Heskari Stormcaller

  I leapt from the landing platform, dragging Ereneya by the neck as I did. She was clawing at my arm and I could feel the blood running down my scales but I didn’t care.

  I had seen the damage she had done to Ilgard, my daughter holding her arm as it pointed in a sickening direction.

  I had seen her aim straight at Alvina.

  I had seen her flames leap onto Naravie as the girl’s body went up like kindling.

  I was done with her.

  The ground rushed up to meet us and I threw her down at it. She crashed to the earth with a sound like thunder and trees splintered against her hide like they were little more than twigs. She rolled to her feet and bared her teeth as I hovered over her.

  “What did you do to my Daughter?!” She screamed, pure rage in her voice.

  “I offered her aid to the affliction that has been wasting her body. Nothing more.” My voice was icy and cold as I spoke to her.

  “Lies! You set her aflame!”

  “I did no such thing! It was your own recklessness that did that! You may have doomed her in truth!” I responded as she braced and leapt at me.

  She was only a few feet from my neck when a bolt of lighting impacted her side and sent her sprawling back to the dirt. She scrambled to find her footing even as smoke and steam trailed off her scales on the point of impact. I hated fighting Earth Aligned dragons, durable to a fault and as stubborn as stone. She shrugged off the blow and paced below me like a wild dog.

  “First you and your brood attack my family and injure my child, then you offer us help. Then you threaten me and now you tell me that you were offering her aid? LIES! And you want that pretty little wyrmling to accompany us to keep an eye on me!” She roared, still pacing.

  ‘I would much rather she stay here than go with a mad woman like you. But she is her own person, she can go where she pleases.’ I growled into her mind.

  “You think me a fool? The way they obey you, they are little more than servants to you.”

  ‘And how would you know that? You hid yourself away since you arrived!’

  She did not respond, instead she brought a hand down upon the earth and a spire of stone jutted from the ground, narrowly missing me as I adjusted my wings to avoid it. Unfortunately it seemed that had been the plan as while I was still adjusting she barreled out of nowhere and slammed into my side, raking her claws against my arm.

  I could feel torn scales and blood but not deep enough to truly harm it. Either she couldn't or wouldn't go that far.

  I brought my tail around and drug it along her side, forming a long line of blood along the length of her body. She let out a cry of pain and I took advantage of the moment to focus my power into the sky. It had been a long time since I had fought another dragon and I had little desire to permanently harm her. So this was my best bet for putting her down without drawing things out.

  I was brought back to the fight as she sank her teeth into my shoulder. I grunted with pain as she bit deep, but I caught her in the gut with one of my legs. Underbellies were softer than hide scales and my claws sunk through the softer scales. She let out another screech of pain and loosened her grip on me enough to knock her off me. She fell to the ground once more but caught herself this time.

  ‘Still going to continue this?! Are you not more concerned with Naravie!?’

  “Keep her name out of your mouth!” Ereneya roared, her speech sounding as if she were drunk.

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  ‘Do you even care what happens to her?! Or is this just some selfish desire to say you protected her?!’

  The clouds swirled above us.

  “I will not lose another to negligence!” She screamed as she ran a claw through the spire of rock she had made and pulled out a massive stone half her size.

  The boulder came sailing towards me. I caught it and let it fall to the ground below. Ereneya was bolting up the spire again, moving like the world's largest squirrel. I waited for her to get close before I backed up. Didn't want her to have a moment of clarity and notice the storm building up above us.

  As I flew back she leaped towards me, claws outstretched and I noticed too late the stone pads covering them. The stones shot off of her claws like arrows and shot towards me. Some hit my wings and tore holes in the membrane, not enough to force me down but enough to be concerning. Others embedded themselves in the gaps in my scales. I winced as a few of them dug into the soft flesh beneath and burned. I looked down at the wounds to see that some of them were indeed melting in the wounds.

  My eye snapped back up to Ereneya as she barreled towards me, claws and teeth outstretched. I caught her neck and held her as far from me as I could. Her tail whipped around and embedded itself in the soft scales of my underbelly. The bladed point slid right through my scales and I let out a roar of pain as hot blood ran out of the wound.

  The clouds above us were dark now. I grimaced as I held her there. I summoned up my power and the air became electric. Ereneya had the chance to glare at me before lightning struck her in a blinding bolt of light. Her roar turned into a scream as the bolt deafened me and when the light had faded I found her limp and steaming in my grasp. I worried for a moment that I had gone too far before she gasped for breath. Her tail twitched and I pulled it out from the wound, grimacing as more blood gushed from the sizeable gash she had managed to carve.

  I landed upon the ground and laid her down as I took a few steps back and let out a heavy breath. I had been training since Vakaya had been taken but this was still more than I had had to deal with since I lost my arm and eye. She curled in on herself, her scales still steaming as her body convulsed every so often.

  “Calmed down yet?” I growled, pressing on my stomach wound and thinking how I could close it.

  “Will she be alright?”

  “She would have been better if I could be there to help but Alvina is capable of taking care of her.”

  I heard her grumbling to herself but she did manage to roll onto her feet. The wild fury in her eyes was gone and instead they were dull as she gave me a look I couldn’t pin down.

  “I am a mess aren’t I?”

  “You are.”

  “What do I do?”

  “You are asking me?”

  “You are better at this than I am.”

  “Well first I would apologize to your daughter. And then you need to figure out what is causing you to lash out like this. Alvina will be going with you, whether I let her or not so you had best prepare yourself for that.”

  She nodded her head solemnly. Her neck was drooping lower and I could see exhaustion settling in. Which was odd because we hadn’t fought that much.

  “Are you alright?”

  “I’ve hardly slept since we arrived. After our fight for a few hours but since then… nothing other than a few naps.”

  “By choice or just out of fury?”

  “I was worried you would do something to them. Trapped in my own thoughts I suppose.” She collapsed as her legs gave out and she gave me an angry look as I suppressed a laugh.

  “I suppose. Would you like some help with your mind?”

  “I’ll try myself but if I need help, I know where to find you.”

  “Well I’m sorry about cooking you alive.”

  “I’m sorry I stabbed you.”

  “I think I’m more mad about the wings honestly.”

  “Sorry.”

  “They will mend. For now, I suggest a brief rest until we can both fly again and then we head back up to check on the kids.”

  “Isn’t Alvina old?”

  “Four Hundred.”

  “Still a kid?”

  “Still a kid. To me she always will be.”

  “That could be annoying.”

  “I think she doesn’t mind if I don’t try to get too involved in what she is doing.”

  There was a long pause as we both rested, catching our breath. She broke the silence after a few moments.

  “Heskari?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Thank you. For Everything. I don’t deserve the help.”

  “Well, I did it mostly for your children’s sake. But you’re welcome.”

  She let out a low chuckle and tried to flex her wings but they spasmed and she collapsed again. Maybe a bit longer than a brief rest.