No sooner had he commanded it, than a majestic royal blue dragon with green scales throughout, stood by his side. Royce’s dragon definitely mirrored the man; he was at least five feet over their average of twenty feet tall and weighed at least 1500 pounds, but what made Royce’s dragon the most impressive were the six foot tail spikes running the entire length and pointing in every direction from his almost thirty foot tail. Not to mention he wielded the oldest and most potent magic of all dragon kin.
The sight of Royce’s dragon caused the magician to stumble. Devon used that split second to fire another arrow. The magician was quick. He ducked at the last second, leaving the arrow to tear straight through the hunter behind him and land in the next inline. The remaining hunters stepped over their fallen with no regard of the loss and raced forward with the wizard in the lead.
He saw Lance as he held his broadsword, still facing off against the human pack leader. Rayne heard him tell Aaron to go help his brother. He also caught the thought running through his pain in the ass brethren’s mind, Lance knew Rayne would kick his ass when this was over for disobeying orders, not once but twice. Definitely something they would deal with after the battle had ended. In any other situation Rayne would have laughed at Lance’s actions but he was a little too occupied with the SOB’s hell bent on their destruction. He was also all too aware that Aaron was worried about his brother fighting alone causing him to take unnecessary chances. They all worried about Aidan but knew they had to let him work through things on his own. He smiled despite the fight all around them as Lance reassured all that were listening that he could handle one treacherous bastard, pack leader or not, always the showboat.
The hunter’s leader fought with a saber. Apparently the weapon of choice for these fanatics as they all had them strapped to their bodies. He thrust forward, his advance bouncing off Lance’s blade. It was obvious this novice was not at all prepared for Lance's strength and experience. His arm shook from the impact of saber to broadsword. Rayne knew Lance was enjoying himself. His brethren liked to play with his prey.
Aidan's perspective immediately came into Rayne's mind's eye. He saw the battles raging below his brethren and knew the zealots heading for him would be there in the next minute or two. He heard Aidan laugh to himself when he watched them continue to fight against the magic pushing them against their will towards him. He wondered if they had ever, in their wildest dreams, imagined what an almost 1000 pound, nineteen foot tall, thirty foot long silver dragon with rows of black scales running down both sides, would look like up close and in person. They both enjoyed the fear they could see in their eyes through the black ski masks covering their cowardly faces. He was amazed that these men, and he used the term loosely, who had been born into the hunter way of life, didn’t know more about the race they chose to eradicate. Such complete lunacy and senseless loss of life for both sides made them think of all those they had lost to this fight in their life.
The hunters had reached his landing. He was preparing to descend upon them when in flew his brother. His silver dragon so like Aidan’s, except the black scales covered his entire underbelly. Aidan wondered what the hell Aaron was doing there? “We’ll talk about this after these idiots are finished.” He sent to straight into Aaron’s mind and Rayne laughed to himself at the sibling rivalry.
“You don’t get to have fun all by yourself, little bro,” Aaron snickered in his twin's mind.
“Little my ass, you are only 2 minutes older and you were supposed to cover Lance.”
“Lance has it under control. I wanted some flight time, too.”
“Rayne is going to kick your ass when this is all over. Just stay out of my way old man.” With their usual banter silenced, the brothers engaged the hunters and Rayne went back to battling the hunters pouring over his own ledge.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rayne felt the breeze from Aaron and Aidan flying over. He checked in on Lance and of course he was hot dogging it, nothing new there. When wasn’t he hot dogging it? He just hoped his friend was paying attention because the wizard was proving to have more than a few tricks up his sleeve. He had obviously studied the dragons much more than his compatriots. He used what he had learned to hone his skills to mirror some of their own. He could move almost as fast and had incredible agility. Royce, in dragon form and Devon, still in human form, were dispatching hunters as fast as they could but the bastards still fought for all they were worth. He and his men protected the mouth of the cave with acute diligence knowing the importance the person hidden deep within. They could not let this battle get close to Kyndel.