The Explorer's Quest

Gold and Corpses

The Stone shined brightly, sending a blue flash of light across the room. Johnny's already blurred vision was blinded even more by the flash.

The black and gold dragon statue closed its hands. It moved its head lower and began to slowly move its tail like a cat would. Its eyes glowed orange, and steam rose from its nostrils. Johnny looked around at the stone warriors and noticed how their eyes had begun to glow orange just like the dragons eyes.

The dragon grumbled, and all the warriors turned their heads towards Brutus. He lowered his hands and turned around, seeing the dragon now alive. The dragon roared, and the warriors moved from their places. The fortress started shaking, coins started jingling.

Brutus took his gun and shot at the dragon, but because it was made of stone it wasn't affected. Brutus kept shooting the dragon until his gun ran empty, then he threw the gun at it. The dragon moved its foot out, stomped down onto the ground and causing a pile of coins to tumble.

"Go, go, go!" Brutus shouted. "Everybody get out of here!"

Several mercenaries dashed straight for the exit. A few of them tripped, others actually made it out of the treasure room. Some warriors marched in front of the exit and waited for the men to come to them. They held their swords and spears defensively, staring everyone down with their evil orange eyes.

Hugo and Grant helped carry Johnny out of the way and Vanessa followed them. They had loaded their guns in case they needed to use them, and moved to the side, hiding behind a pile of gold. They laid Johnny onto the ground and watched as all the action was taking place.

The whole place was shaking, torches were falling down, coin piles were being un-piled, and the dragon moved straight forward one foot after the other. A piece of the ceiling landed on the ground, cracking and breaking into smaller pieces as it touched the floor.

Brutus was running at his high speed, pushing others out of the way. His veins were still glowing bright blue, and it seemed that he was stronger and faster now than he was before. It was true that the Chintimanni Stone really did give its possessor great power. A stone warrior tried to stand in his way and he punched it down to rocks.

Johnny sat himself up. He had regained his vision and consciousness, although his nose was still broken and bleeding and his head was still sore from the migraines. He looked over the pile of coins and saw many of the mercenaries getting killed by the stone warriors. Some were stabbed, others slammed to the ground. Two mercenaries were beating one of the warriors with golden weapons they had found in one of the treasure piles.

Brutus was getting away. The dragon jumped up and opened its wings. It glided across the room over to the exit and slammed itself down before Brutus could escape. It looked down at Brutus, stopping him dead in his tracks. He turned and ran the other direction.

Chaos scattered the room. Everything was shaking, guns were being fired all over the place, piles of gold were erupting, men were being killed off. Johnny, nor Grant, Hugo or Vanessa knew how they were going to get out of this situation.

"Guys, as soon as that dragon moves somewhere else, we need to get to that exit as fast as we can," Grant said.

"What about Brutus?" Johnny asked, choking on some of his blood. "We need to get the Stone away from him."

"He'll most likely die in here anyway, and so will we if we don't get out soon," said Vanessa, tugging at Hugo's sleeve.

"You've seen what he can do with the Stone!"

"Johnny's right," said Hugo, "We can't let Brutus get away with it."

"Well how are we gonna do that?" asked Grant.

Another piece of the ceiling dropped down next to them, startling Vanessa but not affecting any of the others. They looked over the coin pile and saw the dragon was walking back towards Brutus. There was a clear path to the exit from their coin pile.

"No time to think now, this is our chance to go!" shouted Hugo. Him and Grant helped Johnny up again but he didn't need their help. They darted across the room over to the exit, not paying any attention to what was going on around them. Except Johnny, who because of his wounded leg he trailed behind and saw the warriors noticing them. A few warriors started following them, their orange eyes creating an all together more menacing look.

Brutus also saw the clear path and also ran for it. He cradled the Stone in his arms and sprinted through all the commotion.

When the four had all reached the exit and left the treasure room, Hugo turned and noticed Brutus dashing straight for them. "Johnny, I need your revolver," he said, holding his hand out. Johnny handed Hugo his revolver and watched as Hugo readied the gun aimed it. He waited for Brutus to come closer, breathing in deep through his nose and exhaling through his mouth. Brutus was too busy looking behind him to see that Hugo had been pointing a gun at him.

Hugo pulled the trigger. Brutus lunged forward and fell face first onto the ground. The Chintimanni Stone launched into the air and then dropped to the ground and rolled over the Johnny and the others. Brutus clutched his shin and yelled in pain and anger, bleeding on his hands.

Johnny reached down and picked up the Stone. His veins glowed bright blue and his eyes changed just like Brutus's eyes had when he touched the Stone. Johnny's nose instantly healed, the bleeding stopped and the crack sealed up. He felt his leg suddenly grow less irritated.

Two warriors marched up to Brutus, who was crippled on the ground. Brutus reached out towards the group. One of the warriors raised its battle axe high into the air, then swung it down. A spray of blood splattered upwards as Brutus's hand was disconnected from the rest of his body. He screamed in shock, angrily shouted at Johnny and Hugo. He continued to try and crawl over to the four, only using his good hand and holding his other arm behind himself. Blood squirted out of his arm where his hand once was. A single tear dripped down his face, and he screamed, "Save me! Help me!" It was the first time Johnny had ever seen him truly afraid, it was the first time anyone had ever seen him weak.

Johnny set the Stone on the ground and walked over to Brutus. He crouched down in front of him, fearlessly and unafraid, and he said, "Go to hell." The stone warriors both raised their axes above their heads, their soulless orange eyes glaring down. They thrust their axes down with one hard swing, bringing the sharp blades onto Brutus's neck and ending his life once and for all.

The world around them was still crumbling, parts of the roof were falling down and the walls were collapsing. The ground cracked and split open. The dragon had killed every single mercenary inside the treasure room, and was roaring as it crumbled itself. The gold on the dragon melted into a steaming liquid, its stone body falling apart. The dragon roared one last time as its orange eyes disappeared and it crumbled into a pile of dust.