Slightly off balance was all Sean needed. As he streaked passed the struggling gray, Sean released a searing blast of fire into the belly of the enemy dragon. It was a perfect strike against the soft underbelly of the beast. Within seconds, his entire dragon body burst into flames as he spiraled out of control. He crashed hard into one of the barracks buildings below. Within seconds, it too burst into flames, leaving a fiery inferno no one in the building would survive.
Sean turned in time to see David closing on the other dragon that had been attacking Sean. A quick glance around showed Sean that David had already taken out the dragon he’d been fighting.
Trusting David to handle the remaining gray he was closing in on, Sean rushed to help Susan. She was desperately trying to keep three grays at bay, with her superior speed.
Sean could see she’d been singed along her back, as he approached the dragon belching flames at her from above. It struck Sean as a cowardly way to fight. He soared past the gray dragon, ripping a large hunk of back muscle off the creature with a vicious tearing motion.
The gray roared in pain as he turned to see what had attacked him. To his surprise, the powerful red dragon had already reversed direction, with a graceful arching movement. Before it could regain its balance, Sean blasted him with a red-hot ball of fire. The ball of fire struck the gray in the face, virtually melting its head, as it dropped from the sky.
Sean immediately arched away to his left; in case another dragon was on his tail. When he turned back to the sky battle, there were no grays coming toward him.
Susan had just broken one of the gray dragon’s neck with a fierce twisting motion of her powerful jaws. When he turned to fly to David’s defense, he saw the powerful brown dragon had just toasted the final gray they’d been fighting. He felt a surge of pride for how well the young dragons were faring in their first battle.
He felt a dragon approaching him from behind, but when he turned he realized it was Ashling coming to check on him. He knew grays shouldn’t be able to keep up with her, but he was happy to see she was safe.
The four dragons gathered together high above the compound. Ashling took one look at Susan’s scalded back and said, “I’m taking her into the woods to heal this. You two handle those last two dragons, who are still looking for our warriors.”
Ashling nudged Susan toward the woods. Susan was in terrible pain, but she was reluctant to leave the battle. “Go!” Ashling growled loudly. Susan knew better than to argue and meekly flew toward the cover of the woods.
Sean and David came at the unsuspecting dragons, hovering over the castle, and blasted them from both sides. The grays didn’t even have time to fight back before they were spiraling toward the ground, like twin balls of fire.
“You’d think they might look up once in a while,” David said.
“I’d rather fight a dumb dragon any day,” Sean said. “Let’s head for the woods and get ready to cover our warriors when they start the ground attack.”
* * *
Grainne felt a rush of scalding heat rush past her, as she continued her desperate climb into the sky. It was very hot, and the heat seemed to steal the air from her lungs.
The explosive strength of her spell was even more powerful than she’d anticipated. It buffeted her with burning hurricane-force winds. If she survived this explosion, there was no doubt in her mind that Rundimahair would be fatally wounded by such immense power.
She managed to soar high enough into the sky that she finally outran the reach of the incredibly powerful blast. Despite her great power, Grainne felt a bit weak and unsteady, as she leveled off and looked down at the valley below.
“It worked even better than I thought it would!” she cried out, as she looked at the cracked and burning magical shield. Everywhere she looked there were signs of the splintering and cracking of Ashling’s powerful shield.
Grainne circled away from the center of the blast and dove for the edges of the shield. It was apparent that it would soon be falling apart under the strain of the explosion. She forced herself to be calm and patient. This moment had been centuries in the making. She wanted to enjoy the success of her powerful shield busting spell.
She touched the minds of her squadron leaders and told them to advance on the shielded valley. As soon as the shield fell apart, Grainne wanted her troops attacking from all sides.
She instructed them to stay on the perimeter for now and not let anyone escape. She would lead the dragons on a sweep of the center of the city and force survivors out into the clutches of her ground forces.
When she reached the center of the shield, she could see large, jagged cracks, which were quickly spreading in all directions. She unleashed a series of powerful spells against the weakest points of the magical shield, anxious to see if finally collapse.
With her mind-to-mind communication, she warned her squadron leaders to be ready to fight. There would be desperate survivors trying to flee the city. Grainne didn’t want any resident of Rundimahair to escape.
With the unrelenting attack on the critically damaged shield, it finally broke open and collapsed from the center outward. Even from her height, Grainne could now hear the shouts and screams of her sworn blood enemies down below. It was like music to her evil, twisted soul.
* * *
Ashling had treated Susan’s severe burns with her best healing spells. She’d been surprised by the damage done to the young dragon’s back. A passing blast of fire from a gray dragon shouldn’t have done so much damage.
When she began exploring the wound more carefully, she felt a chill of dread touch her heart. There was more to the wound than just burns. This had the markings of a flesh-eating spell. Somehow, Grainne had embedded this spell into her dragon’s fire.
She’d quickly warned Sean and the other dragons to watch out for this if any other dragons appeared. They couldn’t allow their fire to touch them.
The other dragons and warriors were making quick work of destroying the rest of the complex. Now that the enemy dragon defenders were slain, it was only a matter of time.
After healing the damage from the flesh-eating spell, Ashling left their medics in charge of Susan, and the other wounded. She took to the skies as her dragon self. The scene below her was at once satisfying and heartbreaking.
The once beautiful and secure complex of housing, commercial and military structures, was going up in flames. She could also see desperate hand-to- hand combat going on below.
Ashling felt satisfaction in destroying the headquarters of an enemy bent on the destruction of her people. She also couldn’t help but feel great sorrow for the needless loss of life and property.
Even though the enemy was committed to destroying Ashling’s people, at one time they’d all been part of the same angelic Sidhe. The terrible waste broke her heart.
She and the other dragons searched for enemy troops that were not engaged in close up fighting with her warriors. Wherever there was sufficient space, they would sweep down from the sky and blast the bitter enemy with fiery destruction.
It was turning into a rout as their enemy began to flee. The dragons could have destroyed them to the last person, but Ashling couldn’t bring herself to kill unarmed, fleeing soldiers.
“Enough!” she called out forcefully, mind-to-mind, to her squadron leaders. “Gather our warriors to our planned point of departure.”
When Sean landed at the wooded departure point, he quickly joined with her in opening the portal that would take them home. Despite the weariness they both felt, the portal opened smoothly and began to grow. They would soon be on their way home.
* * *
Something was not right about what was emerging from the smoky destruction below her. She could hear the screams of her enemy and see shadowy forms running in all directions in apparent panic. What was wrong was that she couldn’t feel their fear.
Grainne had reached out to touch the minds of the long-hated enemy. While there was a general feeling of panic and despair, she
couldn’t pin down individual fear or terror. It just felt wrong to her. A growing fear and anger began to build in her black heart as she finally shouted, “No!”
Without waiting for the smoky haze to clear below her, she streaked down through the broken shield and stayed low to the ground.
It only took her a few minutes to realize her worst fears were true. This wasn’t Rundimahair, and none of her hated enemies were dying and fleeing for their lives. She had been well and truly duped by Ashling.
She quickly pulled up and out of the broken shell of a shield and into the clear air above. With barely contained rage burning in her heart, she reached out to touch Carla’s mind. Grainne wanted someone to blame for this disaster, and Carla was going to be her scapegoat. After all, she was the one who’d brought Grainne here and convinced her this was Rundimahair.
After several unsuccessful attempts to contact Carla in Ireland, she reached out to contact her military leaders. A growing sense of dread touched her dark heart when she continued to get no response.
Grainne forced herself to stay calm as she continued to reach out to her generals. Finally, she felt a weak connection to one of her squadron leaders. She boosted her power with a fierce blow of magic and could finally hear his response from her Ireland headquarters.
“Under attack…everything on fire…dragons in the sky…soldiers everywhere…”
Her connection to his mind was suddenly cut off and she could no longer sense his life force. Was that why she couldn’t reach her other military leaders? Were they all dead?
The magnitude of the great deception engulfed her, and she realized what Ashling had done. She ripped open a portal, pushing herself too hard because of the fierce anger and fear that controlled her thoughts.
The other dragons and soldiers quickly responded to her angry call to the portal. As they arrived, she pushed them hard to pass through the portal. Finally, she and the other dragons passed through and the hastily constructed portal quickly closed behind them.
* * *
Ashling was just pushing the last of their warriors through the portal, when a black hole opened in the sky above the ruined compound.
A rush of gray dragons flew out of the unsteady portal, followed by a surge of ground troops close behind. The problem with bringing ground troops through the portal was quickly evident when they realized the portal had opened two hundred feet above the ground.
Dozens of Grainne’s troops fell to their death, but she was beyond caring. She ordered her dragons to follow her into the woods. She sensed that Ashling was still in the forest, and that was all that mattered to her now.
The remaining troops had managed to stop from falling out of the front of the portal, but it only delayed the inevitable ending. The poorly constructed portal began to close because Grainne was no longer there to support it.
Within minutes it collapsed and the remainder of her troops were crushed to cosmic dust. The only saving grace was that none of them had time to suffer.
All of this was lost on Grainne as she and ten dragons bore down on the location of Ashling’s portal. If she could just catch and destroy Ashling, it would pull a great victory from the jaws of humiliating defeat.
* * *
Because Grainne was livid with rage, she hadn’t properly masked her arrival. Ashling and Sean both sensed her at nearly the same moment.
“Something went wrong,” Ashling said urgently, “Grainne is back.”
“Not just her,” Sean said. “I sense a pile of dragons with her.”
Ashling was quiet for a moment before nodding her agreement. “I sense ten dragons plus Grainne’s big black monster.”
“Sounds right,” Sean agreed.
“It’s me that she’s focused in on,” Ashling said. “You stay here and finish getting everyone through the portal, Sean. I’ll lead them away from here to give you time.”
“Not a chance in hell that is going to happen,” Sean said forcefully. “Susan and General Mahoney will stay here and make sure everyone gets out safely. You and I and David will keep the dragons busy.”
“I’m in charge here, Sean. You’ll do as I say,” Ashling said, a tone of desperation in her words.
By way of response, Sean turned to David and asked, “You coming with me, big brownie?”
“I will if you promise to never call me that again,” David said, with a grim smile.
“You’ve got a deal,” Sean said as he morphed into his dragon self and streaked into the dark sky.
“Sean!” Ashling cried out in a mixture of anger and fear.
“You’re wasting time, Commander,” General Mahoney said.
“They need you up there. We’ve got this covered,” Susan said.
Ashling hesitated a moment longer before realizing they were right. “Thank you both and get everyone home safe!” She shouted as she morphed into her dragon self and exploded into the sky.
She noticed immediately that there were only seven enemy dragons still in the sky above her. Sean and David must have surprised the enemy dragons with their sudden appearance. Taking a quick glance below her, Ashling saw one of the grays, falling to the ground, as a streaking ball of fire.
Ashling decided to take the same approach, as she rushed by several of the dragons trying to corner David, while Sean engaged in battle with Grainne. It would have to be a hit-and-run strategy, where she would engage the other dragons momentarily and then strike at Grainne. She had to keep the black dragon off balance, or she would take Sean down. He simply didn’t have the experience to fight the dark angel alone.
With a power born of desperation and anger, Ashling ripped through two of the grays trying to attack David from behind and above. It was their enemy’s typical style of cowardly fighting, but it was also effective.
She reached out with her long, sharp claws and ripped deep into the back of both grays without slowing much at all. There was a satisfying sense of flesh being torn asunder, as she continued forward and unleashed a fierce ball of fire into the face of the surprised dragon facing David.
In seconds, she’d managed to disable or kill all three dragons, while continuing to streak toward Grainne.
David only had a moment to admire her incredible fighting skill, while he finished off the two badly injured grays. Before he could take time to admire his own fighting ability, two more grays attacked him. The remaining two dragons pursued Ashling. They all knew she was the one Grainne wanted dead.
Sean was desperately trying to stay calm in the face of the black dragon’s assault. He knew he couldn’t fight her one-on-one for very long. He understood that he was outmatched. If he didn’t fully comprehend it before, he certainly did after fighting with her for a few minutes.
He could sense the immense fury in her attack strategy. There was nothing subtle about it. She was trying to overpower him and crush him to dust. If she couldn’t do that, she would settle for turning him into burnt toast. Sean sensed that her almost out-of-control wrath was keeping her from using some of her more subtle fighting skills.
So far, he’d only survived by sticking and moving. He used his own incredible speed to avoid a fiery finish to his life. Eventually, she’d figure out his strategy, but he hoped help would arrive before then.
Ashling tried to flash by Grainne and rake her back with her claws, as she’d done to the two grays. Despite her being preoccupied with battling Sean, the mighty black dragon arched into an impossibly tight loop and unleashed a fearsome stream of fire at Ashling as she rushed by.
It was only Ashling’s stunning speed that saved her from taking a mortal wound from the belch of red hot fire. She saw Sean crash into Grainne from the side to keep the black dragon from following up on her attack on Ashling. When Sean arched away, he felt claws rip into the side of his left leg, leaving behind an incredible burning pain.
Grainne tried to follow up her success by blasting him with a ball of fire. Ashling managed to slash a cut in Grainne’s side with the razor-sharp tip of her heavy
tail. It was enough to turn the great black dragon’s attention fully on her.
Sean turned to do another fly by attack on Grainne while her attention was on Ashling, but he was suddenly hit from the side by one of the gray’s that had been fighting David. A burst of fear touched Sean’s mind for David’s safety, but he had no chance to even look that direction.
Claws dug into his left leg and pain exploded in this mind. Following his survival instinct, he dropped suddenly, which pulled the gray’s claw from his leg. The pain was almost mind-numbing, but at least he was free.
Sean turned and unleashed a streak of fire at the gray, but this dragon had learned to be cautious, after seeing so many of his fellow grays fall from the sky. He’d managed to pull up suddenly when Sean had dropped away from him. The belch of fire from Sean had blown into empty air where the gray had been.
The final gray who’d pulled away from fighting Sean was now closing in on Ashling. Helping Grainne defeat Ashling seemed to be his new priority.
When Sean saw that Ashling was in serious trouble he forgot about the burning pain in his leg and exploded upward with a surprising burst of speed. The gray he’d been fighting thought Sean was seriously injured and therefore less of a threat.
Even so, the gray dragon managed to avoid Sean’s sudden burst of fire, as he shot by the surprised dragon. The gray went into defense mode and kept some distance between Sean and himself. He knew the longer Sean fought with his badly wounded leg the weaker he’d become.
Ashling too had taken an injury when the final gray dragon flashed by her. With Grainne relentlessly pressing her attack, Ashling hadn’t had time to look around her.
Rundimahair: A new hero for a new adventure Page 25