Mercy 10: One Down
#10 of Mercy
Gothard and Argh took a winding pathway up the side of the cliff that made the boarder for the covenant. It was a miracle they had found the pathway, since it was the only one near a tower. Motungo wondered if the covenant had forgotten the pathway when they built the towers, but it didn't matter now. Motungo, Gothard, and Argh hid in the bushes, waiting for when Mercy would start her diversion.
The view from the cliff was amazing, grassy plains met with a vast forest. On the top side of the cliff where they were hidden the same pattern continued, almost uninterrupted by the sheer rock face. The only mar on the whole view was the gray dot moving closer to the covenant's lands. Mercy didn't flap her wings, just glided through the air using her magic to move herself.
"Are you ready Motungo?" Gothard stood.
"You can't be ready for something like this, so yes."
The bird clucked once.
Much further up the cliff, the gray shape passed over what he knew to be the boarder. At this moment, a handful of dragons would know an Avatar had crossed into their lands. It wouldn't be long before half the covenant knew.
Mercy banked away from them and moved up the boarder. Motungo had told her that as long as she stayed near the boarder, the covenant would know where she was. She should be more than enough of a distraction for him to break the tower open and get inside.
"Let's go." Motungo stood and ran toward the tower.
***
The other two dragons on the patrol seemed to enjoy the patrols for some reason, but Thoradin found flying in large circles was far less rewarding than his old job. Every patrol ended up being the same. Vardelan wanted him to learn being a hunter and wanted him to reassure the other hunters. How could he reassure anyone, if all he does it fly around the boarders far from the rest of the hunters?
"Today," Vardelan said, "we're going to look over the western shelf."
"Vardelan," The other dragon asked, "that's near the humans, isn't it?"
"It is, Trelen. They're far from the shelf though, and rarely come this far. We do have traders that come up one of the paths up the cliffs. Usually only during the middle of the summer. They pass through the boarder, and camp just at the edge. Obvious who they are, and we know when to expect them."
"Are we looking for humans?" Thoradin asked.
"No," Vardelan said, "just the usual, boneweaver scouts, the larger beasts, and trouble makers. The west is a quiet boarder for us, much like the south. In the east-"
Vardelan wavered in the air, as if he had fallen asleep while flying for a moment. Not long after Trelen wavered just the same. A moment later they both regained their paths.
"An Avatar." Vardelan said, "Trelen head back and get as many dragons this way as you can, quick!"
"Yes sir," Trelen said as he banked away from them, "I'll return soon."
"How could you tell, Vardelan?"
"Not now, we have to hurry. I need to see this Avatar."
***
Mercy followed the flowing power from the towers. From almost the day the dragons had erected the wall, she knew of its presence. It had been a thorn in her paw for so many years. Today is the first day that I can say that this terrible thing is actually useful in some way.
Somewhere behind her, Mercy could feel wisps moving. There was a dragon following her for certain, so she slowed down slightly and looked over her shoulder. She recognized one of the two dragons, but only felt the presence of one of them. The red one she could feel. The brown one she couldn't feel, was the one she had darted away from several days before.
She felt the wisp dart forward, and instinctively she twisted her wings to dodge the incoming attack. The dragon she could feel knew how to fight with magic. As she corrected herself from her twist a second burst came towards her. A hard flap to one side managed to move away from the next firey blast.
"Can't you let me fly in peace?" Mercy shouted over her shoulder. Now for a wild chase.
She didn't expect the sudden weight from above. She felt the pain of claws dig through her hide, and the unfamiliar sensation of falling out of control completely. The brown dragon had come at her from above, and she hadn't felt him coming. As she marveled at the idea of such a surprise, the dragon tore at her back.
Anger flashed through her, and she forced a flow of ether around her wings and threw herself into a rapid spin. She felt the heavy dragon fall away from her, his claws pulling pieces of her back with him. It hurt.
A blast of cold, hard ice tore into her next. It felt like the claws, only this time more invasive and penetrating. Again her anger flared and she threw a wave of ether from where the ice came from. As she righted herself, she saw the wave flow past the red dragon behind her.
These two are a good team. Trivial, but a good team.
"Thief!" The red dragon roared at her, "Leave us!"
With a grin, Mercy banked herself towards the Covenant's lands and willed a wave of ether to push her forward. They won't be able to keep up with me, but they'll have to follow. To her amusement, the two began flapping harder. She turned her attention to the ground below her and decided to make the chase interesting.
She descended towards the ground, picking up speed. In mere instants, her wings began to graze the leaves of trees as she raced over the landscape. She twisted and weaved around trees and rocks. It dawned on her that it had been at least a dragon's generation since she had raced the landscape.
The sensation of the red dragon's wisps fell further and further behind. Just as she started to look behind her, the same heavy weight of a large dragon crashed into her left back leg. The blow knocked her into an impossible spin, the world swam in blurs and then she felt the incredible force of crashing into a tree at blinding speed. Then she bounced and rolled. She struck something else then slid across the rough dirt until her side crashed into a boulder.
Mercy lay against the bolder, blinking in amazement. She still tried to understand just what happened in the past few seconds. In hundreds of years, nothing quite like that crash had happened to her. Her mind felt sluggish with the sensation and in awe of the idea of actually crashing. She shook her head to clear the sensation.
From where she came, a long path of broken trees and deep furrows in the ground marked her passage. Then the brown dragon flew into the path she had cleared. His outstretched claws were only a foot away from the earth, and the snarl on his face seemed like mere inches from her.
All at once she understood what had happened, and anger enveloped her. Mercy called a wave of ether and with the wing free of the boulder, threw it at the dragon. the sparkling wave stopped the dragon as if he struck a cliff wall. The crackling sound echoed around them both for a moment, then the dragon fell to the earth.
Mercy stood from her prone position. She could see the red dragon coming closer. He should be here in a moment. This should be all Motungo needs to get inside. No need to stay any longer. With a single flap of her wings, Mercy returned to the sky and used the ether to push her flight straight up. In a single second she flew faster than any other living dragon could hope to go. In a few seconds she had crossed the boarder and streaked across the sky.
_I can't believe that happened. That damned brown dragon just knocked me right out of the sky. How did he go so fast without me feeling him approach? I've never seen a dragon so fast. Never. _