Page 124 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
Dong.
Gouts of flame paint the sky red. Finally, the glow of my gift recedes, pitching the Vale into night once more. In the darkness, war ignites. The sounds of fighting ring out behind me. The screams of my people. Malice’s enraged cries.
I run all the faster, the threat of tears misting my eyes. The fae of the Vale fight for me. But I do not know how long they can last.
The door to the tower lingers just beyond the next hedge. I dive toward it, panting for air, sweat already shimmering on my skin from such a small exertion.Just a little further, I pray.Give me the strength to go just a little further.
Before I can launch myself through the door, my father steps in front of me, tears gleaming in his own gaze. Though he still looks more goblin than elf, he now stands at eye level with me.
“Na raiya ohn sha,” he greets, bowing low. “I rejoice to see you, dearest daughter.”
My breath catches in my throat. A single tear spills from the corner of my eye and trails down my cheek. Malice’s latest scream pierces the air, reminding me of why I should hurry.
But no one can take this moment from me.
“Na raiya ohn sha,”I repeat, carefully sounding out the syllables. “Father.”
When Rowan lifts his head, his face now glistens with happy tears. A smile now curves his lips.
Dong.
Vines sprout beneath me and wrap around my bare feet, bearing me upward before I can utter another word. The ground falls away. The maze grows distant. Above the hedges, I can see plainly the scars Malice has already left on our home. Grass smolders. Trees blaze against the night sky.
Bodies lie motionless. Injured. Dead.
Fury blazes through my soul, devouring the last vestiges of exhaustion that still cling to me as I stare at the black-winged dragon terrorizing my people.
My glow flares brighter. Threads of Air and Spirit gather around my fingertips. The latter forms into a single arrow of light, sharpened to a vicious point.
“Malice!” I scream, launching my voice and arrow alike toward him on that gust of Air. My Spirit bolt flies faster than I can track, but it strikes true, lodging itself between the scales of his throat.
A pained roar thunders forth, bringing with it a fresh pillar of flame. His great head swivels toward me. Columns of smoke unfurl from his nostrils. Murder flashes in his eyes.
Velda takes to the sky, flitting through the broken window of the tower and disappearing within. “Hurry!” she urges me, her voice already distant.
My father’s vines stop growing, depositing me on the stone ledge I once tried to reach with mere will and feeble strength alone. I don’t hesitate. I don’t think. I just duck and follow Velda inside.
Broken glass scrapes against my head and shoulders as I pass, breaking skin and drawing blood.
My attention falls to Bene, where he lies on the floor, his face wan, his eyes darting here and there behind his closed eyelids, as if searching for something even in his sleep. Blood stains his form, as if somehow, even trapped in sleep for the past few days, he has managed to become wounded.
“Bene,” I whisper, relief bringing me to my knees.
Beside him rest Brisa and Glorana, barely any light left clinging to their tiny forms.
“My sisters,” Velda weeps, hovering over them.
Dong.
Malice’s roar rends the air just outside the tower, deafening me. I wince, my concentration wavering as I stare down at the intricate weave of Mind, Spirit, and something else—something dark—binding my dragon king and his aunties to their nightmare prison.
The Aether gathers around me, steadying my trembling form, filling me with warmth and light. Sudden understanding dawns in my mind.
The dark smudges staining the weave are not magic at all. They are merely slivers of Malice’s tainted soul—pieces of himself he sacrificed to strengthen the curse.
I stare in horror, my mind reeling.
What am I supposed to do now?
