Longfang by Mark Robson Read Free Book Online Page A

icicle-like teeth. Whatever it was, the creature was hideous.
    ‘Ice worm!’
Fang said, his voice in her mind now alive with fear.
‘Get on my back. Now! You must get out of the snow. Come on!’
    Initially, Kira could not move. Fang’s panic rooted her to the spot. The crunch as the dragon’s teeth sheered through the ice worm’s plated exterior was horrible. He flicked
his head, casting the remains of the worm as far as he could. Where the creature’s body landed, the snow instantly exploded in a frenzy of thrashing, writhing serpentine bodies. The speed
with which they moved was electrifying. All the hair at the back of Kira’s neck stood on end.
    Fang pounced. There was no other description for his movement. It was catlike. One moment he was in one place, the next he was leaping forwards. As he landed, the snow to either side of his
front feet erupted as pinned ice worms fought to free themselves from under his weight. That they had not been instantly crushed did not go unnoticed by Kira. These creatures were incredibly
tough.
    ‘It’s a swarm! Get out of the snow, Kira! Get out of the snow! They’re deadly!’
Fang cried in her mind, his voice carrying a desperate edge.
‘I
can’t stop them. There are too many.’
    This time his words got through. Kira’s brain, slowed as it was by the cold, processed Fang’s fear, the speed of the creatures, the danger of the situation and finally forced her
cold-soaked body into action. She stumbled the few short paces through the snow and tried to scramble up Fang’s foreleg to the relative safety of his back, still clutching her flint and
steel.
    As Kira lifted her trailing leg out of the snow, pain tore through her right calf and she screamed in agony. An ice worm had bitten deep into the flesh and was now dangling behind her as she
tried in vain to drag herself higher from the white surface. She could feel its teeth sinking deeper and deeper into her muscle, slicing through her flesh and sending a wave of icy coldness up and
down her leg.
    Fang’s head twisted on his long neck and with a touch of finesse she would not have believed possible of her dragon, he twitched the tail of the great worm out so he could catch its body
between his teeth. There was another sickening crunch as he sheared the worm in two, but to Kira’s horror, the head end of the creature did not let go of her leg. It thrashed around, tearing
her flesh even more, its teeth clamping tighter and tighter.
    Screaming with every scrap of energy her lungs could find, she reached down with her right hand and began hitting it with the flint. The surface of the worm was slippery like ice and hard as
steel. Her efforts proved worse than useless. Rather than let go, the worm tried all the harder to bite right through to the bone.
    ‘Heat!’
Fang told her, his voice frantic.
‘Use the flint and steel. Ice worms cannot stand fire.’
    Kira twisted so that she could sit on Fang’s shoulder. Below her the snow was heaving in waves as a multitude of worms attacked from all sides. Despite dozens latching onto the
dragon’s body, he remained motionless for fear of tipping Kira from her precarious perch. Reaching down with both hands this time, she scraped the steel against the flint and sent a shower of
bright golden sparks across the worm’s body.
    The dying creature’s response was instant. It could not let go fast enough. It released its grip and fell away from her, sliding down Fang’s foreleg only to be consumed in seconds by
the thrashing mass of ice worms below.
    ‘Well done. Now get into the saddle, Kira,’
Fang urged.
‘I need to move. My scales are tough, but this looks like a big swarm. Even a dragon cannot hope to survive
long against a sustained attack by ice worms.’
    She turned, wincing as lines of pain shot up her injured leg. It only took her a few seconds, but it quickly became apparent that even this short time might prove fatal. Hundreds of worms had
gained