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A terrible ripping scream tore through the air and Saboraak shuddered under me.
What was it?
What-?
She leapt to the side and in the flurry of her flapping wings I grabbed the pommel of the saddle, gripped my spear and tried to hold on as we bumped against a building, masonry, and dust raining down on us.
The golems in the gate surged forward, leaping over a new obstacle – a fallen Black dragon dead on the street in front of the gate.
I gasped in horror as I saw soldiers scrambling through the rubble to try to pull friends out from under their massive dead ally. The dragon’s rider scrambled up on top of him, spear held high as he jabbed toward the eyes of the first golem. He disappeared as their bodies surged over him, trampling both him and his fallen dragon.
We couldn’t let them pour through the gate like that! We couldn’t –
A horn was sounding. Men fled down the streets.
“Come on, Saboraak! We have to stop them!”
She didn’t seem to be listening. She shoved her body against the building. Was she hurt? I spun in the saddle, looking, looking. I couldn’t see a wound other than her tail, but wounds could be inside, invisible. She matched the color of the building exactly, as if she hoped to blend in.
“Saboraak?”
She didn’t answer. I fumbled with my straps, unbuckling them.
The golems would be here at any moment. They were pushing forward through our defenses. A few men, scattered, operating independently, fought in small groups.
Hyoogan dropped to the ground in their midst, battling his way forward with snapping jaws and scything wings. He grabbed one golem in his strong jaws, flinging him to the side. The golem hit a nearby building and fell to the ground as men scattered below.
But it was too much for one dragon. A pack of golems was on him now, their metal mouths tearing chunks from his wings and scales. His brothers surged down from the sky, grabbing up his attackers and flinging them over the side of the city.
I loosened my last buckle and dropped to the ground, running so fast to Saboraak’s head that I almost tripped over my spear. She leaned against the building, quivering, her head low, her eyes wide.
“Are you hurt?” I yelled over the chaos, taking her massive head in my hands. “Saboraak?”
A black dragon. They killed a black dragon.
Fear gripped my heart in its icy hands. She was afraid. She saw a dragon twice her size fall dead from the sky and she was frozen with fear. I’d seen this before.
I’d been in Vanika when it fell. I’d been one of the lucky ones who survived the fall. I’d been there when the city was taken by the Dusk Covenant. I’d been there when it burnt in wide swaths as the Dominar took it back. But I’d hidden in the shadows. I’d scrambled to safety, hiding and running and hiding again. I hadn’t had to stand and fight. Other than brawls, I’d never really fought at all. My fancy throwing knives were worth nothing here.
I looked around, assessing.
All my ability to charm others and draw them in was useless here. We didn’t fight flesh and blood, but something much more powerful.
And I could feel it. I could feel the tide of the golems surging up. I could feel where they were winning and where they were losing. I could feel them falling over the edge and crumpling. I could feel it as if I were somehow attached to them. If I concentrated, I could feel each golem, point right to them even on a moonless night.
Lee Estabis stood in the street, calling, “Rally! To me, men of Estabis!”
I looked at my dragon quivering, and I looked at him there making a stand. Every minute we fought we bought those poor children more time to flee. I clenched my jaw and ran, darting past fallen rubble and over fallen men – I didn’t want to know if they were dead or alive – and to his call.
Saboraak needed time to recover. That was all. She just wasn’t used to fighting for her life. It was enough to crumple anyone. Enough to freeze anyone for a few moments until they found whatever steel was inside them. And until then, I would fight with Lee.
I joined him in the center of the street – joined the other men who shoved the golems back.
“The eyes!” he called. “That’s their vulnerability! The eyes!”
We fought and jabbed at eyes, leaping over grasping paws and dodging snapping jaws. We fought as a howling, sweating pack of men, bound together by desperate determination.
I could feel the golem we were fighting. I could feel his eye on me. It was almost as if we were connected somehow. He snapped at me and I dodged back as one of the men of Estabis jammed a spear through his eye. He crumpled, the light fading out.
The next one was already upon us. I could feel it before it attacked. Its eyes were already boring through my skull.
“Close your mouth, dog!” I yelled, rushing forward with my spear to plunge it through its eye. I froze as it fell to the ground.
The golem had shut his mouth when I ordered him to.
What madness was this?
The next one leapt toward Lee Estabis from the right, jumping out of a gap between two buildings, growling and snapping. Lee was distracted, fighting a different golem. He didn’t see it as it plunged toward him.
“Stop!” I barked.
The golem slid to a stop.
I froze again. The blood draining from my face.
The golem had obeyed me.
“Stop!” I yelled at the golem Lee battled. It stopped, screeching to a halt.
A burst of hope shot through me as I stared at the still golem. If I could command one, I could command them all.
A heavy shoulder plowed into me, lifting me up from my feet and carrying me off the street with a howl of, “Clear! Clear the street!”
We fell to the side in a pile of rubble as a second Black dragon fell into the street beside us, rocking the street with its enormous impact. Dust and rock burst into the air as he landed, his head so close when it bounced against the skysteel street that I could see his glassy dead eye.
I gasped, horrified and disoriented. No wonder Saboraak was frozen in fear. No wonder she wanted to blend in. I wanted to blend in against the buildings, too. Anything that could fell such a massive dragon could kill me without even noticing.
Lee Estabis let go of me and this time I had the presence of mind to look up into the sky.