Page 112 of Upon Buried Embers
I try to catch my breath as a roar comes from ahead, and my eyes snap to the sound. Drogonah restlessly shuffles on his feet.
A blue dragon is up ahead, growling and snarling, teeth bared as it crashes into tree after tree, looking unstable on its legs.
What’s wrong with it?
It’s a little taller than Escor, and nowhere near the size of Drogonah, but when it opens its mouth and fire bursts from it, its size doesn’t matter. It can still burn everything in its wake.
“Oh Gods,” I gasp, looking at the now burning tree.
He’s not far away from camp at all.
Drogonah takes a step forward, and to my horror, Rohan approaches the dragon, axe in one hand while his other is held out to the dragon that’s still roaring, but there’s something else wrong with it.
I rub at my chest.
The dragon roars again, his throat glowing that orange-red and I scramble up from my seat, bracing myself as I look at the drop to the ground.
I don’t think Drogonah will help me down.
Deciding it will have to do, I grab the edge of the saddle with one hand, and slide down Drogonah’s scales, feet first, wanting to get as close to the ground as possible. To my surprise, Drogonah moves his wing in front of me, and hesitantly, I grab onto the spiked tip with my free hand, and then the other so I’m dangling in the air.
He drops his wing, none too gently, but I land on the ground all the same, stumbling before righting myself.
I can’t believe I just did that.
“No, you willnothurt my people,” Rohan shouts at the dragon, twirling the axe in his hand by the handle. “Calmdown.”
His tone is full of command and authority, and I would cripple under the weight of it, but this dragon seems lost to it.
He releases another stream of fire and I stumble back in shock as it aims directly at Rohan.
Oh no.
Rohan rolls away quickly, and the dragon moves with him, leaving the ground scorched in its wake as Rohan tries to get closer to him.
“Help him, Drogonah.” I say, panic in my throat, looking at him as his head lowers, gums peeling back.
I step aside, making room as Drogonah moves forward, a growl ripping from his throat. The blue dragon stops his fire and snaps his head to him.
That’s the moment Rohan needed apparently, because in a show of speed and strength, he runs up to the side of the dragon, grabs a hold of a spike with one hand and hauls himself up onto him.
I stare in disbelief as Rohan straddles the base of his neck and the dragon goeswild. It bucks and twists its body, head snapping back in an attempt to remove Rohan, but he never gets him.
“Calm down!” Rohan shouts again, and the dragon rears its head back, breathing fire into the sky erratically. Rohan fumbles on his back, and I look more closely to see what he’s doing. That’s when I realize there’s some sort of net around the dragon.
That’s why he’s behaving so erratically.
Rohan keeps trying to free it, the blue dragon acts crazier, bashing into trees, spewing fire here and there.
It won’t stop.
“Drogonah,” I whisper, not knowing what to do. Can’t he do the claw on the neck thing like he did to Escor to keep him still while Rohan removes the net?
I take a step closer to them unconsciously, and a wave of pain hits me. I almost teeter to the side because of the force of it.
It… hurts.
Confused but compelled, I move forward, Drogonah’s growl rumbling as I catch sight of the blue dragon’s tail. It swishes back and forth, knocking into the trees at its back.
