A/N: I know you guys have been waiting for this one...
Chapter 34
The initial attack was silent and knocked Dean from his horse to the ground. Titus's horse reared up suddenly throwing him into a clump of grass softening his fall but sill knocking the wind from him. The horses shielded away and galloped off as fast as they could, leaving their riders stranded.
Dean rolled several times trying to get away from whatever was attacking them. He finally got a look at the attacker and realized it was a harpy that was stalking toward him with her razor-sharp claws stretched out in front of her making ready to attack again. She screeched a high-pitched wail hurting his ears.
"Run Ty! Run!" Dean yelled at him when he saw the boy off to the side. He was lucky the harpy zeroed in on him and tried to crawl backwards, pushing with his heels and elbows. Dean knew better than to try running since he knew the harpy would bring him down before he got two or three steps. "Run!" he yelled again at the boy to get him moving. He wanted the boy away from the danger before he was attacked too.
Titus stared in fright at the creature. He had never seen a harpy before and was terrified frozen in place. The hideous creature had the body of a large bird with long, yellow talons and the face of a hag with long white hair. Wings protruded from her back that moved back and forth as her arms reached for Dean. He flew into action and jerked out his sling since his other weapons were on his saddle and loaded a rock. After swinging it around several times to get some speed, Titus let the rock fly hitting the harpy in the back of the head.
The harpy screamed in surprise and rage and stopped moving toward Dean and instead turned toward Titus. She snapped and gnashed her sharp teeth at him, enraged at being disturbed from stalking her prey by something so small and weak.
"No, hey, hey, you ugly bitch, over here!" Dean yelled getting up and waving his arms to draw her attention once again. He began to back away, keeping his eyes on the harpy, as he felt at his waist and found the knife given to him by the dwarfs. He didn't know if he could get a decent blow to kill the harpy but hoped he could wound it enough to save Titus.
The harpy suddenly lunged at Dean making him stumble backward and go down as she landed on him digging her deadly talons into his left side and her clawed hand into his right shoulder to hold him. Radiating pain ran through his body from his injuries. Dean screamed in fury and pain and lashed out with the knife slicing deeply into one of her legs making her wail in pain and outrage.
It was all Dean could do to stay conscious as he tried to strike again while keeping the harpy's free claw away from his neck and delivering the killing blow. He felt himself growing weak as he struggled from blood loss, and the weight of the harpy on his chest. His breathing was labored and shallow. He could feel his life's blood draining from his body and knew he might not make it out of this attack alive. His biggest regret was that Sam wouldn't know what happened to him.
Without warning, a dark shadow swooped down on them, and the weight of the harpy was suddenly torn from Dean's body ripping his flesh. He clamped a hand to his shoulder and one to his side as he tried to sit up but couldn't. Small hands grabbed him and helped him sit up enough to see. They stared in awe at the sight in front of them.
The Black Lightening Dragon had the harpy in her powerful claws and ripped it apart in her fury as she roared loudly. Fiery flames spewed from her mouth and set the creature on fire. The flames engulfed the harpy and turned it into a pile of ash. The dragon snorted in disgust and stomped on the ashes, scattering them to the wind before throwing back her head and letting loose a thunderous roar of victory.
"Look Dean, it's the dragon we met weeks ago on the first task," Titus told him when he saw the bandana still tied haphazardly around her claw. It was dirty and ragged, but still in place.
"I don't believe it," Dean gasped in agony as his arm went numb and blood flowed freely between his fingers from the gashes. He tried his best to hide how badly he was hurt, not wanting to alarm Titus, but couldn't hide his pain as he let his body drop back to the ground. Dean looked up at the sky, thinking this might be the last time he saw it.
"She saved us," Titus whispered as he stood and walked a few steps to the dragon. He looked up at her and smiled as she lowered her head to allow him to rub her face. "Thank you for saving us," he told her. "Dean's hurt, can you help him?"
"She can't help," Dean mumbled thinking the first aid kit was with the horses and no telling where they were by now. But it didn't matter, he wouldn't be able to walk back to the castle with his injuries. He was not one to give up but didn't see much hope right now.
"Yes, she can," Titus contradicted him dropping back down beside Dean. "She needs to see the wounds."
"What?" Dean asked feeling dizzy, lightheaded, and nauseated like he had been poisoned by the harpy's talons and claw. He was finding it hard to breath as blackness began to invade his mind.
"Here, let me," Titus told him when Dean tried to fumble with his shirt and couldn't get it open. He unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it and his vest out of the way as Dean let his arm drop back to his side. He pushed his bloody shirt up out of the way to let the dragon see that wound too.
All the fight was gone from him, and he felt completely drained. Dean's vision blurred as the dragon walked over to him and lowered her large head to sniff the wounds for a moment. He blinked quickly and saw the huge head of the dragon wondering what she was going to do.
The dragon opened her mouth and let her salvia drip onto the wound before closing her lips around it and huffing slightly, letting the heat of her breath cleanse the wound and seal it. She moved to the gashes in his side and did the same thing, healing them too. Dean felt the intense heat and cried out softly as he sucked in a sharp breath as tears filled his eyes. A radiating sensation suddenly ran down his arm and up his side for several minutes before slowly going away. The dragon cocked her head and looked down at Dean as she blew smoke out of her nostrils to let it slowly drift away on a light breeze.
"They're healed," Titus observed as he leaned down to examine Dean's shoulder and side. "How does it feel?"
"Tingley and a little stiff," Dean replied in wonder as he gently ran his fingers over the warm scars that were tender and pink looking. He couldn't believe the dragon was able to heal his injuries like that. He felt something stir within him as if a powerful energy took over and gave him renewed strength. It felt the same as when he touched the tree in the Forbidden Forest. If it hadn't been for the dragon, he would have died in the field with only Titus to mourn him.
"She did it," Titus beamed going to the dragon and hugging her and rubbing her nose. "Thank you," he whispered as the dragon butted his shoulder. "You saved him."
"Man looks like we may be walking back to the castle if we can't find the horses," Dean complained slowly getting up as his legs wobbled and jerked. He looked at the way the horses had galloped but didn't see any signs of them. "If we can't find them, we may not get back to the castle before the time is up."
"Look Dean," Titus insisted pulling at his shirt sleeve. "She wants us to get on her back."
"What? Oh no, no, not me," Dean insisted adamantly when he saw the dragon had laid down on the ground. He watched in horror as Titus wiggled up on her back behind her wings and straddled her, smiling widely at Dean.
"Look! It's okay, really. Come on Dean, she wants to help us find the horses," Titus encouraged him patting the dragon's back behind him. "There's no other way. You know we need to finish this task, we're so close…."
Dean swore under his breath and walked in front of the dragon knowing what was going to happen and didn't like it one bit. It took every ounce of willpower he had to approach the huge black creature and swing his leg over the dragon's back and scoot up close to Titus. He could feel the tremendous power under him as the dragon flapped her mighty wings and lifted off the ground.
"Oh crap, I'm going to die," Dean whined as the air swooshed around him from the strong, sweeping, motion of the wings. He tried not to look down as his stomach turned over and he thought he was going to throw up. "Look for the horses," he instructed Titus in a clipped, stiff voice because he had his eyes shut.
"I am. Isn't this amazing?" Titus cried looking down at the ground below them. The dragon wasn't flying too high so they could search for the horses.
What seemed like hours but was only about twenty minutes, Titus spotted the horses grazing below them. He pulled at Dean's arm that was tightly wrapped around his waist as he spoke.
"There, there they are. You can take us down Black Beauty," Titus loudly called to the dragon. He could feel her maneuvering and circling as she slowly flapped her wings quickly to lightly land on the ground far enough away from the horses so not to scare them again.
"Thank you God, I'm on solid ground again," Dean prayed as he quickly slipped from the back of the dragon and fell to the ground on his hands and knees. He bent down and kissed the dirt and grass, happy to feel the ground under him once again. He was still a little unsteady as he made it to his feet and gave a wave to the dragon for her help. "We appreciate your help," he called to her.
"Are you alright Dean?" Titus asked him as he slid from the back of the dragon. "Thank you, thank you," he told the dragon scratching her soft folds behind her wings and getting a content growl deep in her chest.
The Black Lightening Dragon bowed her head to them and wished them the best of luck before lifting her huge body back into the sky to fly away. They watched as she headed across the meadow gaining attitude and became only a spot in the sky. Dean looked down at the ground and saw several shiny, ebony scales in the flattened grass where the dragon had landed. He reached down and picked them up to take with him.
"Let me go to the horses first," Dean instructed Titus when he started toward them only to stop and look at Dean.
Dean walked slowly toward the grazing horses and began to speak softly to them trying not to look scary. When he was close enough, he caught the reins of Thunder and rubbed his nose as he continued to talk to him. He reached and grabbed Nona's reins too and made sure they were not spooked before leading them back to Titus. "Here you go Ty."
"I saw the road when we were flying," Titus told him. "It's not far if we head that way."
"Good job. Let's get going and see how far we can get before it gets dark," Dean said. He patted Thunder's neck before mounting him and waited as Titus got on Nona. He rolled the shoulder that had been wounded being sure it still felt okay and wondered what the dragon kiss had done. His side was a little tender, but nothing he couldn't manage. They rode toward the road and when they found it, headed for the castle at a steady gallop. Dean knew they had plenty of time to get back to the castle but was anxious to get back because he knew he was almost home.
A/N: There you go. Did you enjoy the action? Only two more chapters and this story will be over. It was so much fun to write. I hope you have enjoyed the read. Reviews/Comments would be great. NC
