David only had a moment to admire her incredible fighting skill, while he finished off the two badly injured grays. Before he could take time to admire his own fighting ability, two more grays attacked him. The remaining two dragons pursued Ashling. They all knew she was the one Grainne wanted dead.
Sean was desperately trying to stay calm in the face of the black dragon’s assault. He knew he couldn’t fight her one-on-one for very long. He understood that he was outmatched. If he didn’t fully comprehend it before, he certainly did after fighting with her for a few minutes.
He could sense the immense fury in her attack strategy. There was nothing subtle about it. She was trying to overpower him and crush him to dust. If she couldn’t do that, she would settle for turning him into burnt toast. Sean sensed that her almost out-of-control wrath was keeping her from using some of her more subtle fighting skills.
So far, he’d only survived by sticking and moving. He used his own incredible speed to avoid a fiery finish to his life. Eventually, she’d figure out his strategy, but he hoped help would arrive before then.
Ashling tried to flash by Grainne and rake her back with her claws, as she’d done to the two grays. Despite her being preoccupied with battling Sean, the mighty black dragon arched into an impossibly tight loop and unleashed a fearsome stream of fire at Ashling as she rushed by.
It was only Ashling’s stunning speed that saved her from taking a mortal wound from the belch of red hot fire. She saw Sean crash into Grainne from the side to keep the black dragon from following up on her attack on Ashling. When Sean arched away, he felt claws rip into the side of his left leg, leaving behind an incredible burning pain.
Grainne tried to follow up her success by blasting him with a ball of fire. Ashling managed to slash a cut in Grainne’s side with the razor-sharp tip of her heavy tail. It was enough to turn the great black dragon’s attention fully on her.
Sean turned to do another fly by attack on Grainne while her attention was on Ashling, but he was suddenly hit from the side by one of the gray’s that had been fighting David. A burst of fear touched Sean’s mind for David’s safety, but he had no chance to even look that direction.
Claws dug into his left leg and pain exploded in this mind. Following his survival instinct, he dropped suddenly, which pulled the gray’s claw from his leg. The pain was almost mind-numbing, but at least he was free.
Sean turned and unleashed a streak of fire at the gray, but this dragon had learned to be cautious, after seeing so many of his fellow grays fall from the sky. He’d managed to pull up suddenly when Sean had dropped away from him. The belch of fire from Sean had blown into empty air where the gray had been.
The final gray who’d pulled away from fighting Sean was now closing in on Ashling. Helping Grainne defeat Ashling seemed to be his new priority.
When Sean saw that Ashling was in serious trouble he forgot about the burning pain in his leg and exploded upward with a surprising burst of speed. The gray he’d been fighting thought Sean was seriously injured and therefore less of a threat.
Even so, the gray dragon managed to avoid Sean’s sudden burst of fire, as he shot by the surprised dragon. The gray went into defense mode and kept some distance between Sean and himself. He knew the longer Sean fought with his badly wounded leg the weaker he’d become.
Ashling too had taken an injury when the final gray dragon flashed by her. With Grainne relentlessly pressing her attack, Ashling hadn’t had time to look around her.
The gray had managed to singe part of her back and side with a deep burn. The pain was a shock that nearly caused her to lose her focus on the deadly black. She’d only barely been able to circle up and away from Grainne’s furious rush at her. Ashling had been saved by the black dragon’s lack of strategy. It seemed that Grainne could only attack with burning anger and try to overpower her opponent.
With her injury causing her terrible pain, Ashling knew that her enemy’s strategy would eventually bear fruit. With the loss of blood and mind-numbing pain from her burns, Ashling would eventually slow down enough to allow Grainne to finish her off.
Ashling dodged another bull rush by the black dragon but realized too late it had been a distraction. Grainne waited until Ashling arched away and cut back to catch her back with her vicious fore claws. The cut was deep and Grainne ripped even deeper, as Ashling pulled herself free.
Sean heard Ashling’s roar of agony and looked to see her pull away, tearing the black dragon’s massive claws out of her back. When the gray saw Sean lose focus, he released a massive ball of fire at Sean’s head.
Without a conscious thought, Sean suddenly disappeared from sight. The confused gray pulled out of his follow up attack and hovered in midair for a moment. It was an understandable but fatal hesitation as Sean suddenly crashed into the gray with all his power.
The gray fought desperately to pull himself free, but Sean already had all four of his claws ripping through the terrified gray. Fueled by the knowledge that Ashling was in trouble, Sean tore the gray apart with his claws and finished him with as blast of fiery death, as he pulled himself free. The gray dropped out of the sky. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Sean tried to disappear again, but still had no control of it. It seemed to come and go at will. Due to the blood loss from his many wounds, he feared he might pass out and fall from the sky at
