Weston could hardly tell which way was up or down anymore. He was completely surrounded by enemy bats, making the air around him so black that it might as well have been night. He’d lost count of how many battles he’d been in over the course of this war, but this one was by far the worst. He was beginning to fear that it might be his last. Occasionally, he would see an enemy wizard darting in and out of the sea of bats, shooting off attack spells with gusto. He guessed that they were attacking some of his fellow soldiers, although he couldn’t see any familiar faces through the thickness of the bats. His heart was pumping hard with adrenaline, and he tried to focus all of his energy on attacking the bats around him. He tried not to think about Violet. Whenever her face appeared in his mind’s eye, it filled him with a deep sense of worry. He could fight battles all day long and not fear for himself, but just the thought of losing Violet made it hard to breathe.
Weston darted in and out of the bats, breathing fire in every direction, taking down dozens of bats with each breath. He must have killed hundreds of the pesky bat shifters by now, but they still kept coming. They weren’t very strong, and, on their own they almost wouldn’t have been worth the effort to kill. But together, the multitudes of bats were overwhelming. Weston was beginning to feel as though he could hardly breathe. He kept fighting though, doing his best to hold them at bay and to keep his mind off of Violet.
He felt a deep sense of remorse when he realized how right Violet had been. She’d seen this coming, but he’d been too blind to acknowledge the writing on the wall. His heart had been in the right place. He’d merely wanted to keep his soldiers out of a battle that promised to be a massacre. But they were involved in a massacre now whether they wanted to be or not. Weston could only hope that Violet had warned everyone with enough time for them to not be taken completely by surprise.
As soon as Weston had seen the bats heading toward Blackstone, he’d shifted into dragon form and launched himself into the sky with a giant roar. He’d wanted to draw the army away from the city as best he could, so he’d been loud and obvious and obnoxious. He’d thought that this move was likely to result in his death, but he hadn’t hesitated. He’d wanted to give his soldiers every chance to rally, and he’d wanted to keep the unsuspecting human citizens of Blackstone from getting caught in a wizard-shifter battle. He had no idea at the moment whether either goal had actually been accomplished, but he was pleasantly surprised to find himself still very much alive.
The bats had turned out to be easier to handle than he’d thought. At first, he’d been heartened by how quickly they fell from the sky. Now, however, he was starting to tire. Even the weak bats were soon going to be too much to handle. He could only hold off a sea of them for so long.
Weston told himself not to dwell on the morbid possibility of his own death. All he could do right now was to continue to fight and hope for the best. He continued to flap his wings with as much energy as he could muster, breathing stream after stream of fire into the air and thinking that, at the very least, each bat he took down was one less bat that his fellow soldiers would have to fight.
He continued this way for what felt like hours, telling himself to just continue on fighting the next bat and the next. In reality, it was probably only fifteen minutes of fighting like this, but time in the middle of a battle doesn’t feel like normal time. Weston did the best he could on his own, and then, suddenly, he wasn’t on his own any longer.
He heard them before he saw them. The dull drone of flapping bat wings was suddenly punctuated by the sharp hissing of magic attacks coming from wizard rings. For a moment, Weston worried that enemy wizards had found him. He knew he was too weak at this point to hold up very long against the attacks of dark wizards. Dark magic spells were significantly harder to deflect than weak bat bites. But before his heart could sink too much, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face to his right. One of the Falcon Cross wizards had flown up right beside him on her broomstick, and was sweeping her magic ring left and right with gusto, bringing down bats with every swipe of her hand.
After another few seconds had passed, Weston suddenly found himself completely surrounded by Falcon Cross wizards. A group of them had found him, and had flown into a circle formation around him, protecting him on all sides. The sight of his fellow soldiers, alive and well, gave him fresh hope and a fresh burst of energy. He let out a roar, and began attacking with renewed determination. The bats still came in thick droves, but he was no longer alone, and that made all the difference. And then, another very familiar face flew up beside him, and he felt his heart leap with relief.
Violet.
She was swerving left and right as she hovered in mid air, expertly avoiding the flurry of bats that tried to attack her. She maneuvered herself right up next to him, and gave him an encouraging smile. Weston thought his heart was going to melt right in his chest when he saw that smile. He didn’t know how she felt about the fact that he’d said he loved her. He didn’t know whether she was going to be raging mad at him later for trying to keep the Falcon Cross soldiers from fighting. But he did know one thing: right then, in that moment, they were one. They were together, on the same team, and fighting the same enemy. He’d worry later about the fallout from their argument. Now, they fought together. They’d always been an amazing team in the sky, and today would be no different.
Violet caught his eye, and nodded at his back. She wanted to ride his dragon, so that she could focus fully on attacking spells rather than on flying. He nodded his dragon head in agreement. He was only too happy to oblige her. She flew right over him and landed deftly on his back. He felt her set her broomstick down and attach it to his back with a sticking spell, and then, she was up on her knees on his back, ready to fight.
“Magicae arma,” she yelled into the chaos. Instantly a protective shield formed around both of them. Suddenly, the bats that had been constantly running up against Weston weren’t able to reach him. The constant barrage of bites on his dragon hide stopped almost instantly, a welcome relief. The bat’s teeth couldn’t get through his thick dragon skin, but the relentless pricking, poking, and prodding had been driving him crazy.
With the protection of the shield around him, he was finally able to get his bearings. He could see that he was several miles away from Blackstone at this point. Whether or not the townspeople had noticed that there was a giant cloud of bats, dragons, and wizards in the distance was anyone’s guess, but at least they weren’t right in the heart of the city. Weston continued to fly away from Blackstone, hoping to at least lessen the chances of anyone in Blackstone seeing what was happening and freaking out.
Weston could hear Violet on his back, yelling out attack spells. He could see the slashing laser light from her ring swiping left and right across the sky, felling dozens of bats with each swoop. He breathed in deeply to breathe out fire, once again adding his own fury to the fight. The Falcon Cross wizards circling around him were taking down scores of bats as well, and Weston almost thought that the thickness of the bat cloud was starting to diminish. He felt his heart once again buoyed by hope, and he attacked with fresh energy.
A few minutes later, he was sure of it: the bats were definitely starting to lessen. Now, he could see a bit into the distance. A little ways off he saw Holden’s dragon, also surrounded by Falcon Cross wizard soldiers. On his other side, he could see Knox’s dragon, careening through the air like a fiery streak, leaving a trail of dead, falling bats behind him. And beyond Knox, was Peter, riding on his broomstick just as quickly as the younger wizards, launching attack after attack. Most of the Falcon Cross wizards were surrounding Peter, protecting him, but Weston knew that was probably due to everyone else’s insistence rather than Peter’s request. The old wizard had no concept of how old he was, or that he was supposed to be slowing down. He seemed to have missed the memo that old age required him to act like an old man, and he looked like he was almost having fun as he weaved in and out of the bats and enemy wizards, swiping his ring back and forth across the sky to hit the enemy where it hurt.
As the last of the bats began to die off, Weston and his fellow soldiers faced a new challenge. The enemy wizards, who had been, until now, just as blinded by the bats as everyone else, could see much better now. They began closing in on Weston and the others, ready to attack. Weston gritted his giant dragon teeth and flew forward to meet them at full speed. He was not in the mood to watch any of his soldiers die. He was going to fight his heart out to defend them, even if it cost him his own life. He knew Violet would feel the same way, a belief confirmed by the whoop of excitement he heard her let out as he picked up speed. Weston would have smiled, if not for the fact that he was flying too fast to really bother with details like that. He felt heartened knowing that Violet was with him in this fight, however it went. On the one hand, he hated to fly toward danger while she was with him. But, on the other hand, he knew that Violet would force herself into the heart of the battle whether anyone wanted her there or not. At least if she was with him, he could help protect her.
It turned out that she didn’t need his protection all that much. She was in fine fighting form today, holding her magic shield steady while also shooting out attack after attack. She was taking down more enemy wizards than the rest of the Falcon Cross soldiers combined, and Weston felt pride as he watched her, even though he hadn’t been the one to train her. Somehow, he’d come to think of Violet as ‘his girl’ in the last half hour, and he was proud to see her doing so well in battle.
Weston no longer felt stressed by the battle, or even afraid. He was easily handling all of the attacks that were being thrown at him, and the enemy forces were dwindling rapidly. To his left and right, he could see his fellow wizard soldiers and dragons as they fought. Somehow, miraculously, he had survived. They were going to come out of this battle victorious. This knowledge gave him yet another fresh burst of energy, and Violet must have felt similarly, because he heard her whooping again.
Then, almost as suddenly as the battle had begun, it was ending. Someone in the enemy army must have given a signal to retreat. Within seconds, all of the enemy wizards and the remaining bats were turning around as quickly as they could to fly back to Sandview. For a few minutes, Weston and his fellow soldiers chased them down. Eventually, though, Peter gave the signal to fall back. The battle was done, at least for the moment.
On his back, Weston heard Violet ending the sticking spell on her broomstick so she could pick it up once again. She climbed back on and then flew off his back, zooming in front of him to give him a quick wink before zooming off at full speed toward Blackstone.
Weston felt a thrill of pleasure in his chest at the sight of her, but he wasn’t going to let himself get too excited yet. He might have finally confessed his love to her, but he wasn’t sure whether she was going to admit to having similar feelings.
No matter, he thought as he started flying after her. If he had to convince her, then he would. He had always loved the thrill of the chase.