Dragon Sacrifice (The First Realm Book 3) (20 page)

Angrod

Tracking the creature to its lair was easy enough. But then, I’m sure King Garvel’s warriors had no trouble finding the beast. Surviving it seemed to be the challenge.

It didn’t take a master tracker. The monster had attacked several villages before venturing into Heorot. We rode to the first village and spiralled out, looking for tracks.

Wyverns on the ground aren’t much for stealth and this one was no different. Magnus spotted the tracks from the air. He had a mechanical hawk, a clever device that relayed what it saw through an eyepiece.

“What’s it like?” I asked, riding alongside.

“Like reading the most detailed map in the world. Beautiful, but infuriating.”

Soon enough we could follow the trail on our own. The tracks led to a mountain, to a yawning gash in the side it.

“What’s our first move?” I asked.

Everyone stared back at me. Even the other teams.

Magnus cleared his throat. “Shouldn’t you be the one to tell us?”

“You
are
the authority on wyvern hunting,” Elsa said.

They had me there.

“Well, my first thought is to put up a wall of stakes, then pour death into the cave. A big enough fireball will kill anything, if not from the pressure and heat, then from the lack of air.”

“Lack of air?” Elsa said.

“That’s right. If we burn all the breathable air, the cave’s inhabitant will suffocate.”

She shivered. Magnus smiled grimly. “I have something that could also do that trick,” he said.

“So do we,” Arawn said.

“Then we are agreed?” I said.

“Hold it,” Orvar said. “My people have no such means at our disposal.”

“It’s the safest way,” I said.

“But we won’t get a chance at the prize.”

Cruix smirked. “Why don’t you folks charge in, then we pour death into the cave?”

“There’s another thing,” Orvar said. “If you all attack at once, how would you tell who killed the beast? Will the creature even be identifiable?”

Arawn nodded. “We need its head, and intact too.”

I looked at Conrad’s group. Sandy, the halfling girl, was checking her weapon, a monstrous rifle.

The cartridges in her bandoleer were as big as tent pegs.

“Like what you see?” she said. “My new baby. She’ll punch a hole through half an inch of steel, then detonate on the other side.”

“Impressive,” I said. “Dwarven-made?”

Conrad nodded. “And damn expensive, even without the fancywork.” He named a sum and I whistled. Even for me, that wasn’t cheap. The bullets might as well be solid silver.

“But this puts us in the game,” he said. “With this, we quite literally have a shot.”

“What do you call this wondrous weapon?” Cruix asked.

“The dwarves called it a drag—
wyvern
gun.”

“Really.” Cruix crossed his arms. “I’ve never heard of a dragwyvern. It must be a dangerous beast.”

“You don’t know half of it,” Sandy said, still tinkering with her rifle. “The catalogue had all manner of specialty ammunition. Shock rounds, freeze rounds, inferno rounds...”

Cruix would have said something, but I had dragged him behind a tree.

“Now, look here,” I said.

“No, you listen,” he said. “Someone is selling weapons designed to kill me. How should I feel?”

“It can’t be that bad,” I said. “Magnus, do you make weapons designed to kill elves?”

“As far as I’m concerned, we don’t make enough!”

“There, you—
what?
”

“I said we don’t sell enough weapons to elves!”

“That’s not what you... oh, nevermind.”

The others had decided. They would smoke the beast out.

Arawn and Hafgan remounted. Laraib, Herkus, and Sham were already in the saddle. The king and his best soldier wore plate armour, while the other three were garbed in silk and leather. My sparring buddies held lances but they’d probably be using the sheathed bows hanging from their saddles.

Sandy dropped to one knee and took aim. Conrad half-drew his sword, then returned it to its scabbard. The rest of his crew did similar things. I’d only just met them, but they looked capable. Yang the half-elf had his shepherd’s axe in hand. There were a pulse as he gathered energy for a spell. A hedge wizard. Zukaldi the dwarf took a swing with his hammer. The hammer glowed brightly in my Sight. An enchanted weapon, then. And Borlog the human limbered his war club.

A believer in big sticks.

Magnus had four assistants. I didn’t know their names. They wore goggles and leather masks but carried no weapons. Magnus, meanwhile, was clad from head to toe in reactive mail.

“Gloves,” he said. His assistants fitted vambraces to his forearms and slipped his hands into oversized gauntlets. He made a fist and sparks jumped from finger to finger. He raised his other hand. There was a hum. A ball of light grew in its palm.

Elsa looked at Orvar, who nodded.

“It is time,” Elsa said. “Hertha! Marko! Audun!
Show them your true faces
.”

The hulking woman shrugged out of her cloak. Her skin was very tan. She crouched and flexed her biceps and her skin grew furry. The shorter man fell to his hands and knees. His neck bulged out and grew long. His face extended as well. The taller man had already sprouted fangs and a tail. They grunted and snarled. It must have been painful as their bones stretched, as their muscles swelled, as their skin tore and healed over. Horns pushed out of the woman’s skull and grey fur rippled down the men’s backs.

The woman climbed to her feet. She had quadrupled in mass and gained cow horns. The men remained on all fours. They were now gigantic wolves.

“Impressive,” I said.

“And that’s not all,” Elsa said. She leaped out of the saddle—

—and transformed before she hit the ground.

“Whoah,” I said.

She loomed over me. She was a huge golden feline with long claws and a short mane. She’d kept the same cool blue eyes. They’d lost none of their intelligence.

“Does that hurt?” I asked.

She growled. “Every time.”

She turned to her horse and drew a huge arming sword. She followed this with an equally oversized shield. I’d been wondering why she carried those things. Weapons are lighter than they look, but those would have been unwieldy in her normal form. Hertha the bison-girl, shouldered an enormous battleaxe.

Everyone looked at me and my team.

“Er,” I said. “Are we ready?”

Cruix sneered. “What, were you expecting a show?”

Vitus handed Arawn and Hafgan a grenade apiece. They rode up to the cave mouth and hurled them in. Foul smoke poured out of the cave. Then, a roar that echoed down the hills.

Orvar drew back an arrow. Sandy steadied her aim. Elsa got her guard up and Heronimo drew his sword.

“Steady,” I said. The creature would emerge at any moment.

Another roar. This one shook in our chests and made the horses shy back. This was a big wyvern, maybe the biggest. It roared again and Sandy fired. The rifle kicked in her hands and the round zipped into the cave. It left a smoke trail. There was a crack as the bullet exploded.

“I missed!” Sandy said.

Movement. I looked and saw— “Up there! It’s up there!”

The cave had another exit. It was high above and to the right. The wyvern perched on a ledge and screeched.

“Fire!” Conrad said. “Fire!”

Sandy reloaded. She aimed and fired but the wyvern leaped into space. It was the biggest wyvern

I’d ever seen. A bolt of power slammed into the ledge, disintegrating it. My fellow hunters scattered. I threw up a shield and the rocks bounced off the air cushion. The wyvern flew away from the mountains and toward Heorot.

“Stop it!” Orvar said. As Conrad’s crew raced for their horses, the rest of us put spurs and gave chase.

Arawn drew his bow and sent a shaft speeding at the wyvern’s underbelly. Hafgan shot as well.

Powerful as their bows were, the creature’s hide was much too thick. Mina drew a pistol and fired. No effect. My horse leaped over a tree stump and I had to focus on where I was going. Everyone had fanned out. We rode in a V formation behind the wyvern, sending up arrows and curses.

“Grappling hook!” Magnus said. An assistant galloped alongside and took out his tools. When he swerved away, the dwarven chieftain’s hand now sported a clawlike gauntlet.

Magnus launched the gauntlet. It wasn’t attached to his hand but to a spool of cable. The claw flew through the air, spurting fire. The wyvern swerved. The gauntlet rocketed past.

Hertha was on foot, running as fast as we could ride. She snatched up a rock and hurled it, shattering the creature’s leg. It screamed but clawed for altitude.

Meerwen leaped out of the saddle. She landed running and for a short time kept up with her mount. Then she jumped. The force of the jump left prints in the ground. It would have broken her horse’s back. Meerwen struck the wyvern’s wing and the creature flipped over in the air.

“It’s going to crash!” Heronimo said.

Meerwen rode the wyvern down, punching all the way. They tumbled for long seconds. They slammed into the ground and ploughed into the grass, digging a trench. The wyvern reached around and caught Meerwen in its teeth. She went rigid, casting stoneskin, and the creature whipped its neck and threw her into a stand of trees. The trees splintered.

The wyvern got up. It lifted its broken right leg but it could still fight on three limbs. It cast its head around, searching for a target.

“Alalalala!
Yiyyiyiyi!
”

Elsa flipped over my head, trilling her battle cry. She cut at the wyvern’s throat, slashed and slashed again, but the creature’s hide was like steel. It pounced and she batted it away with her shield. It lunged and she rolled. Hertha attacked its right flank and the two wolves leaped on its back.

“Out of the way! Out! Of the way!” Sandy said. “Can’t get a clear shot!”

The wyvern batted Hertha away. It snaked its head around, butted one wolf, and snapped at the other. The wolves snarled but the wyvern got on its belly and rolled on its back. The wolves scattered.

“Get clear!” Sandy said. There was a crack as she fired from less than ten feet away. The round exploded against the wyvern’s side but didn’t penetrate.