Dragon Breeder 3 by Dante King (motivational books for students txt) 📗

air and the kobolds coming up from below. Even with Elenari and Antou, their chances aren’t great.”

Jazmyn nodded. “You’re right, Mike.”

I scanned the battlefield. Time had been a luxury that we hadn’t been able to afford lately. Here we were again, in another tight corner, and with the clock ticking down on a decision that we had to make.

“What to do? What to do?” I muttered to myself, casting my gaze around for inspiration. “How do we thin these kobold numbers? How do we gain a little respite?”

“If you want to feast upon your enemy’s heart, then you first have to understand it,” Noctis said coldly, his deep and ancient voice bubbling up from where it lurked in the back of my head. “Warriors are often prone to make things more complex than they need to be, Mike.”

“You got a little nugget of wisdom you’d like to toss my way?” I asked.

“Simplify things,” Noctis said. “We need to win this battle, to save the soldiers on the walls. Those dragons drive those small lizard folk before them like clouds before a squall. Kill the dragons, and the kobolds will falter and flee most likely. I can smell their fear, even through your dulled senses.”

“You sure know how to spare a guy’s feelings,” I quipped drily.

Noctis chuckled, but without humor. “You and I are one, Mike,” he said, the bona fide sincerity in his words etching them onto the inside of my chest. “I am willing to sacrifice some of your feelings if it means that you survive this ordeal.”

“Yeah,” I said, my sarcastic levity dissipating somewhat under those heartfelt words. “Yeah, I guess that’s a fair trade. So, the key lies in defeating the dragons. Fine.”

I turned my attention back to Ashrin and Jazmyn. We had not made any decisions about who was the leader of this rescue mission, but I could tell by the look in their eyes that they knew I would take no orders that conflicted with my main goal.

Saving Elenari.

“All right,” I said, “after some wise and rather coldblooded consultation, I think the key here is taking out those dragons. Break them, drive them off, or kill them, then the kobolds can be mopped up afterward.”

Penelope, Renji, Tamsin, and Saya had gathered over to where I was speaking with the two more experienced dragonmancers. The four women listened intently.

“Obviously, I think it’s going to be to our advantage if you two, Ash and Jaz,” and I nodded at the two qualified dragonmancers, “take on your Titan forms. That’ll distract the kobolds and give the wild dragons something to think about too.”

Ashrin and Jazmyn turned to one another and nodded.

“If we can take the dragons by surprise,” Ash said, “Jaz and I should be able to eliminate the Sun Dragon fairly easily.”

“Sun Dragon?” Renji asked.

“I thought that’s what breed the golden dragon was,” Penelope said, tucking her notebook back into the folds of her robe. “But the fact that it was down here in the Subterranean Realms made me doubt the evidence of my own eyes.”

“They’re a fairly common variety up in the mountains,” Ashrin said. “They actually take nourishment from the sunlight. That’s why this one is quite undersized, I imagine.”

“I agree,” Penelope said, and there was a trace of sadness in her voice. “It must have gotten itself lost down here at some point. It’s most assuredly smaller and weaker than it should be.”

I snapped my fingers softly. “That’s a real shame and all,” I said, “but whatever its backstory, we are going to have to kill it or drive it off if we want to save Elenari, Antou, and their fighters. That’s all that this boils down to.”

Penelope’s face hardened, and she nodded.

“Right, so, Ash and Jaz activate your Titan slots and engage the Sun Dragon,” I continued. “You other four are going to divide into pairs. I want everyone to have a wingwoman, so that everyone’s back is being watched.”

“Wingwoman,” Penelope whispered to Saya. “I like that saying.”

“Renji and Tamsin, you two harry the silver. Saya and Penelope, you guys keep an eye on the black. Keep it occupied and away from the walls but be careful. From the little Noctis has told me about this Opal Dragon, it’s a crafty and dangerous son of a bitch. If any of you get the chance, feel free to slaughter a kobold or five, but our chief concern are those wild dragons.”

“And what will you be doing, Mike?” Saya asked.

“Yeah, what about your wingwoman?” Tamsin shot at me.

“I’m going to make a beeline for Elenari and Antou,” I said. “They’ll be my wingwomen, so don’t you worry about me. First though, you guys are going to give me two minutes to cause a little havoc and a little bit of a distraction.”

Renji raised a silver eyebrow at me. “What kind of distraction?”

A roar from below us on the plain caused me to look down. The black and silver dragons had taken to the air once more and were sweeping over the thousands of kobolds, bellowing at them in a way that was both encouraging and threatening.

“No time,” I said. “Just keep your eyes skinned and drop in when—well, you’ll know when the time is ripe. There’ll be a sign.”

“What sign?” Saya said exasperatedly.

“Our enemies going apeshit should be pretty telltale,” I said with a grin.

“Mike,” Jazmyn said, grasping me by the arm as I made to leave, “I just need to say one last thing to you before we do this.”

“What?” I asked, trying, and managing somehow, to keep the exasperation out of my voice.

Jazmyn ran a hand through her ashy white and black hair. She tugged at the knot in the red sash that she wore around her waist, through which her scabbarded sword was thrust and tied.