by Ruby Ryan
Tears streamed from my eyes, and I wasn't sure if it was from the smoke or for the helpless feeling threatening to overwhelm me.
I fell out of the plane onto hard dirt strewn with rocks. Ignoring the dust that I'd kicked into the air I kept crawling, in the only direction ahead of me, because it was away from the wreckage and the dragon, and that impulse was good enough because there was nothing else I could do.
The dragon roared with frustration, and I was so close that I felt it in my chest, a vibration like a deep bass subwoofer. And then the oxygen was sucked out of the surrounding air as another stream of fire burst to life, the heat painful on my skin and hair, and I winced and waited for it to engulf me but it did not, it was far to my left, but I crawled faster anyways. At any moment the dragon would see me, I knew. It would be over then. But I crawled, and ignored the throbbing in my knee, and prayed to God I remained unseen.
There was a boulder 30 feet ahead, and I focused on it as if it promised salvation. A permanent sanctuary from the nightmare behind me, a place where I would be safe if only I could reach it. I crawled faster, scraping my arms on the rocks underneath, feeling the dirt begin to cake to my skin with the sweat, but the boulder was right there, I was so close!
The dragon moved, each step a thunderclap in my belly and ears. I knew I shouldn't look but I couldn't stop myself, I had zero control over my actions just then, and as I gazed over my shoulder I saw the beast.
It stared down with crimson eyes, its triangular head pointed directly at me. Its jaw hung open in a mirthless smile, and I could sense the victory it felt.
This was it. I was about to die. I had mere seconds left in my life, a life which I thought had only just begun, an adventure uncompleted.
"Please," I prayed, to the dragon and to God and to anyone who would listen. "Please, no..."
Someone heard me.
I was lifted off the ground by strong arms and carried across the plain.
Roland! My Roland!
He threw me over his shoulder and sprinted as fast as he could. Fury shone in the dragon's eyes and he shot his head forward like a cobra, and flame poured forth to scald the open air. He turned his head and the flame followed us, a cracking whip of fire so hot it stung my eyes. It drew closer, and I heard Roland's breathing speed up, but I feared nothing while I was in his safe arms.
And then Roland threw his legs out ahead of him and turned his sprint into a slide, kicking up clouds of dirt as we slid behind the boulder.
The flames struck the rock and flew around us, but we were safe in our tiny pocket of air.
"How..." I said as he gently laid me on the ground. Was this all just a dream?
"Stay here." He squeezed my hand, and I tried to hold onto it but then he was pulling away, and leaving the safety of the boulder, and standing out in the open with his arms out to either side.
"No!" I said, but he was already too far for me to grab.
"COME ON!" he roared at the dragon, taunting him while leading him away from my rock. "I am not afraid of you!"
You should be, I felt the beast respond, a whisper inside my head. I clutched my gryphon carving tightly, the only thing I had control over at that moment.
Roland closed his eyes and prepared to die.
27
ROLAND
I spread my arms wide and sidestepped away from the boulder. It was the only large rock within a hundred yards in any direction; the dragon knew that's where Harriet and the totem were. I'd literally just carried her there. Leading him away from it wouldn't do much.
But it was the only thing I could think to do, as feeble as it was.
I'd hoped he wouldn't kill me. He was reluctant to do it in the liquor store, for whatever reason. Something to do with the totem. But now that I stood in the open, weak and vulnerable, I knew he no longer held such reticence. I could feel the pleasure coming off him like the smell of rotten meat, almost strong enough to make me gag.
He stood beside the wreckage, his long neck pulled back and ready to strike. Ecstasy shone in his glossy crimson eyes. Ecstasy for what he was about to do to me.
And now it finally ends, he spoke into my head, rumbling with laughter.
He inhaled deeply, and I waited for the flame.
Before he could belch his terrible fire, his head jerked as if he'd been struck. He looked around in confusion, then flinched again. He whirled his entire body then, massive legs stomping like a thousand combined elephants, his head jerking in several directions to look for invisible foes. He did spew fire then, short puffs in an arc around his head, chaotic and frenzied.
I stared without understanding, and then saw them.
Hundreds of tiny dots in the air. Thousands of them. The swarm of bees swirled around the dragon's head and neck as he roared with fury. He backed away and let out another stream of fire around him, but there were too many of them stinging him in the space between his scales, and soon his roars turned fearful.
I felt the dragon give in. Similar to when I'd shifted from gryphon back into human, he released his grip on the beast's heart. Immediately he began to shrink, blood red scales evaporating into pale white skin. The neck retracted and narrowed, and his spiky horns melted like candle wax. His scream changed from animal to human, an order of magnitude less loud and higher pitched. And then the dragon was only a human crouched on his arms and legs, completely nude and covered in a sheen of sweat.
I heard Harriet mutter, "Uhh, what?" over by the boulder.
The dragon launched away like a sprinter at the starting block, running directly toward the plane wreckage. He crouched by the fire along the outer fuselage, so close that it surely must have burned him terribly, but he gave it no notice as he looked around for the bees.
The smoke from the wreckage must have shielded him, because the buzzing sound dimmed, then disappeared.
Slowly, head still ducked low, the dragon rose from the fire. His muscular body was covered with red welts, and he stared off toward the horizon.
Then he turned to me.
The fury in his eyes dwarfed anything he'd felt before. Fury at the bees, fury at me. Fury at the totem and the woman I loved a short distance away.
We regarded each other beneath a smoke-filled sky.
"We have fought this fight a thousand times," the dragon rumbled. "Gryphon against dragon. Ruby against ruby, gems against gems. Why do we never learn?"
"You're the one attacking us, mate." I spread my hands congenially. "We don't have to do this."
The dragon sighed and stared beyond me. At some distant memory. "Of course we do," he said softly. "For what you gryphons did, we can never simply give up."
"I didn't do anything to you!" I insisted.
He shook his head, and wiped the sweat from his bald head. "If only that were true."
I sensed a lifetime of sadness in his voice. A thousand lifetimes. I almost felt sorrow for the man, the desire to tell him I didn't mean it and wished I could make it better. But then the sadness was gone, and a sneer spread across his pale face.
"But this time I have the advantage." Without taking his eyes off me he pointed at the boulder. "The totem is damaged. Your ruby is cracked."
His taunting laughter rolled across the African plain.
"I may fail," he said, rolling his neck and shoulders, stretching the muscles. "My brothers may fail. We may return to our cages once more, dormant until we are strong enough to break free, but the damage done to your totem will continue forever." His smile showed yellow teeth. "Whatever happens now, whatever happens after today, a blow has finally been dealt."
He strode forward, and we began our final battle.
28
HARRIET
The whole frigging world had gone insane.
I'd lived a cushy life. At least, compared to most. I'd never dealt with a major tragedy, and all my grandparents were alive. I didn't know how to deal with traumatic events.
Because this right here? This was a rapid-fire attack of trauma.
And yet it didn't hold a candle to... this.
A dragon. Wings and fangs and fire summoned from the depths of its throat. The nude man that now stood across from Roland was a dragon, I'd watched him change back before my very eyes, and that wasn't even considering the fact that he'd been trying to kill us.
Like I'd said. The whole world had gone insane.
And as crazy as all of it was... I felt safe.
Roland was here. He was more than just a maybe-but-not-Facebook-official-yet boyfriend. He was more than a guy I'd slept with, and was quickly falling for. Somehow I was connected to him, the same way I was connected to the gryphon carving clutched in my hand. The gryphon totem, the dragon had called it.
Roland was my mate, and he would protect me.
The confidence flared up in me with enough heat to rival the dragon's flames. I knew it in my soul. I did not have to be afraid.
And so, I wasn't.
I pushed to a crouch and tested my knee. The pain still knocked the air from my lungs, but it bore some weight this time.
I peered around the boulder in time to see Roland and the dragon begin.
29
ROLAND
"It will be a joy defeating you in a fair fight," the dragon announced.
He strode toward me and swung a meaty fist. I stepped back from it and sidestepped, but he followed, his own fists raised in our fight.
This was it. This was for everything.
Ignoring the fact that I was fighting a nude man swinging pipe, I moved backwards and jerked away from his punches. He began slowly, getting a feel for his opponent like any other boxing match. Testing me out, gauging my reactions. Then he twisted his entire body in a vicious roundhouse punch, and I barely turned away from it, catching the blow on my shoulder instead of jaw.
I stumbled backwards, and the dragon snarled and followed.
He was better than me, I immediately knew. And not from our previous two fights: better in a more primal way, something he had yet to unleash. As if the dragon inside of him were furious that it was not the one fighting, a short period where he could not shift back into that form. That was good, I supposed. At least human against human I had a chance.
The dragon followed me steadily, alternating jabs with his right and left fists, and even though I blocked the blows with my arms they wore me down. Occasionally he sent a killing blow of an uppercut at me. I avoided each one, saw him broadcasting them by the way he pulled his fist back, but each time they came a little bit closer to hitting me underneath the jaw.
I began looking for alternative strategies. He was barefoot, so I moved backwards until I walked over a cluster of sharp brambles, but the dragon stepped on them and never even flinched. I guided him around to the left, always keeping my body between the dragon and Harriet. He weighed a lot more than me. This wasn't a boxing ring; if he wanted to he could simply charge and tackle me to the ground, and then I would be done for. I waited for him to do it, constantly preparing myself to dive out of the way, but he never did.
That was some small miracle, I supposed. But it didn't matter because we both knew he was the better fighter regardless. He could beat me with only his fists, the same way he'd done in the boxing ring last week.
Despair began to fill me as the dragon wore me down. If I lost, Harriet would lose. I was the only thing protecting her right now. The last barrier between her and the dragon. An ache rose in my chest, choking the back of my throat. With each punch the dragon's smile widened, his confidence feeding off my dread.
And then it all changed.
I sensed Harriet behind me, watching. Her emotions flooded through the totem and into my chest: confidence and love. Complete trust that I would protect her. There was no room for doubt in her mind, and her confidence became my own. My legs became lighter, and the fatigue melted from my bones.
"Fuck you, mate," I said, gritting my teeth and going on the offensive.
I stepped forward and jabbed twice with my right fist, testing. The dragon moved back, but only enough to deflect the jabs off his raised forearms. I shuffled forward cautiously, maintaining my balance in case he did something unexpected, but he was still thrown off by my sudden attack. I jabbed twice with my left fist and then crossed with my right, knuckles smashing into his meaty cheek and sending him staggering. I repeated the attack, left left right, striking him just as hard as the first time. His bloodshot eyes widened and I advanced, trying the same attack, but this time with a feint thrown in, left left right, but the right cross was a fake to get his hands to that side while I sent a hard left hook into his temple.
He roared with pain and rage, stumbling backwards and almost tripping over a rock.
I had all the energy and momentum then, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let up now. I advanced on him, fueled by the fire of Harriet's love behind me. Left jab to his head, which was blocked, but then a right jab to his gut. Right hook to the jaw, then a second time, and when he finally brought his fists over I sent a left cross into his nose from the other side. His head snapped back and sweat flew through the air, and he lurched forward to counterattack but I slipped my head out of the way, feeling the wind rush by from his fist hitting only air, and then my right uppercut struck him so hard in the jaw I thought I'd killed him.
The dragon fell backwards, caught himself on shaky legs, and stumbled until he was a safe distance away. His chest heaved and he regarded me with new eyes.
I allowed the smile that I felt to reach my lips.
Before I could advance on him and continue my barrage, the dragon turned and jogged toward the smoking wreckage of the airplane. He reached into the fire and pulled at something, shaking the entire metal fuselage before it came free.
He turned back toward me with a long piece of metal in his hand: one of the propellers, held like a jagged makeshift sword. Fire ran up the edge, coated with fuel or oil or something else, but the dragon held it in his meaty fists without noticing.
"Cheeky cunt," I muttered as he raised the metal high.
He swung it with both arms in a vicious diagonal cut, and I had to roll sideways to avoid it splitting my skull in two. The fire sizzled and hissed through the air, and as I regained my feet the smell of gasoline and smoke burned my nose.
"What happened to defeating me in a fair fight?" I said, which only enraged him further. He roared and swung the propeller horizontally before I could react, catching me across the ribs. Pain licked up my torso and I cried out, falling onto my back on the rocky ground, hitting my head so hard that white stars flew across my eyes. The dragon appeared above me and brought his makeshift club above his head with both hands.
I rolled sideways as it smashed into the ground inches from my head. Rocks and metal flew in all directions as he brought it down again, and again, barely missing each time as I rolled and ducked and darted away from it. I threw myself to my feet and jumped away to give myself some space. The propeller was half as long now, the end smashed off leaving a jagged metal bit sticking out. I touched my ribs where the blow had caught me, and winced at the pain. One rib was cracked, I knew.
Movement behind the dragon: Harriet hobbling from the boulder to the plane wreckage. I wanted to cry out to tell her no, that she needed to stay safe, but he dragon had eyes only for me as he advanced.
He stabbed the short propeller like a dagger, and I kept him at distance until the third stab, then shifted my stance and closed the distance next to the blade. I grabbed his wrist with one hand and punched down with the other. He screamed in pain and the propeller dropped to the ground, and when he reached for it I brought my right leg up as hard as I could, my knee smashing into his jaw and sending him stumbling.
>
I followed him and fought as if my life depended on it.
A cross to his chest, then a right hook that boxed his ear. He stumbled and I followed, throwing aside all caution to deal as much damage as I could. A flurry of jabs to the face. When he moved his arms to protect it I pummeled him with body blows, feeling his ribs giving way beneath my righteous fists. I grunted as I delivered each blow, louder and louder, going for broke.
I moved close enough to wrap my arm around his neck, then kneed him in the gut. And when he doubled over from that, I screamed and sent an uppercut into his jaw.
It was the final blow; the force behind it sent him into the air, leaving his feet before crashing down onto his back. His chest moved, but otherwise his body was still.
I looked to the wreckage: Harriet had already dragged one person away (who was now coughing on the ground) and was now removing a second, dark-skinned man. Somehow, I felt her relief in my own mind: those were the only other two people in the plane. She'd saved them.
And with that done...
I knelt over the dragon and punched across with my right fist, knocking his head sideways. Blood dribbled from his nose and his eyes were swollen.
And in his bloodshot eyes, a terrible shade of pale white mixed with red, I saw victory.
He laughed, first just a convulsion in his chest but then it bubbled through his bloody face, gurgling from the mess of red that was his mouth and nose. I stared with horror as his laughter grew, rumbling across the African plain as if he'd won the day.
I felt the pain of a thousand battles as I stared at him. Gryphon versus dragon, claws and talons shredding skin and feather and scale. I hated him in that moment, this man I'd only known a week. I hated him, because I'd always hated him. Across the eons my hate had festered, and would continue until the end of time.