Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  This time, I continue past the dragon’s tail and away. Just as well. It has flamed under its body where I would have been if I had done the same. It seems to have lost sight of me. Good, I guessed right. It learns fast. I have to change my attack each time. One small touch of that flaming breath and I am dead.

  Hulagu rode away and looked back. I have succeeded at one thing at least. The dragon is turning away from Mousehole. I now have its undivided attention. On one level, that is a good thing. Now I have to change tactics. It is time for me to revert to a time-honoured Khitan practice.

  He put the wand away in its pouch, fastening it, and being careful that he remembered that the one on the left had used two charges, and unlaced the bow and arrow quivers. This is going to be less accurate. I will be firing from a very long range with these arrows and I thank my father for the enchantments woven into this weapon.

  I can risk closing to a range where I will be more likely to hit, but there, even a slight miscalculation will put me within range of the dragon. I am sure that it will not misjudge the distance, even if I do. The key to being successful will be to keep the distance close enough that it thinks that it has a chance to catch me and keep the shots far enough apart that I do not run out of shafts before the dragon loses interest in me.

  Once his bow was out, he took careful aim and fired. My luck is in. The dragon has either not seen the arrow or else ignored it as being below its notice. That is its error. An explosion announced it hitting the dragon on the nose. One arrow will do less than half what the wand will do, and is easier to miss with, but it will all add up and that shot had to have hurt it in more than its pride.

  It turns out that it was ignoring the arrow. The next one he fired was flamed out of the sky with a minor puff from the beast. I can try changing my point of aim. It ignored one shot at its wing, but it flicked past the tip and missed the beast. A puff of flame from below on a hillside tells where the arrow landed.

  I will try something else, a plunging shot. Normally, this would not work, but this beast is so big that… A hit on its back and a brief flame in my direction and gaping jaws as it roars. He fired again into the sky. The dragon realises what I am doing and allows itself to move left…not enough, anything with a wing span of five hundred paces makes a huge target and now I hit its right wing.

  Damn, it has decided that I cannot be caught and is turning away, back towards Mousehole. It has to be driven by something. I cannot imagine a normal beast not wanting to follow me and eliminate me for my temerity. Now I have to use a wand again. The bow went back in its case and was locked down, the arrow quiver was closed and quickly laced, and the wand came out again.

  He came up to the tail. If I fly directly behind the beast, then it might not see me. He drew level with the tail. Ahead, the beast is glancing back. I am right. It has difficulty seeing me here, but then I cannot fire where I want. I have no choice. I will have to get closer.

  He flew past the tip of the tail, a huge diamond of leathery red skin moving side to side through the air. I have an idea. The dragon looks a bit like a Tailed Leather-wing. It is far larger, has more bat-like wings and four legs and no fur, but that is what it looks like. A Tailed Leather-wing without the tip of its tail cannot fly properly as it cannot steer.

  Now, how do I do this? He took aim at the base of the diamond shape. It is a harder shot than aiming at the vast wings and body, but… He concentrated his aim and fired and pulled the saddle to a stop straight away. He stopped dead. The belt around me is almost cutting me in two, but just as well, my blast has galvanised the tail into thrashing through the sky where I would have been. If I had kept going, I would have been swatted aside like a gnat. It has not liked that at all. I will keep doing this.

  The second time is not as easy. Although it makes its flying more erratic, the dragon has realised what I am doing, and its tail lashes out at random. I have to be quick to dodge or else risk firing from a range where I am more likely to miss. And I just did that, wasting a bolt.

  Again, he closed and fired and stopped. This time I have gotten too close and the very tip of the tail, only the last hand, casually flicked me as it passed. The dragon probably didn’t even notice the touch, but it is enough of an impact to send me spinning through the sky in agony.

  He fought for control of the saddle through the pain and a growing blackness. He regained control just paces from the trees towards which he had been despatched. In pain, and through a growing fog he looked down. My left leg is crushed. I can see my trousers are wet with blood, and the pain is intense. Damn not having a healing potion with me. Even if I somehow survive, I may have lost the leg.

  He focussed on the beast now ahead as well as above him. I might just have one more try at the beast left in me. He was just heading back to the dragon for a last attack when he heard a cry from above and towards the valley. Hulagu looked up.

  I have delayed the dragon perhaps even enough. The rest of the fliers have engaged the beast while I fought to stave off blacking out and regain control of my saddle. I am being hailed by the priests on the carpet as it is dropping towards me. I just might survive this fight after all. He felt a wave of relief pass through him even as he fought for consciousness against the growing blackness.

  Chapter LXII

  Astrid

  1st Undecim

  As Eleanor headed up to the lookout to drop Bryony, Astrid was already moving the saddle riders into the formation that she had decided upon. I have them in a crescent with me at the centre and Kãhina and Anahita at the ends. To the left, between Astrid and Anahita, are Valeria and Basil. On the other side are Lãdi and Aine. Ayesha, the most skilled rider bar me, is below holding onto a rope, the other end of which is being held by an invisible Stefan.

  Far ahead, I can see that Hulagu still survives from the flashes of the discharges of his wands. He must be using one of Theodora’s wands, as I can see a glint of lightning in the sky and, if I listen hard, a faint ‘crack.’ The dragon fights back with gouts of flame.

  “He is still there.” That was a sigh of relief from below me. “Now we climb and go as fast as we can. Keep your formation with the wings advancing and getting a hundred ahead. We need to pass a hand of hundreds of paces above it before we swoop back down. Do not be distracted. Stefan, detach when I say so. Forward.” If any could see my face, I know that I have the predatory look on it of a great cat about to pounce.

  Astrid had been climbing as she watched Hulagu’s tactics. I will work with what he is doing. It is good. I will keep two held forward and two on each side. That way, whichever direction the dragon turns in there would be two on its tail. We will open with a thrown molotail each from above as we go for our positions. She yelled instructions. I wish that my voice was louder.

  The carpet is falling back and dropping away to the side and down. Kãhina is moving to join me while Anahita and Valeria, Ayesha and Basil and Lãdi and Aine formed pairs. Ayesha is waving the hand that had been holding the rope. Stefan must have chosen his own time and is now on his way.

  They flew on and, just as she was about to give the signal to drop in attack, she saw Hulagu’s luck run out as he was sent spinning through the air. “Down.” Each with a molotail held ready, they dropped onto the dragon. It is turning around to where Hulagu spins helpless through the air.

  It must have been absorbed completely in its combat with Hulagu. It didn’t see us coming. We are a complete surprise to it. “Throw” Eight arms hurl their deadly cargo before wheeling to take up our positions. We are at the front, Lãdi and Aine to the rear and the others on the flanks.

  Kãhina, Anahita, Ayesha and Aine get their bows, and the rest of us reach for a wand, as six of the molotails hit and explode in flame. The others are on a long fall to the ground where only the wetness of early spring prevents the hillsides from going up in smoke. The devices fall among the eucalypt forests of the middle slopes. Unnoticed b
y anyone else, oily smoke erupts skyward from their impact sites.

  The dragon gives vent to a mighty roar. I felt that. It is enveloped in a series of fireballs that join together across its back in a rolling explosion, and I feel the wash of heat from that as well. The contents of the molotails cling to its skin and the dragon roars in pain and twists around while still flying on, the flame is dripping from its flanks and wings.

  It has a tactic for this. It is drawing its wings in and shaking itself, dropping like a stone, but freeing itself of much of its flaming burden, now cascading as a rain of fire through the sky. Stefan, is he still alive?

  The move nearly halved the amount of burning liquid on it. I wonder if this is a tactic that it remembers from fights in its far-distant youth, when dragons must have been smaller and perhaps more plentiful, and dragon may have fought dragon as a regular occurrence.

  We were caught out by its sudden fall, but now our archers take advantage of its inattention to fire from above the beast into its vast back. It is hard to miss. They just aim for the centre of its body. They have explosive shafts; each hit adds a spurt of flame to the conflagration below. The four with ready wands take position as the dragon again begins to rise towards us. We have the upper hand over the beast.

  Each arrow, although powerful enough to perhaps kill a person on its own, is individually only doing a tiny amount of damage to the great beast, as little as an ant bite would do to a person, but it is all adding up. If we can keep this up, it can do nothing to us and our greater height and its slower rise means that we can easily stay outside the range of its breath while continuing to harm it.

  She signalled for the others to continue the attack like this, while she looked around and took stock.

  Yes, Hulagu has moved the fight away from the direct line to the village. Now the dragon, in trying to climb towards us and rid itself of its tormentors, has become even more careless of its direction and we are headed out over the forested slopes, more towards the Darkreach outpost than anywhere else. It is lucky for us and we will take advantage of this while we can.

  Bryony

  I am supposed to say what is happening, but I can only pass on what I see and that is hard. I see no people. Even with the telescope, it is mainly the dragon rising and falling in the sky…its changes of direction and sudden turns, some lightning bolts, but none of them since the ball of flame surrounded the dragon. That must have been the molotails and then it dropped and flew out and started to rise again.

  At least it is not coming towards us now. It is particularly important when I have just a bow, and am placed so as to be under the dragon when it flies into the village.

  Still, my greatest fear is for Stefan. The father of my child is somewhere out there with the most dangerous role of them all, and because of what he carries, if he is injured and knocked unconscious at some time in the fight, none will ever find him. He is undetectable and that works each way, for both enemy and for friend. Even now he could be unconscious and bleeding to death as he flies past the priests and no one will ever know.

  He just accepts what scraps I give him. Have I even told him that I love him for what he is? What he has done for me? I had thought that I would never want another commitment, but I already have one baby with him, and I may have another on the way, so why do I feel the way that I do?

  I need to think about where I want to go with my life. My old one is well and truly behind me. I have cut it off. Am I ready to start a new one? In the meantime, I will pray and hope, but who do I pray to?

  Chapter LXIII

  Stefan

  1st Undecim

  Astrid has not said to go yet, but I heard her orders and the time to go is now. Stefan separated from the rest of the flight and dropped. I want to be well below the dragon as I approach, so that any flame it lets out will not accidentally toast me. He looked up.

  I have to be as aware of my friend’s fire, as much as I am of that from the dragon. Damn, Hulagu is spinning away and the dragon is turning to finish him off. The carpet is dropping. Eleanor is heading it towards where she thinks Hulagu is headed.

  S’blood, what is that…the molotails? Even here I felt the wash of heat, as they drop on the beast and the impact of its roar of pain and rage. To the right, most of them hit on the dragon. That one sailed past only a few paces away as it heads to the ground. It was hard to pick out as it dropped, but I was lucky to see and avoid it in time.

  S’truth, down, down. The beast is dropping, and shedding fire and I am under it all. Dodge around plummeting dragon to crush and sheets of flame to burn… It is shaking like a wet dog, and flying like one as well.

  Now I am out from under the damn beast and that was an arrow that just went past. Thanks folks. Drop again in a dive to attempt to regain the shadow…we are low…its wing tip just hit the top of a giant Swamp Gum and demolished it, and I am still avoiding flaming drops.

  Stefan heard a rain of smaller explosions. More arrow fire. For some reason Astrid is using the less powerful weapons rather than the wands. He looked up and around. Of course. The riders are in pairs above the dragon, and one of each pair can keep up a constant rain of arrows, while they last, and still stay clear of its blasts.

  Such pinpricks will not kill it but while it is distracted it will let me get close, even if the dragon sees through my magic or even looks in my direction. He rose, now fully under the dragon and safe from arrow fire and being seen.

  Safe I might be, but I am here to do a job, not to be safe. I have a broadsword. It is a weapon that is meant to be used by one person attacking another person while both are standing firmly on the ground and hacking and slashing at each other. Even if you are on a horse attacking someone you hope to have a more suitable blade.

  Here I am, flying through the air, about to attack another flying target that isn’t even vaguely humanoid. What idiot made a weapon to kill a dragon, and made it the worst possible weapon for the job? Why not use a lance or a spear at least? The only things that would be worse are a dagger or a rapier, and I am sure that Ayesha could somehow make a dagger a much better proposition.

  He looked above him, and flew backwards and forwards underneath the great beast. There is not a single point of vulnerability I can see. I am supposed to deliver a mighty blow that will despatch the beast, but that will only be possible if there is something for me to attack that might be vital to it. Dear Saint Jude and Saint Michael, I will keep flying around and maybe one of you will show me this mythical place for me to strike a killing blow.

  Chapter LXIV

  Astrid

  1st Undecim

  Damn. The beast has realised that we are distracting it and it is turning back towards Mousehole. We are running out of arrows; not that they are having a lot of effect anyway. Sure, I can see bleeding wounds on the beast. There are even a couple of places where there are holes in the wings that I could fly through, but none of this seems to slow it down, and its breath is still a mighty blast that will cook any of us instantly.

  What do I try next? Valeria has her own horse bow and supply of arrows and Lãdi has a sling and a supply of magically enhanced bullets. They can keep up their own fire after the four firing now run out. She waved her arms and shouted, rotating and changing positions. Now I have Anahita and Valeria ahead of the dragon, on its right. Lãdi and Aine are ahead and to the left, Kãhina and I behind and to the left, and Ayesha and Basil are behind to the right. We are still well above the dragon, but this will change.

  I wonder where Stefan is. Those are the last few arrows, now for new instructions. Keep the front flyers high. Drop the rear ones and we prepare to use wands. She called instructions out to the others. The first run is mine. It must have been Hulagu who did that damage to the beast’s tail and that is a good place to start.

  She fired the wand, pulled out and indicated the target. One by one, we do our runs in. Fire, and ou
t in a different way. Lightning, flame and air fists are pounding away at it. At least the dragon cannot readily flame us here, it is too far from its vast jaws unless it contorts itself or turns itself around. We only have to fear its lashing tail—only—and what happened to Hulagu shows that to be a real fear. We cannot afford a touch from such a massive object.

  Christopher

  Hulagu is hit. “Get to him.” I see Theodule is sipping on the Sleepwell. It is that time when we must. I can feel my mana return. As they came closer, and ignoring the closing dragon, Christopher grabbed hold of the rope that he had attached between Theodule and himself, while Theodule stood up precariously on the plunging carpet and attempted to catch the saddle.

  Hulagu has not even noticed us, is he conscious? Eleanor has called out several times. Eventually he has seen us, his eyes full of pain; he is slumped, almost dead. Theodule has him…fighting the saddle…a hand on it steadies it. Theodule has the first miracle this time.

  They looked at each other. “Do a simple bone-set on the leg first, then a major cure. He is just still conscious, and that should restore him enough that a lot of fluid and some rest will see him get back into the fight, if he is needed, and so that he can hold that saddle steady. I won’t be needed on this one.” Theodule nods in agreement and he prays while I keep an eye for where we will be needed next.

  Astrid

  My tactics are slowly working. Between the arrows still coming from in front of it, and that it is flying into, and the blasts from the wands onto its tail, the dragon is clearly unhappy. From what I can see, we are losing about half of the arrows to its breath, but what they do is less important than the damage that we are doing with the wands.