The Dragon' Son (37 page)

He heard an angry roar from Pharrgon, along with the pounding and thrashing of the great dragon’s tail and the whizzing sound of arrows striking stone, but he also heard approaching footsteps. He blinked, forcing the world to stop spinning and to come back into focus. The large Roshar was approaching him coolly, with pleasure and confidence clearly written on its face. Keegan staggered up to his feet, still gasping for air, and raised his sword. The Roshar charged forward, swinging both swords independently on either side of Keegan.

Keegan felt a rush of energy enter him from his ring, and he was just barely able to block all of the Roshar’s lethal blows. He dropped and rolled off to the side as the Roshar once again crossed its two blades and thrust them at Keegan’s neck. He lunged forward with his sword aimed at the monster’s abdomen, which was protected by a strange, black armor. The Roshar used his blades to catch Keegan’s in mid thrust, locking their blades together. Keegan grit his teeth, and the Roshar tried to twist his sword from his hand. He twisted his sword slightly and pushed it forward, nicking the Roshar’s right wrist. The beast growled as its grip loosened on the sword, and Keegan was able to pull his sword free and knock the blade from the Roshar’s hand.

The monster watched his blade fly from his hand, seemingly unconcerned with its wound. It drew the wounded hand in close then slapped the back of it across Keegan’s face with a snarl. The force of the impact knocked Keegan up against the side of a boulder and stunned him, making the world start to spin around him again.

“Keegan!” Pharrgon’s desperate roar was followed by an angry hiss. The great golden dragon rounded a boulder and uttered a vicious hissing snarl as his eyes locked onto the Roshar standing before Keegan.

Suddenly, two arrows whizzed through the air and hit Pharrgon’s face, around his eyes, bouncing off his scales harmlessly, but making him flinch and back up, nonetheless. Keegan’s vision cleared just enough to see two other Roshar up on the boulders, firing arrows at Pharrgon, aiming for his eyes and nostrils. The great dragon shot fire into the air defensively, but the Roshar above avoided the flames easily and continued to fire arrows.

Keegan gritted his teeth and stood to his full height, anger fueling him on. The Roshar standing before him raised its blade and thrust it forward. Keegan deflected the blow with the cross guard of his sword, then he tilted his wrist and slammed the pommel of his sword into the Roshar’s face. The beast staggered back a few steps, and before he could retaliate, Keegan raised his sword parallel with the ground and thrust the tip forward toward the beast’s heart.

The Roshar saw the deadly stroke coming and moved sideways, roaring as Keegan’s blade embedded itself into its muscular shoulder. The Roshar glared at Keegan and jerked its arm back harshly, yanking the sword out of Keegan’s grasp, and causing Keegan to stumble forward where the beast’s fist met Keegan’s face with a crunch.

Keegan stumbled backward several steps, his ears ringing, and the world growing momentarily dark as he felt hot blood running from his nose and down his face. He caught a large rock to help hold himself steady, and he blinked to clear his vision. The Roshar grabbed Keegan’s sword by the blade and slowly pulled it free from its mangled shoulder, unperturbed by the pain. It kept its flaring yellow eyes locked on Keegan until the sword was dislodged, then it glanced at the bloodied blade just before throwing it away. Keegan watched helplessly as his blade clattered among the rocks several feet away. He looked back at the Roshar to see the beast striding toward him with fangs bared and sword raised.

“Keegan!” Pharrgon’s roar was more desperate than ever.

Keegan tried to move away, attempting to drop to the ground, but the Roshar caught him by the throat with a snarl and jerked its short sword forward. Icy hot pain ripped through Keegan’s shoulder as the beast drove the blade home and twisted, meaning to cause Keegan the same pain that the beast had just suffered. Keegan cried out in agony, but his cry was muffled by Pharrgon’s thunderous roar. The Roshar yanked his blade out of Keegan’s shoulder and snarled, setting the sharp edge next to Keegan’s throat.

Suddenly, huge ivory teeth clamped around the shoulder and torso of the Roshar, and yanked the beast away from Keegan. Pharrgon brutally slammed the monster to the ground, then put his foot over the top of the beast and snarled viciously, his golden eyes burning like giant pits of fire and a strong rumbling sound reverberating from his chest and belly.

The Roshar, in a final attempt, lifted its marbled blade and cut across Pharrgon’s scales. The dragon roared, and Keegan gasped as he watched the blade cut through Pharrgon’s iron-hard scales as easily as a dull knife would cut through soft butter. Pharrgon grabbed the sword and yanked it away from the Roshar, flinging it against the boulders with a hiss. He lowered his open maw next to the Roshar and, with a dreadful snap of his jaws, severed the beast’s head from its shoulders.

Keegan watched as the dragon raised his head and stepped back. Dark blood ran down his ivory teeth and golden lips until bright yellow flames came roaring from the dragon’s mouth, turning the Roshar’s decapitated body into ash. Another arrow whizzed through the air and bounced off Pharrgon’s brow, coming uncomfortably close to his eye. The dragon snarled angrily and slapped his tail on the ground, looking up at the Roshar archer.

The Roshar nocked another arrow onto his bowstring and pulled back, his bright yellow eyes taking careful aim, but he let go of the string, his arrow flying amiss, and dropped his bow as a glazed, painful look came into its eyes. Saul stood up behind the beast and gripped it by the shoulder, yanking his sword free from its back only to jab it forward once again. Pharrgon snarled and stood on his haunches, stretching out his long neck and opening his mouth.

Saul pulled his sword free from the beast again and then pushed it forward, right into the embrace of Pharrgon’s mouth. Pharrgon snapped his jaws shut and dropped the mangled beast onto the ground, turning it into a pile of gray ash. Keegan watched Saul stare at the dragon with a steely gaze for a moment before turning and disappearing from Keegan’s sight somewhere at the top of the boulder.

“Keegan!” Walneff’s voice echoing around the boulders was a comforting sound to Keegan, and he turned his head and watched as the old man came into view, scrambling around the large rocks with a bloodied sword in hand.

Walneff paused and looked first at Pharrgon then at Keegan, his eyes narrowing just before he began to hurry toward Keegan with renewed speed. Pharrgon turned from burning the body and moved near to Keegan, lowering his head next to him.

“Keegan is wounded,” he said as Walneff approached them.

“I could see that from over there,” Walneff replied with a nod of his head as he stopped next to Keegan and set his sword down, pulling Keegan’s red handled dagger from his belt. “Next time, use your dagger on a Roshar. Don’t leave it there for him to use on me,” Walneff said as he cut Keegan’s bloody sleeve off, wadding it up and pressing it against Keegan’s wound.

Keegan grimaced as the sudden pressure caused more pain. “He wasn’t dead yet?” He asked as Walneff grabbed his hand and laid it against his wound.

“Hold that in place until I cut some fresh rags,” Walneff said, digging into a pouch on his side. “It takes a great deal to kill a Roshar. A knife to the belly has rarely been effective,” he said as he pulled a handkerchief from his pouch and wadded it up, placing it behind Keegan’s shoulder.

“Someday you will have to tell me how you know so much about Roshar,” Keegan said, sucking in his breath as Walneff pushed the rag against his shoulder.

“Someday, perhaps,” Walneff said quietly.

“How is he?” Saul asked as he approached them.

Pharrgon’s eyes snapped up, locking onto the tall man, and he snarled, making Saul stop dead in his tracks.

“Peace, Pharrgon,” Walneff said as he continued to work at Keegan’s wound. “You know that Saul is a friend.” Walneff glanced back at Saul. “The knife pierced all the way through. It passed through the fleshy part of his shoulder, so there is only minor damage done.”

Keegan looked at Walneff, cringing as hot pain throbbed up and down his neck and arm from the wound on his shoulder. “Minor damage?” he scoffed “It doesn’t feel minor.”

Walneff looked at Keegan, his eyes showing the slightest amusement. “At least you are feeling it. If it were a deadly wound, you probably would not be feeling a thing.”

Keegan closed his eyes and groaned as the pain intensified for a moment at Walneff’s probing.

Pharrgon snarled again. “You are hurting him,” he uttered in a low tone.

Walneff sighed and stopped what he was doing, looking up at the golden dragon. “One of the Roshar archers escaped. Go fly and see if you can track him.”

Pharrgon snorted. “He is gone. I would rather stay.”

Walneff huffed. “I cannot tell you what to do, but if you are going to stay, be silent and let me do my work!”

Keegan opened his eyes as Walneff grabbed the bottom of his shirt and began to rip it.

“I must use your shirt,” Walneff said, and he tore a strip from it. “You can get a new one later.”

Keegan grimaced and looked at Saul, who was watching Pharrgon with awe and intimidation written clearly on his face. “Don’t be afraid of Pharrgon,” Keegan said, drawing Saul’s attention. “He is a good friend and generally very agreeable. He’s just a little upset right now.”

Pharrgon snorted. “You could have been killed. Was I not supposed to be upset?”

Keegan smiled weakly, moving his hand away from his wound and reaching out to stroke the dragon’s soft nose scales.

“Hold it!” Walneff said, grabbing Keegan’s hand and pushing it back onto his wound.

Pharrgon sighed and flicked his tail irritably, while Saul cautiously came up next to Walneff.

“What can I do to help?” Saul asked.

Walneff nodded at Keegan’s shoulder. “Hold this here. And this here.” He employed both of Saul’s hands to hold wadded rags in place, then he stepped back, took Keegan’s knife, and ripped down the front of his robe, cutting out a long, wide strip of gray cloth. “Pharrgon, where is the knife that pierced Keegan?” he asked as he cut the strip from his robe.

Pharrgon turned and walked away, sniffing through the rocks on the ground while Walneff took the long strip of cloth and began to bind it around Keegan’s shoulder.

“The sword. It cut through Pharrgon’s scales,” Keegan said, groaning slightly as Walneff and Saul worked to tie up his bandages.

Walneff nodded. “Yes. I believe it is dragon metal,” he said, “which is a rare, valuable metal that can cut through the hardest of materials, especially dragon scales.”

Pharrgon returned with the blade hanging from his mouth.

“Saul, take the blade from Pharrgon,” Walneff ordered as he finished tucking the ends of the wrap around Keegan’s shoulder.

Saul hesitated for a moment until Pharrgon lowered his head and held the blade out, then he stepped forward cautiously, took the blade from Pharrgon’s mouth, his eyes widening at the sight of the dragon’s huge ivory teeth, and then stepped back to Walneff’s side.

Walneff took the sword from Saul and looked it over, nodding his head. “It is as I thought.” He handed the sword back to Saul. “Take this, and put it with my blankets on my horse. Then gather the horses and prepare to ride.” He turned to Keegan. “You will ride Pharrgon.” He looked up at the dragon. “Will you take him to the eastern side of the lake and wait for us in the Thieves Forest?”

Pharrgon nodded his majestic head and lowered himself to the ground, flattening himself out as much as possible to make the climb easier for Keegan.

“Keegan is going to ride the dragon?” Saul asked with high-pitched disbelief in his voice.

“I’ve done it before,” Keegan said, though he did note to himself that he had always ridden the dragon when he was in excellent health and physical condition.

Walneff turned and waved Saul off. “Go do what I told you to do! And hurry with it!” He turned and carefully wrapped his arm behind Keegan, supporting him and helping him to stand. Keegan was surprised at the Walneff’s steadiness, strength, and gentleness. It seemed a great contrast to the usual gruff and grumpy nature of an old man.

Keegan gritted his teeth as he and Walneff climbed up Pharrgon’s foreleg and up to his shoulders. He sat down at the base of the dragon’s neck with a sigh of relief, leaning forward and tucking his arms under his chest, resting the side of his face against Pharrgon’s warm, smooth scales.

Walneff took off his cape and put it over Keegan, making sure to tuck it securely around Keegan’s arms and legs. “It promises to be a warm day, but where dragons roam is often more brisk than where humans reside.”

It took Keegan a moment to understand that Walneff was saying the air in the sky can sometimes be cooler than that on the ground, especially when riding on a flying dragon.

“I’ll be fine,” Keegan said. “Pharrgon wouldn’t let me catch a cold.”

Walneff snorted and finished tucking the last of his cape around Keegan’s legs. “Well, it never hurts to take extra precautions.” He gently patted Keegan on the shoulder then climbed down the dragon’s leg. “We will meet you in the forest.”

“Very good.” Pharrgon stood carefully and turned his golden head around to look at Keegan. “Are you ready?” he asked.