Tricked Into Flight

Chapter 35

Bonus chapter! Happy Mother's Day!

*Katerina's POV*

I edged between larger boulders as I put some distance between me and Rakota, just in case one of the mages had seen me hide behind him. Above, balls of blue light zipped toward the dragons, only for them to intercept them with fire or lightning.

I crouched down and peeked between the numerous large boulders, unsure of what I should do or where I should go. The sides of the ravine were nearly vertical rock, far too steep to climb. Despite how many rocks provided shelter along the edges of the ravine, I didn't think it would be possible to get far without being spotted.

Randel's whereabouts were a mystery since I had lost track of him during Rakota's aerial acrobatics. I thought he was hiding near Andar, but I wasn't sure. A loud crash made me jump and sent my heart racing yet again.

Cautiously, I stood on a rock so I could see over the boulder. Wisps of smoke continued to somehow originate from the rocks to either side of the cave entrance. The opening was easy to spot since three figures were creating those blue lights. Deeper inside, more silhouettes gathered around various glowing objects.

I could see the far end of the tunnel behind them, and a few places where sunlight came through holes in the roof. The purple dragon flew overhead, well above the cliffs, and dropped something. A massive rock hit the cave roof with the same loud boom I had just heard.

It was difficult to make out the details, but it looked like chunks of rock were falling from various parts of the ceiling. A rock struck one of the mages casting the blue light, and his spell faltered before he resumed casting.

The ones in the back approached the entrance. There were two distinct groups, each with three mages holding a slab of rock with some sort of glowing writing on it. The ominous glow sent chills down my back.

As Serepha flew over with a boulder clutched in her hands, a mage from each group pointed at her. The glow increased, and the smoke in front billowed as two spells ripped through the air. The three casting the blue lights redoubled their efforts, sending dozens of attacks in seconds.

The red dragon rolled midair to dodge the first attack as small bursts of fire erupted around her to block the blue lights. The second mostly-invisible spell clipped her tail, and with a screech, she side-slipped out of sight, rapidly losing height.

The other three dragons flew higher when the blue lights were aimed at them. Two veered to the sides and also flew out of sight, leaving Diondin to dodge the spells by himself. I had a sinking feeling that more rocks were going to be dropped from above soon.

I wasn't far from the cave, and chunks of stone could very well come flying my way. I began looking for a more sheltered spot and decided a cluster of massive boulders would be my best option.

It took some work to navigate the rocky ground while remaining out of sight. The huge slabs of stone were between Rakota and the side of the ravine. They were firmly wedged against one another and formed an almost ideal shelter. I could see most of the gully without easily being seen, and it was almost within Rakota's reach in case he shook off whatever spell had hit him.

I peeked out again, but even with my slight height advantage on the slope, I still didn't see any physical objects binding Rakota. Helping him wasn't going to be as easy as cutting a few ropes. The mages were already picking up new stones with glowing symbols. There were so many slabs of stone stacked beside them they could have built a small house. Were they all pre-charged spells? I truly hoped not.

The light dimmed as the purple dragon darted across the canyon. Without slowing, he dropped a huge stone and promptly disappeared over the other ridge. The boulder plummeted and slammed into the mage's hiding spot. Part of the roof collapsed near the entrance as several boulder fragments rolled away.

The blue lights stopped, and I squinted to see through the dust and smoke. With a flicker, the lights resumed their attack, but not nearly as many of them flew through the air now. I finally made out one silhouette but there was a lot of rock rubble where the other two had been standing.

Another shadow passed overhead briefly as Victorya dropped a boulder. She was out of sight and didn't see it miss the cave, striking the area just behind it. The mages inside dropped their current stones and grabbed different ones.

I hesitated. Should I shout a warning and hope the dragons heard me? Or would that give away my location?

Taking a chance and hoping Diondin could relay the information, I called out, "Diondin! They're grabbing different spell stones! There's nine inside, but the roof collapse might have injured two of them."

His voice sounded like he was standing right beside me. "Thanks. I'll let the others know. Keep hidden and don't shout so loudly in case they hear you. What do the runes look like?"

I peered through the smoke and swirling dust. "I can't see clearly. One mage is still by the stone and creating those blue lights. The others are doing something with three different stones. The glows are different colors."

"We'll be careful. You're in a good location, keep hiding there. Let me know if you see any changes."

"Okay."

I knelt down and continued to watch the mages. As the dust settled, I still only saw seven silhouettes, and the one casting the blue lights had a heavy limp whenever he moved. The light faded momentarily; even as I looked up, a brilliant flash of green drew my eyes back to the cave entrance.

Dozens of streams of sparkling light launched skyward. Several struck the falling boulder, splitting it into several pieces. The purple dragon was agile enough to sideslip out of the way and disappear over the ridge. Diondin quickly banked to get out of the way as the spell continued skyward.

As the green streams rose above the clifftops, a flash of orange scales ducked under them and dropped another boulder. A rolling dark blue cloud oozed out of the cave entrance and seemed to crawl across the rock surface, slowly covering the roof, although the boulder struck the center before the cloud could obscure it.

My view of the silhouettes disappeared as the back tunnel caved in, blocking the light. Rock chunks rolled out of the entrance as more of the roof collapsed. A faint rumbling sound made the hair on my arms stand on end.

An explosion of dark smoke and fire rocketed skyward just as Victorya passed over. The echoing boom made me crouch down, although I couldn't tear my eyes away from the orange dragon in the middle of the sky.

She did an abrupt side roll as the fire and smoke struck her scales. Something around her wrist glowed brightly, but she seemed unharmed as she disappeared from sight over the ridge.

Just inside the cave entrance, barely visible through the billowing smoke, dozens of glows lit up one by one.