Chapter 41 - Last Hope

Half a dozen straggling undead stood between them and the nest. They wandered back and forth like ants that had lost the trail, their bodies savaged by bloody wounds that no living creatures could have survived. If it was just them, Hump might have felt confident. But with the horde and dragon on their right, and Kassius on their left, he felt trapped between a rock and a hard place.

“How do you want to do this?” Celaine asked. “I don’t see either of you sneaking past all this.”

“Neither do—” The chamber lurched, and Hump stumbled, digging his staff into the ground for balance. A shadow swept over him as the dragon launched itself through the air with a flap of her wings. Hump ducked on instinct. She landed amidst the kobolds, storming through their ranks, her footsteps beating the stone like drums. Green fire charred flesh and blackened bone, filling the air not ten feet away. With each breath, the temperature soared, the chamber like a giant oven and each of them food for the roasting.

Hump’s heart raced. He felt sick to his stomach as he looked upon the piles of burnt bodies. It was a miracle Joslin had held it at bay as long as she had. The shieldbearer’s face was marked with soot, her hair streaked with sweat, and her armour bloodied and stained with smoke.

And now they were going to the dragon’s nest. He’d seen how fast the creature could move, and he didn’t think Celaine’s gaze would stop her a second time. For a moment, he wondered whether it would be her fire or teeth that he would die to. Neither sounded pleasant, but at least both would be quick. Better than being caught by the horde at least.

He shook his head. This wasn’t the time to get distracted by fear.

But even as he thought it, the dragon whipped its tail, the air cracked, and a handful of kobolds went flying. One landed on the ground nearby in a bone cracking crash that made Hump shudder. The creature couldn’t stand, so it clawed its way toward them, snarling, eyes shining with hungry purple light.

Bud plunged his sword into its back, piercing its heartstone. As he pulled his sword free, ice crystallised over the wound and the kobold went still.

“We need to move,” he said, his voice hard.

Hump stared at the body for a moment, then looked away and nodded. He needed to focus, and he needed every bit of it he could muster. “Celaine’s right. There’s no hope in hell we sneak through all this.”

“Good,” Bud said, a savage grin on his face. “A frontal charge then. That makes things easier.”

“I think that’s our best bet,” Celaine said. “We do this fast, before anything has a chance to stop us. Bud, handle everything that comes at us from the front. I’ll take care of the rest. Hump, conserve your essence. This all falls apart if you can’t even activate the formation.”

“Stay close,” Bud said. “Hump, the moment you get the chance, go. Don’t worry about us.”

Hump paused, staring at his friends. This was his plan, and it would all fall apart if he couldn’t play his part. If it did… it wouldn’t just be him that died. “Are you sure about this?”

Bud turned to face the creatures that stood between them and the nest. “The gods are with us, Hump. They must be. They wouldn’t turn a blind eye to all this darkness, and we need not fear the path laid out before us. We’ll get you to the nest, Hump. Just stay close, and don’t stop for anything.”

Hump clenched his fist around his staff. He wanted to believe him. He wished he could so blindly trust in the gods, but he’d seen the fate of Sir Lucas. Even now the Lady Light’s paladin crawled across the ground, bound by the scars of his torture.

The dragon charged the dungeoneers once more and Joslin’s essence flared to meet her. The beast roared, unleashing a wave of fire across the tunnel entrance. When the fire faded, Joslin was still standing, her steel shield glowing red with heat. At her side, the two melee warriors that remained fought back any undead that managed to slip through the dragon’s rampage. Behind them, archers showered arrow after arrow into the beast, but her armour was as hard as iron. Even where they penetrated, the wounds were quickly healed over by the dungeon core.

It was chaos. But it was chaos that might just work in their favour.

“Now’s our chance,” Hump said. “Go!”

Bud broke into a run, charging the closest kobold in their path. It turned on him as he approached, but he cut it down with ease. His blade tore through its chest from shoulder to stomach, shattering its heartstone. One down, but Bud’s use of frostfire had drawn the eyes of more. The stragglers were reawakened, and two others broke off from the horde to their right.

Bud didn’t slow. He carved a path straight through the centre of the chamber. Enhanced by Kelisia’s blessing, he was as fast and strong as a storm, and it took everything Hump had just to keep up. Where Bud didn’t kill immediately, ice formed on their wounds and hindered their movements enough that it was an easy matter for Celaine to finish them off, whether with her new dagger or an arrow through the chest.

As they fought, undead broke from the horde and gave chase, but were quickly stopped by Celaine’s arrows. Each one imbued with enough essence to destroy the heartstones of the undead and leave their unmoving corpses on the ground behind them.

They were going to make it.

“You are nothing!” Kassius roared. Hump glanced at him in time to see spikes of shadow shoot out in all directions, sending Vamir tumbling through the air. Ignoring Vamir, he surged toward them, an explosion of shadow sweeping over the chamber before him. It engulfed the Black Paladin in its essence, and veins of green shone brightly through the darkness, flooding the crippled man’s body.

The Black Paladin bellowed a scream as loud as the dragon’s roar and then went silent. Essence pulsed, and like a puppet, the giant of a man rose from the ground. Whatever pain he had felt before was gone, only the thrall remained. He stared at them emotionlessly, the black gem where his right eye should be shone faintly with a light at its core. He lumbered into their path, armour creaking, limbs moving stiffly and slowing his movement. Blood gushed from his wounded eye and a long gash down his side, but he showed no sign of pain. All over his face, the runic scars shone with the same green light as Kassius.

Dammit, Hump thought. They were so close, but the distance looked so much further with the towering man in their path. Even with all his injuries, Hump wasn’t certain they could beat him.

He glanced over his shoulder; the dragon was still distracted by the force at the tunnel entry. The dungeoneers had managed to form a defensive line that was holding for now at least. Despite the injury to his stomach, Lantheer was on his feet and had managed to get back to the safety of the tunnel before he was overwhelmed. Fire blossomed from his staff in a thick stream of molten red. It snaked through the air, hitting the ground at the tunnel entrance to form a half circle of flames around it. But even Wall of Fire lacked the stopping power of Priestess Alerai’s holy magic. The undead pushed through, legs charged and smoking, but still driven on by the power of death. Without the priestess to imbue the dungeoneers with her power, the creatures didn’t stop crawling even when their legs crumbled from beneath them, blacked and ash-ridden.

“What are you doing?” Vamir growled, appearing silently beside them.

Ahead of them, the Black Paladin came to a stop in the centre of their path. Kassius approached behind him, drawing his shadows trailing him like a cloak as they were reabsorbed into his veil.

“Hump has a plan,” Celaine said.

“Well, it had better be a damn good one for you all to have come back,” Vamir said.

Hump winced. “Let’s call it good.”

“There is nothing left for you to do,” Kassius chided. “Your defeat is certain.”

“Your undead are nearly fallen,” Bud said. “Do you really think you’re powerful enough to fight as all?”

Kassius sneered. “Kill them.”

His Black Paladin charged. Behind him, Kassius let loose spikes of shadow. Bud cut through them, frostfire billowing. “Go!”

Celaine shot an arrow at the Black Paladin and it buried itself into his exposed neck, staggering him as he barrelled into Bud with the force of a horse. Bud blocked the sword, but the weight of the swing sent him stumbling back. Kassius surged forward to finish the job, but Vamir was there, his blade shining with silver.

They were buying Hump his chance, and he wasn’t about to let it slip.

He scrambled out to the right, away from Kassius and the Black Paladin and straight for the nest. Behind him, he heard the clatter of steel and felt essence surging, but he didn’t dare to turn back and look. He only had eyes on his objective. The nest was right before him, a crate of jagged stones. And there, in a patch of soft earth at the base of the dungeon core, was the egg, as black as charcoal but with shards and of red and golden flame shimmering from within. The prize that the dragon had so fiercely protected.

Even as he reached for it, Hump felt heat and essence brimming from it. He grabbed it and pulled it to his chest. It was hot to the touch, like a stone left at the edge of a campfire. The shell was formed of scales, sharp to the touch. He clutched it to his chest and stepped out of the nest to where the runes were etched into the ground nearby.

As directed by his spellbook, he took his spot on the rune at the top of the circle and turned to face the dragon. “Here draggy, draggy, dragon!” he called. “I’ve got your…”

The dragon whirled on him, and her roar thundered through the cavern. The air from her breath alone was as strong as if he were caught in a storm. She lowered her head, pale green eyes glowering at him.

“…egg,” Hump murmured, eyes wide.

This was a terrible idea.

The dragon crossed the distance in seconds, barrelling through the dozen kobolds that blocked its path, its eyes solely on Hump and her egg.

As much as every instinct told him to run, Hump held his ground. He gathered his will, drawing up the last of his essence to create a link with the formation. It seeped into the runes and they drew it hungrily, sapping his power from him all at once. Once the link was made, the runes did the rest themselves. The first one—Hold—came alight with Hump’s intent, drawing in the power of the dungeon.

The dragon stepped straight into the formation.

The effect was instantaneous. The dragon’s momentum stopped like it had struck a wall. The most excruciating heat flowed into Hump as the first pulse of essence returned from the runes directly into him. It tore at his insides like wizardfire, filling him with energy that threatened to break his body apart.

Hump clenched his jaw. He was just a conduit, a part of the river, and he had to let it flow through him if he were to keep from burning up. The essence cycled his body and flooded back into the runes, circling around the dragon’s body.

The next rune came alight. Power. Hump hardly had to think, the runes and essence gave the spell all the structure it needed, he was just along for the ride. His intent merely giving it a target. As he focused on the dragon, she writhed under the weight of his Will, fighting to break free. One by one the thirteen runes came alight; each time the dragon’s struggles grew weaker. Her cries became more desperate.

“No!” Kassius roared nearby. Out of the corner of his eye, Hump saw Vamir block his path. “Stop him,” Kassius shouted. “Stop him!”

The Black Paladin tried to obey, but Bud struck at his knees, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Nothing could stop Hump now. He was alone, at the mercy of the formation and the dragon’s power, caught within the magic’s momentum. He felt like passing out from the heat as it pulsed from the dragon back to him, coursing through his body like liquid fire. He focused on the River and Waves. He focused on his cycles, circulating all the essence that forced its way into him back into the runes. He had to do this, for his friends. For the people that were counting on him, and those that had died because of Kassius and his evil. He’d brought them to the centre of the dungeon for his plan, and there was no escape except through success.

Life. Transmutation. Control. With each rune, the suppressive force grew stronger. The dragon tried to slither out from his hold, but all it took was a thought for Hump to make it be still.

When essence filled the final rune, the dragon slumped. Veins of essence flowed from its heartstone, lighting up the ground in thick streams, connecting it to each of the thirteen runes. In a rush, all that essence flowed to him. Hump felt power like he’d never felt before. It flowed from the runes, through veins in the ground, and then into him. He screamed as pain overwhelmed him, and then suddenly vanished.

It all vanished.

All pain, and cold, and light. He was no longer in the chamber. His physical body was gone, and he found himself floating alone in darkness. No. Not alone. He saw the dragon burning ahead of him too. No longer the pale green essence of death, but a red and fiery light that was filled with warmth and pride—a remnant of the real dragon. They sped toward each other, flecks of light in the darkness.

There was a reason no wizard absorbed the power of a heartstone. It was the power of a creature’s soul. No matter how strong a creature was, the soul was both a powerful and fragile thing. When two souls collide, no side comes out unchanged.

Hump had neither the strength or will to absorb a soul as powerful as a dragon’s, but at least he could channel it. He could take that power and, just for a moment, he could give it direction.

At least that was his theory.

He reached for her, drawing on the essence that formed her soul. He felt a connection like a spark in his mind. For a moment, he felt her rage and fury, and then her essence engulfed him, swallowing him whole.

The darkness changed. Now there was only white-hot light.