“I--I don’t feel anything! I--” Caden stopped.
He did feel something. His head turned as if it were on oiled hinges. He was looking back towards the crater. It had been empty before, but now… now he knew it wasn’t. And Iolaire was still separate from the Behemoth. He could faintly hear the crackling of ice. His head snapped back towards Raziel.
“Let’s go, Raziel!” Caden cried. “We can get to Iolaire!”
But Raziel shook its massive head. If I leave here, Valerius will be powerless. The lair is my connection with him. Our bonding. Without me here, he will be in danger.
Separation Anxiety
“Can I save Iolaire on my own?” Caden asked Raziel, ready to fly to the crater, even as he remembered how the Werewolf had hurt him relatively easily.
What could the Behemoth do?
But Caden thrust that thought out of his mind. He would not allow fear to paralyze him. Besides, nothing could be worse than losing Iolaire to the Behemoth and then Raziel to it, too.
Not to mention Valerius and then the world… oh, God, there has to be a way!
“Raziel, tell me what to do and I’ll do it!” Caden begged. “If there is anything I can do to save Iolaire--”
The Black Dragon’s eyes closed. No, there is not, Little Dragon. You cannot defeat it. You will be destroyed if you try.
Caden’s arms that were still fastened around Raziel’s nose grew numb. His whole body was numb. This couldn’t be how things ended! No way, no how! And yet...
“But if you can’t leave here and I can’t save Iolaire without you then… then what do we do?” Caden asked, despair imprinted into every word.
Raziel though did not answer. Because there was no answer, Caden realized. Not one that the Black Dragon saw. The numbness spread.
With a slightly hysterical laugh, Caden asked, “Can we get the Behemoth over here? Fight it in your lair?”
It would not fit, Raziel stated simply as it looked over its shoulder to where its big body almost touched the roof and the ground. And it will not come close enough for me to grab it even if you could lure it here.
Caden had, in fact, been considering that very idea. He had imagined flying over to the crater, taunting the Behemoth into chasing him back here where Raziel could take care of it.
“I can fly! I could lead it here! We have to try!” Caden insisted.
Did Raziel really think he would sit here and do nothing while Iolaire was absorbed into the Behemoth?
The Behemoth would destroy you with a single bolt of lightning or fireball, Raziel said almost wearily. You do not have the White Dragon Spirit’s protection. Though your bond is not yet severed… it is tenuous.
Caden swallowed bile that bubbled up his throat and into his mouth. Even though he did not have a stomach, he wanted to retch. The very thought of being cut off from Iolaire forever. He felt dizzy. So sick. He clutched at Raziel to keep himself airborne.
“This can’t be how it ends, Raziel,” Caden whispered.
“What ends? Can we not get back to Earth here?” Jasper asked.
The leader of Humans First pulled himself up onto the ledge outside of the lair. Caden--who was still holding onto Raziel’s nose--was nearly flung away as the Black Dragon snapped its head towards the unfamiliar voice. Caden somehow managed to dig his fingernails around some of the scales and just managed to hold on for dear life. The shock of Raziel’s action shook him out of that numb, despairing state. Jasper was a problem he could focus on and fix.
Who is this? Raziel hissed as its lips writhed back from those sword-like teeth.
Jasper’s eyes bugged out of his head as soon as the Black Dragon set its sights on him. He stepped back, but his heel touched air. He nearly fell back but pinwheeled his arms at the last moment and managed to stay on the ledge but just barely. The Black Dragon made a low, guttural sound in its throat like a giant ticking, the very beginnings of a roar. A roar that would likely crush Jasper’s bones and organs like jelly before sending his ruined body flying off the mountain.
“Caden, call it off! For fuck’s sake! It’s going to kill me!” Jasper screamed as he edged himself towards the mountain’s wall.
“Raziel, don’t kill him… not yet anyways,” Caden said.
“Raziel’s got to get in line. We all want to kill Jasper,” Landry’s voice rose up as she crawled up onto the ledge and rolled over onto her back. She breathed deeply. “I didn’t realize how afraid of heights I really am.”
“Landry!” Caden gave Raziel’s nose another hug before he flew over to her, landing beside her before dropping down onto his haunches. “Are you okay?”
