Isualic puts one long claw under my jaw and pushes up, almost breaking the skin, forcing me to groan in pain and tilt my head back. “Be less vague.”
“There’s not,” Brank’ox hurries to say when he sees me in pain. “That necklace is all there is.”
The dragon removes the claw. “Not a bad idea, for a fake slayer. But you know what this means, of course? I want that necklace.”
More fighting is breaking out below and above us. It’s more brutal now, more vicious. I swear sparks are flying, and the air is thick with static electricity. Furious screaming and hissing erupts all over the place, like in the middle of a gathering storm.
There are dragons all around us. If this becomes a mass brawl, then I don’t want to be anywhere near it when this much pent-up energy is released.
A huge body comes plummeting down, screaming in fury and fear. Isualic takes a quick step to the side, and the dragon slams into the platform we’re on, missing me by inches.
The dragon groans, and Isualic puts one clawed foot on its body and kicks it off the platform. It screams again as it falls further, then hits something with a sickening crushing sound and goes quiet.
Yeah, this could get really nasty.
“Let her go!” Brank’ox commands, so powerfully it makes the whole structure tremble.
“Get me the gold,” Isualic counters. “Then you can have her.”
I’m able to free one hand from his grip and immediately get my small knife out of the pocket in my dress. Without aiming too closely, I ram it into his side. It’s like stabbing a rock – his scales prevent it from going that far in. But it penetrates deep enough to stay in the wound when I pull my hand back.
For a split second, Isualic is still. Then he screams, an ear-shattering noise of sheer fury and pain.
And he loses his concentration, loosening his grip on me.
I drop to the ground and roll away, and the dragon is stuck holding an empty fur coat.
Brank’ox is quick as a flash. He pounces on me, gives the dragon a hard slash of his sword in passing, making his blade ring. He drags me up and away, into the little hut.
“Stay down, my love,” he grunts and takes a glowing ember out of a small pot. With trembling fingers he touches it to a short wick and lights it on fire, then touches the burning short wick to a much longer one that leads out of the hut.
The wick hisses and splutters, and the flame travels fast along it. I realize that he must have coated it in gunpowder. But where did he get gunpowder? I brought all of it back to the village.
The hut is suddenly gone, and we’re standing out in the open again.
Isualic has lifted the whole hut off the ground and tosses it off the platform. His red eyes glow.
“Now, fake slayer…”
But I only have eyes for the burning fuze. The hissing flame travels fast, then splits into two flames, one going down and one going up. And then they split into many, many spluttering flames, going towards dark, round shapes all around us.
In a flash I see what he’s done, and I realize I have three seconds left to live.
Brank’ox gently but quickly lays me down flat on the platform, puts himself on top of me, and fixes me with his dark eyes. “I love you.”
I draw breath to reply. Then the whole world explodes.
37
- Dolly -
I don’t know how long I’m lying there, my ears ringing and my eyes blinded by the immense flash. The air I breathe is sour and itchy and tastes foul. It stings my eyes and makes them water.
I want to cough, but Brank’ox is heavy on top of me and I can barely breathe at all.
Everything is smoke and heat and darkness. Splintered pieces of wood rain down from above.
“Brank’ox,” I whisper. “Are you all right?”
There’s no reply. But his heart is still beating – it resonates through my whole body.
I drag myself out from under him, inch by inch.
The acrid smoke gradually rises and drifts away, leaving the alien structure mostly intact and looking much the same as before. Most of the wooden platform is gone, and there are many small fires close to us. The Factory is completely ruined, every part of it covered in small, smoking shards of pottery.
Looking up, I see dark shadows climbing fast, panic in their movements, desperate