‘Girls! Get those poleaxes! Drop the halberds! Run!’ the Preceptor bellowed. ‘The rest of you out beyond the gates!’
There was a clattering as the halberds hit the stone floor and the girls sprinted out of the door into the Southern Hall. As they got through to the Lady’s Hall, they saw Rosa scurrying towards them clutching several of the poleaxes. ‘I hid further down the hall as soon as the alarm sounded. I thought it better to hide than risk being revealed and you proved more than capable of dispatching the intruder. Tell me more later. The alarm is real and I see that it’s a youngling male dragon who has set a few buildings afire. Remember your training and make me proud! Now run!’
The girls sprinted back down the hall and out through the throne room and into the palace yard. As they came out into the yard, they could see flames and smoke rising right above the walls and just beyond the gate they could hear a snarling roaring noise and even through the helms they could feel the pressure of an angry draconic mind.
‘Your puny efforts will see you all killed. I am your new lord. I am Galanthus. Surrender to me and I will be merciful. Surrender!’
They pushed through the panicking crowd in the yard and made it out through the main gate into Forge Square where they saw a scene of devastation.
The tavern where Nia had shown off her prowess with the poleaxe was well ablaze and the knights had cornered a grounded white dragon between the fire and the points of their halberds. Sir Lars had hurled his halberd through the dragon’s wing, preventing it from flying off but the dragon had had its revenge by biting through his chest armour and leaving him bleeding in the centre of Forge Square. His armour was now bone white having spent every drop of power trying to keep him alive. The other knights weren’t in much better shape. Their armour was just about spent protecting them from the fire and they were dodging about trying to land a telling blow while staying clear of the jaws and barbed tail of the marauder.
‘Charge’ bellowed Bria and the four girls ran in a line straight at the dragon, trusting their armour to keep them safe long enough to do some real damage.
The dragon ‘s head whipped round and covered them in a sheet of fire and as they stumbled blindly through it, he grabbed Bria in his teeth and shook her like a terrier shakes a rat. Luckily her armour had more charge than Sir Lars’ had had, preventing the massive fangs from penetrating her chest and back plates but she was effectively out of the fight. Camryn dodged the thrashing head and swung for his neck with her pole axe but the tail lashed into her, lifting her off her feet and throwing her hard into the ground where she lay still.
Stolen novel; please report.
Unfortunately for the dragon, that left Adeline and Nia. Nia jumped over the tail sweep that had felled Camryn, ducking under the head, before twisting in the air and bringing the narrow axe blade of her weapon down on the back of the dragon’s skull with sickening force, crushing it’s spinal cord just as Adeline rammed the spear blade on the top of her axe into the dragon’s throat through the thin plates just below its jaw. The combined force of the two attacks drove Adeline’s attack deep into the dragon’s flesh and she must have severed an artery because the dragon’s life blood gushed and spurted out all over the cobbles as soon as she pulled the blade out for a second strike. Within moments, the dragon’s head had crashed into the stone surface of the square and the beast started thrashing in its death throes.
The Preceptor reacted first. ‘Don’t let it go to waste! Everyone, recharge your armour!’
Sir Henrik grabbed Sir Lars and dragged him into the pool of blood before throwing himself down and rolling in it.
Nia dragged Camryn into the growing pool and Adelyn prised the dragon’s jaws open to free Bria before pulling her into the gore. All the other knights and recruits, even the boys, who by now had made it out of the gate threw themselves onto the cobbles rolling around trying to soak up every last drop of the precious dragon blood. Over the next few minutes all of the dragon plate darkened considerably as the armour, long starved of its fuel, greedily soaked up the blood from the pools.
A cry rang out from the city walls ‘form a water chain. Get that fire out before the rest of the city catches fire.’ Within a few minutes buckets from the nearby forges and mixing bowls from the palace kitchens were being passed from hand to hand as courtiers, palace servants and guards all fought to put out the fire in the tavern. Down the street, Nia could see other chains of people forming to try and contain the other fires around the Minstrel’s square and city guards were using the hooks on the back of their halberds to try and rip burning thatch from buildings that had been set alight by the embers being carried into the air by the fires.
Adelyn felt Bria try to sit up and breathed a sigh of relief as she realised the armour had started to work its magic, when the Preceptor’s head snapped around and stared out across the city. ‘Back on your feet! Now!’
Suddenly, another huge shape appeared through the smoke and ghosted over the top of the city soaring on the column of heat from the fires burning in the city.