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Finally, he planted his hands firmly on her shoulders and shoved with all of his strength. She pulled away, but not without taking a giant chunk of his shoulder. Hot red blood sprayed out of the wound. He stared at her in disbelief as she spit out the piece of him.
“I will take you down a chunk at a time if I need to.” Briez growled. She inhaled sharply, then blew a stream of shocking white at Emberwind’s shoulder. Cold beyond his imagination streaked from the wound down his limbs, wracking him with agony.
Without thinking, and in complete disbelief, Emberwind turned for the entrance to the cave. In a very short period of time, this had gone from a game, to a losing battle. As he slithered out of the cave, the smaller dragon bolted after him. He could hear her getting closer; an unfamiliar emotion crawled over him. Panic.
He could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and barely a second before the silver dragon had his ankle in her mouth, Emberwind burst out of the cave and leapt over the side of the mountain, taking to wing for the first time in centuries.
Briez’s mouth closed on air, but that didn’t bother her. She knew the injured dragon would not get far. She flew out seconds after Emberwind. He tried vainly to dodge her, but Briez was much faster, and much more agile than the old dragon. She sniped at him, taking bites whenever the opportunity presented itself. Emberwind tried to retaliate, but every time he bit back, he bit nothing.
His only hope was to meet her head on and hope that he was stronger, that he could over power her. As she swooped in for another bite, he presented a false opening. Briez took the bait, and Emberwind snapped around and flew into her. The two grappled with each other. Briez was fast, and powerful in her own right, but Emberwind was immense, and his shear size gave him strength she could not hope to match. The two plunged into the side of a mountain, grappling and clawing at one another in an attempt to gain the advantage.
Emberwind knew he had to get in a killing blow soon. He was losing blood, and with it, strength. He wrapped his arms around the smaller dragon’s neck, and began squeezing. She bit at his face. He lifted his chin to avoid her, only realizing too late she was feinting. By lifting his head, he left his long, sinuous neck exposed. Briez’s sharp, horn-like teeth pierced his trunk-like neck, her jaws crushing his neck bones. He squeezed harder, hoping to crush the life out of her before he died.
Briez inhaled through her nose, and then exhaled. Her vicious, cold breath hit Emberwind’s crushed and wounded throat point-blank. The air entering his lungs, and the blood rushing to his brain, froze solid in an instant. The ancient dragon died without so much as a cough.
Briez released her bite after several minutes; she did not take chances. Emberwind had been quite a challenge. She stretched awkwardly. Her limbs hurt, and she was sure that their tumble had broken a wing bone. She gave them a small try, and winced in pain as a broken bone was confirmed. No matter, she would crawl back to the cavern if she needed.
Emberwind had been more of a challenge than the others she had encountered, but she had proven once again that she was the better fighter. Emberwind’s fortune would do the surrounding communities a great deal of good, and was large enough for Briez to finally keep some for herself.
The silver dragon once again turned into an elf and sat down next to the body of her latest mark, and contemplated retirement.
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