Inferno (Talon #5)(94)
“Yes.” The Asian dragon gave a solemn nod. “This I can do. Give me but a moment.”
With a streak of pale green, the Eastern dragon shot skyward. The Elder Wyrm watched her go, and a chilling smile stretched her huge muzzle—probably she thought Jade was fleeing, abandoning us to our fate. That was fine; it would give us the few seconds we needed to pull this off.
“Garret.” I lowered my wings, and the soldier swung onto my back without hesitation. “Keep moving,” I told everyone. “Keep flying. We don’t have to fight her, we’re just keeping her distracted until Tristan can fire the gun. Watch her head—she’s quicker than she looks. We might be able to stop her yet.”
“You heard her,” Ward snapped at the rest of the soldiers. “St. Anthony, get going. We’ll keep her distracted long enough for you to take the shot.”
The Elder Wyrm’s massive shadow fell over us as she lunged forward with a roar. Everyone scattered. The soldiers flung themselves atop dragons taking to the air. With a howl, I launched myself right at the Elder Wyrm’s gaping jaws, breathing a gout of fire into her face, hoping to surprise her at least. She wasn’t surprised or fooled in the slightest. Her huge maw came at me through the flames, and I veered away, barely avoiding the snapping jaws. Garret fired several rounds at her head as we soared by, the bullets sparking off her horns and scales, and she turned on us with an annoyed growl.
I banked sharply, flying higher, avoiding the snapping jaws a second time. It was like flying around a large scaly mountain, one that was trying to crush you and was shockingly fast at the same time. I didn’t have to worry only about her head; her talons, tail, even her wings were weapons that she used to try to swat us from the air. I saw a hatchling and rider veer away to avoid her claws only to be caught by the Elder Wyrm’s long lashing tail, which smashed them from the air and into the side of the mountain.
With a flash and a crack of thunder, the skies opened up, and the rain came down in sheets. The hatchlings and riders vanished in a haze of mist and rain, and the Elder Wyrm became a blurry red shadow moving through the storm. She was so huge that it was impossible not to see her even in the haze. But the dragons buzzing around her were at least a little harder to catch as they swooped and soared through the rain.
As I circled around, the Elder Wyrm’s piercing green eyes locked on me, and I saw the rage in them as the massive dragon spun, jaws opening to snap me from the air. As she did, she turned her body away from the eastern cliff, presenting her side to the sniper waiting in the trees.
The shot boomed through the air, the retort cracking like a whip over the storm, making my eardrums ring. The Elder Wyrm jerked, throwing her up head and staggering back a few steps. Desperately, I looked to her side as I flew past, hoping to see a gaping hole where the Dragonkiller had punched through.
My heart sank. A few of her scales were dented, and a couple of them looked cracked, but other than that, she didn’t have a scratch on her. Shaking her head, the Elder Wyrm snarled angrily and turned, searching for whatever had hit her. Our best shot, our best weapon, had only pissed her off even more.
“No good,” Garret panted behind me. “Not even the prototype can get through her scales. Either she needs to be closer, or Tristan has to find some kind of opening in her armor. And even then, he’ll need to hit something vital if we’re going to have any chance of killing her.”
With a hiss, the Elder Wyrm snatched a dragon from the air and shook it vigorously before slamming it and its hapless rider to the earth at her feet. I cringed. Sooner or later, she was going to tire of swatting insects and go hunting for the one thing that had any hope of hurting her. We were running out of options, and the Elder Wyrm seemed invincible.
A tiny shout came through the storm, and I turned, blinking water from my eyes. At the edge of the trees, a skinny figure stood alone in the rain, waving his hands over his head, like he was trying to flag us down. Garret followed my gaze and straightened in surprise.
“That’s Wes,” he muttered.
“What is he doing out here?” I wondered, banking sharply and winging toward the hacker. Wes never got this close to the battle, being content to stay as far away as possible from guns, bullets and things that could kill him. A giant demigod of an Elder dragon certainly qualified. “Wes, what do you think you’re doing?” I snapped, landing a few feet away. “Don’t tell me you suddenly got the urge to be a hero.”
“Bloody…hell…finally,” Wes gasped. “I’ve been trying to get somebody’s attention for the past five minutes, and not be noticed by the giant lizard of death over there.” He doubled over, panting. “And no, I certainly do not have any suicidal urge to be a hero, thank you very much. I wouldn’t even be here if you wankers weren’t all about to die.”
I was about to ask what he thought he could do about it when I spotted the black case clutched in one skinny hand, and my stomach dropped. “Wes, is that…?”
“Yeah, it is. Here.” He stepped forward and shoved the case at Garret. “I kept an extra one, for an emergency,” he said as Garret pushed back the lid, revealing a familiar device that set my heart to pounding. “Don’t know how you’ll get close enough to use it,” Wes went on, “but if you can, that’s nasty enough to ruin even the Elder Wyrm’s day.”
“We can get there,” Garret muttered, and looked up at me, eyes hard with determination. “Ember?”