The Iron Seer

Chapter 18 - Cliff's Edge

The wyrm's wings beat a relentless rhythm through the air. As we neared the cave, my heart sped up to echo that beat, becoming faster and faster the closer we became.

The landing jolted me from my seat on the wyrm's back; I landed on the rough floor of the ledge, stumbling slightly before regaining my balance. One-Eye and the other wyrms gathered near the entrance, restless. Tongues darted out of mouths, eyes glowed, claws clenched and unclenched, and tails twitched. The leader of the wyrms, One-Eye, spoke. "I hope you are satisfied with the answers we have given you."

"I am." I stood tall. My injury was healed, my mind was clear, and I had one ambition left in mind - revenge.

Revenge for North. Revenge for Izotz. Desire for it sang through my veins and roiled in my gut, twisting and burning like a hot snake writhing inside me. Ever since I'd figured out that One-Eye was responsible for their deaths, my mind had been focused, determined. Even the news about these mysterious Iron Fey could not unsettle me or distract me from my goal. A goal that would protect Glassbarrow, would end this cycle of death.

"One-Eye," I said. "You are guilty of the crime of murdering residents of Glassbarrow. I hereby challenge you to a duel."

***

For a moment, there was only painful, icy silence. Then the wyrms burst out into cackling laughter that shuddered along the back of my neck. "I was planning to eat you anyway," said One-Eye, grinning, displaying teeth that were jagged shards of bone.

My pulse hiccupped, my gaze darting around the cavern. As long as none of the other wyrms interfered, I could do this. I had to do this.

One-Eye began to slowly circle me. Mirroring his movements, I focused my thoughts into forming a bow of ice in one hand, a handful of arrows in the other, before sinking into a crouch. I rotated on the balls of my feet, following One-Eye's motion. My heart pounded in my ears, certainly loud enough for the wyrms to hear it with their heightened hearing.

The subtle contraction of the wyrm's leg muscles before he pounced did not prepare me for the viciousness of his attack.

One-Eye launched himself forward. I was prepared to duck underneath his belly and stab upward with an arrowhead, but at the last second, the wyrm's powerful body twisted around. His jaws nearly closed around my skull.

With scarcely time to breathe, I whipped around, sending a barrage of arrows into the wyrm's face, but he took them in his side instead: three arrows, protruding from the leathery hide covering his ribs.

The wyrm retreated back a few steps, falling back into that slow, prowling movement. As it did so, it lifted a clawed foot to break the arrows where they protruded from his side, but the arrowheads were still buried deep, blood dripping onto the ice-and-stone cavern floor even as the broken shafts fell to the ground.

I now only had two arrows, clenched in my fist. I could make more, but time was running out. I had to end this.

This time, I moved first, firing an arrow toward the wyrm's face when he was no longer between me and the door. Behind me, only an open ledge of ice and the sheer drop to the rocks below.

The wyrm did exactly as I hoped he would; he swiped at me with his gigantic front claws and forced me back, back, closer to the edge. Still, I did not fire my last arrow.

I stumbled, falling to the ground, the shock of the landing jolting up my spine as my tailbone struck the hard floor.

The wyrm leered above me. "Foolish elf child. You dared to challenge me. Now I will make a meal of you." He licked his chops. "I might even send the leftovers to your father."