Thordin’s axe bit deep into the lindworm’s neck, as the creature’s jaws closed on him. It slammed him into the ground once, twice, then flung him sideways, like a dog worrying a piece of meat, roaring in pain as it tried to dislodge the offending weapon from its scales.
“Dammit!” Thom spared a momentary glance toward his brother-in-law. “Come on!”
Matt was already moving, his weapon raised as he charged across the ice.
Dammit, it’s too late. He’s already dead. Pain gripped Thom’s heart, pain beyond physical. They shouldn’t have listened. This wasn’t a fight that Thordin should have faced alone.
He dashed across the ice after Matt.
Two arrows abruptly buried themselves in the flesh beneath the monster’s eye.
Marin! Thom skidded to a halt a dozen yards from the monster and turned, seeking his wife. There she was, throwing herself from the saddle as Sif, similarly armed with a bow, ran forward toward the creature.
“You can’t have him!” Sif howled. “He’s mine!”
The lindworm cast Thordin’s limp, bloody body to the side and focused on the wrathful blonde. Thordin skidded across the ice, a trail of blood smearing the surface of the lake. Phelan ran for him, Marin notching another arrow and firing to cover his run.
The lindworm ignored the arrow that pinged off its scales and launched itself right at Sif.
Teeth bared in a feral grin, Sif cast aside her bow and drew her broadsword.
“That’s it, you overgrown serpent! Come and get me. You want to eat him, you have to deal with me!”
For the briefest of moments, Thom wished that her words didn’t feel almost normal these days.
“Thom, help Matt!” Marin yelled as she dashed after Phelan, readying another arrow.
Thom’s gaze darted toward the lindworm’s flank to see Matt quickly approaching the creature’s bulk, his blade upraised and ready to strike.
We’re all going to get ourselves killed and it’s not even a goddamned dragon, is it?
Snarling a battlecry of his own, Thom plunged toward the lindworm, deciding it didn’t matter what it was anyway—it was trying to kill them, so all they could hope to do was kill it first.
