Inferno Legacy: Valor of the Dragon (Book One)

Chapter 49

            Cody felt himself regain consciousness slowly. After what felt like hours he recognized the bitter wind and rugged stone floor of his destination. He had succeeded somehow, and all traces of the battlegrounds were gone, completely banished from his mind. He felt happy, relaxed. But then he remembered Inferno and how he had failed to go with him, wherever he was.

Though the floor was a little rugged, he could tell that someone, or something, had rested him on a bed of soft material, maybe grass, straw, or feathers. He could faintly feel fresh bandages on his forearms and legs and the pain in them was almost completely gone from the nasty wounds.

“Where are the others?” Cody mumbled to himself.

“They are safely on their way back to us,” a familiar voice announced happily, making Cody bolt upright and open his eyes to gaze in shock.

Cody’s surprise suddenly turned into a glare of hatred as he said, “Heyrone, what are you doing here?”

The dwarf rider winced at his comment, visibly disturbed by the harshness of his tone. “It’s about time you knew. Merikh told you?”

Cody looked at him in surprise again before nodding. Had he expected Cody to learn of his secret, that he was really a power-hungry king of legend who nearly destroyed the races of elves and dwarves in his greed for riches? Needless to say, the younger man was fascinated, to say the least.

Heyrone sighed, “You can call me Heyrone from now on then. You see, my father was the king of the dwarves when I was born. I was still very young when he died and, being his only son, I inherited the throne despite my age. I found out that I had nearly endless supplies of wealth and power in the matter of seconds, and you have no clue what that can do to a kid’s head.”

“But how did you get here?” Cody spat venomously, making the rider wince again.

“I was just getting to that,” Heyrone said. “I soon realized that the elves had more than I ever could have dreamed of. So, several years later and after many gruesome battles, I tried to seize the elven kingdoms. But alas, as I joined the battle to get my own taste of victory, an elf stabbed me in the chest. I was almost certain I would die.

“Everyone thought I died and left the battle, but I woke several days later with a blue dragon resting against me. That was when I realized that he had the power to heal any physical wounds I received, and that he had been with me ever since my blood had flowed onto his egg. I named him Argos, or “vigilant guard”, as the name meant. I swear to you, by whatever you consider holy, that I have renounced my cruel ways.”

Cody found it difficult to believe, but that was when he noticed the giant blue head beside him. A short, thick snout with a spike curling from the tip was only a foot from Cody. The human was just a bit bigger than the massive pupil, and his head had two immense horns that curled forward. His cheek bones were tipped with perhaps a dozen spikes easily as large as Cody, and a second pair of horns sprouted from his neck and curled forward to rest on either side of his lower jaw.

The deep, ancient voice from before filled Cody’s head, “My rider does not lie. We fought hard to bring you here, when normally a rider has to come through with his dragon.”

Cody felt he could trust the dragon, but he felt a wave of pain wash over his heart when he remembered Inferno, the golden dagger plunged deep into his chest as blood poured out and pooled beneath. The panic and defeat in his dragon’s eyes was clear, though the once-stormy eyes were glazed over with fright. Then he had dropped to the ground in a heap of bloody scales, never to stand again. Never to soar through the sky.

“Inferno couldn’t come,” Cody said, staring at the ground as he wrapped his arms around his knees.

Surprised, Heyrone asked, “Why is that?” Looking at the human he seemed to be overwhelmed with grief.