This part and the last part were so much fun to write (can you tell I really like writing about dragons?)!  I was having serious writer’s block when I got to these parts and all of a sudden, I had inspiration!  I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.

Anyway, I’ll let you read.  No one probably cares how much fun I had, do they? 🙂

 ~The Sacrifice~ 

 

Part Twenty-third: Taken By Surprise

A river of fire was pouring from the dragon’s open mouth when something ducked beneath the blast in a streak of blotched fur. Cyrus slipped under the flames and then jumped up with a snarl, his teeth clamping down around Abadalyx’s throat. The fire flickered out, and the dragon reeled, shaking his head vigorously. The dog’s teeth could not bite through the shimmering scales, but they found a hold and kept it as the monster flailed. Abadalyx bent his long neck down to his stumpy forelegs, and began to tear his claws down the German Shepherd’s sides. Cyrus growled and twisted but held on as the powerful talons scraped over his fur, and lifted for another swipe.

But the dragon was again taken by surprise in the midst of his victory, for at that moment Gimel ran up the path from behind the mountain. Armed with nothing but a pine-branch off the mountain-side, the Shepherd ran up to the monster and struck his wounded shoulder with the stick, hard enough to crack the wood. Abadalyx dropped his claws from Cyrus with a howl of pain and whirled on the young man with a suddenness that threw the German Shepherd from his throat and hurled him against the rocky mountain-side that towered above the ledge. He dove for the unarmed man in rage, forgetting the one who had started the fight in the first place. Before he remembered the Knight of the Eagle, he felt anew the bite of the Erethian sword. Sir Richard aimed for the beast’s heart again, and this time the ancient blade hit its mark. With a last breath that was half snarl and half groan, Abadalyx the Insatiably Greedy sank to the ground before the dark entrance to his lair.

Sir Richard wrested his sword free with one hand, twisted back the dead monster’s head with the other, and cut its throat, before laying the weapon on the ground and sinking to his hands and knees, panting.

“Are you alright, sir?” Gimel asked, after he got his own breath back.

“Help me out of my armor, it’s killing me,” was the only response he got.

This took longer than might have been expected. Gimel had to pry the bloodied mail out of the gashes on his leg and arm, where it had been bent inwards. The Shepherd tore strips off his cloak for the knight to bind the cuts with, and bandaged Cyrus’ wounds. “These aren’t deep,” he told Sir Richard, as he splashed the blood off the dog’s sides in the stream.

“They would be worse if it hadn’t been for you,” Sir Richard answered. “Or if you had followed my advice,” he added with a rueful smile.

Jael walked slowly back onto the ledge then. Her legs were still shaking as she walked over to her master, but she nuzzled him apologetically.

“It’s okay, girl.” He stroked her nose. “Neither of us really knew what we were getting ourselves into, did we?”

“Had you ever fought a dragon before, sir?” Gimel asked, ripping another strip of dark-brown cloth off his cloak.

“No, I had not.” The knight shook his head. “They’re tough.”

“Yes, they are. But you killed that one,” the Shepherd replied. “Brave men always do. Evil won’t win.”

Sir Richard looked up at him thoughtfully. “What this world needs, Gimel, is more men like you.”

“Or like you,” Gimel answered. Sir Richard didn’t think he had seen him smile before, and it vanished quickly as he added, “Or more women like her. Let’s go find her Highness.”