“No,” I said. “It did not. It did not stow away in my backpack.”
I wonder where it came up with that clever idea? Crow said.
“Run!” I yelled to it, as the demons, stunned by the explosion, recovered and surged toward it.
The dragon-pig tipped its darling little pink head and looked up at me. Its little curly tail wagged, and itoinked, bouncing on all four feet, like it was excited to see me.
“Run, run, run!” I yelled. “Please, run!”
The dragon-pig followed where I was pointing. It saw Bathin on the ground, saw the demon king who had, for no reason I could understand, paused in the disemboweling of his son.
Then the king roared a single word with all three mouths: “No!”
The dragon-pig did not seem impressed.
One moment the dragon-pig was a cute pudgy little pink pig. The next moment it grew. Up and up, and out and out, until it was massive, bigger than the sky.
It was no longer a pig.
It had claimed its original form—black as midnight, scales shot through with burning red rivers of lava, wings of fire.
Dragon.
It swung its mighty tail and smashed the dead demons, smearing them across the battlefield like a layer of gory jam. It stepped on those who tried to run, pulverizing them into pulp.
The demon king roared and charged, growing tentacles, claws, and new heads with each step, every appendage more monstrous than the last.
The dragon spread its wings and lowered its head.
The demon king leaped—
—just as the dragon opened its jaws—
—and bit the king in half.
Both parts of the king slammed into the ground with a thunderous wet smack, and wriggled mindlessly across the battlefield, shrieking as they crushed the remaining dead demons.
The dragon extended its neck and chomped down on the front half of the demon king, chewed loudly, once, twice, three times, then it snapped up the second half and repeated the process.
The silence that followed was astounding. The dead demons were nothing but gory wet lumps of flesh. The battle was over. Goap and Patrick were nowhere to be seen.
“This is an outrage!” Xtelle yelled. “I willnotbe upstaged by a dragon in the climactic scene!”
A great gong rang out, drowning her voice. Once again, the ground trembled and shook.
Voices rose in wailing chorus, groaning and shrieking in pain. “The king is dead! The king is dead!”
Shit, Crow said in my mind.Out of there. You all need to get out now, before every demon, every wanna-be demon, every asshole from here to the dick end of the universe shows up to claim rulership.
I slipped on the temple’s roof, trying to make my way down as the world did its best to rattle my brains. My hands skidded on the marble tiles, scraped and bleeding. I barely caught myself from going over the edge.
“Easy,” Rossi said. He was there again, crouched beside me on the roof, the air cool around us.
His hair was a mess, and blood covered his face in a fierce battle mask. “Breaking your neck would be a terrible way to end all we’ve done here today.”
“We have to go,” I panted. “Crow says we have to go. Now.”
“Everyone is in the jungle,” Rossi said. “Bathin can take us to a stone from there. As soon as I find Bathin. Which I’ll do as soon as you are safe.”
