Book 4 - Chapter 29 - Between the Hammer and the Anvil (1/2)

Of course, it wasn’t so simple.

What caused Cloudhawk to ask the question was something strange he’d heard. A sound he’d encountered only twice before. The first time was several years ago in the wastelands, the first time he came upon the phase stone. The second was when he found the skull in Hell’s Valley.

And then, now.

Cloudhawk wasn’t evne strong enough to summon a tenth of the phase stone’s power. He couldn’t recall a tenth of the lifetimes of memories that’d been trapped in the skull. But even so, he could guess with a fair amount of confidence that Shepherd and… whoever had owned the phase stone before him had some kind of connection. Whatever secret was hidden in the mausoleum had something to do with this sound. What exactly, though, he couldn’t guess. They would just have to continue to find out.

Man, whatever his benefactor was, it was strong.

He hid something here, and the Shepherd built an entire secret garden to protect it. It was almost hard to believe. What exactly was the creature that had gifted Cloudhawk so much? He was beginning to sound like some sort of god!

Crrack-crack-crack! The faint sound of grinding stone reached their ears.

Cloudhawk learned from Oddball that the monster chasing them had reached the cavern entrance. It was following their trail, and would soon be upon them.

“Son of a bitch. That leafy cocksucker is still after us.” There was no question that the Dryad was strong. If it caught them here they weren’t going to escape intact. He called for everyone’s attention. “Follow me!”

He followed the familiar resonance deeper into the cavern. Much to everyone’s surprise, the natural cave was part of a complicated system of openings.

This time, as Cloudhawk led the small party, he wasn’t picking directions at random. He focused on that odd feeling, a sort of hunch that nagged at the back of his mind. IF he could just get to where the call was coming from, it was for sure where the elder was hiding.

They were close.

Very close.

As they closed in on the source a deep growl emerged from the darkness of the caverns. A green body darted at them, fast as an arrow. It was as fast and ferocious as a tiger, reaching for them with razor-like talons.

“Excellency, watch out!”

The rod in Barb’s hands roared like a hurricane as she heaved it toward their attacker. Boom! A pulse of concussive force that was hard to see with the naked eye shuddered through the air. It slammed directly into her target.

The sound of a dozen bones snapping followed. The creature was flung against a nearby wall so hard it was almost liquefied.

Barb was panting. “Where did that thing come from? It just out of nowhere for his Excellency!”

Autumn pointed at the body and muttered with surprise “It looks a lot like a dragon.”

Everyone took a closer look. Shit… she was right.

It was lizard like and the whole body was covered in green scales. A pair of immature wings were folded against its back. It was a dragon, wasn’t it?

All at once it hit them. This is where the dragons were coming from!

What Barb pulled out from the egg was an unborn dragon. The one they just killed must have been out for a while, but not yet full-grown. That was why it was so weak.

After seeing all those eggs in the cavern, it was no longer a surprise why there were so many of them flying around the skies of Woodland Vale now. If the Valites knew that these creatures that threatened them came from the bowels of their god’s mausoleum, what would they think?

They didn’t stand around to ponder the question, for lithe green-scaled bodies began to slither toward them from the surrounding caverns.

All of them were immature dragons. They were about the size of tigers, but didn’t have the power or defenses of their grown brethren. What made them dangerous was the sheer number. With the Dryad closing in, they were running headlong out of the frying pan and into the fire. Only way out was to cut a path forward.

Naberius wasn’t bothered by the flood of critters. On the contrary, he was elated. A fervent bloodlust burned in his eyes. “I’ve been locked up for so long, then I’m let out and all we do is run, run, run! Now I get to kill! Ah-hahahaha!”

His mad cackling rang off the walls as Naberius launched an attack.

Right away several of the dragons were carved to pieces. More came, dozens of them like an army of ants, gnashing teeth and swiping claws. But Naberius only laughed maniacally as he plucked his Shadethread. He wrapped them around the throat of a nearby dragonling and pulled, severing its head from its body. Silvery needles embedded themselves in the abdomen of another and then dragged across, eviscerating it. Blood and organs spilled across the cavern floor.

“Even this psychopath can’t handle them all himself. Let’s help.”

It was obvious to Cloudhawk now that he’d miscalculated how dangerous this mission was. IF he’d known he wouldn’t have brought all these people with him. He especially wouldn’t have put Azura in this sort of life-threatening environment. All he wanted was to give the girl a chance to see the world. Now he was struggling to keep himself safe, much less his disciple.

The child looked up at him. “Teacher, I want to fight too!”

Autumn spoke up as well. “Give me a weapon! I won’t stand here and be useless.”