Knights of the Dragon (of Knights and Wizards Book 1)

by A. J. Gallant

  Stone was livid. Protecting the princess was now impossible. “I challenge any of you to a fight to the death. If I win, we go free. If you win, you can kill all of us.”

  Arabaj walked over to Stone and kicked him in the face. “We can kill you anyway.”

  Stone knew that some men could be goaded into almost anything and at this point he could only fight with words. “I take that to mean that you are frightened? You are scared of one that has been beaten and wounded. Your bravado has left you and been replaced by feathers. ”

  Arabaj was a monster of a man and had to look down to meet Stone’s eyes. His brown eyes matched his shiny brown skin from the oils that had been rubbed into it. Being the captain he knew his comrades-in-arms were watching and listening. It was stupid to agree to such terms, and yet he didn’t want to appear weak in front of his men, but his size and skill with a sword should be enough to kill the smaller one. It was a risk for Stone too, but at least if he failed he wouldn’t be around to see what happened to the others, especially Alexa. He knew he was one of Leeander’s best, but he also knew that he wasn’t invincible. His opponent’s sword was twice as big as his and that alone would give him an advantage, unless he was slow, and he didn’t believe he’d be that lucky. A single misstep would almost certainly be the end of him.

  With a head nod, Arabaj gestured for Stone to be released and they also stepped away from Alexa, at least for the time being. No one wanted to miss Arabaj in a battle to the death with an outsider. Stone’s sword is thrown at his feet; he was a bit stiff from having been shackled all night; he slowly picked it up. Leeander’s Knight started out deliberately sluggish in an attempt to make Arabaj think that he was hurting, hoping that he might have an advantage if he underestimated him; Stone wasn’t sure if his acting was any good or not. He immediately had to do a summersault to avoid being cut in two. This guy wasn’t fooling around, no hesitation. He had too much experience to be fooled by a ruse. Again he jumped back feeling the wind from his sword going under his chin, with Alexa closing her eyes. She knew that Stone could handle himself but no matter how good one was there was always someone better; she desperately hoped that the big brute with the goatee wasn’t.

  Stone attacked, and Arabaj's sword blocked three of his mighty swings; Stone was kicked in the chest and knocked down. Even Brent was at times closing his eyes, figuring that if Stone died then so did they all. When the attempt to thrust the sword into Stone’s stomach failed, he went under it and sliced open Arabaj’s Achilles tendon, and as was usually the case in battle, a serious wound changed everything. As Arabaj limped backward, Stone was running forward on the attack. His opponent managed to block one blow, but Stone ran him through with his sword. There was never a louder silence that ensued.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  THE PURPLE DRAGON CIRCLED RYXA as she had her head stuck in the oblong hole, curiosity had grabbed the dragon. Everyone was weary as the giant dragon slowly sidestepped around Ryxa, especially Marcus. Dragons were powerful creatures and could be fickle although he was showing no aggression toward them. Ashkoor was an Amethyst shade of purple and an excellent specimen of a dragon, but there was no telling what was in his heart. He certainly had an advantage over Ryxa with her head trapped.

  “Is she stuck down there?”

  None of them had tried to run away from the big purple guy, but all considered that they might be in grave danger. Apparently Ryxa knew the dragon and was frightened of him, but since they couldn’t run faster than a dragon can fly there was no point in running. The odds of any of them surviving a fight certainly weren’t great. Zak was now wishing that he hadn’t gone on this adventure.

  Ashkoor looked genuinely alarmed for her well-being. He looked down at Ryxa and felt sorry that her head was stuck in there. He pushed her head from one side of the hole to the other so that he could get a better idea of the situation, trying to make a judgement on why she couldn’t get her head out. “Well, that’s a predicament. But if she got her head in there shouldn’t she be able to remove it?” And with that, he tried hard to pull her head out, but it didn’t work.

  “Oow, ow, ouch!” Ryxa screamed. “Stop it! It’s my head, not a wine cork!”

  “Ryxa are you hurt?” The boy tried to peek down but couldn’t see much. It was too dark, and he was wary that she might accidentally hurt him if she panicked. It was frustrating not being able to help.

  “I’d be a lot better if I could get my head out of here.” She was in such an awkward position that her muscles were getting sore, especially her front legs and her neck. What on earth had she been thinking by sticking her head down there? Curiosity killed the cat but might it kill the dragon too? She was in pain and also embarrassed. She figured that Ashkoor was out there laughing at her.

  The purple dragon examined the hole closer, ascertaining what the problem was. He peeked into the crack beside her head, and it looked like her ears were stopping her from getting out. She had squashed her head in there but then her ears had extended. Ashkoor figured that he would either have to enlarge the hole or she would have to rip her ears off, one for certain he thought. He carefully grabbed the edge of the cavity with both of his claws and tested its strength, taking several tries as he increased intensity, using his weight to his advantage but he had to be careful. One, two, three push! He finally managed to break a piece off and then another, throwing the chunks behind him and almost hitting Zak with one. The black dragon pulled hard, and her head finally popped out; her ears scraped and sore, but she was otherwise okay.

  Ryxa gave her head a shake and sent some dust flying. “Oh thank goodness. That was scary. You! Don’t trust Ashkoor he’s a beast.”

  “But he helped you get out,” said Marcus. “He saved you.”

  The purple dragon knew what she was talking about and nodded as he remembered. They had been friends and then adversaries as kids. “As children we played together, and I was a little rough back then. Ryxa, you don’t hold ill feelings from all those years ago? I was a young one as were you.”

  Ryxa also recalled the incident, shaking her head. “A little rough he says. Why should I hold a grudge? He just tied me up and threw me off a four hundred foot cliff. If it wouldn’t have been for another dragon, I’d be dead right now.” And she slapped him hard in the face.

  The slap made everyone wary of Ashkoor’s reaction; they certainly didn’t want to be in the middle of a dragon fight, but they were relieved when he smiled, but when she slapped him again not so much.

  Marcus tried to talk some sense into Ryxa. “Stop he saved you.”

  Again she slapped him and this time even harder than before.

  “It’s okay,” said Ashkoor. “I like it. Look how beautiful she is when she strikes at me.”

  A moment of silence as they all looked at one another a little puzzled. Zak realized that there was some mutual attraction going on with the dragons. Perhaps there was even some sexual tension? It was difficult to say with dragons. “So what’s down there?”

  “There are lots of gold coins and some magical stuff. Some enchanted things will have a distinct sparkle or glow to them. There must have been a wizard that hid that stuff down there. Judging by the amount of dust I would say that no one has been in there for a while. One of those things might be able to power up your shield. It’s worth a try. You can climb down my tail if you like?”

  Titus looked down into the hole and could see some stuff glittering. He considered that since they were there, they may as well check it out. “Let’s see what’s there.”

  “You better not hurt Ryxa,” said Marcus to Ashkoor.

  “I can see torches,” said Theon. Ryxa accidentally bumped into him as she was giving Ashkoor the evil eye and he fell into the hole; he landed and managed to roll and luckily wasn’t hurt.

  “Sorry, that was an accident.”

  Ashkoor made the hole even wider so that he could safely stick his head down and take a look around. “Those are magical torches. See the red sparkles o
n the top of it? Pick it up and say torch light and you’ll have fire. Something smells strange, not sure what it is, though.”

  With Ashkoor’s head now in the hole, Ryxa was tempted to give him a mighty kick in the ass and send him flying but didn’t, although she did go through the motions of doing it and had fun imagining it. Pow!

  Theon picked up the torch, and sure enough, he got it lit; it threw an excellent light too. There were several torches and a pile of gold coins in the corner. The dust made him sneeze loudly and made most of them laugh. “There’s another door leading further in,” his voice echoed off the walls. “Are you guys coming down or what?”

  Ryxa dropped her tail, and they all climbed down it, even though Zak wanted Marcus to stay up with the two dragons he refused, and when Ryxa gave him permission to go down they let her have her way since she was supposedly the boss. She was delighted to be bossing humans around.

  Zak, Theon, Titus and Urban’s eyes widened at all the gold. They all took several white bags of the coins, but there was a limit to what they could carry. Marcus pulled the squeaky door open that led to the next room. Creeeeeeaak! Inside was a fancy chair that looked like it might be a throne with a glowing orb on it, another doorway with someone or something moving around in there; he couldn’t see him, but he could see his shadow. And in the left corner a large golden statue of a two-headed snake.

  “I want that orb,” said the boy. “It’s full of magic.”

  Zak tried to grab the boy and stop him from entering the second chamber but couldn’t. As soon as Marcus got in there a monster of a snake exited from the room and hissed. It was taller than a man and didn’t look friendly. “Aaah!” It struck at the boy who ran like hell, the blow from the serpent took a chunk out of the wall where he had been standing, leaving a splatter of poison running down, but as soon as Marcus departed the room it returned to its chamber.

  “Snake! Snake! Snake!”

  Theon, Titus, Zak and Urban pulled their swords and ran in believing that they were going to encounter an ordinary snake, but when the viper exited its chamber once again they were all surprised and terrified at the sight of it. It stood more than a dozen feet tall and as it attacked they fell over one another. As the snake was prepared to strike a fatal blow to Urban’s face Marcus ran in waving a torch and the reptile immediately hissed and backed away, and then struck at the torch sending embers flying. The boy screamed but held his ground. They got up and surrounded the snake.

  “We should never have come down here!” Zak shouted.

  Urban watched its eyes and its tongue. “It’s ready to strike again!”

  “What is going on down there?” Ryxa hoped that they were okay, but it didn’t sound like it.

  The snake stuck at Theon hitting his sword, knocking it out of his hand and across the room; he was amazed at its strength. Marcus waved his torch vigorously to get its attention. Once again it focused on the boy and the fire. Zak sliced through it but his sword only went in about two inches deep, and since it was the size of a large tree trunk it only served to anger it. It struck at the boy.

  Marcus fell. “Ow!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  ZEDOCK DUG A SIDE CAVE off the main den where Ella had laid her eggs; he would hide in there when the red side of the family showed up for visitation. They weren’t sure how long they could keep it up, but they were both willing to give it a shot. It was their lives why shouldn’t they be allowed to live it the way they wanted? Too many rules and not enough love Ella had started to say. The doorway was barely small enough for him to squeeze through but quite large once he got a ways in; he certainly didn’t want her father to be able to fit in there. He had always been a good digger, and now he had multiple tunnels, and it would be fun to play in there with the kids when they hatched. It kept his mind occupied when he wasn’t hunting for food.

  Zedock stepped out of his cave system with a mouthful of rock and spat it outside and watched as the rocks tumbled down the cliff, with a medium sized rock somehow managing to balance on a branch that was sticking out the side of the cliff. Ella wasn’t on the eggs; she must have gone out to stretch her wings. He turned and stared at them and smiled because they were calling to him; he would sit on them for a few minutes, and she would never know. As long as he didn’t sit on them for too long it should be okay. The last time he spat some rocks out the door, which was only a few minutes ago, she had been on the eggs. It was likely that she would be gone at least an hour, and that would give him plenty of time. If there was anything interesting to see she could be gone longer than an hour. The black dragon stuck his head back out into the fresh air and looked around; Ella was nowhere in sight. As the eggs would hatch soon, this might be his only opportunity.

  “How are you three this morning?” he said to the eggs. “You all look marvelous. I’m going to sit on you for a few minutes but don’t tell your mother. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt me.” Zedock positioned himself over the eggs and gently placed himself on them, and it felt wonderful. Their warmth so relaxing that he was getting drowsy. He closed his eyes and thoroughly enjoyed the sensation. He could feel the position of each egg and the tingling of their little wizard. What could he be up to in there? Within a few minutes, he was a little too comfortable and fell asleep and started to snore. Movement under Zedock awakened him, and he was so happy to see that Ella hadn’t yet returned. He got off the eggs and checked to make sure they were okay, then headed back to do some more excavating and when he returned with another mouthful of rock, he discovered Ella waiting for him.

  Ella was standing akimbo and didn’t look happy. “Zedock, were you sitting on the eggs?”

  Zedock spat out the rocks and watched them fall, all the while trying to maintain his decorum. When telling a fib it was important to appear relaxed, and that wasn’t easy since he wanted to run back into the cave screaming. He noticed the rock that had been perched on the branch was knocked off. “I was not.”

  She tried hard to read his face that he was deliberately keeping blank. Ella gazed at him with piercing eyes. “Why are the eggs so warm then?”

  “Now how am I supposed to know that? I would guess it is because you have such a hot bottom.”

  “Turn around?”

  “What? Why? Are you going to hit me when I’m not looking?”

  Ella shook her head. Males! “Of course not, just turn around.”

  Zedock managed a complete circle. “Are you happy now?”

  “See, you were sitting on the eggs. Your bottom is purple!”

  Zedock realized that he might as well come clean. Ash had colored him. “That little wizard. Okay, so I sat on them for a few minutes. See nice and healthy. No cracks in the eggs. They are perfectly fine.”

  “What did I tell you?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “You don’t remember?”

  “Well, I certainly don’t want to remember.” He smiled and raised his forehead in an attempt to change her mood.”

  “Someone is coming, hide!”

  Zedock ran into the tunnel and then could hear Sunfire’s voice. “They should hatch today shouldn’t they?”

  “Yes they should,” said Ella. “But with a black dragon for a father who knows.”

  Zedock made his way back out. “Hello, Sunfire how are you?”

  “I’m okay. Are you ready for the babies to be born?”

  “I can’t wait to see what they look like, especially the little wizard. But I shall love them all equally.”

  Ella placed herself back on the eggs. “Zedock was sitting on the eggs.”

  Sunfire shook her head disapprovingly.

  “Oh, I only sat on them for a couple of minutes, and I didn’t hurt them see?”

  “Bad Zedock,” said Sunfire.

  Zedock glared at Sunfire. He didn’t want her comments depressing Ella’s mood. “Sunfire, did you ever have a foot in your ass?”

  “What? No!”

  “Well, you’re gonna have one if you don
’t be quiet.”

  Ella giggled and then she stood up looking a bit surprised even though it was expected. One of the eggs had commenced the process of hatching. They all stared down at them, and it was the wizard that was going to come out first. The egg had started to crack just as Krandar flew in. A small piece of shell fell off the egg.

  “Father! Our little wizard is hatching.”

  “Zedock! What are you doing here!” said Krandar, mad enough to spit fire.

  “I was just flying by.”

  “Father, this is no time for bickering.”

  Krandar snorted. “Oh, I suppose so. I told your mother the truth and because of it, mother refuses to come. With the truth comes the calming of the spirit.”

  Sunfire attempted to change her father’s mood. “But don’t forget father they’re having a wizard!”

  “Oh, I know.”

  Suddenly Ash smashed his foot through the shell like some warrior, and it was momentarily stuck there as the egg rolled awkwardly. “Come on son break your way out of there! You can do it!” Then Ash smashed his head through, and he forced his way out. He was as cute as they come, looking up at Krandar he said, “Are you my father?”

  Krandar cleared his throat. “I’m the grandfather; your father is over there. The black one.”

  Zedock rushed over and picked up the boy. “I’m your father, and I named you Ash. Do you like it?”

  “Yeah, I like it.”

  All the faces in the den smiled, whether they wanted to or not. They were witnessing the miraculous birth of a dragon, and not just any dragon a wizard! It was difficult for Krandar to remain angry with such a blessing.

  “Here, give him to me.” Ella snuggled into him with her face, and he enjoyed his mother’s warmth as she licked him clean. She gave him an apple and he ate it in three bites. He looked to be entirely red except for the very end of his tail which was black. Zedock wasn’t about to tell them that most black dragons started out that way. Dragons hatched with a fair amount of knowledge passed down from the parents, but there was still a lot more to learn. It was experience and nurturing that made the dragon. Life itself would provide mountains of knowledge and experience.