by Otto Schafer
Firelight reflected off the dragon’s ebony scales, sparkling like a chain mail coat made of onyx diamonds. The creature was as beautiful as it was terrifying.
The water came only to the giant’s knees. Even so it dove out of the way of the flame, belly flopping into the water. The flame hit the wall, then deflected in both directions, leaving pieces of the stone monolith burning.
Fortunately for Gabi and the others, the flames dissipated before crossing the distance to them. Instead of fire they were consumed in a wave of hot wind, hot enough to force them to shield their faces.
The giant grabbed the dragon’s front leg as he stood and flipped the beast backward, sending it scrambling to find its feet. The domed cavern rumbled, shaking beneath them.
Sarah ran down the path, reaching the wall. “I don’t see cover!”
“Sarah! Everyone! We have to move closer, we are too open here!” Fredy shouted.
“Look up ahead – the wall juts out a little. Maybe we can hide there,” Andrés said.
The giant spoke again, its voice a deep baritone of unintelligible sounds, then it swung at the dragon with its axe.
The dragon roared, swinging its tail into the giant, knocking it on its bottom before belching out another torrent of fire.
The giant bellowed an angry pained cry as it pushed itself under the water to wait out the flames. When it rose, the back of the giant’s tunic was burnt away. It lunged at the dragon, clipping its side with the axe.
Now it was the dragon who screamed in rage.
The giant ran toward the platform – toward Gabi. She pressed herself to the wall so hard it hurt and slammed her eyes shut. “Please!” she screamed as it ran by.
When the giant reached the platform, it wrapped its arms and legs around the center column and began scaling it.
Andrés watched in stunned amazement. “It’s trying to flee!” As he looked up, he noticed something else. A rope. “Look! Manuel dropped us a rope! That’s it! That’s our way out!”
Gabi forced herself to look.
Sarah looked at Andrés like he had just suggested they climb on the giant’s back and have him carry them out. “What about the giant?!”
Gabi was no longer paying attention to the rope or the giant. The dragon had her full attention now. It spread its wings, then, leaping into the air, it flew fast toward the giant. Even though she could barely see the black-scaled beast when it wasn’t breathing fire, the burning columns gave off enough light she could see its silhouette gliding silently through the darkness. “¡Papá!” she screamed, giving her father’s hand a yank. A second later the dragon collided with the giant.
The column exploded as both beasts tumbled across the chamber into the water beyond the platform. Massive chunks of the stone column flew in every direction. From above, the stone giant that had stood sentinel for unknown centuries dropped, breaking into pieces along with the column. The entire dome shook violently as a scream pierced through the chaos.
Gabi’s head snapped up toward the oculus for the source of the scream. Manuel was in a freefall. She turned away, slamming her eyes closed and covering her ears.
“Manuel!” Sarah screamed.
“We have to move!” Andrés shouted, grabbing Gabi’s and Itzel’s hands. They ran along the wall, Fredy and Sarah on their heels. “We have to try and get to the other room. Maybe there’s another way out!”
“The room is still so far!” Fredy shouted back.
“We have no choice! Fifty meters, Fredy! We can do it! We have to!”
The dragon spoke again in its strange, high-pitched screech. Then it roared.
“Don’t look back, Gabi,” her mother said.
But Gabi did look back. Just for a second, just long enough to see the beast open its mouth and exhale another gush of strange, blue-green fire. She could feel the heat instantly. She had her legs fully under her now, running as hard as she could run.
Behind them, the giant squatted near a large chunk of the stone column as the flames poured over it. When the flames passed, he stood once again, the stone he had used for cover now burning like a giant torch.
Sarah fell, landing hard on her stomach.
Itzel stopped and turned back, grabbing Sarah by the elbow and pulling her to her feet.
Gabi tried to stop too.
“No, Gabi! Run, dammit!” her father shouted.
The flame was too close. “Jump in the water, Sarah!” her mother yelled as she threw herself over the side. Sarah followed. They both disappeared below the water just before it erupted in a superheated boil.
Gabi was six steps ahead of her father when she heard him say, “Keep running, Gabi! You will make it!” She spared a glance back to see Fredy and her father jump over the side.
Gabi didn’t jump. She did what her father said, and she ran. She ran faster than ever, faster than even she thought possible. She was almost there, and as the heat pressed against her she rounded the corner of the smoldering monolith and into the second room.
The flames passed by, and she quickly stepped back around the corner to find the others. Startled, she choked in a rancid breath. Sarah, Fredy, and her parents were still in the water. The giant was in a full-on run right toward them. Gabi’s heart slammed against her chest. She found her voice and began shouting. “The giant is coming! Look out, Papá! Look out, Mamá!” Without thinking, she ran from the safety of the next room and back down the path.
Still shouting, Gabi watched in dismay as the giant stomped over them. It stepped down so close to Fredy that the suction pulled him under. Gabi arrived in time to help her mother pull Sarah from the water back onto the path while her father retrieved Fredy, dragging him onto the path.
“Damn you, girl!” her father scolded. “Why didn’t you stay safe?”
Gabi didn’t try to answer. She had never seen her father so scared.
“Will he be okay?” Itzel asked.
“He’s hurt. Fredy, wake up, compadre, this is no time to be taking a siesta,” her father said, eyeballing the giant, who stood between them and the opening to the next chamber. “We’re only twenty meters from the opening, but now he is blocking our way.”
“If we wait, we may be burned by the next burst of fire from the dragon,” Sarah said.
Gabi spared a glance back toward the way they had come. The chamber was silent, but the dragon was out there somewhere in the darkness.
“Look, the giant is waiting for the dragon to attack.” Andrés pointed past the giant. “We have to go for it!”
Fredy opened his eyes. “My leg. I think it’s broken. I can’t make it. You go.”
“No, Fredy!” Sarah cried out.
“Sí, no way we’re leaving you!” Andrés nodded to Itzel and Sarah. They nodded back, each taking an arm. Andrés grabbed Fredy’s legs. “I’m sorry, compadre, this is going to hurt like hell but no screaming.” He looked up at Gabi. “Stay in front. If the dragon comes you leave all of us and get to the room, find a way out.” With only about twenty meters to the archway, they started pulling.
As soon as Andrés lifted Fredy’s busted leg, he screamed, drawing the attention of the giant. Its massive head tilted toward them as it gave them a sideways glance with one oblong eye.
“¡Mierda!” Andrés said. “Don’t stop! Just go!”
Behind them the dragon stalked forward out of the shadows, screeching in its strange tongue again.
The giant glanced away from them, focusing its attention back on the dragon.
The dragon leapt into the air above the giant, flapping its massive wings. Then, angling its body so that its head pointed down, the dragon roared.
Flame rained down at the giant. The giant saw the opening and took it, running underneath the dragon and avoiding the flames.
The fire dispersed out across the water and onto the walkway. Fredy continued to scream in pain as they pulled and ran as fast as they could. But it was not fast enough.
“Go, Gabi!” her father urged. “Run! Don’t
look back! Please, no matter what, don’t look! Itzel! Don’t look, just—”
Heat from the dragon fire pressed against Gabi’s back. Behind her she heard a body hit the water with a splash. Oh, please be okay, Papá!
Her mother screamed as she continued to pull Fredy along by the wrist.
Gabi didn’t look back, but she could hear Fredy shouting. “Let go of me!” he demanded. “I’m not going to make it!” Suddenly his voice went into a high-pitched scream of pain. “Now run! Save yourselves! Run as fast—”
35
Click
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1
Petersburg, Illinois
Next to Garrett, Breanne screamed, but he couldn’t hear her over his own.
The heat was so intense they had to turn away from the fire and the horror beneath it. Even then it was nearly unbearable. Within seconds the temperature of the entire tomb had risen beyond that of a hot summer day.
For a fleeting moment, the air had been electric with the hope of an impossible love. Now the air was void of hope, and in its place hung the rancid stench of burning skin, hair, and rotting vapors.
Sylanth exhaled the last of their burning breath, inhaled, and turned their heads toward the next closest target.
Pete, looking shocked and heartbroken, was collapsed in a heap nearby. He looked up at the dragon and screamed, “You son of a bitch!”
Garrett and Breanne shared a look, but it was Lenny who made the first move.
“Dammit, Pete!” Lenny shouted as he picked himself up and ran toward his friend, and right toward the dragon.
“Crap! Lenny, no!” Garrett shouted, running for the sword lying where Pete had dropped it. The giant was just feet away, maneuvering his enormous frame to a sitting position. Great! He didn’t have time to deal with the giant. But it turned out he didn’t have to – Paul was on him.
Garrett dove, rolled, and grabbed the sword. He glanced back as Apep began a cast, “Shirayshi, Esh akoz—” But before Apep could get the fourth word out of his mouth, Breanne was there with Lenny’s staff in hand. She swung, cracking him over the back of the head. Apep staggered forward, falling to his hands and knees.
“That’s for my dad, you son of a bitch!” Breanne reared back again.
Garrett spun back toward the dragon.
Across the chamber, Sylanth drew in another breath and the two heads spoke. Garrett didn’t know what the thing said but when the dragon began to roar, he knew it was bad. All four eyes were locked on Pete and Lenny.
No! You’re not getting them too, you bastard! Garrett ran toward Lenny, watching helplessly as his best friend in the world slid to a stop at the feet of the dragon. Lenny grabbed Pete under the arms and started pulling him back. Pete didn’t seem to resist, but he wasn’t helping either.
The dragon’s heads parted, taking up position on either side of Lenny and Pete. They were trapped. There was no way they were going to make it!
Garrett pushed his body as hard as he could. “No! Over here! Right here!” he screamed as he ran, but it was no use. It was like the dragon didn’t hear him or didn’t care. The thing’s necks started to glow as a deep throaty roar began to build. Garrett realized there was no way he could stop this. This was real. And his friends were about to die just like Janis had.
Lenny must have realized he wasn’t going to make it too because he stopped pulling Pete. Instead, he stepped right in front of Pete. Lenny didn’t cower, and he didn’t flee. He lifted his chin in defiance, looked at one head, then the other and shouted into the roar, “Well, what are you waiting for, you overgrown gecko?”
The dragon’s roar increased as they opened their mouths, revealing the furnace within.
Garrett was close now. But close wasn’t enough.
The dragon’s roar turned to a scream as both heads jolted up toward the ceiling in a wailing cry.
Lenny flinched back at the screech, nearly falling backward over Pete as he waited for the burn, but the burn didn’t come. He cautiously opened one eye, raised an eyebrow, then opened both, his fear replaced with disbelief. “You got to be kidding me! Mr. Mustache?!”
Off to the dragon’s side stood David, holding Coach’s bastard sword, which was now fully embedded in Sylanth’s rear leg. David looked as shocked as Lenny.
“Well, don’t just stand there – run!” Garrett shouted.
David let go of the sword and staggered back. He and Lenny shared a “holy shit” look, grabbed Pete under each arm, and began to retreat. “Come on, Garrett!” Lenny shouted.
Garrett could have turned and run too, but he knew it was now or never – if he didn’t act the dragon was going to kill them all.
In a psychotic fury, Sylanth lowered their heads, their scaly jowls trembling with rage as they searched, intent on finding the source of their pain and incinerating it.
As the first head lowered to better scan for the trespasser, Garrett took three running steps toward it, his sword raised and cocked over his shoulder.
Sylanth reeled their other head toward their injured leg, biting hold of the sword and tearing it free.
As the dragon’s right head swung around toward Garrett, he fell back onto his thigh, letting his feet lead like he was sliding into home plate. The dragon’s head passed just over him. Once clear of the dragon’s head, he sprung up and spun around, set his feet, and before Sylanth could turn their head to find him he swung for the fences, hacking into the dragon’s neck with a savage swing.
Sylanth’s right head toppled to the floor, while its remaining head let out another pained, ear-piercing scream. Copious amounts of viscous blood pumped from the severed neck, washing over Garrett and pooling under his feet.
Sylanth spat fire from his remaining head along with seething shrieks of agony.
Lenny punched a fist into the air. “Did you see that?!”
But Garrett wasn’t finished. He was committed to the cause – this bastard had killed their friend. There was only one way this was going to end: one of them was going to die.
“Paul! Help,” Breanne shouted as she continued to whack Apep across the back with Lenny’s staff. She risked a look over and found that Paul had his hands full.
Before Balor could get back to his feet, Paul grabbed his ankle with both hands and yanked.
Balor fell again onto his back and began kicking at Paul with his other leg.
Ducking the giant’s foot, Paul ran in between its legs, leaping up onto its stomach. Breanne’s hopes rose as Paul then tried to jump again to the slab, but they sank just as fast as Balor caught him in his fist.
Breanne hit Apep twice more across the back before he scrambled into a position where he could defend himself. “And that one was for Janis!”
Finally, Apep turned on Breanne. “Foolish girl!” He ripped the staff from her hands with an unseen force, pulling it to him. Drawing it back he swung at Breanne, striking her hard.
She staggered backward, grabbing her shoulder.
“Leave… her… alone!” Paul managed from the grip of the giant. He pulled his arms free, grabbed the giant’s thumb, and pulled it back unnaturally. The thumb emitted a loud snap. The giant bellowed out in agony. Its hand popped open, dropping Paul to the floor.
Paul disappeared below the slab and a second later the giant’s legs came out from under him with such force that both legs flew into the air as the giant toppled, its head striking the back of the chamber hard enough to fracture the temple wall.
Water sprayed from the newly formed fracture.
Breanne backpedaled away from Apep as he reared back for another swing.
Paul appeared on the slab in a full-on run toward Breanne and Apep. He didn’t slow as he approached, and he didn’t stop when he arrived. He hit Apep in a full run. Lenny’s staff went flying from Apep’s hands as he fell backward.
Breanne’s eyes clouded over, rolling back as she saw what was to come. No! Please! No!
Distantly, as the vision took hold, she sensed Paul an
d Apep fighting desperately. But it didn’t matter because now she knew how this fight would end. Oh god, she knew!
Water continued to gush through the fractured wall.
Apep tried frantically to shield his battered face from Paul. Finally finding his wits between strikes, he shouted in a voice somewhere between anger and terror, “Enough! Rayzae!”
Breanne’s mind cleared in time to watch helplessly as Paul’s body lifted, launching high into the air. He hit the ground below the slab with horrible force, sliding headfirst into the wall of the chamber. Water rushed all around him. She was sure she watched her brother die… she knew she was sure because she had already seen it.
Across the chamber Sylanth swung his remaining head back and forth, dowsing the area in front of him in brilliant, blue-green fire, his panicked eyes searching feverishly for the offender.
Garrett was sure he was going to die as the flames washed over his blood-covered body. He braced himself for the pain. When the flames hit him – and they did hit him – he felt only a warmth as the dragon blood covering him started to sizzle like fish in a fryer. But he did not burn.
Outside the envelope of fire, his friends screamed.
“Shit, David, do you see Garrett? I can’t see him!” Lenny was shouting.
“I think he’s in the fire!” David shouted. “Jesus, Len! I think he’s burning up!”
Not waiting around to figure out why he did not burn, Garrett scrambled to get away from the flames, quickly rolling under the dragon. Lying on his back beneath the beast’s great belly, he found the spot where he assumed the heart would be and, rolling over, he got to his feet in a squat. Pulling in a deep breath he gritted his teeth and thrust the sword upward, being sure to drive the weapon all the way to the hilt.
The dragon reared up on his back legs like a horse. But try as he might, the dragon couldn’t escape the bite of steel.
Garrett leapt up and grabbed the hilt of the sword, hanging his full weight from it, but it held fast, not budging. As the dragon fell back to his feet, Garrett ripped the sword from his chest, more blood pouring over his hands and arms.