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Naria was on Anthony before anyone could react, lifting him bodily and tossed him over the bannister down on to the hall floor. She leapt after him, shattering the bannister on the way. Ribbons of blue fire surged from her skin and struck around the room wildly, setting fire to anything flammable.

Anthony had only just regained his feet when she landed on top of him and dug her claws into his stomach. He collapsed to the floor without a sound, not even managing a scream.

Andrew sprinted over and grabbed Naria, dragged her away. She twisted violently in his arms, screaming incoherently. He could feel her trying to drain his energy as well but he managed to keep hold of it. From the groan on the stairs Lucas wasn’t doing so well.

“Nari! Stop this!”

She just continued struggling, nearly breaking free and forcing him to sweep her legs out from under her and pin her to the floor as she continued screaming. He might not understand draconic beyond hello yet but he knew she was swearing at him.

After a moment, he looked up to see Lyrrekka kneeling opposite him.

“Keep holding her down! We have to hem her in until Kyle gets here.”

“What?” he asked.

“Hem her in,” Lyrrekka said tersely. “Stop her being able to feed or she’ll kill everyone within ten miles. She’s frenzying and only Ystelyan can stop her. We need Kyle to gate us there. We’re both idri and there are several more in the house so we should be able to hold her.”

“How?” he asked. Even though they were holding her down, he could feel that she was still dragging energy into herself.

“Weave a cage around her with your energy,” she said. “Like this.” An image dropped into his mind.

“Got it,” he said and began gently weaving a cage which she wouldn’t be able to reach beyond. He felt Lyrrekka’s cage weaving in and out of his, making it stronger. As it slipped in to place, Naria began screaming louder and thrashing even more wildly.

Andrew’s stomach twisted and he swallowed guiltily, forcing himself to remember that Naria would want him to stop her if she were rational at the moment.

“Good! Now draw the heat out of those fires before they spread,” Lyrrekka said. “You know how to do that, right?”

“Yes.” He closed his eyes and began cooling the fires, though it was hard to keep the cage up at the same time. “Is Kyle on his way?”

“Yes, but the stables are quite a way away in the grounds and it will take him a few minutes to get here with the anti-teleporting wards at full power to keep Adrian Laverne out.” Lyrrekka turned and looked up the stairs, where Sonia was kneeling by Lucas and Anthony. Lucas was still just about conscious but Anthony wasn’t moving. “Is he dead?”

“No, by some miracle,” Sonia said. “She missed anything vital with her claws and Drew stopped her from draining him.”

“Good, because once he’s on his feet again I’m going to throw him around the training room a time or two to knock some sense into him.” Lyrrekka winced at a particularly piercing scream from Naria. “Look what he’s done to this poor girl.”

The front door banged open and Matt came rushing in. “What the hell happened?”

“Anthony panicked when he saw Naria,” Sonia said. “His powers flared in an unconscious attack.” She scowled down at the unconscious man. “I know he’s scared of dragons but he should have more control than that. He always used to.”

“Can you teleport Kyle here?” Lyrrekka asked. “He can take her straight to Ystelyan.”

“Anthony has been under a lot of stress,” Matthias said. “Though he should have managed to restrain himself. As to Kyle, give me a moment.” He closed his eyes. “Found him.” A moment later, Kyle and Darya appeared beside him. “I think you’d better hurry, kid.”

“I need to be able to open a gate,” Kyle said softly.

“Of course.” Matthias nodded.

“Thanks.” Kyle concentrated and a moment later the air twisted and a gate opened. He hurried over to Naria. “Mother, will you help me and Darya get her through the gate? She’s going to be hard to manoeuvre in this state.”

“Of cou-”

“Screw that!” Andrew snapped. “I’ll bloody help you. I’m going with you.”

Kyle raised an eyebrow at Andrew’s vehemence but nodded. “Of course, I should have expected that. Come on then.”

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