Inferno (Talon #5)(95)
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said breathlessly. “I’ll get us in. How much time do we have?”
“The timer is set for thirty seconds,” Wes answered. “So don’t bloody push the button until you’re sure you can stick it to the right spot.”
Garret gave a brisk nod. “Give us two minutes,” he told the hacker, tossing the empty case to the ground, “and then signal Ward to sound the retreat. We don’t want anyone else caught in the blast when it goes off. Ready, Ember?”
I opened my wings in reply and launched us into the air. Wes’s outline got smaller and smaller as I climbed steadily through the rain and turned toward the huge red blur that was the Elder Wyrm.
“Where are we going, Garret?” I asked, beginning the dive toward our enormous enemy. Garret bent low over my neck, his gaze on the massive red form below us. The Elder Wyrm was still pursuing the smaller dragons that darted around her, swatting or snatching them from the air. A vivid green hatchling and its rider tried swerving out of the way, but those huge jaws whipped around and closed on them both with the snapping of bones.
“Around to her left,” Garret muttered, and I heard the warning beep as he started the countdown, the bomb flaring to life in his hands. “Fly low, get behind her foreleg.”
I realized what he was aiming for and took a quick breath. “All right, here we go!”
We dropped fast, dodging a huge wingtip as the Elder Wyrm spun around. I saw my reflection pass through her blazing green eyes, and she roared, lunging at us with a maw like a black hole.
I twisted desperately, barely clearing those jaws as they snapped shut, making my insides shriek in fear. “Hang on!” I cried to Garret, spiraling away, trying to get behind her again. She followed, and I darted up as fast as I could, avoiding her fangs by a hairbreadth, feeling hot breath blast my scales.
“Fifteen seconds, Ember!” Garret warned.
Dammit, we weren’t going to make it. I spun and angled my body into a final dive, knowing I might be flying straight down the Elder Wyrm’s throat. As the enormous head rose to meet me, there was a streak of blue from the side, and Cobalt flew right into the Elder Wyrm’s face. The dragon flinched, shaking her head, and we soared past her snapping jaws even as she snarled in fury and flung Cobalt away. I banked up, flew past her chest plates, and soared alongside her ribs as Garret reached out and pressed the device to her scales, right behind her foreleg.
“Go!” he yelled, and I swerved away, not daring to see how much time we had left. But as I swooped low to the ground, I had a split-second glimpse of something big and red coming at me before it hit me with the force of a wrecking ball. I smashed into the rocky ground and rolled, the world spinning around me, before coming to a painful stop.
My entire body blazed with pain. Gasping, I raised my head. Garret was lying next to me, tangled in one shredded wing, looking as bruised and dazed as I felt. Blood streamed down his face from a gash on his temple, and one eye was swollen shut as he looked back across the yard.
The ground trembled as the bleary form of the Elder Wyrm lurched toward us through the rain.
“One,” Garret whispered, and turned away.
The Elder Wyrm’s side exploded. There was a split-second flash, and then a shock wave of heat and energy ripped through the air as a burst of fire, blood and smoke sent the Elder Wyrm staggering sideways. She screamed, a horrific, piercing wail that stabbed through my eardrums and made me want to bury my head in the dirt, and then the ground shook as she collapsed, sending tremors and a billow of dust into the air.
In the few heartbeats of silence that followed, as the smoke began to clear and the dust began to settle, I started to breathe again, to believe that it was actually over.
And then, the Elder Wyrm moved, shifted and, unbelievably, got back to her feet.
No way. Numb, I stared at the mass of dark red scales, unable to move, as the Elder Wyrm clawed herself upright, panting. Blood streamed down her side, running in rivulets to the ground as she turned, revealing the mangled, bloody mess where the bomb had exploded. Her scales had been blown away, leaving a gaping hole behind, and glimmers of bone peeked through burned, angry flesh.
But she was still alive. Impossibly, she was on her feet. And as pissed as hell. Her gaze, livid and terrifying, found me across the yard a moment before she gave a furious, screaming roar and lurched forward. She limped across the ground, leaving behind a trail of red, a demon of rage and destruction come to crush me once and for all.
“Tristan,” I heard Garret mutter, even as I braced myself to die. “Do it, now.”
The shot boomed over the yard, as sharp and distinct as cannon fire, the retort echoing off the cliffs. From my position on the ground, I saw something hit the Elder Wyrm in the side…and pass right through in a spray of blood.
The Elder Wyrm staggered to a halt a few yards away. For a moment, we stared at each other, unmoving, her burning green gaze locked with mine. I gazed at her, frozen, wondering if she would just shake off the injury and continue. If she was truly immortal, after all.
With a rumble of a landslide, the Elder Wyrm finally collapsed. Her massive head struck the ground a few feet from mine, slitted green eyes rolling up toward the sky. Blood pooled from her side and spread over the rocky ground in a grim flood as the Elder Wyrm shuddered, gasping for breath as her life bled away.
I pushed myself to my feet and, though my ribs felt like they would explode out of my body, forced myself back to human form. Taking a few steps forward, I came to a stop at the head of the Elder Wyrm, feeling the gravity of the moment press down on me as I watched the passing of the oldest dragon in the world. Her jaws moved, a small, incredulous voice emerging from within.