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They could all go home. I just needed to rest for a while. I just needed to close my eyes and maybe… maybe I would see my father again. Maybe I had finally made him proud.
I rolled off the other dragon and onto my back, groaning as the pain throbbed even more intensely. I sprawled along the ground, closing my eyes and embracing the darkness that advanced from the corners of my eyes. It was as though ink was being spilled from my mind. I took a deep breath, and then it all stopped.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Brett
Damn Buck, racing away like that, leaving me to lead these dragons all by myself. I knew why he did it, of course, but we had a job to do. Mason probably could have handled one dragon by himself, but then Buck had always gone his own way. Guess I should have expected it. There wasn’t anything I could do about it now. I couldn’t even check on how Buck was doing because I was lost in a world of frenzy. The dragons screeched and bellowed as we approached. Those holding the cables breathed fire, but they did not let go of what they were holding. The others came around and tried to engage us. I managed to avoid the one that came for me. I wanted to get this over and done with as quickly as possible so that I could go and help Mason and Kadie, and Buck, I suppose. I caught sight of the nearest cable and landed on the ship. The surface was metallic and cool. The cable had been tightly wound around it. I slashed it with my claws, but it didn’t have any effect. I then breathed fire on it, but Ilvar had been clever and used material that was resistant to flames. Then I clamped my teeth on it and gnawed. The taste was rubbery and acrid, and I wanted to spit it out. Bile rose in my throat, and it felt as though I was feasting on poison. I scowled as I closed my eyes, but I could at least feel something happening. When I looked at it, I saw teeth marks in the cable, so I knew that with enough time we could break the cables.
Unfortunately, time was the one thing we didn’t have.
There was a heavy impact near me as one of the dragons landed. I turned to look, and he came rushing towards me at full speed, his face lowered, his jaws wide, the fangs looking like a row of soldiers that all promised death. His wings spread out atthe last moment, and he raised his feet, kicking me. All of his momentum was forced into that blow, and I was sent skidding away. I tumbled off the side of the vessel and went falling off the side. I stretched out my wings to right myself, but he was already coming after me. His scales were dark blue, and his eyes were menacing. I glanced past him and noticed the other dragons locked in battles all over the ship. Some of them had had the same idea as I did, and were descending to the surface of the ship, while others were trailing away in the skies, dancing this violent tango.
It wasn’t just the taste of the cable that was bitter on my tongue. We had tried to rise above this, and yet here we were, falling prey to the worst instincts of our kind. Perhaps it had always been inevitable. Perhaps trying to rise above our nature was never going to be possible, but for a time there, we had known peace.
Sometimes, going to war was the only way to preserve that peace.
I had never liked fighting. Hearing the stories as a child had always made me wince. I liked reading and thinking. I liked flying among the clouds and looking down at the beauty of the world. This was not the life I had ever wanted to live. I had never even had a vision of this, but now there was no alternative. I could fight, or I could die, and I wasn’t ready to die yet.
So, I gritted my teeth and pushed all these doubts aside. I tried not to think about the way in which we were outmatched by these other dragons, who had kept the art of war alive, who painted in streaks of blood and whose music involved screaming war cries to spread terror through their enemies.
The other dragon came swooping along. He breathed fire. I ducked under the ship, knowing that I had to outwit him because I would not be able to outmatch him in strength. I wasn’t like Buck. He had always been prone to warlike thoughts,and I was sure he was making short work of the dragon he was engaged in battle with.
The shadow of the ship fell over me and it was even darker than the night above. I noticed the cables were coiled around the ship here, undefended, and I started to wonder whether we might find some joy if we attacked them here. I heard the rush of air behind me though and knew that, if this was possible, it wasn’t going to be feasible yet. I glided along the surface of the ship, keeping close to it, using the curve of its hull to hide myself. I found a small hatch in which to hide. I curled my body up tightly and hung upside down, my claws clutching the small ledge. There was a door behind me, a door that led into this ship. I spared a thought for what might be hidden inside it. It was a part of our history. That door wouldn’t have been opened since the first dragons had stepped out onto the Earth. Had there been anything left behind, or would it simply be like walking through a tomb?
It wasn’t the past we were concerned about now though; it was the future.
I held my breath as I waited for the dragon to arrive. Enough time had lapsed that I worried he had changed plans, or that he knew what I was planning and was instead waiting for me to make a mistake. But then, I saw his head pass below me and his body followed. I dropped down and manically clawed his face and neck. I thrust my talons deep in between his scales, giving in to all those instincts that I had tried to push away for my entire life. I let this angry fire wash through me, welcoming the darkness and the violence and the madness. My vision became clouded with a red mist as I barraged this other dragon with all my might. He squealed and writhed and tried to spin around to attack me back. I was out of reach of his arms, and only the tip of his tail could strike me, but it was too limp to offer any damage. Instead, I kept digging away, as though Iwas looking for some treasure. I mangled his body, shattered his scales. Dark blood gushed out like a geyser, bubbling and hot. It poured over my hands. He trembled in panic and then his death throes came over him. I hated the horrible sounds that came from his mouth, this plea for more life, more moments that would never come, because I had stolen them from him.
And I hated myself for it.
But they threatened the world, and there needed to be consequences for their actions.
I pulled my hands away. Blood dripped from my fingers as his limp body fell to the island below, embraced by the forest and disappearing forever. I’m sure he wouldn’t have appreciated it, but I spared a moment to mourn him and to pity him. If things had been different, then we could all have been brothers.
As it was, we were sworn enemies.
There was no time to waste. I needed to get back to the battle.
Then I looked back at the cables twined under the ship. No other dragon seemed to notice that I was underneath them. I turned myself upside down and wrapped my claws around a metal pole that ran along the surface of the ship. I then bent down and began chewing the heavy cable. Above me I could hear the horrid sounds of the fight. I hated that I was taking myself away from the battle. I should have been there helping to defend my kin, but our main goal was getting this ship out of the air. The sooner we could do that, the better we could defend ourselves.
Just hold on… I prayed.
If they could only hold on for a little while longer, then I could end this and we could all band together to help Mason and Kadie and Buck. They were all out of sight, and I could only hope that I wasn’t the last one left. My bloodied hands held the cable, and my teeth sank into the bitter material. I gnawed as hard andas quickly as I could, praying for the moment when the cable would snap.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kadie
Mason and I swooped down to the plateau where Ilvar was directing his evil deeds. He was flanked by a woman I did not recognize, although, as soon as we landed, it was clear that Mason knew who she was.
“Jade, what are you doing here?” he glowered at her, and his voice was heavy with the rage of betrayal. Ilvar seemed amused by the interruption. I hated him even more than I remembered. He had such a smug arrogance about him, as though he was the only person who mattered in this world, as though he should be the sole director of fate.
“Oh Mason, I should have known you would have found a way to interfere,” she rolled her eyes.
“Jade, I thought you were going to live in the human world?”
“I never said that,” she wore a malicious grin and I hated her immediately. My hackles rose as I planted my feet squarely on the rock beneath me. The air was humid, and the heat crawled under my skin. If I hadn’t been a dragon, then I would have broken out in blisters and been incinerated. I glanced at the other dragons, who were still in the air, blasting the heart of the earth with their flames. I could only imagine they were trying to overload it so that it would spew out enough heat to rise through the volcano again.
