(Path of the Dragon Mage: Nomad) 10. Blot Out The Sun (Patreon)

"Are you ready?" Roan asked.

The honest answer was no.

Corvus looked down at the mass of seething ratkin bodies just below the flat-topped rock they stood on. From Charm's scouting missions, he now knew this was only the outer edge of the mega-swarm.

The lowest level ratkin were all trapped on this end of the canyon. They only got bigger and more vicious further on until the other end of the canyon where the larger Queen Rats lay.

And this was only one canyon of dozens that Charm had seen so far. All were as densely packed with the uncountable thousands of ratkin bodies.

So no, he wasn't ready to wade through all of this. Did that make him a coward or just someone with common sense?

Either way, he didn't have much of a choice.

Corvus took a moment to check his seat. He sat behind Roan on CloudStrike's back. Normally, when he rode a horse it was NightShade. CloudStrike was a hand shorter than the stallion, and her barrel was wider thanks to her pregnancy. However, she was every bit the fighter that NightShade was. Even now she danced back and forth on the rock as if eager to get going.

Well, if the horse was eager and raring to go, he had no excuse.

Lastly, he checked his front pocket where he had primed three Knit Flesh, Purge Infection, Knit Bone, and Replenish Blood runes. He had already activated a Purge Infection on her just in case. That rune required mana on a variable basis and judging by the amount it had consumed... it had been needed.

He would have to make sure everyone got a dose of that rune when this was over with.

Finally, Corvus glanced up to the dawn-lit sky to see Charm just visible, hovering like a bird.

Waiting for daylight had made for long hours while he, Roan, and CloudStrike kept the rock clear. There had been several reasons for it: Ratkin were nocturnal creatures. The sunlight might inhibit or even blind them. Also, Charm's solar breath was every bit as effective as the moon breath and would only grow more powerful as the sun rose higher in the sky. Finally, Roan and CloudStrike did not have Corvus's night vision. There had been enough moonlight to get by last night, but they would use every advantage they could get.

The time was right. It was now or never.

"I'm ready," he said and tightened his grip on Roan's shoulders. Thankfully, he had a lot of practice riding horses over the last couple of years. He'd even gained a trick riding skill. That was going to be put to good use now.

"All right, CloudStrike," Roan said. "Let's get out of here!"

The mare snorted her agreement and leaped from the rock to the mass below.

The ratkin's behavior hadn't changed since the sun rose – possibly because there was nowhere for them to go. Their eyes half-shut against the glare, they struck out viciously at each other or anything else.

CloudStrike landed in their midst, squashing a half dozen to death in a moment. From there, she surged forward in an awkward, high-stepped trot.

Corvus wished she could move into a canter or even a gallop, but she couldn't remain surefooted while stomping on dozens of squirming bodies at a time. Above all else, she had to avoid stumbling and falling.

Though CloudStrike flinched and snorted when she was bit or scratched, she soldiered on.

The problem came when they reached the higher level ratkins – the fours and fives.

These were the size of medium-sized dogs, were packed in together just as tightly as the little ones, and their bites were more damaging.

As CloudStrike waded through, nostrils flared and head bobbing, one of the level five's leaped and landed on her front haunch. CloudStrike squealed and danced to the side. Roan knocked it away with his hammer, but it left a gouging scratch. Smelling blood, another one leaped for her back end. The mare neighed and kicked out to catch it before it landed and send it squealing away.

"They're trying to swarm over us. Keep going!" Roan yelled.

CloudStrike surged forward, past and through ratkin who were crawling over each other in a bid to climb up her legs. Their own numbers hindered them – the ratkin would attack each other as easily as something else – but if they paused or fell, it would be over.

As CloudStrike surged forward, Roan twisted back to Corvus. "Heal her up!"

Corvus nodded and slapped one of the Knit Flesh runes on her rump. It activated with a flash. The horse shivered and twitched, then plunged forward with renewed vigor.

Soon enough the ratkin were even larger and so tightly packed together that she was stepping on top of them and occasionally falling through the tiny gaps.

One ratkin had blindly managed to scramble on top of the pile and bit down on the soft flesh inside her hind leg. The horse screamed, bucking and twisting to rip herself free.

It was only Corvus's riding skill and a little bit of luck that kept him on board.

"Charm!"

The ratkin were only growing larger. This was as far as they could go without help. They'd had to save their offensive abilities because they were limited and mana hungry, but this was as far as CloudStrike could go without help.

Charm, who had been following along from high above, tucked in her wings and fell into a precise dive. A dozen feet above the mass, she snapped her wings open and parted her jaws.

The gold threads collected from under and around her scales to form into several runes. A beam of sunshine blasted from her mouth, carving through the ratkin.

Her solar breath was not the force and acid like the moon breath. It was heat and destruction.

Fur and flesh sizzled where it touched. Even as packed together as they were, ratkin scrambled to get out of the way – crawling over themselves and ripping each other to shreds just to escape the light and heat.

A ragged path opened before them. Cloud Strike plunged to it, streaming blood. She fell into a heavy run.

Charm had to flap rapidly to regain her height. The moment she did, she dived in front of CloudStrike again to length the path.

As they went, the ratkin grew larger and larger. Levels ten, eleven... twelve.

They weren't as tightly packed now, but they were large and vicious. Only Charm's burning sun fire allowed CloudStrike the previous seconds she needed to run past them.

She was in a full out gallop now, using every ounce of speed and dexterity to juke around and jump over the chittering ratkin.

One sensed them coming and whipped around to snap at them with teeth as long as Corvus' hand. CloudStrike danced just out of its way. Roan leaned out with his hammer and used CloudStrike's momentum to smack it away.

Meanwhile, Corvus slapped a Replenish Blood rune on her rump followed by a Knit Flesh. She seemed to gain more strength and plowed on.

You're almost there! Charm yelled in Corvus's head.

"Is Gwen ready?" Corvus demanded.

She is. Are you?

Corvus nodded and drew out both his Deadly Bouquet and a charged Mana Needle. He hated to face the loss of them, but he'd rather lose all his specialized knives than CloudStrike or Roan.

Roan called "First boss ahead!"

He was right. They came around a tight curve, and there were the queen rats.

They dwarfed the ones before them as if they had been children's toys. The smallest of them was as large as one of the cutters in Meadow City Bay.

That wasn't all: Attached to their ratty tails were the terrible living flails. Smaller ratkin from all levels were tied in an unbreakable knot by their tails. They made a maddened, chittering flail.

There was a break from the largest level ratkin to the bosses to come. As if the normal ratkin didn't want to chance getting tied to one of the flails.

One by one, the Queen Rats turned to face them. They were arranged roughly from smallest to largest... and the largest was a monster whose head nearly reached the top of the canyon wall.

Corvus didn't know how it hadn't escaped – maybe it was happy here as the biggest and baddest in the canyon, or perhaps the walls couldn't support its weight. The ratkin tied to its tail were all in the upper levels, faces soaked in blood, with mad eyes.

CloudStrike staggered for a step or two in pure surprise. Roan laid a hand on her neck, murmuring a reassurance Corvus couldn't catch. A moment later, the mare collected herself and charged straight at the closest of the Queen Rats.

The Queen's eyes glittered red in the sun. It started to turn to present its terrible tail...

That was when an arrow came shooting down to smack it right in its sensitive nose.

Even the largest of Gwen's arrows could not make a fatal hit on one of these behemoths, but one striking in a vulnerable spot provided a great distraction.

The Queen Rat squealed and jerked to the side to paw at its nose. CloudStrike swiftly jinked past it and galloped forward. One of the rats tied to its tail lunged toward them and met with Roan's hammer.

Corvus wanted to cheer, but this was only the first Queen Rat of many.

Two more Queens stood blocked the path ahead.

With an internal wince, Corvus stood up to his knees on CloudStrike's back and let the charged mana needle fly.

The needle hit between them and blasted out in an explosive boom.

A normal horse would have shied. CloudStrike had been told of this plan ahead of time, and of course she had Roan to help her. As the Queens reeled back – one bleeding heavily from a half-severed foot– CloudStrike dashed between them.

Gwen, who was following along from above on NightShade's back, had already peppered the next few Queens with distracting arrows. They futilely jumped at the walls, more desperate to get to her than pay attention to CloudStrike galloping past.

We're going to make it, Corvus thought for the first time as Charm swooped to harass the next few in their path.

One swept a flail in their way. CloudStrike nimbly leaped over the base of the tail to avoid it.

The end of the canyon was in sight. There were still more than two dozen queens as well as the mega-queen, but they didn't need to kill them. Just get past for a second. They could do it. They could–

A deep shadow blocked out the sun, and Charm’s solar breath sputtered out. They all looked up, shocked.

For a second, Corvus didn't understand exactly what he was seeing. It was too large–nothing in the world could be that large.

It was the underside of a huge, scaled body descending over them.

"WHO DISTURBS MY HOARD?"

The voice was so loud it was nearly a force. This time, CloudStrike did shy, pulling up and dancing nervously from side to side. Luckily, they had stopped between two Queen Rats who also seemed to be frantic.

The beast landed with a boom that shook the earth on all sides – each hind foot bracketing either side of the canyon walls.

It was a dragon. One bigger than Corvus had ever seen, could ever imagine.

A talon tipped, scaled arm as thick around as a tree trunk reached down for CloudStrike.

Charm launched herself at the talons. She latched onto the wrist and raked into the arm. Yellow scales the size of dinner plated rained down.

"Charm!"

Corvus didn't think. The instinct to join in the fight along with his dragon was so deep he didn't question it. Jumping off CloudStrike's back, he landed in a stumble. Straightening, he threw his second mana needle up to the scaly stomach.

The explosion which had decimated two Queen Rats did nothing more than singe the sales. The dragon, however, roared.

The air seemed like it vibrated with the force of the noise. Corvus fell to his knees, covering his head.

He heard a shriek of alarm, more inside his mind than out, and looked up to see massive dragon claws descending towards him. He stood, but the claws were too fast. In a moment he was surrounded by a cage of talons and being lifted into the air.

Charm screamed again and fluttered around the massive claws, tearing at them to try to win him free.

That was when a second taloned hand came and plucked her from the sky as someone would a sparrow.

Corvus and Charm were lifted up and up and up... and finally, breaking out the canyon, he was able to see the dragon fully.

Feral dragons were shaped differently from royals like Charm. They had two hind limbs and two powerful wing-arms with a taloned hand attached to the final joint. The largest feral Corvus had ever seen was perhaps four or five Charm's current size.

This dragon, however, was shaped like Charm. As pale yellow as a pat of butter, it had four limbs and two additional wings. A sinuous neck and arrow-shaped head, though this one spouted a nest of craggy horns.

It stared down at Corvus – and at Charm especially – with blue robin's egg eyes.

"Sister," it said in a huge voice.

Then, with a downward sweep of its massive wings, it lifted into the sky with Corvus and Charm trapped in its claws.