Several shapes came out of the woods. Men in armour. Palace guards. Lamaën stood at their front, no longer wearing the armour he had been wearing earlier.

“People are so predictable,” he said. “Leave an area untouched and they don’t question it. They head straight for it.”

“Your Majesty!” Hang yelled. “Your Highnesses! Run!” He drew his sword and launched himself forward. He didn’t make it far before he flew back through the air and landed in the muddy snow.

Lamaën swept his arm again.

Gabby drew her sword, as did the remaining Kingsguard.

Quilla fumbled for her own sword, not really sure what she would do with it, but she could try.

A shadow fell over them. This time, it wasn’t the sun going behind the clouds.

The dragon roared as it thudded to the ground behind them. Its warm, smelly breath blew over Quilla, the creature was that close.

Annai screamed.

The dragon took a single step towards them and extended its neck forward.

Two of the Kingsguard rushed at it, but it flicked its head to the side, knocking one over and impaling the other on one of its teeth. It pulled back and shook its head several times until the Kingsguard’s body fell off.

Gabby three her sword down. “All right, Lamaën, we surrender.”

Lamaën backed away with his guards. “Thank you, your Highness, but that’s not actually an option. We can’t really leave any Royal survivors, can we?”

The dragon repositioned itself so it was looking directly at them, but angled in such a way as to avoid lining up with Lamaën and his men.

Oh gods. It was going to breathe on them

Quilla ran in front of the Queen and Annai. “No! I’m the Catalyst! You can’t kill me. You need me. Pastrin, Ned, Gabby, everyone get behind me.”

The dragon extended its head towards Quilla until it almost touched her. Each of its nostrils was half her size. Its hot breath poured over her.

Quilla was glad she didn’t have anything left in her to vomit, as her stomach heaved. She tried to breathe calmly, slowly, but her breathing just increased its pace. Death had never seemed so close.

The dragon’s head rose above her head. The bottom of its jaw almost brushed her forehead. She followed it with her eyes, then glanced behind her.

The others all had their swords drawn. Gabby, Pastrin, and Ned all faced the other direction, watching Lamaën and his guards approaching closer. Annai and the Queen watched the dragon as its neck extended farther forward.

Shit! It was just going to reach over her and pick off the others. She hadn’t even thought of that.

A yell came from somewhere to Quilla’s right.

The dragon’s head whipped round with a snarl.

A very large horse and rider were galloping towards them, the rider holding his sword aloft.

The dragon reared its neck and head back, and opened its jaws.

“Rudiger, look out!” Quilla yelled.

Flames shot down, engulfing Rudiger and Borisin, and melting the snow beneath them. But as Quilla watched, it became apparent the fire was deflecting around Rudiger and Borisin as they charged forward. It was like it was hitting an invisible shield surrounding them.

The dragon stopped breathing as they got closer. Borisin made a hard turn to the right just before colliding with the dragon. Rudiger swung wide, his sword slicing across the dragon’s rear leg.

With a roar, the dragon reared aside. Compared to the size of the dragon, it was a small cut, but the dragon screamed anyway. It spun round, its tail swinging perilously close to Quilla and the others.

Lidda Plavin clung to the back of the dragon’s neck. “Kill them! Get me that sword!”

Oh, for a crossbow, Quilla thought.

“Look out!” Annai cried.

Quilla spun round.

Lamaën’s guards had rushed forward, and were clashing with Gabby, Ned, and the Kingsguard. Pastrin stood nearby, his sword wavering in front of him.

From behind, Borisin screeched. Quilla glanced back to see the horse lying on his side farther down the slope. Rudiger lay on the ground, directly beneath the dragon’s leering head.

Quilla drew her sword. Or tried. It took three attempts to get it out, but it came free finally.

“Damn it,” Annai muttered.

Quilla spun round again.

Annai was pulling off several layers of skirts. “Don’t just stand there! You do it, too! You can’t fight in these skirts. Not in the snow!”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Annai was right. Quilla began pulling at her skirts.

Gabby blocked a blow from one of the guards. She then swung round to the side and stabbed the next guard over.

Quilla got herself down to just two layers of skirts and tossed the others aside. She could move more easily now, but had to be careful of the fabric on the ground from her, Annai, and the Queen. She held her sword out in front of her. The weight started to hurt her wrist almost immediately.

Behind her, the dragon screamed again.

In front of her, Ned stumbled and fell on his back. One of the Darker guards rushed at Annai, who tried to block with her sword. She succeeded, but her sword fell from her grasp.

The Darker raised his sword at Annai. Quilla tried to push forward, but Hang slammed into the Darker from the side, knocking them both to the ground. They rolled about in the mud.

Only one other Darker guard remained and Gabby was fighting him. The two other Kingsguard lay on the ground. Quilla couldn’t tell if they were dead or alive. Pastrin was helping Ned to his feet.

And there was Lamaën, standing well back.

She could rush him. He was unarmed. Of course, he’d swat her aside with that power of his, or he’d age her to death with that other power. It didn’t matter. She had to try.

Annai stumbled against Quilla, apparently trying to avoid Hang and the Darker still rolling around on the ground. Annai stabbed down at the guard, but missed.

A force hit Quilla, just like the one that had hit her in the throne room. She flew backwards, hit her head on the soft ground. She groaned. Her vision swam, but it cleared quickly. She sat up. She’d lost her sword somewhere. There it was. Several feet away.

Annai and the Queen had been thrown back as well, to either side of Quilla. Annai was getting to her feet, but the Queen was groaning on the ground.

Lamaën stomped through the snow up to the Queen. Annai ran at him, but flew backwards again. Lamaën swiped his arm. “You really do like to do this the hard way, don’t you?”

The Queen grabbed his leg. “You will pay for what you’ve done here.” She tried to pull him over.

Lamaën stood fast and looked down at her. The Queen gasped. The skin on her face smoothed out. Her fingers gripping his legs lost their wrinkles and straightened out. They shortened. As her hands got smaller, they lost their grip on Lamaën’s leg. The Queen’s body shrunk as she got younger and younger, until there was just a squalling baby lying in a pile of clothes in the snow.

“Mother!” Annai screamed.

Lamaën twirled his finger in a small circle. “Go back.” He lifted his foot and brought it down on the baby Queen’s neck. The baby’s cries stopped.

Annai fell to her knees. “No!”

Lamaën looked directly at Quilla. He looked older—not old exactly, but the age he used to look before he’d de-aged when he’d killed DeSeloön. He was also panting heavily.

Oh gods. He was a wizard. Quilla didn’t know what kind, but he was exerting himself and tiring out just like a wizard would. And if he made contact with her…

He started towards her.

“He’s tiring! But if he touches me, he’ll gain power from me!”

Gabby stabbed the guard she was fighting and ran for Lamaën. She stumbled backwards suddenly, but wasn’t thrown back like before. She pushed forward as Lamaën swiped his arm.

Hang grabbed Lamaën’s foot and yanked him over. He fell face first into the mud. Hang cried out as the other Darker he was fighting rammed a dagger into his side.

Pastrin and Ned rushed forward, but they were a ways back and Ned was limping.

Quilla ran out to the side of Lamaën, trying to get round him to help Hang.

Gabby leapt on top of Lamaën. She rammed her hands down at the back of his head, but he vanished and she fell over. “Fuck!”

With Lamaën gone, Quilla ran straight for Hang and his assailant. She kicked at the Darker’s side, but his armour cushioned her blows. Hang kicked at his face and was a little more successful. The Darker let go of him, and Hang scrambled aside.

Gabby stomped over and rammed her sword through the Darker’s helmet. He went still.

The dragon screeched and a wave of air rushed over them. It had spread and beat its wings. Rudiger was standing again, his sword raised, trying to fend the beast off.

“Get out of here!” he cried at them.

“We can’t just leave him,” Ned said.

Gabby lowered her head. “We can’t help him either. Too many have died today.”

“And we’ll be adding his death to that total if we go.” Ned reached down and took Hang’s hand, helping him up.

“If we don’t, we’ll be adding his and ours.” Gabby sheathed her sword. “Quilla, help Annai. Let’s move while they’re distracted by the sword.”

Quilla hurried over to Annai, who was sobbing by her mother’s gown. “Annai, come on.”

“But Mother.”

“I know.” Quilla held out her hand. “We’ll mourn her soon. Please come with us.”

Annai looked up at Quilla, her face a smudge of tears and make-up. “Both Mother and Father.”

Quilla kept her hand out. “I know. Please, Rudiger can only hold the dragon off so long.”

Annai took her hand, and Quilla helped her to her feet.

“And Thilin,” Annai muttered as Quilla led her away. “Tianna. Zandrue. Sinitïa. All gone.”

Quilla put an arm around her and directed her into the woods after Gabby, Pastrin, Ned, and Hang. She looked back at Rudiger for a moment.

The dragon’s claw swatted Rudiger aside. He fell on his back many feet down the hill. The dragon moved round, blocking Quilla’s view.

“He’s a good man,” Annai said.

Quilla nodded. “Yes, he is. Sorry, Rudiger.” She held back the tears, and they turned back towards the woods.