Domineering Fiery Beast

Martha returned to a scene that looked more gruesome than when she left. There were a lot of feathers piecing down on corpses. Some corpses were on fire due to flames from impaled canons beside them.

The Soldiers on the wall had joined the battle. Missiles came flying down on the back of the dragon.

For a while, the dragon was confused about where the attacks came from. It fussed around, trampling and munching to death soldiers it could find.

There was almost nothing left of the ground soldiers.

Martha cautiously advanced towards the dragon, hiding behind chunks of concrete at intervals. She was trying to find a soldier. She found one after she advanced to another chunk of concrete.

The soldier was hiding behind this concrete. The soldier was a blond lady elf who was dark skinned. The elf had a deep wound on her left thigh. She pressed hard on the wound with her hands to stop the bleeding.

"Hey," Martha said, "Let me help you with that."

Martha cut a piece of cloth from her suit and her under shirt. She used it to stop and bandage the injury.

The elf's clothes couldn't be used because it was very dirty due to the dust incurred from the current battle. Using the dirty cloth would risk the elf getting infected.

Martha asked, "How's the battle going?"

The elf stared at Martha derisively.

Martha shrugged with a smile.

The elf gazed at the insignia on her chest. Martha was a master sergeant.

The elf apologized, "Forgive my manners, sergeant."

Martha soon said, "Talk."

The elf said, "The dragon has eliminated most of the ground troops. The others have retreated into hiding but they still sustain attacks from their hideouts."

"The main attack is solely coming from the way," Martha reasoned.

Martha lifted her head a bit above the chunk of concrete to observe the area. She and the elf were behind the dragon. She was expecting to see severe burn chars on the ground or on the walls of the buildings close by. But her expectations were let down, there were no chars.

Martha squatted back and asked the elf,

"Did the dragon not use its flames?"

The elf replied, "No, it hasn't."

Martha said, "This makes the beast more scary. It has only used its speed, jaws and tail to inflict this level of damage.

"We have to eliminate before it can use its flames."

The elf pessimistically said, "Or we could piss it off the more and it will roast us all.

"Why is the emperor not here? Or is he scared to fight a fellow dragon?"

Martha didn't believe that the emperor was a dragon. She gave the elf a stare of ridicule.

The elf rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe the Master sergeant didn't believe that the emperor was a dragon.

The elf saw how eager Martha was observing to battle. She knew Martha wanted to contribute to the battle.

The elf sighed and said, "Sergeant, if you try to jump into the fray, there is a high chance that you will get killed.

"Just sit it out. Since you don't believe in the Red dragon, let the guys with the weapons do the job."

Martha wasn't set to be discouraged by words. She still focused on the battle trying to find an opening to join in. She had two grenades resting on her hip pouch. She trusted that she could make something happen if given a chance.

DANG! DUNG! KAING!

Sounds of metal shattering concrete reverberated across the city. The Peacock Flamebird realized that its attackers were above it. So, it launched its feathers at the wall. The result was another chunk of the wall shattering to rubble.

This event shattered all the hopes Martha had. This was because there was nothing to deter the beast when she would try to sneak up on it.

SPLUSH!

Suddenly, the right wing of the dragon was torn off its body. It shrieked madly as it thrashed around on the ground.

Martha instinctively gazed in the direction opposite the wall, at a building. She saw silhouettes of five adult men standing near a window on the second floor of a two storey building. She also saw the unmistakable lustre of a gun-like nozzle.

***Author's note: I intentionally published this chapter the way it is. I know that it less than 1000 words. This was because I little time to type the chapter.****