[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The dragon moved his wings in subtle ways and turned in a series of ever-narrowing spirals.Flapping his wings again would have helped him align himself in the air better, but it would have made a lot of noise—maybe even enough noise to be heard from the river below.To avoid that he continued to soar, changing the shape of his wings to move in the air.When he was properly aligned, his lips curled up into a great toothy grin.Eyes still on his prey, he angled his head down at the swimming creature, then tucked his wings to his side.He fell, and fell fast.The air whistled in his ears.His fifth eyelid slipped over his eyes to protect them, but the transparent membrane still allowed him to see.He arrowed at his target, coming at it from behind.The creature didn't turn to look at him.It continued on its way, not diving deeper, or trying to avoid the enormous black dragon in any way.Insithryllax opened his mouth and worked up a full volume of acid in the glands on either side of his lower jaw, under his tongue.It felt as though his face was swelling—and it was an unpleasant sensation.It made him want to empty the acid, spray it over his prey in a deadly black rain, but he resisted the temptation.From so high up and into the water, the acid would be far less effective than it would be when he was closer to his prey.He was nearly there when he caught motion out of the corner of his eye: another naga swimming toward the one he dived at.The second of the two snake-creatures lookedup and over at him.They didn't quite make eye contact, but the naga's eyes widened in surprise—it saw him.It was too late for Insithryllax to change direction, so he smashed into the river water with a spectacular splash.The naga he should have bitten in half the second after he hit the water had been warned by its companion, and it squirmed out of the black dragon's path.Insithryllax arched his back so that he was almost bent in half, and he swooped through the cold water.He broke the surface with the naga—which one of the two he wasn't sure, but didn't much care—only a few feet to the side of him.He twisted his neck and bit, but the huge snake-creature slithered out of harm's way fast, and the black dragon's jaws came together on nothing but dirty river water.Though frustrated by the failure to make quick work of the naga, Insithryllax drank in the smell of the river water, which was so like the swamp back in Thay where he'd spent the first ninety-six years of his life—before Marek Rymiit found, charmed, then befriended him.The dragon's next instinct was to flood the water in front of him with his caustic acid, but he stopped himself.He had to make it look as though—Pain flared in his side, and the dragon clawed out with both left legs.He twisted his great neck around and saw the shimmering after-effects of some sort of Weave energy sparking along the ebon scales on his left side.Movement from the corner of his eye, and he whipped his head at an approaching naga.The thing growled out an incantation as it slithered toward him, and against his better judgment Insithryllax let loose his acid breath.A cloud of what looked like black smoke clouded the water and rolled over the naga.Its words sputtered to a halt and turned into a reedy squeal as the caustic liquid, diluted as it may have been, began to eat at its face.The flesh fell away from the naga's skull, and its eyes dissolved into the water.Its long, snake's body spasmed,cramping and twitching in a ghastly death-dance that kicked up soot and floating debris—including strips of the naga's own burned flesh and bone.Though the naga was dead, in an effort to salvage it for his own purposes, Insithryllax turned in the water and sliced the top quarter of the serpent-creature clean off with one swordlike claw.The body drifted on the river current, and the dragon started to reach for it, but changed direction again—fast—when the second naga passed close enough to be seen in the murky water."What do you want here, wyrm?" the naga asked in Draconic.Insithryllax found her voice pleasing somehow—maybe it was just because she spoke his native language, and it had been so long.He turned, floating, still submerged in the cold, murky water.He drew in a great lungful and relished it.It had been a long time, too, since he'd spent any time underwater.Facing the naga, he bared his great fangs in a sneer.The naga twitched in the water and backed off.She began to rattle off a spell, and Insithryllax snapped at her, his long neck closing the distance between them with a single pulse of coiled muscles.The naga managed to slither backward in the water so that the dragon's jaws came together only inches from her.She finished her spell, and the water pounded against Insithryllax's face so hard it curled his lips off his teeth.He had to slam all of his eyelids shut, and still it felt as though the water moved so fast it might scoop them from his skull.Water was forced up his nose, and he coughed out a spray of bubbles—but the bubbles instantly popped.The water pushed his head back and to the side, and it took all of the great black wyrm's considerable strength to keep his neck from snapping.He unfurled his wings in the water and brought them down and forward once, pushing as hard as he could [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]