It did not strike me.
I somersaulted over the tail, and as I came down, I sliced it in half before it could lash at me again. The creature roared and blew out a billowing fireball, then reared up onto its hind legs. I dashed in, stabbing the long blade through the lizard’s underbelly into its heart. It let out a weak cry and tottered for a few seconds on its legs after I plucked the sword out. I jumped back as the monster came crashing down and hit the ground with an impact that even my party members up on the valley walls felt.
By this time, the undead lizards had killed the last living one. I called off my protective tornado and resurrected the lizards as my own creatures, all except the one I’d beheaded, of course. It wasn’t just that it was useless to me without a head, it was also because I wanted the skull of the beast as a souvenir. It was the closest thing I had to a dragon skull for the moment.
From the gap at the top of the barricade a cheer erupted. I glanced up and saw the faces of Elyse, Rami-Xayon, and Isu looking down at me, smiling.
“We thought we were done for, Vance,” Elyse said. “It seemed that nothing could hurt those terrible monsters. We tried everything: Rami-Xayon’s Wind powers, Isu’s acid rain, my holy fire—nothing worked. All we could do was barricade ourselves in here and hope that you got to us before they did.”
I dusted myself off. “And I did, so come on out, you’re all safe now.”
Ji-Ko called his monks over, and they all helped to move the boulders out of the way and remove the makeshift barricades. Once a large enough gap had been made, Rami-Xayon, Isu, and Elyse all crawled out, and they came running over to me. All three women wrapped their arms around me and hugged me tight while they covered my face and neck with kisses.
“I’ve never been so happy to see anyone as I am to see you now, Vance,” Rami-Xayon said.
“For the first time in hundreds of years, I thought I was facing my own death,” Isu said. “But then the God of Death came and rescued me from death. A fitting twist, I think.”
Two elderly Yengish people also came crawling out of the hole at the top of the boulder barricade.
“I’m guessing those are your parents, Rami-Xayon?” I said.
She nodded. “They were safe, thank goodness, but as for the rest of the village …”
She trailed off and tears began to well up in her eyes.
“I tried to fight these beasts off, Vance, I tried everything,” Rami-Xayon said, her voice cracking. “All three of us fought hard, using all our powers. We hurt the beasts, but we couldn’t kill them, and we couldn’t stop them from slaughtering the village. All we could do in the end was flee, and bring down the boulders and rocks around the cave entrance to barricade ourselves in. But even then the creatures came for us, and they were relentless. They don’t seem to need to sleep or rest. They just attack, and they keep attacking until everyone and everything is dead.”
“From now on, they’ll only be killing people I tell them to kill,” I said. “And I’m really looking forward to watching them eat the Warlock alive. He created these monsters, and I’ll make sure that he pays for what he did by having them tear him limb from limb.”
“That sword you were wielding, it carved through the beasts’ impenetrable armor as if it were nothing but wet parchment.” Isu gazed at the Dragon Sword in wonder. “I can sense just how tremendously potent its magic is. Is it the lost sword of the Dragon Goddess?”
“It sure as hell is, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t carve these dragon-lizard-things up like steel does wet clay. It’s a big thick greatsword, but it feels as light and nimble as a rapier. I think this might be my new favorite weapon.”
“Well, if anything dethrones Grave Oath, that weapon would be it,” Isu said.
Rami-Xayon’s parents walked up to me, got on their hands and knees, and pressed their foreheads into the ground, as was the Yengish way. They said something in Yengish, looking up at me with a reverent gaze.
“They said they owe you their lives, and the lives of their daughters,” Rami-Xayon said. “They will forever be grateful for what you have done today, and if there is anything they can do to repay you, anything within their powers, all you need do is ask.”
“I might take them up on that one day, but for now their simple thanks are enough for me. Please, ask them to get up, I’m no emperor.”
Rami-Xayon said something in Yengish to them, and they got up and dusted off their hands and knees, beaming at me all the while.
“We can’t hang around,” I said. “We need to get to the Warlock’s tower and attack him before he regains all his strength. He must have expended a lot of by attacking us last night with that lightning storm. We need to hit him hard and fast.”
“I agree,” Isu said. “There’s no time for celebrating this victory. We must strike when he’s at his weakest. Seeing what he’s done with these creatures has made me realize that he’s a powerful opponent, certainly the most powerful one you’ve faced
