***
Ana barely had time to scream before she collided hard with something, a flash of blue flickering across her vision. She began to slide down the smooth surface, nothing slowing her progress.
Uncaring of what it might be, she stiffened her fingers and drove them as hard as she could into whatever it was she had hit before she fell over the edge. Only when “it” howled with pain did she realize that through some broad stroke of luck, she had managed to actually land on the blue dragon that had been coming up to attack Ferro from below.
Her fingers were now clutching desperately to his wing. It was the weakened wing, she noticed, her fingers plunging through the area that was still healing from Ferro’s attack earlier. That was likely the only thing that saved her, or she would have gone right off the end of the wing.
The dragon flicked his wing repeatedly, thumping her up and down against it as he tried to shake her off, but Ana clung to his wing, unwilling to die this way.
“Look out!” she shouted “Or we’re both dead!” The blue dragon reacted instinctively, looking straight ahead just as the carcass of the green dragon went flying by, limp and lifeless as it fell toward the earth below. Her unwilling mount banked hard to the left to avoid it, sending Ana’s legs flying into thin air. She was secured only by her four fingers, nothing more, until her opponent leveled out again.
She craned her head, trying to find Ferro in the sky, but she couldn’t see him. Below her the blue dragon tried to flick her off once again. She felt him inhale sharply, and realized with shock that he was going to try and burn her off.
“Are you nuts?” she yelped. “If you do that, you’ll kill us both!”
Either her ride was dumber than an insect, or he knew something she didn’t, because his mouth opened. Ana closed her eyes and sent off a last thought to Ferro, knowing that this was the end. She screamed as fire slapped her hand and over her head, burning so hot she felt only ice cold pain. It coated her entire body so fast she didn’t have time to realize she was dying.
A solid chunk of fire dropped into her mouth and she crunched on part of her own head, closing her jaw around it to prevent more from getting inside her.
Feels like ice, she thought morbidly.
Wait a minute.
It was ice! Ana shook herself vigorously and slabs of frozen ice shattered, falling away behind her. She spat the chunk from her mouth as slow realization dawned on her. Apparently not all dragons could use fire. No wonder this one had used its breath weapon upon her. The ice didn’t even stick to the membrane of his wing.
He must have been hoping I’d lose my grip as I froze.
She snarled. Clearly the dragon didn’t know who he was messing with. Angry at her treatment, and aware she could survive his frigid weapon, even if her body was responding sluggishly, Ana pointed her free hand into dagger-form and drove it mightily through the weakened wing membrane once again, this time closer toward the body.
A shadow passed over her, blocking out the little moonlight there was. She looked up just in time to see a rust-colored underbelly pass over her. A fireball spewed from Ferro’s mouth, impacting the blue dragon in the eye, blinding it to her actions.
Taking advantage of that, Ana slid down his wing until she reached his body. Her motion was stopped by the appearance of Ferro’s scale, wedged tightly between the wing and the body of the blue dragon. An idea suddenly came to her. Looking around, she spied Ferro up high and off to her side.
There was no sign of the red dragon. After several attempts, she managed to convey her idea to Ferro by basically miming it out. He nodded his understanding, and as they both scanned the sky one last time, he dropped into position. Ana grabbed the scale, tugging it free and ready to do her part.
Here goes nothing.
She oriented the scale so its broken end pointed down. A quick glance showed her the dragon was still flying straight, dealing with the pain in its eye. With a shout she drove the scale deep into the thin material of the wing membrane. It penetrated like a knife and Ana threw herself off the dragon, holding on to the scale. She slid down the wing, slicing a huge gash that started to whistle as air surged through it.
“Ferro!” she cried as the wing flicked unexpectedly. The scale tore through the last of the wing, separating it into two distinct sections and sentencing the dragon to death as it fell from the sky. It also sent her flying into empty air, instead of down where Ferro was waiting.
She spread her arms and legs wide, spread eagle as she fell through the air, orienting herself downward, trying to slow her fall as much as possible.
A loud roar came from above as Ferro dove after her, tucking his wings in tight. Her eyes began to water profusely from the rushing air. The ground was coming up at her scarily fast. She screwed her eyes shut and said a quick prayer of hope.
“Ana!”
Her eyes snapped open. The thunderous shout had come from below her. The wind tore at her eyelids, her hair whipping behind her and tugging at her scalp. But none of that mattered just then. Somehow, below her was the miraculous sight of Ferro, timing his dive to match hers.
“You must get closer!” he shouted.
She nodded, bringing her legs and arms together a little. Her rate of fall increased and the distance closed.
“Faster!” he roared. The ground was coming up toward them too fast.
“Shit!” she shouted and slammed her legs closed and her arms to her side.
She fell like a stone. Ferro’s scaled back rushed up at her, and she opened her arms at the last moment, scrabbling for purchase.
“I must pull up!” he shouted.
“Not yet!” she screamed.
Her fingers slipped over one scale and she slid ten feet closer to the edge of his wide body. Around her Ferro’s wings began to spread, slowing their fall slightly.
“I have to go now!”
Her fingers slid into the crack of a scale and she pulled herself in tight.
“Go go go go!” she hollered at the top of her lungs over and over again.
Broad ocher wings snapped outward, and the g-forces reached out and slapped her into Ferro’s back. Her cheekbone shattered upon impact, blood spurting from her mouth as she held on with every ounce of strength in her body.
A loud noise assaulted her ears, growing in strength and vibration. The roar finally ripped free of Ferro’s throat as they skimmed free over the top of the trees, the downward momentum halted with less than a hundred feet to spare. A particularly tall tree had its tip snapped off as Ferro’s underside slammed into it.
“Ow,” he grunted, his voice strained with pain.
She couldn’t respond; her face was too swollen from the impact. Her cheekbone was definitely broken, and she wondered if her jaw was as well. Ana hoped not. That one always threw her speech off for a day as she healed, for whatever reason.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice full of concern.
Her garbled response was loud enough for him to hear, and she pounded on his back three times to reassure him, hoping he would get it.
“Thank goodne—”
His voice chopped off as a fireball exploded in the trees ahead of them.
Ana clamped tight and turned to look behind her. There, thirty feet to the right and fifty feet up, the red dragon was closing quickly.
Up ahead was a clearing.
“Get ready to jump!” Ferro shouted.
She goggled in amazement. Jump? Was he serious? How was she supposed to do that?
But Ferro didn’t give her a chance. He swooped low, pulled on the brakes and twisted slightly to the right.
Cursing as loudly as she could, Ana put her trust in Ferro, and threw herself free.