Legacy of Ghosts (The Coraidic Sagas Book 2) by Alicia Wanstall-Burke

Author:Alicia Wanstall-Burke [Wanstall-Burke, Alicia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-nine

Fracture Pass, The Ice Towers

Ran’s horse raced after the others, hooves clattering across the ground as they rounded a bend. The dragon roared, a bone-shuddering sound that seemed to rise from the very rock around them to an ear-splitting pitch higher than anything Ran could hear. Somewhere ahead light shimmered. Was it from the torches? Or had they travelled far enough that daylight was within reach?

Behind him, the dragon closed the distance—much faster than his terrified horse could run—and the tunnel began to climb, incrementally inching upward. His horse began to labour, clouds of frantic breath steaming from its nostrils, its sides slick with sweat despite the freezing air.

Beyond the silhouettes of the others, the entrance to the Pass opened to the day, a gleaming oval of pale light bordered by solid black rock.

Freedom.

Safety.

‘DRAGON!’ Brit bellowed. A long, snaking shape wound down from the roof, coiling on the floor and filling the exit. Their horses baulked and reared, skidding to a halt. Ran wheeled his horse around as the first dragon lopped around the bend and braced itself against the walls, illuminated by the light at the end of the Pass.

Its body wound like a snake poised to strike, and a pair of muscular fore-claws gripping the wall, talons scoring the face of the rock with a crackling screech. Thick bands of muscle bunched in its powerful hind legs, and its immense tail coiled like a spring under the body. A pair of wings remained tightly pinned against the length of its back, as a series of long spines flexed in and out around the beast’s crown. It was crystal white from snout to tail, and an exoskeleton of icy scales glistened in the daylight leaching from beyond the exit. The serpent tilted its head and fixed pale grey eyes on Ran, his horse shivering and stamping under the unwavering scrutiny.

Ran took his chance and rolled out of the saddle. He pulled his sword free and put his horse between him and the creature filling the tunnel. He snatched the dangling reins and started to run, his horse jogging beside him, ears back and eyes rolling. A small fissure in the rock appeared to his left, just wide enough to crouch in and he dragged the horse to a stop. The sled behind it bounced into the space and he swung the sword, slicing the leather straps securing the sled to the saddle.

The serpents keened, shrieking in some sort of reptilian conversation he couldn’t understand. Ran spun, searching for the others, and found them pinned behind rock formations with their horses circling or standing shivering against the wall. Eian had an arrow trained on the dragon at the exit, while Zarad crouched behind a boulder clutching his ears and clawing at his head.

‘Eian!’ Ran shouted above the cacophony of dragon chatter. ‘What’s wrong with him!?’

‘Searching for their frequency!’

A loud thunk echoed up the tunnel and the dragon at the exit screamed. Another thunk, followed by a grinding metallic clanking, then another thunk.

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