Page 63 of Secrets of Ruin

“What a delightful place,” Orin quipped.

The dragon rose into the air, and as it did so, it became tangled in a net hanging between the trees. The dragon released a scream the likes of which Brokk had never heard before, but that scream reverberated through his soul; he knew the agony the creature endured.

“It’s one of those nets,” he snarled.

The dragon screamed and thrashed against the silver netting as it sought to escape its confines, but the more the creature fought, the more entangled it became. If the dragon wasn’t careful, it would kill itself as the edges of those nets could slice through an immortal.

The netting might already be cutting into the dragon as it descended from the sky. Overhead, the other two dragons who entered Doomed Valley with them bellowed as they swooped toward the trees.

They didn’t dive low like their friend as they released a torrent of fire on the tops of the trees. Flames erupted from the treetops, but the humid air and damp vegetation prevented them from spreading quickly.

However, they burned long enough that the top of the trees broke off before tumbling into the oblivion below. Smoke choked the air as the dragons bellowed and their friend screamed. The tangled dragon vanished into the jungle.

“We have to help them!” Sahira cried as she started forward.

Brokk grasped Kaylia’s arm, halting her when she went to follow her friend. “Not yet.”

Orin also stopped Sahira.

“We can’t leave them alone up there!” Kaylia cried.

“We’re going to help them.” Cole lifted troubled eyes to the sky when one of the dragons vanished through a portal. “We can’t rush forward when we don’t know what’s ahead.”

“Where did that other dragon go?” someone demanded from behind them.

Cole looked resigned as he lowered his gaze from the sky. “To get help.”

His brother couldn’t communicate with the dragons, but they would never leave one of their own behind. The dragon was going to get more of its brethren, and when they returned, they would make these creatures pay.

“If she hears about this, Lexi will return with them,” Del said.

“I know. We have to be careful about how we proceed,” Cole replied.

Around them, the shadows shifted as the ones still with Cole raced across the ground with a speed that made them almost invisible to the naked eye. They sped into the jungle in search of the enemy and to report on the dragon.

Brokk didn’t know if the ophidians lay ahead or if the netting was another trap the monsters had set to spring on them. If it was a trap, then more of those nets could be waiting.

As the trapped dragon’s cries filled the air, the other one swept low and torched more of the treetops. If there were more nets, hopefully, they would fall from the burning trees.

The smoke drifting through the jungle made breathing the cloying, humid air difficult. The acrid smoke burned his eyes, and he blinked away the tears forming there.

“Let’s go,” Cole commanded.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Brokk reluctantly released Kaylia as they started through the jungle again. One good thing about the smoke was that it chased away the bugs, and he spent a lot less time slapping away the bloodsucking fiends as they carved a path through the thick vegetation.

They moved slowly, trying to ensure no traps hung overhead or were implanted in the ground. Above, the other dragon continued to unleash its wrath on the jungle while the cries of its friend subsided.

It didn’t take much time to learn the more someone fought the netting, the worse it was. Not resisting the enemy was difficult to accept, but when that netting felt like it was slicing away flesh, it became a little easier not to fight.

A shout from the left filled the air a second before another net shot up from the ground with a lycan and dark fae trapped within its brutal grasp. They screamed as they thrashed against their captivity.

The free dragon bellowed again, and another trap sprang. It launched into the air with a couple of dwarves trapped inside.

“The more you fight the net, the worse it is,” Brokk shouted at them.

It’s not much better, but it’s better. He didn’t speak those words; they’d figure it out soon enough.