Cody watched the beast move through the smoke, gauging the best place to set up before they ran headlong into the fray. Sariel had confirmed that she also did not have hands-on experience with dragons, but it was easy to tell what to watch out for from the size of it.
Everything. Even a misplaced sneeze from the beast could probably toast them alive.
So the only person that was allowed anywhere near it in the battle ahead was Hord'anne. That was, of course, if everything went to plan.
He eyed Sariel, unable to hide his worry. The enchanted crossbow in her hands would do wonders for defense, and her hesitation had all but left her at the prospect of fighting a creature bigger than the buildings around them. But still, something pitted his stomach at the thought of her running into that danger.
He just couldn't place the feeling. She had magic, albeit he didn't know what sort it was. She also had the wits to hide and keep out of range of its fire.
Cody swallowed his hesitation, eyeing the clearing of dirt near the statue that he had chosen for his plan. Distractions would just make it harder for Sariel and Hord'anne in the end.
He lowered himself, readying for a sprint. "Are we ready?"
Hord'anne grunted, Sariel nodded, and Crow let out the smallest squawk it could.
Without a word, he ran for his spot, Hord'anne's howl cutting through the air to his left, and Sariel's steps passing him as she ran to the opposite end of the charging dragon.
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The giant dragon had put an awful stink in the air, which made sprinting a little bit harder for Sariel without gagging along the way. Still, it wasn't the worst thing she'd smelt. Mud and bristleback feces was a combination that could kill a man, and that never stopped Medila from using it to wake her up when she slept past sunrise.
She found the half-crumbled towers of stone that once made up the corners of a shop, blinking the stinging air out of her eyes as she focused on the beast in the smoke. It was swaying its head to and fro, trying to find where Hord'anne had gone in the nest of splintered wooden beams and crumbled stone it had left. Cody was safely standing behind the cover of the woman's statue, dragging the glowing sword in his hands through the dirt.
Sariel focused on the dragon again, aiming the weapon at its large body and patiently waiting for a flash of Hord'anne's purple skin to peek from the wreckage it was sifting through. Finally, she saw a shadow pass off, shirking the dragon's attention despite being directly in front of the beast's nose.
The smoke was quite terrible, it must have been blurring the dragon's vision too.
She pulled the trigger, the force of the weapon nearly flinging it out of her hands as the arrow sailed low and struck the dragon’s paw. The shot exploded on impact, nowhere near big enough to take the limb, but causing enough of a painful jolt to push the serpent into a stumble as it fell back onto a stone watchtower, sending the structure cascading over Bervolt’s wall and crushing the area flat.
The dragon let out a howl, Sariel running off to take cover behind the remains of a stone shop. Regardless of the size, she knew exactly what an angry animal sounded like. She’d shooed off enough curious bears that would tiptoe her village during roast season. Sariel readjusted her helmet to see the weapon in her hands better, reciting Cody's instructions on how to reload it like a little song. The dragon's hissing snarls drew closer, every padded step rumbling the ground as it dragged itself from the rubble and toward Sariel's last location.
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She fiddled with the crossbow, trying to work a new arrow into the device. As soon as she saw a dark shadow seep into her hiding spot, another roar matched the dragon's, a little more nasally in its delivery. Regardless, Hord'anne's call was enough to seize the dragon's attention again, the shadow quickly receding as the dragon flipped around to charge him instead. Sariel finally worked the arrow into the crossbow, peeking out of her cover as the dragon's tail slithered through the burnt soil next to her. She could hardly imagine a beast bigger than Hord'anne, but yet again, the world outside her village had taken her completely by surprise.
Sariel watched the massive creature bite down on the side of a building where Hord'anne had once stood, its teeth carving through the stone to come out in chunks that toppled from between its jagged teeth. It hissed, flames spewing from its mouth and barely missing Hord'anne, who had tried to tip-toe around the beast's left side to move closer to Sariel.
She gave Hor'anne a little thumbs up. It was an idea Sariel wished she’d thought of. If they both ran to opposite ends of the field and screamed in turn, the dragon wouldn’t know left from right, and Cody would have all the time in the world to draw in the dirt. She always found the quiet ones to be clever, and Hord’anne was no exception.
She shot again, the arrow spitting out weaker than expected and exploding in the dirt near the dragon's tail. Still, it swiveled around, pouncing on the flames in the dirt as Sariel ran off to a new spot. She caught the light of its flames in the corner of her eye as the beast bathed where she had been standing in a pool of flames. Sariel doubled her pace, the air singing her throat and squeezing her lungs. Through the thick smoke, she saw another structure, a large home, still standing tall despite the thick dark wood it was made of. The stone walls that enclosed a small courtyard in its front were too small to hide behind, but the shops close to it were made of thick white stones, and surprisingly still intact as well.
Sariel stopped to catch her breath when she reached the house, her brow scrunching when the lungful of air she took in was light and clean.
It made no sense.
She eyed the ground curiously, fresh green grass nestled next to a clear and precise line of burnt soil. The air was barely weighed with smoke from where she stood, allowing the sun to scatter over the few standing structures, as it would have if Bervolt was not a pile of flames.
An idea fluttered into her mind.
Sariel checked for the closest cover, loaded her crossbow, and let loose a perfect shot on the nape of the dragon's tail.
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Cody dragged the blade through the dirt one last time, wiping the sweat that had clung to his face from the hot air and thick smoke. It was difficult to confirm that he had all the runes right when the scorched soil stayed black as deep as he carved it, but he trusted himself, just as he had trusted Sariel and Hord'anne to put up the distraction for the dragon.
He watched the dragon blow past him after an arrow exploded on its rear, disappearing into the thick smoke to chase Sariel. Hord'anne's howl was quick to follow, a large stone flying through the air and into the cloud. Despite the blind shot, the frustrated snarl of the dragon confirmed that Hord'anne had struck it. It flipped around, visible once more as the clouds of ash scattered off its dull coat and it lurched forwards to the flattened stable Hord'anne was standing in front of.
Cody waited until it was all the way into the rubble. He found the center of the circle he had carved, plunging the glowing blade into its center as an incantation spilled from his lips.
But he only worked through a few lines of the verse when silence fell on the clearing like a guillotine.
The dragon had stopped.
And then it turned.
Cody felt a chill as the beast turned, the words dying in his throat as the beast's eyeless sockets focused on him.
How did it know?
He hadn't made a sound.
An arrow whistled through the air, striking the side of the beast's head. But the explosion did not throw its balance as it had done before, nor did it pull its attention. It was still fixed to Cody.
How did it know?
It flipped its body, a gust of wind blasting Cody as it arched its back and drew in a deep breath. The realisation hit him as he stared up at the beast, a glow flickering from deep within its skull. Twisting and thrashing violently like the curse he had seen in so many minds before. His body froze, every spell, every chance to run too little too late. The shield he cast to cover his body was like parchment to the swing of a claymore.
The flames quickly wrapped the statue's base, splashing across his shield and engulfing him. He watched the cracks web across the forcefield, Hord'anne's howls ripping through the air. A sound torn between anger and anguish. As his spell caved inwards, he closed his eyes before the wall of flames came rushing forwards, the words falling from his mouth before he even thought. He didn't know who they were truly for. His lifelong friend Hord'anne, his new one Sariel? Perhaps Alina for disappointing her. Or maybe it was simply all he had to say for himself. To the life he had lived up to this point.
"I'm sorry."