Chapter 3
When the dragon screech filled the air, Lisa almost fell off Verrian’s back. She clutched around his neck, hoping she wasn’t strangling him.
The dragon flew towards them at tremendous speed, closing the distance quickly.
Lisa felt all the blood drain from her face, and probably the rest of her body too. For a moment, she couldn’t hear anything over the blood rushing in her ears. She gulped in rapid, shallow breaths, feeling faint.
She should have stayed on the ground. Now what were they going to do? Verrian couldn’t fight the Trima dragon with her on his back.
Could he?
Obviously Verrian was thinking the same thing. He dipped into almost a nose dive, and Lisa clung on, squeezing her eyes shut for the first time ever on his back.
“Lyrian’s chamber is at the spot where he came from,” Verrian said urgently. “You need to get the others there while I distract this dragon.”
Lisa nodded frantically, not opening her eyes until she felt Verrian’s feet touch the sand. Then, much as she wanted to cling to him, to keep him safely on the ground too, she slid off his back. She couldn’t help letting her hand linger on his scales though, hoping that they wouldn’t get too scratched up.
“Come back to us quickly,” she told him.
Verrian inclined his head once, then launched into the air again.
Bruce stared at her, his mouth gaping. Narrian watched through narrowed eyes.
“A Trima dragon is on his way. Verrian will take care of him. We need to get to the Mesmer chamber,” she told them.
Bruce stared up into the sky. Lisa couldn’t help looking as well. It was hard to see much. Dark shadows flashing, the occasional reflection of moonlight off shining scales. She didn’t know what was going on.
After the Trima dragon’s first, loud screech, neither dragon was making much noise at all. The rustle of wings, the occasional grunt of pain.
Lisa couldn’t tear her eyes away though. That was her mate up there. And she could do nothing to help him.
“We need to move,” Narrian said firmly. “Where are we going?”
That’s right, the Mesmer chamber. That’s what they were here for. With a great effort, Lisa tore her eyes away from the fight above them. She stared at Narrian and Bruce.
It was a long walk to the Mesmer chamber. She’d have to leave Verrian far behind. With no one to help him.
She couldn’t do it.
She understood that waking the princess was important. But to her, it wasn’t more important than being there to help her mate.
And it shouldn’t be.
“It’s that way,” she pointed in the direction. “You need to walk about twenty minutes. Verrian and I will meet you there.”
“You’re not coming?” Narrian’s expression was unreadable.
Lisa half felt like the dragon warrior was judging her.
She didn’t care. “No, my place is here with my mate. Taurian sent you to protect Bruce, and now you get to do that. Get him to that Mesmer chamber.”
Lisa tried to make her voice sound commanding, like Verrian and Taurian sounded when they were talking to the clan.
Not something she was good at.
But she must have achieved it, at least a little bit, because Narrian nodded. “Yes, Princess.” She turned away, and began to lope in the direction Lisa had indicated.
Bruce though, stared at Lisa for a long moment.
“Go on,” Lisa urged. “Your job is to wake Lyrian.” She hoped he couldn’t hear the shaking in her voice.
She wished it would stop. She didn’t have time to be afraid. It would only get in her way.
He nodded. “Of course.” Finally, he turned, and began to stumble after Narrian. Belatedly, Lisa realised it was going to take him a lot longer than twenty minutes to reach the place Verrian had indicated.
She’d have to worry about that later though. If this battle went well, she and Verrian could catch up with them, and be there in time to help as they opened the Mesmer chamber.
If it didn’t, well, it wasn’t going to matter to her, was it?
*****
By the time Verrian dropped Lisa off, the Trima dragon was almost on him. He had to bank and climb sharply to draw his enemy away from his mate.
There was no chance to get the distance he needed to use his sound boom to take the other dragon down. Verrian was a little disappointed he wouldn’t get a chance to try it out.
He was more upset that the dragon’s proximity meant he’d have to fight him tooth and claw.
His flank twitched uncontrollably, a reminder of a claw wound long healed. Verrian gritted his teeth, and tried to convince himself he wasn’t afraid. But his heart pounding in his chest said otherwise.
This wasn’t his forte. He’d managed to fight off the other dragon, near the ruined house, but only with Lisa’s help. Her distraction had saved his life.
This time, he was going to have to do it on his own.
He’d learned a little since then, but Verrian wasn’t sure it was enough.
The Trima dragon swiped a claw at his wing. Verrian dodged back just in time. He swung at the other dragon’s head, not having much expectation of his blow connecting. He wasn’t surprised when the other dragon dodged just as well.
They were evenly matched. This fight seemed like an elaborate dance, as if they were deliberately choreographing their moves to look dangerous, but never to connect.
It could go on for a while. Maybe even until daylight.
If neither of them made a mistake, it could go on forever. Verrian certainly wasn’t going to give up, and he suspected the lightning dragon wouldn’t either. The only way this fight was going to be won would be if one of them made a mistake.
Probably it would be him, Verrian thought glumly. This dragon probably had a lot more experience fighting than he did.
At least if he could hold him off for a while, it would give Lisa and the others a chance to get to Lyrian’s Mesmer chamber and wake her. A flicker of hope ignited in Verrian’s heart. Once Lyrian was awake, surely she would come and help him.
Together they would have no trouble defeating this dragon.
He just had to hold him off until then.
An hour or so. He could do that.
Even as he thought it, Verrian knew that the fight wouldn’t last that long. Flying with this sort of precision was exhausting. One of them would make a mistake long before then.
Verrian just hoped it wasn’t him.
*****
Lisa stared up into the sky, trying to follow what was happening. From down here, it looked like the two dragons were just dancing around each other, not even connecting.
Looks could be deceiving. The moonlight turned everything silver, even Verrian’s purple scales just looked like a darker silver than the Trima dragon’s. If there was blood, she wouldn’t be able to see it.
Her heart was hammering in her chest. She wished she could sprout wings and claws, like Verrian had, and fly up there and help him. If there were two of them, she was sure this fight wouldn’t last long.
Why, oh why had she sent away the only other dragon?
At least there wasn’t a whole clan here, like there had been when she’d woken Verrian. Either they’d managed to sneak in under Ultrima’s radar, or he was, indeed, being kept busy by the police that Lisa had given his location to.
Lisa didn’t mind which one it was, so long as he stayed away.
Verrian faltered for a second, and the Trima dragon’s claws connected with him. But he didn’t make a sound.
Not physically anyway. Lisa could almost feel his mental howl of pain.
He didn’t retreat though. In fact, he closed in on the other dragon, swinging around and trying to sink his teeth into his enemy’s wing.
From down here, Lisa couldn’t tell if his bite was successful or not. If it was, he didn’t hang on for long. The two dragons separated by a metre or two, staring at each other, as though assessing each other.
Then they closed in again.
Lisa felt completely helpless, down here on the ground. There wasn’t even any point wishing she’d brought her bow and arrows. Shooting them would mean she would risk hitting Verrian, even if she could see well enough.
Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to go after Bruce and Narrian.
She couldn’t bring herself to leave Verrian.
They were a team now. If one of them died, they both would.
Lisa suppressed a shiver. Thinking like that wasn’t going to help her one little bit. She needed to shift gears, and think like a dragon princess.
Like Karla. What would Karla do if she were in Lisa’s position? She was brave, and inventive, she’d think of something to do to help her mate, wouldn’t she?
No point making excuses about not being able to fly. There must be something she could do.
What Verrian needed was a distraction, like she’d given him back at the ruined house. But how?
She could call out, but somehow she suspected that the other dragon wouldn’t be paying attention. Verrian though, would. And she didn’t want to distract him.
What else did she have?
Lisa mentally ran through the list of things they’d brought with them. Items Karla had thought might help them with finding Lyrian.
None of them were weapons.
But one of them might just be perfect for this situation.
Lisa pulled off her backpack and rummaged through it, pushing aside Verrian’s clothes to find what she was looking for. Pulling out the torch, she stared at it.
She’d had one like this as a kid. It was powerful enough to light up the clouds.
If it hit someone in the eyes on a dark night like this, it would cause temporary blindness, like a flash grenade. With the dragon’s better night vision, it might even be worse than for a human.
It would only last for a few seconds, but hopefully that would be all Verrian needed. If he got a good hold on the Trima dragon, he could wound him enough to end this fight.
She just had to be careful not to hit the wrong dragon.
*****
“Verrian?”
Lisa’s mental words echoed in Verrian’s head. It took all his willpower not to shift his gaze from his enemy, to search for his mate.
He dodged the Trima dragon’s teeth, concern for his lifemate overwhelming concern for his own wellbeing.
She was supposed to be safe, moving away from this fight with Narrian and Bruce.
Somehow, her voice didn’t seem that far away.
How could he tell that? It wasn’t that her voice was distant or soft—like all dragon speech it sounded just as loud until the other dragon was out of range. Something else was allowing him to locate her.
Maybe this mate bond speech was different somehow?
Or maybe fear and adrenaline were playing tricks on him.
Verrian ducked under the Trima dragon, reaching up for his neck with his teeth, knowing it was futile.
He was rewarded with a claw across his face as the enemy dragon back-peddled. Pain sliced through Verrian’s cheek and jaw for an instant, then he ignored it. It wasn’t his eye. He could still see. Anything else he would deal with later.
He swung around, not looking down, sparing just enough mental energy to say back to Lisa, “You’re supposed to be with the others.”
He almost heard Lisa’s harrumph in his mind. “Do you want help or not, pigheaded dragon?”
Help? How could she help from down there on the ground?
Then again, this was Lisa. She probably had a plan.
Verrian let out a deep breath. She’d help him. He didn’t have to do this alone. It was no weakness to receive help from a lifemate. He didn’t need to hold out until Lyrian woke up.
He had Lisa. His mate.
“Of course I want your help. What’s the plan?”