Rancher Dragon by Terry Bolryder (best ereader for manga .TXT) 📕

his throat reaching her toes as he charged the basilisk head on. The basilisk, wary for a moment, answered the call and rushed forward as well, the earth shaking so hard as the two titans collided it almost knocked Sierra over on her butt.

But she kept her eyes focused, unable to take her gaze off Beck as his horns rattled against the basilisk’s. For a moment, they struggled, then Beck twisted his head and pushed down, ramming the basilisk’s face into the mud as it bellowed in anger.

“No, this can’t be happening!” TJ swooped down from the clouds, and Sierra cried out to warn Beck.

But it wasn’t even needed. The rain dragon, much, much smaller by comparison now, hit Beck’s side like a fly hitting the windshield of a truck, not even moving Beck as he raked his claws over the back of the basilisk, tearing huge scales and caked earth off the beast’s back as blood oozed down its sides.

TJ attacked again, hovering over Beck and swiping at him with his talons, but they didn’t even penetrate his hide, scraping and scratching wildly but doing no actual harm.

Finally, Beck’s tail lifted, and the heavy boulder at the end slammed TJ with a thunderous whap, sending the blue and gray dragon careening back into the clouds from where he’d come like a baseball from the business end of a ten-ton bat.

The basilisk, which had wriggled free from beneath Beck in the moment of respite, shook itself off and lunged at Beck with its horrible teeth. Beck, to her surprise, reared back, then slammed his forehead into the basilisk in a bone-shaking headbutt, the crack of their two heads resounding with a flash of bright lightning off in the distance.

Stunned, the basilisk reeled back. Beck pressed his advantage, and he turned as his tail whipped around in a wide arc, slamming into the basilisk’s side, crashing through its spikes and splintering its thick scales. It hissed, growling in pain as it got knocked to one side then the other as Beck hit it again and again until it was stumbling away, trying to avoid the flurry of blows from Beck’s huge tail.

Sierra watched as the basilisk’s tail rose, and three huge spikes flew directly toward Beck. But Beck didn’t even flinch as the spikes ricocheted off his rocky exterior like arrows trying to pierce a concrete wall, and the basilisk’s eyes seemed to narrow in realization.

“You get your ass back to where you came from before I end you,” Beck’s dragon bellowed, and the basilisk took another step back, hunched forward like a cornered lion.

Then, with a roar, it turned tail and began to burrow into the earth, using its huge feet and long claws to move an unbelievable amount of earth and mud as it began to disappear into the ground. In moments, it was already half buried. And in even less time than that, its scaled, spiked back slid into the mud, disappearing entirely from sight.

Sierra let out a long sigh of relief, making a note in her head to wonder if that basilisk was still going to be there later or if they ever showed up in the same place twice.

But she didn’t have much time to think on it, as there was an angry, desperate screech from the sky.

“If I can’t hurt your dragon, I can think of something much smaller and more vulnerable to hurt instead!”

Beck just stood in front of Sierra like Lasso when guarding the front porch, watching the sky. A split second later, the rain dragon came diving down, headed directly for Sierra, and all her nerves clenched with the speed at which TJ moved.

But Beck just raised his head to the sky and blew an arc of flame that filled the air above them, burning TJ and sending him falling to the earth. He tried to stay up, but he lost too much altitude, and he crashed into the ground, rolling and kicking up dirt before finally stopping, then disappearing from view completely.

Immediately, the rain began to clear. The clouds began to dissipate, drifting away, and the deluge that had begun in mere moments dwindled to a light trickle.

No more basilisks today, she thought hopefully.

Unable to stand in one place anymore, her feet bolted toward Beck, carrying her as fast as she could go over the mushy ground. Beck, who’d watched TJ’s crash landing, turned to face her, looking exhausted and victorious and immediately happier as his eyes met hers.

Shimmering sparkles of brown and gray filled the air as the dragon dissipated, leaving only Beck running toward her, hands outstretched.

Her foot caught a particularly slippery spot, and she nearly tripped. But Beck’s arms were there in an instant, holding her close to him, his warmth making the cold of the rain and fear instantly melt into relief that they’d somehow made it.

“You fought like a real beast out there. That was amazing,” she said, trying to catch her breath as the scent of Beck filled her nostrils.

“You mean a monster?” he asked hesitantly, grey eyes still worried.

She looked up seriously and placed both her hands on his face, his beard tickling her fingers and palms. “A monster who loves me and would do anything to protect me. A monster who I love with all my heart. A monster with the desire to protect the people he cares about. If that makes you a monster, then count me one as well!”

He smiled at that, and he hugged her close. Sierra just relaxed into the feel of him. Above them, rays of light were beaming down through the opening clouds, causing bright rainbows to form ahead of them in the distance.

Then there was a choked, pained sound off to their left, and they both looked to see TJ a short distance away, body half buried in mud, bloodied and beaten.

“Speaking of actual monsters,” Sierra said, and Beck stood in front of her as they both moved forward to see his condition.

His dragon gone, TJ