Soulblade (49 page)

Ridge was ready. His flier nose was already pointed at the harbor below, and he was picking up speed. He glided toward the blade as it fell. He thought about trying to set himself so he could catch the hilt with his hand as it tumbled past, but he might cut off his arm doing that. Instead, he got under it, then leveled to catch it with his wing, the blade slicing into the taut canvas frame and sticking.

“I’ll get him later,” Ridge said, pulling the nose up further so they wouldn’t smash into the water. As it was, he thought he could feel the misty air above the waves as they swooped back upward.

“Everyone all right?” He glanced back at Sardelle and noticed her with a hand outstretched, utter concentration on her face.

Not fifty meters away, the flier that had been damaged by the dragon tail was landing, the entire framework charred from fire. A wide-eyed Lieutenant Pigpen sat behind the controls as he was levitated onto a dock.

“Thank you, Sardelle,” Ridge said.

Her hand relaxed as the flier settled into a safe spot, and she nodded toward him.
You’re welcome. They had a hard time obeying your orders to leave the dragons alone.

It’s hard to resist the allure of a dragon-sized target.

I think they just want to protect their general.

Ridge pointed his nose upward again, looking for the dragon Kasandral had poked. Two others—Bhrava Saruth and the female—were still fighting in the air behind the castle.

He’s flying away
, Wreltad said smugly.
That was excellent. This flying contraption is almost as pleasurable to fight from as the back of a dragon.

Almost?
Ridge asked, affronted on behalf of the fine craft.

Don’t worry
, Jaxi said.
I’ll tell him he’s being too uppity for the new sword.

Thank you. I think.

Sardelle laid her hand on his shoulder again. He clasped it, glad to have her back there with him again.

Which one of us is going to climb out on the wing and bring in Kasandral?
he asked, turning the flier back toward the castle, aware that a battle continued over there.

He won’t let me touch him,
Sardelle said.

I can’t touch him either
, Jaxi said.

Nor I
, Wreltad added.

Oh, I guess that means I’m nominated.
Ridge thought about asking Sardelle to keep the stick steady with her mind, but they were still close to the docks. He would take them to land. It would be easier that way, and it would only take a moment. Then they could head over to the castle to help with the last enemy dragon.

Chapter 21

I
t did not take long to fly from the lab back to the castle, but Tolemek frowned, finding the air unexpectedly clear of dragons over the city and the harbor. A few fliers circled over the water, but they had nothing to shoot at currently. Had the female changed into human form and gone in to retrieve the emperor? The flier pilots wouldn’t be able to fire into the castle courtyard, with guards presumably all over the place.

The male flees
, Phelistoth announced.
Look.

Tolemek lacked a dragon’s sharp sight, but with Phelistoth directing, he finally glimpsed a gold dragon in the distance, barely discernible from the waves on the horizon.

He has a sword-shaped hole in his back
, Phelistoth said.

“Good. And the female? Is she gone too?” Tolemek’s grip tightened on the jar of acid he carried. Maybe his formula would not be needed, after all.

No. She and Bhrava Saruth continue to battle. They crashed.

Where? The harbor?

No.

Phelistoth did not explain further. As his wingbeats took them up to the hill that held Harborgard Castle, Tolemek saw that the explanation was not needed. He gaped down at the two massive forms wrestling about, destroying everything they crashed into, within the courtyard walls. One of those walls had already fallen, nothing but a pile of rubble remaining, a lone cannon lying on top of it. Two of the castle towers had also been reduced to rubble, and as Phelistoth circled, another wall went down, this one belonging to the castle itself. Tolemek hoped Kaika had found someplace safe to take the emperor, though he couldn’t guess where that might be right now.

I am trying to tell Bhrava Saruth to break apart from her,
Phelistoth said as he circled above the castle.
I could throw the weapon at both of them.

Don’t do that, please. Sardelle likes that dragon.

He is a buffoon.

Maybe so, but he’s trying to protect Iskandia and bought us time to get my jar.

Phelistoth grumbled again.
You tell him to break apart then. He’s not listening to me.

Tolemek doubted it was a matter of not listening as not having the opportunity to pay attention. Yisharnesh was the aggressor, fangs and talons sinking in, shaking her head as she tried to gnaw off the smaller dragon’s shoulder. It was as if thousands of years of anger were being unleashed at once. Maybe she was angry that her mate had left her—or maybe she was too enraged to even be aware of it. Tolemek barely knew Bhrava Saruth, but he regretted that they hadn’t found a way to bring back the emperor without bringing this trouble back with them.

Another tower toppled, as if some giant had batted it with the back of his hand. The dragons were not near it and did not strike it physically, but Tolemek recognized the power being unleashed, a wave of energy that could have killed a man instantly. Yisharnesh stumbled back, releasing her grip, and Tolemek assumed that Bhrava Saruth had hurled that attack.

“Now’s our chance,” he said, holding the jar in front of him. “Are her defenses down?”

Phelistoth dove toward the courtyard.

Yisharnesh recovered and retaliated before they reached her. She launched a counterattack with her mind, and Bhrava Saruth was hurled over the roof of the castle and toward the interior courtyard. He smashed into the top of Angulus’s atrium, glass shattering everywhere. Leaves and broken branches flew upward as he slammed onto the table inside.

“Now,” Tolemek ordered. Yisharnesh stood alone in the yard, but already she crouched to spring after her foe. Was she aware of them coming? Were her defenses up?

The air between Phelistoth and the female dragon seemed to ripple, and Tolemek sensed the power flowing outward. Phelistoth’s attack was not meant to hurl her about, but to batter at her mind, perhaps to lower her shields. All Tolemek could do was guess.

The female shook her body like a dog knocking off water droplets, not bothering to look at them.

The ceramic jar rose out of Tolemek’s hands. It floated into the air above Phelistoth’s head. Yisharnesh sprang toward the atrium where Bhrava Saruth struggled to rise. Tolemek groaned, certain they were too late, and also certain that her defenses were still up.

The jar hurtled through the air. It struck Yisharnesh in the back as she flew over the rooftop. A logger swinging an axe at the jar couldn’t have broken it into more pieces. Tolemek winced as some of those shards flew into the side of the building and out onto the rooftop. Dragon scales weren’t the only things that acid could eat through. But much of the formula struck her, spreading across her back like jam on toast.

Relieved her defenses had been down and it had gotten through, Tolemek thumped Phelistoth on the back. “That’ll do it.”

She does not appear harmed,
Phelistoth responded.

Yisharnesh had been midair when the jar struck, and she continued along her arc, sailing out of their sight as she jumped down into the atrium. Phelistoth landed on the rooftop, careful to avoid smoking places where some of the acid had landed.

A shriek rang out with such power that it rattled every bone in Tolemek’s body. Yisharnesh leaped into the air, almost crashing into them. He ducked as she flew over his head. Bhrava Saruth followed her. They clashed in the air once again. He landed a few good bites, but she flung him aside, the physical blow augmented with magic. He was hurled all the way to the front courtyard wall where he slammed into it and crumpled to the ground. Phelistoth, at the very edge of that magical attack, stumbled. He would have fallen off the roof, if he hadn’t flapped his wings and taken to the air again.

Tolemek hung on, confused. He knew Yisharnesh had been hit. Why was she still fighting? Was it taking time to sink in? She had shrieked. Had that been pain? Or fury? What if his acid hadn’t worked on her for some reason?

He expected her to go after Bhrava Saruth, to finish him off, or perhaps to attack Phelistoth. Instead, she shrieked again and dropped to the grass in the courtyard. She flung herself onto her back and rolled about, legs and wings in the air, as if she were trying to rub biting ants off her scales.

Tolemek clenched a fist. “It
did
work.”

If I attacked her, might some of the acid touch me and harm me?
Phelistoth asked.

“It shouldn’t. But...” He trailed off, watching as Yisharnesh sprang into the air. He doubted rolling on the grass would have done anything to help, but he waited warily, afraid of another attack.

All she did was fly over the courtyard wall and out to sea. Phelistoth sprang up to the top of a tower with a flier sitting perched oddly upon it, giving Tolemek a view of the big dragon flapping away. She dove into the waves, came out, flew upward, and then dove in again. Like a dolphin, she went in and out of the water as she fled toward the horizon.

It slowly dawned on Tolemek that his goo had worked and that she wouldn’t be coming back, not anytime soon. He looked down at the destruction in the courtyard, two of the four walls completely leveled. At least half of the castle had fallen to the same fate, and other portions still smoked and burned. Bhrava Saruth wasn’t moving—he lay crumpled on his back next to the wall. Tolemek couldn’t tell if he even breathed.

On wobbly legs, he slid off Phelistoth’s back. “I’m going to find Captain Kaika, make sure she still has the emperor.”

If they lost their prisoner, all of this would have been too high a price to pay.

• • • • •

Sardelle kept her hand on Ridge’s shoulder as they left the harbor and flew toward the castle, in part because she wanted him to know he had her support, in this and in everything, and in part because she didn’t want to let go. At his order, the rest of Wolf Squadron had waited for him to collect Kasandral before heading back to the castle. Now they streamed out behind him, ready to help in whatever way they could. As the demolished courtyard came into view, the female dragon streaked into the sky. Ridge’s finger tightened on his machine gun trigger, but she did not fly toward his squadron. Instead, she raced straight out to sea, diving into the waves as she put distance between herself and the coast.

Tolemek found some of his acid
, Sardelle said into Ridge’s mind as she used her senses—and common sense—to piece together what had happened.

Ah.
Ridge sounded more disappointed than relieved, perhaps having hoped to send the second dragon fleeing himself, with Angulus looking on.

She squeezed his shoulder. They had done enough. It was better not to have to continue the fight, especially since he seemed extra reckless today. She had been tempted to jump out of the flier when he had been diving straight for that dragon’s throat.

Ridge nodded and patted her hand again.
Yes, being done with the fighting is a good thing
. Out loud, he said, “Crash and Beeline, follow me down to the castle, so we can check on the king. Everyone else, stay in the air and keep watch for now. I understand our people brought back an important prisoner. It’s possible some Cofah might be heading this way.”

As they descended, Sardelle noticed the collapsed tower where Angulus was still directing the digging—he had recruited more people. She also spotted Bhrava Saruth at the opposite end of the courtyard, and her heart sank. He lay against the remains of a crumbling wall, stones littering the ground all around his supine form. With his legs crooked in the air and his wings limp at his sides, he looked much as he had when he had requested a belly rub beside the road. This time, his eyes weren’t open, and he was far too wounded to appear content, with bloody gashes on his sides, neck, and head where the female dragon’s talons had bit in. Was he even alive? Several of the castle staff who hadn’t been assigned to dig had drifted over to him, to gawk and to touch.

As soon as the flier touched down, Sardelle leaped from the cockpit, not even waiting for the thrusters to die down fully. Ridge hopped down, too, but he jogged toward the king and General Ort, Kasandral in one hand and Wreltad in his other. His head was higher than it had been when Angulus had been berating him, but he still carried himself with wariness, not certain of the reception he would receive from his king or from General Ort.

Normally, Sardelle would have stood at his side as he faced them, but she had to check on Bhrava Saruth.

As she ran in his direction, guilt swelled in her chest. This hadn’t even been his fight. He had deliberately battled the female for the sake of the humans in the castle and in the city. What if he had been mortally wounded?

When she drew close, she raised her hands, intending to shoo away the castle staff—one man was standing on his wing, damn it. But she paused when she heard a couple of the people talking.

“Did you see him drive the other dragon away?” a woman in an apron asked, touching one of his rear legs reverently.

“He fought to protect us. Got himself killed doing it. Those other dragons wanted to destroy us all.”

Killed?
Sardelle’s eyes widened with alarm, and she checked Bhrava Saruth with her senses. No, he wasn’t dead. To her surprise, though his eyes were closed, he didn’t even seem to be unconscious.

Unnoticed by those regarding him, Sardelle walked around to his head, which lay upside down on the earth beside the wall.