A Dragon's War by Robert Vane

Author:Robert Vane [Vane, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Plebeian Media
Published: 2021-06-14T05:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

I took an agonizing amount of time to cover the short distance.

While I’d battled (then chatted) with Rinxia, Elasu had contended with two dragons, including the massive black, with only her tigris to aid her. My wings couldn’t move me fast enough.

I found Elasu standing precariously on a scant ledge of rock about the height of a human from the ground. The gray dragon advanced warily beneath her, while the mighty black hovered above, beating its wings as he awaited an opening to kill. The gray and black dragons alternated launching streams of fire at her. All but two of Elasu’s tigris allies lay dead on the ground or splattered on the rocks of the valley. But most troubling were Elasu’s own wounds: blood stained her neck and tail, while the left side of her torso was charred from fire. One eye was half shut, the edges leaking blood.

I judged the large black dragon the greater threat, because sometimes size matters. I went for him first, putting myself into a nearly vertical dive with his oversized head as my target. Elasu and her fallen allies had already exacted a price from their attackers. The black had half a dozen shafts stuck into his scales, a few having found purchase in the narrow gaps between his leg and torso. Several scales on his neck and back had cracks, with blood oozing from them. Similar damage decorated the gray’s scale armor.

The gray dragon spotted me first. He roared a warning to the black. Despite his wounds, the flying goliath reacted quickly, twisting his neck to spit fire into my face, even as he tried to maneuver away from my attack. If I missed him, if I ended up beneath him, I would be trapped again. Those dragons wouldn’t let me leave this gorge.

I didn’t let that happen. The black dragon was strong, but I was the swifter flier. The black’s head escaped my jaws, but I got my foreclaws on his left wing. I locked my grip as my momentum sent me past him. The sharp edges of my claws tore at his vulnerable flesh and cartilage. The black responded by scorching me with another blast of fire. The wet blood on my body sizzled where my scales had cracked. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. The gray mashed his teeth as he awaited me on the ground.

I tried to adjust my descent to use the gray dragon as a pillow to cushion my fall, with the added benefit of inflicting considerable pain upon him. Alas, I missed. Instead of landing on top of the gray, I came down like a clumsy suitor beside him, slamming into the rock as I struggled for balance. It took me only a moment to recover from the violence of my landing, but that was still too much. The other dragon rammed into my flank, forcing me onto my back, his claws digging at my armor, our jaws snapping. I thought he’d go for my neck, but he was clever enough to avoid the obvious.

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