“That’s rude,” Ibr said over her shoulder. “You’re a guest in his house, even if he is evil. You can’t just go killing him when you’re a guest.”
“Oh, it’s only just a little stab,” Dyrfinna said.
“The gods of hospitality would come for you,” Ibn warned.
“Stabby stabby,” Dyrfinna said over her shoulder. “By the way, you seem to be doing much better up here than you have in the past.”
Ibn’s arms tightened on Dyrfinna. “That’s because I’m actively thinking about how lovely it is to have my arms around you, and my nose in your fragrant hair.”
Ugh! None of that, please, said the emberdragon, huffing out some smoke.
“How is my hair fragrant? I’ve been out for three days in ashes and blood. Though I did wash up this morning, a little.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you anything that would potentially break your heart,” Ibn said, and hummed a happy little tune.
“The truth isn’t going to break my heart,” Dyrfinna said. “Otherwise I would have died a long time ago.”
Ahem. You lovebirds might want to look to your right, the emberdragon said.
Dyrfinna turned her head to the right and stiffened.
In the distance, something white limped through the air on clumsy wings.
“That is no bird,” Dyrfinna said quietly.
28
Air Battles
Ibn’s arms tightened on hers. “How much song magic will break an undead dragon into powder?”
“I don’t know,” said Dyrfinna. “You want me to sing loudly at it?”
“You won’t be able to maintain control if you do,” said Ibn.
“I sang against all those others,” Dyrfinna thought of the undead children and choked. “I sang against them. In a quiet voice.”
“Keep it delicate and you should be okay. Dragon, what will you do?”
I’m going to blast it with the hottest flame I have, she said. But which old friend will I be relegating to dust? She lowered her head slightly and her eyes narrowed.
They flew on for a short while. Then the emberdragon said, Oh, Eldr, it’s Aotheln. Ah, my darling. My sweet friend from so many years ago. Why have they done this to you? The emberdragon sounded undone.
“I’m so sorry,” Dyrfinna said, laying her hand on the emberdragon’s neck. “I hate this.”
She should be at rest, said the emberdragon, grieving.
“All our friends should be.”
The undead dragon flew closer.
“Wait, wait. Can you see anyone following it?” Dyrfinna asked, as she leaned over the side, scouring the ground for more undead humans below. The wheels were turning in her mind again. “I don’t know why Nauma would send a lone dragon out to meet us. Unless. Wait, is there anybody on its back?”
Nobody, said the emberdragon.
The undead dragon opened its mouth and a horrid, screaming yowl came out that went straight down Dyrfinna’s spine.
“It’s hungry,” said Ibn.
Yes, said the emberdragon, and Dyrfinna caught the edge of fear in her voice for the first time since she’d known her. Yes. My friend was a very good fighter. Now that she is starving, things may get tricky.
“That means she’s going to be a desperate fighter,” Dyrfinna said, finishing the emberdragon’s thought. But then Dyrfinna realized something. “But dragon, what if we don’t fight her? Can we outfly her? Can we go past her and see where she came from?”
We can, said the emberdragon, and she caught the relief in her friend’s voice.
“The fact that Nauma sent out only one undead dragon with no rider against us seems suspicious,” Dyrfinna said. “We’re nowhere near our objective. There’s nothing to defend here. Fly over this dragon. Don’t engage. And adjust your course to go to where this poor dragon came from. That’s probably where we need to go, if we want to find Nauma.”
Good counsel, said the dragon. I absolutely agree.
She pulled up high into the air.
“Hold on, Ibn. Ack!” said Dyrfinna as he held on tighter.
“I really thought I was going better at this,” he cried into her ear, burying his face against her shoulder.
“Hold on my dear, hold on,” she said soothingly because the emberdragon was going just about straight up, and both she and Ibn were leaning forward as far as possible on the dragon’s back. Even Dyrfinna gasped for breath at the steepness of the climb, and the air grew thinner and thinner with every inhale. Poor Ibn! She wanted nothing more than to comfort him, but her hands gripped the forward strap with all their strength. “Hold on,” she gasped, with no air behind her words.
I’m leveling off, the emberdragon said, seeming to remember that humans couldn’t breathe the rarified air the way she could.
Dyrfinna eased a look over the side of the emberdragon. They were flying through the bottom of a cloud, white wisps of mist trailing over her, making her hair and face wet. The undead dragon was laboring after them, but so slowly as the emberdragon sped along in the direction that she had come from. Ibn’s breath puffed against her ear, the skin on his face cold against her.
My poor friend, the emberdragon said. I wish I could put her out of her misery.
“We will,” Dyrfinna said. “We must. But bigger prey lies ahead, I hope.”
Ibn went limp behind her.
“Lower your flight a little bit,” Dyrfinna gasped. “We lost Ibn! He fainted.”
I’ll come down. But perhaps he should stay unconscious so he isn’t overwhelmed by fear, the emberdragon said, slowly sliding downward over the back of the wind.
“What do you mean, overwhelmed by fear? Has he been overwhelmed by fear this whole time?” Dyrfinna said, alarmed.
It has not been easy for him, being so high in the air, said the emberdragon, casting her head around as she searched the ground and the air below her. I could feel the fear coming off him. It was palpable. But he mastered his fear as a warrior does.
It seemed like everything Ibn did only made Dyrfinna appreciate him more. She would tell him as soon as they were someplace safe, and he was awake. His breath against her ear was even and soft now. She cursed herself that she hadn’t paid attention to his condition. But in the meantime, she focused on the task at hand. “Dragon, do you see anything?”
They were flying over a series of rocky islands sprinkled along the coastline. On the land, tall fir trees grew, and low mountains with snow on top loomed. The quiet roar of the ocean came to them from far below. Dyrfinna carefully scanned the world below her, and out to the horizon, looking for attackers.
But then the emberdragon said, Look. She tilted her flight to the right. I’m changing my bearings so we are flying right at them. As she spoke, she flew higher once again until the mist of the clouds twined around them and partially obscured them.
Dyrfinna saw three unclear flying things on the horizon. The dragon’s eyes were much better than hers. “I see something but I can’t tell what they are.”
Three undead dragons, the emberdragon said quietly. This is going to be a desperate battle but I will call my friends to our aid. Dyrfinna heard her call go out upon the wind though she didn’t understand the language in which the dragon spoke.
Dyrfinna scanned the ground. “I’m wondering if she had any undead humans down below.”
There’s little we can do about those right now, the dragon said quietly. One difficulty at a time should suffice. The only thing I wish is that I could drop you two off and fight with the full force of my fire. Your contributions are important, she said as Dyrfinna fought to speak. But I have to hold back with the full wrath of my fire when you are aboard.
“I understand,” said Dyrfinna. Even without the full force of her flames, what the emberdragon was putting out had burned her repeatedly. Occupational hazard, she thought as the undead dragons flew nearer and nearer. And now she could see them. But again, there was nobody on their backs.
“Fly over them,” Dyrfinna said.
Again? a
sked the emberdragon.
“Imagine this,” Dyrfinna said. “Say that you’re trying to escape from somebody who’s pursuing you, and you had a force to protect you. Wouldn’t you send that force out to attack and detain the people coming after you? Slow them down, get them all beat up? Then by the time they catch up to you, if they do, they’re exhausted and wounded, and you’re still fresh as a daisy.”
The emberdragon thought this over. But if you passed by the force that they sent after you, wouldn’t they all come after you, and attack when you’re attacking the target of your search?
“Eventually they’ll catch up. So let’s fly faster then they,” Dyrfinna said quietly.
I have only so much strength to go on, she reminded Dyrfinna.
“If we kill the source of their power, the undead might die,” Dyrfinna said. “Or they might not. At the very least, they will be leaderless.”
They passed over the three undead dragons, who fluttered and fought to turn around. Two of them actually crashed into each other in a tangle of wings and tails and fell down the sky a little ways before they regained their wings, and slowly fought their way up. But very slowly. However, the snap of their teeth followed them for a long way.
“I wish we could stop for a bathroom break,” Dyrfinna said.
I’m afraid to stop, now, said the emberdragon.
And then she said, Oh, Eldr. Here we go.
“What do you see?” Dyrfinna asked, squinting but not able to see anything through the clouds that wisped around their heads.
We definitely can’t stop, she said. I see three more undead dragons. I know every one of them, and they are the strongest of all our dead. Her voice trembled, but not with fear. Nauma raised our three greatest heroes, she hissed. She raised them for her own base purposes. None of these great heroes would have lifted fire for one such as her, none of them! This is an insult!
“Who are these heroes?” Dyrfinna asked.
The dragon named them.
Dyrfinna breathed out hard. She’d heard stories about each of these dragons since she was a child. “This will be tricky,” she said.
Understatement, said the emberdragon, her wings sweeping the air.
“At least these undead dragons aren’t breathing fire.” Dyrfinna squinted.
Now the three dragons were flying directly at them. There would be no dodging around this group.
“Emberdragon, go for the wings first, and target your attacks there,” said Dyrfinna. “If we knock these dragons out of the sky, the battle is over. We’re going to have to isolate each one somehow, and finish off one so we don’t have to fight in three-to-one odds.”
Ibn shuddered, and then his head stirred on her shoulder, where it had been lying all this time. “What’s happening?” he asked groggily into Dyrfinna’s ear.
“You’re awake!” she said happily.
“Unfortunately,” he groaned. “Who are those undead dragons down there?”
“Well,” she said, “we’re about to face these three dragons, all of whom are from the time of legend, and their stories are still sung to this day in every mead hall up and down the coast in all of Vikingdom.” Dyrfinna squinted. “And. Oh, great. One of those three dragons has a rider.”
“Oh, well. I should have stayed asleep,” Ibn said quietly.
“Wait a moment, wait,” said Dyrfinna. “That is not Nauma riding that dragon.” She squinted over the side of the emberdragon.
“That doesn’t even look like a woman,” said Ibn. “No, that is a man.”
And he and the dragons were riding up toward them, faster than undead dragons ever moved.
“Ye dogs and little fishes! What is going on here? I thought Nauma killed off her entire army. Where’d she find a man?”
“Wherever power-hungry enchantresses go to find power-hungry men,” Ibn said.
“And look at those dragons. They’re undead. They should not be flying that fast.” Dyrfinna pulled her sword.
“Those dragons are enchanted, too.” Ibn stirred behind her. “Watch out, I’m getting out my spear.” She glimpsed his spear from over her shoulder as he pulled it out of the carrier on his back. But as soon as he let her go to do this, he jerked as if falling and caught Dyrfinna again with one arm. She could feel his heart hammering through her back.
“What happened? Are you okay?” she asked, worried.
“Even if I let go of you for a moment, I feel like I’m going to fall,” Ibn said into her ear. “I’m sorry. I can’t get over this irrational fear.”
“You’re doing your best. In fact,” she said, sheathing her sword, “Let me wield your spear. I need you to sing against whoever this is.”
“Here. Here.” Ibn handed his spear up, and as soon as she took it, both his arms locked around her again.
Be ready, I am ready to unleash fire, said the emberdragon.
The tall man on dragonback did not frown, as he flew in toward them, the other two undead dragons following, and in fact showed no expression except contempt. Dyrfinna’s grip tightened on the spear.
The emberdragon suddenly heated up below them, and Ibn sang softly a song to defend them from the flames.
The emberdragon unleashed a blast of flame that, despite Ibn’s shield, physically hurt Dyrfinna. They dove under the dragon, the emberdragon blasting fire up at the undead dragon and its rider.
The other two dragons leapt forward with a powerful burst from their wings, and the emberdragon had to beat her wings hard to get out of their way in time. She barely slipped past.
Dyrfinna could feel the heat from the flames even when they were behind her. She turned.
“Great Frejya!” she cried. “They aren’t even scorched!”
For they came winging out of the fire with not even a burn mark on them, no black patches, no burning wings. The undead dragons were just as white as if they’d merely been flying through a light spring rain.
And the man on dragonback didn’t even have a hair on his head burned.
“He’s got a shield on them,” Ibn said. “He’s singing and I can’t hear him, and I don’t know how he can hold a shield up like that. Where’s he getting that power?”
The man and his dragons wheeled in the sky behind them.
Hold on, the emberdragon said and she flew straight up to get above them.
“Is there any way to split one of the undead dragons from the man so we can fight it one on one?” Dyrfinna asked, holding on to the forward strap.
Doubtful! cried the emberdragon as the three dragons, flying wing to wing, wheeled toward them like something out of a nightmare. The emberdragon let loose a world of fire into their faces, and then slid off to the left as they came out of the flames, snapping their jaws at her.
Dyrfinna acted fast as they passed the beating wings of the three dragons, cutting through their leathery membrane with her spear, actually tearing a good sized hole in of one of them. The undead dragon squealed. The emberdragon kept blasting them with flames as they passed. Ibn frantically sang against the undead dragons, trying to break their shields.
“Every magic I sing against them fails,” he cried.
One set of dragon’s teeth clashed next to Dyrfinna’s ear. She slammed the point of the spear into its face to push it away. If this dragon bit the emberdragon, it was all over for them.
The undead dragon wheeled back from her blow, and part of its jaw fell off as it pulled away. But Dyrfinna realized something.
“The spear gets through the shields,” she said.
“It’s not magicked; it’s an ordinary spear,” Ibn said.
The emberdragon closed her wings and dropped to get away from the undead dragon’s attack, but the undead dragon simply did the same, following her down the sky in a steep dive, the remaining part of its jaw dangling.
They fell in a dizzying freefall toward the ground.
Dyrfinna felt Ibn’s arms loosening, and closed her arms tight against her side to hold him in place. He didn’t move.
&nbs
p; “Freyja’s tears, he’s fainted again,” Dyrfinna said.
I can’t, I can’t, said the emberdragon in a panic.
“Then fly!” Dyrfinna said. “Get away from here.”
They’ll catch us.
“Swoop up,” she said. “Dart around them. Let me tear at them with my spear.” Then Dyrfinna had a sudden thought, and carefully untied the knot next to the stone on the strap that held her on carefully, so the emberdragon wouldn’t realize what she was doing. “Get close to their wings!” she cried, setting her spear at the ready.
I can’t fight against these ones if I can’t scar them with fire.
“Then don’t try,” Dyrfinna told her as they blasted upward. “All you have to do is keep them from biting you. Let me do the work.”
We’re going upside down, said the emberdragon, and she flipped on her back as one of the undead dragons passed between her wings, directly underneath.
Dyrfinna pulled the knot on her straps just before they were fully over the undead dragon’s back, looking down at her target.
The silk slithered loose. And she fell.
Dyrfinna! cried the emberdragon.
She slammed down on the undead dragon’s neck, nearly losing her grip on the spear, spreading her arms on one side of the dragon’s neck, trying to hold on with her legs on the other, but she swiftly began to slide off backwards. She clawed at the undead dragon’s back, trying to pull herself back up. The ground was a long way below, entire forests like swaths of green, the mountains tiny below, and the undead dragon was flying so fast. She flung the silk around the dragon’s neck by the small stone sewn into the end. The silk strap whipped around the dragon’s neck, and she caught the stone neatly in her hand. Her heart pounded with relief, and she began to tie the knot that would secure the strap.
The undead dragon squealed and plunged toward the ground, Dyrfinna holding on tight. Then, with two blasting sweeps of its wings, it flipped upside down in a barrel roll in an effort to throw Dyrfinna off. She saw this coming, and gripped onto that slim strap as if it were life itself. Dyrfinna’s body flung out into space. Her spear was still in her hand and her hands were locked on that thin silk strap.
A Crown of Flames Page 20