7. F（ire） and Ice #2
The dragon banked violently and just barely missed being hit. Caught in the wind, he spun through the air as the plane exploded against the forest floor, the Mist sparking in a cloud of blue electricity.
“ZORA!” Squire screeched on my shoulder as a flaming pine tree cracked in half, falling toward us. I dove out of the way just in time. “Me fire god!” Squire chirped, and I dumped snow onto his smoldering feathers. The flames went out with a sizzle.
Plague roared above.
Get to Mom and Aurora. I resumed fighting through the snow, leaping over the melting snowbanks with everything I had. Finally I made it to a main street, one of the six that led straight to the center square.
The famous Knight Mage twins, Ella and Axel, stood in the middle of the street with their arms raised into Shields—nullifying the magical blaze—as Plague hovered above them, breathing fire.
Axel fell to his knees under the magical onslaught, taking the brunt of it, but Ella stood tall, her long auburn hair blowing in the wind. A golden mask flashed as the Emperor turned his head abruptly and leaned low on Plague’s back, staring straight at me.
Rule of survival: Know when to run for your life.
I turned to flee.
A flaming tree had fallen across the road, completely blocking my path. All the other paths were covered in snow piles taller than my head. The only way to move was forward, where Plague approached.
“Me scared,” Squire hooted.
“Look away, dear,” I whispered. He swiveled his head around as Plague maneuvered closer, her black talons wrapping around the jagged roof spires. Thin roof tiles cracked, bricks crumbling under her weight.
Old god bless my way.
I sprinted forward.
The twins screamed something, gesturing to me as they navigated between falling branches.
“ZORA!” Aleksander bellowed with the same pompous accent from my nightmares. He tugged on the reins, and Plague roared flames in my direction. I desperately flung myself out of the way, barely missing being scorched.
Crack.
I slammed into the brick side of a townhome headfirst. Everything blurred, and nausea choked me as I clutched at my skull, doubled over.
Lying in a snowbank, I lifted my throbbing head. Plague climbed along rooftops, settling onto the house directly across the street from me. Off in the distance, Pestilence rose from the forest, banking toward the city at top speed.
Plague leaned closer.
“Big scary bird!” Squire hooted with distress as I raised my hand in front of him protectively.
Plague lowered her long snout. Her predatory orange eyes glowed with heat. Her jaw unhinged as she breathed, and endless rows of opal teeth flashed. Magic surrounded her in a deadly haze.
“Zora,” Aleksander shouted down, half hanging from his saddle. “Come with me!”
Pulling out a bone dagger with my left hand, ignoring the throbbing that made it hard to see, I raised my right pointer finger high into the sky—the symbol of Antichthon’s first democracy.
Mom always said our self-governance was the biggest threat to the Draconis Emperors, who wanted to enslave us all and rule the world.
“I will never go with you!” I shouted with all my might, mimicking the fearsome roar of a mammoth dire bear. “Because I will never surrender to tyranny!”
Aleksander’s cold laughter carried down on the frigid wind. “No one will defend thee from me.”
Blood dripped down my face, stinging my eyes. I raised my dagger higher, flames glinting off the countless nicks in the bone.
“I WILL FIGHT FOR ME,” I shouted, swaying with dizziness as I pulled myself up to my feet. Lucky girls survive. I wouldn’t let him take me.
He shook his head violently. “Come with me now, or I will burn your Commune to the ground!”
Squire screeched.
Tears of frustration burned my eyes, but I refused to let him see how much he affected me. What should I do? He reached out for me, and Plague leaned closer.
“Then burn it all, Emperor!” I brought my dagger up to my throat, holding his gaze. I would never kill myself, but he didn’t know that.
He jolted.
Hand steady, I held the blade to my throat. Destruction didn’t offer him any leverage if I was dead, and we both knew it. We were locked in a stalemate.
The Emperor pointed an elegant finger down at me, magic gathering.
The twins threw themselves in front of me, their hands raised into Shields.
A third jet rumbled off in the distance.
Everyone froze.
The roaring engine thundered through the Commune, and both dragons swiveled their heads. Blue strands of Mist rose up from the forest.
Something vibrated, and Ella pulled out a thin remote with a bright red button on the end. “It’s time,” she said.
Axel’s hand shot out, and he grabbed his sister’s wrist. “No—don’t.” His voice shook with rage. “If you waste it . . . if I miss, the Marshal will punish us.”
Ella yanked her hand out of his grip, holding the device behind her back. “We must help the people, and this is the closest we’ve ever gotten to dragons. We have to try—”
“We don’t have to do anything.” Axel grabbed her shoulder, his knuckles white as he leaned over her.
Ella stared up at him and then back at me, where my dagger was still pressed to my throat. Her eyes were wide behind her helmet. She blanched, looking between us. The device vibrated a second time; the fighter jet was getting closer.
Axel gritted his teeth. “Don’t do—”
“Do it,” I said, cutting him off, my hunting voice deeper than normal as I listened to my instincts. A narrow window of opportunity was quickly closing.
Ella swallowed visibly as she held my gaze.
Axel’s helmet rattled as he scowled over at me. “Stay out of this. You don’t know what the hell we’re talking about—”
“Use it,” I ordered her louder.
“No, don’t you dare—”
“Now.”
Ella pushed the remote button behind her back. “Aim for the underbelly!” she shouted as Axel swore violently.
Five things happened at once: a pilot ejected from the fighter jet as the Mist attacked it; a long missile detached from the side of the machinery and hovered in the air; Plague and Pestilence pushed up into the sky, distracted by the missile; I lowered my blade; and there was a loud beeping noise on Axel’s back.
“Target designator activated,” said a mechanical female voice.
The third jet crashed into the forest in another fireball as Axel stepped forward. In one smooth move, he pulled a shiny bow off his back. I’d never seen a metal one, and no one used wooden bows anymore because dire animal hides were too thick.
Axel fit a matching long arrow into the bowstring and aimed it up at Plague.
A light beeped on the strange arrowhead. The Mist rose from the ground, heading toward it.
Axel breathed deeply, then unleashed his arrow. It arced through the air, and Mist chased closely behind in a shimmering streak. The arrow burrowed into a scale on the bottom of Plague’s belly, and the shaft detached, falling away.
Ella pressed the red button again.
A high-pitched whistle trilled through the air. The hovering missile shot forward, straight for Plague. The Mist chased after it—close, but not close enough.
ROAR.
Plague shot up high into the sky, golden scales gleaming as the missile followed her vertical ascent. Clouds parted, revealing a full blood moon.
Her wings stretched wide. Aleksander looked small astride her back. With the missile mere feet from her tail—their shadowy outlines were framed by the blood moon—Plague abruptly pulled her wings in tight and plummeted toward the ground.
Spinning, she just barely missed clipping the missile.
It curved after her.
Aleksander yelled something into the night, and Tarantula yanked on his reins. Pestilence opened his maw, and ice exploded. It spewed over Plague, turning her golden scales a silvery azure as she nosedived past, heading straight toward the Barren Forest. Why did they do that?
The missile veered off course, slowing as it uselessly flew in a different direction.
My heart dropped.
Pestilence’s ice broke the tracker.
Plague pulled up from her descent, branches clattering loudly as ice chunks fell off her body. Trees tilted in the rush of wind, and the forest groaned as she rose back into the air.
The Mist seized the stalled missile, and it plummeted, deactivated. Aleksander whooped loudly while Plague barrel-rolled, shaking off the last of the ice. Tarantula held both of his arms up in the air.
Axel screamed with frustration, slamming his bow down onto the icy road. It splintered into pieces.
Aleksander and Plague turned, flying straight back toward me. Once again, they landed on the rooftop across from me, casting the street into dark shadows.
“Come with me now, Zora!” Aleksander shouted. “Or I will take everything from thee, so thou will have no one . . . thou will crawl, begging—for me.” The air carried the stench of his diabolical intentions.
As I asphyxiated on abject terror, sounds warped. My strength drained away as I fell to my knees, overwhelmed by the horror of it all. He had storm magic, and I had nothing. There were no moves left to make.
We’d lost the battle, and I was just a teenage girl, kneeling in blood-splattered snow before a monstrous Emperor who rode astride an unfathomably powerful dragon.
“NO QUARTER!” Ella screamed at the top of her lungs, Knight armor rattling as she threw herself in front of me. Axel swore. He lunged for her, grabbing her arm. She yanked out of his hold, face tilted up to Plague with defiance.
Aleksander went rigid in his saddle. “How dare thou!”
“Article II of the Storm Wars Peace Accords,” Ella shouted. “Safe prisoners of war. If you take any soldier of the Crimson Army hostage, it will be a breach of the statute, and the Marshal will order no quarter . . . What you seek will be executed.”
What does he seek that the Commonwealth has?
Aleksander shook his head, pointing down at where I kneeled. “She is not a member of your pathetic army!”
Ella looked back at me. “Zora Ravenal, do you accept a lifetime enlistment in the Crimson Army? Verbal agreement is sufficient for contractual obligation.”