Page 51 of Of Scale and Blood

Tell Rua to fly up and come in from behind,I said, thentwisted around and signaled the same information to Hannity, just to be sure she knew what was happening. I had no idea how well she could see me given the distance between us, and we really did need to find a better means of communication between riders, but for now, we just had to use what worked on patrols.

I’d barely finished signaling when Rua soared up sharply, her red scales gleaming bloody fire in the hazy light. As she disappeared into the haze of cloud, I ordered Yara to attack the left “arm” of their flight, which not only gave them another drakkon to worry about but also a lesser mass of drakkon flesh to target.

The riders didn’t split. They didn’t go after Yara, or even send a rider to investigate Rua’s disappearance.

They just kept coming toward Kaia and me.

Because they knew us, I thought. Because they knew the threat we represented.

May not see Rua and Yara have flamers, Kaia said.My sight sharper than yours. Perhaps gilded riders same.

Possibly.Especially when all four riders were wearing helmets. They surely had to restrict their peripheral vision, even if only a little bit.

Am high, came Yara’s thought.Dive now?

Yes. And don’t bellow and warn them you’re coming.

You no fun.

Apparently not, I replied wryly, then said to Kaia,Let’s cover her descent. Roll sideways and I’ll flame the bastards.

She immediately did so, the movement so fast she almost unseated me. The minute her belly was partially exposed, the four riders in the “arms” raised their tube weapons and fired. I unleashed a fire steam and swept it across the sprays, setting them alight in an effort to take some of the momentum away. As they began to fizz and burn, I directed my flames on, pushing them straight down the middle of their V before looping them around the lead bird’s foot, just above the metal band. Metal might resist my flames, if only for a few seconds, but flesh could not.

As the bird’s clawed foot fell away, the poor creature screeched and briefly fought its rider’s control. Then Yara dropped out of the haze, a red streak of fury intent on murder. She hit the lead bird hard, forcing it down and away from its companions, her talons snaring and then piercing the body of the rider, slicing him in two. Then she rolled away, and Kele unleashed her flames, sweeping them across the length of the bird’s body, melting feather, flesh, and then bone. As blood and metal dripped like rain to the ground, the poor creature screeched again—a sound that ended abruptly as Yara snapped her tail across the bird’s head and broke its neck.

As it spiraled lifelessly to the ground, two of the remaining four came straight at Kaia and me while the third rolled around and chased after Yara. The fourth retreated, flying back toward the ruins of the administration building, perhaps to find reinforcements.

It didn’t make it.

Rua appeared out of the gloom and dropped down hard onto the bird and the rider, her teeth tearing into the bird’s neck. Hannity unleashed her flames a heartbeat later, looping them around the creature’s body and attacking the tender flesh underneath. It was dead well before Rua ripped away and then spat out the bird’s head.

Then my whole body lurched sideways, the ropes snapping taut as Kaia flung herself down and left. I’d been so damn busy watching the other drakkons that I’d forgotten our own situation and the fact we remained under threat.

Two thick streams of brown shot past Kaia’s shoulder; the majority missed but the tail end caught me, splattering fine droplets across my clothes and my unprotected face. I swore and twisted around, spraying fire at the oncoming gilded riders. One bird immediately dropped away while the second flew on. I let the first go and dealt with the immediate threat, flicking my flames under its belly, attacking the unprotected flesh there, punching a hole deep into its flesh and burning it from the inside out.

It rolled away from us and dropped upside down toward the sea, a movement that blocked its rider’s line of sight, preventing him from firing at us a second time. I spotted him a heartbeat later, leaping from his mount, diving feet first into the sea. Flames flickered around my hand, but I didn’t unleash, waiting for the rider to come up. He didn’t, so maybe the sheer weight of his armor had dragged him down before he could remove it all.

Hold, Kaia said, barely giving me the time to do so before she did a belly roll and somehow came up upside down under the retreating second bird. With one quick but deadly slash of her claws, she gutted the thing. As its blood and innards splattered across the two of us, the rider twisted and fired his tube, the brown liquid skimming the very edge of Kaia’s right wing. She bellowed and snapped her tail sideways, smashing bird and rider away. Then she rolled sideways again, trailing her burned wingtip through the sea as she flew toward the shoreline.

There was murder on her mind, but her target wasn’t the remaining bird—Yara and Rua were already dealing with that.

She was going after the ones who remained grounded.

Kaia—

Do this. Kill them. Crunch them.

The riders?—

First fly, you burn, second fly, I kill.

There was, apparently, no arguing with our queen when she had her mind set on a definitive course of action. And while it did make strategic sense to attack an enemy while they were in disarray, my inner alarm of incoming trouble had suddenly ratcheted up several notches.

When you crunch, try not to bite into the intestines. Remember, these birds produce acidic shit, so you may just burn your mouth if you bite too deep. And please, stay wary, as I really think they’ve something else planned.

I have plan. They die.

Which was a good plan, as far as it went, but a little lacking when it came to dealing with all the finer details an attack entailed.

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