The drolem started into an attack with his tail and paused. His long golden neck turned toward Nath. His eyes bored into something beyond Nath.
“What is it?” Nath looked over his shoulder. Isobahn had locked up the drolem’s tail in his muscular arms.
“This fight is over, Nath Dragon,” Isobahn said. With powerful legs, he started pulling the drolem off of the bridge. “Surrender, and I might be merciful!”
“You’re the one who should surrender. You’re vastly outmatched by me and the drolem. Let go, and I’ll be certain to show the same mercy that you’ve shown me.”
“Fool.” Isobahn took a quick look in the sky. “It is over for you.”
More dragons spiraled from the sky. Wurmers filled it.
Nath faced Isobahn with Fang glowing in his hand. “If you want the mountain, you can have it, but you have to defeat me. I offered this challenge to Eckubahn, but he was a coward. Are you the same?”
“No.” Isobahn grinned. “I’m smarter than that. Come on, little dragon.” He beckoned with his hand. “Let’s fight then. Me and you.”
***
The armored giant hammered at Brenwar.
The burly dwarf skipped to the side and brought Mortuun down on the giant’s metal toe. The bang of metal sent shockwaves that knocked the oncoming brood from their feet. Brenwar cocked back to strike again. A swipe from a giant hammer took him from his feet and sent him spinning through the air. He landed on the chest of an angry-faced ogre.
“What are you looking at, one-eye?” Brenwar socked the ogre in the face, sprang to his feet, and made headway back toward the giant.
The armored giant’s hammers cut off his path with hard stone-chipping strikes in the ground.
Brenwar ran up the handle of one of the hammers and stuck the giant in the hand. Bone cracked, making the giant moan. Brenwar dropped to the ground and rolled away from the other hammer. The huge head of the metal hammer missed by an inch, twice. The third strike clipped Brenwar in the shoulder. Wincing at the grazing blow, he dropped to one knee, a little woozy. He shook his beard. The world spun. Spots were in his eyes, and his legs were numb.
Above him, the giant prepared another strike. The hammer went up over its head. It came down like a sledgehammer that was ready to drive a spike into the ground.
In a split second, Brenwar hoisted Mortuun up into the air to block the hammer. Metal collided with metal, jarring every bone in his body.
Krang!
Brenwar fell flat on his back. The hammer rose and fell again. He parried it once more.
Krang!
“Enough is enough!” Brenwar climbed back to his feet.
The giant, clad in twenty feet of steel, struck out once more at a dwarf not even five feet in height.
Brenwar knocked every jarring blow aside with Mortuun.
The perplexed giant backed away.
Brenwar, with the bracers’ power surging though him, knocked the giant in the leg with Mortuun.
The giant fell as if hit by a man its own size.
Brenwar got after him. His war hammer hit the giant’s armor in the joints, knocking it loose from the body.
The giant wriggled under the painful assault. His moaning kept the other fighters at bay.
A sharp blow to the exposed belly knocked the breath from the giant, and then Brenwar made a tremendous leap through the air, landing on the giant’s face. “Say goodnight!” Bringing Mortuun down with savage power, he smote the giant between the eyes. Crack!
CHAPTER 32
Isobahn let go of the drolem’s tail.
The metal dragon turned, looming, keeping his spiked tail swinging at the army that was trying to traverse the bridge.
Nath jumped off the drolem’s back. He faced off with Isobahn. Fang became a blade of blue fire in his hand. “Today, you’ll pay for what you did to my father.”
The titan punched his fist in his hand. “You mean kill him? That was easy. The fool rushed into the jaws of death. I saw it coming leagues away. And just as he died, so will you.” Isobahn stretched out his hand. One of the giants handed him a battle axe with twin blades on one side. The heads were black iron that glinted like busted coal on the edges. “A fine tool to wield. A real dragon slayer forged by the orcs just for me. I’ll skin the scales from your flesh.”
“Is that so? And here I thought you were just going to talk me to death. You’re doing a fair job of it so far. I’d rather be dead than smell your malodorous breath.”
Isobahn’s brows knitted together. He struck out with the axe.
Nath ducked, sprinted forward, and swung for the titan’s knee—summoning Fang’s power as he did so. Fang, help me make this quick. The blade tore through the titan’s knee.
Stumbling backward, Isobahn grinned. “It will take a thousand cuts to chop down this body.”
“I’ve got time.” Nath jumped at Isobahn. Fang struck with the speed of a snake, hacking and stabbing. In seconds, the titan’s legs were covered in blood.
The titan didn’t slow. He came at Nath with his full wrath. The double-bladed axe whistled through the air. Its blades bit into the bridge, missing Nath by a whisker.
He darted through the titan’s legs and stabbed Fang into the bone.
With new fury, Isobahn whipped around and swept the blades in short strokes.
The attack kept Nath at bay. The sweeping strokes backed him toward the edge of the bridge.
“The wounds you make are far from fatal, little dragon. But one hit from me and you’ll be finished.”
Springing from side to side, Nath said, “You haven’t come close yet.”
“Perhaps.” Isobahn made a loud grunt. Ballistae rocketed bolts through the air.
Besieged by a dozen missiles whistling right at him, Nath flattened on the ground.
Before he could get up, Isobahn stomped on him.
“Whooof!”
“I have you now, little dragon!” With Nath pinned under his foot, Isobahn put more weight on Nath. “Perfect. I can chop your head clean off.”
Muscles popping out in his arms and neck, Nath pushed against the great weight.
The titan’s foot lifted for a moment, only to shove him back down.
He squirmed from his back to his chest, took hold of the titan’s foot, and pushed again.
“Ha! Ha! Your efforts are useless!”
With tons of weight pressing down on him, Nath huffed out a blast of fire. The blaze shot up the titan’s leg.
“This is not my flesh you burn!” Isobahn put more weight on Nath. “I’ll outlast you, oh Dragon Prince! Like your father’s, your life is mine!”
“Never!” Nath screamed. With his dragon heart pumping a river of hot blood through his body, he pushed upward again. “Yeeeeargh!”
Dismayed, Isobahn cried out, “What?”
Nath squirted out from under the titan’s foot, picked up Fang, and without stopping, he chopped into Isobahn’s calf muscle. Ice exploded out of Fang’s tip. It raced up Isobahn’s legs, crystalizing him in crackles all the way up to his neck. Except for his face, his entire body had become a statue of ice.
Catching his breath, Nath said, “Thank you, Fang.” He climbed up the titan’s body, ready to deliver the lethal blow. The flames engulfing Isobahn’s head had extinguished. Nath cocked Fang back for the final shattering blow, hoping the blade would destroy the titan’s mind and spirit. “Any famous last words, Isobahn?”
With a dumb look in his eye and drool dripping from his lip, the giant murmured and said, “Huh?”
Nath’s senses caught fire. Something’s wrong!
Fang hummed a warning. The handle pulsated in Nath’s grip.
Shaking his head, Nath said, “He’s gone, Fang. Slipped away again.”
“NO I HAVEN’T, FOOL!”
CHAPTER 33
Nath’s head swiveled around. He was face to face with the drolem.
Only now, its golden dragon head was covered in the flames that had once adorned the head of Isob
ahn, and a new gleam of evil shone in the metal dragon’s eyes.
“I can’t believe you are so stupid, Nath Dragon. Now I possess the perfect body. The perfect weapon to destroy everything in my path.” Isobahn, in full control of the drolem, let out an earth-shattering roar. “This fight isn’t over yet. Let’s finish it!”
“Fang, I hope you have something left. It’s going to take more than my claws and clever wit to beat that thing.” He dropped to the ground. “Fine, Isobahn. Let’s go at it again. Apparently, you are too stupid to learn your lesson.” He charged. “Dragon! Dragon!”
With a swipe of his metallic dragon tail, Isobahn knocked Nath from his feet.
He slammed headfirst into the statue of ice. Shaking his noggin, Nath picked himself up just in time to catch a blast of lightning bursting from the drolem’s mouth into his chest. Sharp pain lit him up inside and out. Fang slipped from his grasp. Weak-kneed, he fell down, panting in aching lungfuls of air.
The drolem bounded forward. His golden head coiled back. The moorite horns were poised to gore him. “It’s over for you!”
Nath held his chin up. “It’s not over until the fat ogre sings.” He cupped his ear. Ogres bellowed and jeered. “Uh, let me change that.”
Isobahn struck.
Nath dived.
Out of nowhere, Waark plowed into the drolem’s side at the last moment. The bull dragon and drolem locked horns and thrashed on the bridge. The drolem was much bigger than the bull dragon, but they were equally matched in ferocity. Flames erupted from their mouths. Angry snorts came with crashing horns.
Strong arms lifted Nath up to his feet.
“Taking a break, are ye?” Half of Brenwar’s beard was ripped off. His armor smoldered. “What are you looking at? It’ll grow back. Now let’s kill this thing.”
“No, Brenwar. We need to get out of here! We can’t beat that thing. We have to go. Remember the plan.”
“Retreat? Do you see any armor on my back? Dwarves don’t retreat!”
“Come to your senses! Do as I say, that’s an order.”
Isobahn the drolem took control of the fight. He clamped down on Waark’s bullish neck.
“We can’t have that now, can we?” Two-handed, Brenwar hurled Mortuun. The war hammer smote the head of the drolem with the power of a giant. Klang! The metallic jaws loosened.
Waark burst free. The bull dragon put his head down and rammed the drolem toward the edge of the bridge.
“That’s it, Brenwar!” Nath said, elated. “We need to knock him into the lava. That should stop him.”
“I thought you said we needed to leave. Stop changing your mind.”
Nath raced toward Isobahn and attacked. Waark pushed. Nath cut at the claws scraping for footing on the ledge of the bridge. The heavy, unbalanced metal beast was falling. Brenwar brought Mortuun to bear, hammering at the claws and toes.
“Keep hitting! Keep hitting!” Nath shouted.
“What are you doing? Stop this!” Isobahn cried out, clawing and scraping at the stone bridge. The rocky edge started to crumble. “Noooooo!”
All together, Nath hit, Brenwar struck, and Waark pushed. The drolem slipped off the edge and splashed into the moat of lava. His head vanished under the surface.
“Whoa, that was close,” Nath said, with sweat dripping down his face. He noticed the army starting to crowd them again. He quickly searched the faces. The drolem might be gone, which is a shame, but Isobahn could be anywhere. “Brenwar, get on Waark. We have to go. Now!”
“I’m going, I’m going.” Brenwar climbed up onto the bull dragon’s back. Looking to the sky, he spun Mortuun by the handle. “By the looks of things, it’s going to be a fight just to get back.”
Nath cupped his hands together and let out a call of retreat. In his mind, he heard Grahleyna say, “Hurry, Nath, hurry!”
Waark spread his wings. He started to lift off, but Brenwar said, “Are you coming or not?”
Nath took another glimpse in the lava. Something burbled just below the surface. The drolem burst out, climbing up the rocky ridge. His body glowed red-hot. Almost at the top, he started to slide and melt. Nath turned away. Isobahn’s tail snaked out over the rim, caught him by the ankle, and jerked Nath off his feet toward the lava.
“Noooooooo!” Brenwar screamed.
With a final command, Nath said, “Waark, get him out of here!” just before he splashed into the burning liquid rock, screaming, and sank like a stone.
CHAPTER 34
Flat-footed, Selene stood before the murals with her mouth agape. She wasn’t alone. There were gasps and sobs coming from Rerry, Samaz, and most of all, Sasha. Ben dropped to his knees, holding his head. They all witnessed it, the grand battle of Nath Dragon fighting against the drolem. The moment was one to see: victory swallowed up in the jaws of death. Selene’s heart throbbed with indescribable agony when Nath was pulled down into the lava.
“I cannot believe what I have seen.” Grahleyna’s long, beautiful neck sagged. “Not my son. I’ve lost both him and Balzurth now.”
Selene was shaking, inside and out. She’d insisted on going out into battle with Nath, only to have him talk her out of it. I could have saved him. Someone squeezed her numb fingers. It was Sasha, with tears streaming down her face. They made Selene’s heart ache more. All of the women in the room had now lost the men they loved. Sasha lost Bayzog. Grahleyna lost Balzurth, and now…see, all of them. Losing Nath made her want to quit. The guilt inside her that Nath had worked so hard to wash away began to rebuild.
“Selene, now is not the time to blame yourself. This is war.” Sasha sobbed. “Death happens.” She wiped her eyes. “Nath would trust you to lead us now. He would want that.”
The great burden of responsibility shifted on to Selene. Her old life of not caring so much had been easy, but now she cared a great deal. All eyes were on her, even Grahleyna’s. Taking a breath, she pulled her shoulders back, set her inner pain aside, and lifted her chin. “Nath Dragon did not die in vain. We will follow through with the plan. Death to the titans.”
“Look,” Grahleyna said as she gazed into the mural. “Brenwar comes.”
Riding on the back of Waark, Brenwar led the surviving dragons back inside the portal at the top of the mountain.
“Ben, get up there and help Brenwar. Rerry and Samaz, the both of you go. Once the portal is sealed and secure, return.”
The three men bumped forearms. “For Dragon!” They departed.
Together, the three women watched the titan army storm into the tunnel. The soldiers cheered wildly, pouring into Dragon Home at the base of the mountain.
“Look,” Sasha said, pointing at the mural. The image of the giant’s body that Isobahn had possessed had a head of flame again. The ice that encased him started to melt. With a shrug, the titan burst free of the ice. A broad smile crossed his face as he stepped over and peered into the moat of lava where Nath Dragon and the drolem had perished. With a single fist, Isobahn beat his chest. “The mountain is ours! Take it!”
“I thought Nath beat that titan.” Selene’s tail swished slowly and easily over the floor. “Now, we have no choice but to follow through with the collapse of Dragon Home.” She eyed Grahleyna. “Are you certain of this?”
“You’re right. We have no choice now. I’ll see to it that all who can will make an escape. The murals, most of all, must also be destroyed. Too powerful a weapon in the hands of our enemies, they will be a great loss as well.” Grahleyna laid her paw on Selene’s shoulder. “I trust you to do what must be done. See it through. The world depends on it.”
***
At the top of the mountain standing below the portal, Ben watched the surviving dragons soar in. For every dragon, he saw at least two wurmers tearing at the dragon’s wings and neck. With Akron, he unleashed arrow after arrow, drilling the wurmers with deadly accuracy. “It’s good! Very good!”
With the ivory slider attached to his back, Ben was filled with amazing power. He couldn’t miss. He
nocked an explosive arrow and unleashed the string. The arrow zoomed right by Brenwar and Waark and hit a wurmer in the face. The booming explosion knocked Brenwar off of Waark’s back and sent the dwarf tumbling inside. He landed at Ben’s feet.
“Which side are you fighting for?” Brenwar growled. He popped up to his feet. “Nath is gone!”
“I saw,” Ben said. “No better time than now to avenge his death.” He fired another volley of arrows. The dragons—only dozens left—were inside, and the portal door at the cap of the mountain was closing again. “You need to find Selene at the murals. It’s time to take down the mountain. They’ll need your help.”
“Humph, I need to bust something up first!” Brenwar bashed in the skull of a wurmer. He started down the corridor. “Don’t delay, Ben. We all need to stay together from now on. I’m not losing another. See to it that those two”—he pointed to Rerry and Samaz—“don’t fall.”
“I will.”
***
Charged with the power of the ivory slider, Rerry moved on feet as light as feathers, hacking into the wurmers with deadly precision. Fighting with a sword in each hand, he lopped off two wurmer heads at the same time. He skipped aside from balls of energy that fired from one wurmer’s mouth and poked holes through their ribs into the heart.
“Samaz!” he called out. “Do you see this? I’m amazing! Or whatever means better than amazing. Incredible, perhaps?”
Using the Elderwood Staff, Samaz sent wurmers crashing into the walls with telekinetic power.
A knot of the deadly insect-dragons came right at him.
Holding out his hand, he stopped them midmotion. Slowly, the three wurmers began writhing as Samaz closed his hand. The wurmer bunch balled up and hovered in the air.
A moment later, a crimson dynamo dragon set the crushed bodies of the wurmers on fire.
Wrath of the Dragon: (The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 2, Book 8) (Tail of the Dragon) Page 11