A Dawn of Dragonfire - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,83
belly, craned her neck forward, and blew fire.
The jet slammed against the lamprey, roaring hot. The creature opened its mouth, detaching itself from Bayrin, and screamed. Its mouth was a perfect circle, a foot in diameter, and ringed with several rows of teeth. Blood filled it.
Bayrin soared, teeth marks on his back. Below, the burnt lamprey crashed into the water and began swimming toward Mori.
Heart pounding, she leaped from the water, wings flapping. Waves rippled. She soared, dripping wet, and the lamprey leaped, soaring after her. It was massive—easily the length of her tail—its body slick and undulating. Its mouth opened wide. Wings thudding madly, Mori screamed, swiped her tail, and knocked it aside. It crashed into the water, writhing and screeching.
"What the stars was that?" Bayrin shouted, blood on his scales. He looked from side to side, as if seeking it.
Water rose in curtains. Two lampreys leaped from the sea and flew toward them. They had no wings, but they soared as if shot from geysers. Their maws opened wide, and their teeth glimmered.
Mori screamed and blew fire at one. The other slammed against her tail, and its teeth sank into her flesh. She cried in pain, lashed her tail, and began to fall. It tugged her down—she could barely believe its weight. She flapped her wings madly, struggling to rise.
"Bayrin!"
He swooped, leveled off, and shot forward. His flames baked the creature. It screeched and fell.
Three lampreys leaped from the sea.
Mori shouted, batted one aside with her tail, and flew high. A lamprey shot up to her right, dripping water and screeching. She flamed it and kept soaring, and soon the sea was distant below her. Ten more lampreys leaped from the water, and Mori was sure that she flew high enough. But the lampreys kept flying upward, as if they were mere fountains of water. Their mouths opened wide.
Bayrin blew fire at one. Mori blasted her flames at another. One flew up directly beneath her, mouth wide, tongue reaching out. She swerved, and the lamprey knocked against her side, mouth sucking the air. She tumbled, flapped her wings, and knocked into another lamprey. She clawed at it, beat it back, and flew higher.
"Bayrin, higher!" she shouted.
They climbed the sky. Soon they flew so high, the waves were mere ripples, and the air was cold and thin. When the lampreys crashed back into the sea below, they seemed small as earthworms. Mori blew out her breath in relief.
"Bayrin," she said, "you're hurt, I—"
Screeches rose below. She looked down to see a hundred lampreys, maybe more, shoot up from the water. They must be mad, she thought. We're hundreds of feet in the air.
And yet they kept soaring, tails flapping, propelling themselves through the air as if swimming underwater. Mori growled and flew even higher, but the lampreys were faster. Soon they were feet away, and she bathed them with fire. They kept shooting up, aflame. Several shot around her, so fast that she felt the whoosh of air. Another slammed into her belly, and she shouted, clawed at it, and knocked it off.
The lampreys who overshot her turned in midair and began to fall. One slammed onto her back, its teeth dug into her shoulder, and she screamed.
A growl pierced the air. Bayrin swooped, a lamprey clinging to his tail, and slashed his claws. He dug into the lamprey on Mori's back, and when it opened its mouth to screech, it detached from her flesh and fell.
"Bay!" Mori cried and blew flame, hitting the lamprey that tugged on his tail. It burned, writhed madly, and tumbled.
Dozens more came shooting up from the sea.
"Damn it!" Bayrin said. "These things could probably fly to the stars themselves. If flying up won't stop them, fly north! Come on!"
The lampreys soon soared around them, mouths sucking air, tongues seeking. The dragons flew forward on the wind, blasting fire at the creatures. They seemed endless. Whenever one crashed back into the water, three more shot up. The wounds on Mori's shoulder blazed; the lamprey's teeth had chipped her scales and dug down to the flesh. Blood trickled from her leg. She blew fire in all directions, but soon her flames dwindled to mere sparks; she would need rest and food to replenish them, and she would find neither in this sea.
"Mori, look, ahead!" Bayrin shouted. He slammed a lamprey with his tail and clawed another.
Mori stared ahead and gasped. Her heart leaped. Tears sprang into her eyes, and she howled.