Alerted by their dragons, the riders are alarmed to see the Wind Rider under attack by a denizen of the sky. Having only fought an enemy of this power, they proceed with caution. However, caution has never been their strong point, and it may come back to haunt them…
Chapter 9: Conquest
Matthias, Carn, Carth, and Evander were a blur in the cabin as they put on various weapons and armor. Each had a stern grimace on their faces and Carn kept trying to jump into combat without armor, his pants, or his sword. His dragon prevented him each time, but even the dragon grew restless. It drummed its claws on the floor and growled deeply.
Finally they were all prepared and each strapped themselves into the fighting straps on the saddle. Matthias tightened his loosely and folded the extra behind his calf. He noticed that Carth was doing the same. He knew that neither of them wanted to fight from dragonback for very long.
On a signal from Carn, the lead rider, each dragon hurled themselves off the deck and through the bay doors. The wind whipped at their faces and invigorated both men and dragon. A fighting spirit woke in all of them and they turned toward their target.
Evander almost blanched as he saw the size of the serpent. It was longer than the Wind Rider itself, a dark grey, and was ramming its head into the control car. He began a roar that was taken up by his mount and then by all eight. The noise rebounded off the airship and startled the beast. It turned and found four balls of flame in its face. Letting out a scream, it dived, then turned and charged. Carn took the bow from his back and let an arrow fly straight into the beast's face. It struck in the corner of the eye and the beast jolted to the right.
Matthias and Carth already had out their swords and rammed them into the neck of the beast as it passed. Carn and his dragon wheeled, and the beast smashed into the dragon's stomach. Carn fell off, and both rider and dragon plummeted through the sky.
Evander roared and leaned over Zephyr's neck. Zephyr charged forward and veered at the last moment. Evander's long sword cut into the beast, opening a gash across its wing. Crippled, it formed into a hovering ball and began to snap at the nearest dragon.
Matthias and Hoth charged next, two short swords extended. As Hoth passed, Matthias leaped off and flew through the air, landing on the uninjured wing. Matthias sprinted up to the wing base and sunk one of the weapons into the soft spot in between the shoulder blades.
Another scream came from the beast, making all four cringe. Face contorted, Matthias made his way to the head. As he reached the base of the neck, the beast dropped through the air, and jack knifed it's back. Matthias went airborne and the beast continued its rotation as Matthias began to come down. It opened its enormous mouth and waited for Matthias to fall into the awaiting jaws.
At the last minute, Matthias flipped himself over and pulled the two handed sword from its scabbard on his back. He did a front flip and smashed the blade into the nose of the beast of the sky. The blade cut deeply, pushed by Matthias's weight. In the same motion, the blade was pulled out and Matthias rolled along the face of the monster and slammed the blade into the space between its eyes. The edge of the blade met with skin and bone and tore both open. Matthias jumped clear, into thin air, as the beast gave a tremendous shake, and began to fall from the sky, vanquished.
As Matthias looked after it, one eye stared up at him, as menacing dead as alive. He sighed and let the air caress his body. Hoth came around and Matthias fell into the saddle. He felt very tired and weary, having had two battles of large proportions in one week.
Evander came along side, clamping a wound on his leg. "Carn fell. I don't know if his dragon saved him, or even what is below the clouds. The Wind Rider is heavily damaged and can't go far. I'll tell whoever is still alive to make her come to the surface. You and Carth go look for Carn."
Matthias nodded solemnly and followed Carth through the clouds, where he hadn't been for years. He hoped that Carn would be unharmed, but a fall and crash like that could kill someone easily.