Dragon Master (22 page)

When we reached the far side of the city, we paused to catch our breath and I gave out the last of my orders. If the dragon ignored my distraction and tried for Bayrd and Gable, I would go in to try to get a kill. Boe and Daija would be clear of this action, trying to find rooftops from which they could drop down on the dragon and catch him by surprise. Once they were in place, they were to remain still and silent and wait for the dragon to come near.

“I’ve trained for a direct attack,” Daija protested. She saw my plan as a kind of plot to keep her out of the action. She wasn’t exactly wrong.

“I know. But this dragon has already killed so many who’ve trained for direct attacks. We need someone to try for the element of surprise.”

“I’m already an element of surprise,” she said. “How many women do you think have taken up arms against this dragon? Do you think I’d be more of a surprise dropping from a rooftop than I’d be standing in front of him with a sword in hand?”

“Yes,” I said. I wanted to sound firm, but I couldn’t hold any conviction in my voice. She was probably right, but I wasn’t going to send her into any more danger than I’d already done by bringing her here. If I could keep her and Boe out of combat, I would do it.

Daija wasn’t going to let me do that.

She yelled out a battle cry and began charging ahead into the city, ignoring my orders. Oh, no. We sprinted to try to catch up. Boe moved quicker than I’d ever seen him move before and when she slowed for just a moment to turn a street corner, he caught up to her and tackled her, tossing his sword aside so that he wouldn’t accidentally stab anyone with it. The two of them collapsed onto the street. Instead of struggling to get free, Daija stared up into the sky.

I turned the corner too, and there he was. For only a moment, I thought the dragon small. Then I realized I was comparing him to the endlessly massive dragons of my nightmares. As I stood and looked up at him, I saw how he towered above the rooftops, how his wings were larger than entire buildings. A single curved talon on his foot was as long as the sword I now held shakily in front of me. His bulk had been initially concealed in the absolutely blackness of his scales, but as I looked closer I felt like his body was as wide around as the Stoneflame Watch towers back in Rægena. No, the dragon was not small. I was. I was very small indeed.

“Get to the rooftops,” I told Boe and Daija when I figured out how to breathe again.

Time to kill a dragon.

I ran along the wall of a building. I didn’t see Bayrd or Gable, but I suspected they were on the far side of the beast. It wasn’t until I had run a wide arc around the side of the dragon that I finally saw what he was doing. I followed his stout, spiked neck up to the flames that were spilling out of his massive mouth. A tortured eye swiveled to look in my direction, then shot forward as something fell from his mouth. It was a small brown something, and as I looked closer I could tell that it was a full sized boot. The dragon snapped his mouth around it and I heard a snapping and crunch as rows of sharp teeth closed on the boot and its contents.

“You’re just a big flying pig!” I yelled out. It made no sense, but was the only thing that came to my mind in the moment.

“Why don’t you eat someone your own size!” I heard Gable’s voice call out from the far side of the dragon.

I wanted to look back and make sure that Daija was following orders now, but the dragon was suddenly in motion, moving faster than a creature of its size had any right to move. His head turned to face me for a moment but then his body spun and I leapt in the air to try to avoid the sweep of his greasy tail. I couldn’t jump high enough and the tail caught my feet. I threw my sword sideways to the nearby building and tried to brace my head. My armor made loud sounds as I crashed to the ground and then tumbled over a cobblestone walkway and into a rose bush. If any thorns pierced my armor, I didn’t feel their sting above the wracking aches that were coursing through my body. I ignored all those sensations and forced myself to my feet, grabbing my sword as I spotted it lying near me. The dragon’s tail was stationary now, supporting the dragon as he raised himself up on hind legs, his back to me.

I charged up to the base of the dragon’s tail, intending to climb the spikes that formed long lines down the dragon’s back, but I fell as the dragon came crashing down to the ground. I slipped onto my back as I tried to regain my feet.

I shook my head to clear it, and then I saw Bayrd’s body flying high over me, his arms and legs stretched out behind him like trailing ribbons on a kite. He still gripped his sword tightly in one hand. I closed my eyes and winced when I heard him crash sickeningly into a rooftop. He let out no grunts of pain, no involuntary cries for help. I didn’t have time to think about it.

I began to climb the dragon’s back again, but this time the dragon was trashing about wildly and I couldn’t keep my grip. I dropped down and stuck my sword in the dragon’s tail, using it to help me vault over the beast. I needed to get in front of the dragon with Gable for any chance of killing him.

“Help!” I heard Gable’s voice cry out just before he came into view. Gable’s face was bloodied, but I saw that it was the blackened toxic blood of the dragon that covered him. He was lying on his back with the dragon looking down on him hungrily. I could tell that Gable was too paralyzed by the toxin to escape.

“Over here,” I screamed at the dragon, getting his attention. I stabbed my sword into his side and tried to slice off a scale as I pulled my blade free. The dragon lifted up on his hind legs again and flapped his wings in the air. I couldn’t see for a moment as the sun was blacked out, and then I was falling through the air, flicked aside by the dragon’s versatile tail. I slammed hard into the side of a building and my vision was blurred. I couldn’t feel my left arm, but was reassured that I could still feel the grip of my sword in my right hand.

As my vision cleared, the dragon had fully lifted into the air and I could see Boe standing in the now vacated street, his sword dripping with black blood.

“Did you get him?” I called out.

“No, I missed his heart,” Boe yelled back at me, still looking up at the dragon as he drew higher into the air.

“Help,” Gable cried again, much quieter. I tried to put weight on my left arm and fell backward to a sitting position when the arm gave way, unable to support me. Boe sheathed his sword and ran to Gable, dragging him over to me, his eyes still scanning the skies where the dragon was now making wide circles in the air.

“Daija?” I asked Boe as he helped me get to my feet.

“She’s climbing over to check on Bayrd,” he said. I looked over to the red tile rooftop where Bayrd had landed and I didn’t see any sign of movement over there. Then I saw the dragon’s blurred shadow sweep over everything and grow more distinct as the dragon came in to land on the rooftop. Boe sprinted straight toward the dragon, and I started to do the same but knew there was no way I was going to be able to climb onto the roof. I went back and grabbed Gable’s sword.

“Hey, stupid!” I yelled, waving Gable’s sword around in the air, careful to avoid the sticky toxic dragon’s blood that was dripping from it. “You forgot this guy,” I pointed the sword now toward Gable and the dragon followed its point to the unconscious form. He looked right into my eyes and then half glided and half fell off the rooftop back into the street.

Boe had just finished climbing onto the roof, so used the opportunity to try to jump onto the dragon’s back. He stabbed his sword down to get a grip, but the sword didn’t break through the thick scales and he slid to the ground, landing with a controlled roll.

Daija appeared on the rooftop next, but instead of dropping down as Boe had, she just ran to the side of the roof and climbed down, moving quickly.

I couldn’t keep watching their movements—the dragon was on me now. I sprinted forward and threw Gable’s sword up into the air. That distracted the dragon as he followed the sword’s arcing path. He spat a fireball at the weapon and I watched enthralled as it enveloped the sword, instantly turning the metal molten red and causing it to lose its form.

Boe had to dodge the deadly liquid metal fragments of the sword as they rained down around him.

I pulled my own sword and waved it around, sprinting back and forth as the dragon began spitting more fireballs down around me. I could feel the extreme heat of each of them and wanted nothing more than to turn and run away. Everything felt hopeless. But I figured that Boe was getting into position for another shot at the dragon’s heart, and I had to keep him distracted, even if that meant sacrificing myself to do it.

I caught sight of Daija in the periphery of my vision. She was charging within reach of the dragon’s talons. The dragon saw her, too, and I knew that a fireball would be coming straight at her in any moment. I sheathed my sword as I ran to intercept the coming fireball, to knock her out its way if I could. Instead, I just ran straight into Daija and ended up sending both of us sprawling to the ground.

I covered her with my body, hoping to absorb the worst of the Dragonsfire. Hoping that she’d be able to get out from under my melting armor before it could harm her. Hoping that she would be able to escape and that in time she would forgive me for bringing her into this mad danger that none of us was truly prepared for.

“Die!” Boe’s voice rang out, echoing through the streets. Daija pushed me off of her and we both lay on our backs, looking up at the scene.

Boe had sliced through the dragon’s throat and down into his chest. The dragon’s blood poured out over him. He still held his sword in the dragon’s chest, was pushing down on the hilt with all his strength. The dragon had frozen and was now looking up into the sky. No flames were coming out from his mouth. He staggered backward a step, then another. And fell.

Boe pulled his sword triumphantly out of the dragon’s chest and then placed it in front of him gingerly. He lowered himself to the ground, knowing that the dragon’s toxin would be disabling his movements soon. This was what we’d been taught from our first day in the academy. Kill the dragon, then get to the ground so you don’t get injured in a fall when the toxin takes over. I stared in amazement. It was over. All that was left was waiting as Gable and Boe recovered from the toxin. Keeping them hydrated would help. I looked around for some source of water and forgot again about my arm. I fell backward when it again failed to support my weight. Daija stood and bent over me to help me up.

Behind her, the dragon rose.

“The dragon’s not dead,” I said. Daija’s eyes got wide and she spun as she yanked on my good arm, pulling me to my feet.

He was standing as tall as ever. There was blood on his neck and chest where he’d been stabbed, but I knew the wounds were already beginning to heal beneath the blood.

I drew my sword and Daija scrambled for hers.

I charged past her, took aim, and threw my sword, sending it spinning end over end, its blade aimed at the spot where Boe had pulled his sword out of the dragon’s chest. Straight at the dragon’s heart, while it was still exposed. Just as the sword’s tip began to pass through the dragon’s body, he rose again on his hind legs and the sword rebounded uselessly off a scale before clattering underneath the dragon, out of reach.

“Boe!” Daija cried out, and I could see that the dragon intended to crush Boe beneath him when he landed.

I took two quick steps forward and reached out. I could see Boe’s sword lying there, I could reach it, I would have the perfect angle to stab at the dragon with it as he came down. If I was a Dragon Master, my dying act could be the killing of this dragon. I could save Daija; except the cost would be more than my own life. I grabbed Boe with my good arm and sprinted away from the dragon.

The dragon came crashing down just behind us, settling for crushing Boe’s sword beneath its foot.

Boe’s eyes were still open and I could tell that he was still watching, even though he couldn’t move on his own. I set him down and then cast around for a weapon. Anything at all that I could use. I thought of Bayrd on the roof, of the weapon he had still been clutching when he’d been thrown through the air. I couldn’t get to it, but maybe Daija—

She was staring the dragon down, her sword drawn. In a ready stance. The dragon was looking down at her, not making any move to defend himself or to attack her in any way.

She moved quickly, feinting to the right and then sidestepping to the left, jumping up as if to go for the dragon’s throat. He was following all this but not yet reacting. Mesmerized. As I was. Then he struck out suddenly with a front claw and Daija threw up her sword to prevent the talons from ripping into her. The strength of the dragon knocked her backward. She maintained her footing but not the grip on her sword. It clattered to the ground and spun around, coming to a rest at my feet.

I picked up the weapon and took a step toward the dragon. I stopped to let a fireball crash down in front of me. I dodged the burning sinew of the dragon’s saliva as it spilled around me. Then I took aim again. I threw the sword, this time sending it arcing gently, its blade tracing a wide semicircle in the sky. The sword’s hilt curved like one swing of a pendulum several feet above the ground.

I wasn’t aiming for the dragon’s heart this time.

Daija reached out and snatched her sword’s hilt out of the air. She sprinted forward, directly to the dragon’s open chest wound. He spat fireballs down at her, but she outran them all. He took another swipe at her, but she ducked and rolled under it and came up still running, still gripping her weapon.

Daija plunged her sword through the opening between peeled dragon scales. As before, the dragon faltered. Daija backed away from the dragon without removing her blade, then turned her back on him and ran toward me at full speed. The dragon tumbled to his side, shaking the ground violently and Daija fell forward. I caught her, and held her close to me as I lifted her back to her feet. I watched her face, saw the thrill in it. The green sparkle in her eyes. The dragon, the city, the Realm around us forgotten for a moment. For a minute. For longer…