Chapter 20 #2
The final buckle gave way, the greenhouse piece clutched for an agonizing moment in Zsekhet’s powerful tail.
Then the blue dragon plummeted down on us from above, claws extended.
Sesethul rolled, and the whole world turned topsy-turvy on me.
When everything righted itself once more, I was clinging to Ses’s neck spikes and the blue dragon was beneath us as they bit, clawed, and roared at each other.
Clutching my hands over my ears against the noise, I searched desperately for any sign of Zsekhet.
I didn’t see him, he wasn’t hanging from Ses’s side, and he wasn’t back on the sands where the greenhouse piece had somehow safely landed in a large sand dune.
Three dragons circled the air around me, lavender, brown, and white.
Beneath Sesethul’s body was the blue one, who was raking his hind claws over the scales of Ses’s belly.
Then I spotted a clash of gold on the back of the brown dragon who spun into a tight turn towards Ses on our left. A Naga male, no two! Zsekhet was somehow there, fighting hand to tail with that warrior on top of one of the enemy dragons. How the fuck had he gotten there?
With a roar, Sesethul belched a cloud of flames at his opponent, and finally, the blue one disengaged less than a hundred feet above the ground, fighting hard to get back up in the air.
I didn’t really need to tell the golden dragon what to do but I found myself pressing my hand against his neck, urging him toward the brown one and Zsekhet anyway.
The lavender one and the white one harried us, but Sesenthul rolled and dodged, claws outstretched he tore into the wings of the brown one.
I could no longer see what Zsekhet and his opponent were doing, but when Ses spiraled away, the brown one listed to the right, his wing too damaged to stay up in the air. I saw no sign of Zsekhet or its rider.
And then I was dealing with my own issue.
The smaller lavender dragon managed to get under Sesethul’s guard, clinging with his claws to his side and the rider was throwing himself onto Ses’s back, hooking up his harness to my dragon so he could safely climb to where I sat.
Frantic, I scanned around for a weapon but I came up empty.
I unhooked more of my own harness to turn around, and then I tightened myself in again.
“Roll Ses!” I shouted, clinging tightly as the dragon did just that, sending the lavender one spinning away, our boarding party of one dangling from his back spines.
“Stay away! We did nothing to you, you ignorant fool.” He couldn’t understand a word I said, but he snarled and hissed insults at me anyway.
I didn’t recognize this male, which made me furious.
I had never done anything to him, it wasn’t right that he’d attack me.
It made him no better than the bad guys he was equating me to.
Undeterred by the evasive moves of the dragon, he was steadily approaching.
Then the blue dragon soared overhead, dropping back down toward us.
My breath caught in my throat when I realized that Zsekhet was fighting with Zsandex on top of that dragon, and a third Naga was trying to jab him in the back with a spear.
So that’s where they’d gone, the blue one had caught them before they fell when brown went down.
My eyes connected with my mate, even when he was at least two hundred feet away and above me.
He shouted, a bellow of rage, and then he seemed to flip down the side of the blue one, his hand catching on several of the belts on the creature’s harness, the hard yank seemed to make it want to twirl toward us, and then Zsekhet was plummeting.
I screamed, feeling every microsecond of that fall. Then Zsekhet’s long, powerful body was right there, landing on Sesethul’s back. He was suddenly between me and the attacker, and he didn’t take time to hook himself up for safety, he just threw himself into the fight.
I felt helpless and useless once more, like I was just an outsider looking on while the man that I loved fought to protect me. I was filled with impotent rage that had no outlet; I had no weapon, and I was barely competent at climbing along Ses’ back. What else could I do but stay out of the way?
When Zsandex leaped down from his dragon onto Ses, between my mate and me, I broke. Fear like white noise washing over me, pain and remembered grief overshadowed my world for a blinding moment. No, never again, I wasn’t losing another mate.
I was unhooked from Sesethul’s tethers in the blink of an eye and then clambering along his spine.
In moments, I’d reached the first clinging coil of my enemy, his golden scales edged with white lower down his tail.
He didn’t even notice me when I climbed over those, too engrossed in trading blows with Zsekhet.
My mate was flanked between two opponents, fearlessly dodging and swiping with his daggers.
I could tell that he had the upper hand against the guy with the spear, but Zsandex had already managed to open up several slashes along his back.
I snatched a knife from that asshole’s belt, which was when he finally realized I might be up to something.
Zsekhet hadn’t seen me, and in that brief moment that Zsandex was preoccupied with my little theft, he swung with his dagger at the male with the spear.
A feint that made the other dodge, straight into Zsekhet’s tail punching from the other side.
The male was knocked out and flung from Sesethul’s back.
I cheered but didn’t stop my momentum, slashing my stolen knife viciously across Zsandex’s chest. “Leave us alone!”
He roared and backhanded me hard across the face, my knife spilled from my fingers and I went ass over teakettle down Sesethul’s side.
Untethered, I knew I was a goner if I didn’t grab hold, my hands scrambling over the smooth, hard scales for any kind of grip.
I caught myself on a wide strap just behind his front paw, my feet dangling over open air.
Sweat clung to my back, my heart was racing, but I was alive.
Zsekhet had spun around, his hand working to finally snap at least one buckle in place so he couldn’t fall.
His tail already coiling down Sesethul to help me back up.
Zsandex roared, clutching a hand to the bloody wound across his chest, his arm working as he swung his rapier at Zsekhet.
My mate was magnificent as he fought, elegantly dodging and slithering out of the way while coiling himself through Sesethul’s spikes for purchase.
The tip of his tail had reached me and I grabbed on when it tightened around my waist. I wasn’t scared of falling the moment his scales touched my flesh.
Clambering back up, I kept my eyes on Zsandex and craned my head around to track the other dragons in the sky.
Blue was at Sesethul’s front, the two snarling and biting at each other.
White and lavender were clawing at his wings and hind legs.
It didn’t look good. Zsekhet appeared to be holding his own against Zsandex until he caught a blow to the head that left him dazed.
When Zsandex raised his blade, I could see it, Zsekhet’s eyes were unfocused, he wasn’t moving fast enough.
That sword was about to go straight through his chest. I didn’t hesitate, didn’t even think about what I was doing.
I pushed off on the strap I was clinging to, leaped up, and caught a back spine rising high between the two males.
I swatted with my free arm, hitting Zsandex’s weapon off its course.
The male roared, Zsekhet righted himself and narrowly avoided that deadly blade. Then my foot slipped and I started to fall. This time I went over the side just as Sesethul made a turn, there were no buckles to grab, there was nothing but an endless abyss to greet me.
At least it looked like Zsekhet was safe, I saw pink wings filling the sky above him. Arakash and his dragon had arrived to help. I felt a sense of peace at knowing that Zsekhet survived, he was going to be alright…