Kerune cackled.
The next would score a direct hit.
Before the knife could fall into the thick vegetation below, I sent it flying toward Airia, and she snatched it from the air. I didn’t know if she knew how to use it, but any weapon was better than none.
Something impacted with Madrood behind me, and I gaped at the dreg whipping back and forth as it clung to the dragon’s tail. Despite Madrood flying up and diving down, the dreg held on, its feral gaze locked on me. Its claws snapped forward to find purchase as it crawled up Madrood’s tail.
He released a guttural snarl and flung his tail out to the side. Twisting his head around, he shot flames at the dreg. Its wings caught fire, but it kept coming, stretching out its arms one after the other, spiking them through Madrood’s scales to maintain its grip.
While Madrood roared in pain, his blood flew through the air.
I’m on it,I told him.Don’t make any sudden moves.
“Fly, Drask,” I called, and he left my shoulder and shot toward the forest below.
After casting a spell to keep Vexxion pinned in place, I scrambled to my feet and spun, making my way carefully across the dragon’s back to the base of his tail.
A war drum had taken over my chest, and adrenaline surged through my veins. Every muscle screamed as I struggledto maintain my balance on the dragon darting this way and that.
Spying me creeping toward it, the dreg snarled and flung its claws out to climb faster. Its wings no longer burned, but these beasts were feral; it wouldn’t care if it could fly or not.
My ragged breath came in desperate gasps, feeding the fire of survival burning inside me. I leaped, driving my body into the dreg with my blade slashing out the moment I made impact. Cold sweat drenched my skin while icy fear coiled tight around my guts. I released a guttural cry and stabbed my dagger into the dreg’s eye, my hand slipping on its body fluids as I pressed my dagger all the way to its brain.
Its grip on Madrood loosened, and it slid toward the tip of the dragon’s tail, dragging me along with it.
My throat tightened, forcing jagged breaths as my pulse hammered in my ears. Each heartbeat sent jolts of fear through me. It was one thing to fight dregs on the ground. Mid-flight? Totally new territory here.
As the dreg tumbled away from Madrood, hauling me toward certain death, it released me only to claw out, gouging lines down my arm. The sting bit into me, and I stifled a groan as the beast dropped into the canopy below.
Flitting, I landed behind Vexxion and sent magic into my arm, slowing the bleeding.
Donotdo that again,Madrood snarled.
Too late. Two dregs flung themselves onto Glim’s back behind Reyla. She jumped to her feet and slashed out at the first, nearly decapitating it. When Brodine started to slip sideways, she latched onto his shoulder.
The second dreg used her distraction to scramble toward her. I flitted, arriving between it and my friend, landing hard enough to make my thigh spasm. My hands trembled, and a chill slithered down my spine despite the heat generated by my exertion. I felt raw and exposed, and I needed to end this before it was too late.
The dreg’s wings fluttered as it flung itself up into the air. It twisted and came down on top of Reyla, knocking her into Brodine. She jerked to the side, hauling him along with her.
They slipped off Glim and plunged toward the forest.
Flitting, I caught them before they impacted with the canopy, taking them back to the dragon’s back, where I left them. With my arms outstretched, I hobbled along Glim’s spine and grappled with the dreg, finally impaling my blade in its eye, ending its life.
Airia stood on the back of her dragon, wrestling with a dreg determined to bite off her head. It was too close quarters for me to risk flinging a knife to kill it.
Another dreg scrambled up Madrood’s tail. He slashed the limb through the air and darted his body up and down like a serpent, trying to dislodge the monster. I flitted onto the creature’s back and drove my dagger into its spine, twisting it. As it lurched off Madrood and toppled toward the forest, I flitted to Airia’s blue dragon and raked my blade across the dreg’s wings, shredding them. When I shoved the beast off her dragon, it could no longer fly and spiraled toward the ground.
Gripping her arms, I studied her face. “Are you alright?”
She swiped her hair back and feverishly nodded. “Yup. Fine.” She peered around. “More are coming!”
Kerune cackled, his dragon flying high enough above us I couldn’t ensure accuracy with a thrown blade.
“Keep your knife handy,” I told Airia. Another flit took me to Madrood’s back, where I settled behind Vexxion. I pressed my thighs against those of the man I loved, rubbing away the ache in my left. I needed this moment, this tiny bit of contact with him. I bared my teeth. “Get us away from them, Madrood!”
Hold on.He zigzagged through the air, dislodging the dregs scrambling to grab his tail and making me so dizzy it was all I could do to maintain my balance and flood Vexxion with magic to hold him in place. The other dragons followed, putting distance between us and the remaining dregs. For a moment, I took heart.
“Kill them all,” Kerune bellowed, and the last dregs dove toward us.
