Adventures of Paku the Dragon: The Shroud of Shadows

Chapter 26

"Paku, wait!" Ziva says, flying up next to the black dragon. "Stop and think for a moment! You're scaring me!"

"Stay out of my way Ziva!" Paku growls, flying past the dragoness and ramming his horns into a large goblin, brutally impaling the green beast onto the wall. He was too enraged and lost in anger to think properly.

"Paku, look out!" Ziva shouts.

Paku turns, his eyes full of bloodlust, as another group of goblins dive at him. These ones aren't going to escape, though; as Paku mercilessly burns them as he did all the other goblins.

"Paku, stop!" Ziva pleads, grabbing Paku's arm. "This isn't you!"

"It's not?" Paku snarls. "I am who I am Ziva, and you won't stop me!"

He shakes free of Ziva's grasp, pushing the young dragoness to the ground and flying towards a group of goblin archers. Like their comrades, they were scorched by a blast of fire breath from Paku, who's rampage seemed to be endless.

"Look out!" Ziva shouts again.

Paku continues to burn goblin flesh, leaving no survivors. The only thing left standing were piles of ashes, and the smell of burnt goblin meat.

"Paku, please!" Ziva says flying up only for the enraged Paku to grab her and pin her to the wall.

"You're... hurting... me!" Ziva chokes, as Paku seems to be out of control. However, when he looks into Ziva's scared eyes, and sees his own angered reflection, Paku lets go, and feels horrible for hurting Ziva. His heart aches, and he knows he has to try and calm himself before he hurts someone else, or worse – himself.

"... I'm sorry..." Paku mutters, letting go of Ziva and sitting on the floor. "I never meant to hurt you... I'm just so hurt."

"That's okay," Ziva says. "We... uh, we need to go." She points behind Paku where more goblins are coming at him. "The others... will come soon."

Paku nods, as Patch runs to catch up with them.

"There's the gremlins who killed our brothers! Shoot them down!" the goblins snarl, as they chase after Paku, Ziva, and Patch. "Kill 'em all!"

Paku huffs, and then he rams his horns into one goblin, sending the beast flying off the walls, crashing to the ground. Then, he slams his tail into another one, knocking him over the edge, as he uses his wings to fly away from.

Ziva takes a deep breath, as she breathes a large blast of lightning from her mouth, toppling over a few more goblins that block the exit. Patch runs out, holding the door open so Ziva and Paku could escape. They quickly get out of there, as the horde of goblins is closing in.

"Come on!" Patch yells, running down the hallway.

They fly outside back into the volcanic plain, to see that Ellis and the other rangers were nowhere to be seen. A group of orcs and goblins start shooting arrows at the retreating dragons.

"Get back here, you little punks!" an orc shouts. "Try and take us on!"

Paku huffs and flies at the front line of the goblins, as he incinerates his foes with a blast of flames. Patch jumps up and grabs hold of Ziva, as the three fly from the orcs and goblins shooting at them.

"What do we do?" Ziva asks, as they continue to flee.

"Just keep flying," Paku says, looking around for a place to land. "We have to find someplace safe where we can hide until the others arrive."

The group flies out of range of the orcs and goblins, resting at a small patch of rocks in the volcanic plains. "I think we lost them." Paku says, as he, Ziva, and Patch all remain hidden by the rocks. "I can't believe it... Naria's gone... they killed her."