“Yes.”
“How did you get the stone, then?”
Now was another time when I could tell the truth or lie. I didn’t need to lie, though. There was still another weapon in my arsenal. Silence.
“I’ll never tell.”
Whap! Whap! Whap!
I dropped to the floor. I could feel my eye swelling. Nothing could really describe what it was like to give yourself a black eye.
“Is that all you got?” I said, not sure if I was talking to myself or to Corzan.
Whap!
“You are a fool, Dragon, to think that you can trick me into a fight with the guardian. But, I’d be lying if I wasn’t curious as to what happened up there. I can only assume you struck a bargain of some kind with him. After all, you animals have a way of sticking together in the herd.
With a motion of his arms, Fang was ripped free of my grasp and into his.
“A fine sword. Magic. Dragon magic. Hmmm. I could make use of this.”
I needed to move. Far and fast. He was strengthening, and I was weakening. I could feel it. And I hoped Brenwar wouldn’t come back, either. He’d be killed if he did. I had to have another trick up my sleeve.
With the stone in one hand and my sword in the other, Corzan was frightening. Tall, gaunt, and indestructible.
Well, at least I saved one dragon, but now I was worried about the other as well. What if Corzan could control him, too? The ancient wizard had done so. It was up to the Steel Dragon to beat him in battle, but it didn’t seem likely right now. Not with the necklace Corzan wore and his knowledge of the dragons.
“Now what, Corzan? You have me defeated. Should I expect an unpleasant death?” I had to keep talking, at least long enough to figure out something.
“Be still,” he said, holding the Thunderstone toward me.
Three purplish rings of magic appeared around me and squeezed. It felt like I was in the grip of an iron giant. I struggled, but all I could do was breathe, and that was difficult.
“I think I have a better use for you alive.” He tossed my sword aside, its hard metal echoing on the hard stone floor. “Remember, the Clerics of Barnabus will be here soon, and I am without the dragon they came for. But, I think I have something much better to offer them. Their greatest nemesis, Nath Dragon, alive and well.”
I hadn’t even entertained that notion. The truth was, the Clerics of Barnabus hadn’t even entered my mind.
“I thought you said you would be able to handle them with the Thunderstone now. Why don’t you just test your powers and take them out?” I suggested.
“Living alliances will serve me much better than dead ones. You know that.”
“You realize that once they find out you have the stone, they’ll try to take it from you.”
Raising the stone over his head, he laughed when it began to crackle with white energy.
KA-CHOW!
A bolt of lightning shot from it. The balcony above exploded into shards of rock.
KA-CHOW!
A large wooden door across the way was no more. Only smoke and splinters remained.
“No, they won’t be taking anything from me. I can do this all day if I like.” He looked around. “I wonder where that dwarf is. I’d like to test it out on that armor of his.”
My heart sank. I’d never seen a man wield such raw power before. I could barely speak, but I managed spit out in vain, “You’ll never find him! He’s long gone by now. But if you follow the trail of goblin corpses you might get close.”
Corzan laughed as he resumed his place on the throne, dragging me in my bonds before him.
“He’ll be dead by dawn. I assure you of that.”
CHAPTER 26
I didn't know what had happened to Brenwar, but the longer he was gone, the better. Buy time.
“So, tell me about this curse of yours.”
It was an unpleasant look he gave me, but he still opened his mouth and spoke.
“A goblin bite. It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen. The bite turns one from man to goblin. You didn’t know that, did you?”
I shook my head. I hoped orcs couldn’t do the same. Imagine getting bit by an orc only to become one.
“I’ll elaborate. A goblin witch bit me. A curse it was, turning me from man to minion. In most cases, the witch can remove the curse for a price, but I ran out of patience and killed her. I set her horrid face on fire and watched her burn until she was dead.” He shook his head. “I had a bad temper back them. Looking back, I could have been more gentle.” He held the stone out and admired it. “But, that’s where this came in. Ancient, powerful magic such as this can cure most things, with a little help, that is.”
I looked at my arm. Was it possible it could cure me? Remove the evil from my scales and lead me back to home? Father had told me that there were many secrets in Nalzambor that could heal anything.
“So, how will you truly know if you are cured unless the stone isn’t in your possession? I could hold it for you.” Planting some doubt in his mind wouldn’t hurt anything. There was a rustle behind me. The goblins I’d stunned with Fang’s humming had started to stir. “Will they still follow?”
“My, so clever you think you are,” Corzan said. “A dragon above, doubt below. Do you think I’m so easily fooled?”
“Either way, you’ll still have to deal with them both,” I said, smiling. “Just trying to help out.”
“I’m getting the feeling the longer I keep you around, the more trouble you will be.” He got up from his seat and thrust the stone at my chest, sending me skipping across the floor. There I lay, in the middle, where the dragon cage had earlier been, alone and unable to defend myself.
“The Clerics of Barnabus will have to settle for your corpse instead.”
Defiant, I struggled back to my feet. If I was going to die, I would die on my feet. I’d had enough of him.
“Give it your best then, Goblin!”
His lip curled over his white teeth as he held the Thunderstone over his head. It became a whirling white sun of energy.
“Let him alone, Goblin!”
Brenwar rushed into the room, war hammer high over his head. The awoken goblins rushed him, and a few more were on his heels. He slammed the hammer into the floor.
KRANG!
The stone floor erupted. The goblins fell between the busted stone, others lost their footing.
Corzan laughed. Lightning sailed. Brenwar was lit up as he went spinning across the floor in a smoking heap and lay still.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” I screamed, stumbling forward.
Corzan was laughing, again.
“Now that I’ve seen what I can do to dwarves, let’s see what I can do to half-dragons.”
The Thunderstone charged up again, its blue light brilliant in my eyes. I was so angry, I couldn’t even think. Let him hit me with all he had. I deserved nothing less. After all, I’d just gotten my best friend killed.
Wild with power, Thunderstone in hand, Corzan charged. Hungry. Angry. Unrelenting.
I could see it consume him. I didn't think he was going to leave anything of me for the Clerics of Barnabus now. I clenched my jaw and braced myself.
Snatch!
The bright light faded. The stone was gone from Corzan’s grip.
“What!” he cried.
My bonds disappeared.
Above, the Blue Razor darted through the chambers, the Thunderstone in her back talons.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. She came back. She came back!
She hovered over me, winked her beautiful eye, and dropped the stone in my hands. And with a crack of thunder, she was gone.
Corzan’s faced was contorted with rage as he said, “Give it to me! You cannot handle its power, Animal!”
The stone was still heavy, even in my dragon hand, bewitched somehow. That didn’t matter. What mattered was my friend lying still in the corner. Corzan would pay for that. He’d pay for it now.
His eyes widened as I rushed
forward. My dragon arm popped me in the head with the rock.
“Ouch!” I cried, stumbling to the floor.
“Fool!” Corzan cried, grasping his necklace. “I control your arm.”
Blood dripped into my eyes. I wasn’t going to be controlled by anyone anymore, certainly not him. My dragon hand struck again, but I stopped it with my other hand. I wasn’t going to be responsible for beating my own self to death. Dig deep, Dragon! Fight it with all you can!
“Give it up, Dragon! You have given the stone to me; it’s mine, not yours. You cannot control its powers.”
I could feel my dragon fingers peeling away from the stone. I fought it for a moment and let it go. The stone slipped free of my hand and into my other. It weighed like an anvil on my arm.
Whack!
The dragon arm hit me once, then tried again. I stopped it. The black scales on my arm trembled. My heart thundered in my chest. I would not surrender to Corzan anymore. It was my will against his. Shaking with every movement, I forged up the steps. Every fiber of my being was tested.
Corzan gasped as I took the first step. “NO! It’s not possible!”
Sweat cascaded down his face and dripped onto the floor as he clutched the necklace of dragon scales and bones in his hand. He transformed as well. The coarse hairs on his hands returned, and his ears grew to points on the back. He reverted to more goblin than man. “The curse, it’s back! You must give me the stone, Nath Dragon!”
I fought my way up two more steps.
“I’m going to give you something, alright,” I said through clenched teeth. My heart was bursting in my chest. But it was my life or his. Fighting my own arm and carrying the stone was like dragging two anchors over the harbor.
“You cannot beat me!” he screamed.
I fought against belting myself again. Gritted my teeth and jumped up the last few steps. I could barely move. I gasped for my breath.
Corzan’s hands burst into flames and reached for my throat.
“It’s too late, Fool! You shall burn alive this day!”
I looked at him and then at my dragon hand, eyed him again, and said, “No I won’t!”
All of my muscles fought against me, but they were my muscles, after all. They served my will, not his.
Whack!
I punched him in the face with my dragon arm.
BOOM!
I popped him in the belly with the Thunderstone. Corzan’s body slammed into his throne. He sagged into his chair and moved no more.
“Yes!”
I ripped the dragon necklace from Corzan’s limp fingers and put it around my neck. The only thing controlling me was going to be me from now on. The Thunderstone had lightened now, the glowing runes now dim, its energy spent. Why it was so heavy before and light now, I didn't know, but I could try to understand that later. I jumped at the sound of a rustle behind me. Brenwar!
I turned in time to see him sitting up, holding his head. I rushed over and helped him to his feet. He smelled like a saddle that had sat in the sun too long.
“Are you well?”
He blinked, cocked his head, and said, “Ale.”
The goblins, what was left of them, gathered around me.
Brenwar growled at my side.
I held the stone up. “Who wants to be the first to die?”
They gawped, shuffled back, and disappeared from sight. Without their leader, they didn’t have much fight left in them.
But what was I going to do about Corzan the Necromancer? Groggy and defeated, he didn’t put up much of a fight, but I still had a problem. He was still alive. And that was one of the tough things about being good. Sometimes, you had to let your enemies live, and I figured Corzan would hold a grudge against me for a long time. So what did I do to keep him out of my hair in the meantime?
“This ought to hold you until your guests arrive,” I said.
From his throne, Corzan looked up at me with blurry red eyes.
“What have you done to me?” he said, struggling in his bonds.
I continued to wrap the spool of copper twine around his wrists and legs. It was elven made twine, called Elotween, inescapable when applied, but temporary. In a few days, it would disappear, but nothing could untie it or cut it, not without magic, anyway. It would have to do for now.
“Now, don’t struggle too much; it’ll constrict and might cut your wrists off,” I warned.
“Fool, I can escape these — mrph!”
I stuffed a rag in his mouth. I’d had enough of his talk.
I waggled the stone in front of his face and said, “Have fun explaining to the Clerics of Barnabus why you don’t have them a dragon.”
Corzan’s eyes were as big as saucers.
“I’m sure they will be very eager to hear your tale.”
If you can’t dispel evil yourself, let evil do it for you. Leave evil to its own.
CHAPTER 27
Traveling back up the mountain was even worse than the first time. The heavy rains splattered all over my armor, and rivulets of water slicked all the footholds. This trip seemed twice as long as the last. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Brenwar stayed back, but he insisted.
“Brenwar, there’s a cave near,” I pointed to the mouth of a jagged edge. “Why don’t you wait there until I come back?”
“No,” he grumbled, shaking his head and beard like a black sheep dog. “You go; I go.”
You’d think the lightning jolt he took would have eased him, but all it did was make him tougher. The more punishment they survived, the more stubborn they’d become. Brenwar had already survived enough battles to convince him he could handle anything, but often enough I’d seen otherwise. At least three times on this trip, anyway.
I pulled him up by rope, bringing him to the ledge along my side. Thirsty, I caught some rain water in my mouth from off the edge of the rocks and drank until it filled me. I felt like I’d been beaten up by an ogre. My face and lips were swollen. The gash in my head ached, and my leg was as bad as it’d ever been. For all of my dragon’s constitution, I was tired. And now, I had to go and face a Steel Dragon, or at least catch up with him before he came after me. I had a feeling all of his patience had run out. It was time someone paid for all of his suffering.
I patted the Thunderstone tucked beneath my chest plate. It was warmer and heavier than when we started. If it got any heavier, I’d have to stop climbing. What was with this thing?
“Bloody Dragon can have the thing,” I said, rubbing my hands together. “Getting cold again, too.”
“What?” Brenwar said in the pouring rain.
I pointed at the cave.
“No!”
We weren’t so far from the top, but I was still pressed for time. I couldn’t leave Brenwar alone, on second thought. He always stuck by my side, so I’d stick by his. I just hoped he wouldn’t attack the dragon again.
I tugged at the rope around his waist and almost jerked him from his boots, saying, “Let’s go, then.”
“Listen, Dragon,” he wagged his finger at me, “nobody—”
“Tugs a dwarf!” I finished. “I know!”
We practically crawled up the mountain over the next few hours. If Brenwar wasn’t slipping, he was falling, all the time blaming the giants for the rain. He wasn’t a horrible climber, not by your typical standard, but by mine, he was pretty slow.
“Come on, you legless goat!” I said, pointing, “we’re almost there.”
“Legless what?”
We reached the top an hour later, and the rain was a steady down pour. And it wasn’t your typical rain, but high in the mountain rain, ice cold rain, one step from ice and snow. The clouds above were dark, full of thunder and flashing light. It was the perfect weather for a funeral. Mine.
The graveyard hadn’t changed since we left, which was no surprise, but all the ghoul bodies were gone.
“You know,” Brenwar started, “if you give him that stone, he might still kill you.”
“I know.”
Of course, if I didn’t give him the stone, he was going to try and kill me anyway. And I’d been thinking that exact same thing for the entire trip. At least we made it back in time. I withdrew Fang. Brenwar clutched his war hammer in his meaty hands.
“A great morning for a battle,” he said.
Do you have it?
The dragon’s voice startled my mind. If he was near, I couldn’t see him.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,” I replied.
Brenwar cocked his head at me and said, “What?”
Let me see it!
The dragon’s voice was demanding, unpleasant.
I removed the Thunderstone from beneath my chest plate and extended it in my clawed hand. The radiant blue runes illuminated my hand like a torch. I hated to give up so valuable an item. For all I knew, it could cure the evil in my dragon arm as well as many other things. But it was almost too heavy to hold.
“Here it is,” I said.
A great shadow dropped from the sky and landed, shaking the ground beneath me. He seemed bigger, more sinister, and as powerful as ever. The heavy drops of rain on his scaled frame looked like nothing but drizzle compared to him. The bright markings on his body grew brighter at every flash of lightening.
Have you come to kill me? he said, eyeing my sword.
“Just a precaution,” I said, twirling it in my hand.
The dragon snorted a puff of smoke from his nose and flashed a row of his teeth.
A fine blade it is. I’ve seen it before; you should know.
I looked at the blade and back and him.
“How’d you—”
THE STONE, PLEASE. MY PATIENCE IS AT END.
He extended his clawed hand that was big enough for me to have a seat in.
“From me to you, this Thunderstone I give.”
I dropped it in his hand. It looked like little more than a tiny egg. I swore the dragon smiled when he had it.
I started to ask, “What are you going to do with it now?”
The dragon tossed it in his mouth.
“What did you do that for?”
The dragon showed his teeth.
“Get back,” Brenwar said, tugging on my arm.
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