In front of him, Inama and Rune had grabbed onto the dragon’s tail and were clinging to it desperately. Thomas’ heart pounded and he felt the chill of open-air rushing across the tattered backside of his body where the dragon’s fire had melted his clothes. Without the sapphire he didn’t have any protection. What am I doing? he thought as he committed to trying to take down the dragon.
He watched Saaja duck the dragon’s thrashing tail and rush in toward the dragon’s belly. Thomas saw the man jump and try to stab his sword into the exposed fleshy patch where the wings had been attached. The tip of his blade fell short and skipped off of the dragon’s hard scales. Saaja collided into its side and fell to the ground. In that moment the dragon seemed to forget that two humans were crawling up its back. Instead it dropped its head around to where Saaja had fallen. The dragon’s mouth opened and Saaja stabbed at its oncoming jaws. There was a crunch as the beast bit the man’s upper half. Thomas faltered in his run seeing the tip of Saaja’s broadsword sticking out of the top of the dragon’s muzzle. The dragon roared and shook its head. Its tongue flicked at the handle of the sword stuck on the roof of its mouth. The blow was nowhere near fatal, but it gave Inama and Rune time to climb into position.
Coaxing himself to continue his charge at the deadly beast, Thomas chased after the dragon. It had now become aware of the two humans trying to hold on and it swatted and shook to get them off. Thomas ran at the dragon’s back and jumped as its tail rushed by. The tail tip spikes passed right in front of his face. A moment later he ran and jumped onto its rear. Thomas grabbed hold of the spines to balance.
When he reached the top of the dragon’s hind end, he caught sight of Inama being tossed from its thrashing neck. Rune clung to a spike at the top of its head. He was trying to stick the tip of his sword into the dragon’s small ear hole. The dragon bent its head forward and raked its claws down its neck and over its large head. The sudden forward motion of the bowing dragon sent Thomas stumbling down its back. The dragon pulled its head up and Thomas grabbed for one of the spines on the dragon’s back.
He held, his grip slick; he was barely able to hold on. The dragon’s head swung back to its side, jaws snapping at him. Thomas screamed, fearing he was going to be eaten. Movement on the ground below drew its attention again as Inama shouted and waved her arms. The dragon’s movement caused his grip to slip. Thomas looked down to grab hold again. That’s when he realized what he’d been holding onto. Thomas stood on the dragon’s back exactly where its wings used to be. Now they were just bloodied stumps. He could see the exposed fleshy patch that Saaja had been trying to attack. He quickly stabbed Inama’s spear into it. Thomas fell on the spear with all his weight, plunging the six-foot shaft all the way through. The pulsing heartbeat of the dragon reverberated through the shaft and Thomas knew he’d made a killing strike.
The dragon screeched in pain, twisting around to snap at him. Thomas managed to lean away as the teeth closed just feet from his head. In a blur, the dragon swatted its front leg around and onto Thomas. He felt the hard scales slam into him and something inside of him popped. He flew through the air for a breathless instant and crashed to the ground. The dragon’s screams sounded above everything else.
Thomas lay on the grass staring up at the blue sky. He tried to move, but his legs wouldn’t respond to his body’s desire to flee. He rolled onto his stomach, gasping for air. The dragon stumbled near him, spurts of flame shooting out in random directions as the creature tumbled. Thomas crawled with his arms. He heard the full weight of the dragon drop to the ground. He closed his eyes expecting to feel the crushing sensation of its body landing on his. He felt nothing, opened his eyes and realized it had narrowly missed him. Thomas still couldn’t get his legs to move so he tried crawling again, this time he didn’t move. Now it felt like his legs weighed too much for him to drag. Thomas looked back and gasped. The dragon’s spiked tail had fallen on him and his right calf was pinned into the ground. Blood soaked the dirt beneath it.
I can’t feel it, Thomas thought in a panic.
Moments later Ophelia came to his side. She was covered in fresh blood and tears streaked her face. “Thomas!” she shouted through her sobs and she dropped down next to him. “You did it, you fool.”
“I can’t feel my legs,” Thomas nearly screamed.
Just then, Inama came running around the dragon’s tail. She and Ophelia grabbed the dead weight of the tail that was pinning him to the ground and lifted. Thomas watched his leg rise up, still stuck onto the spines on the tail. Ophelia pushed down on his leg and it slid off the spikes, falling to the ground. Thomas rolled onto his back. Ophelia and Inama dropped the dragon’s tail off to his side.
“Ophelia, what do I do? I can’t feel them,” Thomas cried.
Ophelia held the sapphire near his leg and he watched the light glow and his bleeding slow.
“The surgeon,” Inama said. “He could help.”
Ophelia grabbed Inama by the arm and shook her head. Thomas stared at her with a blank expression. She glanced at him with a quivering lip and again focused on holding the sapphire over his leg.
“Ophelia,” Thomas said as calmly as he could. “Is Rune...” he started but stopped when she snapped her head up to look at him.
She handed him the crystal, “He’s gone.”
Thomas remembered seeing the dragon’s paw swipe over his head toward Rune. He stared at the blood on Ophelia’s shirt and realized where it had come from.
“Come on, let’s get you up,” she said.
Thomas put the sapphire back around his neck and took hold of Inama and Ophelia’s shoulders. They lifted him up to his feet.
“Can you walk?” Inama asked.
Thomas tried to move his legs, but they didn’t respond. He shook his head.
“Over there,” Ophelia pointed to the one open street that led into the city where the army was currently based.
The two began walking Thomas over to the street while his legs dragged uselessly behind him. As they walked a bright light exploded from the east beyond the frontline. They stopped and watched as a shockwave of white light rippled out toward them.
“Anders,” Thomas whispered.
***
Anders pushed against Merglan’s shield barrier that held him in place. He could see Maija clinging to Killdoor’s side, yet no matter how hard he tried with his magic, he could not break through Merglan’s barrier. Merglan was too powerful.
“No!” Anders shouted as he watched magic fly from Merglan’s hands toward Maija.
Killdoor howled in pain and the barrier keeping him back fell instantly. Maija fell through the sky and Zahara raced after Merglan. Anders saw Raffa scoop under Maija. She’s not dead! he thought seeing her grab onto Raffa and move along his neck.
Confused, he focused on Killdoor and Merglan. The dragon’s wing was badly severed; blood poured from the injury. Merglan continued to skillfully divert magic to keep them from spiraling out of control.
We can take him, Anders said to Zahara as he sent magical attacks at the pair, bombarding them as fast as he could summon the energy.
More magic streamed in from behind Anders, bombarding Merglan and Killdoor. Maija? He thought, then saw Hannah and her purple dragon flying alongside them.
Keep him preoccupied, Tarron scolded Anders for losing focus. Don’t allow him to heal that dragon!
Anders doubled his efforts, using Tarron’s knowledge of spell work and the combined magic from Zahara and the sapphires they carried. This was the moment they had been saving their stores for.
Merglan crashed to the ground, leaping down from Killdoor to attempt to heal him. Anders and Zahara continually smashed and pressed down with all their magical might on the evil sorcerer. Hannah attacked with them. Together they kept Merglan from healing his dragon.
It’s working, Tarron said. He’s breaking under the pressure. We can finish him now. Let me cast the spell.
Anders continued to pressure Merglan while Tarron created the final spell. He hardly noticed Raffa and Maija joining them. Crystals cracked and popped from their hemorrhaging flow of magic into Anders’ efforts.
Now, we need to do it now, Zahara called to them.
Anders saw Merglan buckle to one knee under their pressure. Zahara was right, they needed to take action this moment.
Anders felt Tarron reaching for him to pass the spell through his mind and out of Anders’ body. Zahara swooped up and turned to fall directly on the evil sorcerer. Not knowing why, Anders reached into the pouch on his saddle and pulled out the wooden cube. Using his magic, Anders accessed all of the remaining crystals’ energy and allowed Tarron’s spell to work through him. With the cube held tightly in one hand and his blade in the other, Anders felt the explosion of energy coursing through his body. He swung Lazuran down. Tarron’s spell ran through his mind. Anders put everything into the attack they hammered on Merglan.
