by Simon Archer
Karkaros had a size advantage, no doubt, but Shikun was able to turn that against him as she spun around in the air with her smaller frame. On every side, Shikun swooped in and out and smacked into Karkaros with every dive in.
Karkaros couldn’t help but take the hits as Shikun kept up her hit-and-run over and over again. Still, it didn’t look like Karkaros was losing any steam as he continued to swing against Shikun every time she came in. Just by watching, I could tell Karkaros was an endurance fighter, letting his opponents wear themselves out just trying to take him down. Shikun looked like she was doing great so far, but if she didn’t watch out, Karkaros would crush her when she made an exhaustive mistake.
The furious battle fell out of view as Tharnox approached the volcano. We crested over the spiked rim, floating over the draconian people who had come up to watch the fight. As Tharnox flew towards the center, it slowly descended towards the massive hole it had ripped up through, ready to bathe itself in the healing molten soup there. The heat of the lava rushed past the dragon’s mouth, and I had to map out when and where I was going to jump out.
If I jumped too soon, I’d splatter on the volcano floor. If I jumped too late, I’d melt to death. And if I missed my jump, I could do both.
Now I wished I’d fought Karkaros instead.
29
As I looked out from the dragon’s mouth, I tried to plot a course that resulted in the least amount of falling to my death. There were a set of houses on the wall that cascaded down from each other on the volcano wall, making a staircase that I could perhaps jump to and get to the ground. A frozen dragon tongue didn’t make for a good running platform, so I’d have to push off the mouth. The mouth also had to open wide enough for me to slip out.
The houses approached, and I stabbed Tharnox’s gums with Libritas’ freezing Brand once more. Tharnox screeched at the sting of it, and his mouth opened. Pushing off the teeth, I leapt to the first house in my staircase plan, reaching for the edge of the wooden platform it stood on. By the barest margin, my fingers found purchase on the wood, and I was able to keep my grip. I pulled myself up in what was the second pull-up that saved my life and climbed onto the platform, only to be greeted by the perplexed looks of a draconian family, a maroonish father, an aquamarine mother, and a purplish son.
Not having the time for formalities, I rolled to my feet and headed towards the next house’s roof.
Rooftop to platform to rooftop again, I jumped and rolled my way towards ground level, keeping my peripheral vision on the winged monstrosity. Its tail had dipped into the lava pool, which already seemed to have a reviving effect on the dragon, and I was running out of time. Draconians gasped and commented as I propelled myself downward. With a final tumbling roll, I sprung to my feet, sore in every place I could be sore, and hobbled to the pool.
Tharnox lowered itself up to its chest and rested its claws in the glowing rocky goo. As it folded its wings in and dropping further in, the lava rose higher from its cauldron. At last, blinking its blinded eyes, the dragon submerged itself almost completely, save for the top of its snout as its nostrils flared with steaming breath.
That’s when I stuck the tip of Libritas’ Brand in the pool, thinking of every cold winter’s morning, every ice cube down my back, every shirtless snowball fit, and every other chilling thought I could bring about, focusing it all into Libritas. With a pulse, the lava dimmed to rock around her, and that cooling effect spread outward to the rest of the pool. In almost no time at all, the other edge was completely cooled to stone, the only motion left being the flaring nostrils of Tharnox desperately trying to bring about some freedom. I kept Libritas in its place, making sure every last drop of lava down to the bottom of this pool was nice and cold and solid. That would keep the beast still for more than long enough for me and Shikun to beat Karkaros.
I looked around for Amalthea. There she was, held aloft by red draconian guards along with Reggie, Petra, and Silver. No doubt, the draconians wanted to ensure my friends got a good view of our deaths, not that my friends thought that was going to happen. No, the other three were shouting and walloping, crazed with excitement at how I’d just stopped a dragon. Amalthea kept her composure but was still more than excited.
Hoping she would understand my gesture, I put my finger to my head, then pointed to the sky towards Shikun, in the hopes that Amalthea would link us up to the Khalati Record. If I could get Shikun down here, we could fight Karkaros together.
Showing she understood, Amalthea closed her eyes and opened them again, filled with the Khalati runes. I felt the incomprehensible knowledge come rushing into my head and felt around for Shikun’s presence.
“Shikun, get to the volcano,” I sent out to her. “I’ve got Tharnox covered.”
“William!” Shikun shouted in my mind. “You’re alive! I saw you go into the dragon’s mouth, and I feared the worst!”
“All part of the plan,” I said, covering up for the improvisational garbage heap that was the past few minutes. “We’ve only got one opponent left now.”
“Coming to you, then.” In but a moment, Shikun was above the volcano, rushing down the middle to land on the newly cooled floor. She tapped against it, looking at the exposed snout of the mighty beast. “You’re amazing.”
I didn’t really have time to respond, as Karkaros took no time getting down, dive-bombing towards Shikun. I dropped my longsword and rushed over to her, hoping to intercept his blow, but not before Karkaros swung his sword at Shikun. My bit of chivalry wasn’t entirely needed, as the dragon-girl blocked the blow with her club held at both ends.
The giant planted both his feet down and brought his sword up to try again. This time, Shikun dodged to the side and took to the air as she spun around Karkaros. He picked up his blade from where it landed, a small groove left in its place, and pulled his wings out to take off after her.
As I reached him, I jumped and wrapped Libritas around Karkaros’s neck while grabbing the other end of the shaft with my other hand. Pressing my knees against the wings on his broad back, I choked the bastard, taking a little bit of glee at the gurgling of his throat. Karkaros grasped at me, dropping his greatsword to use both hands for it. I ducked back just out of the grasping hands’ reach, keeping both of mine on Libritas.
Karkaros lept backward towards a wall, seeking to smash me against himself so I would let go or move out of the way. His wings swam in the air, zipping him across the floor. The wall approached at blinding speeds, but I knew that if I let this hold go, I might not get another chance at it. Despite my preservation instinct screaming at me, I held on.
Shikun flew from the side to my rescue, placing herself between Karkaros and the wall. With a solid kick, she stopped Karkaros in his tracks, keeping me from being crushed into a handsome paste. With a blow from her massive club to the back of Karkaros’s knees, Shikun brought him down to kneel. The bastard kept clawing at me as he sucked in for air, finding no give from my vice on him. Quickly spinning around him, Shikun laid into Karkaros’s stomach once, twice, three times, four, five, six, never letting up for a moment. Karkaros tried to vomit, but my grip on him wouldn’t let anything up or down his throat as the bile collected in his chest.
Karkaros struck out with his arm, grabbing at Shikun when she stepped in too close. He took his other dragon paw of a hand and clenched Shikun’s throat. Only two of his sausage-link fingers could wrap around her neck as he squeezed tighter and tighter.
Before he could hurt her more, I summoned up one last blast of freezing cold, this time from Libritas’ shaft, and Karkaros’s head was engulfed with a rime of frost. That did it. Between Shikun’s intense barrage of blows and this last snap of stellar cold, the Great Dragon went limp. His hand slipped down from Shikun’s neck to his side as he started to fall over. I rolled over him as he fell, running out the last of the momentum before turning around immediately. I came up to Karkaros, placing the Brand near his face and turning up the heat to try to save him.
“Pleas
e, please, please don’t be dead,” I said as I put the Brand onto him, heating Libritas up even more. We were this close to keeping both of them alive, I’d never let myself go if I killed him on instinct.
As the ice began to thaw, Karkaros heaved up the blackest sludge and tried to take breaths between spurts of vomit. Thank God, he was alive. He sounded like twenty slugs trying to escape a blender, but he was alive, nonetheless. Once the sludge stop coming out, and he stopped dry-heaving, the giant draconian collapsed in the pool of ash and stomach acid he had made. He may have been tough, but everyone has a limit, and we had pushed him past his.
“Woo!” I yelled in victory, lifting my arms into the air. I walked over to pick up my honeysteel blade, placing it back in its sheath. “Woo!” That was one of the most intense battles I’ve been involved in, and I probably should have died at least ten times during the whole thing.
“We did it!” Shikun tackled me, crushing me in her arms. “You were right! I’m not cursed!”
“Never doubt me again,” I said to her, trying to get a gulp of air into my lungs. “My uncursing powers are as great as they are single use.”
I looked over to my group, who were madly cheering their heads off. Even Amalthea found it in her to lift her paws up at our victory. They continued to shout, even as the guards next to them stood dumbfounded. They must have had no idea how to process what just happened.
In fact, none of the draconians made any noise throughout the village. Even the steam vents were silent at the sight of what had just occurred. As Shikun and I ran over to the rest of the family, the guards who were supposed to watch over them did nothing as their charges pushed past them to greet us.
“William, I have seen you do amazing, insane things,” Reggie said, “But this! How do I even put it into words?”
“Crazy!” Petra aggressively kissed me over every part of my face. “That was crazy! And stupid! And crazy! Never do that again!” Her frown quickly melted into a smile. “How did you even pull that off?”
“That was…” Amalthea tried to think of a word. Her eyes glowed with the Khalati Record runes for a bit, searching for the word she needed. “Unorthodox. That’s not the right word, but it’s closer than anything else I had prepared.”
“You both were amazing!” Petra kissed Shikun on the cheek. She wrapped her arms around the draconian as she basked in the adoration. “I’ve heard of legendary warriors that would kill to be as great a warrior as you.”
“Yes, well, I’m no longer cursed,” Shikun said, a little bit of giddiness seeping into her voice. “Nothing’s holding me back now.”
“You’re damn right, it’s not!” Reggie cheered as he clapped both Shikun and me on the shoulder. “You each fought off a dragon at the same time! What kind of Herculean madness is that?”
“It was very impressive.” I heard a deep, slow voice from behind me.
We were so caught up in our celebrating that none of us even noticed Karkaros come up to us, despite his massive size. His chest was still drenched in his own bodily fluids, which reeked almost as bad as Tharnox’s breath. He breathed heavily, arms at his sides, shoulders slouching, with his guard completely down.
“What does it take to keep you down, old boy?” Reggie said. “We don’t have the time to continue this brawl.”
“You want to go again?” Petra called from behind me. “My man and my little sister can kick your scaley hide as many times as you need!” It was clear that the normally motherly dryad had gotten a little worked up with all the chaos.
“Calm down, Petra,” I said as I placed a hand on her shoulder. “He’s not fighting anyone.”
“Indeed,” the Great Dragon said as he continued to catch his breath. “In all my time in battle, I have only ever lost so utterly to my father. In his prime, he was an even greater warrior than I am now.” He got down to a knee, bowing his head all the way to my chest level. “And so are the two of you. Even with my dearest friend Tharnox to help me, I could not best you.”
The other draconians had begun to murmur and gather around us, including our former captors.
“I have some thoughts about that, by the way,” I said to him, a sardonic glaze to my voice. “You notice how we didn’t bring our giant dragon to fight you? We believe in fair play.” I could have used a little more tact, I’ll admit, but I was still pissed from how they’ve been treating Shikun this whole time.
Karkaros wheezed out a chuckle. “But if I hadn’t, I would have suffered an even more humiliating loss.” His draconic smile quickly faded to a dark look. The guy tried his absolute best to protect his people. And it wasn’t enough, from his perspective.
“That’ll show you to pick a fight with the likes of us, eh?” Reggie said as he wagged a finger at Karkaros.
“Um, technically,” Amalthea whispered over to him, “I picked the fight with him on Shikun’s behalf.”
“Yes, well,” Reggie quieted down, flustered at the realization. “Lessons have been learned either way.”
“You are right, Grey Hair,” Karkaros said reverently to the aging explorer then turned his gaze towards me “I have learned never to underestimate you or your family again… and this lesson cost me my life here.” He let out a heavy sigh as he turned to his people. “I thank you all for letting me serve you as your Great Dragon all of these years. It has been my privilege and honor to lead you to prosperity and freedom. I only wish that, without my Wingless curse, you continue to thrive under new leadership.”
The people moaned and howled at the news that their leader had to step down. The howling turned to booing as they directed their rage at us, the ones who dethroned him. My friends backed into each other as the crowd surrounded them, ready to tear them apart like a school of piranhas.
“Wait!” a voice cut through the cries. “Wait! Karkaros doesn’t have to leave!” I recognized the voice and smiled. Everything was coming together.
The people stopped as they looked for the source of the voice. It was Dothan, one of the ones who guarded Shikun and me. He had witnessed my bogus ritual of decursing and had more than enough proof to show that the curse was gone.
You know, the more I thought about, was it really so bogus of a ritual when it did exactly what it needed to do?
“Karkaros doesn’t have the curse!” Dothan cried out. “The outlander performed some sort of ritual on her before the fight. It was a sacred rite that removes curses. Their victory over Karkaros and Tharnox proves that the gods are with them, that his ritual worked. How else could they have won against our unbeatable champion?”
The draconian people murmured to themselves, all of them turning the idea over in their heads. The ritual may not have been so official, but the thought that they could keep Karkaros was appealing to them, and how could they question the ‘proof’ of our victory. Like a ripple in a pond, the people started to agree.
“William,” Reggie said as calmly as he could, worried that I had set myself up in a lie I couldn’t get out of, “what did you do? What ‘ritual’ are they talking about?”
“Reggie, of course, you know!” I said, elbowing him in the ribs with a wide-eyed look that said ‘Play along.’ “Every Uplander can perform a single-use decursing ritual that’s unique to them and can remove any curse no matter the circumstances. You remember?”
“Oh, right,” Reggie looked around nervously. “That one. The decursing ritual that we all know about. Of course. I remember when I used mine to… get rid of some unearthly bad gas.”
“Someone powerful enough to defeat a dragon should have the power to remove a curse, would you not say?” Amalthea said to the crowd, picking up the collective lie. “Who could deny that William Tyler, the Dragon Victor, could not perform such a feat?”
“William Tyler, Tamer of Great Beasts!” Reggie added in.
“William Tyler, Slayer of the Weaver!” Shikun added, caught up in the excitement of the moment.
“William Tyler, Champion of Kaulda and the Treison Woods!” Petra placed
at the end.
Okay, maybe we were pumping me up a bit too much now. Yes, I did all of those things, but there’s no way in hell I could have done them alone. I was helped every step of the way.
“And let’s not forget these other great warriors,” I said as came to the backs of each of my friends. “Sir Reginald Thorpe, Knight of the British! Amalthea, Recordkeeper and Mighty Sphinx! Petra, Treebinder!” The crowd cheered at the mention of every person and their fancy title I made up.
With a flourish, I came behind Shikun, lifting her up by the waist to rise above the rest of us. As tired as I was, I still managed it. Guess that half-angel physiology had its uses.
“And last, but not least! Shikun, Ghostwing! True Draconian!” That title I was actually kind of proud of.
The crowd seemed to like it, too, as they went absolutely nuts at the mention of her name. Karkaros, towering over the rest of us, put his hands up to calm the people down so he could speak.
“My people,” the Great Dragon spoke, “a miracle has come to us in this age. Not since the time of the First Dragon has such a strange occurrence blessed the world so. The curse of the Wingless has died, and we all may rise above it!” He picked up Shikun from my arms, placing her on his shoulder. “What have you to say, Ghostwing?”
Shikun bawled into her hands, unable to hold back any emotions she felt at this moment. I looked upon her to see the iron chains dissolve from behind her. She was free of all the pain of her past now. Her people had accepted her after all of this time. Understandably, the poor woman couldn’t bring herself to speak, overcome now not by grief and shame but joy and relief.
“If I may speak on her behalf, Great Dragon,” I said as I stepped up to him. With his nod, I smiled and looked out the crowd. “I think she’s grateful, and while we would love to celebrate this momentous occasion, we have pressing business.”