but he couldn’t make out her words.
With every blow the pain increased in the hand holding the sword. The skin curled, and his shrieking fingers caused the sword to shake to the side. It would have dropped to the floor, except Natalenya, standing now, reached through the flames, clenched his hand, and raised the sword up again.
Cries escaped her mouth, and her hand flinched in pain.
Merlin struck a ringing blow with the hammer, and lightning burst from the Stone. Merlin’s whole body wrenched forward into its searing tendrils.
The smithy darkened, and Merlin felt himself falling. But there was no floor.
Natalenya, Dybris, his father, the flames, the Stone, the smithy — all disappeared as he tumbled through a whispering murk.
Into a place of distant echoes he fell, finally striking the ground hard with his left shoulder. He wanted to open his eyes to see the blur of his surroundings, but he needed to rest until the throbbing in his bones subsided. He felt his hands to see how burnt they were and was surprised to find them well.
He sat up, opened his eyes, and discovered that everything around him was in perfect focus. At his side lay the sword, and he found comfort in gripping its handle. Glances around revealed he had fallen into a massive cavern of dark rock where dim lights floated. Were they torches held by the druidow, or something else entirely? Beyond the lights, on the far side of the cavern, plumes of smoke wafted from a large hole in the wall.
A faint, moaning voice rippled across the chamber. Soon a chorus of other voices joined. Wailing filled the cavern, and Merlin stopped up his ears to the dirgelike cries. One of the lights hovered closer, revealing itself to be a large, headless body, white and ghostlike. Its bones cracked and shook, and its arms carried Natalenya’s limp body.
Merlin bounded to his feet. “Set her down!”
Lifting his sword, he tried to stab the headless creature, but it ignored his futile thrusts and glided over to the center of the cavern.
A granite pillar covered with a blue cloth — the same as in his previous vision — ascended from the ground, and the specter draped Natalenya upon it. Her pale form lay where the drinking horns had once stood. Her disheveled locks hung down upon her bloodstained and tattered dress.
Burning bile filled Merlin’s throat, and he sprinted forward. “Natalenya!”
More headless phantoms appeared, and each one bore a dark chain. Merlin swung his sword at them as they passed.
One spun around and lashed him across the mouth with its sharp shackles.
He fell to his knees licking blood.
The dead creatures sped to Natalenya. They anchored the chains to the granite table and fettered them around her wrists and ankles.
Merlin lurched upward and ran at the table, shouting and scattering the phantoms. He tried to slide the chains off Natalenya but found they bit cruelly into her skin. He struck a chain five times with his sword, but the links only bent.
Blue light poured from a giant hole in the cavern wall, and the smoke thickened. An ear-splitting roar shook the ceiling until stones and stalactites crashed to the floor.
With rocks pelting down, Merlin whipped his cloak and arms over the woman he loved.
Then he saw the dragons.
Two enormous winged dragons crept from the hole and slid toward him — one red and the other white, their goatlike horns curving away from the sides of their heads behind fanged jaws. Considering their massive size, their arms and legs were small, but the ends of each held a set of dagger-sharp claws. Their muscles rippled in spectacular power as they slithered toward what he now realized was an altar.
Toward Natalenya.
Merlin’s chest squeezed tightly on his heart, and he could no longer take a breath.
The red dragon was much smaller than the white, though faster. Thick, jagged scales covered its body, and from its mouth blazed a purple flame. Even at a distance, the heat smote Merlin, and sweat ran down his forehead, stinging his eyes.
The dragon slid closer and snatched one of the specters from the air. With black liquid dripping from its fangs, the dragon crushed it into a pile of shattered bones.
Merlin jumped between the dragon and Natalenya, holding out his trembling sword. He tried to yell at the beast, but the words choked in his throat.
The dragon noticed neither him nor his puny sword as its dark and silver-gold eyes gazed upon the altar and its chained prey.
Closer and