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

by Craig Halloran

  Pinned down in Nath’s grip, Hoven choked out, “Nath, you must listen.”

  Nath shoved him face first into the mud. “I’m done listening!”

  Brenwar slammed his shoulder into another one of the elves, freeing up a path.

  Hair streaming like a banner behind him, Nath dashed down the muddy road, leaving the elves to battle the angry dwarf for themselves. Moving with the speed of a great antelope, he traversed the sloppy trail ahead of him, determined to track Selene down and finish off her captors.

  Sansla Libor swooped down through the rain and plucked him up off the ground and soared back up into the air. “You must not resist, Dragon Prince! A moment, listen, please, listen!”

  “There’s no time!” Nath screamed from a hundred feet in the air. He could make out Gaak and the other nuurg fighters charging toward the great stone outposts of the city of Thraag. They were much closer than he realized. The fortress was heavily fortified and guarded. “Sansla, do as I say and let me save Selene!”

  “I cannot. I have my orders,” Sansla said. He started flying away from Thraag. “You are coming with me.”

  Fighting to free himself, Nath kicked and yelled, “Whose orders?”

  “Your mother, Grahleyna, sent me with the utmost urgency.”

  Nath was so worried about Selene that his mother’s name almost didn’t register, but he asked, “Why?”

  “It’s your father. Balzurth has gone missing.”

  Wind and rain tearing at his face, Nath said, “It will have to wait.”

  “It cannot,” Sansla argued. “You must come, and come now. Time is precious. We cannot lose it.”

  “I cannot lose her!” Nath pulled his legs up and walloped Sansla right in the face.

  The great winged ape’s grip loosened.

  Nath twisted away and plummeted to the ground. He smashed into a pile of heavy brush. Charged with desperate energy, he sprang back to his feet. Knees jarred, he nevertheless bulldozed through the brush and down the road after Selene. He gained ground, just enough to see Gaak and the riders vanish into the sanctuary of the fortress’s ominous gates. From the twenty-foot-high parapets, the orcen cyclops soldiers on the wall unleashed a volley of heavy crossbow bolts at him.

  Zip! Zip! Zip!

  A new squad of pure-blooded orcen riders, at least twenty, charged. They were accompanied by three of the one-eyed orcen nuurgs riding on the backs of wrathhorns galloping out of the fortress.

  Nath sank to his knees. Selene was gone. His eyes lit up like molten lava. He charged the overwhelming oncoming horde of riders. “Nooooooo!”

  Wrathhorn and Rider taking out an Elven Warrior

  CHAPTER 15

  Charging up the rain-soaked road, the riders lowered their lances and spears. The terrifying gigantic beasts and their over-sized riders would have frozen a hardened soldier’s limbs.

  Not Nath’s. Defying reason, ignoring logic, and with bolts soaring past his head, he rushed toward the oncoming horde. “Have at me, then!”

  The wrathhorns snarled. The orcs roared. “Kill him!”

  Ten feet from certain impalement, Nath sprang into the air, snatching a bolt midflight and burying the bolt into the lead orcen cyclops.

  The nuurg rider gawped and clutched at his chest.

  Standing on the saddle, Nath snatched the reins and jerked them back.

  The wrathhorn reared up. The ranks of riders behind it crashed into its haunches and one another. A rending of flesh, bone, and metal filled the air with a chaotic sound of confusion and butchery.

  Nath sprung from the back of one beast to another, punching the orc cyclopes in their faces and toppling them from their mounts. He was an angry hornet, stinging the ravenous bears. His claws raked across their faces. His iron-strong limbs broke jawbones. His clawed hand filled with heavy steel and took on a life of its own. One towering long-limbed monster after another fell under his wrath, but the brawl was far from over. It was just beginning.

  Nath was locked up with a cyclops when a hammerhead of steel clipped the back of his head, shuddering his scales and drooping his eyelids. Dazed and bloody, Nath staggered into the path of a spike-hooved beast. It plowed over him as if he were dirt. Elbow deep in the mud, he fought his way to his feet and set himself for the oncoming charge. He was busted up bad. Bright spots were in his eyes. “Come on, dogs! Come at me!”

  Sansla Libor darted out of the sky and locked his steel-strong fingers around Nath’s wrist. He pulled Nath up into the air and out of the dangerous path. With crossbow bolts still ripping through the air, Sansla shielded the stunned dragon-armed man.

  “No, Sansla, no!” Nath’s lip was busted, and his head was throbbing. Below his feet and vanishing in the rain was the impenetrable fortress that held Selene captive. His rescue had failed. He struggled with his captor. “Take me back, Sansla. You must take me back!”

  “I cannot.” Sansla continued his flight into the misty gray clouds above. The world below was lost from sight. “I cannot.”

  It was futile. Nath’s heart sank. Selene was lost. Alone. Imprisoned.

  Someone will pay for this!

  Clouded by anger, it took his thoughts quite some time to subside into sense.

  Meanwhile, Sansla flew with Nath for hours, staying above the meadow of dark clouds below them. The day turned to night and the night to day. Finally, a break came in the field of storms below, and the winged ape soared down through the gap.

  Below were lakes of fire and sulfur. A torched landscape. Sweltering heat rose with the steam. It was Dragon Home—not the mountain itself, but the lands just west of it, a bitter stretch of land that stretched for leagues around the great mountain in all directions. Landing, Sansla set him down on the ground.

  “Why did you bring me here?” Nath said.

  “It is where I was ordered to bring you.” Sansla said, grimacing. He peeked over his shoulder and spun around. A crossbow bolt was stuck in his back between his wings. “Be a friend, will you?”

  “Guzan, Sansla! You flew all this way with this in your back?” Nath grabbed the bolt. “Hold on.” He yanked it out.

  Groaning, Sansla dropped to a knee and sighed. “Thank you.”

  Nath pitched the bolt into a nearby pool of lava. The bolt sizzled and sank. “I’m still angry with you.”

  Turning to face Nath, the great winged ape said, “I would be too. I’m sorry Nath, but I had my orders.”

  “Yes,” Nath nodded. “I know you did. From my mother. Since when do you work for my mother?”

  “Since you disappeared.”

  The Mountain of Doom stretched into the clouds leagues away. Nath and Sansla were on the outer edge of its natural barriers of protection, where the hot streams slipped into the earth again.

  “Why here? Doesn’t my mother want to meet me inside?”

  “She did not say.”

  “You know Brenwar is not going to be too happy being left behind with the roamer elves. Was it so necessary that we leave them all behind?”

  “They’ll be safe.”

  “They are in orcen land!” Nath said. “How safe can they be?”

  “I’ll go back, if I can. We’ll see.” Sansla’s wings collapsed behind his back. He sat on a pile of stones. “This place makes me thirsty.”

  Nath brushed his sweaty hair from his eyes. His face was dripping with sweat. “It’s better than frost that freezes the bones. You seem to be doing quite well. No issues with your temperament.”

  “The curse is what it is. As long as I stay focused on what is right, I can control it.”

  A bright light appeared out of nowhere. Nath shielded his eyes. The light faded, and a mystic doorway appeared. A woman stepped out. She was as beautiful and radiant as the morning sun. Hair of golden light. Eyes the color of honey. She wore powder-white robes trimmed in silver.

  “Mother,” Nath said.

  “Yes, my dear son, it is me,” Grahleyna said.

  Sansla took a knee.

  “Please
stand, Roamer King,” she said, beckoning at the shimmering door. “Now come within. It is not safe out in the open like this.”

  Sansla went through the door.

  Nath followed. Immediately, he knew he was back inside Dragon Home, but the room he was in was an entirely different one than the throne room. Amazing and wonderful carvings filled it with colorful pictures—people, dragons, and landscapes. The chamber wasn’t large, but it was tall, and big enough for a pair of large dragons. Humongous pillows covered most of the floor. Every detail in the room, though simple, was exquisite, but with no furnishings other than the pillows at all.

  “This is my spot,” Grahleyna said, offering a pretty smile and a healing potion to each of them, “a place where I hide from your father.”

  “I’m sure this isn’t your only option.” Nath drank down his potion, recalling many memories. Dragon Home was an enormous city within the great mountain. Not even the work of the dwarves could rival it. There were thousands of rooms and caverns as well as roads, wide and narrow, that twisted and turned. Some of the places were very small, made for the little dragons, and the others were quite huge, big enough for a sky raider to squeeze through. All in all, it was a marvel. Amazing. When Nath was young, he had made it a goal to search out every place there was. He never found the half of it. The room he was in now was new to him.

  “Selene, Mother,” he said to her. Chin high, fists clenched, he stepped forward. “She’s been captured by the nuurg. I was attempting to rescue her when Sansla arrived and fouled everything up!”

  “Watch your tone,” she said softly. She took his hand. “It is unfortunate about Selene, but she can take care of herself. You know that as well as I.”

  “She’s in a deep slumber.”

  Squeezing Nath’s hand hard, she said, “You cannot wake her?”

  “No, Mother. She’s defenseless. I was in the middle of saving her when I was rushed back here against my will. What is so urgent and pressing that I had to appear here this instant?”

  She held his cheeks and said with great sympathy, “I am so sorry, Nath. Forgive Sansla. He was merely following my direct order as he should have been. I did not suspect it would be in such a moment of peril. Forgive me.”

  He hesitated, then said, “I do. But I must save Selene—among other things. Fang is stolen, and the elves and dwarves think I killed Laedorn and Uurluuk. How can all this be? And Father, what of him? He’s gone?”

  Grahleyna guided him to a seat on an orange-pink pillow. “He was angry. The titans had sent rather cruel messages. The bones and skins of dragons. They taunted him. Realizing that you were missing, Balzurth went after you.”

  “Me?” Nath pointed to his chest. “He’s like a flying city in the sky. The giants and wurmers will be all over him. Please tell me he took an enclave of dragons for protection?”

  Shaking her head with a face filled with worry, she said, “He is alone.”

  Nath jumped up. “Alone? That’s insane!”

  CHAPTER 16

  “You are so much like your father,” Grahleyna said. “You, like him, always want to solve Nalzambor’s problems on your own. Things would be so much easier if you learned to trust others.”

  “I don’t like putting others in harm’s way,” said Nath, looking in the direction where he thought Selene lay, helpless and surrounded by monsters. “Not on my account. But Mother—”

  Grahleyna held up her hand for him to listen. “People do what they want to do. If they want to help, let them. It’s their lives, and they have to live them. How would you feel if I tried to protect you all the time? Never let you leave here, not even to help in times of dire need?”

  What! No! She can’t mean that! I have to go rescue Selene! Better not make Mother angry.

  “I suppose I wouldn’t like it.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. So you left here with Brenwar—and left a good bit early. I don’t think you were ready, but I think you are the better for it now.” She poked his noggin. “Just a little hardheaded. There is so much you can still do. You just haven’t learned how.”

  So tell me, already! Enough with the hints! Tell me how to fly again so I can go back this instant and rescue Selene!

  But Nath couldn’t speak to his mother that way, especially not when she had just threatened to ground him. She had the power to enforce that. If she ordered it, he really would not be leaving Dragon Home.

  Shaking his head in frustration, Nath chose his words carefully. “Is there something I should know that you could tell me? Wouldn’t that be helpful?”

  “It’s best that you learn these things for yourself. Your own trials and tribulations will purify your golden spirit. Just keep doing the right thing, Nath, no matter how hard it might be.” His mother gave him a sad smile that made her years show in her face, and the look in her eyes was faraway.

  Guzan, she’s more worried about him than I thought.

  Nath took his mother’s hands. “So how long has Father been gone?”

  “In secret, he managed to storm out of here weeks ago. He was insistent that no one go with him or after him. I pleaded with him,” she said, squeezing his hands tight. “I fear I may not see him again. When I got word that you had been spotted and Sansla was already searching, I sent him after you immediately. Nath, you have to find your father. You have to find him now. If Eckubahn comes across him, captures him, kills him, the entire Great Wall of Dragons will come down. Every evil spirit will be unleashed. And the races will fall. The dragons with them.”

  “With all the dragons at our disposal, can none of them find Father?”

  “Since you’ve been gone, the wurmers have grown to outnumber the dragons at least five to one. The dragons are maintaining a low profile, to say the least.”

  “We can’t hide forever. At some point we will all have to fight.” Nath turned, dropping his mother’s hands to push his hair back. He wanted to hit something. “If only I were still a dragon.”

  “You still are a dragon,” she reminded him.

  “But I’ve lost so much power. Everything’s bigger than me. The giants. The wurmers. Now even the orcs out-size me. They were big enough and obnoxious enough already.”

  “Don’t lose your composure, Nath. Now is the time to plan and think.”

  “Ugh!” He flung his hands to his sides. “It makes my head hurt.”

  “Yes, you are your father’s son.” She let out a small chuckle.

  Still, Nath could tell she was sad. He didn’t know his mother well. He’d hardly spent any time with her at all. He needed to be strong and console her. “What do you think I should do?”

  “What is best for the future of Nalzambor?”

  “Your question comes across as a riddle,” he said. “I’ve a feeling you know the answer.”

  “No, I have an opinion, but I’m not going to share that.” She smoothed out the ruffles in her robes. “I shouldn’t influence your decision. I can offer you this.” She held out a knuckle-sized gemstone that shined like a blue star. “This will help you find your father. It will only work in your hands.”

  Nath took the stone. In his palm it pulsated with a life of its own. “What is it?”

  “A searcher. It bonds mystically with the one it touches. It is tied to us—me, you, and your father. See how it gleams when I am near? It knows me. In my hands it will know you. Near your father, it will come to life again.” She reached out and closed his hand over it. “Its magic is limited. You’ll need to be close, but if you are close enough you will know he is near.”

  “How near?”

  “It’s difficult to say. A few feet? A hundred yards?”

  “What will Father look like?”

  “It’s quite possible he looks like us. Or an elf. Maybe a dwarf,” she said, rising to her feet.

  “He can do that? Like a changeling?”

  “His powers are mighty.”

  Nath’s thoughts went to Gorlee. “They say someone who looked like me killed Laedorn and Uurluu
k with Akron. It must have been a changeling.”

  “I know about the horrible demise of our allies, Nath, but are you assuming everything you hear is true?”

  Nath certainly had his doubts about the rogue elf, Slavan Fonjich. After all, he had imprisoned him and left him for dead. “Do the elves and dwarves not hunt for me?”

  “They do, but that doesn’t mean what they heard was true. Perhaps witnesses lied about what they had seen.”

  “But they have my bow. Ben had my bow, and I need to know if he lives.” Nath wanted to pull out his hair. “Everything’s upside down since Fang took me away! And he’s gone too. I don’t know where to start.”

  “You need to realize you can’t be everywhere at once, Nath. You need to remember you aren’t a man. You are a dragon. The Dragon Prince. You have power at your command. You just haven’t figured out how to use it.” She hugged him tight. “Think like a dragon, not like a man.”

  “You’re leaving me again, aren’t you?”

  “No, I’m staying here. I have to keep everyone convinced that your brazen father is brooding in the throne room. You’re the one who’s leaving.” She snapped her fingers. A new mystic door appeared and opened. “Where do you want to start, Nath? The door will take you there. Just think of it. I have faith in your journey.”

  He looked at the gem in his hand. Where would his father be? He had no idea. He kissed Grahleyna on the cheek. “Goodbye, Mother.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Black eyed and white haired, she was beautiful and small, standing just over three feet tall and fluttering her black-and-pink wings. She stood on a tree stump, surrounded by dozens of fairies. They were all black eyed and covered in leaves, like the surrounding forest. One fairy was just as adorable and deadly as another. Encircled by her mystic people, Lotuus had a twinkle in her dark eyes.

  “I have brought you gifts, Fairy Empress,” said an elf. He took a knee and bowed. It was Slavan of the rogue wilder elves. A long object was wrapped up in cloth. A sword with a sharp tip that pointed out. He stuck it tip first in the ground and tore away the cloth.