Valley of Enemies

There weren't always dragons in the valley.

It's a stupid thought. But it's what comes to mind as Drakyn dives to the side avoiding a ball of fire hurling at his head.

He's breathing heavily. Sweat drips down his face, arms tight as a spring and sore from the draw of his massive longbow.

I'm going to die. The realization is probably less upsetting than it should be. Really it's more upsetting to think that he's going to fucking die right here like an over cooked loaf of bread forgotten in a fucking oven. boots slide through the dirt, and he regains his footing, knocking an arrow and pulling it back, searching high in the sky. He's waiting- waiting for the bright flash of midnight blue scales.

Fucking thing is fast. And it matches the damn color of the sky. Even with half the canopies of the trees around them burning like oversized fucking torches the thing is too fucking fast. Too hard to see- until.

There.

He swivels his aim towards a glint of something reflecting in the hellish orange light above him.

Damn thing is so quick. He draws the bow, ready to fire.

Somebody shrieks in pain. The tenuous hold he has on his focus snaps. The sudden piercing sound is all it takes, pulling his attention away from the target. His eyes shift at the last possible second as his third specialty arrow slips from his fingers. It goes wide and he curses. Fucking things aren't cheap. .

His head whips around. Thirty feet away the thing has Perce pinned to the ground, a single large claw through her middle. He hadn't even noticed her there.

A growl tears from her, raw and savage, she drives her sword towards the creature's luminous chest. The beast bats the weapon away, sending It skittering toward the trees.

Drakyn readies another arrow, willing strength and stillness into his limbs.

"I'm going to fucking end you!" Vieren charges towards it, having worked himself free from the entanglement of smoldering tents he'd been flung into.

The dark blue scales in the dragons chest seem to glow a beautiful deep orange, growing brighter and brighter- Vieren is a fucking idiot, Drakyn thinks, Perce can't be saved now. The claws are already through her armour buried deep into her abdomen.

This isn't how it is supposed to go.

The lizard is the size of a small fishing boat. It's about the same size of a full-grown wyvern, but not quite. This lizard was most definitely not a wyvern. It was most definitely a dragon, and the reports were actually true- for once.

The dragon's head bobs, attention in the running man instead of the trapped woman now. It snorts- if dragons can snort, embers if orange flame flare from its nose.

Damn thing is gonna blast him. Vieren will be charred. Drakyn needs to make this shot.

The orange glow becomes a target, Drakyn prays to whatever god it's a vulnerable one. The arrow flies forward with the rush of his unleashed breath.

It's also at that instant that Perce manages to pull out her hunting knife burying it between the soft tissue between toes of the beast looped in her middle.

Its chest rumbles, dangerous and deep, claws squeeze tighter, its wings snap open. Vieren roars again, sword raised high, he seems to run faster.

Drakyn tracks his arrow, convinced that if nothing else he at least needs to know where one is so he can recover it later- if he lives to see later. It flys true, only now the Dragon is askew and it buries itself into the things shoulder. A hard solid thwack, that instead of eliciting a cry of pain it causes the building fire ball to sputter out in a thin burst of flames aimed too high. They blast over Vierne's head.

The dragon's deep gold eyes find Drakyn's. Piercing even in the dark. It launches itself into the air.

Vieren takes his swing, his sword clangs off the scales- but he'd paid good damn money for it, just like Drakyn's arrows, and while the blade wasn't solid far steel it was edged with it and sometimes a sharp edge is good enough. A red wound opens up along its front limb.

The beast snarls, narrowed eyes darting between them both. Vieren takes a deep breath and hefts his blade again, preparing for another charge.

The snap of a second bow string. Cassidy takes a shot at it from behind Drakyn, there's a dripping red slash across his face, she has one eye squeezed firmly shit, red leaks from it like years.

Her arrows aren't the same as Drakyn's, and his bow doesn't pack the same amount of power but Cassidy is a faster shot and they puncture easily through thin membranous skin of its flared wings.

Drakyn takes his fifth shot and this one lodges into the things center.

Vieren slashes at it again, and for the first time since this thing had darkened the skies above them Drakyn thinks they actually have a chance. It's wounded, and bloody. Powerful wings best, clawing at the air, trying to lift itself away.

"Don't let it get in the air." Cassidy shouts another of her little arrows tearing through a wing.

But they can't stop it spins, tail slamming I to Vieren and throwing him away before it takes off up into the sky.

It tilts as it flies, wings working too hard. A few drops of warm blood rain from the sky. It's hurt. Very hurt.

Woods crashes and crunches in its wake.

"Perce." Vieren is beside the woman, kneeling in the dirt. She's limp and quiet.

"Come on." Cassidy tugs on Drakyn's arm, urging him to come with her and chase the hurt thing down.

"Your eye." He gapes seeing her face clearly for the first time. Where the claw had raked across her face it had also torn out the organ.

She winces. "Let's not make it for nothing." She encourages him forward.

"You need help " Drakyn's muscles are shaky, the adrenaline surge of the battle wearing down now that the immediate threat had left and he's presented with the reality of his units injuries.

"We need that fucking lizard." She spits.

Drakyn grits his teeth, eyes flashing around the ravaged campsite. Vieren is cold and still, stroking the hand of his dead sister.

Cassidy, Nearly eyeless and still full of fire- but for how long until the pain of that injury sets in and she's useless- easy pickings for the beast to finish off. He searches for the last member of his scouting team. "Niles-"

Cassidy's teeth clench, her grip tightens on Drakyn's arm. "You don't want to see it." She says quietly. "He took a fire ball- I had to." She swallows quickly. "No one deserves that much pain."

"It's gone. It's not our job to kill it." His voice is tight. This stupid beast wiped out half his gods damned team in under five minutes. The rest of the unit would have seen the fight and already be in their way.

"Fuck it isn't." Cassidy hisses, her hand comes up and she stops at the last second before rubbing the vacant spot where her eye used to be. "It fucking killed Niles and Perce. It took my gods fucking eye. You gonna let it get away with that?"

Drakyn's fist clench. He has one arrow left to try and kill this thing.

A half swallowed sobbing sound comes from Vieren. The stench of burnt meat lingers in the air. "Bandage your eye and help Vieren pull his shit together." Drakyn stares at Cassidy. "See if you can't salvage some supplies and stop these fires from burning the whole damn forest down. I'm gonna track it. When Commander Erickson's people show up, send them after me. This thing is gonna learn the hard way it shouldn't have fucked with us."

Cassidy's face is still something between a grimace and a wince. The painkilling adrenaline is wearing off, if her sagging posture is any indication. Her remaining blue eye is glossy with pain, and anger. "Be careful." She grunts.

Drakyn nods and pulls away, heading towards the path of destruction marked with broken and charred treetops.

"And Captain-" Cassidy calls after him. "Fuck it up for us."

He snorts a response, swiftly following the trail. A small smile twitches on his mouth. If only they hadn't already lost so much he might be able to enjoy the hunt.

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