Laylana swooned and collapsed.
CHAPTER 33
Nath brushed the hair out of Laylana’s face. Her skin was burning hot. “She’s got a fever. That’s not good.”
Some of the wurmer bites were poisonous. Their claws could burn. Laylana seemed to have avoided the worst effects, but now it had caught up with her.
“We need a healer, Brenwar.”
Clawing at his beard with his bone hand, the dwarf said, “Of course we do.”
“We’ll need supplies from that village. I’m certain they have what I need. Or we can at least find somebody.”
“We can go,” Zoose suggested.
“You’ve never been outside the fortress, you said,” Nath replied. “I think it’s best that you stay here with Brenwar.”
“I’m not staying back here with them,” Brenwar said.
“Yes, you are. You know you can’t get within wind of those giants.” Nath spied the colossal figures in the small town. They stood at least twenty feet tall. Three in all. He needed to slip in and slip out quietly. “You’ll wait, won’t you?”
“Aye, but you better make it quick.” Brenwar looked at the halflings. “And I won’t be answering any questions from you two chatterboxes.”
“Where is the skin from your hand?” Goose asked of Brenwar.
Brenwar glared at Nath. “Just hurry.”
Nath tossed Fang on the ground.
“What are you thinking? If those giants find you unarmed, it’s all over.”
“I won’t fit in so well with a giant sword on my back. It’ll be hard enough to get around anyway.”
“Well, don’t be so careless.” Brenwar stooped over and pulled Dragon Claw from out of Fang’s hilt. He tossed it to Nath. “Something is better than nothing.”
“Good thinking.” He tucked the dagger in his belt. “Thanks.”
Nath took off running. He made it into the valley in no time and used the cover of the outlying buildings to stay out of the giants’ line of sight.
Night had fallen, and very few people were milling through the streets. With the weather being warm, there were plenty of people that sat and talked on porch fronts. By the sound of their voices, it was men and women, maybe some half-orcs and part-elves. Some halflings skittered through the streets carrying buckets. Back pressed to the wall in one of the alleys, Nath peered farther down the street.
Villages of a few thousand people were always quick to spot a stranger. Though not a giant, Nath would stick out like a sore thumb. He noticed something else that was different from before. There were armored patrols walking around in twos. They wore steel caps and carried long wooden clubs.
Great.
Finding a healing ward wouldn’t be difficult, but getting inside one without being seen would be a problem. If he was caught, someone would ask questions. If the giants were called, there wouldn’t be a place to run, and he had to get some potions or ointment to take care of Laylana. If only Brenwar still had his chest, but that had been left in the care of Bayzog.
Something tugged at his cloak. He snatched a tiny hand in his iron grip and drew the small body that was attached to the hand off the ground. It was Zoose. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I wanted to see the city. I’ve never been to a city before. It’s marvelous.”
“You need to go back.”
“But I want to help.”
“Then go back,” Nath said, setting the halfling down.
Rubbing his wrist, Zoose replied, “That doesn’t sound much like helping. Please, let me do something. I owe you.”
Time was pressing, and discretion was needed. Glancing down the street at all the people on the porch fronts and the patrolling guards, Nath knew he would be noticed. He had a few acquaintances here, but from a long time ago. Things had changed. For all he knew, the people in Holbrook village were under the influence of the titans. It was safer to assume they were.
Nath kneeled down and said to Zoose, “So you want to help?”
Little hands clamped together, and nodding, the halfling said, “Desperately.”
“Listen to me, then, and do exactly as I say. Do you know what a sage is?”
Zoose shook his head no.
“A sage is someone who helps the sick. They have potions, balms, ointments, salves, many things like that. Well, every town has a sage of sorts. There is one in this town, as I recall. There is a yellow lantern that burns a green flame from his porch. You will smell incense.”
Zoose held up his hand.
Aggravated, Nath said, “Yes?”
“What is incense?”
“It’s a pleasant smell, like perfume.”
“What is perfume?”
“You’ve been with the orcs too long,” Nath said. “Look, the building will smell different than the rest. A nice smell. The place you seek is several buildings down and across the street.” He turned Zoose toward where he wanted him to go. Nath then turned him in another direction, pointed at a barn, and said, “I will wait for you there. Do you understand?”
“What do I tell them?”
“Tell them you have a friend who has a fever, but you’ll have to pay them later. If he doesn’t help, tell him it’s for a man called Nath and that a wurmer got his friend.”
Zoose saluted. “I’ll see you soon.” He skittered into the street and hustled right down the middle. A pair of soldiers stopped him.
“Oh no.” Nath dug his nails into his palms. “They’re going to skewer him.”
One of the soldiers kicked Zoose in the back of the pants. The other shooed Zoose away and started laughing. Zoose hustled down the street rubbing his backside and vanished onto one of the porches.
Talking to himself, Nath said, “I hope this works.”
CHAPTER 34
The barn Nath occupied was empty of life. No stable hands or farmers. No livestock. Just piles of hay and other farming supplies. Plows. Harnesses. Pitchforks, picks, and shovels. It was dark too. Quiet. Nath climbed up into the loft. There was a window overlooking the village where he could keep an eye out. The soldiers slowly walked the streets. The villagers talked quietly in the shadows of their porches. There were a couple of small taverns where fires burned within, sending smoke up through the chimneys. The people weren’t lively like Nath remembered them, but oppressed. He could feel it.
People shouldn’t be so miserable. They should be free to think and do as they please.
Spread out among the fields just outside the village were the giants. They stood as statues. They were ugly brutes, bald headed and hairy chested. They wore animal skins for clothes. They had no weapons, just hands that looked like they could crush boulders.
And I thought I got rid of all this treachery.
Nath pulled up a hay bale and took a seat. He figured it would only take a few minutes at most for Zoose to fetch the supplies he needed. It was a risk. Perhaps the help he sought would not come. A sage would help just about anyone. They were like that, finding the good in even the worst of people. They were curious that way. Many long minutes passed into the next hour. Nath got up and started to pace.
I should have gone after it myself. It’s taking too much time.
He was worried about Laylana. The sooner they treated her, the better. Wurmer strikes could not only be lethal, but toxic to others in some cases. The lady elf was strong, from a great family. With Laedorn dead, Nath couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to his granddaughter.
I can’t wait any longer.
A commotion occurred down the street. Zoose was talking to one of the soldiers. He had with him someone in robes. A wizardly figure, older, with a crown of white hair around the bald top of his head. The older man started talking as well. The soldiers nodded and departed the other way down the street. Zoose and the man Nath assumed to be a sage skittered down the street and into the barn. Nath remained in his spot.
“Nath. Nath,” said the soft voice of Zoose. “I’ve come and brought help.”
“He said he would be in here,” Zoose said to the sage. The halfling rattled a sack of goods the sage had in his hand. He spoke louder. “I have treatments for the lady elf. We need to hurry.”
Nath eased his way through the loft, stood on its edge, and said from the darkness, “Who is this with you?”
“I am Leander.” The old man spoke with his hands. “A sage, as you requested. I’ve only come to help and to warn you.”
“Warn me of what?”
Leander threw the bag of goods up to Nath. “This halfling has betrayed you. Run, Nath Dragon. Run!”
A knife appeared in Zoose’s hand. He stabbed Leander in the side.
Glitch!
“No!” Nath yelled. “Zoose, what have you done?”
The halfling’s eyes narrowed, and he waved his knife high. “Praise Eckubahn! Hail the death of Nath Dragon!” He ran out of the barn, sounding the alarm. “He’s in there! He’s in there!”
Nath peeked through the loft’s opening. Soldiers were storming toward the barn. Two of the giants were moving in. One was heading up into the hills where Brenwar and Laylana hid. Nath hopped down, closed the barn door, and barred it shut.
The old sage was coughing and bleeding. He beckoned for Nath.
Nath embraced the man in his arms. “Hang on.”
“The halfling came,” Leander said, coughing and wincing in pain. “I knew he would deceive you. He told me. Wanted to turn you in. I played along. That’s why I came. To warn you. Long ago you saved my father. My mother. I was a boy. I remember. I owe you my life.” He patted the sack of goods gripped in Nath’s hands. “The magic is good in this. Use it.” He looked up into Nath’s eyes with one last gaze. “I had a good life, Nath Dragon. I owe you my thanks.”
Leander the sage died in his arms. Nath’s eyes watered up. He didn’t know this man at all, yet the sage had given his life for something Nath had done long ago. With his palm, he closed the man’s eyes.
Something whacked the barn door. Axes were chopping into it from the other side.
Chop! Chop! Chop!
Nath carried Leander to a spot in the barn that had a thick bed of hay to lay him in. He set him down. “Thank you, friend.” He wiped the tear from his eye. He was still stunned at what Zoose had done. The little halfling had murdered the man in cold blood. How had the halfling deceived him so easily? He hadn’t detected anything evil from Zoose or Goose at all. It made him angry inside. He drew his dagger, Dragon Claw, and faced the barn door.
I’ve got to get to Brenwar!
The chopping stopped. A silence fell. Suddenly, the ceiling groaned and popped. A giant ripped part of the roof off and glared at Nath.
Great Guzan!
CHAPTER 35
Fingers outstretched and huge face snarling, the giant reached for Nath.
Dragon Claw poised to strike, Nath plunged the mystic dagger into the giant’s hand.
The monstrous man jerked his hand back and let out a pain-filled bellow. He gaped at his hand. It was disintegrating right before his eyes. “No! Nooooo!”
Nath watched in awe. The disintegration spread up the giant’s arm to the shoulder and then across his chest. Through the gaping hole in the roof, Nath watched the giant’s screaming face turn to dust and take flight with the wind. He gazed at Dragon Claw. The blade had a violet gleam in the metal. It pulsated in his hand. Nath jerked the bar off the barn door and swung the door open. Holding the dagger out for all of the wide-eyed soldiers to see, he said, “Who else wants to taste my blade’s fury?”
The soldiers backed away.
Behind them on horseback was a soldier wearing a full helmet of iron, with a red plume on top that billowed in the evening breeze. He had the insignia of an officer on his chest. “He is only one. We are many!” he said. “Kill him.”
“Easier said than done!” Nath tucked Dragon Claw away. He didn’t want to kill anybody, but he couldn’t waste any time. Surrounded by the advancing club-wielding soldiers, he exploded into action, disarming two men at the same time and using their clubs against them. He sent them to the ground cradling their ribs.
Crack! Crack!
One bludgeoning blow came right after the other. Nath sidestepped and ducked. He parried and twisted. Wood clocked off wood with a crisp resounding effect. He busted knees with hammering blows. Soldiers wailed as he popped their elbows. In less than a minute, all ten soldiers were down on the ground grimacing in pain. One gazed at his broken and swollen hand. Another held his bleeding mouth.
Nath spun the clubs around. “What about you? You on the horse. You started this. Now finish it.”
“I’d be happy to!” The commander drew a sword from a scabbard on the saddle. Its blade shimmered like blue lightning.
Nath took a step back and drew his dagger.
Maybe I should have brought Fang.
The commander in the iron helm cracked his reins. “Yah!” The horse charged straight for Nath. The long, bright sword was cocked back, ready to strike.
Eyeing the razor-sharp blade and the galloping horse snorting with fury, Nath gathered his legs underneath him, ready to spring in an instant. The horse closed the gap. Nath hunkered down and sprang away from the cutting blade.
Slice!
“Argh!” Nath yelled. The commander hit him. Right across the back. It burned like fire.
The commander turned the horse around and prepared for another run. He held the sword high. The blade was longer than it had been before. It seemed to stretch like fire toward the dark sky. “You look surprised, Nath Dragon. You should be!”
The man had spoken with vague familiarity. Behind the horse and rider, Nath could see a giant still climbing the hill. He’d lost track of the third one. He eyed the mystic blade again.
And I thought I only had the giants to worry about.
He pulled his shoulders back. “You’ll miss.”
“With this blade,” the rider said, “I never miss!” He dug his heels into the horse. “Yah!”
With thoughts faster than movement, Nath had to consider the possibility that the soldier wasn’t lying. The blade he carried must have had a special power that made the man so sure of himself. Nath had Dragon Claw, but like Fang, its powers were unpredictable. And its length was much too short. As the oncoming horse and rider came closer and got larger, Nath made an instantaneous decision that he hadn’t considered before.
Run!
He ran back into the barn and bolted the door behind him.
Whew! That should buy me some time.
Outside the barn door, the horse nickered.
Nath started for the other side of the barn. He could cut through there and make a run for the hills and find Brenwar. He jogged to the other side and swung the big door open. He was greeted by a pair of giant legs and was eye level with the knees. He backed up. “Not a good idea.”
Slice!
He turned. The man in the iron helmet had sliced through the secured barn door. He kicked it open and marched inside. “Going somewhere?” he said with a confident voice.
“No, but I was hoping you were.” Nath studied the man. There was something familiar in his walk. It had a slight hitch in it. The iron helmet was different. It had two metal horns that pointed down on the sides. The eyes were rectangular slits. The mouth was small bars of metal. “Who are you?”
“You would like to know that, wouldn’t you?”
“Actually, no, I was just buying time.” Nath backed up into one of the stalls. “And I’m certain there’s a really good reason why you hide your face so well.”
“So brazen. So bold!” Twenty feet away from Nath, the warrior cranked the sword back and swung. An arc of energy cut through the barn and knocked Nath Dragon from his feet.
Nath clutched at his chest. The force had sheared through his clothes and seared the material.
Guzan, what kind of sword is that?
He rose to his f
eet with wary eyes.
The warrior sliced the blade back and forth over the ground. It made a strange humming sound with each ground-dusting swipe. “I never imagined a day when you walked right into my hands. But you did. How delightful. Revenge is such a tasty, tasty dish.”
Now Nath really was curious who the man was, but he wasn’t going to ask. He shuffled back. There was a stir behind him. The giant. Caught up in the moment, he’d forgotten about the other giant. His head whipped around too late. The giant caught Nath in its massive steel-strong grip. “Gah!”
“You killed my brother,” the giant said, bringing Nath up into his face. “I will feast on your bones one at a time.”
CHAPTER 36
Gripped inside the monstrous hand of the giant, Nath squirmed and gulped for air. The giant’s fingers were crushing his ribs. Arms still free, he held out his glowing dagger and said to the monster’s face, “You saw what happened to your brother. Do you want to suffer the same fate?”
“I just want to kill you,” the giant said. His jaw dropped open, and he brought Nath toward his mouth.
“I warned you!” Nath stabbed the giant in the hand. The blade sank deep and drew blood.
The giant’s hairy eyebrows buckled. A sneer curled on his lips. He said, “Ow.”
Nath stabbed the giant in the hand again and again. The blade bit deep and drew blood.
The giant’s grip tightened.
Nath’s eyes bulged. “Thanks for nothing, Dragon Claw,” he spat. “You’re just like your brother.”
Using both hands, the giant tried to stuff Nath in its mouth.
Nath braced his free hand against the upper row of the giant’s teeth. “I am not a meal!” He gagged. “And your breath is horrible!”
The giant jerked his head back and brought it right back forward, head-butting Nath.
Battle of the Dragon (The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 2, Book 3) (Tail of the Dragon) Page 12