小嫂子的味道

It was just a few meters away from me, or I should say its legs and tail were a few meters away from me. The dragon's rest of the body was still too high for me to reach.

I crossed the klauth, Roe clenched tightly around my neck, I increased the grip on the hilt of the sword. I missed the legs and arms mainly because I noticed the sharp claws they had. And when the tail was passing beside me, I kicked off the ground and jumped as hard as I could

It was just enough of a lift I gained, not too much, not too low; an inch's difference would have made things go south. Before I could be pulled down by the earth I instantly drilled the sword in the klauth's tail, and it was the dragon's momentum that made it go in so easily despite my lack of strength.

All the stories my father had told me flashed in my head, of how strong and rock hard a klauth's skin can be. But here I was, stabbing its tail with a cold iron sword.

I held the sword's handle with all my might and as soon as the klauth pulled up and headed toward the sky and my feet left the ground, I was able to feel the high resistance as the air slapped me, wanting to throw me off.

But I was not going to let go, I held the sword as if my life depended on it—which it did, in a way. The klauth flew over the flames and the other of its kin had lit on the ground, and when it was going over the fire I was hanging down from its tail and it was hot, much hotter than when I was there in between those flames.

Though it the heat soon faded away as the klauth went even higher in the sky. I glanced back from the side of my to see Roe, see was holding me fine. Hence I moved and climbed further on the dragon's tail. First on the sword and then from there I hugged its tail and grabbed its scales. After a struggle I was no longer on the sword but on the klauth's tail.

This was much better, as the chances of falling down were lower. However, that was just a bad guess on my part. As the klauth shifted directions, it moved rapidly, twisting its body like it was a rope.

Left, right, it changed ways faster than I could process. The only thing I had to hold for grip was the scales it had on its tail and they, of course, were sharp. By this time my palms were a bloody mess, the tighter I clenched the more and deeper they got cut.

Roe's grip around my neck was getting stronger too and I was worried that she might strangle me without wanting to. Then it happened, the klauth turned upwards and rapidly started going toward the top of the mountains at a straight ninety degree angle.

It was so sudden that I did not have the chance to adjust my grip according to it. I lost hold of the scales and was blown back by the rapid air coming from forward, I rolled down on the klauth's tail, and I suspect I might've hurt Roe severely in this.

But it was not in my control. If the klauth had not been so big and its tail so long, I would be off in the air by now. Since the tail was long there was enough time for me to grasp the situation and throw my hands again at the scales and grip them.

It was painful, tremendously painful. Of course, this was because I was not able to grab them at once because the klauth was continuously moving forward and the wind pressure was forcing me backward, and both things were happening at an incredible pace.

Hence grabbing hold of the scales in such a situation was similar to grinding your hands on a cheese grating machine. The skin on my palm got peeled off and I remember how many, but a few of my fingers twisted badly before they finally broke off.

After a moment I was at last able to grab hold and still myself on its tail. The pain did not entertain my attention then, as I was more worried about Roe. I turned my head to look at her, and was horrified when I saw the condition she was in.

Her back was completely dripping with blood, and so were one of her arms. This was my mistake. It had happened because I had rolled over the dragon's rough skin while she was holding me from behind.

But what troubled me was the fact that she was not screaming, not even silently. I knew why, and it was bad. She'd probably hit her head and lost consciousness, it was a miracle that she was still on my back and had not slipped away.

"Roe! Roe! Are you still there! Come on, don't sleep like that!" I screamed my lungs out but my voice did not reach her. A part of it was because of how loud the wind was here.

I tried multiple times but met with no real success. I thought about shaking her out of unconsciousness but then quickly discarded the idea when I thought about how I might just give her the push she needs to slip off my back.

Thus I focused all my attention on keeping the grip maintained and not let something like this happen again. Even if she was unconscious her arms were still wrapped around my neck and she was on my back, that was fine.

I just had to manage until…until…

That was when another fear started creeping over me, and it was much bigger than anything I've feared before. I was going to wait, but for how long? The klauth didn't seem to be going anywhere near the ground, in fact, it was headed straight toward the peak of the Devil's mountains.

Originally I'd thought that I would climb on the klauth's tail when it would fly past me and then I would jump down when it would come close to the surface again. That was the plan to get outside the fiery area.

The first part went smoothly but the chances of everything going right seemed dim. The klauth was not in any mood to go near the ground.

Even if it was planning to go down after taking a round around the peak of the mountain, I don't think I'll be able to hold on for that long.

I turned my head around and looked at my surroundings, there were nothing but clouds and the rocky mountains.

The klauth was still flying upward in a straight ninety degree angle and it showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.

As we were climbing the skies I was suddenly and unexpectedly hit by a wave of unconsciousness. My vision got blurry and I almost let go of the scales before the consciousness came back suddenly and I was flooded with realizion.

This was bad. The klauth was going up without stopping and we were already past the point where I could not see the ground below as it was hidden by the clouds. And the higher we went, the harder it would be for me to breathe, and for Roe as well.

I peeked to the side and looked at the huge structures of rock that were the mountains. They were still very thick in diameter and showed no sign of reaching the peak.

This was really bad, if it went on like this then I will pass out. But before that could happen another calamity fell upon me. The klauth flapped its wing more harder than usual thus its whole body shook.

Roe's arms unwrapped around my neck, and the weight on my back lowered all of a sudden all while I felt her body sliding down and slipping off.