Page 48 of Dragon His Heels
He glanced to the right. The other two had ganged up on Talia. She was holding her own, twisting this way and that, not letting them get behind her or close enough to bite or slash her, but she couldn’t fend them off forever. With a roar, Gabe dropped, flying underneath the dragon attacking him.
One of the Talia’s attackers didn’t realize he was coming, and Gabe was able to get close enough to latch his front talons on the guy’s back. He reached down and clamped his jaws on the exposed neck, tearing off a chunk of scaly flesh. Probably wouldn’t kill him, but it definitely hurt enough that the dragon screamed and twisted out of his grip and then flew away over the lake.
A streak of lightning zapped from the clouds above the dragon, straight down, catching him in the crosshairs. With another agonizing scream, the creature plummeted, splashing into the lake. Gabe could hear the sound of his skin sizzling when it hit the water.
Two more.
He glanced at his flying partner.
Talia!
But it was too late. Like him, she’d been distracted by the lightning strike, and one of the remaining Rojo dragons had caught her, wrapped his tail around her neck, and was squeezing. Gabe flapped his wings as fast he as he could, trying to get to her. The more she struggled, the tighter the tail wound around her, cutting off her air supply.
Stop fighting,he commanded, but she didn’t respond.
Talia!
She was growing weaker, her struggles slowing, until her head drooped, exposing her neck. The other dragon uncoiled his tail and went in for the kill, his mouth wide open, sharp, pointed teeth glistening despite the low light.
Gabe zoomed straight at her attacker, slamming into the other dragon before he could latch onto her neck. He and the Rojo dragon both went into tailspins, while Talia fell toward earth, unconscious or too weak to flap her wings.
Talia!
He couldn’t right himself fast enough, couldn’t turn toward the ground so he could fly after her. By the time he’d shaken off the hit, he was so far away, there was no way in hell he could get to her.
No!
He started anyway, but then jerked out of his nosedive when two dragons swept out of the low bank of clouds, flying straight for Talia.
Zilarra dragons.
He watched as they used their talons to each grab a wing, right at the joint, holding her limp form between them as they slowly sank to the ground.
She’s safe now. And she’s not dead. She better not be dead.
Gabe turned his focus to his adversaries.
Time to end this.
Yeah, we need to go check on her,his dragon replied.
Can we focus?
He belched a stream of fire at the nearest dragon, who easily dodged it. Which was exactly what Gabe wanted. Abruptly sweeping to the left, he caught the dragon mid-dodge, his talons scraping across the guy’s back, drawing blood.
That looks like it hurts.
The dragon screamed and spit fire as it tried to fly but was failing miserably. After a few moments of futile attempts, it finally spread its wings and glided toward the ground.
The remaining dragon came at Gabe from the right, flying through a cloud that had heretofore concealed him from view. He slashed out with a talon, whipped his tail at Gabe, and belched fire all at the same time.
Damn, multi-talented.
Gabe twisted this way and that, avoiding a direct hit, although his own tail was singed. The Rojo dragon came at him again, using the same move, but this time, Gabe dropped low, avoiding all three hits, and then he lifted his face and blew fire as the dragon flew over top of him, hitting it in the stomach. The dragon screamed and rolled onto his back, probably to allow the rain to cool his scorched skin.
Gabe didn’t give him time to recover. He flew at the dragon, dragging a talon across the already sensitive skin he’d exposed by rolling onto his back. The dragon screamed again and belched fire, this time catching the end of one of Gabe’s wings.
Fuck, that hurt.
