Bones of the Dragon - Margaret Weis [219]
But now came gods who wanted to take away the ball.
And not only that, these gods planned to destroy their foes in the process.
Kahg was starting to think the gods had lost their minds to panic. How else could the dragon explain the fact that Torval had ordered the guardians of the Dragon Isles to attack the very people they should have been guarding?
And so the Dragon Kahg did not attack the giants. He sought to reason with them.
CHAPTER
13
Skylan gave an exultant shout when he saw the Dragon Kahg appear, large and menacing. The gaunt and spiderlike giants had been bounding across the sandy grassland, twisting and twirling their strange weapons, occasionally slamming the round stone heads into the ground as they came leaping to attack.
The Torgun warriors were shocked and shaken at the sight of these strange creatures. Jaws sagged, faces paled, eyes bulged. Some cried out to Torval to save them. They were ready to attack when Aylaen shouted for them to halt.
“Stop the men! Don’t let them harm the giants!” she cried. “The Dragon Kahg says that there has been some mistake. The giants are the Hall’s guardians. Kahg’s going to talk to them—”
“Talk?” Skylan couldn’t believe he’d heard right. “They’re trying to kill us—”
One of the giants let loose his strange weapon, flinging it at the dragon. The rope with the two large stones attached at either end flew through the air and wrapped around the dragon’s neck. The stones whipped about, striking the Dragon Kahg in the head, the two blows so hard that Skylan could clearly hear the cracking of bone.
Blood spurted from the dragon’s smashed and mangled jawbone, raining down on the warriors who had taken refuge in the dragon’s shadow, and who were now running for their lives. Roaring in pain, Kahg fell into the bay, landing with a splash in the shallow water, narrowly missing crushing the dragonship with his massive tail.
The dragon lay thrashing about feebly in the water, seriously, perhaps fatally wounded. Blood-tinged waves, churned up by his flailings, rolled onto the shore, washing about the boots of the warriors.
The dragon had not stopped the giants’ attack, but he had at least given the warriors time to recover from their initial shock. The loss of their dragon filled them with rage. The warriors did not wait for Skylan’s order. Each man grasped his spear, taking his time with his aim, trying to find a vulnerable spot on the grotesque bodies.
Alfric the One-Eyed flung his spear and hit the giant in the shin. The spear appeared about the size of a knitting needle compared to the giant, but it pierced his flesh. Blood poured down the giant’s leg, and he gave a yelp of pain, even as the spear bounced off the shinbone and fell to the sand. The warriors were heartened by the fact that the enemy could bleed, and the Torgun attacked, flinging their spears first, and then making daring forays, running beneath the feet of the giants to recover their spears or to strike at the foe with axes and swords.
The deadly stones whirled above them, making a horrid buzzing sound as they whipped through the air and shaking the ground when they slammed down with bone-crushing force. Men died beneath the stones, died with only time for a horror-stricken scream before the stone smashed into them, their bodies disintegrating into gruesome blobs.
Skylan hefted his spear. Taking his own advice, he aimed for the giant’s testicles.
He started to pray to Torval to guide his hand, then thought better of it. Why should the god heed his prayer? Torval had inflicted this punishment upon him. Torval expected Skylan to deal with it. Yet, perhaps Torval relented, for Skylan’s spear soared straight and true