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Having had enough of being lied to, misled, and put in situations over which she had no control, a small part of Delaney snapped. She brought her head back into Whistler’s nose and then immediately afterward leaned her head down to sink her teeth into Whistler’s arm while she stomped on his instep.
The resulting chaos and cacophony of noise allowed her to break free while Tevryn lunged at Whistler.
Chapter 19
Delaney
She could feel more than see, Tevryn lunging at Whistler. The others in the cavern called forth their dragons, and the space was filled with thunder, lightning, and a dazzling array of colors. Tucking the tablet into her shirt, Delaney began to crawl along the ground trying to get to the opening of the cave and reach the outside. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do once she reached it, but she was pretty sure that being only one of two humans in the mix wasn’t a good thing.
The only other human wrapped his fingers around her ankle and tried to drag her backwards. Delaney flipped onto her back and used the foot he had not immobilized to kick him in the face as hard as she could. Whistler screamed and released his hold of her ankle.
The ground and walls seemed to shake and rumble from the movements within the cavern. Parts of the ceiling began to fall, and Delaney knew enough about structural engineering to know it wouldn’t be long before the whole ceiling gave way. Whistler made another grab for her but stopped and screamed as she felt heat and smelled sulfur and burning flesh. Someone had breathed fire on Whistler.
Out of the corner of her eye, Delaney saw Whistler roll away and behind one of the larger boulders that seemed to dot what she could only think of as the four compass points—north, south, east and west. Deciding he may be a bastard, but that what he’d done was the best idea, Delaney moved behind the compass point to his right.
She peered out and realized that those Abraham had sent in his stead weren’t long for this world. Plumes of fire arced across the ceiling, further weakening it. An enormous rendering crack seemed to split the rock overhead. Delaney, Whistler, Falkor, Warrick, and the mutants fled from the crumbling cave.
The dragon-shifter who Whistler had thought was Abraham turned and ran, escaping through the exit as the whole thing caved in.
“Tevryn,” she screamed starting forward, trying to get back to the cave.
The dragon Abraham had sent in his stead had shifted back and took a deep breath as if to dispose of all of them in one fell swoop. Warrick shifted back in the blink of an eye, spreading his wings and shielding the others with his back turned to the attacking dragon.
Delaney tried to push past Falkor, but the man was an immovable object.
“Get out of my way!” she shouted at him, clawing to be free of his restraint. “I have to get to Tevryn.”
“He is beyond your help,” said Falkor coldly.
“No!”
A torrent of flames hit Warrick’s shielding form. Then the rubble that was what was left of the cave began to rumble and move as an enormous fireball of dragonfire shot out of what had once been the roof.
“He always had a flair for the dramatic,” chuckled Falkor.
“He is mine!” roared Tevryn.
“With my blessing,” returned Warrick before incinerating Abraham’s two mutant henchmen before dropping to the ground and shifting back to his human form and accepting a loincloth Falkor seemed to produce from nothing.
Delaney had little time to wonder about how the loincloth appeared as Tevryn charged the remaining enemy dragon, colliding with him. Massive teeth on both sides clashed as the opponents met jaw to jaw and talon to talon, their bodies rolling on the ground. They rolled toward the edge of the cliff and fell toward the ground below. Neither gave way nor tried to save himself. Both knew it was a fight to the death.
They hit the ground with a thundering boom. The two dragons who had accompanied Falkor and Warrick had Whistler in their grasp. He wasn’t going anywhere. Delaney, Falkor, and Warrick rushed to the edge to see Tevryn on top of his adversary, his teeth ripping at the other dragon’s throat. The dust from their impact had yet to settle, and it was hard to see.
The other dragon screamed in agony and anger. The opponent managed to get his tail up between his and Tevryn’s bodies. Tevryn’s adversary managed to dislodge the Phantom Fire warrior, but only for a moment. With a screech of fury, the two grappled again, wrestling with razor-like teeth flashing, talons slashing, and the enormous bodies pounding into each other—each inflicting wounds as rivers of blood flowed down their hides.
The battle between the two dragons was fierce and would be spoken of until the years had stretched into centuries. Both fought through pain and exhaustion until at last, the opponent realized he had no hope of victory. He shifted back to his human form and knelt before Tevryn, who scooped up some of the volcanic laced sand that was predominant in the Winds and turned it in his hand, blowing white hot dragonfire on it until it formed a blade of sorts. Tevryn sheared the weapon until a razor-sharp edge was forged along the length of the gleaming black blade. When it was done, Tevryn shifted back.
Tevryn
The dragon-shifter looked up at him, “Do it.”
Tevryn nodded, knowing he would give his opponent a more merciful death than he would have if he returned to Abraham a failure.
“The Phantom Fire condemns you to die,” Tevryn said as he brought the blade down on the man’s bowed neck and took his head in a single stroke.
Shifting back to his dragon form, Tevryn incinerated the remains of the dragon-shifter who had thought to harm his mate and his brethren and then flew up to rejoin the group, shifting back to human when he landed.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again. I thought you’d died—twice within just a few moments.”
