The bark skinned her fingers as she clasped the branch. She kicked her legs frantically, attempting to haul herself up over the bough but to no avail. A thunderous crash berated her ears as the palace collapsed upon the ground behind her, and she almost screamed from the sound. She stared dead ahead and breathed deep, trying to regather her wits 'till finally she swung herself onto a lower branch and stumbled her way to the earth. She fled to the cover of the forest wilds, switching her eyes this way and that in search of pursuing Thyrians, but none appeared. Perhaps they hadn't spotted her after all.
She raced along the perimeter of the city, refusing to leave the veil of the thicker trees, hoping to identify the way she had approached Duruileon the previous night. Still, her heart pounded so hard that it hurt. The baggage bounced against her sides. She couldn't discern how long she'd been running. Surely, she must be halfway around the city by now? She halted at the sound of dragon laughter, a horrible clatter that spooked her into thinking they had found her. She twisted herself all about, then realized it was coming from somewhere beyond her veil of trees.
She crept over towards the brink, hid behind the broadest oak she could find, and peered into the vast wreckage of the city, where the temple lay strewn some hundred yards away. Shards of glass, broken oak limbs, and splintered ivory scattered across the seared garden. At least a dozen dragons hovered around the dismantled structure, and at the center of them stood the alpha, almost as tall as the arching maimed tree, his fangs grinning eerily and his eyes glinting merrily over some great discovery.
"My brothers!" roared Duhra, and all the dragons silenced. He reared back on his haunches, and raised his foreclaw, a strange emerald light glowing from in between his talons. "We have our prize!" At once the clan baled with thunderous delight, stomping their feet upon the ground like an applause. Fidelma clutched at the bark. She inclined her angled ears to listen.
"At last, our salvation is at hand!" The roaring grew louder, and the trees trembled. Duhra lowered his voice so that she could barely hear him. "They said I was too young to rule our land, remember that?" His companions snorted and seemed to scoff with him. "Wait until Valon sees what a kingly gift we bring, then we'll see who'll take his rightful place at the high throne. Ten years our kinfolk have been without a King, but no more. No more!" The legion of serpents reared as their triumphant voices rumbled all across the ruins. Fidelma's gut churned, and she knew she could linger no longer. I have to tell Demetri! With that she flew eastward into the deeper depths of the wood.
YOU ARE READING
The Shattered Dragonslayer
Fantasy*Cover Artwork by Chaotic_Monki* "Whether the dragons were to be defeated and the village earn its independence, or the dragons were to slaughter him and everyone he knew, the change promised by the impending revolt was inescapable." When his humble...
