are you?" I shouted. How stupid am I? With an effort of will, I flexed the shield, making it larger and larger until the tragon could no longer keep it in its mouth and dropped me on the ground. It took every ounce of concentration I had to keep the shield in place as I moved. Using the bubble like a giant gerbil wheel, I rolled away from the tragon.
It stalked around me like a cat looking in a fishbowl, obviously trying to figure out how to eat me. It whipped its long tail around and sent me and my shield tumbling through the trees. My concentration broke. The shield vanished. I landed on my feet just as the tragon leapt, claws extended. I dodged behind a tree. Wood splintered as the monster shredded the trunk.
I gripped a fallen tree and swung it hard over the tragon's head. It hit with a loud crack. The impact jarred my arms but did absolutely nothing to hurt the tragon. It was like hitting a person with a toothpick.
The beast reared back its head and roared. I formed a giant slab of ultraviolet murk in the air and slammed it into the monster's head. This time, the tragon staggered backwards. I threw a volley of boulder-sized Murk spheres at the tragon. Each one knocked the monster back a few yards.
"Stop trying to eat me!" I shouted.
It lunged forward. I channeled a solid beam of ultraviolet and speared it into the tragon's snout. The creature made a whimpering sound and fell against a tree, toppling it in the process. Before it could recover, I ran around the monster and used the bony spines on its back like a staircase. The beast spun like a dog chasing its tail in an attempt to throw me off.
I shot a rope of aether at the topmost spine and pulled myself forward. The tragon whipped its head and the tether jerked me forward. My feet left the tragon's back for an instant. Somehow, I locked a foot on a spine and kept myself from falling off. Using the aether rope for balance, I jerked myself back up and made another run for the tragon's head. The beast bucked and roared but I lassoed its top spine with another loop of magical energy, ran between the bat-like wings, and anchored myself.
Judging from the creature's un-tragonlike reaction when I'd nailed it in the nose, I took a slightly informed guess as to how I might maintain control of the thing. Once I took it out of the woods, I definitely didn't want it eating any of my friends or allies. I channeled a solid ring of Murk around the tragon's mouth just above the nostrils.
The creature tried to roar, but its mouth was clamped shut. The sheer power of the monster's jaw pressed against my spell, which, in turn, squeezed my head, much like when I'd fought the stone elemental Aerianas had used against me. But like an alligator—a really, really big alligator—this thing didn't have nearly the force when trying to open its mouth as it did when closing it. Its wings swooshed the air. Relative to the creature's size, they looked ridiculously small. Up close, each one spanned about ten feet—enough to knock me silly if I didn't stay out of the way.
The tragon shook its head violently. Slammed against trees. Ran in circles. Flapped its wings like crazy. I held on tight to its top ridge. I began to wonder if maybe the creature was too stupid to realize it was beaten. For all I knew, it'd keep on running and bucking until it collapsed from exhaustion. It took another several minutes, but the tragon finally stopped and stood still, a high-pitched, unhappy growl in its throat.
"Had enough?" I asked. I'd firmly anchored to the spine at the top of its neck.
It snorted and stomped the ground.
"I know your relatives, the earth dragons," I said. "We get along okay. There's no reason you and I couldn't."
It simply stood still.
"How would you like to destroy a bunch of stuff?" I asked.
Its head tilted and a parietal eye regarded me.
"I can get you out of the forest." I pointed toward the stadium. "We could go on a rampage in there."
It snorted and looked where I was
It stalked around me like a cat looking in a fishbowl, obviously trying to figure out how to eat me. It whipped its long tail around and sent me and my shield tumbling through the trees. My concentration broke. The shield vanished. I landed on my feet just as the tragon leapt, claws extended. I dodged behind a tree. Wood splintered as the monster shredded the trunk.
I gripped a fallen tree and swung it hard over the tragon's head. It hit with a loud crack. The impact jarred my arms but did absolutely nothing to hurt the tragon. It was like hitting a person with a toothpick.
The beast reared back its head and roared. I formed a giant slab of ultraviolet murk in the air and slammed it into the monster's head. This time, the tragon staggered backwards. I threw a volley of boulder-sized Murk spheres at the tragon. Each one knocked the monster back a few yards.
"Stop trying to eat me!" I shouted.
It lunged forward. I channeled a solid beam of ultraviolet and speared it into the tragon's snout. The creature made a whimpering sound and fell against a tree, toppling it in the process. Before it could recover, I ran around the monster and used the bony spines on its back like a staircase. The beast spun like a dog chasing its tail in an attempt to throw me off.
I shot a rope of aether at the topmost spine and pulled myself forward. The tragon whipped its head and the tether jerked me forward. My feet left the tragon's back for an instant. Somehow, I locked a foot on a spine and kept myself from falling off. Using the aether rope for balance, I jerked myself back up and made another run for the tragon's head. The beast bucked and roared but I lassoed its top spine with another loop of magical energy, ran between the bat-like wings, and anchored myself.
Judging from the creature's un-tragonlike reaction when I'd nailed it in the nose, I took a slightly informed guess as to how I might maintain control of the thing. Once I took it out of the woods, I definitely didn't want it eating any of my friends or allies. I channeled a solid ring of Murk around the tragon's mouth just above the nostrils.
The creature tried to roar, but its mouth was clamped shut. The sheer power of the monster's jaw pressed against my spell, which, in turn, squeezed my head, much like when I'd fought the stone elemental Aerianas had used against me. But like an alligator—a really, really big alligator—this thing didn't have nearly the force when trying to open its mouth as it did when closing it. Its wings swooshed the air. Relative to the creature's size, they looked ridiculously small. Up close, each one spanned about ten feet—enough to knock me silly if I didn't stay out of the way.
The tragon shook its head violently. Slammed against trees. Ran in circles. Flapped its wings like crazy. I held on tight to its top ridge. I began to wonder if maybe the creature was too stupid to realize it was beaten. For all I knew, it'd keep on running and bucking until it collapsed from exhaustion. It took another several minutes, but the tragon finally stopped and stood still, a high-pitched, unhappy growl in its throat.
"Had enough?" I asked. I'd firmly anchored to the spine at the top of its neck.
It snorted and stomped the ground.
"I know your relatives, the earth dragons," I said. "We get along okay. There's no reason you and I couldn't."
It simply stood still.
"How would you like to destroy a bunch of stuff?" I asked.
Its head tilted and a parietal eye regarded me.
"I can get you out of the forest." I pointed toward the stadium. "We could go on a rampage in there."
It snorted and looked where I was
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