Reese’s body twisted through the air as he fell. Beelin was quicker than he anticipated as they flew hurdled toward him, pushing out the air to slow his descent. Catching him just as he was near the ground, they were able to save him from an instant death.

Kaden let out a sigh of relief before his attention was taken away from him. Zuma was pulling in water from the air to make a thin misty barrier around them and Taldor. It was deflecting most of the arrows that were hailing down upon them.

An explosion rippled through the air, throwing Kaden to the ground. His ears were ringing as tried to lift his head to look around. Blinking wearily as his head buzzed, he heard Zuma roar and felt more mist push out from them. At this rate, Zuma was going to use all their energy trying to protect Taldor and themselves while fighting the attackers in the trees.

Kaden got to his hands and feet, pulling his body back up. The mist was pushing the smoke out and he was able to see more clearly. He heard crash after crash as he saw Sayori throwing sharp rocks into the air toward the trees. Kaden still couldn’t even make out where or who was attacking them. He knew they were up there, but not where.

A set of small balls flew his direction and he tried to cover his head in anticipation. A whoosh of air caused him to stumble as Jerri jumped through the air, just as each ball began to explode. The fiery explosion was swallowed harmlessly, as if it was a snack for the dragon. They let out a disgusting burp of a noise and the fire shot right back out in a concentrated blast into the tree line above.

The screams of death pierced Kaden’s ears and bodies begun to fall around them. Jerri had been the only one to knock the serpents from the trees. Kaden felt useless as he was just trying to regain his senses. The smell of burnt flesh hit his nose as the bodies sizzled away. Evonne ran past him in a flash. Her signature red flowing clothes catching his eye.

He watched as she pulled the flames from the bodies, extinguishing them while she manipulated the remaining fire. Her body looked to glow as she absorbed its ferocious power. Then, with a gigantic leap, he watched as she jumped on top of Jerri before running up their back, to their head, and leaping into the air. With a dramatic punch, a cone of blazing fire shot out, piercing through the dark canopy above. Branches, leaves, and limbs flew down around them as the trees ignited in flames.

Screams were heard again, and the arrows stopped. They were trying to escape her and Jerri’s onslaught. Their tactic of just hitting a large area was working far better than Sayori’s tactic of tossing wildly into the dark trees above. His eyes cut to Beelin as they were trying to get an injured Reese back to him and Zuma. He needed to learn more healing magic if this was how every fight of theirs was going to go.

Sliding through the dirt and leaves on the ground, kicking them up around the other dragons, Beelin leaned over and let an unconscious Reese ease down off their back. Kaden jumped to his feet to help pull Reese down. The guy was heavier than he looked as Kaden grunted to pull him nearby Zuma.

At this rate, they’d all be out of commission before they could even finish the pilgrimage. Pulling Reese closer to the dragons so Zuma’s barrier could protect him as well, Kaden had to step in. He had been so bewildered by the situation; he hadn’t been pulling his weight. This time, he would do something.

He knew more about human anatomy than dragon. Fixing Reese was more simple. Grunting as he pulled the man’s body next to Zuma, within the shield, he tried to look over to see what had happened. Reese had several gashes along the side of his head, touching his cheeks. Something had hit him in a perfectly separated pattern.

Pushing his will, his control of magic into Reese, he watched as the skin crawled and strung itself back together, leaving silvery scars in place. He wondered if it would always look this way. Even the scars remained after the magic in the cave healed him. Magic may leave evidence of itself on their skin. He hoped Reese would be okay with the facial scars he left.

Reese’s eyes opened and he sucked in a dramatic gasp of air. He scrambled to sit up, pulling out a dagger from his hip, ready to rejoin the fight before he even regained all his senses. Looking around wildly, he noticed that they were crouched near Zuma and Taldor.

“What happened?” he said with panicked breaths.

The screams echoed across the forest as the flesh of their enemies burned above them. Kaden merely pointed above them. Nodding in understanding, Reese tried to step around the shield, but Kaden pulled him back.

“We need to get try to get one of them if we can. We need to know who these people are.”

Shaking his head, Reese said, “we know who they are. They’re more Serpents!”

“We don’t actually know that,” he pointed toward another tree that was nearby. “Can you get me up there?”

Shrugging, Reese nodded, and said, “We can try!”

The two of them burst through the misty shield Zuma was still putting out. They weren’t moving, remaining still to keep the shield around the injured Taldor. Several times Taldor moved to do something to aid, but had been crippled in pain before they could do much. Kaden respected Zuma for choosing to protect Taldor, trusting the other dragons to keep their companions safe.

Running toward the large tree, Reese instructed him to bend down low when they were next to it. Kaden did so, making his body smaller.

“This is going to toss you into the air with an incredible force. It’s up to you to grab onto something once you’re up there. I don’t know if I can catch you if you miss. So don’t miss.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Kaden gave a grunt and braced himself for the force. The amount of rushing air that was thrusting him higher was terror inducing. Reese must have overestimated his weight as he flew past the limbs in the trees. Grabbing his head as it collided with limbs and leaves, he could only focus on trying not to get knocked out by the tree itself. Soon he was seeing the sky. He had pushed him all the way to the top.

The push of air stopped, and he frantically grabbed handfuls of the treetops. His feet started slipping on the thin branches that he was desperately trying to keep himself on. He had blown past the top of the tree so quickly that he didn’t even get a glimpse of the enemy, only the rush of greenery around him.

His eyes widened when he saw them off in the distance. Beating heavy in his chest, his heart let hope blossom out in a rush as he saw the flapping of wings. Two dragons were headed their direction. They must have seen the smoke Evonne and Jerri were creating and were coming to check it out. He needed to let them know that they weren’t coming to just check out a threat.

Pushing his hand out toward the open sky, he pulled in as much moisture as he could form the air and shot it as high as he could in the air. The skies were clear, not a cloud in sight. He hoped the misting cloud he shot out would let them know that there was a water mage there that needed their help.

Air was sucked out of his lungs and he felt his leg tugged on. Someone had him. Branches smacked him in the face as he was ripped right back through the tree he had just emerged from. Flailing his arms out, he was able to grab onto a large branch and hold on. Looking down, he saw his leg was wrapped in a glowing rope. It tugged on him harder and harder as he tightened his arms around the limb.

Kicking wildly, he tried his best to shake off the rope, but it wouldn’t free itself. He had been so distracted by the distant dragons he forgot for a moment why he had even wanted to get above. He was supposed to be the one to subdue an attacker, not the other way around.

They kept tugging on him, trying to dislodge him from the tree, and it was working. Every rip and tug caused his grip to slip further. If they pulled him any harder, he’d fall back to the ground, unknown if Beelin could save another one of them from crashing into the ground.

He couldn’t let it end like this. Not when they had backup only moments away. Swinging the whole weight of his body, Kaden let himself pull the rope back and forth. They wanted to swing among the trees, then so be it. He would swing. Swaying back and forth, he yanked the rope with the motion and weight of body. It slackened and dropped off his leg as he saw someone falling out of the tree themselves. He had thrown them off balance.

Whatever he had planned on doing was out the window. The dragons would be upon on them quickly and he wasn’t about to be stuck in the trees when they made their arrival. Letting his body swing forward, he managed to launch himself toward another branch that was closer to the tree itself. His arms hugged the branch as he made contact.

Flinging himself through the air on branches was not what he had planned on doing at all when he came back into the water realm. Looking around him, he finally saw them. They were all latched onto the trees with different metal claws and spiked shoes. Their clothes were the same coloring of the surrounding leaves. Their faces and heads were wrapped where only their eyes could be seen. They blended in almost entirely with the foliage. It was no wonder they hadn’t seen them.

Looking back at him weren’t eyes of killers, but of people. They stared at him, bewildered that he had swung himself up to them as he had. None were close enough to do anything to him and he wasn’t about to wait and find out if they had anything to throw at him. He wasn’t about to get another glowing rope around him.

Dropping down several branches immediately after he made eye contact got a gasp out of a few of them as they watched him lower himself down in surprise. Something flew past him and he knew he had waited too long. They were throwing things already. Or shooting them. At this point, he wasn’t even sure what was heading toward him. He just knew it was some type of projectile.

Ducking and weaving as he lowered himself through the tree, he got to a point where there were no branches below him. Just the trunk of the tree was left. Only, there was still a full building of a drop to go. He couldn’t just hop down from there. He would break his legs or his entire body.

Another arrow embedded itself way too close to his head and he had to make a decision. Launching himself through the air, he tried to aim himself toward Zuma’s misting shield. Pulling what mist he could off of it, he used it to slow his descent, pushing the water toward the ground. It was a weaker version of the force that Reese had used to push him up.

The ground was coming fast as he tried his best to slow himself. Reese was quickly below him once he saw Kaden descending. He felt a rush of air supporting his own move as he slowed and touched the ground lightly. Reese pulled him back under the misting shield. Several arrows managed to pass through. He had weakened with his move. Hopefully, none of them had enough force to pierce anyone.

“There are two blue dragons headed this way. I tried to signal them, but I don’t know what they’ll do when they get her. We need to get the girls under Zuma.”

Reese looked out ahead of them and they saw Evonne and Jerri bouncing around, shooting fire and flames out above them. Sayori had resorted to stealthier tactics, but had still been shooting rocks into the treetops.

Reese shook his head and laughed. “I’ll get Evonne. I think she’s having too much fun out there. Go get Sayori.”

Kaden nodded and he ran toward where he last had seen Sayori making her assault on the other side of Taldor. He yelled out her name and jumped as she appeared from around a tree. He relayed the same message and she understood, backing herself under the shield.

A loud crash echoed above them as limbs and leaves fell down, pushing into the misting shield. It was too much for Zuma alone to repel. Slipping and sliding, he ran back to them and tried his best to push his own will into the mist, his own magic. Reese crashed through the shield with Beelin behind him.

They had to expand it to fit all of them as the trees themselves were being blown and ripped apart around them. His energy hadn’t come back from his last big use of magic and now he was having to tap into that primal fountain once again to protect his friends. Jerri and Evonne sizzled as they passed through the mist and onto the other side.

Relieved he didn’t have to think about allowing them in anymore, he was able to focus on the shield as the forest was crumbling around them. Crash after crash as the trees fell down. Screams of the people in them were silenced in an instant as they were crushed by their weight. He strained as one of the large trees fell on top of the shield.

They couldn’t hold it much longer. He hoped that this was the other dragon’s work. Several moments passed and the crashes slowed until they stopped entirely. He couldn’t hear anything else around the pulsing mist they were shielding them with.

He felt something touch his mind, touch his magic. The mist parted and through it was a blonde head he was familiar with. Vixenta Crowley, Iratoi’s sister, entered. Armed to the teeth, she looked at them up and down, eyes connecting with Kaden’s before she sighed and ran back out of the shield.

They were from the temple. It was a patrol.