I was too late.

Unfortunately, with a gazillion-ton dinosaur-slash-dragon hot on my heels, I couldn't exactly stop. The portcullis loomed on my left. If I hadn't been breathless, I would've breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing it open. At least Vallaena had done her job.

I pivoted on a dime to veer beneath the portcullis. Unfortunately, someone had spilled ice cream on the walkway. My foot skidded on it. All sense of traction vanished. My feet flew sideways, and my shoulder slammed into stone.

The tragon leapt, tiny wings flapping, and a clawed foot smashed into the walkway, two of the creature's three toes landing to either side of my body. Ebony talons screeched against the stone, digging gouges. I looked up in time to see jaws the size of a monster truck rushing toward me. I dove, and hit the walkway as the tragon's mouth chomped empty air where my body had been a split second earlier. My feet skidded on the spilled food, found a clean spot, and I lurched forward on all fours beneath the portcullis. I heard a whooshing noise. Monstrous teeth clacked together so hard, a rush of warm air puffed against my backside. By then, I'd managed to get upright, despite my legs feeling like overcooked spaghetti.

Giant claws pounded the earth behind me. I ran through a massive tunnel, and emerged an instant later into the stadium. Across the wide space, a four-armed robot five stories high grappled with an equally giant stone golem. Parts of the stadium near the melee looked blackened and charred, especially the enclosed club seating area where Zagg had indicated the Arcane Council usually sat.

The robot smashed the head of the golem with one huge fist. Red lasers speared from the metal monster's eyes, burning molten gouges in the golem's stony body while its other hand held the stone giant's head motionless. The robot's other two arms gripped the golem's, holding it immobile. It looked like the robot had the upper hand, but had the golem already killed the council?

I magnified my vision, and saw the charred remains of two corpses behind melted glass. On the opposite side of the room, a gaggle of gray-haired men in robes beat frantically on the door. One of them pulled out a staff, and shook it, but it apparently wasn't working, because nothing happened.

The hand the robot held over the golem's face glowed cherry red. A white beam burst from bubbling metal, melting it to a nub. Now free, the stone giant turned its head, showing a single giant eye glowing white as the moon. Light speared from the eye, hitting the robot in the face, turning the metal lava red. The robot threw up another hand to shield its face, but it was too late. Its head sagged in the middle, drooping like a wet paper bag, and melted away in a stream of molten metal. The mega-bot's arms went limp, and it listed to the side, metal groaning like a ship running aground on rocks. In slow motion, it fell to the side, crashing to earth, sending a wave of grass and mud spraying in every direction. The ground buckled beneath my feet, nearly costing me my life as I stumbled away from tragon jaws.

The Cyclops golem rotated back to the panicked council members in the club box, its single eye glowing with unholy light.

A relatively miniscule beam of light speared from somewhere in the crowd, and I saw Zagg, staff outstretched direct the energy at the golem's eye. The automaton flinched as though a mosquito had bitten it. It let out a gravelly roar. Turned its baleful gaze toward the section of seating where Zagg stood, now bare of spectators. Scores of flying carpets circled the stadium far overhead, including a large one with a news crew.

The white beam erupted from the golem's eye, ripping up seating, and leaving a massive swath of black ash as it ripped toward Zagg. The historian threw up his arms in a futile gesture, and the beam of light washed over him.

"No!" I screamed.

The tragon, scant yards behind me, roared, and sent a blast of heat washing over my skin.

I reached the golem. Looked behind me and saw the tragon's eyes alight on the giant. One of the golem's giant feet rotated toward this new threat, nearly crushing me. I went down on my back, sliding on the slick grass beneath the lifted foot. I watched, helpless as the bottom of the foot traveled earthward. A hoarse cry erupted from my throat. The foot slammed to earth an instant after I cleared the ground beneath it. The shockwave lifted me off the ground, and sent me tumbling through the air. I thudded face-first into mud, sliding for several feet before coming to a stop.

Clearing muck from my face, I rolled onto my back just as the tragon leapt, claws extended for its new enemy.

The golem rumbled in protest, and grappled with the giant dinosaur creature which nearly matched it in height. The baleful eye glowed, and I feared the tragon was about to meet its match, but the huge reptile roared, blasting a gout of fire so hot it melted the ridge of stone just above the golem's eye. Lava washed across the deadly orb.

I glanced back at the club seating, and saw Michael rip through the door with his sword, freeing the council. The golem seemed to sense its primary targets' escape attempt. It rotated its head, and fired a blast at the fleeing Arcanes, but the molten stone across its eye blocked all but a tiny sliver of the death beam. The tragon's jaws clamped around the golem's head, gouging huge divots from it, and causing the giant to stumble backwards. It crashed against the stadium wall, sending chunks of rock raining down on the field.

The tragon and stone golem circled each other like two predators waiting for the other to make a mistake. The golem's eye burst into light, and the beam speared for the tragon. The tragon opened its jaws and blasted an inferno of ruby-red flames. The rippling energy met in the middle, swirling into a sphere of red and white. I watched, mesmerized at the sight, unable to move. I hadn't seen anything so awesome since watching a movie where pirates with laser swords fought ninjas.

The two creatures seemed evenly matched as the ball of energy boiled unmoving between the two. Any little change in energy would shift the battle. I raced forward, drawing deeply on the magic around me, and heard the whoosh of flames ignite in my hands. Two fireballs, each the size of my head, swirled in my palms. I raised my hands, palms up, and clapped the two fireballs together into one large mass. Rotating my hands around the energy like a kid would do with putty, I focused more and more energy, willing it to grow larger.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the glowing ball of energy between the two combatants shift closer to the tragon. Despite its immense power, it was still flesh and blood. The golem was essentially a machine—tireless so long as it had energy to draw on.

The ball of energy in my hands grew wide as my body, and heat washed over me like a desert. My knees grew weak, and I knew I was beyond my limit. I aimed the shot, and, turning my palms straight out, willing the inferno to speed forward. It struck the ground, rolling and bouncing, burning a charred furrow through grass, boiling steam up from mud. It bounced one final time, and hit the golem in its pinky toe, melting through stone like a hot knife through butter. It sliced away the remaining toes. The golem might be powerful, but without a functional foot, it didn't matter how strong it was. The creature shifted to the side, its damaged foot crumbling. In an instant, the stalemate ended. The massive ball of coalesced death between the tragon and the falling golem streaked toward the stone giant, engulfing its upper body. Lava streamed down the sides of the golem. The bright ball of energy faded, revealing a molten mountain of rock, which crumbled as it toppled sideways. Boulder-sized chunks of rock rumbled and bounced, massive chunks of shrapnel with deadly speed.

I zipped side-to-side, dodging the big pieces, but small bits of sharp rock tore into me. Something big slammed into my chest, and I flew backwards. A boulder thudded to earth, just missing my leg. A large rock plowed a furrow near my head. Thankfully, the boulder near my feet shielded me from the rest of the shockwave. I tried to stand, but agony lanced up my leg. I cried out, clutching at the spot where a bone jutted from the blackened skin around my shin.

Whatever blessing the man from the pond had given me seemed to be wearing off, because my lower body started to hurt like hell. I pressed the bone back into the skin, screaming non-stop, hoping the healing process would start. Usually my skin knitted itself together within minutes after an injury. The curse-infected skin wasn't healing, just as it hadn't the scrape from days ago.

As if sensing that I'd just thought of it, shards of cold pierced my veins, running up my legs, and curling towards my heart. My body locked in a spasm. I couldn't move my muscles. I couldn't speak. All I could do cry in ragged agony.

Something thudded. Giant nostrils sniffed the air, and the tragon loomed behind a boulder several yards away.

I bit my tongue until I tasted blood in my mouth hoping to quell my scream.

The tragon's red eyes lit on me, the pupils narrowing to slits. It huffed, jaws opening and closing almost as if it were laughing.

I felt another wave of cold rush up me, like the arctic ocean tide trying to claim the beach. I was able to move my head just barely, and watched as throbbing black veins crept up my chest, visible through my shredded shirt. I knew, with certainty, I was going to die. Whether the curse or the tragon killed me first was the only question.

The tragon leapt.

I looked up as the sinuous, majestic reptile, ebony talons extended, soared in a parabolic arc that would land right on top of me and squash me like a rotten watermelon.

You have to admit, this is a pretty badass way to die.

As brutal deaths went, this one wasn't so awful. This was something people could brag about at my funeral. I felt a grin tug at the corners of my lips as I waited for the end.

The impact rattled my bones. My broken leg twisted. Before I could scream, darkness consumed the light.

Chapter 48

A massive roar pulled me from the dark. I looked up to see the tragon spinning in circles as a figure in black ran up the bony spines on its back like a ladder, and gripped the stubby wings. The tragon blasted fire, and slammed against boulders, trying in vain to shake the intruder.

The figure aimed a fist at the back of the tragon for several seconds. The creature staggered, beady eyes blinking. Its right leg folded, and the creature crashed to earth. I watched in amazement as the dark figure ran off the end of the tragon's snout, and leapt at the last minute as debris from the monster's crash to earth hid them both from view.