The Legend of Vanx Malic: Book 02 - Dragon Isle by M. R. Mathias Page B

roar similar to Pyra’s, but which seemed as if it were coming from under water, cut through the din. Then Pyra’s fiery spew disappeared. The roar became louder, and with it came a crackling, sizzling sound and a harsh flaring light that illuminated the entire valley as if it were midday.
    Pyra’s head craned away from them at an impossible speed as a swath of white-hot dragon’s breath raked across her side.
    The rocks around them were still glowing red-hot. Zeezle pulled Trevin up to his knees. The Zythian was trying not to topple over and was trembling and sweating profusely. Trevin grabbed him around the waist and held him steady. Then he looked back to see what was happening.
    A blue dragon, possibly the one that had been laying its pile earlier, for it was about that size, was blasting at Pyra with its crackling white-hot breath. It looked like a steady stream of lightning blasting from the beast’s deadly maw as it hovered over them on its huge, leathery wings. Pyra was nimble, though. She rotated her whole body on the rock face like some massive clock hand and got her bulk, for the most part, clear of the blast. Her tail lashed out like a gargantuan whip and cracked the smaller dragon, sending it into an awkward aerial tumble. But then she was gone, leaping from the wall of rock with such strength that it was a full three heartbeats later that her wings whooped full of air high over the corrupt valley.
    The big blue dragon chased after her, looking like a mad sparrow after a giant hawk. Trevin watched, fighting the agony in his foot as the two silhouettes sped up into the silvery moonlight like flying jewels. The stars were starting to twinkle at the fringes of the huge moon, but the dragons were there in the middle of it, locked in a savage battle.
    Pyra twisted and turned in flight. She lashed out a raking claw and the blue shrieked in pain. Simultaneously, a streaking blast of flaming orange fire lit up the sky. The blue’s lightning hit Pyra along her rump, but Pyra’s blast engulfed the whole of the blue’s head. It tried to dart away, but the bigger dragon’s tail wrapped around its middle. Pyra pulled the flailing beast close and they began tumbling down toward the earth. She scrabbled and thrashed and crunched at the other wyrm with all her might. A moment later the falling tangle parted into two separate forms. One threw out its massive wings and caught air. It was Pyra, Trevin knew, for when Aur’s light reflected across her scales she looked as if she were scaled in a million rubies.
    The blue dragon tried to recover, but it wasn’t to be. One of its wings was folded back and the other only served to send it into a violent spin. The beast impacted the island somewhere beyond the far ridge line. They couldn’t see it, but they heard it. The bone- crunching thud and the sound of hundreds of trees smashing flat all at once shook the earth. There was utter silence for a very long time then, but the quiet was broken when Pyra swooped below the far ridge, presumably to feast on her kill. Her triumphant roar soon filled the night, letting all who could hear know that she had been the victor of this battle.
    The rocks around them had cooled, but Trevin’s foot was still enraged with pain. Zeezle fell to his knees and began helping Trevin out of his ruined boot. The sound of some huge creature coming over the opposite ridge, probably fleeing the commotion of the dragon’s impact, came to them. In the distance more dragons began roaring and fighting. Other wild and savage noises erupted as well. It was as if all the island’s predators had suddenly decided to wage war on one another.

    “The stars are dancing,” Zeezle said in explanation. He had to fight not to stare up at the moon above for he would lose himself in the rare stellar event that was now taking place. He tore a length of cloth from his sleeve and tied it tightly around Trevin’s ruined foot. Trevin looked up, but the awe-inspiring