The summoned serpent flared a pair of jet black wings as it roared with a defiant tweeeep.

Another moment of silence passed as Marie and Theo blinked with stupefied expressions on their faces.

The serpent was a dragon. A tiny dragon.

It was approximately the size of a very small puppy.

It flapped its bat-like wings at Marie who was still staring in shock.

You’re a baby. Theo said.

I am a scourge of the night. It snapped its needle like teeth.

Marie shook herself out of her stupor and began drawing magic to her pistol again.

This time Theo could tell she was gathering enough magic to do some serious damage.

He scooped up his “scourge of the night” and twisted a shadow into a staff-like object.

Don’t manhandle me. The dragon snarled and squirmed.

Theo ducked as Marie shot at him and knocked her gun to the ground with the rough staff.

He kicked the gun, sending it sliding down the slope they were currently standing at the top of.

Marie scrambled after the pistol.

It wasn’t a huge delay, but it would have to be enough.

Theo dashed for the tree line of the surrounding forest.

He made it to the trees at about the same time Marie recovered her pistol if the splintering tree trunk told him anything.

He just had to get a little further, and he would be reach his companion.

Some shouts filled the air, calling to Marie.

It seemed her companions had arrived, and his footsteps were still leaving a clear trail in the snow.

Theo sprinted even faster, causing the little dragon to nip him in anger.

This jostling displeases me, mortal.

Theo ignored it. There, behind the copse of junipers.

“Carrot Sticks,” Theo called to the unicorn who was waiting for him.

A whicker greeted him as he rounded the trees to see Carrot Sticks.

Carrot was a dun colored unicorn with a black horn. He was a beautiful creature, but annoying.

“Why didn’t you come for me?” Theo complained.

“With that explosion? I’d get my fur singed.”

Carrot lashed his tail.

“Naturally,” Theo grunted as he clambered onto Carrot’s back.

The unicorn stopped one of his front hooves in displeasure.

“And what hellion did you bring back with you,” Carrot asked, beginning to gallop through the snow.

“I am Tempest of the Underworld, Rage of the Abyss-“

Magic singed the air again.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Pick up the pace, Carrot!” Theo yelled.

“I deserve at least a bucket of carrots after this.”

The unicorn grumbled but managed to gallop a little faster.

Carrot continued to gallop for an hour before hopping into a river and swimming downstream.

Theo shivered as the icy water numbed his legs and dug his hands in Carrot’s thick mane.

The dragon burrowed into Theo’s suit jacket and clung to his chest. Chunks of ice scraped Theo’s legs.

Their icy swim continued for about fifteen minutes before Carrot climbed returned to shore.

Theo was slumped against Carrot’s neck at that point, trying to cling to any warmth he could.

The dragon radiated heat against his chest, and Theo tucked his hands around the dragon.

“Hold on a little longer,” Carrot said before beginning to gallop again.

After another 30 or so minutes of galloping, Carrot stopped.

“Here’s as good a place as any,” the unicorn said.

“Yu-yu-yep,” Theo said past his shivering teeth.

The suit he was wearing had a temperature charm embroidered in the lining, but it didn’t do much good when the clothes were soaking wet.

He struggled to get off Carrot, falling more than dismounting.

“Does the human realm not have beds?” The dragon asked as Theo placed him on Carrot’s back.

“We-we aren’t stop-stopping,” Theo said through chattering teeth.

“Is it not night? Humans sleep at night.”

The little dragon beat his wings.

“Not to-tonight,” Theo said.

He pulled his regular trousers and shirt from Carrot’s saddle bags as well as a heavy wool coat.

He stripped and changed quicker that he thought was humanely possible.

The new clothes were damp, but not as soaked as the ones he had been wearing.

The saddle bags were charmed to resist rain, so they did a decent job of keeping water out.

Theo rubbed Carrot down with a spare shirt in an attempt to dry the unicorn off. It didn’t work well, but Carrot preened at the attention.

Then, Theo scooped the dragon, climbed back on Carrot and tucked the dragon inside his shirt.

The dragon squirmed at first but settled down and began to happily rumble at their shared warmth.

Without a word, Carrot began a neck-breaking speed through the snow covered forest.

***

It was midmorning when Carrot finally stopped.

They were no longer in the forest and had reached the plains. The grass was dried, dead and waist high, but blessedly free of snow.

“Get off you oaf,” Carrot grumbled as soon as he came to a halt by a small stream.

Theo tumbled off the unicorn, barely landing on his feet.

He swayed a little before sinking down.

The dragon tucked its head outside of Theo’s collar to survey the grassy plains around them. It snorted, unimpressed.

Carrot drank heavily from the stream before he laid beside Theo, using the tall grass as coverage from any who might see them.

Theo scooted closer to Carrot for warmth.

“You’re crushing me,” The dragon said, his voice muffled by thick wool fabric.

He wriggled himself free, tucking in between Carrot and Theo.

“You are lucky that I, Majesty of Darkness, am so forgiving.”

Theo snorted and raised an eyebrow at the dragon.

Then, he addressed the unicorn, “You sleep first, Carrot.”

Carrot gave a soft whicker in agreement and fell asleep almost immediately.

The dragon followed suite, softly snoring.

That left Theo alone with his thoughts while he desperately tried to stay awake.

It watching others sleep peacefully while he had to stay awake made Theo feel a little jealous. Sleeping was one of his favorite hobbies.

Last night had been a horrendous mission from start to finish.

His strategy had been flawed, his judgment impaired and his escape was clumsy at best.

It had also been nice to see Marie.

Theo rummaged in one of their packs and found a bit of cheese. It wasn’t the best, but he had been feeling woozy since their escape.

In this world there were two types of magic users.

There were ambient magic users like Marie that harness magic that naturally existed in the world around them.

On the other hand there were innate magic users like Theo. Innate magic users create their own magic and used that.

Using ambient magic could be tiring since ambient magic users were using their bodies as a conduit for magic.

However, innate magic required much more energy since innate mages were burning through a force their body generated.

Then Theo had to deal with blood loss on top of that.

In a way, though, the blood loss was a blessing.

It limited how much Dullahan could use him. If there was nothing limiting Theo’s powers, Dullahan could use Theo as a nonstop portal to summon all sorts of evil.

Theo sighed when he finished his ration of cheese.

His stomach still roared with hunger. Placing a hand on his cramping stomach, he put the cheese back in the pack.

If he was lucky, they would pass somewhere he could buy-

Theo dismissed the thought. There would surely be a lot of bounty posted for him after the mess he just made.

Moving to the stream, Theo submerged his wounded hand under the water and gently rubbed away the dried blood.

Thankfully, there were two restrictions for summoning creatures with his blood. The blood couldn’t be dry, and it had to touch the ground.

Still, Theo had to be careful not to reopen the young wound.

When he was finished washing it, he took a roll of bandages from his pack and dressed his hand and arm.

All immediate needs taken care of to the best of his ability, Theo sat down next to Carrot and trained his ears for any suspicious sounds.

But all he heard were the sounds of grass rustling in the wind.