Flight of the Dragon (The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 2, Book 5 of 10) (Tail of the Dragon) (15 page)

“Father! Father!” Nath cried out. The message his father had sent confused him.

What’s going on?

For a moment of the fleetest sort, he and his father had been connected, mind to mind. He had felt Balzurth’s fury and rage building. Had sensed the deep love within his father too. There had been that final command from father to son, and then the connection had just gone.

Nath barked an order. “Dive, Waark! Dive!”

Narnum rested in their path, only seconds away now. He’d be in time to help his father win the battle. But Selene was in danger? Where was she?

The dragons scattered in the air in all directions.

The wurmers gave chase.

Nath’s keen dragon eyes zeroed in on the battleground. The arena of the Contest of Champions. More than half of the arena’s stonework stands were nothing but dust and rubble. Thousands of bodies of giants, dragons, and wurmers lay still, but many others still battled. In the middle of it all, his grand and glorious father Balzurth had the titan held fast to the ground.

Nath pumped his fist. “Yes, Father! Yes!” Balzurth had Eckubahn right where he wanted him: in an unbreakable death grip. His father’s plan had worked.

I should have known!

“End it, Father! End it!”

Wurmers came at him like bats bursting from a cave.

Waark plowed through them.

The wurmers cracked against his mighty frame. They spiraled toward the ground with their wings busted.

“Go, Waark! Go!”

Scanning the ground with the winds ripping at his face, Nath caught a glimpse of another battle. Another titan stormed toward Balzurth with a monster-sized spear. A woman hung onto the shaft. The ugly ponytailed titan plucked the female from the shaft and slung her hard onto the ground.

“Selene!” Nath cried out.

The titan lifted the spear over its head.

“Waark!” Nath ordered. “Attack! Now!”

The bull dragon shifted direction the slightest bit, maneuvering away from Balzurth and toward his and Selene’s attacker.

Now I know what Father meant. But I want to help him.

Nath caught a glimpse of his father’s grand breastplate turning the color of flame. Time stopped around him. In his mind, he got it. He understood.

Waark plowed into the spear-wielding titan, knocking it flat on the ground.

Nath hopped off Waark’s back, rushed over to Selene, and picked her up in his arms. “Selene, Selene!”

Blinking, she said, “Nath?” She wheezed, coughed, and shook her head.

Sansla Libor landed by his side.

A wurmer rushed in.

Sansla cracked its skull with his fist.

“We must go!” Nath said. He ran toward Waark carrying Selene, Sansla with him. “Father is going to turn this place into an inside-out volcano!”

“Understood.” Sansla gave a nod and leapt into the air, flying away.

With Selene in his arms, Nath climbed back up onto the bull dragon’s back. “Go, Waark! Go!” It ripped him up inside, not rushing to his father’s aid. He wanted to help with the victory. But he understood what his father was doing. And he needed to obey.

Finish him, Father! Finish him so I can celebrate with you!

The bull dragon lifted them into the sky.

Selene came to her senses. “What are you doing? Let me go, Nath! Let me go!” She fought in his arms.

With great effort, he held her fast, saying, “My, you’ve gotten stronger. Now stop squirming, will you? My father’s victory is at hand. Watch it unfold. But you might want to shield your eyes.”

“No, Nath, no!” Her eyes were filled with terror. They got bigger the higher they went. “You don’t understand. It’s a trap! The titan has the spear!”

“No spear can pierce my father’s hide.”

“That’s no ordinary spear. That’s the Spear of Barnabus!”

Nath watched the titan pick up from the ground the huge spear that had fallen from its grip. The titan resumed its march on Balzurth’s exposed back.

It all came together. The doubt that had been pushing at his mind blossomed. Eckubahn was ready. The vile monster was ready for anything.

Nath slapped Waark on the neck. “Down! Down!”

Fire erupted from Balzurth’s mouth, filling the arena with blinding, white-hot flames.

Balzurth loosed all of his power.

BOOOOOM!

His fury. His fire. Wave after wave of orange, yellow, blue, and green flames blasted from his mouth. The fires pounded into Eckubahn. A blast wave of his raw power tore through the arena, shattering the stonework and beyond. The closest surrounding buildings of Narnum collapsed. Everything the mighty dragon’s breath touched caught fire. It spread. The wicked turned to ash.

Eckubahn screamed, writhed, and howled. The flames exposed everything he was and the harm he meant to bring on others like those who already suffered a thousandfold. The flesh of the giant body he inhabited flecked away like paper, burning in Balzurth’s fire.

The titan’s spirit fought against the flames consuming it. It clawed and squealed, trying to tear away from the inescapable fires.

“Mercy, Balzurth! Mercy!”

The flames kept coming.

“I will do anything! Anything!”

The endless stream of unbridled disintegrating heat did not slow. Balzurth would not let up. He had to destroy the evil spirit once and for all. “You still spin lies in your last moment of life. You lived a liar, you’ll die a liar, forever.”

Eckubahn swam in the flames. Separating from the body, the titan’s spirit bucked and flailed. Its energy crested over the fire only to be pulled down again. Eckubahn shrank in his futile struggles.

Sensing the end, Balzurth huffed out the final gust where his flames were hottest.

In the very back of his mind, he heard someone yell, “Watch your back, Balzurth! Watch your baaaaaaaa…..”

The Spear of Barnabus pierced Balzurth’s scales and bore right through his heart.

His fire extinguished.

Only his last cry remained.

The blinding brightness cleared. Nath could see the battle of a lifetime unfold. His father’s fire destroyed everything but the titans. Isobahn dropped to a knee on the shaking ground, but in a moment the titan was back on his feet, poised to strike.

Eckubahn fought against the dragon flame but could not overcome it. The titan was like a man drowning in a storming sea. Doomed.

With the artifact over his head, Isobahn drove the Spear of Barnabus right through Balzurth’s heart.

Nath clutched his head again and screamed. “Nooooooooo!”

Balzurth’s flames turned from fire to the fury of sound.

“MAAAAAAAAAROOOOOOOOOHHHHH!”

The Dragon King’s voice sent shock waves through all of Narnum. Its tallest tower cracked in half. It toppled. Five hundred feet of stone crashed on top of the city.

“Get down there! Get down there!” Nath ordered Waark. He pumped his finger at the ground.

Face white as a sheet in his arms, Selene said, “He’s gone, Nath. He’s gone. We must go.”

The wurmers thickened in the sky.

Nath could barely see the ground beneath them. The last thing he saw was his father’s body. The Dragon King lay still, surrounded by smoke and flames for a grave.

Nath jumped off Waark.

“Nath!” Selene yelled.

He sailed toward the ground like a falling meteor, hair billowing over his shoulders like the meteor’s tail.

The ground rushed up to meet him.

A wurmer glided into his path, jaws wide.

Fang out, he split the beast in half. Still falling, he saw more wurmers coming after him.

Sansla Libor swooped in. The roamer king caught him under his arms and bore him away. Slivver flew nearby. The silver dragon and his host battled away the wurmers.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Nath screamed and kicked. Tears streaked down his face. “Release me!”

“I am sorry for your father, Nath,” Sansla said. “But you are the Dragon King now. Take it from one king to another. You must be protected. The world still has hope so long as it has you. We can’t lose you too.” Sansla dropped him back onto Waark’s back and then joined a regiment of dragons to fight off the wurmers.

Waark flew on. The distance between them and the enemy lengthened.

Now Selene held Nath in her arms.

Head down, Nath sobbed and sobbed.

Eckubahn breathed. The titan’s spirit remained in the same body it had been hosted in. He stood, a mountain of a person, more skeleton than flesh. He peeled off the smoking skin from his forearm and flicked it aside. His eyes burned with deep orange flames. He faced Isobahn.

The brother titan glowered down at Balzurth’s dragon body. All of the hair was burned from the titan’s body. Boils covered his skin.

“That was close,” Eckubahn said.

Isobahn nodded.

Eckubahn took a knee in front of Balzurth’s face. By the horns, he turned the Dragon King’s eyes toward him. “Finally, my greatest enemy has fallen. I told you that you had a blind spot. The sacrifice you made for a woman. Compassion. Mercy.” He spat. “For weaklings.” He eyed the spear. “Make sure he’s dead.”

Isobahn took the spear in hand, set his foot against Balzurth’s body, and gave it a twist. The dragon body didn’t move. The titan yanked out the spear. With a grin, he said, “We did it.” Spear high, he shouted. “WE DID IT! WE KILLED BALZURTH!” He pounded his smoldering chest.

Only the wurmers were gathered. All that remained of the others were dead piles of ash and bone.

Still talking to Balzurth, Eckubahn said, “And you called me a liar. Well, I didn’t lie about everything. I told you to watch your back, didn’t I?” He stood, grabbed the Spear of Barnabus from Isobahn, and stabbed Balzurth himself. “Didn’t I!”

Sharing a saddle behind Sasha, Bayzog the elven wizard swooned and fell from his mount.

Sasha jumped off the horse. “Bayzog!” She grabbed him up in her arms. His limbs trembled.

Birds scattered in the trees. Vermin darted back and forth. The horses whinnied and nickered.

“Bayzog, what is it?” Sasha said.

A dragon’s roar, like a spirit, ruffled the leaves with a wind of its own.

Dismounting, Ben’s nape hairs stood on end. Sadness filled him.

Bayzog’s violet eyes moistened.

Sasha started crying. “Oh my, oh my,” she said. Her chin quivered. “What happened? What happened? Is Nath all right?”

“I did not foresee this. Who could have?” Bayzog cradled the Elderwood Staff in his arms. He closed his eyes. A tear dripped down his chin and fell to the ground. Mystic words formed on his lips for several minutes. The clouds darkened, and Ben didn’t feel it was because of Bayzog but something else. A buzzing
ree-rah, ree-rah
sound permeated his ears. It became louder. Covering his ears, he watched above.

A flock of wurmers soared overhead, heading south.

In a loud voice, Ben said, “That’s not good! Not good at all!”

Sasha shook her head. Her hands were on Bayzog’s. “I don’t like this.”

The wurmers passed.

Ben’s hands fell from his ears.

Bayzog’s murmurings stopped, and he spoke once more in Common. “He’s gone. He’s gone.”

“Who’s gone?” Ben demanded. His blood rushed through his ears. All he could think of was Dragon. “Is it Dragon? Tell me it’s not Dragon!”

Bayzog’s spacey violet stare cleared. “No, it’s not Nath.” The wizard’s shoulders sagged as the truth became too much to bear. “It’s Balzurth. The Dragon King has fallen to the titans.”

Sasha gasped.

Ben fell back on his haunches. “Impossible,” he whispered. “That’s impossible, isn’t it?”

“Death is the enemy of all who live, even Balzurth.”

Sasha began crying uncontrollably. She babbled. “It’s my fault. It’s my fault. I know it. He lifted my curse and took it upon himself. It weakened him. It must have.” She clutched clumps of grass and ripped them from the ground. “I did this. I did this.”

Setting the staff aside, Bayzog hugged her from behind. Holding her fast, he said, “Balzurth was wise. He would not have done something without knowing the consequences. This is not your fault, Sasha. Do not think of it like that. What he gave you is a gift. Accept it. Enjoy it. Live right by it.”

Shuddering, she said, “I didn’t deserve it.”

Ben took her hand in his. He rubbed her palm with his thumb and said, “Sasha, just like Nath, Balzurth would have done the same for any one of us. Now is the time to be strong.”

“Why?” she said, half hysterical. “Why?”

“Nath is the Dragon King now. He’s going to need us.”

She wiped her nose and eyes. Sitting up straight, she said, “Forgive me. I know you’re right. Nath will need us, but what about Rerry and Samaz?”

Bayzog kissed her on the cheek. “It’s been revealed to me he’ll need them too.” He helped his wife to her feet. “Every one of us. You know how he is.”

She giggled a tiny bit. “How can you make me laugh at a time as dark as this? You never make me laugh.”

Bayzog cupped her face in his hands and thumbed the tears from her eyes. “There’s hope. There’s always hope. That’s why we laugh at death.”

Ben slapped Bayzog on the back. “I like it! I don’t know where that came from, Bayzog, but I like it!” He pointed toward the sky with his sword. “It’s time to avenge Balzurth! Come back, insects, come back.” He winced. His hand went to his ribs. “Something still hurts. Something everywhere still hurts.”

Bayzog patted Ben softly on the back. “That’s a good thing. It wouldn’t hurt at all if you were dead.”

“I don’t know if he’s being cynical or funny,” Ben said to Sasha.

“Me either, but it’s refreshing.” She climbed into the saddle. “Let’s find our sons before the world ends.”