Page 129 of Courting the Dragon King

Then Gerard swerved, smashing through the window in a shower of glass.

Chapter

Sixty-Three

Shards of broken glass shattered in all directions.

Wraith lifted his hands to protect himself. He cried out as several glass shards cut his arms. Thankfully, it didn’t feel like any of the glass went deep. Beside him, the warrior monk holding his shoulder turned his face away and cried out, but he did not release his grip on Wraith.

The green dragon stretched his neck high. His head brushed the ceiling. Gerard turned his head from side to side. At least Wraith was reasonably certain it was Gerard, since scars ran across his scales and one of his eyes was completely white.

Gerard’s good eye scanned the tableau before him. Then he opened his jaw and darted forward. He bit the high priestess, lifting her into the air. She didn’t scream or cry out. She didn’t have time.

Gerard opened his mouth. The separated top and bottom halves of Wraith’s aunt flopped onto the floor. Blood and innards spilled out.

Noise at the back of the crypt caused Wraith to turn. A tomb slab smashed into a dread knight. Wind blew, flinging skeletons and corpses. Lightning sparked and struck the undead. Vines raced up the walls and across the floor, wrapping around skeletons and corpses.

Elias, Onyx, and Juniper, along with guards from Draconia, the Grey Mountains, Botanial, Voltaria, and Zephyrias, marched forward into the crypt. Prince Matteo came up beside them, in a circular formation with four other wind sorcerers.

Chaos ensued. The dread knights drew their swords and ran towards the back of the crypt. Necromancers scattered and regrouped. The grand monk, grand shield, and most of the monks fled towards an enclave at the right of the crypt and out of Gerard’s reach.

Gerard would not be able to hurt the monks, since he’d signed a contract too. But Wraith supposed that when a dragon showed up and bit someone in half, knowing that the dragon couldn’t actually hurt you wasn’t enough to stop the panic taking over.

The necromancers and dread knights didn’t even try to attack the monks, no doubt remembering what had just happened to the shadow king, Vex, and Harrow. All their attention seemed to be on the back of the crypt.

Wraith thought the necromancers should be working with them against the monks, but he supposed they hadn’t had time to adjust their thinking.

But do Gerard and the others know they can’t attack the monks?

Having realised the other monks had fled, the warrior monk holding Wraith released him. He, as well as the few monks not already in the enclave, ran to join their brethren. Now free, Wraith dashed towards Konrad on the altar.

For a second, he expected to feel pain for disobeying the grand monk’s orders. But none came. Maybe the grand monk had to be focused on them for the whole “obey my will” thing to work.

That made sense to Wraith. Necromancers and their reanimated worked similarly. The necromancers had to be focused on the reanimated and pouring their will into them to get them to do as the necromancers wished. Otherwise, the reanimated would just collapse or remain stationary.

“Wraith! Are you all right?” Konrad was covered in blood. However, Wraith was pretty certain it all belonged to his aunt.

“I’m fine.” With his shackled hands, Wraith gripped the chains holding Konrad down. He tugged. But they wouldn’t give. He cried out and yanked. The chains rattled, but it did nothing. Wraith saw that the chains ran through two rings on either side of the stone altar.

Gerard clomped forward. He lifted a claw and gripped one of the rings. He yanked. The ring tore free from the stone. He moved around to the other side of the altar and did the same.

Konrad sat up, shoving the chains down his body. “Thanks, Gerard! Now let’s—” He broke off, his gaze on the window.

Wraith turned. King Alaric stood blocking the broken window. The bone dragon opened his mouth wide. Dragonfire spewed out at the dragons circling outside.

The dragons swerved and dove, trying to attack the bone dragon whilst dodging dragonfire. No doubt they didn’t fight fire with fire because Konrad, Wraith, and Gerard were behind the bone dragon and within range.

At least attacking the bone dragon didn’t seem to count as attacking the monks. If it did, the dragons would be dead.

“Fire and fucking flames,” Konrad muttered.

Wraith looked around. The monks still stood in the enclave. The warrior monks had drawn their weapons but had not joined the fray. The grand monk’s lips moved, gaze fixed on the bone dragon he compelled.

“The grand monk is controlling him and making him attack the others,” Wraith said.

The grand monk’s attention seemed completely on the bone dragon. So that meant he wasn’t paying attention to anyone else. At least not yet.

Gerard growled and took a step towards the monks.