Nozdormu let loose with one last blast of sand. It slammed into Galakrond’s brow, but as hard as it hit, it was already evident that the blow would not even distract their horrific foe for more than another breath. Yet that was not Nozdormu’s full intention, for barely had he brought Galakrond’s attention toward him when the blast shifted downward and clogged the huge proto-dragon’s nostrils.
Galakrond instinctively opened his maw wider in search of air—
And in that critical moment, a slighter, yellowish female proto-dragon placed herself before Galakrond and exhaled into his mouth.
He pulled back his head, his expression peculiar. As the mist faded from Malygos and Kalec, they recalled the effect of Ysera’s breath weapon, in some ways akin to that of Galakrond, if not so debilitating.
Ysera did not go to Alexstrasza as Malygos had assumed. Instead, she did the unthinkable—again—and continued her mad assault on Galakrond, all the while keeping herself between him and her sister. Kalec and his host saw that they had underestimated Ysera; perhaps she had been hesitant in her role, but she had not abandoned Alexstrasza or the rest of them.
Indeed, it became clear that Ysera had been the one to aid the injured Nozdormu in reaching Galakrond and that Nozdormu’s attacks had all been designed as feints for Ysera.
Ysera . . . and, perhaps unintentionally, Malygos.
His mind clear, the icy-blue male knew that they would not have another chance. Galakrond hovered, disoriented, but that would not last much longer. If Malygos could—
A hiss warned him of a threat that he had forgotten. Yet when Malygos turned to face the undead, he found them flying even more haphazardly and, in one case, fighting each other. At first perplexed, Malygos realized that Galakrond’s disorientation had affected his rotting slaves.
Malygos exhaled on the fighting pair, sending them falling frozen together. He wanted to deal with the rest, but Ysera’s warning roar brought him back to Galakrond. Alexstrasza’s sister raced about Galakrond’s head, exhaling into the monster’s mouth and slashing with her claws elsewhere. Her adversary kept shaking his head in what seemed irritation but was still a need to clear his mind of the effects of her breath weapon. Malygos admired Ysera’s efforts thus far but could not help noticing that Galakrond’s eyes were becoming more focused. Worse, with a great snort, he finally managed to force the sand from his nostrils, at which point he inhaled huge gasps of air to help speed his recovery.
But in observing all this, Malygos forged a plan. It was akin to a past attack they had tried against Galakrond, but in that attempt, they had fought more as individuals and not as one. Moreover, Galakrond had not been as huge as he currently was. If the five could do as Malygos had earlier dreamed . . .
He rushed to Neltharion, who had at last shaken off his own stupor. “Come! Hurry!”
To his credit, the charcoal-gray male followed without question. Malygos soared to one of the peaks shattered in the struggle. Huge, jagged chunks of stone clung precariously to the mountains of which they had once been wholly a part. Malygos eyed the largest and sharpest one that two proto-dragons could possibly carry with their hind paws.
“Help me!”
Between Neltharion and him, they broke the fragment free. Malygos guided them back to a path toward Galakrond. As the behemoth came into sight, Malygos saw that Alexstrasza had done as he had thought she would: the instant her head had cleared, she had gone to stand with her sister. Now the pair flew in from opposing sides, moving almost as if reading each other’s thoughts. They struck simultaneously, keeping Galakrond from choosing one victim over the other. In the process, they also served to prevent him from noticing the two males’ approach.
But while the sisters and Galakrond saw only one another, Nozdormu caught sight of Malygos and Neltharion. He also saw the rock they brought with them. Whether or not Nozdormu understood just what they planned to do with it, he evidently realized that they needed to get much closer.
Throwing himself up from the relative safety of his current position, the brown proto-dragon managed another exhalation. The column caught the top of Galakrond’s browridge, causing him to look down instinctively as he had before.
As he did that, Alexstrasza and Ysera increased their own assault, now alternating so that as he raised his head again, Galakrond remained concerned only with them.
But just as it seemed things were at last coming together, Neltharion roared, “Not-living!”
Twisting his neck hard, Malygos discovered some of the undead almost nipping at their tails. The creatures did not fly with the relative coordination that they’d first had, which to both Kalec and his host revealed that Galakrond had completely released his hold on them. Whether he had done so intentionally or simply because he had become too distracted to maintain any link could not be said. What did matter was that the animated corpses had returned to whatever passed for their instinct and were flying after the closest potential meals.
And with Malygos and Neltharion carrying a heavy burden between them, the two males looked like very easy meals.
“Neltharion—is—strong!” Malygos roared, a desperate addition to the plan hatching. “Neltharion could carry this stone by himself!”
The charcoal-gray proto-dragon’s eyes narrowed. “Neltharion is strong. So—is Malygos—and smarter than Neltharion.”
Neltharion opened one paw. The rock shifted. Without thinking, Malygos tightened his own grip. He knew what Neltharion intended—it was what he himself had been about to do—but it was already too late to stop the other proto-dragon.
Neltharion released his remaining hold. Malygos grunted from effort as he fought to keep the rock from slipping free. Kalec knew that Malygos had intended to ask Neltharion to carry the rock while the icy-blue male went back to face the undead. It was not that Malygos thought fighting Galakrond’s puppets was easier; in some ways, it merely offered a more immediate and just as grisly death.
But Neltharion knew what Kalec also knew about Malygos. For the plan against Galakrond to succeed, Malygos had to coordinate it. Neltharion was a fearsome fighter, the strongest of the five, but he was not the planner Malygos was.
At least not yet, Kalec abruptly recalled. As Deathwing, Neltharion proved far too cunning. But that’s in the future . . . I think.
As Kalec battled with himself over whether or not there was a future, Malygos took one last glance at Neltharion, who at that moment barreled into three of the encroaching undead. Then, steeling himself, Malygos faced Galakrond. Inhaling deeply, Kalec’s host pushed harder. He could not prevent Neltharion’s likely death, but he could help make that sacrifice count . . . even if he and the others also had to sacrifice themselves to do that.
And as Malygos closed on the deformed leviathan, he felt very certain that they would have to.
Galakrond chose that moment to twist to the side. He snapped at Ysera, the huge fangs coming within a few feet of her. She backed up as quickly as she could, but Galakrond continued to pursue her, his jaws again opening.
Fire scorched near his eye. Alexstrasza exhaled twice, attempting to draw his attention to her. However, Galakrond ignored the minor pain she caused.
To Malygos’s shock and probably that of everyone else, including Galakrond, Ysera reversed direction. She flew into the opening maw, then immediately rose, her hind paws pulled forward and her own jaws open.
Her mad actions served to make Alexstrasza continue to exhale, even though she fought for breath each time. The flames rained over the entire side of Galakrond’s scaled countenance. Extraneous limbs twisted, sizzled, and withered under the onslaught, so much so that it did cause Galakrond to roar in pain.
As his mouth then widened, Ysera scraped her claws across the blackened flesh inside the top. Blood and pus poured forth from the sorely wounded area. Ignoring the fluids spilling over her, the yellowish female took a savage bite from the same flesh b
efore turning away.
Galakrond’s roar trebled. He snapped shut his jaws, but by then, the impetuous Ysera had just made her escape.
Seeing Galakrond clamp his jaws, Malygos feared for his own plan, but then his gargantuan foe opened his mouth wide once more. Galakrond hacked and coughed—and for a moment looked slightly smaller.
He is weakened, Malygos thought. Not for long, but he is weakened.
Kalec knew most of Malygos’s plan by this time, but that knowledge did not encourage him. Nor did it encourage him to have his host flying as fast as he could with such a tremendous burden into the very maw from which Ysera had just barely escaped.
Galakrond sniffed the air. He turned toward Malygos.
Nozdormu blasted the nearer eye with sand.
Neither Malygos nor the monster had seen Nozdormu closing, the brown proto-dragon timing his attacks perfectly, as usual. Galakrond tilted his head away from the irritating sand, which gave Malygos the opening he needed.
The icy-blue male flew under the upper fangs and into a place that stank not only from the ravaged flesh but also from the breath of the ultimate carnivore to stride across the young world. Both Malygos and Kalec tried not to think of just how many proto-dragons had gone down that much-too-close gullet.
Malygos’s grip slipped. His exertions had finally taken their toll. He felt the rock almost fall free. Struggling to keep what grasp he had, Malygos pushed on toward the frightening gap. All Galakrond had to do was shut his mouth and swallow, and that would be the end of the tinier proto-dragon.
Now! Kalec silently shouted at his host. Now!
But Malygos kept on a second longer. He sought just the right angle.
Darkness enveloped Kalec, but this time, it was the darkness of Galakrond’s jaws closing.
Releasing his hold, Malygos banked.
Neither could see the rock’s descent, but they knew the results of it in the next breath. Galakrond’s jaws shot open yet again, and new hacking almost deafened Kalec and his host.
Taking the chance that he might be bitten in two just like Talonixa, Malygos darted out the side. However, it appeared that he need not have feared being bitten, for Galakrond continued to cough, this time for another reason. As Malygos had planned and hoped, the rock he had chosen, a large, pointed projectile, had slid down deep into the behemoth’s throat. There it lodged, cutting off most of Galakrond’s breathing.
The enormous proto-dragon thrashed in the sky. His tail shattered part of a mountainside. One hind paw kicked tons of stone from another.
Still unable to dislodge the rock, Galakrond collided with a mountain. Rather than flying into the air again, he swiftly crawled over it. His claws and tail left devastation in their wake.
Leaning over a valley, Galakrond lowered his head. He shook it back and forth hard.
He will free himself! Malygos had hoped that the rock would remain lodged enough at least to make their adversary collapse, preferably die. Now he worried that Galakrond still had a very good chance of freeing his air passage. If that happened, Malygos doubted he would get the opportunity to try a second time.
Malygos sought out Nozdormu and the sisters, roaring for their attention. With his head, he indicated Galakrond. As weary as they all were, they had to move in close yet again and do what they could to keep the rock lodged.
Despite the urgency, Malygos looked back for Neltharion. There was no sign of either the charcoal-gray proto-dragon or his horrific opponents. Malygos hissed, imagining the undead feeding on Neltharion’s torn body with such vividness that Kalec could also see it.
The hiss grew more angry, more determined. Taking in Galakrond, Malygos thought of not only Neltharion’s death but also those of the monster’s previous victims. He dived.
The grotesque leviathan’s sides heaved rapidly. It seemed impossible to Kalec’s host that Galakrond could breathe at all, but some air had to be writhing its way down the throat. Not enough to satisfy Galakrond’s needs but enough to keep him a viable threat.
The four of them swarmed the head, each coming in from a different direction. Galakrond kept his head down. His body quivered.
Malygos heard a change in the breathing. It was not quite so rapid. If the stone was still stuck, it had at least shifted, giving Galakrond more air.
Too late, Kalec’s host realized that their monstrous foe had to be more aware of what was happening around him than he was before.
As if hearing that thought, Galakrond gazed skyward. He took in the four tiny figures.
“Lit—little morsels!” Galakrond somehow managed. “I will—will eat you when I can!” He coughed violently, but at the same time, his wings flapped wildly—not to fly but to purposely keep his enemies away.
The wings did that to Ysera and Alexstrasza but not to Malygos and Nozdormu. Nozdormu seized hold of one webbed wing and, perhaps too out of breath to exhale at the head, ran his claws over the wing’s membrane. The claws cut deep, proving that there were some parts of Galakrond’s skin that were not impervious.
Galakrond’s coughing ceased. He angrily snapped at Nozdormu, giving Malygos the opening he desired. The only hope remaining was keeping Galakrond’s airway from clearing. Malygos knew he could have ensured that earlier. Instead, he had let his natural survival instincts take over. He had fled the behemoth’s jaws rather than doing what must be done. The rock could never be dislodged if another large object kept it wedged in tighter.
Malygos intended to be that wedge, although doing so might well promise his destruction along with that of Galakrond, considering the great height from which they would plummet.
Kalec, too, understood the need for the sacrifice and welcomed it. He still had slight memories—or imaginings—of some life beyond that as an unnoticed portion of Malygos, but those only pained him, for they hinted at someone lost to the blue dragon, someone fading farther away.
Let us die saving this world, he told Malygos, even though his words continued to be unheeded. Let us die. . . .
Rising on his hind legs, Galakrond set one smaller forepaw against the nearest peak. Even the forepaw had the strength to crush rock and packed dirt as if they were loose sand. The wings continued to flap, yet not only did Nozdormu cut deeper ribbons in the one, but Alexstrasza and Ysera also attempted to do the same with the other. The attacks by the three probably would have been insignificant if Galakrond had been able to breathe properly, but as it was, they further disoriented the half-suffocating beast.
But then an unsettling gurgling noise escaped Galakrond. It was followed by a raspy breath that extended several seconds too long for Malygos’s comfort.
That Galakrond could breathe so well could only mean that he had the rock nearly dislodged. More than ever, Malygos saw the need for his choice. The others were doing as originally planned, keeping their gigantic foe distracted for the critical blow. They just did not realize exactly how their chosen leader had decided to make that final assault.
The jaws were open just wide enough. Malygos took a fleeting measure of the gap and thought that Galakrond appeared to have slightly shrunken again. The behemoth’s growth and transformation had become more chaotic, likely because of the diet that had perverted his shape in the first place.
Malygos tightened his approach. Pushing his momentum as hard as he could, he folded his wings against his body and darted inside. Galakrond’s fetid breath enveloped him, and hints of the foul mist threatened to dull Malygos’s mind before he could commit himself.
He saw the rock, now halfway out and leaning to one side. Galakrond tried to shift it with the back of his tongue, creating more complications for the much smaller proto-dragon.
The icy-blue male collided with the stone, shoving it deeper. That, though, caused an instantaneous reaction from Galakrond, who shook his head with greater violence and tried to exhale. Undeterred, Malygos dug into the back of the behemoth�
�s tongue and shoved against the stone, sending it as far in as he could.
A sudden tremor shook Malygos, but it was nothing that Galakrond had done. Something had struck Galakrond hard in the skull, with such force that the head still reverberated. Malygos saw that working to his advantage. With his monstrous opponent so otherwise occupied, Kalec’s host exhaled at the area around the stone.
The harsh frost sealed the stone in place, at least for the moment. Both Malygos and Kalec knew that the heat generated by Galakrond would quickly overwhelm the frost. Malygos had merely wanted to give himself time to adjust his position.
Seeking air yet again, Galakrond opened his mouth wider. Malygos eyed the opening, the temptation to fly out of the beast a very reasonable one. Still, he knew that he had to stay.
A whirling form barreled into Galakrond’s mouth.
It quickly proved to be not one thing but, rather, two. One of those things was a battered and ravaged undead, which at first made Kalec and his host fear that Galakrond had come up with the startling plan of sending his puppets in to do what he himself could not. Yet while the potential for that only now occurred to them, it was not the case, for the second object was clearly very much alive.
Battered and bruised, scratched but not showing any signs of having been bitten, Neltharion bared his teeth in a grin at the sight of Malygos.
“Fly! Fly away!” the charcoal-gray male insisted.
Malygos peered at his own handiwork. The frost was already melting. A sudden dip nearly sent them tumbling into the jagged teeth and also showed much jostling by the rock.
“Must stay!” he shouted back. “You go!”
World of Warcraft - [Dawn of the Aspects 05] - Dawn of the Aspects- Part V Page 5
