Page 39 of Dragon Fire

So it was that Kadie and I took flight as dragons and soared towards him. As we approached, some of the other dragons paused their fiery barrage and turned towards us. I gulped with fear, worried that my assumption might have been incorrect. However, Ilvar put his hand up and turned to meet us.

“Do not stop what you are doing,” he called out. He recognized Kadie. Jade recognized me. I narrowed my eyes as I shifted back into a human and stared at Jade. The sting of her betrayal ran even deeper now.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Buck

I couldn’t believe that Mason had just gone off like that. I guess I was the only one to blame since I had refused to accept the responsibility of leadership, but still, it didn’t seem entirely fair.

And just like that our paradise had ended. Up on the mountain, lost in the bliss of Kadie’s embrace, it was easy to believe that everything was going to be fine. Even I had started to believe that we might actually come out of this unscathed and return to our old lives, a little wounded, but proud that we had overcome these insurmountable odds. Yet now, with the creaking ship above us and Ilvar deep in the Earth’s core, it seemed impossible. I hated leaving Mason and Kadie, but there was nothing I could do about it, so there was no use gnashing my teeth. We had a job to do, and I was going to make sure to do it as well as I could.

I looked at the dragons left with me.

“Right, we need to stop this ship before they get it to the volcano. Luckily for us, it seems that they’re occupied with carrying the ship. If they let it go, then they’re just going to have to start again. Try and attack the cables. If we destroy this ship, then we can make Ilvar’s plan look foolish. He’ll never get back to Drakon if he doesn’t have a ship.”

“And so, he might end up destroying the planet out of spite,” Brett said.

I pursed my lips. “Yes, well, that’s not very helpful Brett.”

“Just trying to look at all the angles, Buck. Besides, the ship is a part of our history. Should we really destroy it?”

“We have to if we’re going to have a future. Anyway, it’s been lost in the depths of the ocean for years.”

“Is it still going to work?” Brett asked.

I shrugged. “I guess Ilvar thinks so, and that’s the most important thing. All we need to do is make sure it can’t leave. If we deal with the ship, then that’s a huge dent in Ilvar’s plans. So, what I’m proposing is that Brett and I take a squadron each. Brett, you take the port side and I’ll take starboard. We want to make strafing runs against the cables. Slash them, bite them, do whatever you can to break the hold they have on the ship. Our goal is to make sure it falls back to earth. But be prepared, they have extra dragons there who are going to make life difficult for us. We know what the reputation of these dragons is. They’re descended from warriors, and if they’re anything like Ilvar, then we know what kind of fight we’re going to get. Let’s just focus on what we can do, and hopefully that will see us through. When it’s over, we’ll help Mason’s group.”

“Or they’ll help us,” Brett said. I glared at him, not thinking that the moment called for his brand of negativity. There was no point chastising him though. Instead, it was time for action. I tilted my head towards the sky and jumped in the air, shifting into my dragon form as I did so. I felt the arching thrill rushing through me, and the sense of battle spoke to something deep within me, an instinct that was as much a part of us as our own hearts. It was a part of the legacy of dragons, one that we could not shake no matter how far removed we were from Drakon or our ancestors.

We rushed through the trees and crested above the canopy, making our way to the other dragons. The ship was about halfway to the volcano now. The dragons were straining against the pull of the cables. The ship teetered back and forth, still creaking eerily, as though it was a wounded animal that wanted to be put out of its misery. Other dragons circled theship. I think they were there to offer support and respite for when the task became too arduous, but as soon as they saw us, they acted as perimeter guards. We narrowed our wings and surged forward, heading straight for the cables. Brett’s squadron peeled off and went to the other side of the ship. Dragons came towards us, and we braced for battle, but I also noticed one of the dragons split away and head towards the volcano, no doubt to warn Ilvar. If he ran into Mason, he could ruin the entire plan. I hated to leave my squadron, but I needed to stop this messenger.

I roared behind me, encouraging my group to stay the course, while I rushed past the ship and increased my speed, eager to catch up with this messenger. He twitched his head, looking behind to check how close I was. I gritted my teeth, not about to let him get away. I dared not take my eyes off him for a moment, and so I lost sight of the battle behind me. I hoped that Brett and the others would be able to do without me for the time being.

The other dragon seemed to have calculated the same thing that I had; I would catch up with him before he reached the volcano. In order to prevent that from happening he sought to stop me in my tracks. He turned around, leaned back, and then bellowed out a plume of fire that scorched the air. I ducked under it, feeling the wave of heat caressing the top of my head. My momentum carried me forward. I rose up, ready to strike at his belly, but he twisted away and blasted me with fire again. I twisted back and shot back with a breath of my own. He whined and shook his head. He sought to twist around to my back, but I was equal to his movements. I twirled in the air and then lashed out with my tail, striking a harmless blow against his flank. At least, I warned him that this was not going to be an easy fight.

I was sorry, in a way. If things had been different then maybe dragons wouldn’t have had to fight each other, but this was the way it had been since we had arrived on Earth. Therehad been a deep division between us, and although there had been peace for some time, it was always inevitable that it would end. For dragons on Earth, it seemed as though the natural state was war. He slashed with his claws. I sucked my gut back and managed to evade the blow. I lunged forward with my teeth, seeking to take a bite out of his neck. My teeth grazed his scales, and I tasted blood, but it was only a flesh wound. He struck back with something far more deadly, a slashing strike on my underbelly. I cried out, thinking myself stupid, but then again it had been a long time since I had fought with a dragon. A stream of blood trickled down and he started to find a rhythm, sending a flurry of quick slashes my way. It was taking everything I had to keep away from him, and it soon became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to match him blow for blow.

These dragons had been trained for war, after all. It was perhaps a failing of my father that we had not been trained in the same arts. He had been so eager to wrest us from our own history that he tried to forge a better path for us. We tried to leave behind all the things that had defined dragons, and now we were left to focus on our instincts rather than our training.

But sometimes instincts were not enough.

There were few times in my life when I can admit that I was truly scared. Most of them were in childhood, when I was so small, and the world was so big and anything felt as though it could happen. It all seemed impossible to control, and there was nothing I could do about the bad things that came rushing past me like a tide. As I grew up and I spent more time in the human world, I rarely felt fear. Even when an entire gang of them crowded around me, I knew I had my other half to call upon, this creature that gave me such an advantage against the pure-blooded humans.

I had no such advantage against this dragon, and now fear entered my heart.

Death was a whisper that could come at any moment. It only took one strike in the right place to end my life. I groaned as I twisted and writhed, trying my best to evade his strikes, but it seemed inevitable that he was going to land one eventually. When I countered with slashes of my own, it only proved that I was a moment too slow. It was as though we were dance partners, but I was not following the same rhythm as him. His scales were a dark shade of copper, his fangs as sharp as daggers, and his eyes burned with a fervent glare that I knew could not be dimmed. Whatever Ilvar had told these people, he had managed to convince them of it completely and wholeheartedly. There was truly only one way this was going to end.

Desperate to make some kind of difference, I reared my head back and let forth a torrent of fire. My opponent shifted his position, and the flames licked the air harmlessly. He then reached out and I pulled my body back, but I was too late. His claws managed to pierce the vulnerable flesh of my underbelly. The pain was a surprise. It was a surreal moment, as though this shouldn’t have happened to me at all. And yet it had. He bore down on me, ready to make another attack and press his advantage. A river of blood seeped out of the wound and fell on the forest below us like drops of crimson rain. I could feel my strength fading. I knew I was not going to be able to move with as much agility as before, and I had already been struggling. If we continued fighting in the air, then I was going to lose.

I had to change the rules.

I gritted my teeth, bracing myself against the uneasy sensations churning inside me, and then I ducked down. He expected me to grapple with him and attack him head on, but I wasn’t so lost to my blood rage that I was going to do anything so foolhardy. Instead, I targeted the lower half of his body. I wrapped my limbs around his tail and yanked on it as hard as I could, directing myself to the forest below. I spread my wingsand flew as swiftly and as hard as I could, taking him off balance. He spun around, unfolding his own wings as he attempted to right himself and fight back against the gusting tide. I could feel the spasms in his tail as he tried to flick me away. His stocky legs kicked out at me, hitting me right at the top of the skull. I held firm though, closing my eyes as I did not wish to see the world rushing towards us. My teeth rattled and pressure crashed against my skull with every kick he gave me. I kept my arms tight. I ignored the pain that blazed through me. I ignored the feeling of the blood trickling away like sand out of an hourglass.

And perhaps my time truly was over. At least, I knew that, if I prevented him from reaching the volcano, then our plan still had a chance of working. We still had a chance to save the world, and I knew that Brett and Mason would take care of Kadie. It would be a shame that I would never get to see her again or kiss those soft, welcoming lips of hers. I had actually been considering staying around for a while. Kadie made the prospect of settling back at home more appealing than before. I had been about to put my runaway life behind me, but I guess that we didn’t always get a chance to finish our stories.

I squeezed him tightly as we plummeted down and then we broke through the layer of trees, our heavy bodies crashing through the branches and the leaves. They crunched and whipped against our bodies. It was as though we were being flogged by slave masters. I roared in pain, but still I did not let go. Moments later we came to a halt, crashing suddenly to the ground as we met the immovable object that was the earth. The impact shuddered through me, leaving me mewling like a whimpering kitten. The pain was everywhere. The taste of copper was in my mouth as blood flowed across my tongue. Every part of me trembled and the shadow of the forest came over me like a veil. Blood trickled from my mouth. I looked up and saw the enemy dragon on the ground, his head lolled tothe side, unmoving. He had borne the brunt of the impact, but there was also a wide branch that had impaled him like a spear. It protruded from his chest; an ugly, jagged thing that had been darkened by the ichor of dragon’s blood.

At least, I had done it. At least, I had stopped him from reaching Ilvar. Now Brett and Mason just had to do their jobs and we could all go home.

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