Apex [Imperial: Book 2]

Chapter 12

Fumes of smoke smothered the once glorious city. Ash coated the buildings, and the ruins of crumbled towers cluttered the streets. The previous time I'd been there, the streets had been bustling with hundreds of humans. Now, barely a flicker of movement could be seen within the city.

In front of me, a copper dragoness whined indignantly, fear lacing her voice. "You want us to fight them?"

Even as she uttered the words, my gaze landed on the army. It was massive; consisting of what had to be several thousands of people. All of them held weapons.

My breath caught. Was there even that many humans in a city?

"Yes," Lord Raffael frowned, as though he'd thought such a thing would be obvious. "But you won't be alone; even as we speak, Erakor is readying its army. Perhaps no where near as big, yet it should be enough to distract most of the army while you fight from above. Hopefully, just your presence will force them to retreat."

At his answer, the copper dragon rumbled quietly, and her red eyes darkened slightly.

"Come on!" the human urged, even as Isaelle plunged down towards Erakor.

Hesitating, I looked down towards the massive army. How could the lord be so sure that none of us would die? He wouldn't know, unless it was a trap. And now that I could see the city's ruins myself, I doubted it was a trap.

Releasing with a shuddering breath, I snapped my wings against my flank. Within a matter of moments, I was diving down behind the icy blue dragoness and her rider, alongside the rest of my wing.

It did not take long for the massive army to notice us. Their shouts carried on the breeze as they raised their weapons and pointed at us. Some of them scurried away fearfully, but others... Others grinned at each other, as though they believed they'd easily be able to catch or kill all of us.

My eyes narrowed. Anger rushed through my veins, and a low, threatening rumble escaped my throat. Did they really think that they'd be able to defeat us? Fools! They might have their numbers, but we had fire and fangs and claws!

Roaring a furious challenge at the humans, I lunged down towards the army. Within moments, a stream of blazing silver fires escaped my gaping jaws. And I wasn't alone, either. Most of the wing had followed me down, already savagely snapping at the humans or spitting flames in their direction.

Finally, the army seemed to have realised their danger. No longer were they smiling, waving their swords around with excitement. At our approach, many turned and fled.

Exactly as they should be, I noted with satisfaction. Perhaps there would be no casualties after all - like Lord Raffael had claimed.

The rumbling roars of dragons echoed through the sky, punctuating the horrified screams of the humans. No longer was the army lined up, but scrambling away desperately, trying to escape the throng of massive beasts that circled around them. 

Drawing my fangs back in a snarl, I drifted closer to the humans. Marveling at the way they cast one glance towards me, before hurriedly changing directions. Doing everything they could to escape.

But they could never escape. Despite the sheer amount of them, we were fast. Fast, strong, dangerous. The only way any could survive was if we allowed them too. Or if they started fighting back - which from the way they were reacting, I knew was unlikely.

Drawing closer, I snapped my jaws towards the closest human. Inhaling slowly, I readied myself to breathe another spurt of flame when a glimmer of light blue caught my eye.