Committed to the wing it approach, which seems oddly appropriate given the appendages keeping him aloft in this aerial battle, Russo engages the ruby dragon, Gyorrkith, in combat. Well, he helps anyway. It’s essentially Kaya’s fight, one dragon(ess) duking it out with another. Relegated to the enviable support role of ‘weaponized annoyance,’ the mage will have to get creative with the spells and equipment at his disposal if he wants to make a difference, much less survive everything thrown his way.


Icon is © to  DemonRoni

FIRST , PREVIOUS , NEXT

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Chapter 44

Trails of steam wafting out of Jem’s moist and snuffly black nose blew back into his eyes. Clenching them shut unconsciously, the rough collie plodded forward through the smoldering settlement. His padded feet stumbled over the landscape shifting beneath him; scuffing against the scorched earth, splashing through the puddles, slogging through the mud, and crunching patches of snow loudly underpaw. Not even last night’s snowfall had been enough to bury the lingering reminders of the ruby dragon’s regular assaults, buildings still burning bright even after all this time. Fiery orange veins snaked through what remained of their foundations, ash sliding off in chunks.

“They can’t compensate us for our services.” The canine kicked at an island of snow, an icy diamond in the rough amongst the blackened land. Damp sparkles were knocked up into the wind and blown back against his chest, water droplets condensing along the nicks in his armor. “They can’t be trusted to be forthright.” Jem growled as he continued to weave back into and out of drifts and snow and the smoking earth, his feet alternating between freezing and scalding. “So why can’t I just say no?” Letting out a sigh, Jem rocked his head side to side. “This dragon will probably keep to itself, right? …After razing this entire part of the country to the ground.” His floppy ears splayed flat against his head, “And assuming no one else is stupid enough to stick their fingers into its treasure trove.” Muzzle clamped tight, the edges of the fur’s lips creased down slightly. Who was he kidding, that was asking for way too much.

Russo had advocated the apathetic approach, and attractive as it was, Jem couldn’t bring himself to commit to it. “Of course there wouldn’t be any footprints,” he moaned aloud. Turning his gaze this way and that, the only tracks to be found belonged to the rough collie. He stared wistfully at the mountain in the distance that had sucked his companion into its orbit the night prior. Yes, this dragon was someone else’s problem. And yes, those other people should be the ones to deal with it. Since he and Russo were already here though… gah, this was something he’d need to talk over with the mage. “Should I?” His tail wagged pitifully, whipping up a gentle breath of air that dusted the earth with freshly fallen snow. “No…” No point in chasing after him. Russo would return on his own in due time. “Just wish he would hurry the hell up,” Jem grumped, impatiently tapping a foot against the ground.

“Hmm?” A glint of light shone bright above the mountaintop, contrasted brilliantly against the sun smothering cloud cover. That spark of light leapt towards the monolith of rock in an arc, dancing upon its snowy surface. “What the?!” Echoing across the flat plains, a low rumble hummed in the air. The mountain shed its winter face like a second skin. Its frozen pallor came crashing down explosively, a cloud of white erupting from its base. “He couldn’t possibly…” Flashes of Peccamen spooled across Jem’s mind. “Wait. Wait. Wait. What am I talking about. Of course this is his doing.” Shaking his head, the collie breathed deeply, filling his lungs with air. “Heh, at least I know he’s okay.” One foot before the other, the warrior dashed towards the mountain, eager to regroup. Well, not so much dash as walk. Jem grunted as he waded through the waist high snow. Every time he forced his legs forward, the snow he displaced packed together in front of him. Each step required more energy than the last. Hmm… okay shoot. Not so much walk as whatever it is that’s slower than walking. Crawling?

“Screw it,” the shrunken giant irritably barked. Muscle poured onto his frame, forcing his furry body up and out as much as his restrictive armor would allow. Clothing tight and beginning to tear, tufts of fur poked out from his shirt sleeves and pants legging. Nearly doubling in height, Jem flexed an arm. The plates of armor curled around his bicep buckled, their metal joints forced apart. Resuming his trek once more in earnest, his massive legs carried him onward, those pillars of muscle plowing through the packed up snow with ease.

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Kaya’s wings spread out against her sides, the air catching against their broad leathery surface forcing her to a halt. The snow coating her sunken scaly cheeks evaporated as a barrage of fireballs sailed by within feet of her face. Inertia carrying her passenger forward, she felt the human smack against the back of her neck. A fiery red glow reflected off of her milky white eyes, Gyorrkith’s next attack coming in hot. “Shit.” Wrapping her wings around her chest, the dragoness plummeted.

“What are you doing?!” Russo screamed. Arms clutching at her neck, the mica dragoness’ scales scratched and tore through the layers of coats adorning the human’s limbs. Stomach sinking, or to be completely accurately, rising, the mage held on desperately, his legs floating up behind up him as they entered freefall.

Once more the dragoness thrust her wings out to her sides, flapping them furiously in a bid to keep her flight pattern erratic. The ruby dragon had already gotten a bead on the duo and was leading them into his attacks. Miniature meteors composed of molten bile and goodness knows what else rocketed just beneath her, the heat wafting off of them brushing at the bottom of Kaya’s clawed feet. “Do you honestly need to ask?” she retorted, wincing when Russo’s barrier coated legs smacked against her back. Jaw clenched tight, the mica dragoness’ teeth poked against her gums. Cheeks puffed out, she forced a breath laden with magic between her pearly whites. A scattershot of grey beams rained out from her maw, the encroaching balls of flame torn to pieces in the assault. With a flap of her wings, Gyorrkith’s piecemeal attack was easily blown aside. “Russo, useful as you are once rendered a weaponized annoyance,” her neck lunged forward as another torrent of magic gushed out from her maw, bathing Kaya’s face in its soft glow. Only a couple hues brighter than the clouds overhead, a pillar of dull grey magic surged towards the ruby dragon readying his next strike. “I can’t be expected to orchestrate every attack.”

Waves of orange light washed over Gyorrkith’s scales, a muted reflection hinting at the roaring fires spilling out of his mouth. Coughing violently, a steady roar of flames billowed forth from the dragon. Where his attack and Kaya’s met, arcs of energy crackled.

“You’re busy enough as it is keeping us alive,” Russo duly acknowledged, his voice shaky. Arms trembling, he clenched his limbs around her neck, pulling himself up towards the back of her head. The tail end of Kaya’s breath attack vanished into the wall of flames, the stray arcs of magical energy snaking back and leaping across Greg’s scales as he rocketed forward. Heart pounding in his chest, the mage’s Adam’s apple bulged in his against his throat, bobbing up and down with a nervous gulp. “I-I’ll see about making some openings for you.” His survival now dependent on her own, the mage was going to suck it up and take one for the team.

“Have some faith, Russo.” The mica dragoness darted across the skies, her scaly form undulating up and under the miniature meteorites being hurled their way. “If you weren’t capable of making a difference, you wouldn’t be here.”

“Kinda makes me wish I was a shittier mage then,” he mumbled under his breath, completely mangling the intent carried behind the dragoness’ words of encouragement. “Okay. Okay… just imagine Greg’s below you,” a shallow layer of blue magic coated his fingers, bleeding out over his gloved knuckles and creeping towards his wrists.

The displaced air whipped up by Gyorrkith’s attacks buffeted the human and dragoness in regular waves, one powerful gust after the next rocking Kaya’s body following each meteor she dodged.

“Red scaly outline of his smack against the snowwwwwwwwwwwNOOOOOOOO NO NO NO NO!” Tipping over, that last windburst sent him sliding off his perch. Hand scrabbling against her scales, Russo tumbled to the earth below. “KAYA!”

Overhead, the dragoness’ flight path continued on uninterrupted, Kaya and Gyorrkith circling one another. Rolling her neck side to side, the lightened load on her back was a welcome reprieve.

Russo blinked, staring vacantly at the dragons disappearing into the clouds above. “Probably shouldn’t be complaining,” he mouthed aloud as snowflakes flew up past him, “that someone, hell, a dragon of all people, finally places some confidence in me.” His pounding heart thumped louder and louder in his ears, drowning out the tunnel of wind roaring past him as he approached terminal velocity. “But now of all times just seems like, I don’t know, a good time for Kaya to lower her expectations. Juuust a bit.”

Inklings of tumbling into a dark and depthless void rattled in his mind. “This seems… familiar.” Then, like now, the mage’s memories and life experiences came flooding back to him. Clenching his fists, blue wisps of energy seethed off his knuckles. Before, those chains of memories threatened to strip his soul bare, attempting to flee their mortal vessel as the human lay splayed across the fine line separating the living from the dead. Eyes half closed, he flattened his brows. “Oh. Right. Imminent death, been there done that.” Snow swirling around him, Russo vanished in a flash of blue light.

“Holy hell that actually worked.” Before the residual light from Russo’s warp faded, a buffet of flurries smacked against the mage’s head, coating his hood and neck with a layer of snow and ice. Expectations set debilitatingly low, the fact that he wasn’t careening towards the ground proved a pleasant surprise! Err… Turning his gaze downwards, he continued hurtling towards the earth at terminal velocity. This time there just happened to be a ruby dragon between him and the ground’s cold embrace, further proof that he had successfully teleported directly above the dragon. All Russo had succeeded in doing was placing more distance between himself and the flat plane of snow and dirt patiently waiting for him to splat into its surface, his velocity remaining ever constant. “That’s something to keep in mind,” he nervously noted, teeth chattering at the grisly implications of what would happen were he to teleport directly to ground level. Flickering in the muted sunlight, the overlapping layers of magic comprising Russo’s barrier wavered. Magically melded scales began to flake off his arms and chest, the barrier caving inward and collapsing wherever the concentration of magic abruptly faded.

Well, at least he could delay the inevitable. “For however long my magic holds out,” the mage grumbled, the resistance with which the wind pressed up on his body peeling back the layers of snow that had accumulated on him. So that was one problem shoved to the side for the time being. All that remained was the matter of creating an opening for Kaya. With a reluctant exhale, Russo blinked away the snowflakes that had found their way into his eyelashes. “Guess I should try and make myself useful.” Sitting back and letting gravity carry him into a confrontation was the first thing that came to mind. Falling into Greg was by no means a graceful or well thought out approach, but his role here was just to distract the big bastard while Kaya did all the heavy- “Oh shit you didn’t stop moving either,” Russo blurted out while he plummeted straight down through the section of air the ruby dragon had occupied moments earlier.

Up and down Gyorrkith’s wings flapped, propelling the lumbering reptile forward and well out of the mage’s reach. He hadn’t even noticed the human sailing past, rather preoccuipied with cancelling out Kaya’s attacks before they could reach him.

“Yeah I did not think this through.” Once more the dragons disappeared into the cloud cover high above him, Russo’s view of the shifting landscape becoming worryingly magnified. Roiling bouts of wind wafted out from the mountain’s base as the avalanche of ice settled, rolling hills and dunes forming in the snow below. With a snap of his fingers the human vanished in another burst of light, reappearing above Greg yet again. Unsurprisingly, gravity kept on doing its thing. Sinking like a stone, Russo’s dead drop straight down failed to intercept the dragon’s flight path. “Dammit, I’ll figure this out eventually.” En masse, glowing green scales peeled off of the mage’s form. His dragonic barrier peeled back like a second skin, exposing his fingers and knuckles. “That’s… not… helping.” Keeping this new spell of his up for extended periods of time was tantamount to suicide, mortal bodies simply didn’t house enough energy to maintain something of that caliber for so long. Arching his fingers, the human drew what magic remained coated upon his body back into fingertips. “Crap, gonna have to be smart about this.” He could only maintain his boosted defenses for short bursts, lest he entirely exhaust his supply of magic.

Teeth poking against her lips, Kaya’s eyes bounced between the top and bottom of their sockets, following Russo’s perma-descent. Running on autopilot, she forced out a breath attack every time a lick of red or orange flared up along the edges of her vision. Each successive warp brought the mage not only above but further and further ahead of Gyorrkith, Russo’s plummets bringing him progressively closer and closer as his scaly foe sailed past. “If it’s stupid and it works…”

Gyorrkith’s ancient slitted eyes wavered in place, gauging the dragoness that dared to oppose him. She could match him blow for blow, the acknowledgement prompting a guttural growl to reverberate in his throat. Inhaling deeply, the ruby dragon’s chest expanded. Stretched taut, traces of flesh could be seen in the creases between his splayed out scales.

“DAMMIT. WOULD YOU-”

Licking against the ridges lining the top of the dragon’s mouth, a stream of flames roared forth from Gyorrkith’s throat. Boiling creeks of plaque dribbled down off the contours of his teeth, coalescing and hardening along his gums. One breath attack collided with another, the ruby dragon’s concentrated wall of fire shielding him from Kaya’s column of raw magic. “I wonder…” Gyorrkith forced the remaining air out of his lungs, his steady exhale giving way to a raspy gasp. Breathing new life into the fading flames, they devoured the tail end of the mica dragoness’ attack and billowed towards her.

“You purposefully established a pattern, letting me pick up on your tells.” Kaya rolled onto her side, allowing her neck to droop and body to angle towards the ground. Gusts of air pressed into her expanded surface area as she fell, boosting her back from Gyorrkith. The ruby dragon’s attack wafted above her, its scorching heat causing it to rise into the atmosphere. “Waiting for me to grow comfortable and complacent before lurching into a new strategy.” Old bastard wasn’t just strong, he was smart too.

Agile to boot, the mica dragoness’ ability to change direction in an instant and come to a near halt in midair were proving particularly troublesome. “So she’s strong and she’s mobile, loathe as I am to admit it.” The very thoughts grated away at his pride. Still… she was nowhere near as battle hardened as he was. Could she or could she not afford to take a hit? “Remains to be seen if you’re anything more than a glass cannon.”

“WOULD YOU JUST-”

Gyorrkith’s head shifted slightly, his eyes straining to take in the amorphous blur that whisked by the periphery of his vision. “Hmph.” That was twice now he could’ve sworn he heard that human’s obnoxious voice carried on the wind. Wait. Brows creased and nostrils scrunched together, the ruby dragon squinted at the mica dragoness. Where the hell did her passenger go?

“QUIT MOVING!” Swinging his arms forward, Russo’s gloved fingers brushed against the reptile’s scaly tail. Gahh he was so close this time!

“Where did you-?!” His tail lashed at the wind behind him, Gyorrkith snarling at the fact the only resistance pressing back upon his limb was that of the air. No limbs crunching or ribs caving in beneath its blows, and therefore no satisfaction to be gained. Distraction regardless, he kept his eyes pinned upon Kaya. Did she really think she could flaunt her hand so casually and come out on top? Countering her strategy was as simple as ignoring-

“FINALLY.” Clothing coated in a green sheen, Russo slammed into Greg, flattening a handful of the spines running along the dragon’s back. Clenching his fingers, the human’s digits dragged against the airborne reptile’s scales. Ten trails of sparks ran along the ruby dragon’s arched form, coming to a halt at the base of his tail. “That… that actually worked!” The abrupt end to his free fall left the human shaking, his arms wrapped tight around Greg’s lashing appendage. “Shit, I should take my own advice more often! Just… *huff* just had to lower my expectations was all.” Set them low enough and it’s impossible to be disappointed. Either they’ll be met or you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

On Gyorrkith’s end, the dragon had far less success adhering to his own advice. Neck crooked against his shoulder, his slit eyes wavered while they focused on the mage, never breaking contact even as another one of Kaya’s breath attacks carved away at his torso. A mindless growl reverberated in his throat, flames poking through his gritted teeth.

“What the hell was I thinking.” Celebration short lived, Russo immediately loosened his grip. Sliding off of Greg’s broad backside, magical scales raucously scraped against physical ones. The sound of thunder clapped through the air, his freefall given a boost of acceleration by a vicious swing from the dragon’s tail. Shards of magic tore off the human’s chest, drifting up and vanishing into the tunnel of wind roaring around him. “Happy, Kaya? You got your distraction.” Allowing the barrier to fade, the windows of safety it afforded him were shrinking with every subsequent casting.

Teeth clenched tight, the sinews of muscle hidden beneath Gyorrkith’s scaly cheeks strained themselves as his lips parted. Contorting themselves so as to bear his entire jawline to the open air, the ruby dragon couldn’t settle upon what was more infuriating; the fact that Kaya’s simpleminded tactics were proving successful, or the human’s continued existence. It was an utter mockery, an affront to the power the ruby dragon wielded. Every one of those attacks that had connected with the mage’s frail body ought to have killed him dozens of times over and yet he still continued to plague him! “If I can’t ignore this nuisance,” he snarled to himself in bitter resignation, “I’ll simply rid myself of it.”

“Heyyy Kaya? Kaya? KAYA.” Russo called out. The sounds of his cloak flapping furiously against his back was the only response. Pursing his lips, flakes of skin cracked off their dry, chapped surface. Guhh, anything less than screaming himself hoarse was going to be drowned out by the howl of the wind rushing past. That or the hellacious crackling and flap of heavy wings bearing down on him. “Well. Someone’s feeling salty.” Who was he kidding, she wasn’t going to come to his rescue.

Rendering himself perpendicular to the horizon, Gyorrkith plummeted towards the offending mage, his mighty wings shoving gale force winds behind him. Air currents blew back the streams of fire gushing out from his maw, bathing the ruby dragon in his own flames.

“Oh shit was I the one who gave him that idea?” This complicated things. Beams of semisolid magical energy pounded into the approaching dragon’s torso and back, smoke wafting up from wherever they made contact. Every chunk of flesh and scales ripped off his back was immediately seared shut by the fire and flames clinging to his form. Greg’s descent never wavered, the mica dragoness’ assault of breath attacks doing nothing more than causing his flight path to waver and wobble. Snapping his fingers, Russo wasted no time relocating himself out of harm’s way.

Vision colored shades of reds and orange, Gyorrkith grunted. He’d be back. Breathing in steadily through his nose, a constant stream of superheated air was drawn into and pushed out of his throat, allowing him to indefinitely maintain his snugly fitting inferno. Chin tucked against his calloused chest, the ruby dragon rotated about in the air. Gazing up towards the heavens, he eyed the weaponized annoyance hurtling towards him hungrily. His blood boiled at the thought he allowed himself to be struck not once, but twice, by such a shameful and simple strategy. “I will not allow a third,” he roared, the oxygen around the ruby dragon exploding as the conflagration wrapped around him devoured the surrounding air.

“God I’m glad I got some practice in for this with Umbra.” Curled up into ball, the human wrapped his cloak tight around his compacted form. Tumbling through the atmosphere, he hit upon a snag while beautifully executing the first phase of his wing-it approach, the don’t burn to death part. If he couldn’t see the ruby dragon, then “How… how do I even time this?” effectively crippling phase two, the activate my barrier so I don’t die on impact part. Gripping tightly at the colored fabric, Russo’s gloved fingertips simmered with magic, scales forming on their surface. Having long since tired itself out trying to pound its way out of his chest, Russo’s heart beat gently, little more than a dull weight pressed against a ribcage. Unable to close his eyes, he stared at soft crimson lining of his fireproof attire. As he passed through the flames, there was a moment of silence that permeated through his huddled shelter. No roaring, no crackling, no whistling of the wind. Just a soft orange glow that shone through the fabric and a radiating heat that wrenched open his pores. Lacking any quips or smart comments for such an oddly specific situation, Russo simply brought up his barrier. Almost instantly it wavered, a flash of green light emanating off his body when he made contact. Rolling off of Gyorrkith’s form, the hellish heat faded along with the barrier, a gush of cool air whisking by the human upon resuming his freefall.

Letting out a strained gasp, Gyorrkith clutched at his throat, the mage having slammed right into his windpipe. Wheezing out spittle and embers, the dragon’s own cloak of flames subsided due to the disrupted air flow.

“Outstanding,” Kaya murmured to herself contentedly. Eyes locked on the broad flaps of skin keeping her foe afloat, she dived down beside him. Breathing in deeply, she felt her chest grow taut as her lungs expanded to their limit. Very slowly she forced brief bursts of magic up into her maw, constricting its flow with deliberately timed glottal stops, the muscles at the back of her throat clenching shut the flow of magic and air at regular intervals. Dense bullets of humming energy sailed towards the ruby dragon, swathes of scales exploding off his exposed back and belly in a bloody mist. A few shots met their intended target, Gyorrkith’s left wing bending and crumpling under the mica dragoness’ pinpoint barrage. “I really should end this here and now.” Her pearly eyes drifted to the bottom of their sockets. Russo’s flailing form registered briefly at the edges of her vision before disappearing in a flash of blue light. “Expecting you to keep that up forever is asking a trifle much though,” biting at her lip. Shaking her head, she veered off to intercept the mage’s next descent.

“No one,” panting, the ruby dragon struggled to fly in a straight line, “No one, no mortal should have been able to pierce those flames.” Every flap of his injured wing caused his flight path to hook right, which was proving tiring to constantly correct. “Nrrrgh Knoch, you must have thought the same thing. To think, that damned dragoness would turn on her own kind.” What did she even see in those sacks of flesh and fur that could have led her astray? Did she fear their strength and prostrate herself before them? Growling, he ground his teeth together, scraping sheets of plaque off his gums. Those things would only become threats if they let them. If only he had been as zealous as Knoch once was, squelching them wherever they cropped up like weeds. Fat lot of good wishful thinking would do him now. “The both of them, threats.” He couldn’t afford to duel the dragoness in the open air anymore, she’d fly circles around him. Turning his heavy head up towards the clouds crowding out the sky, he let out a pained breath. As much as it wounded his pride, outside interference would be required to win this fight.

Gliding alongside Russo, Kaya was mindful to match his speed before swooping underneath to catch him against the base of her neck. “I fear you may be rubbing off on me,” she smirked.

“Was that…” Dwelling back on it, what few compliments he’d received from her had all been backhanded ones. “I’m going to assume that you’re being facetious.”

“You purposefully chose not to take the easy way out, much like I have. I very well could have let you plummet to your death and disposed of Gyorrkith in the interim, but why expend all this energy repaying a debt to a dead man? Could have just killed you from the outset and saved myself the trouble.”

Russo let his head tunk forward, Kaya’s scales scratching at his cheeks and nose. “Thanks for not killing me then, I guess.”

“Think nothing of it.” Wriggling her body, the mica dragoness failed to shake off the sheets of snow clinging to her scales. “Teasing aside, it is reassuring to know my confidence was well placed.”

The mage whapped the sides of his boots repeatedly against Kaya’s chest, dislodged slush and ice catching against the top of his footwear. “Can we not pat ourselves on the back before this is all said and done?” Rare as it was, the compliment was appreciated. “And just how many more hits do you think Greg can take?”

“You’re asking the wrong questions again.” Every beat of her wings pulled her higher and higher. Her ascent slowed whenever her passenger wheezed for air, allowing him to catch his breath before resuming her steady climb. “It’s not how often I hit him that matters, it’s where I hit him.” Kaya’s flattened neck lifted, her rising shoulder blades pressing against Russo’s knees.

Arms curled tight around her neck, the human pulled himself close against her broad back. Anything to keep the wind from licking at his exposed face, sapping his very warmth.

“If I can land even a handful more hits on those wings of his, the battle will be won. Gyorrkith knows that.” She narrowed her gaze, glaring at the ruby dragon’s backside as he vanished above the clouds, swallowed up by their bloated and puffy embrace. “I don’t expect him to be an easy target.”

“You maybe want to drop me off then?” Wow those clouds were getting really close. “My magic is nearly spent as it is, doubtful I’ll be much help here on out.” Distressingly familiar with the sensation of being manhandled, Russo remained silent and knew better than to resist when a shimmering clawed hand curled around him.

Reaching over her shoulder, Kaya grabbed hold of her passenger and held him before her pointed face. Jaw gone slack, she let out a heavy exhale. Her misting breath, crackling with energy, condensed upon the human’s form. The mix of moisture and magic hardened, a pale green barrier covering the mage yet again. “So you were saying?”

Just above the dark grey clouds heavy with snow, a stream of flame swept side to side upon their surface, steam and mist billowing up in its wake. Wafting up to layer of clouds looming above, the scalding trails of water vapor came to a halt, abruptly snaking back down towards whence they came. Dense torrents of frigid air poured down from the sky above, dragging the warmer currents back down with them.

“It’s going to take more than this…” Once more, Gyorrkith’s fires licked at the tops of the lower hanging clouds, beginning the cycle anew. Dragging puffy tufts with them, the whirling air currents took on a visible shape.

Nestled against the back of Kaya’s neck, Russo blinked repeatedly while taking in his drab surroundings. Everything around him was damp, grey, and cold as fuck all, ice crystals forming on and clinging to his stubble and eyebrows. Unable to make out much past the scales pressing against his face, visibility was nonexistent. There was no extra weight bearing down on or pressing against the mage, which was… surprising? “So you can see them,” he held a hand into the grey void, feeling nothing press against his fingertips except a growing dampness, “but not touch them. Huh.” Turned out the interior of a cloud was little different than a particularly thick patch of fog. “I’m not really sure what I expected.”

“How best to track him?” Kaya mused. Quiet and controlled, her wings rose and fell with deliberate intent. “It all depends on his primary purpose for delving into the cloud cover, first and foremost.” His options were to flee, think and regroup, or stage or an ambush. Donning a lopsided grin, she knew the ruby dragon couldn’t flee. Admission of defeat would prove fatal to his pride, something that Gyorrkith would never let come to pass. “Even if he should take the time to compose himself, his next course of action will assuredly be plotting my demise.” The lumbering red dragon actively was, or would be, orchestrating an ambush then. But if she and Russo were flying blind, he would be too. Kaya clacked her teeth together as she discarded one train of thought after the other. “He can’t hope to slither through this sea of clouds like a serpent,” handicapping his mobility had guaranteed that. She’d hear his battered wings struggling to keep him afloat long before then. “So subtlety and stealth are out of the question. We’ve removed the capability for him to even engage in such.” If Gyorrkith couldn’t hope to sneak up on them, then all that realistically remained was for him to draw the dragoness and human into his reach.

“What’s the plan, Kaya? Kinda hard to fight what you can’t see.”

Dragging out the silence, the dragoness was slow to respond. “I’m working on it.” Another extended pause followed, punctuated by the sound of the wind rushing by their heads. “Gyorrkith has us at a disadvantage. He knows we are actively seeking him out, and is cognizant that we’ll be dependent on auditory cues to determine his whereabouts.” Not like their eyes served any use in this condensed soup of water vapor. “Meaning he’ll make himself known only when he wants to be found.” She let out a frustrated sigh, well aware that control over the flow of the battle had shifted hands. “We’re walking into a trap, and what worries me is I don’t know what to expect.”

“Just fire a shot off at him once he does his thing,” Russo replied with a shrug. “Sounds like it’d be a lot safer to play keep away.”

“Doing so will let him know our general proximity. That, and how likely do you think it is a shot in the dark will oh so conveniently connect with either of his wings?” Turning her head back towards the human, Kaya’s flared nostrils blew back a gust of hot air that made him wince. “Could always send you out to scout ahead. Teleport to his backside and gather information as to what he’s plotting.”

“And if he backhands or hurtles me to the ground below?” Head tilted down, Russo wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact he couldn’t even see the snow covered earth anymore.

Could he not figure such things out for himself? “Then simply return here.”

“You saw how fast I was falling. Sure you want me touching down on the back of your neck at such suicidal speeds?” Gaze locked upon his boots bouncing against the dragoness’ side, he was hesitant to voice his other rebuttal. Teleporting directly onto that red dragon was simply beyond his capabilities. Before, he at least could at least use the dragons themselves as a sort of reversed point of reference when positioning himself above the ground. Trying to orient himself up here would be impossible. Shit, the only reason he even had any inkling as to which way was down was because gravity pulled him in that direction.

“I’ll politely decline.” Dammit, there really was no way around it. “Now do you understand the predicament we find ourselves in? We have to approach Gyorrkith on his terms if we want an opportunity to clip his wings.”

A crippling uncertainty gripped Russo’s limbs, his body reluctant to allow itself to be led into such an unfavorable scenario. Wonder if Jem ever felt like this whenever the mage dragged him headlong into poorly thought out plans. “This is not what I’d call ideal.”

Tumbling through the cloud layers, Gyorrkith struggled to right himself. His wings flapped feebly at his side, catching wind against their broad surface. Descent slowed, it was just enough to allow him to differentiate up from down. “Coaxing it into being is one thing.” Fitful coughs wracked his throat, the ruby dragon’s head still reeling. “Controlling it is another.” Tossed aside by the vicious air currents he’d been incubating, they’d grown into an imposing vortex cutting horizontally through the clouds. Teeth clenched, he stifled a welling roar and forced himself back up, up, up into the atmosphere. “Rrrrghhh only power I should have to place my faith in is my own.” But no, Kaya had forced his hand. Fire poured out from his distended maw, cooking the air beneath the howling vortex. “It’s already too much for me to wield as is.” The rising currents fed into the column of whirling air, tilting it further up on its axis. “Too strong for any amount of magic to pacify.” Connecting one layer of the snow filled sky to the next, a funnel cloud took form. “Too powerful for her to ignore.” Emptying to his lungs, Gyorrkith announced his presence. His piercing and ancient roar was quickly subsumed by the steady and ruinous howl of the wind pulling everything into its orbit.

“There’s no avoiding it.” If Kaya wanted to bring this to an end, a confrontation on the ruby dragon’s terms was inevitable. It was strange, having her sense of self-preservation tear itself apart. Her head argued how imperative it was she finish a fight she started, lest she wake up one day with claws digging into her neck and Gyorrkith’s breath boiling away the scales and flesh off her skull. Whereas her bones locked in place, prior failures and suffering burned into the mica dragoness’ muscle memory. Kaya’s flesh and bones could sense a trap was imminent, and was utterly adverse to subjecting itself to easily avoided hardship. The only thing carrying her forward was the strengthening gusts cutting through the low hanging clouds, pulling everything caught in its rotation closer to its epicenter. “Are you ready?”

“I…” Words caught in Russo’s throat while his limbs began to quake. He couldn’t explain why, but the low and ringing rumble pounding at his ear drums set the human on edge. “What do you even expect me to do?” There was something about the consistency with which the wind howled that unnerved him, never settling for even a moment.

“Remain quiet and alert,” Kaya snapped. Fuck, it was stressful enough playing mind games with herself, feverishly trying to imagine what kind of ploy Gyorrkith had laid out and how he expected her to react. Someone constantly nagging her for guidance when she didn’t even know how to proceed wasn’t helping. “Just… keep vigilant. We can’t possibly exercise enough caution at this point.”

Russo nodded quietly and remained huddled close to her scaly and cutting form. “So neither one of us knows what we’re doing. Fantastic.” Knowing that they were flying ill-prepared into an ambush, the mage wasn’t all that surprised his body shook and trembled. Even taking all of that into account though, something still seemed off. The wind screamed louder and louder the higher they rose, his heartbeat ratcheting up in intensity alongside it. “Kaya? Is it normally this windy up here?”

“No. Only when-” Her eyes grew wide after the answer effortlessly tumbled off her forked tongue. Was that what he was planning? Like the fins of a devilfish, the spines dotting the top of the mica dragoness’ wings carved through the condensed water vapor before Kaya finally breached the cloud’s surface.

“I was wondering when you’d show yourself!” Gyorrkith bellowed. Caught in the growing tornado’s pull, his battered form rocketed across the sky. Head resting against his shoulder, the ruby dragon’s flames continued to feed into the column of cloud piercing through countless layers of the sky. Its howl upgraded from deafening to ear splitting as it grew in diameter. Mobility was no longer a factor in this aerial battle. “So much for my handicap and your advantage.” Scaled lips parted to reveal a malicious grin comprised of teeth as hard as bedrock.

“Since when the hell could he do that?!” Compressed against Kaya’s back from the sheer force of the wind rushing by, Russo complained between strained breaths. His cloak clung tightly to his body, pressing down upon him like a pallet of bricks.

Flapping her wings furiously, Kaya let out a panicked roar. No matter how hard she tried, the air coursing beneath the mica dragoness betrayed her intentions. Her flight path was now decided for her, steadily pulling the dragoness towards the heart of the storm and her waiting opponent. “Don’t panic,” she mentally reassured herself, warily eyeing Gyorrkith circling round the break between the clouds. Clenching the muscles within her shoulders, Kaya struggled to tuck her broad appendages keeping her afloat against her chest. Perhaps if she allowed herself to plummet long enough, she could escape that thing’s range?

Almost immediately, tears streamed along the side of her face as she cut through the sky like an arrow. Gales buffeted her pointed head, the air rushing past too fast for her to even breathe in. “Okay, that is enough of that.” Forcing her wings to spread back out at her sides, Kaya gasped down breaths. Behind her, Russo coughed painfully, having been nearly flattened by the bursts of air that wrapped around the dangerously aerodynamic dragon.

“Whatever the hell it was you just,” he paused to catch his breath, the dry thin air swirling high above the ground doing little to alleviate his difficulties,“-you just did, can we please not do that again?” Flashes of light registered at the edges of his vision, the dragoness forcing out breath attacks with distressing frequency. “Kaya?”

“Don’t panic.” Pillars of her pale light pierced through the column of cloud, darkening billows of condensed air pouring into the circular wounds. More shots missed than connected with their intended target, Gyorrkith allowing the wind to carry him every which way.

Gyorrkith’s flames faltered every time a chunk of flesh was torn from his chest, arms, or underbelly, but the dragon remained vigilant and committed to feeding the storm. Patiently he waited, his manic grin growing wider every time he completed another rotation.

Teeth clamped together, Kaya expended her breath as fast as she could take it in, sacrificing power for some semblance of increased accuracy. A barrage of glowing needles, inconsistent in their shape and size, erupted from the gaps between the mica dragoness’ teeth. To her dismay, the hellacious winds swirling round the outer wall of the gesticulating tornado blew them apart before they could reach the ruby dragon. Lips quivered and curled down when it sunk in that the end result of each and every action she could take would render the same result. “It doesn’t matter what I do.” Her orbit gradually decayed, drawing Kaya closer and closer to her foe. “This is what he wanted all along. It’s of no consequence if he’s caught in its pull, he’s practically crippled as it is. All that matters is that I’m trapped in here with him.”

“How did this skirmish start off again?” Gyorrkith sneered between belches of flame, fireballs lashing through the air towards the dragoness as he did fly-bys. The debilitating wind proved detrimental to his own breath attacks as well, instantly extinguishing anything that dared to go against the current.

“Kaya why isn’t he down and out yet?” Plastered against her scaly form by the roaring gales, Russo’s arms, legs, and ribs ached pleadingly.

“That’s right,” his patronizing voice lost to the wind, he was speaking more to himself than the dragoness. “I couldn’t help but notice your strange behavior, how it’s so very unlike you to pick a fight you can’t wriggle away from.” The gap between the two lessened with every lap around the now self-sustaining tornado.

“FOR FUCKS SAKES HE’S MONOLOGUING!” Russo screamed into the void. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Don’t panic,” jaws ripped open wide, a desperate burst of magic escaped Kaya’s maw, “you know exactly what needs to be done. You still have an opportunity to end this.” What should’ve been a pinpoint attack on his wings was blown off course, her magical laser guided along Gyorrkith’s neck and the side of his face. Scales exploded off his form, revealing the raw muscle that powered the lumbering dragon, red and raw and gushing blood. Crimson droplets trickled off his form and spread across the sky.

“And you agreed.” While he spoke, sinews of muscle pulsed where his cheek once was, steam wafting off its exposed surface. “So I can’t help but be puzzled by your panicked visage.”

Teeth chattering, Russo’s composure peeled away under Greg’s murderous gaze. Damn lizard was close enough that he could see his reflection in those cold amber eyes, slit pupils split down the middle. “Did we ever have any hope of winning this?” Coaxed into a fight he should have known better than to ask for, dragging a dragoness into the fray. The human could live with his fuckups and shrug them off when the consequences were his and his alone to bear. They were a lot harder to swallow when they became his friend’s burdens. “Dark, you monstrous motherfucker.”

“You knew this wouldn’t end any other way from the start, Kajastaa.”

Refusing to relent, beams of magic continued to radiate out from Kaya’s mouth. Turning her head behind her shoulder, skin and scale splattered against her, Gyorrkith powering through her exhalation of concentrated energy.

“YOU CAN’T ESCAPE!” Claw held out before him, his palm stripped raw clasped around her maw, nails digging into her cheeks and underside of her jaw. His spiked tail coiled around her own, scraping away at her scales and preventing her escape. “Rnnngghh and you…” Those amber eyes swiveled towards the human that had mocked him so, his continued existence a slap in the face. “Let’s try this again, shall we?” Mouth spread wide, Gyorrkith’s noxious breath washed over the mage in waves. “I’ll destroy you so utterly, so completely, that not even your memory will remain.”

It was Morgan, Tyridia, and Xis that cleaned up Russo’s demon problem, not him.

Mouth agape, Gyorrkith lunged forward.

Yet here he was again. A dragoness was the one shouldering the herculean task of slaying a dragon, not him.

A cavern of teeth clamped down around the human, Kaya’s agonized screams muffled by the dank cave bearing down on him.

Of course it had gone to hell.

From the back of Gyorrkith’s throat, a sweltering heat swept into the cave, carrying a light with it. Trickles of blood streamed down where the curved yellow walls of crusted bone sank into the ground that shimmered gently. Saliva dripped down from the fleshy ribbed roof.

And she would die for it.

“No.” Hands held out before him, he’d put what magic remained within him to good goddamned use. His dragon scale barrier receded, its energy drawn back to his fingertips. The soft orange glow welling up towards him took on a blue-green hue, its luminescence filtered through a wall of magic that materialized towards the back of Greg’s throat. No fancy shapes, no molding, just a simple wall would do. Everything he had went into that stupid little square. It grew in size and area, its edges cutting against the roof of that bastard’s mouth, tongue, and his teeth.

Tears streaming from her pearly eyes, Kaya’s claws clenched around Gyorrkith’s own, her nails tearing into his wrist. “Of course he chooses to ignore my wings.” Every breath was a painful one, his teeth wedging themselves deeper into her side with the rising and falling of her chest. “Now he wants nothing more than to drag it out.” She honestly would have preferred a swift demise, it gave her less time to dwell on the fact she had failed to repay her debt.

*URK*

“STILL?!” Without Gyorrkith’s consent, his jaws parted. What felt like razors burrowed their way into the edges of his mouth, blood dripping down from the barrier’s four points and quenching the flames rising at the back of his throat. Popping out of place loudly, the bones in Gyorrkith’s jaw shifted when his mouth was forced open far wider than nature intended. “YOU STILL RESIST?!” The ruby dragon’s teeth hesitatingly relinquished their vice grip on Kaya’s body, deep puncture wounds left in their absence.

“Your role in all this is to be the distraction that can withstand anything and everything Gyorrkith has at his disposal.” Wide eyed, Kaya recalled the explicit instructions she had doled out when they first took flight. “Even now, you continue to play your part.” Tightening her grip around the ruby dragon’s wrist, Gyorrkith’s clamp around her mouth wavered. “As should I.”

“FUCK OFF!” Thick winter clothes and hair matted to his body, the damp interior of Gyorrkith’s mouth left Russo sopping wet and clumped against the dragoness’s side. Deep punctures dotted the scaly flesh around, blood flowing freely from Kaya’s pierced flesh. “Fuck your fire, fuck your claws, fuck your teeth,” the mage yelled out while Greg’s free hand reached into his distended mouth, uselessly pounding away at the barrier. “Nothing you’ve thrown at me yet works, you scaly jackass! I’ll find a way around everything-” Everything that is, except for backhands. Russo’s tirade went silent as the back of a clenched and scabbing fist slammed into him.

Its caster incapacitated, the barrier spell shattered, allowing Gyorrkith’s teeth to clamp down with an ear splitting crack. That minor distraction dealt with, the dragon’s attention focused once more on the fragile nuisance letting out strained wheezes under his knuckles. Gyorrkith’s voice rumbled in delight when he kneaded his fist into the dragoness’ back, the human pinned between her scales and his flesh screaming until his hopefully collapsed lungs gave out.

A guttural growl broke the melodies of misery reverberating in the ruby dragon’s ear holes.

Amber eyes darting towards its source, Gyorrkith’s pupils dilated at the sight before him. His hand now held out before her, Kaya’s lips had curled back, teeth bared and magical energy roiling out from the gaps between them. There was a brief and blinding burst of grey light, then darkness. Kaya’s breath attack cascaded across his face at point blank range.

“Russo!” Gyorrkith’s limp limb slid off her form, dragging the mage down with it. Both his spilled blood and the ruby dragon’s dulled her scales. “RUSSO!” Roaring feebly, she felt herself being pulled down, her own tail still intertwined with Gyorrkith’s. She frantically grasped at the human, his lighter form floating out of reach and being pushed away by the tornadic winds. Relentlessly firing off countless bursts of magic, she didn’t cease until one of her innumerable shots had enveloped the mage in another protective barrier. With a bittersweet smirk, her eyes followed his softly glowing shape drift across the sky. “We’re even.” Their coiled bodies no longer remotely aerodynamic, the Kaya-Gyorrkith tangle plummeted through the clouds.

Flung hundreds of feet in the opposite direction, Russo’s barely conscious form tumbled to the ground below. Unable to tell up from down or any other direction, he closed his eyes and tried not to focus on the warm feeling rising in his throat, the suffocating pressure on his chest, or the nerves rubbed raw in his arms. Passing through layer after layer of condensed water, sheets of ice crystallized upon his magical scales. Twenty seconds of freefall later he made impact, the mage’s flailing body skidding across the white landscape. The dragon scale barrier faltered, peeling away from his extremities as he slowly lost consciousness. He came to a halt against a wall of compacted snow that had collected behind him, a white plume rising in the distance signaling the resting spot of the two dragons.

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