A ringing alarmed in his ears and rattled his mind.

He was on the ground, but not sure when he had gotten there. Venic rolled over and wiped the debris from his eyes. As his movement grazed his temple, he found it sticky with blood.

Confusion clouded his mind as he blinked at the world around him.

A cloud of dust was still settling.

Steps away from where he had been standing, a small crater bit into the shale. If he had been closer, he would have been blown to bits.

Valerlanta was near to him, but was blinking at the sky.

‘The wind is knocked out of her.’

Was she injured more than that?

There was no time to tell.

Venic pushed himself to his feet and unsheathed his sword.

Soldiers burst from the ground from where they had been laying, covered in foliage.

‘No, not soldiers.’ They had the build and the weapons, but not the garb. ‘Mercenaries.’

Mercenaries with bows.

Venic felt his eyes go wide as he dove behind a rock. An arrow clattered against it.

Despite everything happening, there was a small part of him that flooded with relief.

‘Finally,’ that part of him said. After so many days of confusion, he was back to something he knew how to do.

Over the ringing, he heard the crunch of boots on rock.

Venic whipped around his cover. His sword sliced down.

The blade bit into the mercenary's neck. He wore a helmet, but no neck guard, so his head rolled.

The body dropped and Venic flicked his sword to remove excess blood.

Another mercenary let out a scream with his axe above his head.

Venic was not wearing armour, but could not hesitate. They would expect him to be cautious, so he had to be the opposite.

He sidestepped, and the sword swept past him harmlessly.

Acting a miss, Venic sung wide.

His opponent gave a cocky smile. He lifted his sword high overhead.

Venic twisted his sword around and drove his pommel into the man's nose.

His opponent stumbled back.

The knight’s foot slammed him in the chest, knocking the mercenary onto his back.

Venic flipped his sword in his hand so the blade tip faced downward. His sword came down between the armour, and another man was dead.

Pain flashed across his arm as an arrow grazed by.

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Cursing, Venic scrambled back behind the same rock as before and carefully peaked around it.

There were three archers behind the approaching line.

What was he supposed to do? Wait until the line came in so close that they could weed him from his hiding place?

He had to —

One archer dropped limply.

Valerlanta.

The crazed girl was back on her feet, and was bringing arrow after arrow to her bow. When she fired, men died or dove for cover.

This was his chance.

He climbed up the rock that had been protecting him this far, and lept.

A mercenary that had been trying to avoid Valerlanta behind a shield looked up just as Venic’s shoulder smashed into him.

They both tumbled. The knight’s roll brought him back to his feet, and he lept onto the other man blade first. The opponent grabbed the blade with his hands, stopping it inches from his skin. They both struggled against the others strength, but Venic won in the end.

The blade slid downwards, and the man died.

He rose to face the rest.

‘Just like the tournaments,’ he told himself before taking in and releasing a slow breath.

His mind cleared, and Venic struck.

The knight hit them with flurries of hits while dodging theirs best he could.

He tried not to notice the pain when one grazed him. Instead, he focused on them dropping.

One dropped, then another one.

He found himself circled by a good 10 men calling to lower spears. No matter how strong a fighter he was, Venic knew he could not best the reach of this many spears.

There was no escape.

Flashing a gaze at Valerlanta, he watched as she and another archer raised bows at the same time and released. Both dropped.

“Blast,” he swore.

Why hadn’t she used her magic?

‘There goes my last chance.’

Venic smiled bitterly and readied his grip on his swords.

“Go on! Come at me, then!” He snarled fiercely as the spears edged towards him.

His muscles tensed as the circle shrunk.

A shadow loomed over and a gust of wind caused the trees to groan.

A heavy force thudded into the ground clumsily, spraying rocks all directions and sending tremors across the shale. Undeterred, the icy blue dragon with damaged wings flared its tongue, tasting the air.

It was the same dragon from the mountain.

As the great beast pulled its head back — taking in the mass of humans staring with dumbfounded expressions in its direction — Venic only just realized he had not noticed it in the mountain's rubble.

Apparently, dragons could hold a grudge.

"You have got to be blasting kidding me," Venic snarled. "For fates sake!"

Heat waves twisted from its nostrils.

Venic dropped to the ground. He pressed his cheek into the dirt and covered his head as a wave of heat went over him.

Men screamed.

The heat disappeared.

‘Now!’

Venic shot up and leapt over the charred remains of several unlucky men.

Chaos ensued. There seemed to be no understanding on if the mercenaries should fight the beast or run. Some stood their ground while the rest ran in all different directions.

The dragon tracked the flurry of movement with snake-like eyes.

A mighty swing of its tail knocked a man right off the ledge. The poor soul wailed as he fell.

Venic reached Valerlanta. She was sitting, but an arrow stuck from her leg. Her shaky fingers clutched it, but she was failing to stop the blood.

“Is that...—” Valerlanta trailed off, staring at the dragon as it grabbed a man and the entire top half of his body disappeared between a clamp of teeth.

“Yes, which is precisely why we have to leave right now,” Venic confirmed. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She hissed in pain, but held her complaints. “Why didn’t you use magic?”

“Too many people,” she replied with a grimace of pain. “I can’t risk someone living and telling about it.”

Perfect. The one advantage that was with him had stage fright.

The dragon squealed as a spear found a tender bit of flesh in the beast’s armpit. A thrash of the tail knocked the attacker into a rock so hard he did not rise.

Rocks pelted the thief and knight as they skidded down the loose shale of the slope. Rock cliffs rose on either side in a funnel, leaving only one path out.

A man blocked their path. His eyes darted between them and the dragon, clearly conflicted.

One more came up behind the other.

Valerlanta whistled in amazement. “Just how much do you lot get paid?”

Before they could answer, Valerlanta pushed off Venic and knocked and fired an arrow faster than Venic thought possible. At this proximity, the arrow went deep into the man’s chain-mail. He stumbled.

Venic shot forward.

Three sweeps of the sword were all it took. He killed them both.

Grabbing Valerlanta again, he forced her to hurry down the slope.

The dragon did not follow as they reached the tree-line and through the brush. The beast seemed content with enacting its revenge on any human that had been with them.

Branches and smacked into them.

Venic shot a glance at Valerlanta. Her face had drained of color and though she was still moving without complaint, her teeth were gritting with pain.

Valerlanta tripped on a root and fell towards the ground.