Weston watched as Violet held her magic ring high, doing her best to hold protective and invisibility shields over them. The invisibility shield broke first. As they ran, the guards in front of the cave with prisoners seemed to sense that someone was out there. They called out a counterspell that cancelled out the invisibility spell just before Weston and Violet reached the mouth of the bat cave. The guards in front of the bat cave were shocked out of their sleepy stupor as Weston and Violet ran past them.

“Hey!” they called in unison, scrambling to their feet. Weston did not even bother turning his head to look at them. Now that he knew the invisibility shield was broken, it was time to shift into a dragon. He’d stayed in human form as long as possible so he would be smaller, making it easier for Violet to keep the invisibility shield over both of them. Now, all he wanted to do was be as big and fierce as possible. He felt a rush of excited energy as his soft human flesh gave way to thick dragon hide. His hands morphed into the clawed feet of a dragon as wings sprouted from his back. His head became a fierce dragon head, smoking and angry. He did turn then, to look at the guards who were chasing them, and he let out a long stream of fire. Still in a state of surprise, and unprepared to face the wrath of a dragon, the guards barely had time to register the fact that a wall of flames was coming at them before they were burned to a crisp.

Weston turned to continue to run forward. There would be more guards coming, who would be better prepared. But he would worry about them when they got here. For now, he focused on following Violet into the cave. A beam of bright light was emanating from her magic ring now, lighting the way for them as they ran deeper into the darkness. An occasional bat shifter flew at them, angry at the intrusion and crying out in rage. But one bat could not hope to do much against a dragon and a wizard, and Weston made quick work of taking down the pesky little creatures.

The way before them was clearer than they could have hoped for, and before they knew it they had traveled several minutes into the cave. Weston was surprised at how big this cave was. Most of the caves out here were nothing more than a small rocky shelter from the sun, but this cave seemed to actually have depth to it. They had reached a point now where the main path split off into two separate passageways. Weston looked over at Violet, smoke curling up from his dragon nostrils. She frowned, and shrugged.

“You take the left one, and I’ll take the right?” she asked.

He nodded his giant dragon head in agreement. The left passageway was bigger, and would better accommodate his dragon form. He started running down it without another moment’s hesitation. It was tougher going now, without the light of Violet’s magic ring to guide him. He did his best to squint and see in the darkness, but it was tough for even his keen dragon eyes.

He felt like he’d been running a long time—too long—when the passageway suddenly came to an abrupt halt in what appeared to be a large room. Weston breathed a huge stream of fire into the air to light up the room, and that’s when he saw it: the master bat.

The thing was huge—as big as a horse. It’s ugly, yellow eyes watched him carefully, but nothing else on its body moved. Its wings were tense, its feet gripping tightly to the ceiling of the cave as it hung upside down and fixed a gaze of pure hatred onto Weston’s face. Even in mighty dragon form, that gaze made him shudder.

The room went dark as Weston’s stream of fire died down. He took a deep breath and then let out another long stream of fire, trying once again to get a glimpse of his enemy. This time, when his fire breath lit up the room, he saw that there were two wizard guards standing on either side of the bat. They had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, although Weston guessed they must have been in the room all along, perhaps under invisibility shields that they would have now shed in order to put all their magical energy into protective shields.

“Get out!” one of the wizards yelled. “I’m warning you, we are skilled in dark magic, and will make you wish you were dead if you don’t leave now.”

Weston ignored them. Instead of turning to flee, he raised his dragon head high and let out a long roar. He put all of his strength into that roar, and he hoped that it would be loud enough to echo across the passageways and make its way to Violet. She would know, if she heard it, that he had found the master bat and needed her help.

Weston had barely caught his breath from the roar, when the wizards attacked. They yelled out magic spells and started putting all the force of their power against him. He did his best to dodge the beams of deadly light that came from their magic rings, but they were too fast and he was too large. He could not dodge them completely. His dragon hide did protect him somewhat, but Weston was quickly realizing that these wizards were a step above the wizards he normally fought. Usually, wizard attacks bounced right off his dragon hide, unless they were lucky enough to land perfectly on one of his few vulnerable spots. These attacks were different, though. They were stronger, and instead of bouncing off of him, they seemed to burn right into his hide. They still weren’t getting all the way through to truly hurt him, but he worried that if they hit the same spot multiple times they were going to do some serious damage. These wizards must have been especially well trained in the art of dark magic, and their extra training was helping them hold Weston back from the master bat, who still hung, glaring at him and hissing with rage.

Weston did his best to counter the wizards’ attacks with streams of dragon fire, but their protective shields were holding better than most magic shields Weston had encountered in previous battles. The fire hit an invisible wall whenever Weston breathed out, and none of his attacks were doing much to hurt the wizards or hold them back. Weston let out another long, loud roar, hoping that Violet would hear him.

Moments later, his prayers were answered. She must have heard the first roar, because she burst into the room in a fury of magic attacks. She was waving her magic ring left and right, and yelling out attack spells at the top of her lungs. Weston’s heart leapt in his chest. He was no longer alone. Violet was here, and he knew that even dark wizards would be hard pressed to hold up for long against the two of them fighting together.

The minutes that followed were a blur. Weston and Violet fought side by side, countering every attack that the dark wizards sent at them with an attack of their own. Violet knew several spells to break down protective shields, and she ran through all of them, trying her best to break down their enemy’s defenses. Finally, mercifully, Weston heard her let out a shout of victory. He turned toward the wizard she’d been attacking, and immediately let out a long breath of fire. Before the wizard had time to renew his protective shield, Weston had taken him down. Now, there was only one more guard. With Violet and Weston both focused solely on him, it didn’t take long to break down his shield as well.

Weston saw, out of the corner of his eye, the master bat twitching nervously as the final wizard guard went up in flames. From behind him, Weston could hear the noise of distant shouting echoing down the cave’s passageway. He knew more guards were coming, and he knew that destroying the master bat would become exponentially more difficult once they arrived. He roared loudly, gathering his energy, and then, he let out another stream of fire directly at the bat. He hadn’t counted on the bat being as quick as it was, though.

In the blink of an eye, the bat had zoomed away from its perch at the back of the room, and was making its way toward the passageway that would lead out of the cave. Thankfully, Violet had already anticipated this move, and she pointed her ring at the mouth of the passageway.

“Magicae murus!” she yelled. The wall spell went into effect a split second before the bat would have made its escape. With a yelp of pain, the bat ran into the invisible wall and tumbled backward. It lay stunned for a second, but only a second. Weston tried to hit it with fire, and Violet tried to launch a magic laser, but both attacks hit the rocky ground instead of the bat. The creature was quick for its size, and had rolled out of the way in the nick of time. Now, it was flying around the room, flapping its wings angrily as it attempted to stay out of the way of Violet’s magic ring and Weston’s fire.

The roar from the passageway grew louder, deafening even. The enemy’s reinforcements would be arriving soon, and Weston and Violet still had not managed to take down the bat. Weston redoubled his efforts, breathing out an almost constant stream of fire as he tried to follow the bat’s path back and forth across the room. The bat shrieked as it flew, its angry yellow eyes darting back and forth between Weston and Violet. Weston grew frustrated as his fire breath missed its mark again and again. This bat flew quicker than any other bat he’d ever seen.

An angry pounding now joined the cacophony of sounds in the room. The enemy’s reinforcements had arrived, but they couldn’t get past the magic wall Violet had erected. Weston’s dragon lips curled up into a smile. Violet’s magic was saving the day right now. He felt a puff of pride fill his chest. He was fighting next to one of the best wizard soldiers around. Never mind that she didn’t have much formal training in the ways of war. Thanks to her extensive training as a Wizard Advocate, she had a better grasp of magic spells than most. Her magic wall wouldn’t hold forever, but it would hold long enough for Weston to make sure this master bat was never used to clone another bat shifter soldier.

Weston reached deep down into the depths of his energy, and took the deepest breath he possibly could, deeper than any breath he’d ever taken before. Then, with a roar, he let the breath out in one long, unending stream of fire. The master bat flitted back and forth across the room, screeching and desperately trying to escape Weston’s attack. But Weston held the fire breath longer than he ever had before—long enough for the bat to make a mistake in its frantic flight pattern and fly straight through the flames. With a shriek, the bat tumbled to the ground, its wings burning as it tried to hobble away. Weston took another deep breath, ready to attack again, but it was Violet who finished off the bat.

“Magicae appugno!” Violet yelled, pointing her magic ring at the bat. The bat shrieked in pain as a beam of bright laser light shot out from Violet’s raised ring and hit it square in the chest. Then, the bat was silent and still.

Weston looked over at Violet, his eyes wide with the thrill of victory. Her own eyes danced with happiness as she looked back at him. They had done it. They had destroyed the master bat, and brought Saul’s bat cloning operation to an end for the foreseeable future. The joy of victory lasted only for a moment, though. Their task was not yet done. From behind the magic wall Violet had erected, shrieks of anger rose as Saul’s soldiers realized that the master bat was dead. Weston turned his dragon head to look, and saw that the crowd of enemies by the front of the passageway had grown. Furious wizards were shooting spell after spell at the magic wall, and hundreds of bat shifters were hurling themselves toward it over and over.

“They’re going to break through soon,” Violet said, her whole body tensing up as she watched. Weston nudged her, and then looked at his back, indicating she should climb on. She understood what he meant immediately, and grinned at him.

“Alright then,” she said. “Here goes nothing.”

Weston crouched low to the ground so that Violet could easily swing herself up onto his back. She gripped his scales tightly and flattened herself against him as he slowly rose to his feet again, ready to fly like the wind to get them out of there. He hoped with all his heart that they would be able to make it out of this cave alive, but, even if they didn’t, they were going to give these bastards one hell of a show.

“Steady,” Violet said, her voice sounding strangely calm amidst the shrieking on the other side of the wall. “Steady…”

Weston backed himself up against the very back of the rocky room, directly across from where the passageway was located. Their way out.

“On my count,” Violet said, and then, slowly and clearly, “One, two, three, go!”

Weston began running full speed directly toward the passageway. He did not flinch or slow down as he approached the magic wall. He was trusting Violet to time things correctly. And she did.

“Murus terminantur!” she yelled a split second before he would have made impact with the invisible wall. The wall spell ended, and Weston roared and let out a stream of fire as he rushed into the passageway. Behind him, startled wizards and shifters tumbled into the cave room. They hadn’t been expecting the sudden disappearance of the magic wall. Ahead of him, though, Weston faced hundreds of additional bat shifters.

The bats must have realized something in the cave was amiss. Someone had sounded the alarm. Whether it was one of the wizard guards or some of the bat shifters themselves, Weston didn’t know and didn’t care. All he knew was that the hordes of Saul’s bat shifter army had returned to the cave to defend the master bat. Running through them felt like trying to run through thick molasses, but Weston did his best. He just kept moving forward, and kept breathing out fire into the wall of bat shifters in front of him. He could hear Violet behind him, yelling out magic attacks from her perch across his dragon back.

Occasionally, the mass of bat shifters was broken up by an enemy wizard. Weston ignored the wizard guards completely, letting Violet deal with them using her powerful magic spells. Weston focused all of his energy on making progress toward the bat cave’s exit. He felt like the passageway was much longer on the way out than it had been on the way in, but he knew this was due merely to how desperate the moment felt.

“Come on,” he told himself. “If you can just make it to open air, you can make it out of here.”

He pressed on, determined— and grateful for Violet’s assistance in knocking out every wizard guard they came across. Just when he thought the passageway could not possibly have been this long on the way in, Weston suddenly found himself looking up at open sky. He blinked, surprised, and hesitated for a second from the sudden feeling of disorientation that the unexpected view gave him. The wall of bats had given way to open air. Bats still swirled around him, and out of the corner of his eye he could see more wizards and shifters running toward him. But he had made it out of the bat cave. He was no longer trapped in a long tunnel.

“Fly!” Violet screamed. “Fly, Weston!”

Weston snapped back into action at the sound of Violet’s voice. He pumped his powerful wings, and started running again. A few moments later, he felt his body lifting into the air. Pesky bat shifters still nipped at him, but their teeth barely even scratched at his thick scales. Weston was free. There was open air ahead of him, and he was going to make it out of here alive. He could feel the adrenaline in his very bones as he rose higher and higher.

He could hear Violet on his back, still yelling out attack spells and taking down wizard after wizard. But everything sounded faraway to Weston’s ears now, even Violet, who was in actuality only a few feet from his ears. All Weston could focus on was the open sky above him. He had to fly, faster and farther than the enemy wizards and bats. That’s all he had to do: fly like the wind. If he could manage this one task, then he and Violet would survive, and their mission would be a complete success.

Weston pumped his wings harder than he ever had in his life. He straightened out his body into the shape of a bullet, and hurtled through the air as though he himself had indeed been shot out of some sort of giant gun. He breathed in the cool night air in giant greedy gulps. The fresh oxygen filled his lungs, giving him renewed energy. The wind whipped at his ears, blocking out all other sounds. He didn’t look back and didn’t slow down until he felt Violet wrapping her arms around his neck as he flew. This meant she had stopped launching magic attacks, which could only mean one thing…

Weston slowed and turned his head to look behind him. They were flying in clear air now. In the distance, he could see a cloud of bat shifters and wizards swirling above the desert sands. But none of them were following Weston and Violet anymore.

“We did it,” Violet shouted, her voice filled with gleeful giddiness. “We slipped away. I managed to get up an invisibility shield they couldn’t penetrate, and now they have no idea where we are.”

Weston turned his giant dragon body so that he was looking at the enemy army they’d been flying away from. Even from this distance, it was evident how confused the enemy soldiers were. They turned in frantic circles, occasionally throwing out attacks in random directions as though they might by chance hit something. He wasn’t sure how Violet had managed to give them the slip so completely, but she had. And together, he and Violet had just made a huge difference in the war effort for the side of good.

Weston felt Violet squeeze her arms tighter around his neck.

“Let’s go home,” she shouted. He smiled, and let out a puff of smoke as he turned around again. He flew back to Blackstone with a heart that felt much lighter than it had in months. He and Violet had done great things together as a team. He hoped that they could continue to find ways to work together, despite their occasional disagreements. Something deep down in his heart told him that they would, and that their next adventure wasn’t too far off.