Chapter 22

chapter twenty-two the moment she's been waiting for Skaelka's axe crunches through the Drakkor's cracked scale and slams into the glowing purple wound. An earsplitting mix of pain, anger, and surprise bursts from the Drakkor. Frigid cold erupts from the monster's freshly slashed side, turning Skaelka's blade to ice. The Drakkor sways, its collossal legs wobbling, going weak, until, at long last— SLAM!

The Drakkor belly flops onto the ground, showering the gathering monsterfolk with rainwater and Neat-O Buzz. The axe's frozen handle snaps in two, and Skaelka tumbles off the monster, splashing down alongside it. "Yes..." Skaelka says softly, after a deep breath. "She always keeps her promises." There is a long, quiet moment, and then—

the queen in armor has done it, and it only took her two tries twice. The wizard and the warrior are victorious.

Quint stands, taking in the triumphant scene. We did it, he thinks. And I never even had to do any conjuring. Although he's not sure if that thought leaves him relieved or disappointed. "We make quite the team, don't we?" Galamelon says, striding over. "The Wizard, the Warrior, and the Used Carapace Salesman!" "Uh, friendos?" Kimmy says, her voice cracking. "The Drakkor is, um, doing stuff." Everyone turns. The Drakkor's tail is thudding against the ground. A layer of skin is shed, causing scales to slip from its body and splash into the pool of Neat-O Buzz. Quint gasps as he realizes. "The Neat-O Buzz! I think it's... healing it. Reviving it. The Drakkor is changing, again." A sound emanates from the Drakkor—a pained, screeching whine. "AIIEE!" Kimmy cries out, grabbing her ears and pulling them tight against her head. "The Drakkor's pain... It's excruciating..." "Well, yeah," Dirk says. "Skaelka just axed it." "No.. .not that..." she manages. "This is different... I don't wanna... But I gotta..." Kimmy kneels, peering into the Drakkor's heavy- lidded eyes. Her pupils spin, going vacant, and horror fills her. She realizes she didn't truly comprehend

what she saw in the Pizza Theater, frozen in brain- poking mode with the Drakkor. And she suddenly cries out, images exploding from her brain, projected into the air... At last, Kimmy pulls out of the monster's mindscape. "The Drakkor..." she rasps, gasping for breath. "It wasn't at that strange fortress because it wanted to be. Something hurt it there. Tortured it. Experimented on it." Skaelka shifts uncomfortably, tapping the broken axe-handle against her head. The Drakkor's claws scrape the ground, pawing at the pool of soda.

"Guys..." Quint says uneasily. "Did we do the entirely wrong thing, here?" I thought the dragwarwas using the needle buzz to get extra evil, but what if that's wrong? What if the needle buzz is the one thing that soothes its pain like an ice cube? When you burn your tongue real bad? And that's why it kept coming here. It just wanted to, youknow, stop hurting. Good thing you didn't slay it in its sleep, huh? I didn't want to slay it in its sleep. Wait, so the Drakkor is nice?" Galamelon asks. "AHA! I always knew it was a good egg. That's why I didn't slay it when you first hired me to. I just couldn't go through with it... I'm no monster. Unlike you guys... Geez." Dirk ignores Galamelon. "I don't think the Drakkor's nice. There were a lot of bones in that Possum Palace. It's no kitten. More like... a grizzly or a great white. But it didn't deserve what happened to it at that fortress... all that was done to it there." "And all that we did to it," Quint says quietly.