“Don’t be a fool!” Merlin grunted as he pushed against the crossed blades. “Thigocia is no friend of Goliath or Roxil. She was a victim of their attack!”
“You fell for their ploy!” Devin growled. “She spawned the scaly beasts! They wouldn’t kill their own mother!”
King Arthur lifted the flashing Excalibur high. “Devin! I command you to desist!”
Devin scowled at the king and backed away from Merlin, muttering something unintelligible.
Barlow’s voice rose above the clattering rain. “Bowmen! Pierce those devils!” A hundred arrows shot into the downpour. Edward raised his sword and stretched to see over the wall of men. The savages were closing in, some dropping into the mud as arrows rained on their advance. Shifting his gaze to the sky, he counted three dragons sweeping the enemy with waves of fire, but he couldn’t tell who they were.
Thunder boomed overhead. Rain pounded even harder. Suddenly, a spear flew in, striking Edward in the chest. He fell off Thigocia’s back, but she caught him in her wing and laid him gently on the ground. As he writhed in the mud, a wave of barbarians slammed into the front lines. Arthur, Merlin, Devin, and Palin charged into the fray, Excalibur flashing in the king’s grip.
Stretching her wings, Thigocia created a shield over Edward. He grimaced at her, pain crushing his words. “Break . . . break the spear. I must . . . fight.”
“You cannot survive this wound,” Thigocia said. “It has likely pierced your lungs.”
Edward felt blood seeping into his throat. “Let me die . . . fighting . . . not wallowing in the mud.” He struggled to his knees, feeling for the spear at his back.
“The point protrudes several inches.” Thigocia laid her tail on his shoulder. “Stay as still as you can.”
With Edward holding the front end, Thigocia chomped the shaft near the point and broke it into splinters.
Edward clenched his teeth. “Now break the other end.”
Thigocia clamped her jaws around the shaft, but as she crunched the wood, Edward collapsed to the mud, faceup. The spear broke somewhere inside his body and part of it jerked out. Blood flowed freely from his chest. He arched his back, and his arms and legs stiffened.
Thigocia wrapped her wings around him and pulled him to his feet. “Battle or no battle, I will not let you die in the mud. I can try to heal you, but you have been mortally wounded. First, I have to find a dragon to breathe fire on me.”
Edward stuck his head through a gap in the dragon’s wings, but darkness shrouded the battlefield. Everything moved slowly, like a somber dance in a house of mourning. As King Arthur’s sword swept from side to side, one barbarian after another fell to his blows. Suddenly, the blade flashed with radiance as if struck by a bolt of lightning, but instead of knocking the king flat, the bolt seemed to penetrate his body, lighting him as bright as the sun itself. A brilliant beam shot out of Excalibur’s tip, and as Arthur staggered backwards, he lowered the sword. The beam slashed the ground, sending a streak of lightning along the muddy field. The glittering streak shot into Thigocia, creating a shimmering white halo all around her.
A sizzling sensation burned into Edward’s skin. Everything in his vision flashed so brightly, he couldn’t see at all. Blistering heat surged into his lungs, making them feel on fire. Seconds later, the light flickered off. His pain vanished.
Fighting against the dragon’s leathery wings, he bounded through the opening, then laid his palm on his chest and took a deep breath. Blood dampened his fingers, but not even a twinge of pain hampered his lungs. Even the shaft of the spear had disintegrated. He grabbed his sword and gazed at Thigocia. “What happened?”
“I have no idea.” Thigocia lowered her head and sniffed the hole in his vest. “A miracle?”
“I’ll have to accept that. No time for guessing.”
Edward saluted her and rushed into the battle. As he raised his shield, he heard the dragon call from behind him, “Praise the Maker!” An arrow thumped into his shield, then another. He glanced back at Thigocia and nodded. She nodded in return.
The king swung Excalibur’s beam back into the horde. The savages in its path disappeared as if disintegrated by its energy. Arthur swept the enemy’s lines. Dozens of men blew apart in splashes of sparks, their swords, shields, and helmets falling to the spots where they once stood. The Saxons began fleeing once