The mountain answered with a second heartbeat.
Deep beneath the ruined fortress, something enormous struck the stone from below. Cracks raced across the ancient courtyard. Broken towers swayed in the storm, and the purple light inside the five-headed hydra grew brighter.
Prince Rowan tightened his grip on his silver sword.
“Varr,” he whispered, “what do you know?”
The enormous black dragon stood on the shattered tower beside him, its charcoal scales glistening beneath the rain. Bronze-colored ridges ran along its powerful neck, and its amber eyes remained fixed on the iron chains disappearing into the hydra’s glowing chest.
Varr refused to look at the creature’s heads.
Instead, he lowered his snout toward the tower wall.
Rowan followed his gaze.
Beneath centuries of moss and shattered stone, an ancient inscription had been carved into the fortress.
Five dragons surrounded a strange circular symbol.
Below them were words written in the forgotten language of the first dragon kingdoms.
Rowan brushed the rainwater away.
He could read only part of the warning.
WHEN THE FIVE ARE BOUND…
The remaining words had been buried beneath fallen stones.
Another explosion interrupted him.
Above the courtyard, the red dragon Ashwing screamed as a bolt of violet lightning struck the tower beside its rider.
“Rowan!” Captain Lyra shouted. “We’re running out of sky!”
The blue dragon Frostwing banked sharply through the storm, narrowly avoiding a stream of purple fire from the hydra’s second head.
Farther below, the green dragon Thorn circled the ruined western wall.
Its rider, Elen, was searching desperately for somewhere to land.
The four riders had come expecting an abandoned stronghold occupied by raiders.
Instead, they had awakened something older than their kingdom.
And every attempt to destroy it seemed to make it stronger.
Rowan looked toward the hydra.
Its five enormous heads moved independently.
One spat violet lightning.
Another released a stream of burning purple energy.
A third smashed its armored skull against the remains of a watchtower.
The remaining two searched the storm for approaching dragons.
But the creature’s behavior was strange.
Each time the purple core pulsed, all five heads recoiled.
For a moment, they seemed to be fighting against something inside their own bodies.
Then the glowing center flashed again.
And the attacks resumed.
Rowan finally understood why Varr had refused to strike.
The black dragon wasn’t frightened.
He had recognized something the other dragons hadn’t.
“It’s being controlled,” Rowan whispered.
Varr released a deep, trembling growl.
A familiar sound.
Rowan had heard that exact sound years earlier, when he first encountered the black dragon trapped beneath the royal hunting grounds.
At the time, Varr had been bound by heavy chains.
The young prince had approached with a sword, believing the creature was dangerous.
But instead of attacking, Varr had simply watched him.
Rowan eventually lowered his weapon.
Then he cut the chains.
Varr had never forgotten.
Now the dragon was asking him to recognize the same thing in another creature.
Rowan slowly lowered his sword.
“You’re trying to tell me it’s a prisoner.”
Varr pressed his enormous head against Rowan’s shoulder.
The answer was unmistakable.
“Prince Rowan!”
Lyra’s voice rang through the storm.
Her red dragon landed heavily on a neighboring tower, breaking loose several ancient stones.
“We need to strike the center before it destroys the mountain!”
“No!” Rowan shouted.
Lyra stared at him.
“What?”
“The core is feeding on our attacks!”
As if to prove his words, another bolt of blue energy struck the hydra.
The purple crystal inside its chest flared.
A shockwave spread through the courtyard.
Far below, an ancient stone gateway began rising from the ground.
Its surface was covered with the same circular symbol carved into Rowan’s tower.
Frostwing landed beside Ashwing.
Its rider, Corin, pulled off his rain-soaked helmet.
“That’s not a doorway,” he said.
Rowan looked toward the structure.
“What is it?”
Corin’s expression darkened.
“My father collected records from the old dragon wars. I remember a drawing of something like that.”
He swallowed.
“They called it the Hollow Gate.”
Elen landed her green dragon on the broken parapet.
“Then tell us what it does.”
Corin stared at the growing purple light.
“The stories said it sealed away a storm that existed before the first kingdoms.”
Lyra glanced toward the valley beyond the fortress.
“And if it opens?”
Corin’s answer was quiet.
“The storm comes through.”
A violent gust struck the tower.
Below them, the gateway opened another few inches.
Purple light poured through the narrow gap.
Rowan understood the danger immediately.
Beyond the mountain lay the settlements of Dawnreach Valley.
Thousands of people lived beneath its slopes.
If the ancient storm escaped, it would sweep directly toward them.
And the riders themselves had been helping to open the gate.
Rowan returned to the inscription.
With Varr’s help, he shifted several broken stones away from the wall.
More words emerged.
Five iron chains had been carved into the rock, each extending from a tower toward the circular symbol.
Below them stood a single dragon with five heads.
Rowan traced the image with his fingers.
“This fortress wasn’t built to keep the hydra out.”
Elen stepped closer.
“Then what was it built for?”
“To keep it here.”
He followed the carved chains toward the center.
The design matched the enormous iron restraints visible beneath the creature’s purple armor.
Corin studied the inscription.
“Those towers must be connected to the crystal inside its chest.”
“And the crystal is connected to the gateway,” Rowan said.
Lyra looked toward the hydra.
“So every time we hit it…”
“We give the crystal more energy.”
“And that energy opens the gate.”
Rowan nodded.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
Then Elen asked the question they were all thinking.
“If we stop attacking, what happens?”
Below them, the hydra’s five heads continued thrashing against their restraints.
The purple core pulsed.
The gateway rose another few inches.
Rowan’s expression hardened.
“It’s already holding enough energy to finish opening.”
Lyra drew her sword.
“Then we destroy the crystal.”
Varr immediately growled.
Rowan shook his head.
“No. If we strike it directly, we’ll only feed it again.”
Corin looked toward the enormous chains.
“Then perhaps we don’t destroy the crystal.”
He pointed toward the towers.
“Perhaps we disconnect it.”
The plan sounded impossible.
Five massive iron chains stretched from the fortress towers into the hydra’s chest, joining together around the glowing crystal.
Each chain was thicker than a tree trunk.
Each was held in place by an ancient locking mechanism.
And the hydra would attack anyone who approached.
But the riders had one advantage.
They understood their dragons.
Lyra’s red dragon could produce flames hot enough to soften even ancient iron.
Corin’s blue dragon could freeze metal until it became brittle.
Elen’s green dragon possessed a corrosive emerald breath capable of weakening armored surfaces.
And Varr had the strength to tear apart structures that no ordinary creature could move.
Rowan studied the fortress.
Four dragons.
Five chains.
One prince.
He looked toward the central tower, where the fifth chain disappeared beneath a massive bronze locking wheel.
“I’ll release the final mechanism.”
Lyra shook her head.
“You’ll have to dismount.”
“I know.”
“The hydra could crush that tower.”
Rowan looked at Varr.
The dragon met his gaze.
For a moment, Rowan remembered another night, years earlier, when he had stood before this same creature and chosen to trust him.
“I won’t be alone,” he said.
Varr lowered his head.
The prince climbed onto his back.
Then the four riders returned to the storm.
Lyra attacked first.
Ashwing swept low across the eastern tower, narrowly escaping a blast from the hydra’s uppermost head.
“Now!” Lyra shouted.
The red dragon opened its jaws.
A concentrated stream of orange fire struck the enormous chain where it met the tower.
The iron began to glow.
Lyra circled back.
“Keep the flame on the lock!”
Ashwing roared and released another blast.
The ancient metal softened.
Then the dragon seized the chain in its claws and pulled.
With a thunderous crack, the first restraint broke.
The hydra screamed.
Its nearest head jerked violently upward.
For the first time, that head moved without immediately turning to attack.
Rowan saw it.
“It’s working!”
But the victory lasted only a moment.
The purple core flashed.
The remaining chains tightened.
And the gateway beneath the courtyard rose higher.
Corin approached the western tower.
His blue dragon released a powerful stream of freezing energy across the second chain.
White frost spread along the iron.
Corin waited until the metal stopped glowing.
“Break it!”
Frostwing struck the frozen link with its armored tail.
The first impact cracked the surface.
The second shattered the weakened section.
The chain snapped.
Another of the hydra’s heads broke free.
It reared into the clouds, releasing a scream so powerful that stones tumbled from the battlements.
Two chains were broken.
Three remained.
Elen approached the southern tower.
Her green dragon, Thorn, struggled against the violent crosswinds.
The hydra’s third head turned toward them.
Purple lightning gathered between its teeth.
“Dive!” Elen shouted.
Thorn folded his wings and dropped beneath the incoming blast.
The lightning struck the tower behind them.
Stone exploded into the courtyard.
Elen pulled hard against her saddle straps.
“Bring us back!”
The green dragon climbed.
Its jaws opened.
A torrent of emerald breath engulfed the third chain.
The ancient iron began dissolving around the corroded locking pins.
Thorn seized the weakened restraint and twisted.
The chain broke away.
Three heads were free.
But as Elen turned to escape, the hydra’s fourth head swung toward her.
Its enormous jaws opened.
Rowan saw the danger.
“Varr!”
The black dragon moved before he finished speaking.
Varr launched from the central tower, sweeping beneath Thorn and striking the approaching head with his shoulder.
The impact redirected the creature just enough for Elen to escape.
But Varr was thrown sideways.
His enormous wings struck the broken northern tower.
Stone collapsed around him.
“Varr!”
Rowan held desperately to the saddle.
For a terrifying moment, the black dragon disappeared beneath falling debris
