Finally the great pillar of stone loomed overhead, rising from the lake like a precipitous mountain, merging fully into a dark and jagged sky. Peering through the shadows, Aurora unsuccessfully sought evidence of the black or red dragons. Once more the power of levitation pulled her upward, carrying her past the cliffs of the lofty column as she rose toward the ledge. She drew a breath, felt the fires of killing heat seething within her belly as she pivoted in a spiral, seeking any sign of movement in the shadows. Again she had been forced to make noise, and certainly the evil wyrms must have heard.
Still, the black came at her so quickly that Aurora barely saw the monster against the darkness-only the white teeth, gleaming like bony daggers in a gaping mouth, gave hint of the monster’s approach. Her reaction was instantaneous, and the dark space thrummed and boiled, filled with the searing, orange-red explosion of Aurora’s breath. Steam hissed, and the black dragon’s shriek of pain rang through the darkness, echoing from the far walls around the underground sea.
A stream of searing acid spumed from that fireball, splashing along Aurora’s flank, burning and corroding through her golden scales. Veering to escape the crackling fire, the midnight-dark wyrm tumbled below his foe, and Aurora dropped, catlike, onto the creature’s back. Swiftly her jaws found the ridged backbone at the base of the neck, and with a crushing, bone-snapping bite the gold dragon severed her enemy’s spine.
Leaving the lifeless body to splash into the water, Aurora used her tail to pull her still-levitating body to the edge of the grotto’s ledge. Scales flaked off of her side as the acid hissed deeper into her flesh, scoring fiery rivers of pain. Crawling slowly, her left foreleg virtually useless, she poked her head into the softly phosphorescent illumination of the grotto.
She felt weak with relief as she saw, in the center of the circular chamber, that the gem-studded nest was undisturbed, the precious globes of the eggs still gleaming metallic and pristine.
*****
Furyion glided through the vast cavern, soaring near the ceiling. He was enraged by the gold’s trickery, the enchantment that had wiped his own arsenal of spells from his mind. Frustration grew within him as he sensed that the nest of metal eggs was close, but remained unable to find it.
Still, he knew now that victory was imminent.
He had seen the white fall, and heard the slaying of the black. From the gold’s lengthy absence he deduced that Arkan and Korril, too, had suffered from Aurora’s deadly strength.
Yet now the mighty golden serpent was badly wounded-the scent of blood, and of charred, lightning-ravaged flesh, was acrid in the air, clear proof of Aurora’s many hurts. She was weakened, vulnerable, and close; he could see her now, stretched exhausted on a narrow ledge, high above the black waters of the lake.
Furyion pictured those golden scales, imagined how the necklace would dance and jangle as his heart swelled with pride, absorbed the many praises of his Queen.
He would wear that trophy around his neck forever, he resolved, tucking his scarlet wings and diving toward the helpless gold.
*****
With pain wracking her crippled limbs and scarred, ravaged body, Aurora turned her gaze outward. She knew that the red could not be far away, and was not surprised as a bellow of fury echoed through the chamber, signaling the monster’s approach.
The crimson form, sleek and powerful, unwounded and fresh, plunged toward Aurora from above. Embers of fire still surged in her belly, but the gold knew that against this enemy her killing fireball would have little effect.
Her deadly spells all but exhausted, wings rended and wounds bleeding across her body, Aurora knew that she faced an attack she could not defeat. With a bleak moan she thought of the eggs . . . they were certainly doomed if she should perish and leave the crimson serpent to plunder and kill.
The red dragon bored in, jaws gaping, foreclaws extended to rip into the golden body. In the instant before collision, a plan sprang into Aurora’s mind, compelling action without consideration of regrets or misgivings. There was no time to philosophize-she knew what she had to do.