Dragon's Heart

Chapter 21

The magic powers that Tobias had given the siblings in order for them to assist him during the fight against Brimstone earlier in the Frosty Forest had long faded by then. On top of that, the Prince had almost no time to give them back again since this battle came on such short notice. Additionally, Brimstone allowed the heroes to make the first move; however, Grunty attacked almost immediately. So Matthew and Sally hid behind a nearby rock while Tobias charged at her. 

As they clashed, they traded banter.

"You'll pay for what you've done, 'Prince'!" she cried. "I raised that golem myself for years!  I cared for it, and in turn, it cared for me. It was always at my side." "A rather crude mistake, then, sending him against us. You seem to have underestimated our power. And, if you liked him so much, as you say, why did you see it fit to send him to his death?" Tobias asked, angering Grunty even more. 

She began charging the orb at the end of her staff for a devastating ranged attack, in the meantime using it as a melee weapon against the Prince's sword. Despite the staff physically being made out of wood, it actually stood its ground very well against the Prince's steel blade, due to it being enhanced with magical capabilities. 

"You don't know anything  about him!" she shot back. "I will squish you and your little resistance here and collect my reward from the Dark Raven!" 

After a long while of combat between the two of them, Grunty managed to stun Tobias with her staff and then summoned an ice trap beneath his feet, rendering him unable to move. Matthew and Sally wondered if they should come out and attempt to engage her---after all, she couldn't use that many magic attacks, as she had to reserve her energy for her finishing blow. But Tobias subtly gestured for them to hold back---he didn't want them getting hurt. 

"You know......I always thought this would be harder, Prince," Grunty began, raising her staff as it shone with an eerie, blood-red glow. "And one more thing.....say hello to Walt for me." 

But before she could fire, a familiar roar echoed through the skies above them. "Could.....could it be.....?" the Prince said to himself softly. 

Just then, Abraxas swooped down from the mountainside and flew quickly towards the battleground. Grunty, shocked by his appearance, stood idle for a few seconds. "A storm dragon? Here? But.....how.....?" she wondered. What she didn't know was that her ice trap was gradually melting due to Mt. Doom's heat.

"I could hear you bickering with this hag all the way from the peak, Prince. Looks like you could use a little help!" the storm dragon said as he made his entrance.

"WAIT!" Tobias shouted. "Grunty's gonna---" 

Grunty snapped herself out of it. After a quick second of glancing back and forth between the Prince, who was trapped, and Abraxas, who was coming in quickly, she rapidly changed her plan, turned around and aimed the staff at Abraxas instead, inflicting a devastating blow that greatly wounded him and knocked him out of the sky.

"NO!" Tobias cried out as Abraxas plummeted to a lower ledge nearby. Matthew gasped as he witnessed the scene from his hiding spot, and Sally almost started to cry---she only restrained herself when she realized it would give away her and her brother's location. 

"Not what I expected, but I'll take it! I've never taken down a storm dragon before!" Grunty commented. "I'll just prepare another orb, and then...." She looked down and saw that the ice trap had melted entirely. "......Oh no." 

Immediately, Tobias charged towards Grunty in a rage and started landing blow after blow after blow on her, so much so that Grunty was entirely occupied with defending against his attacks without having time to launch any of her own. 

Eventually, he managed to disarm Grunty and impaled her chest, causing her to keel over, greatly weakened and immobile. But she wasn't dead. 

Tobias quickly ran over and picked up the staff that Grunty had lost, and began to overload the orb on it. He filled it with so much magic that the orb turned from green, to yellow, to red, to a flashing red, one tier higher than Grunty had charged it to earlier.

"Wh....what are you doing.....? You will.....kill us all....." Grunty muttered. "The staff can't take that much power at one time!" "That's what I'm counting on," the Prince replied. "Oh, and don't worry. I don't have any plans to die anytime soon."

As the magic in the staff grew more and more unstable, the Prince threw it at Grunty and it landed within point blank range of her, while he ran to Matthew and Sally's position and quickly dove behind the same rock they were behind. 

Realizing that Tobias had effectively thrown a ticking bomb right next to her, and that she had no hope of getting away or gathering the strength to try and throw it back at them, Grunty simply closed her eyes. 

"Dark Raven........forgive me.......I have failed you. And.....Brimstone.....I'll see you before long." 

With that, the staff exploded.