I hit the ground hard, rolled and managed to get to my feet, just in time to meet the vessel who had slammed me out of the air. Dodging two raking claws to the face, I ducked and clamped my jaws around its throat, then held it down until it stopped moving.
Panting, I looked up. Dead dragons surrounded me, littered across the rocky ground, both vessel and hatchling alike. Scattered among them were the bodies of soldiers and guards, sprawled limply in the dust, either shot or torn open or blasted with fire. Looming over them all were two giant, motionless forms: the long, limp body of the red Eastern dragon, and one of the Adult vessels, as well, courtesy of a furious Jade tearing it apart.
We couldn’t go on like this. Almost all of my dragons were gone, and only a handful of soldiers remained, firing on the swooping vessels. Jade and the other Eastern dragon were both fighting for their lives with the Adult clones, and I didn’t know how badly the battle was going for them.
And then, a shot rang over the battlefield, making my ears throb, and the male Eastern dragon screamed. Stunned, I looked up to see the huge serpent falling slowly from the sky like a deflated balloon, seemingly unable to stay aloft. It wobbled in the air, trying to stay afloat, before an Adult vessel slammed into it and bore them both to the ground with an earthshaking crash.
My heart plummeted. That had been a shot from the Dragonkiller, which had been unnaturally silent until now. There was no way the sniper had hit the Eastern Adult by accident, not a dragon the size of a small airplane. That shot had been deliberate, and now the biggest dragon on the battlefield was fatally wounded.
“Dragon!” Martin’s voice crackled in my ear. “Dragon, come in. Cobalt, are you there?”
“Yeah,” I snarled. “I’m here. What the hell just happened, Lieutenant? I just watched your sniper shoot one of our dragons out of the air!”
“I know.” Martin sounded frustrated, as well. “Something must be wrong. I’ve been trying to contact Nicholas since those damned Adults showed up, but there’s been no response. We need to get to that ledge to see what the hell is going on. I’m heading there now—join me if you’re able.”
“What? Wait a second—” But the line cut off, and I snarled a curse.
Dammit. Gazing around at the frantic movements of vessels and hatchlings, I ground my teeth. I didn’t want to leave my underground to fight alone. The ledge in question was on the other side of the bowl, through a whole lot of dragons and gunfire.
An agonized wail shivered through me, coming from the male Eastern dragon as the Adult vessel tore into him relentlessly, and my stomach turned. If we took another hit like that, if Jade was shot down, then it really would be over.
“Cobalt!”
There was a streak of darkness, and Nettle landed beside me in a cloud of dust. The black dragon was panting hard, and red streaked the scales along her flank and shoulders, but a savage grin stretched her narrow muzzle as she gazed up at me.
“I think we’re putting a dent in the clones,” she said, making me blink in astonishment. “Kain is rallying who’s left, and we’re about to launch a counterattack with the rest of the soldiers. How are you holding up, leader?”
I shook myself out of my split-second daze. When the hell had my dragons turned into full-blown soldiers? “I have to check out something with Martin,” I replied. “But I’ll be back as soon as I can. You got this?”
She nodded and stepped briskly away, unfolding her wings. “Go. We’ll keep them off your back.”
Bounding forward, I launched myself skyward and headed for the cliff face.
Even knowing vaguely where it was, the exact location was difficult to find. They had set up the massive rifle behind camouflage, covering the metal to prevent reflection. Still, once you got close, it was fairly obvious: an enormously long barrel sitting atop a ledge overlooking the laboratory. From this vantage point, I could see the whole battle, the flashes of dragons as they darted through the air and the bursts of gunfire coming from the ground. But the gun sat empty, abandoned. There was no body, living or dead. No blood or churned earth indicating a struggle. No footprints or scorch marks or scrap of clothing. Nothing that pointed to what had happened here.
Footsteps shuffled behind me as Martin climbed the rise and strode across the rocks to stand beside me. I frowned at him. “That was fast.”
“I was close. Ward and I were near the gate, covering the wounded soldiers’ retreat.” He, too, frowned in confusion, gazing around for the missing sniper before looking at me. “Did you see anyone else?”
I shook my head, and the scowl deepened. “Impossible.” Walking to the edge of the cliff, he peered out at the battle, then spun back. “Something was here,” he insisted. “Shooting at our forces. They must’ve run when they saw you coming, but—”
I felt the ripple of energy go through the air, and my adrenaline spiked in warning, but it was too late. Behind Martin, a head rose on a long, snaking neck, as a familiar green dragon grinned down at the unsuspecting human, eyes glowing demonically as she towered over him.
“Martin, behind you!” I shouted, just as Lilith’s jaws closed over the human’s upper body. Martin’s legs jerked as the Viper lifted him into the air and shook him like a dog with a toy.
I roared and tensed to spring at her, but from within the dragon’s jaws, three shots rang out, making the Viper recoil with a shriek. Somehow, the lieutenant had the presence of mind to fire his weapon even while halfway down a dragon’s throat. Eyes blazing, Lilith turned her head and hurled the body over the cliff. The lieutenant arced lazily into the air, seemed to hover for a split second, then plummeted out of sight, falling several hundred feet to the rocks below.
I hurled myself forward, Shifting forms as I did, and collapsed beside the Dragonkiller, swinging the huge barrel toward the Viper. Lilith roared as she turned on me, blood streaming from her nose and mouth, one eye bulging out of the socket as she lunged, desperation and rage making her fast, but not fast enough.
“Eat this, bitch,” I growled, and pulled the trigger.
The boom from the huge rifle made my eardrums explode, and the recoil knocked me back a couple feet, nearly dislocating my shoulder. Pain flared, my head, shoulders and chest feeling like they’d been kicked by a Clydesdale. But the two-foot, armor-piercing, solid length of metal hit the Viper point-blank in the chest and went out the other side, leaving a massive hole behind. For a moment, Lilith gaped at the wound in her armor, clearly stunned. Her jaws moved, probably cursing me, though I couldn’t hear anything through the painful, high-pitched ringing in my head.
Then her wings shuddered and went limp, her eyes glazed over and her body slumped, sliding a bit on the rocks before losing balance entirely. With a last defiant cry, the leader of the Vipers tumbled backward off the cliff face and disappeared. I felt, rather than heard, the moment when she hit the ground, a shudder that rippled through the air and vibrated the earth.
As I lay on my back beside a gun called the Dragonkiller, waiting for the throbbing in my ears to go away, I allowed myself a small smile. In the split second before I’d pulled the trigger, when Lilith’s jaws had been a fraction too slow to end my life, someone’s face had flashed through my mind. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the face I would have expected.
“Dammit,” I sighed, my voice sounding muffled in my own ears. “I’m turning into a walking cliché. Mist, you’d better come back alive so you can taunt me about this later.”