And then, a tremor went through the earth under my claws, and a hollow boom echoed in the direction of the lab.
I froze, as did everyone else. Slowly, we turned to stare at the billowing cave mouth as a chill I’d never felt before slithered up my back. The boom came again, followed by another, and then the ear-piercing groan of metal being twisted and wrenched out of the way.
Inside, something was screaming at me to move, run, but I was rooted to the ground, paralyzed with everyone else. The ground shook, and rocks crumbled from the cave mouth, falling away and bouncing off each other, as something emerged from the smoke.
A massive talon smashed to the ground in front of us, and a wall of dark red scales pushed through the billowing smoke and rose to an impossible height. Shaking, I craned my neck up as a head emerged, bristling with horns, towering several stories overhead. Blazing green eyes glared down at us, wings unfurling to block out the sun, as a lesser god opened her jaws and made the whole earth tremble with her roar.
The Elder Wyrm had arrived. And we were going to die.
EMBER
The Elder Wyrm. To date, I had seen three ancient dragons, and though only one had been in his true form, all had been impressive and awe-inspiring in different ways. Certainly, the meeting with Ouroboros had been terrifying and memorable, as it was hard to imagine anything bigger than the ancient rogue.
There weren’t words to describe the complete, utter terror of the Elder Wyrm.
She towered over us, over everything, rising to an impossible height and casting all in her shadow. She was probably more than one hundred feet from nose to tail, with curved black talons half as long as a man and jaws that could swallow a hatchling whole. Her scales were the color of old blood, gnarled and thick with age, and her wings were tattered. She loomed before us, a mountain come to life, green eyes glowing with hatred and fury, before she let out a roar that vibrated my bones and made my ears ring.
“Fall back!” Ward cried over the shouts and curses of men and dragons, scrambling to get away. “Soldiers, spread out and sweep around to flank—!”
“No!” I yelled, interrupting him. “If you do that, she’ll pick you off one by one. Stay together! All dragons, protect the humans when she breathes—”
The Elder Wyrm unleashed a hellstorm of dragonfire, a roaring wall of flame that rushed toward us like an explosion. I yanked Garret to the ground and curled my wings around his body, feeling the inferno shriek around us. It burned hotter than anything I’d ever felt, a maelstrom of heat and fury that singed even my protective scales. I heard cries of pain and terror from both human and dragon, but I couldn’t see anything beyond the howling flames.
When the firestorm finally stopped, I peeked up and blinked in surprise. Nearly all the hatchlings and dragonells had moved to protect the soldiers in some way. Riley stood in front of Tristan, wings spread wide to guard the soldier, who crouched behind him looking stunned that he was still alive. Jade had coiled herself around several of the humans, including Lieutenant Ward, her long body protecting them all from the flames. I smelled burned hair and clothes, as none the soldiers had escaped that inferno unscathed, but it was better than our whole human force being incinerated in one breath.
The Elder Wyrm snarled in fury and stalked forward, her thunderous footsteps shaking the ground. We scrambled to our feet and fell back as the soldiers opened fire, filling the air with the howl of assault rifles. The Elder Wyrm didn’t even flinch as she walked into the bullet storm, the shots sparking off her horns and thick chest plates, doing nothing. One of the men either panicked or tried to find a better position, breaking rank and darting around toward her side, even as Ward yelled for him to stop. The Elder Wyrm’s head shot down, huge jaws closing over the human in one bite, and the soldier vanished instantly.
“Dammit, we’re dead if she gets close to us,” Riley snarled as the Elder Wyrm raised her head, the unfortunate human sliding down her long throat. She seemed to smile at us across the rocky ground, knowing there was little we could do to stop her. “And your guns aren’t going to do a damn thing against her, not unless…”
He jerked up as Tristan straightened at that exact moment. “The Dragonkiller,” the soldier gasped, and turned to Ward. “Sir, where’s the prototype? Do we still have it?”
With an ominous rumble, the Elder Wyrm started forward again, stalking us across the yard. We scrambled away like mice fleeing the cat.
“I know where it is,” Riley gasped, looking at Tristan. “I can take you there, but we’ll have to move fast. And someone will need to keep the Elder Wyrm off our backs.”
“Leave that to me,” Jade said. The Eastern dragon’s voice was weary but determined as she raised her head and watched the approaching Wyrm. “I can at least slow her down.”
“No!” I snapped, leaping forward. “Jade, if you fight her, you’re going to die. No grand sacrifices, I forbid it!” I glanced at the Elder Wyrm as she prowled forward, patient and calculating. She was in no hurry, knowing we couldn’t fight her, and was content to stretch the terror out as long as she could. “We’ll keep her distracted,” I told everyone. “If we work together, we might survive this. Jade…” I turned to the Eastern dragon. “Can you pull down a thunderstorm, make it hard for her to see fast-moving targets in the rain?”
“Yes.” The Asian dragon gave a solemn nod. “This I can do. Give me but a moment.”
With a streak of pale green, the Eastern dragon shot skyward. The Elder Wyrm watched her go, and a chilling smile stretched her huge muzzle—probably she thought Jade was fleeing, abandoning us to our fate. That was fine; it would give us the few seconds we needed to pull this off.
“Garret.” I lowered my wings, and the soldier swung onto my back without hesitation. “Keep moving,” I told everyone. “Keep flying. We don’t have to fight her, we’re just keeping her distracted until Tristan can fire the gun. Watch her head—she’s quicker than she looks. We might be able to stop her yet.”
“You heard her,” Ward snapped at the rest of the soldiers. “St. Anthony, get going. We’ll keep her distracted long enough for you to take the shot.”
The Elder Wyrm’s massive shadow fell over us as she lunged forward with a roar. Everyone scattered. The soldiers flung themselves atop dragons taking to the air. With a howl, I launched myself right at the Elder Wyrm’s gaping jaws, breathing a gout of fire into her face, hoping to surprise her at least. She wasn’t surprised or fooled in the slightest. Her huge maw came at me through the flames, and I veered away, barely avoiding the snapping jaws. Garret fired several rounds at her head as we soared by, the bullets sparking off her horns and scales, and she turned on us with an annoyed growl.
I banked sharply, flying higher, avoiding the snapping jaws a second time. It was like flying around a large scaly mountain, one that was trying to crush you and was shockingly fast at the same time. I didn’t have to worry only about her head; her talons, tail, even her wings were weapons that she used to try to swat us from the air. I saw a hatchling and rider veer away to avoid her claws only to be caught by the Elder Wyrm’s long lashing tail, which smashed them from the air and into the side of the mountain.
With a flash and a crack of thunder, the skies opened up, and the rain came down in sheets. The hatchlings and riders vanished in a haze of mist and rain, and the Elder Wyrm became a blurry red shadow moving through the storm. She was so huge that it was impossible not to see her even in the haze. But the dragons buzzing around her were at least a little harder to catch as they swooped and soared through the rain.