Azure bonds - Kate Novak [116]
Dragonbait swung his sword two-handed, biting deep into the monster's thigh. Mist gave a shout and pitched forward. Olive sidestepped just in time to avoid being struck by the dragon's jaw as it hit the ground.
Raising her neck, the dragon fired blindly, torching the overturned wagon. Her neck snaked, spreading the flames in a wide swath. But Dragonbait had dodged beneath her head, preparing to attack her opposite flank.
The dragon began batting her wings again, trying to take off. Dragonbait jabbed his sword into her left wing. The backward curved teeth caught in the flesh and tore a huge, flapping gash in the membrane.
The red dragon crashed to the ground once again. Olive had been waiting for this chance, and she ran toward the huge head. Her sight now cleared, Mist opened her mouth, preparing to bite the brave but foolish halfling into two tidbits. The bard turned and dodged away from the beast's maw, but not before she managed to toss in, at point-blank range, the opened bottle of peranox.
The bottle cracked beneath the snapping jaws, sending shards of poisoned crystal deep into the dragon's mouth. Dragonbait struck Mist again, opening a third wound along her belly. The dragon spat and flamed, trying to drive the poison from her mouth.
Mist rolled over in the dust like a flea-bitten dog tormented by insignificant invaders. She flamed at the sky until nothing but heated air escaped her innards. Dragonbait made one last gash in her neck, then dashed away, scooping Olive up in his arm and running from the camp-ten, twenty, thirty yards before he stopped. Then he turned to watch the dragon as it tossed and twisted in agony.
After five minutes, the thrashing stopped and the huge, crimson monster lay still in the dirt. Dragonbait pushed Olive to the ground and pointed as though he were ordering her to stay. He crept warily back toward the dragon. Unwilling to miss this historic moment, Olive followed disobediently after him.
They halted a few feet from Mist's head. She was still breathing. Drooling sweat ran from the corners of Dragon-bait's mouth, and Olive had a stitch in her side from her short attack-run. Still, there was no doubt they had won. She wondered if Mist would really obey Dragonbait now or try to deceive him the way she had Alias.
She turned to the lizard, touching his scaly arm shyly. "Thank you for saving me," she said.
Dragonbait bowed his head politely.
"You can talk, can't you?" Olive asked.
The lizard felt for his belt pockets, where he had put the talis deck Olive had given him. But the pouch he reached in was torn along the bottom seam and now completely empty. Dragonbait shrugged.
"Boogers," Olive said. "You know what happened to Alias, but you can't tell anyone."
"Nonsense. He's told me already," Mist said, popping one eye open, but remaining otherwise immobile.
Dragonbait raised his sword, and Olive caught a strong whiff of tar. Mist's eye closed and she whispered, "Yes, I surrender, dragonling. I apologize for judging you by your raiment. You win. I will honor our agreement." The dragon sighed and opened her eyes. "Bard, you don't have any more of that putrid-tasting potion, do you?"
"Oh," the halfling lied, "about six or seven more jars. Large jars. Why?"
The dragon closed her eyes. Dragonbait snarled, and the eyes opened again. "I said I give up. You win. Just keep that peranox away from me. I think I'm going to be sick."
Ruskettle suddenly realized she was shaking, though whether from aftershock of the battle or the thought of a violently ill dragon, she did not know.
Slowly, like a drunk recovering from her first hangover, Mist reared up her head, flexing the damaged leg and torn wing. "That tears it," she said. "Literally. I won't be able to fly for a year. Sorry, but I can't very well help you if I'm damaged. What say I just let you go and I trek my way home?"
Dragonbait snarled again. "Only a suggestion," Mist muttered, laying