Dragon Wish

by Judith Leger

  closer to the caverns, swished through their larger kin. They

  flicked with huge teeth and claws to leave bloody slashes on

  the enemy rogues that fought under Arcane’s orders.

  She held her breath at the sight of the mystic beast diving

  for Lior. The white female flew at the desert floor, reversed

  direction to rise straight up, aiming for Arcane’s underbelly.

  Arcane dodged. He slashed toward the white dragon’s

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  head.

  Seren’s heart rose to her throat.

  Lior swerved out of the way at the last moment. In her

  place, Bask blasted Arcane with rays of pure magical energy.

  The beast passed through the bright beams, seeming

  unaffected. In Arcane’s place, some twenty lesser dragons

  surrounded Bask while driving Lior farther away.

  Arcane circled, coming closer to the protective barrier,

  and the spot where she stood. She kept track of his

  movements, feeling uneasy with the way he eyed the magical

  wall separating them.

  “Leo?”

  He grunted in response.

  “Are you sure he can’t break through?”

  The black man shifted, a frown on his face. “Pretty sure.

  Why?”

  She continued to observe the hypnotic rise and fall of

  Arcane’s wings. “I want you to go below. Get ready to run

  with Legion. Just to be on the safe side.”

  “Seren?”

  “Please, do what I ask. I want to make sure my baby is

  safe,” she whispered.

  He nodded, pivoted on his heel, and hurried toward the

  stairs leading to the caverns.

  Magic exploded behind her. She sent a quick glance over

  her shoulder to see two huge beasts blasting each other with

  fire. When she faced forward again, Arcane hovered even

  with her, leering.

  Terror froze her to stone.

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  Chapter Twenty-Six

  His skin itched. The dragon mark on Paladin’s left arm

  twitched, the beast struggling for freedom. Rage at the

  injustice of Arcane’s actions boiled over into his fighting.

  High above the center of the cavern, Paladin sliced through

  the armored underbelly of a lesser black dragon. His father’s

  words filled his mind.

  “Slice with the scales. A clean cut, no jerking. The blade

  will go deep, the kill swifter.”

  Dark blood, entrails, and dragonstones burst from the

  opening. On contact with the air, the flesh and internal

  organs evaporated into shimmering dust. The beast howled

  while it fell, writhing with its death. Paladin concentrated on

  keeping out of reach from most of the rogues’ breath, and all

  of their clawed slashes. Lessons from years ago vibrated

  through his mind.

  “Draw in the magic, it will give you strength whereas

  the breath will take it from you. Avoid, duck, roll, flip out of

  the way then drive for the kill.”

  To his right, Ren managed to avoid a massive swing from

  another black rogue’s clawed hand. The wizard leapt from

  the beast he rode, flipping over once to land on his feet,

  balanced between the wings of another white dragon.

  The dark haired man raised his staff to send a powerful

  spell at his attacker, but a jarring strike to the underbelly of

  his new ride knocked him off-balance. The blow sent Ren

  sliding to the right.

  Fear for his friend had Paladin angling in his direction.

  Behind Ren, a massive billow of air, sand mingled with

  glittering magical motes formed into the shape of a fanged,

  six-horned dragon. Rimmed with gold, the sandy figure

  roared in fury. Ren turned his head as he fell, eyes wide at

  the sight.

  Hoping to reach Ren before he tumbled off the white

  dragon, Paladin whipped closer. Ren remained unmoving,

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  his gaze locked on the beast behind him. The form streaked

  past the wizard. It struck the dragon attacking him, blasting

  a fissure the size of Paladin’s body through its chest.

  The wizard tumbled and started the long descent to the

  desert floor, his cape slapping against his body. He’d

  dropped a few yards. More currents of magically charged air

  mingled into four gold-edged dragons. Two caught the

  wizard. They carried him to the ground. The others created a

  buffer between Ren and any attacking enemy.

  Concerned for his friend, Paladin landed next to him. Ren

  waved a hand at him, demonstrating he needed no aid.

  Paladin, even more determined to finish this fight, took flight

  into the fray.

  He lifted into the air, relieved Ren had suffered no harm.

  After two successful strikes on a red and green rogue, a force

  hit Paladin on the right side. Knocked off balance, he flipped

  once, dull pain radiating from his hip. He glanced to his left.

  Rylen, his wings unfurled, straightened and turned back to

  him. The younger man, armored in white, motioned to him.

  “Come brother, fight me. Alone. It is I that you desire to

  destroy, is it not?” Rylen smirked, his gaze coated with a

  misty darkness.

  “Below then.” Paladin motioned to a sandstone slab

  coated with magical dust a good distance from the entrance

  to the caverns. “We will finish this.”

  They landed on the smooth sandstone. Their wings

  disappeared. Rylen slid both his swords free, one long, the

  other shorter by half the length. The longer weapon, similar

  to the one Paladin used, glinted in the twinkling sparkles

  dotting the air around them.

  With a grimace, Paladin nodded to the blade. “You would

  defile our father’s sword in this manner?”

  Rylen lifted a brow and sneered, “Defile? You foul the

  very air I breathe.”

  He charged at Paladin.

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  * * * *

  Seething hatred poured from the glance Arcane sent

  Seren. Uncaring, she gritted her teeth and paced along the

  edge of the stone overhang. She clenched and unclenched

  her hands while she waited for him to make a move.

  From the right, Lior rammed against his side, sinking her

  pearl-scaled claws deep into his back and underbelly,

  holding tight. Her mouth opened. The massive white dragon

  bit into his arm, incisors slicing deep. Bones snapped, the

  sound loud amid the battle. The mystic dragon’s arm hung

  limp against his side.

  Arcane roared, pain and fury evident in the cry. .

  He swung around, shoving and pushing against the white

  dragon, trying to dislodge her hold. He slammed her into

  several approaching rogues. Releasing his black fiery breath,

  he struck her in the upper body. Lior screamed, ending with

  fire spiraling from her mouth. The streams of flames raced

  toward Arcane.

  While mother and son battled, Seren searched for any

  sign of Paladin. The air thickened with a hazy mist. Worry

  tightened her chest so fiercely that pain cut into her with

  each breath. She sent up a
silent plea for his safety.

  * * * *

  On the defensive, Paladin planted his feet on the stone,

  his long sword held horizontal across his chest, his shorter

  one at his side. Rylen leapt up, his blade over his head. For a

  moment, time stopped. The image burned in Paladin’s mind.

  His father’s words came to haunt him.

  “You are the future King of the White Dragon Clan. My

  heir. Be proud, be strong, and never allow your enemy to

  defeat you.”

  His brother’s white-gold hair gleamed with the swirling

  motes floating in the air around them. Fierce determination

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  sparkled in his mist shrouded eyes. The next second, Rylen

  swung down with all his strength. The impact of metal

  against metal drove Paladin back, his feet sliding on the

  stone. Blue sparks lit the blades’ edges grating over each

  other. Sandstone dust floated up beneath their feet, choking

  Paladin.

  With a grunt, face-to-face across the blades, Rylen

  complimented him with a grin on his face. “Well, done, but

  not good enough.”

  He shoved harder. Paladin broke to the left. Rylen swiped

  back and forth, driving him toward the edge of the slab one

  step after another. Their weapons connected over and over.

  Amazed at his younger brother’s fighting skills combined

  with his power, Paladin realized Arcane instilled these

  abilities in Rylen.

  After Arcane’s assault on him in his youth, Rylen cared

  little for any type of fighting with weapons or not. Before that

  incident, he had acted like a normal young prince, interested

  in every aspect of his teachings, in particular fighting. The

  dragon’s black breath had fouled him. Paladin tried to recall

  the last time he’d seen his brother pick up a blade, but could

  not, yet now he fought with an expertise beyond his

  capabilities.

  Arcane caused Rylen to act in the manner the rogue

  believed all humans behaved. Arcane bestowed on his

  brother this new fighting ability with the same magic used to

  control him. Paladin shot a quick glance up in an effort to see

  how the battle flowed. The lesser dragons, along with their

  younger kin flew above him. Arcane and the seven great ones

  fought elsewhere.

  Distracted, he still managed to avoid a slice from the

  right. The gust of air passing by his head spurred his father’s

  voice to return from his memories.

  “Pay attention. Your death is sealed if you lose your

  concentration.”

  He lifted his weapon to block, and succeeded in stopping

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  the blow, but not in time to halt the next one.

  “Too slow,” Rylen mocked, his eyes alight with malicious

  intentions.

  The shorter sword, turned with the handle aimed at

  Paladin’s abdomen. The strike broke through Paladin’s

  defense to hit him in the belly. The air whooshed out of his

  lungs. Rylen shoved him with a shoulder in his chest,

  sending him backward several feet. He hit the edge of a

  protruding boulder and slumped. He tried to catch his

  breath, but Rylen followed him, leaving him no time.

  He rolled to the right in an effort to avoid a thrust. On his

  feet, he resumed his stance, weapons held in defense. Sweat

  dripped from his forehead, slipping into his eyes, mingling

  with the dust to sting them. Rylen growled. Annoyance

  replaced the intense glint in his eyes.

  “Fight me,” he muttered.

  “Never.”

  “Are you such a coward?”

  “No. You are my brother. Blood of my blood. My love for

  you is stronger even than the hate I have for all Arcane has

  made you do.”

  “Fool—idiot.” Rylen charged, frustration disappearing

  under his anger. Both his blades cut left and then right in a

  flurry. Paladin blocked each one, adding to Rylen’s growing

  fury.

  Breaking from this new onslaught, Paladin slid away to

  leave a broad gap between the two of them. He took deep

  cleansing breaths, trying to remain calm under his brother’s

  onslaughts. “Soon, the mystic dragon will be gone. We will

  defeat him. He will die. Do you truly believe I would harm

  you knowing this?”

  Mimicking his words in a high nasal tone, Rylen swiped

  his sword down from left to right. “We will defeat him. Ha,

  more like Arcane will devour all of you. Do not

  underestimate the strength of that one.”

  “Neither should you believe so strongly that Arcane is the

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  better. We fight for our very lives. I swore to protect the

  woman and child I love. I will be victorious.”

  For the first time since the battle commenced between

  them, Paladin surged at his brother. His sword connected

  with Rylen’s again and again. Powdery sand coated his

  tongue. His breath rattled with each short pant of air he drew

  between his teeth.

  A dragon’s scream of anguish distracted him. Rylen took

  advantage of his quick glance at the sky. His brother swung

  wide, missing him, but followed with a thrust of his shoulder.

  Paladin took the full force of the shove against his left side.

  He stumbled and went down on one knee. Rylen corrected

  his direction. His brother raised his weapon above his head,

  crazed laughter ringing out in the sudden silence of the battle

  around them.

  Exhausted, Paladin tried to regain his stance, but his legs,

  weak from the battle, trembled, the muscles exhausted. His

  brother angled his blade down, aiming for Paladin’s head.

  * * * *

  So lost in her search for Paladin, Seren didn’t notice

  Arcane break free of Lior. The iridescent scales on the mystic

  dragon’s body flickered with his pass in front of her. She

  stiffened and stepped back, her focus returned to the beast.

  He circled and headed straight at her. Opening his

  mouth, he blasted the barrier with black flames. The barrier

  shifted, rays of lightening streaking from where the breath

  hit. Without stopping, he rammed his head against the

  magical protection.

  More electrical streaks raced from the area impacted by

  his head. The barrier cracked. Air whooshed over her,

  bringing the scents of burned flesh and blood—human and

  dragon–along with an array of other odors she couldn’t

  identify. The sudden impact of the wind through the hole

  shoved her back a step. She clasped her hands at her waist,

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  her gaze riveted on the beast before her.

  “You thought to hold me with this pitiful excuse of a

  barrier? You presumed too much, human.”

  His nose, followed by his jaw, squeezed through the

  opening, disrupting the magic in the barrier. He forced his

  head further inside the protective shell.

  Calm came over her. Her mind vaguely registering him at

  all. Instead, memories of the days before Mandy’s death

&
nbsp; danced through her mind. The laughter, sharing hugs and

  kisses, the playground, teaching her to ride her bike, all her

  love given to the little girl, her child, her life, then...

  Her skin heated from the inside out with the memories of

  her lifeless child bright in her mind. The laughter and joy

  ended for eternity, all her love buried with her daughter. Or

  was it?

  Legion’s gently rounded head, his clear dual colored eyes,

  one blue, one gray, the milk-sloppy smile Paladin swore

  came from gas, shoved her painful memories aside. The fire

  under her skin increased. Sharp pain cut into her shoulder

  blades. She cried out. Taking deep breaths to ease the

  pressure, she reached back and felt...Her finger traced over

  soft feathers. She gaped in amazement. Wings came from the

  inner section of her shoulder blades. The soft feathers glided

  beneath her fingers.

  “Wings will not help you, human.”

  She lifted her gaze to Arcane. Fear no longer controlled

  her, only the need of a mother to protect and guard against

  encroaching evil.

  “Do you know your weakness against me?”

  The dragon’s brow creased. “I have no weakness.”

  Moving one step closer to him, she nodded, a smile

  playing across her lips. “Yes, you do.”

  She held out her hands, stretching her fingers wide.

  Another step brought her in front of him. “You assumed

  because I am human, I have no strength, but you’re wrong.

  My strength lies in the love I have for my child. My love for

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  those who have worked so hard to keep me safe from you.”

  “Therein lays your weakness. Love is weak. Useless.” He

  narrowed his eyes, unmoving.

  She touched the outer edges of his mouth, placing her

  hands flush to his scales. “Because I am human, I have the

  ability to feel greater emotions, to know truer power simply

  by believing. You don’t, and because of this you will fail.”

  She finished speaking. The glow surrounding her body

  migrated to her hands and exploded, shaking the stone

  beneath her feet. Arcane, eyes wide with what could only be

  called surprise, gaped at her. He pulled free from the split in

  the barrier, but not soon enough. A sizable portion of his left

  bottom jaw turned to dust under her attack. The light

  streaked up the sides of his face, slicing deep into his left eye.

  Howling, he swept a hand at Seren. He missed. Lior, Sinimal,