The dragon shifted its mouth, partially opening its jaws, and I could see for a moment. Then its head shook as it tried again to swallow me.
I tried to think of another tat that would make it at least keep it from swallowing me.
I heard more shouting from Tess. Hell, she was going to try to fight it. I couldn’t let her. The dragon would kill her.
Then I remembered her comment about my rock eater tattoo. That might work. It wasn’t as if range was an issue.
I triggered the spell on my left bicep, moved my shield to leave an opening above me, and then forced my right hand against the roof of the dragon’s mouth as my hand began to glow.
The effect was unnoticeable at first, and I slipped farther down its maw.
Then I realized my arm was sinking into its flesh.
The dragon opened its mouth and roared. Hot moist air smelling like a charnel house swept over me and then it tried to spit me out.
Nope, too late for that. I was weak from both energy consumption and blood loss. I needed to finish this now. I’d never get another chance. I dropped my shield, triggered my levitation tattoo, and pushed up as hard as I was able into the roof of its mouth. My arm sank to the shoulder.
I could see light past my arm and wondered if I’d miscalculated and punched through the side of its mouth. Then a bucket full of glistening green snot dropped onto my face. I’d broken through into its nasal cavities.
The dragon roared again and shook its head harder. Gallons of blood flooded over me, threatening to wash me from its mouth, but I caught the edge of the wound with my left hand and held on. I moved my right hand in a slow arc across the top of its mouth, disintegrating flesh and bone as I went. It was slow work, the spell only affected what my right hand encountered, and for the effect to reach more than an inch or two I had to hold my hand steady as the spell gradually lengthened. It wasn’t fast by any means.
I was nearly drowning in blood. I must have severed a major artery. I held my breath and tried to form my shield into a bubble around my head. It helped. I didn’t have more air, but at least my mouth and nose were clear of its hot blood.
The dragon was nearly delirious from pain. I knew just how it felt, but I pressed on, reaching for its brain.
It roared again, but weaker this time. I couldn’t tell if I was going to be able to reach its brain or not. My arm was only so long, and the hole still wasn’t large enough to get any more of me in.
I wished for my katana, but I was pretty sure that my boots and knife were no longer with me.
A shudder went through the beast, and it felt like I was falling.
Uh-oh, had it flown off after grabbing me? My levitation spell couldn’t keep anything this massive in the air.
I canceled the rock eater tat and focused my remaining energy into my shield, just as a tremendous impact hit me.
I remained conscious, barely, and the dragon had stopped breathing. The torrent of blood that had nearly drowned me had slowed to a trickle, but I was still in its mouth.
How was I going to get its jaws open? My energy levels were so low that I no longer thought I could push even slack jaws apart. This sucked. We stopped Rowle, and I killed his dragon after it tried to swallow me, but now I was going to suffocate inside its mouth?
My last thought as I lost consciousness was, couldn’t I ever catch a break?
Chapter 29
Therese
Rafe somehow pushed me out of the dragon’s path and its jaws snapped shut on him.
Blood sprayed in every direction for a second, and as the dragon raised its head, I saw Rafe’s boots drop to the ground.
I screamed and raised my crossbow, but I hadn’t had a moment to reload.
That’s when I hit the ground. My shield had reformed into a sphere, just as Rafe had said it would when I went airborne.
I rolled a short distance and then canceled my shield. Getting my feet under me, I stood, lowered my crossbow to the ground, and stepped into the cocking stirrup. Pulling back on the lever, I latched the string as the dragon flipped its head back as if it was gulping down a treat.
I loaded a bolt and took a hurried aim as the dragon spread its wings. I couldn’t let it fly off with Rafe.
I screamed at it, trying to draw its attention back to me.
It ignored me.
I centered the sights on where I guessed its heart might be and let fly.
The bolt flew straight across the intervening yards and struck exactly where I aimed. It disappeared.
For a moment, I was stunned. What had happened? Did the bolt disintegrate, bounce away, or was it just too small for such an enormous creature?
Then I noticed a growing stream of red from around the site. I had hit it. The bolt had sunken past the fletchings.
The dragon shook its head mightily as I cocked and loaded another bolt.
It leapt into the air, its head shaking from side to side as if it were trying to dislodge a rider. I set my sights near the bloody spot on its chest and fired again. My second bolt rose into the sky after it and struck home less than a handbreadth from my first shot. I couldn’t believe my accuracy. With each beat of the dragon’s wings, the air swirled around and an arrow should have been affected far more than a bullet, but my bolt still went where I aimed.
Of course, Joe’s blessing.
The dragon opened its mouth and screamed in pain.
Damn! This was working.
I hadn’t had time to consider Rafe’s status. I
