David Wells - Cursed Bones

He hit hard.

Rolling to a stop on the glacier, the elder dragon groaned but didn’t try to get back up. Zuhl pressed the attack, crash-landing on top of Izzulft and dismounting with a collar in hand, while Izzulft’s daughter held him down. The moment Zuhl’s foot touched the ground, Izzulft thrust into the air, carrying his daughter with him. He flew in an arc that brought them down near Ixabrax, landing on top of his daughter and holding her head down to expose the collar.

Ixabrax extended his head and neck close to his struggling sister, so Abigail could reach out with the Thinblade. She clenched her teeth in pain but managed to cut the collar cleanly and quickly. A moment later, Ixabrax’s sister stopped struggling and Izzulft let her up. When Ixabrax launched into the air again, Abigail gasped in agony, fighting to remain conscious.

All at once the cacophony of battle was interrupted by the roar of a hundred drakini pouring over the nearest ridge. They split evenly between the now five free dragons and fanned out to attack en masse. One of the two remaining collared dragons circled in protection of Zuhl, while he removed the corpse in the saddle of the other and fastened himself in. A few moments later, he was airborne again with the second dragon riding his right wing.

Abigail felt sudden, stabbing pain with each thrust as Ixabrax struggled to gain altitude and distance from the twenty drakini pursuing him. Once he leveled off and started to glide in a wide circle, Abigail managed to wrest her focus from the insistent claim of such intense pain. She scanned the enemy below, all of them struggling to reach such a height, a few coming close, but none succeeding.

Calmly, Abigail nocked an arrow and took aim. The arrow sailed out and down, rapidly gaining speed, but falling well short. She adjusted her aim and fired again, this time scoring a direct hit in the back of a drakini circling below. It tried to glide to the ground but lost control, crashing in a jumble of broken bones.

Izzulft flew straight at the twenty drakini targeting him, crashing into several, claw, fang, and tail thrashing about in a whirl, dead drakini spinning off of him as he passed through their formation and spread his wings to gain altitude for another attack. The wave of drakini, now half their original number, turned to meet the dragon’s next charge.

Magda, riding Nix, was working to get an angle on Zuhl and the remaining two dragons under his control. Anatoly, riding Khazad, was floating along behind her, attacking any drakini that got too close. Ixabrax adjusted his course to be as close to his collared siblings as possible should he need to deliver Abigail and the Thinblade.

Zuhl banked sharply, turning into Magda and unleashing an ice spike six feet long and a foot wide and moving fast enough to cut a man in two. Magda stretched out, reaching past Nix’s neck, and projected a force wall below them. It manifested as an opaque, grey pane of energy and it only lasted for a few seconds, but the ice spike exploded into vapor on impact.

Nix breathed a cloud of frost at Zuhl, but his shield pulsed red and the frost blew past him as steam. She banked up and to the left, circling away from Zuhl, gaining altitude. Zuhl broke away to the right and circled around on Izzulft, who was nearly finished slaughtering all twenty of the drakini that had attacked him. Zuhl got around behind him and cast another paralysis net, the amber orb expanding into a fine mesh that started to settle over Izzulft’s wings. This time he lifted his wings straight up and fell, escaping from under the net and avoiding the paralyzing effect of its touch.

Breaking his fall perilously close to the ground, Izzulft landed hard, crouching low for just a moment before thrusting into the air again. He gained altitude quickly, closing on Zuhl with each stroke. Zuhl cast an ice spike, Izzulft ducked and the six-foot-long shard of ice ricocheted off his back, shattering into pieces. He renewed his pursuit, clawing his way through the air toward his daughter and the mage that had enslaved them for so long.

Floating overhead on Nix, Magda loosed her spell. She knew it wouldn’t penetrate Zuhl’s shield, but that wasn’t her purpose-she meant to distract him just long enough for Izzulft to close the distance. A dozen shards of magical force slammed into Zuhl’s shield, one after the next. It wasn’t a complicated spell, but it was quick and effective, two qualities that Magda favored for combat spells.

Zuhl looked up for just a moment before returning his full attention to Izzulft. As the elder dragon closed the gap, Zuhl removed a ring he was wearing and held it out toward Izzulft. Holding the dragon’s eyes, he pronounced an ancient word and tossed the ring into the air. It vanished in a flare of total blackness. A moment later the two remaining collars flared the same black, and the dragons’ heads came free in midair, two of Izzulft’s children dead in an instant and plunging to the ground.

Zuhl leapt free of his saddle and fell toward the ground, slowing to a manageable speed and landing lightly. All of the dragons howled in fury and pain-two of their family were dead. The man responsible stood in open defiance below them. All eyes fell on him.

He stood in the snow, his white battle armor and long flowing snow-fox cloak blending into the surroundings. He didn’t run or hide or flinch when the dragons roared. He stood his ground and began preparing a spell, while the remaining twenty or so drakini flocked to him, surrounding him in a complete cordon.

Khazad flew over him, breathing a cloud of frigid air as he passed. Anatoly watched as some of the drakini were forced to the ground, their wings iced up, but Zuhl was unfazed, his shield completely absorbing the cold of the attack and countering it with heat while he focused on the words of his spell. An arrow bounced off his shield a moment later. Abigail cursed.

Magda cast a small blue orb at him. It hit his shield, depleting it in a few seconds, leaving Zuhl completely vulnerable, but still, he focused on the words of his spell.

Abigail loosed another arrow. She was a long way away but her aim was true, she knew she had him the moment the shaft left the bow. She held her breath while the arrow sailed through the air in a graceful arc, counting her heartbeats until it hit.

Zuhl looked up, spreading his arms wide, an orb of utter blackness materializing above him. A moment later it pulsed, sending out a rapidly expanding shell of darkness. When the darkness passed over each dragon, a black tether linked them from their chest to the orb floating over Zuhl’s head. Ixabrax was the only one spared, too far away for the spell to reach him.

Zuhl pronounced the final word loudly and defiantly. Abigail’s arrow buried in his chest to the feathers only the briefest moment later. Magda’s light-lance was next, burning a hole through the simulacrum where his heart was supposed to be. Zuhl slumped to the ground, dead.

In the span of the following three seconds, all of the darkness contained within the orb floating over Zuhl’s head drained into the four dragons. Each became stiff almost instantly, frozen in place, the pure blackness of Zuhl’s magic running its course. All four fell from the sky, their wings becoming so brittle that they shattered and broke off during the fall. Each hit the ground, exploding into a pile of blackened remains.

Anatoly hit hard, falling from Khazad and winding up nearly buried in the broken, desiccated remains of the murdered dragon. Magda leapt free of Nix and landed lightly in the snow nearby, watching in horror as all four dragons crashed to the ground and shattered into mounds of broken black, leaving terrible stains in the snow where they fell.

Ixabrax howled in a low wail, a death knell that carried on the wind for miles. Abigail felt such desperate sorrow in his cry. The pain of his loss was palpable, emanating from him in waves and all but overwhelming. She didn’t say anything, choosing instead to cry silently. And not just for Ixabrax’s loss, but for the guilt she felt for her part in it.