There are dragons inside the village. And lots of them, fighting with the cavemen. There’s an ear-rending cacophony of clangs and yells and roars, some of them coming from right outside. There are blue sparks of swords hitting hard scales and chaotic movement everywhere.
We have never rehearsed what to do if there are a bunch of dragons inside the village. We always assumed that the freaking hundreds of cavemen that live here could keep those bone-chilling shifters out.
“I guess that was too much to ask,” I seethe as I bolt the door with a thin stick and regret the lack of furniture to push in front of it. Not that it would help much — the door opens outwards. But it might give me time to aim.
With shaking fingers, I fish a sulfur-headed match out of my pouch, stroke it against a rock by the hearth, and manage to get the wick lit on the gun, burning my fingertips in the process.
Squatting in the corner, I aim the gun at the door and try to ignore the terrible sounds of battle from outside and the strange feeling I have that the cavemen are losing.
The battle is so intense that the ground shakes under me. I have to steady myself on the wall to not lose my balance. Good Lord, this is crazy!
A wooden roof rafter crashes down, followed by a couple of bricks landing heavily on the dirt floor.
The ground is really shaking hard. Back and forth, up and down.
Oh fuck. This isn’t just the battle. This is an actual earthquake!
More bricks plunge from the top of the walls around me. The house is about to collapse.
I crawl over to the door, slide the stick off, and scurry outside, my heart in my throat.
There is still some battle noise, but it’s drowned out by the pandemonium of wooden huts being shaken apart, girly screams of terror and panic, and hard bricks hitting the ground.
Somewhere out in the jungle a tree snaps in half with a bang like a gunshot. The treetops rustle like crazy.
The village is being shaken apart, and everything is blurry.
More bricks hit the ground beside me, and I crawl away. Not a moment too soon, either — when I’m ten feet away, my whole house collapses with a sickening crash.
Clutching the gun, I sit on the ground and pull my knees close. This is not looking good. As far as I can tell, there’s not a single house or structure in the village still standing.
After ten seconds, I realize the earthquake is over.
And there is someone staring at me.
It’s a dragon, behind the heap of rubble that used to be my house. He’s dark, but has bright stripes across his body.
He has a girl in his arms. It looks a lot like Heidi. And it looks a lot like she’s dead. She is pale and lifeless, with a bleeding wound on her head and glassy eyes that don’t move.
I freeze, more icy terror gripping my heart.
The dragon drops the girl to the ground and gives me a nasty little smirk. Then he starts walking towards me.
I lift the gun. “Stay where you are!”
He doesn’t. My voice isn’t commanding right now.
But he picked the wrong night to mess with Earth girls. This kind of thing, we have rehearsed. If a dragon is coming towards you and obviously means some mischief, you have to take care of it before he can reach you. They have many tricks, and they know the terror they strike in us.
It’s deadly serious. We are under no obligation to warn them or play nice.
The wick on the gun has gone out, but it’s still glowing.
I aim at the dragon’s chest, quickly wondering if the shot can penetrate that layer of scales over those thick, hard muscles.
Then I pull the trigger, and the gun hits my face so hard I black out.
- - -
There’s cool air on my face. I’m groggy, but I’m pretty sure I’m flying.
Because this has happened before. That first day on Xren, when I was taken by a dactyl and carried miles away in its claws. This feels a lot like that.
I should scream, I should kick and fight. But I’m scared stiff.
It’s night still, and very dark. But I can see the treetops beneath me, shooting past.
And above me…
I want to scream, but this is too much to handle and the world quickly pulls away from me.