This is my target!
The alien feeling of bloodlust rushed through me, turning my fingers to talons that buried themselves in the saddle horn. My jacket fluttered around my ribs, feeling like all the world likewings that were about to unfurl. Any sense of self-preservation left me as my mind and my dragon’s fused.
We saw our prey. The shift and roll of the ship’s hulk was like the meanderings of cattle across the grass, right before we swept down, grabbing them in our claws. Auren’s, mine, shot out, but it wasn’t with our talons that we would destroy this thing.
Nor our fire.
With a scream, a purple dragon swept out in front, turning the ship into a crackling mass, but before we could rally, a blue dragon shot out a stream of ice. The ship’s masts were weighed down with icicles, right as a red dragon swooped down, ready to burn it to cinders.
MINE!
Auren’s voice echoed around in my head and it appeared the other dragons caught the brunt of that, too. They backed off without thought, shaking their heads like smacked puppies.
Yours.
I didn’t know this voice, but it was deep and masculine, right before Viridian slid into the space between the other dragons and us. With a sharp cry in warning, he unleashed a cloud of acid, forcing the other dragons to shoot upwards and away from us to escape it’s bite.
Destroy it, my queen, the voice prompted.Unleash your fiery rage on this unworthy target and?—
Gods, what was this madness? I blinked, hearing more and more angry screams. It was like dispelling a magical haze, making clear the danger I was in. Dragons were enraged for some reason, dodging Viridian’s clouds of acid, then making straight for the ship.
Mine!Auren’s rage was coloured now by something far more forlorn.This is my target!
But they weren’t listening. Entirely focussed on Auren, the dragons wove and swooped like male birds might in mating season, anxious to impress a female. So anxious, they were a danger to her.
And to me.
A purple dragon swept up in front of us, forcing Auren to back wing furiously lest they collide, something I was entirely unprepared for. All of my dragon riding was done under far more sedate conditions and I was about to suffer for my lack of experience.
“Auren!” I screamed, scrabbling to try to maintain my hold on the saddle horn. “No…!” My voice quavered, making clear how weak I was. “No, no, no…”
You can’t bargain with gravity. It will have its due, no matter what you had to say about it. My fingers released their grip, peeling off the saddle, one by one. Every muscle clamped down tight as it could, trying to stay on my dragon’s back, but Auren rose straight in the air.
And that was the moment my body failed.
I was wrenched from the saddle, falling, falling. Wind whistled in my ears, my limbs flailing madly, needing to find something to cling to, but there was nothing.
Oh gods, I can’t even swim…
That was going to be my last thought? I had no wings to save myself, nothing to stop my catastrophic fall. From this height, the impact of my body hitting the sea would surely break all my bones, right before I was drowned. A thin whine built in my throat, as I couldn’t manage anything more. The wind stole the breath from my lungs.
Only for a dragon to sweep beneath me.
Arms jerking me close. My scream stuttered, then escaped me at full volume. My hands clawed at his chest, only to stare wide eyed at Dain.
“I’ve got you.” Dark eyes blazed alike black suns as he stared at me. “Gods, I’ve got you. Someone needs to get these idiots under control right now! Argent…!”
He was about to bark an order to his beast, but it was then two others entered the fray.
In a bay filled with the sounds of dragons roaring, theirs were so much louder, forcing me to clap my hands over my ears.My head tucked into Dain’s chest and he held me in place in time to feel his muttered response.
“That’s it, my brothers.”
Just how much bigger the silver dragons were became clear as they dove downwards, forcing all the other beasts to frantically fly away as they zeroed in on Auren.
Auren!My mind felt like my fingers had, clawing wildly for her. These dragons wanted to mate with her, not kill her, surely, but right now, that felt just as wrong.Auren, the silver dragons…!
Were escorting her towards the ship, fending off any other beast dumb enough to approach with a snarl and a spray of corrosive spittle. The three of them skimmed across the ocean, gleaming like the sun with two moons orbiting her, then when my dragon reached the hulk, they released a spray to mix with her fire, decimating the target in seconds.
