Serpent Kings Saga (Omnibus Edition) Read online

  Varen shrugged. “I don’t know, but we must be coming to a place that has access to the outside.”

  “But the map only shows this one entrance,” Jillian said.

  Varen stalked ahead. He had no idea what the wind meant yet, but he had to find out. Cautiously, he marched forward. The narrow corridor quickly opened up before him. He swept his lantern back and forth but the walls now stretched too far away to easily reflect its light.

  He continued forward until something came into view in the path ahead. Varen walked up to find a wooden crate stacked on top of another like it. Both rectangular boxes had strange writing on their sides. Varen could not read the writing, but he did recognize the language as the same he had seen on many other ancient artifacts. Even the pistols he carried employed the same characters of an old world alphabet.

  Jillian and Varen’s soldiers gathered inside the larger chamber. As they assembled, each added torch and lamp increased the light within the cavern. Soon Varen could see the ceiling and walls of a chamber large enough for triple the men he had brought with him. Every direction he looked revealed stacks of boxes similar to the one he was standing next to.

  Jillian stepped forward and pried the box open with one of her daggers. The lid popped free. Varen showed his lantern upon the contents. Rifles lay within. There were six neatly arranged on one rack with a second rack of the same below. Varen lifted the first rack out and saw boxes of shells lining the bottom of the crate.

  “We’ve found it!” Varen shouted, his voice echoing repeatedly throughout the cave.

  The soldiers shouted with him, whooping and hollering for joy. Varen hugged Jillian and kissed her, then hugged her again. “We’ve done it, my love.”

  Varen let her go, turning to his men. “See if there are more torches or lamps in the cavern and light them. We’ll begin opening crates and cataloging the weapons we have at our disposal. I want to have some kind of working inventory in the next few hours!”

  He left them to their work. The men began to scatter in every direction within the chamber, searching out and opening the crates to inspect and organize the treasure they had found. With any luck, Varen hoped to find much more than rifles stored within the chamber. They would need even greater firepower to fight the dragons.

  Varen noticed a faint glow at the far end of the cavern. A tunnel appeared to lead off of the huge chamber. Perhaps there was another cache of weapons stored there. He walked briskly toward the glow, entering the tunnel.

  Soon he realized this was not leading him to another cave at all. The glow was clearly sunlight filtering into the mountain. Varen tripped on something running along the ground. He picked himself up and held his lantern down to the ground. A set of steel rails was fastened to the floor of the cave atop heavy wooden beams. “Tracks?”

  Varen grinned devilishly. “It can’t be, can it?” He dashed along the tracks. He heard Jillian call him from the cave, but he ignored her for the moment. The tunnel grew brighter and brighter ahead until Varen found himself able to see out the end of the tunnel. The steel train tracks ran down the center.

  Reaching the end of the tunnel, Varen couldn’t believe what he saw. A valley opened up before him between the side of the mountain where he was standing and another rocky face hundreds of yards away. However, spanning this great gulf was a long bridge fashioned from steel beams that sank down into the bedrock in the valley below. The tracks ran along the top of the structure and were swallowed up in the tunnel opposite where Varen was standing. He smiled as Jillian finally caught to him. “My dear, this is too good to be true.”

  CONVERGENCE

  I had remained relatively withdrawn during the two days we had been riding the locomotive toward the Urtah Mountains. We had passed through too many tunnels to remember along the way. The sudden darkness always felt unsettling, but it passed.

  Tobias’ enthusiasm had barely waned since our departure from the cavern in Thorn Mountain. I was amazed the locomotive rarely had to stop. Apparently their needs had been prepared well in advance as we found large wooden cisterns of water which had been constructed at specific points along the tracks. A swinging arm allowed for water to be replaced in the boiler of the engine so that it could continue to produce the steam required for movement.

  Arthur, the elder man who conducted the entire process, had even allowed me to sit with Tobias inside the engineer’s compartment to observe how things were done. Though it was messy business, it was interesting to see, and Tobias seemed to take to the complexities of the machine like a fish to water.

  Still, as strange and adventurous as the whole trip had been, I remained the most troubled by Ezekiah’s questions. I had expected that I would be the one presenting the difficult questions to him, but he had turned things around on me. Essentially, my doubts had been laid bare like an open wound. Several days later, I still wasn’t sure of my answers, but I was growing increasingly afraid that I could be wrong in what I believed. At the very least, any walls I had built up against what he might tell me had been shattered. I had no choice but to consider the new ideas he may present in the days ahead.

  As I sat in the presidential car, watching the Urtah Mountains roll by on either side, Ezekiah came in carrying a lantern and some food. He turned up the flame, and then hung it above the couch where I was sitting. “We’ll need this in just a moment,” he said. “The last tunnel before our destination is coming up soon.”

  He handed me a napkin with some bread and cheese inside along with a flask of water. “You should eat something,” he said.

  “You’ve still not told me where we are going or why,” I said.

  Ezekiah sat down beside me. “Several hundred years ago, my father began accumulating weapons and technologies from the ruins of the old world; some of which are within the boundaries of the kingdom. Most are not within these boundaries, but that is a discussion for another time.

  “Anyway, my father was preparing for future possibilities. He left a cache of weapons stored within one of the tunnels here in the Urtah Mountains. Before he died, he entrusted the only map to my safekeeping; only it has been stolen recently.”

  I was amazed to learn that a prophet like Ezekiah, if he was the peace loving man he was made out to be, would have a secret stash of weapons. “Who stole the map?”

  He grinned. “I was actually wondering if you could explain that one to me. You see, I believe it was a wraith dancer who stole the map; probably to give to Varen, a former resident at Thorn Mountain who now leads a group of rebels.”

  “We thought…I mean I thought that Varen was your second in command. Do you mean to say that you aren’t working together against the dragons?”

  “We are as close to working together as you and I are,” he said slyly.

  I tried to divert from that comment, true as it was. “What makes you think that a wraith dancer took the map?” I asked.

  “I believe the Touch was used on the man who was left guarding it in my quarters,” he said. “I’ve seen it used before.”

  I was shocked to find that he even knew of the Touch. As far as there being a traitor out there who might be working with Varen, Zora had indicated they existed. “If Varen does have the map, does that mean you have brought these men to confront him? Are you expecting a fight?” I became acutely aware of how vulnerable I now was. I had no weapons on my person.

  “It is a very distinct possibility,” Ezekiah confirmed. “Nevertheless, I feel that Elithias has sent us to the cavern in order to make the weapons sure.”

  Suddenly, the darkness swallowed us again. The train had entered the final tunnel before we would reach the cavern where Ezekiah’s weapons, and possibly and army, were waiting. “Can Varen get to the cavern without one of these locomotives to take him?”

  Ezekiah grinned in the lantern light; his face eerily reformed by the war between light and shadow playing across his features. “The map leads one in by way of a narrow stone stair that winds through the mountain. He wouldn’t
know about the train tracks or the fact that he’s in a train tunnel until he actually got inside and began looking around.”

  Light swept throughout the presidential car again as we emerged on the other side of the tunnel. I looked out the windows to find the locomotive crossing a vast bridge which spanned the distance across the valley below. It suddenly occurred to me that we had a bigger problem.

  “Ezekiah, if Varen and his people have already found the weapons your father had stored in that tunnel, then he might be waiting to use them on anyone who approaches!”

  The prophet’s expression told me that he hadn’t considered that particular possibility. He grabbed a wire cord running along the length of the roof and pulled it hard. The locomotive suddenly lurched forward as the brakes ground metal against metal trying to bring us to a stop. The cars behind us lurched consecutively causing the entire train to shudder violently.

  I began to fall forward, but Ezekiah caught me. We both stumbled into the wall as the train came to a halt. “Are you all right?” he asked. His arms were wrapped around me tightly, and my hands were tucked against his chest. I couldn’t help but notice his warmth and the strength in his arms.

  My embarrassment and the urgency of our situation quickly overcame any unexpected pleasantness. I backed away, my face flushing bright red. “I’m fine…thank you.”

  Ezekiah grinned, and then went to the window looking out. The bridge was slightly curved, making it possible to see part of the engineer’s compartment. I joined Ezekiah at the window, looking past the steaming engine toward the tunnel in the distance ahead. Within seconds, several people emerged at the tunnel entrance and they were armed.

  Zora held on tightly as the wind whipped over her. Her face was burning from its abrasive assault upon them all the way from Babale. Soaring high above the peaks of the Urtah Mountains, a stream of white smoke had appeared unexpectedly.

  Moloch had begun to home in on the smoke only to find that its source had disappeared inside a tunnel running into one of the mountains. An odd, ladder-like road followed the same path along the ground. Clearly, whatever had produced the smoke was also traveling the strange road.

  Moloch climbed higher again. Within minutes the smoke appeared again. A weird, snake-like machine emerged from the other side of the tunnel. “The rebels are using one of machines from the ancient world,” Moloch rumbled. “Our secret eyes have seen Ezekiah aboard such a contraption. Belial’s priestess will be with them.”

  Zora’s heart soared with hope even as the great dragon started his descent toward the prophet’s ancient machine. Cries of distress came from some of the wraith dancers riding the dragon as gravity shifted and they floated away from Moloch’s back. Their harnesses kept them anchored to the dragon, but not without inducing panic in some.

  “Be ready!” Zora cried to the others. “Look for Gwen among those on the machine. She is their prisoner.”

  Ahead, on the bridge, the locomotive screeched to a halt not quite half way across. Another tunnel waited on the other side. Zora couldn’t understand why they would stop when they might escape Moloch inside the tunnel within the next mountain peak. “Can you see Gwen, my lord?” Zora asked as they leveled out in their descent.

  Moloch rumbled beneath her. “My eyes have found her in the third box from the front,” he said. “Most of the soldiers are in the following boxes.”

  The massive dragon’s sides swelled, gathering his breath for an attack. Moloch homed in on the train sitting on the tracks ahead. Steam rose from the engine in the front, but he did not target it. The muscles of his neck contracted, and a deadly stream of acid shot away; a fluid missile able to dissolve organic matter in seconds.

  Some of the soldiers standing in the open door of one of the cars began to point at Moloch and his passengers. The burst of acid slammed into the car, bathing the soldiers within. Dozens of screaming men clawed the air in pain as the acid dissolved their tissues, destroying the leather and cotton as well while leaving the metal plating of their armor unharmed.

  Moloch passed over the train, and then swept back, beating his wings to hover over the presidential car. Zora screamed to her sisters. “Attack!”

  Her wraith dancers scrambled across the dragon’s scaly hide, using Moloch’s harness for control. Zora dropped from the dragon nearly ten feet to land on top of the presidential car where her master had said Gwen should be. The train shook with the massive waves of displace air washing over it from the dragon hovering overhead.

  Zora clung to the rails running over the top of the train car, leading the way for nearly a dozen wraith dancers following after. She had seen that the entrance lay at the front of the cars, so she ran across the top, grabbed the rail, then swung down to it.

  RESCUED

  I had not noticed the huge black dragon, Moloch, approaching until I heard the screams of Ezekiah’s soldiers in the car behind us. As I turned my face, to find out what was going on, a spray of deadly acid splashed across the boxcar connected to the presidential car. Some of the men fell out of the train car, but they were dead before they hit the rocks in the valley below the bridge. The others writhed like salted slugs gurgling through the pain of their final breaths.

  Moloch’s body passed over and then returned almost immediately. Ezekiah was yelling to Hudson, trying to issue instructions. Tobias appeared at the door. “The dragon is carrying more warriors like Gwen!” he shouted.

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Moloch would be bad enough, but the fact that he was carrying wraith dancers must mean more than the simple destruction of the train and everyone onboard. Just then, I heard bodies dropping onto the roof and light footsteps scrambling across its length toward the door.

  Hudson had gathered a knapsack used for carrying his medical supplies. He went out the back door trying to get to the men suffering and dying from Moloch’s acid attack. “We’ve got to get you out of here!” Tobias said to Ezekiah.

  Ezekiah was looking at me. “Gwen, I’m sorry for dragging you into the middle of a battle. Follow me and—”

  As he turned away from me, I struck him precisely at the base of his neck. Ezekiah fell unconscious before me. I caught him before he hit the floor. He was a muscular, heavy man, but I managed to support him.

  Tobias couldn’t believe it. He drew his father’s pistol from its holster and pointed the weapon at me. “What are you doing?” he shouted.

  I locked eyes with him in that moment. “Trust me, Tobias.”

  I rolled Ezekiah’s unconscious body beneath the table, and then pulled it over so that he was hidden by the table top. I stood up as Zora lighted in front of the door. I couldn’t believe it was her. She had come for me despite her recent injuries. Part of me was joyous about seeing her again.

  Tobias didn’t notice her in time. She was through the door and coming up behind him by the time he tried to turn his weapon on her. Zora disarmed the boy with the simplest maneuver. Her dagger was already in her hand ready to strike.

  “Don’t, Zora!” I screamed, advancing on her. “He’s only a child.”

  Zora stopped with a bewildered expression on her face. “He is a rebel, Gwen,” she said. “They would’ve soon killed you. Where is the prophet?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Please, Zora, get me out of here!” I tried to sound as panicked as possible before she got suspicious. I ran toward her, pushing Tobias from her grip to the couch. She smiled, hugging me, and then turned to lead the way out. I turned as I reached the door and gave Tobias a final glance. He nodded slightly, showing me that he understood. I gestured toward him, placing my hand on my heart, and then followed Zora up onto the roof.

  As I swung up, using the railing running along the length of the presidential car, shots rang out. Bullets ricocheted off the roof by the dozens. Several wraith dancers fell under gun fire that I only now realized was coming from the people running out of the train tunnel ahead.

  They had guns that fired much faster than the weapons I had seen be
fore, spraying bullets like handfuls of gravel. Moloch was hit as well. He roared out his protest. Zora grabbed a hold of me and pulled me along the roof as my sisters fell around me. We grabbed ropes that some had attached to buckles on Moloch’s harness and began to pull ourselves up.

  Frustrated by the gunfire, Moloch bellowed again, and then pushed us high above the train. Below, on top of the presidential car, at least a dozen of our sisters lay wounded or dead. More had been hit by gunfire while still attached to Moloch’s harness. They dangled like ornaments from the thick leather straps tethering them to the dragon’s back.

  At least twenty men and one woman were firing weapons at us as they made their way along the downward slope of the bridge. Zora fastened her self to Moloch near the base of his neck and grabbed one of the ropes. “Tie yourself to the harness!” she yelled as we began to dive toward our attackers. I did as I was told quickly; my stomach squirming violently within me. I had never flown before.

  Moloch was known for his acid, but the distance was still too great. However, we were closing the gap fast. Suddenly a larger object shot away from one of the men on the bridge. It looked similar to a fiery ball trailing smoke behind it. Moloch screeched horribly, and then tried to evade the object.

  He turned too late and the fiery ball struck him in the chest. The ball exploded, engulfing us in a billowing plume of smoke and fire. Moloch roared terribly, but in pain rather than anger. He faltered a moment and we began to plunge toward the valley below. Only just in time did he recover and spread his wings so that we pulled out of our dive. He sailed over the valley floor, and then fought to beat his wings and gain more altitude. He did not return to the fight.