You expect it, of course. In every battle, every ambush or enemy engagement. You’re aware that this could be it. This could be the one that ends your life.
But there’s a difference between being aware that you could die and knowing, beyond a doubt, when the situation is hopeless.
New dragons dropped from the sky in a dark mass. More swooped toward me and my team, jets of fire erupting from their mouths. I dove aside, feeling the heat blast through my armor as I rolled to a knee and fired on the dragon streaking by. It shrieked and crashed through a window, shattering glass and leaving jagged shards behind.
One of my men screamed. I whirled to see a dragon swoop in from behind, grab the soldier by the armor and carry him off. He kicked and flailed for a moment before pointing the muzzle of his gun back at his captor and opening fire. The dragon jerked in the air, shuddering, then plummeted forty feet to the ground. Both bodies struck the earth with a hollow thump and didn’t get up again.
“Scorpion!” Martin’s voice crackled in my ear. “The hostiles are about to break through the walls. What’s your status? Did the strike not work?”
“Yes, sir, it did!” I raised my weapon and fired as two dragons came swooping in, then quickly ducked as one barely missed me. I felt the tips of its claws scrape my helmet as it soared past. “But there are reinforcements. We’re trying to get to the armory now.”
“God, how many of these things are there?” An explosion sounded somewhere close, and Martin cursed. “All right, get to the east wall, Scorpion. The bastards are nearly through.”
“On our way.”
I motioned to the rest my team, of which only two were left, and we headed to the east wall. Dragons streaked through the air or bounded at us from the ground, weaving through flames, rubble and smoke. I reacted on instinct, firing at any dragon that got close while trying to stay out of range of its claws and breath. One of my teammates got caught in a line of dragonfire and reeled away, blazing like a torch.
The eastern side of the armory was crawling with dragons, tearing at the walls or digging at the roof. I fired into the swarming mass, taking several down, before a section of the hoard broke away and rushed me with piercing shrieks.
“More dragons incoming!” someone shouted, but I couldn’t take my attention from the flood closing on me. I shot down three scaly bodies as they drew close, but one vessel lunged at me with a hiss, jaws gaping, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to kill it in time.
And then a small crimson dragon dropped from the sky with a snarl, crushing the clone to the earth. Spreading her wings, she raised her head and roared a challenge as a swarm of brightly colored dragons soared overhead with ringing battle cries and dropped into the fray.
Whirling around, the red dragon shot me a fierce, defiant grin, eyes flashing green in the darkness. “Hey, soldier boy. The cavalry’s finally here.”
DANTE
“Something’s happened, sir.”
I frowned at the confusing shapes on screen, trying to determine what was going on. Bright shapes darted across the sky, flurries of frantic movement that could belong to only one thing. “Are those...dragons?” I asked incredulously, leaning forward. That was impossible. How could there be that many dragons who weren’t our own? But, watching the figures dart around the screen, I knew they could be nothing else. More dragons. How? Who would...?
No. It couldn’t be. She was supposed to be safely at Talon headquarters with the Elder Wyrm. She was supposed to be out of this fight, away from the slaughter. And yet, I knew it was her. She was the only dragon in the world who, after somehow escaping Talon, would turn right around and aid the Order of St. George on the night they were supposed to be destroyed.
“Ember,” I whispered. The bright streaks of color darted across the screen, mingling with the darker, more subdued vessels, and I clenched my fists. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What should we do, sir?” asked a human.
I stared at the scene in growing rage. Ember was down there...but I couldn’t falter now. I couldn’t turn from this path. The Elder Wyrm demanded victory; she expected me to succeed. Even if my own sister was killed, I could not forfeit the most important mission of my life. Talon’s future, and my own, hung in the balance. Sacrifice, as always, was necessary.
Though someone would pay for this when it was over. Someone would be punished for my twin’s death. I would see to it myself.
“Unleash Omega,” I said. “We end this now.”
EMBER
Oh, man, this is nuts.
I shook my head, watching what had to be the craziest battle in the world unfold in front of me. Hatchlings, clones and soldiers of St. George soared or darted through the flames and smoke, shooting or breathing fire onto their opponents. Brightly colored hatchlings flung themselves at the darker metallic clones, using group tactics to gang up on their soulless counterparts. A vivid green hatchling and a smaller black hatchling tag-teamed a clone, each darting in and slashing at it when its attention was on the other. A vessel pounced on another hatchling and seemed ready to tear it apart, when a silvery white dragon dropped silently onto its back and sank her claws into its throat.
“Ember.” Somehow, Garret’s voice reached me over the screams of dragons and the howl of assault rifles. I turned to the soldier, finding him. “You made it,” he said, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.
“Yeah.” I nodded, managing a smile. “I made it. With reinforcements. Sorry we couldn’t get here sooner, Garret. We came as fast as we could.”
With a deafening roar and a crack of thunder, a forty-foot Eastern dragon soared overhead in the direction of the armory. Cries of awe and alarm rang out as Jade swooped in and began snatching clones from the air, crushing them in her powerful jaws and flinging them aside. The vessels tried to swarm her, raking her with teeth and claws, but they were no match for the immensely powerful Adult and were smashed out of the air one by one.
The soldier blinked, watching the Eastern dragon wreak havoc overhead, a grim smile crossing his face. “I see Jade got my message,” he said in a voice of dark satisfaction. “Is Riley here, as well?”
I nodded again, following his gaze. “And Mist, too. Somewhere. It was a fight, but everyone decided to come in the end.” Lowering my head, I met his gaze and bared my teeth in a savage grin. “I told you I’d come back. Though you started the battle without me, I see.”
He stepped forward and briefly touched his forehead to mine. I felt the heat of his skin against my scales, and a rush of fire spread through my veins. “You’re incredible, Ember,” he murmured. “Thank you.”
I swallowed. “I told you, soldier boy. We end this together.”
“Yes.” Stepping back, he raised his gun, eyes hard. “Let’s go,” he told me, starting forward. “While they’re distracted. Let’s finish this.”
We sprang back into the fray. Clones and hatchlings battled each other on the ground and in the air, streaks of color and shadow all around us. Fires blazed, men shouted and gunfire chattered from all directions. Dragons, both friend and foe, swooped from the sky or bounded through the flames, dark blurs against the hellish light. I saw dragons locked in battle with other dragons, wings and tails thrashing as they clawed and tore at each other. I saw a few soldiers of St. George firing on their quick-moving targets and desperately hoped they could tell the difference between a savage clone dragon and Riley’s hatchlings. A vessel leaped at us, snarling; Garret’s M-4 chattered, and the thing crashed to the ground. Another streaked overhead, breathing fire into a cluster of hatchlings; I sprang into the air with a snarl, colliding with the scaly body and bringing it down with me. Claws slashed at me as we landed, tearing through scales and raking gouges of pain down my shoulder. My vision went red; with a roar, I pinned my rival to the ground, clamped my jaws around that long snaking neck and jerked up as ha
rd as I could.
The dragon below me shuddered, wings and tail twitching, before it went limp. I dropped the neck and backed away, surprised at how quickly it had died, how easy it had been to kill it. For just a moment, I thought I might feel horror, disgust at what I’d done. But something had changed. I was a dragon, and these things were trying to kill me, my friends and everything I loved. There was no time for regret. This was a war.
I bounded to Garret’s side again, blasting a cone of flame at a vessel coming in from the left. The flames didn’t stop it, but they did blind the vessel for the split second it took Garret to turn and gun it down.
“Ember! St. George!”
Cobalt swooped down, landing beside us with a blast of wind, his eyes blazing golden as he swung his head around to glare at the soldier. “We’re taking pretty heavy damage, but I think we’re slowly driving them out, thanks to Jade.” All three of us glanced at the sky, where the Eastern dragon was coiling back and forth among her smaller opponents, swatting or snapping them out of the air. Cobalt snorted and looked back at Garret. “She should be able to handle the cleanup. Where do we need to go?”
“The armory,” Garret said immediately. “We have to get to Lieutenant Martin, see if any of the clones broke through.”
Cobalt gave a brisk nod and bared his fangs. “Lead the way.”
We fought our way across the yard, to where the large square building loomed at the edge of the walk. A group of soldiers now stood in front of it, firing their guns at any clone that got close. They were, I noted in relief, shooting specifically at the vessels and not at the rogue hatchlings. The last thirty feet to the armory was a mass of writhing bodies, and we had to claw, shoot and fight our way past several clones before the way to the building was clear.
“Lieutenant!” Garret called as we rushed up.
“Sebastian.” The older man shook his head with a wry smile. “Still alive, are you? I’m glad. Looks like your dragons got here, after all.” His hard black eyes shifted to me and Cobalt, standing a few feet away. “You didn’t mention you were bringing an Adult.”
“That a problem?” Cobalt asked with only the barest hint of a curled lip.
“Not at all.” Martin spared a glance upward as Jade soared past, chasing a few stray clones. “We may actually win this fight...”
He trailed off. I felt the ripple of...something...go through the air, and a chill slid up my back. Maybe fifty feet overhead, Jade curled gracefully around to pursue the clones—
—and something hit her from above, bursting through the clouds to slam into her back. Huge and dark, with leathery wings and blank silver eyes, it hit the Eastern dragon like a falling airplane, driving them both to the ground. Jade didn’t even have time to look back before she struck the earth with the other dragon on top of her. The crash from the two behemoths shook the ground, and a cloud of dust billowed up where they landed.
An enormous shadow rose from the swirling dust storm, its scales the metallic gray of the clones, only this dragon was much, much bigger. Pale horns framed its face and twisted back from its skull, and a line of bony ridges curved wickedly down its spine to the tip of its tail. Looming over the motionless body of the Eastern dragon, the monstrous vessel reared onto its hind legs and roared, making everything inside me cringe in fear.
Cobalt snarled, crouching down and half opening his wings in a semi-instinctive reaction. “What the hell? They have an Adult clone? Where has Talon been hiding that?”
Garret’s commander looked pale. I didn’t blame him; in one swoop, the clone had taken out our strongest ally, and with her our best chance at stopping it. From this distance, I could just make out the graceful curve of her body, lying motionless in the sand, and felt sick with grief, anger and fear. Was Jade really dead? It didn’t seem possible that the Eastern dragon was gone. Without her, I didn’t know what we could do against a massive Adult dragon that showed no fear and no instinct for self-preservation. Unless we killed or severely crippled it, it would keep coming, and something that huge would cause massive destruction before it was finally put down. The soldiers of St. George stared at it, too, their expressions grim. They knew, better than most, how nasty Adult dragons could be, how difficult they were to take out.
“I don’t suppose you lizards have any more tricks up your sleeves?” the commander muttered, never taking his eyes away from the Adult. “Another dragon you’ve kept in reserve, just in case?”
“Sadly, our reserve of Adults is rather slim at the moment,” Cobalt growled back. “Jade was our heavy hitter before that thing blindsided her.” He shook his head at the enormous Adult vessel, his spines bristling in fear. “Shit. Any bright ideas, St. George?” he asked, turning to Garret, who stared at the huge dragon with narrowed eyes. “’Cause I’m feeling a little outgunned right now.”
“Lieutenant.” Instead of answering, Garret turned to Martin. His voice was surprisingly calm. “Sir, are the keys to the garage in the same spot?”
“Yes.” Martin frowned, obviously as confused as we were. “I take it you have a plan, Sebastian?”
“I hope so.” Garret turned to me and Riley. “Stall that thing,” he told us, making Riley snort in disbelief. “Just for a few minutes.” His gaze went to mine, dark with worry. “Can you do that, Ember?”
“Yeah.” I gave him a savage grin. “Don’t worry, we’ll hold it. For as long as we can.”
He nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
Spinning, he sprinted away into the flickering darkness.
Cobalt shook his head. “Oh, this is gonna be fun,” he muttered, and gave me a look from the corner of his eye. “If I don’t get eaten by a dragon, Firebrand, I’m never letting you forget this.”
Before I could respond, he leaped into the air, flying straight up so that he could be seen by everyone. “All right!” he roared, jerking everyone’s attention to him. “Hatchlings, fall back! Get out of sight, and do not engage that Adult! I don’t care how much you want to help, this is nonnegotiable. Retreat to the rendezvous and stay there until you hear from me or Wes. Go!”
With a flurry of flapping wings, the hatchlings rose from the ground in a bright swarm and soared over the fence line. As the last dragon swooped out of sight, Cobalt landed beside me with a grim smile. “There. At least the only dragons that thing will be eating tonight are us.”
Opening its massive wings, the Adult vessel gave a leap that propelled it into the air and then streaked like a fireball in the direction of the chapterhouse.
RILEY
Godzilla was coming.
Stall the thing, St. George had said. Easy for him to say. Shit, this was a bad idea. How were two non-Adult dragons and a handful of human soldiers supposed to stall that thing? It was an Adult. An old Adult, by the size of it, close to forty feet from head to tail. Maybe if it choked on us while we were sliding down its windpipe? I was just relieved the hatchlings were in full retreat and that no one had argued about staying to battle this monster.
The Adult clone landed in the center of the yard with a boom and another roar that made my eardrums throb. As soon as it touched down, every soldier of St. George left opened fire, filling the air with the roar of assault rifles. The bullets that struck the chest and belly plates sparked harmlessly off, and the ones that did get through seemed as effective as air pellets. The Adult gave a chilling, banshee-like howl and lumbered forward, plowing through the bullet storm and coming right toward the armory.
I looked at Ember. “Ready for this, Firebrand?”
“Not really,” she replied, her eyes glued to the approaching giant. “But I’m right behind you.”
We leaped into the air and flew straight at the monster’s jaws and eerie, glowing eyes. It hissed and reared back its neck to strike, mouth opening to show curved ivory fangs. As we drew closer, it lunged, snapping at the air as we veered asi
de and split up to go around it. Snarling, it whirled, huge jaws agape as it snapped and swatted at us, like we were giant scaly wasps buzzing around its head. Gunfire still echoed somewhere behind us as the soldiers of St George continued to pump rounds into the enormous dragon. Thankfully, the bastards’ aim was better than their manners, though I still expected that, at any second, one of us would get caught in the crossfire. Thankfully, I was so busy trying not to be crushed by a gigantic clone dragon, I barely had time to worry about being shot by overzealous dragonslayers. I dodged a taloned forepaw nearly as big as my head, darted between two buildings and heard the clone smash through the wall as it followed, tearing out chunks of brick and mortar as it forced its way between. I landed, spun around and immediately had to leap away as those curved claws raked a two-foot gouge into the earth.
Shit. The thing was fast as well as big. I ducked, dodging the teeth that snicked shut inches from my head, saw Ember bound forward and rake both claws down the monster’s back leg. It snarled and whirled, swatting at her, but stumbled a bit from being hamstrung, and she bounced back out of reach. I darted in, slashing its flank with my talons, and it hissed—whether in pain or annoyance I couldn’t tell—and spun on me again.
Well, this is fun. I dodged a nasty blow to my skull and saw Ember leap at its back again while it was distracted. But it was wise to her methods now and sidled away from her talons. Whatever you’re planning, hurry up, St. George. We can’t keep harassing this thing forever.
And then it happened. The thing lunged with a roar, snapping at me. I swerved to avoid those snapping jaws of death but didn’t see the claw coming until it smashed into my ribs. I heard something snap and was flung away, crumpling to the ground and rolling several feet before I came to a dazed stop.
Gritting my jaw, I tried to push myself upright, but then someone jammed an invisible knife between my ribs and I sank back with a hiss of pain. The ground rumbled beneath me, and I looked up to see the Adult looming closer, a snarling Ember clinging to its back, ripping at its shoulders. It ignored the red hatchling, its blank silver eyes fixed on me as it stalked forward to end my life.