The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 7

“Alright, Bianca, you can put your claw down,” Aiden said, his voice flat. “Now for the second vote. All in favor of making our lair by the river, raise your claw.”

As he spoke, Aiden raised his own right claw. Beside him, Azure did the same.

He looked at Bianca. She was staring at Azure, her expression one of pure, betrayed confusion.

“Two votes to one,” Aiden announced, his tone leaving no room for argument. “We make for the river.”

“That's not fair!” Bianca roared.

Aiden's gaze snapped to her, his red pupils narrowing to slits. He respected rules and detested those who tried to break them. A dangerous glint lit his eyes.

“Are you challenging the vote?”

His words hung in the air, cold and heavy. The word challenge made Bianca's body go rigid. The memory of being effortlessly pinned and beaten flooded her mind. The defiance in her eyes was replaced by wounded pride. Her jaw clamped shut.

With the matter settled, Aiden looked toward the end of the canyon. “Let's go,” he said. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can start digging our new nest.”

He spread his wings and launched into the sky. Azure was right behind him, leaving Bianca to make her own choice.

Compared to the impulsive and stubborn Bianca, the rational and powerful Aiden was the obvious ally. For Azure, the decision was simple.

Sitting alone on the ground, Bianca watched their retreating silhouettes. Hmph. Go on then, she thought bitterly. I can survive just fine without you.

A hot gust of wind blew through the valley. She looked around at the desolate canyon. Nothing to eat, nothing to drink. Could she really find food on her own? The disgusting taste of dirt returned to her memory. She did not want to eat dirt again.

…

“Hey! Wait for me!”

Hearing the distant, wailing cry, a small grin touched Aiden's lips. That foolish girl is certainly amusing, he thought. Flying beside him, Azure also allowed herself a small, reptilian smile. In the crushing boredom of the desert, Bianca was, if nothing else, a distraction.

They deliberately slowed their pace. A few minutes later, Bianca caught up, and the three wyrmlings resumed their journey down the great canyon.

After another half an hour, they began their descent toward the oasis. As they approached, Aiden noticed something was wrong.

When he had left, he had stashed his leftover rat on a high, inaccessible ledge. Now, a fresh trail of blood streaked the rock face beneath it.

At the bottom of the cliff, a monstrous creature was clinging to the rock. It was at least twelve yards long, with the body of a colossal scorpion and the snarling head of a lion, all of it clad in thick plates of black chitin. Its massive pincers were stretched upward, straining to reach the rat, but its bulk kept it a frustrating two feet short.

A Manticore.

The name surfaced instantly from his Dragon's Heritage. A magical beast native to the desert, its rank determined by its size.

Strengths: high physical defense, powerful pincers, venomous tail stinger.

Weaknesses: low magical resistance. Its lion head could also exhale a noxious gas.

Aiden banked and landed on the opposite slope, dropping into a crouch to observe. Bianca and Azure landed silently on either side of him.

“That's a Manticore down there,” Azure stated in a low whisper.

“It looks like it's only mid-tier(☆☆). Let's kill it and eat it!” Bianca hissed, her eyes gleaming with predatory hunger.

Aiden glanced at the drooling Bianca, then turned to Azure. She was already looking at him, a question in her eyes, deferring to his judgment.

He looked back down at the Manticore. Bianca was right; its size suggested it was mid-tier. He and the others, after their first slumber, were firmly low-tier. She's tough, he thought, looking at Bianca again. She can be the tank, draw its attention. I'll provide ranged support. Azure can help keep it distracted.

The plan formed in an instant. He looked at his two companions.

“We hunt it.”

Both turned their full attention to him. Azure was calm, while Bianca was manic with excitement.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“The Manticore has low magic resistance,” Aiden began. “Bianca, you're the tank. Get in its face, draw its attention. Azure, you support her, keep it distracted. I'll look for an opening to strike with my Fire Arrow.”

“No problem! I'm going in!”

Before Aiden or Azure could react, the words had barely left Bianca's mouth when she launched herself from the cliff, diving straight toward the Manticore.

Aiden and Azure froze for a split second, stunned.

That idiotic dragon! Aiden thought, exasperated. Does she have a death wish? If he delayed, she would get herself killed. He dove after her.

Azure, already growing accustomed to her teammate's suicidal bravery, took to the air a moment later.

Down below, the Manticore sensed their approach. It dropped from the cliff face, its lion head tilting back to see a creature hurtling toward it. A flicker of instinctual unease vanished as quickly as it came. The creature was small, not even half its own size.

The Manticore's fear curdled into rage. How dare such an insignificant pest challenge it?

ROOOOAR!

A ferocious roar echoed through the canyon. The Manticore raised its massive pincers high, ready to crush this insolent little creature.

The roar, far from intimidating Bianca, only fueled her rage. The sheer audacity! For this lower species to roar at a True Dragon!

As she closed the distance, she opened her jaws and unleashed a torrent of freezing fog.

The Manticore instinctively raised its massive pincers to shield its head. The frost breath washed over it, and a thick layer of rime instantly coated the black chitin. For a moment, the creature was still, seemingly frozen solid.

A flicker of satisfaction ignited in Bianca's eyes. Her victory was short-lived.

The Manticore's pincer snapped shut with the speed of a guillotine. Bianca, still basking in her triumph, had no time to react. The claw clamped down hard on her hind leg.

Pain, sharp and blinding, shot through her. Her white pupils narrowed to razor-thin slits of fury. She twisted, her jaws expanding as she lunged and locked her sharp, conical teeth onto the Manticore's leonine head.

The coppery tang of blood flooded her mouth, unlocking something primal. Her head began to shake violently, tearing at the flesh. Spurred by the pain, the Manticore exhaled a cloud of noxious green gas.

Bianca instinctively sealed her throat against the gas, simultaneously releasing a puff of her own frost to form an icy barrier. With a final, savage rip, she tore a chunk of flesh from the Manticore's head and swallowed it whole. The taste of meat hit her system, and her eyes lit up with a ravenous light.

Meat! More meat!

The last vestiges of her clumsy nature were burned away, replaced by pure, predatory brutality. She lunged again, biting down on the same weeping wound.

GRROOOWL!

The Manticore roared in pain. Realizing its poison gas was useless, its long, segmented tail, tipped with a gleaming black stinger, whipped up and over its back with lethal speed.

But combat, for a dragon, was not learned; it was remembered.

Bianca released her bite, her foreclaws shooting up to catch the descending tail. As the stinger glanced off her hardened scales, she opened her jaws and bit down hard on the tail's midsection.

With a sickening crunch, she severed the stinger from its base. Vile, green ichor sprayed into her mouth. Disgusting! She spat, a mixture of the green fluid and her own red blood sizzling on the ground. The stinging pain from the venom only stoked her fury. Without pause, she lunged and bit down on the lion's head again.

The Manticore thrashed wildly, its free pincer snapping at Bianca's neck. She slammed her wing against the attacking claw, knocking it off course.

Before the Manticore could recover, Bianca pinned the pincer to the ground with both foreclaws and went back to tearing at its face.

Grrroan…

The roar this time was a low whimper. The Manticore was trying to submit.

There was no response. The creature savaging it continued its relentless assault. The Manticore finally understood. This wasn't a fight for dominance. This was a hunt.

Its left pincer released Bianca's leg and swung around, aiming for her long, white neck. Seeing the massive claw coming, Bianca had no choice but to leap off.

The weight vanished. The Manticore scrambled to its feet and ran.

It's running? Bianca thought, her eyes burning with contempt. This pathetic thing thinks it can run from me?

She shot into the air and dove, crashing back down onto the fleeing Manticore. They tumbled to the ground in a thrashing heap.

Watching from above, Aiden felt a headache coming on. There was no way to get a clean shot.

The arcane matrix of the Fire Arrow hovered before his snout, humming with power, but he couldn't risk firing. Damn it. If I can't take a long shot, I'll take a short one.

He angled his wings to dive. Just as he began his descent, a blue streak shot past him. It was Azure.

Reaching the struggling pair a breath before Aiden, she landed expertly on the Manticore and, ignoring the flailing limbs, bit down hard on the joint of its right pincer.

Seeing her ally arrive, Bianca's frenzy intensified. Two against one. This miserable bug is going to die here. She renewed her assault on the Manticore's head with even greater savagery.

ROOOOAR!

The Manticore roared in agony and thrashed with all its might, tossing them about on its back like dolls.

Bianca started to feel dizzy. Through the chaos, she glanced at Azure. Her sister had locked all four limbs around the Manticore's pincer, her jaws clamped on the joint. Her body was stable, moving with the Manticore's struggles, not against them.

In a flash of insight, Bianca understood. She released her bite on the blood-slicked head and copied Azure, sinking her teeth deep into the joint of the other pincer.

The Manticore shrieked. It began to thrash even more wildly, but the two wyrmlings held on like ticks, draining its lifeblood.

Aiden hovered above, watching, waiting. The moment was coming.

The Manticore knew it couldn't shake them. It had one final, desperate idea. It looked at the sheer wall of the canyon. If I can't shake them off, I'll smash them off. It scrambled to its feet.

Seeing it rise, Aiden knew this was his chance. Now!

He folded his wings and dove like a crimson meteor.

The Manticore, having just found its footing, never knew what hit it. An overwhelming force crashed down upon its head, driving its face halfway into the hard-packed earth.

Aiden pinned it with his claws. The Fire Arrow, already aimed, shot from its spectral ring.

Point-blank. The Manticore's head, unlike its armored body, was unprotected flesh. The arrow punched through the skull with ease and detonated inside.

A muffled explosion blew the back of the creature's skull out in a shower of gore.

The scent of ozone and seared meat filled the air. The Manticore's colossal body went limp.

It was dead.