Baggar flipped his blade around the other side of Abioye’s body in a move that was both assured and whisper-quick. It wasn’t a full-strength blow, as either the mercenary captain was still toying with his prey or he was more injured than he was letting on. But whatever the case was—Nol Baggar’s greater experience ensured that the blow lanced across the top of Abioye’s left thigh; the completely opposite attack to what Abioye was suspecting.
“Ach!” I heard Abioye’s grunt of pain and saw him stumble as if in slow motion. He fell backwards into the greater drift of sand—and for a crystal-clear moment his left thigh appeared unharmed—before a sudden line of red appeared across it as the cut opened.
“Abioye!” I shouted in alarm, my heart catching in my throat as I heard his heavy fall into the underground sand dune. The lordling’s fine long sword skittered out of his hands across the cavern as he fell, and Nol Baggar limped forward, drawing his blade back to run him through where he lay. The mercenary captain had won—
No. No! NO!
The emotions poured through me, and I didn’t realize that I was moving forward, out of the nook between the boulders where I had found the Stone Crown. My whole body and mind were fused into a sort of pleading—a desperate cry for someone, anyone, somehow to save Abioye—where was that sword I had seen?
“Sssss….”
The captain of the Red Hounds drew back his blade, his back twisting with the effort as he was about to throw every ounce of strength into his killing lunge—but there was another sound in the cavern. A hissing, grating sound as the giant underground sand dune that separated me and the fighters started to shiver and dislodge its particles.
It took the mercenary captain a heartbeat to notice what was happening, as sand was suddenly pouring over his boots, his calves—and over Abioye’s flailing form below him!
“Huh?” I heard Nol Baggar’s cough of surprise as the outpouring of sand became a river, making him lurch and stumble to one side, away from Abioye’s fast-disappearing form.
“Ssss…SKREARGH!” And then the sound that filled our cavern was not the hiss and roar of sand, but the hiss and bellow of a giant, reptilian throat, as the largest dragon that I had ever seen raised its head from its warm resting place inside the dune…
Chapter 24
The Call of the Dragon
The dragon was massive, and its scales were the color of morning sunshine over the Plains—an orange-gold that had masked itself perfectly amongst the sands. Was it the Crown’s guardian? The thought struck me. Or had it crawled in here just to find a warm and safe place?
The reptile was larger than Ymmen, I saw at once, and with limbs that were fattened and barrel-like. Sand continued to dislodge and pour from all across its scales in rivulets and streams as it slowly raised its great head on a heavy, sagging neck.
It's not like the other dragons, I knew instinctively—although I couldn’t tell how I knew. Only that I did. The knowledge that this creature was ancient—even far older than Ymmen was—filled me. Its neck was shorter and fatter than Ymmen’s, and there was none of that slender serpentine grace that Ymmen could display. It was large and squat, and its claws were heavy stubs of black that, although the action of the sands and the centuries had worn them down—they were still large enough to crush and smite with ease.
Instead of the bone-spikes that Ymmen had running down his back, this yellow dragon had two ridges of what looked to be diamond scales, and its overall body-type reminded me of the largest of the crocodiles that lived in the deep rivers further south in the Plains.
The yellow dragon slowly craned its head around to look down at the paltry humans that must have disturbed its rest. I could hear the grate of its scales as it moved, as if it hadn’t moved for a long time. Maybe years.
“Sweet Stars!” I heard an astonished and terrified gasp as my attention was snapped back to the people who stumbled and lay before it. It was Nol Baggar, attempting to stagger backwards but he was fighting the heavy blanket of sand that he now waded through.
Where’s Abioye! I thought in alarm, to see a puff of dirt as his head, shoulder and one arm appeared a little further away. He was still alive. I felt a small momentary relief—but for how long with this great beast looming over us all?
“Little Sister!” It was Ymmen’s roar in my mind, which was so powerful as to make me lean forward to support myself on the boulder. Maybe the gigantic yellow dragon was attracted by my movement—as it swiveled its head around towards me in a great sweeping arc and pointed its long and flattened head straight at me. It had the same sort of jaws as an alligator too, and its two large eyes slowly narrowed as it concentrated on me, their deep reptile-emerald green shimmering in the glow of the Earth lights.
“They are upon us! We fight!” Ymmen was roaring in my mind, and my thoughts were filled with soot and fire. Through our connection I could get glimpses of what was happening up there, on the surface.
The mechanical dragons had arrived, I knew. With Ymmen’s pain-tinged senses I could smell the acrid smoke and chemical oils and tar that they used. The sound of their clashing wings filled the air in an angry thunder of metal and canvas. And I could also smell burning. A lot of burning.
Ymmen! My heart jumped into my throat. How could he fight off ten mechanical dragons, already wounded as he was!?
There was a rasp of scales and sand from in front of me in the cavern, and my eyes snapped into focus to see that the gigantic yellow dragon had crunched one massive claw out of the sands, and it had cocked its alligator-like head—towards me.
Can it hear my connections with Ymmen!? I knew that dragons had a lot of senses that could be considered magical to us humans—and that dragons had ways of communicating that I could only guess at—but I had never expected my private thoughts with my bond partner to be able to be overheard by any other!
One half of my mind was filling with the sound of clashing wings and screeching metal, as the other half was firmly here, terrified and anxious, in front of this mighty monster.
I had to do something—but what? Above our heads, my friends and my people and my dragon were about to be torn limb from limb. Down here under the earth we were all going to be torn limb from limb. How could I have come so close, only to fail now! My heart hammered against my chest.
“Sssss…” There was another sighing rasp from the yellow dragon ahead of me as it cocked its head once more to one side as it regarded me, and it opened its gigantic maw for a forked tongue to roll out and flicker at the air between us.
It’s scenting me, I knew. Some creatures of the Plains relied on their noses to judge danger and threat, ally and foe—and still others used their mouths to ‘taste’ at the air, drinking in whatever they could glean of their surroundings before they decided whether to fight, kill, or flee.
Naroba and Abioye! I realized in alarm. They were injured. Easy prey!
And then the giant yellow dragon very slowly blinked its emerald eyes at me.