"The eyes!" I yelled, thinking that removing the creature's optic input might reduce its offensive capabilities. It didn't even flinch when I tried to smash its heel in with my mace, so I gambled that it wouldn't notice six armored warriors trying to climb its scaly hide any more than I would notice a few fleas trying to bite me in the midst of battle.
My shield had thick leather straps for my arms and could wrap over my shoulders in case I wished to wear it while wielding a weapon with two hands. I doubted when the smiths crafted it they thought I would be climbing the leg of a mythical dragon. My mace also had loose leather straps, so I tied it onto my belt. I jumped as high as I could and felt my gloved fingertips dig into the half-inch break between the scales. My hands and body held firmly, so I kicked my feet up to find purchase with my boots.
The animal took a quick step that jarred my arms. I maintained my grip, but realized my boots were too thick to fit between the scales and slipped off their smooth, mirrored surface. This would be a climb of only arm and grip strength.
Up the leg of a dragon.
Carrying more than a hundred pounds of weapons and armor on my shoulders.
At least I would die doing something noteworthy.
I pulled up with my left arm and grabbed with my right. Then I repeated the movement half a dozen more times as quickly as I could while I tried to keep my legs from swinging too much and disrupting my grip.
I was on the rear left leg of the beast and close to where its tail was whipping through the air and slapping into the ground to kill more of my troops. My position on its leg was the luckiest one I could have chosen. The leg's knee bent back like a dog and as I passed the joint the angle bent toward the front of the serpent, creating a slope where it was less climbing and more crawling up a smooth hill.
I paid no attention to my guards as it took all my energy and focus to find each handhold and steady my grip on the slippery, swaying legs of the monster. I felt a sudden shift in the weight of the dragon and heard a scream below me. I risked a glance down and saw that the monster had reached one of its back claws to scratch the front leg Loto and Tarkas had been climbing. The talon ripped through them, painting the back of its scaly leg with gallons of their blood. I did not see my other guards and hoped they had stayed on the ground or chosen a safer path to follow me.
Was there a safe way up a dragon? I should have paid closer attention to the stories of them when I was a child.
The creature's back was lined with rougher scales that formed a sharp ridge of spikes where they met with the spines on top. The thick, ropey limbs that controlled the membranes of the wings were the size of pine tree trunks. They twitched to help balance the creature as it twisted around and unleashed another plume of fire and death upon our rear lines. I grabbed a large spike and held on as the ground beneath me spun dizzyingly.
Could the monster even feel me? I had to believe it did not. If I let myself believe the creature knew I intended to climb across its neck and poke it in the eye I would probably just abort the mission now, crawl over to Iolarathe, and agree to her treaty.
The thought almost made me laugh.
The dragon rocked again and I clung tightly to the spike. When its movement finally settled, I sprinted as quickly as I dared across the thick spines of its back and then grabbed onto a jutting, mountainous scale positioned right next to the dragon's neck joint. The spine was thinner than the rest and twisted up to the massive head. It would work well if I could just hang on a few more seconds.
I heard a shout behind me and turned to see Permtara ascend the leg of the winged serpent and grab onto its spines. She crawled up the ridges on the back toward me, but then the creature suddenly flexed its shoulders. Its long, spiky tail whipped into the air and circled around before cracking down exactly where Permtara clung. Her armor was instantly cleaved in half like an apple by a sword. Blood spray coated the polished scales. The powerful warrior did not even have time to scream.
Now I knew how horse flies felt.
The dragon's neck flexed into the air again and I steeled myself for the stupidest part of my plan. Depression and doubt suddenly filled me. Even if this was successful, there were still two more of the creatures. We were seriously fucked.
The monster's neck aimed down and it opened its maw while I sprinted toward the flame. I felt like I was running across a round tree trunk while a tornado attempted to blow the tree down around me. Somehow my booted feet landed on the right spines and scales and I made my way to the creature’s smoldering mouth. Fire oozed out in a twirling drivel of heat that could incur the envy of the sun. My armor sizzled as I came within five yards of the jaws.
I felt the Fire from the blast pull toward me. Wind was easy to harness now, it screamed through the air at this altitude. I slid across the scales over the creature's brow, bent over the lip of its massive eyelid, and shoved my arms into the huge reptilian pupil. Then I unleashed the Elements in a stream of agony I hoped would fry the creature's eye and cause it so much pain that it would get the fuck away from us without extracting further damage.
The creature made a choking sound and fell forward. The river of fire cut off so suddenly that my eyes took a second to adjust to the absence of light. Then I was falling with the beast and riding on the top of its skull as it crashed to the ground. I tried to jump at the last moment before it landed, but my timing was off and I ended up smashing into the battlefield like a stack of bricks.
I got up as quickly as I could. My back screamed in pain and I figured I had ruptured some or most of the discs along my spine. They would heal in a half a minute so I could attempt to take the next fucking lizard's eyes away. The dragon did not rise, but it twitched and I recognized the movement.
The beast was dead, but its brain still sent signals to the body.
A scream of triumph went up amongst my warriors when it became apparent that the animal was vanquished. Our shouts of victory were quickly overshadowed by the deafening roar of the other two dragons. I looked at the first monster that had landed and realized that it glared directly at me. I felt a wave of fear assault me. Its burning eyes were horrible and ancient.
"Kaiyer!" it screamed into my head a hundred times in echo as its mouth opened in my direction. A surge of fire and wind as a ball of purple magic appeared at the creature's forehead. Then the sphere sped toward me like an arrow. I ran southward, toward a spot the dragon I just killed had already laid to waste. The ball curved in the air to chase me and I tried in vain to push it back away with Wind and Fire of my own.
My head exploded in pain, my body burst into flame, and then reformed in a second. My armor melted around me but then reformed to its original shape. The magic consumed me and killed me.
Then I was reborn in a collision of Water and Fire. Earth and Wind.
"Your time is at an end. There will be no more of you, Fallen One." The creature's voice echoed in my head and made me scream. I couldn't bear its words; they were more painful than the power that just ripped through me.
My vision cleared from the smoke and blackness to see the gigantic lizard bring down its clawed foot in an attempt to crush me into the ashen ground. Somehow I dove to the side and the impact of its pummel shocked my skeleton numb. I had to think. There was no way for me to beat this thing on the ground where it could claw me, bite me, use Elements on me, or breathe fire on me. I sprang to my feet and a shock of pain ripped through me. Something was still broken in my back, but I didn't have time to figure out what it was at the moment. Instead, I dashed through the creature's legs hoping to avoid another frontal attack. I was fucked if the dragon decided to just fling itself down on the earth, but I didn't see another position quite as defendable. I was a rat trying to kill a carrion beast.
A big fucking claw ripped through the air and tore a massive trench in the ground next to me. I spun out of the way before it cut me in half, but the animal moved with unreal speed. Even with my heightened senses and trained reflexes, I knew that I was just delaying the
inevitable. My mace was ineffective; my strength useless and my magic would do nothing unless I could again reach the eyes.
I dove to the ground as the dragon shuffled its four feet and attacked me with its back leg. The claw missed me, but ripped across my shield. I heard the thick metal rip apart and I felt a slight tug on my back as the strap tore loose from my shoulders. My shield had blocked countless Elven arrows, parried thousands of weapon hits, and the thick gray metal had never seen a scratch. Our smiths had used the Elements to super heat a volatile blend of metals that could only be found deep in the earth. It had thus far been indestructible.
The dragon had ripped it open like an old piece of parchment. I might as well have been wearing my undergarments when I fought the beast. Each of the dragon's scales was probably tougher than three of my shields put together. If no weapon could break through, and if no magic would penetrate, how was I going to defeat this thing before it crushed me into the earth?
Suddenly an idea slammed into my head like a punch to the face. I was trying to use force to directly damage the creature. But I knew how to kill things without doing any external damage.
As I had almost killed Shlara.
I rolled on the ground sideways while I attempted to pull the thick plated gauntlet off my left hand. I wasn't sure if I needed to touch my bare skin to the dragon's scales, but I didn't want to risk it not working when I would probably only be able to make one quick attempt before it killed me. The gauntlet unbuckled and my hand slid free by the time I got close to the dragon's leg.
Then I grabbed a scale and pulled the Earth into me.
Earth controlled and fueled my own body. But only because it was the easiest Element for humans and Elvens to harness. It didn't move fast. It was forgiving. And it could imbue our bodies with amazing strength, speed, and endurance.
But the other Elements could also be used as internal or external power. Entas never wanted me to experiment with Water and I saw why when I had hurt Shlara. But if I harnessed the power to kill this giant mountain of fucking fire, teeth, and claws, then it would be worth ignoring Entas's words of caution.
The Earth ignited my powers and I ripped the Water out of the dragon. It poured into me like a rushing river. An endless torrent. I felt the creature thrash against me and attempt to scream, shoot fire, anything to stop me from draining this most important Element from its body. My own body swelled with power. I had never felt so indestructible.
Time slowed down and stopped.
The colors of the night intensified until I saw that the dragon was actually light brown, with flecks of gold glittering in each of its scales. The plates were as beautiful and intricate as mosaic slabs designed by an artist. An artist who valued organic beauty over symmetry. The stars in the sky burned like suns and the green moons glowed like Iolarathe’s face after we made love.
I observed the human army. The O’Baarni. My army. They were trying to regroup after the terrible damage the dragons had wrought upon Thayer and Shlara’s forces. They fell back to the foot of the hill where we had begun our attack. The retreat flag was raised, but sat still as a stone statue. No wind ruffled the yellow and green striped banner.
I saw Malek facing me. His finger pointed at the dragon. My friend’s mouth opened in a scream, but I heard no sound. I noticed every fiber of hair on his head and perceived every bead of sweat stuck to his cheeks.
I turned to the Elven camp. I ignored their troops. I found her at the crest of the valley. Her hair wrapped around her shoulders, a jealous ray of the setting sun. Her eyes stared into mine. Their silver was so pure they looked blue in the light of the cosmos. Her deep red lips were parted, exposing the perfect row of white teeth clenched in frustration. There was fire on the battlefield, and her golden armor caught all its life and outlined her wondrous body as if she burned on a pyre.
I spent years there, watching her. I allowed my awareness to float forward. The dragon above me whined a last cry of desperation, then the gold-tinted scales faded to a light gray, then white, as its magnificent body shriveled into a mummified statue. It crumbled into dust, shattering into a million grains of powder and raining down upon me like a sudden snow storm.
Four seconds had passed since I touched the dragon.
I knew this because the cosmos knew this. At that moment, either drunk off of the power I stole from the beast as ancient as time itself, or because I had always had it inside of me, I understood everything the stars did.
I walked a few steps toward the last dragon. My shield lay discarded at my feet, cut open like the skin of a peeled orange. My step kicked it into my grip and I felt the weight of the broken pieces against my bare left hand and the plated gauntlet of my right. I pushed the metal and found the breaks inside of its makeup. I joined the shield back together and changed the construction of the metal. It would never break again.
I did the same with my mace and armor.
The last dragon screamed at me and our eyes met across the three hundred yards between us.
"You are next Recatolusti'catri," I said to her without speaking. She still heard me. I saw her eyes narrow and tasted her fear. I knew now of the deal she struck with Iolarathe. I had just ended the monster's mate and offspring.
She pulled her head up in a move I now understood was an exhale to fill her fire sack. A few minutes ago, the movement had seemed graceful and quick, but now I saw the beast's age. I knew that she was the last of her kind on a world that had been plagued by their evil manipulations for too long. I continued my slow walk toward her and she unleashed the molten flow of fire in an angry river. It would not stop me.
Nothing would.
I admired the beauty of the flame, its warmth, its intense swirl of color, and the way it destroyed the grass on the ground as the river made its sprint toward me. The torrent of her breath wrapped around me, it tried to consume me and use my life to burn brighter. Fire didn't care about the end. It just cared about the beginning. The first second as it kissed a new lover, the excitement of newness. I ripped the heat out of the lava.
The Water I had pulled from Recatolusti’catri’s mate made this easy.
The smoke cleared as I walked out the other side of the torrent. My armor steamed, but my skin was cool beneath the thick plates.
The dragon screamed again.
"How did you know?" she asked me in my head. It bounced around again in my skull in her thousand voices, but I could follow them now without pain. "You were not supposed to remember!" I didn't understand her words, but I saw the muscular arms of her wings beat and I knew that she intended to jump into the air. I started to run and forced Earth into my limbs. There was no longer any limit to the amount of power I could harness.
She sprung off the ground and beat her wings furiously. I made the strongest leap that I could, pouring every ounce of newfound power into my body. I grabbed the edge of one of her claws with my bare left hand as she continued to climb into the sky. The old bitch rose quickly, within seconds I could barely see Malek below, signaling for our armies to push another attack on the Elvens.
I tried to pull the Water from her, but it did not work. I realized that her talon was a nail, a dead growth not connected to her bloodstream. I reached up with my right arm and clutched the sharp talon with my other hand. She shook her claws and thrashed in an effort to lose me. I felt hundreds of times stronger than I had a few minutes ago, but her strength combined with the downward curve of the claw and our rapid ascent made it almost impossible to hold on to the smooth surface.
But I did.
She tried again, swinging her feet and flapping her wings in a joint effort, like a child trying to kick a leather ball by moving her arms back while her leg kicked. My grip slid down an inch and I felt the sharp edge of her talon cut into the palm of my bare hand.
"Die Kaiyer!" she screamed into my head again as she dove. My stomach flew up into my throat, and I wondered if those tiny, glittering objects beneath us were fireballs from my army.
Fu
cking shit on a dragon's ass we were high, I meant to say, but I only gasped when my hands slipped away from the talon. For a precious second I felt weightless and then I tumbled. Recatolusti’catri screamed in victory and climbed higher as I drifted toward the earth. I spun around a few times in free fall while my stomach caught up to me. The ground was fast approaching and I knew there was no way out of this predicament.
I hoped the dragon considered her participation in this war finished. The O'Baarni would be victorious tonight. My death would be worth the sacrifice.
I thought of my generals' speeches in my tent before we had left for the battle. Their words moved me to tears knowing I would not see them tomorrow.
Especially Shlara's words.
Maybe I had always known this would happen?
Maybe I knew that I would die before this war ended. Perhaps that was why I resisted her. Why I put off being her lover for so long. Why I hadn't wanted to talk to my generals about what life would be like after we destroyed the Elvens.
It did not matter. I died the day Iolarathe killed my father and brother. Every step since then had been about revenge. It had been a quest to right a wrong that could never be fixed. Iolarathe knew she would die this day. That was why she had tried to negotiate with me.
My last thoughts were of her when I hit the ground. After all, dreaming was as close as we came to death before we actually died.
When I dreamed it was always of Iolarathe.
Chapter 26-Kaiyer
I sat up with a choked-off gasp. In my dream I felt the last part of the impact with the ground and the pain had been horrific. My body seized uncontrollably as it remembered the collision. I tried to roll back my tongue into my throat but I ended up biting it anyway and the taste of my own coppery blood filled my mouth like a cup of foul water.
I forced myself to focus on something else, anything else that would bring my muscles under my control. The ceiling of my room in Castle Nia twisted and turned, as if I looked at it from the bottom of a lake. My head hurt again, like it had when I was at the fire with Vernine and Isslata. Blackness attacked the edges of my sight.
The Destroyer Book 2 Page 43
