CHAPTER 32
Nath looked at Ben. “Don’t say anything.”
Guthrie took the axe over to a grinding stone and began sharpening it. The axe was a crude-looking device designed for only one purpose: the swift removal of heads from shoulders.
“Nath, what are you going to do?”
“He doesn’t need to know. Let’s just see how this plays out.”
Guthrie ground the axe’s edge against the turning stone. The blade turned red hot and sparked. “Yes, if there is any good in the evil that the giants do, it’s putting an end to that nasty Selene. You know, Nath, I was there, at the Contest of Champions, when you won. That was some battle. I’ve always wanted to tell you how proud I was of you when you prevailed over Kryzak. I thought that would put an end to the streak of evil, but it’s back. But some vengeance will be had. That Selene, she killed my mother and father. And they were elderly. Harmless, but they spoke against her. Killed for treason right before my eyes.” He held up his axe. “Not with this thing. No, they were some of many who faced the crossbow squad.”
“So Guthrie, when is this execution to take place?”
“Sometime between now and when it happens. The giants have an odd way of going about things, so one must remain alert.” Guthrie thumbed the edge of the axe blade. “I imagine you won’t mind seeing justice dispensed yourself.”
Nath wanted to defend Selene. But that would take some explaining. And in the case of Guthrie, it would take a lot of explaining. Guthrie was the kind of man who made his mind up about something and didn’t change it. Nath decided to wait for the right time. “Guthrie, can you take us to the arena now?”
Guthrie gave a lazy nod. He hung the axe on the wall. Eyeing his reflection in the blade, he brushed the scruff of his beard. “Sharp enough to shave with. Old Razor Beard can cut anything alive.”
***
Guthrie didn’t have any trouble concealing Nath and Ben on his trek through the streets. He loaded them into the pockets of his heavy belt pouch. The only scary thing about the trip was passing the giants in the city that were two to three times bigger than Guthrie—and he was a strapping man.
The crowds thickened the closer they got to the arena. Nath could hear voices shouting out and yelling from inside. Guthrie even fished out some coins and paid for entry. Once inside, he forced himself into one of the front seats that looked out over the arena grounds. Nath’s heart broke when he gazed at his father. Ben gasped beside him.
Oh, no, no, no, this is even more horrible now that I’m here in the flesh!
Just as Nath had seen in the mural, Balzurth’s great frame was stretched out over a metal rack. His brilliant scales were tarnished in grime and dirt. People down on the arena floor paid money to throw rocks at him. Paintings of the fallen dragon were being sold. Actors in costumes of dragons and giants staged a reenactment of the great battle. The people in the stands cheered and chanted with wicked glee.
Standing up inside the leather pouch with his arms over the rim, Ben said, “This is sickening, Nath. Your father doesn’t deserve this. We’ll do something, Nath. We must.”
At least twenty giant soldiers stood watch around Balzurth. In addition to that were the wurmers that perched on the outer wall of the coliseum. There were hundreds. There would only be two ways to remove Balzurth from Narnum: by force—which Nath didn’t have—or by negotiation. His eyes found the Spear of Barnabus, which still stuck through Balzurth’s sagging body. A chill went through Nath.
I’ll think of something, Father. I promise.
Dropping his chin, Guthrie said to Nath, “Have you seen enough?”
“The evil of this place has filled my eyes forever. Let’s go, Guthrie.”
“Where to?”
“Can you tell me where Selene is being held?”
“Why?”
“We need to talk, Guthrie.”
CHAPTER 33
Using the tongs, Forever dropped one of Selene’s scales into a small green crystal bowl. Forever set the tongs down and lifted the small bowl up before Selene’s eyes. It was a quarter full. The scales rattled inside when she shook it. “We’ll take a little break, Selene. But I do intend to fill it. Just imagine the street value of this. Black scales? Why, this little bowl will be worth a fortune. Isn’t that how you taught me to finance our quests?”
Selene panted. Her arm burned like fire. The bridge between her eyes stung. Sweat drenched her hair and dripped down her face. She said nothing.
Using another bowl, Forever caught the sweat that dripped from Selene’s chin. “I can sell dragon sweat. The alchemists will pay handsomely for its alluring qualities. Oh, Selene, you taught me so much that I feared I’d never have the pleasure of using again. It thrills me. It’s even more exhilarating having you as my subject.”
“Why the torture?” Selene managed to say. “You haven’t even asked me a question.”
“We don’t have any questions.” Forever gave Eckubahn an approving look. “We already know everything.” She picked the tongs back up. “No, I’m just enacting vengeance and showing my loyalty one scale at a time... and it’s personal.”
“It’s not too late to change your ways, Forever. What I taught you was wrong. You can still make things right.”
Stepping away from Selene, Forever replied, “You’re jesting. At a time like this. I think the strain has gotten to you, Selene.” She clicked the tong teeth together, making a clacking sound. “Let’s see. You changed your ways, and now you’re being tormented. I have not changed my ways, and I still delight in it. I don’t think it should be my wisdom in question but yours.”
“Yet here I am, standing my ground. Torment me all you want. In the long run, all you will have is pain and regret.”
“Eckubahn isn’t looking back. He seems quite content.”
“Look closer. Didn’t you notice his head’s on fire?” Eckubahn and Tylabahn were busy talking in words Selene didn’t understand. “How much longer before it’s the rest of him?”
“That won’t happen.”
“That’s what Gorn Grattack thought.”
“Humph. No more talking.” Forever grabbed another one of Selene’s scales with the tongs. “Only your screaming is allowed.”
CHAPTER 34
Guthrie covered his ears while shaking his head, saying, “I don’t want to hear any more, Nath. I can’t believe what you’re saying! You want to help that monster, Selene?”
Nath and Ben were both standing on the anvil inside Guthrie’s smithy. The aging blacksmith uncovered his ears and began stoking the fire of the coals. The warmth quickly filled the room, and the glow darkened Guthrie’s features.
Nath called to his friend, “Guthrie, you have to let me explain.”
“No. No. No!” He stuck his fingers in his ears. “I don’t want to hear it, Nath. Not one more word of it. That Selene—gah—I hate to even say the name! She’s a killer. Forget about her, Nath. What she has coming to her, she deserves. My parents, Nath, you met them, remember? Old and Sweet you used to call them. They were turned into targets. You didn’t see them die. You didn’t see!”
Guthrie was a hard-headed, loyal hound. It was one of the qualities Nath liked about him. If you crossed Guthrie, you’d never get a second chance. He wouldn’t have anything to do with you. And now, Nath was asking Guthrie to help him find someone who had crossed him.
Scratching at the back of his neck, Ben said, “Dragon, I can see the guilt building in your eyes. I understand what Guthrie’s going through. I was bitter for a long year after I lost my first wife and children in the war against Barnabus. It took a long time before I came to grips with war and what it is. Selene was behind all of that too, just like she was behind what happened to Guthrie’s parents. But Gorn Grattack drove it all, not her. She was a soldier following orders. Somehow, I was able to reconcile that and move on.”
“Thanks, Ben. That makes me feel better, but if it took you a year to get over it, it will take Guthrie ten. He’s got a
lot of stubborn in him, and I can’t expect him to help if he’s not right with it.” He eyed the ground. “We’re going to have to do this without him, I suppose. I just wish this shrinking potion would wear off. It should have by now. Do you feel anything?”
“I’m hungry.” Ben’s face lit up. “Imagine what a plateful of buttery biscuits would look like right now. Imagine swimming in warm butter and dipping that soft, chewy bread. Maybe if we eat something, it will help.”
Nath hopped off the anvil, landing on a nearby stool. “Come on. We’ll fetch you something somewhere, I suppose. We’ll just have to fend off the cats and the rats.” He cupped his hands over his mouth and said, “Guthrie! We’re leaving!”
Guthrie stopped stoking the coals. “What do you mean, leaving?”
Helping Ben down from the anvil, Nath replied, “I understand why you don’t want to help, and I respect that. You’ve done plenty. We’ll find Selene on our own.”
Setting the fire poker aside, Guthrie began wringing his hands and coming closer. “Nath, do you remember what you once told me about the wickedness? You said the best way to deal with it was to extinguish it.”
“Yes, I do. I was vastly more cavalier in my ways of thinking in my youth.”
Guthrie pulled up a stool and sat down. He looked right at Nath and Ben. “It’s been over forty years since you said that, and I’m fairly worn with age now. But I’ve lived by that. I’ve used it as a simple measuring stick. A standard. Are you telling me it’s wrong now?”
“Even the worst of us deserve another chance.”
Guthrie leaned closer. “Even orcs?”
“It’s not likely that orcs would ever seek redemption, but I suppose it’s possible.”
Easing back on his stool, Guthrie folded his corded arms over his chest. “I can’t believe my ears.”
Nath watched Guthrie’s eyes become glassy as he turned and fixed them on the glowing coals. Not only had Selene’s past come back to haunt her, but Nath’s foolish youth had followed him as well. He had followed his own code back then. It hadn’t been the best one either. “Guthrie, we’re leaving. I hope you understand.”
Guthrie’s slumped shoulders shook when he let out a weird chuckle.
“I have a feeling we need to go,” Ben whispered to Nath.
“Yes, I’m getting the same feeling. Can you make the climb back down to the ground from here?”
Ben looked over the edge. “I can manage it.”
“I’ll go first, in case you slip. I can handle the jump.”
Just as he started to hop down, Guthrie turned. “Here, let me help. It’s the least I can do before you depart.”
Not liking the tone in Guthrie’s voice, Nath made the jump.
Guthrie scooped Nath out of the air with surprising agility before he hit the ground. His fingers closed around Nath like a vise. With his free hand, he picked up Ben.
Nath hollered at the gargantuan man. “Guthrie, what are you doing?”
“I’m not going to let you free her, Nath. I can’t allow it. That would be wrong, and you know it.”
“Listen to me, Guthrie, please!”
Guthrie carried them both tight in his hands. “Don’t try anything, Nath. You might be able to escape, but you won’t be able to free your friend. So behave. I’m taking you back out of the city.”
“No, the wurmers will find us if we grow back, Guthrie. You can’t do this! Guthrie, you have to trust me.”
“I do trust you, Nath, but I don’t trust the likes of Selene. You shouldn’t either.” He emptied nails out of two clear class jars and dropped a man in each jar. He put corks on the jars, eyeballed them both, and said, “Sorry.”
CHAPTER 35
From one jar to another, Nath stared helplessly at Ben. His friend pounded on the glass, yelling. Nath could barely hear through his own glass prison.
Glass is much thicker when you’re smaller.
He scratched an X into the jar with his fingernail. He punched it, but the thick glass was harder than steel to a dragon his size.
I think I can make it out of here, but I don’t know about Ben.
Waving his arms overhead, he tried to capture Guthrie’s attention. His friend didn’t even look down. Guthrie was headed out of the stable. Ben pounded on his jar with fists that doubled in size. His head grew bigger as well.
Nath punched his own glass. He was yelling at Guthrie, “Let Ben out! The potion has worn off! He’ll be crushed to death!”
Guthrie paid him no mind and kept on walking.
“I don’t have time for this!” Nath took a quick breath and exhaled a stream of flame. The fire melted a perfect hole in the side of the glass. Nath stuck his head out of it and said in his dragon voice, “Guthrie! Let Ben out now.”
Guthrie stopped in his tracks. “What did I tell you about that, Nath?”
Ben’s body filled the jar.
“Whoa?” Guthrie said, lifting Ben’s jar before his eyes. “He’s getting heavy.”
“You have to let him out of there! He’ll be crushed to death.”
Guthrie popped off the lid, turned the jar over, and tried to shake Ben out. Ben’s head was out of the jar, but everything else was squeezed inside. He was choking to death. Guthrie shook the jar harder. “I’m trying, Nath. I’m trying!”
Ben’s face turned beet red.
“Smash the jar, Guthrie!”
Guthrie dropped the jar hard. It didn’t break on the dirt floor. “It’s dwarven tempered. Hard to break. I’ll get a hammer.” He ran back toward the smithy.
“Hang in there, Ben!” Nath wanted to use his breath, but he couldn’t risk roasting Ben to death. “We’ll figure it out.”
Ben moaned.
Guthrie was nowhere in sight.
Nath didn’t see anything that could help him at all. He ran over to the jar, balled up his fists, and prepared to hammer away. The glass shattered, showering him in tiny pieces. Ben kept growing. His body returned to normal size. He held his throat in a fit of coughing. The color in his flushed face had returned when Guthrie came back with a hammer.
“He’s big again?” Guthrie dashed the sweat from his eyes. “I’m glad for it.”
Nath stood on the ground looking at the humongous men. “If he’s back, then I ought to be back at any moment! I hope!”
The door out into the street slid open. The wild-eyed boy who had chased them earlier stood at the threshold. A group of soldiers carrying spears and wearing breastplates accompanied the boy. The boy’s quick eyes flickered to solid black and locked on Nath.
Spiders crawled up Nath’s spine. Sultans of Sulfur, he’s a spirit!
With a voice not of a child but more like a terror from the darkness, the boy pointed at Nath and told the soldiers, “Catch him! Kill them!”
The first guard advanced. He jammed his spear into Ben’s ribs.
“Noooooo!” Nath screamed. A pair of soldiers jabbed at Nath in an attempt to roust him out into the open.
Guthrie rushed in with alarming speed. He clobbered both men upside their helmets with his hammer. Both men stumbled and fell. “That felt good!”
Ben snatched the spear from the soldier who had stabbed him. A blank look fell over the soldier’s eyes. Ben butted him in the face with the spear. The soldier collapsed.
“Ben, you live!”
The old warrior searched the ground until he found Nath. “That iron skin potion sure came in handy. I feel great.” He broke the spear in half and tossed it aside. “Strong, too!”
The wicked boy who had called them out was gone, but Nath could hear a stir outside. Heavy feet pounded the ground. People in the streets scattered. “Sounds like bigger and badder company is coming.” Crawling up Ben’s traveling cloak onto his shoulder, Nath shouted to the blacksmith, “Guthrie, is there another way out of here?”
“Follow me.” Guthrie ran back into the smithy and opened a panel covered in tools. Ben slipped inside. Guthrie followed them into the secret passage. He shoved the doo
r back. “This will get us into the alley. I’m not sure where you can run after that. Sheesh, that little fiend wants my head on a platter too.” He punched Ben’s shoulder that Nath stood on. “Ow!” You are harder than iron. Anyhow, I was going to say, just like yesteryear, eh, Nath?”
“Yes, aside from being a thousand times smaller. I have to say, I tire of everyone getting bigger but me. Let’s go.”
Guthrie led them down the passage and opened up another door that led into an empty alley. They hustled to the opposite end, away from all the noise. “Perhaps it would be best if we split up, Guthrie. You don’t have any fight in this. I just want to find Selene.”
“It seems I’m in the thick of it whether I like it or not. No, Nath, I’ll stay with you.”
“I’m going to see where Selene is.”
“She’s not hard to find at all. You would have already found her, if not for your size. She’s been taken to the titan cathedral. The people wait outside to hear her sentencing.”
Nath shook his head. A wurmer squawked above them. Everyone looked up and found many wurmers’ eyes looking right back at them.
“Guzan!”
CHAPTER 36
“Don’t make any sudden moves,” Nath said. “They’re nesting up there. They aren’t after us.”
“I hate those things,” Guthrie said.
The paired-up wurmers dropped their necks below the roof line. Their heads swayed from side to side.
“Ben, just ease into the streets. We might get lucky,” Nath said.
“I’m going,” Ben replied. He took two steps backward.
The hound-sized wurmers split up, slunk down the walls into the alley, and cut off the exits. Their eyes had a deep purple glow in the dimmer light. Each of the monsters opened its mouth and hissed. Head and long necks low, with tails swishing behind their backs, they advanced.
Judgment of the Dragon (Book 7 of 10): Dragon Fantasy Series (Tail of the Dragon) Page 11