Aria tilted her wings ever so slightly as she angled the lance directly at him. All I would have to do was take it from the drop to the upright position.
She was going to take Lazarus’s entire charge to the underbelly.
“Dang it, Aria! You’re not allowed to do that!.” I unshackled Coronacht from its holster as I dragged it upright, foot on the guard. I could see Lazarus closing the distance, hoping to take the lethal strike that Aria was offering. He was flying in for a simple straight strike, acting if I didn’t exist.
He couldn’t see me.
I unraveled the last hook holding me onto Aria and ripped it off with a fierce tug. Parts of my undercoat went with it as I grabbed the spear with both hands and leapt off. Lazarus’s one working eye went wide with surprise as I dropped onto his blindside.
“Don’t underestimate us!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I took the plunge, moments before Lazarus smashed into Aria’s underbelly. The fall itself was brief, as I felt the entire lance sink into the king’s head. His massive eye followed me as I felt the lance pierce into his skull, before it snapped off and threw me into freefall.
His eyes were still moving. He was definitely still alive.
“Uh oh,” I thought out loud as I started to fall down into the streets below. Wasn’t some magical power supposed to stop me from falling?
“Hey! Mages?” I shouted as I continued to fall. Did they forget? I could feel my stomach turn as I closed my eyes…
With a thump I landed hand first, yet I felt nothing more than if I had tripped over the stairs. I could feel the force of impact shooting through my body for a split second, as all my bones threatened to break. Then nothing, as my hands skittered against the hard ground. I lay there for a brief moment, internalizing what happened and wiggling my fingers in confirmation. I had fallen off the back of a dragon and I didn’t feel a thing! I had little time to celebrate, as the ear-shattering smash of another building had me up and ready for anything.
Lazarus had smashed Aria into the Acadamae building, reducing most of the structure to rubble. My heart sank, but with the lance firmly lodged in Lazarus’s head, I had done my part. Aria was okay. She had to be.
My landing was also not met with a welcome party, but instead a quickly approaching band of our old enemies, out for vengeance. While there were few castle guards willing to take on a dismounted dragon rider, the church had no shortage of idiots willing to eat a bullet.
I didn’t have time to worry about Aria. I had to worry about myself.
I scanned the field, taking aim at the Pact Mage quickly approaching. I had no mercy now, and with a flash, he doubled over, gripping his chest. The soldiers stopped for a moment, trying to understand what happened. I ran.
My rifle outranged their best guns three, maybe four times over. I loaded another shot. They had recovered, and now were trying to run into range. Hopefully they figured that sending valuable mages at me was a dumb idea.
Within moments, I was ready for another shot. They were indeed closing in, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t cripple them with a running retreat. With a deep breath I pressed the trigger, and another charging inquisitor collapsed. They weren’t wearing armor at all.
Then another one fell over, a knife jutting out of his throat. Wait.
“Hey! Over here!” I knew that crackling voice. It was Ashe emerging out…of the basement of some strange building. Did I drop near the tavern?
I stopped trying to reload and dashed to Ashe’s side, watching his magically charged knives skewer the advancing force. Despite his fierce expression, I could tell that he wasn’t doing so well.
He was pale and looked sickly. I could hear his slow, haggard breaths as he raised another knife from his stash, before dropping it onto the snowy ground below.
“Ashe, are you okay?” I passed him by as he gave a weak thumbs up. The two of us quickly entered the tavern, with Ashe carefully closing the door behind us.
In front of me was a good chunk of my brother’s battalion. All of them were in full guard armor, halberds out at the ready. Two crossbowmen lay behind the counter, each pointing at the doorway. Tables and chairs were turned into makeshift barriers, giving cover to the defenders and making any attempts at attack even more difficult.
Ashe was quick to pick up the pace, dragging my sleeve. “There’s a back door here that we can escape through to the larder!” I followed along, but not before giving the defenders a worried glance.
A gruff voice soothed my fears. “Ya go on, lass. We’ll hold them off as long as we can, and then we’re off too. Ain’t nobody dying here.” With a waving hand and another tug, I followed Ashe down the tavern.
“Don’t worry too much about me either. Just blood loss.” Ashe was excited as he led me through the larder, even as I wondered if he was really okay. He didn’t look like he had much energy left. In fact, he looked like he was holding back the urge to puke.
“Sebastian’s set up a meeting point, one of his old cabins in the countryside. Snowshoes are in the back.” He tried pushing open the door, but I kicked it down instead. He said a quick thanks as we shared one last glance at the ruined Acadamae building. Ashe looked like he wanted to burst into tears.
“O-Okay. Let’s keep going.”
I could tell that he wanted to sob his heart out, but was too committed to the task at hand to do so. I squeezed his hand instead, hoping that I could cheer him up like I did Aria. He didn’t say a word.
* * * *
I could taste blood in my mouth as a dragon. A little bit sweet, a little bit bitter, and a little bit tingly. It was the first thing I felt before momentarily blacking out from the pain, as blood gushed from my underbelly. I could feel the broken ribs, white chunks of bone sticking out from the wound.
The impact had also grounded me, crushing my wings under a pile of rubble. Even if I wanted to use them, I could feel them flopping about, not responding to my commands. Trying to pull them out of the rubble wasn’t an option unless I wanted to pass out from pain again.
Lazarus wasn’t doing much better. His entire face was covered with his blood, the massive lance stuck out of his skull. The entire left side of his face had been destroyed, as his ram had only lodged the spear deeper into his head.
I gritted my breath as I slowly slid up, feeling horrific burning pain. If I was alive, then I needed to emerge victorious. Else there will be two dead dragons today.
::Brother, admit it. I’ve won.::
Lazarus got up, towering over me as he rose onto his hind legs. It wasn’t true; both of us were on death’s doorsteps. I could see his right legs wobbling, unable to support his weight. He roared in retribution, ready to declare his own victory.
Yet I heard nothing.
His one eye went wide, first with fear then with blazing vengeance. The lance had damaged his magic! With a defeated shriek, he lunged at me, wildly out of balance. He was going to kill me one way or another, even if there was no way for him to live through this.
I raised my paw, sliding up from the rubble even more. My wings were burning with pain, but I needed this one moment. Taking advantage of his unsteady nature I raised my left paw and slammed down on top of his head. There was a shudder as the lance tip went all the way through his skull. Lazarus’s eyes were still wide as his entire body went limp. Not a second too soon, he collapsed on top of me. His jaws were a second from ending my life.
He wasn’t breathing. I was.
I had no intention of being crushed between him and the rubble, so with one last thought, I turned back into a human. When I opened my eyes, I was lying in a nearby pile of rubble, with Sebastian wrapping bandages around my various wounds. The sounds of fighting were still around us, but it was soft. Human sized and human sounding. Everything hurt. I tried to raise an arm, but instead I was met with a fiery protest as I attempted to move broken bone. Sebastian was quick to softly shush me back to sleep, but I needed to know.
