by Amy Bearce
He lifted his voice so it echoed across the mountain peak. “I control the magic of the air and need no sword to do so. Nothing rises higher than the sky. Not even the tallest tree.”
Shane’s dragon breathed a plume of ice at the Tree of Life, the cold flurry coiling through the air. But as the white mist touched the highest branches, a flare of fire rose up in a column from the Tree, flashing and hissing against the ice of the beast’s breath, evaporating it. Steam and heat saturated the air. The dragons backed away from the unexpected flame, and the red glow diminished, withdrawing into the branches as if it had never been.
She couldn’t see beyond Shane’s mask, but his dropped jaw betrayed his shock. Nell smirked. Apparently the Tree of Life wasn’t going down again without a fight.
Neither was she.
She leapt onto Brigid’s back, taking advantage of their surprise. Nell might not be truly alone, but one woman, even with a windsteed and a flaming sword, against a dozen skilled men on dragons with icy breath? She narrowed her eyes. Those weren’t good odds, but she wouldn’t give Shane the sword. He couldn’t touch the souls of the guardians inside it, desecrate them with his evil magic like he did their home. No matter what. The Shane she’d known had died years ago. She’d just be finishing the job.
He sneered. “So you healed the Tree, but does it matter? I’ll still win and be king. Why die for a world that doesn’t even want you, Nellwyn?”
“You’ll never understand,” she answered. “And the name’s Nell.”
Then she charged.
Nell clamped her legs tight to her steed as Brigid pounded across the green land and jumped off the cliff, snapping her wings open. The wind caught them, and they soared straight into the sky, Nell’s sword drawn. The only way to win was to free the dragons first. Their Master Dragon needed his wings clipped.
The dragons mantled their wings and snarled icy mist. Nell and Brigid disappeared and reappeared above them in a flash. Tingling ran across her skin from the sky’s magic. She breathed it in, let it build inside her. She focused on the sword, pushing the power through it.
“The sky and its magic will heal its children!” Nell shouted, and flames burst from her sword. She pointed the blade’s tip at the flight of dragons below her. Magic billowed out from it, a glowing cloud of red, covering the dragons, sinking into their bodies.
Twelve of the dragons glowed with a silver hue that pushed the blue from their scales, first from their heads, then their necks, until red and orange shined across their entire bodies. Blackness filled those empty white eyes. Fire curled from their noses, and the men on their backs shouted as the dragons bucked and spun, dipping and diving above the mountain peak. The men fell from their dragons like coins falling from an upturned purse, landing hard on the ground. The dragons trumpeted and flew off.
But Shane’s scaled beast remained solidly blue.
“You might have freed those dragons―for now―but you’ll never defeat this one. He and I are bonded more closely than you can imagine,” Shane said.
Nell compressed her lips and pulled her dagger with her left hand, swinging the fiery sword with her right. Flames roared along the blade. The steed needed no other instruction. They blinked in and out of space, arriving directly above him. They charged, the windsteed spiraling over and over in a plunging descent. If Nell could just get her sword on him once…
She lunged and aimed a jab at him, but he blocked her with a hard smack of his sword. The flames along her blade sputtered. She tried again, this time with an overhand swing. Their blades clashed, and her sword’s fire went out completely. He laughed.
She pressed her attack anyway, Brigid flashing in and out of space to keep them safe. Nell sent them higher and higher into the sky to draw the fight beyond the reach of the recovering men below. Shane was just so fast, though, almost neutralizing the advantage of moving through space in a blink of an eye. He had his own magic in this fight.
He twirled his swords like a spinning wheel, knocking her blades aside one after another. She fought back, though her arms trembled with the force of each blow. Their weapons crashed and sparks flew. A line of fire zipped up the edge of her sword before fizzling out beneath the hiss of Shane’s icy magic.
The thwack of his blade sent sheer agony running along her hands and up her arms. She held her sword and dagger tighter, and the windsteed shouldered closer to the icy blue skin of the changed dragon.
The dragon swiped its claws at Brigid, but she simply flickered in and out of the air in a heartbeat, letting the claws pass harmlessly through empty space. They reappeared on the other side of the blue beast, but the dragon turned to meet them without missing a beat, as if it could sense the windsteed before it appeared. Maybe it could. The dragon’s anticipation of the windsteed’s location was improving by the second.
The ring of their swords chimed like metal on a rock. Something more was necessary to free this dragon, to defeat Shane. A sword wasn’t enough. The windsteed wasn’t enough. She needed the power only this sword could muster.
Nell called to the guardians. Help me find the magic!
The answer was immediate. The Tree has the power to heighten ours! It holds near limitless magic within.
Brigid flashed to the Tree. Nothing happened.
The green leaves fluttered in the fiery huffs of wind from the windsteed’s wings, but Nell’s sword remained fireless.
“Come on!” she screamed.
Shane laughed. “Already abandoned by your benefactor?”
His dragon swung lazily in front of the Tree. An arrow flew past Nell’s head from below, and Shane raised one hand to his men indulgently to halt the others from following suit.
“What, afraid to fight me, Shane?” she goaded him.
“You know what they say. Fool me once. You won’t have my help to set that Tree ablaze again.”
He was too clever by half. This was no Jasper, no Bentwood. Shane was smarter even than Jack. She’d have to trust the magic she’d always feared.
She met the furious eyes of the enslaved dragon who carried her enemy. Focusing on every ounce of magic in her heart and mind, she commanded the beast, “Breathe your frost! Now!”
“No!” Shane yelled, but it was too late.
The blue dragon sent a freezing blast at Nell. When it hit the branches below her, the flames flew up from the Tree, even higher than before. Nell and Brigid were completely engulfed in its fire.
The flames danced across her, like soft caresses, turning the world into a shimmering maze of red and orange. Sounds outside the roar were muted, but her own laughter rang in her ears.
The Tree’s fire dissipated, but Nell’s did not. As the branches withdrew their fire, Nell sat tall and straight on Brigid’s back. Flames remained dancing over her entire body, coated her without consuming. Her sword blazed like a bonfire, though no heat touched her skin.
Shane drew back, jaw dropping, and then smiled. “I have power of my own.”
He blew out a breath, and ice shot forth from his body like an expanding bubble, slamming against her flames and pushing her back. The two forces met and were immovable. Fire and ice, ice and fire. Sparks flew and the flames hissed. Nell concentrated harder, letting the power of the flames ride through her body. The ice crackled and exploded but simply reformed.
With a wild yell, she dove and swung her flaming sword again and again, moving too fast for his ice to reform. She swept her blade in a blazing arc, a perfect strike, but he blocked her with a chime of steel, his double swords forcing hers back above their heads. Ice reformed around him, pushing away her fire.
Sweat poured from her brow. The world beyond her was awash in wavering shades of red, orange, and white. Her arms trembled, but still she pushed. The guardians had said the sword could defeat him. She had to do this.
But she was running out of energy. Fighting this way was like being consumed by the fire itself. Magic had a price. Magic always had a price. Her heart was sealed against his poison now, sa
fe forever, but she could die by a sword as easily as anyone.
“Goodbye, Nellwyn,” Shane said.
She felt him gathering his muscles and magic. She could flicker away to safety, but she wouldn’t run from Shane anymore. She dug her knees harder and pushed back, increasing the flames along her skin, trusting the guardians and hoping for a miracle.
“Nell’s not going anywhere,” a familiar voice called.
Shane spun to see who had spoken, breaking contact and winging back a dragon-length.
Nell gasped. “Corbin!”
Hovering above the Tree of Life, Corbin rode on the back of a windsteed with wings glowing with fire. Without any direction from Nell, Brigid flashed out of space and reappeared next to Corbin before anyone else could move. The flames coating her had been banked by the jump, so her vision was perfectly clear.
The last she’d seen Corbin, he’d been writhing in pain. Now, his back was straight and his face was flushed with health. He looked different. Truly different.
The guardians whispered, Magic healed his snow sprite attackers, but he healed his own heart by accepting he needs nothing more in life for happiness, not even more magic. He could then accept that you have your own vital role to fill. The fears he banished were just as toxic in their own way as Shane’s touch.
Corbin held a bow and looked ready to use it. Grace floated next to him.
Nell’s knees went weak, and she clutched Brigid’s mane. Corbin could die here, but she was still fiercely glad to see him.
Shane drew closer. “So, it’s the fairy fanatic. You only escaped my sprites because of Nellwyn. This is a fight between real warriors.”
Corbin ignored the taunt and spoke right to Nell. “It’s hard to lie to yourself when you’re staring death in the face. And there are some things worth fighting for. This is the right time and place.”
He leaned forward across the space between their steeds and pressed something into her hand. An arrow. She immediately recognized the unicorn-horn-tipped arrow with its distinctive fletching, one of the last of its kind: Jack’s magically powerful arrow she’d tucked away, never intending to use again. She stared at him, eyes wide.
“I thought you might need it. I’m sure Old Sam would be glad to be of service here,” Corbin whispered with a small smile, squeezing her hand before he backed away.
He’d known, somehow, it might come to this. He’d packed that arrow before they’d come on this trip, before he’d been attacked by the icy magic, before he’d wrestled with death. He’d understood and was willing to stand by her, even in a fight such as this.
Her heart beat so fast she feared it might explode.
Shane jeered, “Touching, but you’ve only flown to your death, Fairy Lover. My men below have their arrows ready.”
His words were a punch in the stomach for Nell. It was her worst fear come to pass.
“Look again,” Corbin smirked.
Grace and her fairies swirled around him then darted down near the men below with their bows, causing them to flinch and duck, dropping their weapons in fear for their lives.
Shane glared at the scene below. When he looked back at Nell, his black eyes were malevolent, wild with fury. “No matter. I’ll still win. I’ll kill you all, one by one.”
His dragon spouted a curl of ice.
“I don’t think so,” Corbin said. And then he raised his hand and shouted, “For Aluvia!”
Over the mountainside rushed a herd of windsteeds in numbers impossible to count, a sea of beating wings of fire. Four of them in the lead carried Tristan, Phoebe, Sierra, and Micah, armed and ready for battle.
Nell’s mouth went dry. Shane seemed just as shocked. Queenie and her host of little fairies flew off the mane of Sierra’s steed and in circles around their keeper.
Corbin said to Nell, “We’ll help you bear the power you’ve been given and will stay with you always. I promise.”
For the first time, she believed it with her whole heart. Her friends had come. It was as magical a feeling as the flaming sword in her hands. The riderless windsteeds circled around the men below, blinking in and out like the lights of fireflies in the summer fields.
The men on the cliff didn’t know what the windsteeds were but cursed the arrival of more fairies. Dragons were immune to their stings, but men were not. Retreat would be the smart strategy in this situation, but Nell doubted Shane would call for it. He couldn’t leave a challenge like this unmet. His ego wouldn’t allow it.
Shane scowled. “My own magic will protect me from theirs. Neither those old nags nor the little fairies can hurt me. I’m indestructible, Nellwyn. I can always create more dragons and take the ports one by one. But you can’t hide forever, dashing away on your winged donkey like a pesky fly.”
She told Sierra and Corbin, “Tell your fairies not to sting anyone if they can help it. He brings death, not us.” She slid the unicorn-tipped arrow into her quiver, saved for a last resort.
They nodded, and Corbin looked heartened.
Compromise. Nell felt it was possible now.
“Well? Still want to try to take me?” she goaded Shane. Her friends’ arrival had given her new strength. All they had to do was free his dragon and take down the man who’d enslaved it. Then this fight would be over.
he riderless windsteeds fenced in the men below, creating a barrier of fiery wings they could not push past. Corbin flew behind Nell so that he was guarding her back with a short sword he must have hidden in his bag. Phoebe and Tristan took a spot high above to keep an eye on the entire attack, and Sierra and Micah covered the danger from below. In the air, an attacker could come from any and all angles―and Nell’s friends had all of them covered.
Shane’s dragon came in fast, spiraling like a tornado. It blew a frozen breath that crackled. Flames rose from her, flowing along her skin, but her friends had no such protection. The dragon’s breath could kill a human in a heartbeat, but her friends blinked out of space before they were hit, reappearing with the magical transporting ability of the windsteeds. Nell let out a breath of relief.
Shane lifted his hands up and shot an icy blast from his palms. It moved much faster than the dragon’s breath. Screams came from the riderless windsteeds who weren’t fast enough to get out of the way. Her friends’ mounts spread their wings wider, encasing their riders within their flames. The wintery blast shattered against their fire.
Shane growled. He drew his swords and charged again, aiming straight for Nell. She wanted him to. This was between her and him.
His blades glowed a white-edged blue, but Nell met his with her own fiery one. The windsteeds screamed challenges, and his dragon roared back in answer. The wind rose like a fury, with wings buffeting the air into a bubbling cauldron. The fire of the windsteeds couldn’t reach past the icy shield of Shane’s magic to free the dragon. It was completely enslaved.
Behind his mask, Shane’s eyes seemed to glow with rage and power. Her blade protected her but couldn’t get past his defenses. Still, without it, she’d be dead already. The magic had already healed her heart. The rest of the promise would come to pass; she believed it. Today, peace would return to Aluvia.
Corbin was yelling at someone below them… Jasper, by the sounds of it.
“Him you can kill!” Nell shouted over her shoulder.
Corbin’s sputtered laugh lifted her spirits.
Phoebe began to sing, and Micah joined her. They sang a song of peace and joy while Tristan sent his magic to unite with Micah’s, and Sierra guarded them all with steel. Nell could see the magic of land and sea weaving together to form a shield that pulsed around her friends, their voices directing the magic where to go as the merfolk learned to do to protect their cities.
What a team they make, Nell thought with pride. Fighters and peace keepers, held together in the bonds of love, fighting back in a way that wouldn’t leave a wake of destruction across their path.
Shane’s tainted sky magic could not break through their shield. But perhaps
the power of their combined magic could destroy his tie to the dragon, setting the poor beast free at last.
“Give me some room,” she murmured to Brigid. The windsteed flickered in and out of space, appearing a dragon’s-length away from Shane.
Nell slid the blade of Aluvia into the empty sheath on her back, patting the hilt once in thanks. She whipped out her bow. Her hand hesitated over which arrow to grab.
Corbin called from behind her, “Do it, Nell. Use the arrow. Take our magic and send it all. It’s the only way.”
She looked over her shoulder to him. He nodded once, hard, and she pulled the arrow he’d given her.
Shane sheathed his swords along his back. Raising his fists above his head, he chanted, words Nell didn’t understand, and an icy wind swirled around him, widening and growing darker.
Nell took careful aim, the windsteed staying as steady as possible in air churning from repeated icy attacks from Shane’s dragon. A few fairies had apparently decided they were done with waiting and flew at him with their stingers ready, but they were pushed back by Shane’s magic.
He smirked. “A flaming sword can’t stop me, but you think that pathetic arrow will?”
Shane was a hard enemy, and it wasn’t the arrow or sword that would stop him. She would. She was the sword. And she would be an instrument of justice today
Corbin yelled, “Now, Nell!”
In one quick movement, Nell drew back the string and sighted down her arm. The quietness that always guided her in battle stole over her. She no longer heard the screams of the windsteeds or the song of her friends. Everything faded to silence. Letting her breath out slowly, she saw it: colors dancing around the air, silvered swirls of red, burnished gold, and the deepest blue. Magic of Aluvia―land, sea, and sky―flowed into one powerful stream like a current around her.
The tree tattoo along her left arm flared silver, and she released the arrow with a twang that reverberated in her heart. She had just enough time to call all that swirling power to work together. And with that thought, the magic flew to the arrow and surrounded it in an incandescent rainbow glow. Sparkles of light trailed after it like a comet’s tail.
