by A. S. Oren
"I don't know," his voice comes out uneasy. He does know he just doesn't want to admit to it.
"Thank you, Derren, for coming with me. I wouldn't have sat still until I have Amr back, even if he doesn't remember we're siblings."
"He will eventually. You made Mathis remember."
"I don't know if I want to fix him. He's happy with Horace and I don't want to take that away from him." I side step a low bush, but the thorny branch still manages to nic my arm. It stings, there’s nothing I can do about a scratch right now.
"King will realize how much Radcliffe likes him, eventually. He's bound to see that Lennox is straighter than a metal rod. If not, your brother will just need to suck it up and confess to him."
The fire's glow from the rubble grows closer. I pick up my speed, now dragging Bullock behind me. Talking about Amr has only intensified my need to see him.
"Be on guard when we get out of here. "I've never gone against a Slayer, but they're not the type of people you want to take lightly," he says.
"I know. I've heard the treasure seeker stories too."
"Do you really remember all of your training?"
We're so close to the edge of the forest, I swear I can reach out and touch the light. "Ninety percent of it. All the important stuff, at least."
His hand holds on tighter to mine, as we make it over a large rock. "Good."
I burst out of the forest. Amr should be here somewhere. Triton had them near the forest. An arrow flies at me, landing in the ground at my feet, before more rain down on the school and the people running through the fields. I look up. People in futuristic, black body armor hover on bikes in the air. Their faces covered by helmets. They use compound bows at top speed.
Bullock and I duck our bodies down and run back into the tree line. We can walk the edge and make it harder for them to aim at us. I scan the fields. Where is he?
"Avalon! There!" Bullock whispers in my ear. It's a miracle I can hear him over the roaring of the fire, screams and streaming arrows. I look to where his finger points. Triton stands about a hundred feet from the cover of the forest. He alternate between dragging Amr and Horace unconscious bodies toward it. I frown. He could easily pick up one or both of them and run toward the forest.
"We need to help him." I dart out of the forest and toward him, moving as fast as I can, while tucking my body close to itself. Arrows fly around me. Roars of fully transformed dragons enter the chaos now. "Triton!" I scream over them. His head turns in my direction. I reach him in seconds.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"Saving my brother from this circle of hell." I grab Amr's legs and Triton takes his arms. Bullock grunts as he lifts Horace onto his shoulder. We run for the forest, making inside the cover in seconds and somehow narrowly missing the falling arrows. There's not much room, but we manage to prop each of them up against a tree. I place a finger under Amr's nose, he's still breathing and I don't see him bleeding anywhere in the torso area. He's okay.
"Why didn't you pick them up and carry them?" asks Bullock as he checks Horace for signs of life. He gives a nod of his head when he find him still breathing.
Triton shakes his head. "They're doing something to my coding. I don't have any of my normal strength. I'm trying to override them again, but it gets harder each time."
"Can they track you?" I ask.
He shakes his head again. "I don't think so, and even if they could, I don't think they care about me right now. They were trying to control me before the bomb hit. Now, I think I'm the least of their worries. "
"How did you get them out? Thank you."
I place a hand on Amr head. I focus on healing him slightly. I don't have enough energy to heal his broken mind, but this will at least wake him up, so he can tell me if anything hurts.
"I got word of the bomb coming right after I left you. I went for them right away. They are a part of our group, after all. I got lucky that they were . . . together when I found them. I managed to convince them that you needed them and we were halfway across the fields when the bomb it, the force of it knocked them out. It knocked a lot of people out, but with my technology, I was able to stay awake. "
"I'm sorry I thought you were a traitor," I say.
"I was though, not by choice. I should've realized what was going on sooner. I could have found a way to go against the commands and stopped Aibek from being released."
Amr gasps and sits forward. His wide eyes stare at mine. He reaches out, takes me into his arms, and hugs me tight. "I remember. I don't know how I could have ever forgotten that you were my sister, again."
"How?" I ask as I pull away from him.
"I've been slowly healing myself for weeks now, but I couldn't take back control from the false persona. I was too weak. It was like there was two of me in my head. Your healing just now helped give me the little push I need to come back to the surface."
"The same thing happened to me."
He looks to Horace. "Oh, dear Sun god! Is he okay?" He leans over to touch the boy.
"He appears fine to me," Bullock says.
"I need to heal him."
I rest my hand on his when he reaches for Horace's head. "Wait to heal his mind for after we find a safe place away from here. Healing him will wipe most of your magic reserves and exhaust him as well. You need your strength for tonight."
He swallows hard and nods. "Okay." He places his hand on Horace's shoulder and the white light shines from beneath it. Horace comes to more slowly than he did. "What happened?" he asks as he grabbed his head.
"Spearwood is under attack by Slayers," I say.
"What?" He frowns and then looks to Amr. He reaches out for him. "Are you okay?" he asks.
Amr nods. "I'm fine, thanks to Triton saving us before the bomb hit. We probably would have been crushed if he hadn't," he points to the part of Spearwood where our rooms are. It's completely demolished.
Horace nods before grabbing Amr and kissing him. Amr handshakes as he rests it on Horace's shoulder. He pulls away from him and licks his own lips.
His eyes look guilty. He shouldn't feel guilty. "What do we do now?" Amr asks.
"You and Horace go to the Cabin and make sure Lusk and Dante are still okay. Triton, you go with them. Your abilities are not up to the level they normally are and I don't want you getting hurt."
"What are going to do?" Horace asks.
"I need to find Paden. Even if he doesn't want my help, I'm going to make sure that he's still alive at the very least. "
Triton gives a nod. "What about Bullock?"
"He's coming with me. When we find Paden, we'll go to the Cabin and get the hell out of here. This isn't a war we want to be a part of."
"I'm coming with you," Amr says. He stands when I do. "Horace, go back to the Cabin with Triton and make sure the others are okay."
I give a shake of my head. "No, you need to go with him. I may have hurt them and they will need healing. Go with them. I promise I won't die tonight." He gives me another hug.
“You better not, I don’t want die either. I’m still young and beautiful and have a life to lead.”
A snort leaves me. “Be safe. I’ll come for you guys soon.” Horace stands with the help of Triton and all of them go in the direction of the Cabin.
Healing with Fire
"Ready? I think we should shift fully, so that we can get school faster and be able to defend ourselves. You can shift fully, right?" He's already done things that he said he couldn't do in the beginning and I'm certain he's had the same level of training as Dante.
"I can do more than you think I can, Avalon, we had this discussion just a little bit ago.” We step outside of the forest. I begin the shift. Once again, my skin cracks like a porcelain doll and falls away. I keep trying to get used to the pain, but when it courses all over, it gets harder to push it toward that corner of my mind. I gasp through the pain, holding back a scream. Even over the noise currently happening, I think it would draw attention to us, more than w
hat we will have on us now. I glance at Bullock just before I go colour-blind. His white scales shimmer with a blue hue, and his mother-of-pearl talons dig into the ground. He's gorgeous. My shift finishes seconds after his. I ignore my muscles need to relax for a second and jump into the air. More arrows fly at us.
I breathe fire at several Slayers in front of us, as does Bullock. We knock them of their hover bikes, but they catch themselves on the ground and relentlessly shoot arrows at our chest and body. We take off at top speed, missing the arrows. I don't think any arrow could catch us right now. Within seconds, we are at the school. The fire burns high, sending clouds of black smoke into the sky. I snort to try to keep it out of my nose. My eyes scan the rubble. Where would Paden be? I close my eyes. Maybe if I concentrate on him, I will be able to feel him. 'Do you know where he would be?' Bullock asks in my head.
A lonely Slayer runs up nears us and aims his bow up at me. His hands shake. I breathe fire to the left of him. He falls backward and clambers onto his feet before scurrying away. He must've been a kid. Why are they sending children here?
'I'm trying to sense him. Maverick, he and I would play a mind connection game when we were younger. It was stronger when we were all in dragon form, but I'm hoping it will work with just me in dragon form. My legs inch forward, I let my gut pull me toward where it needs to go. I climb over the rumble and move toward the back right end of the school, where some of the worse damage is. Please let him be alive.
"Help!" Someone screams. My heart picks up. It's him. It worked. I move more toward his voice, he coughs. "Help! Someone!" I move rocks with my snout, like pushing over a pile of feathers. My heart nearly stops when I finally spot him. He's pinned under two large rocks from the middle of his waist down. His arms are shifted, but he can't get them off him at the angle they sit. He stares up at me with large, dark blue eyes. My form is already massive, but compared to the male dragons I appear even bigger. 'I'm here to save you,' I say in just his head.
"Avalon? What happened to the colour of your scales? I don't need your help."
I didn't bother changing my scales form gold to grey. Even if someone in Spearwood is watching, I doubt they are worried about whether or not I’m is still brainwashed. 'Tough.' I push each bolder of him. He screams. His legs bend at several odd angle and blood seeps from his torso. 'You're not allowed to die, you hear me?'
"Go away, I don't need your help!" he groans. Blood drips from the corner of his mouth.
Dear Sun god, he's going to die. 'Sleep'. I command in his mind. His eyes close in an instant. I breathe frost fire across his legs and torso, encasing his body inside ice. I need to hurry. With the sleeping spell, he should be okay in the ice for about ten minutes. I need to get him back to the Cabin and heal his wounds. I pick up his body as gently as I can in my teeth and rest him inside the gap between my front and back teeth. If he shifts in either direction, I could crush the ice and hurt him even more. The ice melts slowly on my tongue and water drips from my mouth. I leap into the air. 'We need to get him to the Cabin now. I need to heal him.'
Bullock rushes to keep up with the distant that my wings can cover. 'Avalon. His wounds look mortal. You can't save him without killing yourself and in turn your brother.'
'I'll find a way! I'm not losing him too.' I dart around a group of hover bike Slayers. The next group I burst through, treating them like bowling pins. I slow my wings down, as we get over the forest. If I don't stop now, I won't be able to stop and land in front of the Cabin. I land, Bullock following my lead. I set Paden’s body on the one part of the ground that wasn't destroyed by Lusk's lava show and shift back into my human form. Dante and the others run up to us. "Are you okay?" he asks.
"I'm fine, just like I told you I would be. Help me get his body into the Cabin."
He looks down at Paden's body, encased in ice and then looks at me. "Avalon."
"Now, Dante! I'm not in the mood."
I reach down and pick the end with his head up slightly. I ignore the way the ice burns my hands. "Help me!" I yell.
Amr, Horace and Bullock are the first ones to take part of the ice. Using their talons to get a grip on the ice. I shift mine as well. It does help. Dante and Lusk follow with the end of his body. We near the Cabin door—It widens to accommodate us. A bed stands in the center of the room where the kitchen and living room furniture used to stand.
We place him on the bed and I lay my hands on the ice, warming it up and melting it with slow bursts of fire. His body lies before me, wet and broken. The blood pools once again around his torso. I place a hand over my mouth. How am I going to fix this? I need to fix this. I need to make it so he isn't dying and I can heal him with my angel powers. I don't care if it shortens my life. “Help me get his shirt and pants off.”
"What? Avalon you can’t heal him with your Angel magic,” Dante says.
"I'm not going to use my Angel magic. Now fucking help me or leave!" I yell. His jaw sets in place, but with the help of Amr, they strip him down to his boxers. I swear I've never thought Dante could be so difficult before now.
The fireplace roars to life. I call the fire to me. It crosses the room and the room and enters my hands. The fire blazes around them, but never burns my skin. I place them on his torso. The fire circles the gaping wound and travels down into his body. He moans and his head lulls from side to side. The blood starts to return to his body, but the gaping wound remains. I press my hand down onto to the wound more and call more fire to aid me. Focusing on the fact that I want theit to seal and not leave any internal damage behind. I've only read about this in a book about fire healing magic, and my dragon is rusty, but I begin to chant. Aiding the magic and driving it to heal him faster. I wipe sweat off face and onto my shoulder when Amr comes over with a rag and wipes at my face for me. I nod to him, never breaking the chant. I will have to do this for ten minutes and then I will have to focus on healing his legs, which is an entirely other problem.
The room spins, and my legs shake, but I continue to call more fire to me, infusing it into the wound and chanting ever louder. Paden's eyes roll in his head and sweat drips from his brow. It's the fire, but this is the only element I think will be able to help him in this case. The fact that he's a metal user makes this decision even stronger.
Amr moves to remove the sweat from Paden's face as well.
Finally, the wound closes. I stop chanting and fall to my knees next to the bed. I touch his chest. A steady heartbeat, good. He has no other mortal wounds. I just need to heal his legs now. I hope he can remain asleep through that, because it's not going to be fun for either of us. I touch his forehead. He's still running hot from the fire magic.
I blow a cool frost breath at his face. He stills as his body rights itself to a normal temperature. "You're out of the woods," I mumble. I rest my head against the mattress.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Lusk asks.
"I read about it in a fire healing book a few years ago. I was learning ancient dragon as a hobby and it came up in my studies. I never thought I would have to implement it one day.”
“You were learning dragon as a hobby?” Horace asks.
"It passed the time when Edgar was teaching Maverick and him things he didn’t want me to learn yet. I still need to heal his broken legs, but both of us need a break first."
A puffy armchair poofs into existence from behind me. I stand long enough to take a seat in it and sigh.
"You can't keep doing this, Avalon. You can't heal his legs too, you'll wipe your magic, again for the second time in two days," Dante says, ever the voice to tell me no.
"Stop, Dante, just stop," I say my voice nearly horse. I'm too tired to yell. "I know you're doing it because you care and you're worried. I understand, but nothing you say right now will stop me from healing him."
"You're not going to listen to reason at all?" he asks.
I close my eyes and let my head rest against the back of the chair. "Not when it comes to Paden. He's all I have left. I just
lost Maverick, I'm not going to lose him too, nor am I going to let him live with the agonising pain of shattered legs and nerve damage."
"Did yesterday mean nothing?" I can hear the frown in his voice.
I open my eyes and look around the room. He's really going to do this now in front of everyone with a war going on not even a few miles from where we are now?
"You were warped, Dante. I did what I had to do to make the Watchers think I was too. We're not in Spearwood now and you're fixed. Kissing me a few times doesn't give you an authority over me. We're not married, and even if we were, you still wouldn't be allowed to order me around like a solider in your platoon." I close my eyes again.
"I don't have any idea what's going on, but we can't stay here for long. The battle is moving closer and closer to the forest and us. We either need to find a new spot to hide, or use a Void to get the hell out of here," Horace says. He stands at the door, watching battle. More explosions have started up again. The Slayers must've run out of arrows, finally.
"He's right," Bullock says.
"We could go back to New York," I mumble.
Bullock comes to stand next to me. "I think either someone in Spearwood or the Slayers are blocking transportation magic though. I haven't be able to open a Void, and I don't think getting off this mountain will be as easy as it was last time. If I were the Slayers, I would use the base as a camping point. That way if anyone tried to escape the mountain, I could ambush them and that would be the end of it."
"Then where should go?" I ask. I sit up straighter in my chair, even though my muscles fight me every step of the way. Dante slumps against one of the walls. I frown. I feel bad for what I said, but I can't take it back now. I will just have to apologize to him to him later.
"There's that cave we used during your first survival challenge," Lusk says. "We could use that."
"Spearwood knows if it too," Bullock says.
"Do we have much of a choice? We are running out of options, and we can’t wander the mountain looking for somewhere new. Spearwood knows about every nook and cranny of this mountain. If Roseman or someone else with Spearwood wants to find us bad enough, it won't take them long. At least the Slayers don't know of the cave," Triton says. It's the first thing he's said since we got back.