Duality : Book 1 of Codex Elysium

Chapters 51 (edited)

Chapter 51

Present time: Elysium

"Oh! Wow! Look Cass, Dragons!"

Cassie sent a harsh blow at the Fury's arm, forcing the warrior to drop her sword. Surely, she had misheard Alexia? Casting a quick glance over at the young girl she had come to think of as a sister, Cassie saw that Alexia was still on her knees and staring wide eyed and pointing up the street. Her face was covered in blood and she had two impressive black eyes but it was all forgotten in her excitement. A roar from the Fury she had disarmed drew Cassie's attention back to the fight, she quickly drove her blade home then asked Alexia.

"What did you just say?"

"I said dragons, look!"

Cassie ignored the Fury in front of her and looked in the direction Alexia was pointing.

"Wow look aren't they beautiful!" exclaimed Alexia.

"Honey, we aren't at the zoo, looking at cute little penguins!"

"But they are so beautiful!"

Cassie twisted her sword and ripped it free of the Furies neck and turned to face the new horror heading their way.

Massive men tugged and pulled on rusted chains as they dragged the dragons down the street. Whips cracked and men cursed and swore. The dragons were over twenty feet tall, sharp spikes on their tails gouged chunks from walls, claws dug into the cobbled streets, sharp yellow teeth snapped at their captures. Their green-scaled bodies were covered in cuts and slashes dripping black blood. Three sharp horns rose from their triangular shaped heads, yellow serpentine eyes looked on the world with hate and fury. They beat leathery wings at the sky but couldn't take off. The Furies cursed and swore as they dragged the beasts ever onwards.

"They are hurting them! We have to help them!"

Cassie gaped at Alexia then shook her head in disbelief. Here they were in the middle of a war zone, fighting to the death and Alexia was more concerned about cruelty to dragons!

"Sweetie, I don't think they need our help, they look pretty pissed off to me!"

As if to underline this point one of the dragons roared and sent a torrent of fire their way.

Cassie tackled Alexia aside just in time. She smothered the smouldering sleeve of her robe then yelled at Alexia.

"You have got to snap out of this, we can't just stand around staring at dragons all day!"

"Did you see those thick metal bands around their legs? That must be weighing them down, stopping them from flying!"

Cassie could have slapped Alexia at that moment. How could she be so calm? How could she notice something like that?

"No! I didn't notice that, I was too busy looking at all their sharp teeth and claws."

Grabbing her sisters hand Cassie began dragging Alexia back down the street towards the others. Behind them the dragons continued their pursuit, toppling walls and buildings with powerful swings of their tails.

Eva lay motionless, struggling to breath, the arrow must have taken her in the lung. Hella stood over her, bow drawn ready for the killing shot. Tears spilled from Eva's eyes as she thought of Jason, some part of her still hoped he would come racing to the rescue and kill the demon woman. But he was too far away. He didn't even know she had been hurt. Eva cried harder as she realized that she didn't know if he was still alive. Maybe that's why he wasn't charging to the rescue, because he was dead.