I hadn’t exactly forgotten about the dragons, obviously, but I was so focused on my dog that I didn’t notice the approaching green dragon until a huge muzzle fil ed the space in front of me. The muzzle stopped, one giant nostril ridged with shiny green scales inches from my face. I froze, not moving, not breathing, not even blinking.
The dragon’s nostril flared, and the force of its inhaled breath dragged air across my face, making my hair and gown flutter. The dragon lifted its head and the giant muzzle disappeared. The muscles in my legs went soft with the sudden sense of relief fal ing through me. Relief felt too soon.
soon.
The head reappeared, the dragon peering into my hiding spot with an enormous red eye. The slitted pupil contracted, focusing. Damn.
I threw my shields open farther. Each construct I’d fought had been more solid, more real, than the last, and the dragon was the most real yet. But I knew it was a spel fueled by souls and wrapped in a glamour. I knew it. I just had to convince reality.
In my second sight, the eye was a swirling mass of nearly solid mist, the color and shape superimposed over top.
Clenching my fist, I thrust my hand into the construct’s eye.
My skin encountered a moist resistance, and I rejected the sensation. It didn’t exist.
The eye vanished. The dragon didn’t.
The dragon roared in rage as its eye disappeared, only an empty socket of white mist remaining. It jerked back, swiping me with the edge of its head. My breath exploded out of my lungs as I flew backward, but there was no time to recover before the enraged beast charged. One massive paw uprooted a tree as it reached for me and missed.
Death grabbed me under the arms, hauling me to my feet, but then we both had to dive out of the way as the dragon lunged.
We scurried behind a tree, but we needed to either keep moving or turn and fight because the tree wasn’t going to stop the construct. And worse, its bel ows of rage had the other two dragons running toward us. Fuck! Now what?
I peeked around the tree in time to see a silver blur dive in front of the dragon. Falin’s soul blazed brightly in my vision as he dodged the dragon’s swipe and then grabbed the talon on the back of the dragon’s foot and used it to vault onto the beast’s leg. He grabbed the wing where it connected to the body, and hauled himself higher, scrambling for the creature’s long neck. The rampaging beast didn’t even seem to notice Falin until the fae wedged his daggers between the dragon’s thick scales, digging for his daggers between the dragon’s thick scales, digging for its spinal column.
Then the dragon thrashed.
It craned its neck and beat at Falin with its wings, but Falin clung to the daggers, wedging them deeper. Unable to reach the source causing it pain, the dragon rol ed, its claws swiping out as it hit the ground. Falin dropped, diving into his own rol to avoid the beast’s lethal talons. The daggers didn’t fol ow, but the dragon didn’t die. It straightened, climbing to its feet and shaking dirt and uprooted grass from its scales.
“We have to help,” I yel ed, picking up the skirt of my gown and rushing forward.
I reached with my power and grabbed at the souls inside the beast, ripping them free. I’d forcibly ejected three souls by the time I reached the edge of the clearing, and Falin had scrambled back up the dragon’s back. Death and the raver joined the fight, jerking souls free with every move.
Previous constructs had shrunk with each soul freed, but either the spel had been improved or this thing had a lot of extra souls fueling it, because it didn’t change.
I fel back, avoiding a large claw, and jerked another soul free as Falin ripped his daggers out of the dragon’s neck.
He thrust the blades between another pair of scales, and the dragon froze. Its jaw dropped, as if shocked; then its form exploded into a cloud of fog. A copper disk the size of an end table hit the ground. Falin landed beside it, his blades in his hands, and his gaze already on the two approaching dragons.
“Look out,” Hol y yel ed as she emerged from the woods.
My head snapped in the direction she pointed. The magic circle now had bright red cracks like blood veins snaking through the barrier, and at the point where the disruption charm touched it, the barrier bulged, the thick magic inside pressing against the weak spot. Like a crack in a dam, the magic began trickling out around the charm. The ful force of the magic would be next.
of the magic would be next.
I turned, intending to run for the shelter of the trees. I didn’t have time.
Arms grabbed me, dragging me down and pressing me flat. Magic roared across my back, tearing at the bit of skin exposed on my shoulders. The smel of singed hair and burned clothing met my nose as the shock of the blast faded. I struggled to push to my knees and discovered that not one but two bodies covered mine.
“Let me up, guys,” I said, sliding out from the tangle of arms. “Everyone okay?”
I received an immediate nod from Death. Falin just rol ed to his feet and offered me a hand up. Well, the three of us survived. I glanced around to assess the rest of the group.