Something had slaughtered one of his brethren. Something he could not track. It was as elusive as Sansla Libor. His mind ran through the catalog of everything he had tracked and hunted over the centuries. Giants and orcs. Witches and warlocks. Pixlyns and nymphs. Dragons and dalumphs. But nothing as curious as this.
He tugged on the reins. Something had pushed through the underbrush, and there were fresh drops of blood on the ground. He lowered his spear, poked it into the thicket, and pushed it aside. There were bloodstains on the leaves. There had been blood on Chaldun’s blades as well. It was Hoven’s hope that the creature bled, but how had it come this far without letting blood until now? Perhaps it was Chaldun’s blood he saw instead.
He poked the brush and scanned the higher branches. Horse hooves stamped beneath him. The supple muscles in his back tightened. He could feel a heavy gaze on his neck. He eased his head around.
Large burning cat’s eyes locked on his, sending a chill through Hoven’s bones.
He jerked the reins and wheeled his spear around. The dragon cat creature was gone, but he’d heard a description of the strange beast before.
“Feline Fury … come, kitty, kitty, kitty…”
***
Dragons diving, Brenwar launched his first stone. The creature spiraled away, but the stone exploded into the cliffs beyond it. He grunted with approval. The mystic might from his bracers surged through his arms. He scooped up more rocks and started chucking them one right after the other. One caught a flying dragon square behind the wings. It squawked and spun into the cliff.
“Yes!”
Above, the dragons dove and spit fire.
The Roaming Rangers and Ben volleyed arrow after arrow.
Bayzog’s fingers unleashed shards of fire that blasted into the dragons.
They dove, spit. Fire charred the rocks. Burnt through armor and flesh. The fighting force held its ground. Unloosed everything they had, filling the skies with the roaring sounds of angry dragons. They were repelled again and again.
“Eat that!” Brenwar yelled, hurling a rock into a grey scaler’s spitting mouth. It tumbled from the sky and crashed into the ground.
Two Roaming Rangers rushed in with fine elven steel and cut it down. It was one of several dragons that died, but they kept coming. The skies became thick with them.
“Keep fighting!” Brenwar yelled, chucking another rock. “We have to hold them off long enough for Nath to find those blasted gnomes.” He noticed a dragon snaking along the cliff ledges. He hefted up a large stone over his head and heaved with all his might. It exploded into the dragon’s side, knocking it off the ledge. “Woohoo!”
The others let out a cheer, hoisting their bows high in the air. The grey scalers retreated and hung high in the sky.
“Well done, Brenwar,” Ben said, slapping him on the shoulder. “I don’t think a catapult could have launched that rock with such power.”
“Of course not,” Brenwar said, “unless it was a dwarven catapult.”
“Of course,” Ben said, mopping the sweat from his brow. His armor was charred black in spots. Eyeing the sky, he added. “But there are still many more of them.”
“Bah,” Brenwar said, “they cannot handle my great feats. And the next rock I toss will be bigger than the last. Ha!”
A great shadow blotted out the sun, covering them all. It glided past them.
“What in Narnum is that?” Brenwar said, lifting his bearded face to the sky. He glimpsed a pair of claws as great as he’d ever seen.
“Dragon …” Ben said with dismay. “Big dragon!”
CHAPTER 19
Nath scrambled from one cave to the next, calling out in the fragments of Gnomish he knew. More than a hundred caves dotted the steep cliff face. Hollowed holes. Dens. Cavities. Some deep, most shallow. Unless you could fly, it would take at least a day to search them all.
“Snarggell! Snarggell!”
His keen eyes scanned for traces of their passing. His nostrils flared. But their scent was gone. Ears peeled, he listened for anything out of the ordinary, but his search had garnered nothing. Coming out of another cavern, he cursed, “Sultans of Sulfur!” He glared down at the treetops over a hundred feet below. The battle raged on. He struck the rock face with his fist.
“Ooch…”
Nath’s golden dragon eyes popped wide. He poked at the rock with his clawed finger, tracing an abnormal outline. How’d I miss that? A gnomish body had melded with the rocks. Two stony eyes gazed at him.
“Snarggell?”
“Go away,” it said. “Go!”
“It is you,” Nath said, staring into the hardened eyelids. “Listen, Snarggell. You have to come with me. Those dragons won’t stop until they have you.”
“No,” the rock retorted.
“You can’t stay like this forever,” Nath pleaded.
“We can outlast our enemies like this,” the gnome said. “Now go!”
Nath stuck his clawed finger on the crystal gnome’s nose, applied a little pressure, and said, “I will claw you out of there if I have to.”
Snarggell’s eyes crossed, but his rocky lips fell silent.
Nath wasn’t about to abandon the gnomes to their stubborn and over-preserving nature now. Barnabus wanted the gnomes back, and Nath vowed to himself that would not happen.
“Snarggell,” he said, “you must come along. Your kind, my kind, and every kind is in danger. Can you not see that now?”
Snarggell squeezed his eyes shut.
Nath leaned back against the rock wall. He hadn’t spent much time with gnomes in the past. He wasn’t sure what made them tick.
“The people below are giving their lives for you. I just wanted to make sure you knew that.” He sighed. “And by the end of the day I might be dead too.”
“Good.”
“What!” Nath turned and glared at the gnome. “What do you mean, ‘good’?”
“Rescue Murderer,” the gnome’s rocky lips mumbled. “Rescue Murderer.”
Nath popped Snarggell in the belly.
“Oof!”
“Well, I’ll tell you this much,” Nath said, voice rising, “there’s about to be another gnome murdered.” He got face to face with Snarggell, buckled his brows, and said in his most threatening voice, “You had better come with me now, gnome. I’m not fooling around.” He drew his fist back, squeezed it so tight that his knuckles cracked, and added. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Alright,” Snarggell said, but it was barely audible.
“What!”
“Alright. Just give me a moment.”
The crystal gnome eased out of his spot. In moments, his rocky skin resumed its fleshy form. “Happy?”
“No,” Nath said. “Where are the others?”
In gnomish, Snarggell called out names, one by one. They were closer than Nath thought. A few seconds later, they’d all gathered near the ledge. Many remained tucked inside the caves and dens, with nervous faces.
“Well,” Snarggell said, “when are you going to finish off the rest of those … those …”
“Dragons,” Nath said.
All the gnomes froze with their little necks twisted up.
Nath thought a great cloud had blocked the sun, but the enormous beating of two wings proved otherwise. Eyes to the sky, he exclaimed in awe, “Great Dragon!”
***
Thrashing in the dark smoke, Shum somehow seized the dragon claws tearing at his throat.
The dragon’s jaws snapped. Its hind claws ripped through his garb. Its relentless strength pushed Shum’s reserve to the limits.
Choking, gasping, fighting, he gathered his feet under the grey scaler’s belly and launched it into the cave wall.
The monster let out a shrill shriek and came clawing after him again.
Eyes squeezed shut, Shum’s fingers searched through the dirt for his blade. Finding the hilt crafted for his hand, he lashed out. Steel penetrated scale.
The beast recoiled with a fear
some howl.
Shum forced his way along the wall toward the mouth of the cave, finding the fresh air outside. With blood all over his tattered Roaming Ranger garb, he backed down the berm and opened his burning eyes, still coughing.
Smoke rolled out of the cave, and the grey scaler slithered out, hissed at him, leapt off the ledge, and took to the sky.
Shum was glad of it, pressing his back to the rock wall and watching it go upward to join the ranks of the other dragons. Shum gasped. Something else loomed over the top of the cliff. An immense dragon. Dark-winged, bull-horned, and bull-necked, its iron hide was many shimmering colors. Plated bronze scales covered it from neck to belly. Its oversized claws were the biggest Shum had ever saw. It opened its great mouth wide and let out an ear-splitting roar that shook the valley.
Nothing moved until the humongous dragon’s neck stretched out. Its piercing eyes scoured the green channels below. A huge dragon eye fixed on Shum. Intelligent. Cunning. Burning with evil.
Shum’s heart raced.
The dragon’s eye drifted away, and Shum’s gaze drifted back, eyes probing the monstrous beast for weakness.
There seems to be none. But if it can breathe, it can bleed.
***
The feline fury, a monster with the face of a great cat and the body and wings of a dragon, had disappeared. Hoven spun his horse around, full circle, with his great spear lowered. He sniffed the air. Perked his ears. But the monster, bigger than his horse, had simply vanished.
Nothing moves that fast, except magic.
With a gnawing feeling in his gut, he galloped back to the rest of the party.
CHAPTER 20
Along the ledge, Nath and the gnomes behind him hung back with bated breath. Even Nath couldn’t withhold his surprise at the shear enormity of the beast that surveyed them all. Though it didn’t have the girth of the wingless titan dragons, it was still almost as big. A terror of the skies. And Nath knew the dragon beast the moment he saw it. Its name was Inferno. A Sky Raider. An armored flying fortress. Nath had heard of him but had never seen him before.
Snarggell punched him in the back.
“What have you done?” the gnome cried. “What have you done? How will we protect ourselves against that?”
“I’ll protect you,” Nath said.
“Against that?” the gnome leader shook his head. “No, Rescue Murderer. An army of you could not stand against that.”
Nath tossed his hair back.
“Watch it.”
Inferno. Of all the great beasts. He makes most dragons look like featherless chickens. Nath didn’t think the likes of Inferno would join the ranks of anyone. The sky raiders were highly individual. Harriers of the sky. Nath had dallied with some in his past, but they had been smaller. Iron-scaled braggarts that boasted about their leader. And talked down about Nath’s father. They mocked his father. “What kind of king rules beneath the ground?” they said. “A cowardly king, perhaps?” The memories stirred Nath.
“We’re leaving,” Snarggell said.
“There’s nowhere to go now,” Nath said. “You had best stay with me.” He cocked his head. A figure in dark robes traipsed along Inferno’s neck. A woman! She didn’t stop walking until she stood between the horns of Inferno’s monstrous head. A waterfall of smoke poured from its mouth. Nath absorbed every detail of her being. Long raven-black hair pinned up in a crown of silver leaves. A stunning face with soft crimson lips. Who is she?
She parted her lips and spoke in a voice of thunder that echoed over the valley.
“I AM THE HIGH PRIESTESS OF BARNABUS.” She spread her arms wide. “I AM SELENE!”
Nath’s cheeks flushed red. Fire erupted inside his veins. The leader of his greatest enemy stood right there. If I only had Akron!
A black-scaled tail snaked out from beneath her robes and slithered side to side.
The rising heat inside him cooled. His blistering thoughts turned to ice.
“No,” he muttered, glancing at his own scales. “It can’t be.”
In her enhanced voice, Selene continued.
“LEAVE MY GNOMES. MOVE ON!” Her lips turned up in a sneer. “OR THIS VALLEY WILL BE FILLED WITH YOUR BURNING FLESH!” Her tail rapped Inferno’s skull. A volcanic blast of fire burst from his snout. “AND ALL THE RIVER CITIES WILL BURN AS WELL!”
***
“Never!” Brenwar bellowed, hurling a stone into the sky. Zinging through the air, it bounced off the sky raider’s nose.
The gigantic dragon’s thin lips curled back, revealing its enormous teeth.
All of the Roaming Rangers held their bowstrings tight along their cheeks. Elbows cocked back. Eyes alert and ready.
“Hold,” Bayzog said to them all. “We need to make sure the gnomes are secured.”
“They’re with Nath,” Ben said, pointing with his eyes. “And that’s safe enough.” He glanced over toward the great dragon and the woman standing on its head. “Guzan, that beast is big.”
“We’ve taken bigger,” Brenwar growled, “and not so long ago, if you care to remember.” He cocked back another stone.
Staying the dwarf’s arm, Bayzog said, “Don’t. The slightest provocation might have a dire consequence.”
Brenwar let the stone drop and picked up War Hammer and twirled it around.
“The beast will feel this.”
Bayzog rose his voice.
“Perhaps, but not without severe repercussions! I say hold!”
Brenwar scowled and said, “Then you need to think of something, Wizard. And think of something quick.” He glanced into the sky. The hard-boiled dwarf’s eyes enlarged like moons. “I mean quick!”
The part-elf wizard twisted his head around. Dragon’s wings beat from high in the sky. There were at least another half dozen sky raiders. They weren’t bigger than the great one on the cliff, but all were the size of bull dragons. Flames and smoke puffed from their mouths.
“I’m going to need another hammer,” Brenwar said.
Ben loaded an exploding arrow that Nath had licked and said, “Maybe you should check that chest of yours.”
Brenwar shrugged. “Perhaps.”
“This has suddenly become more severe than I ever imagined,” Bayzog said.
It wasn’t a moment. It was the moment. Bayzog’s first inclination was to get the gnomes to safety. But they were too far away for him to do that. His next option was to protect the others from forces the likes he had never faced before. He would need all of his might and the Elderwood Staff as well.
He held his staff tight to his robes and harnessed its power. In moments, he became aware of everything at once. Nath and the gnomes. The dragons and High Priestess Selene. A rushing threat from the forest.
The Elven Steeds nickered, stamped their hooves.
“Be alert!” he said, pointing with his staff, “More danger nears!”
A large cat-like dragon appeared, perched on a nearby rock.
A circle of defenders formed around Bayzog. It was the beast from the caves inside the crater, but bigger. And with wings.
“I remember you,” Brenwar said.
Twang! Twang! Twang!
Arrows ripped through its body harmlessly, disappearing into the forest.
“A ghost,” Ben said.
It bared its teeth and pounced over everyone’s head, landing right on top of Bayzog. Claws dug into his shoulder, pinning him to the ground. Its jaws clamped down on the Elderwood staff.
Blinded by pain, Bayzog didn’t hear Brenwar and Ben’s screams, but in the moment of life or death, he belted out a cry of his own.
“Evvarynnosst!”
Arcane energies erupted through his body into his staff.
The feline fury leapt ten feet off the ground. It landed in a maelstrom of striking swords and hammers. Smoking, the feline fury went wild. It screeched and howled. Claws and tail lashed out.
Roaming Rangers fell and flew through the air.
Brenwar swung War Hammer into its head.
The hammer passed right through it.
“By my beard!”
The dragon-cat sprang away, spread its wings, and flew toward the clouds. Arrows whizzed right through it.
“Bayzog!” Ben said, rushing toward him, “Are you alright?”
There was blood all over the wizard’s robes, and his shoulders burned like fire. He couldn’t lift his arms. The Elderwood Staff trembled in his hands.
He blocked out the pain and said, “It knew.”
“It knew what?” Ben asked, propping up his head.
“It wanted the staff,” he replied. “It wanted to kill me. I could feel it. See the murder in its eyes.” He stared at Selene. She stood looking down with her arms crossed over her chest. “She sent it to kill me. She set this trap for us all.”
The sky raiders dropped from the sky. Their scaled hides crushed the trees, snapped branches under their bulks. Each and every dragon had a hungry look in its leering eyes. The small party was hemmed in between the dragons and the cliff wall.
Just then, Hoven returned with a great spear in his hands. “They play games with us,” he said, scanning their enemies. “And they can do that with superior forces. Well played.”
Bayzog wondered if Otter Bone set them up. Was he killed by the dragons because he was a threat, or because he had something to hide? He feared they had given the armies of Barnabus exactly what they wanted. By the Elves of Elohim! Nath Dragon.
CHAPTER 21
Small. For the first time in his life, Nath felt that way. It was the first time he felt pinned in by a situation that overwhelmed him. Below, his friends were pinned to the cliffs by sky raiders. Fierce winged behemoths whose myriad of scales glinted in the sun. Their spiked tails swished back and forth like cedars.
Feeling despair, Nath glanced up at the woman fixed on Inferno’s head, clenched his fists, and looked back.
The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) Page 97