Firedrake - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,91

was bleeding profusely. He wouldn’t last long, even as skilled as he was.

As he hit the perfect position, Mace dove headfirst, arms out to clobber a warrior who was aiming a deathblow to William’s unprotected back. They went down in a tumble of arms and legs as Nellin veered off, riderless. Mace dispatched the enemy warrior quickly, then placed his back to Wil’s, fighting with the prince, holding off all comers until help could arrive.

First the dragons would take out that infernal machine. Drake and Krysta could be of some use as well. Though he hated to see either of them in any danger, Mace knew Krysta was a skilled warrior, as was Drake. They could help.

Sure enough, seconds later, Krysta joined the fray on the far side of what Mace realized belatedly was the tavern yard. She moved quickly, Drake at her side. Mace noted flickering flames out of the corner of his eye and knew Drake had called his fire. Armed with balls of white-hot flame, Drake lobbed his magical missiles at the enemy soldiers one by one, causing little damage to the surrounding area, but sending soldiers scrambling for cover.

Two skiths slithered in and all the Skithdronian soldiers stepped back to let the evil creatures do their work. Drake moved forward, a fireball in each hand that grew bigger and hotter as Mace watched out of the corner of his eye.

When Krysta’s short sword was knocked from her grasp, she was forced to use the fan blades Lilith had given her. She wasn’t sure just how strong the delicately patterned metal was. She hadn’t had a chance to test the blades yet, but they were better than nothing. She used the edges to slice her way through the enemy and the flat of the fans were excellent for blocking as well as shielding. More than one arrow bounced off their glittering surface and several blades were repelled by their deceptively beautiful strength.

All in all, Krysta was well pleased with the thoughtful gift. The fans had come in handy already. She fought at Drake’s side until he called his flame. She gave him room to maneuver as he began to lob fireballs at the enemy, and when the skiths slithered in, she backed away to as safe a position as she could find.

The enemy soldiers retreated, probably expecting the skiths to take care of them, but they hadn’t reckoned on Drake—or rather the FireDrake. The dragons did their part too, cutting off any line of escape.

Dragon fire was deadly to skiths, but it took some doing to roast them. Apparently Drake’s fire was even more potent. The first skith went down in a ball of writhing flame that flared, but did not spread to the surroundings. The flame enveloped only the skith, not igniting any debris on the ground or the surrounding buildings no matter how close the burning carcass came to the tinder dry wood.

The flame began to engulf Drake and he faced the remaining skith with renewed fire. Krysta watched, mesmerized as the fire spread, hissing in the spitting, acidic venom released by the skith as it fought back. Drake’s fire increased, forming an impenetrable shield around him as he advanced on the skith.

No one advanced on a skith. No human, at any rate. Krysta realized she was witnessing something never before seen. Drake was braver than any man she’d ever known, facing down a skith with magical fire as his only protection.

“That fire is something,” Mace said. He’d come to her side as she watched Drake, Wil beside him. With their backs to the only stone building in the square, they were reasonably well protected from enemies, though most of the soldiers had fled. They apparently preferred to let the skiths do their work and gave the disgusting creatures a wide berth to do it in.

Although, to give them credit, between the humans and the dragons, they’d taken out more than half the enemy fighters. Only a few were left to scamper away from the skiths.

And scamper they did, as more skiths showed their ugly maws near the center of the action. Drake fried the skith he faced in short order. It was easier this time—at least it looked that way to Krysta—and another skith slithered in to take its place. The dragons each faced skiths and flamed everything in the creatures’ paths, but more replaced the ones going up in flames.

Mace had to restrain Wil, though if the dragon prince had really wanted to