by Gunhus, Jeff
I turned my attention back to the goblins coming over the wall and charged at the nearest one, swinging my sword right next to Daniel.
I don’t know how long we battled, but dead goblins piled up around our feet. Soon, my arms ached and I cried out with every swing of my sword. All the hunters fought valiantly, chopping down the enemy by the dozens. But still they kept coming. After dispatching a particularly ugly-looking goblin, there was a lull in the action. We all remained in our fighting stance, waiting for the next wave, but none came.
I allowed myself to hope that we had turned them away, that we had won somehow. I stole a look over the wall and my heart sank. The army below had doubled, maybe even tripled, in size. We hadn’t won. The goblins were simply organizing themselves for a final push to finish us off.
I felt a hand on my back. It was Daniel. He glanced over the wall and by the look in his eyes I knew we both had reached the same conclusion. There were too many of them. There was no way we were going to survive this fight. I stood up on a rock so that the hunters on the wall could see me.
“We have to get as many of you as we can back to the Citadel,” I shouted. “I’ll stay here with anyone willing to make a stand to cover the retreat.”
The hunters turned to face me. Many had ripped clothing stained with blood, both goblin and their own. Their eyes were alive and on fire, ready for action. T-Rex and Will made their way to the front and Xavier slid over and joined them. A group of Ratlings stood with T-Rex and stared me down with grim determination.
“You’ve got to hurry,” I said. “I don’t know how long we can hold them.”
No one moved.
“Don’t you understand?” I said. “We have to retreat now.”
Still, they are stared at me.
“Why isn’t anyone moving,” I shouted. “What’s wrong?”
Daniel walked up to me, a grin on his face. “There’s nothing wrong, Jack. Only, I don’t think anyone is in the mood to retreat.”
“It’s pretty comfortable up on this wall,” Will said loudly, milking it to the crowd. “I kind of like it up here.”
“Yeah,” T-Rex chimed in, “and it’s a long walk to the Citadel.”
The hunters and Ratlings laughed softly, the quiet camaraderie of soldiers about to face their fate.
“See?” Daniel said. “They’ll fight with you until the end. As will I. And I’ll be proud to do it as your friend.” He reached out and shook my hand. “It’s been an honor, Jack Templar.”
It was the first time Daniel had called me Templar instead of Smith. I nodded in acknowledgement. I looked over the assembled group, blinking back tears as their show of courage overwhelmed me. “The honor has been mine,” was all I could manage.
Heads nodded in agreement and the hunters and Ratlings murmured the words to one another over and over again.
A hunter turned to his injured friend.
The honor has been mine.
Two young hunters, barely ten years old, solemnly shook hands.
The honor has been mine.
A hunter instructor bowed to a Ratling.
The honor has been mine.
All right,” I managed to say after clearing my throat. “Man your stations and get ready for the attack. This is our Academy and we’re not going to let one goblin step foot in it!”
The hunters and Ratlings cheered and went back to their positions on the wall. Daniel, T-Rex, Will and Xavier walked up. They stood quietly together, no one sure what to say. Finally, Daniel broke the silence.
“I never thanked you for saving my life,” Daniel said.
“Too bad I can’t do it this time,” I replied.
Daniel reached out his hand and I shook it. “There are worse ways to die than fighting next to a fellow hunter.”
Will and T-Rex were both covered in goblin blood. T-Rex looked on the edge of tears and Will grinned like he had just won something.
“Fellas,” I said. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”
“Are you kidding me?” Will exclaimed. “Best vacation, ever.”
But T-Rex patted me on the shoulder and looked at me seriously. “It’s not your fault, Jack. We chose to come, remember?”
I looked up and down the wall lined with hunters, some as young as eight years old. There were a few tears, but even those crying stood facing the wall, ready for the final battle. I was disappointed that I was unable to lead them to victory, but I couldn’t have been more proud.
“Xavier, if you had an invention in your bag of tricks to help us out of this mess, now would be a good time to get it out,” I said.
“Sorry, Jack,” Xavier said. “I don’t have anything.”
I patted him on the back. “I figured you didn’t. But it never hurts to ask,” I replied.
Suddenly, a dragon reappeared at the far end of the wall and I looked to see if it was the one Eva had ridden away on. There was no sign of her. The dragon blew fire once again at the treetops to illuminate the attack.
As the dragon neared the end of its pass, I shouted, “Get ready!”
The goblin horde stamped its feet in unison and beat their spears against their shields, ready to rush forward. There were so many of them that I could feel the vibration from the sound in my chest.
“Ready…” I said.
Then, in the middle of the tension rose the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard in my life.
The howl of a single wolf.
The goblins froze, looking around to see what direction it had come from. An eerie silence enveloped the scene.
Then another howl erupted from deeper in the forest.
And then another.
More and more until the forest was filled with the sound.
Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, it was gone. The night was still except for the crackling fires burning behind us.
“Tiberon,” I whispered. “About bloody time.”
A horn blew and the entire goblin horde erupted in a guttural battle cry as they charged the wall. Immediately, screams ripped through the air. Flashes of black and grey darted in and out of the tree line, grabbing goblins by whatever body part was most convenient and dragging them back into the trees.
The goblins on the front lines heard the screams behind them and their charge lost momentum. When they turned around, over a hundred giant wolves slowly walked out from the forest in a line, with Tiberon at their center.
The goblins froze and for a second it seemed as if the entire world had fallen silent. Clouds of white breath swirled in front of the wolves with each huff of air. Many of them crouched low, teeth bared, eagerly clawing the ground in anticipation of the destruction to come.
With a snarl, Tiberon leapt forward and attacked the goblin army. In unison, the other wolves followed his lead with a deafening roar.
The carnage was almost too devastating to watch. The wolves reached the goblins in only a few strides and then slammed into the front line of defense. The goblins raised their spears to ward them off, but it was no use. Tiberon’s army was an unstoppable wave of death, all claws and teeth, ripping through the goblin ranks with furious energy. Goblin bodies flew through the air as wolves crunched their teeth through fleshy necks and then tossed the limp bodies aside like they were ragdolls.
Tiberon stood in the center of it all, a monstrous, snarling figure that fought as if he were waging his own personal war. As I watched, he took out three of the enemy with one great sweep of his paw, knocking them end over end. He kicked backward and sent a fourth goblin flying. A group of five or six goblins, mercilessly whipped from behind by one of their leaders, charged at Tiberon. He rose up on his hind legs then jumped straight into their line, biting through their armor with his massive jaws. Within seconds, he had worked his way through them and turned with a bloody mouth and wild eyes to find new targets.
Elsewhere on the field of battle, the leaders of the goblin army tried to organize a defense, but their soldiers had no interest in listening. Even as they use
d their whips to get them into line, the goblins quickly realized they were no match for the brute strength of the wolves. Some of them ran back up the ladders toward us, trying to get away from the sure death that waited them below, only to run into our swords and spears above.
Soon the ground ran red with goblin blood. After a few minutes of the wolves’ merciless attack, the goblins broke rank and ran for their lives into the forest. The wolves looked to Tiberon for instruction. He made a motion with his head and the wolves ran into the woods after the fleeing goblins. Soon screams once again filled the valley. There were to be no prisoners.
The hunters cheered from the walls. We had won. I removed my helmet and bowed to Tiberon down below. The great wolf stretched his neck upward and returned the gesture by bowing low to the ground.
Daniel was standing a little down the wall from me. I wondered how he would react to all this. He shifted his eyes from Tiberon to me. “Looks like you and your friend saved my life a second time,” Daniel said. “I guess I owe both of you.”
I knew how hard this had to be for Daniel. I wanted to talk to him more about it, but a dark shadow caught the corner of my eye. “Daniel, look out!” I yelled.
But it was too late. In one swift motion, the dragon grabbed Daniel’s body in its talons and ripped him off the ground.
“No!” I cried, running along the rampart, keeping pace with the dragon flying low alongside the interior wall. Daniel struggled in the monster’s grasp, kicking and punching the claws holding him. There was no way he was getting out.
I launched myself from the edge of the wall, arms windmilling as I flew through the air.
I landed on the dragon’s back with so much force that I felt like I’d just run into a moving car. I bounced off the hard, smooth scales and slid across the beast’s back. I was about to roll right off when the dragon veered to the right and I rolled in the opposite direction. Remembering what I’d seen Eva do, as I rolled, I got my sword into position, then plunged it into the dragon’s flesh.
The sword sunk in deep and its scales quivered. I heard Daniel cry out but I couldn’t see him from where I was. I held on for dear life as the dragon twisted and contorted, trying to shake me off its back. As we spun around, I caught a glance of the ground not far below and saw Daniel there. The cry I’d heard was the dragon dropping him. OK, I thought, he’s safe. Now what?
The dragon had plans of its own. It took me on a wild ride across the Academy grounds, smashing through burning buildings, scraping its back across the mountain, trying to reach me with its mouth and claws. I tried to find the best time to let go, but the dragon was flying too fast. Jumping off would have been like jumping out of a car going sixty miles an hour. If it was a fire-breathing flying car with a bad attitude, that is.
I held tight to my sword and rode the dragon as best I could. My body flailed in the air above the beast’s scaly back as I tried to plan my next move.
Suddenly, the dragon stopped bucking and smoothed out its flight. It craned its neck and, while it couldn’t reach me with its teeth, its red eye looked me over. With an ear-shattering screech, the dragon turned and with a few beats of its massive wings, we soared high up over the Academy and turned east toward the rising sun.
With a sinking feeling, I realized what had just happened. The dragon had identified that I was the one hunter it had been sent to collect and I was being whisked away from the Academy and taken directly to Ren Lucre. I’d played right into his hands. And now I was hundreds of feet up in the air, trapped.
In the distance ahead, I saw a dark shape coming at us, silhouetted against the lightening morning sky. It was the other dragon, the one that had taken Eva. I felt a pang of dread, worried that this meant she hadn’t made it. Now seeing the dragon return, I figured there was no way she could have survived. Just like there was little chance I was going to survive, either. I lowered my head against the dragon and held back tears. So many sacrifices, so many people hurt, the Academy destroyed, all for nothing. All just to end in failure. I’d never felt so hopeless in my life.
But then a sound reached my ears, floating on the early morning breeze, so distant that at first I thought I’d imagined it. A beautiful sound I’d convinced myself I’d never hear again. I looked up and the sound grew stronger.
It was Eva’s battle cry.
Chapter Eighteen
Eva was on the back of the dragon’s neck, the wire from her grappling hook wrapped around the creature’s snout in a makeshift harness and reins, her sword used as a bit in its mouth.
My dragon realized too late what was happening, as Eva steered her captive dragon right into us. The impact nearly knocked me off but somehow I managed to hold on. The two dragons clawed and chewed at each other, their leathery wings wrapping around one another as we fell from the sky.
“Hold on, Jack!” Eva cried. She pulled back on her reins and her dragon’s head jerked backward as her sword cut into the corners of its mouth. The dragons disengaged with only twenty or thirty feet left before we all crashed into the ground. My dragon snarled and I could feel its chest expand beneath me as it drew in a huge breath.
“Fire!” I yelled. “It’s going to breathe fire!”
Just as I said it, my dragon spewed a column of fire. Eva’s dragon reacted by bringing both wings together in front of its body. The fire billowed against the shield harmlessly. My dragon turned and retreated, Eva’s dragon in pursuit.
She zigzagged behind us and I soon realized she was pushing my dragon back toward the Academy grounds. Soon, we soared over the training field, the hunters and wolves below.
“Get ready!” Eva cried.
She steered her dragon ahead of mine and forced it to reverse direction. As we passed back over the Academy grounds again, I saw a double line of hunters and Ratlings in the center of the field, all holding crossbows. Will and T-Rex each commanded a group.
My dragon didn’t see it. At the last second, I twisted my sword in the dragon’s back and shoved it as deeply as I could. This distracted it just enough for it to fly right into the line of fire of the hunters below. Two dozen crossbow bolts whizzed up and struck the dragon in the neck. It wasn’t enough to injure the beast, but just enough to make it mad. It stopped midair, hovering with great flaps of its wings, searching the ground for something to kill. I felt the dragon fill its lungs again, taking aim at the line of hunters below us.
Eva’s battle cry erupted behind me. I didn’t even take the time to look. I just jumped from my dragon, hoping I was judging the distance to the ground right at twenty feet. As I jumped, Eva’s dragon collided with mine in a violent mix of talons, scales and wings. The stream of fire arched over the group of hunters and harmlessly struck the training field.
I hit the ground, rolled and ended back up on my feet, near a group of hunters firing bolts into the sky. As the two dragons fought, I saw Eva’s dragon break through the harness and spit out the sword in its mouth. Eva leapt from its back and landed safely on the grounds. Even with the harness gone, the dragons continued to fight, locked in a death match.
I ran over to where I saw Eva jump. After the swing of emotions in the last few hours, I just wanted to see her.
I gave the fighting dragons a wide berth and finally reached her. Just in time to see her hugging Daniel. I stopped in my tracks, suddenly wishing I was back on the dragon. Eva saw me and she and Daniel both ran over to me. She locked me up in a hug and this time it was Daniel’s turn to feel out of place. Even with everything going on around us, I admit that the hug felt really good. But only seconds later, she pushed me away and punched me in the arm. Hard.
“You jerk. I thought you were dead,” she said.
“Me? You’re the one who went off flying with a dragon,” I said.
“Hey guys,” Daniel interjected. “I think we have a problem.”
The two dragons had parted, snarling at each other, but remembering their task. As we watched, they rose back into the air and hovered over the battlefield.
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br /> “We’re not out of it, yet,” Eva said. “Any ideas?”
“You’re the dragon-whisperer,” I said. “You tell us.”
“I don’t think it’s going to offer me another ride,” Eva said.
“And we’re no match for them with the weapons we have,” Daniel said.
The dragons simultaneously spewed streams of fire across the field. Hunters scattered everywhere, looking for cover. Daniel was right—we didn’t have anything that could match the dragons’ might. If we couldn’t beat them, at least I could save the others from getting killed.
I waited until the barrage of fire stopped, then huddled close to Eva and Daniel. “Get the hunters to safety. Hide in the forest if you have to. Tiberon will keep you safe.”
“What are you going to do?” Eva asked.
“Don’t worry about me,” I said with a grin. “I’ll think of something.”
I turned and ran as hard as I could into the center of the field as far away from the other hunters as possible. I waved my sword over my head. “Hey, you two! Over here! Come on, you ugly lizards!” The dragons turned in my direction. “Yeah, that’s right. You know you’re ugly!” I yelled. I jogged backward as I taunted them, making my way toward the Citadel gates. Behind the dragons, I saw Will and Eva directing the other hunters toward the outer wall gates. Both dragons stopped beating their wings and landed with a heavy thump that shook the ground.
One of the dragons turned and hissed at the sight of the escaping hunters. Its buddy followed suit and turned to look at the main gate.
“Hey, I’m the one you came looking for, right?” I yelled. “Right here. I’m Jack Templar!” Both of them snapped their heads in my direction. “Yeah, that got your attention, didn’t it?”
The dragons walked slowly toward me, hissing and spitting drips of fire from their mouths.
“Come on,” I whispered. “That’s it, both of you.” I glanced at the Citadel gate, judging the distance. It was now or never. I pumped my sword at the dragons and shouted with everything I had. “What are you waiting for? Come and get me! I dare you!”