THE WINDS WERE BRUTAL THIS time of the year, lashing against rocks, causing the water to whip up, reaching for the stars above even as hail thundered down, disrupting the sea.
Usually, this would be cause for concern. Taking flight in the middle of a raging midnight storm was unwise, even for someone such as Jacquelyn McKenna. But she was left with no other choice. This was life or death, and she wasn't the sort who died when she was supposed to die.
She had been challenged, and losing this challenge would surely mean her death, a gruesome end with her grave being the merciless sea below.
But the assassin planned to flip the tables, because she didn't plan on dying at the jaws of a monster who lived to destroy.
In the end, it would be the one laid to rest eternally at the bottom of the sea.
Leaning forward over the neck of the snake-like beast beneath her hunched form, she steadily guided the mount through sea stacks, weaving in and out of the air currents as the shadow overhead kept them swallowed in its darkness, trailing their agile movements no matter how sudden they made their turns.
Moondust rippled through the air like a spiked ribbon, deadly and full of rage, her rattling roar piercing the night air and causing the hairs of Jacquelyn's neck to stand on end, for that sound never seemed to truly settle with her.
It was a sound which rattled the very marrow of her bones.
Swooping left suddenly, the dragon broke free of the endless maze of sea stacks, twisting around the top of one and shooting upward toward the massive beast which had been tailing them for the last hour. Jaws parted, the dragon spiraled gracefully up toward the titan beast, illuminated by each flash of relentless lightning, screeches deafened by the crashing of thunder.
Hellfire swarmed around them, lighting up the large balls of hail plummeting from the sky, and yet their dance of death continued on, against all odds.
Moondust shrieked, blasting the larger attacker in the lower chin with a ring of white fire before she arced and began to plunge toward the wickedly raging ocean, avoiding those snapping jaws with the flowing grace of a winged snake. Her tail spiraled out behind her — spiked and nearly impossible to grip unless one wanted a mouthful of painful spines.
Whispering Deaths were close to the top of the food chain, large and deadly dragons with saw-like teeth allowing them to chew through nearly anything in their paths — which was why they spent their lives tunneling beneath the earth. Moondust was a predator, and she knew how to fight off larger dragons threatening her or her home.
Her body shifted, and the dragon pulled up at the last second, her tail whipping the water as they skimmed along the surface. Powered by the ocean's breeze and determined to bring this thing down, Moondust weaved along the water while Jacquelyn adjusted her seat, narrowing her singular eye as confidence burst through her body. She was determined to win this.
This monster had taken everything from her — it was time to bury it in the sea along with the forty people, ten innocent dragons, and one single lover who had fallen to its might.
She had faith in her own dragon. While smaller than the Red Death and skinny, the beast beheld more agility and speed than the king-sized giant, who relied on brute strength to demolish its enemies. If Moondust could tire it out, they could mark its grave right here — in the deepest part of the sea.
The Whispering Death whipped to one side, releasing her signature shriek as a blazing column of flame came down near them, and she arced around it as steam exploded up from the ocean. Jacquelyn ground her teeth, leaning over the head of her companion and seizing the reins again. She pulled back, forcing Moondust to slow down and shoot straight up toward their enemy. A Red Death was also of the Boulder Class, the first attack had seemed to leave a mark on its chin — a possible weak area on the otherwise impenetrable dragon.
They needed to try, otherwise it would keep leveling islands until there was no one left.
Blanketed by the steam, their rapid ascension went unnoticed until the alpha dragon was too close to them to stop them, and a burst of fire caught it unaware before the Whispering Death and her rider disappeared into the cloud of humid air once again.
Moondust landed on a sea stack, hissing as the mist began to clear up around them. It swirled like a curtain, making it difficult for the girl on dragonback to breathe. The dragon weaved in a circle, growling as the Red Death's shadow consumed them when it flew overhead.
Breathing heavily, Jacquelyn tried to regain her bearings, sweat beading on her brow. "We can't defeat this thing with fire alone." She rasped, tightening her grip on the spikes. "We need to target the wings — you can use your spikes to tear the webbing."
The Whispering Death squawked, snorting a small plume of smoke from her nostrils. Her understanding of the words was clear — the girl just had to pray she listened.
Moondust flapped her wings, lifting up off the sea stack as the mist cleared up, swirling away from them and revealing their location to the circling Red Death.
And then, they were off. Like a shadowy ribbon against the darkness, the dragon and the girl flew together, dodging hail and soaring gracefully through the sky. All around them, the darkness was interrupted by dragonfire. Jacquelyn felt a spark of hope.
She felt the end of this wretched battle.
For the first time since dragons had crawled from their underground exile, there would be peace. There had to be.
Her Whispering Death whipped her tail over her backside, aiming toward their opponent's starboard wing and striking home three times, effectively tearing small holes into the webbing, though nothing major enough to topple the larger dragon.
The Red Death shrieked madly, blasting another mouthful of raging flames toward them, forcing Moondust into a sudden and desperate twist to avoid being scorched. Jacquelyn clung to the spikes, leaning over the head of her companion and trying to quickly steady their flight in preparation for another attack.
Her stomach lurched as her Whispering Death let out a sudden cry, and in the span of a second, the two of them were engulfed in a blinding light — another plume of deadly fire that was unavoidable.
The wind blasted her face, her heart went to her throat. Her single eye teared up — from the heat or the lash of the air, she was uncertain — but her entire body went into survival mode.
It took her a long moment to realize that she was no longer clinging to Moondust. She was sinking through the air toward the roaring ocean beneath her, and the Red Death flapping above, watching her fall. The woman twisted her body to make a grab for her dragon, though immediately jerked back with a cry of shock.
Her Whispering Death companion was falling a few feet away, however the sight was one that caused Jacquelyn's stomach to plunge. Burned and blackened beyond recognition, the dragon was clearly in pain — despite still being alive and awake.
The woman felt herself falling, and heard her mount screech in agony — a broken and gurgling noise from deep within the back of the throat. The sound was so close, yet so far away, she could barely hear it over the sound of the wind around her, and even more so the blood roaring in her ears. She reached toward Moondust, but it was too late to remount.
When her body made contact with the freezing water, the pain jolted her from the near-peaceful descent she'd become aware of. Cold, salty ocean surrounded her, burning into her wounds like acid. A red cloud formed around her — blood. Her own blood.
Deep in her heart, she knew it was over for her.
The darkness of the freezing sea closed in around her, and for a moment, right before she gave in to the numbness, there was a ripple in the peaceful blanket, something crashing through the surface. The last thing the woman saw before death took her at last were the white eyes of her best friend, partly open, and a final blaze of bright, fiery light.
Then, all lay in silence as the icy and dark ocean cradled her into an eternal slumber.