen. It is only mine to carry out his orders.”

  “Shalizan was the Word of Shahdazhan before his death, Belthazuul. Who is the voice of the dragon All-Father now?”

  “The Word of Shahdazhan has passed to another. You know of Vistru, the Cloud Hider. He is the new Word of Shahdazhan.” Belthazuul leaned forward slowly, and his head came within a few yards of Tina. “Though you are a friend of Maldavia, Lady van Schtoffen, I cannot turn away from the duty to which I am bound.”

  Tina pulled her necklace off over her head and held it up so Belthazuul could see the lava-colored crystal held within it. “I bear Shalizan's Albatross with me, Belthazuul. If not on my word, then at the request of Shalizan. He, like others, has asked me to undo the damage done by the Eaters of Magic. If you cannot hold on my word, then I ask you to send your Albatross to the Ring of Fire and inform them that I am here and that I am working to bring about the end of the Dragon Eaters.”

  The ridge of rocks above Belthazuul's eye rose. He then remained as still as a statue, motionless as the rocks from which he was made. After a brief consideration, he turned his head and bellowed at t
he mound of soil at the edge of the trees. It burst upward as a Maldavian Albatross with black skin and a pair of brown and white speckled wings took to the air. Belthazuul then turned to look down at Tina again. “Until Norita returns, I will wait. But I will wait at the gates of the city. For if Norita returns with word I am to carry out my orders, I will not wait longer.”

  Tina let out a sigh of relief. She put her necklace back on and turned away from Belthazuul. Even with the expectation of dealing with creatures powerful enough to be called Dragon Eaters, this was going to be much harder than she had anticipated.