Claws of the Dragon (3 page)

CHAPTER 5

A hornless white dragon with gold flecks in its scales soared over the grasslands. It was an Ivory Slider more than fifteen feet long with beautiful wings and a very long tail. More graceful than an eagle, she glided from side to side in the air. Her long eyelashes blinked.

Ahead, a flock of wurmers dropped from the clouds and dove right for her.

Outnumbered and seeing the fire in their eyes, she turned and headed back in the direction she had come from.

“Oh no,” she said in Dragonese.

Wurmers dropped from the clouds all over by the dozens.

Flapping her wings, she cut through the air, belly skimming the tall highland grasses.

Behind her, hungry shrieks howled out in pursuit.

She was fast, very fast. The Ivory Sliders were the messengers of Dragon Home. They cut through air like a knife through butter, and not many dragons could catch them other than the Blue Razors. Beating her streamlined body through the wind, she began to outdistance her pursuers.

Ahead, she saw a series of mountains with winding crevasses and ravines that would be the perfect place to lose them. Making a beeline for the rocky cliffs, she soared higher.

A spitball of fire whizzed by her ear. The wurmers were shooting balls of energy at her.

Head turned around, she barrel rolled and evaded.

Above her, another wave of wurmers dropped from the greying clouds and blanketed the sky. Balls of flame like tiny meteors showered her from above, singeing wing and scale.

Just as she turned to find a path of escape, a rock bigger than her head slammed into her chest. Spinning out of control, she crashed to the ground with balls of fire peppering her body, and she let out a tremendous roar that split the air.

The wurmers were scattered by the sonic wave of energy. They became disoriented and fell from the sky. Still more came.

The Ivory Slider let out another mystic roar, shattering the air. She shook off the flames and spread her wings once more.

One by one, wurmer after wurmer slammed into her and drove her to the ground. Jaws with sharp, jagged teeth bit into her legs.

She fought with all of her strength, thrashing and biting, but before long, her limbs gave out under the sheer weight of her growing foes. She let out a weak sonic sigh that flattened the grasses and stopped at a pair of massive feet. Pinned down, she still managed to lift her chin. Her eyes flashed.

A giant!

Dragons hated giants, and giants hated dragons. It always had been and always would be. But the wars between them had been quiet for centuries.

And here was one before her, almost twenty feet tall. A towering figure of brawn and muscle, covered in thick hair. But unlike the giants she’d known, this one was different. His entire head was covered in flame. In his mighty grip was a sling big enough to hurl a sheep.

Lizardmen appeared behind the giant with heavy robes in their hands.

She hissed at them.

They bound her up.

The flame giant’s necklace of dragon bones shook when he spoke. “BRING HER,” he said in a voice as deep as a canyon.

The Ivory Slider was dragged by the lizardmen over the grasses and into the belly of the mountain, where they marched until they stood on the edge of a small ravine. A pair of horned dragon skulls were on spikes that guarded the carved stone steps that led down.

“Take a long look,” said the flame giant, pointing into the ravine.

Her nostrils flared. Her neck recoiled. The stench of death and decay was strong. But it was familiar too. Lifting her head, she peered down into the ravine. Her jaw dropped open. Her stomach turned to knots.
Nooooo!
  

Down there, dragons lay dead in the brush and trees. Scales of many colors. Copper. Blue. Red. White. Yellow. Green. Their bodies were broken. Wings busted. Horns shattered. Even a massive Bull Dragon was down there.

She turned her fear-filled gaze toward the giant.

Head aflame, he said, “Fear not. You will be spared, messenger. What you have seen, report in every detail to Balzurth of Dragon Home. Tell him Eckubahn sent you.”

Trembling, she nodded.

The giant wagged his finger in her face. “You will not fly.” He slid out a dagger that was too small for his belt and dropped it point first in the ground. It was carved from a dragon’s tooth, and it glimmered with enchantment. “You will walk. Lizards, cut off her wings.”

CHAPTER 6

“Selene, you can’t go.” Nath laid his hands on her shoulders. 

She rested her palms on his hands, and with tear-filled eyes she looked deeply into his. “Sasha is right. I’m behind much of this. These people should kill me. I would if I were them.”

“Don’t say that, Selene. It’s not true.”

“It is true. Every last bit of it.” She slipped out of his hands and stood on the edge of the porch beside the wooden post that held the ceiling. “I’ve been walking through the streets and listening to the conversations of men, women, children. You know, I never cared one lick for any of them before. They were rodents. No, not even that. They were bugs to be squished under my scales. Vermin to be chewed away at Gorn Grattack’s order.” She made a deep frown. “I hated them for their laughter. Happiness. I wanted to destroy it all. I still envy them.”

“Selene,” he said, looking at the sadness growing in her face. “Everyone can change. You proved that. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“What a jest, Nath. I’m sorry to be ugly, but I should be tried for my crimes.”

Nath snuck up to her and tried to cover her mouth.

She slipped away.

He said in a harsh whisper, “Keep your voice down, will you? If someone were to hear you, it might just come true. There are tribunals, you know.”

“I can’t just wish my past away, Nath. What happens when people figure out who I am, hmmm? Do you think all of them will forgive me? Think of Sasha. She’s a sweet and reasonable person, but she wants my head on a platter.”

“No, she doesn’t. Well, not on a platter anyway. Maybe mounted on the wall.”

She glared at him.

“Er, it’s a jest.” He combed his hair out of his eyes and fell silent. As a stiff wind blew through the streets and stirred up tiny dust devils, his mind dove deeper into thought. Selene had made a good point. The world would not forgive her the same as he had. All over Nalzambor, grudges were still held that were centuries old. And now, it didn’t seem fair that like him, she would have to walk the world as a human, knowing so many hated her. “Why don’t we walk together?”

“No.” She faced him. “Nath, I’m leaving.”

A spark of anger flashed in his golden eyes. “I need you, Selene. We are in this together. To the end. You can’t just go it alone!”

“Don’t get testy. I’m not abandoning you or the cause, but I am getting out of this city. It makes me ashamed of all I have done. So many I have hurt. People I don’t know. Family, friends, destroyed. Don’t you see, Nath? Don’t you see what I’ve done?” She pointed at some memory banners rustling in the wind that adorned many windows. “That’s because of me. I really and truly wanted each and every one of these people dead! How and why,” she said, exasperated, “could anyone ever trust me?”

“I trust you, Selene. You have to believe that. You saved me, and we stopped Gorn. If
you
hadn’t done what you did, all of Nalzambor would have fallen.” He stepped by her side. “You have to forgive yourself. And at least you care now.”

“Yes, I do.” She nodded. “And I’m not liking that so much either. Helping people is so … foreign to me.”

“But it’s rewarding.”

“We’ll see. I’m going north. To the high mountains. I think there might be a nest of wurmers there. I’ll stay in touch. You find out what Bayzog suggests, and maybe we can rendezvous there, say, in a week or two. Goodbye, Nath.” She kissed his cheek and disappeared into the dark streets.

Don’t leave.

Nath’s heart sank. Every time she left, he couldn’t help but wonder if he would ever see her again.

Please.

A few moments later, Ben stepped out on the porch. He had a turkey leg in one hand. Looking into Nath’s face, he said, “Now what? I thought I had you charged up. Now you look like Brenwar would look if someone shaved his beard off.”

Nath made a sour face. “I sure wouldn’t want to see that. No, Selene just swung by and departed.”

Ben nodded his grizzled chin. “I see. And that upsets you because you are so fond of her.”

“No.”

“Aw, I know you better than that, Dragon.” Ben tickled Nath’s ribs. “You want her for a bride, don’t you?”

“How much ale have you had?”

“Oh, I’m more of a cider man these days. The ale’s too hard on my gut. So tell me, why did she leave?”

“Guilt.”

Ben stroked the rim of his moustache. “I see.”

“Can I ask you something, Ben?”

“Sure, you can ask me anything.”

“Do you have any resentment toward her? After all, she did lead the war that killed an awful lot of people.”

“Hmmm, you know, I really haven’t given it that much thought. As a soldier I learned that life is full of losses, and you have to move on. It’s full of many blessings too. I just keep marching forward. I can’t let the past slow me down.”

“But your family, Ben. You lost all of them because of Barnabus.”

“True, and I miss them every day. But I don’t blame the likes of Selene, but I do think …” Ben’s voice trailed off.

“Think what, Ben?”

He slapped his big hand on Nath’s shoulder. “Nothing. If you’ve forgiven her, I’ve forgiven her too.”

Nath eyed him. “No, you were going to say something else. What was it?”

Ben shrugged. “I do think, if justice is to be served, it will catch up with her.”

CHAPTER 7

Nath stood far outside of Quintuklen’s walls inside the valley full of stone markers. They were graves, thousands of them in rows as far as the non-dragon eye could see. Over the past couple of days he’d lain low, stayed out of the city, and begun noting each and every one of the markers.

He scraped some debris from one of the stones and revealed a familiar name. His eyes teared up. It was Ben’s wife’s marker, and beside it were two more, Ben’s son and daughter. Nath’s heart sank. Three names among thousands. He thought about all of the people who had suffered like Ben had. Men and women. Mothers and fathers. Not all of them could move on. Not when they had lost people they loved so much.

How many more must die for the sake of evil?

Clenching his fist, he rose up and walked a few miles, lost in thought. Eyes searching, he found something he was looking for. Wildflowers. He plucked some out of the ground and filled up his hands with three colorful bouquets. He marched back to the graveyard, set the flowers on the stones of Ben’s family, then started the long walk back to the city.

It was mid-morning, and the laborers were hard at work under a hot sun. Hammers pecked and chiseled. Foremen shouted orders. Pulleys squeaked. Large loads of materials rolled down the main roads on huge wagons pulled by teams of horses. And there was a liveliness about the men. Some of them were whistling, even singing.

Nath pulled back his shoulders a little. Walked a little taller.

Their spirits aren’t broken, so why are mine?

There was nothing like seeing men and women working together with such purpose. It kept their minds off the past. And that was a good thing. They could look forward to the future, and Nath wanted to make sure that future was a bright one.

Making his way through the maze of walls that surrounded the fallen city, he spied a woman on top of one of the ways, waving her arms at him. It was Sasha. She was in a pale-yellow gown, trimmed in flowers. Her platinum hair was pinned up with a fine silver comb. He jogged toward her. She came rushing down the steps to greet him.

“Nath! Where have you been?” Sasha threw her arms around him and held him tight. “I’ve missed you.”

“Uh, I’ve just been wandering and waiting for Bayzog to call on me.” He lifted her off her feet in a hug. “You seem well.”

“Well? Why wouldn’t I be?” She slipped off of him, took his hand in hers, and led him back into the city like a little child. “Come on, let’s get back home and see Bayzog.”

He followed her lead, but it wasn’t long before he felt long stares and eyes on him. Nath had done little to conceal his ebony-scaled arms. They were mostly bare under the tunic that he wore. And it didn’t help that his great height and flame-red hair were far from ordinary. A small group of children slipped in behind him with giggles. He turned to look at them, and they scattered.

Oh no, here we go again.

“Come on. Come on,” Sasha said, prodding him along.

Once again the children fell in step behind him. He ignored them. Focused on the others he passed who stared at him. One man, a burly fellow with a limp, nodded a greeting at him. So did the woman behind him, and she smiled. He nodded back.

“Hail Dragon Slayer, welcome!” said a bricklayer on top of a catwalk, waving a navy knit cap like a banner. “Hail!”

Nath waved.

That’s odd, them calling me a dragon slayer.
Of course, they probably don’t know the difference between the wurmers and a real dragon.

“Dragon slayer!” another man cried out. It was followed by another and another, and before Nath knew what was going on, people were filling the streets and shouting encouraging words to him.

“See, Nath?” Sasha said, rubbing his arm. “They embrace you now. You are their hero. You are my hero as well.”

Arm high, Nath waved and nodded in return to the folks who watched his small parade.

Now this is more like it.

The streets thickened with people, happy faces one and all. Children were on men’s shoulders.

“This is almost embarrassing.”

“Hah,” she laughed. “Not for you. No, your name has spread, Nath. In the good spirit that it should.”

But as the people chanted ‘Dragon Slayer!’ over and over again, a dark memory crossed through Nath’s mind. Of his time in Narnum, when the people had crowned him the Champion after he defeated Selene’s war cleric, Kryzak. A dark and shameful time.

He didn’t like the association, not one bit. It was contradictory and perverted to him. And this parade he had unintentionally created was growing behind him. A few dozen people at least.

“We need to end this, Sasha.”

She looked at him. “Why? It’s delightful.” She started waving her hand. “Enjoy the moment, Nath Dragon.”

He played along for another block as he studied Sasha. There was something odd about her. She wasn’t one to get caught up in moments like this. Though she wasn’t quiet, she was reserved.

“So Sasha, you are no longer angry?”

“Angry?” she said, looking at him somewhat aghast. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“Last time I saw you, you were fighting with Bayzog.”

“Bayzog and I never fight.”

“Well, maybe I’m not putting this right. But you were very upset with Selene. Are you over that now? I can’t imagine you would be.”

Still walking and with a confused look on her face, Sasha said, “Where is Selene? I would like to see her.”

“She left.”

“Why would she do that? I’d love to see her.”

“You would?”

“Of course I would,” she said cheerfully.

Either I’m lost, or I really don’t understand women.

Nath then said, “But you had some very choice words with her. Are you not still angry?”

Suddenly, Sasha whirled. Anger filled her eyes. “Nath Dragon, quit playing games! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”