The Confliction (Book Three of the Dragoneers Saga) (Dragoneer Saga) Read Free Page B

arctic goddess sitting upon her proud, sparkling frost wyrm. They were hard to see, perched on a ledge above the dark cavern in the flurrying snow storm, but once Jenka spotted her, he couldn’t avert his eyes. The icy white dragon loved the weather, and the winter clothes Zahrellion and Aikira had pieced together from Clover’s vast wardrobe loved Zah. A white furred mane circled her neck, and the slightly yellowish triangle on her forehead lent her brows a superior scowl. But what captivated Jenka most were her lavender eyes, and the loving gleam that formed in them when she saw him and Jade sweeping in to land near Crystal.
    “The climate agrees with you, Zah,” Jenka said as his dragon edged closer to them. “You actually look comfortable.”
    “It’s not so bad,” she hugged herself and Jenka sensed it wasn’t from the cold. Something else had her bothered.
    “What is it?” he asked. She was looking down, and when he followed her eyes, he saw the long, blood-smeared trail where Crimzon had slithered out of the place a few nights after last autumn’s battle. No matter how much it snowed, the deep maroon stains of fire dragon blood managed to show through.
    “I thought I saw something awhile ago,” she said. “I thought I saw a Sarax sweep past at the edges of my sight, but there was nothing when Crystal and I looked.”
    “Are the ogres in there?” He indicated the deep tunnel shaft that led down to the star ship. “Was it one of them?”
    “No, it was in the air, just a dark shadow really. They’re in there.” She forced a smile and rolled her shoulders to ease her tension. “Maybe I’m just tired. Thinking about that mighty wyrm, and all those terrible wounds sickens me. Do you think Crimzon survived?”
    Jenka started to say that he didn’t, but she stopped him from speaking with a raise of her hand. “I just wonder what became of him.”
    In the silence that followed her comment, a deep thrumming buzz exploded into the ethereal. Before either of them could do anything, one Sarax came clawing past from above, ripping Jenka’s shoulder and Jade’s neck wide open. Another rammed Zahrellion from Crystal’s back and engaged the frost dragon violently.
    Jenka drew his sword. It felt as if his shoulder were ripping apart as he pulled it. The Sarax tearing into Crystal didn’t expect the powerful blast of emerald Dour magic that shot forth from his blade. The alien beast went flailing backwards, giving the white-scaled wyrm enough time to draw and release its icy breath on its opponent.
    Zahrellion was standing against the rocks where Crystal had just been. She was casting a spell. Jenka could see a pink trace of light following her finger as she wrote frantically in the air before her. He knew to cover his ears, and did so with his free hand and a shrugged shoulder. He didn’t know her target was coming at him hard from behind. When he turned and saw the Sarax, it was right there. Then he felt a hot warbling flow of static yellow druid magic graze his back and prickle his skin. He was so thankful when his dragon managed to leap away from the perch and take to the air that he didn’t notice the lack of ear-pummeling concussion that normally came with Zahrellion’s casting.
    None of that mattered, he realized, when he saw two other Sarax diving down from the silvery clouds. He pointed his sword at the bigger of the two and sent a deadly pulse of Dour magic at it, then another for good measure. Both blasts found their target, and the Sarax went tumbling away into the darkness.
    Jenka looked up to see Clover’s castle ahead of him. He was pleased to see Aikira on Golden’s back, followed by Marcherion and his big, angry fire wyrm coming to join the battle. Rikky, he knew, was sound asleep.
    The sky lit up with Blaze’s rage when Marcherion entered the fray. Long steel-tipped arrows streaked great distances across the sky and met their target. Jenka knew the arrows would do little to the