“There is an opposite to the magic Kiræ performed, it is known as Elementa Validus and it also requires the combination of all four elements to work.”
“And what does it do?” Tom asked warily.
“It destroys,” Brean replied slowly.
“Destroys what?” Tom asked.
“That which you deem threatening. By combining the elements you are able to create a destructive energy, which will radiate from you and destroy your enemies.”
“Do you think I have this ability?”
“It’s possible,” Brean said, “but the chances are minimal, you will have to attempt it to see.” Brean turned back to Kiræ, “if you are willing to lift your boycott, I will do my best to teach you how to control this new magic.” Kiræ nodded slowly, then turned her head sharply as she saw a magnificent sapphire dragon in the mouth of the cave.
“Dragons are majestic creatures,” Draogo explained standing before Aurora as she sat cross-legged on a large rock in the mouth of the cave. “We are fiercely protective, somewhat territorial and exceptionally loyal to our clan. We are friendly, despite what you might have heard and welcome outsiders if we do not perceive them as a threat.”
“Do you think I will meet the other dragons someday?” Aurora asked, pushing her hair, which looked even paler than normal, behind her ear.
“It has been hundreds of years since we have met a young shape-shifter and you would be welcomed with wings spread wide, the hatchlings would be especially curious to see you. But I digress, you should know that dragons usually breathe fire, or ice.”
“Ice?”
“Yes, I believe your stories have all dragons as fire breathers, but that is not always the case, ice breathers also exist. And with these abilities there are on rare occasions those who have an extension of them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have known ice breathers to create storms when they are angry or upset, and I have known fire breathers to create earthquakes when in a likewise mood.”
“Do you know what I’ll breathe?”
“It will not be known until you open your lung and breathe,” he replied and when she looked confused he explained. “All dragons have two lungs, like most creatures, but unlike most creatures we only breathe, and I mean truly breathe, from one. The left lung draws forth fire while the right lung draws ice. We can tell when a dragon hatches what it will breathe, but you did not hatch, at least not in the traditional sense, so until you transform and breathe it is unknown.”
“What happens when a dragon hatches?” Aurora knew she was meant to be preparing her body to transform but learning about dragons, about a part of herself, was so fascinating she couldn’t help asking questions. Draogo smiled as if he knew what thoughts rushed round her head, and for all she knew, he did.
“A dragon egg will tell many things about the dragon inside, the colour of the egg determines the colour of the dragon and the way it hatches indicates what it will breathe. An egg will increase in temperature and eventually burst into flames if a fire breather lies within. It will grow cold, freeze and shatter if the dragon inside is an ice breather.
“On very rare occasions, a dragon may have access to both lungs; if this is the case then the dragon egg will freeze before exploding in fire. The other abilities do not manifest themselves until puberty.” Aurora was completely mesmerized; her skin began itching as if it were the wrong shape, as if she was the wrong shape. She wanted more than anything to have the experiences Draogo was talking about, and to meet and live amongst her kin.
Draogo smiled knowingly, “Your dragon self is trying to take over, that’s good, perhaps your body will accept what happens.” Aurora looked quizzically at him. “Transforming for the first few times feels unnatural and uncomfortable, but that’s only because you’ve never done it before.”
“Will it hurt?”
“Your body is designed to change, it’s simply not used to it and for that reason, you might have some difficulty.”
“What kind of difficulty?”
“There is a very large possibility you will lose consciousness.” She nodded and felt her heart quicken. “When the body changes, its natural reaction is to try and prevent the change, to reject it, and that can cause difficulty with breathing or vision. I’m not trying to scare you,” he said placing a hand on hers, “I simply want you to know what you’re facing.”
She smiled shakily, “So, what do I have to do? To change I mean.”
Draogo smiled mischievously, “You must think like a dragon.”
Aurora shot him an unimpressed look and folded her arms, “How am I meant to think like a dragon when I’ve never even seen one?”
Draogo continued to smile, “Your wish is my command.”
Her eyes were wide as his skin began to darken to a deep blue and his limbs began to twist and grow while shimmering scales sprouted across their surface like tiny plants. His fingers and toes sprouted razor sharp silver claws that flexed comfortably. His handsome face began to elongate into a snout, the eyes remained the same bright amber but his dark shaggy hair dissolved away and two small horns were revealed.
His body was increasing in size rapidly and a long tail sprouted from the base of his spine. Finally two enormous yet majestic wings, which were probably each as wide as he was long, grew from between his shoulder blades, spread to their full span and then folded gracefully at his back. To Aurora it had all happened in slow motion but to an outsider the change was complete in less than ten minutes. Now where a man once stood, there was a beautiful sapphire dragon.
Aurora stared up at him in awe, “That was incredible.”
He lowered his slender neck in a bow, “You have now seen a dragon, and I believe from what we have discussed that you should be able to think like one, after all, it is part of who you are.”
She nodded still fascinated with him and he lowered himself so his face was inches from hers.
“Close your eyes, and think of what it must be like to be free, to be surrounded by your kin, to have the wind rush through your wings, to soar into the sky with no limits or boundaries and to breathe, to truly breathe for the first time in your life.”
Aurora did as he said, she breathed deeply and began to recall what he had told her about dragons, about her kin, about herself. She thought about what it would be like to fly, to be free, the wind rushing around her, her kin chasing her, and felt a strong pull on something inside her.
She could feel the urge to change, the need to change and the pull on what she believed was her dragon self, increased. Desperately, she tried to let it take over but her human subconscious seemed to have other plans and she felt resistance. Her senses felt suddenly heightened; she could hear and smell everything around her, the rush was overwhelming and she gasped for breath.
“Don’t fight it,” Draogo said inside her mind, she tried to respond but merely gasped again. Her eyes opened wide and she saw not a dragon but a blurred figure in front of her. He would not remain still and she realised she was shaking violently. Desperately, she tried to stop one of her, ‘self’s’ from trying to take over but nothing happened, it was as if there was a battle raging inside her for dominance and neither were winning. She saw the blurred figure in front of her dim, then her vision clouded over.
Aurora opened her eyes slowly and saw four shapes hovering over her, she put a hand to her head, which was throbbing and tried to sit up.
“Careful,” Draogo said and helped her to sit up slowly. Her vision cleared and she saw only two concerned faces from the four in front of her; Draogo and Brean were smiling.
“How long was I out?”
“Not long,” Brean replied helping her to her feet, “in fact you did rather well for a first attempt.”
“I blacked out.”
“Yes, but your body actually reacted, which proves it was trying to change.” Draogo said and she looked confused. “If your body hadn’t reacted at all then we would have known it wasn’t trying to change,
that your dragon self wasn’t trying to come forward.”
“I think I understand,” she said, “I wish it didn’t make my head so fuzzy and why do my muscles ache? You said it wouldn’t hurt.”
“My apologies,” Draogo said with a smile, “the process itself doesn’t hurt but the first few times will probably produce soreness as your body isn’t used to the transformation.” Aurora shot Draogo a look but he could tell it was superficial.
Brean looked into the sky at the two moons then back at the group, “I think it best if you head back to your rooms, it’s getting late, and I believe Sir Nyme is expecting you in the morning,” all three groaned.
“I would like it if you would come back tomorrow evening Aurora and we will try again.”
“I think we should continue your sessions at night also, as I assume you will both be accompanying Aurora anyway.” The twins nodded and grinned causing Brean to let out a loud sigh though he smiled as he did so. They walked quickly back to the city, said goodbye to Brean and Draogo and walked back to the dormitories talking excitedly.
Chapter 21
Vala lunged for the knife as it clattered to the floor. She slashed one of the mingual’s throats as they clambered to their feet, then threw the knife into the neck of another. As they burst into flames Vala stumbled towards the leader, grabbing the knife again on her way past.
She threw herself at him and after a brief scuffle he burst into flames with the knife protruding from his eye. Vala ran to the window and looked at the chaos outside; the town was burning and there were warriors fighting in the streets, her warriors. Vala turned back to the now empty room and staggered as another explosion rocked the building.
“I wonder how long I’ve got until more arrive,” she muttered to herself as she grabbed the large set of keys that had fallen to the floor when the mingual leader vanished. Vala half stumbled, half fell down the stairs and towards the cells where Seb was sitting on the edge of his bed looking confused.
As soon as he saw Vala he limped as quickly as he could to the door, “What’s going on?” he asked, his voice dry and cracked.
“I think our warriors are attacking,” she gasped, fumbling with the keys until she found the right one and unlocked the cell. They leant on one another as they climbed the stairs and Vala’s heart sank as they entered back into the large room, where a group of mingual had just arrived.
She released Seb as a mingual warrior came towards her and raised his axe, she managed to grab his arms, preventing him from striking but couldn’t move, all her strength was thrown into stopping the axe from hitting her. Seb pulled himself to his feet, threw himself into the side of the mingual and they both fell to the ground.
Vala managed to partially sever the mingual’s head before handing the axe to Seb, they were both already breathing heavily and Vala couldn’t see them lasting long. She glanced frantically round the room as the mingual advanced, trying to see if there was a way to escape. She stared at the windows, but dismissed them quickly, they probably had as much chance of surviving the fall as they did fighting this group of mingual. She breathed heavily and swung a large candlestick she had found at their advancing enemy, she glanced at the shuddering door that stood just beyond.
“Try to make it to the door,” she gasped hoarsely, Seb nodded, knowing as she did that neither of them would make it out alive. They looked at the advancing mingual and then at each other, raising what weapons they had in one final act of defiance.
Vala smiled, “It’s been a real honour.”
Seb nodded, “We’ll be sipping ale with the Gods soon,” he replied with a grim smile.
The mingual attacked just as the door at the far end shuddered, splintered and hung awkwardly on its hinges. A group of Vala’s warriors burst in and charged towards the mingual.
Vala felt a wave of relief wash over her, she collapsed to the ground as the mingual turned in surprise to fight the newcomers. She fell in and out of consciousness as fire and black fog filled the room. Eventually she was pulled to her feet and half dragged, half carried from the room. She snapped awake as the cold air hit her face and gasped in surprise, she opened her eyes only to have them stung by the smoke that filled the town.
The buildings around them were burning, smouldering debris was strewn lavishly in the streets and the citizens were screaming in terror as the mingual they had come to know as their protectors were locked in battle against the ‘enemy’ that was trying to free them.
“We have them Julen!” a female warrior called to the man on horseback and began to help Vala and Seb towards the southern gates. Julen, who was locked in battle with a particularly large mingual swung at the creatures head only to have his sword stopped as the mingual warrior grabbed it with already bloody hands and pulled it from Julen’s grasp. Julen swung his shield from his back and used it to block the mingual’s attack, then threw it in his face, leapt from his horse and tackled the creature to the ground.
As they fell Julen grabbed the dagger in his belt and rammed it up through the mingual’s ribcage and into his heart. Julen grabbed his weapons, caught and mounted his horse and called to the other warriors to head for the gates. The small army rode a short way to a copse where two warriors waited with horses, Vala and Seb were helped into the saddles and both leant heavily forwards as exhaustion swept over them.
“Are you okay to ride?” Julen asked pulling up beside Vala, she nodded weakly as she clung almost childlike to the horse’s neck. “Ride to the border as quickly as possible!” Julen called and they kicked up a cloud of dirt as they thundered back towards Eriba.
Once they had crossed the Eriban border, Vala, her energy spent slipped from the saddle and lost consciousness.
She woke as she felt water pass her lips and she drank greedily, “How’s Seb?” she croaked, “his wounds looked bad.”
“His aren’t the only ones,” came Julen’s familiar voice, “but he’s okay, some warriors are tending to him,” he added as Vala somehow managed to shoot him a look through a blossoming black eye. As Vala’s wounds were treated she glanced towards Seb whose bloodstained shirt had been removed revealing red whip marks beneath.
She winced as a warrior cleaned the gash on her arm, “Will he be okay?” she gasped.
“I think so,” came the gentle reply, “but we need to get him somewhere he can rest.”
“Julen,” Vala said suddenly, grabbing the young man’s arm, “we have to warn our allies, they need to know about Yutshan.”
Julen shifted uncomfortably, “Forgive me Vala but I’ve already sent word, when you didn’t meet us, we were worried, but we waited, praying that perhaps you were delayed. I had warriors watch the town for all hours of the day and night and eventually one of them caught a glimpse of a mingual warrior and we knew the truth. I sent messengers to our allies, explaining what we knew, I know I should have waited until you returned but…” he trailed off and avoided her gaze.
“You weren’t sure that I would return,” she finished and he nodded, “why did you attack? If you thought we might be dead, why did you risk it?”
“I saw it as a win/win scenario,” he said crouching down to look her in the eye, “either we would find you both and get you out of there, or we would destroy a town under Bælana’s control and hopefully take a lot of the mingual with us.” He grinned and Vala winced as she smiled, she turned as Seb stirred and opened his eyes.
“I think he should ride with another,” Vala said as Seb coughed violently and closed his eyes again.
Julen nodded, “What about you?” he asked eying her bruised and beaten body.
“As long as I’ve got Safaya I’ll be okay,” she replied, “we need to return to Caan as quickly as possible, the king needs to know what’s happened.”
“We’ve suggested to our allies that we need to strike Yutshan sooner rather than later, the less warning we can give the better.” Vala nodded though she knew by the time they returned to Caan, the Yutshan king and Bælana would know of the at
tack on Diapanm and would already be planning how to retaliate.
The following evening the twins and Aurora were making their way down to the beach to meet Brean and Draogo. Aurora was going to attempt to transform again, while Brean had promised Kiræ that he would try and help her with the protection magic. Aurora and Draogo made their way to the mouth of the cave, while Brean indicated the twins take a seat round a crackling fire.
“I don’t think tonight’s session will be very long,” Brean said smiling at them, “Kiræ, I’ll help you try and create the protection shield again but I also thought it would be beneficial to see if Tom shows signs of having Elementa Validus.”
“Is that wise?” Tom asked somewhat nervously, “what if I end up hurting you?”
Brean chuckled, “The chances of you even having this magic are remote, and if you do, none of us on this beach will come to any harm, trust me,” Tom nodded though he seemed a little hesitant.
“Can I start?” Kiræ asked, she had thought long and hard about this new magic and although it scared her she had decided to do what she could to control it, she didn’t want to lose any more of her friends. Brean nodded and she held her hand out to Tom who grasped it firmly, then she looked at Brean expectantly.
He took a long time to speak and when he did his voice was gentle, “This is going to be difficult for you Kiræ,” she looked at him questioningly. “It will require you to recall how you felt when you first used this magic.” Brean paused and Kiræ swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, she had been afraid this might happen but she nodded.
“I can do that,” her voice wavered and Tom squeezed her hand.
“Elementa Praesidium,” Brean explained, “requires all four elements to become one. As you know, it can be difficult to combine the elements and once combined it can be even more difficult to have them cooperate.”
Kiræ nodded, “Is that why I need to remember how I felt when I first used it?”
Forgotten Magic (Elementals Book 1) Page 17