“It’s the ore I infused into the weapons platform. It resists magic and makes it very unpleasant for those with dragon blood to be around.” Trip winced. “Painfully so.”
He pushed himself to his feet, his hand on the flier for support, and faced the opposite direction. The dragon had turned and was picking up speed, coming in for another attack.
Nearby, Tolemek raced up the ladder to the working tower, the one Trip had used earlier. He loaded a rocket, but it wouldn’t be ready to fire in time. The dragon arrowed toward Trip again, its maw gaping open.
Once again, Grady ran in front of him, to the nose of the flier. Duck still crouched under it, his eyes glassy—he looked like he could collapse at any moment. Trip wished he could spare a moment to heal him, but he put all his power into shielding them again, fearing Azarwrath’s weakened help would not be enough.
This time, as the dragon unleashed its fire, Grady drew back his arm and threw his chapaharii sword. Startled, Trip envisioned him being incinerated and hurried to extend his barrier around him. But Grady hurled himself to the side, rolling under the flier for protection as flames bathed the deck and struck Trip’s defenses.
He sensed the tiny pop as the blade pierced the dragon’s barrier, and the magic disappeared.
Knowing he had to take advantage, Trip summoned all the power he could muster and flung it, targeting the dragon’s mind. He imagined talons raking through the creature’s brain, doing damage, making it want to flee out to the ocean and never return.
A screech of anger and pain slammed into his mind so hard that it threw Trip from his feet. The deck quaked under his back, and for a confused moment, he thought something had happened to the platform, that it was in danger of crashing.
But the dragon had slammed into the base of one of the towers.
Grady snatched his fallen sword from the deck and raced toward their enemy. The dragon struggled to rise, to get its defenses up. Trip blasted it with what little energy he had left. The creature shook its head, as if the attack didn’t bother it, but it still didn’t rise. Couldn’t rise. Trip realized the tainted ore was affecting it, just as it affected him, making the dragon weaker.
Grady ran right up to its side and plunged the sword between its scales.
A shadow fell across the platform, a silver dragon streaking in. Two fliers fired at its tail, but the creature had its barrier up. Icy gray eyes focused on Grady as it flew down to help its comrade.
Trip rolled to his knees, trying to think of something to do, but he couldn’t stand much less fight.
Then a soft thwack came from the side. Tolemek firing a rocket.
It blasted straight toward the incoming silver, sliced through its barrier, and struck it in the side. An explosion ripped through the air, smoke and flames filling the sky, and the deck quaked again.
Trip lifted an arm, shielding his eyes. Something spattered against the deck. Blood?
“Ugh,” he groaned and climbed slowly to his feet, still using the flier for support, still fighting to remain conscious.
Scratches like nails on a chalkboard sounded. The injured gold dragon lumbered out of the smoke. Trip lifted Azarwrath as it came toward him. Fortunately, the soulblade had more strength left than he had. Red lightning streaked out, slamming into the dragon’s scales. The creature’s barrier was still down, and another screech hammered Trip’s ears.
Belatedly, he realized the dragon wasn’t coming for him. It charged past him, blood streaming from a dozen gashes on its side. Grady pounded after it, taking a chunk out of its tail before the dragon stretched the lead and leaped over the railing and off the end of the platform.
Grady skidded to a halt, gripping the railing with his free hand. The gold dragon flapped away, but its wingbeats seemed feeble, its body bobbing and wobbling like a drunken bumblebee. It flew north along the coast and away from the city.
Trip hoped that meant it was out of the fight. He turned to find the corpse of the silver dragon sprawled on the deck and grimaced at the mess his rocket had made. At least it had worked. With luck, the other dragons would see this and realize it was far better to avoid the weapons platform now. And the city and people it protected.
We are fully operational, he told Zirkander again, looking to the sky where the fliers swooped about, dancing with the remaining two dragons.
I saw, Zirkander replied. Thank you, Trip. Also, feel free to shoot these last two. If you can get their defenses down, we’ll handle the rest.
Working on it, sir.
Trip started toward the tower, staggering as he left the support of the flier, but then remembered Duck and paused. He needed help.
Tolemek, can you handle firing rockets at the remaining dragons?
“Stay,” Grady said, jogging up, then passing him on the way to the tower. “I’ll help him.”
“Yes, sir,” Trip said.
He knelt beside Duck, but Duck waved him away. “Get the flier working and in the air. My ouchies can wait until after the fighting’s done.”
“Ouchies, Captain? That’s not a very manly word.”
Despite Duck’s attempt to push him away, Trip checked his wounds.
“I’m done being manly. Think I’m going to take a nap.” Duck slumped backward onto the deck.
He had a concussion in addition to the bloody gash, so Trip didn’t blame him. Though his head throbbed, and he wanted to follow that dragon’s example of running and jumping off the platform with its tainted iron framework, he made sure Duck was stable before going to work on the flier.
26
Rysha treaded water with one hand, her cut thigh burning. She waited, turning in circles in case one of the dragons came up behind her. What if the one to come up was the male? Or what if neither of them came back up?
She blinked away tears at the thought of Shulina Arya dying. She was the most wonderful dragon Rysha had met, and Rysha had only been her rider for a few weeks. To lose her so soon wouldn’t be fair. And what would she tell Shulina Arya’s parents? Children were supposed to outlive their parents, not the other way around.
Spitting out some of the water that kept washing into her face, Rysha kicked harder, trying to lift herself to see over the waves and to the coastline. They hadn’t flown that far out, had they?
She groaned when she spotted the black rocks of the breakwater and the butte that held the flier hangars. They had to be a mile away. An easy run but a long swim, especially while carrying a sword, wearing boots and clothing, and dealing with an injury. But she would do it if she had to.
She decided to head toward shore now. It wasn’t as if Shulina Arya couldn’t find her and pick her up if she came up. And if the male was the one to survive the fight, Rysha didn’t want to stick around. She would be an easy target in the water.
Something brushed against her leg, and she gasped and whipped the sword in that direction the best she could underwater. To her surprise, she hit something.
A gray fin broke the surface nearby, and she sucked in a startled breath. With her water-spattered spectacles, she must have missed the shark’s approach.