Kendra rolled her eyes. "Cheer up. You may not have killed dragons, but you've gotten to see dragons. And who knows, you might still get eaten by one!"
"I'm glad I've seen some," he admitted.
Kendra huffed. "Are you really glad? Truly? It freaks me out. We almost died."
"Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to pretend I wasn't freaked out too. I thought we were doomed. But if dragons weren't freaky, they'd be... disappointing."
Kendra patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. There should be plenty of freaky stuff ahead of us. We still might not even survive."
Trask decided their group had been too clustered when Glommus had attacked, so he strung them out more as they resumed their journey. He and Gavin took the lead. Mata and Tanu followed fifty yards back. Then Kendra, Seth, Mendigo, and Dougan stayed back another fifty yards at the rear.
They traveled a long distance, generally sloping upward. The ravine narrowed and widened. It became deeper and shallower. It turned several times.
Kendra scrutinized every shadow, worried about another cave or offshoot containing a hidden dragon. Up ahead, Trask and Gavin searched the walls of the ravine high and low with bright flashlights. Kendra stayed ready for disaster to strike at any step. She knew that any minute Trask and Gavin could be engulfed in a fiery inferno.
She tried to guess what the final guardian might be. Another dragon? A giant? A huge demon like Bahumat?
Some more deadly creature they had never heard of? The possibilities were endless.
When they rounded another corner, steps became visible up ahead. The beige stone stairs reached from one side of the ravine to the other, leading up to a pillared structure. Bronze statues of dragons flanked the top of the steps. The massive building had no front wall, and was plenty large enough to accommodate dragons or giants.
Trask and Gavin waited for the others to catch up just short of the wide stairway. "Looks like we've reached the temple proper," Trask said. "Gavin has volunteered to scout ahead. We're assuming the third guardian awaits us inside."
"He's scouting alone?" Kendra asked.
"I'll follow twenty yards back," Trask said. "I'll keep him covered with my crossbow. Tanu, trail along behind me. The rest of you hang back and await my signal."
Kendra watched Gavin mount the steps and disappear into the gloomy building. Trask was halfway up the steps when Gavin came running back out, waving Trask away. Gavin raced down the stairs two at a time and sprinted toward Kendra. She involuntarily drew back as he came into the light of the nearest glowing stone. His skin had taken on a bluish cast, almost black around the neck and lips. He gazed at her with horribly bloodshot eyes. "The horn," he murmured, collapsing.
"He's poisoned," Seth realized, diving into the knapsack.
Kendra could have hugged her brother for moving so quickly. Sitting beside Gavin, she took his hand to console him. It felt cold. Black eyelids had hooded his eyes. A
buttery discharge leaked from below the closed lids like gooey tears. He began to quiver and twitch. His veins were becoming increasingly visible, black lines beneath his blue, clammy skin.
Tanu knelt beside the knapsack, his head and one arm inside the storage room. She heard him call, "Throw it!" A moment later the Samoan was approaching with the unicorn horn in his fist. He touched the tip of the horn to Gavin's blue-black throat and held it there.
The convulsions stopped instantly. The black veins faded and the blue hues drained from his skin. Gavin coughed and opened his eyes, a sweaty hand closing around the horn. "That was close," he breathed.
"Is he all right?" Trask asked.
"The horn purifies," Tanu said. "If it was poison, he should be fine."
"I'm great," Gavin said, sitting up. "It was p-p-poison. We're in serious trouble."
"What did you see?" Trask asked.
"Not much. I barely glimpsed her. I didn't speak with her. Didn't have time. The poison hit hard and moved fast. But I didn't need a conversation to know who she was. The third guardian is Siletta."
"The poison dragon," Tanu groaned.
Gavin nodded. "She didn't breathe on me or anything. The whole atmosphere in there is tainted."
"I've never heard of a poison dragon," Trask said.
"Many thought she was just a legend," Tanu explained.
"Or if not, long dead. Dark potion makers fantasize about her. She is utterly unique."
"Poison to the cote," Gavin said. "I once spoke to a dragon who knew her anciently. Her breath, her flesh, her blood, her tears, her excretions, everything is deadly poison. You saw how I looked? That was simply from being in the same room with her. Everyone should touch the horn. Even out here we may be getting exposed."
They all crowded together to place a hand on the horn.
"What do we do?" Tanu asked.
Gavin laughed grimly. "We give up. There is no way past Siletta. I couldn't conceive of a better guardian. Even if you held the horn to protect yourself from the poison in the air, she's still a dragon, with teeth and claws and a majestic aura of terror. She saw me. She's ready for us. Besides, who knows how long the unicorn horn would protect you? All magical items have limitations. Siletta is a living fountainhead of the most potent venoms ever known."
"We're pinned between a hydra and a poison dragon," Dougan muttered.
"We need to figure this out," Trask said. "She could emerge at any moment."
"I'll take care of her," Seth said.
"Don't be ridiculous," Tanu replied.
Seth scowled at the dismissal. "I'm not. I have a plan. I'll need Kendra."
"What do you mean?" Trask asked.
"We won't use the horn just to keep us alive while we fight Siletta," Seth said. "We'll use the horn to kill Siletta."
"How so?" Kendra asked.
"When Graulas was helping me get the horn, I suspected that he wanted it for himself. But then he told me that his diseases had become so much a part of him that curing them would probably kill him. If this dragon has poison blood and poison flesh, wouldn't the horn kill her?"
"Maybe," Gavin said thoughtfully. "But I doubt the horn contains enough energy to counteract so much poison. Unicorns possess tremendous purity, but we have no unicorn, just an old horn. You'd be pitting the power of a discarded horn against a live dragon."
"We have Kendra," Seth argued. "She's like a battery full of magical energy. If she holds the horn, she'll keep it charged. And of course I'll have to go with her or the dragon terror will freeze her."
The adults exchanged glances.
"It might work," Gavin admitted.
"They're children," Trask objected.
"Children or not," Tanu vouched, "they've done some astounding things."
"Let me take the horn," Gavin volunteered. "It might have enough potency to d-d-defeat the dragon without jeopardizing Kendra."
"No," Kendra said, her voice quavering. "If anyone should use the horn, it should be me. Seth is right. We can't risk the horn running out of energy. We'll only get one shot at this."
"I'll not have children sticking their necks out for me," Dougan said. "Neither of them are even supposed to be here.
Kendra should be back at the keep, and Seth should be at Fablehaven. We can't risk losing Gavin. We need him as our ambassador to the dragons. If Tanu can bolster me against the dragon terror with a potion, I'll do it."
"Let me take this risk," Mara said. "I'm quick. I'm nimble. And I'm a dragon tamer."
"What about Mendigo?" Tanu proposed. "The puppet won't react to the poison. And he's uncannily agile."
"Mendigo could come with us," Seth said. "You know, as backup. But Kendra has to be there to make sure the horn stays energized. We all know it probably won't have enough power otherwise. And I have to be there for Kendra to be there."
"You just want to kill a dragon," Kendra accused.
Seth fought to stifle a guilty smile. "Maybe a little. But mostly I want to get that key and go home."
"Do you really think you can do this?" Trask asked, eyes flicking back and forth from Seth to Kendra. "The dragon won't sit still and let you touch her. If her poison doesn't take you out, you'll probably be clawed to death or eaten."
"I should carry a bag of dragonsbane," Seth said. "In case she swallows me."
Gavin shook his head. "Siletta is composed of poison. I wouldn't count on dragonsbane to do more than amuse her."
"We can pull this off," Kendra said stoutly. "Mendigo will have orders that if we fail, he's to pick up the horn and hold it against the dragon. This is easily our best chance. Since I want to live, that means I should do this. It needs to be me. It isn't as if Seth and I would be much safer waiting here while somebody else tries to fix the problem. Everything depends on this."
"We won't blow it," Seth promised.
"They make a solid argument," Trask said. "Objections?"
Gavin sighed. "If we mean to keep going forward, it's out best bet."
"If we try to retreat, Siletta may follow," Mara warned. "They're so young," Dougan protested weakly. "All right," Trask said. "Do it."
"At the top of the stairs you'll see a tremendous room with pillars throughout," Gavin described. "Use the pillars as obstructions to keep the dragon from leaping at you easily. When you make your move, go in hard and fast. Keep hold of each other."
"I have handcuffs in the knapsack," Tanu said. "Should we cuff them together?"
"Yes," Seth and Kendra answered at the same time.
Tanu climbed down into the storage room. Gavin handed Kendra the unicorn horn. Pulling Mendigo aside, Trask handed the puppet a sword and a flashlight.
"Mendigo," Trask began, "you will enter the temple ahead of Kendra and Seth. Tanu will give you four smoke bulbs. You will smash them in different parts of the room. You will stay in motion, cavorting around the room, but keeping the flashlight on the eyes of the dragon. As needed, you will use the sword to defend Kendra and Seth. Should they get killed or otherwise lose the horn, you will retrieve the horn and hold it against the dragon. Understood?"
Mendigo nodded.
Tanu emerged from the knapsack. "We'll put the horn in Kendra's right hand," Tanu said, cuffing Kendra's right wrist to Seth's left one.
"To avoid being poisoned, you'll both need to keep in constant contact with the horn as well as each other," Gavin said. He adjusted their grip until he was satisfied. Seth ended up holding the horn a little higher than Kendra, with his hand overlapping hers.
"My good hand is free," Seth said. "Should I bring my sword?"
"No," Trask said. "If you get close enough to use a sword, you'll need to be using the horn. But you could bring your crossbow."
Gavin gave Seth the weapon.
"Don't dwell on the crossbow," Dougan cautioned. "The horn is everything."
"Right," Seth agreed. "Off you go," Trask said. "Good luck," Tanu added.
"Come on," Seth urged, tugging Kendra forward.
"Settle down," Kendra complained.
Mendigo trotted ahead, reaching the stairs and bounding up them fluidly. Kendra glanced at Seth. "Don't stress," he said with a smile. "No matter how big the dragon is, all we have to do is touch her."
"Before she touches us with her claws or teeth," Kendra amended.
"Right. And we had better hope the horn works quickly."
Kendra's hand felt damp to Seth. Was it his perspiration or hers? Wouldn't that be wonderful if the horn slipped from her grasp? He and his sister would die blue, handcuffed together.
They started up the large steps. The bronze dragons glared down from above. As Kendra and Seth cleared the highest steps, the room came into view. Glowing stones in the walls and ceiling provided dull light. Smoke billowed inside the vast chamber where Mendigo had shattered bulbs. The left and right sides of the room were forests of wide pillars, with a spacious central aisle leading to a distant doorway.
Most of the way across the room, the dragon crouched among the leftmost pillars. Mendigo pranced along a good distance away from Siletta, keeping a bright flashlight trained on the dragon, the beam interrupted at intervals when blocked by columns. Lacking visible scales, Siletta looked like a giant salamander with translucent skin. Networks of dark blue veins tangled with purple and green organs. Large enough to swallow a car, her wide mouth contained multiple rows of slim, pale teeth, sharp and slightly curved.
In a flurry of motion, the dragon scurried toward Mendigo, long body lashing. The puppet danced away from the attack. Only now that Siletta had moved closer to a luminous stone did Kendra notice her incredible length, the elongated body supported by at least ten sets of legs.
Seth led the way to the neatest pillar on the left side of the room.
"I see you two," the dragon hissed in a voice like fierce, overlapping whispers. "Did you send this ludicrous puppet to pester me?"
Kendra shook her head at Seth, warning him not to answer.
"We're here on vacation," Seth yelled. "We're touring the world's weirdest dragons. The puppet is our guide. Do you charge for photos?"
Tugging Kendra forward, Seth ran ahead to another pillar. As they dashed across the open space, Kendra saw the dragon slinking toward them.