Mel remembered the attack on Aldrion and how she had huddled close to Marcus during the worst of it. He had been like a wall protecting her from being hurt and she had felt safe in his arms. Even though he probably couldn’t have done anything if a shadow had found them. It had been illogical, Mel knew that. But it had been as if his familiarity and the sense of not being alone had been enough for her to project safety onto him.

She stirred in her thoughts, barely a dream anymore. More semi-coherent memories and ideas about what Marcus meant to her. A bell rang in her ears, but Mel kept connecting the sound to her dream, to the recent attack.

It was only when she felt hands on her and a shrill voice saying, “Mel, wake up,” that Mel sat up in her bed.

She gasped for air, feeling shocked and disoriented. Then she saw Gabs’ face looming over her and her hands were on Mel’s cover, shaking her awake. The bells were still here in the present, ringing loudly over Falden. Mel’s gaze snapped to Gabs and she saw the worry in her face.

“They’re here?” Mel asked.

Gabs nodded. “I woke from the sound of the bells. I think the attack just started.”

Mel pulled on her pants and Gabs grabbed her lantern from the desk. She lit it with a small tinderbox and together they huddled out into the corridor beyond. They made it outside together with their fellow students, many dressed in their nightgowns still. Mel grabbed Gabs’ hand and pulled her to the Falden gates.

Three figures stood by the closed gate talking in voices muffled by the sound of ringing bells. When they got closer Mel saw it was Greta and Henry from the administration's office and Master Foss standing by the gate. They turned as Gabs and Mel approached, looking at them with fake smiles spreading over their lips and an artificial calmness.

“What’s going on?” Mel asked.

Henry’s smile widened. “Not to worry. Just another attack. It will be over soon and you can all go back to bed.”

Mel shared a glance with Gabs and felt her stomach tightening, something told her this wasn’t a mild attack. Henry pulled a hand through his red beard and Master Foss glanced down at the pathway.

“I’d rather wait outside until we know it’s safe,” Mel said.

“Sure,” Greta said. “We will be here for your protection and you’re not allowed to leave Falden grounds during an attack. But feel free to stand close to a wall and wait it out if you prefer.”

Gabs and Mel made it to the main building, putting their backs against the wall and feeling the darkness shroud their figures. Gabs held her lantern low, only giving off a glow around their feet.

Flavio and the other nobles found them soon, looking scared and huddling close next to the main building wall. They didn’t say anything and Mel could feel an eerie silence stretching, save for the bells steady ringing. Her heart thumped in her chest and her limbs felt heavy and tired. The chill crept into her clothes and Mel wished she had brought her cloak with her.

Gabs squeezed her hand tight, but up here at Falden almost nothing of the actual fighting could be heard. There were no sounds of screams and nothing could be seen except for the occasional flash of magic in the darkness. Most of the flashes came from what Mel thought was down by the gate and she wished the elemental warriors would quench this attack soon, like they had done with the last one.

A sound broke her thoughts, something distinctly different from the bells. It sounded like the flapping of a large canvas on a stormy day, slapping to and from its tether. Mel couldn’t quite understand what could make such a sound, but it felt like it came from the sky.

She took a step out from the wall of the main building, feeling her hand leaving Gabs’. Her heart beat in her ears and her breath was tense and ragged.

Then a roar filled the sky and Mel was sure of it now, there was something up there in the darkness among the misty substance. Her eyes scanned the air above her, there were dark shapes taking place up there. Enough to make her feel crazy. It looked like something huge was moving around.

The sound of the flapping canvas subsided and Mel felt it drawing further away from her. She took another step out from the building and her friends. Then a glow lit the sky up as a chest filled up with fire magic and unleashed itself onto a building near the walls to the east.

Mel’s breath caught in her lungs and she staggered back. She heard gasps and a scream from behind her, but she couldn’t take her eyes away. It was a dragon.

Not one like the stories told, not one like the depictions in the chapel at home. This was a large, black, scaly creature circling the sky and breathing fire from his lungs down onto Aldrion. At first, her mind whirled trying to come up with an explanation and the tightness suddenly released in her chest when she came to the conclusion that it was here to save them. Save them from the beasts.

Her legs grew more steady and her breath came in big gulps. A smile spread on her lips as she watched the dragon reach down toward the outer wall. It grabbed something in it’s claw-like clutches and swung back around. Circling through the city up toward Falden and Mel’s smile faltered when the dragon’s belly glowed once more. He released his claws and dropped two soldiers into the city.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

One was flailing and screaming. Mel could hear his terrified voice for a second overtake the ringing of the bells. The other soldier fell like a stone, limp and lifeless already. They both thumped against the ceiling of a building and fell to the streets below.

Mel’s smile was gone now, her legs wobbly once more and panic spreading inside her veins. The dragon wasn’t saving them. It hadn’t come to help, it had come to destroy.

The dragon swung around in the air and headed back over the city toward the eastern wall. It swooped low and breathed fire in the street, all the way to the gate. There it circled around again and knocked down an entire section of the wall, cracking stone and sending pieces of it flying over Aldrion.

Mel gasped for air. Her mouth gaping open and her mind not able to comprehend what was happening. The soldiers who had fallen from the sky had reminded her of Marcus and now all she could imagine was him lying dead in the streets. She needed to get out of here. She needed to find him and make sure he was safe.

She turned around and took the lantern from Gabs’ hands. She was still in shock and handed it over without complaints. Mel headed for the dormitory, Gabs following behind her. Inside their room, Mel pulled out the bottom drawer of her dresser and stuck her dagger inside her pants.

She pulled on the red cloak and turned to the door. Gabs were blocking the exit.

“I need to find Marcus,” Mel said.

“You can’t go out there. You saw the dragon. It’s not safe.”

Mel shook her head and pushed Gabs out of her way. “I need to protect him.”

Mel heard her own voice and how much she sounded like Marcus in this moment. But she didn’t care. He had gone to Aldrion because of her. He was living down by the wall because she had refused to live with him. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for her.

She headed out of the dormitory and snuck out toward the east. The Falden grounds were surrounded by a smaller stone wall and Mel thought she could probably climb it and make her way out into the city.

Gabs trailed behind her and Mel didn’t know if it was because she was coming with or if she wanted to try to talk Mel out of this. She reached the stone wall and fiddled with the lantern, wondering how she would climb with it.

Without saying anything, Gabs took the lantern from Mel. “I’ll hand it to you once you reach the top.”

“Thanks,” Mel said.

“I don’t agree with your methods,” Gabs said. “But I understand you need to do this. I just hope the mother watches over you and keeps you safe tonight.”

Mel nodded. A part of her mind wanted to argue. To say, ‘No the dragons will’. But it felt wrong to utter those words, when there was a literal scaly beast circling above the city and killing the people of Aldrion.

Mel tied her cloak closed and put her foot inside a crevice in the wall. She hauled herself flushed against the wall and climbed on makeshift footholds. A moment later, almost all her energy was expended. She sat with one leg on each side of the wall. She reached down toward Gabs.

“Good luck,” Gabriella said and handed her the lantern.

“I’ll come back,” Mel said. “I promise.”

“Don’t promise things you’re not in control of,” Gabs said and turned her back toward Mel. “It makes you dishonest.”

Mel swallowed hard. She didn’t know what to respond. She had over and over again promised Gabs things she wasn’t able to give. She hadn’t gotten rid of the dagger, like she’d said she would. It was still on her person and she couldn’t promise Gabs she would make it back from this trip into Aldrion. Not with a hostile dragon on the loose.

Mel jumped down from the stone wall and hefted the lantern in her hand. She walked through tall grass and small shrubs all the way out to the road leading up to Falden. The dragon was focused on destroying the wall down by the eastern gate and Mel thought perhaps she could sneak into the city without getting killed.

She made it into the edge of the market district, taking small roads and passing through alleyways full with huddled up people. There was screaming and chaos down here, in a way that hadn’t been present up at Falden. These were the real people of Aldrion, scared and trying to survive.

Mel walked past everything in a slow pace. A part of her wanted to run up and down the streets, frantically searching and screaming Marcus’s name. But she stopped herself from doing so. She wouldn’t get anywhere if she got herself killed first.

Finally, she made it to town square. She peeked out into the open meeting place from one of the back alleys covered up mostly by a burning market stall. There was a shadow killing soldiers at the eastern edge of the square. Mel saw its dark shape and white glowing eyes as it snuck into the body of a man and killed him from the inside. Mel tried to avert her gaze.

There was blood and ash covering the streets and in the middle of the square, the statue of Terri Taveck riding a horse had been cut through the center. Something that had been here for centuries was just destroyed.

Mel’s heart drummed in her chest and she focused her gaze on the army base a short distance away from here. She would have to pass the shadow and most of the fighting going on to get down there. To where Marcus would probably still be if he hadn’t already died.

Mel sucked in a deep breath and got ready to leap out from the alley and run toward the base when a hand snuck up on her shoulder. Mel swung around, unsheathing her dagger and stretching it out toward an ash covered old man. He took a step back from her, holding up his hands.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he said.

Mel lowered her dagger and adrenaline pumped in her veins, making it hard to focus on anything else than moving.

“Don’t go out there,” the old man said. “The shadows will kill you. Wait until the sun rises, they will stop then. They won’t attack when the mother is watching.”

Mel spun around, watching the shadow and feeling her mind pressing against her feelings. Could she wait that long?

Mel looked back at the old man and his eyes were pleading and dark. He stretched out his hand toward her and Mel watched him in silence for a moment. Then she took his hand and he led her back down the alley and dragged her into a building. It was made of stone and the edges were charred black, like it had already been set on fire before.

Inside, Mel saw dirty faces of women, men and children, all huddled together against the walls of a sparse looking room. There was no wood inside, no rugs and no beds. There was only stone. The old man leaned against the wall and then let himself sink down toward the ground. Mel sat down beside him and rested her head against the cool wall.

The bells still rang over the city, like a nightmare that wouldn’t end. Once in a while, Mel heard the flapping of canvas above and a roar filling the air. She held her dagger close to her chest, listening to the soft ringing of the magic inside. A tear fell down her cheek and she sent a prayer to keep Marcus safe, but stopped in the middle of it. Not knowing who to send the prayer to, the dragons weren’t who she’d thought they were.