Chapter 9 #2
“God fucking damn it!” Draven growls while parrying a sword strike and shoving storm winds at another group at the same time as he keeps one eye on the massive orange dragon that appears from the cloud of black smoke.
“If she’s wearing dragon steel, there is nothing we can do.” He shoves his massive sword back into the sheath that is strapped down his back. “We need to get out. Run like hell to Orion and then get on. Now!”
My mind is still spinning with pain from the wound, so I’m still trying to process what just happened. But Isera doesn’t hesitate. Grabbing my wrist, she yanks me with her as she starts sprinting across the square.
The soldiers around us call out in surprise and then scream orders to each other, but they’re drowned out when Rin opens her jaws and roars. I gasp as the sound echoes between the buildings loudly enough to make my head ring.
Black smoke explodes behind us.
Stumbling a step, I cast a glance over my shoulder, but the rolling smoke obscures both the soldiers and Draven.
“We’re getting out,” Isera calls to Orion as soon as we get within earshot.
Rain and winds whip through the square, ripping at the Unseelie King’s long dark blue hair and tearing at his fancy clothes. But he stands there with his back straight and his spiky crown on his head, immovable like a mountain, while his eyes glow with powerful magic.
He gives us a single nod.
Then the storm winds blow the black smoke clear, and Draven becomes visible.
Awe fills me as I gaze up at the massive black dragon that now stands between us and Rin. Draven’s dragon form is huge, and Isera and I barely managed to get out of the way before he shifted. If we’d been any slower, we would’ve ended up underneath his body.
His spiky black tail swishes across the ground right next to us.
For a few moments, no one moves.
The soldiers, still in their human forms, stand motionless as they glance between Draven and their clan leader.
Rin, in her dragon form, has her black eyes locked on Draven.
Rain pelts her orange scales, but she barely seems to feel it.
She is much smaller than Draven, and in a one-on-one battle between them, there is no question about who would win.
Unfortunately, though, this is not a one-on-one battle.
Rin lets out a roar.
Black smoke begins exploding across the large square as all the soldiers start shifting as well.
Swinging his massive head in our direction, Draven lets out a deafening roar of his own.
We lurch into motion.
With a flick of her wrist, Isera forms a crude staircase of ice that leads right up to Draven’s back. Before it’s even fully formed, we sprint up the steps and towards the spikes where Draven’s neck meets his shoulders.
Rin attacks.
I gasp and throw myself desperately the final few steps up. Winds rip at my body, trying to throw me off, and my boots slip on Draven’s wet scales. Diving forward, I barely manage to reach that spot where his neck meets his shoulders where there is space for someone to sit.
Draven lunges and swipes his claws out to force Rin back. I grab the spike in front of me with both hands right before Isera crashes into my back, almost knocking me off again. Another jolt shoots through me as Orion slams into Isera’s back a moment later.
All around us, orange dragons appear in clouds of smoke.
A deafening roar splits the air.
Then my stomach lurches as Draven abruptly shoots up from the ground.
Isera wraps her arms tightly around my waist to keep from sliding off. Thankfully, Orion’s back seems to be braced by another spike at least, so I don’t have to carry the weight of them both.
The ground rapidly disappears below us as we shoot up through the rain-soaked sky. Rin and an entire host of orange dragons follow us. Thunder rumbles in the dark clouds and winds rip at my body. I cling to the wet spike in front of me while rain hits my face like tiny arrows.
Draven rolls in the air.
My stomach turns and my breath gets stuck in my throat as the world spins around me. Isera’s arms tighten around my waist, and Orion curses from behind her.
I scream as a pair of orange jaws snap shut in the air right next to us. Draven roars and levels out again as Rin and the other orange dragons swarm us.
“Help him!” I scream over the rushing winds as Draven breathes a torrent of fire like a long barrier to stop our attackers.
Isera starts shooting blocks of ice at the dragons behind us while Orion focuses on the ones to our right. Twisting to my left, I shove my magic towards the dragons there while Draven fends off an attack from Rin.
Only one of the dragons on the left feels fear, but I latch on to it and increase it to such an awful degree that it lets out a screech and speeds away through the lashing rain.
“Watch out!” Orion snaps.
I don’t even have time to turn my head before I feel Isera’s body disappear from behind me.
Then a shout of agony rips through the air.
Whipping my head around, I find Orion holding Isera on the left side of Draven’s spine.
The claw that would’ve torn through her body now slashes across Orion’s thigh instead as he shields her with his body.
Pain blooms in his eyes and he gasps in a breath.
I quickly help set Isera back down on Draven’s scales right before he swerves violently in the air.
Isera’s shocked face disappears behind my back once more.
I grip the spike before me hard as Draven rolls in the air again to evade three orange dragons. Rin lets out a screeching call.
All twenty dragons around us attack at the same time.
Another deafening roar rips from Draven’s chest, making his entire body vibrate from the force of it.
The dark storm clouds around us grow darker, thicker, more violent. The wind thrashes so hard that I’m almost tossed off Draven’s back. Lightning splits the air in furious flashes, aimed at the orange dragons.
Isera shoots massive sheets of ice at the dragons that are closing in on us. Two of them appear to have lost their vision as Orion blinds them with his magic, and I manage to force another four of them to flee in fear with my own magic. But the other fourteen keep coming.
Claws slash and teeth snap as they all descend on us.
Draven, who is still trying not to kill anyone, dodges and then tries to force them back with storm winds and bolts of lightning.
A blood-curdling scream splits the air.
Cold terror fills me when I realize that it came from Draven.
Whipping my head from side to side, I find a sight that fills me with both rage and horror. One of the orange dragons has clamped its jaws shut right through Draven’s side while another has slashed its claws through his left wing. Draven throws his head back and roars in pain.
Everything inside me goes dead silent and still. Like the moment before an executioner’s axe falls.
I don’t care that Draven ordered us not to kill anyone. I don’t care that it might screw up our chances of forming an alliance with the Orange Dragon Clan. They hurt Draven. They will die.
Summoning a massive flame of fear, I slam it right into the orange dragon who is tearing at Draven’s side with its teeth. Pleasure floods my entire body as it connects. I increase the flame into a wildfire.
The dragon releases Draven’s side and screeches in fear.
But there is not a single ounce of mercy left in my body.
With cold eyes locked on the orange dragon, I keep increasing the fear in its chest until I can taste blood in my mouth. It thrashes in the air, its mind fracturing from the world-ending fear that I’m forcing into its body. I keep increasing my magic.
The dragon jerks once. Then its movements halt and its eyes grow vacant as its heart stops. I watch, completely detached, as it falls down through the thrashing rain, its orange wings fluttering like useless sheets in the wind as it tumbles down to the ground somewhere far below.
Fire roars through the air as Draven breathes torrents of it in front of himself to keep the others back. But another dragon manages to slip through his flames and Isera’s ice to slash its claws across Draven’s chest. A moment later, another one claws at Draven’s other wing.
Another bellow of pain rips from Draven’s chest.
And then the storm completely erupts.
Winds and rain and lightning thrash around us like a vicious beast. It’s so violent, so intense, that all I can do is to squeeze my eyes shut in order to not get blinded while clinging desperately to the spike before me.
My stomach lurches as Draven suddenly shoots forward.
That furious thunderstorm still rages around us.
White light flashes on the other side of my eyelids, and thunder cracks through the air so loudly that I think my eardrums are going to burst. Merciless winds howl around us like wolves.
The sheer force of it all is so overpowering that I can barely breathe.
But Draven’s desperate push of magic appears to work, because he at last manages to get away from the horde of dragons that surrounded us, the thrashing storm forcing them out of the sky.
Blood drips from Draven’s torn wings and runs down his side in thick rivulets as he speeds across the stormy sky. We’ve barely made it past the forest we trekked through earlier when Draven starts losing altitude.
His wings grow slower and more unsteady with each beat, and he wobbles several times in the air as he tries to put as much distance between us and the floating islands as possible.
A small mountain range becomes visible before us. Draven’s entire body is shaking now. A growl rips from his chest as he tries to fly us higher so that we can pass it. We climb what can only be a few short strides upwards.
Then Draven’s body gives out.
Winds howl around us as we crash down on the ground.