Pteros's descriptions and her own brief encounter, she knew the older to be Talon, but who was the younger? A sibling, or even offspring, perhaps?
Talon approached Khisanth slowly, cautiously looking behind her. 'Who are you, and why have you disturbed our sleep?' he asked. The second dragon glanced nervously around the sky.
'Don't you recognize me?' Khisanth snorted. 'Of course, you did strike my tree and flee like a coward without facing me.' Where was Pteros? Khisanth screamed inwardly, glancing to the skies yet again. The best moment to strike was fleeting away.
The bigger dragon's eyes narrowed suspiciously as memory dawned. His comrade, who had been watching the area behind Khisanth, stepped back toward the ruins without a word and suddenly stiffened. She tapped Talon's shoulder and pointed somewhere beyond Khisanth.
Khisanth twisted her neck and was angered to see Pteros circling high above, clearly visible. Already the younger dragon was working her way around to the left of Khisanth. The smooth tone of Talon's voice was soothing and appealing to Khisanth, but she remembered Pteros once mentioning the dragon's magic, and she steeled herself against the voice.
What was Pteros doing? Why had he shown himself, and why wasn't he attacking?
Khisanth had no time left for wondering. The young dragon was nearly behind her, and Talon continued talking in those flat, steady tones that probed into Khisanth's mind, dulling her wits. He was weaving a spell of some sort.
I must get above them, Khisanth realized dimly. Focusing her strength into one mighty leap, she took to the sky. Her head was clouded as if filled with fog, but the sheer physical effort of the standing take off and steady climb rapidly cleared her judgment.
As soon as Khisanth was airborne, both dragons were after her. She had a small advantage from being the first into the air, but she would lose altitude if she turned to fight. She contin shy;ued climbing, pushing her wings as hard as possible, but Talon and his partner were keeping pace.
Khisanth glanced skyward. Pteros was still circling! 'Is he insane?' she growled. Then she heard a deafening roar from below, and a blast of hot bile splashed against her hind legs and tail. The pain was unbelievable. It burned like nothing she had ever felt before. Khisanth thought she knew what an acid burn felt like from those few times when she had contacted some of her own spew. But those experiences were nothing compared to this. She felt as if her lower half was being scraped away by hot needles.
Anger consumed her, at these two dragons for attacking her, but also at Pteros for what she could only consider betrayal. Was he planning to watch her die, or was he simply too scared to intervene?
Desperate now, reeling from the pain and hardly able to continue flying, Khisanth wheeled in the air and pointed her shy;self at Talon. She did not just dive, but drove herself earthward with all the force of her wings. She could see the green spittle still dripping from Talon's pulled-back lips. The dragon's eyes were filled with hateful glee, but the look turned to shock at the sight of Khisanth's sudden plunge.
Talon tried to swerve away, but Khisanth was moving too fast. The two massive dragons smashed together, and Khi shy;santh locked her limbs around her foe. Her claws raked across Talon's back and belly. Her jaws closed on the twisting, ser shy;pentine neck, fangs stabbing through leathery scales and veins and threatening to crush her foe's windpipe.
Both dragons plummeted, locked in their death embrace. They flailed and flayed each other with enormous claws. Black scales and gobs of blood and gore sprayed behind them like a grisly wake as they rushed ever faster toward the ground.
With her jaws securely clamped around Talon's throat, Khi shy;santh disgorged a blast of acid. The other dragon shrieked and exploded into a fury of writhing and twisting limbs. The acid streamed into the wounds in Talon's neck, flooding his throat, drawing into his lungs. He was drowning in thick, oozing heat that devoured him from the inside. A grating bellow blasted a cloud of greenish steam from Talon's maw. The acid sprayed frantically in every direction, but still the dragon writhed and convulsed in Khisanth's iron grip.
Unable to feel her own hindquarters through the searing pain, Khisanth was about to pump another blast into Talon. They smashed into the ground, Khisanth atop Talon. Khisanth was stunned for several moments, but reflexively maintained her bite on her enemy's throat. As she regained her senses, her front claws pinned the beast's neck, and she tore upward, nearly ripping Talon's head free of his body.
The black dragon was already dead, suffocated, consumed by the ravenous acid. Clouds of steam billowed upward from the hissing, bubbling wound. Acid from Talon's stomach seeped out through the horrid slashes and punctures in his abdomen and sputtered on the ground.
Khisanth raised her head in a thunderous bellow of victory. Her head swam and her body throbbed. She tasted Talon's bit shy;ter blood on her fangs, and her own blood raced.
Then she saw Pteros and the other dragon circling and swooping high overhead. Both dragons bled from numerous wounds. Pteros's wings were tattered. Still he managed to stay in the air. For all his fear and worry, Pteros's age and experi shy;ence still showed in the contest with the much younger beast. Everything Pteros lacked in speed and reflexes he made up in
cunning.
Time after time they raced past each other, claws raking and acid erupting. On their eighth or ninth pass- Khisanth had lost count-Pteros suddenly rolled, exposing his belly but also bringing his powerful rear claws into the attack. One of the enormous, hooked talons sliced through the other dragon's hide and snagged a rib. The younger beast snapped as if a leash had been pulled, then spun out of control through the sky. Khisanth could see that her flank was torn apart, the rib pulled outward. From the flailing of the body she guessed she was still alive, but barely.
For many long seconds the body plunged, finally crashing into the stones of the ruined castle. The impact shook apart a nearby portion of wall, and its collapse added to the din and debris. Khisanth could see the body as the dust cleared, bent unnaturally around its broken spine.
Khisanth struggled to her feet. The fire in her back legs and tail was gone, replaced by a throbbing ache. She could see that many of her scales were gone, revealing raw patches of burned flesh. But though these wounds hurt, she could walk and believed she could fly.
With her anger once again building, she watched Pteros's descent. She was tempted to take wing and attack him in the air, but something in his manner held her back. He was still high above the ground and dropping fast when he suddenly
crumpled, then crashed into the mossy bog like a stone.
Khisanth approached him, ready to exhale a deadly cloud at the first sign of attack. Pteros lay on his side, watching through heavy eyes as she approached. When she neared, he raised his head, struggling to get to his feet. He couldn't.
Pteros's left wing was broken and nearly amputated; Khi shy;santh marveled that he had flown at all. But the real wound was in his abdomen. In turning to attack the young dragon, he had exposed his belly, and the monster had slit Pteros open. The claws of his right rear foot were embedded in his own flesh, trying to keep the wound from opening. Even so, Khi shy;santh could see his organs pressing out as Pteros's own bulk sought to burst him open.
'You meant to abandon me to your enemies. Did our blood-mingling mean nothing?'
'I didn't mean to betray you.' The strength of his voice sur shy;prised Khisanth, who expected to hear a dying rasp. 'I was just so frightened. Long ago, Talon drove me from my lair in this stronghold and stole my hoard.'
'You must have known there were two. Why did you never tell me about the other dragon?' she demanded.
Pteros gulped stiffly as a spasm rocked his body. 'I didn't know, I swear it. Thaf s why I was so scared.'
Khisanth felt nothing but pity for the dragon she'd once revered for his venerable age. He was now as terrified of dying as he had been of living. Half in anger, have in mercy, Khi shy;santh stepped forward and placed her left foot on Pteros's neck, pressing it to the ground. The ancient dragon looked up at her helplessly as the talons of her right claw sliced across his throat.
'The Dark Queen calls you, Pteros. Go to her bravely in death as you would not in life.' She knew the dying dragon heard her, but could not reply. Slowly, the life disappeared from his eyes. Pteros's wrinkled lids closed one last time. Once again, Khisanth stood alone in her realm.
