Citadels of the Lost (2 page)

“Wait, I . . . what?” Drakis stammered.

“Do we fire?” Kwarae repeated.

“No! We wait!” Urulani replied.

“What?” Yithri yelped.

“That's no welcoming party, lass!” Jugar growled.

“So you want to fire arrows into
that
?” Urulani pointed as the first of the dragons banked above the sands, its enormous leathery wings held tight against the air through which it rushed. Sweat was breaking out on her brow. “Do you see the scales? Do you really think we can do any damage to that at this range? We have to wait until it is closer!”

“I think it's already too close,” Ethis shouted, “We've got to retreat through the portal!”

“NO!” Jugar yelled over the tumult of voices around him. “We don't know where the fold leads! It could be a thousand leagues from . . .”

“What does it matter where it leads?” Ethis shouted back. “How can it possibly be worse than this?”

Drakis barely heard the words around him. The song filled his mind and thoughts.

Mala screamed.

The dragon had turned above the sands, pulling at the air so hard that the dunes beneath it exploded upward in billowing, sunset clouds of sand. In an instant, the enormous gaping jaws, with razor-sharp fangs nearly as tall as Drakis, were closing on the platform. The fifty-foot wings of the beast struck down and forward, slowing the monster in mid-flight just short of the platform, the sudden hurricane gust knocking Drakis back two steps. The dragon's great, left fore claws extended down toward him.

It was the eyes that caught his attention, Drakis realized in the last moment. Slit pupils and a terrible yellow color yet focused, determined, alert . . .

Intelligent.

Drakis reached forward with his left hand, transfixed by the eye of the dragon.

The sound of crashing metal brought him out of his stupor. Urulani, Gantau, and Yithri had all charged forward. Their swords and weapons clashed against the open claws, slashing at the leathery flesh of the dragon's palm which soon welled up with blood. Beyond the dragon, Kendai, Djono and Lukrasae had drawn their swords, uncertain how to attack the creature.

“Kendai!” Urulani yelled over the ringing blows as the dragon drew in a great gasping breath. “Get back to the ship! Get help!”

The dragon's cry was deafening, causing everyone on the marble platform to involuntarily raise their hands to their ears. The dragon pulled back, landing with a resounding boom on its hind legs as it clawed at the air in pain and outrage. Its tail whipped frantically about, crashing through one of the statue's claws. Rubble from the broken leg of the statue flew across the platform, slamming into Gantau's chest and smashing him against stone at the back of the platform's statue.

Two more dragons landed with such force around the statue that the platform shook, knocking Drakis and all of his companions completely off their feet. Gantau lay unmoving in a growing pool of blood.

“Do you think we could leave
now
?” Ethis shouted.

“Out!” Drakis screamed as he grabbed Mala's arm once more. “Everybody out through the fold!”

Drakis got his feet under him just as the dragon's head once more thrust down in his direction. He pushed Mala through the glowing sphere and prepared to jump after her . . .

Something connected at his back, rushing him toward the sphere. His hands were pushed backward with the sudden rush and he could feel the smooth, hard and wet surface behind him.

The dragon's fang.

The dragon had lunged at him but misjudged his prey. The massive head was pushing him through the portal, rushing through it with him. Drakis saw the glow of the fold rush past him and he was suddenly surrounded by the broken stones of a ruined plaza and an impression of the astonished faces of his companions.

Just as suddenly, the rushing sensation stopped and he tumbled forward, rolling across the broken stones of the ruined plaza that cut at his arms and legs. The final impact with the ground forced the air from his lungs and he struggled to stand up.

The sight before him was not to be believed. The ancient plaza was illuminated both by the twilight sky above and by the quavering glow of the fold portal. The ruins of the plaza itself had been all but completely reclaimed by the dense, lush growth all around it, shadows illuminated by the fold as the day was ending. The only remaining feature that might have had any recognizable function from a more civilized time was a short altar near the glowing portal, a pair of crumbling low walls along the edges and several broken columns.

But there was no time to consider this vision. Out of the soft radiance of the portal sphere the head and neck of the dragon protruded. The horns of the beast were thrashing back and forth, its jaws snapping at Urulani as she tried desperately to avoid its deadly maw, horns, and the raw power of its attack while striking blows against it at the same time. Jugar was urging the Lyric into the jungle despite her protests. Ethis had also drawn both of his weapons and was attempting to distract the creature. This resulted in one of the dragon's horns connecting with his chest and flinging him with such force into a tree that he seemed to nearly be wrapped backward around its trunk.

“By the gods,” Drakis muttered as he sucked in air and adjusted the grip on his sword. “How are we supposed to deal with that?”

Drakis charged the front of the head, then dodged to the side, trying to strike but the dragon reacted swiftly, knocking Yithri into his path. They tumbled into each other, ending up on their backs desperately scrambling to get up again. He had barely found his footing when he was forced to leap suddenly to his right to avoid one of the many spiked scales protruding from the monstrous snout. There was a strong smell of sulfur in the air that struck Drakis as out of place, but he had no time to think about it.

“Yithri! Kwarae!” Urulani shouted. “Stay over on the right!”

“My right or the dragon's right?” Yithri yelled back.

“Your right, you stupid . . . watch out!”

The dragon was fast, faster than Drakis would have thought possible in a monster its size. Yithri had just leaped toward the beast, his ax raised over his head when the maw of the beast snapped in his direction.

Yithri's scream was quickly choked off as the massive, razor-sharp fangs and teeth plunged through his body. The dragon's head jerked back in distaste, rising up high above the plaza as it pulled in a great breath through its flaring nostrils.

“Take cover!” Jugar yelled just before diving behind the remains of a pillar at the edge of the plaza.

Drakis caught a glimpse of Mala standing shaking in front of a low wall. He leaped, catching her shoulders and pushing her backward over the broken stones.

Drakis felt the blistering heat against his back and saw the flash in his peripheral vision. He could not help himself. He had to look.

The dragon was spewing fire from its upturned maw, a churning conflagration that exploded through the entire large plaza with roiling flames. The center was a brilliant blue color, a place hotter than Drakis had ever known. The strange trees, brush, and foliage encroaching on the far side of the plaza erupted into flame, their own heat adding to the conflagration.

What remained of Yithri lay across the plaza, the stench of burning flesh filling the air.

Drakis stood up.

Mala sat quivering, her knees drawn up to her chest and her back against the wall. “Drakis,” she whimpered. “Stay with . . .”

Drakis stepped over the wall, his sword swinging loose at his side as he walked directly toward the creature.

The eyes of the dragon fixed on him, its spike-crowned head turning at his approach. Drakis was barely aware of Ethis, the four-armed chimerian, running across the plaza toward him with the dwarf Jugar at his heels.

The song in Drakis' head was overwhelming.

The dragon's flame choked off and its eyes focused on Drakis. The head flashed downward.

The fold vanished.

The neck and head of the dragon crashed down onto the shattering stones of the ancient plaza, blood rushing from the cleanly severed neck.

Drakis stood still, blinking at the sudden change of events. The thunderous song in his head had suddenly vanished, leaving him disoriented in the sudden silence of his mind. He glanced uncertainly at his blade.

“Help!”

Drakis looked around.

“Help me out!”

It was the dragon . . . the dragon was speaking a good deal like Jugar.

Drakis walked toward the dragon's head. The eye that had so enthralled him had gone dull now that the creature's life had fled.

“Jugar?” Drakis asked.

“Get this beastie off of me!” the dwarf yelled.

The lower jaws of the dragon lay across the legs of the dwarf, pinning him against the fitted stones of the plaza with the rest of his body unfortunately now situated in what had once been the mouth of the mammoth creature.

Drakis examined him for a few moments. “This is awkward.”

“Awkward?” Jugar yelled, his face purple with rage. “I think the damned monster has broken my leg!”

Drakis looked around, still feeling dazed. Urulani was picking herself up off the stones as Kwarae rose to his feet uncertainly. “Kwarae! Give me a hand here . . . we've got to free the dwarf.”

Ethis came to stand next to Drakis.

“You all right?” Drakis asked in flat tones.

“Yes, I'll be fine,” the chimerian replied. “Although I'm not certain for how long. We had better find some shelter—defensible shelter—and soon. We've already run out of daylight, and I suspect this will not be friendly territory in the night.”

“That should keep anything too curious at bay for a while,” Drakis nodded over toward the still raging fire in the forest at the northern end of the plaza.

“And the smoke will attract them in the morning,” Ethis replied.

“I don't suppose you know the way back to the ship?” Drakis asked though he already suspected the answer.

Ethis actually chuckled as he looked around. “No. The dwarf was right about one thing: that portal could have taken us a thousand leagues in any direction. Jugar might have better luck with knowing where we are by morning—dwarves seem to have an innate talent for that sort of thing—but if you're asking my opinion, I believe we're lost in a land of legend . . . and a dangerous one at that.”

“You're all the crew I have left to me,” Urulani looked at Kwarae. “Stay close.”

“Y
OU
WHAT
?” THE DWARF SHOUTED, his body shaking with rage.

“I closed the portal,” Ethis repeated calmly. “You were running toward the pedestal, too. I thought that was what you were trying to do as well.”

“What I was . . . I was trying to get Drakis out of the way of that fell beast before he got himself eaten,” Jugar sputtered. He sat with his back propped against the wall near where the thick forest was still burning, the fire luckily blazing up along a hillside and away from the plaza. “The
last
thing I wanted was to close that portal!”

Drakis stood over the dwarf with his hands on his hips. Urulani's gaze searched the perimeter of the small, shattered plaza. Mala kept apart from all of them, pacing listlessly back and forth.

Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, Urulani knelt next to the dwarf, examining his leg with a critical eye. “It's definitely broken. We'll need to set it and splint the leg if it's going to heal properly.”

“I do not see why you are so upset,” Ethis said, raising his expressionless face slightly as he crossed both sets of his arms across his chest. “Our efforts were not gaining us much success against the dragon. Closing the portal seems to have been quite effective.”

“It was our only way back home!” Jugar wailed. “I would certainly beg pardon for upsetting the sensibilities of our fine ladies present . . .”

Urulani glanced around in mock surprise. Drakis allowed himself a veiled smile. The “ladies” present consisted of a traitorous House slave, a madwoman who changed her identity more often than her clothing and the warrior captain herself. The idea that the dwarf should be worried about the “finer sensibilities” of these three apparently amused Urulani.

“. . . But thanks to you we are now deep in the stew, as the dwarven mothers like to say. You see those peaks to the south?”

Drakis was having a hard time seeing anything to the south or in any other direction through all the smoke and the brightness of the burning trees to the north.

“Those are the same mountains where these infernal dragons flew at us from the
north
,” the dwarf continued. “We're on the other side of them.”

“So you're saying that this portal
did
take us thousands of leagues out of our way?” Ethis' chimerian face betrayed nothing but Drakis detected an edge of goading in his voice.