It's my fault—all my fault! Fia thought to herself as she gasped for breath, running as fast as she could on three legs.

When Viliant started to run away, his longer, stronger, uninjured legs carried him far in front of her. Despite his promise that he would never abandon her, miserable thoughts could not help but consume Fia. She had been a lost cause ever since she had been wounded, but on top of that, she even refused to prioritize their own survival. The humans had found them because of her. If he leaves me behind this time, I'd deserve precisely that, she figured.

So, Fia volunteered that option to him. Just go. Her steamy tears started to traverse the grooves of her scaly cheeks. They'll have a harder time catching us if we split up.

What're you talking about? Viliant spat back. If they split up, it would only give him a better chance to escape since Fia would become a diversion for him. As much as she worried about his overzealous hostility, it came in good use at a time like this. I won't pass up an opportunity to kill the humans who imprisoned us.

His running path bowed out, allowing him to face the enemy at a more advantageous angle. Viliant charged to intercept one of the horses.

However, the cavalry knights were also mages. The human closest to him had one arm raised. Bolts of lightning shot forth from his fingertips and streaked across the sky. This technique illuminated the sky for a few seconds. Viliant's shadows gave way like the rest of the night, exposing each of the dragon's locations.

The knight's other hand which held his weapon generated electricity as well. Yellow sparks flew from his fist which held the pole arm. The constant stream of energy traversed the rod and made it glow up to the spear tip. When Viliant lunged towards the horse, the knight lowered his spear to meet him.

Even if Viliant's cloak of shadows had unraveled, leaving him in plain sight, he could still vanish from the physical realm. His shadowy body went through the spear, however the surrounding energy maintained its effect. The murky form of the black dragon shuddered and blurred as the electrical discharge of the spear struck Viliant.

"Viliant!" Fia cried. She needed to find a way to help him, but she had her own adversary to worry about.

A frigid, crystalline structure appeared at her feet and encased her three, good claws to the ground. Huh? What is this? Despite her best attempt, all the strength in her legs was not enough to pull free. Fia had been frozen in place, and when she looked up, she saw a second cavalry man charging towards her. The horse's heaving breath could be heard over its pounding hooves, and above all that, Fia screeched.

An intense heat erupted from her scales by sheer instinct. It was then that she realized how easily she could free herself from the icy shackles. As they began to melt into a puddle beneath her feet, Fia let out a stream of fire from her maw to hasten this process. When the horse drew near, she flipped her chin upward to blast the flames at the horse.

The beast reared up, whinnying and snorting in discomfort but a heavy fabric protected its skin. The expert horseman stayed atop his mount, flashing a sword overhead. One of his hands gripped the reins fiercely while that sword swung down for Fia's neck.

Like a serpent, she twisted to evade the blade and let out a terrified, hissing shriek. A final few embers spattered over the exposed ankles of the horse. The panicked animal stomped its hooves down, landing on the tips of the claws belonging to her good foreleg.

"Eek!" Fia shrieked. The blow severed the quick of her claws where the hard exterior snapped and shattered around it. Intense pain radiated through her leg, all the way up to her shoulder and tingling along the wing on that side. But she was lucky that the horse had only landed on her claws. If its hoof had landed a few inches closer, Fia would have been rendered practically immobile.

The horse, however, was less fortunate. While the horseshoe helped protect the outer portion of its hoof, the shards of Fia's claw jabbed towards the center. The tender center of the foot was stabbed, and the horse dashed away trying to gallop and hobble at the same time. It bucked in pain, forcing the rider off.

When he landed, a ramp of ice formed over the short, tough grasses so he alleviated the momentum of the fall into a harmless slide.

One horse down, Fia called to Viliant. She stole a quick glance to see how her friend was faring.

Thankfully, the older dragon could always take care of himself. While being shocked in his ephemeral form, he had managed to flail his body away from the electric rod. This prevented the shaft from impaling his chest when he was forced back into the physical world. His claws and teeth ensnared the side of the horse's long neck as he fell, striking a deep enough wound that the horse would likely bleed out.

This one's a goner too. With the men's steeds incapacitated, Fia and Viliant stood a better chance both in fighting and running away. The dragons rejoined each other. Viliant jumped in front of Fia and stood defiantly, glancing between the ice and electricity mages. Let's fall back, he ordered. Create a barrier with your fire!

Fia could not help but take pleasure in setting fire to the human's territory indiscriminately. Her maw hung open its widest, and she swung her head from side to side to burn everything. The short grasses in this region did not provide much fuel to her wildfire, but the blaze grew tall enough and thick enough to deter mere men from crossing. Done!

Let's go.

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Viliant took the lead up the steep hill at their backs. If the humans did catch up to them, then the dragons would have the higher ground.

Fia naturally lagged behind with a more severe limp. Even though a broken claw was not that severe of an injury, it hurt tremendously. Alas, with her other leg useless, she had no other choice but to walk on the aching claw. She took one last look at her fire.

The new terrain created by the ice mage did not stop simply at the spot that his horse had fallen. The icy path was heading towards the flames, and the heavily armored knight was sliding across it faster than the horses.

Oh no! Fia realized the danger and recalled Viliant's attention. That cold stuff turns to water when it gets hot!

You mean ice?

Though Viliant took no time to formally explain ice to Fia, she was able to comprehend it in the same instant that she touched it anyway. Her mouth split wide as she gathered enough power for a massive fireball. There was only enough time for one shot to stop the ice mage in his tracks, so this one needed to be perfect. Fia took a deep breath and spewed her projectile a short ways ahead of the man.

His icy path manifested there next. The ice mage arrived at the same moment as the oncoming fireball. The flames reflected in the shiny breastplate of his armor, and the ice mage recognized the need to coat himself in his own element just before the fireball struck him square in the chest. The force sent him sliding back down his own path.

Take that! Fia said, unable to help but giggle erratically. The elite knight looked quite comical against her attack, even if he endured little harm between the ice shield and metal armor.

The delay had gained Fia and Viliant more time to summit the hill. As the one who struggled the most to climb with only three legs—one of which had tender, broken claws—Fia became the easiest target for the subsequent attack. The electric mage pursued them with his armor glowing like an eerie lantern, much like his energized spear which aimed for her. A hazardous ball accumulated at its tip. The electrical ball released in a snap and hurtled straight for her.

"Fia!" Viliant hollered.

She tried to move, but there was no time to dodge a lightning projectile such as this. The lightning strike would surely affect the physical body much worse than Viliant's shadow form, so Fia braced herself for the worst. I hope I live….

Heat flooded her body as the electricity surged through her—much more intense than her own element. Even Fia's own flames could singe her, but this was worse as the burns licked beneath her scales from the inside. Her heart gave an abnormal flutter, leaving her gasping when the electricity left her body in the next moment.

The dragoness was still standing, so she shook herself off to make sure that she was okay. Huh. I think I'm fine, she replied to Viliant.

The slitted pupils of his eyes had constricted from fear, too narrow for this low amount of light. Viliant looked shaken, but he simply barked, Good. Hurry up.

The dragons continued scampering up the hill. As the ground became more rocky, Fia began to close the ground between her and Viliant. She could hop off a high mound, then flutter her wings and glide to the next best spot to jump. Viliant, on the other hand, had to scale inconvenient rocks until they arrived together at the top of the hill. Fia looked down to see how far the humans were behind.

The wall of fire had been cut in half where the soaked ashes remained in its place. The ice mage had doused the flames by his melting element. Thanks to this safe path, the electric mage followed close behind. While the former had seemed faster at first with his paths of ice, those were rendered useless going up a hill. The electric mage, on the other hand, amplified his own muscles and climbed at a frightening speed. His speartip pointed at Fia and Viliant once more.

Ah! Look out! Fia had no idea who he intended to strike, but she figured that her heat resistance as a fire dragon better enabled her to take a bolt of lightning. She flashed her wing in front of Viliant's face and tucked her own chin, grimacing.

The leathery part of her wing tingled, and electricity radiated down her body again. Drool dangled from one side of her jowls by the time it stopped. When Fia reopened her eyes, she saw Viliant's shadow form return to normal behind her wing.

Why would you do that? he yelled in her head.

Despite having already proven that he could survive a previous electric shock, Fia had been worried about him. She felt foolish now, but that did not matter. We can fly from here!

Viliant turned his attention to the other side of the hill where a vast, empty landscape awaited them in the darkness. Cooperatively, Viliant lay down on his belly and waited for Fia to take her spot as the glider. She gingerly avoided the large spines on his back which were lying as flat as they could go. Ready? Fia asked.

Hmph. Viliant jumped and trusted Fia to spread her wings wide.

The trickle of a small river ran below them. The grasses regrew around this source of water along with some scraggly trees. As the dragons drifted further away, the vegetation turned more coarse and sparse. The earth had become a wasteland of red-packed dirt when they landed.

Though they put a decent amount of distance between their pursuers, Fia knew that this would not last long. As soon as the humans got to the top of the hill, the ice mage could create a slide to rush back down. Consequently, the dragoness tried to keep running as soon as she hopped off Viliant's back.

Fia, he called back to her gently. When she glanced back, she saw that Viliant was not moving. They've stopped.

Huh? What do you mean? Fia drew to a sharp halt. Her head tilted back as she looked up the hill where the two knights stood at the top together. As they seemed to stare at one another, the young dragoness tried to understand what was going on. The humans had been pursuing them mercilessly for so long, it seemed unbelievable that they would give up the chase when they were so close.

This must be what the humans call the Bad Land, Viliant said with a hint of relief.

Fia scritched a back claw against the cracked ground where nothing seemed to grow. Although she had no idea what animals they would find for food here, she knew one thing at least: no humans would try to kill them. For that, the dragons had found their sanctuary. We did it!

Despite her exhaustion, the young dragoness jumped for joy and let out a trill of victory. We did it! We did it, Viliant! she skipped around him lopsided and nudged his shoulders from both sides, trying to get him to celebrate with her.

Hooray, Viliant shared telepathically in monotone.

Fia nuzzled his cheek for good measure and beamed at him, her wings and tail lifted in happiness.