“Dragons!”
Kayla’s excited voice dragged Iris out of her thoughts and back to reality. The little girl was on her feet, pointing at the sky, and Iris sighed, ready to tell Kayla once again that they were just large birds, as she did every time Kayla thought she saw a dragon—until she spotted them.
Five creatures flying in a V-formation high in the sky, just below the darkening clouds. Long necks, equal in length to long tails, stretching out on either side of massive wings.
Not birds. Not even large birds.
“I’ve gotta tell the others!” Kayla squealed.
“What? No! Kayla!” Iris leaped to her feet, but Kayla had already taken off, disappearing down the path that led back to town.
East. The same direction the dragons were flying.
Iris took off after her, feet pounding on packed dirt, heart pounding in her ears. The stranger’s words from last night echoed between every frantic beat.
You’re going to the river tomorrow, right? What time? Go even if it rains.
He knew.
How had he known?
“Kayla!” she screamed again. Why hadn’t she caught up to her yet? With Iris’ longer legs, she should have caught Kayla by now.
Unless the five-year-old took the shortcut through the undergrowth.
Iris knew the shortcut from when she was Kayla’s size, but it wasn’t much of a shortcut for her anymore. Only a small child could squeeze through the gaps in the foliage without slowing down. She had to stick to the path, running as fast as she could and hoping she could cut Kayla off somehow before she—
Iris broke through the tree line and skidded to a stop. She was too late.
Kayla was halfway across the grassy expanse between the forest and the church. To the south, soldiers stood in formation, arrows nocked and pointed at the sky. The mage and several other men mounted on horses stood still and silent at the front and center of the archers. To the north, the dragons were descending.
It was starting. The rumored war was starting. And Kayla was right there, right in the middle of it all.
But Iris couldn’t move.
Every instinct screamed at her to turn and run in the other direction, but Kayla—she was oblivious. Her blonde hair streamed behind her as her little legs carried her toward the old stone walls of the church, and Iris knew the girl didn’t realize she was in danger. She couldn’t comprehend anybody trying to hurt her.
Was she fast enough? Would she make it?
Iris wouldn’t. Not if she ran out there now. But if Kayla tripped—Iris might make it in time to throw herself over the little girl.
But she couldn’t move.
An earth-shaking roar tore through the sky, followed by a burst of flame erupting from the mouth of the lead dragon. It twisted down toward the soldiers, far enough behind Kayla to miss her, close enough for Iris’ heart to stop for a moment. She was helpless, unable to do anything except watch in horror as Kayla stopped and spun around, staring in surprise at the flaming tunnel spinning down to the soldiers.
And then Iris felt it. A sizzling and cracking filling the air, stinging her skin and creating in her a full-blown panic.
His magic. The mage’s magic.
It hurt, and he wasn’t even directing it at her.
And Kayla was still standing there. Unmoving.
A translucent spherical blue barrier appeared a few feet in front of the mage, the same blue as his frozen eyes, eyes which ignored the little girl and the flames to stare directly at the lead dragon.
Red smashed into blue. The ground shook below Iris’ feet. Archers let loose their arrows, silvery metal tips slicing through the barrier and whistling toward the dragons, trailing blue fire behind them as tongues of red fire deflected in all directions. One blazing streak rushed at Kayla—
“No!” Iris screamed.
Red hit a wall of white and vanished into thin air, leaving Kayla staring wide-eyed at a white shield large enough to protect a mounted horseman. The flames hadn’t touched her.
“Run!” Iris screamed, and for once, Kayla listened. She turned and ran, this time aware of the danger, bolting headlong toward the church. Iris watched anxiously until she disappeared inside. Safe.
For now.
But dragons were still roaring, arrows were still flying, a building on the westernmost edge of town had caught fire—it was all happening so fast.
The snapping and crackling surged again. With it came an uncomfortable chill, running down Iris’ spine, settling in her stomach, gripping her heart in a vise. She turned her head and met the mage’s cold blue eyes across the battlefield, wide and intense, boring into her. The sensation of fire ripping across her skin came, her head was spinning—
A wall of flames ignited before her, cutting off any visibility. The heat forced her rigid legs to move, to take a step back, and then a massive black reptilian head whooshed past her, its sharp green eye rotating to follow her as it went.
She didn’t hear the voice. She felt it inside her mind.
Get out of here!
She knew that voice.
A length of black scaled neck followed the head, and then she felt the buzzing of the mage’s magic again. Massive black wings beat downwards, knocking her back and propelling the dragon straight up into the air, just before a blast of blue hit the red flames. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the fire and magic to engulf her…
An explosion rocked the ground beneath her feet.
She opened her eyes again.
A white barrier stood in front of her, sucking red and blue into its brightness. White streamed through the cracks in her fingers. She was clutching the glass stone in her right hand—she didn’t know when she’d grabbed it.
The mage’s frigid blue eyes narrowed in anger.
Found you.
She knew that voice, too.
Her feet were moving before her mind realized it. She turned and ran into the forest, down the path, toward the clearing by the river, past the coats that lay forgotten where she and Kayla had left them, into the trees opposite the clearing.
She had to keep going. Away. She had to get away.
Her breath rasped in her chest. A stitch formed in her side, but she kept running. Her legs started cramping, but she couldn’t stop. The glass stone, the amulet, bounced on her chest as she ran, each pulse against her body sending another pulse of fear through her.
The stranger was a dragon. He spoke to her—in her head. So did the mage. Both voices were angry.
Away. Just get away. Think about it later. Just run.
Lightning split the sky, the flash of brightness illuminating her path through unfamiliar dense trees. Thunder rolled across the following darkness.
She used to think thunder was so loud. It was nothing compared to the roar of a dragon.
Pounding rain beat the leaves down, drenching her within seconds, turning the dust to mud. Wind lifted the branches and whipped them across her face and arms. Her legs were numb now. Roots rose to trip her, making her stumble, fall to her knees, catch herself, push herself back up to keep going.
And then the ground fell out from under her.
She heard herself shriek as her fingers scrabbled at the air, trying to grab something, anything, but there was nothing.
Until there was something.
The impact knocked the breath out of her, but she was still falling, tumbling down a steep decline. She instinctively shielded her head with her arms, wincing with every jarring bump. Another thud, this time when her body smashed into a tree trunk, and what little air she’d managed to suck back in was gone.
She lay still for a long time.
Maybe she lost consciousness. She wasn’t sure.
When she opened her eyes, she was lying on her side, gasping for breath in a muddy puddle. She pushed herself into a sitting position and felt a sharp pain in her side. The tree that had broken her descent, and maybe a rib, provided no shelter from the rain washing her face clean. She gritted her teeth and sat back against the trunk, squinting to make out her surroundings in the deluge.
A cliff towered above her, the top out of sight. It wasn’t a straight drop-off, but it was too steep and too slick with mud to climb. Maybe if she followed it, she could find some sort of cave, though. Even a shallow hollow would be better than staying out here, exposed to the elements.
She stood gingerly, leaning against the tree trunk as she scanned the area on her level. Trees. Nothing but trees.
She took a deep breath and started to walk.
Mud squelched between her toes. What happened to her shoes?
Never mind that. Just walk.
She hugged the treeline, trying to push away the thoughts and questions flooding her mind, but they were as persistent as the rain that wouldn’t let up. And like a flood, they were drowning her.
Was Kayla still alive?
Had the church survived the battle, or had the massive old stones crumbled and buried them all?
Had only one building in town burned, or had the whole town gone up in flames, taking with it the people she knew and loved?
Her panicked escape had taken her far from what she knew of this forest, and she didn’t know which direction led back to town. Was it straight east from this point, or was it northeast, or southeast? Or had she gotten so turned around that it was in another direction entirely?
And what about the mage? The anger in his eyes, the venom in his voice when he’d said he found her. What did that even mean? Had he been looking for her? Why?
And the stranger—the dragon. He warned her. Why her? Why just her? There were so many people who hadn’t deserved to be caught up in that battle. Or had he been warning her away from something else—someone else? Like the mage?
He warned her twice. Saved her twice. Before and during the battle. The first battle of the dreaded war, the one where the rarely seen dragons attacked for no apparent reason. Not apparent to her, anyway, but she was far from the kingdom’s capital, where all the political nonsense took place.
Why hadn’t they attacked there first?
Maybe they had. She didn’t know.
Eventually, the rain stopped, but she had already given up the search for a cave by then, too exhausted to keep moving, too cold to sleep. The dark afternoon had become a darker night, and it was pitch black under the trees, anyway. She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. So, she huddled there in the cool night air, chilled to the bone, hugging her knees to her chest and sobbing into her soaked skirt.
The amulet was just a clear glass stone now, dead weight around her neck and completely useless. She’d tried using it again, holding it tightly in her right hand and willing something helpful into existence—a cave, a meal, a blanket. But nothing happened. Then she’d tried wrenching it from her neck and throwing it away, but something stopped her. Her hand froze at the point where the chain dug into her neck.
She’d hidden it under her dress again, cold, lifeless metal and glass trapped between shivering skin and wet fabric.
A stranger who was a dragon in disguise. A mage who saw her as a threat. An amulet that saved Kayla, and her, without her even knowing how to use it.
Nothing made sense anymore.
She was scared to death.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WiqWagDwf
