After days of rain, Nahash led his wing of dragons to Sarah’s camp. It sat abandoned.
Hassan spotted the remains of the cyclopean camp at the base of the hill.
Nahash turned to Nasrallah and Talal. Can you follow the tracks?
Easily, said Nasrallah. The ground is wet, and these giants of yours have ten times the mass of a man.
I think these footprints might be permanent, said Talal.
They followed the tracks. They led north, deeper into the woods and hills. They followed them for hours, with Nasrallah and Talal often landing to see which way to go next.
The sun was low in the sky when the clouds rolled in. Bolts of lightning scattered across the cloud ceiling to peals of thunder.
Didn’t you tell us a dragon died flying into a thunderstorm? asked Parvaneh.
Yep, said Nahash. Of course, it was pouring rain and howling winds. This looks to be a dry storm.
I"m sure that makes it better, said Mahazioth, without a hint of sarcasm.
Let’s hope, said Nahash.
They reached the cyclopean ruins at sunset. The full moon rose opposite the setting sun. The lightning grew more frequent and violent. Seven bonfires burned on top of buildings in the city.
What do you suppose that means? asked Hassan.
They’re signaling us, said Nahash. They want a fight.
So this is a trap, said Mahazioth.
Yep, said Nahash. Let’s go spring it. Stay at least a hundred yards up.
The dragons flew over the ruined city. The full moon rose in the sky, painting the black clouds above with its pale light. As they approached the center, a shadow rose from the roof of the largest building and hovered before them.
What is that? asked Nahash.
That’s one of us, said Hassan. A dragon with scales so black I can barely see him.
He must be old, said Parvaneh.
They flew closer. The old dragon whispered into their minds.
Greetings, fellow dragons, he said. I am Amalek.
Amalek who? asked Nahash.
The Amalek.
Nahash stared at the dragon in shock. It is you.
You remember me? asked Amalek. I’m flattered.
I remember you from two hundred years ago. Your scales still had some red in them, then.
Yes, said Amalek, I have grown quite old. Yet, I feel young; two hundred years of hunting in the western wilds has done wonders for my vigor.
Has it been you all along? asked Nahash. You’re behind all of this?
Oh, no, said Amalek. I’ve only just arrived. My new friends did a fine job of repelling your assaults before today. Now that I am with them, I think they might have a chance to defeat an entire wing of dragons.
I know you’re powerful, said Nahash, but do you really believe you can best all seven of us?
Amalek gave him a draconic smile. Watch me.
A host of star folk appeared. They flanked the wing of dragons on all sides.
You’re friends with the fairies? asked Nahash.
I am, said Amalek. And the cyclopes, and the men. I intend to defend their claim to these lands. I offer you the chance to surrender; leave those iron spheres, and you may go in peace.
I have nothing left to go back to, said Nahash. The king made it clear that he would not tolerate failure a third time.
Ah, said Amalek. A pity. I guess it’s a fight to the death for you, then?
I guess so, said Nahash.
So be it! said Amalek.
Amalek focused his will. The world went dark for each member of the wing. The seven froze and began to fall.
Nahash cursed to himself. He focused his will, expended far more energy than he wanted to, and snapped out of the spell. He was thirty yards up.
He righted himself and looked for the others. Regulus, Hassan, Mahazioth, and Nasrallah shook the sorcery off and remained aloft. Parvaneh and Talal kept falling.
Nahash whispered, Hassan! Mahazioth! With me! He led them towards Amalek. Regulus and Nasrallah: you two kill as many of those fairies as you can.
Nahash, Hassan, and Mahazioth all fired rays of heat at Amalek. He deflected the spells and responded with a massive bolt of lightning that shocked all three to the bones of their spines.
How are his spells that powerful? asked Hassan.
He’s using up energy fast, said Nahash. We just have to wear him down.
Regulus and Nasrallah found themselves swarmed by fairies. The star folk threw all manner of spells at them — heat, cold, lightning, and waves of pure force. The dragons deflected the spells as best they could and sent their iron weapons swinging through the enemy in wide arcs.
Parvaneh and Talal hit the ground in separate locations.
Nahash, Hassan, and Mahazioth circled Amalek. Hassan hit Amalek with a bolt of lightning. Amalek look at him, smiled, and sucked all the heat from the air around him. Hassan’s blood ran cold as arctic temperatures surrounded his body. He gasped and fell to Earth.
Mahazioth hit Amalek’s wing with a ray of heat. It burst into flame, briefly, before Amalek extinguished it with frost.
Nahash slung his iron sphere at Amalek. It shot toward him at incredible speed only to stop a few yards from his face and fly back towards Nahash. Nahash dodged.
Regulus hit one of the fairies with iron. It vanished with a flash of static and a loud buzz. Nasrallah hit another two. Rays of heat seared their wings and tails as the other star folk zapped them with spells.
Talal rose up on his coils. Some of his ribs felt broken, as did two of the spines in his right wing. Tattooed men poured into the square where he landed. Behind them came one-eyed giants bearing massive weapons.
The men and cyclopes fired arrows at Talal. He deflected the volley with a wave of force from his mind, then knocked down the wave of forest folk with another. Cyclopes closed on him with twelve-foot spears.
Parvaneh managed to shake his daze and slow his fall just before hitting the ground. He was bruised, but uninjured. He lifted his wings to take flight, then heard a small human voice.
A little man with a pointy nose poked his head from around a building. He smiled at the dragon, waved, and said "Hi! I’m Quinn."
Parvaneh gave the little man a blank stare.
Quinn strolled out from behind the building. "We don’t have to fight, you know. We could be friends. I’m already friends with one dragon."
Parvaneh focused. A ray of heat shot from his brow into the man before him. It seemed to go right through.
Quinn looked back at the ray scorching the stone street, then back at Parvaneh. "Sorry, that won’t work. You see, I’m not really here." Quinn pointed to his right. "I’m over there."
The serpent looked at him, then turned to where he pointed. He saw Quinn over there. He looked back to where he had been and saw no one.
What sorcery is this? asked the dragon.
"It is sorcery!" said Quinn. "Amalek taught me."
Parvaneh decided to ignore the interloper and took flight. Five seconds later, he smashed his head into the ground. How? He he had been headed upward.
"It’s opposite day!" said Quinn. "Down is up and up is down."
Fool! said Parvaneh. He focused his will and tried to cast off the spell. He found it more difficult than anticipated.
Terrible pain wracked the dragon’s body. He felt like he was on fire. I see, he whispered to Quinn. Using sorcery to make me think I’m burning? That’s our oldest trick.
"That’s not me," said Quinn. "You are totally on fire."
Parvaneh tried to hit Quinn with another heat ray. Quinn vanished. A voice behind the dragon said, "I’m over here now!"
The dragon looked back and saw Quinn behind him. I’m not falling for that again, he said. He turned away and focused on breaking the illusion. He felt a sharp pain as a sling stone bounced off the back of his skull.
Hassan, bruised but alive, stretched his wings, still shivering. He surrounded himself with a cushion of hot air. A moment later, a cyclops walked into view from behind a building. He wore armor, but did not appear armed.
"Surrender!" said the cyclops.
To you? asked Hassan. You must be delusional.
The cyclops threw a bolt of lightning at Hassan. Hassan deflected it.
A mage? asked Hassan. Good. I feared there would be no sport in killing you.
High above, Nahash and Mahazioth flanked Amalek, circling him on opposite sides. Amalek deflected their latest barrage, then hit Mahazioth with a powerful blast of light and sound.
Ugh, whispered Mahazioth to Nahash. I’m blind and deaf.
Just maneuver, said Nahash. I’ll distract him.
Nahash focused his mind and summoned a vortex of wind around Amalek, pinning him in place.
Nice one, said Amalek. He focused his will and dispelled the vortex.
Regulus and Nasrallah had managed to hit thirteen of the star folk with iron, almost halving their number. Both were covered in wounds from the fairies' spells.
Gabriel spoke to Quetzal and Bluebonnet with light-speak. Ready? he asked.
Yes, they flashed in unison.
Gabriel positioned himself above the battling serpents. Quetzal placed himself below Gabriel. Bluebonnet hovered below the dragons.
A huge bolt of lightning shot from the clouds above. It went through Gabriel, hit Quetzal, and split into three bolts, one each for Nahash, Regulus, and Nasrallah. Nahash and Regulus managed to dodge; Nasrallah did not. He died mid-air and fell. The bolts shot through Bluebonnet and down to Earth.
Five cyclopes closed on Talal. He focused his will and hit them with sorcery. Each writhed in pain as their bodies twisted and contorted themselves against their will. Talal slashed at the nearest with his claws, killing him.
Three more cyclopes came at him from behind. He slashed one’s throat; the other two stabbed him with their spears. He shattered the spears with a wave of force and killed another with his claws.
Parvaneh broke through Quinn’s illusion and found himself on fire. He surrounded himself with frost, dousing the flames. Before him stood two men. One was tall, for a man, and held a sword. The other was tall, but less so, and gaunt. He looked unarmed.
A sword? asked Parvaneh. Really?
"It’s killed one dragon," said Zebulun. He advanced on the serpent.
Helios dueled with Hassan. He fought defensively, focusing more on deflecting Hassan’s spells than on throwing his own.
Not bad! said Hassan. Now it will be a pleasure to kill you.
"I’ve been practicing for a hundred years," said Helios.
Amateur, said Hassan. I’ve been at it for three hundred.
The serpent lunged forward and slapped Helios with the back side of his left wing, knocking him for a loop. Hassan circled around and over him, crushing the cyclops with his body, as constrictors do. Helios gasped for air. He tried to focus, to cast a spell, but he couldn’t breath.
Mahazioth banked and swerved, still blind. He occasionally felt the sear of heat or the shock of lightning from one of the star folk. As his vision cleared, he saw that he had fallen to just twenty yards up.
A seven-foot arrow pierced his guts. He hissed in pain and rage.
He whispered to Nahash. I’m hit. I have to land.
Go, said Nahash.
Nahash turned to face Amalek. The two hovered in place, thirty yards apart, and stared.
It’s not too late to surrender, said Amalek.
I have nothing left to lose, said Nahash.
You could switch sides, said Amalek. We could use a general of your power and experience.
The king may be a jackass, said Nahash, but I still have my honor.
Very well, said Amalek. I respect that. Fancy a duel, then?
Nahash responded with lightning. Amalek grinned.
Regulus nailed three more star folk with his ball of iron, but their barrage of spells had taken their toll. He felt his power waning.
Mahazioth landed on the largest building below, a behemoth of granite and marble. He pulled the giant arrow from his form with a hiss and seared the entry and exit wounds with fire. A cyclops stepped from the roof’s shadows and fired two arrows at the dragon in rapid succession. The dragon swerved his coils out of the way and gave the cyclops a hard look. Men with bows ran into the square below and aimed at the serpent.
I am going to kill every last one of you, said Mahazioth.
Talal threw up a field of force to deflect the forest folk’s arrows. He whirled and blocked the remaining cyclops’s sword with his claws, then sent the giant flying backward into a wall with a wave of force. The cyclops crumpled.
Men swarmed from the streets around him and stabbed at him with their spears. He blocked, dodged, feinted, and killed men with fire until Emet drove his spear through the serpent’s heart. Talal fell dead.
Parvaneh set the men before him on fire. Flames roared up for a moment, then subsided. The men were unburned.
More sorcery? asked Parvaneh.
"No," said Zebulun. "The blessing of Ur."
Zebulun slashed at the serpent with his sword. It slithered its coils aside.
Davion hit the dragon square with ball lightning, stunning him.
Another sling stone bounced off the dragon’s skull. The dragon whirled its head around, looked at Quinn, and said, Really?
Hassan slowly squeezed the life from Helios. The cyclops tried to accept his fate, to make peace with the Eye of Heaven before his death. Then he watched as large bear of a man leapt from a nearby building and pinned the serpent to the ground with his spear.
The dragon hissed in pain, a deep bass sound. He crossed his wings around the attacker, then flung them apart, his claws gouging out huge chunks of flesh. Blood fell like rain. Elu fell to the ground.
An arrow pierced Hassan’s guts. He hissed again and looked up; there, on the building, stood a dark-skinned woman with a bow in her hand. She stared at him with hatred and fired three more arrows in rapid succession.
Hassan deflected the arrows with his mind and threw out a tentacle of pure force. It wrapped around the woman, immobilizing her. She struggled for breath.
A shadow jumped from another building onto Hassan’s back. It dug into his flesh with four sets of claws. Before the dragon could react to the pain, Kulth-Ing pierced his skull with his powerful jaguar jaw, driving his fangs into the serpent’s brain. Hassan fell dead.
Mahazioth knocked Apollo off his feet with a wave of force, then spawned a ring of white-hot flame around his perch. Men of the forest folk screamed as they burned. The rest fell back. Apollo stood, took aim, and fired more arrows. Mahazioth knocked them out of the air and shot a column of flame in his direction. Apollo managed to get out of the way in time.
Parvaneh found himself upside-down in a cartoon. Legions of fairies danced around him, singing a jaunty tune:
Oh, I’m just a little dragon from the kingdom to the west,
Because I am a dragon, I know that I’m the best
I never thought that men could be any threat to me
but no one told me one of them had learned some sorcery!
Parvaneh stared in amazement. He felt lightning rip through his body, but could see no attacker. He focused his will, channeled his power, and threw off the spell just in time to see Zebulun chop off his left wing with his sword. Parvaneh gasped. He fell unconscious from blood loss within seconds.
Men of the forest scaled the walls of the building where Mahazioth took refuge. He threw a spell, creating a hemisphere of force to keep them out. Push as they might, they could not break through. Mahazioth sent eleven rays of heat beyond the barrier, killing every man who couldn’t dodge in time.
An arrow went through Mahazioth’s wing. He hissed, spun around, and focused his mind. Apollo’s bow shattered into splinters. Apollo drew his dagger; it was the size of a man’s sword.
Amalek and Nahash dueled high above the fray. Amalek calmly deflected all of Nahash’s attacks.
Are you toying with me, emperor? asked Nahash.
Not at all, said Amalek. I’m merely letting you expend all of your energy before I finish you.
Nahash opened a portal with his mind and flew into it. He emerged right on top of Amalek. He whipped his tail around his enemy and squeezed, then slashed at him with his claws.
I may not be able to best you in magery or sorcery, said Nahash, but I bet I can beat you with good, old-fashioned violence. Old snake.
I welcome it! said Amalek.
The two wrestled in the sky. Each alternated between flapping their wings to maintain altitude and using them to slash at the other. Both were soon covered in bleeding wounds.
This is invigorating! whispered Amalek.
Glad you’re enjoying it, said Nahash.
Nahash had his body wrapped around Amalek twice. Without warning, Amalek took his dangling tail and wrapped it around Nahash’s neck. He then wrapped his wings around Nahash’s body, right above the wings, and snapped his spine. Nahash went limp.
You have killed me, he said.
Not yet, said Amalek. You may yet live.
Why would I want to live as a cripple? asked Nahash.
You don’t have to, said Amalek. I have a friend who can fix this.
Amalek held Nahash’s limp body aloft with his tail and looked at Regulus. The angels halted their assault. Regulus stared up at him.
Surrender, said Amalek.
Regulus stared at Amalek for a good minute. He looked around at the fifteen fairies who still surrounded him. He saw no other dragons in the sky.
He looked at Amalek. I surrender.
Amalek and Regulus flew down to where Mahazioth stood. He had lain waste to numerous forest folk. He bled from a slash across his belly. Apollo lay prone on the ground before him, burned but breathing.
It’s over, Mahazioth, said Regulus. Nahash is beaten. Others are dead. I’ve surrendered.
Mahazioth looked at Nahash’s limp body, then looked at Regulus with disbelief. We lost?
We did.
Mahazioth surrendered.
Everyone gathered before the ancient temple in the center of the city. Zebulun and Sarah healed everyone they could with what energy they had left.
Amalek spoke to Nahash. My friend Zebulun can heal your paralysis, he said. So long as you swear never to trespass in these lands again. You can even join us, if you like. We plan to take the kingdom. We could use your help.
Nahash thought for some time. I don’t think I can help you fight Aurelius Antipater, he said. But I don’t work for him anymore, so I’m happy to promise never to return to this accursed place. This has been the worst mission ever.
Amalek laughed. Dealing with the star folk must have been the height of frustration.
You have no idea, said Nahash.
Amalek turned to Regulus and Mahazioth. You two are free to leave. Return to the kingdom. Tell the king what happened here.
But first, said Amalek, we’re going to need your balls.