It didn’t sit well with Nath. Not one bit. Something was going on out there, and he needed to see it.
“How well do you know Selene?” he asked Sasha.
“Well enough to not get too close.” She shrugged her eyes. “Why?”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Nath said, “I just don’t know how much I can trust her. She has shown me so many things, and I feel we have so much in common, but ... I can’t explain what it is about her.”
“You like her.”
“Guzan no, Sasha!”
“She’s beautiful.”
“She’s evil.”
She shrugged and said, “We all have evil in us, Nath. We all have good in us, too. You know that. Besides, she is of your kind. It’s normal that you would be comforted by her. Nath, I can see it in you. You are now more dragon than man. Before long, you might not relate so well to this world of men at all.”
“No,” he muttered. He couldn’t imagine not being friends with her, Brenwar, Ben, and Bayzog. Not to mention so many others. He liked people. Dragons often talked too much and were boring. Well, at least his father, Balzurth, was that way. Perhaps I am too attached to being a man instead of a dragon.
“It will be alright, Nath,” she said, patting his knee.
“I think this conversation has helped me,” he said. “I’m so glad you came. It really means a lot to me. You always know the right things to say.”
She got up.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to rest, Nath,” she said, yawning again.
“You can rest here. I have the most comfortable bed, but I don’t ever use it.”
“It looks like a good bed for brooding,” she said. “I bet Brenwar would like it.”
“Not if it’s softer than a rock, he wouldn’t.”
“Ha! There’s never been a truer statement.”
Gently, he grabbed her wrist. “Don’t go just yet, Sasha. There are so many things on my chest. The people chant my name, yet there’s strange commotion in the streets. You say things are better, but I find things disturbing. Even my lost neck hairs are prickling. And I can’t put my clawed finger on any of it.”
“It’s change,” she said. “Good change, at that. And I wouldn’t worry about those happenings in the streets. The races who are new to town have gotten settled and begun feuding with the locals. It will pass. Selene will see to that.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Sasha.”
“Good,” she said, heading for the door. “And I bet Selene will take you out of here soon so you can stretch those scaled legs of yours. Don’t worry, Nath. You’ll figure things out soon enough.”
“I hope so,” he said. “Say, Sasha, do that sorceress trick for me? It’s been a long time, and you know how much I love it.”
Her brows lifted.
“Uh … Nath, I’m so weary. How about next time? And I have to admit,” she said, touching the pendant hanging over her chest, “I haven’t been practicing magic as much as I should. Bayzog would swat me for it.” She glided over and gave him a quick hug. “I must go before my eyes fall from my head.”
“I understand,” he said, frowning. “Just don’t be gone so long this time.”
“I won’t,” she said, opening the door and walking out down the hall. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I won’t.” Two Barnabus soldiers in chain armor escorted her down the hall and out of sight.
Nath closed the door and took a seat on the bed, filling his nostrils with a deep draw of air. Something smelled funny. The perfume Sasha normally wore was gone. Her eyes shimmered a little when she spoke. And she had said she would perform the trick later. The problem was, there had never been a trick. But everything seemed right about her otherwise.
Nath’s fingers drummed on his knees.
She’s trying to deceive me. Or Selene’s forcing her to deceive me. Don’t let on too much. Patience, Dragon. Patience. You’ll put it all together soon enough.
He got up to pace the room, his mind restless and angry. He flung the balcony doors open wide and scanned the streets below. Soldiers stormed back and forth through the streets, looking for something. Or someone. He wanted to know who it was. He climbed on the balcony wall and hung his legs over the edge. The stiff breeze billowed his hair. Looking down, he considered something.
Perhaps I can unlock my powers if I don’t rely on anyone else being around. He scooted closer to the rim. He could feel his dragon heart thumping in his chest.
Are you a man, or are you a dragon?
CHAPTER 13
A heavily armored man wearing the insignia of a commander of Barnabus kneeled and bowed at the bottom of the dais. Selene sat on her throne, eyes elsewhere, and said, “Speak.”
“High Priestess, we have captured several of the culprits,” the man said in a deep but nervous voice. Sweat dripped from his brow. “I’m bringing the news directly to you as ordered.”
“Hmmm,” she said, “is that all the news that you bring?”
“They are shackled,” he said, “three in all. Ready for torment.”
“And are they the leaders of this movement?”
“I fear not,” he said, “but I’m certain they’ll lead us to them.”
“Certain, Commander?”
His downcast head lifted the slightest and drifted back downward.
“I’m fully confident in our methods,” he said. “They’ve never failed before.”
“Everything fails,” she said. “Especially people.”
The commander, a stout veteran judging by his appearance, trembled.
“Commanders,” she continued, “take me to them. I want to see these culprits for myself.”
“Er,” he said, standing up as she came down the dais, “it would be an honor.”
“Yes, yes it would.”
She made her way out of the chambers, followed by an entourage of acolytes, the commander, and a draykis. Taking the steps down the Great Tower took almost an hour, but Selene was in no hurry. She had plenty on her mind. Word had come earlier in the day. Bayzog had obliterated one of her finest servants in Quintuklen. The real Sasha and their sons had escaped. She rubbed her temples.
It’s starting. And it hasn’t even been a year yet.
She and her escorts bottomed out at the street level pavilion and were now passing by the gawking onlookers. It wasn’t often she came down from the tower. Many people kneeled and bowed, most averting their eyes from her gaze. Across the market, another series of steps under heavy guard led down below the tower. They stopped at a double gate of iron bars guarded by two lizardmen. Both saluted.
“Open,” the commander said.
The doors creaked open, and inside the dungeon they went. The air was rank with rot, mold, and sweat. A staleness hung in the air. The commander led Selene and her entourage toward the back, where they passed many cells crammed with moaning people. Many hollow eyes were pressed to the bars. Stomachs groaned. The miserable cried.
Selene’s breathing eased.
Ah, the sound of suffering. It does my heart well.
She stopped inside a cove carved out of stone, lit by two torches on the wall. Three prisoners huddled on the ground, shivering in heavy metal shackles. A table with many crude devices was pressed against the cove’s wall, and a burly man with a dropped shoulder and a crooked jaw stood alongside it.
“Well,” Selene said to the commander, “let’s see these torments you boasted about.”
“Yes, High Priestess,” he said, nodding to the tormentor.
The man grabbed a lash and shuffled toward the huddled crowd. He grabbed one man by the hair and pulled him aside.
“Tell us,” the tormentor said, glaring into the man’s weary eyes, “who were you putting those signs up for?”
“A man,” the prisoner said, trembling, “a man paid us. I swear it! We just did it for the money.”
The tormentor lashed the man.
Wupash!
Wupash!
; The prisoner squealed, and the other two wailed.
“You’re lying,” the tormentor said.
“No, I swear it!”
“What did he look like, this man who paid you?”
“He was just a man, as ordinary as I am, with deep green eyes.”
The tormentor glanced back at the commander.
The commander nodded.
Wupash!
Wupash!
“You lie!”
“I don’t lie!” the prisoner said. Tears streamed down his face. “We just needed the money.”
“Don’t you raise your voice to me!”
Wupash!
Selene folded her arms over her chest and said, “Oh please. Do you expect me to stand here all day while you beat him until he cries himself to death?” She pointed at the prisoner. “Do you know who I am?”
“Y-Yes,” the disheveled man said, “you are the High Priestess.”
“And you wouldn’t be stupid enough to lie to me, would you?”
He swallowed and shook his sweat-soaked hair.
She approached within arm’s length of the prisoners and turned her stare toward the tormentor.
He backed away and fixed his line of sight elsewhere.
She stared deep into the first prisoner’s eyes, but he twisted his head away.
“Why won’t you look at me?”
“I don’t want to catch fire.”
“Ha!” she said. “Is that what they’re saying now?” She looked back at the others. “Well, are they?”
No one uttered a word.
“I see.” She bobbed her head. “So then, you put the signs up because you were hungry and you needed money. Hmmm. How much did this green-eyed man pay you, then?”
“A silver and a few coppers.”
“I have a feeling you are lying.”
The prisoner shook his head.
“You aren’t supposed to lie, you know. Bad things happen when you lie.”
“I know.”
“Remove his shirt,” she ordered.
With a few stiff tugs, the tormentor ripped it off. A few voices in the room gasped.
The prisoner had a circle with two slashes tattooed to his chest.
Selene recoiled.
“You!”
The prisoner looked her dead in the eye. Fearless.
“The king is coming, High Priestess. You can’t stop it. King Balzurth is com—”
A wash of fire erupted from her mouth. The man howled inside the fiery blaze. His flesh disintegrated from his bones, which collapsed into a pile of ash.
Everyone’s eyes were wide, their mouths breathless.
The other prisoners shuffled and twisted in their bonds.
Scowling, Selene backed away.
Metal cuffs and links snapped. The figures bound in them transformed into the sleek forms of metallic green dragons.
“You dare!” Selene roared.
Lightning blasted from the dragon mouths. A bolt slammed Selene off her feet. Another ripped through the draykis, dropping it stone-cold dead.
Selene gathered balls of flame in her hands and hurled them at full force. An explosion shook the room. Soldiers and acolytes charged the magnificent dragons with swords and spell work.
The green dragons—little bigger than men—shot lightning, swung tails, and clawed through robes and armor. The prisoners clamored. The scent of blood and burnt metal filled the air. Quick and sleek, the dragons felled every servant of Barnabus one by one. Seconds later, they hemmed Selene back inside the cove.
“I will feast on your flesh for this, you sacrificial fools!”
Lightning blasted from their mouths.
Selene absorbed it. Her body enlarged and filled with power. She unleashed it.
Lightning and fire pierced the dragons’ scales and clean through their hearts. Their bodies juttered and teetered over, lifeless as stone.
Hands smoking, Selene dropped to her knees. Huffing for breath, she said, “Great Grattack, that was close!”
CHAPTER 14
One of the greatest of dragons in the realm soared above the clouds with his great wings beating. His scales were a colored blend of iron, copper, brass, and traces of silver. He was the leader of the sky raider breed, who were some of the largest dragons. Flying fortresses in the sky. All the dragons knew him by name. Inferno.
He hadn’t landed in days. Instead, he watched Nalzambor from above, spying on enemies. He and his breed thwarted efforts wherever good people rallied. Farmland and villages burned. Lives were snuffed out in the moon and sun light. When he dropped through the clouds, the wind made a terrifying whistle between his horns. His armored belly rumbled.
Below, a herd of cattle began to stampede. Inferno bellowed a monstrous sound that bent the grass and shook the leaves from the trees. Stunned, some of the cattle staggered, shaking the horns on their heads. Others doubled over on their knees and rolled over.
Ten times their size, Inferno landed among them. His eyes were burning coals. He snatched a bull from the ground and tossed it into his mouth whole.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Gulp!
Inferno grabbed another and ate, and another. One more he swallowed whole. When he had finished, he’d eaten over twenty head of cattle. His neck swayed from side to side, and his eyes narrowed.
Burrrrrrp!
The noise was so loud, even more leaves fell off the trees. Inferno ate three more and moaned. His claw patted his belly. He blew a fog of smoke from his snout.
Puff!
Picking his teeth with the long claw on his left forefinger, he strolled through the grasses, head lowered. He took a deep draw through his nostrils and smelled something living that was not cattle. Men. Fear. Sweat. He could smell it all.
When Inferno neared a grove, a rider on horseback burst free.
Inferno spat flame, setting both man and horse on fire. A clamor of cries rose within the trees, and Inferno pressed within. Trees snapped and fell, uprooted. A volley of arrows zinged off his nose.
A small regiment of Legionnaires lurked within the woodland.
Inferno’s chest expanded and glowed with a bright orange light right before he unleashed a flood of fire.
Man and horse screamed.
Inferno stomped everything that moved and burned. Metal armor and strong bones collapsed under his great might. In seconds, the grove was a blaze of fallen wood ruins.
In his great dragon voice, he chuckled. Scanning left to right, he snorted, spread his wings, and lifted himself up and out of the blaze.
Whump. Whump. Whump.
He lifted toward the clouds, a bit slower this time. His belly hung a little low, and there was more effort in his wings. He sounded another triumphant roar down at the valley. Cattle still stampeded, trampling anything in their path. Fear. Inferno thrived on it. He recalled the last dragon war. All he had terrified. All he had killed. Man and dragon alike.
Soon won’t be soon enough.
He loved war. He loved battle. The mere thought of it made him salivate. Lava dripped from his jaws. He tilted his head toward the heavens and beat his wings a little harder. His great frame and bulging belly lifted upward and began to pass through the first layer of mist.
A blue streak zinged out of the clouds, right past his nose.
What!
Inferno dropped his neck and turned in the air toward it. It was a dragon. A blue streak, no less. One of the good ones.
I’ll have you for a snack!
Behind him, more blue streaks darted out of the clouds and latched onto his wings.
You dare!
Lightning burst from their mouths, singing his scales.
Inferno roared, spun, and writhed in the air. Wings pinned by a dozen smaller dragons, he plummeted toward the ground. A second before he hit the rocks, the blue dragons fled him.
WHAM!
The entire valley shook.
Hot with rage, Inferno reared up.
I’ll kill every one of you little fleas!
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The blue streaks, fast and sleek, peppered Inferno with jolts of lightning that lanced through scales and skin.
His tail lashed out, knocking two from the sky. His great claw swatted another from the sky. He gushed out fire and terrible roars.
The blue streaks darted in and out of his fury, striking his eyes and blasting his nose. The wounds were more annoying than fatal.
You rodents cannot kill me!
He slapped another blue dragon from the sky with his tail and stomped it under his great claws, grinding it into the ground.
Only half of the small dragon force remained, and many of them were wounded. They broke off the attack and jetted skyward, vanishing in the clouds.
You will not escape me!
He spread out his great wings. The veils of skin that made up his wings were shredded.
Noooo!
He lifted his great neck skyward. The blue streak dragons reappeared, circling wide above him.
You dare mock me! You think you can end the great Inferno! My wings will heal in no time!
Suddenly, his eyes shone like fiery moons.
Another dragon dropped through the clouds and right through the ring of blue dragons. Big and vast, the steel dragon, half the size of Inferno, led a train of good dragons—more than he could count—of all colors and sizes. They swooped down, hovered in the air, and surrounded Inferno.
You’ll pay for this!
It was the steel dragon’s thoughts that responded.
Perhaps, but you won’t be around to see it. Annihilate him! it ordered.
Dragon breath—flames, balls, lances, shards, and bolts of power—blasted from hundreds of dragon mouths, pounding Inferno into the ground. The wroth heat bubbled his scales. His horns caught fire. His wings disintegrated. Drawing up all his power, he let out the greatest blast he had in him. Fire erupted from his mighty jaws, coating three dragons with liquid fire in the sky.
I’ll take you all! I’ll take you all with me! I’ll—ulp!
A blue streak dragon flew inside his mouth with a green orb of energy carried in its claws. A moment later it zipped out—empty handed—narrowly missing Inferno’s snapping teeth.
The dragons in the sky pounded him with their fierce breath once again. Geysers of power came from green, yellow, red, and blue dragons of many varieties and colors.
War In The Winds (Book 9) Page 6