“Who are you?” the dragon hissed, all his teeth showing in a snarl. He was only about half the size of Adrissu, but he showed no fear as he surged toward them. Adrissu saw his eyes—a more greenish-yellow color than the rest of him—flicker toward Kian, a sneer crossing his features. “What the hell is this?”
Adrissu did not answer, instead lunging forward and pinning the young wyrm to the ground. The smaller dragon roared, half in surprise and half in rage, struggling against him in the mud.
“I’ve got him!” Kian exclaimed, dropping to his knees in the wet earth. His hands squelched into the muck, and with a quick incantation, lines of magic surged toward the smaller dragon. Adrissu watched as the wet earth around the yellow dragon glowed and solidified, becoming a dark, heavy iron. He grinned even as it continued to struggle.
“Good job,” he growled, then hissed as the wyrm bit him hard at the base of his neck. He dug his claws in deeper, feeling them break through scale and dig into muscle—he had wanted to avoid injuring the body, but without the surprise he’d hoped for, immobilizing him would be tricky.
“Get off me!” the yellow dragon roared, one of his claws digging into Adrissu’s chest, the other scraping at the chunks of iron that had solidified onto his scales. Adrissu felt him breathe in heavily—cursing, he leapt away just in time to avoid a stream of fire straight in his face and circled around the younger dragon quickly. The fire could not do much damage, but would be an annoyance in his eyes all the same.
“Be still!” he growled, encasing the smaller form with his magic. The dragon froze, muscles twitching and straining.
“Good,” Kian panted, then he repeated his own transmutation, trapping each of the dragon’s limbs and part of its tail in iron where it had sunk into the mud. “Here—the ingredients.” He threw his knapsack toward Adrissu, who caught it in one claw and emptied the contents. Kian held a thick piece of chalk in one hand, but he looked dubious as he stepped closer to the wyrm. “Shit, do you think the runes will work in mud like this?”
“You—You—” the yellow dragon hissed through gritted teeth. He could not move, but his eyes flickered rapidly, angrily, between Adrissu and Kian as he struggled to speak.
“I’ll drag him into the tower,” Adrissu panted, grabbing the dragon’s tail and yanking him backward. The dragon roared in anger, muffled by his closed mouth, and Adrissu could feel him struggling wildly against his magical bindings. “We’ll do it there.”
“Right,” Kian agreed, nodding. He jogged ahead of Adrissu as he hauled the yellow dragon’s quivering form closer to the crumbling tower. “I don’t think we can get him back in—but, look, there’s a bit of a stone path left here. Think it’ll work?” Adrissu nodded in response, grunting with exertion. The dead weight was hard to move, especially with his extremities encased in heavy iron, but Adrissu managed to get him closer to the tower and onto the worn stone path, where Kian had already marked down the first of the runes.
With the young wyrm in place, Adrissu grabbed his own piece of chalk and hurriedly placed down more of the runes as well, until they marked a full circle out on the stone pathway, the yellow dragon still hissing and growling in the center.
“Good job,” Adrissu panted, dropping his chalk to lift the heavy emerald, in which he would encase the yellow dragon’s soul. “Quick thinking with the iron.”
“Sorry it made your job harder,” Kian replied, chuckling nervously. “You did really well, too.”
Adrissu managed to smile down at him, though tension still filled his chest. He had never tried to pull the soul out of something as powerful as a dragon before, and though he had felt confident in his ability to do so, the task seemed far more daunting now that it was right in front of him.
“Almost,” he rumbled. “Take over immobilizing him. I don’t think I’ll be able to hold it and get the soul out.”
The yellow dragon made a noise, somewhere between indignation and panic, but Adrissu ignored him.
“Alright,” Kian said, nodding, and Adrissu felt the human’s magic settle over the yellow dragon’s body like a heavy sheet over his own. Adrissu took in a steadying breath, positioning himself over the smaller dragon, and pressed the emerald to his scales.
The moment he reached within, the dragon screeched and bucked wildly against the magic restraining him. His body was still immobile, but Adrissu could practically hear his teeth gnashing.
“Don’t let him break it!” he exclaimed.
“I’m trying!” Kian responded, his face twisted with effort. “I’m trying!”
Embers sparked between the yellow dragon’s teeth.
“Shit!” Adrissu hissed, lunging out of the way again just in time to dodge a stream of fire.
“Adrissu!” Kian exclaimed, reaching for him. The magic around the yellow dragon shattered with an audible snapping sound, and he leapt forward at Adrissu with all his teeth bared. His tail, weighed down with the iron still clinging to his scales, lashed around him—it caught Kian in the chest and sent him flying backward, followed by the thick chunks of metal.
“Kian!” Adrissu roared, leaping toward him, but his tiny human form was already far out of his reach. His body struck the tower first, then the heavy, iron-laden tail followed an instant later with the sickening crack of stone breaking and bones shattering. “Kian!”
Adrissu barely felt the bite of the yellow dragon as it lunged at him. Its tail pulled away from Kian’s crumpled form, revealing the crushed remnants of ribs and viscera beneath. Kian’s eyes were wide and vacant, all the color drained from his face. His lips trembled as if struggling to speak. Weakly, he lifted one hand to his side, as if trying to somehow put himself back together. His fingers brushed fragments of bone, then fell down to his sides, his body slumping forward. He did not move again.
“No!” The shriek left his maw unbidden as Adrissu whirled on the yellow dragon to attack, every ounce of rage and fury he could muster bursting from his mouth as he breathed fire onto the smaller creature. The yellow dragon screamed, trying to leap away, but every thought had left Adrissu’s mind except tokill him.His claws dug in hard around the smaller dragon’s shoulders, holding him in place, as he writhed and screeched in indignation; the fire barely hurt him. When all the breath fled Adrissu’s lungs and only embers remained, he lunged forward to close his teeth around the dragon’s neck. Hot blood poured against his tongue, and he wrenched back as hard as he could, bringing a massive chunk of the dragon’s flesh with him.
He could see the dragon’s eyes, huge and fearful, as Adrissu pulled away. He had not been trying to hurt him so far—foolish, the young wyrm thought he had a chance of fighting him off—but now, Adrissu wished he could kill him a hundred times over. Blind with rage, he dove into the dragon’s neck again, pinning his body to the muddy earth below, as he ripped and tore every inch of his body that he could reach.
When he could think again, the sulfurous taste of dragon blood was all he could focus on. The thick liquid coated his mouth entirely, spraying from his nostrils like red mist as he panted for breath. Beneath him, the yellow dragon’s body was mangled and unmoving.
“Kian,” he whimpered, finally turning away to face the tower again. “Kian!”
He crawled to the human’s body, where it still lay against the tower wall. The right side of his ribcage was simply gone, crushed to pieces beneath the momentum of the iron that had weighed the dragon down. Claws trembling, Adrissu touched his left shoulder, healing magic surging at the contact. He could feel Kian’s heart beat once in response, and coagulating blood splattered onto the stone below; but the rest of him remained motionless, and no light returned to his eyes.
