The soldiers stepped back, dripping with water, and then, seeing the wyvern dead, started to cheer. One even stepped forward and poked the creature’s neck to see if it was breathing.
Seth felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Alyssa at his side. The government administrator also stepped closer, getting a better look at the beast before speaking. “Well done, Master Wizard. I’d say the foul creature has seen his last day.”
Kaylor turned and looked at Jaxon for a moment as if distracted by a child, and then finally answered. “Too easy I would say, but yes, no more troublemaking for this one.”
“Everyone is accounted for,” Captain Eiry said, approaching the group. “Two with broken bones, a couple more banged up, but no deaths. It was a good fight.”
“For us, yes, but not so much for the dragon,” Jaxon said, trying to shake off the fear that had gripped the man not more than a minute earlier.
“Wyvern,” Kaylor said.
“Nonsense,” Administrator Jaxon said, walking over to the nearest soldier and grabbing the man’s spear. He took a few steps forward to the side of the beast’s head and placed his sandaled foot on top of its skull, thrusting the spear point first into the hole on its forehead. The squishing sound was too familiar for Seth.
“What are you doing?” Alyssa asked, taking a step toward Jaxon, her charge.
“The dragon is dead,” Jaxon said, twisting the spear slightly as a black ichor came from the hole. “Look for yourselves. It has wings, claws, scales, and nasty fangs. This is what the Kesh were so worried about, enough to upset our governor and roust us from our revelry to come all the way out here and kill it. There is nothing to worry about.”
Alyssa opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Sand from on top of the cave’s entrance slowly started to stream down in very small slides, making a unique yet soothing sound. The cackle of something sparking sounded faintly, and the smell of ozone was in the air.
The very ground vibrated, gently at first, and then the sounds were unmistakable, louder and clearer. Something of a purplish hue was approaching from the cave. The soldiers backed away, and Krom raised his club, taking a few steps to the rear. Seth grabbed Alyssa and pulled her back toward him, noticing that the only person not backing away from the cave’s entrance was Jaxon, in his ridiculous victory pose, and the Kesh wizard, who narrowed his eyes.
Jaxon turned, looking at the cave entrance since noticing the reaction of his troops and colleagues. His mouth hung down, his fat jowl bouncing up and down in rhythm with his mouth as he, too, tried to speak but could not. The dragon stepped from the cave’s shadow into the sunlight.
The shade had made the mass look diffused and hard to see, purplish in color. In the sunlight, the effect was very much the opposite. The detailed lines of the beast were now clearly visible. Claws scraped on the rock, thick scales moved in unison with the massive muscles beneath them, and wings unfurled once they cleared the cave’s entrance, looking very much like thick, stretched leather. The entire creature shimmered a bright blue in color, and its reptilian eyes were also of the same hue.
Seth held his short sword out in front of him. Small, static electrical sparks were coming off the wings where they came too close to the rock cliff. The beast lowered its head and looked at Jaxon still standing with his foot on the wyvern’s skull, hand still gripping the spear. Jaxon soiled himself, and Seth instantly recognized the man’s state of fear. He was paralyzed and couldn’t move, much less control his bodily functions. Seth had seen this state of fear many times with many of his victims, and now he was seeing it again.
The blue dragon took a second to look around and assess the group. It was several times larger than the wyvern, and a strange fear-inducing aura emanated from it. It hesitated for only a second, and then in three quick steps, it lunged forward from the cave’s entrance and struck out with its head, opening its gaping maw and biting down on Jaxon’s legs, taking the entire man into its mouth.
It raised its head and started to chew, shaking its wings and beating them fiercely for several seconds. The sound of bone crunching was mingled with the howl of the wind as sand blew every which way and partially blinded the group in the mini sandstorm. Red blood poured from the side of the blue dragon’s mouth, falling from the corner of its lips, a single fang protruding, barely visible as the blood fell on the sandy outcropping of rock. Administrator Jaxon was no more.
The wind died down, and the dragon reared back, its stance one of a lion ready to pounce. Silence returned to the group and was only broken by Kaylor, who turned to Seth, saying, “I think you are going to need a bigger sword.”
Mad Mage_Claire-Agon Ranger Page 38