When the men heard Lawrence's shouts, followed by the dragon's distant screams, Demitri yelled, "Arrows!" He and Kevran, standing on opposite sides of the pit, notched an arrow before setting the waxed end aflame. Near the center of the pit, underneath a high shelf, the ballista was loaded with a larger version of an arrow and its end set alight as well. "Aim!" Everyone pointed the flaming missiles at the pit's entrance.
Demitri looked toward the top of the two cliffs above the entrance. Evander held tightly onto the cragged rock.
"Ready, Evander?"
"Yes, sir!"
By then, Lawrence's cries were louder, and though they no longer heard the dragon's shrieks, the rush in the air indicated it still was airborne.
"Demitri!" Yohan yelled. "It could fly right over the cliffs!"
Damn it, he was right. Who knew if the dragon would just be content with staying in the sky and filling the pit with fire until they all burned? "Evander!" Demitri called. "Tell Lawrence to ground the dragon!"
Evander sucked in a huge breath before bellowing, "Lawrence! Lawrence! Don't come in! Make the dragon follow you through the entrance!"
A cloud of dust drifted through the entrance, an indication that Lawrence had skidded to a halt outside. Demitri gripped his bow and arrow tighter as he heard Lawrence scream up to the incoming dragon.
"Oi! You, ugly! Look down here! You want me? Then you'll have to come down and get me yourself!"
They heard him yell before a whoosh, and then a jet of fire burst through the entrance. Demitri and the other artillery men reacted by ducking and recoiling, even though the flames couldn't reach them. However, above the flaming entrance, Evander climbed higher.
"Was that all you got, you stupid beast? Get the fuck down here and make an actual effort to eat me! Eat me!"
Yohan laughed, though it sounded strained. "You got to give it to the bastard—he has courage."
They heard another whoosh, but instead of a fire, the ground shook, nearly dislodging Evander from the cliffs. A moment later, Lawrence raced through the entrance, going straight for the nearest boulder behind which he'd left his bow and arrows. The dragon shrieked. The ground rocked as it came charging after Lawrence. Its head appeared underneath the two cliffs, snarling and wide-eyed.
"Hold, Evander!" Demitri cried when he saw the scout move. He waited and watched as the dragon's neck slid into view, and then, with a shake that moved every inch of the pit's walls, the dragon's body became stuck in the tight space. Evander let out a bellow before he threw himself off the cliffs. The dragon screamed as the human dropped on its heavily scaled neck. "Aim!" Demitri cried as the dragon began to shake its head, trying to fling Evander off. He and the entire company, by this time including Lawrence, pointed their flaming arrows at the dragon's head. At Demitri's second cry, they all fired. The three arrows and the ballista missile sailed through the air, leaving smoky trails in their wake. The dragon flung its face skyward and screamed as the fiery arrows hit against its jaw and neck, but none of the missiles came close to its open mouth. With the second round of fiery arrows, the dragon became more preoccupied with dodging the artillery than with the human making his way down its neck and onto its back. Its wings were pressed against its sides because of the cliffs. They were not completely within Evander's reach, but by leaning far from one side to another, he could access the "elbows" of the wings. When he secured himself on the part of its back in between the two wings, the dragon reared its head back and opened its mouth.
"The cloud!" Yohan cried as the green breath formed in the dragon's mouth. "Fire!"
The flaming arrows soared through the air toward the green cloud, but the missiles either whizzed past the dragon's head or the fire that quickly transformed from the green cloud disintegrated the arrows. The dragon filled the pit with its fiery breath. The artillery men barely had time to hide behind boulders or climb on top of higher shelves and evade death. When the fire stopped, the dragon let out an ear-ringing cry. Demitri stuck his head out and saw Evander with his sword in hand, slashing at the exposed wings. Though he couldn't pierce through the bone structure that made up the wings, Evander was actually tearing at the thin membranes, releasing the oily black blood.
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The Pirate's Legacy: New Horizons
AventuraCalypso is missing. Ten years have passed since Annalyn's defeat, but war still rages on, this time by the gods themselves. When Em learns of a way to end the war, she must reunite with Roger to find it and rescue Calypso before time runs out. Last...
