Chapter 16 #2
It stood as tall as a house, somehow both solid and sinuous.
The glassy white scales glowed with the pale heart of a fire, the air above them shimmering with the heat that rolled off the dragon’s body.
Its head was viper-like, broad at the jaw and narrowing towards the nose.
A long tail, edged with spikes, whipped behind it, churning the baked mud into dust. The white dragon unfolded vast wings and shrieked up at the sky above.
It leaned back on legs wide as tree trunks and leapt into the air, beating its wings to break free of the ground and blasting another wreath of flame towards the sky.
I rolled back onto my feet and crouched in the mud.
My head was spinning but there was no time to worry about it now; the dragon was still hovering, but soon it would leave.
I grabbed rocks from the ground beside me and hurled them into the air.
They missed, arcing harmlessly past the dragon.
I tried again and this time, through pure luck, hit a dangling leg.
The dragon turned back to me and roared. It folded its wings and landed heavily on the ground. It roared again in outrage, sending out a fireball that scorched the air. Then it shook its head back and forth and turned to stalk around the valley floor.
I rolled behind a boulder and tossed out another rock. I scrabbled at the floor again but, finding nothing, gripped my sword tightly.
The great wyrm paused, lashing its tail back and forth, then began to mince forward.
Its movement was smooth and delicate now, like a cat walking along a fence.
It lowered its head to the ground, sniffing at the air, keeping its eyes fixed on me.
Slowly, carefully, I stood up, bringing the sword in front of me and gripping the hilt with both hands.
I stepped back, moving away from the wall, taking steady paces.
The dragon sniffed again, opening its mouth so that I could see the long, curved fangs beginning to emerge from the upper jaw.
Its nostrils flared, an incongruously shell-like pink.
It half spread its wings and I realised it was preparing to pounce rather than to strafe me with fire.
I tensed my legs, rising up on the balls of my feet.
Just as the dragon sprang I darted forward and to the side.
Its head shot forward but I was already beside it, jamming my sword at its throat.
The scales were too hard to pierce, however, and the blade slid along the dragon’s neck.
I kept my forward momentum and pressed on, slipping in the mud.
The edge of the sword scraped along the chitinous plates then caught in a divot at the shoulder.
I drove the sword in with all my strength and the dragon screamed.
It sprayed fire in a wild arc, spinning on the spot to try and grab at the sword.
I was knocked over and rolled away, leaving the sword jammed into the beast. I scrambled up and ran for it, wiping mud from my eyes as I went.
I caught a brief look behind me, enough to see that the dragon appeared furious but not mortally wounded.
It snapped at the hilt of the blade, bending its neck almost double to try and reach it.
I realised I should have ripped the sword out, to try to bleed the dragon dry.
Too late now. I had done nothing but enrage the beast and lost my only weapon in the process.
The dragon gave up trying to remove the sword and reared up on its hind legs, loosing another bolt of fire into the air.
It crashed back onto all fours and scanned the area, searching for me.
Clear lids criss-crossed over silver eyes and the dark slash of the iris thinned as it looked into the sun.
I pressed myself against the wall, sliding back around towards the dragon.
The dragon roared and stampeded forward, ploughing the baked mud into furrows with its claws.
Its lips rippled back, exposing the fully extended fangs as it prepared to strike at me.
It dived just as I leapt. I threw myself at its tail, landing about halfway along.
The dragon shrieked and whipped its tail up and down.
I clung on, digging my fingers into the gaps between the scales and wedging my feet onto the tail spikes.
The dragon snapped at me, baring its fangs and spitting fire.
I ducked as scarlet flames licked the air above my head and I felt the murderous heat.
I needed to move further up. I pushed with my feet, reaching for the next row of spikes, and stepped up.
I caught my breath as the dragon beat its wings and rose into the air, dangling its tail and lashing it back and forth.
I grabbed for the spines then wrapped my legs around the tail and began to pull myself up with my arms. It was like climbing a ladder, I told myself, or a tree.
A tree that was on fire, a ladder that could bite.
I reached the base of the tail just as the dragon threw itself back to the ground.
My legs slipped and I shot forward across the dragon’s back.
I flung out my arms and managed to grab onto something.
The dragon shook itself like a wet dog; my grip loosened and I slid sideways, falling against its left wing.
It squawked in triumph and shook again but I had the measure of it now and the bones of the wing were easier to hold on to.
I swung myself to my feet. The dragon was still roaring as I stepped from its wing to its back.
I sat down right at the nape of its neck, gripping on with my thighs as I would sit a horse and wrapping my arms around it as far as I could reach.
The scales were burning hot, scorching the exposed skin of my palms, but I held on.
The dragon was outraged. It threw itself back and forth, rolled in the mud and dust. It leapt into the air and crashed back to the ground and roared again and again until I thought my flesh would melt.
Eventually it stood still, panting yellow flames.
I checked my palms. They were blistered and burned but I could still move them.
I stroked the smouldering scales of the dragon’s neck as it shook out its wings, spreading them wide.
“Calm,” I whispered, “we just have to sit here and be calm until Rhiannon comes back. She’ll know what to do.”
The dragon screeched and twisted, screeched and twisted in fury.
I clung on, digging my feet in more tightly so that I wouldn’t fall.
The beast reared back then ran forward, picking up speed as it raced across the canyon.
It howled once more and I felt the scales beneath me burning as the furnace within began to heat up.
“No!” I yelled, realising what it intended “No, stop, wait, we have to stay here!”
Then the dragon leapt through the air, skimming over the edge of the canyon and into the sky above.
The wind whipped through my hair, knotting it into snarls and tangles.
The dragon had turned east, following the path of the setting sun.
The air was thin and the constant howling of the wind in my ears had beaten a brutal ache into my head.
Only the warmth of the dragon’s scaled neck beneath me kept my battered fingers from losing their grip.
Below us the landscape had shifted from the shattered canyons to what seemed to be high chalklands, pale green and deserted.
The dragon flexed its shoulders a little and banked to the right. I peered down. We were nearing the edge of the chalk, the grassy land puckering as it sloped down.
Something white flashed below us and I looked down.
A white bull was etched on the chalk, a hundred paces long, a brother to the white horse I knew from the mortal world.
The carving had captured the creature mid-charge, head down and legs stretched.
It looked free, even as it was caught in perfect stillness.
I peered down, shielding my eyes from the rays of the sunset.
A pair of figures stood at the base of the bull’s neck.
I could see Belis, staring up at the sky.
Beside her was Rhiannon, arms outstretched, silver hair streaming in the wind.
They must have rushed here. Rhiannon must have found some vestige of strength.
I twisted around the dragon’s neck, trying to see.
The dragon dipped and I scrabbled to regain my hold.
I wanted to yell to Belis but I didn’t dare upset the dragon.
The wind carried speech towards me, strange, old words, from songs that I had forgotten ever hearing.
I recognised the voice, too: Rhiannon was singing.
There was a power in the song, both in the language and in the melody.
I felt it drawing me closer, pulling me towards her.
The dragon leaned again to the right, circling lower over the chalk bull. I pressed my arms even tighter around its neck, cursing my bad luck. How could I be so close to help and yet beyond it?
The dragon growled and I felt the fire within it begin to burn a little hotter.
I scanned the ground, looking for what had provoked it.
A bird was flying towards us, riding the rising air currents with widespread wings.
As it soared towards us I saw that it was Rhiannon’s eagle, amber and gold feathers bright against the sky.
The dragon grumbled again but didn’t seem threatened and the scales beneath me cooled.