The Dragon's Duel

Hello all! Once again I come bearing samples of my writing. This one should seem a bit familiar. In an earlier post I submitted a clipping from my fantasy novel. It involved one of the misadventures of a secondary character named Su-Ni. Well, again I'm offering a piece of Su-Ni's story, but this one comes from the next book in the series, which, aside from this bit, hasn't even been written yet. Since I haven't even begun to write the next book, I hope you'll see through the rough nature of this section to the glimpse of my vision hidden therein.

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Su-Ni gaped in awe as she watched the strange black-clad figure effortlessly scale the side of the scorched two story building and flip up onto the roof. Turning away, she looked into the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the beast that had wreaked all this havoc. It was swooping this way and that in the distance, but considering its ever increasing size, she knew it was getting closer. The flames that consumed the homes around her lashed out, filling the air with a stinging heat, but she did not flinch. She would not take her eyes off the approaching creature.

As it came on, Su-Ni saw another white spray of fire spew forth from the dragon's mouth and descend on the buildings below. Smoke began to rise instantly in the beast's wake. It was a nightmare come alive. Tears of anger filled her eyes as she drew back on her bow, knowing that her arrows would likely be useless against the armored hide of her foe. Regardless, she blinked away the tears and took aim at the dragon as it sped closer.

It was nearly on top of her when she loosed her arrow. Its trajectory was completely lost in the slinking pattern of scales that wound by in the sky. She fell over at the sudden rush of painfully hot air that tackled her as the beast swept past. Flipping over quickly, Su-Ni scrambled to her feet, looked up, and gasped.

The warrior in black leapt as the dragon passed overhead. It was no small jump. This mysterious man shot up from the roof and somehow latched onto the side of the beast, which could not have been less than thirty feet above him. Su-Ni could do nothing in that moment other than stare in amazement.

It was clear that the dragon knew something was wrong because it suddenly began to coil around itself and emit a deafening screech. She couldn't quite make out what was going on, but whatever it was, it had the dragon momentarily distracted. Su-Ni put two fingers into her mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Not waiting for a response, she ran up to the building that the dark warrior had climbed and began looking for a way up.

When it quickly became apparent to her that there were no hand or footholds in the smooth wall, she ran to the front door and pushed it open. Before going in, she looked back out into the street. When she saw no one coming, she let out another whistle and ducked inside.

A few seconds later, a door opened in the floor of the roof and Su-Ni pulled herself out of it. She looked up and saw that the dragon was still thrashing, though now it seemed more desperate. She still could not see the warrior in black through the blur of the creature's scaly body. Running over to the edge of the roof, she looked down at the street. At one end, two men came running around the corner.

With a satisfied nod to herself, she turned back to the fight overhead and drew an arrow from her quiver. She didn't know how much good she would do, but as long as she was still standing, she would not do nothing. Drawing a bead on a specific part of the constantly twisting mass that was the dragon was difficult. But the beast was huge and, thus, difficult to miss. She let the arrow fly, hoping that it wouldn't hit their mysterious ally, assuming he wasn't already dead.

This time, she saw her arrow bounce off the hard scales of her target. She sighed in frustration as she drew another. If only she could find a chink in that armor. As she scanned the writhing mass above her for some hint of weakness, something dropped away from the beast. Su-Ni flinched as she realized it was man shaped.

A second or two later, the dark warrior hit the roof a few feet away from her and fell right through. The impact was too much for the brittle dwelling, scorched by the dragon's fire. With a loud creaking and cracking, the building collapsed in on itself. The debris swallowed up Su-Ni and the mysterious black-clad man.


"Su-Ni!" called out Denlin as he and O'eintsu made it to the building just as it crumbled to the ground.

O'eintsu immediately hopped up onto the still settling remains of the structure as his comrade scrambled to follow. They began to sift through the rubble that had, only moments ago, supported their friend and fellow soldier. The danger in the sky above was momentarily forgotten as they searched frantically. Each second that passed without finding her seemed like minutes.

They became so desperate that they almost didn't notice a soot-blackened board shifting seemingly of its own free will. Denlin looked over just in time to see a slightly battered Su-Ni emerge from a pile of broken wood and mortar. The normally sure-footed warrior stumbled hurriedly over to her. O'eintsu was not far behind.

"Are you alright?" Denlin asked.

Su-Ni nodded and looked up. "It's gone..." she trailed.

Her two friends followed her gaze. The dragon was nowhere in sight. The settlement was suddenly strangely calm.

"Come, help me find him," she urged them.

"Who?" asked O'eintsu.

"Didn't you see him fall?" Su-Ni asked. "It was the warrior in black."

There was a momentary pause as the two men digested what she had just said. Then, they quickly joined her in searching for the warrior. It did not take the three of them long to find him. The dark warrior was lying under a section of collapsed roof. When they cleared away the debris, they saw clutched in one of his hands, a bloody shortsword, and in the other, two thick dragon scales.

"Who is he?" muttered Denlin in awe, voicing the same question that had been on the lips of half the empire for the past few weeks.

Su-Ni knelt next to the prone warrior's body. His head was wrapped in the same black fabric as the rest of his clothing, and his eyes were the only exposed part of his flesh, except for a fresh wound on his side. The young woman reached out and touched the wrappings that obscured his face. He moaned weakly.

"Let's get him out of here," Su-Ni said distantly. In her head she was denying her suspicion of the mysterious man's identity with all her will. It was impossible. She bit her lip and tried to push down her desperately wishful thinking. As her two companions carefully lifted the warrior out of the ruins, she followed closely behind, wondering...