“Ty,” Victor called, and I looked back. “I’m staying with her,” Victor added.
I looked at him for a good moment before nodding. He wanted to stay with her for better or worse. I would do the same thing.
“Be safe,” I said, and opened the doors to the balcony.
In the end only Sol and I soared up into the night sky.
As soon as we ascended high enough, I could see two dragons attacking the roof of the castle. By the condition of the front doors that were wide open, I knew there was at least one of them inside the castle. I looked further across the valley and swore. The undead dragons were everywhere.
How could that be possible?
I had only seen one undead dragon and I had hoped it was one of a kind. A freak, a mistake of nature. It was clear to me that the undead dragons could exist within groups, very similar to herds of crawlers.
We lowered ourselves closer to the ground and I could see fields, houses, yards, and the remains of people on fire. The columns of black smoke lifted up into the night sky, covering the indifferent light of the moon.
“They can spit fire!” Sol growled.
“Yes, they can.”
Below, I could see the burning bodies of dragons, and people running from the monsters who picked them up from the ground, one by one.
“How do we kill them?” Sol asked.
“Let's find out.”
I descended low enough to be right above an undead dragon, who moved in an unpredictable pattern. I stayed steady, directly above him and not letting myself hesitate, I shapeshifted while still in the air, and landed on top of the beast. The dragon growled, shaking its head, but I held on tight to its scales. They did not feel like regular dragon scales, more like slimy, decomposing sponges. The smell of rotten flesh overwhelmed my nose, making me inhale through my mouth as I released the long dagger from my belt. Still holding the neck of the undead beast, I plunged the blade into its neck, doing little to no damage. Black liquid sprayed from the wound when I slammed my dagger against its flesh one more time.
If they were like the other undead, no amount of damage except a direct shot to the brain or removal of the head could stop them. The neck of the dragon was too wide and protected by thick, wet, leathery skin and multiple layers of slick scales. It would be nearly impossible to decapitate it. I pulled myself up, grabbing the thick skin and inched closer to the head of the monster. Almost losing my balance, I plunged my dagger into the top of its head. The beast jerked in the air and the next moment, I was freefalling, rotating in the sky with rapidly accelerating speed.
I shifted a little too late. The smoke and black sky did not let me see the ground, and I hit the surface, landing hard. I growled, still rolling. The wings of my dragon brushed the rocks below and I hissed, in response to the pain.
A moment later, a swirl of fire hit the ground beside me,sending scorching heat up my arm, burning my face with agonizingly hot specks of dust. Only by luck, I avoided a direct blow that would have ignited my body in a matter of moments. I got to my feet, and I quickly saw dark scales with an unfamiliar pattern attach itself to the undead. The new dragon was directly above me as he fought the creature in the air.
“Don’t just stand there!” Sage’s voice exploded in my head and I pushed off into the air. I tried to get closer, but the two dragons constantly changed their positions and I could not find a way to land on the monster’s back.
The two dragons growled and clawed each other. A loud, piercing screech from the undead exploded in the air, then the beast got a hold of Sage, tearing his stomach from one side to the other.
“Sage!” I shouted.
“Help!” the old man groaned.
I launched myself forward without aiming. Swiftly shapeshifting, I gripped its neck and bared my knife. The undead was still holding the dark scaled dragon, whose body had gone limp.
“Sage! We’re gonna fall!” I shouted and plunged my knife up to its hilt into the massive skull.
Then we were free falling. Within seconds, the blackness of the sky and the land below mixed and blended together. I thought about Alina’s hands tracing my face. Her dark copper hair brushing my cheek, her strength and heroverwhelming beauty that stole my heart from the first moment my eyes met hers.
The shock of the violent impact paralyzed every limb in my body and for some time I was unable to move off the already dead corpse. Finally, I managed to lift myself up enough to crawl to Sage. My head was ringing as my own blood dripped onto my hands and the scales of the crawler, making everything slippery. My confused mind tried to discern where the wound was located, but every concern ceased when I finally saw Sage still trapped under the enormous weight of the beast. Sage started to shapeshift as I pulled him from under the crawler dragon. “Why did you do that?” I asked.
My eyes landed on the dark outlines of his internal organs that were clearly visible in the moonlight.
The gash in his stomach was too large for him to heal. There was no way he could survive that. I shifted my gaze back to his face, distorted by pain and agony.
“The . . . Queen . . . was the one . . . who sealed . . . the borders before she…” he whispered.
“Why?”
“The disease . . . spread.” Sage’s chest was rising and falling maniacally. “I . . . I’m sorry.”
