“And while you are finding this other way, the world descends into chaos and madness. Villains will rise and heroes will fall because you cannot make the decisions necessary. There is no place in this world for love, not while it stands upon the brink of destruction. I warned Randall. I told him of the dangers of giving his heart unto another, and he ignored my counsel.”
“Myrin was his cornerstone! You can’t ignore that kind of magic!”
“You can,” the Great White said. “You can, and if you hope to succeed, if you hope to fulfill your desti
ny, you must do what Randall could not, Sam of Wilds.”
“What?” I breathed, skin buzzing.
The dragon’s wings suddenly folded into his sides as he tilted his head downward. I was knocked off my feet and landed on my back against the inside of the crown. I was pinned in place by sheer force as he hurtled toward the earth. The sky disappeared into a mass of swirling clouds. Thunder rumbled around us, and lightning flashed. Rain slashed down as I closed my eyes, waiting for whatever end was to come.
His great wings opened, the air causing them to billow like sails. The pressure against my body increased exponentially until I thought I would be crushed under the weight of it, but as he slowed to land, it lessened quickly, and I slid from the crown back down to his neck.
I knew the moment he touched down, hearing the felling of trees, the branches and trunks cracking and splintering under the sheer mass of him. I ran for it, moving out from underneath the crown toward his right side. The rain hit hard, and I was instantly soaked as my feet slid out from under me, sending me sprawling. I landed roughly on dragon skin and began to slip off his side. There was a moment that I was freefalling before I was snatched out of the air and clutched against a familiar chest.
“Kevin?”
“You fucking idiot,” he snarled at me as he landed a ways off from the Great White, who made no move to follow. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Honestly? I don’t know that I really was.”
“No shit. There’s going to be no end to how much Gary, Tiggy, and Ryan are going to murder you.”
“Eh. We were above the clouds. They didn’t see anything.”
“Oh, trust me, they’ll know.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I said, glaring up at him.
He bared his teeth. “Watch me, pretty. Think of it as payback for the heart attacks you almost gave me. I have six of them, Sam. Have you ever felt a heart attack coming on in six hearts?”
Maybe that made me feel a little guilty. “What would I have to do to make you keep this to yourself?”
He grinned. “Oh, I’m sure I can think of something.”
I grimaced. “Dude. Stop leering at me. It’s disturbing and gross and—”
“Are you quite finished?”
“Eep,” Kevin and I both said.
The Great White was crouched down toward the ground, his massive head cocked, eyes narrowed as he watched us. The destruction from his landing was terrifying, dozens of trees having been torn from their roots, crushed under his extraordinary hands and feet. His tail lay curled around him, ending in a barbed club of what looked like pure bone. His wings were folded at his sides, and I wondered how something so large could have remained hidden for so long.
“Okay,” Kevin said, “I’m feeling a little insecure about my size right about now.”
“You,” the Great White said. “Dragon.”
“Who is he talking to?” Kevin whispered to me.
I sighed. “You’re the only other dragon here.”
“Oh. Shit. Right. Okay. I’ve got this. Watch and learn.”
“Wait! Don’t do that weird thing where you talk like—”
“Greetings, O massive one,” Kevin said. “I hear ye spaketh to me. I shall spaketh to thee in return so that thou and thine may spaketh together in conversationeth like dragons of old. Eth.”
“Godsdammit,” I muttered.