Page 34 of The Dragon and the Exiled
Euclid shook his head."All that matters is keeping it out of the forest."
Dipak raced over to the horses lined up, took one that was already saddled, as there were always a few kept ready for messengers.Then he raced out of the camp, following the trail of burnt grass.Thankfully, he caught up to the ogre quickly.They were fast for their size, but still slower than most other things.
Stopping the horse, he let fly with several arrows in rapid succession, striking it in the head, neck, and shoulders, twelve of them all told before it finally turned around.Pulling out the amulet, he held it aloft, fire bright in the dark."I have what you want.Come and get it!"
Roaring again, the sound almost deafening at this proximity, the ogre headed for him with thunderous steps.
Dipak had approximately thirty seconds to figure out how the fuck he was supposed to kill a mountainous, nigh-invincible monster with just bow and sword.
Then, from behind him, came another thunderous roar.
Chapter Thirteen
Dipak wheeled his horse around, sick to his stomach with worry and guilt as he saw Euclid in all his beautiful glory.The sheer beauty of that vibrant blue would always speed his heart.
"Youcan't," he said, near to tears."Euclid, youcan't.Now everyone knows!"
Euclid growled and moved his head in a way that clearly saidget out of the way.
Dipak moved, barely in time before the ogre—he still couldn't believe it wasMadhav—came charging up.It swung at him, but his fist was met with a lashing tail that knocked him off balance.Bellowing, really angry now, the ogre turned its full attention on Euclid.
Euclid definitely had size, but ogres had strength and sheer mass.They were nearly impossible to kill because their skin was dense and almost stone-like, impervious to any real damage.The arrows he'd shot had already fallen out, leaving behind little more than glorified dents in his skin that would be gone in a few hours.Shooting an ogre with arrows effectively would take a special kind of arrow that Dipak had never even seen, let alone owned.
Even if he made a one-in-a-million shot through the eye, it still might not penetrate far enough to matter.To make that kind of basically impossible shot count, he'd have to be facing the ogre dead on, which meant he'd be dead too before or as it stopped moving.
Fuck, he was sotiredof this shit.
He moved well out of the way, as that was all he could really do at this point.Euclid had made his choice, Dipak would support him, and right now that meant not being an additional problem to handle.
In his left hand, he still held the amulet, and it glowed brighter than ever, probably because Madhav was so fuckingangryand some small part of him still existed in the ogre that was echoing in the quartz.
What would happen if he shattered it?
He looked up as he heard a roar that sounded strongly of pain, to see the ogre had smashed one of Euclid's front legs.He bit back the urge to call out, because a distraction could far too easily prove fatal.
The ogre screamed, and its body was suddenly bathed in flame, wrapping around it like a second skin.Fuck.What would Euclid—
His thoughts shattered entirely as Euclid opened his mouth and pure white smoke came pouring out on a sound somewhere between a roar and a purr, nothing Dipak could adequately describe.
Not smoke.Frost.It was a cloud of frost that washed over the ogre and killed his flames.Left the ogre completely immobilized for a second in shock.Euclid lunged forward, grabbed the ogre's left arm, and ripped it off like it was made of sticks and paper.
Well, fuck.
Euclid moved out of range as the ogre swung into action again, though he was impeded by his broken leg and caught a blow in his good shoulder, sending him to the ground.The ogre bellowed in triumph as Euclid struggled to regain his feet.
Gripping the quartz tightly in both hands, Dipak drew on every last scrap of magic he possessed, reaching so deep ithurt.Around his neck, Euclid's pendant glowed blue.He poured the magic into the quartz, tearing away at the orange, slowly turning it a muddy brown color—and then the quartz shattered in his hands, shredding them badly, cutting his arms and even his face.
The soul burst into a thousand tiny shards of light, like scattering sparks as a burning log collapsed in on itself, and then were dead and gone, as they had no suitable vessel to return to.
The ogre threw its head back and screamed, a sound of unfathomable anguish and pain.
Euclid reared up, sank his teeth into the ogre's throat, and ripped it out.The ogre's noises cut off and it crumpled to the ground landing awkwardly on its back with its legs folded under it.
Mostly falling off his horse, Dipak removed all the broken shards of quartz from his body that he could, ignoring the blood for the moment.Even if he'd had the skills for healing, he didn't have any magical energy left to use.He was so depleted he wouldn't be using magic for at least a week, possibly two.
He headed over to Euclid, who had collapsed on the ground again, sending Dipak's terror spiraling."Are you all right?"he asked, dropping to his knees and resting his hands helplessly on Euclid's long snout."Damn it, dragon.I don't understand all your stupid rumblings yet, are you okay?"
Lifting his ponderous head, Euclid blinked slowly—then licked him.
