Why are you running, coward? Shulina Arya demanded.
Rysha feared it was because he was buying time, keeping Shulina Arya busy so his allies could attack the city at will.
She peered down and around, looking for the rest of the dragons. Her heart sank because she saw she was right. Two silvers and a bronze were attacking the castle and destroying the artillery weapons on the army fort’s walls. The other two silvers had joined the gold female and battled against Bhrava Saruth and the fliers.
The female hurled fire at those fliers every chance she got. Rysha feared none of the aircraft were getting close enough for the sword wielders in the back seats to do any damage.
Or so she thought. Abruptly, one of the men with a chapaharii blade sprang from his seat behind the pilot. Was that Colonel Grady again? He leaped into the air and slashed at one of the silver dragons. He was close enough for his blade to strike its barrier, and judging by the distressed shriek that came from that direction, he was successful.
But Rysha’s stomach sank when Grady’s momentum shifted and he started to fall. He wasn’t over the platform. He would fall all the way to the city below and die for sure.
But he halted abruptly, swinging thirty feet below his flier. On a rope, she realized. He’d tied a rope around his ankle.
His pilot headed toward the platform as the other fliers up there turned on the silver dragon, firing from several sides to take advantage of their enemy’s defenses being down.
Stand still and fight, Shulina Arya growled at the gold male. You are too big and too gold to act like a scared antelope.
The male chuckled into their minds. When you have expended all of your energy, I will swoop in and attack, and knock that odious sword from your human’s hands.
Rysha might have responded with a snort, but she realized the chase had taken them past the breakwater and out over the open ocean. Had the gold intentionally led them out here? She could still see the battle and the weapons platform, but if she were to drop Dorfindral out here, the water would be deep, and retrieving it would be more of a challenge than in the harbor.
Not that she intended to drop it.
Shulina Arya, what if we play a game of our own? Let’s lead him to the army fort and make it easy for the artillery officers to shoot at him. Rysha would have suggested taking him to Trip’s platform, but she hadn’t seen it fire any weapons yet. Unfortunately, launching the structure may have been premature. She hoped it wouldn’t be damaged with all the fighting going on around it.
I do not think he will give chase. He is a coward. He—
A whistling sound reached Rysha’s ears, and she twisted to look back. The male spun in the air to face something streaking toward it at blistering speed. The dragon flapped his wings, trying to twist away, but the object struck his defenses.
Rysha thought that would be the end, that it would bounce off, but somehow, it went through his invisible barrier.
“Trip’s rockets,” she blurted.
The projectile clipped the leg of the moving dragon instead of hitting him in the side, and she feared that it wouldn’t do much damage. Then it exploded, a ball of fire erupting with ferocity that would have impressed even Jaxi.
Shulina Arya wasn’t content to watch. Seeing her foe distracted, she streaked toward the flames.
As they died out, she reached the male and poured flames of her own onto him. His defenses were still down, and he writhed and jerked in the sky.
Shulina Arya dodged a wing, and her long neck darted in. She sank her fangs into his flank.
The male screeched, and his tail whipped about. Once again, it came toward Rysha. She ducked and slashed upward as the tail passed over her head, almost laughing because she took the tip off again.
“Guess that’s going to be my signature move,” she muttered.
The male shook off Shulina Arya, but not without losing large chunks of flesh and scale from his side. As he dove away, Rysha noticed something viscous on his scales, the liquid—the acid—burning between the cracks.
He’s ours now, Shulina Arya cried, flying straight downward after the dragon and toward the ocean.
Rysha’s stomach grew queasy, but she held on, ready to hack at more than a tail.
The wind tore at her eyeballs as they descended, tearing her eyes even behind her spectacles. She almost missed the moment when the male drew up, talons dragging in the water as he attempted to evade Shulina Arya one more time.
No, more than that. He was hoping she would plummet into the water and that he could take advantage.
She pulled up, as he had, but sank slightly into the water, and that slowed her down.
The male spun and used his magic to defy gravity. A huge wave of power crashed against Shulina Arya, seeming to slam into the side of her head—or maybe tear into her mind—just ahead of his physical attack. Shulina Arya moaned in pain, the woeful sound echoing in Rysha’s mind, and flopped into the water.
Rysha didn’t realize exactly what had happened until his great maw snapped straight toward her.
She dropped to her stomach, the jaws barely missing her as they clacked together inches from her head. Shulina Arya’s mental defenses were down.
Rysha rolled onto her back, afraid she would roll right off Shulina Arya, and slashed upward with Dorfindral. The male yanked his head back, already preparing for another bite, and she only skimmed his chin.
“Damn it.” Rysha sprang to her feet.
Shulina Arya shifted her wings, trying to pull herself out of the water. The male’s head came in again, crimson eyes ablaze as they focused on Dorfindral. He meant to destroy that sword, those eyes said, or at least knock it halfway to Cofahre.
He lunged in, fangs glinting in the sun. Rysha waited until the last second, then sprang aside as she twisted enough to whip the sword backward. The dragon, jerking his head around to snap at her again, turned right into her attack. Dorfindral bit into his scaled snout.
He yelped and drew back, but not before the blade sank three inches in and drew blood.
Rysha came down on Shulina Arya’s back, the dragon’s scales slick with water. She slipped and slid off and into the ocean. She came up quickly, keeping an arm up with Dorfindral held aloft.
Though the male’s snout bled, his eyes remained aflame with intensity. He lunged in for another attack.
But Shulina Arya twisted abruptly and seemed to spring from the water, as if she’d leaped off a diving board. Her head intercepted the male’s, fangs flashing as she bit the side of his face.