“What now?” Reaver called out.
“Corral the dragons!” I said. “Bring them in here. No killing!”
They went to follow my orders without hesitation. We executed a series of feints against both black dragons, who didn’t seem as aggressive when they weren’t being ridden. Whenever one of the dragons snapped or got too close, we would punish them with a slap to the face from our weapons. It wouldn’t truly hurt them, but it would sting a little.
A thundering noise brought my attention to the last threat. The gold dragon, who’d kept out of the fight so far, was charging. Her rider whipped her with a glowing chain and drove the poor creature forward. I could see smoke rising from her haunches and the wicked grin of her rider, who apparently thought I’d stand in one place and accept my fate.
I had other plans.
I waited until the last second, until I could see Gold’s eyes focused on me, feigned to my right, then took a big step to the left. As the dragon passed, unable to stop or turn quickly enough to attack me, I grabbed her rider by a foot and yanked him from the dragon’s back. He landed with a resounding thud.
He snarled a curse at me. “You will die, human. The king will—”
“Bullshit,” I said, just before I stomped his head flat.
Gold was standing completely still, almost at the far end of the arena. I joined Reaver and Beatrix in driving the black dragons back toward Silver, who looked to be as tame as a puppy. From within the nearby stands, Yaltu stood with her arms out, working her pheromones.
Both black dragons, riderless and afraid, backed away from us. They must have had a limited supply of acid, because their spitting completely stopped.
“Destroy and kill,” said the one on the left, her voice entering my mind.
“Eat, destroy, kill,” the dragon on the right added.
Though I sensed fear and hatred from them, they weren’t attacking me, so I figured they were being affected by Yaltu’s pheromones. I slowed my pace, not wanting to completely corner the creatures before Yaltu could finish whatever she was doing. Their thoughts assaulted my mind, promises of vengeance and carnage.
Then, their chaotic thoughts cleared a bit, then a little more. They were overcoming whatever their owners had done to them in their experiments. The posture of the tortured creatures shifted as they stood straighter, taller, and more proudly than before.
The crowd continued its uncertain murmur.
Gold recovered, dragging her broken rider by a leg caught in her saddle. Beatrix spun with her glowing technological hammer in her right hand.
“Hold them here,” I ordered. “I’ll take Gold. Keep them near the woman in the stands.” I motioned toward the stands in a gesture that would be invisible to anyone except Beatrix and Reaver. “You see her? Yeah, that’s the one. Bring the dragons to her.”
Without hesitation, Beatrix spun back toward the black dragons and shook her hammer at one when the creature’s jaws snapped in her direction. I charged Gold and heard a few of the spectators cheer. They wanted blood, but so far, it hadn’t gone the way they’d expected. The few holdouts who were worried about getting their money’s worth cheered me on, probably hoping I’d split the enslaved dragon right down the middle.
As I neared her, Gold lowered her massive head to my level and opened her gaping mouth, metallic teeth glinting under the arena lights. I’d seen a dragon breathe fire before, but I didn’t see any plasma burning down her throat.
Gold’s diamond-shaped pupils bored holes into me. She had been too far away to benefit from Yaltu’s pheromones, even though I could smell them from here.
I had to break her free from the tech that was controlling her. I rotated Ebon in my grip, pressing the back of the blade against my forearm with the pommel facing the dragon. I wasn’t sure which piece of tech to target.
I kicked off the ground with one foot, cartwheeled in the air, planted a hand against a big tooth, and struck a piece of tech that had been implanted near her nose.
The device caved in, sparked, and its outer shell fell away, revealing complicated-looking circuitry. A moment later, the creature flung her tail and caught me in the ribs. The blow sent me spinning through the air. I hit the ground and rolled with the impact.
Rather than finish me off, Gold sprinted past me and crashed into the forcefield, causing it to bow outward. When Gold bounced off the field, the pressure of the elastic forcefield crushed the first row of stands in a ripple of yellow energy. Entrails and limbs showered the air until all that remained of the haughty spectators were broken seats, fancy clothing, and a modern art impressionist painting made of their blood and internal organs.
When I’d struck the piece of tech near Gold’s nose, I figured I’d made her insane.
“Flee!”
The telepathy ground into my mind like a riot of fear and pain. No, I hadn’t made her insane, I’d made her afraid. She wanted out of the arena, even if it meant crashing into an impenetrable forcefield.
Gold staggered, falling in and out of the mind-control tech’s influence. She charged into the forcefield again, and a boom echoed from the spot as she was launched backward. The forcefield started to dissipate, until there was a gap of about twenty yards long.
“We need to go!” Reaver yelled as she looked up at the sky. It wouldn’t take long for the king’s skiffs to show up again and prevent us from escaping.
Gold stomped the ground in rage, then hesitated. She turned on me, bloodlust evident in her eyes, then cowered a moment later.
“Go, join the others!” I ordered.
Gold roared, a sound like the inside of an escape pod as it tore a burning hole through the atmosphere. If she charged, I was afraid I’d
