The Dragon Wars Saga Arc Four: The Torn Sky Chapter Forty Part Three

December 13th, 2013  |  Published in Dragon Wars

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The Kithreian screamed and leapt backwards, swatting at Bennu as he did. Steam rose from the Kithreian’s hands as he hit the phoenix but Bennu seemed unaffected, digging his claws in until green blood ran down his assailant’s face.

Nice distraction. Lydia drew her sword and lunged at the Kithreian. Despite the fact that he was still grappling with Bennu, he must have sensed her blow coming because he jerked to one side. Instead of skewering him, her blade merely slashed his torso. He gave out a loud howl and waves of water surged out from him again, knocking Lydia to the ground and forcing Bennu to take flight. The phoenix circled Lydia found her feet, then dived at the Kithreian again.

Lydia leaned against a wall and tried to regain her breath as her siblings leapt in to engage the Kithreian.

“We need to be careful.” Naria helped Lydia straighten up. “He’s very strong for an alran, possibly strong enough to be unstable.” She shook her head and frowned. “Why wasn’t his energy trimmed when he was young?” The question was clearly rhetorical because she immediately whirled away to join Andrew as he struck at the Kithreian’s back with a shard of ice. From where she was Lydia couldn’t see if he hit but the Kithreian’s scream and the fact his watery wings were slowly turning to ice suggested he had. The Kithreian dropped to his knees and began to sob.

Andrew watched the Kithreian as he tried to struggle to his feet and scowled as the ice began to recede from wings.

“Oh no you don’t.” He struck again with another shard of ice, impaling the Kithreian right through the heart.

The Kithreian screamed again and collapsed, convulsing to the floor. Andrew bent down and grabbed the vial as the Kithreian died.

Lydia stared at him. “Where did you lear-” she began but was interrupted by a mental yell of warning from Daniel.

I couldn’t cover all that! We’ve attracted attention. He grabbed the Kithreian’s corpse. We need to get out of sight before they get here so I can get the wards back up. He raced around the corner followed by the rest of them.

You need to keep your wards up around the door as well, Lydia said. So they don’t notice the girl when she appears.

I know, he said. But now that they’re alerted it’s going to be hard. I’ll do my best.

If that fails I can probably blind them temporarily while we grab the girl and her mother and get them to safety, Karen said.

I’d rather not attract more attention to us, Lydia said. But if we have to.

I suspect we will, Karen said.

My wards are back up, Daniel said. And just in time.

Indeed, even as he spoke a patrol of soldiers raced around the corner and began searching the area for the source of the commotion. Two of them came around the corner but they walked right past them without seeing them. Lydia didn’t realise she’d been holding her breath until she let it out explosively when they disappeared around the back of the building. She waited to be sure but no more soldiers appeared.

They cautiously made their way back to where they could see the door. One of the soldiers was taking samples of green blood left by the Kithreian and another two were examining the hole in the concrete wall.

Lydia bit her lip and wished they would move on before the girl came out of the building. The growing light of dawn and the position of the shadows suggested it must be nearly time.

Even as she thought that, the door of flats started to open.

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