Tail of the Dragon (11 page)

CHAPTER 30

Deeper into the bowels of Borgash they walked. It was an underground city with a sky made of dirt. Selene’s light cut through the dimness, revealing remnants of paved streets and buildings. Dirt and a slick coat of grime covered most of the area. The sky of dirt and roots was suspended above them, looking to collapse at any time. Somewhere, water trickled inside the eerie expanse.

“What do you think, Brenwar?”

The warrior held a small torch now that gave off a warm, glowing yellow light. He climbed up on a half-covered statue of a centaur and poked at the dirt ceiling with his hammer. “Hmmm, seems to have held hundreds of years; no reason to believe it won’t hold a few hundred more.” He hit it harder with his war hammer.

“Is that really necessary, dwarf?” Selene said, backing up into Nath.

“If it falls, I’ll dig us out. It just might take a few years.”

“Come on,” Nath said. “If there is anything to be found, I can only assume it’s below ground and not above.”

Venturing deeper into the buried realm, Nath rolled his shoulders. The tightness in his back remained. Something lived here. Something dark. He dusted off his nose with his thumb. There was a stench, too. Not dirt or mud. Not bones or rotting flesh. Something unnatural. A lurking of Evil.

There were plenty of normal creatures that lived beneath the ground. Dragons were one of them. Gnomes and dwarves were well known for making league-long holes. But not too many creatures lived without daylight for very long. Hibernated, yes. Lived, no.

“What’s on your mind?” Selene asked.

“Everything feels wrong.” He kneeled down and began brushing off some caked dirt that covered a fallen statue. On uncovering its oversized visage, he discovered a monstrous face with multiple eyes and a mouthful of fangs. “Seem familiar?”

“I’ve never seen a carven image the likes of that before,” she said, but…” She backed away and began clawing away hunks of dirt that covered the stony walls. Her efforts revealed painted images. Runes. People. Monsters. Violence. “I’m starting to think the devourer is here for a great reason.”

The way she spoke made Nath’s skin prickle. “You said it might be a guardian. A guardian of what?”

“A guardian that not only keeps things from getting in,” she said, moving away from Nath. She kept the light of her hand pointed at the dirt ceiling. There was a higher spot above. The roots moved away from her light. “Nath, you know how you said this place was evil?”

“Yes.”

Selene started back toward him. Standing by his side, she said, “I’m pretty sure you’re right.”

“Brenwar, did you hear that? She said I was right. See, Selene can be sensible.”

Selene jabbed an elbow into his ribs. “Don’t be foolish. We need to go.”

“Really, why the rush all of a sudden?”

Selene knelt down beside the cruel and unusual face that Nath had revealed. She pointed at it and said, “Because I think I know what this is. It’s an image of an old titan.”

“Titan?” Nath said, making a quick shrug. “What’s a titan?”

“The race that enslaved man. That tried to enslave the dragons as well.” She started packing mud back over its face. “The race that would stop at nothing to enslave Nalzambor.”

“Step aside,” Brenwar said. With a quick swing of his hammer, he busted the image of the old titan face.
Bang!
“Humph. That’s better.”

“Will you quit hitting everything with your little hammer?” Selene said.

“We don’t hesitate to deface the titans where I come from,” Brenwar said, resting Mortuun back over his shoulder. “Ever.”

Brenwar’s tone was serious.

The truth was, Nath had never heard of the titans before today. He’d gathered from Selene that they were legend more than anything. Men and women of great renown, worshipped like deities, who had deceived the races in times past. Judging by the age of that statue, it had happened long before his time, just the same as Borgash. “So, are we staying in or going out? I’m opting for in. I’m not going to find my mother by being cautious. But if you don’t want to venture any farther, I understand.”

“Oh, please,” Selene said, rolling her eyes.

“Shaddap,” Brenwar added, holding his torch out and venturing deeper into the passage.

“It seems we’re all in again. Great.” Nath glided to the front. He could feel the heat from Brenwar’s torch on his back. Using his keen eyes, he had little problem making out the deeper outlines of the cavernous passage. Here and there the old roads were revealed. There were still standing walls and columns with markings on them. Old wooden stables were petrified. The air was dank and musty. It would take days to search all of the cave city. Maybe weeks. They might have to dig, and digging wasn’t very much fun.

“Seems like a strange place for your mother to be,” Selene said. She stood by some stalactites and stalagmites that had formed around a small pond near her feet. “I’m not so sure that I’d trust a fairy. Certainly not a fairy empress.”

“You didn’t have to come—not that I’m unhappy that you did come—but this is all we have to go on for now.” Nath came across a wide staircase of stone that wound deeper into the ground. Squinting, he swore he saw a wink of light down there. “Say, Brenwar, what do you make of this?”

Brenwar sauntered over and peered down the steps. “Looks deep,” he said, bobbing his head. “I like deep.”

A wink of light flashed.

“Did you see that?” Nath said in a whisper.

Brenwar replied in kind, “Aye, I did.” He started down. “And I hear water, too.”

“Coming, Selene?” Nath said.

Holding her glowing hand out, she stood behind Nath and said, “You first.”

Nath took a breath and headed down after Brenwar.

One thing is for certain. Being small leads to many more interesting places.

The stairway was well over a hundred steps down, its hard surface slick with damp mud. Nath had been in caves all of his life. Even Dragon Home had been bored out of a mountain, and there were prisons more than a hundred feet deep. But this was different. It gave him a mysterious feeling that he couldn’t shake. It clung to his scales. Rushed his breath.

“Bottom,” Brenwar said. He stood inside a chamber the size of a small cathedral. The light did little to capture the full grandeur. Square columns and great arches held up the expansive ceiling. Colorful murals above glinted in the faint light cast from below. “Sound craftsmanship.”

“Dwarven?” Nath asked.

“Not that sound.”

A bright light, distant and wavering, appeared far away from them. Humanoid in shape, it glided forward. Nath’s breath became icy. The shade closed in, getting bigger. Towering over them all, it came to a stop. Faceless, robed, and ethereal, its haunting voice froze Nath’s bones.

CHAPTER 31

The apparition spoke, turning blood to ice water.

Nath felt Selene’s arm entangle with his. Heart pounding in his chest, head gazing upward, he found it hard to keep his eyes fixed on the monster.

Haunting sounds came from its ghostly lips. Its language was unnatural and changing. A howling shriek burst from the veiled face of the apparition.

“Hoooowwww-eeeeee-hooooooowwwwww!”

Nath’s knees buckled. His legs turned to jelly. Hair billowing, he covered his ears. Beside him, Brenwar dropped to a knee. Selene’s sharp fingernails dug into his arms. “Selene, what do we do?” he asked, trying to shout over the howling shriek.

Shouting in his ear, she replied, “I don’t know!”

The apparition’s wispy veil lifted. Its face contorted and twisted, showing brief glimpses of all the races. Its shrill voice changed. The tones lifted high and fell back low. Its long-ranging arms stretched toward Brenwar.

The battle-hardened dwarf recoiled. His thick limbs remained rigid.

“Move, Brenwar! Move!” Nath yelled. At least he thought he did. He couldn’t tell now. His own limbs were stiff and frozen. His tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth. Fighting against his frozen bonds, he reached down, grabbed the dwarf by the collar, and jerked him back.

The apparition’s hands wavered to a stop. Its face settled into an image more readily seen. Its features sharpened. High cheekbones. Pointed ears. It opened its thin lips and spoke its first intelligible words in a deep and hollow tone. “Who are you?”

That’s Elven!
Nath’s unseen shackles melted away.
An old dialect, but it’s Elven
. He spoke back in the best Elven he could. “Nath. Nath Dragon.”

The apparition’s face shifted from elven to the face of a dragon. It spoke again, this time in Dragonese. “You are odd for a dragon.”

Nath looked at Selene, only to find her eyes as wide as his. He turned back to the apparition and replied in Dragonese, “It’s a long story. And who might you be?”

The haunting figure diminished somewhat in stature. Its foreboding presence eased. Its long hands stretched out again, cupping around them all but without touching. “Blood runs through your veins. Life-giving blood. Ah, so desirable. So delicious. How fortunate you are to live.”

“Who are you?” Nath said. “What is your purpose?”

“Ah, to live again. To breathe. To taste.” The ghost’s hands lashed out and enveloped Nath. “So wonderful!”

Nath’s head jerked back. His blood turned to ice and fire. A flood of memories washed through his mind, not his but someone else’s. The apparition’s. There were battles. Great titans ruling man and fighting dragons. Death. Life. Loss. Destruction. “Stop it! Stop it!” Nath screamed.

A blinding light flashed. Pain split through his skull. In slow motion he saw himself fall and crash into the cathedral floor, unmoving. Someone rolled him onto his back. Selene stared down at him. Her lips were moving, but no sound came out. Brenwar appeared. Gruff. Angry. Confused. He reached down and started smacking Nath’s face.

Will you quit that?

Nath coughed. Finding a small reservoir of strength in his weakened limbs, he tried to sit up. Brenwar and Selene propped him up.

“Nath,” Selene said, cupping his face in her hands. “Nath, can you hear me?”

Blinking away the pain behind his eyes, he said, “Yes, stop yelling. What happened?”

Brenwar pointed down at the cathedral floor and said, “That happened.”

A man in white robes danced on the cathedral’s floor, his bare feet slapping it. Hands on his towheaded hair, he side-stepped back and forth and was singing in a complicated common tongue that the old-timers used in more remote farms and villages deep in the valleys.

“Who is that?” Nath asked. He took Brenwar’s arm and allowed the dwarf to help him to his feet. He stretched his aching back. “Gads! I feel like I’ve aged a hundred years.” He caught Brenwar and Selene glancing at each other. “What?”

“Nothing,” Selene said, showing an uncertain smile. “How are you feeling?”

Rubbing his head, Nath said, “I haven’t been sleeping a hundred years, have I?”

“Why, do I look a hundred years older?” Selene said.

“No, it’s just the pair of you have some very peculiar looks on your faces.” He rubbed his beard and said, “Gads! What happened?” Nath clutched handfuls of red beard in both of his clawed hands. “I’m not a dwarf, am I?”

“What?” Brenwar growled. “Now you’re dreaming. But the beard is a good look for you. Other than that, you look normal, aside from a few new wrinkles.”

“Be silent, dwarf!” Selene said.

“Wrinkles!” Nath cried. He felt his face. His skin was tighter, and there were creases in his forehead that had never been there before. “What did that thing do to me?”

The dancing man in the robes came running up the stairs, leapt up the last few, and said, “Apologies and thanks!” He grabbed Nath’s hand and shook it vigorously. “I could not help myself! Tee-hee! I breathe again!”

Nath’s nostrils flared. The man was taller than Nath and big boned, but there was nothing powerful about his build. A strange, big man, a hair over seven feet tall. Human, but odd for that kind. He seized the man’s wrists. “I’m only going to ask you this once. Who are you and what did you do to me?”

“Azorath is my name, I think. Azorath, the gatekeeper of Borgash.” He grimaced. “Your grip is iron, liberator. You need not fear anything else from me.”

“What did you do to me?”

“I merely stole some years from your life force.” Azorath blinked at him. His eyes were black glass and spacey “Please, do not fret, you have plenty. A hundred years or so won’t hurt you.”

“A hundred years!” Nath started pushing Azorath back down the steps. “Give it back!”

“I fear I cannot! I admit, I would not. The flesh of life is in me again!”

“The flesh of life will be gone from you if you don’t undo this.”

“You would not kill me, Nath Dragon,” Azorath said with a feeble smile. “It’s not in your nature.”

“It’s in mine,” Brenwar said.

Selene confronted the man. “It’s in mine as well.”

“Er …” Azorath’s eyes danced back and forth among the three of them. “Slaying me won’t change a thing. It was worth it. And so will your sacrifice be as well, Nath Dragon.”

“I didn’t sacrifice anything,” Nath said. “You stole it.”

“The moment you ventured into the bowels of Borgash, you sacrificed everything to find your mother.” Azorath tapped his finger to his head. “And I know where she is.”