Page 80 of Enchanted Crown
There was a pause in which I wondered if she passed out, as I flew out of the way of an advance from Enoch.
At first I thought if I didn’t use this bond in that way, then if I died it wouldn’t be that way for you. I don’t want to destroy you like he did to her.
I snorted audibly. Like I wouldn’t be destroyed every singletime she was hurt. Also seemed odd for her to not want to die and hurt me, yet she had panicked and flew right into the enemy’s trajectory.
Oh, the irony.
And then once I realized it was inevitable, I was just too scared. It hurt me every time you spoke to me this way and I didn’t. If Dra Skor was healthy, that’d be one thing. But with this dark haze hovering over Dra Skor, I don’t want to have this...only for it to be taken from us. You are not the one they want gone, it’s me.
Dex managed to hit Enoch with one of the two boulders he set at him, knocking him down momentarily.
Esta,I snapped.You have been punishing yourself and me, both of us, for absolutely all the wrong reasons. So tell me you’re done with this nonsense.
Her response was immediate.I’m done with this nonsense. But the terror of one of us ending up like Nana is going to continue to haunt me, I’m afraid.
You can’t let the fear keep you from living.There was more I could say, should say, but I was watching Zaire swoop down on Enoch.
I’m sorry. Truly.I felt her remorse and guilt both over what she’d done.
We are a team, remember? We’ll take on our fears together.I paused as the land dragon and winged dragon rolled, Zaire going for quick attacks before taking back to the sky.You cannot ignore me and go flying into danger any time you feel I am at risk, Esta.
I know.
I inhaled deeply, finding an opening in the attack I needed to use.Now woman, can you kindly shut up? I’m a little busy at the moment.Likely going to murder Enoch in five minutes or less.
I felt her fading anyway.I love you.
And I love you, sweetheart.
Turning my attention back to the fight before us, I noted the predator had become the prey, and his only goal now was to takeone of us down with him. Which made Enoch an unpredictable enemy. He would gladly take a blow, if only he could also deliver one.
Distract him,Zaire told me from the sky.
“You should shift and fight us like men,” I told Enoch, walking toward him to further get his attention.
He roared in my direction,You are unworthy of wings. Of shifting.
It might have been juvenile, but I saw Zaire closing in from behind Enoch. “Likewise,” I shot back.
The short window I held Enoch’s attention was all Zaire needed, he closed his jaw around Enoch’s neck and they again went rolling on the ground, my hold on Enoch’s leg failing under the pressure of their movement.
Without hesitation, I launched myself into the air as Enoch reached out and again dove for Zaire, not wanting him to get back in the air this time. Instead of flying away, Zaire in his dragon form turned and punched Enoch in the face. I had to admit in either form, it was rather effective, but the talons added a bloody flair. And in this particular instance, I found it most agreeable.
Dex gestured toward Enoch with his head while holding his own spear, identical to the one which shot down Esta.
Enoch might be desperate enough to try to take on all of us at once, but it wouldn’t last long. With a nod from me, Dex ran into the mass of gnashing teeth and talons and stabbed Enoch in the tail with his spear.
I was already moving by the time Enoch raised his head in a roar, and it was that exact moment I tucked my wings in and dropped underneath him to drive upward with my own spear, the same spear he injured Esta with, and drove it into the land dragon’s chest cavity.
He let out an ear-splitting roar of pain as he felt the first call of death.
He was oozing out black dragon blood immediately, and I stepped back, fortunate to get only a spray of it on my still bare abdominal muscles.
And then suddenly Enoch was in his human form before me, the spear still in his chest.
He deserved a slow death for shooting down Esta and working with Morana again. Yet in the end I found I was hasty for it to be over, for the realm to be rid of him. So instead of standing there waiting for him to bleed out and die, I put a boot on his body and pushed the spear farther in. Until it went all the way through and I felt the spear hit the hard ground beneath him. “You were not worth the time it took to heal you,” I told him. “May you burn your way home.”
As soon as the life left his eyes, we all stood there panting for a few moments. Taking in all that had happened.
