Lord Kilian looked up in surprise, certain he had won. The guards around him grew flustered too.
The warhorses stamped uneasily, throwing the party into confusion.
Of course he knew an evil dragon had appeared in Knight Makarov's territory. He had even gloated about it for a while—but they were dozens of miles from the dragon's domain. What was it doing here!?
Lord Kilian looked at Joan, then realization dawned. "You arranged for that blue dragon to come?"
He wanted to explain that he meant no harm, but his warhorse was trembling beneath him as the blue dragon drew closer through the night. All he could do was bow to Joan.
"Miss Montreal, please believe me. We truly mean no harm... Let's go!"
Lord Kilian turned and fled. It seemed he had gotten himself into trouble. He needed to find his uncle.
Meanwhile, Joan had just recovered her wits and was wondering how to get Kilian to save her when he suddenly pulled on his reins and fled with his men...
Men really were unreliable. All except Annan!
Joan could already feel Dragon Might descending from above. Fighting the urge to tremble, scream, and run, she stood rooted to the spot.
Whoosh—
A shadow dropped down. A fierce gust kicked up sand and stones that stung her skin. Joan squeezed her eyes shut and cried, "Great blue dragon, please don't kill me! I'll offer you treasure!"
Whoosh...
Magic Power swept over her skin with a faint, prickling tingle. Joan thought she was probably still alive.
She slowly opened her tightly shut eyes and saw a colossal creature lying right in front of her.
The Clouds parted in the night sky, and moonlight spilled over the Broken Mountains, illuminating magnificent azure scales as beautiful as gemstones and a dragon's body both