That was it. I could no longer hold myself back. I thought I heard Anabelle's voice again in my head, this time pleading with me not to give in to the sickening words and their meaning. But I paid no mind.
I am the dragon, I thought, driving Anabelle's pleading voice away. I will fight as the dragon I am. I drove the tip of my sword into the ground and dropped my shield. It fell atop the satchel and rested there.
As always, once the decision had been made to give in to my nature instead of struggling to hold back, a great peace swept over me and a feeling of release greater than any I'd know in my marriage bed or during any of my youthful dalliances filled my very bones. My blood felt as though it was boiling.
"Yes," Arthur whispered, caressingly, as if whispering sweet words to a lover. "Shift for me. Be who you truly are. Stop fighting. Show yourself to me before I kill you."
I hardly registered his words, however, as my form shifted and I became the dragon. One moment he was standing across from me, a man of my approximate height, and the next I was towering above him. I unfurled my wings and sent a thick column of fire down onto him as he had thrown the sizzling bolt of lightning at me.
Of course the flames never touched him; I had been correct, it seemed, about the barrier of protection which he had placed around himself. The fire was deflected from this barrier as if bouncing off invisible stone.
When the flames had extinguished, Arthur stood back as if in admiration of me. "I must say," he called out, staring up at me, "you're one of the more impressive of your species."
I considered for a brief moment simply squashing him like the bug he was. It would have been so easy to lift my foot and slam it into the ground. But I knew that it would be of no use; if I could not touch him with fire, he would be protected against a show of force, too.
How was I to stop him?
"This hardly seems like a fair fight, though, does it?" Arthur called out. I snorted, waiting to see what he meant by this. I didn't have to wait long to find out.
Before my very eyes, the dark wizard's own shape shifted to that of a large, black dragon. Unlike the shifting I had witnessed in my brother and my father, the human form Arthur had chosen to present to me melted off his figure like tallow running down a candle. And underneath that human façade was a miniature dragon which almost instantly grew in size until it stood before me nearly matching my own size and figure. The scales covering its body gleamed nearly green black, its outstretched wings were each the size of a large sailing vessel and gossamer-thin. I could see veins running through them. Horns rose from it head and trailed down to a tail covered in dangerous looking spikes. Its eyes burned a curious shade of green.
Now there were no more words, but as I always had with my brother and any other animal, I could sense his thoughts. I wondered at the sacrifice Arthur was making in changing; he seemed to enjoy sparring with words, and now that ability had been taken away from him.
Yes, my love, Anabelle cried from within my thoughts. You are understanding him. He believes he is all-wise, all-knowing. It is in his ability to fool others with his intelligence that his power lies. Use that against him!
But how? I asked. I was no longer trying to convince myself that Anabelle's voice was a mere illusion. If anything it was a comfort to me to hear her; when I left her I was certain I should never hear her voice again.
Any answer the voice may have had for me was ripped away by the feeling of heat, as the flames from Arthur's mouth threatened to burn me. Of course a dragon isn't as easily damaged by fire as he is while in human form, but the sensation was enough to pull me from my thoughts nonetheless. I took to the air, my own massive wings outstretched. The sky now turned an ominous shade of red as I climbed toward the clouds.
Now I was a beast, and I forced my human thoughts back as far as I could in order to fight and think like a beast. Arthur still waited on the ground, and I swooped toward him with flames pouring from me. At the last moment, he dodged out of the way and leaped off the crag, only to catch the wind on his wings and soar. I pulled up before hitting the ground as I had when I was carrying Anabelle on our first flight together.
The wizard/dragon was flying high above now, and I flew in a straight line directly at him. The fury he had unleashed in me powered my wings and I rapidly neared him, then crashed into him. We roared, our bodies thrashing against each other, our wings beating hard to keep us aloft as we snapped and clawed at each other.
I felt a rush of what was nearly joy as I attacked. I could finally give release to all of the anger, fear, hatred and disgust I had felt at the hands of this dark foe.
Arthur wrenched himself away from me, then pulled back at a distance. Again I lunged for him, roaring. My claws hooked into his long, scaly neck and dug deep. He roared in pain and surprise, trying in vain to shake me off, striking at me in vain with his own claws. In his panic, his wings stopped beating; my own wings were strong, but not strong enough to support the weight of two fully-grown dragons. I released him, reluctantly, his blood dripping from my talons.
I rejoiced in the knowledge that I had hurt him. I had the impression that he was not accustomed to pain. His blood seemed to sizzle on my claws.
He reared back, screaming in rage and pain. He flew straight at me, and I waited until the very last moment to dodge out of the way, leaving him disoriented. He spun, trying to find me. Once he set his sights on me he once again flew at me, and again I was able to slip out of his way before he could reach me. Again he screamed.
He may have been ancient and powerful, but he was unaccustomed to this dragon form in which he was now entrapped. I felt the frustration and fury coming from him, and was reminded somewhere in my consciousness of the way I had been advised to keep control of my own emotions lest they prove my undoing. Now I saw the truth of that advice.
I took advantage of the upper hand, and swooped toward him from my position far above him. Again I breathed fire as I glided. It seemed as though he tried to get away, but was too slow. I had spent many years hunting my prey; it was nothing for me to overtake an uncoordinated, wounded foe.
Take care, Caside! Anabelle warned. Do not rejoice as yet! The fight isn't over!
But the dragon paid no mind to her words. She wasn't one of us. She did not know this feeling of power. She wasn't even really here.
As I had before, I reached Arthur and sank my claws into him; this time they landed on his back. Again he howled, the flames shooting from his nose and mouth as his pain and anger poured from him. I lashed at him with my tail, striking his torso.
Then, without warning, Arthur's own tail came lashing out at me. I saw it coming and quickly released him from my claws so as to get out of the way, but it was too late. The spiked tail carved a path across my soft belly from one side to the other.
The pain was excruciating, blinding, all-consuming. I screamed as Arthur had, and felt the blood pouring from me. In my shock and distractedness, I didn't notice Arthur wheeling around to come at me again, and this time his tail slashed across my back. This did less damage, as the scales were rough and thick, but the surprise of the attack shocked me nonetheless.
I had no idea how deep the wound went, or whether I would be able to fight for much longer. But if was to die, I would die fighting.
Sheer fury kept me afloat as I spun and reared back, away from another slash of Arthur's wicked tail. I wasn't as fast as I had been, already weakened from the loss of blood. I placed my left front leg protectively over my wound and flew backwards away from my foe. I wanted to lead him back to land, as our battle had taken us out over the loch.
He, too, was clearly feeling the effect of the wounds I had given him. The blood covered his neck and entire torso, and several marks on his legs trickled blood from where my many sharp teeth had pierced him.
Still, I felt as though he was far from beaten. I knew, somehow, that he had counted on this. I knew not from where the knowledge came. But I was certain nonetheless that he had been completely unprepared to face a real opponent.
Caside! I heard again, and this time I listened more intently. It was no matter to me from where her voice came; she spoke wisdom to which I needed to adhere. His physical form is of no matter. He only seeks to tire you. You must find and destroy the source of his power in order to destroy him.
My human mind searched frantically through everything I had heard about Arthur. Every legend, every story that had been shared with me. Every scroll I had examined. Every word he had spoken to me thus far. Images flashed through my mind as I neared the edge of the crag where I'd left my sword and shield prior to shifting.