“Whoa!”
Aemond threw his hands up, and Aegon tightened the straps around him.
“Easy.
Don’t get too excited.
You’ll have your own dragon someday.
I promise.”
“What if I can’t tame the she-dragon you told me about?” Aemond asked, worry creeping into his voice.
“Silverwing is gentle.
She almost never refuses anyone with Targaryen blood.
And if she does refuse you, it only means you have a dragon destined for you somewhere else.”
Aemond pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Aegon fell silent too.
Only the wind roared past them.
“Skree!”
Sunfyre suddenly let out an uneasy cry.
Aegon frowned.
Sunfyre was only eleven years old, but he already measured twenty-two meters long, twice the size of other dragons his age.
What could make him this restless?
Just as Aegon moved to bring Sunfyre lower, the sky went dark.
Not dark exactly.
A shadow fell over them.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Aegon’s face twisted.
He looked up and saw it.
A massive dragon shape above the clouds.
Aemond’s face went white.
He gripped the saddle with both hands and pressed himself back against Aegon.
“Don’t be afraid.
Hold on tight.”
Aegon made the call instantly and sent Sunfyre diving toward the sea below.
As Sunfyre dropped, a colossal shape tore through the clouds like thunder.
“Skree-aw!”
A terrifying roar split the sky.
A dragon appeared, black all over, with sickly green eyes.
“Cannibal.” Aegon’s face darkened.
“Son of a bitch.”
Of all the dragons he could have run into, it had to be Cannibal.
The shock even pulled his old life’s curses out of him.
Near the water, Sunfyre spread his wings again and skimmed the surface, carving white trails across the waves.
“Stay calm, Sunfyre.
Work with me.”
Aegon steadied the dragon and focused completely on guiding his flight.
One black dragon and one gold began a chase for their lives.
Cannibal stayed behind Sunfyre, unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world.
Aegon saw it and slowed Sunfyre slightly.
Cannibal was in his prime, full of stamina.
Hanging back like that meant he was trying to wear Sunfyre down.
Sure enough, the moment Sunfyre slowed, Cannibal surged forward.
King’s Landing wasn’t far from Dragonstone.
If they could reach the island and get inside the Dragonmont’s caves, they could shake Cannibal off.
Once Aegon understood the hunting strategy, he guided Sunfyre into a steady pace.
Whenever Cannibal accelerated, Sunfyre sped up too, then spread his wings and glided to recover.
Cannibal chased at varying speeds a few times before he realized something was wrong.
A normal young dragon panicked when it saw him.
It fled at full speed without thinking, burning through its strength.
All Cannibal had to do was follow at his leisure until the prey exhausted itself.
Then one sudden burst, one kill.
But this gold dragon ahead of him wasn’t panicking.
It kept its distance.
When Cannibal sped up, it sped up.
When Cannibal slowed, it glided and recovered.
Annoying.
Still, Cannibal felt no anger.
Only disappointment.
The gold dragon looked large enough to be a difficult kill.
He had been testing his luck.
If the gold dragon panicked and gave him an opening, he wouldn’t mind a full meal.
Unfortunately, after that first moment of unease, the gold dragon stayed calm.
After a moment’s thought, Cannibal gave up on the hunt.
Young dragonlings and eggs were easier prey.
He pulled up sharply, preparing to climb above the clouds and search Dragonstone for easier game.
But just as Cannibal was about to break through the cloud layer, a roar full of endless fury erupted from above.
“Skree!”
A pale blue dragon burst through the clouds and slammed into Cannibal.
The two giants locked together in midair, tearing at each other.
Pale blue flame and sickly green flame tangled together, blinding even in daylight. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“Dreamfyre?”
Not far away, Aegon had been focused on escape.
The sight of Dreamfyre made his scalp prickle.
“That’s my sister’s dragon!
She came to save us!”
Aemond, still not grasping how serious this was, shouted with excitement.
“Brother, let’s go help her!
Kill that black dragon!”
Aegon’s face hardened.
He secured Aemond in place, pulled his own straps to their tightest, and entered the dragon-bond.
Merged with Sunfyre’s mind, he let out a roar.
Sunfyre climbed, turned, and charged at Cannibal.
“Skree-aw!”
Less than two hundred meters vanished in an instant.
Sunfyre flew in from the side, timed his strike, and sank his teeth into the back of Cannibal’s neck.
His fangs punched through scale and deep into muscle.
With his jaws locked on, Sunfyre used his snout as leverage.
The bone spurs on his forelegs and his rear claws drove into Cannibal’s body.
Anchored in place, Sunfyre thrashed his head, ripping at Cannibal’s neck.
Cannibal drove Dreamfyre back with a blast of flame, then whipped his head around and breathed fire at Sunfyre.
Aegon controlled Sunfyre’s reaction.
The moment Cannibal forced Dreamfyre away, Sunfyre released his grip.
Cannibal’s flame hit nothing.
Aegon had read the move before it came.
Even so, he didn’t dare relax.
In the brief exchange between Dreamfyre and Cannibal, each had carved deep gashes across the other’s belly.
The wounds Sunfyre had inflicted looked bloody and raw, but they were surface damage.
Nothing that touched bone or sinew.
Cannibal had not lost his fighting strength.
Like Dreamfyre, he was only lightly wounded.
But a dragon that survived alone in the wild didn’t live this long on recklessness.
He lived on cunning.
Cannibal put distance between himself and the other two dragons.
He fixed them with one last venomous glare, then turned and fled.
Aegon let out a long breath as Cannibal disappeared.
Dreamfyre’s size was close to Cannibal’s, but if Cannibal had truly committed to the fight, Sunfyre and Dreamfyre together might not have been able to bring him down.