The Blood Stone

by Jason J. Nugent

  “Why are you here in my home, slayer?”

  “To rid Rowyth of the Drakku! I will not rest until you’re all dead!”

  “To kill you and others like you!” Jor yelled.

  Chepon laughed, a deep chortle that lacked the power of Evros’s voice.

  “Death? Do you not see me? Death does not hold me. Your sword will not find flesh to pierce here.”

  “My daughter dreamt of one like you devouring her dreams. She felt anger and hate, but you would know, wouldn’t you? It was you!”

  “I am no Nightwraith. That kind of evil must never be let loose on the world.”

  Lailoken scrunched his face. “Your words will not spare you.”

  “Enough!” she boomed. “Evros was right about you. Etain lives still. Your daughter…is a halfling. Accept these truths and live a better life. Deny them at your own peril.”

  “Why spread these lies?” Darlonn demanded.

  Is this the guardian that Myrthyd spoke of? Lailoken thought. If so, the Blood Stone must be somewhere in the cave.

  “You’re the one,” Lailoken said. “You created the Nightwraiths, didn’t you?”

  Chepon roared and flexed her wings, extending them wide. “Those abominations are not to be trifled with. They bring nothing but death on our kind and consume the lives of the halflings. They are horrible. Never must they exist again.” She roared and spewed streaks of lighting in the cavern, the brilliant light followed by booming thunder. The slayers dropped to the ground, covering their ears.

  “You lie! Your kind are liars!” Lailoken screamed at her.

  Chepon flew around the cavern, spitting lightning and creating cracks of thunder with each bolt. The slayers covered their ears from the overpowering sound. The ground shook with each thunder boom.

  “Leave now!” Chepon bellowed above him.

  Ori stood and let a bolt fly. It was on target but passed safely through the dragon’s ghostly form.

  “Your weapons do nothing to me. I am more powerful than any of you will ever understand. Leave this place now or suffer my wrath.”

  “You won’t scare us away. We’ve slaughtered worse than you,” Jor said.

  “You’ll no longer slay any of my kind. Prepare for death,” Chepon said. The Opal lunged into the air, circled them, and blasted the wall with lightning.

  “Your time is over now,” Lailoken growled, clutching his sword and standing at the ready. The fight had come at last.

  CHAPTER

  Twenty-Nine

  Lailoken bowed his head and prayed to Menos, but then Chepon roared and it echoed throughout the chamber, forcing his eyes open. Jor and Darlonn fanned out, preparing for the fight. Ori hid behind a rock formation, cranking his crossbow and nocking another bolt.

  How are we going to slay this thing? Lailoken wondered. The dragon apparition flew above them, circling as though preparing to attack. Which of their weapons could hurt something that didn’t have physical form? An unsettling fear crept over him. This was unlike any dragon he’d ever encountered.

  “Lai, over there!” Jor shouted, pointing out a faintly glowing altar at the far end of the cavern. “Do you think that’s it?” From where he stood, it was difficult to see exactly what it was.

  “Let’s advance,” he replied. Darlonn followed them along the back wall of the cavern.

  Chepon spit lightning on the ground, the bolt crackling and creating a loud explosion when it struck ahead of them. Rocks flew in the air and the slayers were knocked to the ground.

  “Leave this place now! You must not continue!” Chepon bellowed.

  Lailoken and Darlonn crept next to Jor. She turned to them. “Is that thing talking to us? Since when do they talk?” Lailoken had heard their voices before, but always in his mind. He was not about to share that with them.

  “It must be something different,” Darlonn said. Lailoken nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself.

  “You’ll never leave this place alive!” Chepon yelled. Lightning erupted from her mouth, flashing around the cavern. The sound was so loud that their ears rang and momentarily deafened them.

  Darlonn said something that Jor and Lailoken couldn’t hear. Frustrated, he pointed toward the altar. Three Jade dragons were ambling toward them. The flightless beasts stumbled over each other in their mad dash toward the slayers who unsheathed their swords and prepared for the fight.

  Jor moved to the right and Darlonn to the left. The slayers held firm, waiting for the dragons to advance.

  Jor slipped further to the right and one of the dragons broke from the others and came after her. Darlonn did the same on the left and easily enticed a dragon to follow him. So far, the dragons were acting according to instinct and it made the fight a little easier for all the slayers.

  Darlonn shouted to engage his dragon, his voice finally breaking through the ringing from the crack of thunder. Lailoken caught a glimpse of Darlonn swirling and slicing as he did his best to kill the dragon. Jor was doing likewise but he didn’t get to see much as the final dragon was upon him.

  “Come on, then; let’s have at it,” Lailoken growled. Overhead, Chepon urged on the smaller dragons.

  “Don’t let them pass! They must be stopped!” She released bolt after bolt of lightning, striking the sides of the cavern and raining rocks down on them, making a conscious effort not to strike the slayers with the deadly emission. Lailoken had a moment to consider it before the Jade swiped at him.

  Crouching beneath the awkward attack, Lailoken rolled to the left and jumped up, brandishing his sword for an attack. The Jade was slightly off balance from the failed strike. Lailoken lunged at it and gracefully sliced at its exposed belly. He felt resistance as his blade dragged through the rough green hide. He held firm, every muscle in his arms and back burning and crying in pain. The sword broke free and left a deep gash in its stomach that spurted thick blood. The Jade roared and swiped at him, striking his shoulder and knocking him to the ground, sending him rolling into a large rock. His sword flew from his hands and clanged on the ground behind him as he slammed to a halt.

  Jor and Darlonn seemed to be having a better go of it by the sounds of their shouting.

  “Come on, you ugly son of a goat! Is that all you’ve got?” Jor called out. Lailoken didn’t have time to enjoy her taunts. The Jade had followed him, though noticeably stumbling. It flung its short limbs at him and missed, striking the rocks around him instead.

  Chepon spit lighting behind the Jade, goading it to attack. “Get him! Do not let him live!” the ghostly dragon screamed. Yet still, Lailoken noticed, the dragon did not strike any of the slayers directly.

  The Jade almost fell over when the lightning hit behind it. The dragon roared and swatted in Chepon’s direction and then turned back to Lailoken. He looked around for his sword and caught a glint of light off the blade, but it was out of reach. He scrambled to his feet and ran for the sword. The Jade roared and spit a stream of poison at him. He avoided the saliva and fell to the ground, forcing himself back up until he finally reached the dragon-eyed blade. He spun around and held it in both hands. “Now it’s time to die.”

  The Jade shuffled toward him, the wound in its belly noticeably slowing it down. Not taking any chances, Lailoken ran toward it with the intent to kill. It spit poison at him. The stringy spittle clung to his exposed skin, leaking into his nostrils with every inhale.

  No, I can’t! I have to rid myself of the poison. It was in his eyes, too, making his vision blurry. The Jade was a shapeless green blob in front of him. Without Driano’s spell to cover them, the slayers were exposed.

  Lailoken spit out as much of the vile substance as possible. The Jade rushed into him, striking him with his claws and trying to tear through his leather armor. Lailoken backed away as he felt a sickness come over him.

  Inside and out, he felt nothing but pain. He’d taken down many Jade dragons before, but somehow fell victim to this one. It wasn’t an overly clever dragon and he should’ve overpowered it.
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  Chepon belched lightning in the cavern, a thunderous boom following. Lailoken’s hearing dulled once again.

  Poison surged within him. His eyesight was all but gone, and his hearing dimmed. The fight had taken a turn he was not prepared for. Leaving Driano at the entrance was a mistake, no matter the man’s constant complaining.

  The Jade swung its thick arm and knocked Lailoken to the cavern floor. He slammed into a large rock; his back bent and twisted awkwardly. He cried out. “Menos preserve me!” His legs felt numb. His stomach churned like he’d had too much ale and was ready to come back up. Furiously wiping his eyes to clear the poison away, he only made it worse.

  “Kill him! Don’t let them live! They must never possess the Stone!” Chepon roared. Her voice was strong and powerful, breaking through Lailoken’s dulled hearing.

  “No! We must have it! Our people…our land…” Lailoken’s voice weakened as the poison surged through him.

  In a brief but powerful vision, he saw his wife smiling at him. He caught the scent of her perfume. Her long red hair flowed in a breeze. “It was for you,” he whispered. Then the scene changed and he saw Alushia tending the fields, Brida at her side bounding after insects and small animals.

  His heart broke knowing he’d left her to raise herself. Without Etain to help, he did the best he could. The growing crop crisis and increasing Drakku infiltration meant he was called away from her more than he wanted. Because of that, he barely knew her. Now as she was an adult, he regretted the life he led. What kind of father was he to leave her by herself all that time?

  The thoughts were chased away when the Jade stumbled toward him and clawed at him. He had the briefest moment of recognition and instinctively rolled to the side. He felt a claw graze his arm but nothing more.

  He rubbed his eyes again and could make out more than an oddly shaped green dragon. The poison had weakened, though his stomach was still twisting on itself and making it difficult to focus.

  Chepon let loose a burst of lightning toward the far end of the cavern.

  “Darlonn! Jor!”

  Lailoken scrambled along the rocky floor to look for something…anything to defend himself against the Jade. Grabbing hold of a fist-sized rock, he flung it in the direction of the dragon. He found several more loose stones and continued his assault, hoping to catch the dragon’s eye or deepen the pain in its abdomen.

  The dragon roared and shambled toward him. Lailoken turned to flee, but the poison had finally taken its toll. Wracked by spasms, he emptied his stomach, falling to the ground and shaking violently. The poison burned his insides, a sensation like he’d never experienced in his life. Five nights of drinking ale never made him feel worse than he did from the poison.

  His eyes watered as he continued to expel the wretched poison.

  The dragon slammed its claws into his back, their sharp points piercing his leather armor. Their tips dug into his flesh and he screamed in pain.

  Then his vision slowly cleared, his tears washing away the poison. They still burned, and most of what he could see was still covered in a slight haze, but shapes morphed into rocks and dirt.

  Chepon let out a bolt of lightning and a flash of light burst from the ground nearby. The Jade roared and pulled back its claws to strike. Lailoken fought the urge to vomit again and scrambled along the floor toward where he noticed the flash of light. The gaping wound on the Jade’s stomach took a toll and it was slow to react to him.

  As Lailoken got closer, he realized what the object was. Thank Menos, he thought.

  It was his sword.

  Grasping his sword, he stood on shaky legs to prepare to fight the Jade.

  Lailoken swiftly slid to the side as it swung at him and spewed poison. He swung his sword up, catching it in the belly again. His muscles tensed as he held the sword against the dragon’s flesh. His insides were on fire, ready to expel their contents again. The Jade swung both limbs down and struck Lailoken’s shoulders. The blow stung and he staggered, still holding the sword tight.

  “No more!” he yelled, pulling his sword free. He shifted on his feet, trying to hold it together, then plunged forward. The tip of his sword pierced the dragon’s hide and slipped inside its belly. The dragon roared from the injury. Lailoken twisted the blade, opening the wound. He pulled his bloody sword free, and before the dragon had a chance to retaliate, he plunged it into its stomach again. The dragon’s roar weakened and it stumbled back a step before falling backwards. It slammed to the hard ground, life leaving its body.

  CHAPTER

  Thirty

  Chepon roared madly, illuminating the cavern with endless bolts of lightning. The thunder crashed deafeningly, and soon Lailoken could only feel the power of the thunder as his hearing went nearly silent again. Still stunned by the poison and his stomach turning on him, he held his sword ready to strike.

  Chepon screamed above them. “No! They must not be allowed to live! Kill them all!” A flurry of lightning followed, the jagged bolts lighting up the dark cavern. Thunder shook the ground as the fearsome Opal dragon spirit unleashed a torrent of anger-fueled lightning.

  Lailoken cowered from the falling debris let loose by the lightning, and when he looked up, he caught a faint outline of Jor racing toward the altar they saw at the back of the cavern. Chepon didn’t seem to notice her, but when she finally did, it was too late.

  Jor screamed victoriously and raised both hands in the air, clutching something black with a faint red glow, pulsating and deadly.

  “No! You cannot! Leave that be! You know not what you do!”

  Chepon roared louder than the thunder she had created. The dragon spewed lightning at Jor but still didn’t hit her directly. Jor danced from the bolts, barely safe from the blasts.

  “This way!” Lailoken called out. “Hurry!”

  Darlonn was covered in blood and rubbing his eyes furiously, but he had slain his dragon and was racing toward Jor as best he could.

  Ori prepared his crossbow for another shot.

  Chepon continued to belch lightning around Jor, slowing her progress.

  “Come on, Jor!” Darlonn called. He avoided large rocks set loose by the furious lightning strikes coming from Chepon. The Opal dragon’s anger burned hot as it attempted to stop Jor’s progress. Darlonn finally reached her, and together they made careful strides back to Lailoken.

  “Ori, go to the entrance. Make sure we have a way out!” Lailoken yelled. The crossbowman nodded and ran toward the tunnel where they had come in.

  “Lai, stop her!” Darlonn yelled, pointing at Chepon. “We have the Blood Stone!”

  What could he do? The dragon was a spirit, a phantom without physical form.

  “Chepon!” he yelled, trying to attract the dragon’s attention. “Come down here and fight me!”

  Chepon ignored him, focusing on the cavern walls above Jor and Darlonn, spitting deadly lightning bolts that exploded on the rocky surface.

  Darlonn fell over a large rock in front of him. Jor stopped to help him up and Chepon let loose a torrent of lightning above them. A shower of rocks rained down on Darlonn, forcing Jor to jump out of the way. When the lightning stopped and the dust cleared, Darlonn was half-buried under debris.

  Blood oozed from Darlonn’s head. He was barely alive.

  “Darlonn!” Jor screamed, running to him. She set the Blood Stone on the ground and dropped to her knees, frantically trying to clear the rubble.

  “You will die for that!” Lailoken yelled. He ran across the cavern, his ears ringing and the shapes around him still not nearly as clear as they once were. The cavern grew darker, lit only by the glow of the mysterious plants on the walls. He followed the sound of his friends. The lightning had stopped.

  Chepon circled above them, laughing. “You cannot kill that which is already dead! You cannot stop me! You shall never leave this place!”

  Lailoken joined Jor and they worked furiously to uncover Darlonn.

  “Don’t. Waste. Time. Your time,” he said
between shallow breaths. “Not. Going. To make it. Legs.” Darlonn’s face was covered in blood, either from the gaping wound on his head or his fight with the dragon, Lailoken did not know which. His beard was stained dark crimson. He moved an arm from under the pile of rocks and screamed. Jor hurried to free it and she gasped.

  “Your arm,” she said at last. A bone jutted from the skin on his forearm.

  “Get out,” he said. “Leave. Take. Blood Stone. Live.”

  Chepon roared above them. The lightning ceased as her anger suppressed.

  Lailoken reached out and held back Jor’s hand. “He’s right,” he said softly. “We must go.”

  “But we don’t leave our own behind!”

  “Go. Please go,” Darlonn said.

  “Goodbye, my friend. Your death will not be in vain. Your actions will be remembered always,” Lailoken said, holding Darlonn’s head in his hand. The dying man nodded, the effort forcing a grimace on his face.

  “When my time comes, I will find you,” Jor said. She wiped away tears and kissed his forehead. “Goodbye, my friend.”

  Chepon’s anger returned, sending lightning crashing against a far wall when Lailoken lifted the Blood Stone from the dirt floor.

  “Leave the gem! Leave this place! One of you is dead and the rest will join him!”

  “You will not stop us!” Jor growled. Lailoken pulled her away and left Darlonn moaning in pain.

  It took all his strength to leave his friend. They’d been through so much and to abandon him when he needed help most was a devastating blow. Lailoken’s insides twisted as the poison continued to crawl through his body and he fell to one knee. He closed his eyes, unsure if he could continue. Then the gem vibrated in his hands, radiating a warmth that almost made him drop it. “By Menos,” he said. “Did this vibrate when you touched it?”

  “What? The gem?” Jor shook her head.

  His hands went numb from its touch, the vibrations growing stronger. “My hands,” he said. Forcing himself upright, fighting against the sourness inside him, he clung to the Blood Stone.