Into the Abyss

Tom ran as fast as he could towards the front of the dragon, he used his wings to add to his speed. This had never worked in practice, he’d always fallen flat on his face, but then he’d never had wings before to help him, he prayed silently that this would work, otherwise he’d be a dragon snack. When he got to what he felt was the right distance away, he jumped, spinning in midair. He again tried to use his injured wings as best as possible to aid his flight. Almost before he could think again, his feet impacted on the spot, doing a double reverse spinning back kick. His sharp hooves plunged into the dragon’s body, just as they had into the ground after his fall from the pillar. Up to his thighs Tom plowed. The dragon screamed, if possible, even louder than before. Quickly before he could be plucked out, Tom began to kick his legs, back and forth inside the dragon, praying that he would disrupt something vital. Thrashing madly the dragon tried to remove Tom from its body. It screamed and shrieked, spun and thrashed. Tom grabbed onto scales to hold on, wincing as his left hand closed, and his arm flexed. Slower and slower the dragon spun, Tom kicked and kicked, all the time his legs screamed in agony as dragon blood ate away at his skin and muscle.

Finally, after a small eternity, the dragon’s throws subsided; it ceased its screaming. The thrashes turned to mild rolls, then to rocking and finally it stopped. When convinced it was done, Tom crawled out of the dragon. His legs were shriveled and the muscles were partially dissolved almost down to the bone in places. All over his body scales were missing, dissolved away by the acid breath, and the even more acidic blood. On the left side of his chest was the gaping hole where the dragon tooth had speared him, green pus oozed from the wound. Apparently it was what passed for demon blood. He was still functional, so apparently no important organs were located in that part of his chest. Tom was exhausted; but, to be safe, he crawled over to the thinnest part of the dragon’s neck. Clumsily, he plunged his fingers in, and began to hack and rip the dragon’s head off. He wanted to make sure, before he slept, that this was one nightmare that was over.

Chapter 12

Jenn was in charge of leading some of the younger students in search of herbs and other plants needed for healing and magic spells. Alpert and Rodgier pulled two small wagons behind them and followed Jenn closely through the woods. Daphne and Siegfrid ran along beside Jenn, darting back and forth between trees looking for the plants she had described to them. Rupert walked calmly to her left, his eyes carefully scanning the ground around him.

Rupert, Jenn thought, was always so serious. It was perhaps a shame that he couldn’t be as happy and playful as Daphne and Siegfrid, who were his own age. Children should be happy while they could, hard work and serious study came later. Jenn smiled fondly and remembered back when she was their age, if only she’d known to enjoy things more while she had the chance. Now it was work and study all the time. Goddess, she felt old for her seventeen years. Perhaps it was just tension from the expected siege.

Rex’s rumors had been right. The very next morning after breakfast, Master Lenamare had called all the students and staff together to announce the fact that Exador had stated that he intended to take the school. Runners had been sent out to gather the peasants and recruit more men for defenses. The past few days had been the most hectic Jenn had yet seen at the school. Thiswas the first time in recent history that Jenn could think of a wizard’s school being laid to siege by another group of wizards.

There had, of course, been, the Armelian invasion, over a hundred years ago, and the battle for Lord Folios’ Keep, where thirty students, five masters, and three hundred men at arms had kept off the besieging army for thirteen weeks until help had arrived. That, however, had been during war time, and then the people laying the siege had been an invading army, not the neighboring wizards’ guild. Why the Archimage of Turelane would permit such a thing, Jenn had no idea, but apparently, Exador had no fear of being opposed. To blatantly lay siege to a school such as Lenamare’s took a lot of guts, or a lot of backing.

It was this fear of lots of backing that had really set people’s nerves on edge around the school. After all, if it was just Exador, one could expect intervention from the Archimage and the Council, but apparently, Lenamare felt no intervention would be forthcoming, because he had talked of fighting to the last man, ‘to defend our freedom and our homes.’ Needless to say, that had made a lot of people nervous. The only thing keeping people together was fear, and their belief in Lenamare and some new secret weapon of his.