A Land Of Fire (Book 12) by Morgan Rice Read Free Book Online

for the ocean, out of control.
    They landed in the water, Thor still holding
on, and the two of them plunged beneath the surface. Thor flailed underwater,
until finally their momentum stopped. Mycoples turned and swam up, heading for
sunlight.
    As they surfaced, Thor breathed deep,
gasping for air, treading the frigid waters as he still clung to Mycoples. The
two bobbed in the water, and as they did, Thor looked to the side and saw a
sight he would never forget: floating in the water, not far from him, eyes
open, dead, was a dragon he had come to love: Ralibar.
    Mycoples spotted him at the same time,
and as she did, something overcame her, something Thor had never seen: she
shrieked a great wail of grief and raised her wings high, extending them all
the way. Her entire body shuddered as she let out a horrific howl, shaking the
universe. Thor saw her eyes change, glowing all different colors, until finally
they were shining yellow and white.
    Mycoples turned, a different dragon, and
looked up at the host of dragons coming down for them. Something within her,
Thor realized, had snapped. Her mourning had morphed into rage, and had given
her a power unlike any Thor had ever seen. She was a dragon possessed.
    Mycoples raced up to the sky, wounds
bleeding and not caring. Thor felt a new burst of energy as well, and a desire
for vengeance. Ralibar had been a close friend, had sacrificed his life for all
of them, and Thor felt determined to set wrongs right.
    As they raced toward them, Thor leapt
off of Mycoples and landed on the nose of the closest dragon, hugging it as he
leaned around and grabbed at its jaws, clamping them shut. Thor summoned
whatever power he had left within him, and he spun the dragon around in the
air, then threw it with all his might. The dragon went flying, taking out two
more dragons in the air, and all three went soaring down to the ocean below.
    Mycoples whirled around and caught Thor
as he fell, and he landed on her back as she raced for the dragons that
remained. She met their roars with hers, biting stronger, flying faster,
cutting deeper than they. The more they wounded her, the less she seemed to
notice. She was a whirlwind of destruction, as was Thor, and by the time she
and Thor were done, Thor realized there were no more dragons left in the sky to
greet them: all of them had dropped down from the sky to the ocean, maimed or
killed.
    Thor found himself flying alone with
Mycoples high in the air, circling the fallen dragons below, taking stock. The
two of them breathed hard, dripping blood. Thor knew that Mycoples was
breathing her dying breaths—he could see it as blood dripped from her mouth,
each breath a gasp, a death pain.
    “No, my friend,” Thor said, holding back
tears. “You cannot die.”
    My time has come , Thor heard her
say. At least I have died with dignity.
    “No,” Thor insisted. “You must not die!”
    Mycoples breathed blood, and the
flapping of her wings weakened as she began to dip down toward the ocean.
    There is one last fight left in me , Mycoples said. And I want my final moment to be one of valor.
    Mycoples looked up, and Thor followed
her gaze to see Romulus’s fleet of ships stretching across the horizon.
    Thor nodded gravely. He knew what
Mycoples wanted. She wanted to greet her death in one last great battle.
    Thor, badly wounded, breathing hard,
feeling as if he would not make it either, wanted to go down that way, too. He
wondered now if his mother’s prophecies were true. She told him that he could
alter his own destiny. Had he altered it? he wondered. Would he die now?
    “Then let us go, my friend,” Thorgrin
said.
    Mycoples let out a great shriek, and
together, the two of them dove down, taking aim for Romulus’s fleet.
    Thor felt the wind and the clouds racing
through his hair and face as he let out a great battle cry. Mycoples shrieked
to match his rage, and they dove down low, and Mycoples opened her great jaws and
breathed down fire on one ship after