Laugavegur, A Hinterland Journey

Chapter 30 - Beasts Bathe the Land in Blood

Down from the summit of Miredale Mountain swooped a Dragorhraun, far larger than any of the dragons Anja had seen at the aerie and larger still than the ones that had attacked the Bottomlands.

"Take cover!" shouted Kiran as the Dragorhraun launched itself down from its high perch gliding toward the pass. The remnants of the refugee army sprinted from the field, searching for any crevasse or rock outcrop to duck behind. Anja and Skari pressed tightly against a rock face. It offered little protection but at least obscured the Dragorhraun's view. The sheep riders simply scattered, and it was ultimately they who were exposed to the brunt of the Dragorhraun's assault. With a saurian roar, the Dragorhraun unleashed a stream of fire onto the pass. Several sheep riders and their mounts were incinerated instantly as the Dragorhraun swept to the sky for a second pass. Anja saw a small cluster of five refugees edging toward a precipice; trapped between the sheer drop and the fiery carnage of the open pass. Anja ran from her hiding spot and shouted for the group to run as the Dragorhraun streaked towards them. When the Dragorhraun's fire burst down, all five jumped from the cliff into the chasm far below.

"This is no longer a battle. It is a massacre," cursed Kiran from atop a pile of cobbles. "We haven't the weaponry to bring that creature low."

Anja followed the Dragorhraun's trajectory as it wheeled overhead searching for its next target. Since she ran from her hiding spot, she was now completely exposed on the pass, too far from cover. Her breath caught in her chest as the Dragorhraun curled around and aimed directly toward her. She felt Skari step beside her. "Skari?" she whispered.

"I am sorry Anja. This is beyond anything I can conjure."

"I see."

It was strange to Anja, the feeling she had as death swooped to greet her. She didn't see flashes of her parents or happy moments she shared with the abbey sisters. She thought of fresh-baked bread; well-buttered and steaming. She lamented that she would never enjoy a fresh loaf again. It was selfish. It was stupid. Her fascination with having a good death to reach Valhalla was gone and all that remained was regret and fear. Regret that the last words to her brother were in anger. She lamented that he would be left alone. How tough it would be on him to lose his entire family. And fear... she found she didn't know what was next and as Anja stared into the Dragorhraun's widening maw, she admitted to herself that she was truly and completely terrified.

Skari threw Anja to the ground, covering her with his cloak as a blue streak slammed into the side of the Dragorhraun, sending it tumbling to the ground in an immense cloud of ash.

Tokki let out a whoop as the Dragon Queen spiraled upward into the clouds. Anja rolled out from under Skari's cloak. Her damaged arm screamed, but she was alive. Skari groaned and rolled to his knees.

"Too old... far too old for this," he lamented. A great cheer when up from the remaining warriors.

"What was that?" shouted Kiran, from his pile of cobbles.

"That? That was my brother!" shouted Anja.

Kiran pointed to the sky. "Your brother has won us the day!"

Overhead, the sky filled with an armada of Jokull Dragons flying in from the north. They set upon the remaining garms and golems with gouts of frozen breath. The golems fought the frosty onslaught and a few even managed to gain their feet, but as the dragons poured ice into their ranks, the golems' bodies contorted into harsh gargoyles, roughly humanoid in shape but with grotesque features. Their writhing slowed until they froze in place, solid and ever-watching, but never to move again. Katla was in full flight, retreating back up the slopes towards the summit of Miredale Mountain, several Jokull Dragons in close pursuit.

Anja exhaled, unable to believe she and Tokki had survived the day. Katla was defeated. However, as soon as she had the thought, she felt a terrible sense of foreboding.

"No..." she whispered.

Anja stared at where the Dragorhraun had fallen. Where the beast had been laying immobile, it was now crouched, ready for flight. With a roar, the Dragorhraun lumbered its way into the sky once again. The Jokull Dragon, with her brother sitting astride her, was off sending icy breath down on a pair of garm as they attempted to retreat. They did not see the Dragorhraun as it accelerated toward them.

"Tokki! To-kki!" Anja cried, her voice lost in the winds on the pass.

It was only at the last moment that the Dragon Queen felt the approaching Dragorhraun. Deftly, she dove down and to the right, the Dragorhraun snapping out at her back legs and barely missing. Both dragons swept away in wide arcs before turning once again to face one another. The Dragon Queen and the Dragorhraun squared up and hurtled across the sky towards one another. Tokki was but a passenger, small and barely hanging on.

Blood pounded in Tokki's ears. In his mind he could hear the Dragon Queen's calm words. "Be brave, Tokki. This is as it must be." He could feel her heart beating and blood singing as he pressed his toes deeper into the grooves between the Dragon Queen's scales and braced for the coming impact.

The dragons slammed together amid a chorus of primal roars. They tore at one another with tooth and claw... a snarling, churning ball that fell furiously from the sky and disappeared behind the pass. There were more roars and shrieks from the far side of the pass. Anja ran for the crest desperate to see what had come of her brother and the large blue dragon.

A moment later, however, it was the Dragorhraun that lurched into the air above the pass. It was badly wounded but flying. It banked unsteadily on shredded wings back to the north. Blood oozed from a gaping wound on it flank, coloring the grasslands below it a deep crimson. Of the Jokull Dragon and her brother, there was no sign.

That's not good. Where is Tokki? The Dragon Queen?

Please give a vote if you are as concerned as I am.