Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“Andor!” I yell. “On your left!”
He looks up to watch them approach, swooping down like lizard hawks. Thank the gods these ones don’t breathe fire or we would be literal toast.
I make a run for them, swords out, Lemi at my side and barking. The blooddrages don’t seem all that interested in me, but Lemi shifts, appearing right behind them. He leaps up and snatches one of them by the tail, whipping the dragon around to the ground. The other one goes to attack him, but then Lemi shifts and appears beside me.
Now the blooddrage is coming right for me and I have my swords ready to swing. I’ll chop its head off if I have to. It cries out, needle teeth bared, and I’m staring it dead in its beady red eyes as it gets closer and closer.
Then it inhales and gives a loud squawk and shoots upward, out of my reach. It goes up high and then starts diving toward Andor.
“Coming at you!” I yell at Andor as I start running toward him, hoping I can put myself between him and the blooddrage in time.
He looks up from his crouched position and drops the extractor, grabbing his opal-glass dagger from his boot and throwing it at the dragon. I watch as the knife spins in several tight successions before it strikes the dragon right in the chest.
The dragon screams and drops to the ground, writhing in the dust, and the other dragon that Lemi threw to the ground is struggling to its feet, crying out for them while tossing around a broken tail.
Andor quickly picks up his bow and arrow and shoots the dragon through the top of the head, ending its suffering instantly. Then he gives me a dark look.
“You can’t be afraid to kill them,” he says gruffly.
I wasn’t afraid, I want to say. But what was I?
“I’ve never killed one before,” I tell him, looking back at their two lifeless bodies.
His brows rise and he gets to his feet, walking over to the dragons to yank out his dagger and his arrow. “How is it that you’ve never killed a dragon before?” he says incredulously.
“I haven’t had the need to,” I tell him.
He frowns at me and then looks around. “We better hurry. There’s still at least one more blooddrage out there.”
Grabbing his gear, he moves on to the next nest, and I start scanning the horizon again just in time to see another small black form appear in the distance.
“There she is,” I say. “Dead ahead.”
I start running ahead of Andor to the next nest, hoping that this time I’ll be able to take the blooddrage down before it comes for him. So far Lemi is proving to be more of a diversion than I am.
The blooddrage lets out a squawk, flying right for me, just as the other one did.
But as it gets closer, Lemi leaps up, trying to bite it in midair before he shifts, leaving the dragon confused and spiraling to the ground where it lands. It looks up at me, but it’s like it doesn’t see me at all. It only moves when Lemi reappears beside it, barking until it takes flight.
“Brynla!” I hear Andor yell from behind me, the panic in his voice making my blood run cold.
I whirl around to see a swarm of blooddrages, at least six of them, flying toward Andor from the direction we came in, only feet away.
I barely have time to act before all of them are on him, snapping jaws, flapping wings, and scratching claws.
And I know that the chance of escape I had been waiting for has finally arrived.
Chapter 16
Andor
One minute I think that Brynla is going to leave me to a grisly fate.
I see her standing there, watching me in both horror and confliction, and I can almost see her being pulled in the opposite direction. Lemi, bless that hound, is barking, running toward me and the blooddrages as they scratch and claw at me, trying to bite at any exposed skin.
But a different fear strikes in my heart, greater than the fear of being maimed or even death.
The fear that she’s going to leave me here without a second thought.
And that she’ll never think of me again.
Then she starts running for me, full speed, swords out, and just seeing her coming for me gives me enough strength to straighten up. With a roar, I shake off as many of the dragons as I can, though one has thoroughly attached itself to my head. I grind my teeth against the pain of his claws as he scratches at my cheek, dangerously close to my eye, his mouth trying to bite my neck.
But then Lemi leaps up, grabbing the blooddrage by the tail and pulling him back off my head, which unfortunately makes the dragon dig his claws in deeper until warm blood flows down my cheeks.