Chapter Fifteen
Kiara walked into the forest and past the small clearing where she usually did her magic. The snow crunched beneath her feet, echoing in the silence of the winter blanket that lay over the forest. She raised her hood up and looked around the clearing, her breath curling in soft, thick vapors in front of her face. She walked up to the stump where she usually performed her magic and with one swipe of her hand pushed the piled snow off it.
The branches of the trees bent low against the weight of snow on top of them and Kiara couldn’t help but smile wistfully at the sight. It seemed only yesterday that the forest was in full bloom of summer, every corner of it teeming with life. There was a deep magic in the turning of the seasons and you didn’t need to be a witch to notice it. She rubbed her hands together and blew into them, warming them against the cold. She was ready.
She placed the ingredients for her spell on the still damp stump, carefully arranging them in a circle in the correct order. Spells were trickier now that she couldn’t shift into dragon form but what she had lost in power she had gained with experience. Despite the traumatic events of the past few months there had been more than a few positives that she had come out with. For starters she no longer had to find excuses or lie to her mother when going out to practice magic.
That alone had allowed her a substantial amount of time to practice magic. Her mother had started tutoring her in the ways of spell casting as well. Kiara had thought she was doing well on her own but there were a hundred different ways in which an experienced tutor could affect your magic. Little things that Kiara hadn’t even thought of such as the position of the celestial bodies, the direction of wind, the time of day, even the mindset of the spell caster; they all contributed to the efficacy of the spell.
And then there was also Spence, of course. Kiara’s cheeks turned hotter at the mere thought of him. Even though most of their time was divided equally between magic practice and make-out sessions, having a partner to practice magic with made a world of difference. Her mother had told her that she was almost at an expert level of spell casting now. She hoped it was true. There was no way the spell she had in mind was going to work otherwise. The last time she had tried it, she had the power of a dragon backing her up. This time it was just her own skills, talents and intentions.
Kiara breathed deeply, pushing her doubts and misgivings to the back of her mind. Her breath washed through her body, like a clear, cool wave wiping away everything, except for the singular purpose that she would forge into magic. She closed her eyes and centered herself, reached deep within her soul for the magic that coursed through her as surely as her own blood and began weaving her spell. It was an intense few minutes of concentration. Everything around her fell away. The world and everything in it was reduced to the single point of focus in front of her.
Kiara could feel a drop of sweat dripping down her temple. She could feel the magic throbbing in her veins, threatening to break free, threatening to explode right out of her. So intense was her concentration that she didn’t even notice the flap of mighty wings overhead. It wasn’t until the deep, thundering voice of Sindri rang out that she opened her eyes.
“You have been practicing your magic.”
Kiara opened her eyes at the sound of his voice “Oh…You’re….you’re here…,” she stumbled.
Sindri seemed amused by her reaction. “You seem surprised….yet you were the one who cast the summoning spell.”
Kiara panted softly. The toll that the spell took on her was something no normal witch could withstand. She wasn’t exactly sure why she hadn’t passed out or worse. “Well, I wasn’t exactly sure it would work,” she responded.
“You summoned a dragon without knowing if you were strong enough to withstand the effects of the spell?” Sindri asked.
Kiara winced slightly. She knew it had been a gamble. She had heard that the greater the creature being summoned, the more strenuous the spell was, and there were few creatures more grand than dragons.
“Well….when you put it like that…,” she said awkwardly.
Sindri remained silent for a few moments before bursting out into laughter. The sound of his cackling echoed in the snow-covered forest and for a moment, Kiara had to cover her ears with her hands to withstand the cacophony.
“Child, I don’t know if that’s the stupidest or the bravest act I have seen a human commit,” he said.
Kiara blushed and looked down at her feet, half sunk in the snow.
“Well….what is it?” The massive dragon leaned back slightly, his gaze focused on the witch who had grown so much in skill and power in the short time he had known her. Kiara bit down on her bottom lip, contemplating her words for a while before she looked up at him and sighed.
“I wanted to invite you over for a Christmas meal,” she said.
Sindri was taken aback. “A kriss…mus….meal?” He looked up at the gray, overcast skies seeming to search his memory. “I’ve never had a …..krismus….what does it taste like?”
Kiara couldn’t help the laughter that fell from her lips. It was only at a stern glance from the dragon that she quietened down.
“It’s...uh…it’s not an animal…Christmas is a festival that we celebrate….with our friends and family,” she explained.
Sindri blinked at her words. “Friends?”
Kiara smiled and shrugged. “After what we’ve been through, after what you did for me, I had thought we were friends.”
Sindri kept staring at her for a few moments and Kiara held her breath. She wasn’t sure whether she had offended the ancient dragon or not.
His answer came in the form of a sudden hiss of magic. The dragon’s scales expelled a sort of green vapor that cloaked his form top to bottom, hiding him from her view. When the vapors parted, in place of the dragon stood a handsome man, dressed in all black, with the sole exception of the red scarf around his neck. Steam rose from his form as the snow melted around his shoes.
“Wow,” was all Kiara could say.
Sindri looked down at himself and then back up at her. “It’s been some years since I took the form of a man. I trust this is satisfactory.”
Kiara bit down on her lip, biting back the flirty comment that came to her tongue “It’s….it’s more than satisfactory. I didn’t know you were a shifter as well.”
Sindri scoffed and waved his hand. “I am a dragon of ancient blood. Taking the form of a pink human for a few hours is no concern.”
Kiara smiled and locked her arm around his. “Well, pink human,” she couldn’t resist the snarky comment as they started walking out of the woods. “I hope you kept that dragon appetite of yours. My mom kind of went overboard this year.”
“Your mom...” Sindri smiled at the mention of Kiara’s mother “Yes, I have sensed her magic. A most skilled practitioner of the art.”
There was something in his voice that made Kiara peek out the corner of his eye at him. There was a grin on his lips and a faraway look.
“Wait….you know my mom?” Kiara arched a brow at him and Sindri immediately looked away, hiding his face as he pretended to study the sky. “Only her magic. Her spells…well, like I said, she seems to be an adequate performer.”
Kiara grinned. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A dragon had a crush on her mother.
“That’s not what you said. You said she was a…What was the term? ‘A skilled practitioner of the art.’”
Sindri huffed a small puff of air and continued to avert his gaze from hers. They walked together in silence for a while. The only sound was that of their footsteps crunching on the snow and after a while the faint hum that Kiara recognized as the sound of Christmas carolers going from house to house. She looked up at Sindri as his attention was drawn towards the sounds, the smells and the lights of the human festival.
“Come on,” Kiara said, tugging at his arm, leading him towards the feast that awaited them both. “There’re a lot of people I want to introduce you to.”
*****
THE END