Karnas was screaming, though it was as much for his own pain as for his beloved daughter. He’d been just far enough back to miss the brunt of the heat, but his hair and chest were alight. Hal stumbled forward, numb and unsure. He couldn’t think clearly, let alone understand what was going on.
“Halrin!” screamed Karnas. “Run!”
The ceiling of the Karnas estate caved inward in a cascade of roof tiles and dust, and something out of a nightmare poked through. A scaled black reptilian head half the size of a carriage stared down at Hal and his immolated father, watching them both with crimson red eyes.
Its skin was shiny, segmented, and glistening in the light. Blood from an unknown victim already dripped from its dagger sized teeth, and faint trails of smoke escaped its nostrils in tepid puffs.
“My daughter!” screamed Karnas. “You monster!”
He charged forward, still smoldering where the fire had hit him. Hal watched, unable to find his courage or his voice, as his father made a made a foolhardy dash forward. The fight, if it could even be called that, was over in less than a second.
The monster pecked its snout down like a chicken digging for grub, except it opened its mouth wide at the last second. Karnas was seized by its dagger sized teeth. The creature bit down on him once, the sound of it a wet, sickening crunch, and Karnas instantly went limp.
Hal fell to his knees as he watched the monster chew and swallow, using a long, disgusting tongue to lick its teeth clean of the man who’d raised him. It didn’t seem real. It couldn’t be real. It was all happening too fast, and Hal was still right there, watching it.
I can’t just sit here!
He coughed as he forced himself back to his feet, smoke and the scent of charred flesh clogging his throat. The people who’d managed to avoid the creature’s first onslaught were letting out desperate screams as they fled the estate. Hal had no intention of running, though even if he’d wanted to, the flames from the earlier attack had already cut off most of his avenues of escape.
He already had his pistol in hand, and he squeezed its handle tight enough to make his hand hurt. The monster had pulled back from its entrance point, not to abandon its siege, but to expand the hole outward, destroying more of the building’s roof.
He lifted his gun in a trembling hand, took aim at the monster, and fired. The shot went wide, missing the monster’s head by several feet. It let out a roar and surged forward, its long neck stretching and pulling a fat, reptilian body into the ballroom along with it.
The gnashing teeth were still covered in his father’s blood, and they snapped closed a few feet from his face. The monster exhaled near enough for him to smell its putrid breath. Hal was shivering, but he forced himself to stay upright, and forced his eyes to focus on what was happening.
There was someone on the creature’s back. Hal stared up at a man wearing a golden full helm with a thin eye slit. A red cloak trailed off his shoulders, and loose chain mail covered his chest. The man seemed to pull at the monster, his hands digging into its neck until the grotesque thing halted in place.
Hal sheathed his empty pistol and took a slow step back, his fear suddenly hitting him with a vengeance. The monster seemed to sense his weakness, and picked that moment to finally strike. It lashed out, not with its teeth, but with one of its claws, knocking Hal off his feet and pinning him to the floor in a single movement.
He screamed with all the air he had left in his lungs. The monster’s claw was wider across than his chest was broad, but only barely. It seemed to enjoy toying with him, letting the razor like claws dig into his skin, threatening to snap his ribs. He was sure that the creature could do it if it wanted to.
Seconds went by. Hal had never in his life felt so tiny, fragile, and weak. He’d already vomited up what was left of his dinner, and his stomach was threatening to suffocate him through the continued dry heaves.
The monster squeezed again. Hal screamed again. He shut his eyes, but that only made the reality of what was happening worse. He reached his weak hands up and tried to pull at the dragon’s claws. It was as though he was trying to put a bend into a sharp sword blade, and he only managed to cut one of his palms.
Hal felt the pressure against his chest increase for an instant as the creature leaned over him, and then he was pulled into the air. His head whipped back from the speed of it. He had an instant to see the true carnage wrought by the monster on his family’s home. Dozens of corpses lay scattered across the lawn, and the estate itself was in flames. It would be abandoned, though he didn’t expect to survive for long enough to be around to care.
The monster held him aloft for a few more seconds. Hal turned his gaze onto the rider atop it, hatred surging through his blood and bones for the man who’d orchestrated the deaths of everyone he’d loved.
And then, the monster leapt into the air, still carrying Hal. He could hear and feel the rushing of its wings, a sound that reminded him of standing too close to one of Roth’s drums while he was in the middle of a furious rhythm.
Hal got another look downward at what remained of the Kentar Estate as the creature flew off, carrying him like a predator after a successful hunt. It was his home, and it was now a funeral pyre, consumed by flames and thick with the smell of death.
Heartgem Homestead
Reborn Raiders (The Weatherblight Saga Book 4) Page 35