As he turned away from the clearing, a shadow dropped over his shoulder. He looked up, expecting to see a cloud. Instead, he found himself staring straight into the gold eyes of a deadly red dragon no more than one hundred yards above them. Sunlight glittered off the beast's crimson scales as it cut through the air toward them. "Watch out!" he screamed to Kallista. Drawing back its sinewy neck, the dragon roared and dove toward them. Ramming the lever on his right as far forward as it would go, Trenton sent Ladon plunging toward the ground, the red dragon following closely behind. Kallista's head snapped left, and her eyes went wide. Surprised as she was, though, her reflexes were sharp as a blade. At the same time as the dragon opened its huge fang-filled mouth, Kallista yanked the flight controls hard to the right. Trenton ducked his head, expecting a ball of flames. Instead a thick yellow cloud spewed from between the dragon's jaws. Kallista's maneuver meant they avoided almost all of the cloud, but a few droplets beaded on the sleeve of Trenton's jacket. Everywhere the liquid touched, the leather bubbled and foamed. Yelping, Trenton wiped his sleeve on Ladon's metal skin. The yellow drops fizzed, marking the metal, before disappearing. "What is that?" Kallista shouted. "Some kind of acid," Trenton yelled back. Correcting its course, the red dragon closed on them again. Less than twenty feet above the forest, Trenton searched for an opening to fly into, but the treetops were too dense to break through. Behind them, the monster roared and shot another stream of yellow acid. Excerpted from Gears of Revolution by J. Scott Savage All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
