Arran stared at the giant dragon that was fast approaching him, focusing his mind and suppressing the sense of panic that was rising within him. He knew that if he succumbed to fear, he would die — to have any chance of surviving this crisis, he needed his wits.
The creature moved sluggishly due to the poison that still lingered in its veins, but its vast size meant that it crossed half the distance between them in moments. Just a few moments more, and it would reach him.
As he saw the dragon near, Arran felt an overwhelming urge to flee, but he resisted it. As soon as he moved, his Duskcloak would no longer hide him, and there was no way he could outrun the creature when it saw him.
Instead, he steeled his nerves and forced himself to remain motionless. If what he had in mind was to work, he could only move at the very last moment, and not a second earlier.
Only two hundred paces remained between Arran and the dragon, and it crossed another hundred paces in just a few short steps. By now, it had reached the rock-filled edge of the valley, and here, the beast briefly paused, its single remaining eye sweeping across the area.
Arran smiled wryly at the sight, once more realizing that the beast wasn't anywhere near as stupid as its younger cousin had been. For all its size and viciousness, there was a hint of intelligence to the creature as well. And even it wasn't much, just that little spark of wit made the dragon many times more dangerous than it would be otherwise.
After taking a brief look at the rocks and boulders that lay in front of it, the dragon suddenly swiped forward with its claws.
The attack hit with devastating force, easily crushing the rocks within a dozen paces of the creature, with the shattered remnants flying off to the sides. Even the few barn-sized boulders and rock outcrops that lay before the dragon could not resist its staggering power, and they were shattered like glass.
Then, it took another step forward.
Arran did not move as the beast moved closer. He intended to shoot an arrow into the dragon's remaining eye at point-blank range, when the creature was too close to dodge or block the shot. And to do so, he would need to wait until the very last moment before he revealed himself.
It wasn't much of a plan, he knew. Even if the dragon did not crush him before he could attack and the shot was successful, he would be left within range of an enraged colossus, with little hope of escape.
Still, it was the only chance he had.
But just then, when only fifty paces remained between Arran and the dragon, there was a sudden flash of light as a streak of liquid fire shot toward the creature's head. It impacted a fraction of a second later, causing an explosion that would have obliterated a Shadowflame novice. A second streak of fire followed immediately, with a third hitting the dragon only a moment later.
While the dragon shrugged off the attacks unharmed, it stopped in its tracks, its giant head moving in the direction of its new foe. It let out a vicious roar, and for a moment, it seemed like the beast was about to attack the latest threat.
After only a moment's pause, the dragon turned back to its previous target. It seemed the creature had decided to deal with its second attacker only after the first was dead.
Yet the brief distraction was enough. The moment the creature turned back, an arrow came hurtling toward its remaining eye. It crossed the fifty paces in a fraction of a second and slammed straight into its target.
Arran did not wait to see the result of his attack. The instant he loosed the arrow, he turned and ran as fast as he could, using every bit of power in his body to escape.
Roars of rage sounded behind him as he ran, loud enough to shake the mountains around the valley, but Arran paid them no heed. Whatever the dragon was doing in its fury didn't matter to Arran — the only thing that mattered was getting as far away as possible.
Only when the racket at his back began to fade in the distance did he finally turn around. By then, he was already halfway up the mountain, and the immediate danger had passed.
When he looked at the valley, the sight shocked him. In its rage, the dragon had completely devastated the valley, with the rocky floor now cracked in numerous places, each of the cracks dozens of paces long and several feet wide. And still, the maddened beast roared and raged, blindly destroying everything in its reach.
Arran observed the scene for several moments, but then, he turned his gaze away and began to circle back toward the other side of the valley, where Snowcloud and Crassus were.
Despite the devastation the dragon had caused, Arran did not worry about his companions. He knew that they would have retreated the moment Arran blinded the colossal creature, making sure to get far away as it wrecked the valley.
On his way, Arran kept a large distance between himself and the dragon at the center of the valley. Even with the dragon blinded and poisoned, only a fool would dare come near it, and after his earlier moment of crisis, Arran had no taste for any more danger.
He reached the other side of the valley nearly an hour later, finding Snowcloud and Crassus soon after. The dragon, meanwhile, still hadn't calmed down, and Snowcloud stared at it with awe in her eyes.
Crassus, on the other hand, merely looked amused, a faint smile on his lips as he looked at the raging beast. That a commoner would be unmoved by such a scene puzzled Arran, but there was no time to give it any more thought.
The dragon had been blinded, but that was only the first part of the battle. If they didn't harm it any further, its wounds would heal in days, and Arran had no intention of finding out what it would do once it regained its sight.
As he reached his two companions, he turned to Snowcloud. "Thank you," he said. "Your attack saved my life."
She nodded in response, though there was a hint of joy in her eyes. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it."
"So was I," Arran replied honestly. It had been a close thing, and without the distraction of Snowcloud's attack, he would have had little chance of escaping the dragon alive. Moreover, Snowcloud had risked her own life in saving him — had her attack lured the dragon away from Arran, she would have had to face it herself.
Snowcloud glanced at the dragon. "Time for the next step?"
"We'll get in position now," Arran said. "And the moment the dragon calms down, we'll launch the next attack."
At once, he set off once more, this time toward the steep cliff at the end of the valley.
While the dragon was blinded, its injuries were still mild enough to heal quickly. The next step, however, would set it on an inexorable path toward death — assuming they succeeded.
A determined look formed on Arran's face as he scaled the tall cliff, and he shot a vicious look at the titanic creature in the distance. He might be like an ant compared to his foe, but that would not stop him from killing it.
