Ashes of Verdenheld

by Jack Wright

  Xeracrir drew close, the glow of his neck growing brighter and brighter. He parted his teeth eagerly, shimmering yellow light slipping between them.

  “Before we die, Eris…” Caesia gushed, a tear in her eye. “I just need you to know, I-”

  Eris grabbed Caesia by the arm and yanked her onto her shield. “Hold on!”

  Caesia’s eyes darted down, to see Eris crouch and pull up her foot. She watched in utter terror as Eris slammed her foot down on the edge of the shield.

  The shield tipped over the edge and skidded onto the mountainside, throwing up a burst of snow. Caesia, eyes wide and trembling, screamed hysterically and grabbed Eris’ sides tightly in terror.

  “Are you bloody mad?!” She shrieked, squeezing Eris’ waist as hard as she could for safety.

  She looked back as the verge from which they had come rapidly disappeared into the distance. At that moment, it was engulfed in a storm of fire and crumbled away.

  “You want to live don’t you?” Eris laughed as she gently veered the shield around a protruding rock.

  “If living is your goal, you’re going the wrong way about it!” Caesia snapped, squeezing Eris tighter as they jolted over a small ridge.

  Ahead of them were a pair of large rocks, between which Eris confidently intended to slip.

  “Eris, that gap isn’t big enough!” Caesia stammered.

  “What other choice to we have?” Eris insisted, carefully angling the shield.

  Caesia squeezed her eyes shut as the shield skidded through the gap and ground up against the leftmost rock with a metallic shriek. The shield jolted violently as it hit a fissure in the rock’s side, deflecting it away. As the shield bounced off into the open, it began to tip as Eris frantically tried to correct it to no avail.

  Caesia winced in fear, afraid that this was the end. She impulsively threw out her hand and projected a shield between them and the mountainside. Eris’ shield immediately stopped tipping, gliding precariously on its edge.

  “Nice one!” Eris gasped with relief.

  The invisible force holding Caesia’s barrier in position was anchored to her, making the shield a sort of extension of her. Of course, this was completely accidental - she was simply using it as a safety net, trying not to fall and die.

  “Uh… no problem?” Caesia murmured shakily. She carefully pushed her barrier away from her, causing her and Eris to tilt slowly back onto the face of Eris’ shield.

  Caesia heard a familiar rumbling and looked back. Peering over the now distant verge was Xeracrir, seemingly confused at their survival. Upon finding his quarry once again, he took a bounding leap over the verge, dislodging snow from the mountainside as he batted his wings. The dragon soared down the mountain impossibly fast, in an almost vertical dive. Caesia could feel the air growing warmer as he swiftly approached.

  “Hold still!” She commanded, precariously slipping her arm through one of Eris’ backpack straps.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Freeing up my hands.” Caesia replied, gripping the strap in the joint of her arm.

  Xeracrir sent forth another column of fire, ploughing through snow and rock towards them. Caesia carefully levelled her hands, struggling to remain upright as the shield bumped and bounced across stone. The fire rippled against her barrier, her arms tensing and straining as she fought to hold back the flames.

  Xeracrir swooped overhead and came around for another pass, only to suddenly stop some distance away. He hovered in the air, simply observing them. Why?

  Caesia’s confusion was suddenly answered as Eris gasped panickedly. She turned around and looked over Eris’ shoulder just in time to see the ground disappear from beneath them.

  “Shit.” She gasped, as the shield slid over the cliff edge.

  Eris and Caesia soared over the cliff edge, into a sheer vertical drop. Caesia could hear the dragon chuckling in amusement as her world slowed down. She wanted to scream but her throat was hoarse from shouting and her breath short and ragged. Maybe her life would have flashed before her eyes, had she much of a life to look back on at all. As much as she had acknowledged the likelihood of their deaths, Caesia wasn’t ready to die - not when she had only just begun to live her life for herself.

  Eris was frozen in fear, her eyes screwed up in fear. Caesia could do nothing but take the matter into her own hands. The shield tipped downwards as they fell, rapidly approaching the ground. Caesia outstretched her hand and closed her eyes.

  The snow on the ground below fizzled and melted as a barrier of green light materialised over it. Caesia squinted in concentration, shutting herself out from the imminence of death as she moulded the barrier with elegant strokes of her hand. The barrier curved up towards them, carefully adjusting to their angle of approach. Eris whimpered as the shield skidded onto the barrier, green sparks spraying behind them as it ground along it.

  The shield shot down the gradual ramp of light, slowly levelling them off to the flat ground below. Eris reluctantly peeled her eyes open and laughed hysterically in relief.

  Caesia chuckled amusedly. “What would you- crap!”

  Her gloating was cut short as she realised she had projected the barrier higher than she thought she had. The shield slid off the end of the ramp a few feet into the air, the sudden jolt of their departure flinging Caesia off as it span them upside down. The two of them soared into the snow, falling flat on the ground in muffled explosions of snow.

  They both lay there, splayed out on the ground, snow melting around Caesia. Caesia rolled over, face covered in sizzling icy water and glared furiously at Eris.

  Eris peeled herself out of the snow and sat up. “What were you saying?” She grinned, shaking her foot out of her shield strap.

  “I hate you.” Caesia mumbled, staring up at the sky in exhaustion. “Please, for the love of God, never do that again.”

  “Yeah, it was better in my head.” Eris admitted. “But, we’re still alive, right?”

  Caesia scrambled up, shaking herself off. Her soggy clothes were already drying, bellowing steam into the wind. The area around them was similar to the previous, blanketed with snow and dotted with jagged formations of rock, of which there were less - meaning less cover.

  Eris got up herself, picking up her shield and shaking off the snow. The face of the shield was scarred, scorched and battered after grinding against Caesia’s barrier. Nonetheless, it was still serviceable.

  “On the bright side-” Eris was interrupted by a thunderous roar and the violent beating of wings as Xeracrir darted overhead. “Never mind.”

  The dragon soared far into the distance and veered back around, readying himself for a final strafing attack.

  “Alright, I’ve had enough of this.” Caesia spat, igniting her hands with energy again. “This dragon isn’t going to cease until we’re nought but charred husks.”

  “Then we’ve no choice but to kick his ass.” Eris concluded.

  “Exactly. My spells’ll hurt him, no doubt about that, but we need to do more than just sting him.”

  “You’ve got a plan?”

  “Not a good one. Dragons have naturally energy resistant mouths in order to breathe fire without harming themselves, but if you could break the roof of its mouth with your bow, an electrical surge into the wound could cause catastrophic damage to the brain.”

  “You want me to shoot its mouth while it flies right at us?”

  “It’s the best shot you’ll get. Otherwise, I’ll try to do some damage to the exterior, open up a crack in its armour.”

  Eris pulled her bow from her back and slid an arrow from her quiver. She was far from confident - she never considered herself to be any good with the bow. That said, both Vard and her father had always insisted that she was. She hoped they were right, her life depended on it.

  Xeracrir drew closer, his wings blasting snow from the ground as they slammed the air beneath them. His throat was aglow again with intense yellow light, the gaps in his teeth like cracks in the clou
ds as the light beamed between them.

  Eris took a deep breath and held it, placing her arrow and pulling it back as far as she could. She stood prepared, her arm rigid and her bow motionless in waiting for a time to strike.

  The dragon’s mouth slipped open gradually, having learnt a lesson from Caesia’s attack on leaving himself vulnerable. There would be no showboating this time.

  Eris squinted as she levelled her bow. If she waited for the dragon to open its mouth fully, it would be too late. It was now or never.

  “Stars guide me.” She uttered, releasing her grip.

  The string flicked from her grasp and let slip the arrow. It whistled through the air towards the dragon, who swiftly snapped his jaws shut with a chuckle. That laughter quickly ceased as Xeracrir roared in pain, erratically flapping his wings as he clumsily tried to grind to a halt. In a fit of panic and agony, the dragon’s wing clipped the ground and he plunged meteorically into the mountainside in an enormous explosion of snow and stone.

  Eris stood dumbstruck as she lowered her bow. She had just shot a dragon out of the sky. With a training bow. Maybe Vard was right after all…

  “That was bloody incredible!” Caesia exclaimed, patting Eris hard on the back. “You should use that thing more often.”

  From within the cloud of falling snow came a rumbling, as Xeracrir stirred from his dazed state.

  “Alright, I got this.” Caesia declared. Just bait his mouth open with a barrier and blast the wound, simple as that. She hoped.

  Xeracrir staggered out from the cloud, panting in agony, his ancient black scales blanketed with snow. As Caesia lifted her hands to defend against an inevitable attack, she saw no blood in the dragon’s mouth. Xeracrir turned his head to her, revealing on the other side Eris’ arrow embedded deep into his eye. She cringed at the stream of blood flooding down the side of his scowling face, but was far more concerned with just how angry they seemed to have made him.

  “Plan B!” Caesia hissed to Eris as Xeracrir shook off the blanket of snow. “Run! Hide in his blind spot!”

  “What about-”

  “Go!” Caesia demanded, shoving her arm impatiently.

  Xeracrir turned and looked at them, brandishing his teeth furiously. “You will pay dearly for that.” He growled.

  “Not before I make you pay for the people you killed!” Caesia yelled defiantly.

  Xeracrir watched as Eris turned tail and ran into the distance. “Hm, you see now?” He sneered. “Your kind care for nothing but themselves. Your ally has abandoned you and now I will kill you both with laughable ease!”

  Caesia smirked at the dragon’s over-confidence. He was so sure of himself and of his perception of humans. She knew it would be his undoing.

  Xeracrir drew back his neck and Caesia pushed out her hands to meet him.

  Eris peered quickly from behind the rocks before slipping back behind them. She knew Caesia intended to punch through the dragon’s armour, but how would they follow it up? Eris knew she could get the most damage out of her sword, but getting in close to attack the dragon was impossible. She looked around erratically, hoping to find an advantage. Her eye was caught by a slope in the rock, just a few metres from where she hid. An attack from above - the last thing a dragon would expect.

  Caesia lowered her shield as the torrent of fire ceased, allowing her arms a moment of reprieve as Xeracrir prepared another blast.

  “Is- is that all you’ve got?” Caesia panted.

  She flung her arm back and slung a bolt of lightning into the dragon’s neck, followed by another into the same spot. She could feel an icy trickle of blood rolling over her lips, the frequency of her spells beginning to take a toll on her body.

  After another two strikes, Caesia pushed out a barrier again, as another torrent of flame blasted around her. She knew she couldn’t keep this up, but she didn’t have to. All she had to do was make an opening for Eris.

  Her arms were becoming weak now, barely able to stay straight as she held them out in front of her. She tried to ignore the stinging, annoying as it was she couldn’t afford to let it bother her.

  Suddenly, the flames broke and Caesia found herself beneath Xeracrir’s gaping maw, scolding hot saliva avalanching into the snow around her.

  She gasped in terror as the dragon’s mouth closed in around her, teeth driving fast towards her. As her shield exploded into sparks, she screwed up her eyes and sheltered her face, not that it would do anything of worth.

  The fiery warmth of Xeracrir’s mouth suddenly turned to an icy cold as she felt the frigid breeze against her skin again. Caesia opened her eyes to see a Xeracrir look up in confusion, snout buried in the ground. She stared down at her body, completely intact and coursing with fading green energy.

  “Insolent girl!” Xeracrir roared, a burning glow shooting up his throat again. “Why do you refuse to die?”

  Caesia thrust out her arms just in time to catch another barrage of flame. The blast was greater than his previous attacks, fuelled by rage and anger. Such was its strength that Caesia was pushed steadily away, skidding through the snow as incredible pressure swelled against her shield. As Xeracrir let up, Caesia released her shield, stumbling onto one knee. Her whole body was going faint at the energy she was exerting. A momentary wave of dizziness overcame her as she rose from the snow.

  “I… I guess I’m just not in the mood.” She gasped tiredly, shaking off her frail arms.

  She staggered back up and looked behind her. She was close now to the rocks Eris had fled to. She put both of her hands together, charging a lightning bolt in either hand. As she moved to the edge of the rocks, she blasted Xeracrir once more with a powerful crack from either hand. The dragon flinched at the strike before blasting her once again, narrowly missing as Caesia flung herself behind the rocks.

  Caesia looked around, seeing no sign of Eris at all. She knew Eris would be working on something, but she was becoming concerned that she may not have time to wait for her.

  “Caesia!” Eris hissed in a hushed tone. “Up here.”

  Caesia looked up to see Eris peering over the top of the rocks, waving eagerly, and nodded in acknowledgement. She could feel the shaking of the ground as Xeracrir drew close. This was it.

  Eris stumbled cautiously to the other side of the rocks, the wind battering her on her unsheltered perch. Xeracrir was moving slowly around the rocks, his focus entirely on Caesia.

  “Hide all you want, girl.” He sneered. “You will burn all the same, like all your pathetic kind!”

  Eris saw on the side of the dragon’s neck, a collection of cracked, scorched scales, revealing an aged grey hide. Caesia had done her part, now it was up to her.

  She withdrew from the edge and stood up straight, burying her feet to resist the force of the wind. She unbuckled her sheath and slid out her sword slowly and silently. She flipped it in her hand, gripping it upside-down for the greatest stabbing capability. This was the moment she had dreamt of her entire life. It was time to be a hero.

  Eris felt the rocks shake as Xeracrir ground up against them, curling tightly around the corner to face Caesia. She took deep breath and a step back, before running for the edge.

  “Is this what you call an ambush?” Xeracrir sneered as a bolt of lightning ricocheted harmlessly off his scales.

  “Something of the sort.” Caesia smirked exhaustedly, lifting her trembling arms to ward one last jet of flame.

  Eris launched herself from atop the rocks, diving for the dragon’s neck with her sword. Xeracrir convulsed as she slammed into his neck, driving her sword with ferocious force into his exposed flesh. The dragon let out a startled roar of agony, staggering into the rocks as it cringed in pain. Eris, now half drenched in dragon blood by the spewing wound and hanging onto the dragon by her sword, swung her shield hard into the sword’s handle, hammering it further into the dragon’s neck.

  Caesia watched in both awe and pity as Xeracrir writhed in pain. The dragon gritted its teeth and flung its neck to the
side, swinging it back again and battering Eris into the rocks.

  “Eris!” Caesia gasped as Eris fell from the dragon’s neck and collapsed motionlessly into the snow, her sword still embedded deep in the dragon’s neck.

  Xeracrir composed himself, cringing in pain as he curled his neck. He staggered to the side and swung his neck around towards Eris, opening his jagged maw. Caesia saw Eris’ sword still in the wound - a conduit for her lightning.

  “You… your efforts are worthless!” Xeracrir stammered, panting in pain as a yellow glow streaked up his throat. “The world will be freed of human oppression! I will have justice!”

  As Xeracrir prepared to incinerate her friend, Caesia quickly analysed the situation. A mere lightning bolt would do little, even with a means to breach the dragon’s armour. If she was going to save her friend, she would have to push well beyond her limits and put her own life at risk. For Eris, she was more than willing to take that chance.

  Caesia pulled back her arms and charged them with electricity, straining to push herself harder than ever before. As she drew up more and more energy, engulfing her arms in pale green light. She screwed up her eyes and gritted her teeth as she felt a searing spike of pain in the back of her mind. She couldn’t succumb to it. She wouldn’t hold back.

  She thrust her arms forwards, converging them in front of her. In a blinding flash of green light, a solid beam of lightning erupted from her hands. The beam streaked towards Xeracrir and ploughed violently into his wound, the sheer force slamming him into the rocks. The dragon let out a bloodcurdling roar of pain as the lightning pulsed through Eris’ sword and into his neck, inflicting an intense burning pain all throughout his body. Xeracrir found himself unable to move, pinned against the rocks by the beam and immobilised by the surge of lightning.

  Caesia winced in pain herself. What was once a mere spike of pain had become a constant burning. Her arms began to ache and sting intensely. Her body too feeble to grit her teeth any longer, she screamed in total agony, her whole body on fire with pain.