by Rinelle Grey
Karla’s ute led the way, some sort of contraption made of great metal tubes on its back, followed by two other vehicles with metal cages.
She hadn’t returned alone. She’d brought others. Other humans.
Taurian didn’t even care that the elders were going to have a fit. Her help might just save them.
Taurian hardly dared to hope. Even after he’d rejected her, she was still willing to put her life on the line for him.
He didn’t deserve her.
Chapter 9
Chase gave a soft gasp of surprise next to Karla. “You weren’t kidding. They really are dragons,” he breathed.
“Of course they’re dragons,” Gretchen snapped next to him. “Why else would we go to all this hassle?”
Karla pulled to the left, parking the ute at an angle to the dragons staring at them in bemusement. “Now that you’ve seen them, do you think this is going to work?” she asked, trying to stop her voice shaking.
“It better,” Chase said. “Or else we’re all in trouble.”
He didn’t sound worried though. Karla could almost see the adrenalin flowing through him. He was ready to fight.
Karla though, stared at the scene in front of them, trying to take it all in. Taurian stood next to two other dragons, and Ultrima was in a similar group of three. Had they been about to fight? Had she arrived just in time?
The other two cars pulled in at an angle, keeping their cabs behind hers for cover. Hopefully they all remembered the plans they’d made before they left.
Chase gave her a grin and a thumbs up, grabbing his controller, which looked like a box covered in little red switches, and jumping out of the ute on the opposite side to the dragons. Gretchen followed him.
Karla took a deep breath. Her turn.
She pushed open the door on the dragon’s side, hoping that their shock of her fearlessness would be enough to buy her time. Or rather, buy the other’s time to get ready.
Her heart pounded. This was a crazy idea. She didn’t even have a weapon. And she was pretty sure that the gumboots Aunt Mary had insisted on buying wouldn’t do a thing. But she only needed a few moments. Once everyone was safe in the cages, she could retreat, hopefully under cover fire.
Karla hoped the cages Chase had welded to the back of the other two utes would do their job. Everything she’d read said that they should dissipate any electrical charge safely away from the occupants inside. In theory anyway. She suspected they were going to find out for real how they worked soon.
Would it be enough? Did they have any hope of winning?
Ultrima roared, the sound shaking the cars. Karla heard a few sharp breaths and curses, but no one backed down.
“You don’t scare us,” Lisa called out bravely, from the safety of the cage, surrounded by the farmers’ guns.
Karla winced. Somehow, she was sure that Ultrima’s next move would be to unleash his lightning straight at her.
To her surprise, he didn’t. In fact, he did something surprising.
He transformed back into his human form.
Not that it was really that great a risk, since the other dragons next to him didn’t.
He strode towards Karla and the others, unafraid.
Karla could feel all eyes on her. The other humans waited for her orders. The other dragons wondering what she was going to do.
Her heart thumped and her blood roared in her ears. She’d been prepared for a fight. Not for a discussion. What was Ultrima planning? Was it a threat?
Should she take this chance to take him out? A couple of shots from the back of the ute and their fight could be over.
But she couldn’t ask that of anyone. Shooting an attacking dragon was one thing, a human who was just walking up to them was a completely different thing.
She held up her hand to indicate to the others to hold their fire. Perhaps he wanted to surrender.
Somehow, she didn’t think so.
“I should have been prepared for the fact that you wouldn’t run.” Ultrima’s raised voice was amused. He didn’t even seem to care that he was completely naked. “Oh, wait a second, I was.”
He waved his hand in the air, and for a moment, nothing happened.
Then every hair on Karla’s head rose until she was sure they were all standing completely upright. Fear flooded her body, and instantly, she knew what was happening, even before the snow white dragon appeared out of thin air between her and the rest of the clan.
The farmers switched their aim to the white dragon.
Even though every bone in her body was screaming for her to run, Karla stood her ground. “It’s just fear,” she called out to the others. “If you don’t react, it will fade away, just like the fear we felt as we drove in. This is no different.”
“Actually, it is,” Ultrima said smoothly. “It’s quite different. You see, Estrima here isn’t a Rian life dragon. She’ll have no problems using her life power to send you all completely crazy.”
“I bet she won’t do too good a job of that with some bullet holes in her,” Gretchen’s father said boldly.
Ultrima’s eyes shifted to him. “True.” His eyes scanned the old man as though trying to evaluate how likely he was to carry out his threat. Then he turned back to Karla. “So it seems we are at a standoff. Bravo. The one error in my planning was not seeing that you would bring other humans and, more importantly, human weapons.”
He eyed the utes with their cages, his expression deliberately disdainful.
“We can’t all be perfect,” Karla said sweetly.
Ultrima barked a short laugh. “No, it would seem not. I have just one question for you.”
Karla raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Why?” Ultrima asked. He waved back at Taurian, who had remained in dragon form, and was thus silent. “The man you love has cast you aside for another. Why are you risking your own life to save him?”
Karla looked over at Taurian. Somehow, she suspected that the answer to this question was important.
Not that there was any doubt as to her reasons. She turned back to Ultrima, her back straight. “Because I love him. And I’d rather he was alive and with someone else than dead. Love isn’t about ownership, or even jealousy. When you really love someone, it transcends all that.”
Concepts she suspected Ultrima could never understand, given his history.
“Do you think he would do the same?” Ultrima jerked his head in Taurian’s direction, not even turning to look at his rival.
“Does it matter?” Karla challenged. “I’m here, standing up to you. The question I want to know the answer to is, ‘What are you going to do?’”
Ultrima stared at her for a moment then threw back his head and laughed. “I came for a fight. Let’s fight.”
Right in front of Karla’s eyes, his body began to transform, silver scales bursting from his skin, his neck and tail elongating.
She heard Chase’s gasp from the back of the ute behind her, and realised she’d waited too long. Ultrima was too close. Chase’s fireworks had been set to aim for dragons in the air, not on the ground. He couldn’t let them off while she was standing right beside the ute anyway.
There was nothing to protect her from Ultrima’s lightning.
Karla dropped to the ground and rolled desperately under the ute. Not the best place to be, but better than out in the open. It would be hard for Ultrima to hit her under here, wouldn’t it?
Luckily, he didn’t even try. His wings stirred up dust, sending a wave of it under the ute to where Karla lay, as he lifted into the air. Karla heard a volley of shots, but since Ultrima didn’t fall back to the ground, they either missed, or didn’t injure him significantly.
Ultrima’s dragon laugh split the air.
“Try harder, little human,” his voice crowed in her head.
Karla breathed a sigh of relief. She’d sidestepped the first danger at least.
Fear still coursed through her, but given the situation, it was hard to tell wh
at was real, sensible fear, and what was caused by the life dragon hovering overhead. Either way, the solution was to fight.
Maybe Ultrima hadn’t been prepared for that. Maybe it hadn’t even occurred to him that the fear would just make the humans fight harder and more desperately.
Karla rolled out the other side of the ute and rose to a crouch. Cautiously, she stood up, using the side window to get a feel for where the other dragons were.
Ultrima flew back to gather his dragons, who were already lifting into the air above the lair. Good, just where they wanted them.
“Aim at the white dragon,” Karla called out, pointing into the sky, where the life dragon still hovered. While the dragons were regrouping, she took a chance and ran to the nearest cage, where Chase, Bruce, Gretchen, Gretchen’s father, and one of his farmer friends stood.
Guns moved, poking through the bars of the cages on the back of the ute, and another round flashed off.
And missed.
Bruce reached for the door to let her in and Karla scrambled up. She heaved a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her. But it was only momentary.
“I can’t…” Gretchen’s father, Jake said. Karla stared at him in horror as his gun wavered, then slowly moved towards her, until it was pointing directly at her. Beads of sweat broke out on the man’s forehead. “I can’t control it,” he gasped out.
Karla’s heart hammered in her chest. The life dragon.
It could do more than just cause fear. It could actually control their actions.
“Help,” Jake begged. “I can’t stop.” His finger wavered on the trigger, but Karla couldn’t move. Her brain froze, and she couldn’t decide if she should dive out of the way, or try to grab the gun.
No matter what, her mind just kept blindly telling her this was it, she was going to die.
Movement flashed in front of her as Bruce tackled the man. A gunshot sounded loud, blasting Karla, the only person in the back of the ute without ear protection.
Both Bruce and Jake lay in the back of the ute, tangled up together. Red stained Jake’s clothing, and Karla could only stare at it in shock.
“Dad!” Gretchen screamed, and knelt down beside both of them.
Bruce pushed Jake aside and sat up, his face ashen white, clutching at his arm.
That’s where the blood was coming from. Bruce had been hit.
Jake sat up too, his gun coming up and aiming at Karla again. “Stay back,” Jake said to Gretchen, his voice desperate. “I can’t control anything.”
This wasn’t over yet.
A dragon scream split the air, and Karla’s head jerked up. A golden streak sped towards the life dragon.
Taurian.
Behind him flew several other dragons. Gold. Gunmetal grey. Blue and green. Red. And one that looked almost transparent.
Coming straight at them, attacking them from both sides, were the silver ones.
Taurian’s claws sank into the white dragon’s skin and its scream sent a shiver down Karla’s spine. Jake’s arm went limp, and his gun dropped onto the rubber matting in the back of the ute. “I’m so sorry,” he gasped out. “I didn’t mean to fire on you. I couldn’t stop it,” he gasped.
Gretchen threw her arms around her father, tears running down her cheeks.
“It’s not your fault, it was the life dragon,” Karla said, as she dropped to the ground next to Bruce. She looked at his arm, not even sure where to start or what to do.
“I’m okay, you need to take care of that dragon,” Bruce said stoutly. Some of the colour was returning to his face. “It was just a scratch.”
Karla hovered, torn between believing him and getting back to the fight, or panicking that he was about to die.
“You need to take out that life dragon before anyone else gets hurt,” Bruce said softly. “Go, do what you came here to do.”
Karla looked at him one last time, but he was right. He didn’t look like he was about to die right now, and if they didn’t stop the life dragon, someone else could.
She jumped to her feet and stared around the sky, assessing the situation. “We have to take the life dragon out before she can try again.”
“I can’t shoot, I risk hitting that other dragon,” the other farmer said.
He was right. Taurian and the life dragon were locked in a close battle, their necks entwined. A shot at one risked hitting the other. Karla looked around the sky, to see a similar story everywhere. Dragon fighting dragon.
She’d just made it worse.
She’d removed any chance Rian clan had of sneaking away without a fight, and she couldn’t even help them.
Jake patted Gretchen on the shoulder, and stood up next to them. His gun looked awkward in his hand, but he was as determined to fight as the rest of them. If only there was something they could do.
“Time for our secret weapon,” Chase said softly.
Karla hesitated, looking up at the sky. There was the chance he could hit a Rian clan dragon, but if they didn’t do something, the whole clan would be dead anyway. “Do it.”
The familiar sound of several firework rockets launching, one after another, filled the air.
The sound hung in the air for several long moments before the rockets exploded, sending a rain of sparks over Trima and Rian dragons alike.
The dragons split apart, all ducking down in different directions, trying to avoid the explosion.
“It worked.” Chase punched one fist in the air.
Karla didn’t waste time celebrating. She had more important things to focus on.
“Take out the life dragon, quickly, while they’re apart!” Karla called, pointing.
Everyone followed her finger. A volley of shots flew into the sky above them.
The white dragon gave a shriek and its body bucked. Its left wing skipped a beat, and it tumbled over, falling to the ground just beyond the human line with a thud.
Karla stared at it, but it didn’t move. For a moment, her heart skipped a beat, then a blanket of fear was thrown off, and victory flooded her, filling her with a deep relief. They could do this. With the life dragon out of the picture, they had a chance.
Above them, Taurian dipped a wing to them, and returned immediately to the fight. Chase let off the next volley of fireworks, and Karla stared up at the sky, looking for more openings. The more dragons they took out, the better
The hairs rose on the back of her neck, and she looked around. Ultrima didn’t have another life dragon, did he?
A whisper of wind behind her was all the warning she got. Karla spun around just in time to see Ultrima bearing down on her, skimming low over the top of the ute.
“Your little cages won’t protect you from my lightning,” Ultrima’s voice in her mind was filled with satisfaction and blood lust.
Lightning spewed forth above them.
Instinctively, Karla ducked. As if that would help.
“Don’t touch the sides of the cage,” she shouted desperately.
A loud crack of thunder crashed around her, and a blinding flash of light engulfed her.
In that split second, she was sure it was all over.
But the cages did their job. None of the lightning touched the people huddled inside. It flowed over the cage, crackling and hissing, then dissipated to the ground.
Ultrima was close enough for Karla to see the shocked expression on his face. He roared in frustration, and his claws dug into the metal cage, shaking the whole ute.
The movement was enough to knock Karla and the other’s over. Chase managed to catch the edge of the cage, and remain half standing.
Ultrima roared, and rattled the cage again, but Chase’s welds held, and the dragon wasn’t strong enough to lift the whole ute.
Karla’s blood froze at Ultrima’s scream of frustration as he lifted above the ute. He opened his claws, and another bolt of lightning hit the ute from point blank range. Chase released the side of the cage just in time. Everyone scrambled to their feet as the lightning fizzed aro
und them and dissipated.
When the air cleared, Ultrima was still directly above them.
They weren’t going to get a better chance.
“Hit him with everything we’ve got!” Karla screamed.
Adrenalin flooded her body, and she wasn’t aware of anything except the overwhelming urge to kill the Trima dragon. Was this how Taurian felt? No wonder he seemed so bloodthirsty.
Several more fireworks went off along with the guns, all trained on Ultrima. The sharp crack of the shotguns was music to Karla’s ears. She only wished she had a weapon of her own. It would be so satisfying to be the one hitting Ultrima right now.
A bullet punched a hole through one of his wings. Another grazed his leg. At least two buried themselves in his hide, knocking him backwards and out of the air.
As he tumbled head over tail, Karla’s crew let out a cheer, waving their guns in the air.
Karla almost felt like doing the same herself. This was a decisive victory, surely?
The other dragon battles halted as friend and enemy alike turned to look in their direction.
Everyone watched as Ultrima hit the ground with a thud. Everyone held their breath to see what would happen next.
The Trima dragons all flew towards their leader, clustering around him, hiding him from sight.
The Rian dragons regrouped near their lair for a few moments, before Taurian, his scales glistening in the sun, walked towards the ute, two other dragons flanking him.
Was this it? Was it over?
Somehow, Karla wasn’t quite ready to emerge from the cage yet.
There was a roar from the Trima dragons, and they parted to reveal Ultrima standing there. He was wounded, sure. Blood stained his silver hide in several places. But he wasn’t beaten. Not by a long shot.
The humans responded immediately, guns poking through the cage, ready to fire again.
“Stop!” Ultrima’s voice filled Karla’s head. “Enough fighting. Let’s discuss this as leaders and see if we can come to an agreement.”
Relief flooded Karla. They had won. Even though he hadn’t said the words, surely this was the equivalent of a surrender from Ultrima?
Karla looked over at Taurian, uncertain what to do. Had he received the message as well?