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Forty

Fighting a Dragon

L ily dove, somehow avoiding the blast of furnace air that exploded from the dragon’s jaws. She spread her wings before striking the ground and turned sharply to the right behind a tree just as the dragon swung his tail and smashed into it. Pieces of wood struck Lily’s body. They may not have hurt as much if she were in her human form, but the impact on her small bird form felt like she was caught in a tornado. She slammed into the ground and transformed into her human form instantly, panting hard from pain and fear.

She had been trying to keep Liam distracted while her mother battled with Merete. Magic in flashes of red, green, blue, white struck the various trees nearby and a static arc of silver magic struck Merete’s shoulder, making her spin around.

Lily centered herself in her magic, feeling it from deep within like she did when she broke the tree, and held her right hand out to Merete, halting her movements.

“No!” Merete screamed in anger.

The dragon dragged in a deep breath and Lily knew he was going to turn that chest of fire toward them if she didn’t redirect the dragon.

“Go!” her mother said, gathering magic between her hands like an orb. “I will end this here.”

Lily half-limped, half-ran toward the mountains, her left leg stinging from her rough landing. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw the ball of magic her mother had conjured envelope Merete and begin to harden her into stone.

Lily transformed back into her red eagle and took back off into the sky. The most brilliant idea took shape in her mind. She needed to divert Liam and Vrithumi to Demon’s Pass. Lily tilted to the right. She knew Vrithumi couldn’t burn her in the air. She was too agile for that. But she needed to stay far enough away that he couldn’t eat her either.

But the dragon, and Liam, were farther into the air than she thought, and were flying north, past Khalil’s Perch, and away from the battle.

Confused, and curious, Lily followed, but landed a safe distance on a bush on the mountainside to see what they were up to.

Vrithumi landed and Liam jumped off and disappeared for a few minutes. He returned, climbed on the dragon’s back, and they flew to another part of the mountain. It made no sense to her. What were they searching for?

If anyone is nearby, King Barith is going to the secret entrance with soldiers. I could use some help!

Lily whipped around and stared back at Khalil’s Perch. Was that Asher’s voice? Was he alive? Hope made her heart jump. Although her mother had told her Wester must have tricked her, she had still seen Asher die and thought for certain he was gone.

She didn’t wait to see what Liam was doing. The dragon was distracted and that was all that mattered. She flew as fast as she could and spotted a white and black shape creeping behind a group of human soldiers clad in metal armor.

Asher, is that you? she called.

Lily! Is everything all right? You sound panicked.

Lily dove. It can’t be you. I watched you die!

I assure you I’m not dead . It sounded just like Asher, but she had to see for herself.

Lily swung around a tree and landed directly in front of the tiger crawling in her direction. His mismatched eyes—one blue and one green—were all the confirmation she needed to know it was Asher.

He transformed in front of her, confusion on his face. “I was trying to stop King Barith.”

She ran and slammed into his chest, hugging him tightly. “Liam killed you! I saw you. It was horrible. But Wester must have made me only believe it was you.”

“Well, I’m not dead.” He gently pushed her away. “I’m sorry. As much as I want to stand here and hold you, we have to stop King Barith.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She pulled away and turned to face the humans, who now faced them with their weapons at the ready.

She had made roots stop the barbarians, but they were on a rocky cliff side with no plants to use. She could manipulate the rocks, but risked creating a landslide that put both her and Asher at risk too. But perhaps the rightly-timed gale of wind might help.

“I have an idea,” she said to Asher, then flew up into the sky to land at the very tip of the mountain, above the humans. She needed to position the wind just right to protect Asher from falling as well.

Asher was back in his tiger form and growling at the humans.

Lily stretched both arms out and the prickle of magic cascaded across her tongue before she released her energy in the form of wind bellowing down the side of the mountain. It slammed into the humans and one immediately slid across the rocky ground and over the edge. A second soldier grabbed onto his comrade, but that only sent both of them over the edge.

King Barith was the only smart one, who leaned against the mountain wall and jammed his sword into a crevasse so he could hold on.

Lily, we need him alive! Asher said.

Lily halted her spell. “King Barith!” she called. “Take your men and retreat! We don’t want to cause you any harm.”

“Your people have already killed several of my soldiers. You just sent three of them off the edge of the cliff yourself! You’re as much an animal as any of them!” he shouted back.

Lily shook her head. “Please. You know me.” She transformed, flew down and landed on the path above Barith, at the top of the cliff. “You know this accomplished nothing. Merete is gone. She’s been sealed in stone and won’t be coming back this time. She wasn’t able to open the portal to allow Sraylin through. You failed.”

The human king’s face contorted in anger. “You killed her too?”

“You can take your men, Liam, and his dragon and leave. No one else gets hurt on either side. No one else will die because of a lie told fifteen years ago.”

“A lie?” he scoffed.

“It wasn’t my mother who started the plague,” Lily insisted.

“Of course she would tell you that! You wouldn’t know.”

Lily was growing frustrated. “But I do know. She would have had to use dark magic, a significant amount of it, and Vasha is filled with nothing but light magic. Don’t you see it all around you?”

“Lily, it’s pointless talking to him,” Asher said.

King Barith wrenched his sword free. “I will not send my men back. I will not retreat until your people pay for what you did to my wife and son!” He ran at Lily and swung the blade.

She transformed and tried to climb into the sky, but the King Barith somehow managed to swing his blade a second time. This time, it slammed against the edge of her wing. Lily felt all of the bones break and she let out a scream of pain. She desperately attempted to stay in the air, but was unable to do so and spiraled downward. She hadn’t realized until that moment that she was at the cliff’s edge.

Asher! she cried out.

She transformed in the air, reaching for the edge of the cliff as she did so, and somehow slammed down right at the edge against her ribs. The air exploded from her lungs and she gasped in pain. And then her body began to slide backward, off the edge.

Feebly, she tried to grab at the ground, but her right arm was mangled.

Her foot caught on the edge of a rock and she pressed her weight into it, barely keeping herself balanced.

Asher had engaged King Barith and drove him away from her, toward the mountain. He swatted the king in the chest. The force sent the king to the ground and Asher turned and ran to Lily.

He transformed as he slid forward and caught her by both arms. “I’ve got you!”

Lily screamed in agony. “I can’t use my right arm. It’s broken!”

Asher immediately let go of that arm. He repositioned his grip at her shoulder and gritted his teeth as he began dragging her up.

“Asher, watch out! He’s coming!” Lily said as King Barith got back to his feet and raised his sword over his head.

His eyes were filled with madness.

Asher tried to keep his grip on Lily as he looked over his shoulder and kicked at the human’s feet, but the king swung his sword at his legs, sending sparks as the sword struck the ground.

“Let go of me,” Lily pleaded.

Asher glanced at her, bit his lip, and reluctantly let go. He rolled onto his back, seized Barith’s sword hand, and kicked both feet against the man’s hips. King Barith flew over his head, over the cliff’s edge, and over Lily.

Lily gasped as she heard the king cry out.

Asher caught her right as she reached the edge. “Oh no. Liam saw.”

Lily looked over her shoulder to see Vrithrumi diving toward King Barith. She knew they were too late. She scraped her feet against the mountain, finally getting one caught on something, and helped Asher pull her up and over the edge.

“Are you okay?” Asher fussed, looking her over.

She still grappled for breath. Her ribs exploded with pain as she did so. She was positive if her ribs weren’t broken, they were definitely horribly bruised. “I’ll...be...fine,” she gulped out each word.

Asher pulled up her shirt and swore under his breath. Slowly, he lifted his gaze.

Lily followed it to the edge of the cliff, where Vrithrumi and Liam appeared. Liam’s eyes matched his father’s just moments ago. Vrithrumi’s lips were parted in a sneer, showing them his pointed teeth.

“You murdered my father!” Liam shouted over the beating wings of his dragon.

“He tried to kill us!” Lily shouted back, then grimaced as pain exploded. It was an entirely different pain than the claw marks from the demons.

“Your people will pay for this.”

Vrithumi turned and his wrath rained down on Vasha.