“Let’s go straight there; we’ve got monsters to kill, and no time to waste.”
We were out in the open now, but no more lightning strikes came. It seemed that the Warlock had spent his strength trying to destroy us in the woods. Already the sky had cleared of storm clouds, and I didn’t think it would be likely that he would recuperate his strength too quickly. All we had to worry about now were his reptilian beasts. Likely a serious concern since they had to be strong if they’d forced Isu, Rami-Xayon, and Elyse to barricade themselves into a cave.
The human corpses I’d sensed littering the stream here. The bodies were all half-eaten, and the remaining sections bore horrific scars. As I passed the chewed-up corpses, I found myself wondering why so many of them were in the river. Then, as daylight slowly illuminated the scene, I saw why.
Many of the bodies were covered with fresh, horrendous burn wounds. I also noticed that large sections of the village had been burned to the ground. It hadn’t just been large reptilian monsters attacking the villages, it had been fire too. Or, reptilian monsters capable of shooting fire?
“Yumo, all the dragons in Yeng are extinct, aren’t they?” I asked.
“As far as I know, yes,” she answered. “Nobody has seen a dragon for hundreds of years.”
“Ji-Ko, what do you think?” I asked. “Do you also believe that all the dragons in Yeng are extinct?”
Ji-Ko knew what I was getting at. He had dismounted and was now sniffing at the charred, half-eaten bodies and running his fingertips across the walls of the burned buildings.
“I want to believe that they’re not extinct,” he answered, “but evidence for the existence of dragons has been lacking for a very long time. But this, what’s happened here, it is strange indeed. The only thing I can say for sure, though, is that had dragons done this, the destruction would have been on a far more epic scale. This is like the work of, perhaps, weak or undeveloped dragons.”
“Baby dragons, maybe?” I asked. “The Warlock has to have some interest in dragons for him to have constructed his tower on top of the ruins of the last Dragon Goddess temple in Yeng. Do you think he could be trying to breed dragons back into existence?”
“I don’t personally know how anyone could achieve that,” Ji-Ko said. “But some elements of the Dragon Goddess’s former powers surely still linger in the ruins of that temple. Who knows what is possible if the Warlock has harnessed that power and bent it to his own will.”
Friya had once told me a living dragon could only come into being by being resurrected by me, the God of Death. I was sure that the Warlock didn’t have any Death powers, so how the hell was he creating these dragon-like creatures?
“I don’t think these monsters are dragons,” Ji-Ko continued, “because for one thing, no one has ever said that they’ve seen these things flying. They come at night, on foot, and attack. That alone discounts them from being full-blooded, genuine dragons, but it certainly seems that they possess powers similar to those of dragons.”
“Whatever the hell they are, I’m going to kill them,” I said. “So tell me, is there anything I should know when it comes to fighting something like a dragon?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard about the legendary toughness of dragonhide. Dragon scales are made of some of the hardest, densest materials on this planet. Dragonhide is impervious to even the sharpest steel weapons, and extremes of temperature too. Neither fire nor ice can do much damage to dragonhide.”
“So they’re really tough. They have to have some vulnerabilities, though. Everything does. Even the strongest suit of armor has a chink in it somewhere, and the most impregnable castle has weak points wherea a wily attacker can get past its defenses.”
I was eager to rescue my women, but I really needed to know what to expect. A few moments to form a plan wouldn’t be wasted, especially if Ji-Ko could reveal some weakness I could exploit.
“Well, dragons have very few weaknesses or vulnerabilities. Their eyes, obviously, are vulnerable, but they’re small and difficult targets to hit. They have spiky armor around their necks and throats, which, if they crane their necks, lifts up a little to expose a tiny sliver of the flesh beneath. A very accurate stab or bowshot could get some damage in like that. But we don’t even know if we’re dealing with dragons here.”
“Even if we’re not, it’s best to assume that we might be,” I said. “And in any case—”
“Monster!” Anna-Lucielle yelled. “Vance, look out, there’s a monster coming into the village from the western road!”
“All right, Ji-Ko, time to put your tips to the test.” I drew my kusarigama and turned the panther beneath me around to face the western road leading into the village.
From the road a trail of dust was rising as the monster sprinted at a tremendous speed—but it wasn’t a dragon or anything reptilian at all. It was tall, furry, and had long limbs with sharp claws. A long, lupine snout grinned, its gaping jaws full of jagged fangs. Shining with a preternatural glow in the half-light of dawn were a pair of golden eyes.
“A werewolf!” Yumo nocked a blue arrow to her Ice Bow.
The sprinting werewolf was armed, carrying what looked like a gigantic sword. What was more, it was no ordinary weapon; I could feel the hum of its magical power even from a few hundred yards away as it charged.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Yumo drew the string of her bow and calmly took aim at the charging werewolf.
“Just like wolf hunting in winter,” she said. “No sweat, easy target, right in the chest.”
“Lower your bow, Yumo,” I said.
“Why, do you want this kill for yourself? C’mon, Vance, give me this one. It’s been a long time since I last shot a werewolf.”
“You’re
