rushing right toward the dread wurm, her sword held high.
"Feel the sting of Flamedancer!" the furious ranger cried, rolling past the snaking head, coming up between the gigantic forelegs. She chose her mark carefully, the hollow of the breast, and threw all of her momentum into the powerful strike, stabbing the mighty ranger sword for the dragon's heart with all of her strength and passion.
To the sword's credit, it did not break.
And to Brynn's credit, she did manage to scratch the targeted scale a little bit.
"Brynn!" Juraviel cried.
The young ranger considered the mark on the scale, realizing that if she had the time to strike a hundred times more, she might manage to get through that outer armor. With a sigh, she looked up, to see the wurm's re-tracted head, those awful catlike eyes beaming down at her.
Up went a foreleg.
Brynn dove aside.
The dragon hit the floor with enough force to split the stone, the shudder knocking Brynn from her feet. The foreleg bore right through the floor, and the overbalanced wurm fell to the side, against yet another pile of treasure, disturbing it so that it began to flow out of the chamber and into the opened crack. It wasn't nearly enough of a flow to topple the dragon, but the momentum of it did catch poor Brynn, carrying her along on a river of gems and gold, to spill out of the chamber, to tumble and bounce and fall along a rocky decline, smashing her body and head, tearing her clothing.
She didn't know how far she had fallen, for she lost consciousness long before she settled far, far below the chamber of the dragon.
Cazzira never even tried to go in against the great dragon. As soon as the beast made its presence known, the elf turned and fled, and she almost made it into a side passage. Almost, but a great tail stamped down in front of the opening, blocking the way even as she reached it.
She stumbled into the tail, regained her balance immediately, and started off to the side, but a sudden swish of the great tail caught her and sent her flying away.
She hit the side of a treasure mound, and the unstable nature of that pile alone saved her from serious injury.
For the mound gave beneath her, then Kl d about her, and she went down in a heap, coins and gems and jew illing over her, burying her as she lay there unconscious.
> dragon wasn't even paying attention to her. The human woman had down the hole, and so the beast had started into the hole in pursuit, head snaking down after the tumbling human and dropping treasure.
t the descent narrowed too quickly for the dragon to continue the pur- to catch up, and the great head came back out, the beast roaring in That rage focused almost immediately upon a second figure, Belli'mar Turaviel, skittering for the open hole.
A huge claw slammed down in front of the running elf, barring the or seemed to, for the elf leaped, his wings flapping furiously, getting him up and around the blocking leg. And then he dropped, like a stone, into the opening.
But this time the dragon was not caught by surprise, and with frightening speed, the quickness of a striking serpent, the great head snapped down.
And when it came back up, the elf's flailing legs stuck out between the beast's huge fangs.
Brynn Dharielle opened her eyes, or rather, one eye, for the other was caked closed by dried blood. She was not in darkness, for her glow torch had fallen beside her, but she knew at once that the globe had been cracked, for unlike the sharp edge of light it had previously shown, it was now dulled, surrounded by a glowing white mist.
She remembered Cazzira's explanation of the torches and feared that she would soon be in total blackness.
Spurred by that, Brynn rolled to her side and forced herself into a sitting position. At first, her thoughts went right back to the cavern above, to the huge beast and her fall, to her friends and the grim fate they had likely found before the dragon. But soon enough, Brynn noted all the glittering items about her: gems and jewels, and her newfound sword, a ranger sword.
Brynn picked it up reverently, then nearly threw it aside in anger, feeling that it had betrayed her with its inability even to pierce the great monster's scaly hide.
She didn't throw it, though, but held it up before