A Night of Dragon Wings - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,67
thousand times these past few days—and failed again, the ropes tugging her back into human form.
"Grom!" she screamed. "Damn you! You will hang for this in the court of my king!"
Fire blazed and heat washed Lyana. Ahead above the trees, she saw dragons take flight. A few were tough, hardened warriors roaring fire. Others were elders missing teeth. A few were youngsters, barely larger than horses. She could catch only glimpses of them between the branches. She saw a nephil shoot above, baring its fangs. She heard a dragon scream.
"Grom!" she shouted.
Screeches rose. Claws grabbed the trees before her and yanked them out. The roots pulled from the soil like hair pulled from a scalp, showering dirt. A nephil stood before her, holding an oak in each hand. The beast tossed back its rotted head, howled at the sky, and threw the trees aside.
Then it saw Lyana, its white eyes widened, and it snarled. Drool splattered. It came lolloping toward her on clawed feet.
Lyana stood with legs parted, rocking on her heels. Her wrists were still bound behind her; the rope which tethered her to the tree stood taut, a good ten feet long. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the approaching beast, and bared her teeth.
The nephil reached her and slammed down its claws.
Lyana leaped aside.
The claws slammed into the earth, digging ruts. The beast thrust its maw forward, teeth jutting out like rusted blades.
Shouting wordlessly, Lyana leaped back, allowing the rope to spin her around the tree like a tether-ball. She placed the trunk between herself and the nephil.
"God damn you, Grom," she muttered. If only she could fly! Stars, if only she had unbound wrists and sword in hand!
The nephil screeched, shaking the earth, and raced around the oak. It thrust down its jaw, and Lyana leaped back again. Its teeth dug into the earth. It raised its head and howled, a shattering sound that splattered drool and earth and dry leaves.
Lyana pressed herself close to the tree trunk, narrowed her eyes, and nodded at the rotted giant. The rope which ran between her wrists and the trunk lay loose at her feet.
With a howl, the nephil lashed its claws.
Lyana leaped forward, tightening the rope between herself and the trunk. The nephil's claws severed it.
Shouting hoarsely, Lyana ran through the camp. The nephil raced behind her. Its jaws lashed down, and she rolled. Its teeth missed her by inches. She leaped up and tried to shift, but could not; she was free from the tree, but the rope still bound her wrists behind her back.
Dragons and nephilim howled above her. Children ran through the camp. Lyana scurried forward. She looked over her shoulder and saw her nephil leap skyward like a giant, rotten grasshopper. The beast came plunging down toward her, and Lyana screamed and turned her head aside.
Fire blazed.
Through squinting eyes, Lyana saw a legless red dragon—Dorin Blacksmith!—crash into the nephil an instant before the beast could hit her. Dragon and nephil tumbled, rolled through the leaves, and crashed into a tree.
Lyana leaped up, whipping her head from side to side. The battle raged around her, nephilim and dragons slashing and biting and burning.
A blade. I need a blade!
Her eyes fell upon Grom.
"The poor fool," she muttered.
The miner lay in human form, his legs bitten off, his eyes staring lifelessly. He still clutched a sword in his hand—her sword, the ancient blade Levitas. The leaves around him soaked up his blood.
She ran toward him, turned backward, and crouched. She ran her wrists against Levitas, cutting the rope.
Three nephilim flew above, howled, and came swooping toward her.
The rope fell off her wrists.
Lyana grabbed her sword, shifted with it, and soared.
A blue dragon, she roared her fire, bathing the creatures. She shot through her own flame, lashed her claws, and crashed between the blazing nephilim. They fell around her, burnt and lacerated.
Lyana soared higher, rising from flame. Dragons and nephilim fought around her. She slew one beast with a blast of fire, then spun and swooped, the sun at her back. She crashed between the treetops into the camp, swung her claws, and ripped the head off a charging nephil.
Wails rose behind her. Lyana landed and spun around. A nephil was chasing a group of toddlers too young to shift. The children leaped under a fallen bole, which the nephil began to slash at. Still in dragon form, Lyana charged and leaped onto the nephil's back. It bucked, and she dug her teeth into its shoulder.