Chapter 276 - The Shadow: Attack II (2/2)

”Not in a thousand years-,” began Cicero.

”Then we escape now,” said Meld as she leaped up from her temporary shadow portals, reaching by Cicero's side and putting a hand on him.

”Hold fast!” shouted Gronn, and a moment later, his body lurched backwards, and Meld dropped halfway down into a portal once more to anchor herself.

It was evident that Gronn had been struck with a powerful impact, and the force of it easily tore Cicero apart from the dragon's back. Meld, however, was quick, and she immediately reached out to grab Cicero's arm and stopped him from plummeting down to the depths below.

Though Meld might not have been the heaviest of hitters nor the fastest of runners among the Ascendant Order, she was still a hero, and with that came formidable natural strength honed by years of intensive training.

”What is the situation?” said Meld to Gronn, and the dragon sensed her voice.

”I was hit. By a spine shot. Lesser dragons of the emerald wing clan. Dogs to Valerikynthimos.” Gronn's voice deepened into a particularly guttural growl as he uttered the other dragon's name. ”Emerald wing whelps cannot harm me. But Valerikynthimos, I cannot defeat.”

”Then work towards an escape,” said Meld. ”There is no point fighting battles you cannot win.”

”Valerikynthimos will chase me, and I cannot escape her,” said Gronn. ”But she will not care for you two. Go. I will deal with this. My business anyway.”

”Gronn, are you certain?” asked Cicero.

”Go,” said Gronn gruffly and simply. There was not a shred of hesitation or remorse or anything resembling sadness in his voice. Just a simple declaration. This must have been the pride of dragonkind.

Meld saw Cicero hesitate, biting his lip as he tried to think of something.

Meld hoisted Cicero up and then roughly squeezed his shoulder both in comforting gesture and to shake him up to the seriousness of the present situation. ”Your magic is pitiful, and my powers are suited for assassination, not battles of mythic scale such as this. We cannot lose our lives here. We cannot waste more time. We leave, now.

If you disagree with me, I will knock you unconscious and take you against your will.”

Cicero nodded. ”But how? We are far above even the line of clouds. A fall from this height will turn us into little more than mush.”

Meld tightened her grip on Cicero as she felt Gronn lurch, his wings beating down to send him hurtling high up in a sudden instant. The rapid intensity of the movement caused whiplash that disoriented the elderly elf, and she took care to put a hand to his head to prevent him from breaking his neck.

She could sense a massive and exceedingly quick projectile speed past below, right where they had been. Judging by the way the dark clung to its form, it was a long, thin, spine the size of three horses lengthwise.

”I will waste no more time. Trust me.” Meld grabbed Cicero to her and then dislodged herself from the shadow portals that kept her legs anchored to Gronn. She expected the old elf to begin protesting, but he simply clenched his jaw in equal parts determination and fear, accepting the situation and believing in her.

Respectable will.

Meld felt her wide hat fly off from her head. Her hair tie also blew apart as rapid winds began to whirl around her rapidly falling form. Her hair, long and silvery white, fluttered out, forming a little tail of silver above her as she fell. The black of her sizable, cloak-like cape fluttered all around her, causing a constant cacophony as winds buffeted it.

The cape helped her orient herself so that she could fall with her feet pointing downwards, and she made sure to keep Cicero held up high above her head. She concentrated, knowing that even the tiniest miscalculation would lead to both of their deaths.

When they would reach terminal velocity accounting for the winds. And from the winds, how they had blown before, how the cloud cover below was thick and rain-filled, she knew they were over the northern center of the Republic that had the most rain during this time of the year.

Precisely where, she could not an exact coordinate, but she knew they must not be flying anywhere over heavily populated areas. The ground in this part of the country would be either thickly forested or flat and dead. She hoped she would land on deadened ground, but she knew it was entirely up to chance.

Chance, she hated, but she could deal with it. She always tried to minimize chance, because usually in her observation, compensating for chance required sacrifices, and sacrifices, though she was willing to make as many as it took, she was not fond of.

That was what she thought as she kept her mind focused on her surroundings while she plummeted down to the earth.