till forever falls apart

chapter 10: dragon

"Dragon!" Feren screamed in the distance, causing the panic inside Idhrenel's heart to freeze in fear as a tyrannic wave of air toppled elves and orcs alike suddenly, followed then by a screech echoing endlessly through the forest, and then the sun became irrelevant when the dragons great shape passed over. The cool of the evening air fizzled away around the beast as from its mouth shot torrents of sickening black flame, killing not only elves, but orcs.

"Move!"  Idhrenel screamed again, wrenching the reins backwards so hard that the elk tossed its giant antlered head and reared onto its hind legs. Orcs scattered like spooked rabbits across the scorched plain. The elk brought its hooves down with an impact that seemed to shake the earth. Idhrenel grabbed Thranduil's collar and yanked his head down just as the dragon's razor-sharp tail flickered over their heads in a whiplike arc. A passing orc slashed at them with a long, serrated blade. Thranduil swung wildly at it with his sword, and the orc snarled in agony and went down. The dragon opened its wide mouth, fangs glistening, and exhaled another huge cloud of dark smoke. Thranduil could hear one of the guards issuing commands, but all he could see was the elk's antlers and the back of Idhrenel's head as they charged forward.

"I can't see anything," she shouted, coughing up bits of ash. Her hair was streaked with grey powder. "I need-- better vantage point--" Idhrenel shoved the reins into Thranduil's hands, catapulted herself off of the elk's back, and disappeared into the plumes of smoke. "No," he yelled at his wife, leaning over and grabbing a fistful of empty air, "wait!" But she was already gone. Meaty hands suddenly scrabbled at his waist. An orc was on top of him, clawing at the elk's side. "Get off!" Thranduil hissed, bringing his sword down sharply. It blocked the swing with a blade of its own and snarled something malicious at him, grabbing onto the saddle and holding on fast. He grabbed the hideous thing by the throat and grappled with it, trying to shove it back down. All of a sudden, black blood bubbled out of its sharp-toothed mouth and its eyes bulged as it died a rapid, rattling death. He saw a golden arrow protruding from the side of its neck as he dropped it hastily on the ground. Where was she?

A long spear jabbed viciously at the elk's face, and it reared up again with a pained cry. Thranduil saw, over the top of the slowly dissipating smoke cloud, the dragon swishing its whiplike tail and writhing in apparent agitation. So many arrows were embedded in its scales that it resembled a porcupine, but it barely seemed to register the pinprick blows. He dragged the reins to the right and turned in a fast circle. The elk trampled over several motionless bodies on its path-- a few, he noted in dismay, wearing elven armour.

An armoured figure dropped down from a low-hanging branch, fired a golden arrow into the smoke, and immediately vanished. Staring open-mouthed at the place where Idhrenel had stood, Thranduil almost missed an orc lunging at him, and stuck his sword through its chest at the last second. His silver blade came away dripping with black blood. What was she doing? Why wasn't she with the guard? Somewhere nearby, a horrible, inhuman scream rent the air. The dragon's scaly head rose, twisting in agony, over the smoke and thrashed back down with an impact as powerful as a minor earthquake. Two elven guards and an orc nearby were blasted off of their feet mid-duel. Losing his grip on the reins, Thranduil flew into the air and came down hard on the muddy ground. The elk writhed horribly beside him for a moment, two orc-spears embedded deep in its side, and then went still.

He scrambled to his feet and looked around frantically for Idhrenel. The smoke was closing in on him from all sides, clogging his nose and mouth and ears and making him gag on stinging ashes. "I figured it out!" Thranduil turned around. Idhrenel was running at him-- no, running past him. Her eyes were lit up with a strange, exultant glow. "What are youdoing?" he choked. "Aim at its eyes and mouth," she yelled, firing another golden arrow without pause. "They're its only weak spots! If I could just-- get past this smoke--"

Idhrenel coughed into the hand protecting her mouth against the deceased perfume she could taste in the air, her eyes watering and stinging from the smoke. Everywhere Idhrenel looked there was or would be fire. "No," Thranduil tried to say, reaching for her and missing. "Stop! Don't get so close..." But he swallowed a mouthful of hot smoke and all that came out was an ashy cough. Idhrenel was too far away to hear him now. 

When she next saw him,  he was with the dragon. "Thranduil!" They both watched in horror as the furnace on wings released its fire straight towards him, but hearing his name he looked away from his death, his eyes scared when they met Idhrenel's. She pulled a golden arrow out of her quiver and slid it deftly into place, pulling the string back slowly. It soared over the plumes of smoke in a graceful arc and vanished. The dragon's grating scream rent the air moments later, and he knew she had hit her mark. He rushed forward, flooded with a sudden instinct to get her away from there, and felt something sharp embed itself in his side. His left leg twisted underneath him, and he went down. 

Idhrenel was smiling, eyes lit up like stars, unaware that he was crumpled in the dead grass with a dagger sticking out of him. She had another golden arrow in her hand. She mouthed something that might have been I've saved us! And then the dragon's head reared up behind her, golden arrows sticking out of both yellow eyes. Thranduil ripped the dagger out of his side, ignoring the rush of blood that spattered the grass, and threw his broken body into a sprint, barely registering the grinding flashes of pain each time his left foot hit the ground. The ring of dragon fire danced high below the sick orange sky, flames deepening from white to gold to blood-red.

She had to be inside somewhere. She had to be alive. His head was spinning. He clamped a hand down on his hip to stem the blood pouring down his left leg and ran straight into the flames. He put both hands in front of his face to cover him from smoke and flames; though the left hand side of his face was scorched and burned. He couldn't see, couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He staggered back in pain, he focus growing fuzzy. His voice sounded faraway and tinny, like a faint echo coming from someone else's mouth. "Idhrenel," he said, trying to hold his eyes open. Spots of neon colour burned into his retinas and danced over his fading vision. He stumbled. Drops of his own blood dotted the gold-lit ground. "Idhrenel." He tried to shout as he collapsed onto the forest floor.