FAR EVILER

(Additional excerpts)

The darkness outside the cave writhed and resolved into dragons.

Jon couldn't even count them; they swooped and skimmed in and out of sight too fast. Then two broke suddenly from the mass and the back draft from their wings as they plunged through the cave mouth knocked Jon and Frank down.

Both dragons landed carelessly, their talons screeching across the cave floor as they skidded to a stop. One opened up with fire immediately, engulfing the foremost ranks of the metal soldiers. The cave filled with sharp-scented heat.

The other dragon plowed into the cages at the end of the row, scattering them and towering over Jon and Frank. Its wings folded up, turning into awkward, knobbly arms. It used the three-fingered hands tipping the wing joint to help itself walk forward and to shove more cages aside as it headed for the back of the cave.

Jon and Frank were right in its path. They scrambled backwards, penned in on both sides by cages. The dragon huffed continually, angry shimmers of heat gusting over them as it swept its head back and forth, glaring down at them with dark, gleaming eyes.

The other dragon still bellowed out fire, melting its way through the metal soldiers. Either it scored a direct hit or the heat was simply too strong; either way, the gaslights strung on the wall beside it suddenly ignited. All along the walls at the back and sides of the cave, the gas pipes exploded. Half of the wooden back wall blew out in a spectacular fireball as the gas reservoir behind it went up.

Humans weren't fireproof like dragons, and when everything started exploding Jon curled up on the ground and braced himself for blistering pain. Wave after wave of heat pulsed around him, but the touch he finally felt wasn't fire.

"Jon, Jon," Ryan shouted. His voice almost drowned in the roar of burning wood and raging dragons. "Up, go, come on, run --"

Ryan bent over him, shaking hands grasping Jon's arm. He pulled; his hands slipped away and then came back and fisted in Jon's shirt.

"What --" Jon gasped, grabbing Ryan's shoulder and staggering to his feet.

He couldn't stand up straight, and he realized with a shock that the dragon was standing over them. Its hind legs splayed out to its sides when it stood on the ground, leaving its belly hanging low. It would have slithered over top of them and crushed them, but it had paused, holding itself hoisted up on its taloned hands with its wings spread just enough to shield them from the bulk of the explosions and fire rolling through the cave.

Ryan was already turning away from Jon to duck around the dragon's hind leg. He flung words over his shoulder that Jon couldn't hear, but he got the gist of it -- the dragon wouldn't wait on them forever. They had to fucking move.

He caught Frank by the arm and hauled him up, half-dragging him in the direction Ryan had gone. Frank caught on fast and shook loose, sticking close as they wove through the scattered cages and ducked the dragons' lashing tails.

--

They lay coiled together in a huge tangle. Gerard thought of snakes in a den, wound together messily so that there was no telling where one ended and another began. There were only a handful of dragons, but their long bodies seemed to go on forever. The twitch of a folded wing; the endless slide of a sinuous tail; an enormous gray-green head rising up and wavering on its long neck -- he couldn't tell which bit belonged to which dragon.

And they were so fucking big. Only a few and they filled the cave.

"I thought you were them," Ryan said.

His awe made Gerard's breath catch.

"I keep expecting them to. I don't even know."

Gerard understood. The one with its head raised had turned dark, unreadable eyes on the humans. Just being on the receiving end of that gaze by proxy was unnerving. Gerard remembered the sea serpent, so he knew how much more intense it would be in person.

That may be description enough, but if not please feel free to clarify anything.

And thank you! Your art is really beautiful, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with!