Chapter 5
Billy pulled Excalibur from its scabbard and looked up. The dragons, both bearing red scales, flew over the mountain boundary. The larger of the two was clearly Goliath, and the smaller one had to be the dragon they saw at the side of the river. “Think they’ve seen us?” Billy asked.
Ashley snapped the box’s lid closed. “I sense anger in their minds, but nothing violent.”
“Stay still or run for cover?” Walter asked.
She nodded toward a tree that stood about thirty paces away. “Slowly. Very slowly.”
As they crept along the river’s beach, Billy kept his stare trained on the dragons. The smaller one had its eyebeams turned on and was sweeping them across the valley floor.
The moment Billy set foot on the snow-covered turf, the beams brushed over his body. A loud screech rode the wind. Goliath’s roar followed, and the two dragons dove toward them.
“Get under the tree!” Billy lit up Excalibur’s beam and sliced the air, barely missing the smaller dragon. The dragons broke from their dive and separated. Goliath sped to the right, and the smaller one wheeled around one of the tallest trees to Billy’s left.
Walter ran with Ashley to the tree before returning in a sprint to Billy’s side. “Back to back!” Walter said. “Just like Sir Barlow taught us.”
They pressed their backs together. Billy swiped the beam at the smaller dragon but missed again. “He’s quick!”
“Turn it off and wait till he gets closer. He’ll shoot fire, and then you can nail him. But if you miss, watch out for his tail.”
Billy let the beam die away but kept the blade glowing bright. The dragon zoomed down, its mouth wide and its teeth bared. “He’s coming! Cloaks up!”
Walter ducked low. “Goliath’s coming, too!”
Both men let their cloaks cover their exposed skin. Torrents of fire lit up Billy’s darkened vision, and heat blistered his face. The moment it passed, he leaped up and shot the beam from Excalibur’s blade. The smaller dragon zoomed toward him, only two seconds away. He reared back and swung, but something smacked his head and knocked him to the ground, dousing Excalibur.
As he sprawled, still clutching the hilt, he covered himself again. Was it a tail? Goliath’s tail?
A sudden pull jerked him to his feet and set him upright. A beige dragon sat next to him, spewing fire into the air. When the flames died away, she growled, “I will protect you from my mate, but I cannot allow you to use that weapon to kill my son.”
“Roxil?” Billy rubbed his head. “I’m just trying to save my own skin.”
Walter jumped to his feet and stood next to Billy. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Better check on Ashley.”
Walter ran to the tree where Ashley stood, her sword drawn. She seemed fine.
Goliath landed on the other side of the river, and the smaller dragon joined him. “Roxil!” Goliath called. “You are not allowed to fight with the humans. Your vow is to stay at my side.”
Roxil shot her eyebeams toward Goliath. “At your side? I stopped him from slaying our son. Even now he has the power in his sword to slay you, but he stays his hand because of my presence at his side. Do you really want me to leave him and allow him to disintegrate you?”
Goliath growled but added no words.
“Then be off,” she continued, “and I will lead them out of this place.”
“Only to return with that sword,” the smaller dragon said.
Goliath’s ears rotated toward him. “An excellent point, Karrick. If your mother were really on my side, she would kill that cockroach now and be done with it.”
Billy pushed Excalibur’s tip against Roxil’s underbelly and shouted, “If she tried to kill me, she would be dead before you could blink. Just do as she says, and I’ll let all of you live.” He whispered out of the side of his mouth. “No offense, Roxil.”
A growl masked her response. “None taken, but he will not be persuaded.”
“Feel free to kill her,” Goliath said. “I have my son, so I have no need of her any longer.”
Billy caught a glimpse of Walter and Ashley skulking his way. He whispered again to Roxil. “What now?”
This time she didn’t try to cover her words. “I am under a vow that I cannot break. I cannot fight with you. The only reason I was able to fend them off was because of my duty to protect my son. I knew you would slay Karrick if I did not interrupt the battle.”
“So are we at an impasse?”
“Not for long. If you delay, he will attack the other humans. If you defend them, I will stop you from hurting my son, and your friends will be doomed. He knows this, but he is likely waiting to see if you will kill me. Since he is faithless, he does not trust me, so he wants me out of the way.”
“But if you stop me from defending Walter and Ashley, I would have to kill you.”
“Precisely.” Roxil’s eyes followed Walter and Ashley as they approached, but she seemed not to be concerned. “And after killing me, you would turn your sword on Goliath and Karrick, but they might have killed your friends already, and you would have to fight two dragons alone.”
Billy made eye contact with Walter. Walter took Ashley’s hand, whispered something to her, then nodded at Billy.
With a burst of strength, Billy jumped to Walter and Ashley, and the trio stood back-to-back-to-back in a triangle, all with swords at the ready. Billy turned on Excalibur’s beam and slashed at Goliath, but he jumped out of the way and took to the air. Flicking his wrist, Billy swiped the beam over Karrick’s head before he could follow. When the younger dragon ducked low, Billy stopped the buzzing laser within inches of its neck.
He shouted at the top of his lungs. “Don’t move, or I’ll disintegrate him!”
Roxil roared. “If you do, you will die! Goliath will kill you, but only if I do not kill you first!”
Eyeing Goliath as he circled overhead, Billy shot back with a growl. “We’re willing to do battle to see if either one of you can kill us. Don’t underestimate our abilities.”
Karrick trembled. He looked up at his father with terrified eyes. Goliath landed on Karrick’s side of the river but far enough away to keep Billy from shifting the beam to him. With a spiteful snort, he said, “Even with that weapon, you cannot defeat Roxil and me when we fight together. If you kill our son, her rage will be beyond anything you can imagine.”
Walter mimicked Goliath’s snort. “Then we’ll provide a lesson in anger management at the point of a sword!”
“Walter!” Ashley hissed. “Cut the trash talk.”
“I’m trying to get them mad. They won’t think straight.”
Roxil aimed her beams directly into Billy’s eyes. “Are we at another impasse?”
“Not necessarily.” Billy averted his gaze. Her eyebeams weren’t blinding, but they had a dizzying effect. “Just let us go, and we’ll all stay alive.”
Roxil spat a ball of flames on the sand. “Fool! Even if we agreed to allow you to leave in peace, Goliath would break the vow and attack you when you are most vulnerable. He is a liar.”
Goliath snorted again, louder this time. “You are a witness, Karrick. Your mother, the faithful dragoness, is displaying her undying loyalty!”
“Karrick already knows of your lying ways all too well.” Roxil pawed deeply into the sand. “You cannot deny it.”
“But I’m not a liar,” Billy said. “Will you trust me to keep a deal?”
Roxil dipped her head. “You are the offspring of Clefspeare, and therefore the son of my son. I will gladly assume that he has passed on to you his undisputed integrity.”
“I will hear your offer first,” Goliath said. “With death hanging over my innocent son’s head, it is difficult for me to believe that your integrity is as high as Roxil assumes.”
Billy glanced at Roxil. “Is Karrick able to carry a passenger?”
“He is able,” she replied with a suspicious stare, “but he has had only a little practice with one of Flint’s men.”
“Good enough.” Keeping the beam in place, Billy pulled away from his companions’ backs. “Roxil, fly Walter over there.”
Walter sheathed his sword. “I’m not sure what you’re up to yet, but I’m game.”
“Karrick’s a youngling,” Billy said. “He should still have a vulnerable spot where his neck meets his back. Have him fly you to the cave and keep the point of your sword on that spot.”
Walter cocked his head. “I didn’t know you’ve been studying dragon anatomy.”
“I guess you skipped that class.” Billy suppressed a grin. Listening to his father’s dragon stories for the last four years had paid off. “Just keep your hostage at the cave entrance. I’m sure you can persuade him to help you fight off any shadow people. Ashley and I will meet you there.”
“And what do you offer in exchange for my trust?” Roxil asked.
“Simple. We won’t kill your son. This way, we don’t have to worry about Goliath breaking any promises.”
“Then how will you leave this place? You cannot safely navigate the river in daylight, and Karrick is unable to carry more than one human.”
“Once we get to the tunnel, we’ll take our chances from there.”
Roxil lowered her head to the sand. “Very well. In the name of my son, Clefspeare, I will trust you.”
Walter scrambled up the neck stairway and settled on her back. “I’m ready.”
“You are playing the fool!” Goliath shouted. “Your loyalty is with me, yet you are making deals with the vermin.”
“I have conflicting vows,” Roxil said as she raised her head again, “and I will honor my obligation to Karrick first.”
While Billy held the beam steady over Karrick’s head, Roxil flew with Walter over the river. Ashley drew close to Billy’s side, trembling, but she stayed silent.
“He’ll be all right,” Billy said. “He’s a true warrior.”
“I know.” Her voice shook. “Billy, I love him so much.”
He nodded but stayed quiet. He couldn’t add anything to such a profound statement.
As soon as Walter dismounted Roxil and climbed aboard Karrick, he set the point of his sword against the dragon’s neck. “Ready!” he called.
“Okay. Get going!” Billy turned off the beam but kept the sword raised. “Roxil, if you will carry Ashley and me to the cave, we can finish this quickly. Otherwise, we have to cross the river at Lilith’s Shallows and walk all the way.”
“I will carry you.” Roxil turned to Karrick. “Just do as he says, and all will be well.”
“Fool of a dragoness!” Goliath shouted, still keeping his distance. “Your loyalty to these sewer rats will be the death of you!”
Roxil paid no attention. She and Karrick launched into the air at the same time. While Karrick headed south, she flew over the river and landed at Billy’s side. “Let us fly immediately,” she said as she made a neck stairway. “Goliath is no fool. He will devise a counter plan.”
“I agree.” Billy put his sword away and hustled with Ashley onto Roxil’s back. As soon as he got a good grip on the spine in front of him and Ashley wrapped her arms around his torso, he yelled, “Let’s go!”
Roxil took off and made a beeline toward the cave. In the distance, Karrick was already descending toward the river near the exit waterfall. Walter would get there less than a minute ahead of them.
“We have but a moment,” Roxil said. “I must tell you something very important.”
Shivering in the gusting wind, Billy gritted his teeth again. “Go for it!”
She turned her head back toward them as she spoke in rapid-fire fashion. “Someone smuggled in soil from the resurrection garden along with one of the bones of Makaidos, and Flint now has a resurrection garden. Since Goliath was once in a place called the Valley of Souls, and calling him out of there allowed him to rise in the garden, he deduced that we could resurrect others who reside in that realm simply by energizing the bone and calling for the resident to come forth. Goliath learned that I was carrying an unborn youngling when I died, though I did not know it myself, and it seems that he discovered this youngling’s existence in the Valley of Souls. He likely also learned what kind of fire was necessary to energize the bone, and he reproduced it with his own breath.”
As Roxil began her descent toward the river, Billy looked past Ashley’s flying hair. Yes, Goliath was following, but quite a ways back.
“So,” Roxil continued, “Goliath, being his father, assigned him a name and called him to this world, but he needed me to care for him, because he was ill equipped to handle an infant dragon.”
Billy nodded. “I was wondering where he came from. I thought maybe you and Goliath—”
“No!” Roxil turned her head to the front. “My vow was to stay at his side. Nothing more.”
When they landed on the river’s beach, Billy and Ashley slid down Roxil’s side and sprinted toward the cave, both drawing their swords as they ran.
“I will stay here and fend off Goliath,” Roxil said. “Restore my son to me, and all will be well.”
Now tromping over a thin layer of snow, Billy looked back. “You have my word.”
The ferns crunched underneath their weight, raising a musky odor. “See any shadow people?” Ashley asked as she ran two steps behind him.
“I sense danger, but it’s not real close. My guess is that they’re holed up in the cave in the daytime. It’s the darkest place around.”
“Perfect. Dragons ready to scorch us outside the cave, and a horde of shadow people ready to strangle us inside.”
When they reached the cave entrance, Walter stood just outside the dark arch, his sword planted against Karrick’s underbelly. “We had a good talk,” Walter said. “You might say that he gets the point.”
Karrick snorted the same way his father had. “I fear to die only because it would break my poor mother’s heart. If not for that, I would do battle with you cowardly worms.”
“And he has his father’s charm,” Ashley said.
Billy lit up Excalibur’s beam and stepped inside the cave. “You do well to honor your mother. Go to her now, and I advise you to heed her counsel and not your father’s.”
Karrick spat a stream of sparks. “And I advise you to drink your own poison.” With that, he shuffled away a few steps, then used his wings to help him scoot to the edge of the forest.
Waving Walter and Ashley inside, Billy marched ahead. “Let’s see if we can get to Earth.”
“Reinforcements?” Walter asked.
Billy looked back. “Are you a mind reader now?”
“Nope. Just guessing that you had a reason for walking into a cave full of spooks with no way out but into a dragon’s mouth.”
“Speaking of spooks.” Ashley pointed into the darkness. “I sense something ahead.”
Billy swept the sword’s beam across the floor. Sizzles echoed through the cave, along with mournful cries. “They’re here, all right.”
“They’re in pain,” Ashley said. “Aren’t we invading their territory?”
Billy took several steps into the cave and motioned for the others to follow. “Elam told me they’re like vermin. Abraham said so himself. This is more like exterminating rats than anything.”
Ashley sighed. “If you say so. I know it didn’t bother me last time, but things seem different in the light of day, especially after talking to Zane.”
Billy looked at her sad eyes. Again, her thoughts were clear. Goliath had called the three of them vermin, and he was ready to kill them, and now they were doing the same to these creatures, whatever they were. They had Abraham’s word, but was that enough?
As the cries of the dying shadow people faded, Billy touched Ashley’s cloak. “Better let Gabriel out.”
She pulled the box from her pocket. “Why now?”
“We’re going to make a run for it.”
“Run for it?” Walter asked. “Through that mass of snakes?”
Billy nodded. “No use killing more than we have to.”
“Gabriel,” Ashley said as she opened the ion box’s lid. “Have you been listening?”
The glow inside the box pulsed.
“Good. Hop out. After we open the portal, we’ll see you on the other side.”
A surge of danger flooded Billy’s senses. As he turned to the entrance a dark form shaded the opening.
Walter swallowed. “Running for it works for me.”
A blast of fire shot into the cave. Walter ducked his head and fanned out his cloak just in time to cover Billy and Ashley.
“Run!” Walter shouted.
As another flood of fire rushed in, the three sprinted farther into the cave, Billy leading the way with Excalibur’s glow. Sticky hands grabbed at their feet and ankles. It felt like running through tar, but their momentum allowed them to snap away from the dark predators.
Soon, the end of the tunnel came into sight. Billy turned on the beam and slashed it vertically across the back wall. As before, sparks flew, and a rectangular aura took shape.
“It’s open!” Ashley called.
Billy waved a hand. “Everyone go!”
While Billy kept the shadow people at bay, Ashley leaped into the glowing doorway, followed by Walter. As he turned off the beam and jumped, a dark hand grabbed his ankle, but his thrust carried him through the portal. He broke into daylight and landed on his side, the black limb still attached and stretching into the cave. With a quick jerk, he pulled away, and the arm sprang back and disappeared.
Squinting, Billy looked around. Ashley propped herself on hands and knees. Walter, a new abrasion on his forehead, helped her rise to her feet, then reached for Billy.
As he rode Walter’s pull, Billy looked at the portal. A radiant human shape passed through and instantly solidified into Gabriel. He stretched his wings and lifted his legs up and down. “That box was a tight fit even for me.”
Ashley ran into his arms. “It’s so good to see you!”
Pressing his palms on her cheeks, he kissed her on the forehead. “Thought you got rid of your brother for good?”
Grinning, she swatted him on the backside. “Behave yourself!”
Billy called toward the tent, still staked out in front of the mine entrance. “Mom! Are you there?”
“Are we going to bring home another dragon?” Walter asked.
Shaking his head, Billy called again as he circled around the portal and headed for the tent. “Mom, it’s Billy!”
A woman crawled out of the tent and looked at them, blinking. “I am Tamara,” she said meekly.
“Oh, sorry. One of the dragons, right?”
“Yes.” She tilted her head. “Do you seek Mrs. Bannister?”
“Yeah. She’s my mother.”
Tamara pointed at the pile of rubble that blocked the entrance to the mines. “In there with Yereq. The flood is …” She rolled her eyes upward, searching for a word. Finally, she looked at Billy again. “Receding.”
“Thanks.” Billy ran to an opening in the rubble. Just as he took a breath to yell, his mother walked out, her shoulders slumped, her face dirty, and her hair wet.
“Mom!” Billy hugged her close. His mother’s arms slid around him, weak at first, but they tightened to a firm embrace.
She pulled back and looked at him. “I thought you’d come later. Is it night in Second Eden already?”
He shook his head. “Change of plans. Listen. We’re going to need all the firepower we can get, and we can’t wait to take one dragon at a time. Are there any other dragons available?”
She glanced at Tamara. The former dragon picked up a stick from the fire, then jerked her hand away and licked her finger, apparently nursing a burn.
Billy’s mother whispered. “Tamara is available, but Kaylee told me she’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the chandelier. When Devin killed her, she was carrying a message from Patrick that allowed Devin to find the courier and track down other dragons. She was supposed to destroy the message immediately after reading it. The former dragons would never have learned about the mistake if not for Devin’s bragging about it to Patrick. But since Morgan wouldn’t let Devin kill Patrick, the dragons were able to change the way they communicated.”
Billy drew a picture in his mind of the slayer grinning as he read the message, but he quickly shook the image away. “If Tamara can breathe fire and wants to fight for our side, then I don’t care about her IQ.”
“Oh, she’s loyal to a fault, and she’s as loving as the day is long.”
“Then sign her up.” He looked back at the campfire. Walter, Ashley, and Gabriel had gathered around to warm themselves and were chatting with Tamara. “Anyone else?”
“No. You said you could take only one at a time, so I told the others they could follow up a lead Kaylee found about the missing younglings.”
“Fair enough.” Billy looked into the tunnel. “Is Yereq around? We could use him.”
“He’ll be out soon. He loves Sapphira so much, he’ll never give up looking for her.”
Billy dragged his boot across the stony ground. “I know exactly how he feels.”
“You mean Bonnie?”
“Yeah … Bonnie.”
She embraced him again and laid her head on his chest. “I know how you feel, too.”
As he patted her on the back, he looked at the portal. “I can get you to Second Eden, but I don’t know if I can restore Jared Bannister for you.”
For a moment, she said nothing. Her body trembled slightly, but after a few seconds, the tremors died away. “When do we go?”
“We’ll have to wait for Second Eden’s nightfall. A couple of dragons out there are waiting to fry us.”
She took his hand and pulled him toward the campfire. “Then let’s sit and make our plans.”