The stone beneath Kael's boots was slick with moss and rain, but he didn't move back. The mother dragon's amber eyes locked on him, unblinking, as smoke rolled from her nostrils in slow, curling streams.
Behind him, Elara nocked an arrow, her breath coming quick. Halric's shield arm twitched, ready to block what couldn't truly be blocked. The boy pressed himself against the stone wall, eyes wide with animal fear.
The mother took another step forward. The ground trembled.
Kael shifted his weight, sword low. The abyss surged in his blood, whispering like a tide against stone. Flesh. Fire. Rip it out.
The dragon struck first.
Her neck snapped forward, jaws gaping. Kael dropped into a roll, heat licking his back as her teeth closed where his head had been. He came up inside her reach, blade flashing for the softer scales beneath her jaw.
The strike bit deep — but not deep enough. Her head jerked away, ripping the steel from the wound. Black-red blood splattered the stone, sizzling where it fell.
Halric roared, charging from the side. His hammer slammed into her leg joint with a crack like breaking stone. The mother bellowed, a sound that rattled the air, then swept her tail in a wide arc.
It hit Halric full in the chest. He flew backward into the rock wall with a sickening thud.
"Elara!" Kael barked.
She was already moving. An arrow hissed past Kael's ear, burying itself in the soft membrane of the dragon's half-open eye. The mother roared again, rearing back — and exhaled fire.
Kael grabbed Elara and shoved her flat against the stone. The blast scorched over them, heat so intense his vision swam. The moss on the outcrop burst into flame, smoke stinging their eyes.
The abyss roared in his head. Now. While she's blind.
Kael pushed off the wall and ran straight at her. He leapt onto a boulder, then higher, catching one of her neck spines with his free hand. She thrashed, trying to throw him, but he clung on, scrambling toward her skull.
Her wing flared, catching him in the ribs, but he kept climbing. His sword came up in both hands — and drove down into the ruined eye.
The blade sank to the hilt. The dragon's scream was pure fury, the sound vibrating through Kael's bones. She jerked her head violently, and Kael lost his grip, hitting the stone hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.
Before he could rise, her shadow fell over him. Her jaws opened wide, teeth glistening.
An arrow whistled past and buried itself deep in her throat. Then another. Elara's bowstring sang, each shot aimed for the tender gaps in the armor.
The mother hesitated — just for a breath.
It was enough.
Kael rolled to his feet, pain flaring in his side, and rushed her again. The abyss drowned out everything but the target before him. He slid under her snapping jaws, came up beneath her chest, and drove his blade upward through the softer belly plating.
It pierced deep.
The dragon convulsed, a wet, choking sound rattling her throat. She reared, blood pouring in heavy sheets over Kael. He wrenched the sword free, stumbling back.
Her tail lashed once more, wild and uncoordinated, before her legs buckled. The massive body crashed onto the stone with a final, shuddering exhale of smoke.
Kael stood over her, chest heaving, blade dripping. The abyss whispered satisfaction, a dark, lingering hunger. More.
Halric groaned from the wall, clutching his side. "Tell me… that's the last one."
Kael glanced at the corpse. "For now."
Elara lowered her bow, her hands shaking. "You're covered in blood."
"It's not mine."
The boy stepped forward, staring at the massive, lifeless head. "You killed her."
Kael sheathed his sword slowly. "We killed her."
But even as he said it, he knew the forest would not be quiet for long. Something else would come to claim this place — and perhaps, to claim them.