Fablehaven: The Complete Series (189 page)

“What do we do?” Tanu asked.

Gavin laughed grimly. “We give up. There is no way past Siletta. I couldn’t conceive of a better guardian. Even if you held the horn to protect yourself from the poison in the air, she’s still a dragon, with teeth and claws and a majestic aura of terror. She saw me. She’s ready for us. Besides, who knows how long the unicorn horn would protect you? All magical items have limitations. Siletta is a living fountainhead of the most potent venoms ever known.”

“We’re pinned between a hydra and a poison dragon,” Dougan muttered.

“We need to figure this out,” Trask said. “She could emerge at any moment.”

“I’ll take care of her,” Seth said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tanu replied.

Seth scowled at the dismissal. “I’m not. I have a plan. I’ll need Kendra.”

“What do you mean?” Trask asked.

“We won’t use the horn just to keep us alive while we fight Siletta,” Seth said. “We’ll use the horn to kill Siletta.”

“How so?” Kendra asked.

“When Graulas was helping me get the horn, I suspected that he wanted it for himself. But then he told me that his diseases had become so much a part of him that curing them would probably kill him. If this dragon has poison blood and poison flesh, wouldn’t the horn kill her?”

“Maybe,” Gavin said thoughtfully. “But I doubt the horn contains enough energy to counteract so much poison. Unicorns possess tremendous purity, but we have no unicorn, just an old horn. You’d be pitting the power of a discarded horn against a live dragon.”

“We have Kendra,” Seth argued. “She’s like a battery full of magical energy. If she holds the horn, she’ll keep it charged. And of course I’ll have to go with her or the dragon terror will freeze her.”

The adults exchanged glances.

“It might work,” Gavin admitted.

“They’re children,” Trask objected.

“Children or not,” Tanu vouched, “they’ve done some astounding things.”

“Let me take the horn,” Gavin volunteered. “It might have enough potency to d-d-defeat the dragon without jeopardizing Kendra.”

“No,” Kendra said, her voice quavering. “If anyone should use the horn, it should be me. Seth is right. We can’t risk the horn running out of energy. We’ll only get one shot at this.”

“I’ll not have children sticking their necks out for me,” Dougan said. “Neither of them are even supposed to be here. Kendra should be back at the keep, and Seth should be at Fablehaven. We can’t risk losing Gavin. We need him as our ambassador to the dragons. If Tanu can bolster me against the dragon terror with a potion, I’ll do it.”

“Let me take this risk,” Mara said. “I’m quick. I’m nimble. And I’m a dragon tamer.”

“What about Mendigo?” Tanu proposed. “The puppet won’t react to the poison. And he’s uncannily agile.”

“Mendigo could come with us,” Seth said. “You know, as backup. But Kendra has to be there to make sure the horn stays energized. We all know it probably won’t have enough power otherwise. And I have to be there for Kendra to be there.”

“You just want to kill a dragon,” Kendra accused.

Seth fought to stifle a guilty smile. “Maybe a little. But mostly I want to get that key and go home.”

“Do you really think you can do this?” Trask asked, eyes flicking back and forth from Seth to Kendra. “The dragon won’t sit still and let you touch her. If her poison doesn’t take you out, you’ll probably be clawed to death or eaten.”

“I should carry a bag of dragonsbane,” Seth said. “In case she swallows me.”

Gavin shook his head. “Siletta is composed of poison. I wouldn’t count on dragonsbane to do more than amuse her.”

“We can pull this off,” Kendra said stoutly. “Mendigo will have orders that if we fail, he’s to pick up the horn and hold it against the dragon. This is easily our best chance. Since I want to live, that means I should do this. It needs to be me. It isn’t as if Seth and I would be much safer waiting here while somebody else tries to fix the problem. Everything depends on this.”

“We won’t blow it,” Seth promised.

“They make a solid argument,” Trask said. “Objections?”

Gavin sighed. “If we mean to keep going forward, it’s our best bet.”

“If we try to retreat, Siletta may follow,” Mara warned.

“They’re so young,” Dougan protested weakly.

“All right,” Trask said. “Do it.”

“At the top of the stairs you’ll see a tremendous room with pillars throughout,” Gavin described. “Use the pillars as obstructions to keep the dragon from leaping at you easily. When you make your move, go in hard and fast. Keep hold of each other.”

“I have handcuffs in the knapsack,” Tanu said. “Should we cuff them together?”

“Yes,” Seth and Kendra answered at the same time.

Tanu climbed down into the storage room. Gavin handed Kendra the unicorn horn. Pulling Mendigo aside, Trask handed the puppet a sword and a flashlight.

“Mendigo,” Trask began, “you will enter the temple ahead of Kendra and Seth. Tanu will give you four smoke bulbs. You will smash them in different parts of the room. You will stay in motion, cavorting around the room, but keeping the flashlight on the eyes of the dragon. As needed, you will use the sword to defend Kendra and Seth. Should they get killed or otherwise lose the horn, you will retrieve the horn and hold it against the dragon. Understood?”

Mendigo nodded.

Tanu emerged from the knapsack. “We’ll put the horn in Kendra’s right hand,” Tanu said, cuffing Kendra’s right wrist to Seth’s left one.

“To avoid being poisoned, you’ll both need to keep in constant contact with the horn as well as each other,” Gavin said. He adjusted their grip until he was satisfied. Seth ended up holding the horn a little higher than Kendra, with his hand overlapping hers.

“My good hand is free,” Seth said. “Should I bring my sword?”

“No,” Trask said. “If you get close enough to use a sword, you’ll need to be using the horn. But you could bring your crossbow.”

Gavin gave Seth the weapon.

“Don’t dwell on the crossbow,” Dougan cautioned. “The horn is everything.”

“Right,” Seth agreed.

“Off you go,” Trask said.

“Good luck,” Tanu added.

“Come on,” Seth urged, tugging Kendra forward.

“Settle down,” Kendra complained.

Mendigo trotted ahead, reaching the stairs and bounding up them fluidly. Kendra glanced at Seth. “Don’t stress,” he said with a smile. “No matter how big the dragon is, all we have to do is touch her.”

“Before she touches us with her claws or teeth,” Kendra amended.

“Right. And we had better hope the horn works quickly.”

Kendra’s hand felt damp to Seth. Was it his perspiration or hers? Wouldn’t that be wonderful if the horn slipped from her grasp? He and his sister would die blue, handcuffed together.

They started up the large steps. The bronze dragons glared down from above. As Kendra and Seth cleared the highest steps, the room came into view. Glowing stones in the walls and ceiling provided dull light. Smoke billowed inside the vast chamber where Mendigo had shattered bulbs. The left and right sides of the room were forests of wide pillars, with a spacious central aisle leading to a distant doorway.

Most of the way across the room, the dragon crouched among the leftmost pillars. Mendigo pranced along a good distance away from Siletta, keeping a bright flashlight trained on the dragon, the beam interrupted at intervals when blocked by columns. Lacking visible scales, Siletta looked like a giant salamander with translucent skin. Networks of dark blue veins tangled with purple and green organs. Large enough to swallow a car, her wide mouth contained multiple rows of slim, pale teeth, sharp and slightly curved.

In a flurry of motion, the dragon scurried toward Mendigo, long body lashing. The puppet danced away from the attack. Only now that Siletta had moved closer to a luminous stone did Kendra notice her incredible length, the elongated body supported by at least ten sets of legs.

Seth led the way to the nearest pillar on the left side of the room.

“I see you two,” the dragon hissed in a voice like fierce, overlapping whispers. “Did you send this ludicrous puppet to pester me?”

Kendra shook her head at Seth, warning him not to answer.

“We’re here on vacation,” Seth yelled. “We’re touring the world’s weirdest dragons. The puppet is our guide. Do you charge for photos?”

Tugging Kendra forward, Seth ran ahead to another pillar. As they dashed across the open space, Kendra saw the dragon slinking toward them.

“Why aren’t you choking?” Siletta asked.

“We’re not in the mood,” Seth replied. “We were wondering if you could give us directions to a dragon named Glommus. All we could find was a big stupid gray dragon with its head chopped off.”

Siletta gave a rattling snarl. A purple fog filled the air. The particles smoked when they touched Kendra’s skin. Again, Seth led the way as they ran to the next pillar. Squinting through the purple haze, Kendra could barely make out the dragon crouched only two pillars away.

“What counter spell are you using?” Siletta accused.

Seth peeked around the pillar, raised his crossbow, and fired.

The dragon roared. They could hear her scuttling toward them. Peering around the pillar, Kendra saw that instead of coming straight at them, the dragon was looping around to a neighboring pillar.

Seth and Kendra adjusted to keep their pillar between themselves and the dragon. “Stop slinking around,” Siletta hissed, her voice thick with irritation.

“We’ll stop hiding when you stop being poisonous,” Seth called. “Seems like you’re the one stalling. Come on out so we can get our photo and go home.”

They heard Mendigo jingling nearby, then the great head of the dragon came around the side of the pillar not ten feet away. Kendra had heard no hint of Siletta’s stealthy approach. Apparently the dragon could move silently when it suited her. The huge mouth opened and a geyser of warm sludge sent them sprawling backwards. Kendra clung desperately to Seth and the horn as they fell. The tarlike substance spat and sizzled, vaporizing off of their skin and clothes. Kendra used her free hand to wipe the sludge away from her eyes as Seth hauled her to her feet.

Sword in hand, Mendigo was hacking at the dragon just behind the head. Twisting and snapping, Siletta trapped the limberjack in her mouth, leaving only the wooden legs hanging out.

Holding the horn out in front of them, Kendra and Seth charged. The mouth opened again, regurgitating more inky liquid. Mendigo flopped out onto the floor, but this time there was not as much pressure behind the foul outpouring. Keeping their footing, Kendra and Seth sloshed forward, the horn outstretched, reaching for the dragon’s snout.

As the tip of the horn drew near, Siletta reared away. They charged her, but her long body flexed and twisted away from them. Dozens of squishy, webbed feet backpedaled. Even as the front half of her sinuous body curved out of reach, her tail swung around and whipped Kendra and Seth across the ankles, sweeping their feet out from under them. They hit the floor hard.

“Now I see,” Siletta hissed angrily. “Yes, yes, the wicked children brought a nasty thorn to prick me.”

Rising together, Kendra and Seth chased the retreating tail. The front of Siletta went behind a fat pillar up ahead and seemed to disappear, her tail the last part of her to vanish. Heedless of the danger, Kendra and Seth raced toward the dragon, coming around the pillar in time to see that Siletta had been climbing the far side. Her head and front legs had already reached the top and started across the ceiling. Leaping forward, Kendra and Seth raised the unicorn horn and pressed it to the end of the dragon’s tail just before it rose out of reach.

The tail froze and went rigid. Kendra heard a wet, tearing sound. Looking up, she saw splayed feet peeling away from the wall. The dragon was starting to fall! Breaking contact with the tail, Kendra yanked Seth sideways. They lunged to the other side of the pillar as Siletta slapped heavily to the floor. Coming back around, they found her flapping and flailing. Pouncing toward her rear section, they stabbed the horn against her gummy body.

The writhing stopped. Siletta held very still. The horn grew hot in Kendra’s hand. As the dragon began to vibrate, the horn became scorching, but Kendra and Seth kept it firmly in contact with the dragon, even after her legs went limp and her head drooped to the floor. Underneath the translucent skin, the black lines of her veins spread into inky clouds. The strangely visible organs lost their shape and blurred together. Her insides began to boil, and her skin split open, emitting rank plumes of the deepest blues and purples.

Kendra covered her mouth with her free hand and pushed the unicorn horn against the dragon. As Siletta started to shrink and wither, she and Seth adjusted to keep the horn in direct contact. After a few moments, they held the horn against a dry, shriveled husk not a tenth of the dragon’s previous size. After Siletta had remained brittle and motionless for a long minute, with no new vapors steaming out of her, Seth said, “I think we’re good.”