I restrained a frustrated scoff at the back of my throat. Seth didn't have time for this, out
there using a blade with half the reach of his usual. I took out my welding torch and gave Taj
the clipped version as I secured my goggles over my eyes, then dipped the blue flame into
the bowl. "This is venator hide. It turns to a liquid at just a little over two thousand degrees,
but when it starts to re-solidify, it'll make the bond stronger."
Cutting off the torch, I studied the viscous liquid within the bowl and nodded my satisfaction.
"Add the bonding agent, quick."
Taj poured in a capful, and I mixed it, then smeared it on the blade pieces.
Gloved hands protecting me from the edges, I pressed them together, then looked up at Taj.
"Needs a final raden fusion."
He obliged, sealing the two pieces together. When the glow faded, there was no trace of a
line in the blade, but the mismatched size gave it a tiny serration on either side. I propped
the flat of the blade on my shoulder to lessen the strain while dragging the halberd and
headed out to return the weapons.
My eyes bounced over the battle, searching for my brother in the bright blur of bodies and
keeping one eye on the dragon at all times. Seth spotted me first, calling my name as his
boots pounded toward me. I shifted course, winding around shrubbery, trying to keep
something between myself and the carnage—like these twigs would help. We met on a
patch of earth scarred by the dragon's claws, and the knot in my stomach tightened, looking
down at my foot beside a divot nearly as thick as my leg. Seth took the sword and twisted his
wrist, inspecting. He made a low sound of satisfied acknowledgement in his throat, handed
off the blood-coated short sword, and ran off.
I hefted the halberd in both hands and searched the running forms for the dark bun of the
ardent it belonged to.
A bright streak of raden illuminated him as he wrenched on a spear that had become
embedded in the dragon's hardened skin, at the point where the front leg met the chest. He
twisted it a quarter turn and threw his body weight against it, but it wouldn't budge.
I didn't know his name to draw his attention, but when he abandoned the weapon, he turned
toward the boneforger station and noted me as I lifted the heavy halberd a foot higher.
He tilted into a full-on charge, arms pumping at his sides, and I jogged the last few spaces I
deemed safe. I failed to notice the dragon's bright eyes tracking him until I heard the whoosh
of its vents.
My eyes bugged, an insufficient warning clogging at the base of my throat. I tried to point
and nearly dropped the halberd. The ardent's hand shot out and caught it as it swayed
forward. He ripped the weapon from my hand and spun toward the dragon, bracing the shaft
in the ground. The vents belched steam, and I twisted to flee so fast that I ripped the glue
seal on my wounded calf. Violent agony tore up my leg, breaking through the wall of
adrenaline that had let me ignore the twinges, but I gritted my teeth and ran for my life.
A shadow raced over the ground toward me, and I dove out of its shade, skidding on my
stomach through gritty soil that scratched at my exposed neck and flew into my mouth.
The dragon let out a shriek that stabbed my eardrums, and I rolled to see the dark-haired
ardent holding his ground with knees bent, his halberd stabbing the armor of the dragon's
belly. The dragon's one working wing vent was blowing golden steam out in front of it,
slowing its oncoming charge and helping it rear on its back legs. The ardent yanked up on
the halberd, but the spear tip point broke off. The dragon's jaws snapped down toward him.
He tried to dodge, but the dragon dug its claws into his back to pin him while its teeth
clamped around his shoulders and pulled. Blood sprayed in hot rain that hit my cheeks and
arms as the ardent's upper body tumbled over my head.
I swiped at the blood on my face with hands that didn't feel like mine. My fingertips tingled as
if waking from deep sleep, and I struggled to draw more than shallow breaths. Somewhere in
the back of my head I knew I was going into shock, but then the dragon's eyes met mine.
I scrambled to my feet, dragging my hurt leg behind me as I hobbled for the boneforger
station, my only thought to run. The ardent assigned to guard the auxiliaries rippled
amber-gold light down his arms and fired balls of pure raden out of his palms, trying to drive
the dragon off.
"Here, here," called one of the medics, his hood falling down as he waved me forward and
came around the station to meet me. "Let me—"
The dragon's tail obliterated half the boneforger station as it turned a circle toward its
cavernous den. The dangling tip swung independent of the base, wreaking extra havoc and
dripping blood over everything. The medic dove, throwing his hands over his head as he
landed on his belly. Twisted tables, smashed supplies, and screaming people went flying, but
many still might've been alright had the vents not opened. Searing steam melted clothes and
skin.
I crouched, hands over ears, as the dragon shot by on my right with a whoosh like a furnace,
then ran the rest of the way to the medic, who'd escaped the worst of it and was rushing to
aid others. Though I wasn't exactly steady, I helped him support the head boneforger,
keeping his weight off a horribly twisted broken ankle. Blistering burns ran along the arm I
draped over my shoulder, and the boneforger hissed through his teeth as we shambled to a
semi-fortified position behind a large boulder further back in the denser trees where many
other medics were bringing patients.
I crashed onto my butt behind the rock, and the medic dropped his kit nearby. As he set to
splinting the head boneforger's ankle and smearing salve over the burns, I peeked around
our hiding place. The ardent that had tried to save the workstations was one of many
crumpled silhouettes in the soil.
The dragon had returned to guard the hole of the resin-lined cavern, thrashing about like a
cornered wildcat. Fintan used the blunt end of his glaive like a vaulting pole, leaped high,
and tucked into a gainer that let him rake his weapon's wicked, five-inch, raden-extended tip across the dragon's side, carving another gash through the damaged left wing vent. He
landed and sprinted right, aiming, I hoped, to similarly damage the right side, but the dragon
swept his legs with its foreclaws and sent him rolling.
Its neck stretched out to end him, but a crackling report rang out, and a streak of sizzling
yellow penetrated the beast's aura and embedded in the hardened skin of its face, making it
jerk back and shake its head. Another crack, and a second shard gun bullet created a
golden, fissuring wound. The dragon merely thickened its armor into a steely, shining plate
along its cheek, resealing the crack, but Fintan had run clear. Gavin, one arm curled around
his ribs, holstered his gun and returned the casual salute his brother shot him.
A sharp pinch in my calf made me jump a foot.
"Easy, just an anesthetic," said the medic, sealing the used needle away.
I relaxed with a sigh of relief as warmth bloomed from the point of the shot and siphoned
away the pain. When the medic dug a glorified sewing needle into my exposed flesh, I didn't
feel a thing, not even when he pulled the first weaver-wasp-thread stitch tight.
My stomach, however, rolled over, and I quickly looked away from the bloody work and
spotted Colter again.
What was he still doing lingering between the auxiliary stations and the thick of the fight?
Had he even moved?
His gleaming boneplate armor appeared untouched, his blond hair free of grit or sweat. He
held one pale, pure-parabone spear ready in one hand, another strapped to his back, but he
made no moves to approach the dragon. The rest of the ardents were streaks of lightning,
racing around the beast for openings, swinging and throwing weapons, most of which
glanced off the beast's armor-like skin or became trapped in its surface. Even as I watched,
the dragon's rocky flesh seemed to double in thickness, growing crests and jutting spikes to
keep the weapons further at bay.
"Priscilla, to me! We'll hold its attention!" Rhea thundered, taking charge as Colter just
watched. "Leon, sweep it!"
Colter's team sprang into action, but he stayed put, eyes bouncing around the battlefield as
he cocked his spear over his right shoulder, waiting. Rhea and Priscilla rushed in from the
right, but Priscilla reached it first, raden rippling around her legs. As the dragon tried to swipe
her, she cut a hard turn and raced parallel to its side, blades slashing and stabbing in quick,
short blows. Not once did her daggers bounce, instead they slid cleanly through the rocky
armor as if she knew precisely where to strike.
The dragon roared, head whipping around on its long neck toward the source of the cat-claw
scratches down its body, only to meet the blade of Rhea's axe. She smashed one
raden-enveloped axe across its injured jaw like a cudgel, breaking more teeth, then brought
the other, this one only glowing with a faint aura, down on the beast's crested skull. The blade sank a couple of inches before hitching in the armor. The dragon reeled back, yanking
her weapon out of Rhea's hand.
The beast never saw Leon as he charged up his raden to a dazzling, crackling gold and
pushed it down his massive hammer. In one powerful, sweeping blow, he crushed the
dragon's leg joint. The dragon fell forward, and the tectonic vibrations of the impact raced up
my arm. The ardents closest toppled or were sent flying as its body skidded over the earth,
digging a ditch.
"Nina, go, go!" Colter cried, shoving an ardent with a long red braid ahead of him as he
charged in. He snapped his fingers at another bearded ardent who instantly got moving
when he said, "Braden, to us!"
The dragon's head was five times the size of Nina, forcing her to step on its jaw as a
foothold to launch her and her dual blades toward the dragon's glowing eye. She hovered
suspended in mid-air for one glorious moment, dual blades raised over her head, points
perfectly aimed for a devastating downward thrust. Behind her silhouette, I saw the thick
armor crumble off the wing vents as they began to shift, one end sealing closed so the other
could open. A jet of hot golden steam hit Nina full force and ignited her braid.
Her blistering body was blasted sideways as the dragon skidded backward a couple of feet
before getting its other three legs beneath it.
Nina hit the ground like a ragdoll, limbs flopping as she rolled. Colter jumped over her, spear
still poised but unused, staring down the furious dragon as Braden reached him and
matched his pace, running parallel. The dragon lunged, and Colter's heels dug in, pulling
him up short. Braden tried to backpedal, and Colter's free hand shot out as if to steady him
but shoved his shoulder instead. Braden stumbled, and the dragon used a vent in its neck to
track him at the last second, crushing him in mangling jaws. My shocked cry was swallowed
up in the din as Colter pounced.
Between one flickering instant of motion and the next, a deep gash appeared clean through
the dragon's hide. The wound, opening like the belly of a flayed fish, gushed blood.
As the beast's answering roar tore through my head, though, I found myself squinting in
confusion. My eyes had been following the thrust of Colter's spear, not into the dragon's
chest but in a sure, precise strike to the neck that slipped between the cracks in its earthen
armor. He buried half the shaft inside the throat with a cry of fury and triumph.
The dragon reared back, yanking Colter off his feet as its neck armor rippled, from rock
plates, to shifting scales, to a coating of what looked like molten raden that tried to push out
the weapon. Colter used the moment to pull his spear free and drop safely to the ground.
The dragon staggered, blood hemorrhaging from the wound and spewing from its mouth,
pooling around its teeth. Its back slammed against the cavern entrance, shattering the resin
spikes into a fine powder that twinkled as it coated the dragon's sagging body.
I blinked several times. What did I miss? There aren't any other ardents close enough to
have made that wound in its chest.
Colter had to jump back as the dragon's giant head fell and bounced off the soil, the shining
eyes closing.
I pushed to my feet in a daze, thanking the medic only to realize he was no longer beside
me. My stitched leg firmly beneath me, I drifted across the blood-soaked ground, unable to
tear my eyes away from that devastating wound in the dragon's chest. I gravitated toward
Seth on instinct, recognizing his pin-straight posture and severe profile even in my periphery.
Weaving through the other ardents making their way toward the corpse, I approached from
behind, murmuring, "Seth… did you see what happened to Braden?" Had I really seen what I
thought I saw? Did Colter actually push him, or was it an accident? It had to be… but it had
looked pretty damn intentional.
Colter was on other people's minds, too. I heard someone whisper, "How did Colter do that
last strike combo? I only saw him hit the neck."
This close, just twenty yards from those formidable, outstretched claws, I could see the
barest rise and fall in the dragon's chest. Blood pumped from the wound in stuttering beats
of a dying heart.
Seth twisted toward me. "Torrin." His brow arched in a question, but a rare warmth underlaid
his tone. "You…" His glowing eyes narrowed, focus snapping toward the dragon as a high
whine, like a firework's upward climb, cut over him.
Confusion compressed my features. "What the—"
Blinding light shone from the dragon's dozens of vents, and golden cracks spiderwebbed
through the remaining armor shell. I threw up an arm to shield my eyes with a surprised cry
that I couldn't hear over the ear-piercing squeal coming from the dragon.
Seth crashed into me, encircling arms pressing me against his chest.
Golden light swallowed the world, searing my retinas even through closed lids. A horrendous
boom shook my bones, and we were flying.