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It was Zakhin'Dakh, however, that spotted the dragon first. His soft screech brought Almonihah's attention to it.
If Almonihah had been thinking clearly, he would have talked with his
friend about the best tactics to use, about how to not get hit by the
green dragon's acidic breath, how he needed to aim for the weakest,
smallest scales, all of the things Zrathanzon had taught him about
fighting dragons. Of course, if he'd been thinking clearly, he probably
wouldn't have been here at all.
Instead, his thinking was so... wrong
that he couldn't even recognize the wrongness of it. He had come here,
driven by some pressure he could not explain, and now that he caught
sight of the scaled head thrusting itself out of an opening in the side
of a hill, the pressure exploded into rage.
Go! he growled to Zakhin'Dakh, and the big griffon, trusting his friend even though something felt wrong, leaped into the air.
The dragon couldn't help but see a griffon almost as big as it was take
to the air so close to its lair. “Who trespasses here?” it roared at
them.
Almonihah responded with a roar of his own. He had his bow out, but was
discovering just how difficult it was to fire from griffonback. Not
only was it incredibly difficult to get the bow into firing position
without hitting Zakhin'Dakh's head or wing or his own boot, the constant
up and down from his wingbeats made it almost impossible to aim. Then
he noticed the dragon taking a deep breath.
He nudged Zakhin'Dakh hard with one knee. The griffon got the idea and
veered to one side just in time to avoid a torrent of acid, though he
shrieked in pain as part of one back foot caught the edge of it.
Almonihah jumped free as his friend started to right himself, landing on
the ground and bringing his bow up. The dragon was watching
Zakhin'Dakh, readying itself to jump. Quickly Almonihah nocked an arrow,
drew, aimed...
The shaft buried itself in the dragon's eye just as it leaped at the
griffon. It roared in pain, shaking its head and ruining its jump, just
as Zakhin'Dakh rose up above it with a couple powerful flaps of his
wings, then dove on the creature below him. There was a loud CRACK as he
impacted the dragon's shoulder, just where its wing met its back.
It roared again, and lashed out at the griffon on its back with its
fangs. It tore a bite out of Zakhin'Dakh's thigh, bringing another
shriek from him as he twisted around to slash at the head with his
talons. Almonihah's next arrow ricocheted off scales as the two massive
beasts slashed at each other, and the half-dragon cursed as he watched.
His friend, lacking the protection of draconic scales, was losing the
fight, bleeding profusely from several long slashes in his chest and
sides, while Zakhin'Dakh had only been able to make a few superficial
scratches on the dragon's face.
Despite the boiling anger and the fog over his thoughts, Almonihah
retained a certain basic cunning. He circled to the dragon's blinded
side, and then ran towards it, Zithrandrak drawn. Zakhin'Dakh saw him
coming, and redoubled his efforts to injure his foe. He managed to bite
the dragon's clawed foot as it slashed at him, his beak shearing off one
of the dragon's toes with a sickening crunch. The dragon roared again,
pulling its injured foot back and snapping at the griffon, but still not
noticing the half-dragon leaping at its blind eye, silver blade
outstretched.
Almonihah, wings outstretched as he soared toward the dragon, could see
where he was aiming for. Just to the side of where the arrow had gone
in. The shaft hadn't gone deep enough to do more than blind the beast,
but a thin blade sunk deep enough just a little off to the side of the
arrowhead...
The dragon turned its head slightly. Almonihah spread his wings and
flapped once, modifying his trajectory just enough. Zithrandrak shot
forward, the half-dragon's full weight and momentum behind it.
Just as the dragon was inhaling again, the sword sunk in, piercing the
remains of its ruined eye and going deep into its head. Almonihah
grunted as the hilt was torn from his grasp, feeling his hand and arm
shriek briefly in pain as the opposing forces of holding onto
Zithrandrak and flying forward tried to tear them off, then had to grit
his teeth against the pain as his now erratic flight brought his right
wing into contact with a nearby tree. He felt something in his wing
break, and then his other wing struck some low branches as he tumbled
through the air. They pierced the fragile membranes and got tangled with
the bones of his wing, tearing great rents in it as he struck the tree
itself with his body then fell to the ground.
Almonihah groaned as the fog seemed to clear from his mind. He had no
idea why he'd been so stupid as to do this. He was lucky that the dragon
had concentrated more on Zakhin'Dakh than on him...
Zakhin'Dakh.
The half-dragon stumbled to his feet and made his way back to where they had fought. Zakhin'Dakh... wasn't moving.
******
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