The Broken Sword - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kalista gasped in surprise and delight when Yamara began scaling the fountain. Her disbelief turned to amazement when the blond haired woman pulled the crown free from its head. Already visions of her army of doguren marching triumphantly from the city were running through her head. She turned to address her general when a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Looking back she saw the head of the dragon being to move.

It was slow for a few moments, during which Yamara clung tenaciously to its neck and tried to slide down it. The speed picked up rapidly, however, and soon the dragon whipped its head about on its long neck, stopping abruptly and sending Yamara flying through the air, the crown clutched in her hand.

Yamara twisted her body in mid air and threw the crown with a force mightier then should have been possible. It flew true, reaching its destination before Yamara slammed into the ground in a less then graceful roll. Bobo sat up from where he found himself on the ground and looked down, surprised, at the heavy metal object he held clutched to his bruised chest.

The seal is yours, princeling, now destroy it!

Bobo looked around, hearing Yamara's voice in his head, but did not see her. What he did see was the dragons of the fountain climbing out of the water and all turning, as one, to look at him. Then Nathanial was there, hauling him to his feet and shouting at him. Bobo turned, still stunned from the impact of the crown hitting him in the chest, but nodded at Nathanial's repeated insistence that they run.

They were off then, sprinting through the palace gate and heading out into the city. They had no idea where they were supposed to go, but they ran in the hopes they could gain enough time to figure out what to do with the crown. Or, more importantly, how to destroy it. Kalista, also stunned by the unfolding events, reacted at last, ordering her soldiers to attack the dragons. They did so without hesitation, hacking in vain at the solid metal of their legs and torsos. The golems ignored the doguren, instead charging through them and heading after the crown.

Yamara looked up from where she had rolled and skidded across the cobblestone courtyard. She was badly scraped and bruised but the glowing amulet that hung from her neck had aided her ability to lighten her weight and reduce the impact of the landing. There was still pain, but pain she had been dealing with since she was born. She picked herself up and ran after them, veering to side only to pick up her wicked looking dagger and short sword from her pile of gear.

"They are catching up!" Gregory panted, barely able to keep up with his companions.

"They are after the crown," Nathanial grunted, having watched over his shoulder as the animated statues ignored the doguren and came directly after the three of them. "Keep running, Bobo, we'll try to slow them down."

"We'll do what?" Gregory asked, slowing down beside Nathanial. Bobo just grunted and continued running, glancing back over his shoulder from time to time.

Nathanial closed his eyes and muttered a chant of power to his God. Gregory glanced at him as the dragons grew closer. Shrugging, he held out his wand and prepared to cast a spell. After a moment he realized he had nothing that would work against them, so he lowered his hand and ran over to the side of the thoroughfare only heartbeats ahead of them. Looking back he saw Nathanial still standing in the middle of the road. Gregory did a double take when he realized the priest had grown slightly larger and become more imposing.

Nathanial deftly slipped around the leg of the first dragon, the bronze one, as it thundered down the road. He leapt up, timing his movement so that he could then spring off of the thigh of the hind leg of the dragon and slip up onto its back. Once there he drove his fist down, which Gregory now realized was glowing softly with divine might. It crashed into the statue's back, denting the metal and sending some cracks running through the construct.

Further back Yamara had leapt onto the tail of the copper dragon and, using her mental powers to aid her, had run up onto its back as well. She slipped down to sit just ahead of its forelimbs and sank her magical dagger into the metal with ease to give her something to hold on to. He short sword she swung as hard as she could, cleaving into the side of the base of the dragon's neck several inches. She cursed as she wrenched the sword free, drawing it back to swing again.

Stricken with inspiration, Gregory raised his wand and cast a spell before his target was out of range. Nathanial shuddered as he felt Gregory's spell hit him, filling him with energy and making the world slow down around him. Yet, in spite of the slowness of things, his movements remained normal. Nathanial grinned and reared back for another punch.

Bobo realized that the statues towered over him and were tireless. At his top speed he could almost match theirs, but his stamina was nowhere near what it needed to be. He came to a junction of streets and slowed briefly, trying to figure out where to go. To his right a path led up, back towards the palace as it curved, but more importantly towards the waterfall where the stream that left the fountain fell hundreds of feet to the lake below. He grinned at the absurdity of his sudden idea, then glanced back over his shoulder. They were closing on him rapidly. With a deep breath he was off, running up the hill.

The bronze dragon that Nathanial was pummeling tried to turn the corner and follow Bobo, but the damage the priest had inflicted by then was extensive enough that one of its forelimbs crumpled under the weight shift. Nathanial flew off of it, landing and skidding unceremoniously in a heap. He looked up and, terrified, rolled to the side barely in time to miss the descending foot of the next dragon in line, a brass, that had leapt over the bronze. Nathanial finished his roll by standing up, just in time to catch the tail of the brass dragon in the arm, sending him crashing back to the ground.

The silver dragon came next, rounding the corner somewhat more gracefully. More importantly to Nathanial, it posed no threat to him in its maneuver. He rose shaking his arm to try and return feeling to it, and ran after the dragon. He realized that while he seemed to be running no faster then usual, he was covering the distance faster than the metallic automatons were.

Yamara saw Nathanial take off at an amazing speed after the silver dragon. The copper she rode leapt into the air clearing the inert body of the bronze dragon. She swung her sword a final time, hacking into the neck, and grinned ferociously as the metal gave way and collapsed, the weight of the head and neck to great for it to support it any longer. Still the dragon moved forward, though its head now was being dragged on the ground. She ground her teeth in frustration and hacked at it from the other side, shearing it free with two swings. The dragon stopped then, losing all momentum and animation. It collapsed atop the bronze, sending her forward with her momentum. Only her tight grip of her dagger kept her from flying forward.

Yamara hung in mid air, kept from falling the eight feet to the ground only by her dagger. She looked up as she felt it move, then cursed as it lost its purchase in the metallic corpse, dropping her to the ground abruptly and unpleasantly. Yamara stood back up and scowled at the now inanimate statue, or what remained of it. Copper and brass lay before her, still ahead was the bronze, silver, and gold.

Yamara laughed, it coming out in a single harsh sounding breath. A few years ago and she would have been feverish with excitement over the thought of a lump of metal the size of these things made of pure silver or gold. Worth enough to live in decadent luxury for hundreds or thousands of years, now she just wanted to destroy them.

A shadow passed overhead, sending chills down her spine. She looked up and saw the gold dragon flying above them and angling straight for where Bobo was running. She cursed and took off running, using every bit of her strength and her talent to make up the ground. Around her neck her ruby amulet blazed with a fierce light.

Bobo made it up the hill only a few breaths ahead of the bronze dragon. Breathing hard and acutely aware of the pain in his side, he ran for the stream, hoping in some way he could make it his salvation. A quick glance over his shoulder and he realized he had seconds left before the metallic jaws of the dragon clamped down on him. The cliff was there, however, on his left. Thirty strides to where the stream plunged over the cliff and into the lake below. Bobo lunged and jumped over the edge, praying as he went over the edge.

Nathanial leapt upon the back of the silver dragon and saw Bobo jump over the edge. His breath caught in his throat and then he screamed in outrage and pounded down on the back of the dragon, sending shockwaves of force through it. He realize a second later what Bobo's intention had been, for the bronze dragon followed him over the cliff. He looked at the silver beneath him and then looked up, understanding his sudden predicament.

Nathanial leapt to the side, hitting the ground hard and rolling into the swift flowing stream. He broke the surface and swam to the side, ignoring the fresh bruises with a rush of adrenaline caused by the realization that he was less then a dozen feet from being swept over the cliff. He pulled himself out of the water and realized that he was alone on top of the grassy plateau area outside of the palace; the silver dragon golem had plunged over the edge as well.

"Run!"

Nathanial looked over at Yamara, seeing her running towards him. She pointed up and he glanced at the sky, noticing the gold dragon bearing down on him. He stood his ground defiantly, earning him a few unpleasant thoughts from Yamara, but determined to fight to the bitter end, now that Bobo and the seal were gone.

The gold flew over him though, all but ignoring him as he stood shouting defiantly at it. It cleared the edge of the cliff and flew in a tight circle, impossible without the heavy usage of magic. It pulled up short and hovered, staring at the edge of the cliff a moment before it reached its head in. A double blast of thunder startled both Yamara and Nathanial. The dragon recoiled, two side by side black marks on its snout showing the result of the noise.

Nathanial ran forward and looked over the edge of the cliff, joined shortly by Yamara. Fifteen feet down Bobo was hanging with his arm draped around a jutting piece of rock, the crown clutched in his hand. His other arm, the one ending in the twin pistols, was pointing at the dragon, although now ineffectively.

The dragon statue reared its head back and then thrust it forward, a cone of impossible flame blossoming forth from it and washing over the face of the cliff. Yamara grabbed Nathanial and pulled him away from it as the flames climbed up and threatened to wash over them. They fell to the ground, the air stolen by the fire from their lungs.

Bobo saw the flames coming and cringed, trying to hide behind the small rocky outcropping he was hanging from. There was no escape, he was doomed and he knew it. With the flames less then a second from engulfing he had a sudden realization. Fire. Pure fire. He flung the crown into the air, using every bit of strength his wrist muscles could provide. The crown met the flames less then six feet from him, drawing in some of the energy and heat and then exploding violently as the hottest fire in Thoragloorin overpowered the magic of the seal.

Continued in Chapter 11