Dragon Conjurer 8, page 21
I stepped silently around a thick pine tree, and the werewolf-like creature came into my field of vision. The beast was growling aggressively at a Nuckelavee a short distance away.
“Your team’s fortitude and resilience will be well appreciated by The Great Scaled One,” the Dogman growled.
The Nuckelavee’s horse mouth opened and released a whinny that had the quality of razor blades down a mirror. Then the beast’s humanoid mouth gaped open, and its lipless mouth began to speak.
“But, my lord,” the Nuckelavee pleaded, and its voice was hollow and tinny. “Our numbers are greatly diminished.”
“Nonsense,” the Dogman hissed at the skinless centaur.
“The Lizard Man and his allies have killed a great many of us,” the Nuckelavee pressed. “And his giant winged Lizards have destroyed the Rocs.”
“Silence, you insolent fool!” The Dogman drew its arm back and slapped the Nuckelavee hard against its skinless humanoid head. “Death is your honor to give in service of The Great Scaled One!”
The Nuckelavee cowered slightly as the Canadian Dogman raised its hand again in preparation for another strike.
“Let the Lizard Man play his games and think that he has won.” The Dogman practically howled the words. “The Great Cleansing is nearly here, and there is nothing the pitiful, insignificant humans can do to stop us!”
Chapter 14
My heart started to race faster in my ears, and I glanced around in vain for any sign of Griff. The Great Cleansing sounded about as good as a root canal without Novocain in the middle of a final exam that I forgot to put pants on for.
“My lord,” the Nuckelavee almost whined, and I could tell that if the beast had skin, its face would have looked hopeless. “The Lizard Man has defeated every commander and army The Great Scaled One has sent. I do not see how--”
“Silence!” the Dogman barked at his subordinate, and he actually snapped his long fangs at the skinless centaur. “It is not for you to decide, it is for you to obey.”
“Yes, my lord,” the Nuckelavee whispered obediently, and it lowered both of its heads.
“The Great Scaled One has ensured that we will demolish the nearby human fortress.” The Dogman shook a hairy fist in the air that sent a chill down my spine. “They cannot stop the operations of the Veiled One, and his mission will be successful. Our armies will march through their cities, and we will trample them into the ground like the diseased menace they are. Do not forget, The Great Cleansing has been flawlessly planned for centuries.”
“Yes, my lord.” The Nuckelavee cowered, and it took a step back from the Dogman’s rage. “I remember the plan. See-attle and Lown-don will be the first of the human cities to fall.”
“Quite!” The Canadian Dogman’s rage seemed to ease a touch by the Nuckelavee’s recollection of the city names. “Their buildings will tremble and quake as our armies march onto their streets! The humans will try to run, but they will not survive. The Great Scaled One and all His followers will wipe every last one of them from the world.”
Seattle and London? Fuck.
And the Nuckelavee said those would be the first to fall, so I could only imagine that The Great Scaled One had a list a mile long of every city He planned to destroy.
I clamped my hand tightly over my mouth to stifle the ragged sound of my breathing, and I tried to step silently around the tree to get a better view.
The sharp snap of a dried-out tree branch breaking in two under my foot was the loudest sound I’d ever heard in my entire existence.
My heart stopped beating for a full second as I watched the Canadian Dogman’s yellow eyes turn and land right on my face.
“Lizard Man,” the Dogman growled low in its throat, and there was a ripple of sadistic pleasure in its gravelly voice.
“Damn,” I whispered with irritation.
There was nothing for it now, I might as well face this monster commander and see if I could taunt it into letting any more details loose from its hideous mouth. I forced my features into the best mask of confidence and smugness I could muster, and I stepped out from behind the tree.
“Sorry.” I smirked, and then I leaned against the side of the tree as casually as possible. “Did I interrupt some important meeting? Don’t mind me. Please, continue.”
“Very respectful,” the Nuckelavee said, and it turned back to its commander just in time to get a hard slap across its skinless face.
“Imbecile!” the Dogman screamed, and it reared its arm back to lay another harsh blow against the Nuckelavee’s humanoid head.
I almost chuckled at the interaction between the two. The Dogman’s rage and the Nuckelavee’s idiocy reminded me of an early Three Stooges bit on steroids. Instead, I pursed my lips hard and focused on trying to locate Griff.
All I could hear through Goldie’s ears were the last lingering sounds of my team and my dragons destroying the Nuckelavees’ final numbers. Through my own ears, I could tell they were quite a ways off still, and their voices were barely audible over the distance and wind. I reached up to make sure my earpiece was still in place, and it crackled with static. Apparently these things had a maximum range, and I was just at the edge of it. Thankfully, I could still lean on Goldie to keep an ear on my teammates.
“Where’s Dylan?” I heard Steffi ask over the sounds of horse screams.
I didn’t catch the response, though, because the Canadian Dogman took a giant step toward me, and I had to drag my attention back to my own situation. I had a feeling this was going to come down to a hand-to-hand battle with these two assholes, so I took a deep breath and started to build up a store of lightning in the web across my shoulders.
I focused just the same as I had the last time I connected with Thor’s energy in the open acreage at AIMM. This time, however, something inside the web fizzled, and it was like the wires had been cut somewhere along the circuit.
“Shit,” I ground out through gritted teeth, and I knew that stalling was my best bet until I could locate Griff or get my indigo web energized again.
“Lizard Man.” The Dogman took another step toward me. “You are a mighty fool to approach me so alone and so far away from your precious flying lizards.”
“Who, me?” I asked casually, and I hooked an arm around the trunk of the tree and playfully swung around to the other side to try and put something between us.
“We know of your skills,” the Dogman barked with laughter. “You have no power without your lizards. I will rend you limb from limb with little effort, and The Great Scaled One will honor my name above all others when The Great Cleansing is complete!”
“Hang on a second,” I laughed and held my hands up to stop his ranting monologue. Then I poured as much mockery and disbelief into my voice as I could. “You bastards have names? Really? What’s your name, then?”
“Wumkbanok of the Blight,” the Nuckelavee helpfully answered for its commander.
The Canadian Dogman’s eyes rolled in its head with exasperation, and it reached out and slammed its fist square into the horse mouth of the Nuckelavee.
“That’s a hell of a name,” I chuckled, and I worked to subtly move further away from the pair.
The Dogman glared at his inept subordinate, and then he turned back to look at me.
“You shall pay dearly for your mockery,” the Dogman growled.
“Please, my lord,” the Nuckelavee stepped tentatively forward with its two heads bowed. “May I dispose of the Lizard Man for your honor?”
“Silence,” the Dogman hissed. “Do not move. The Lizard Man is mine.”
Without another word, the Nuckelavee bowed its two heads even lower and stepped back. The Canadian Dogman flexed its thick muscles and stomped purposefully toward me.
Adrenaline started to pour through my body, and I tried to will the web of indigo energy across my shoulders into life. Then a spark of hope flashed through me as the reassuring zing of energy started to build up again. I continued to step slowly away from the Dogman as I flexed the energy down my arms and into my fingertips.
The Dogman smirked as it pursued me slowly, and it seemed happy to let me attempt to escape. I got the feeling that this was exactly how a mouse felt when a bored house cat was stalking it. Little did the hideous beast know that, unlike its usual prey, I had at least one trick up my sleeve.
I felt a touch of electricity spark between my index fingers and my thumbs, and I could hear the buzzing like a bug zapper in my ears. I halted my strategic retreat and braced myself for the impact that was surely coming.
The Dogman’s eyes narrowed only a fraction of an inch. Then its powerful hind legs tensed, and it pounced forward at me with its huge canine teeth bared like it planned to eat my head in one go.
I shifted my feet into a wider stance and brought my arms in front of myself.
The Dogman’s wiry fur barely touched the palms of my hands before I let the store of Thor’s lightning loose from my hands.
Then the bolts of lightning exploded out of my hands and arced straight into the Dogman’s hairy chest.
The monster’s dog mouth fell open wide in a silent howl, and the smell of electrified air and singed fur filled my nostrils. Its yellow eyes rolled back in its head, and a long string of drool slipped from the corner of its mouth as every muscle seized up.
I managed to hold onto the steady flow of electricity from Thor, and I let billions of joules of lightning flow rapidly through the Dogman’s body. Heat started to build in my back and arms, and I wondered for a second how much of this I could handle before my bones started to burn.
Finally, the Dogman’s eyes went dark, and I was pretty sure the beast’s heart had stopped beating, so I released the last of the energy in my body into it and cut off the current.
The second I cut off the jolting surge of power, the Dogman’s body collapsed to the snowy ground. The beast’s final breath huffed out of its lungs as a few small arcs of indigo electricity jumped from its fur and into the snow.
“My lord?” the Nuckelavee asked tentatively, and it stepped closer to where the Dogman laid dead on the ground.
“Not anymore,” I sighed heavily.
I felt suddenly exhausted, like all of my energy had been drained away alongside Thor’s lightning. I leaned hard against a nearby tree, and I swiped sweat away from my forehead.
The Nuckelavee stopped beside the Dogman’s corpse and used its long, lanky arm to touch its dead commander’s face. Then the nightmarish centaur’s horse head stared at me with its empty eye sockets, and it roared with rage, agony, and confusion.
A touch of fear started to spike back through my brain as the Nuckelavee stared at me. It was pissed, and it was clear to me that the beast had every intention of seeking out vengeance for its master on my hide. I also knew there was no way I had the strength to withstand another flow of lightning like the one I’d just dealt to the Canadian Dogman. I was barely managing to stay upright on my feet at the moment, and I took full advantage of the Nuckelavee’s distress.
I leaned toward the next tree and tried to pick my way carefully away from the skinless beast as it continued to mourn the death of its seemingly abusive commander. I managed to move at least ten feet away before the Nuckelavee finally got a hold on itself, and its empty eyes finally searched for me.
“Lizard Man!” The Nuckelavee’s front hooves stamped angrily on the ground, and little clouds of rage-tinted air puffed out of its nostrils. “You will pay for Wumkbanok’s life with your own!”
“Sure I will,” I breathed, and it felt like my brain wanted to give me another dump of adrenaline, but there was just nothing left. The inside of my head felt like pressing the ice machine button on a fridge when there was no ice left, and there was just that empty humming sound that came out.
I mentally screamed for Griff, and then for Ky, and I was about to call out Thor’s name when the Nuckelavee reared back on its hind legs and let out a war cry filled with rage.
I stumbled backward in a final attempt of retreat, and the heel of my boot caught on an upraised root. Then I fell back and landed hard on my back in the snow. The pine-tree-filled sky swirled around me for a second, and I realized I’d knocked my head on part of the roots.
The skinless centaur creature trotted over and reached me in less than two seconds. The hideous beast leaned over me and breathed out a thick cloud of toxic breath.
My throat burned, and my stomach clenched violently at the smell, and I struggled to keep my last meal from making a resurgence. I threw my hands up in a futile attempt to protect my head, and I tried in vain to tap into Thor’s energy once more.
But there was only the slightest spark of static electricity, and it was hardly enough to do any real damage. I raised one hand up toward the exposed chest muscles of the Nuckelavee, and I let the smallest zap of current arc from my fingertips into the beast’s red tissue.
The current was tiny and barely whispered over the Nuckelavee’s chest cavity, but it had more punch than I thought it would. The Nuckelavee roared with irritation like it had been stung by a dozen hornets, and it took a half-step back from me.
I dug my hands into the snow-covered ground on either side of myself and tried to scoot backward away from the looming centaur. Then I quickly realized that I didn’t have the strength to fend off the beast that hovered angrily above me. Even if I could manage another taser-level zap, I knew I wouldn’t get far on my unsteady feet.
I mentally cried out for Griff one more time, and then I closed my eyes and sighed with resignation.
I waited, and after a second I felt a large splat as something wet landed square in the middle of my chest and continued to stream down on me. Sheer curiosity got the best of me, and I slitted my eyes open a crack.
Several feet above my head, the Nuckelavee twitched violently between the jaws of my stealth dragon, and a narrow river of blood flowed from the skinless centaur’s mangled body. The blood landed on my chest, and thanks to the winterized material of my ski jacket, the majority of it flowed down my sides and pooled in the snow underneath me.
Griff blinked his orange eyes at me, and his large fox-ears shifted in the direction I’d left the rest of my team. He gave the Nuckelavee’s body one more squeeze to make sure it was really and truly dead, and then he tossed the hideous corpse to the side.
The beast’s mauled body landed with a sickeningly wet plop and slid several feet down the mountainside before it came to a stop against a boulder.
“Griff…” I sighed.
My brain finally caught up with my eyes, and relief flooded through me. My lungs started to work again, and I sucked in a huge breath. The crisp Canadian air cleared the last wisps of the Nuckelavee’s toxic breath from my mind, and the dizziness finally started to fade away.
Then I leaned my head back against the snow, and I let the cold ease the ache in my temples as I took several more deep breaths. I raised a hand up toward my stealth dragon and mentally praised him for his loyalty and strength.
Griff leaned his head down, and he gently nudged the end of his snout against my thigh as if to ask if I was alright.
“I’m okay, buddy,” I rasped. It felt like I’d come down with an immediate case of strep throat and then proceeded to try and swallow a cup of sand laced with shards of glass. I swallowed painfully, and I patted Griff’s large muted-orange head. “Thanks to you. You really came through for me, Griff. I’d be a big lump of trampled meat right now if it wasn’t for you.”
“Where the hell is Dylan?” Steffi’s anxious voice cut through the last dregs of fog in my brain.
“I’m okay, guys,” I rasped again, and I started to push myself to my feet. I could only assume the pain in my throat was from the Nuckelavee’s toxic breath.
“I don’t know,” Nala answered my fairy-girl’s question, and her voice was also thick with worry.
“Guys?” I asked, and my voice was hardly more than an aggressive whisper.
I reached a hand up to where my earpiece should have been, and my fingers touched the empty curve of my ear. It suddenly dawned on me that I was hearing the girls through my connection with Goldie’s ears. My earpiece must have gone missing sometime during my confrontation with the Canadian Dogman and the Nuckelavee. It had probably happened when I’d tripped over the root and landed flat on my ass in the snow.
“Shit,” I cursed. “Come on, buddy, let’s get back before they all worry themselves to death.”
“Dylan!” Ronin called out, and the sound reached me twice.
The first time, I heard it clearly through Goldie’s ears, and a few seconds later the sound was a much softer distant call in my own ears.
The rest of my team started to call out to me, and my name echoed through the trees all around me.
Griff crouched slightly toward the ground, and I worked to climb onto his wingless back. Once I was settled between his shoulders, my stealth dragon started to trot smoothly back in the direction of the rest of my team.
Their conversation came to me through Goldie’s ears, and I started to feel guilty as I could do nothing but listen to them worry.
“Who was the last person to see him?” Elisabeth asked with an anxious voice.
“I believe it was me,” Ronin said, and she sounded guilty. “I told him to let me down from Ky’s back so I could help to fight off the last of the Nuckelavee. I did not see where we went.”
“But Ky’s right here,” Steffi said. “So where’s Dylan?”
“I do not know,” Elisabeth almost cried, and my heart clenched painfully at the tension in her voice. “We must find him! What if he is injured?”
“He’s got to be around here somewhere,” Nala said, but she didn’t sound sure at all.
“What if he has been captured?” Ronin asked with a touch of guilty panic.
“Ky, where’s Dylan?” Nick pleaded with my ice dragon. “What happened to him?”
I could only imagine my ladies and my best friend staring up with anxious eyes at my ice dragon as he blinked back at them. I mentally flicked against the invisible tether that connected me with my sapphire-blue dragon, and I knew Ky could sense that I was alright and that I was moving toward them. I also knew that he would struggle to communicate these facts with my team through the sage and relaxed blinking of his bright blue eyes.
