Serpentine Risen

by C. K. Rieke

  “That can’t be . . .” Roren said. “That’s too big to be her . . .”

  “Herradax?” Fewn asked. “Couldn’t be, but, it sort of looks like her.”

  The dragon as it glided down to them with wide wings rippling in the storm, its neck was long, and its head was large with sharp yellow teeth. Atop its head were curled horns on its gray scales, and where Herradax had had three red stripes on its back, this dragon now had five. “Herradax!”

  “Is it her?” Burr asked. “Blessed be the mighty. We could use your aid, girl!”

  The six dragons before them, still seemed to be as stunned as Lilaci and the others.

  “Even being dragons,” Burr said, “I’d wager these resurrected dragons, even under their spell, haven’t seen a new dragon fly the skies of the Arr in a long time. I’m not sure they know what to do with it.”

  “They seem to be considering if it is a friend, or family,” Gogenanth said. “I’ve not heard tales of the dragons fighting wars between themselves. They’d fight over gold, but not to the death. This may be new to them too.”

  Herradax ripped through the air at an astonishing speed and landed on the sand directly next to Lilaci, and the ground seemed to crack under the weight of the mighty dragon. It didn’t roar but glared at the other six dragons, she seemed perplexed by the aged, sharp faces of the dragons with their wings torn, protruding rib bones and even the ends of spears sticking from their sides and tails. Herradax seemed to feel sorry for them, but perhaps Lilaci was mistaken in that assumption, because then the largest of the dragons, a dragon of a dull-black sheen, glazed yellow eyes, and with milky-white horns by the hundreds down its back let out a call to Herradax, which caused her to recoil, she seemed confused.

  “They’re talking,” Fewn said. “Look at the size of her.” Herradax was now twice the size she had been the last time they’d seen her, only but less than a week ago when Dânoz caused the canyon to form. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

  Herradax then barked back, it looked almost to Lilaci like a child talking back to an elder, almost in a disrespectful way. The big, dull-black dragon then looked to the other five, as if it looked for some sort of affirmation, or agreement. A horrible, disdained scowl appeared on the face of the big dragon and it let out a deafening roar toward Herradax, who surprisingly, even at only half the size of the dragon, didn’t flinch, and she didn’t recoil . . . Instead, Herradax took a large step forward with her long claws raking the ground in the sandstorm. A shot of lightning surged into the ground to their side. In unison with the thunder, Herradax let out a snarl that seemed other-worldly. Lilaci couldn’t believe such a sound could come from the dragon she’d known since she was a baby.

  “She’s magnificent,” Roren said, his eyes opened wide at the sight of her.

  “Aye boy, she is,” Burr added with a grin.

  “Well, I think it’s decided,” Fewn said. “I don’t think they like each other.”

  Herradax pawed at the ground in the storm then, her long, wide tail swaying from side to side. The other six dragons barked and snarled back at her.

  “Here we go,” Lilaci said. “Ready?” She looked back at the others, each with their weapons fixed in their hands, and each with the stone-cold look of hardened warriors in their eyes. “Good, then here we go. Ready—for Kera! Charge!”

  In a rush of speed, Lilaci shot forth at the dragons. They didn’t hesitate as they saw her sprinting forward at a staggering pace, all six of them lowered their serpentine necks and fixed their eyes intensely on her. Herradax was quick behind her too, dropping to all four of its legs like hardened tree trunks. She let out a menacing hiss as her long dragon’s teeth readied themselves to sink deep into aged dragon flesh.

  With sword in one hand, and the magic of the Sanzoral firmly within her other, she ran straight at the lead dragon, its giant body heaved from side to side, waiting for her approach. The others ran after her, each running into a battle the likes of which no man or woman had done in the desert for a very, very long time. Lilaci fixed her sword at her side, and with a brush of her other wrist she sent up a swath of sand at the dragons in the pouring deluge and lightning storm. She knew the sand wouldn’t cause harm, but she half-expected it to blind them if only temporarily. It seemed to work, as the big dragon with the black-sheen scales winced its head back and shut its eyes.

  Lilaci watched as Herradax left the ground and swept past her, with the dragon’s mighty wings outstretched. With a screeching roar, she fell onto the large dragon with her claws digging into its wings and neck. She crashed into it with a force that nearly sent the larger dragon careening over. Herradax clawed at the dragon, its eyes now open and biting at the younger dragon’s neck. The other five dragons shot their gaze at Herradax, one-third the size of the adult, and they moved to attack.

  Lilaci, now almost upon them, let out a burst of flame, pointed in their direction. The violet flames erupted with ripping heat that blew onto the dragons to the right of Herradax, pushing them back, but not appearing to burn them. As Herradax and the big yellow-eyed dragon roared, clawing and biting at each other in a clash of raging fury and dripping blood.

  The two dragons to the left of Herradax’s fight; one a dark red hue, and the other a dark green with black scales on its wings, were about to enter the fray with the largest of the dragons and would quickly overpower the young dragon. Lilaci spewed out flames at the three dragons to the right of Herradax, but saw Gogenanth at the lead, and with a great leap—pounced onto the red dragon. The dragon saw his approach but seemed not to expect the big man to attack so quickly, and with such tenacity. Gogenanth’s scimitar fell hard onto the dragon's shoulder that connected to the large wing. It deflected with a ringing sound, but he immediately went on to hammer the sharp sword down again. What a furious warrior you’ve become Gogenanth. I don’t remember the last time I saw such fearlessness. Blow after blow made the shoulder of the red dragon drop down further and further, but still there was no sign of dragon blood . . . That was until Ezmerelda, who Lilaci hadn’t even noticed, had slyly slipped under the dragon's wing and sent her golden sword up through the armpit of the beast beneath the shoulder and slid her pointed sword clean through, and with another solid swipe down with his scimitar Gogenanth pounded down on the wing again, cutting into the tense muscle and dense bone of the beast. It let out a great screech of anguish and sent its tail curling around, knocking into Gogenanth’s side and propelling him off the dragon and through the air to land roughly on his side.

  The red dragon didn’t find reprieve though, with Fewn quickly up upon its back, hacking quickly at the injury of the dragon—fresh blood staining her blade. Behind her, Burr had taken up his bow and pulled back an arrow of Whitewood and sent it flying at the dark green dragon. It ricocheted off with a high-pitched ring like chipped glass and drew the dragon’s attention directly at him. Roren ran headlong at the green dragon, and with a hearty battle cry, flung himself toward the beast, heaving his sword sideways at the great dragon’s head shot at him, ready to bite with its nasty teeth. He hit it away, narrowly evading the bite. He was up again quickly, pounded by the pouring rain. Thunder boomed in the dying light of the quickly-vanishing sun.

  Herradax roared in pain from a monstrous bite on the neck by the large dragon, and with a strong pull by the neck of the big dragon, it threw Herradax to the ground with a mighty thud. Her eyes shot up to the gray dragon with a wild ferocity, and she was quickly up again. She lunged at the biggest of the dragons, attempting to knock it over, but she only managed to push it back, and she quickly found herself back in the clutches of the powerful, adult dragon. She sunk her teeth into the larger dragon’s neck, ripping a small chuck from the strong gray neck, spitting it to the ground.

  She may be smaller, but it appears that she’s ‘healthier’ than the newly-raised dragons from the dead. Where her scales are thick and resilient, theirs appear to be brittle—at least for dragonscale. Come on Herradax, unleash your hunter instinct! Kill it! />
  Meanwhile, Lilaci’s magic was quickly losing effect, and the hot, purple flames of her fire and the rushing sands weren’t keeping the remaining three dragons at bay. Instead, one, another dull red dragon with sharp scales and long brown horns on its head and neck ran at her. The other two were heading for Herradax. She went to a defensive stance with her feet out wide, and her sword affixed in her hand.

  “Gogenanth!” she called in the rushing winds. “They’re going to overwhelm her.”

  His green eyes shot to her, and then to the young dragon. He didn’t respond but went bounding with long strides toward the violent storm of thrashing dragons, as they clawed and pummeled each other with all of their strength. An arrow shot at the large dragon’s head, chipping a single scale from it, and its sinister yellow eyes beamed down at Burr.

  And as the battle quickly raged, Lilaci saw that Ezmerelda and Fewn were defending themselves from one dragon, Roren was fighting another, Herradax and Gogenanth were about to be in a fight with three, and Lilaci had another heading right for her.

  This isn’t going to work out for us, each of us is overpowered by the dragons, and we are spread too thinly fighting like this. At any moment a dragon could let out a quick breath of fire and our numbers would be down, and I’d lose a friend. I’ve got to figure another way. For the moment we are holding our own, but I fear the tide is about to shift for us. Once the dragons get their bearings back and regain their strength, I’m afraid even me with the Sanzoral won’t be able to withstand the full force of a single dragon, let along six. And if Herradax falls, then I fear there will be no hope for us. We’ve got to find another way to fight, a different way to battle the dragons . . .

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Sharp dragon claws tore through tough scales, sliding their way in between the brittle scales of the resurrected largest of the dragons—ripping and tearing. Herradax ferociously clawed and bit at the big gray one. She was a wild beast herself. Even only recently being born, she unleashed a whirlwind of misery upon the fully-formed adult. The young dragon ripped through the much larger one’s wings and had caused many, bloody bite marks on the long neck of the older dragon. Herradax herself had long streaks of fresh, dark red blood of her own, running down her body.

  As the two dragons battled, neither of them showing any signs of fatigue, the last two of the dragons—one as black as night with white-pupiled eyes, and one of a fiery-orange scale with streaks of red on the backs of its wings—fell onto Herradax and the big dragon with a thunderous crash. The two dragons bit and clawed at Herradax, and she let out a monstrous roar as she hit the ground on her side. She writhed and tried to wriggle free out from underneath the heavy dragons. Screeching and biting she attacked from underneath the unrelenting dragons as they cut into her with their sharp teeth and claws.

  With a rush of great momentum, in from the side, Gogenanth collided into the side of the black dragon. With all his might he sent his shoulder raging into it, and to the dragon’s surprise, he was able to topple it from the pile on top of Herradax. An arrow went coursing through the air and ripped through the orange dragon’s wing, tearing a fresh hole in the already torn hide. Its gaze darted to Burr, who was encircling the battle, letting loose arrows as he did so. Each arrow may have done little damage, but they did a splendid job of distracting an already-angry dragon.

  The red dragon with the wood-like horns and sharp scales who’d been charging at Lilaci opened its great jaws and sent them snapping at her, just as she sent up a dense wall of sand and went running to the left. She was staring at the red dragon who Fewn and Ezmerelda were fighting. They’d been busy just trying to dodge the mighty swipes of the dragon’s great wings and attempting to get a blow in when the opportunity arose. But Lilaci saw the dragon’s chest expanding, and hints of smoke curled out of the beast’s mouth. Its hind legs with scales spotted with black dug into the ground.

  “Fewn,” she called as she ran toward her. “Get down, dragonfire!”

  Fewn looked up to see the dragon poising up on its back legs and smoke billowed up from deep in its throat as its chest lit with brimming fire from deep within. She quickly grabbed Ezmerelda by the wrist and tugged her toward Roren, who was fighting the green dragon.

  Lilaci knelt and called the Sanzoral to her. Her entire arm was soon ablaze with the violet flame, and she sent out a blaze of heat between the red dragon and her friends. Just as the fire rushed out, the dragon let out an inferno of its own fire, and Lilaci had to shield her face from the heat, even at her distance. The dragonfire, a savage inferno of blinding white flame laced with bright oranges and yellows fell onto the fire of her Sanzoral. Lilaci felt like the fire ripped into her mind as her magic repelled the flames from her friends as they continued attacking and defending against the green dragon. The dragonfire lit the area in a flashing, intense light as the sound of the dragonfire attracted the gaze of all in battle.

  The dragonfire died down, and the red dragon, appearing brimming with energy, quickly ran to the others who were fighting the green one. Lilaci however, felt the drain and exhaustion. She was breathing in deep, heavy breaths as the rains beat down on her. Lightning ripped through the sky above in the thick, dark clouds.

  Are you watching this, Dânoz? I’m sure you are! I hope you’re enjoying yourself on your throne of gold, too afraid to come fight us yourself! She rose to her feet then, hefting her sword back in her hands toward the red dragon with the brown spikes that was stalking her. Come now, if I’m going to die in this battle, I’m at least gonna take one of these bitches down with me.

  The mighty dragon lunged at her, and her to it. As it bit down where it expected her to be, she slashed at its eyes with the sword she’d found in Kôrran’s cave. It only slid across the tough scales, but as she leaped up, tucking her knees up to her chest, she found the bottom of her boots atop the dragon’s nostrils and with another quick pounce made her way along the dragon’s neck. It curled its head back, and from under her feet, she could already feel the dragon’s lungs expanding. Lilaci, in the mere seconds she had before the dragonfire would emerge from the maw of the beast, found a loose scale on the right side of its midsection. She put her other hand on the end of the grip of her sword, pointed it downwards, and with all of her might thrust it down onto the scale which hung from the dragon’s side.

  The blaze of fire that erupted from that blow caught Lilaci completely off-guard, and she didn’t even have time to summon the Sanzoral to protect her. The dragonfire exploded out of the side of the red dragon with a boom and the mighty beast was blasted to its side. The fire shot into the air, nearly burning her to ash, but even though she didn’t have the time to summon her magic, she let go of the grip of her sword and rolled down the back of the beast, along its tail as the inferno rose to the sky like an erupting volcano.

  I must’ve hit the lung, or wherever the fire came from. The dragon’s in agony, it looks like its dying. The way its eyes are rolled back, and the way it's thrashing. Thank god for that scale.

  Lilaci drew her dagger from her back, and as the fire faded from the insides of the red dragon, she clawed her way back up, holding onto each brown horn. As she came up the neck and saw the black eyes glaring at her as it lifted its head, she took the dagger up with both hands and sent it down into its right eye. She sent it down with all the strength she had, and it plunged deep into its head. She removed it quickly and leaped away as it wriggled and writhed. Blinded in one eye, and gravely wounded she ran over to the injury to grab her sword from in between the monster’s ribs. She expected the sword to be a withered, melted piece of metal that used to be a sword, and to her astonishment, there in the dragon’s side, in its brilliant black metallic handle was nestled her sword—unscathed.

  The red dragon continued to howl and convulse as she took her sword by the grip— which was surprisingly cool—and she withdrew it as a burst of dragon blood spewed out to the rain-pounded desert floor. She ran to her friends, and while trying to decide which were in mo
st need, she thought about the sword.

  There isn’t a sword in all the land that can withstand dragonfire. At least no sword made by man. This sword and the two daggers I found in Kôrran’s cave must be magical or created by an ancient technique long forgotten. All swords of this power have legacies . . . And names . . . I’ll name you . . . Blackfire, after your color, and the dragonfire you’re immune to. The dagger, I’ll call you Dragoneye, after what is hopefully your first kill of many. And if I live through this I’ll tell Kera to name hers . . . if I live through this.

  Herradax was dripping with so much blood, Lilaci wanted to run to her to help, but she found even with the wounds that the young dragon had been inflicted with—her friends required help more urgently. Gogenanth held his own against the black dragon with the white eyes, although he was completely on the defensive as the dragon lowered his head, stalking the big man.

  But Roren, Fewn, and Ezmerelda were in a fight against the dark red dragon, and the green dragon with black wings. The two dragons combined were proving to be too strong a force for her three friends. Even with Burr firing arrow after arrow at the two, they snapped their jaws at them, swung their heavy tails, lashed out with their strong wings, and let their sharp claws thrash out. Fewn evaded the attacks with striking agility, and Ezmerelda with her prowess slunk between the blows like an elusive shadow. Neither was able to strike the dragons, as they both ferociously attacked like the ancient beasts they were. In the attack, the green dragon spun with an unexpected speed, and sent its tail flying at Roren, who had his back turned as he slashed at its wing.

  “Roren!” Lilaci cried out, and with a quick burst sent out a wave of sand upwards from the ground. The tail crashed into the wall of sand behind Roren, and breaking through it, thundered into Roren’s shoulder, sending him flying back.