He roared and spun on me like a snake, frighteningly quick for his size. I saw his head whip around from the corner of my eye, and I leaped out of the way, barely dodging his fangs a second time. As I flew off his back, I saw Cobalt lunge in and rake his claws down the Adult’s leg and shoulder. There was a faint metallic screech, and Cobalt darted away as Vance lashed out at him. I spun in midair and came back for another attack, but the Adult swung his head around again, bashing me in the side with his horns. I heard something snap as I tumbled from the air and hit the earth, then rolled to a painful stop at the base of a tower.
“Ember!” Cobalt raced toward me, but Vance whirled and lashed out with a talon, swatting him into the fence. The blue dragon went through the barrier and collapsed to the ground, dazed and tangled in wire.
The Adult prowled forward, half-open wings draping me in shadow. “Insects,” he murmured, watching me stagger upright, an amused smile on his face. “Hatchlings. You cannot hurt me. You are a vague annoyance at best.” I lunged at him with a snarl, but a stab of pain went through my ribs, slowing me down, and a clawed forepaw smashed into my shoulder like a sledgehammer, sending me tumbling over the ground. “Where are my breeders?” Vance rumbled, stalking toward me. I staggered upright, but a heavy claw slammed into my back, crushing me to the ground again. I gasped for breath as the world went fuzzy. “Tell me,” the voice overhead growled. “I know they are still on the island. Point me in the direction they went, and I will let you live to face the wrath of the Elder Wyrm.”
“Rnesh karr slithis,” I spat at him, and he chuckled.
“Such language,” he said, and casually bent my wing backward. There was a snap, and I shrieked in agony as the Adult let the broken limb drop. “You try my patience, Ember Hill,” he said as I panted through clenched teeth and tried not to pass out from the pain. “I will ask again. Where are my breeders? I encourage you to make it easy for yourself. I have at least five more limbs I can break before I start peeling off scales.”
Garret, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut. Where are you?
“Still not talking?” The Adult sighed and gripped my other wing. “Then I suppose we’ll have to do this hard way.”
“Director!”
A roar echoed above us. I looked up, just as another Adult with dark red scales slammed into Vance, knocking him off me. The two Adults crashed to the dirt, making the ground tremble like an earthquake. Vance let out a bellow of fury.
“Scarlett! You traitorous bitch! What are you doing?”
The other dragon smiled, golden eyes shining with hate. “Something I’ve wanted to do for years,” she growled, and lunged at the Director. Vance reared up to meet her, and the two behemoths collided with the screech of metallic scales and claws.
I staggered to my feet, still dizzy from the throbbing pain of my broken wing. Gritting my teeth, I stumbled away from the battle, watching as Scarlett lashed out and raked a gaping wound across the larger dragon’s neck. With a furious hiss, the director plowed into her, using his greater bulk to knock her over, trying to pin her down to end the fight. Snarling, Scarlett rolled onto her back and used her hind legs to rip and gouge at the other dragon’s stomach. Blood ran down the scales of both dragons, staining the ground crimson.
“Ember!”
Cobalt appeared beside me, panting, his yellow eyes bright with pain. “Are you all right?” he asked anxiously. His gaze landed on my wing, hanging uselessly at my side, and narrowed furiously. “That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him.”
“We have to help Scarlett.” I looked back at the raging Adults. Scarlett, still under Vance, was putting up a good fight; blood streaked his underside and shoulders from where her talons clawed at him. But Vance was larger; he still had her pinned and appeared to be biding his time.
“Ember, you’re hurt…” Cobalt began, but I’d already started across the yard, ignoring the shrieking pain in my wing. With a growl, he bounded after me.
As I got close, Vance abruptly snaked his head down, dodging a blow from Scarlett’s talons, and clamped his jaws around her neck, right below her chin. My stomach dropped, and Scarlett screamed, slashing and clawing furiously, trying to throw him off. Vance dropped his full weight onto her, crushing her to the earth, and the red dragon’s struggles grew weaker and weaker.
I hit the Adult dragon as hard as I could, sinking my talons into his shoulder, tearing through scales into flesh and muscle. Vance jerked, his huge body shuddering, but he couldn’t turn to deal with the annoying hatchling dragon without letting go of Scarlett. I dodged a swat from his tail and went for him again, leaping to his back to assault the base of his neck, biting and clawing wherever I could reach. I saw Cobalt leap at him, as well, sinking his talons into the dragon’s side and raking several long furrows down his ribs.
With a roar, Vance turned on us, releasing Scarlett to whip his head around. I felt jaws close on my hind leg a second before I was hurled through the air, the ground rushing up at me. I struck the earth and rolled, and everything fractured into blinding shards of agony.
For a few seconds, it was all I could do not to pass out. Through my hazy, darkening vision, I saw Vance swat Cobalt away and turn on me with murder in his eyes. He took a step forward…
And a shot rang out somewhere close, causing the dragon to jerk up with a snarl. Blearily, I turned my head. A handful of soldiers swarmed into the yard, the chatter of M14s echoing off the buildings. As I struggled to stay conscious, one pale-haired soldier leaped over a pile of rubble, spun to face the dragon and fired a flurry of shots into its side.
“Garret,” I whispered as Vance bellowed with rage. As the soldiers spread out, surrounding him, he drew back, nostrils flaring, to unleash a column of fire at his enemies.
He didn’t see Scarlett stagger to her feet, eyes burning, and make one last, desperate lunge. As the director’s mouth opened, glowing red with imminent flames, the crimson dragon struck him hard, knocking him off balance, and clamped her jaws around his throat.
This time, the dragon’s booming roar was strangled. He turned on Scarlett, raking with his claws, trying to jerk free. His blows opened terrible wounds all over her body, but as I watched, unable to stand or even move, Scarlett closed her eyes and clung to him with stubborn determination. The soldiers surrounded the pair, continuing to fire on the director, whose struggles finally began to slow. I saw Garret sprint forward, dodge beneath Vance’s long tail and aim his weapon at the dragon’s side. Right behind the foreleg where the heart would lie. At such short range, the bullets finally pierced through the dragon’s scales and slammed deep into his body.
Vance convulsed, tail and wings thrashing, and Garret dove out of the way. With Scarlett still clinging to his neck, the huge dragon staggered, swayed and finally collapsed, hitting the ground with a crash that sent tremors through the earth. His sides heaved, his tail beating a weak rhythm in the dirt until, slowly, both stopped moving. With a last groan, the massive Adult dragon shuddered and went limp, the light fading from his yellow eyes, as he finally relinquished control and slipped away into death.
RILEY
The bastard was finally dead. I watched as the director of Talon’s infamous facilities—the dragon in charge of this island, who knew exactly what two dozen female dragons went through, day after day, and remained coldly indifferent to their suffering—shuddered once and gave up the fight. Relief, triumph and a sadistic glee blossomed in my stomach as the Adult finally went still. I had never in my entire life been so happy to see another dragon die.