26
ETHAN
Fire was all around me.
It gushed from the dragon's gullet like a liquid, hissing and billowing into the air. The smoke of it stung my nostrils and eyes, and made it difficult to breathe. Soon the entire air was filled with great clouds of smoke, which I avoided as I flew around the beast.
He showed no sign of slowing; the fire within his long throat was seemingly endless, though I knew there had to be some limit he might eventually reach. But as we made figure-eights in the air around each other, I felt my own strength waning. Each flap of my wings was a little slower. I couldn't do this forever. And although the same was undoubtedly true for the dragon, he wasn't expending as much energy as I.
Because that was the frustrating thing: even though he was several times larger than I, he didn't need to move very much. The smallest rotation of his body required me to fly rapidly away from him, escaping the liquid hot death. Already I could feel myself slowing, the muscles at the base of my wings aching with effort.
I circled him, and he belched another cloud of fire toward me. He led me too much, the fire hitting the air ahead of my path, but the heat was so strong I had to clench my eyes shut as I soared sideways away from him. The dragon darted forward in that moment, a rush of air as he beat his wings and closed in, but my instincts were good and I folded my wings to fall away from him, opening them and gliding down and away as he cut the air above.
On and on we dueled, a dance without music.
What made it especially difficult to focus was the battle my love was fighting down below. I could see nothing, but through her emotions in our bond I felt the battle: fear, running, pain, hiding, frustration. It added urgency to what I did; even if I could wear the dragon down over time, I needed to defeat him fast enough to save Jessica.
But how in the world could I do that?
I circled the dragon again as I'd been doing, his long neck craning around to watch me. I needed to change up my strategy, do something unpredictable.
Instead of continuing around toward his back, I suddenly darted in toward his head. If he'd been ready he could have snatched me in his jaws, but he was a moment too late, and then I was flying past his head and along his snake-like neck. The emerald set in the back of his neck glowed; if I could just damage it, or peck it loose...
The dragon did something unpredictable too: instead of turning its heard around to me like I'd expected, he suddenly twisted in the opposite direction, bringing his long tail around like a whip. I screeched and twisted as the thick tail slammed into my wing and body.
And then I was tumbling, the sky and ground spinning across my vision. Everything was chaos in that moment, the falling sensation and the sun rolling across my view like a bright lamp and the scream of the dragon's satisfaction. I tried to beat my wings, to slow myself somehow, but my left wing felt numb and my right couldn't do the work alone.
Sky, ground, sky, ground. I spiraled downward, flapping one wing helplessly.
Somehow through the pain I extend my left wing, not enough to beat it but enough to keep it stiff. It worked like a parachute as my right wing steadied myself, coming to a slow stop just above the roof.
Before my wing could give out entirely, I landed on the ridge of the roof, talons gripping the wood tight.
I spun my head around to examine my wing: it didn't look broken, but jolts of pain shot up the bone when I tried to extend it fully. If only I could--
Movement above.
I craned my head in time to see the dragon diving recklessly, wings spread wide to block the sun and legs reaching toward me. I jumped out of the way of the dragon's claws, but not the rest of his body, as he crashed into the roof. Wood flew in all directions, chunks and splinters and pieces as large as a car, and I fell through to the top floor, landing in an office with an old oak desk. Leafs of paper blew all around like we were in a blizzard, white against the black-green of the dragon's body.
He roared in pain, legs kicking through walls and floor and roof alike. I'd fallen into a room but he was too large for that, his body occupying several at once. Then he roared in anger, and I felt the heat of the flame before I saw it, orange pouring through the hallway into a room beyond. It ignited the old wood easily, especially in the dust-filled air, and soon there was fire all around.
I pushed to my feet; my wing still felt numb, but tolerable. Nothing else seemed broken in my gryphon body.
The dragon's tail suddenly lashed through the air, cutting the outer wall in half and hissing through the air above my head. Wood and brick crumbled around me as the dragon searched the house.
"Help! Ethan!"
Ice water shot through my heart as I heard Jessica calling for help. I could feel the fear in her voice and in our bond. My first instinct was to let go of my gryphon form, to shift back into my human body and run through the house to find her. But of course that was stupid; even if I reached her in time, that wouldn't do much good against a fucking dragon. I needed to remain in this form until I could kill it.
If I could kill it.
Not sure where Jessica was, I stretched my wing one more time, then took flight. The wing only held a fraction of my weight, but it was enough to keep me in the air.
I gained enough altitude to see what was happening. The entire roof had collapsed, along with most of the outer walls of the second floor. The dragon's front half hung out one end of the house, while his back half remained inside; two of his legs were wedged in the floor between levels, and he kicked them forcefully to free himself, sending more wood flying. All the while his long neck snaked around, searching for something to kill.
And there, in the room just to the right of his searching head, was Jessica.
The room was on fire, and she stood on top of a four-post bed--which was missing one of its posts, I saw with my eagle vision. The flames had her surrounded, and were already beginning to lick up the side of the bed itself. She looked around for some way to escape, but there was none to be found.
I'm coming!
I sent the thought, and her head jerked up to the sky. Her eyes widened and then she waved, not in greeting but in pleading, begging for her life as the flames rose higher.
Slowly, the dragon's head turned in her direction.
I pulled my wings in a dive and prayed I had enough time.