Like a wraith of shadow and wind the dragon burst forth. Seeking out the warmth of Telhari’s body and the smell of his scent, the dragon snaked forward and bit down. A cloud of dust and debris filled the valley and vision was all but impossible. The dragon opened its jaw to let the dirt and rock fall from inside.

It tasted no flesh.

Indeed, it could feel Telhari’s presence behind. Seizing his opportunity, Telhari lept forward with impossible athleticism, thrusting toward the dragon’s neck. He felt a resounding impact as his blade collided with the dragon’s neck; but it did not cut through.

The dragon flashed its teeth and moved in to attack. With blinding speed, a great wing struck Telhari and sent him flying into the rubble. The dragon writhed with pleasure; waiting with dripping anticipation to sense the life disappear from its prey. But to the dragon’s dismay Telhari rose from the rubble unscathed.

Narrowed eyes glared unholy and studied this Elfkin warrior. There was a magic about him. It twisted and enveloped his body, condensing like stone to encase him in a shell of protection.

Telhari tossed the blade from his right hand into his left. His last strike had connected, of that much was certain. So why did it not cut? Darazak scales are hard, yes, but there are few things in this world which cannot be cut by his blade— and dragon hide was not one of them.

He needed to figure it out.

Telhari twirled his sword in his hand until he held it blade-down.

It spoke truth, he thought as he called forth his spell. This place has been touched by the Old magics.

The great creature watched its enemy, knowing what it was he intended to do well before it had even begun— the Thrice-born was weaving magic. Not yielding a moment, the dragon charged along the ground with frightening speed and unhinged its mighty jaw.

Telhari, elevated by ancient winds, sped swiftly from danger, kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake. The dragon, unable to follow clearly with eyesight alone, relied instead on its other senses. With a beating of its wings, a gale of wind tore after Telhari, pursuing him with vicious intent. The stones in its path were cut to ribbons, for within this wind was layered a most malevolent magic.

Again, Telhari leapt away from the blast and toward the dragon. The creature sensed this and moved to dodge the thrusting strike. Then, it drew back its claw and slashed at the Elfkin. Telhari moved to avoid the attack and spun quickly to slash at the dragon’s arm.

Clash!

Again, his blade was unable to pierce its scaly armor; but this time Telhari had learned what he needed to.

Before the dragon could attack once again, Telhari kicked off the ground and launched back to gain distance.

The dragon eyed him wearily.

“Quite an impressive defense, Darazak.”

The dragon sent out a jet of hot breath from its mouth in frustrated response.

It predicts my attacks, Telhari thought, And reinforces its hide with magic at the moment of impact.

Telhari focused his mind on the blade in his hand and willed his power into it. The blade hummed in response and burned hot with energy.

Let us see how tough this defense of yours really is…

The dragon lashed its tail against the ground in anticipation.

“Lamenting your circumstance, Thrice-born? If you beg well, I will make your death a swift one!”

“Lamenting?” Telhari shook his head. “No. I was simply thinking how unfortunate it is that I was your opponent.”

Trails of smoke and flame lifted from the corners of the dragon’s mouth as it crept forward.

“You see,” Telhari continued, holding his sword arm outstretched, “Of all my kin, I am one of few with such mastery over the old magic. You and I share that affinity.”

“Then allow me to demonstrate the absoluteness of your inferiority!”

A ferocious wind flared behind the dragon as its wings beat thrice; then it launched at Telhari with great speed. Still, Telhari managed to dodge, avoiding the snap of its closing jaw. He planted his foot, twisted his upper body and stabbed at the dragon’s neck.

Clash!

Still no good, eh?

Telhari ducked suddenly as a streaking black tail whipped at his head. Without a moment’s rest, the dragon attacked again, running its claw along the ground with a devastating force toward its foe. Telhari sank low, kicked off the ground and launched himself forward, diving under the dragon’s body. Feeling his presence, the dragon moved to crush him underneath; but he was too slow, and Telhari had already cleared his underbelly. Telhari leapt off the ground and stabbed again into the back of the dragon’s neck.

To his surprise, the blade sunk into the scales and proceeded to cut through to flesh. Telhari felt them give way and tried to press even further, but stopped when his blade became trapped.

Shit!

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The dragon had outmaneuvered him. Knowing he was aiming for the neck, it had deliberately delayed its protection. Once Telhari cut through and his sword was deep enough, the protection reactivated, trapping Telhari’s blade in bite of obsidian teeth. Telhari knew he was not deep enough to do damage, but he had to wrestle his blade free before—

A massive clawed hand gripped his body and attempted to squeeze him to bursting. Telhari fortified his bodily enchantment to resist and held fast to his blade. With a swift, jerking motion, the dragon ripped Telhari off its back and threw him into the adjacent cliff face. An explosion of rock and debris spewed out and the mountain side fractured.

The dragon reared back its head and let a blaze ignite in its belly. A surge of molten air billowed up, and with a flash a torrent of red hot flame burst forth. But the raging fire blast was soon intercepted by an invisible force. The column of fire split in two and each half surged outward against the mountainside. The dragon poured more of its power into the blast, increasing its size and intensity, burning it white hot.

Telhari could feel the seething heat blaze around him. The moisture in the air was vaporizing and steam was rising all around; the stone beside him was growing red hot and was beginning to melt. In front of him he held the trusted blade though which he channeled this defensive spell.

Enough of this!

Telhari layered a second spell over the first, aimed at disrupting the dragon’s fire. A sudden explosion shook the base of the cliff, kicking up a cloud of loose dirt and smoke. Seizing the opportunity, the dragon launched itself, claws outstretched, into that black cloud. An impact rocked the valley; Telhari broke through the top of the smoke cloud and continued to rise over fifty feet toward the cliff edge. He somersaulted in the air and landed feet first on the cliff face, then continued to sprint up the side of the mountain at incredible speeds, held aloft by his enchanted wind. Behind, a piercing roar split the air and the smoke cloud tore apart from a splaying of draconic wings. The hellish beast gave chase and clawed its way up after him. Even at his speed, the dragon was still too quick and Telhari was soon to be overtaken.

He jumped suddenly to the side as the dragon lunged its head forward and tore a chunk of stone out of the cliff-side. Telhari then kicked off the rock and vaulted several hundred feet across the valley toward an adjacent cliff; behind him, his enemy threw its jaw open and cried out with murderous wrath.

As he soared through the air, Telhari placed a hand on the broad side of his blade and conjured a new spell. He flipped several times in the air and landed against a cliff edge. As he landed, his feet were pulled into the rock, which melted open and held him fast. As his spell grew in strength, a light green spark danced down the pommel of the his sword and scattered across his body before discharging into the rock. Within moments, the very mountain itself was resonating with the call of his ancient magic.

The dragon could feel the change in the air; sense the tug and pull of that most subtle of forces. Two great wings opened to the sky; and like a sail they caught enchanted winds, propelling the dragon across the mouth of the valley.

As his spell finished, Telhari flipped the blade in his hand once again and slammed the pommel into the rock. Upon impact, a shock-wave moved through the earth and the stone rippled like water. The peaks of the waves split open into innumerable shards of igneous fury and shot themselves into the air faster than an arrow’s speed. A deep droning filled the valley as countless stone projectiles cut violent through the air towards the dragon.

Thousands upon thousands of impacts wracked its armored body and several managed to tear through the sinew of its wings. Angered by pain and the persistence of its foe, the dragon surged forth a wrathful maelstrom which blew away the remaining stones.

The dragon collided with reckless abandon into the cliff-side, hoping to crush Telhari once and for all. The shock was so powerful that it ruptured the rock face and sent many tons of earth and rock tumbling down— a landslide which buried the mountain pass that lay below.

Telhari appeared once again in the air, after having narrowly avoided the dragon’s onslaught. As another column of flame surged toward him, he once again conjured his spell of protection. But the flame was so broad and so fierce that Telhari could not see anything beyond it. Unknown to him, the dragon had chased him through the air. With surprise, the dragon appeared as a demoniac visage through the flame and clawed wildly at him while he was still in the air. Telhari’s spell held up against the bombardment of physical attacks; but with a twist of its body, a thirty-foot long tail whipped fiercely, shattering his spell-woven shield and sending him careening into the ground.

The dragon landed with a glorious impact, crushing the stone ruins beneath. Ever vigilant, it waited— knowing it had landed a direct hit.

But would it be enough?

No.

Telhari was still alive— wounded, but alive.

The dragon gnashed its teeth at the air and prepared once again its hellish fire blast. A flame spewed forth toward Telhari and—!

With a flash, a searing beam of light split the air at phenomenal speed and parted the flame. The dragon reacted on pure instinct and turned away, but not before the beam grazed its face— cutting deep into its flesh, beyond the scaly armor, and drawing blood. As the dragon recoiled from the sting of the attack, the beam continued on to pierce the sky, finally exploding in a flash of blue light and sending arcs of lightning scattering into the clouds. The silence in the valley was heavy; the dragon stood shell-shocked and uneasy. A moment later there came a delayed booming of thunder which echoed over the mountains. Shock turned to fear, and fear to rage. The spines on its back drew up and flared threateningly; the dragon sank low and its tongue flicked the air.

The dust from the impact was nearly gone, and Telhari stepped slowly out of the crater created by his fall. He was bruised, a deep gash ran along his abdomen where the dragon’s tail had pierced his defenses; but he was still alive. And more importantly, he had found the dragon’s weakness.

The air in the valley twinged with electricity; metallic scent hung all around.

Even with its spectacular defenses, the dragon was unable to protect against Telhari’s most brutal attack. He would have preferred not to call upon such forces as they exhausted him greatly, but there was no other choice. With a steady hum, Telhari reached deep inside himself, as deep as could be managed, then still even deeper; sinking far, far down until a world of impossible magnificence opened up before him. A nebulous expanse of untold power and permeating beauty exploded into being as he held his breath. He then grasped tightly to those familiar singing threads which he had neglected for almost a hundred years and smiled…

Telhari’s sword, held softly in his grip, hummed louder than ever. And as those vibrations rose to a fever pitch, the scintillating metal first glowed a bright blue and then finally an effulgent opalescent-white.

The dragon watched on with terrifying curiosity. It had never before felt something so deadly; a kind of cold and merciless death that lingered in secret until the moment before striking. A distillation of the purest forces of nature that no mortal being should have the right to wield…

The valley rang clear and oppressive with a high pitched whistling that emanated from Telhari’s blade. Ellis and Mary, who until now had been watching on at the fight, too spellbound to speak, now threw their hands over their ears. As Ellis watched Telhari slowly approach the dragon from a distance, the sword he brandished was clearly visible, even from so far a distance.

That attack from before…, Ellis thought as he wracked his brain.

And just like that, a memory came back to him. From a time when they had traveled to Malendar’s Edge and were introduced to an eclectic nobleman.

What had he said?

In an instant the ringing stopped and there was an utter silence.

Oh yeah…Ellis remembered, finally. Thunder Blade.