Power of the Dragon (The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 2, Book 9 of 10): Dragon Fantasy Series (Tail of the Dragon)

by Craig Halloran

  A stone crashed right between the two of them and buried itself halfway in the ground.

  Laylana lay sprawled out on the grass. She quickly popped back up and helped Inslay to his feet. Eyes on the stone, she said, “That would have hurt.”

  Shaken, he replied, “I’m pretty sure even a dwarf would have felt that.”

  They headed to the field where dragons were still being fitted with saddles and harnesses. Laylana’s personal troops were doing the labor. All of her men were dressed for battle.

  Commander Osslin, an elf with a taciturn expression, stood at attention and saluted. “Lady Laylana, please tell me you bring news that we aren’t going to have to catch stone rain droplets anymore.”

  “Osslin, I don’t have any news from the council, but I’m not going to wait another moment for them to arrive at the obvious decision. I’m going up.”

  Osslin’s long jaw dropped open. “Without orders? It’s abominable.”

  She studied his sour face. “You aren’t under any orders. I’d go alone, but you’re welcome to join.”

  “Lady Laylana, I must sternly advise against this. Please, Inslay, put that on my record.”

  “So you won’t be joining me?” she said.

  “On the contrary,” Osslin’s permanent frown turned into a disturbing smile, “I’ve been dying to get on one of these dragons.”

  Laylana stepped aside. Despite Osslin appearing to be the least accommodating of elves, she liked him very much. His frown fooled a lot of people. It also made him a formidable commander. The elven soldiers never wanted his cold stare landing on them. “Take your pick.”

  Osslin bowed. “Ladies first, I must insist.”

  The crimson dynamo was a magnificent creature. She rubbed his great neck with both of her hands. His warmth went right through her. She’d dreamed of riding a dragon before, but not in this dire situation. “You need to trust me.” She stuck her foot in the stirrup and climbed into a saddle built for two. There was a quiver full of arrows and another with long spears.

  Commander Osslin ordered the elves to take to the mounts. They all climbed into their saddles—two on the bigger dragons, others rode by themselves. There were only thirty riders in all.

  “Inslay, aren’t you coming?” she said, patting the seat behind her.

  He shrugged. “Of course. I never figured I’d get this chance again.”

  “You’ve flown on a dragon before?”

  “Yes.” He climbed into the saddle. “The problem with riding on a dragon is, once you go up, you never want to come down.”

  “I’m eager to confirm that.” She patted the dragon’s neck.

  The great beast lurched forward and took off running through the grasses. Its wings unfolded and flapped. Up and away they went.

  Laylana’s heart beat in her throat. “I love it!”

  Inslay tapped her on the shoulder. He shouted in the wind. “There’s nothing like it, but heed my warning.” He pointed at the wurmers gathering in the sky. “They come!”

  CHAPTER 32

  “Whoof,” Ben stated with his eyes set on the ziggurat. They were hiding on one of the distant bluffs. “There are so many.”

  “It wouldn’t be bad if we had a few more dwarves among us. Instead, we have a bunch of lightfoots running around the woods with sharp needles. We need to do some damage. Real damage.”

  “I resent that,” the elven commander Eslin said.

  “I don’t care. It’s true, nonetheless.”

  “Fighting all of them at once is not what I had in mind,” Nath said. “We just need to get inside. To be honest, I’m tempted to take this task on by myself. I fooled them once.” Nath held out his arm. His scales turned to the splotchy skin of an orc. “I doubt they’ve put together what happened.”

  “You can camouflage?” Selene traced her fingers over his arm. “I admit, I’m very envious.”

  “You should be,” he said. He clasped her hand. “I don’t think I’d like seeing you in anything but your lovely black scales though.”

  “And I don’t think you ever will. Not the way things are going with me.”

  “I suppose a grand distraction is warranted,” said Bayzog. “Perhaps I can handle that, but I’d rather venture within. I have a feeling you’ll need me.”

  “Where he goes, I go.” Rerry shouldered alongside his father.

  “We all go,” Sasha said.

  “That’s too many,” Brenwar argued. “I say Nath and I go in and that’s it. We can handle whatever we need to handle in there.”

  “We didn’t all come to be observers,” Selene remarked. “We all came because we couldn’t take any chances. What must be done must be done, whether we die or not.” She hooked her arm through Nath’s. “You aren’t going anywhere without me.”

  “If it please you, your majesty,” said Eslin, “my elves can turn the woodland into Bedlam. It would provide ample distraction, allowing you to slip in.”

  “How so?”

  “A few fires will draw their eyes. We’ll shoot them when they follow. The chase goes on.”

  “I’m all for a straight fight myself,” Rip said. His long moustache was twitching. “This shrubbery is excellent for striking in the night. The dark will come. The deaths of our enemies will follow.”

  Nath contemplated the plan on the table. Less than two score men would only hold up so long against so many enemies. Eventually, the superior numbers would overcome them. It would be a wipeout.

  “Your majesty, I see the concern in your eyes. Don’t be alarmed. This is why we came. This is what we do.” Eslin patted the elven High Guard insignia on his breast. “Have faith.”

  Nath nodded.

  Akron in hand, Ben said, “I think I’ll hang back too. Besides, if you’re in there too long, someone is going to have to get you out.”

  “I know I can count on you, Ben. I’ll hold you to it.”

  “Don’t worry, I have plenty of potions. I’ll be sure to keep it interesting.”

  “Fine. We’ll go in, but we won’t count on coming out again. The wurmers either,” Nath said. “It will be us and them if it has to be.”

  Bayzog addressed his sons. “Listen to me. You need to stay out. Aid your friends out here and protect your mother.”

  “But Father—”

  “No.”

  Bayzog took the hands of Rerry and Samaz and held them tight. He looked them both in the eye. “You must honor this request. My ears need to hear it from your lips.”

  Samaz, unblinking as always, said, “Yes, Father.”

  Rerry had a hard time looking Bayzog in the eye. “Yes, Father, I’ll do it. But only for Mother.”

  “Promise me you’ll come back,” Sasha said, hugging Bayzog tight.

  “I promise I’ll do my best, my love.”

  The two companies headed down the slope. Nath spoke of their plans all the way down. The elven guard slipped out of sight first. The sun set like a burning eye behind the ziggurat.

  Ben notched an arrow whose tip burned fire red.

  Nath smiled at his friend. “I remember those days. It’s been quite some time since I last fired one.”

  “Please, Dragon, take the shot,” Ben said. “After all, it is your bow.”

  “No, the first shot is all yours, but dedicate it to me.” He put his hand on Brenwar’s shoulder, then pointed to the southern entrance at the bottom of the ziggurat. It was a knot of soldiers led by a squadron of nuurgs and a stone giant. “That is where we need to go in.”

  “I don’t suppose you know the secret password?” Brenwar said.

  “No, we’ll try to fool them when the chaos starts.”

  “How do you propose to do that?” Brenwar asked.

  “With one of these?” Nath held up a potion vial.

  “You took that from me.” Brenwar patted himself over and shook his beard. “No, no, no, I’m not turning my stomach into goo again. I’d rather stay out here and fight if that’s the case.”

  Selene s
tarted laughing. “No surprise.”

  “I’ll take it if she takes it,” Brenwar said.

  “Don’t be absurd,” she said.

  “Oh no, Brenwar is correct. You need to take it too. All three of you do.”

  Ben started laughing. “This I have to see, but remember I’m a more than willing volunteer for it.”

  “Barreling in there without a show of force isn’t something I’m accustomed to, Nath.” Bayzog took the vial. “You’ve grown much since I’ve been gone. I like it.” Eyeing the small glass decanter, he said, “Polymorph? A split between the three of us. We’ll have to be quick about it.” He drank his portion down and passed it to Selene.

  “Only for you.” She drank then dangled the vial before Brenwar’s eyes. “Your turn.”

  Brenwar snatched it away. “Your turn yourself.” He drank.

  Within seconds, all three of them changed. Selene became an orcen woman, which wasn’t anything uncommon in the enemy ranks. Bayzog appeared tall as a gnoll. Brenwar was as fat and squat a goblin as anyone ever saw—with a skeleton hand. It changed the appearance of their clothing to resemble armor and rugged clothing.

  “That’s interesting,” Nath said of Brenwar’s hand. “I think we can make use of it.”

  Ben said to Brenwar, “I’ve found a new appreciation for your old bearded face.”

  “Shaddup.”

  Nath changed the color of his scales and donned the same suit of armor he’d worn before.

  It was an hour after dusk, and the first few fires had been set and were starting to blaze. The soldiers on the ziggurat came to life. Large search parties rushed into the woods.

  The scales in Nath’s hands felt a little clammy. He couldn’t stand the thought of his friends covering for him. There was nothing he’d rather do than fight by their sides. “Follow my lead,” he said to the others. “Ben, you’ll know when to fire.” He scooped up Brenwar underneath his arms. “You’re a wounded goblin now. A heavy wounded Goblin. Selene, grab his legs.”

  “Put me down,” Brenwar said, dragging his feet.

  Selene scooped up his legs. Together, they carried Brenwar like a stretcher.

  Bayzog led the way down to the base of the ziggurat by following one of the main roads. With the staff disguised as little more than a tall walking stick, he started waving his arms and speaking in orcen. “There are many! Many attackers come! The woods are filled with them. We have wounded.”

  Nuurg sentries cut them off. They carried battle axes in their hairy hands. “If there are enemies out there, then you should be out there fighting them!” The nuurg with tattoos all over his face shoved Bayzog down with a hard punch from his hand.

  “No, you must see this wound,” Nath pleaded. “I’ve never seen the likes of it before! Look, this goblin’s flesh has been eaten. It rots away. We don’t come to save this fowl giant’s morsel. We come to warn you of the enemy in sight. Prepare yourself. What strikes cannot be seen!”

  “You’re very chatty for orc flesh.” The nuurg bent over and sniffed Brenwar. “You look like a goblin, but you smell like something else. “Are dwarves out there?”

  In a throaty voice, Selene replied, “I saw some husky two-legged rodents scurrying in the brush.”

  Chin jutted out, the nuurg said, “I see. But I smell better. You lie. We’re privy to your tricks. Kill them!”

  CHAPTER 33

  Glenwar stood on the parapets of Morgdon overlooking the siege engines outside the great dwarven city’s walls. Giants three times the size of normal men walked among the soldiers of the titan army. Six of them, earth giants, carried a great cedar with the iron face of a bugbear at the fore. They marched through the roaring soldiers, put their backs into the ram, and slammed into the great door.

  The very walls of Morgdon shook. Notable tremors were underfoot. Glenwar, the younger likeness of Brenwar, shook his head. “They’ve been trying that for years. One would think they’d come up with something else by now.”

  Dwarven soldiers posted a hundred feet above Morgdon’s entrance dumped vats of hot black pitch into channels that funneled outward. The hot pitch splattered all over the hairy, grizzled giants.

  “Every day it’s the same: they come, they try, they fail.” Glenwar shook his battle axe in the air. He yelled down below. “You’re stupid! We can hold out for decades in here, you ignorant giants!” He turned to the dwarf at his side, Pilpin.

  Pilpin was the smallest full-grown elf Glenwar had ever known, but he was a dear friend of his father’s. Pilpin looked more like a halfling than a dwarf. Indeed, if not for Pilpin’s bushy beard, no one would know the difference.

  “What’s that?” Pilpin pointed with his short little fingers.

  A big brown-green leaf floated down from the sky in a see-saw pattern. It landed at their feet and turned into a scroll.

  Pilpin snatched it up before Glenwar could reach it. “Finders keepers, “the little dwarf said.

  “It’s enchanted. Open it up!”

  Pilpin busted the wax seal. “That’s an elven stamp. You can tell because the lettering is smooth and fanciful. I had penmanship like that before…” He held up his stump arm. “Well, you know.”

  Glenwar snatched the scroll away. He read, lips moving but silent.

  “What? What? What? What does it say?”

  “It’s from my father.”

  “Did he ask about me?”

  Glenwar turned his back. “Come, we’re going to the council.”

  CHAPTER 34

  The second nuurg broadsided Selene with the flat of its battle axe. The blow knocked her from her feet. The nuurg in charge took a jab at Nath.

  Nath ripped the axe out of its hands.

  “What?” the nuurg blurted out.

  The quick movement caught the attention of the soldiers gathered at the entrance. Nath’s plan started to crumble.

  A streak of red light whistled through the air. It hit the corner wall of the ziggurat and exploded. Stone and bodies went flying through the air. Every neck twisted for a look except those belonging to Nath, Selene, Bayzog, and Brenwar.

  As soon as the nuurgs flinched, the four of them struck. Brenwar tackled the nuurg leader in the back of the legs just as another exploding arrow rocked the ziggurat. Nath slugged the flat-backed nuurg hard in the jaw, making its eyes roll up into its head. He caught a glimpse of Selene with her arms locked around the last nuurg’s neck. She choked it out.

  The titan army forces were scrambling into action. They streamed into the forest in scores, howling for vengeance. Nath waved them on and pointed toward the forest. “That way! They struck from that way!”

  “Now what?” Brenwar said.

  The entrance was still guarded by a small force of men and a stone giant. Their eyes were on the carnage wrought in the stone temple. The giant moved. His massive legs blocked the entrance.

  Nath slapped Brenwar on the back. “Come on. I’m sure you can convince him to let us in.”

  “I’ll let Mortuun do the speaking for me!”

  Selene cut Brenwar off. “We need to lure it away, not fight it.”

  An arrow whistled over their heads. The red bolt exploded in the giant’s face. Its head smoked. The giant swayed. Like a great tree, it fell on top of six soldiers.

  Nath sprang toward the entrance, shouting and yelling in Orcen. “We need reinforcements. We need reinforcements! They have an army of thousands in the forest!” His voice cleared out the area. He hopped over the giant’s legs and shouted inside the ziggurat entrance using his dragon voice. “WE ARE UNDER SIEGE! WE NEED EVERY SOLDIER WE HAVE OUT THERE.” His voice carried through the corridor.

  In seconds, soldiers streamed out of the exit. Belts and scabbards rattled. Swords scraped out of sheaths. Nath and company stepped aside. The forest was burning in several places now, with black plumes of smoke drifting toward the grey clouds. The army poured into the forest by the hundreds.

  Get out of there, Ben.

  The last soldier sprinted
out of the tunnel. Torches spaced several yards apart lit the tunnel up.

  Nath led the way in. “I don’t suppose anyone has a map leading to where the lair is?”

  “I can find it.” Brenwar ran his fingers over the stones. “There isn’t anything so extraordinary about the design, just a maze of tunnels. Perhaps a secret passageway or two.”

  Selene sniffed. “I suggest we follow the stench of the soldiers. Clearly they were guarding something in here.” She took the lead.

  The corridor was as broad as it was high and plenty big enough for a wagon to roll through. The first room they came across was an abandoned barracks. Bed rolls were on the floor. Bunks were pushed against the walls. They found another like it on the other side of the corridor. There was room for hundreds to sleep.

  “Let’s move on, quickly.” As far as Nath could tell, they were moving toward the center of the ziggurat. They passed by several more archways that led into alcoves. There were storage supplies and wooden barrels. There was a full armory and a smithy.

  Brenwar took a sword from a rack. Eying it, he said, “Shoddy work.”

  “This isn’t a weapons inspection,” Bayzog said, “but feel free to tinker. In the meantime, I’ll continue the search. There’s miles of ground that needs to be covered in this labyrinth.”

  “True, and our allies outside these walls can’t hold out forever.” Following the dim wurmer scents that lingered in the air, Nath took off at a full trot.

  The ziggurat was one continuous corridor that wound within the base. The turns in the corners were ninety degrees. They passed room after room, only taking a moment to peek in. Nath had seen the wurmers flying out of the top. It suggested the nest was in the center. It was possible that the only way to get to the nest would be by going to the top, level by level. The longer they ran, the more Nath regretted not taking a stab at finding the nest in the confusion the last time.