by DM Fike
She had to help Kay.
The landscape of fractured houses whirled by Avalon. She cut across a wide field, sneakers slapping in muddy spots as she made a beeline toward the blue-white flashes leading up the hillside outside of town. It did not take her long to pass the last destroyed farmhouse into the Wazan forest. Boulders littered the forest floor underneath mounds of decaying blue and purple leaves, causing Avalon to trip, but she pushed forward, blood pumping furiously in her ears.
Kay. She could feel the gush of wind deep in her gut, the sizzle of electricity along her fingertips strengthening as she sprinted farther uphill, closer to the Covert K knight. She knew she had to help him but how? She didn’t dare use her magical powers, not without risking passing out and making Kay’s fight with the dragon more difficult. She felt a pang of insecurity as she thought of Desert Rose, the more experienced fighter. She hated to admit it, but at least Desert Rose would have been able to help.
She pushed doubt aside. There had to be something she could do.
The dragon’s metallic shrieks cut through the air like a collapsing building as Avalon’s breathing became labored. The flashes of lightning grew more intense, forcing her to look away when they struck. Strong gales hit her chest, slowing her progress. The coniferous trees ahead swayed in looping swirls, as if a giant cat were crawling through them.
She must be getting close.
Avalon bust through a set of bushes and found herself at the edge of a small clearing, sloping downward onto a flat plain below. An expansive river flowing toward Jentry sliced the enclosure in two. On the other side of the water, the trees bunched back together, crawling uphill.
The cries of battle had stilled. The trees no longer moved. No flashes of light guided her way. Avalon glanced in all directions but didn’t know where to go. She stepped tentatively out into the open, hoping for a better view, when a thwacking sound reverberated behind a copse of trees on the other side of a river. A large projectile zipped out of the trees, covered in a thin transparent film. Avalon ducked back into the bushes as it bounced once or twice off the river like a skipping stone before pummeling into the grass not far from where Avalon stood.
As the projectile moaned and uncurled itself, Avalon realized it wasn’t a thing but a person. The film unraveled, revealing Kay’s fairy wings wrapped around himself like a blanket. She flew down the slope toward him as he propped himself up on his elbows, coughing up blood.
“Kay!” she cried, coming upon him.
Kay squinted up at her, hair matted down with sweat, a trickle of blood oozing from a slash near his ear. His uniform had been slashed, a scorch mark near his thigh. His normally piercing gray eyes seemed foggy, unable to focus on her. “A-Avalon?” he stammered.
The dragon roared in the forest from where Kay had been launched from. Avalon dragged him to his feet as the treetops swayed toward them. “C’mon!”
“Avalon?” he repeated, stumbling so that Avalon had to help him back up again. “How?”
“We don’t have time.” Avalon yanked him forward, back toward the brush at the edge of the clearing. “The dragon’s coming.”
The mention of the beast snapped Kay out of his stupor. They both darted as quick as Kay’s disoriented feet would take him, launching themselves behind a thick bush. They barely hid before the dragon’s car-length head poked out into the clearing. Sparks sizzled as it surveyed the scene.
Avalon didn’t dare exhale, not wishing her breath to stir even the smallest leaf, as the dragon’s front torso slithered out toward the river. Electric currents flickered from its shiny scales, its movements eerily silent as its head darted this way and that, searching for its prey. It stared straight at their bush, then raised its head and roared, the sound causing Avalon’s teeth to rattle. She made a motion to flee, but Kay’s hand tightened on her wrist. He shook his head slightly, grounding her to the spot as the roar faded.
Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the lightning dragon slunk back into the forest, the trees rocking away from them.
Avalon didn’t know when she started shaking, but as Kay released her wrist, she couldn’t stop herself.
“It’s gone,” Kay whispered. “We’re safe. For now.”
Avalon responded by throwing both her arms around his shoulders and pulling herself into him. Kay immediately returned the embrace.
CHAPTER 9
SCAWALE HAD BEEN corrupted by the most powerful magic, a Child of the Statue that could easily destroy the world if left unchallenged. Dragons roamed the skies of Llenwald, attacking cities. Avalon had been stripped of magic and could not possibly do anything about it.
And yet for a second, buried in Kay’s arms, none of that mattered.
She knew Kay felt the same way when he whispered, “Thank Omni you’re alive.”
Avalon pulled back from him. “I’m so sorry, Kay. I meant to teleport to you, I really did. But then I ended up on Earth, and so did Desert Rose.”
“Desert Rose?” Kay’s voice taking on a concerned edge. “Is she well too?”
Avalon sobered. “Yes. She’s safe, back in Jentry.”
A loud roar sounded somewhere around them in the forest, its source hard to pinpoint as its echo bounced on the rocky mountain.
“Then she’s not safe,” Kay said grimly, stepping back out into the clearing and peering in the sky, hand near his sword hilt. “The dragon will demolish the town. That’s why I’m here. There are reports of dragons all over Llenwald attacking human towns, especially along the roads between here and the Arteme Jungle.”
The Arteme Jungle, where Hamad lay, was the last battleground where they had faced Scawale. Avalon gulped. “The dragons are connected to Scawale, aren’t they?”
“I doubt it coincidence that right after she gains access to the Child of the Statue, dragons fill the sky.”
“You’re here because of the dragons?”
Kay surprised her by shaking his head. “I’m here officially to take as many humans back to Emerged Falls as refugees. And unofficially”—he couldn’t hide the fear in his eyes—“I was hoping to find you and the others.”
“You mean Desert Rose and Isolde?”
Kay nodded. “Although I haven’t made it up to Craeg yet to see if Isolde is there.”
“And Nobody?” Avalon asked against hope.
Kay stiffened at the gremlin’s name. He had never liked Nobody, but his voice held a tone of reverence. “Avalon, you saw what happened to Nobody at Hamad. I don’t expect he made it out alive.”
Lightning arched somewhere beyond the trees, followed by another roar. Kay walked forward a few more feet into the clearing, scanning upward. He suddenly collapsed down to one knee, clutching his side. Avalon ran next to him and gasped at the bloodstain spreading through his uniform.
“What happened?” she demanded.
“Dragon tail lash,” Kay grunted. He lifted the uniform to examine his bare skin. “The blasted thing figured out pretty quickly that I can divert lightning, so he changed tactics to physical blows.” He gently returned the shirt over his waist. “Fortunately, the cut’s shallow.”
“That’s still a lot of blood. You can’t take on a dragon like that.”
“Not directly, nay. My lightning magic does not harm it, and wielding it tires me out too quickly. Wind just makes it angry. But we do have an advantage here in Wazan Forest.”
“We?” Avalon repeated uncertainly.
“Aye,” Kay continued. “Lightning has two weaknesses. Water causes lightning to backfire and it has no leverage on rock. We have both aplenty here. If you divert the dragon’s lightning for me, I may be able to bring it down into the river where stones line the bottom and cause it to electrocute itself.”
“But I can’t!” Avalon protested.
Kay put his hands on her shoulders. “I know you’re inexperienced, and you know I would never let you be harmed. But the risk here seems minimal if we—”
Avalon threw his hands off her. “No, you don’t under
stand. I can’t. I can’t wield lightning.”
Kay balked. “But I am here with you.”
Avalon bowed her head. “I can feel your lightning and wind, and Desert Rose’s fire and ice, but I can’t use any of it. Not without hurting, possibly killing, myself because I’m no longer ‘whole.’”
Kay sucked in his breath. “How did this happen?”
Avalon felt a surge of anger. “Bedwyr happened. He left me damaged after ripping the Child of the Statue out of me.”
Another metallic screech signaled the lightning dragon’s presence. Its outbursts grew louder, more frantic.
“The dragon won’t search for me forever. Come.” The fairy jumped into the air, wings catching the wind. He winced only slightly before finding his balance. “We need to watch the beast.”
He swooped down low and grabbed Avalon around the waist, lifting her off the ground. The fairy flew under the nearby trees, granting them some cover as they scoured for the exact location of their adversary. Kay’s clenched jaw indicated carrying an extra burden added to his injury, so Avalon tried to redistribute her weight to best lighten his load.
Her stomach churned as he staggered in the air. “Are you sure you can keep this up?”
“Perhaps not,” Kay admitted. He spotted a rock outcropping built into a hillside above the tree line. He flew there and placed Avalon back on solid ground before wheezing as he bent to one knee.
Avalon kneeled beside him. “You need to sit this one out.”
A scuffle in the trees caught their attention. Something rustled just below the canopy, next to a hill trail that meandered up the slope toward the river. At the far end of the horizon, smoke curled from the edges of Jentry homes, the clearcut fields a sign of human civilization.
The scuffle changed course, bouncing toward the river. Songbirds fled skyward, announcing the dragon’s arrival. It screeched as it spotted Jentry. The townsfolk must have seen it too for a dull rumble echoed up the valley, the mingled cries of terrified people joining together as it realized what was coming for them.
“It’s heading for Jentry!” Kay called. He slipped through Avalon’s fingers and bolted into the air, trailing after the dragon as it slithered over the boughs toward town.
“Wait!” Avalon yelled, rushing to the edge of the outcropping, unable to pursue him in flight. He was rushing toward suicide in his condition.
“KAY!” she screamed.
Her cry did not have the intended effect. Kay did not turn around, focused on getting in between the dragon and Jentry.
The dragon, however, took note of the noise, enormous wings keeping it adrift as it craned its neck backward. The dragon focused its sparking yellow eyes completely on Avalon.
Avalon stiffened, heart caught in her throat at becoming the dragon’s new target.
Kay also stopped in midair, sword drawn. He followed the dragon’s line of sight back to the rock outcropping, then back to the beast.
The dragon drew its shoulders together, neck shrinking back into itself. Avalon had no idea what this meant until it sprang toward her, claws outstretched, roaring in fury.
Avalon would not have seen the lightning that charged toward her had Kay not stopped it, inches from her face. The hot blue-white light crackled a few feet away from her, slowly retreating as Kay held it, the effort clear on his strained face. Then he redirected it at a sharp angle to a tree below the rock outcropping, which shattered into a thousand fiery pieces below her.
“RUN!” Kay yelled at her as he sped in the dragon’s wake. “AVALON, RUN!”
Avalon saw the lightning dragon smack the fairy down from the sky with his tail just before she fled onto the path behind her.
Avalon accidentally bit her lip as she ran, tasting blood. At first, she followed the dirt path up the mountain, the dragon rumbling behind. She threw herself to the ground as she felt a sizzle flare in her gut. The lightning shot through a dead log nearby. It exploded into chunks, one piece hitting her arm as she turned off the path into the thickest part of the forest, hoping to lose the dragon in the underbrush.
The dragon’s cries mingled with the felling of trees and stomping of bushes. The foliage did slow the creature down a bit, but it slowed her down too. The ground trembled with the dragon’s weight as she struggled uphill, away from her pursuer. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of exploding objects as the dragon blasted a path toward her.
She would not be able to keep ahead of it for long.
What could she do? Her mind scrambled for escape as she pulled her limbs through the underbrush, thorns tearing at her clothes. She could only feel the faintest wind and lightning magic now in her gut, not that she could use it. At least Kay still lived, wherever he was. But that didn’t help her, not when she couldn’t use it against the beast that was gaining on her.
A swooshing filled her ears. At first Avalon thought it her own blood surging through her head, but then she broke through bramble and nearly stumbled down a cliff into the rapid waters of the river below. Beyond the chasm, a line of huge boulders loomed, nearly half as tall as the trees.
Craeg. She had found the border wall of the boulder elves.
A crash in the bushes signaled the lightning dragon’s approach. Avalon took off along the cliff’s edge, uphill, as fast as she could go. Above her, the rock wall grew taller, reaching its summit at one of two slender guard towers that guarded either side of a granite slab bridge over the river.
Kay’s words echoed in her ears. Lightning could not attack water and stone. She had both up ahead.
A lightning bolt hit a tree to her left. Avalon had to sprint fast to duck under the falling trunk before it blocked her path. Behind her, the dragon snarled in rage as it missed its target yet again.
Avalon sprinted the final leg toward Craeg’s entrance as the ground rumbled beneath her feet. Ahead, the granite bridge shifted as a line of stone-capped guards held out their hands toward it, attempting to close the bridge with their magic before intruders could enter.
“No,” Avalon gasped, accelerating as she approached the gate. The granite slab tilted upward, a draw bridge, its shape perfect to fit the rectangular hole between the two towers. A considerable gap had already formed to the raging river down below. Avalon didn’t have time to judge if she could jump across to it, she simply did it, knowing that she had no other choice.
Avalon’s limbs flailed as she scrambled for the edge of the granite slab. She aimed for a solid landing, but the slab increased its speed. Her feet missed, but her arms caught the edge. She barely held on as the slab traveled to close the bridge.
Avalon stared down the expanse of the granite slab as Craeg’s guards gaped up at her, clad in slate plate mail, unsure of how to proceed with a stowaway on their bridge. She felt the slab falter slightly back to its original position as a few guards released their earth magic.
The captain of the guard, stone axes hovering near his shoulders, shouted to the men. “Keep closing!”
A streak of lightning arced over Avalon’s head, striking the roof of one guard tower but causing no more damage than a slight scorch mark. Avalon peered behind her, the dragon coming in fast.
“Lightning dragon!” she yelled down to the Craeg guards as they hoisted the slab farther upward. She struggled to get one leg over the ridge of the slab, onto Craeg’s side.
“Get off!” the captain yelled at her.
A second bolt hit the granite slab not far below Avalon’s legs. Now hovering two stories over the end of the slab, the lightning dragon spread its wings, claws outstretched toward her, as if to snatch her.
“Get it in the river!” Avalon screamed. “Before it takes flight!”
Too late. The dragon’s wings beat out a rhythm, intending to take to the air. Avalon didn’t have time to dodge out of the way.
Except the dragon didn’t fly. It bounced backward instead, slamming onto its haunches. Confused, it screeched, neck swiveling to examine its two lower legs.
The boulder el
ves had bound the dragon in the mud.
The captain sneered up at Avalon, a look that clearly said, what did you think we were going to do?
Avalon watched with round eyes as the ground beneath the dragon’s feet crumbled into the raging river below. The lightning dragon struggled around its bound legs, trying to free itself to no avail. The earth dragged it down toward the water. The dragon attempted one last sizzle which missed its mark. Then its enormous body hit the water in a magnificent fireworks display, accentuated by a deafening metallic screech.
Avalon saw the dragon wash away downstream, still sparking, as she finally managed to climb over the granite slab. She slid like a child down an enormous slide into the entrance of Craeg. As her butt skidded to a stop at the bottom, the granite slab behind her slammed shut, and two dozen stone axes surrounded her in midair.
“Halt!” the captain commanded. “In the name of Craeg.”
CHAPTER 10
NO AMOUNT OF protesting would stop the captain of the guard from securing stone handcuffs around Avalon’s hands. No rational argument would deter the guards as they escorted her into Craeg, the streets mostly empty, although elven faces peeked out from their rock huts. Nothing Avalon could say would convince Craeg’s protectors that she had nothing to do with the dragon attack.
They brought her to a town square with a wide well in the middle of scraggly yellowed grass. Instead of a bucket leading into its depths, a large metal grate kept the roughly ten-foot diameter hole shut. The captain unlocked the grate with keys around his belt, then motioned for her to climb inside. When she resisted, two other guards took her arms and forced her over the lip.
Avalon landed with a thud on a hard metal surface only a few feet below the lip of the well. A grinding noise told her the captain had slammed the bars of the grate shut.
She had been imprisoned in a squat metal silo in the ground.
“Hey!” she called up at them, pounding on the grate. “Let me out!”