Hunt For The Hero (Book 5)

Hunt for the Hero

The Chronicles of Dragon: Book
5

By Craig Halloran

Hunt for the Hero

The Chronicles of Dragon: Book
5

By Craig Halloran

Copyright © December 2013 by Craig Halloran

Amazon Edition

TWO-TEN BOOK PRESS

P.O. Box 4215, Charleston, WV 25364

ISBN eBook:  978-0-9896216-7-0

ISBN Paperback: 978-0-9896216-
8-7

http://www.thedarkslayer.net

Cover Illustration by
David Schmelling

Map by Gillis Bjork

Edited by
Cherise Kelley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recorded, photocopied, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Publisher's Note

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Chronicles of Dragon

Book 5

Hunt for the Hero

CHAPTER 1

Heavy raindrops splattered off me, the ground
, and the mirrors, distorting the images. I was alone. The water rose faster. Up to Brenwar’s chin and Shum’s belly.

I couldn’t hear Sasha’s screams, but I could feel them. Through my scales. Into my bones. The panic in her face surrounded by the cold surface of the iron mirror’s frame
made my spine chill. I fought at my bonds. The purple bands pinched into my wrists but not as much as they had. Either I was getting stronger or the magic was fading, just as Kryzak had said it would.

“Brenwar!” I yelled. The thought of him perishing had never occurred to me before. But he’d be the first to drown. He was the shortest. “I’ll have you, Kryzak!”

The rain
overpowered my voice. I was alone in another room of the cavern where a pair of ember urns burned dimly. Kryzak and his brood had long since departed. I still heard the chuckles of the Goblins and Gnolls in my ears. Helplessly, I watched my friends struggle for life. Dying in some cruel game because of me. What were the Clerics of Barnabus trying to do to me? Why not just kill me and be done with it? Why did my friends have to suffer as well?

Scaly arms
bulging, I tore at my bonds. The cuffs bit deep, like burning razors. I screamed. My mind was racing. What if Kryzak had lied? What if the bonds weren’t going to fade? Maybe it was just another part of his twisted game. Watching my friends die. Drown slowly. He must have lied. Why wouldn’t he? He was evil.

“I can’t let this happen!” I pulled. It felt like my wrists would snap off. “I won’t let this happen!” I braced
my feet against the stone behind me. I had to break free and break free now. I needed to buy all the time that I could.

“
Hurk!
”

The bonds crackled. Bit. Burned. I put everything into it and roared.

Snap!

I pitched forward and crashed into the mirrors. They toppled and the glass shattered.

“No!”

On my knees I picked up one of the large pieces and
thought I saw Sasha’s pretty eyes before the image faded. I was alone. Worried. Stomach turning. I dashed into the nearest tunnel with my heart thundering inside my chest. My Dragon eyes could make out the faint outlines of the tunnels. The entire time I was shackled I’d been thinking what I was going to do. I’d have to figure out how I would find them.

I rubbed my wrists. They were warm and wet. I’d bled.
I was seeing red when I came to the first fork in the tunnels. I stopped.

Settle down,
Nath. Think. What’s the plan?

I
’d had a plan a minute ago. A sound one, but it was lost at the moment. What was it? Assuming what Kryzak had said was true, I could save one pair, not the other. And if I had my choice, who would I save? In my mind it would be Sasha. That’s what the others would do. It was an unspoken code among Men: save the women and children. Then the Men can save themselves. But Brenwar. The thought of not hearing his voice again haunted me already. I couldn’t imagine it. Couldn’t think it.

I
tore a hunk of rock out of the wall.

“
Guzan! What do I do!”

The only reply was m
y echoing voice. I didn’t have a choice it seemed. Whoever I found first would live. Whoever I didn’t find would die. Unless I was fast enough. 

Quit wasting time or they’ll all die.

CHAPTER 2

I dashed into the tunnel on the right. Right always seemed to be the better path. My natural inclination at crossroads time and again.

The tunnel twisted and turned and branched off again.

I stopped. Fury built inside me. I needed to clear my head and my mind. Use my wits and instincts. I closed my eyes and sniffed the air. I wasn’t a bloodhound, but my Dragon nose was pretty good. I could smell Gnoll and Goblin sweat. Their stink. The dirt from their matted hair. I just needed to find some of them and wring the location of my friends from their greasy necks.

I trotted right again
, following the stench. My eye caught water flowing downward in the sloped tunnel. A good sign.

If Brenwar were here
, he’d know exactly where to go.

I
followed the cave wall and stopped at the edge of an alcove naturally concealed off the path. Heavy breathing caught my ears. Several pairs of feet shifted on the ground and weapons and armor creaked a little.

“Be still
, will you?” a Gnoll whispered. His voice was gruff and throaty.

Another good sign. They expected me. My clawed fingers drifted to my waist. Fang was gone. What was I thinking? I had no
armor or weapons aside from my scales and claws.

I might not see
Fang or Akron ever again!

I didn’t have time to worry about that though.
I needed to act!

Gnolls and
Goblins saw well in the dark, but their vision wasn’t better than mine. So they waited to ambush me, but it was I who would ambush them.

I peered around the corner.

Clatch-zip!

I jerked back.
A crossbow bolt zinged past my eye and clattered off the stone.

“He’
s here! Kill him!” a Gnoll ordered.

A mass of warm bodies swarmed me. I launched myself into them.
Reckless. Wild. I’d had enough of evil.

Whap! Whap! Whap!

I hit a Gnoll so hard its teeth shattered. Two Goblins wheezed from broken ribs.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

They cried out. Cursed.

I pour
ed it on. My speed and power were unmatched. Relentless. I punched and kicked until none of them moved anymore … except one. I clenched a Goblin in the nook of my arm, suffocating.

“Where are they
?” I said in his hairy ear.

He said nothing
and opted to try and dig his thick nails into the scales of my arm. Stupid Goblin.

I shook him, rattling the bones on his necklace.

“I’ll ask one more time … WHERE ARE THEY!”

His fingers no longer clutched at me. They tapped my arm a little. I released him.

He fell on all fours, coughing and sputtering.

I kicked him in the ribs.

“Oof!” he said.

“
Oof
better be a place,” I said, squatting down, “and my friends better be there when you take me there.”

He shook his
ugly head. “No, don’t know. Don’t know. Don’t—
ulp
!”

I slung him into the wall.

A sad thing. I needed Brenwar to find Brenwar. He had no difficulty beating information out of these things. My higher standards prohibited me, but what was I supposed to do in this kind of an emergency? I had to convince him. Now!

I tore a spear from a
Gnoll’s grasp and poked the tip in the Goblin’s leg, drawing blood.

“
Ack!” it said, pushing itself against the wall.

Goblins
could inflict pain but they couldn’t take it. They were weak like that.

I rested the spear tip on
its nose. “I might not kill you, but I have no issues poking tiny holes in you,” I said, watching the yellows of its eyes darting back and forth.

“Come,” it said. “Come. I show. Just poke no more holes.”

I backed off. “Lead the way.”

Limping, the
Goblin traversed the tunnels with my spear at its back.

We were going deeper. I noticed something else. I was limping a little as well. My side and legs were wounded. Seems the
Goblins and Gnolls got a piece of me after all. The scary thing was I hadn’t felt it before. Burning. Throbbing.
Blast!

Ahead, the sound of rushing water became louder. 

I jabbed the spear in its back.

It screeched.

“Move faster!” 

It
s short figure half scurried, half limped along. I could see the hoop earrings dangling from its ears. The bones and armor rattled when it moved. Noisy.

I didn’t have time to worry about another trap
, however. I just had to hope this was the right direction. Hope that the Goblin was more scared of me than of its master.

It slowed ag
ain.

I pressed the spear into it
s back, lifting it up to its tip toes.

It
whispered and pointed. “Up ahead. Up ahead.”

There was light.
Wavering. From a lantern or torch. Water was splashing.

“You go first,” I said.

The Goblin looked back at me with its bottom lip drooping.

“But… ”

I glared at it.

Forward it limped with its
hands up a little.

I stayed a few feet back and I could feel the hairs rising on my neck.

The Goblin glanced back over its shoulder, flashed a toothy grin, and bustled around the corner.

I started after and stopped. Something was wrong.

“No! No!” I heard the Goblin say. He stepped back into my sight with his arms up and pleading.

A sword flashed.

Slice!

The
Goblin’s head fell from its shoulders.

The brawny body of a Draykis blo
cked the exit of the tunnel. Its big scaly hands were holding a dripping sword.

“Fang!”

The monster had my sword.

I flung the spear at its face.

It batted the spear away, bringing Fang down in a flash.

I
jumped aside.

Swish!

“Fang!”

Death by Fang was never a thought that
had occurred to me. In most cases Fang wouldn’t even let another creature pick it up. The hilt would burn hot as fire. But maybe that was a Dragon thing and the Draykis’s scales confused it.

Of course, I didn’t know what Fang thought about anything.

I ducked. Twisted. Turned.

Swish. Clang. Swish.

“Nath!”

“Huh?
” I said, looking around.

It was Bayzog.
Far away. The water was over his neck and almost to Sasha’s lips. Water poured in from above, filling the pool. Sasha’s chin was covered in water. Her lips fought for gulps of air.

“Hurry!

I ducked under the next swing and dove into the pool of rising water. Something powerful jumped on top of me and dragged me into the depths of the pool.