I let go of the rocks and dropped. Fastening my talons into his back and shoulders, I rode him in his deathly spiraling plunge to the gorge below. I bit deep into his neck, my deadly talons slicing across his throat. Carter gurgled, gasping, his throat spewing blood, my fire sinking into his hide. I scented his burned flesh, tasted his blood on my tongue.
Die, you father slaying bastard.
Carter, my brother, died the instant we both hit the rocky gorge, his neck breaking with a sharp crack.
The impact sent me hurtling into sharp rocks and broken trees.
I cried out as my left wing snapped like busted twigs, my head smacked hard against a rock. My consciousness faded.
He’s dead. I’m dead –
***
Bitterly cold snow stung my eyes as I blinked myself awake.
Lifting my aching head, I gazed, bleary, around me, to discover I still laid on my brother’s corpse. His body had grown cold enough to not melt the ice that covered it, and I nearly vomited up my disgust. His jaws were parted, his tongue had oozed from between his teeth to pool, freezing, on the rocks.
I stepped from him, dizzy, my talons sliding on ice coated boulders.I must burn him. Can’t permit humans to find his body.
Gaining a bit of distance from him, my left wing dragging uselessly, I turned to gaze at my brother once more.
“This is for what you did to my father.”
A dragon’s fire has no equal. I once turned a truck to a pile of slag. Burning Carter’s body to ash took time, but in the end there was nothing left of him save blackened boulders where he’d died. The bitterly cold wind soon cooled the hot rocks, and snow once again covered where he’d once lain.
I couldn’t fly.
Staring up at the rocky walls that surrounded me, I knew I had to climb or die.
Crying out in agony, I did my best to fold my broken wing over my back. Letting it drag over the rocks would be far worse, I suspected. With it out of the way, I used my talons to grip the rocks and boulders to climb, using all four of my limbs, up the steep wall.
At the top, in a grassy meadow, I collapsed, breathing raggedly. My head spun wickedly, and my wing burned with a fire all its own. I rested for a long while, permitting the icy snow to numb some of my aches. When I felt I could, I stood, shakily, and started to walk.
Avoiding the trees that might drag at my injured wing, I headed downhill, out of the mountains and toward human habitations. What I’d do there, I’d no idea. My heart broken within me, I wept as I traveled, limping, nearly blind, my mind skittering away from thoughts of Declan.
And Avery.
The scent of smoke and ashes tickled my nostrils.
I paused, sniffing the bitter wind.
The odors of cooked food accompanied the other scents. Cold, though, the fire long dead, the ashes stagnant. Still, where food, fire, and ashes were I might find shelter along with thesources of the odors. I increased my pace, hoping the shelter didn’t already have inhabitants.
A cabin swirled out of the storm.
No smoke belched from the chimney.
I sniffed but didn’t catch a whiff of humans within it.
I shifted and fell to my knees at the agony in my back. The storm lashed at me, driving me to my feet. I had no coat, no boots, to protect my frail human body from the high altitude and the storm.
The cabin’s door opened easily under my hand.
Empty.
A pile of dry wood welcomed me as I staggered inside, shutting the door and the storm outside. Shivering, my hands shaking badly, I piled wood in the hearth, found kindling and matches. After a few tries, I got the fire going.
In the flickering light, I explored the cabin. A wood framed bed covered by a bison hide stood against one wall. I seized the hide to wrap around me, hoping to finally get warm. The place held only one room. Shelves with books and canned goods lined the split timber walls. A wood stove for cooking sat in a corner. Nothing at all gave an indication of whose cabin this was and when they’d be back.
