Adapt Or Be Crushed (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 9)

by Sarah Noffke

  He pinned his hands on the side of the building and leaned forward, almost giddy about watching the battle that would ensue and mark his victory in stone.

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Eight

  Evan was made for battles. That’s what he lived for. As much as he joked, he enjoyed them most when side by side with his comrades. Few things made him as happy as sharing the victory with his fellow riders.

  He and Coral swerved through the skies of smoggy Dallas, Texas, whisking through the clouds as they tore through them and made new shapes.

  The helicopters and jets racing in would get themselves in trouble if he didn’t intervene. They had no idea what they were up against. The tarrasque wasn’t merely a beast to be reckoned with. It was one that the angrier it got, the faster it would destroy. That was the reason they had to wear it out first, then take it down. If antagonized too quickly, it could stampede across the flatlands of Dallas and take out the city with a swish of its tail.

  Evan and Coral flew toward the helicopters and jets and streaked right in front of their line of sight to get their attention. The pilots undoubtedly noticed the dragon and rider, but Evan couldn’t determine whether they noticed his signals to stand down.

  Then a jet racing in from the opposite direction fired a missile at the tarrasque. The rocket hit the creature like a spit wad and fell to the ground below with a loud clunk, creating a small crater in the streets.

  The beast roared, reared on its back legs, and threw its front legs in the air before it fell forward and created a sizable earthquake.

  Evan nodded with a sigh. “Dumb mortals. Fire first and think second. Now we’ve got to clean up their mess, which will be the result of a very irritable monster.”

  Mahkah had the job of corralling the tanks and ground forces. That would be no easy feat since they were spread out around the tarrasque and moving in as if they thought they could block the monster in by surrounding it. Really, they were creating a wider circumference for the beast to trample.

  Mahkah didn’t know how he would get the ground forces to retreat. They were defending their city, and he understood that. But how could he tell them that they were better off not being present for this battle? That they were in the way?

  Then something occurred to him after watching the news report earlier.

  He abandoned his position alongside the ground forces. Instead, he sped for the news vehicles far in the distance, watching from the other side of the downtown area, perched on rooftops and in the streets, their news cameras trying to capture everything. Which, if things weren’t soothed quickly, would be mass destruction.

  Flying with the Destroyer didn’t make Wilder feel extra tough. The weapon was incredibly heavy. It had strange magic about it. And his power of seeing a weapon’s history told him it had killed many, and all were very powerful.

  Having the weight of the final blow in this battle resting on his shoulders was a lot. But, his responsibility and allegiance were to the Dragon Elite. Wilder didn’t want to let the others down. He didn’t want to disappoint Hiker. More than anything, he wanted Sophia to be proud of him.

  She’d done so much to get them there, as she usually did. Because of her, they had armor that would most likely save their lives in this battle against the tarrasque. Because of the youngest dragonrider, Wilder had the Destroyer, which was surely the only way they were going to take down this massive beast. And it was because of her nonstop detective efforts that they were there so quickly after the monster emerged from its “cage.”

  Yes, Wilder wanted to save the city of Dallas and the mortals in the midst of the tarrasque. He burned to stop Nevin Gooseman. But more than any of that, he wanted another battle for the Dragon Elite and their leaders.

  “What is Mahkah doing?” Evan asked over the comm.

  Sophia glanced over her shoulder and watched as Mahkah sped away from the ground forces and toward the news reporters in the distance. She shook her head, knowing exactly what Mahkah was doing. “He’s being strategic. You should try it.”

  “I was going to take out the engines on the helicopters,” Evan replied. “How’s that for strategy?”

  “Yeah, no,” Sophia vetoed. “The mortals will think we’re their enemies too. Probably assume the tarrasque is our friend and concoct the idea that we’re the enemy. Make peace, not confusion.”

  Evan sighed. “Fine. I’ll go and play nice. But you better play extra dirty to make up for it.”

  Sophia nodded and leaning low on Lunis, preparing for the game of cat-and-mouse they were about to play with the giant tarrasque.

  Are you ready to wear this ugly guy out? she asked her dragon telepathically.

  Buck, Lunis stated, like that made any sense to Sophia.

  Say what?

  That’s the ugly dinosaur’s name, Lunis answered. Buck.

  Sophia smiled. Okay, are you ready to exhaust Buck?

  Abso-freaking-lutely.

  Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Nine

  The mortals might not be the smartest of the races, but Evan wasn’t going to stand by and watch them get themselves killed with their fearful reactions and lack of concern for strategy.

  Sophia was right, although he’d never tell her that freely. Maybe after a bottle of whiskey. But she was still right that if the Dragon Elite didn’t act correctly in this situation, the always-quick-to-jump-to-judgments mortals would misconstrue things. The dragonriders had shown up on the heels of this beast tearing out of the sports dome.

  Many conspiracy theorists would believe that the Dragon Elite was behind this. Evan’s job was to look like a hero by saving the dumb mortals from the tarrasque’s attacks on the assaulting mortal army. They thought they were big stuff in their helicopters and jets and didn’t realize the best defense was a brain, not blades and bullets.

  Evan watched as the tarrasque picked up a building like it was a wad of paper and threw it through the air, its trajectory headed for a helicopter hovering close by. Although the dragonrider didn’t know as much about modern technology as Sophia, he knew that the chopper wouldn’t be able to escape the impact of the building colliding with it, nor would the ground troops below it.

  That’s why Evan sped into motion atop Coral, holding up his hand and blasting a strong wind at the collision course. It would hit the helicopter, throw it back, and cause it some trouble, but it would also save it from certain death. At the same time, Coral used her elemental water magic to make a nearby water tower explode, which sent the troops on the ground away from the building the tarrasque was about to throw.

  Evan sighed dramatically. “Keeping mortals alive is a fulltime job.”

  “Tell me about it,” Mahkah said over the comm in reply to Evan’s comment.

  He’d seen his friend use a diversion to help mortals get out of the line of attack and was proud of Evan’s strategy. Mahkah had been too busy moving into position to reply when Evan questioned his plan, but he was grateful to hear over the comm that Sophia believed in him.

  She was the queen of using strategy when fighting was an option and Mahkah had learned a lot from the youngest dragonrider. It proved to him that age meant very little when someone remained open to the ideas around them. Sophia was pure of heart, and that meant she truly wanted the best for all. Intentions were everything, Mahkah believed.

  He used his magic to create an amplifying spell, something he had never tried before. As a very soft-spoken and quiet person, it had never occurred to Mahkah to be loud. He wasn’t inaudible like Quiet, but he wasn’t noisy like Evan. Mahkah chose to listen rather than talk. He learned a lot more that way.

  However, in that moment of battle, it was most important that others learn and take note. Otherwise, they’d all suffer.

  Mahkah drew in a breath and began the speech that he hoped would keep the ground forces safe.

  “People of Dallas,” Mahkah began, his voice booming as if on a loudspeaker. All the news cameras turned on him and zoomed in on the dragon and rider streaking t
hrough the air. “Do not go near the monster known as the tarrasque. It is dangerous and if enraged, will only become more destructive. Taking down this monster will require everything that the Dragon Elite has, so we ask that you back down. Allow us to do our job. Otherwise, you will only make this battle that much harder. Military forces, stand down. Let the Dragon Elite do what we do best and save you.”

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy

  So the Dragon Elite thought they were going to save the day, Nevin Gooseman thought bitterly.

  He ground his fist into this thigh and watched the dragonrider using the amplifier spell speed through the sky. It was all propaganda they were filling the mortal’s heads with.

  The Dragon Elite were no more than glorified superheroes with little to do but create problems they would later fix.

  They were the reason that five hundred evil dragons would one day infiltrate the globe. They were the reason the world was out of control, and Nevin was out of power. Nevin shook his head, knowing that these were the desperate actions of a dying organization.

  Soon, the Dragon Elite would be wiped out, and Nevin could come back to power.

  The mortals would beg for him to help them after he took down the tarrasque. He’d figured out exactly how to do it, and that was another reason he’d stuck around instead of fleeing. He could destroy everything, and he did intend to do some of that. But he could also be the savior at the end of the day.

  Nevin eyed the detonator in his hand. It would explode the device that the tarrasque had unknowingly eaten, and would be its final demise.

  When the mortals finally begged for the beast to be stopped, after tearing through all of Texas, Nevin would offer them mercy and find a way to take down the monster. All by clicking a button.

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-One

  The Destroyer’s extra weight burdened Wilder and Simi, but they still sped over the head of the tarrasque and wove through its huge claws, which were the size of columns on a large building.

  Wilder anticipated which direction the monster would swipe, went to the other side of it, and nearly get knocked to the side by its sharp claws. This was a beast that could rip through a diamond mine with little effort. Not only that, but it was much faster than its large size would lead one to believe.

  Several times, it went for Wilder streaking between its legs and moved much quicker than he would have thought possible. The spikes on its legs grazed against Wilder and Simi and they both screamed, feeling like razors had cut them in a hundred places.

  “Wild!” Sophia screamed into the comm.

  He whipped around, checking his dragon first, then himself. They were unharmed. They’d felt the impact of the assault, but the magical armor had kept them protected. However, too many encounters like that and they wouldn’t survive. That was certain.

  “I’m okay,” Wilder breathed over the comm. “Just a close call.”

  Sophia let out a relieved sigh and watched as the white dragon and her rider soared back up into the air, away from where the tarrasque could reach them again.

  “Good,” Sophia stated. “Okay, it’s our opportunity to run interference and try to wear out Buck.”

  “Who?” Wilder asked over the comm.

  “The orange nuisance who obviously doesn’t play football,” Sophia stated, hardly able to talk as Lunis raced toward the tarrasque like a bullet. The blue dragon streaked through the air so fast that it made Sophia’s lips pull back from her teeth.

  Buck caught sight of them as they were next to his face like a fly taunting a mortal. The tarrasque threw his head from side to side, trying to knock them out with its horns. To Sophia’s utter astonishment and horror, Buck was successful. One of the spikes on its head impaled Lunis in the side and threw the blue dragon across downtown Dallas like he was a tennis ball.

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Two

  “Sophia!” Wilder screamed in the comm.

  Evan had seen the tiny dragonrider get tossed through the air as if swatted like a common housefly. She and Lunis had landed on the far side of a distant city block, not far from where Evan was stationed after rescuing the mortals from getting themselves killed.

  “I’m going after her,” Evan stated. “Stay in position and do what you came here for, Wilder. Don’t worry. Sophia will be fine.”

  Evan turned Coral in the direction where Sophia had landed, hoping that he was right—hoping that an assault like that hadn’t taken out the dragon and rider. The Dragon Elite wouldn’t recover from a loss like that.

  Mahkah wanted to fly to assist Evan in helping Sophia, but he knew that his efforts had to stay with keeping the mortals safe. Despite his message, he sensed that they were on edge and ready to defend their city.

  That was the thing about mortals. They didn’t always think long-term because their lives were so short. He’d been on the Earth long enough to see the senseless wars they fought, usually forgetting what they were fighting for in the end.

  Mahkah scanned the city from high above while flying through the clouds. That’s when he spotted something on a high rooftop that caught his attention. He wouldn’t have noticed it in the massive chaos surrounding the crazed tarrasque that was as confused as the residents it was set upon. However, a man standing on a rooftop and staring at the burning city was odd when most were running or defending themselves from a monster.

  Mahkah always believed that he should look for the ordinary when in a rare situation and that would tell him more than looking for the bizarre in an already crazy world.

  Mahkah bore down on his dragon and did something he wasn’t told to do. He rarely defied orders, but this time, he would get the tarrasque to follow him. Hopefully, that would mean the monster would take out another monster—if everything went to plan.

  Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Three

  Sophia could hardly breathe with Lunis lying half on her in the middle of an abandoned road. However, she could feel him breathing on top of her, and that was all that mattered.

  She was pretty sure her ribs were broken. She had trouble breathing and felt like bones were poking into her lungs. But she was awake and grateful to hear the sirens in the distance.

  “Lun,” she whispered and coughed.

  “I’m here.” He picked his head up to look at her from the other side. “I think I’m crushing you.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He tried to move but didn’t seem capable of it. “I’m…I will be okay. The armor…”

  “It saved us, didn’t it?” she asked.

  “For now,” he answered, an ominous tone in his voice.

  “You’re okay?” she asked again.

  “My leg is… Well, I need help getting it unstuck from a crack in the road,” Lunis stated, but there was something else he wasn’t saying.

  “It’s broken, isn’t it?” Sophia felt her heart break.

  “It will mend.”

  A tear slipped down her cheek.

  “That’s why I can’t move off you,” Lunis explained, his regret billowing to the surface. “I’m sorry.”

  She reached out and stroked her hand across her dragon’s face. “It’s okay. We’ll be okay.”

  “Yeah, you will because I’m here to save the day,” Evan cheered as he dove from in between buildings and landed on the road next to Sophia and Lunis.

  His usually cheerful face took on a brief look of grief as he took in the sight of them.

  “We’re okay,” Sophia said to the other rider.

  Evan shook his head. “No, you’re not. But you will be. Give Coral and me a few moments, and we’ll have you out and back to the Gullington in no time.”

  “But the tarrasque,” Sophia argued. “Wilder!”

  Evan gave her a rare look of severity. “He can handle it. What he can’t handle is knowing you’re in danger. So do what you do best, and take care of your team by letting them know you’ll be okay by getting some help.”

  Sophia drew in a breath and held back the tears
. “Wild…”

  “Yes,” he said, a breath of relief in his voice too.

  “I’m going back,” she stated. “Take down the tarrasque and return home to me.”

  “Copy that, Soph.”

  Wilder didn’t know what Mahkah was doing, but he didn’t dare say anything with Sophia on the comm and hurt and needing to know that she was okay. Instead, he stayed silent and watched as the older dragonrider streaked through the air, nearly ramming into him, taking over his position, trying to wear out the tarrasque. Wilder trusted Mahkah enough to know that if he was jumping into battle and trying a tactical move, that he should allow it.

  So Wilder hung back and watched as Mahkah streaked around the massive beast, seemingly trying to entice it into following him.

  The act worked. The monster swatted at Mahkah but thankfully didn’t catch him. That was the benefit of spending the last few hundred years training. Mahkah was the fastest of them on his dragon. However, he wasn’t a show-off and only put his skills to the test at the moment when no one but Wilder was watching.

  Mahkah kept looking over his shoulder as he zigzagged through the air, ensuring that the tarrasque was following. When he came to a skyscraper in the middle of a bunch of short, squatty buildings, he circled it three times while avoiding colliding with the tarrasque’s assaults.