Night had fallen hours ago. Still, they waited, hoping that the rest of the world would fall into a deep sleep before they took to the skies and attempted to sneak up on the slumbering castle that housed the Heart of Magic.
Nya shifted beneath the tree she’d been sitting beneath for most of the day, anxious to get on with it already. While she still hadn’t made up her mind what she would do if she had the opportunity to use the magic contained in the stone herself, she reminded herself that this was meant to be a reconnaissance trip. There was a good possibility she wouldn’t get a chance to find the stone this time anyway. Slate would likely want her to stay with him the whole time. Perhaps the visions she’d seen of him in chains and her holding the Heart of Magic were from a future trip.
“It’s time,” he finally said, s
The leap from the rocks above the castle to the closest turret was quite a span. As Nya stood on the precipice, looking down over the dark, gaping hole between her current perch and the closes man-made stone structure jutting out of the ground, she knew i would take a precision step to clear the chism and land safely on the top of the castle. While she was quite certain Slate could make a leap like this with next to no effort, probably with his eyes closed, her legs were much shorter, and she would need more space to take a running leap, but she didn’t have that luxury, so she’d have to try something else.“Do you want me to shift and fly you over?” Slate offered, his large, warm hand on her shoulder.Nya’s eyes fixated on his fingers and how she felt comforted by the lightest touch from him. She pulled her eyes away before he noti
It only took a split second for Slate to move past Nya and grab the man in front of them, making quick work of silently breaking his neck. The man made a small gurgling noise as his bones broke, and then Slate carefully lowered him down on the edge of the stairs where his body was mostly obscured by the shadows. Once the sun rose, there was a possibility he’d be spotted, but for now, it would be difficult to see where he lay.Nya looked at the crumpled form for a moment, a bit sad that he had to be killed, but then she reminded herself they were in Beelzanborg, and everyone here was evil.“I thought you said we wouldn’t have any trouble,” Slate said through gritted teeth as he took off down the stairs.“I didn’t see him in my mind,” she admitted. “But I did see u
“Which way do we need to go?” Slate asked Nya as the troops they’d been tailing got far enough ahead of them that he could safely ask without being overheard. They were at a crossroads, where another hallway entered into the corridor where they were walking, and she’d have to decide whether or not they should keep going down the path where they were headed or turn off and take this other route.Nya moved so that her back was against the wall and closed her eyes, feeling out into the future using her mind’s eye to determine which was the most direct route to the Heart of Magic.If they continued down the path they were headed down now, she saw them coming to another stairwell that headed up, which is where the soldiers were going. They’d end up on a different part of the roof, which would do them no good. If they took the path
The sun was rising outside, the light filtering in through the intermittent windows as Slate and Nya raced down the hallway. Nya knew, as soon as they rounded the corner ahead of them, not only would they be in an interior hallway, there would be soldiers waiting. “Four,” she told Slate, and he nodded in understanding. That’s how many soldiers they’d be facing initially.There would be more coming.They turned the corner and caught four troops walking in pairs, minding their own business. It took the men a moment to realize they were being faced by hostiles. Those few seconds was all it took for Slate to run his sword through the gullet of the man on the right as Nya moved to knock the one on the left to the floor. He staggered back into the man behind him, and she drew her sword, leaving her shield hanging on her back as she ran both of
Visions flashed in front of Nya’s eyes as she tried to rectify what she’d been seeing for the last several days with the scene before her now. All along, she’d thought she’d been seeing Slate in his dragon form in chains, but that wasn’t what she’d been seeing at all. It was this other dragon, the one rising up in front of her now. He looked anything but happy as his nostrils began to flare, and it was quite obvious this dragon’s duty was to protect the Heart of Magic, which Nya could no longer see as it was hidden behind the dragon’s large back.“Hi there,” Nya said, her voice quivering as she moved slowly in front of the door. She’d planned to bare it, but now she felt it would be better to leave it open. Something told her anyone who knew exactly what was guarding the gem would think twice before coming into the room. “Take it easy
The look on Slate’s face said it all as Nya stood there with the Heart of Magic tight in her fist. The soldiers’ faces told her that they recognized that it was too late, that they had let the magical gem fall into enemy hands. One of the soldiers held a sword to Slate’s throat, his hands trembling. Nya hadn’t even realized that he was under their control until the tip of the sword pierced his skin, and a tiny droplet of blood rolled down the edge.“That belongs to me!” An angry voice growled from the crush of troops near the doorway. “Do you honestly think you can just waltz in here and take it from me?”It was clear, despite his disheveled appearance that the angry man with bedhead shouting at her from across the room was the king of Beelzanborg. He was in the middle of an array of troops who were obviously mean
The two dragons glided along for a few hours before Slate began to descend over a field in the territory of a kingdom closer to his own lair and far enough away from Beelzanborg that the soldiers who were clearly rallying to come after the Heart of Magic couldn’t reach them--yet. He touched down in a field of golden wheat, catching the sunbeams and sparkling like each stalk was made of a precious metal.Nya climbed off, the dragon, her blood still pumping hard through her veins as she considered all that had just happened. The Heart of Magic was safe in her bag, which meant she controlled all of the magic in the universe. It was both a hefty burden to bear and a tantalizing bundle of possibilities. If Nya stopped to think about all that she could do with that sort of power, she would never be able to hand it over to Slate, and he’d certainly regret not having taken it the first time she o
The ride back to the lair took hours, but without having to stop and lay low as she had with Slate on the way to Beelzanborg, it wasn’t nearly as long as it had been going. As Nya flew on Gator’s back, she looked down at the ground and saw a slew of people pointing up at them, some waving, others gazing curiously. How long had it been since anyone had seen dragons flying in the daytime? How long had it been since a dragon, other than Slate, had flown over these villages? None of these people could’ve possibly been alive the last time the dragons were able to fly. To the people staring up at them, she imagined it was both terrifying and awe inspiring.She wondered what they had thought when the enormous thunder had flown over earlier, especially if they had seen the people on their backs. Did they begin to realize that the people who had been taken by the dragon during the festival w