Eye of the Oracle by Bryan Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

splattered against Arramos’s side. Another slapped him in the face. The two dragons pushed forward, beating the air and scattering thousands of water droplets. As they crested the side of the ark, Japheth, clutching his ribs with one arm, guided them to a clear spot on the deck. Shem burst from Adam’s Door, and the two humans, dodging flapping wings and swinging tails, helped the dragons gently lower the wounded body to the planks.
    When all three dragons finally rested on the deck, Arramos bent over Makaidos, aiming his eyebeams at his son’s glazed pupils. “He is alive . . . but barely. Thigocia, your mother was a healer. It is time to learn whether or not you inherited her gift.”
    “Should I just do what she always did?” she asked.
    “Yes. Cover Makaidos with your wings and body. Quickly, now! There is no time to lose.”
    Thigocia crawled over Makaidos’s body and lay on top of him, stretching her wings to cover as many of his scales as she could. Arramos breathed a low-power stream of fire at Thigocia’s tail, then at her wings, flanks, and back, until her scales glowed with a tawny-orange hue. Warmth radiated around her body, spreading through her wings and into Makaidos.
    As the process continued, Thigocia kept an eye on the battle. The dark streaks now outnumbered the streams of fire, and blackened dragon bodies littered the battlefield, lying strewn on the ground as if draped by sooty quilts. Several Watchers lay among them, some writhing, some motionless. Two of the giants smoldered in a heap, but the largest Naphil stood erect, shaking his spear in the air.
    Morgan walked out of the fog. As Watchers and Nephilim gathered around her, she marched toward the ark, lifting her purple-stained palm into the air. A shimmering field of sparks formed around the evil group. When the sparks clustered, a lightning bolt shot toward the ark. The bolt missed wide to the right, but the sparks reassembled, as if recharging after the first volley.
    Shem pulled a sling and a stone from his pocket, spun the sling over his head, and hurled the stone at Morgan, but it bounced off her shield and tumbled to the ground. As he set a larger stone in the sling, Japheth grabbed his arm and held up the egg-like orb. “If we could figure out how to use this, maybe we’d stand a chance.”
    Arramos snuffed his flames. “The Ovulum!” He nodded at Thigocia. “Stay on him. When your glow fades, you may get up.” He lumbered toward the humans. “Speak to the Eye of the Oracle,” he said. “He will give you guidance.”
    Japheth laid the Ovulum in his palm. “You mean talk to the egg?”
    “Exactly. I do not know who or what resides there, but I have seen the Oracle speak to it with reverence.”
    Japheth glanced at Shem, who just shrugged his shoulders. Another bolt of lightning streaked across the deck and burned a hole in the parapet on the far side.
    Arramos shot a ball of fire at Morgan’s company. The flames dented the shield and rolled over the dome before fizzling out on the ground behind them. The volley made them halt, at least for the moment. “Hurry!” Arramos ordered. “If the Watchers attack, we will never hold them off! They probably do not know we are the only dragons on board, or they would have attacked already.”
    Japheth raised the Ovulum near his lips. “If you’re the Eye of the Oracle, I assume you know what’s going on out here. Please give us guidance. How can we save the ark?”
    Red fog swirled within the orb and congealed into a scarlet eye. It stared at Japheth as if piercing his soul with its gaze. Shem, Japheth, and Arramos stared back at the eye, seemingly mesmerized as a translucent aura slowly grew around it, bathing Japheth’s hands in crimson.
    Another bolt zipped into the ark, this time striking Thigocia’s tail, singeing the tiny scales on its spiny end. “Owww!” She shot up to her feet and dipped her tail in a rainwater pool. The orange glow pulsing from her scales faded.