Battle of the Dragon (The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 2, Book 3) (Tail of the Dragon)

by Craig Halloran

  The horrifying sound came to a stop. Over the ledge, a head on a long neck revealed itself. It had four long horns stretching along its neck. A beard of skin and scales started underneath the monster’s jowls and ran down its neck. It cocked its head and looked at Nath with bright-green eyes, opened its mouth, and said, “Urp?”

  The pounding in Nath’s chest slowed. He said in Dragonese, “Hello, thunder beard.”

  The dragon’s tongue flicked out of his mouth. His head was small, compared to his claws. He hissed at Nath, lowered his head into the pit, and said again, “Urp?”

  “Come, come down,” Nath said in Dragonese. “Come, friend, please.”

  The dragon shook himself, flapping his beard.

  “What is that thing?” asked Brenwar.

  “A dragon. A thunder beard. They make excellent guardians. Not too big or violent, but their roar can scare a hundred bull dragons away.” Nath extended his clawed hand upward. “Come, come down, little brother.”

  The dragon slithered over the edge and stuck to the wall of the pit like a great lizard. His body was long and lean, his feet very big and awkward. He had no wings, but a very long tail. His scales were green and blue with some pink mixed in. He climbed down the wall and crept by Brenwar, flicking his tongue at the dwarf.

  Nath kneeled down and petted the dragon’s head. “You had us terrified, little brother.”

  The small dragon batted his snake eyes. “Urp.”

  Stretching his small hand out, Pepper said, “Will he bite?”

  “No, not now at least. We’re in good company. As a matter of fact,” Nath said, picking Pepper up, “I think you’re just small enough to ride him, if he’ll let you.”

  “Hey, wait,” Pepper objected, “I’m too old to start riding dragons!”

  “Just hang on to his horns,” Nath said, “and have a go at it.”

  Pepper clenched his teeth and hung onto the horns of the dragon. The beast lurched forward and then, smooth as spider silk, it raced up the pit wall and vanished.

  “Harrumph,” Brenwar said. “You don’t see that every day, but the rest of us are still stuck in here.”

  “I’ll be back. Just keep an eye on Selene.” Nath dug his claws into the stone wall and made his ascent.

  “It’s not like she’s going anywhere. Just make it fast. I don’t want to be stuck down here when she wakes up.”

  Nath pushed up over the lip of the pit and found Pepper still on the back of the dragon. The old halfling had a smile on his face. “Aw, you like it, don’t you?”

  “As long as it keeps its mouth shut, I think I could get used to it.”

  Nath started to yell down into the pit just as Brenwar flung the torch up. Smiling, he called down to his oldest friend, “You read my mind.” He found another torch in the tunnel and lit it along with a couple more. “We need some rope, or a ladder or something.”

  “Do you think he can help?” Pepper said of the bearded dragon.

  “Perhaps.” Nath spoke in Dragonese some more, asking the dragon where the materials he could use might be. The dragon made a rattle in his throat and took off with Pepper.

  “Eeee! Where is he taking me?”

  Nath didn’t answer, just watched Pepper’s torchlight disappear around the bend. And then he dropped one of his torches down into the pit. “Heads up.”

  Brenwar snatched it out of the air. “What do you want me to do with this?”

  “Stay cozy.”

  “Pah.”

  It was more than an hour before Pepper and the dragon returned. The halfling held a coil of rope—and Nath noticed a shiny new ring on his hand. He took the rope from Pepper. “Where did you get that?”

  Pepper covered his ring with his free hand. “The rope?”

  “No, the ring.”

  Cupping his ear, Pepper said, “Huh?”

  Lowering one end of the rope into the pit, Nath said a little louder, “I said where did you get the ring?”

  “Pardon?” Pepper said.

  From down inside the hole, Brenwar yelled, “What ring are you talking about?”

  “I’m not talking to you,” Nath said down to Brenwar. “I’m talking to Pepper.”

  “Oh.”

  Holding the rope tight in one hand, Nath grabbed Pepper’s ring hand with the other. “Where did that come from?”

  “Oh, that ring. Well, the dragon led me to the most marvelous place… Actually, it’s not anything you should worry yourself about, but that’s where the rope came from. We really need to get out of here.” Pepper rubbed his narrow shoulders. “It’s chilly.”

  Nath noticed a bulging leather pouch tied to the back of Pepper’s trousers. He snatched it.

  Pepper objected. “Hey!”

  Nath emptied the pouch on the ground. Gold coins and gemstones spilled out. “Did this dragon take you to its trove?”

  Pepper scooped up the treasure and shrugged.

  Brenwar emerged from the pit, sniffing the air. “I smell gold.”

  Nath looked down at his friend. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  “No.”

  “Selene. You were supposed to tether up Selene.”

  Brenwar leaned over the hole. “I didn’t see the point in it. I say leave her here. Let her sleep.”

  “Guzan!” Nath stuffed the rope into Brenwar’s hands, glared at him, and hopped into the pit. He loaded Selene over his shoulder, and hand over hand, he climbed back out of the pit. When he got to the top, he said to Brenwar, “You really should know better by now.”

  Brenwar grumbled and turned away.

  Nath then said to Pepper, “Were there any weapons where you went?”

  Looking up and seeming to see far away, Pepper said, “Yes, I believe so.”

  “Good, because we’re going to need them.”

  CHAPTER 10

  The small bearded dragon led them to a cave full of supplies. Everything from weapons and armor to dried rations and kegs of wine. Brenwar sat on a bench at a table, helping himself to some jerky and remarking at the horrible taste of the elven wine as he guzzled one goblet after the other.

  “We are most fortunate,” Nath said, strapping on a belt and scabbard. He had an elven longsword in his hand. He cut the air. It was well balanced. Finely crafted. He tried to find some clothing in some chests, but everything was too small for him. He grabbed an oblong shield. “Why not?”

  Finishing his food, Brenwar came across some dwarven arms. He hefted a battle-axe with a handle carved from black wood. “Not bad.”

  Nearby, standing atop a table, Pepper managed to make a fitting shirt from an elven jerkin. He cut the sleeves down and stitched up the neck. Spinning on the table, he said, “How do I look?”

  “Old and stupid,” Brenwar said.

  Pepper shook his head. “It’s a good thing I don’t understand Dwarven.”

  “I didn’t say it in Dwarven.” Brenwar turned to Nath. “Now what?”

  “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was a tad fearful of what we might face out there. One year gone, and now it sounds like the entire world hunts me again.” Nath sighed. “We need to get our weapons back. But even more, we need to clear my name.”

  “The dwarves won’t stop until they find you. That’s for sure.” Brenwar rubbed his beard. “And I don’t think those rogue elves are angling to turn you in, either. No, they have something else up their sleeves.”

  “I’m of the impression they’re trying to appease the titans.” Nath pushed the hair out of the pretty closed eyes of Selene, who was lying on a bear rug on the floor. “I do wish you would wake up. I could use some of those thoughts of yours.”

  “I know you don’t like it, but she might be safest here. She’ll just slow us down.” Brenwar swung his axe around his head. “Let your dragon friend keep an eye on her.”

  “That’s what you did for me, isn’t it?” Nath was referring to what had happened to him. He had slept more than twenty-five years—the longest slumber of his life, but no
t the only long one. What if this was a long sleep for Selene? He placed his hand on her cheek. The skin was smooth and warm. It stirred him. “I just can’t do that. Not here anyway. Perhaps somewhere else.”

  “The Mountain of Doom, perhaps?”

  “They’ll be watching, that much is for sure.” Nath picked Selene back up and placed her over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Nath had to make a decision. It wasn’t easy. He was worried about his friends Ben and Bayzog. His father, Balzurth. But the other mystery bothered him most in the moment. It fluttered in his guts. Slavan and the rogue elves. They’d taken his sword, and wherever they had gone with Fang, that was where he would find answers. “We’re going after the weapons.”

  Brenwar slapped his hands together. “That’s what I like to hear. They’re no more than a day off. We can catch them.”

  “Only if they don’t catch us first. And remember, we’re deep in elven territory. I’m sure we’ll be noticed if we’re not careful.”

  Brenwar dug some traveling cloaks out of a chest.

  “I don’t think that’s going to work,” Pepper said. “They’re too small for him.”

  Brenwar tossed one to Nath. “Just try it on.”

  Nath slipped it on. The elves were skinny, so it was snug, but it fit. He wrapped Selene in one against the cold and put her gently back over his shoulders. “Let’s give it a go, shall we?”

  ***

  Getting out of the Inner Sanctum didn’t prove to be too difficult, and to Nath’s surprise, the bearded dragon agreed to come with them. Pepper never even left his back. Before long, they found the trail of Slavan and the rogue elves. It led them right out of the Elven Field of Dreams.

  That’s where the trouble started. Less than a league west of the fields and having avoided any scouting eyes, the rogue elves’ trail took a new form.

  “That’s just great,” Brenwar said. He was kneeling down with his hand in the impression of a hoof print. “They took up on horseback.”

  It was another one of those times that Nath regretted giving up the ability to fly. But not really. Saving Selene had been worth it.

  No, that would make things all too easy.

  Standing among the small bushes that popped up like mushrooms in the rolling greenery of the elven lands, he scanned the horizon. It shouldn’t be too hard to follow them. So he walked. They all trotted all day long and through the night with no sleep, until the next morning. They were still a day’s journey from escaping the territory of the vigilante eyes of the elves. Cutting through the tall grasses, they kept their distance from the villages and farmlands. Though peaceful, the elves didn’t take in strangers. It was uncommon for anyone without elven blood to pass through without elven company.

  “I can’t wait to get out of this place,” Brenwar said, looking from side to side. “Every step is dreaded. I feel like an elf is about to pop out of the grasses at any moment.”

  “Agreed,” Nath said, but he was confident that his keen sight and hearing would pick up any sign of trouble. He’d noticed very little so far. “Huh.”

  “Huh, what?” Brenwar asked.

  Ahead a few hundred yards was a stretch of farmland. The cornfields should have had a golden hue among the green this time of harvest, but what Nath spied was dingy and gray. He headed in that direction. The closer they got, the more the fields were in decay, and the rot continued as far as the eye could see. The aqueducts that watered the fields were dried up as well. The storehouses and sheds were disheveled and in disorder.

  A morbid feeling crept between Nath’s shoulders. “It’s no wonder we haven’t seen any elves about. Their lands have been poisoned. They’ve fortified closer to Elome, if not within. This is dreadful.”

  Brenwar picked up a husk of corn and chucked it away. “I hate to admit the same, but I agree.” He raised his battle-axe with a white-knuckled grip on the haft. “Do you hear that?”

  “I hate to admit that I do,” Nath said. He could feel the ground moving under his feet.

  Pepper stood on the back of the bearded dragon, cupping his ear. “Hear what?”

  “Hooves. Dozens of them, but I don’t see anything coming,” Nath said. “I can only feel … oh.” Coming from the north, a cloud of dust stirred up like a storm. A row of horsemen came, the likes of which Nath had never seen before. He uttered a command. “Hide!”

  CHAPTER 11

  Nath and company ducked into a storage shed. Through the cracks between the planks of wood, he watched the horde that thundered their way. It was massive men on massive beasts. Orcs by the looks of them, on horse-like creatures the size of two stallions with curved tusks on the sides of their heads.

  “Barnum’s beard! Those orcs only have one eye!” Brenwar exclaimed. “And I’ve never seen horses like that before. I guess you’d have to be awfully ugly to allow an orc to ride on you.”

  The knot of brutes approached at rapid speed, over a dozen in all. The orcen cyclopes were powerfully built and ugly, carrying lances and spears. Armored from head to toe in heavy gear and approaching the fields Nath and his friends hid within, they slowed to a trot less than one hundred yards away.

  “What are orcs doing on elven land?” Nath said. “One eyed or not, they should be cut down.”

  “Aye. Those hounds would normally be cut down if they came so far as an inch over the borders,” Brenwar said, clawing at his beard.

  “It explains why we haven’t seen any elves this far out, I guess.”

  “What do we do?” Pepper asked. “I’m not much of a fighter, but I’m a good hider.”

  “If we get into a scrap, you ride on that thunder beard and get out of here, Pepper,” Nath said. “That dragon can’t fly, but he’s fast. Really fast. Just be sure to hang on tight.”

  “I wouldn’t feel right, leaving you fellas behind.”

  Nath patted the old halfling’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you have a family or village you should seek out.”

  “No,” Pepper replied. “I’m a loner. Have been a long, long time.”

  “Well, you aren’t anymore, so worst case scenario, run and get help.”

  Pepper objected, “But—”

  With his eye to a hole in the wall, Brenwar hissed, “Keep it down. They’re upon us.”

  The horse-like beasts’ heads were down to the ground, sniffing the earth like hound dogs. A rattle of metal sounded from the weapons harnessed to their large saddles. The orc cyclopes, burly and battered, towered in the saddle. They studied the land before them with hard beady eyes. They were hunters. Killers. One looked as dangerous as the other.

  “Oh my,” Pepper said in a hushed voice. He was trembling. “They seem much more intimidating now that I’m so much smaller.”

  “Be silent. It doesn’t matter how big they are—they’re orcs,” Brenwar reminded them. “I’ll take every last one of them if I have to. You’ll see.”

  “Now’s not the time to be stirred up.” Nath’s hand fell on his sword. “Lie low. Pray they don’t notice us.”

  It couldn’t have been a worse situation. There wasn’t anywhere to run or hide. They only had the cover of the old storehouses and barns, and that was little. No, they were surrounded by endless farmlands and meadows without a better place to hide in sight. No river or stream to hide their trail. No mountains to lose the cyclopes in.

  Nath was more than ready to fight. And even carrying Selene, he and Pepper and the bearded dragon could run. They would be fleet enough. But not Brenwar. The dwarf couldn’t outrun a one-legged elf on his best day. And Nath feared Brenwar’s loud protests if he offered to carry the dwarf or suggested he ride with Pepper on the bearded dragon.

  Eyes on Nath, Brenwar said, “Take her and go. I can handle them.”

  “No, whatever happens, you and I stay together.” Nath extended his hand. “To the end.”

  Brenwar clasped his hand. “Aye, I like it.”

  One of the b
easts snorted. The monster mounts were right next to the shed they were in. Nath’s heart raced. Once again, he was small among a new world of bigger men. He didn’t like it, but sometimes the small can be overlooked.

  Breathless, Nath watched the heavy-hooved beasts stomp toward them. One shook itself and let out an awful nicker.

  “HrAAAAA huh huh huh huh huh.”

  “Grah! Grah!” the orcen cyclops rider said, tugging at the reins. The troupe of ghastly riders was only a few steps away. Alongside the shack, the rider brought its mount to a stop. It sniffed the air. “I smell. I smell foulness in the air.”

  Looking at Pepper, Nath put his finger to his lips.

  The halfling nodded.

  The cyclops poked the shack with its lance. Tap! Tap! Tap! It grunted. Its beast snorted. It pulled the lance up. “Onward.”

  The orcen cyclopes were moving on. Ten yards away. Twenty. The tightness in Nath’s chest started to ease. He smiled at Brenwar.

  “Hold!” the huge orc suddenly yelled. It snorted the air again with big, wide nostrils. Its horse did the same. It turned its mount back toward the shed. “I smell. I smell a dwarf in there! My nose does not fail me! Surround it! Dwarf, I say, come out!”

  Gripping his axe in two hands, Brenwar said under his beard, “I’ll come out, gladly.”

  “Just a moment,” Nath said, pulling Brenwar back. He looked at Selene. “We can’t just dive into this. Pepper, don’t hesitate to run. Just go. We’ll offer you a distraction for getting away. And don’t look back either.”

  “I’m no coward,” Pepper said.

  “Dwarf! I smell you! Come out! Your bearded face will adorn my lance!” yelled the giant one-eyed orc.

  Shrugging, Pepper added, “Well, not a full-blooded coward, that is.”

  “You stay here, both of you,” Nath said, getting up. “Perhaps I can talk us out of this.”

  “Are you mad? Why don’t you just let me cut off your head and throw it to them?” Brenwar said.

  “Because that would defeat the purpose of me talking to them.” Nath plucked away Pepper’s purse. Hands and head concealed within his cloak, Nath stepped out into view. The entire shack was surrounded by the extra huge orcs on their enormous beasts.