your crime.” Makaidos reared up, exposing the most vulnerable part of his underbelly. “I have trained Roxil well, so the two of you should be enough to do the deed. I will not resist.”
“Father!” Roxil slapped her tail against the wall of the cave. “Are you implying that I will help Goliath kill you? Have you no faith in me at all?”
“Faith in you?” Makaidos narrowed his eyes. “Did you and Goliath pass through a covenant veil?”
“You know we didn’t.” Roxil swung her head to the side. “Arramos joined us together. The ways of the covenant veil are the ways of the past.”
“Then you have answered your own question.” Makaidos lowered himself to all fours again. “Your unholy alliance with a demon-possessed mate has incinerated my faith in you. Since Goliath is against me, and you stand with him, you are against me as well.”
Goliath raised a wing and draped it over Roxil. “We are not going to kill you. Roxil insisted on coming to ensure my safety from outside interference and from you. As old as you are, I still doubt that I could defeat you in single combat. Only Clefspeare is your equal in battle.”
“Now I am sure it is a Naphil who speaks,” Makaidos said, “for you know that my age has weakened my skills. In order to fool your mate into coming, you have chosen to lie, and lying is the fruit of the dragon prototype. His Eden curse made him a legless and wingless serpent, and I thought that ended all dragon deception forever. Obviously, I was wrong.”
Roxil slapped the wall again. “How can you possibly believe what you are saying about Goliath? Our war is against the human race, not each other!”
“I believe what I am saying because I sense danger. If Goliath intends no harm, then where does the danger originate?”
Roxil’s eyebeams flicked on and pointed toward the cave entrance. “I have also sensed danger ever since I arrived. A human must be near, probably someone who intends to rescue his king.”
Makaidos’s beams crossed over Roxil’s, creating a diamond outlined in scarlet. “I should feel no danger from any human who would rescue his king. I helped save them all from the barbarians.”
“They merely used you.” Roxil doused her beams. “They will turn on you whenever it is convenient.”
Makaidos rubbed a foreleg against his tender underside. “Humans have had convenient opportunities to strike a blow for many years, even centuries from my days of weakness in the ark, to the nights I have slept at Merlin’s side in the wilderness as he taught me the ways of his messiah, the ways of love, grace, and mercy.” He flashed his eyebeams at Roxil. “Once again you have acted rashly because you know so little, yet think you know so much.”
Makaidos bowed toward Goliath. “You have captured her heart, my son. Congratulations. She has forsaken all reason and will believe you no matter what you say or do.” He spread out his wings, exposing his underbelly again. “Now, do what you must. Dying in your fire is better than living under your rule, especially when you have stolen the heart of my precious daughter. Following in the footsteps of the human messiah, I will not resist. I give my life gladly, hoping that Roxil will finally see the difference between a loving father and a deceiving usurper.”
“Father!” Roxil growled. “Listen to yourself! Do not play the fool to win me back to your home! I stand with my mate, no matter what outrageous grandstanding you do.”
Goliath snorted. “You will not die at my hand.” He turned his beams toward the back of the cave. Two men leaped from the darkness. Devin plunged a sword into Makaidos’s belly, and Palin thrust his into Roxil’s. Both men twisted their swords, then sprang away, dodging the dragons’ gushing fluids.
Roxil teetered. Her eyes widened. First glancing at Goliath, then at Makaidos, she toppled forward. Makaidos fell at her side, pressing his scaly jaws against hers.
As his vision faded, Makaidos watched Goliath. He tried to speak, but he felt his life seeping away.
Goliath pushed Arthur’s unconscious body. “Take your king, Devin, and be on your way. Tell Morgan that our deal is complete. I will make no more contracts with her.”
“As you wish.” Devin helped Palin hoist Arthur over his back, and they shuffled out of the cave.
As Makaidos closed his eyes, Roxil’s faint voice crept into his ear. “Why, Goliath? Why?”
Goliath laughed. “As our father said. No witnesses. You