Chapter 23 Lily #3
Then they sprinted, immediately shaking the earth with their communal mass, all bearing down on me like it was a race to see who could rip off my head first. It was a stampede that would break through the ranks of the dead with ease.
My only option was to turn and flee—but I would never outrun this.
Then I heard it from the sky, the mightiest roar I’d ever heard.
“Rooooooaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!”
I gasped before I looked up and saw the brilliant black scales in the overcast sky, the enormous jet stream of fire that unleashed from his angry mouth.
He came in for a hard landing, shaking the earth when he hit the ground in front of me, putting his body in between me and the Behemoths that were just seconds from massacring me.
Zehemoth released an explosion of fire directly at the monstrous orcs, setting their flesh ablaze with the power that burned deep in his belly. Get on!
I snapped out of my reverie, rushed to his flank, and grabbed on to the straps of the saddles to climb up.
I was barely in the saddle when he opened his wings and released more fire at my assailants before he lifted his heavy body from the earth with a few flaps of his wings.
As he took off, the Behemoths that didn’t burn launched their spears and blades at his hide, but most of them missed, and whatever landed bounced off his scales.
“Rooooaaaaaarrrrrr!”
I gripped the horn so tight it was like I’d never ridden a dragon before, still in shock from almost getting every limb ripped from my body like a toy doll.
Xivin, are you alright? Callum’s voice was in my head, and he was nowhere to be seen.
Yes. I spoke in my mind just the way I did with Zehemoth and assumed it would work.
The fleet is engaged in battle. We’ve already lost many ships. Defeat is certain.
Fuck.
Even if you raise a mighty creature to serve you, there are too many.
Are you hurt, Sunieth?
“No…I’m okay.”
The battle is lost. Can easily be seen from the sky.
“We’re about to lose our fleet. They’re being chased down. I tried to distract them by participating in the battle, but it didn’t seem to work. I thought our ships could destroy theirs before they realized what was happening.”
Zehemoth turned toward the coast, soaring over the clouds of smoke caused by the battle.
“What are you doing?” I said with trepidation in my heart, knowing exactly what he was doing without needing to ask the question.
I can be that distraction.
“Zehemoth, no.”
A lot of good men are on those ships, Sunieth.
“But I don’t love them the way I love you,” I blurted. “They’ll shoot you with their golden spikes—”
I won’t let them hit me.
“You’ve never done this before—”
Your whole life, people have underestimated you because of your size and your sex. Don’t you dare underestimate me. “Rooooaaaaaarrrrrr!”
“It’s not that I don’t believe in you, Zehemoth. I just can’t let anything happen to you.”
And I can’t let anything happen to you or our men. Because those Barbarians will come for us again, Sunieth. And we need every ship and able-bodied man we have. Decision has been made. Now strap your legs down.
Xivin, what’s happening?
Zehemoth is going to lure the Barbarians away so our fleet can escape.
He said nothing, like he understood how difficult this was for me.
I secured my legs in place and locked my sword across my back, knowing that Zehemoth would fly with speed and agility I’d never witnessed before in order to survive the onslaught of golden spikes aimed at his hide.
I gripped the horn tight and tried to calm my breathing, seeing the sea become closer and closer because Zehemoth flew faster than a falcon at the bottom of a dive.
I could see the smoke from the battle, see the broken pieces of defeated ships in the sea.
“Zehemoth, I’ve already lost my father. I can’t lose you too. ”
You can’t talk me out of this, Sunieth.
“I’m not trying to. I’m just begging you to survive this.”
We crossed from land to sea, the air immediately different when we were over the water, the smell of salt in the air even this high over the surface.
I’ll survive this, Lily. Not for my sake—but for yours.
He dived down over the ships and released a stream of fire that set some of the sails ablaze.
Then a mighty roar came forth, loud enough for all the world to hear.
“Roooooaaaaarrrrr!” He gave a harsh turn then another, maneuvering through the air as if he were as weightless as a swallow rather than an enormous dragon.
They’re preparing the cannons. Be ready.
“They’re getting ready to fire, Zehemoth.”
Let them.
I let my body shift over his side as the straps held me in, lying on my stomach with one hand on the horn so I could see down below. “Three ships from the right are about to fire.”
Yes, I see them.
I could hear the muffled boom from below, just like the sound of a cannon.
Hold on. Zehemoth immediately dropped in the air, going into a free fall as the golden spikes shot far past us into the sky then disappeared from sight.
Zehemoth opened his wings and caught himself feet above the surface of the water and immediately climbed back up.
The abrupt shift of my stomach back and forth and up and down should have made me puke up the breakfast I’d had that morning, but the adrenaline was strong enough to combat the sensation.
Another wave of cannons fired, the golden tips of the spears visible because they were so brilliant, even in the low light of an overcast sky. “They just launched more.”
Zehemoth’s strong wings pumped over the wind, making us fly straight up into the sky with breakneck speed.
He gave me no warning, but I had my hand on the horn of the saddle in case.
I’d never seen a dragon in battle, and it was the first time I’d been able to witness the true strength of these magical beings.
He straightened out again and glided through the air, drawing the enemy ships farther away from our fleet.
It’s working, Xivin. They’re retreating.
“Their ships are faster than ours, so we need to hold them for at least an hour for our men to get away. Otherwise, their ships will catch up to ours. Do you think you can do that?”
He released a plume of smoke from his nostrils. Absolutely.