Silver Dragon Codex by R.D. Henham Page A

could see the signs of weather and wear. Silver banners, once long and fluttering, now hung in rags from the main turrets, and the doors stood open, blocked by a thick coat of dead leaves and fallen branches from the nearby trees. The trees were worn down, branches broken by storms, and the grass all around it grew long and wild with neglect.
    “Did it always smell like this?” Cerisse yelled. “Or do you think there was some … uh … food left out when she left five years ago?”
    Jace frowned. Now that Cerisse mentioned it, there was a putrid sort of scent in the air. The fountain by the side of the tower was filled with stagnant water, brown with a thin veneer of moss and mold floating on the surface. As Belen swung wide around the tower to see it from all sides, Jace noticed more—ragged scratch marks in the earth near the front archway, spattered dark stains on the marble, and broken white fragments scattered on the ground, fragments that Jace was fairly sure weren’t stone. “I think that while Belen was out … something moved in.”
    A roar from the inner rooms of the wide tower confirmed Jace’s suspicions. As Belen completed her circle,he could see that the front courtyard was no longer empty. Crawling out of the shadows from between the heavy doors of the marble spire was a creature nearly half the dragon’s size. It had the body and head of a massive lion, furred and tawny, but no lion ever had wings like a bat’s, nor a second goatlike head that rose from the left side of the creature’s shoulders, and a third, terrible red-scaled dragon’s head to the right. The scaled and serpentine tail lashed around the monster’s rear legs.
    “Chimera!” Ebano’s voice was barely audible. “Very bad!”
    Jace gulped as the creature launched itself into the air. The lion’s head roared in anger, and the dragon hissed as it lashed on its scaly neck. Belen tilted to the side, wings slicing through the air. The chimera was quick to gain altitude, and quicker to turn and spin to chase her, its lighter body more flexible and speedier in the air. “I can’t land or set you down,” Belen growled, and the rumbling in her chest shook Jace’s legs. “We’ll have to fight.”
    They had no time to disagree, for the chimera was attacking.
    It opened its dragon head and a thin stream of liquid fire blazed past them. Startled, Belen jerked to the side, wings lifting to protect her passengers. The fire struck the delicate leather, burning it with a hiss. Belen yelped insurprise, twisting in the air and forcing Jace and the others to cling to her back. She faced the chimera, claws extended, and attacked the lighter creature with a vicious swipe. The chimera rolled like a barrel, slipping out of her grasp, and charged them again before she could recover from her attack. Jace could swear the goat’s head was laughing.
    Two daggers flew past Jace, swishing through the air to land with twin thunks in the chimera’s shoulder. The impact caused the beast to miss its lunge, and it flinched past Belen’s head. The lion’s head roared in anger. As it passed over Belen’s back, the dragon head lashed out at them, catching Cerisse in the arm with its vicious bite. She cried out and tried to smack at it, but was too slow. The chimera recoiled before she could hurt it.
    As the dragon swung about for another pass, Jace tried to see how bad Cerisse was injured. Her arm was already swelling up, the skin purpling. She tore a piece of cloth from her cape and started wrapping the wound. “Are you all right?” He couldn’t stop staring at it, horrified at her injury.
    “Fine!” Her voice shook. “Just hang on!”
    Unexpectedly, Belen twisted in the air, turning sideways to the ground, her wings pointed straight up and down. Cerisse cried out, grasping onto Belen’s strong wing bone, and Ebano clung wholly to Belen’s back. Jace, who hadbeen turned around, had nothing at all to grab hold of, and felt himself slipping to the