LIGHTNOVELONLINE EPISODE 33: THE BENDED
Cicadas, the 30th of Lost Speed, 4E 201
“Try again!” said Draloth.
Thral held the hollow log to his lips for the fourth time and shouted: “IMDUNKARIING!”
“I’m just about done caring as well. How much longer is this going to take?” Mell sat down on a bale of hay and opened a book. Kharla glanced at the cover— That’s Not My Dragon.… by Max Usborne. She might join Mell if this dragon took any longer to show up.
They’d Sprinted on Bessie to Whiteruin at dawn and spent the morning watching Eilgird train the guards in the use of the dragon trap. The chains had been oiled and a couple of test runs completed with several bales of hay acting as a makeshift dragon. Of course, a real dragon would be more of a challenge. The trap would need to be sprung at exactly the right moment by the guards who now waited on the upper levels manning the levers.
Kharla and her five companions now stood on the balcony of the Big Porch of Dragonsearch, looking out to the skies to see if they could spot a dragon. Next to them, and doing much the same, stood Jarl Baldgoof, his Steward Preventus, his brother Ronald, the Commander of the Guard, and several Whiteruin Guards in their faded yellow uniforms. Housecarl Aerolith stood precariously on the low wall of the balcony at the Jarl’s insistence, telling her she could protect him by letting him know when she saw the dragon.
“I’m going to have to sit down like your young Breton friend here,” said the Jarl. “Back’s giving me some pain.”
“Wait!” said the guard nearest to Aerolith. “Do you hear that?”
Kharla listened as Aerolith swung her head about searching the skies. Was that the beat of a dragon’s wings she could hear?
Kharla’s question was answered as a dragon shot out of the clouds, grabbed the guard next to Aerolith, and flung him into the air. The Housecarl jumped back onto the balcony floor.
“Mell! The orb!” shouted Kharla.
Mell swiftly placed her bookmark in her book, stood, and weaved a ball of light in front of Thral just as they had rehearsed earlier. Kharla grabbed the back of Thral’s head and pointed him at the dragon as it hovered above.
“Flor Thaht Fing!” sneezed Thral as the dragon swooped down. Blue energy engulfed the dragon as it struggled to stay airborne while Kharla and everyone else fled deeper into the Big Porch. After a few seconds, the reddish-purple beast’s wings folded and it was forced to land on the huge balcony of the Porch. It seemed Baldgoof had got the color dragon he’d wanted.
It roared as it landed and then came clawing its way toward them. “Dafyddkiin, here I am!”
“Now!” shouted Aerolith. They’d made markings on the ground to know when the dragon was in the right position for the trap to be dropped.
The chains released and the trap fell like a great yoke upon the beast, trapping it around the neck so that it couldn’t move. The dragon groaned as it tried to break free, but the trap held fast.
“You went to a great deal of trouble to put me in this…humiliating position. Roo-een time-lohn weer un-vid. No doubt you want to know where to find Alun?”
Kharla pointed her spear at the dragon. “That’s right.”
“One reason I came to the Dragonbore’s call was to test his Boo’m for myself. Many of us have begun to question Alun’s lordship, whether his Boo’m was truly the strongest. Among ourselves, of course. None were yet ready to openly defy him.”
“You were telling me where to find Alun?” Kharla reminded Imdunkariing.
“Mine throog gen ee. Innumerable pardons. I digress. He has traveled to Songunbard to regain his strength, devouring the souls of the mortal dead with his boredom. A privilege he jealously guards…His door to Songunbard is at Skulldunkin, one of his ancient fanes high in the eastern mountains. I surely do not need to warn you that all his remaining strength is marshaled there. Now that I have answered your question, you will allow me to go free?”
“Do we look stupid? I might release you once Alun is defeated, for your help,” said Kharla.
“No, you do not look stupid. The large Nord, the Dragonbore,” Imdunkariing indicated with his head toward the door to the throneroom where Thral and everyone else stood, weapons drawn. “He looks stupid. The tall balding one with the circlet on too. But there is one… detail about Skulldunkin I neglected to mention.”
“And what would that be?” asked Kharla.
“Only this. Your Dragonbore has the Boo’m of a dragon, but without the wings of one, he will never set foot in Skulldunkin. Of course… I could fly you all there. But not while imprisoned like this.”
Kharla cursed. This Skulldunkin didn’t sound like the sort of place that had an inn, and even if it had, Thral wouldn’t have visited unless he’d sprouted wings and flown there.
“Maybe you’re not the only dragon I know, Imdunkariing,” Kharla said.
“You speak of Poorthorax, no?” The dragon laughed. “Skulldunkin is well guarded, and those guards include dragons. They know me to be an ally, but Poorthorax they’d attack on sight, dropping anyone who was riding him to certain death. That’s if he could even get that far, what with his bad chest and all.”
He had a point. Kharla made her decision. “I’ll set you free if you take us. But no funny business. Remember, I’ve got a spear and I’m not afraid to use it.”
“Yeh-chid dah. It is wise to recognize when you only have one choice. And you can trust me. Alun has proven himself unworthy to rule. I go my own way now. Free me, and I will carry you to Skulldunkin. I can take the Dragonbore and five other passengers. That’s my maximum load or else we’re going to lose altitude.”
“Release the dragon!” Kharla shouted up to the guard by the release lever.
The guard appeared at the railing. “You sure about that? You want to let that dragon loose after all the trouble to catch him in there? Not to mention what he did to Jeff. He owed me thirty gold. Don’t suppose I’ll ever see that coin now what with him being splattered all over the northern slopes.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Kharla said.
“Your funeral—perhaps I should say cremation. Someone else is gonna have to help you get him back in there again though.” He straightened and called to the guards on the other side who manned the other release lever. “Get ready to open the trap! Now, are you sure, Orc? This seems like a really bad idea to me.”
“Carry on, soldier,” Baldgoof shouted. “This is all part of the Dragonbore’s plan.”
“Yes, Jarl.” The guards pulled the levers and the trap released from Imdunkariing’s neck and the chains pulled the yoke back up to the ceiling.
“Ah, that’s better.” The dragon tilted his neck from side to side. “Rooeen ahros am aych gorchumin—I await your command, as promised. Are you ready to see the world as only a dragon can?”
“We’re ready,” said Kharla. “Take us to Skulldunkin.”
“I warn you, once you’ve flown the skies of Ahwiruhmuhl, your envy of the dragons will only increase.”
Kharla shrugged. “Whatever.”