Moonfall, #2
The Ballad of Falling Dragons
by Sarah A. Parker
Contents
Chapter 85
Overview
Believing Essi dead, Raeve faces a Moltenmaw assault, and Maell engages two attackers. Raeve is slashed and poisoned by a tail barb and begins to succumb. As Raeve hallucinates and prepares to die, Essi emerges alive, asserts she survived, and force-feeds Raeve her blood to mend him, triggering searing internal fire.
The rescue preserves Raeve and confirms Essi’s mysterious resilience, escalating questions about her nature amid growing dragon threats.
Summary
Raeve reels as Essi seems to vanish into flame. Moltenmaws swarm the battlefield, and a massive purple buck dives on Raeve. Instead of fleeing, Raeve defies the attack, triggering Maell’s intervention as she crashes into the predator. A second, smaller Moltenmaw joins, turning the fight against Maell.
During the melee, the buck’s barbed tail slices Raeve’s abdomen, injecting venom and opening a diagonal gut wound. As paralysis spreads and Maell weakens under coordinated assaults, Raeve crawls toward the wall, convinced both he and Maell are lost. He glimpses an Elding Bird form in the fire, unsure if it’s Ignos or hallucination.
Accepting death, Raeve collapses, determined not to die face-down like Mah. Then Essi emerges through smoke—alive. Raeve doubts reality until Essi places his hand over her pounding heart and digs fingers into his wound, proving her presence.
Essi declares Raeve will die without intervention. She bites her wrist and presses it to Raeve’s mouth, commanding him to swallow her blood. The blood burns like lava through Raeve’s body; Essi holds his hand to her cheek as tears fall. Overwhelmed by searing internal fire, Raeve roars and descends into darkness.
Who Appears
- RaeveNarrator; wounded and envenomed by a Moltenmaw, faces death until Essi returns and feeds him her blood.
- EssiPresumed dead but reappears alive; stabilizes Raeve by force-feeding him her blood to mend his mortal wound.
- MaellRaeve’s dragon; bravely attacks a larger Moltenmaw and a second smaller one, sustaining injuries and refusing retreat.
- Purple Moltenmaw (buck)Large attacker; wounds Raeve with a venomous tail barb and battles Maell.
- Smaller MoltenmawJoins the buck to overwhelm Maell with synchronized strikes.
- IgnosFire entity; its flames surge nearby as Raeve hallucinates an Elding Bird.
- MahRaeve’s mother; her suicide haunts Raeve’s memory and shapes his fatalism in this crisis.