Elements of battle

Chapter 19

"Whiplash!" Ezra yelled, scrambling to the edge of the cavern.

He looked over the edge, his heart thudding against his ribcage in fear.

"Whiplash!" He shouted.

The dragon was clinging to the wall, his claws and tail barbs locked into the rock. His eyes were wide, chest heaving.

"Buddy! You okay?!" Ezra called, still recovering from his sudden panic attack.

Whiplash took a few gulps of air, visibly shaking as he recomposed himself. "Yeah!" He replied, looking up. "I'm fine."

Ezra exhaled a shaky breath he didn't know he'd been holding, he huffed a laugh. "Well come back up here before you fall and I lose you for real."

Whiplash glanced down at the murky darkness below and gave a strained chuckle. "Yeah, I'll be up in a moment." His talons dug deeper into the stone as he pulled himself up, his tail adding extra support to the climb. He'd trained to do this sort of thing so he wasn't phased by this, what troubled him was the fact Ezra almost fell. The boy might've grown but he was still a kid, a kid fighting a war and a kid that could die any day-
Whiplash shook his aggressively. No.
That wasn't going to happen, he'd never let it happen. Not on his watch. While he was around, Ezra was guaranteed survival. He would make sure Ezra didn't perish this young in age. Even if that meant he had to step up and take the dark fate for him.
His claws hit a loose rock in the wall, jolting him from his thoughts.

"Whiplash!" He heard his rider yell.

The dragon grunted, latching back onto the steep cliff. He'd slid a few feet down, but it could've been worse. "I'm okay Ezra, get back from the edge" Whiplash called up. "Better to have only one down here than two."

He watched the boy retreat from the looming side of the cavern then kicked up with his back legs. He ran up the revenue, talons puncturing the stone as he moved. His breathes were short and his chest was starting to burn but he refused to stop. The cliff edge was overhanging, he wouldn't be able to climb that in his situation. Well, time to take a risk. 
Leaping upwards, Whiplash gave a flap of his wings, pushing him up to the stalactite ceiling. Kicking off the roof without the sharp death spikes, Whiplash landed on the cliff top gracefully.
Ezra stared, mouth agape at the stunt that had just been pulled in front of him. "That was bloody brilliant" he said.

A crack echoed through the cavern as the stalactites trembled before falling like bombs. Ezra went for his lightsaber but Whiplash's barbs fired first, breaking through the first line of stalactites before his tail lashed from nowhere, smashing the rest to peices before they could reach them. The splinter sized remains cascaded everywhere, some landing on Ezra and Whiplash who promptly shook himself.

"You weren't kidding about those things falling" Ezra let his lightsaber fall back to his hip.

"Yeah, deadly drukers I can tell you that" Whiplash reattached his barbs to his tail, shaking off the remains of the stalactites. "Well, I fell off the cliff, so I guess you can say 'I told you so' now" he smiled.

Ezra stared before giving a huff. He punched Whiplash's leg at full force.

"Ow, hey, what was that for?" Whiplash grinned.

"You almost died, I'm not gonna gloat because of that" Ezra crossed his arms.

Whiplash's eyes softened slightly. "I've been through worse than that, besides, I've been trained to climb caverns and stuff like that. I was fine."

Ezra rolled his eyes. "Yeah alright."

"So," Whiplash began. "I suppose that's all gonna happen again when we go back?"