Claws of the Dragon (15 page)

Authors: Craig Halloran

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Coming of Age, #Teen & Young Adult, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy

CHAPTER 37

Nath sat at the top of the steps, clutching himself. Every hammer to Fang’s steel was a blow to the gut. “Sultans of Sulfur,” he muttered.

He had no idea why he had such an attachment to Fang. They’d been together for a long time, but they hadn’t ever bonded like this before. It was very weird. So far as he knew, Fang still didn’t obey him most of the time. The battering of metal came to an end, and he forced himself back to his feet.

A chained door made of barred metal stopped Nath on the top step.

Peering between the bars, he could see a room filled with oversized people with their backs to him. They were shouting and cheering. There were grunts and oomphs and the hard smack of fists on faces.

Sounds like the Chamber of Contest to me. How did that halfling expect me to get in there without a key?

But now that his belly was full, Nath discovered that his strength had returned. The bars and chains weren’t as thick as the ones in his prison. They were aged and coated in green tarnish. He stuck his hands through the bars and grabbed the padlock on the other side. He gave it a hard tug.

Pop!

The lock and chain fell away.

“Huh, that was easy.” Wary eyed, he pushed the door open and made his way into the chamber.

A well–built man staggered out of the crowd into Nath’s path. His eyes filled with alarm.

With a quick punch, Nath knocked him out, and then he dragged him out into the hall, stripped off his heavy cloak, and put it on. He covered his head and ventured deeper into the chamber.

The giants inside the arena were brutes. Each was thick skinned and padded in heavy muscle. Nath shuddered at the thought of an army of them. On the humongous anvil lay Fang, like a twinkling gem.

This should be child’s play. All I need is a distraction.

He closed his eyes and summoned the fire in his belly. It came surprisingly easily. He spat a small puff of smoke out of his mouth.

Ah, yes, a monumental plume of smoke should do.

He caught a pair of gap-toothed women staring at his lips. He thumped his chest with his fist, winked at them, and said, “All of this excitement gives me bad gas.”

The women turned their backs, threw up their arms, and cheered with wild spirit.

Nath filled his lungs and focused on his goal.

Smoke. Snatch Fang. Vanish. Easy.

When he was ready to unleash his plan, a clamor arose from the crowd. A giant fell into the arena screaming and holding his leg. The startled crowd scrambled away and bustled one over the other to get out of the grand chamber.

The wounded giant kept saying the same thing over and over. “Dwarf!”

Two cloaked figures stood on the opposite side of the arena from Nath. One was Brenwar, the other Selene.

It can’t be!

Before Nath could act, the chamber’s main door dropped in place with the thunderous boom, crushing a handful of people and trapping others inside.

Nath made a quick count.

One, two, three … fourteen giants!

“Dwarf! You got that right!” Brenwar yelled in a thunderous voice. He waved Mortuun over his head. “Come and kiss my hammer, giants!”

The entire chamber exploded into battle. The snarling giants charged with rage-filled eyes.

Selene slipped through the giants’ clutches time after time. Giants fell and toppled hard. Frustration cried from their lips.

Brenwar’s hammer swung and connected with bone-busting blows. The skittish dwarven fighter popped between legs, hammered feet, and broke bone after bone. But only a few suffered the wrath of Mortuun forged in Morgdon by Brenwar the dwarf.

The tide turned.

The hulking throng was overwhelming.

Within seconds, the giants—big, but still quick as men—had Brenwar and Selene in their clutches.

On instinct, Nath rushed to snatch up his sword and then stand atop the anvil.

Power surged up his arms and down his back.

He struck Fang’s tip on the anvil.

Ting!

Nothing happened. Nath fully expected the sound to grow, fill the giants’ ears, and drop them to their knees. He struck Fang on the anvil again.

Ting!

Nothing happened. Well, not entirely. Now, he had the attention of every last one of them, including the ones with their hands filled with the struggling forms of Selene and Brenwar.

“Is this the thanks I get for rescuing you?” Nath said to the sword. He looked at his friends. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving you!” Brenwar growled.

“Well, you’re doing a fine job of it.”

Kicking her feet and gasping for breath, Selene yelled, “Will you shut up and do something?”

A giant reached for Nath. He swung Fang and clipped off the tip of its finger.

The giant’s bellow permeated his ears.

Still feeling a surge of power, Nath burst into action just as the giant blacksmith hammer came down and smote the anvil where he’d been standing before he leapt. Metal smote metal.

Clang!

Nath didn’t hold anything back. The giants were cold-blooded killers. Any hesitation would leave him and his friends dead. He sprang at the giant who clutched Selene and chopped it through its wrists.

Selene landed like a cat and skirted away.

Ducking underneath the swing of a sword, Nath plunged Fang into the side of the giant who held Brenwar.

“RR-Rah!” the monster screamed.

“We need to get out of here!” Nath said, still chopping and hacking with intensity.

Brenwar was at his side, clubbing away.

Selene shot bright and tiny little missiles from her fingers. “There’s a stairwell. Follow me there!”

“Lead the way!” Brenwar said.

To the tune of metal ringing against metal, they battled their way to the tunnel from whence Nath came.

“Great Guzan!”

The tunnel was filled with more giants. And there was a familiar face as well. Pepper.

The giant halfling was pointing at Nath. “There he is! There he is! I told you I’d find him. I told you so!”

“You rat!” Nath yelled at him.

Pepper shrugged at him. But the look in the halfling’s eyes told it all. It hadn’t been his choice to lead them to Nath. He was in over his head.

“What do we do now?” Selene said.

“Keep fighting!”

“Aye!” Brenwar replied.

They battled through the giants, downing one after the other, but it wasn’t enough. Brenwar’s iron endurance was puffing for breath. Selene’s own fires had fled her fingertips.

Furious and relentless, the giants kept swinging. Their blows were taking a toll. All three friends were bruised and bleeding. Nath had no idea how he was going to get out of this. The doors were sealed. More giants filled the room from the tunnel.

Circling around the anvil, Nath said to his friends, “This is a horrible rescue.”

“I told you not to give yourself up!” Brenwar replied.

“It’s no one’s fault,” Selene added. With a whisk of her tail, she tripped a giant. “Just shut up and fight!”

They did. Nath cut one giant down only to face two others.

Where are they coming from?

Finally, after endless minutes of agonizing battle, the giants backed off.

Panting for breath and sword steady in his grip, Nath said, “What’s happening?”

All of the giants took a knee and faced the gated entrance.

Eckubahn stood on the other side of the bars, his great head aflame with mystic green fire. Two ogres cranked the iron wheel that lifted the iron gate. Eckubahn stepped inside. Hundreds of wurmers flew inside with him. They covered the floor and attached themselves to the archways and rafters above.

Nath gazed up with wonder. “I hate those things.” Out of nowhere he noticed Pepper was standing alongside him.

The giant halfling said, “You sure do fight a good fight.”

Nath started to speak but didn’t bother. He was too tired. Pepper wouldn’t hear his last words anyway.

Finally, Eckubahn spoke. “Nath Dragon, you are too much trouble to keep around.”

“I thought you wanted to keep me around to torment my father.”

“No. I’ve decided I’ll just send him your scales and draw out his vengeance. And what a delight it will be to have you watch me torment your friends before you go. I think we’ll start with that dwarf. I see he needs more flesh taken from his bones.”

Brenwar yelled at Eckubahn. “Come take it yourself, then!”

“No need for that. I’ll let the giants handle it.”

“Roast him like a sow, we will!” one true-blooded giant said.

Head downcast, Nath said to his friends, “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Pepper replied.

A tingling sensation raced from Fang’s grip up into Nath’s arms. He didn’t know why he did what he did and said what he said, but he tapped the tip of his blade on the anvil again and said, “Fang, get us out of here.”

Ting!

The blade unleashed a gush of hidden power.

Zip!

Nath found himself standing in the middle of a flowered field with more colors than he could imagine. In an instant he knew exactly where he was. The Elven Field of Dreams. He wasn’t alone either.

Brenwar and Selene were there with jaws dropped.

Filled with elation, Nath threw his sword up high in the air. “Ah-hah! Fang, you are wonderful!”

All of them burst out in sheer joyous laughter. Brenwar and Selene briefly hugged each other. Finally, with his emotions settling down, Nath noticed someone else was laughing. It was Pepper.

The giant halfling said, “Now that’s my kind of rescue.”

Epilogue

Sitting on his throne, Eckubahn’s head had a deep-crimson afterglow. His hands clutched the stone armrests and crumbled one of them to pieces.

There was blood on his hands.

Outraged, he had slaughtered half a dozen of his own giants. Two more he had hung by the neck in the streets. That didn’t include the many that Nath Dragon and his company had killed. Now, the entire city of Urslay was silent. The howling wind was the only life in the abandoned streets.

Sitting on the throne beside his, Lotuus said, “Don’t fret, Milord.” She toyed with a tassel made from Nath’s lock of hair that she’d had mended to a wand-like stick. “We won’t have any trouble finding him. Shall I give the order?”

“Yes.”

Wings coming to life, the tiny woman floated down to the floor, where dozens of wurmers lay. She fanned her tassel under the lead wurmer’s nose.

Its deep-purple eyes filled with a hungry radiance.

She gave it two commands. “Seek. Destroy.”

***

The story continues in Book 3, Eyes of the Dragon, in March 2016.

In the meantime, check out the Ultimate crossover!
Clash of Heroes: Nath Dragon meets The Darkslayer! Only on Amazon!

See other book details below!

About the Author

Craig Halloran resides with his family outside his hometown of Charleston, West Virginia. When he isn’t entertaining mankind, he is seeking adventure, working out, or watching sports. To learn more about him, go to:
www.thedarkslayer.com
.

Check out all of my great stories …

CLASH OF HEROES: Nath Dragon meets The Darkslayer

The Chronicles of Dragon Series

The Hero, the Sword and the Dragons (Book 1) Free eBook

Dragon Bones and Tombstones (Book 2)

Terror at the Temple (Book 3)

Clutch of the Cleric (Book 4)

Hunt for the Hero (Book 5)

Siege at the Settlements (Book 6)

Strife in the Sky (Book 7)

Fight and the Fury (Book 8)

War in the Winds (Book 9)