Chapter 14 Heat & Heart #2
“Mei, get behind me.” I stepped protectively in front of her and my father, shifting into my dragon form. I could handle the cold, but I was terrified it would extinguish her flame.
“While I appreciate the gesture, you’re not doing this alone.
This is our home, and we will all protect it.
” Mei shifted into her ruby red dragon form as well, and roared her defiance at the hovering ice fleet.
“Morelli family, reinforce the barrier! Anyone with fire affinities or shields, support us with your magic!”
“Damn straight we will!” Pyra stepped up next to her, her form blurring around the edges as she became living flame.
I summoned my own magic, pressing back the fear and worry that I wouldn’t be enough to stop my brother. After all, I never had been before. But this time would be different. This time, I wasn’t alone.
Mei brushed up against my side, and I twined my tail around hers. The air sizzled as our opposing magical elements clashed against each other. But instead of explosive rejection, our magic began to merge.
“Attack!” Mikhail rumbled, and unleashed a powerful stream of ice.
The others joined him, their combined might making the magic almost too bright to look at. As each beam hit the barrier, a concussive thud echoed ominously around us. A splinter snaked across the protective magic with a crack like thunder.
“Deploy your defensive magic!” Mei roared.
She unleashed a stream of fire, and the blistering heat needled at my scales. Pyra and a handful of other fire-attuned individuals added their magic and fire to hers, and I even saw a streak of shadowfire in the mix from the shadowmancer.
I exhaled my own breath weapon, aiming to push back against the onslaught above us. I kept my magic separate from the stream of fire, afraid I would extinguish it.
For a moment, it looked like our combined efforts were working. Our magic pushed back the stream of blinding ice magic, away from the barrier, which slowly began to heal itself.
But then with a deafening roar, Mikhail and the others redoubled their efforts. Their magic slammed into the barrier once more, and I watched with horror as cracks spiderwebbed across it. Dimly, I heard chanting behind me as the witches and warlocks strained to restore the barrier.
Was this it? Was I about to lose everything? Had I brought nothing but destruction to Willowmere? To Mei?
Suddenly, a pair of fire drakes soared up beside us, and landed next to Mei. Though they both glared at me and my father, their burning gazes soon turned towards our common foe.
“Can’t we leave this place for two weeks without some new catastrophe happening?!” the female fire drake grumbled, before letting loose a stream of fire.
“We got the gist of what’s happening. We will discuss this…inappropriate relationship later,” Mei’s father declared. He, too, lent his fire and his magic to our cause.
With two extra fire drakes, the tug-of-war of magic forces came to a stalemate. The barrier shuddered, but held. Their timing was impeccable!
I locked eyes with my older brother. The look he gave me spoke volumes; this time, he had no intention of holding back. To him, I was a traitor. And he would never show mercy to a traitor.
Something in me snapped when his hateful gaze turned on Mei. No more! I would not allow his cruelty, his hatred, to darken my life or the lives of anyone I cared about ever again.
Even if it cost me my fleet. Even if it cost me my family. For once in my life, I would be the winner, the warrior they always wanted me to be. Just for the “wrong” side.
I draped my wing around Mei, taking a gamble that would either save us or doom us. Pressing my cheek against hers, I combined our breath weapons into a single stream of magic.
There was a blinding flash that sent a bolt of lightning through my senses, and I feared I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. But then, something miraculous happened.
Instead of the opposing magical elements negating each other, they combined—just as I’d hoped they would. Where our breath weapons converged, they became one; a single stream of bright blue icefire.
Our icefire pushed back the onslaught of magic away from the barrier. Mikhail growled in outrage, but I could sense the undercurrent of fear in the noise.
Encouraged, we redoubled our efforts. Even though my lungs were screaming for air, I kept pushing, kept exhaling to fuel the icefire.
I could tell Mei was struggling to keep it up, and even her parents were showing signs of strain. Were we going to make it in time, before our breaths and our magic ran out?
But we were so close! There had to be something more I could do—I refused to give up victory when, for once, it was nearly in my grasp. But how?
“It seems both my boys are in their rebellious phase,” my father grumbled. “The rest of you, prepare your breath weapons!” To my great shock, he shifted back into his dragon form and added his own powerful stream of magic to ours.
“Yes, Moroz!” Taking their cue from their leader, the rest of the fleet who had joined us on the ground also shifted, and lent their magic power to our cause.
The massive influx of magic turned the tide. Our combined magic pushed back the onslaught of ice, straight back down the gullets of the opposing ice dragons. Their eyes rolled back in their heads, and the dragons began dropping like flies to the road below.
As each one passed through the barrier, they were forcibly trapped in their humanoid forms. Werefolk and elves immediately jumped into action, tying the unconscious dragons up with coarse rope. They bound their wrists and ankles, and gagged them for good measure.
Mikhail was among them.
I sagged with relief, resting my head on top of Mei’s. She leaned into me, her strong frame trembling from exhaustion as we both worked to catch our breaths.
I could hardly believe we had managed to pull that off! Without the support of every single person here, it would have been a truly impossible feat.
I glanced at my father, who of course, looked barely even winded. I was still in disbelief that for once, he had listened to me. For once, he had taken my side over Mikhail’s.
Maybe, our relationship wasn’t as far gone as I thought it was.
“I see you have finally found your backbone.” My father glanced at Mei, who had not budged from my side. “I’m glad.”