Rise Of The Dragon King (Book 5) by M. R. Mathias

that if Clover had her teardrop, she could have ended the fight right then, but she didn’t, and he needed every bit of the energy it was emitting to stave off a Dragoneer’s death.
    Aikira was far worse than Rikky had imagined a person could be and still beliving. She was bleeding inside, and the frothy red stuff was hissing out of her mouth and a hole in her side, where one of her ribs had poked out through her flesh. Rikky was repairing that damage, using the power of his and Clover’s dragon tears in concert, but even if he finished, she would have to be immobile until she woke up.
    Silva was apparently blocking the wizards from being able to attack the area where Aikira was lying, which was very close to the colossal. The iron ring holding the creature in place was already canted halfway over. The creature was yanking and pulling at its tether and could possibly break free soon on its own. Rikky knew he had to hurry, and not just for Aikira’s sake. If that thing got loose unchecked, it would trample them all.
    Using the two powerful sources of dour, Rikky patched the Outlander’s battered organs as best he could. He also tried to put the puzzle pieces of her broken limbs back together before fortifying them with the magic he was channeling. It wasn’t easy, but faith in his dragon’s and Clover’s abilities kept him steady at the task instead of worrying.
    Through his bond-link with Silva, he suddenly felt pain. She was taking wounds to protect him. The amount of power these few foreign wizards were throwing around was respectable, and now Silva was casting her own spells backat the area of cover where the magi were.
    Rikky let the world slip back into his subconscious. Aikira still needed him, and Clover needed her teardrop. His only distraction came when he realized that Crimzon wasn’t there with Clover. The good news was that he managed to stop the bleeding inside Aikira. It was a small step, but an important one. Over the next few weeks, she would be swollen black and purple from head to toe with bruising. Rikky got most of the bone work correctly positioned and reinforced before the colossal finally pulled itself free. Not knowing what else to do, he cautiously picked Aikira up and cradled her limp form in his arms.
    Where is Crimzon? Can you carry all three of us out?
he asked Clover and Silva through the ethereal.
Can you even fly out of here, Sil?
    Doubtful onsss both counts
, the pewter dragon returned as she shifted her position to better shield her rider and Aikira from the colossal.
    I’m not leaving with you
, Clover voiced.
I’m going deeper into the cavern, and out another way, once you and she are clear. Me and Jenk have a surprise for these bastards
.
    One of the wizards braved himself out of hiding to gain line of sight for his spell. He threw a scarlet pulse of arcane force across the shaft, and a huge explosion of rock was blasted out of one of the cavern walls near where thecolossal had just been.
    Clover screamed.
    Rikky was suddenly worried that she’d been shredded by flying debris.
    Take her, Silva
, Rikky ordered as he laid Aikira gingerly on the ground.
Get her out of here
.
    In his whole life, Rikky had only cast a few attacking spells with his dragon tear, and those had been around the time of the Confliction, and maybe once when the Coven of Wisteria was on the rise, so he wasn’t ready for the deafening, and nearly blinding, swell of dour that surged through his body and into his casting. His blast was only intended to knock the creature back and deter it from pursuing Silva. Instead, the multiplied force of the two dragon tears slammed the colossal against the cavern wall hard enough to stun it, and shook the very earth deep into its core.
    Rikky spared a quick look back through the dust-filled dimness to see that Silva had taken Aikira into her claw and was now easing down the shaft away from them. Then he was hop-stepping on his peg leg as fast as he could go toward Clover