Zo rubbed her face. "Christ. You're actually going to do this."

  "We're going to do this," I corrected her.

  I ignored her and focused on the others. "Listen. We set a trap. Use me as bait since the dragon's hunting whoever killed its egg. Zo, you're the hammer… I want you to absorb energy from the cold and the storm, then release it all at once. Sadie, your spears for ranged strikes. We will use my troll as the tank."

  "And what happens when the dragon doesn't die?" Zo asked.

  "Then we improvise."

  "Sounds like a brilliant plan."

  "You have a better one?"

  She didn't answer.

  Sadie shifted against the wall, her jaw tight. "Where would you hit it?"

  I closed my eyes and pulled at Cedric's memories. Information surfaced in fragments, anatomical sketches, battlefield observations, half-remembered lectures from his Keeper training.

  "There is a joint between the dragon's neck and shoulder," I said. "Where the scales overlap. It’s the thinnest point on the body besides the eyes. Also the wing joints. If we can cripple its flight, we take away its advantage."

  Mabel clicked her segments together. "This is monumentally stupid."

  Zo stood and began pacing. She rolled her shoulders, cracked her neck. "If we're doing this, we do it properly."

  "I agree," I said.

  Sadie winced as she adjusted her position. "I'll need a clear line of sight. And high ground if possible."

  "The troll can carry you to a better sightline," I said. "You set up, and wait for the opening. Zo, you'll be above the kill zone. I’ll lead it in, the troll tackles from the side, you drop from above and release everything you've stored."

  "I’ll hit its weak points while it's stunned."

  "If it's stunned," Mabel said.

  "When it's stunned."

  "How optimistic of you."

  Zo stopped pacing. "What if the troll gets killed?"

  "Then we adjust."

  "What if the dragon doesn't follow you into the kill zone?"

  "Then I make it follow me."

  "What if—"

  "We can't plan for everything," I said. "We make the best trap we can, then we commit to it. Once it starts, we don't stop until the dragon's dead or we are."

  Silence filled the cave.

  Sadie broke it. "How long will it take to prepare?"

  "As long as Zo needs to absorb enough energy."

  Zo flexed her hands. Her knuckles cracked. "A few hours, minimum. The cold's constant, the storm's feeding me kinetic force every time the wind hits. I can store it, and compress it."

  We prepared in silence.

  Zo stood near the cave entrance, arms spread, skin crackling with stored force. The cold poured into her. The wind. The pressure of the storm. All of it feeding her Origin, building her reserves. Her breath came slow and steady.

  Sadie sat against the wall, her eyes closed, hands moving in small gestures. Light spears formed in the air around her, each one precise and sharp. She tested their weight, their balance, then dismissed them and formed new ones. Her jaw was still clenched tight. Pain or focus, I couldn't tell.

  I commanded the worms to reinforce my limbs. They responded eagerly, weaving through muscle and bone, forming gauntlets around my hands and braces along my legs. The sensation was familiar now.

  The troll stood motionless near the entrance, its body blocking most of the wind. It didn't need to prepare. It was already a weapon.

  There was a pause. A moment where we all recognized this might be the last time we sat in relative safety.

  Sadie's hands were steady, but I saw the tension in her shoulders. Zo rolled her neck again, loosening muscles that would need to move fast.

  I dismissed the blade and stood. "Everyone ready?"

  Zo nodded. Her skin glowed faintly, energy crackling just beneath the surface.

  Sadie formed one final practice spear, examined it, then let it dissolve. "Ready."

  The troll grunted.

  "Wonderful," Mabel said. "Shall we proceed to our deaths with dignity, or would you prefer screaming?"

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  "Shut up, Mabel."

  "As you wish."

  I left the cave alone.

  The storm hit me immediately. Wind tearing at my face, ice scraping across Cedric's armor. I climbed down through the rocks, moving carefully, letting the worms lock my hands and feet to the stone.

  Below, I could see the dragon's patrol area. A wide section of cliff face where it circled, searching. I had found a rocky area that jutted out from the mountain. It was just exposed enough to be visible from below…

  I waited for the dragon to pass beneath me. Its wings cut through the storm, they were massive and powerful. I could hear the air move with every movement they made.

  Then I scraped my worm-blade against the stone. The sound carried.

  The dragon's head turned, its crimson eyes locked onto me through the storm.

  For a moment, neither of us moved.

  Then I ran.

  The dragon flew after me.

  I heard the rush of displaced air, the snap of wings folding, the scrape of claws on stone.

  I ducked as something massive crashed into the rock beside my head. The stone exploded. Shards cut across my cheek.

  The worms warned me a fraction of a second before each strike. I barely evaded each one.

  The kill zone was ahead. The troll hidden behind one of the walls of ice. Zo positioned above. Sadie concealed further back.

  The dragon snapped at me.

  I dove through the gap. And the dragon followed.

  The troll exploded from cover, all its bulk and strength slamming into the dragon's side. The impact sounded like a building collapsing. The dragon staggered, its wing catching on rock, throwing it off balance.

  Zo dropped from above. Both of her fists drove into the base of the dragon's skull, causing a blast of kinetic energy

  The sound was deafening.

  The dragon crashed to the ground, its head smashing into stone, black blood spraying from its nostrils.

  Sadie had been throwing spears of light pinning one wing to the rock. Three of them, perfectly placed, and holding it down.

  My worm-blade formed as I charged at the downed dragon. I drove it into the gap between its neck and shoulder… exactly where Cedric's memories said the scales would be weakest.

  The blade sank deep. Black blood sprayed across my face.

  The dragon screamed.

  But it didn't die… It didn't even seem badly hurt.

  Its head swung around, jaws snapping inches from my face. Its breath was hot and stunk of sulfur. The neck wound was already closing. Scales knitting back together like it had never been cut.

  The dragon's tail whipped around and caught the troll, hurling it off the cliff edge.

  Sadie's spears shattered as the dragon ripped its wing free.

  Zo released more stored energy, hammering the dragon's skull repeatedly. Each blow sounded like cannon fire. The dragon's head rocked with each impact, but it kept coming.

  I tried to withdraw my blade and strike again, but the dragon pinned me with one claw, pressing me into the rock. The armor held, but the pressure built. My bones creaked and something in my chest popped, breathing instantly became difficult.

  Sadie launched more spears at its eyes, she connected with one of them, blinding the left eye. The dragon screamed. The sound split the air, sending chunks of ice falling from above.

  Then it let loose a breath of flames, aimed directly at Zo.

  She tried to absorb it but there was too much energy, it built up too fast. The heat and force overwhelmed her Origin's capacity. She was thrown backward, clothes burning away, her skin burned. Her back hit stone and she crumpled.

  The dragon turned back to me, I was still pinned, and it raised a claw for the killing blow. The worms surged but couldn't break free from the weight. Cedric's armor groaned under the pressure.

  Sadie threw herself at the dragon's remaining eye, it was a desperate, suicidal charge. The dragon caught her with its jaws before she could strike.

  It bit down, clamping its jaws around her body. Sadie screamed.

  The sound tore through me. The dragon shook her like a rag doll. Her body went limp for a moment, then jerked as the teeth sank deeper.

  Something inside me broke.

  I stopped being human. I allowed the worms to do as they pleased.

  The dragon released its pressure on me, out of instinct, maybe, recognizing the threat I had become but it was already too late.

  The worms poured into the dragon through every wound, feeding on its blood and essence. They spread through its veins, consuming as they went. The dragon dropped Sadie, and spewed fire towards me. It was trying to burn me off its own body.

  Fire washed over me. I didn't give a shit.

  The pain was distant. It was irrelevant. All that mattered was making it hurt. Making it pay for what it had done to Sadie.

  The dragon's neck wound reopened as the worms devoured the newly formed scales from inside. Black blood poured out. The dragon thrashed, slamming me against rock, trying to throw me.

  My hands were buried deep in its flesh. The worms spread deeper, finding arteries, nerves, organs. The dragon's movements became frantic. It tore at its own body, ripping out chunks of flesh to escape the feeding worms.

  But I was already inside it.

  Mabel's voice was distant, muffled. "Fischer. Fischer, stop. You're going too far."

  I couldn't stop.

  I didn't want to stop.

  The dragon launched itself into the air, taking me with it. We rose above the storm, above the mountain. Then it dove, slamming us both into the cliff face.

  The stone shattered. And my arm broke. Several other bones followed.

  The dragon tore itself away, ripping out chunks of its own flesh to escape. Black blood and torn muscle fell like rain.

  It retreated trying to get away, it was badly wounded… enough that it wouldn't continue the fight. It launched itself off the cliff, wings beating heavily, disappearing into the storm below.

  I collapsed to the floor, covered in black blood. Half my body was broken from the dragon's grip and the impact. The worms tried to repair the damage but they were exhausted.

  I lay in the freezing rain, each breath sending spikes of pain through my chest.

  Zo was burned and unconscious. Maybe twenty feet away, sprawled against a rock. Steam rose from her skin where the fire had hit.

  Sadie was... alive. Barely. Bleeding heavily from the dragon's bite. The troll had returned, it was badly damaged but it crouched over her protectively.

  Blood pooled beneath me, my blood mixing with the dragons creating a red and black oil painting.

  Sadie made a sound. A wet, broken gasp.

  The troll picked her up gently, cradling her against its chest. It looked at me with those empty eyes, waiting for instruction.

  "Cave," I managed. "Get her... to the cave."

  The troll moved immediately, carrying Sadie toward the shallow shelter we'd used before.

  I focused on Zo. She wasn't moving. Burns covered her arms and chest, her skin was red and blistered. Her breathing was shallow.

  I dragged myself toward her.

  Every movement was agony. The worms tried to stabilize my broken body but they were too drained. I made it halfway before my vision flickered.

  "Fischer." Mabel's voice was sharp. "You need to stop. Rest. Let the worms recover."

  "I… can't… Zo needs—"

  "You will be of no help to her… not if you bleed out before you make it to her body."

  I kept dragging myself forward, I made it another few feet.

  My vision was failing. The world reduced to Zo's body and the space between us.

  Five feet… Three.

  My hand reached her boot. Then my strength gave out. I collapsed next to her, my broken arm trapped beneath me.

  The troll emerged from the cave and moved toward us. It picked up Zo first, cradling her carefully, then reached for me.

  The last thing I saw before falling into oblivion was the dragon's eyes, watching me.