Zuma was dodging erratically, tossing Kaden back and forth from the onslaught of arrows. Had he not been strapped in to the saddle, he would have been thrown off. He was so thankful that it had been Reese who tightened it in instead of himself. He knew it would hold him on.

A whoosh of wind threw his head back as Beelin roared and started barreling down toward the source of the arrows. Kaden didn’t know what to do, but he knew that Reese might. He pulled his body toward them, urging Zuma to follow. They didn’t take much convincing as they hopped into the wind stream Bee was creating behind them.

He knew this was something to do with the power of wind they both controlled. The arrows were blowing off around them, pushed away from their target. The safest place to be was behind Beelin, Kaden found. He didn’t sense the other two around him, though, neither thinking to follow in.

The two dragons dipped further and further, nearing the trees. Kaden couldn’t make out anyone within them. They were just flying into the wooded area without knowing where the attackers even were. He thought they were at the edge of the water nation territory now, or should be. They had been flying for a bit of time before the attack occurred.

Wind whipped his hair, stinging his eyes, as the magic of Beelin and Reese swarmed around him. He hadn’t been close to them when they had done anything before. This was the first time he was experiencing his power. Kaden had fought with Sayori and Evonne, but Reese had fought off several House of the Serpents attackers all on his own. He didn’t need their help. He had it handled.

The greenery of the earth below came up on them fast. Both dragons pulled up as tight as they can, legs brushing the treetops as they flew away. The arrows stopped following them as they passed by. They had to be in one area of attack. Kaden couldn’t believe they had the ability to shoot arrows large enough, and shoot them hard enough, to reach dragons in the sky.

Whoever was shooting at them was aiming to hit them when they came by. They had to have known they were coming, or at least some dragons were coming. It was so blatant of an assault. Their weaponry was made for dragons. They’d have no other reason for such powerful ballista arrows.

Pulling themselves back to the skies, he saw as the arrows went back to trying to shoot Evonne and Sayori down. They had been a decent distraction, but as they pulled themselves away from hitting the treetops, the assault was able to refocus on the other two dragons as they flew.

He heard Taldor let out a bloodcurdling screech and saw them start falling through the air, twisting and turning. Sayori let go and was separated from her dragon as he tumbled down and down. A burst of air pushed him and Zuma to the side as Reese and Bee pushed through the air at a speed he didn’t know was possible. He watched as they caught Sayori before she could get too close to the treetops.

A loud boom echoed through the air as Taldor crashed into the earth. The arrows had stopped. Evonne and Jerri were diving straight for them. Kaden wasn’t about to let Taldor and Jerri take the brunt of whatever was attacking them, as he urged Zuma to push forward.

Keeping low to the trees, Zuma pushed in toward the crash site as dust was floating into the sky. He could hear Taldor’s screams of pain. Fire rained down nearby from Jerri and screams of the attackers below bounced off the trees. They must have seen them moving in toward Taldor.

Downed trees were broken and felled all around Taldor as they reached them. Zuma landed with a flourish and Kaden unlatched himself, sliding off and running to check them over. He had been trying to practice some healing waters here and there, per Tranlee’s book. He couldn’t do much, but he had to try something.

Blood was covering the ground, pooling around the mighty bronze dragon. The fall likely injured it more than whatever they had shot at it. It was hard to step through. The ground had turned soft and sandy. Taldor using its magic to weaken the fall into the earth. Carefully, he looked up and down the creature’s body as he heard shouts and screams around him. Fire was lighting up the scene as Jerri kept the attackers away from Taldor.

The smell of metallic blood and ash made him scrunch his nose up. His eyes stung from the smoke and dust in the air as he reached out to touch Taldor. He felt a deep, sour hum from the creature as he looked over the open gashes. If he didn’t close the wounds, then they would bleed out entirely. Sayori would lose her dragon and Zuma would lose her friend.

Panic rose in him as he rounded the edge of the dragon’s shoulder. There was a large iron arrow sticking out of it. It must have been what hit it in the skies, causing the death spiral. It looked like it was wedged in deep. A rush of wind hit him as Beelin landed nearby.

The two dragons prowled around the area, protecting Taldor as Reese and Sayori ran toward him. They both struggled to get through the sand until Sayori made a stomping motion and firmed it backup for them. She was screaming and crying at the bloodied sight. Kaden yelled for them, and they quickly made their way to him.

“I’m going to do what I can with Zuma’s help to close the wounds. It’s all I can do, but we need to get this out of them before that. I can’t seal it in.”

Reese nodded and looked at Sayori. Her hands were shaking as she immediately wrapped her hands around the large bolt. Kaden took a deep breath and nodded to Reese to join them. All three of them had a firm grip on the iron bolt and Kaden gave them a countdown.

“Three. Two. One.” They all pulled, and it came out with a grotesque squelch. Blood sprung free, showering them all.

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Kaden pushed his will to Zuma, and they were near instantly there. Throwing one hand out while touching Zuma with the other, he willed the water to pull out of the blood. It was the only source he knew was around.

He could see Reese’s horrified look out of the corner of his eye. Using blood was forbidden and difficult. The magic that came with life prevented it from being manipulated. It took someone incredibly skilled to use it and even then it was difficult. The ambassador had used it and by doing so; he proved how strong he was. He had immobilized several white mages.

Here Kaden was, pulling the water from blood. At least this was Taldor’s own magic, its own blood. He wasn’t using the blood of someone else. If anything negative was to come of it, at least it wasn’t someone else’s life he was manipulating.

Closing his eyes, he pushed the water forward. The glow of it could be seen through his eyelids as he knew what was happening. Much like the illuminated algae he had seen in the caves, the water glowed brightly, vibrating as it spread over his wounds.

Kaden tried to focus in on it, focus on healing as he had been instructed. He didn’t know what he was doing or how he could Taldor. Dragon anatomy was foreign to him. They had explained to him that the best healers needed to know what they were healing. Healers would study the anatomy of humans for years before being able to fully heal a body and, even then, it was difficult. It took a kind hand and a gentle soul to truly heal.

Kaden tried to think back about when he first met the water matriarch. All he did was step on a platform and his wounds were healed. They healed both Zuma and himself without even touching him. Magic pulled his skin back together, and his pain was relieved.

He pictured the sensation over and over again as he tried to push this same feeling toward Taldor. Stepping forward, he pressed his hand into Taldor’s body, the wet blood and water mixture pooling and pulsing around his hand. He opened his eyes and watched as the water spread across the wound, flushing it in and out. The magic glowed and waned.

The skin around the wound started to slither back together. Tendrils of flesh binding together piece by piece. The wound closed around his hand and he felt his own energy being pulled down. IT was taking so much out of him to will the magic to do this. The wound closed entirely and he moved his way around the dragon’s body, willing the water to do it again and again at every gash and cut.

As he pushed the water back and forth, Zuma was right behind him, pressing into him. He could feel their own power, their own strength. Both of them were channeling their energy into the task. They were slowing. The binding was becoming more and more difficult. The darkness was pooling in around his eyes.

It was dancing at the edge of his vision, waiting for its opportunity to latch onto him. There were only a few more spots they needed to seal, a few more wounds they needed to close. He felt his body stumble as he tried to take a step toward the last wounds.

Sayori’s arm came underneath his as she propped him back on his feet. There were tears down her face, but she looked determined as she held him up. Swallowing hard, he nodded, trying to convince himself he had enough energy to fight the darkness and finish healing Taldor.

Pushing his will out one last time, he urged the skin to close, to wrap back together. Taldor would be left with the same silvery scars that both Zuma and he shared. The healing wasn’t perfect. He didn’t understand enough about the anatomy of a dragon to properly do it. But the wounds were closed enough that the bleeding was stopped. He had tried his best to do so internally as far as he could reach, but he wasn’t positive he had done it correctly.

Pulling his hand away from the last wound, his body went limp. Sayori struggled to catch him as he fell to the ground. Zuma was behind them, falling right with him in a heap. He heard their thud as they hit the earth. His vision darkened and he felt his head lob backward. A darkness overcame him. Not the one he worried about, but pure dark exhaustion.

Night had fallen around him as he blinked his eyes open, trying to push away the fatigue away. He was laying next to Zuma and Taldor. A fire was lit in front of them as he heard voices bouncing back and forth. He squinted his eyes as he tried to focus on them.

He saw figures walking back and forth as voices were being raised. He tried to make out what they were saying.

“We can’t stay here! Those people are still out there!” He recognized Reese’s voice.

“What do you want us to do? Leave them here? Are you dumb?” Sayori yelled back.

“Of course not! We need to go for help! I am the fastest. I can just go right back to the citadel.”

Evonne’s voice chimed in. “Absolutely not! Jerri and I can do a lot, but we barely kept them away the first time. I cannot protect them all by myself. We have to stick together.”

“Even if they wake up, Taldor isn’t flying anytime soon!” He sniped back. “We have to get help somehow!”

“Isn’t there a temple around here? I know we were supposed to go to the central keep first for the king, but surely they’d understand us going to a temple first.”

He groaned as he tried to sit himself up. Noticing his movement, all three of them ran to his side and tried to help him. “The northern temple should be around here somewhere.”

Iratoi’s father ruled the northern region. They were the closest to the capital. It was why they were the strongest of the lords. It was no wonder both his daughters were magic users, Vixenta being a dragon rider even. If war broke out, they would be the first to be attacked. If any place would be able to help them, it would be the northern temple. They had the most trained healers of the temples merely due to that fact.

He groaned again and said, “they have the most healers. I think I did an okay patch job, but I’m sure Taldor needs more healing than that.”

“So what do we do then? Hoof it?” asked Sayori.

“There are enemies in these trees and you’re expecting us to just walk through this forest unarmed?”

Evonne crossed her arms. “Well, we can’t take to the skies. We’d be sitting ducks again. At least down here at lower levels, we don’t have to worry about gravity.”

His head was throbbing. Using so much magic in that fashion truly drained all his energy. Even with Zuma’s help, he had struggled. Even with the power he had from the matriarchs, he struggled. If they thought he would be a great mage to bless with magic and curse with visions, they’d have to wait a while until he was able to actually wield that magic with any skill.

He sighed and said, “we will have to walk there. Evonne is right and Taldor won’t be able to fly. It’s our only option.”

Reese groaned and sat back down on a large log they had pulled near the fire. His head fell into his hands as he bent over. “This pilgrimage is not going smoothly at all.”

With a deeper tone, Kaden said, “things are changing. The matriarchs know this. You all have already seen the beginnings of this. This is only the start. I fear there is a lot more to come, and soon.”

Sayori closed her eyes in front of him and took a deep breath. “Don’t tell me this is the beginning of the end.”

Letting out his own breath, he said, “then I won’t say it out loud.”

Evonne shook her head and joined Reese by the fire, remaining silent.

“This is just the beginning,” he thought to himself. He would do everything he could for it to not be their end.