Wind and rain whipped at Izzy’s face as she flew, but she would not allow herself to slow down. If there was a weak link in this army today, it would not be her. Izzy bent low against her broomstick and kept her squinted eyes trained on Noah’s dragon form, which sliced through the air in front of her. In front of him, Raven flew, leading the way to where Saul’s army would be overtaking the rest of the Falcon Cross army. The hundreds of Falcon Cross soldiers that were now armed with ancient artifacts leaned in on their broomsticks, flying behind and around Izzy. The group was strong, and well-armed: three of the five Redwood Dragons’ vaults had been completely emptied, and the treasures that had been hidden within were now worn by the Falcon Cross Wizards. Even still, would this group be strong enough? Would their strength, joined with the rest of the Falcon Cross army and Redwood Dragons, be enough to push back Saul?
Izzy did her best to squelch the sick feeling she got in her stomach every time she thought of Saul. Despite Noah’s apologies for all of the cruel things he’d said, she knew there was truth to at least one aspect of his words. She was a coward. Perhaps not a total coward. After all, she’d stepped up in battles before, and she had managed to save Noah’s life when the monster attacked him in the redwoods. But that didn’t change the fact that thinking about Saul made her feel like she was going to hurl. She knew the odds of her coming face to face with him in battle weren’t too high, but that didn’t matter. Just the fact that there was a slight chance she’d see that evil dragon’s face again filled her with fear.
The rain wasn’t helping her mood. It had been sunny in the redwoods, but as Izzy and the rest of the army started flying northeast, clouds began to gather. By the time darkness fell, those clouds had started to spew rain in sheets. Izzy had never flown through rain quite so thick, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that the weather was some sort of ominous, foreboding sign. It was looking like the battle of the century was going to take place at the same time as the storm of the century. Izzy tried her best to make her mind go blank, to only focus on flying and not on the destruction she knew waited ahead of her. But it was impossible to completely block out the terror slowly rising in her chest.
She saw the flashes of light well before she heard any of the battle noise. At first, she thought she was seeing lightning, but after a few seconds, she realized she was seeing the bursts of light that always accompanied wizard attacks. Mixed in with these flashes were frequent red-orange streaks, indicating that one of the dragons was breathing out fire. Izzy swallowed hard. The battle was in full swing.
Izzy knew that Raven and Noah would have seen the fight up ahead, but neither one of them slowed, sped up, or given any other indication that anything had changed. They continued flying at a steady, rapid pace, heading right for the heart of the storm. Izzy wished she could talk to Noah somehow. She wished they could slow their flight for long enough for her to grab his dragon face in her hands and tell him that she loved him. But the time for declarations of love was past. Noah and Izzy had both spoken their feelings to each other. He knew how she felt, and telling him one more time would not make any difference. Izzy needed to stop focusing on what she could not do and could not have. She needed to save her mental strength for the battle ahead.
The closer they flew, the clearer Izzy could see the scene in front of her. Wizards swooped through the air in a hundred different directions at once, constantly shooting attacks from their magic rings. Dragons flew back and forth spewing fire from their mouths, and, although Izzy couldn’t tell which Redwoods Dragon was which while they were in dragon form, she was relieved at least to see that all of the dragons in her view were from the Redwoods clan. She knew Saul was out here somewhere on this dark battlefield, but the longer she could go without seeing him, the better. As long as she didn’t have to look at him, she could manage not to panic.
By now, Izzy could also hear the noise of the battle. Roars of anger filled the air, mixing with awful shrieks of panic. Soldiers yelled, but the words they spoke were unintelligible. There was too much noise, too much chaos, for Izzy to be able to understand what words they were actually speaking. She did her best to block out the cacophony, and to focus only on staying as close to Noah as she could. As they neared the outer edges of the fighting, Noah finally slowed just enough to turn and look back at her. She raised her hand in a small wave, acknowledging that she was still there. She was still flying, and still acting brave. A flash of lighting streaked across the sky just then, and by its light Izzy could see Noah’s dragon lips turning upward in a smile. If she had known what would happen next, she would have tried a little harder to savor that smile.
But she hadn’t known, and nothing could have prepared her for it. One moment she was flying steadily, with one hand on her broomstick and one hand raised to wave at Noah and his smiling face, and the next, she was inexplicably hurtling through the air, colliding with soldier after soldier from the force of what felt like a giant wall of wind.
Somehow, in the midst of all of this, Izzy managed to hold onto her broomstick. It must have been sheer instinct that caused her to automatically tighten the grip her one hand had on the handle the moment she felt herself losing her balance. She had never been a strong fighter, but her flying skills had always been exceptional. She was thankful for that, at least. After several seconds of tumbling through the air, she managed to right herself on her broomstick. Taking a wild look around, she saw that many of her fellow soldiers had not had reflexes as quick as hers. Below her, screaming in terror, many of them were falling to certain death, having lost hold of their broomsticks completely. Izzy’s eyes widened, and she did the only thing she could think of. She began flying downward like a madwoman.
She pointed her magic ring at wizard after wizard, shouting out, “Magicae suspendo!” over and over. The suspension spell stopped the falling wizards in midair, although it did leave them rather helpless and stuck. A few of them with better presence of mind started casting magnet spells to draw their broomsticks back toward themselves. Luckily, as soon as the stunned wizards saw their fellow soldiers doing this, they followed suit. Izzy saw many of the wizards grabbing hold of broomsticks once again, but she didn’t cancel the suspension spells. Not yet. She was too busy still zooming downward, trying to stop the descent of as many falling wizards as possible. A few of the other Falcon Cross soldiers who had managed to stay on their broomsticks caught on to what she was doing, and started casting suspension spells with her. Together, they managed to save hundreds of lives. Izzy didn’t allow herself to think about the ones they hadn’t managed to save. If she started grieving over every soldier they lost, she would never make it through this night.
When it was clear that she’d saved all the wizards she possibly could, and that every suspended wizard had recovered his or her broomstick, Izzy shouted out “Suspendo terminantur.” Instantly, all of the spells she’d cast to suspend the wizards ended. The wizards started falling again, but, this time, they had their broomsticks. They were able to quickly recast their flying spells and head back into the battle. Izzy took a precious moment to pause and just breathe, trying to regain her senses after the sudden chaos of the last few minutes. Before she started moving forward again, she saw Raven zooming toward her through the rain.
“Thank god you’re alright,” Raven said as she approached Izzy. Her voice was raised so that Izzy could hear it over the fierce storm.
“Same to you,” Izzy said as she tried to wipe the blurring rainwater from her eyes. It was useless, of course. The rain was coming down so heavily that it was impossible to keep it away. She strained through the darkness to try to see Noah, looking for the unique pattern of spikes on his dragon tail. But she couldn’t see any outlines of dragons anywhere near her. She felt herself starting to panic, and Raven must have noticed and guessed that Izzy’s concern was due to Noah. Even though Noah and Izzy hadn’t said anything about being lifemates, their newfound affection for each other must have been obvious.
“Noah’s fine,” Raven said. “At least, he was fine when I flew away from him three minutes ago. He’s heading toward the front lines with the rest of the dragons. They’re going to try to make a fire wall of sorts to hold back the dark wizards.
Izzy simultaneously felt relieved and panicked. She was happy to hear that Noah had survived the blast, but she didn’t like the idea of his being on the front lines. She had no choice but to swallow back her fears, however. No matter how scared she was for Noah’s life, she knew he had a job to do. And Noah would never shy away from battle. Dragon blood ran through his veins, and dragon blood amounted to no less than liquid bravery. Noah and the other Redwood Dragons did not have even the tiniest shred of cowardice in their bodies. Izzy took another deep, steadying breath and looked around for a moment before turning back to Raven. She and Raven were nearly at the back of the Falcon Cross army by this point. The last of the wizards were rushing by them, heading towards the heart of the battle up ahead. Izzy could see bursts of light from wizard rings, the occasional rush of fire, and the constant flashing of lightning. Everything looked like a normal enough battle, but Izzy had an even greater feeling of uneasiness than normal.
“What was that burst of power that knocked us all off our broomsticks?” Izzy asked.
“A warning shot,” Raven said grimly. When Izzy gave her a confused look, Raven explained further.
“It was a blast of power from the dragon ruby,” Raven said. “Saul was showing off just a tiny bit of what the dragon ruby is capable of. He wants us to know that he has unbelievable strength due to the ruby. If he uses its full force, it’s going to be much worse than that. The good news is that our soldiers who are holding the other dragon stones are now on high alert. They didn’t expect Saul to use the ruby so quickly, so they weren’t fully prepared to counteract its effects, but now they know that all bets are off. They’ll fight back with the other dragon stones if necessary. I just hope that the other stones, and the artifacts, are enough.”
Izzy nodded, feeling a fresh tingle of fear. So the use of the dragon stones had already begun. This battle wasn’t going to be pretty, that was certain. But there was nothing left to do except fight. Raven knew this, too, and was already turning her broomstick to head back toward the front lines.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Izzy. Don’t feel badly about hanging back a little alright? You’ve got nothing to prove out here. We all know you’re a good soldier, and I have a feeling we’re going to need your medical expertise much more than your fighting skills before all of this is over.”
Before Izzy could reply, Raven was zooming off. For a few moments, Izzy hovered alone in the dark, rainy sky. The last of the soldiers had passed her by now, and she felt horribly alone. Part of her would have loved to do as Raven said and hang back. But another part of her knew she could never live with herself if she did that. She at least needed to catch up with the stragglers, and fight toward the back of the battle lines. She might not be the bravest soldier out here, but she wasn’t a total coward. Besides, she was possessed by an overwhelming urge to be near Noah and see that he was alright. She realized this was a bit absurd. After all, if he was in trouble, she was the least likely person to be able to help him. But she wanted to be closer to him nonetheless. Gritting her teeth, she turned her broomstick and started flying toward the battle.
No sooner had she reached the outer edges of the fight than she felt another boom of power. Saul was using the dragon ruby again, and the force of it felt even stronger this time. But the wizards were better prepared. Everyone had been keeping a tight grip on their broomsticks, and, as far as Izzy could tell, no one near her had gone flying toward the ground. The boom of power was followed almost immediately by an answering boom, presumably from the dragon stones that the Falcon Cross army held. The night sky lit up with a new kind of light—a strange explosion of green, blue, purple and red light. Izzy had never seen the dragon stones in action before, but she knew without a doubt that what she was seeing was the dragon stones’ power. Roars of pain sounded out across the dark lines of the armies, but Izzy couldn’t tell whether the sounds were coming from friends or enemies.
In the next few minutes, the noise grew even worse. Blast after blast of power shot forth from the dragon stones, each one more powerful than the one before. Saul seemed to increasing the strength of his attack with each blow, and the Falcon Cross army did their best to follow suit. The booms from the dragon stone were joined by the buzz of power from the ancient artifacts many of the Falcon Cross soldiers were wearing. The artifacts now seemed to come alive with energy, and Izzy could vaguely tell that the tides of battle were turning ever so slightly in their favor.
Saul must have felt this shift as well, because he increased the use of the dragon ruby. Izzy found herself in the midst of constant blasts of powerful energy. She forced herself to focus her mind on the task at hand, instead of on the fear building in her core. She set her lips in a hard line and leaned into her broomstick, flying forward toward the front lines. She might not be the bravest soldier out here, but, damn it, if she died today she would die fighting as close to the front lines as she could get. Somehow, she felt that she was proving herself to Noah by making this decision, even though he had no way of knowing about her sudden display of courage. He was occupied somewhere ahead of her, doing his best to hold back the dark wizards. At least, Izzy hoped he was still ahead of her. The further she went, the more the fighting intensified, and she couldn’t help but think that even a dragon would have difficulty dodging the attacks that seemed to come from every direction.
No longer was Izzy surrounded completely by Falcon Cross soldiers. Here, in the thick of things, she was surrounded by a constant stream of dark wizards as well. They launched dark magic attacks, while the shifters riding on the backs of their broomsticks lashed out with claws, swords, and other various razor-sharp weapons. Izzy moved on autopilot, slashing her magic ring through the air in large arcs, and shouting out different shield and attack spells. Her real saving grace, however, was her ability to outfly everyone else. She swooped up and down, and zigzagged left and right, avoiding attacks by her sheer speed.
She wasn’t sure how long things went on this way. It felt like hours, but she didn’t trust her sense of time to be accurate right now. She kept flying, dodging and attacking in turn, and holding onto her broomstick tightly to ward off the jolts from the constant rushes of power caused by the dragon ruby.
Izzy still hadn’t seen Noah. In fact, she hadn’t seen Raven, or any other familiar faces, since she’d started flying toward the front lines. Izzy tried her best not to think about what that might mean. She told herself that the armies were too big for her to be able to keep track of people she knew, and she kept fighting. She felt like she was in some sort of strange dream. She could feel herself moving, and she could hear the battle noise surrounding her, but she felt strangely removed from it. Her mind felt like it was shutting down, refusing to believe that she was actually here in the middle of such an intense fight.
And then, miraculously, Izzy started to notice fewer and fewer dark wizards. Even though she was still flying toward the front lines, the mass of soldiers seemed to be growing thinner rather than thicker. She realized that the soldiers around her were mostly Falcon Cross soldiers, and the attacks against her were lessening. Her heart leapt with hope, even as another blast of destructive power from the dragon ruby tried to knock her off her broomstick. The other Falcon Cross soldiers around her seemed to have notice the change, as well. One of them even let out an excited whoop.
Izzy’s breath caught in her throat. Was it possible they were going to win this war after all? She’d been too worried to be optimistic about the future, but now, she allowed thoughts of a peaceful life, of lazy days with Noah, to fill her mind. She couldn’t help but smile, and that smile only widened when she saw Raven zooming toward her, looking triumphant.
“We’re doing it!” Raven shouted, not addressing anyone in particular. Her words were intended to buoy the spirits of any Falcon Cross soldier within earshot. “We’re driving them back, slowly but surely. The dragon ruby is powerful, and Saul is still fighting with all his might, but he’s falling short. With the other three dragon stones, and all the Redwood Dragons’ artifacts on our side, we’re managing to push them back.”
Excited whoops broke out from the Falcon Cross soldiers, but Izzy didn’t pause to join in. Instead, she started flying forward, as quickly as she could, to the front lines, where she knew Noah would be. She only wanted to see him, and know that he was alright. She knew the fight wasn’t over yet, but it was getting close, and she wanted to celebrate their victory with him by her side. This moment had been so long in coming. She wanted to enjoy it to the fullest.
As she flew closer to the front lines, the blasts from the dragon ruby began to feel stronger. She wasn’t sure whether this was due to her being closer to their source, or whether Saul was, in desperation, pushing the ruby to the absolute limits of its power. Whatever the case, the Falcon Cross army was continuing to push back the forces of darkness. The soldiers in charge of the dragon emerald, dragon sapphire, and dragon amethyst were responding with all-out attacks of their own, and the rest of the Falcon Cross army was gathering strength from the realization that they were winning. The air crackled with excitement as Izzy flew, and she felt her own excitement rising as she drew nearer to where she hoped to find Noah.
She could see blasts of fire now, and she followed them. Those flames would lead her to the dragon shifters, and to Noah. She admired the reddish-orange glow of fire that lit up the sky so fully. The dragons were fighting harder than ever, and she felt a puff of pride in her chest knowing that one of those dragons was hers. Soon she would be with him. As she drew closer, shooting down the occasional dark wizard who came at her, Izzy finally caught sight of Noah. A deep smile crossed her face as she locked her eyes on his form.
“I’m coming,” she whispered under her breath. “I’m coming to fight by your side.” She was so excited in that moment, that she even forgot about her fear of Saul. But it only took one glimpse of the evil dragon to remind her.
He appeared seemingly out of nowhere. His dark, spiked dragon form glowed a sickening red, even in the pouring rain. When lightning lit up the sky, Izzy could see that Saul held his magic wand in one dragon foot, and the dragon ruby in the other dragon foot. A thousand horrible memories came rushing back to Izzy’s head as Saul’s glowing red eyes turned toward her. She pulled up short on her broomstick, all of her courage draining away in an instant. But Saul wasn’t looking at her directly. He was looking past her, at the vast Falcon Cross army behind her. His own army had dwindled, but he refused to give up. Izzy watched in horror as he raised the ruby high, and then brought it down with a mighty roar.
It was the heaviest blow yet. Izzy managed to hold on to her broomstick, but she was pushed backward several dozen feet by the force. Little shockwaves of pain echoed through her body, and she yelped in anguish before she could stop herself. All around her, she heard similar cries of pain.
But then, the answering blow came from the Falcon Cross army. Flashes of green, blue, and purple light echoed across the sky, and seemed to all hit Saul at once. The evil dragon roared in pain, and was himself pushed backward. He started to fall, and Izzy felt her hope returning once again. It looked like he was going down, possibly for good. The rest of the soldiers on the field, both good and bad, seemed to feel the same, because there were yells of joy and terror. One army was watching its leader go down while the other army was watching their evil nemesis suffer his last blow—or so they thought.
Izzy started moving forward toward Noah again. He turned to face her, and a smile of recognition curled up his dragon lips when he saw her. She smiled back, but then, as she flew toward him, she saw his smile turn to a gasp of pain. Izzy’s own mouth dropped in horror.
Saul, on his way down, had somehow used his tail to reach up and pull down the first soldier he could catch. And Noah’s dragon just so happened to be in the perfect spot for Saul to grab. Izzy screamed as she saw Saul falling away, with Noah struggling but unable to escape as the dragon ruby glowed red. Izzy dimly realized that Saul was somehow using the dragon ruby to keep a firm hold on Noah. Saul’s face was twisted in an awful, evil expression, and he laughed with a chilling, haunting sound as he and Noah both fell toward the earth.
“No!” Izzy screamed. Without stopping to remember that she was more afraid of Saul than anything else in the world, Izzy pointed her broomstick downward to rush after Noah. But when she tried to fly, she couldn’t move forward. She screamed again, and struggled to fly, but she was stuck. Helpless, she watched as Noah’s dragon fell further and further away from her, and Saul’s taunting laughs grew more and more distant.