“It will be a fantastic story to tell our many, many children.” She stroked the side of my face with her slim gauntleted hand, grinning coquettishly. “Now here’s the plan…you distract him and I will do the rest.”
I groaned. “Well, I really hate that plan, but I guess I don’t have a better one. Just remember, I don’t know to what extent even Winya is going to be able to pierce that armor. If it turns out she can’t, promise me that you will give this up. We need both the Child of Darkness and the Child of Light to defeat the Duke. One or both of us getting eaten will not further the cause.”
“Yeah, yeah…sure, sure,” Maya tittered, reaching up on her toes to give me one last peck on the lips and then put her helm back on. “Shhhh, he’s getting closer.”
I watched her step out from under the deadfall and leap into the air, instantly fading from view as Winya triggered the suit’s enchantments. A few seconds later, she was gone and even my enhanced vision couldn’t track her.
Ok, great. What would distract a ten-ton behemoth with a really bad attitude? Cautiously, I unsheathed my war hammer and took to the air, straining my ears to try and locate the white’s current position. It wasn’t too hard; he actually made a lot of noise in flight. At the moment, he was flying in a loose circle and occasionally sending an icy blast randomly into the forest. Beating my wings softly, I rose up into the peaks of the great trees, cruising just below the tops.
With a slight push, I popped up and spotted him moving away from me, the tip of his long tail swishing back and forth only a few feet from my head. Believe me, the view from this end of an adult male dragon is anything but gorgeous. Re-sheathing my hammer, I extended my loaded gauntlet and fired three steel bolts at the soft, fleshy parts beneath the tail.
Now, normally, the ordinary non-magical steel bolts would ding off a dragon’s hide so easily he might not even notice; but amazingly, this simple act of defiance caught his attention very well. With a super-cooled screech of blind rage, he whipped around and fired a massive boiling cloud of ice over the tops of the trees.
My top half caught a glancing blast as I instantly dropped like a rock back down into the cover of the forest. Even in my armor with its undersuit, I felt a distinct chill as I rolled over and bolted for ground level, turning ninety degrees to the left as I descended frantically. As I got closer to the ground and the warmer, denser air, I noticed frost steaming off my armor in a contrail behind me. A little voice in the back of my head wondered if the icy dragon breath could cause even my armor to become brittle enough to shatter; best not to find out…
Flying hard and dodging trees, I tried to put some distance between us. Unfortunately, he had the high ground advantage and was flying clear of obstructions above the tree tops. Another wave of frost lashed out at me from above. My wider field of raptor vision warned me barely in time to dodge as the trees around me took the bulk of the damage, spewing out bark shards and sending limbs cascading to the ground noisily.
Practically flying sideways, I ducked into a particularly dense area, which I hoped would shield me from his view. Once in, I changed directions again and then again a minute later staying low to the ground. Above me, the beast slowed up perceptibly, his huge grayish-white head with flared nostrils sweeping back and forth trying to pick up either my scent or a visual.
The dragon and I followed this strange dance of fox and hare for several minutes. He didn’t dare follow me into the heavy woods, but I couldn’t face him directly above the trees either. Sighing, I contented myself with doing my job and being bait, trusting in my dark elf mate.
I found a particularly effective method was to fly a short ways out from him staying down low near the forest floor. I would glow up my wings brightly for a few moments, then darken and change course immediately. I imagined it looked pretty impressive to see the forest light up like a paper party lantern. In any case, whether it was the effects of the Nova’s holy light or just frustration about what I was doing, I held the white’s angry full attention admirably.
“Gotcha!” I heard Maya’s thoughts across Winya’s link.
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Maya
Alex was doing a superb job of keeping the monster agitated and flying slowly in a search pattern, ideal for my purposes. As I clamped my legs down on either side of its broad neck just behind its scaly head, I’m pretty sure he didn’t even notice at first. I retracted my wings and Winya activated my cling enchantments, which effectively glued me to the beast. For better or worse, I was now committed. I spared a quick glance at the canopy below admiring Alex’s light show, but now it was my turn.
Drawing my sword, I breathed, “Winya, let’s see if we can end this in one shot; give me your best effort!”
The words ‘Winya Coia’ on the side of my weapon flashed brightly as I brought her down in a slash right where the neck and head met. Sparks flew off in a sparkling wave, and the beast’s neck scales were scored deeply, but nothing penetrated into actual dragon flesh.
“Ow!” Winya complained. “That really hurt! Better hold on.” With a roar that I’m sure could have been clearly heard ten miles away, the white thrashed its serpent head around trying to find its tormentor. It could reach just about anywhere, but not the spot where I sat.
“Ok, Winya, how should we do this then? Any ideas?” I noticed that Alex was energetically trying to increase the frequency of his light show in the trees below, in an attempt to draw the beast’s attention.
“Maya, if a dragon’s scales are anything like a fish, they are only attached by a flat flap at the top of the scale and then the overlap helps hold them in place. See if you can slide my tip under a scale, and maybe we can sever the flap holding it.”
The white had calmed down somewhat and was again tracking Alex; I suppose because I really hadn’t managed to hurt him yet. I did as my sword and best friend suggested. After getting her into position, I jabbed her forward and was rewarded with a ‘snickt’ sound. One of the small leaf-shaped scales detached and was caught by the wind and vanished behind us. To my dismay, it appeared there was another layer of scales below the outer one; this could take a while.
Meanwhile, the dragon had made the difficult mental calculation that perhaps the object on its neck was more of a threat than the light show in the forest. Changing course, he started to fly through the tops of some of the tallest trees in an effort to scrape me off.
By this time, Winya and I had a system of sorts going, and we were harvesting two or three scales a minute. We had a couple close calls with trees, but the dragon couldn’t dislodge me without first clocking himself in the face with the trunk, and he wasn’t that committed yet.
Roaring, he changed tactics and vaulted higher into the sky and inverted himself. I dangled upside down for a bit, but my cling enchantments held me firmly; and besides, I really wasn’t afraid of heights anymore. Winya and I continued to plug away, and I was starting to see a material that looked more like a mottled, warty hide being revealed where the scales were removed.
Vibrating with rage, the dragon thrashed around some more, and then he dove sharply. Close to the foothills near Xarparion there is a small but deep lake fed constantly by icy run off from the outlying mountains, and he was headed straight for it. Oh-oh…
“We need to work faster, my girl! I don’t like the direction this is taking!” I gasped, the lake getting bigger and bigger.
“Maya, another ten scales or so and we should be able to make a stab at the weird hide stuff. Get it? Make a stab? Wow, no one appreciates good sword humor around here.”
“Believe me, I will appreciate the hell out of you, after we kill this thing,” I gritted, the wind rushing past me so fast my eyes were tearing up and the air was whistling loudly through my suit.
“Um…Maya, I’m retreating back into the suit so you don’t lose me.”
“What? Why?”
“Brace yourself; impacting the lake in three, two, one…,” Winya intoned softly
.
I felt a body slam hit me like a giant’s fist. Had it not been for the cling enchantment, I would have tumbled back down the spinal ridge of the dragon’s back and been lost. Shaking my head to clear it, I felt panic set in momentarily; I could see myself drowning in this icy tomb.
Forcing myself to open my eyes, I saw bubbles, waterlogged tree limbs and fish flashing by, as well as the light of the surface retreating to a small golden orb above. Strangely, the choking heaviness of water did not seem to be filling my suit or my throat. In fact, I gratefully found I could still breathe just fine.
“Wow, I never saw that one before,” Winya said in awe. “The suit sealed itself up just as you entered the water; there are even lenses over your eye slits.”
Briefly overwhelmed and amazed, I gave myself a few moments to just look around in awe. The lake was a huge bowl, with lofty cathedrals of downed logs and trees, each elegantly covered by strands of iridescent weeds. Schools of brightly colored fish dodged out of our way as the dragon implacably cruised around. High above us, the sun could only penetrate so far into the depths, but individual rays did occasionally lance down like spear points in the gloom. The white dragon made a few half-hearted attempts to scrape me off on sunken timbers, but again with no success.
“It’s so beautiful down here, Winya. How is it that I’m not drowning?”
“Another of Alex and Nia’s special design features that they didn’t tell us about, I suppose,” Winya growled in a minor snit.
I couldn’t help myself, and I started giggling madly. “Alex Martin–oh, how I love you,” I shouted gleefully into the suit. “Now let’s get back to work, girl!”
The dragon swam around for a few more minutes. I could almost feel its body sag in disappointment that I hadn’t drowned or let go. Finally, it must have decided on yet another course of action as it swam into the shallows and used its huge back legs to blast itself out of the water and back into the air. Once airborne, it flew erratically for a while, twisting around and snapping those eight-inch incisors emptily in the air. For my part, I watched as the lenses over my eye slots retracted and the holes in my armor allowed fresh air to flow again. Ah, now that’s better.
The dragon was still flying like he had a burr in his butt. I could only assume that with the water penetrating his scales, he could now feel that something was exposed on his neck; and didn’t like it one bit. With another trumpeting bellow, the huge beast glided down to land in a small alfalfa field a mile or so from the walls of Xarparion.
Suddenly, I felt strong, armored hands grasp me around the waist as Alex settled onto the dragon behind me and retracted his wings.
“Alex, where did you come from and what are you doing here? I don’t need any help,” I said defensively as Winya and I continued to dig at the white’s neck scales.
“I’ve been following and watching, sweetheart; and I really do think you are about to need my help,” he answered, pointing at the dragon. A few seconds later, I was extremely grateful for his assistance as the dragon planted its butt down and reached up with its scythe-shaped hind foot claws and tried to scratch us off like a dog scratching at ear fleas. Alex’s massive shield came up, and we were both nestled safely behind it while the claws raked it from the other side relentlessly, the metal screeching madly in protest. All the while, I worked feverishly to clear the last of the scales from the dragon’s neck.
Another attempt failed; the big white growled irritably and leapt once more into the air. The air catching under his leathery wings sounded like war drums. He took us up high this time; and I’ll have to admit, he was a magnificently powerful beast. Here he was carrying both Alex and me in our full suits of armor on its neck, and we weren’t slowing him down in the least. In a few minutes, we were a couple miles high, and the lake below looked like a mug of water sitting on a very large table.
“That should do it, Maya,” Winya voiced her opinion through the link. “I have slit the warty hide and, hopefully, we can damage the spine from here.”
“We would have the best shot if the neck was fully extended though. That way the vertebrae are at their widest apart,” I reasoned.
“Well, if that’s all you need,” Alex laughed easily, “I can help with that.” He strapped his shield to the side of his arm and pushed himself back away from me, unfurling his wings as he did. With a wind assisted whoosh of air, he was gone and well behind us.
Dragon eyes have an even wider range of vision than a raptor. Along with the sudden lifting of weight from his neck, the big dragon noticed Alex’s departure right away. Growling fiercely, it banked sharply and gave chase. Pursued and pursuer both plummeted down quickly, Alex flapping his magnificent white wings as the wind raced past him. Normally, Alex would be faster, but the sheer weight of the dragon allowed him to make up ground in a straight dive. Still, my mate had enough of a lead that I judged he would easily make the safety of the forest before falling prey to the snapping jaws of the cold beast.
The white must have come to the same conclusion, and I felt him tense up and hunch his back slightly, readying for a blast of ice breath.
“Ready, Winya?”
“Oh, yeah!”
The white dragon’s back hunched like a spring and then he vomited massive gouts of sheer white flame-like ice. His neck extended like a honking goose as it sought to put everything it had left into the attack. Rising up in the ‘saddle’ a bit, I carefully guided Winya’s tip down through the slit in the dense hide; and with a scream of martial fury, I slammed my sword down with all my strength.
I felt the blade tear through flesh, muscle and scrape past the bony neck joints. With a vicious, sideways twist, I made sure that not even the neck muscles of a dragon would be enough to keep this beast functioning. A few quick sawing motions up and down broke through gristle and arteries alike, and I watched with satisfaction as the great orbs it had for eyes dimmed and finally flickered out. The head slumped down, blood dripping and blowing back, splattering across the body of the creature.
I extended my own wings and disengaged, watching in fascination as the dragon spiraled down, unguided, and crashed into the tops of the trees below. He sheared the tops of the huge trees off, but then came to a halt, impaled on a ragged stump of an ancient white pine sixty feet or more off the ground. Winya and I screamed a dark elf victory yell high above Xarparion, which echoed across the entire valley.
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Alex
Ok, maybe I was a little cocky and might possibly have been showing off for Maya’s benefit a little, but I really didn’t think the dragon could touch me at this range. Apparently, they can ‘push’ their breath weapon a bit farther if they give up some damage for range. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that. But the reduced effectiveness of the trade-off probably saved my life. One minute I was diving and about to flash down into the deep woods, and the next I am enveloped in a whiteout. The cold hit me hard, causing my wing joints to lock up and made my armor impossible to flex or move. When my mage vision cleared, I had the sickening realization that I was plummeting out of control toward the treetops at an amazing rate of speed.
Unable to move, I did the only thing that came to mind, I glowed.
“Glow harder, Alex,” Winya advised excitedly in my mind, “I think it is working!”
How exactly does one ‘glow harder’? Anyway, I tried doing what she said, but it’s difficult to envision warm, bright sun-filled afternoons when one’s teeth are chattering. My body was crashing through the tops of the white pines, when it seemed like sensation started coming back to my wings. Searing pain is a sensation, right? At least pine branches typically sweep downward. If this was an oak forest, I would already be dead.
“Concentrate, Alex! Flap! Pull out of it!” Winya screamed.
I imagined myself flying just tens of feet off the ground, the lift of my wings carrying me gently to the forest floor…just as a giant fern-covered wall rushed toward me, blocking out all view
but it, which was the last thing I remembered.
When I next saw some light in the darkness, I rested a little, gaining strength. After what seemed like a long while, my vision returned, somewhat shakily at first. But this was real vision, not mage sight. I was lying on the ground, my wings a busted up mess, feathers everywhere. At least my head was resting on the lap of a very, very concerned-looking gorgeous dark elf lass. Gazing fondly up at her face, I noticed that she was trying to smile and wipe the last stray tears from her dusky cheeks at the same time.
“So…how are you feeling, Magic Boy?” she sniffled, her voice catching ever so slightly.
“Better now,” I whispered as I watched her eyes and the soft way she looked at me.
“Are you up to going home?”
“Yeah, sure.” I grimaced as I attempted to roll off her lap and get to my knees. That’s when the pain in my head struck and threatened to put me back down in a hurry. I took some deep breaths, and with Maya’s help, got to my feet and looked around for the first time. The forest, at least in this area, was completely trashed. Broken tree limbs, needles, pine cones and bark littered the ground in piles of debris. A few feet away, there was a large deep hole in the ground. Feeling a little better, my sense of humor attempted to make a comeback as well.
“What did you dig the hole for? In case I didn’t wake up, you wouldn’t have to drag the body all the way back to Sky Raven?” I joked.
White hot anger swept across my dark elf mate’s face as she sobbed haltingly and slapped my breastplate hard enough to break ribs on a normal human.
“I didn’t dig the hole, you clueless idiot, you did! Like with your body! Anyone else would be dead right now from a fall like that. But you don’t even have any broken bones, you’re just bruised up and your wings are shredded.”
Wincing, I moved my arms and tried to stretch out my wings; every movement burned like fire. “Umm, I don’t see Alera around. How do you know all this?” I asked, trying to take it all in and calm her down at the same time.
Heir To The Nova (Book 3) Page 21