Free Offspring (The Sword of the Dragon) by Scott Appleton Page A

The sword of the dragon in his hands made mincemeat of the creature, dividing it into several sections before it had time to react.
    Caritha breathed deep. She held her sword with both hands and joined her sisters, cutting the serpents at every opportunity.

     
    The waves that crashed onto the shore seemed to explode as a wedge-shaped head punched out of the Sea of Serpents. Ilfedo paused in the midst of his battle, catching his breath.
    The seawater rolled off of a shiny black body sliding onto the shore, stretching to a length at least twice that of any sea serpent he’d encountered. Great bumps covered its face and its nostrils spouted water from its forehead as its white eyes bulged from the side of its head. The dent in the ground which the creature left behind was so deep a man could stand in it. Yimshi’s rays played off the gigantic serpent’s white, scaled chest as it forged ahead.
    As if responding to their master’s domineering entrance, the surviving Sea Serpents stopped their retreat and struck with new energy, trying to bring the sisters down.
    Ilfedo was torn between facing the approaching menace and helping his sisters. But if the monster joined its companions, he could only imagine how short the battle would be.
    Ilfedo raced across the field. Standing halfway between the sisters’ battle and the monster, he quelled his trembling body.
    With a head the size of a small house, the Sea Serpent rose before him, its head looking down upon him from the equivalent of a four-story building. Its lips curled up, and its jaws dropped open. Half-a-dozen fangs dripped thick black venom, spotting the ground with puddles of the sticky substance. Each of the monster’s fangs was the length of a spear and the thickness of a small tree. Lesser teeth of shark-like quality filled the rest of its mouth.
    Ilfedo felt light-headed just looking at the thing.
    His fingers tightened around the sword of the dragon, and courage swelled his being. His armor flashed with light as if he were a miniature sun. Flames twisted around his sword’s blade, rising to the tip and feeding into the air.
    “Back!” he said to the monster. “Go back into the sea where you belong! And take your minions with you!”
    The gargantuan serpent lashed out a purplish, forked tongue. It did not touch him or his sword. Its eyes turned lazily in the sisters’ direction, and it spat a wad of venom from its mouth. The venom struck Evela’s face and upper torso. Her hands clawed at the venom, trying to wipe it off in order to breathe.
    With a snap of its massive jaws that sounded like a small clap of thunder, the monstrous serpent looked back at Ilfedo as if waiting to see how he would react to the unexpected assault.
    Racing to Evela, Ilfedo touched his sword’s blade to her face. Its flames baked the venom into a crust. He dug his fingers into it, breaking it from her mouth. She held onto his arm, coughing. Prying off what remained of the venom, he gently pulled her hands from his arm, noting that her lips bled where he’d torn away the dried venom.
    Turning, he strode back to the enormous serpent. “You will return to the sea,”—he let flames shoot higher from his blade—“and there you will remain … or I will hunt your species to extinction.”
    “Hard words, thou brave warrior.” The serpent ended with a hiss.
    Ilfedo gazed into the malevolent white eyes. It can talk? He lowered his blade a few inches and took a step backward.
    “Before thy kind roamed this land, warrior, I dwelt in this sea. Before thy ancestors laid claim to this soil, I ruled it.” The serpent’s tail lifted into the air and then smashed the ground. Ilfedo set his feet wide to maintain his balance. “Now I have returned and all that herein is, I claim to be mine. Even as all in the sea is mine, so is this land.
    “Knowest thou not that I am King of the Sea Serpents?” Its fangs touched the ground as it lowered its head to gaze into his eyes. “ I have battled