From where we came up, I could see the serpentine dragon writhing around in the ashes of the stable and the bones of the elk that blocked the entrance. Only a portion of the tail was still out, as it used its head like a battering ram, taking down the winding staircase. The stairs were a narrower width than the massive room, so it had to tear down brick walls to get through.

“Ulla, how strong are you?” I asked as she climbed out of the well behind me.

“Pretty strong, why?” she asked uncertainly.

“Do you think you can pull that thing out?” I pointed to the wyrm tunneling its way underground. “Or at least pull on its tail enough to piss it off?”

She thought for a second, chewing her lip, then nodded. “Yeah. I can piss it off, at least.”

“Great, because there’s no way you’re getting through those scales,” I said. My hand was still bruised and throbbing from when I broke my sword over it. “You’ll have to aim for the eyes, so we need to get its head out before you take your shot.”

“You get the wyrm out,” Sumi told Ulla. “As soon as you do, then you and Dagny need to get to higher ground. The tower ruins are the closest. Me and Bryn can go south to distract the wyrm while you two get in place.”

“Wendy and I will lead the wyrm back so Ulla and Dagny can take their shot,” Noomi said.

“Are you ready, Ulla?” I asked.

She took a fortifying breath and nodded. “We’ve got this.”

Then she turned and ran over to the wyrm. She winced when she grabbed the tail, covered in spiky scales, and dug her heels in the ground.

As Sumi and I ran around to the south side of the stables, I looked back and saw Ulla straining. Her face was already red and sweaty as she pulled the wyrm with all of her considerable might.

Sumi and I took cover behind a burnt-out snail shell. She immediately took her sword and used it to break off a large section of the shell in the shape of a lopsided diamond and handed it to me.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

She flipped it over, and on the underside she used her ankle dagger to quickly take out a small chunk. She picked it up, using the gouge as a hand grip, and held it in front of her. “Etanadrak shells are fireproof. They make a great shield.”

Then she held it out to me. “Here. You take this one. I’ll make another.”

“Thanks,” I said, and glanced around. A smoldering kuguar corpse lay a few feet away. The one good thing about the wyrm’s rampage of killing every living thing was that that included the kuguars and the murder snails.