Mara awoke and saw stars.
Then some of them disappeared.
Something blotted them out of the predawn sky. Raising herself up, she squinted and made out a silhouette circling above.
The dragon.
It glided downward in a lazy spiral coming closer with each pass. Her heart sped up, not out of fear, but with the realization it wasn’t a nightmare.
She glanced to the left. The arch, the center of the bridge, was gone. The rising roadway ended in a cliff just before the water’s edge.
A chill ran up her arms when she placed her hands on the ground, realizing she was on top of a corrugated aluminum roof off to the side where the bridge had been. Unsure of her sore limbs, she stood, trying to get her bearings. She kicked something that clanked loudly as it skidded on the metallic roof. She bent do
