This chapter takes place in the village from PoR Chapter 11 (I don't know if the village actually has a name).
It's also from Lethe's POV and introduces two new characters to the story.
Chapter Eleven
The Red Dragon seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Swooping out of the sky on crimson wings, its bulk overshadowed the entire village. Its yellow eyes were filled with a savage madness and hunger, like a wild animal that had been deprived of food for weeks on end. Powerful muscles rippled underneath its gleaming hide as it gave a howl of rage, spotting the village beneath it. Its weight left a crater in the earth nearly two feet deep and shook every building within a half-mile of the dragon's body. Any villagers who had still been outside swiftly ran indoors in fear of their lives, slamming doors shut and locking them securely with chains.
As if that would protect them.
The Red Dragon roared and, raising one foot, crushed the nearest house as easily as if it were a pile of matchsticks. The splintered remains lay forlornly as the dragon lifted its enormous paw from the ground and glared with satisfaction at the wreckage. Its teeth bared in an evil grin. Then it moved on to attack the other buildings, with the intention of leaving the whole village in ruins.
From behind a tree, a hundred feet from the wrecked house, a serious-looking man with long silver hair watched the dragon's movements warily. His stance was that of a highly skilled Swordmaster. The iron blade in his hand was held loosely, but was ready to leap into action when needed. As the gigantic shape of the Red Dragon stomped away, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, he turned reluctantly to his companion who stood right beside him.
Lethe's tail twitched with annoyance. Seeing the Feral Ones again was almost too much for her, but she refused to run away like a coward. Instead, she fixed her sharp eyes on the dragon as it crawled through the narrow streets, trying not to show her revulsion at the sight of the mad, twisted creature as it ruthlessly incinerated another building. She raised one ear in silent acknowledgement when she noticed her companion's eyes on her. 'Yes?'
Zihark lifted his sword slightly to point in the dragon's direction, though the beast was barely visible now. 'I was going to say, 'did you see that?' but somehow I don't think I need to,' he said humourlessly. 'I don't understand why they're coming back again. That's the third dragon I've seen this week.'
Beside him, Lethe shuddered. The madness in the poor dragon's eyes seemed to be fixed in her memory. What kind of monster could do something like this? That filth, Izuka, was killed years ago. Has somebody decided it would be a good idea to try what he tried before? She let out a short hiss of frustration, startling Zihark momentarily. I don't suppose we can stand here and do nothing, but... can I actually bring myself to kill it, one of my own kind? Well, OK, I'm not a dragon, but I'm still a Laguz. And if we don't do something fast the whole village is going to end up completely destroyed...
The silver-haired Swordmaster seemed to be following her train of thought as he asked her, 'Lethe, have you ever fought a dragon before?'
Of course I've fought dragons before! 'Yes, but I've never had to... kill one. Not even the Feral Dragons we fought in the Mad King's War. And this one is probably just as powerful as they were.'
Zihark nodded thoughtfully. 'Yes, I remember those dragons. It took at least four of us to defeat just a single one of them...' He paused for a minute or two. Somewhere at the other end of the village, there was a loud roar followed by a crashing noise as the dragon attacked some other building. He looked over his shoulder at Lethe, who was snarling silently, her ears pressed back against her head. 'So, do you feel up to a battle?'
Lethe stared at him in surprise. Nearby, the dragon roared again, its bellows becoming louder and louder as it approached their hiding place. She nodded curtly and began to shift into her cat form. With a hiss she dropped onto all fours, just as the dragon's muzzle smashed hard into the tree and thrust towards them.
It was impossibly large. The crimson scales were as thick and gleaming as polished chain-mail. Massive, shining yellow eyes glared down with a mixture of excitement and fury, the pupils narrowed to slits in the sunlight. The dragon's wings and body were covered in scars, some shaped like claw or tooth marks, others looking more like old fire damage. Before Lethe or Zihark could do anything, the dragon blasted them with flames.
Lethe scampered backwards as a wave of heat rolled over, but the splintered tree had shielded her from the worst of the blast. The dragon was slow-moving; that was good for her. She ran forwards, diving under the clawed forelegs as they lifted from the earth, the dragon stretching out is neck in an attempt to locate its prey.
Springing up onto the membrane of the dragon's wing, she sunk her claws deep into its back before pulling away. As she dashed to safety, she spotted Zihark standing under the shelter of a collapsed building, beckoning frantically to her through the smoke.
'Are you all right?' he asked in concern as Lethe dived out of harm's way and joined him in the shadow of the ruins. With a flick of her tail, she told him that she was unharmed, being unable to speak in her current form. Immediately, the Feral Dragon gave another roar. Lethe glanced up at her companion in panic. The dragon had discovered where they were hiding and was coming to find them. Blood was trickling from the claw wounds in its back and it looked infuriated as it stamped noisily towards their hiding place. If they didn't move soon, they would both be torn to pieces.
Zihark raised his sword, and she recognised his intention instantly. 'Wait there, I'll return in a minute,' he said distractedly as the Red Dragon came closer to the ruined building. Before Lethe could make a move to stop him, he had taken off, heading quickly around the side of the building in hope of catching the dragon unawares.
With a frustrated hiss, Lethe considered following him in her cat form. She was swift and stealthy enough to avoid being seen. The dragon wouldn't notice her until she attacked... So why don't I hurry up and go! she thought, irritated. But before she could make her decision, she heard a feral snarl right behind her. She whirled. It was a White Dragon.
More of these mad creatures! With a yowl, Lethe pounced at the dragon, seeing the shock in its eyes as she attacked, quickly and viciously. The White Dragon was nowhere near as strong as the Red one, and it took her only a few seconds to defeat it. As the creature's body collapsed to the ground and faded away in a silver light, she heard a voice calling her from nearby. At the same time she heard a loud, savage roar from the remaining dragon.
More trouble... A little breathless now, Lethe sprung away and ran towards the middle of the village. The Red Dragon was still fighting, but as Zihark performed his five-strike Astra move on it, it crashed to the ground and slowly faded into nothingness, defeated. Zihark wiped his blade on the grass and quickly looked around for his companion.
Lethe reverted to her human form as she ran over to him. Her ears pressed back at the smell of blood that still clung to his sword. 'Any more of these awful creatures?' she asked.
'No, that was the last of them,' replied Zihark, though he did glance upwards as though expecting another dragon to appear out of the sky and dive down on them. 'I think we should check around the village and make sure everyone's all right. The dragon destroyed a lot of buildings, and some of them might have still been inhabited.'
Lethe jerked her head in a nod. I don't care much about the humans – I mean, the beorc, she thought wearily. But we're the only ones who can protect the village now, so it's up to us to make sure everyone is all right.
'Let's go then,' she said reluctantly.
Zihark turned towards the nearest ruined house. Lethe fought back a sigh of frustration as she fell into step beside him. She had only recently noticed that she didn't hate him, as she hated most humans. After all, he was one of the first beorc I met who didn't treat all Laguz like we're filthy animals or something. It was nice to meet somebody who wasn't like that... Then she shook her head violently and, with a hint of uneasiness, followed the Swordmaster's back as he disappeared into the village.
An hour later, Lethe emerged from the village in her cat form, exhausted from the events that had taken place. None of the villagers had been hurt in the dragon's attack, but the damage to the town was huge. They had managed to salvage a few houses, but most were beyond help and the villagers did not have the tools or knowledge necessary to repair them. However, all that mattered was that nobody had died in the attack, thanks to her and Zihark.
The orange Cat Laguz yawned enormously as she circled a patch of grass underneath a tree. Pausing only to sharpen her claws on a fallen log, she swiftly settled down, curling her long tail around her paws. Without bothering to change back to her human form, she quickly fell into a deep sleep as the sky gradually turned darker.
That night, she had a dream. She couldn't remember ever having such a vivid dream in her life.
The world was all fire and nothing else. Smoke rose in thick, choking clouds into the sky – jet-black smoke that swirled and moved as if it had a mind of its own. The village was burned to the ground and the sea was dark with ash and soot. If the sun still existed, it was not visible, hidden behind walls of smoke that filled the sky. Lethe crouched behind a ruined house, in her cat form, her ears pressed flat against her head. Through the terrible smell of burning that surrounded her on all sides, she smelled something else, something familiar. Steel, she thought. The scent of weapons. The scent of beorc.
Fire was everywhere. Orange and gold, red and blue, rising into the sky like the head of a monstrous creature. It swept across the ground, consuming everything in its path. Lethe narrowed her eyes and glimpsed a wall of flames moving swiftly towards her. Behind the flames, there was nothing but ash, covering the ground like black dust and filling the air with the smell of burning.
The fire howled, louder than before. Lethe crept backwards, watching in frozen horror as the wall of flames approached, leaving nothing but blackness behind it. The grass beneath her had grown hot, scorching the pads of her paws and leaving the bitter scent of burning in the air. What is this place?! she yowled, leaping into the safety of a nearby tree. And why can I smell steel?
The fire pursued her up the tree. The world became a shadow, her surroundings blurring, melting into each other. Lethe raised her head to the dark sky and howled as the tree beneath her slowly collapsed into the waiting fire. Everything dissolved into darkness, and the dream ended abruptly as Lethe jerked awake. But in the instant before she woke up, she saw him; standing before the flames, watching her from an incalculable distance away, fire reflected on the blade of his sword.
Zihark... she cried as she fell from the tree. She was still in the middle of saying the word when she woke up.