I ran, legs and arms pumping, the tremors beneath my boots intensifying, the nagrata’s roar a sonic blast hitting my back.
The world seemed to still, to go on mute, and then the air was sucked out of my lungs.
Alarm bells blared in my head.
I dove to the right, sliding into a snowdrift. Above me, the blizzard sizzled with blue flame. I rolled and pulled myself up, already mid sprint when the blizzard dropped suddenly, taking the veil of protection with it.
A monolith of ebony scales materialized in front of me. I backpedaled and turned to run, only to be faced with a rock wall. Where the fuck had that come from?
I spun back to face the beast as it lowered its massive head and fixed crimson eyes on me.
I didn’t want to hurt it. It was a puppet. Not evil. But I had no choice.
A chilling calm settled over me.
I curled my hands around the hilts of my axes, vision misting with each heavy breath. A rush of heat coursed through me. I drew my blades and ran straight at the nagrata.
The world narrowed down to my blades and the beast’s underbelly. The only sound was the pounding of blood in my head as I raced toward the only vulnerable spot on this creature. A shadow fell over me, and I swerved in time to avoid the talon tip of a wing as it smashed into the ground I’d just vacated.
I adjusted trajectory, stubbornly aiming for my target. A blur rushed at me from the left.
Boom!
Air punched me in a full-body smack. Breath evacuated my lungs in a whoosh, and iron filled my mouth. My boots left the ground, the world flipping upside down as my ears rang, shrill and pure.
I hit the earth, shoulder first, sliding through the snow like a fucking sledge. A band of white-hot pain circled my body and squeezed violently. Electric pulses of agony synced with my heartbeat.
The world blinked into focus, sound rushing back in. I sucked in a breath, and an inferno flared beneath my ribs, denying me the oxygen I needed. I dropped an axe and clutched for my side, a thin high-pitched scream bursting free as pain dug its claws into me with renewed vigor.
Fuck. Fuck. Breath wheezed in and out, my vision darkening as the incessant vise squeezed my torso, determined to crush me, then released suddenly. My ribs sprang back into place with a sickening pop.
I sucked in air like it was going out of fashion, rolling to my feet and away from the trench the nagrata’s tail had bored into the snow.
My right arm throbbed, the whole sleeve torn. The skin beneath was smeared with blood, bruised but otherwise unmarred.
I was healing.
How the fuck was I healing?
Focus, Leela. I snatched up the axe that I’d just dropped. How had I kept hold of them when I was hit? Shock? Reflex. It didn’t matter.
Nagrata.
Underbelly.
Go!
I released a battle cry and ran at the beast in a zigzag pattern.
Its chest blazed blue. I pushed harder, picking up space, closing the distance between us to get close enough to be safe from the incoming eruption.
Hot air beat at my back as the world lit up behind me, and my blade found a home, driving through thick skin to lodge deep enough to draw blood.
“Yah!” I yanked it back in a swiping motion, opening a foot-long wound.
The nagrata screeched, its body twisting.
A gust smacked me in the face. I dropped and rolled, my heart leaping into my mouth as talons cut the air inches from my face. I pushed up and ran straight at its belly again, but it leapt into the air, wings flaring and blocking out the sun.
