Chapter Fifteen
The Battle
Glaucin had dropped them at the intersection of the Red, Blood, and Slither Rivers, and the boys now followed the Slither’s banks toward Dragontail watchtower. Since crossing the raging current, they had entered a mountainous region with tall pine trees covering much of the terrain.
Through the boughs and patchy fog, they spotted large vultures circling and stayed under cover. The thick foliage had kept the ground dry from the torrential rains of the days before. Andy loved the pine smell and breathed deeply. As they walked, their feet began to dry and their spirits rose. Wolves howled in the distance.
“Those are herewolves you’re hearing,” announced Alden.
Andy remembered Mermin telling him about herewolves and seeing carvings of them.
They stopped briefly to eat lunch and then continued on. They hoped to reach Dragontail watchtower before sundown. As the afternoon shadows grew longer, they could just make out the Great Wall through the thickening fog.
“This is good,” reasoned Andy. “The fog is getting thicker. We should be able to make it through without being seen.”
Andy remembered the instructions the King and Mermin had given them. They were to look for a secret door that, from this direction, should be to the right of where the river flowed under the tower. It was the entrance to a tunnel that ran through the Great Wall.
We’re almost to the red dragons! Andy realized and quickened his pace.
An hour or so later, with the sun just setting and its final rays beginning to fade, they reached the pines at the base of their goal. They crouched down and began searching for the stone that would open the tunnel.
“I don’t see anything,” Andy whispered a couple minutes later.
“Maybe it’s closer to the river,” suggested Alden.
A minute later they detected the crunch of dry pine needles underfoot. Alden motioned and the two hurried back into the pines where they ducked behind two hefty trunks.
A watchman doing his evening rounds ambled into view. He stopped not more than ten feet away. His freakishly long arms and crooked, beak-like nose betrayed the crowd he hung around. He stood there for what seemed an eternity, scanning all about. Finally he moved on.
“That was close!” Alden whispered.
“Too close. Did you see that guy?”
“Yeah, he’s one of Abaddon’s goons!”
They resumed their search for the secret door. Alden crawled over to where the wall met the river and peered into the tunnel. He felt around. “Andy,” he whispered.
When Andy reached him, Alden said, “Check this out. There’s nothing behind these front stones.”
“What do you mean?” Andy clutched the face of the wall with his right hand and reached into the dark. “You’re right. It’s like a façade.”
Alden nodded. “With the darkness in that tunnel, you’d never see the optical illusion unless you looked closely.” A smile bloomed on his face.
“Good job, my friend.” Andy patted Alden’s shoulder.
“Thanks.” The meaning was not lost on the Cartesian.
One at a time, the boys swung behind the false front. Alden nearly fell in the river when his backpack shifted unexpectedly. Andy grabbed his arm and pulled him to safety. They stood on a small piece of dry ground with the river rushing to their left.
“Excellent!” whispered Alden. “Let’s find the secret door.”
The roar of the river to their left concealed the sounds of their search as they pressed each stone nearest the floor. At length, Andy’s foot sunk down slightly and the sound of stone dragging across stone filled the air. The boys grimaced, hoping the guard did not hear and come to investigate.
“You did it!” Alden whispered, shaking his fists.
They stepped inside the tunnel and found another stone that closed the door behind them. Only the angry sounds of the river’s rain-fueled rage penetrated the quiet of their sanctuary. Andy pulled Methuselah out and illuminated the space.
They stood in a narrow, stone-lined corridor. Clearly, it had been retrofitted after the Great Wall was built. Large wooden support beams set every ten feet secured the weight of the wall where it had been cut to accommodate the tunnel. To the right was a sign that read CAMP—20 YARDS AHEAD. A handful of torches rested against the wall nearby. Alden rummaged for a match in his backpack and lit it. Curious at what they might find, the pair then headed further into the tunnel, which sloped downward.
The boys soon found a room hollowed out of the ground, like an animal’s burrow only larger. They could no longer hear the sound of the river.
“We must be on the other side of the wall,” Andy deduced.
Thick cobwebs hung everywhere. Alden burned these away with the torch, sending several eight-legged inhabitants scurrying. A pile of logs sat neatly stacked against the far wall, and next to that was a hole in the ground, a bucket attached to a rope nearby.
“It’s a well,” surmised Alden.
In no time they had a fire blazing, a real treat after going without for so many days. Andy was amazed that smoke didn’t build up inside, but Alden explained the simple ventilation system he saw in the walls that allowed smoke to escape while hiding it from the view of anyone outside. He’d seen the design somewhere else.
The boys pulled food out of their packs and began devouring dinner. When they were done, Alden scrounged in the bottom of his pack and pulled out one more package, then removed the cover. “I found these after we left Anta’s, but I didn’t know what they were. Do you have any idea?”
Alden handed one to Andy. The round, white ball was squishy. After inspecting it closely, he took a bite and beamed. “They’re marshmallows! How did Anta know?”
“What are marshmallows?”
“Only one of my favorite campfire treats!”
Andy pulled Methuselah out and extended the blade. He put one of the marshmallows on the end and held it over the fire. Alden bent forward.
“Hey, see if she gave us chocolate bars and graham crackers, too.”
“What are those?” Alden had no idea what he was looking for, but a second later he pulled out a small tin box and opened it.
“Yes!” Andy celebrated, pumping his fist.
Andy showed Alden how to assemble a s’more and then helped him roast his own marshmallow.
Several s’mores later, Andy cleaned off Methuselah’s blade and it retracted back into the hilt.
“Old-world craftsmanship meets twenty-first-century treats!” Andy laughed.
The boys laid out their bedrolls near the warm fire, and the sound of their steady breathing soon filled the air.
As on the previous night, the dragon he had seen in the Forest of Giants visited Andy’s dreams. He again dreamed he was walking in rocky, mountainous terrain with brambles and thorn bushes jutting out from crevasses. This time, however, it was daytime and he was hunting. He held Methuselah out in front of him, ready to strike at the first sign of food.
He rounded a boulder and there in the path ahead crouched the red dragon eating a fresh kill. Andy froze. Unfortunately, his movement alerted the beast to his presence. It looked up, then squared its shoulders and flapped its wings. A split second later, it reared up on its hind legs and leaped at him, blasting fire from two of its heads. Just before the inferno hit him, Andy yelled and woke up sweating and trembling. He was still in the cave with Alden, next to the fire. Alden rolled over, made a few noises, and continued sleeping. It took Andy a long time to get back to sleep.
The grumbling of Andy’s stomach woke him the next morning. After a quick breakfast, they packed up their gear and headed into a passageway on the far side of the room, hoping it would lead them into the foothills of the Zwellow Mountains as the King and Mermin had promised.
An ancient door greeted them at the end of the tunnel. Only after much grunting and groaning did they finally manage to push it open and find the source of their struggle: it had been hidden behind a
mound of old brush and heavy tree limbs through which they had now tunneled.
“No wonder!” Andy exclaimed. “No one was ever going to find it there.”
Alden nodded as he bent over, panting.
Recovering their breath, they looked around before emerging. Off to the left they heard a calmer Slither River babbling to itself. Nothing but fluffy white clouds filled the sky.
“There’s no fog!” Andy realized.
“Yeah, we can see for miles!”
Unfortunately, the scene was depressing. Ahead lay a vast display of desolate wasteland, jagged rock formations jutting skyward every so often. What were once tall evergreens now lay broken, their skeletons dismembered and strewn about the rocky soil. The burned and blackened mountains off in the distance lay despondent, like a bum on the street needing encouragement.
“What is this place?” asked Andy.
“It’s the land of Hadession, Abaddon’s land.”
Andy’s throat tightened.
The shadow of a large bird skimmed the ground not far away. They ducked into the brush and waited for it to move on.
“That was close!” whispered Alden, clearly afraid his voice might carry in the dry, barren conditions.
They stepped out and hastily covered everything back up, then dashed for the first monstrous rock formation. No sooner had they reached its safety than a flock of shadows swooped by. They made a run for the next formation before the next patrol reached them.
By mid-morning, rumbling and roaring sounds wafted over the countryside as they continued dashing between tall sentries.
“I think those are dragons,” Alden speculated as they ate a quick lunch sometime later. The muscles in his jaw tensed from more than just munching moonberries and goat jerky.
Andy surveyed the horizon and his stomach twisted as he remembered his dreams.
By late afternoon they reached the point where the Slither River became nothing more than a trickle—they had reached the Dragon’s Lair.
For such a mighty river, its beginnings are unimpressive.
The land became more mountainous and the scenery reminded Andy of his nightmares. He took a deep breath. I hope my dreams didn’t foreshadow something about to happen to us.
The volume and frequency of dragon roars had increased significantly, and Andy felt as if he was being given a final exam on overcoming fear. “
Compared to that dragon with seven heads, normal dragons don’t seem so scary, at least not from this distance,” Andy tried to convince himself.
Alden raised an eyebrow but refrained from comment.
Keeping a lookout for circling vultures, Andy and Alden spotted a cave and made a beeline for it when the coast was clear. They ducked into the mouth and halted, listening above the sound of their heavy breathing.
“Andy…” Alden whispered.
Rustling emanated from behind them.
Andy put his pointer finger to his lips then slowly set his backpack down and reached for the pouch, pulling out Methuselah. The shiny blade extended.
“Stay here and keep watch,” Andy instructed.
“Are you sure?” Alden squeaked.
Andy nodded, turned, and crept into the cave.
As his eyes adjusted, Andy could see a pair of glowing yellow cat-like eyes the size of softballs following him. A large shape crouched in the dimness. The smell of smoke bit his nostrils. Oh boy….
Andy whirled Methuselah’s blade around in a figure-eight pattern, trying to intimidate whatever it was. The creature let out an ear-splitting roar, and fire burst from its mouth as it charged.
Andy pivoted and dashed toward the entrance. “Alden, take cover!”
As he reached the mouth of the cave, Andy took a quick look over his shoulder to find a dragon nearly upon him. He hesitated briefly, trying to find something to hide behind, but there was no cover. The monster was much faster than he expected, and the back of his neck screamed as flames licked it. He darted out of the cave, struggling to formulate a plan.
Please have the same anatomy as the dragons in Dragon Slayer, he pleaded. From his video game, Andy knew the scales covering the beast’s chest should thin out at its loins, leaving the skin unprotected.
In a move he had executed only once while playing Dragon Slayer, Andy stopped, whirled around, and dove at the beast, forming a tight ball as he did. He somersaulted toward the dragon.
Not expecting such a move from its prey, the dragon ran over top of Andy. The instant its underbelly hovered directly above, Andy thrust Methuselah up into the soft flesh. The sword buried into the animal up to the hilt.
The yellow dragon skidded to a stop, let out a thunderous roar, and started to collapse. Andy rolled out from under the giant, barely avoiding being crushed as it met the ground. He raced back toward the mouth of the cave to take cover. The yellow dragon let out a final burst of smoke and closed its eyes, dead.
With such a disturbance, Andy fully expected the vultures to investigate. And he was right. No sooner had he ducked into the cave entrance than the silhouettes of a pack of vultures came into view.
Alden poked his head out from behind a rock inside the cave. “Way to go!”
“No time to celebrate, we have company.”
The first vulture-man landed next to the dead dragon.
The boys grabbed their packs and headed farther into the cave, praying there were no more occupants. They stumbled around in the darkness, trying to find something to hide behind in case the vulture-men searched the cave. They finally found a boulder and crouched down. Alden’s labored breathing told Andy his was not the only stomach in knots.
Scritch. Scratch. Scritch. The sounds started out faint but grew louder.
From the mouth of the cave, scuffling footsteps of a vulture-man approached. We’re trapped!
The boys ducked down. Please don’t find us. Please don’t find us.
Whatever was making the scratching sound reached them and paused. A nose sniffed around wildly. A second later, the vulture-man’s shuffling stopped on the other side of their boulder. It sensed the other creature and froze.
The animal charged the vulture-man and a violent scuffling broke out.
Yip! The creature ran toward the mouth of the cave with the vulture-man in hot pursuit. Andy could make out dark brown fur and a long, rough tail. It’s a giant rat! Andy bit back his terror. The creature would have come midway up Andy’s thigh! It carried something round in its mouth that Andy could not make out, but it left a trail of shiny liquid all the way out of the cave.
Andy and Alden didn’t move. Against the backdrop of light entering the mouth of the cave, they watched the vulture-man look around. After a few minutes it finally exited. Hearing no further sounds, they crept closer to the cave entrance. Many vulture-men had gathered and were examining the dragon carcass. Thankfully, they were not strong enough to push it over, so they did not see Methuselah still lodged in the beast’s stomach.
After a long time, the vulture-men dispersed and the boys exhaled loudly as they came out of hiding.
“How are we going to get Methuselah?” Alden wondered aloud.
“I’m not sure, but we have another problem. This is a yellow dragon. Merodach said this is where red dragons can be found. The Dragon’s Lair must have all kinds of dragons. I didn’t realize they all live together. Problem is, we don’t know which caves have red dragons. We can’t kill every dragon we come across until we find a red one.”
“That’s right!” came a deep, gruff voice from several feet away.
Andy and Alden started, heads swiveling toward the utterance.
From behind a nearby outcropping emerged a large, balding, unkempt man with only three fingers on his left hand.