Heart of Stone by Geordi Riker (beach read TXT) 📕

on them, denying them her help, and walked slowly down the steep Pass again. Leaving the Lutrans to their deaths, consoling herself that it was for the benefit of millions of lives like everyone had told her. Tightening her grip on her longbow, Serene straightened her shoulders, forced herself step lighter, and made her way down the mountain, ignoring comrades who had fought tooth and sword to save her life, comrades who needed her help.

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Serene walked in gloomy silence for ten minutes, her mind remaining in turmoil. Was it right to let an entire clan die because some old crone muttered something about the future? Her step faltered, some of the Lutrans back there were her closest friends, and she knew them better than she knew her own family. They had become strong allies when the Arridi from across the sea had decided to try to expand their borders. A thought popped into her head, one that sent stabs of guilt throughout her body, those children back there; did they deserve to die so suddenly, so soon? Groaning, she turned back and started running, dropping her pack, sword, bow, quiver, and cloak, anything that might slow her down. If the Lutrans were going down, then so was she. Halfway through a bound, her figure shimmered then stretched into the form of a fully grown red dragon.
What took her ten minutes to walk only took mere seconds to cover, her speed due in no small part to the strong wind that blew off the coast. She soared over the plateau that the Lutrans had tended to suit their needs. Her gaze swept the pass and valley, searching for her sworn enemy, the Grimlinks. Spotting them entering the pass, she arched into a clean dive, an angry snarl ripping from her throat. As she neared, furious fire leapt from her mouth to consume the leaders of the attack. Before the Grimlinks had time to retaliate, she soared out of range and prepared for another strike. Satisfaction flowed through her like soothing water as she surveyed several slaughtered beasts that blocked the pass.
Primitive as the Grimlinks were, they weren’t stupid. Quickly, a group of ten Grimlinks began clearing the pass of their comrades while others drew arrows and readied their dragon spears. Mustering more fire, Serene dove for another strike. A faint buzzing noise reached her ears as something pierced her wing. With a grunt she wheeled up and out of range. She glared at the arrow; her wing was weakened, but not rendered useless. She unleashed an enraged snarl, snapping her teeth at them.
She dove quickly, spiraling as she spewed forth flames at them, consuming half a dozen Grimlinks before arching back into the sky to catch her breath and pull an arrow from her eye. As the Grimlinks cleared the pass, Serene considered her options. Five hundred Grimlinks against one dragon, the odds were worse than she could cope with. If it had even been four hundred, she had a chance of survival; but now the Grimlinks were able to, more or less, aim and fire arrows at her, keeping her at bay. Now half blinded, the only thing she could do was take as many of them down with her as she could; Lutrans were no match for Grimlinks on the hunt.
With the fierce determination of a doomed beast, Serene plummeted into the thick of the pack, flames flaring and claws slashing. Even as Grimlinks fell left and right, Serene could feel some struggle onto her backside. She flicked her tail at them, sweeping them off her back, but not before they managed to cut a deep wound into her side. Despite the pain, Serene stood her ground, knowing that if she didn’t, Lutrans like that little girl would die a cruel death. She snapped her jaws at them, driving them back from the pass. Her wing was half-torn from her body, if she morphed back into human form now; there was no way that she would survive.
Half-blinded and grounded, Serene arched her head back and torched the Grimlinks that were trying to climb up the side of the cliff to flank her. But that left her neck in a vulnerable position and before she could react, a Grimlink with a dragon spear stabbed upwards at her exposed throat. Serene turned her head around just in time to intercept the blow with her jaw. The spear’s sharpened edge pinned her tongue to the roof of her mouth, keeping her from resorting to her greatest advantage, her fire. The Grimlink paid for it with his life. With a muffled sound that was somewhere between a howl of pain and a vicious roar, Serene reared onto her hind legs and came crashing down, crushing half a score of Grimlinks under her gigantic claws. Again and again she landed on them, but for every Grimlink she crushed; two more appeared to take its place.
Weakened over time, Serene’s attacks came less and less frequently with less power behind them, while many Grimlinks managed to get a stab in. Soon, she was prickling with a vast array of weapons and blood was flowing freely onto the ground to seep into the dust. With a muted roar, she collapsed the pain too much to bear. Straining her neck back, Serene took one last long look at the Lutran home; smoke curling from cooking fires, lumps of stone that topped their homes, the tops of close trees, and the pass filled with dark figures making their way down- for some reason, their Lutran war cries were strangely muted. Her surroundings were becoming darker; she glanced at the sun, it was still late afternoon, nowhere near twilight.
Serene’s head throbbed painfully. Weakly, she gently laid it down midst the dust and blood. She watched as the Grimlinks swarmed over her to meet the Lutrans' charge; she didn’t feel any of their claws as they sank into her scales to climb higher. She had failed. She closed her eyes as this sank in; the Lutrans would still die, all she had gained was her own death. Serene would have snorted with derision if she could; the irony was obvious, the one time she could have paid her debt to the Lutrans, she had failed.
Serene’s heart beat slower and slower as she gasped one last time for air and slowly let it out. She groaned, and surrendered to the welcoming darkness that rushed eagerly to meet her. Her heart took one last beat and then was silent, never to thud with joy-filled adrenaline again. Her carcass lay still; blocking the pass, still trying to keep the Grimlinks from killing the Lutrans.

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Publication Date: 05-02-2010

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