Champion of Fire & Ice - Megan Derr Page 0,22

shriek and writhe as the flames burned—melted—its eyes.

Cimar cut the flames, and as the smoke cleared, he saw he'd also destroyed the lindworm's tongue—most of the inside of its mouth. It shrieked and wailed with pain, but blind now in more ways than one, there wasn't much it could do.

Not that didn't try anyway. It lashed out blindly, shrieking, screaming, venom flying everywhere, swinging its head to try and get Cimar with the crown of spikes, bringing up its tail to get him with the even longer, nastier spikes there.

Cimar spewed more fire, until he had nothing left, and the entire great hall was aflame. The lindworm had nowhere to go, too wounded and panicky to realize its scales would allow it to slither right through them and out into the cooling snow.

Plunging through the flames, Cimar whacked it hard with his tail, sending it crashing to the ground. Then he leaned down and sank his massive teeth into the soft underbelly, right at the throat, ripping and tearing, holding fast through the lindworm's death throes, letting go only when it went still, and the rancid odor of excrement told him the body had voided itself in death.

Letting go, Cimar shook himself, hating the vile taste lingering in his mouth, and looked around. The easiest way out was the main doors, so that was where he headed—then stopped at the last minute and went back to the lindworm. Latching onto its throat again, he dragged it out into the snow, well away from the rapidly burning castle.

Rushing back inside, he leveraged himself up and over the mezzanine, tearing and throwing, until he found his little stash all the way at the back where he'd tucked it behind a statue. Awkwardly, he scooped it all up into his mouth as best he could, though there was a gauntlet that fell that he couldn't retrieve without losing more of the pile.

Forsaking the poor gauntlet, he clamped down tightly on the rest of his gear and scrabbled like mad to get out of the castle. Dragons might be immune to fire, but nothing and no one was immune to having heavy stones fall on their head.

Outside, he spat out his clothes, armor, and weapons near the dead lindworm, then huddled over his belongings protectively as he watched the castle burn.

He dozed here and there, needing the rest if he was going to make it to the cabin to fetch Lee, back to the castle, and then home after that.

By sunrise, the castle had mostly burned itself out. There were some smoldering bits, but the snow and sleet would take care of it long before it managed to burn any of the trees—if it even could, given how frozen they were.

Heaving to his feet, he then launched into the air and flew back to the cabin.

He'd barely landed when Lee burst out of it. "You're alive! Thank the gods!" He looked near to tears as he rushed over to help Cimar as he shifted back. "Are you all right?"

"Exhausted but fine," Cimar said. "Come on, I need your help skinning the lindworm, then we need to pack it and my belongings for travel. Get your things."

"You should rest a bit."

"I'll rest when we're home, especially after I see the look on King Rorlen's face when we return weeks early—when we return at all, at that."

Lee frowned, but with a sigh ran back to the cabin and was back in a few minutes. Groaning, Cimar shifted again and took them back to the castle—well, castle ruins, now.

Skinning the lindworm was difficult, grisly work, not least of all because it had once been a human being. On some level, it seemed wrong. On the other hand, there was nothing finer for armor and weapons than lindworm scales, and the lindworm hardly needed them anymore. After all the destruction and death it had caused, it could give up its scales.

Far more importantly, it was incontrovertible proof that he'd slain a lindworm. Let Tekker and Grayne choke on that.

When their grisly task was complete, they washed away as much of the blood and ichor as they could with the surrounding snow, then carefully rolled it, using scraps of cloth they scrounged up to tie it securely. Cimar would be able to carry it to where they'd left their horses, and from there they could hire a cart and oxen to take it all the way to the castle.

In roughly a day, maybe two, he'd be winner of the