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I didn’t believe that I could win this fight, but I had to go down trying

I heldto wrestle the knives from my hands, when he stopped suddenly and looked directly over my shoulder, out of the

His breath hitched and his lips parted

His eyes widened

I was shocked as he stepped back away from me

What in the world? I didn’t even have time to turn around to see what on earth he was distracted by when there was a sudden blow against the side of the lass shattered

I fell, duckingto protect lass

My back stung as several shards pierced through the sheer fabric of my dress

There was a deafening roar--that of no man or creature I’d ever witnessed before

It penetrated ons!" Anselm bellowed toward the opposite end of the corridor

"The castle is under attack!" Dragons? Before I could even look up to see what had just sulfed me

I cowered closer to thefrah the blaze I could just aboutat the other end

As the fire died, I clutched my mouth to stifle a scream

I backed up into a corner and folded myself as small as I could as a set of sleek-reddish brown scales slid into the hallway

I cast antic creature

Its head was facing the hallway’s exit, so I couldn’t see it, but the rest of its body was forh to re

Ss were thick as tree trunks and each foot was equipped with four heavy claws

Its long tail was pointed and sharp, alray’s

Since I was backed up into a shadowy corner, the beast hadn’t yet noticedas th of the hallway

Then it startedswiftly toward the exit, where it turned a corner and disappeared out of sight

My knees tre, I stood up, only to be knocked back down as a second trelass shattered--in a room perhaps a few hundred yards away, in the corridor perpendicular to the one I was sitting in

Gripping the edges of thepane, I pulledposition and stared out of the srey cloudy sky were a spread of dragons, their heavy wings beating the air as they headed directly towardfaces were clearly visible, as were their slanted yellow eyes

I looked left and right