Girl of Iron and Magic

28.

28.
PRESENT DAY

"Stay close to me!" Maloru screamed, pulling Lotte in against him and reaching for Rowan. "Stay in my protection!"

At the same time, Rowan was shouting, "The Rugar is the sky. It eats us! Don't go to the wastes."

"I said, the Rugar is.... The Rugar...."

Lotte grabbed Rowan's arm, pulling her close.

"It's not working," Rowan said, her voice a panicked squeak.

"How do you know?" Maloru said.

"Because it isn't. I can't feel my past. It isn't there!"

"Nothing can break my protection," Maloru insisted, still clinging to optimism even at a time like this. "Nothing can..."

"It doesn't have to break your protection," Lotte said. "It will just swallow it."

Even if they ran, the edge of the hand was so far, they'd never make it on time. Lotte had no enchantment that could save her, Rowan's future selves all ended up here. Was this their fate? Lotte wondered what was inside the Rugar's gaping maw. She could see only blackness, eternal void.

Fintan spun above them.
"Go!" Lotte cried to him. Why should he be eaten when he could just fly away? "Get out of here."

Fintan spun and spun and spun. He began to spin faster and faster, his movements blurring, until he was a Fintan-coloured ring above their heads.

He didn't stop there.

The ring expanded, flashing violet and blue with sparks of fuchsia and teal. The flashes of colour turned brighter, the sparks like streaking lighting.

The circle grew larger, encompassing more than just the air around them. Fintan now flew over the entire centre of the palm.

The Rugar hesitated.

Its mouth grew lax while it moved its hand—with them on it—towards its eyes instead.

The spinning circle began to slow. Lotte thought she could see a  bit of Fintan—his twisted horns, beak-like snout and the ridges of his spine—but something wasn't right.

He was bigger than he should've been at this distance. The bright colourful flashes weren't fading when he slowed.

The dragon that slowed to almost a halt was not pocket-sized. He was perhaps just large enough to fit on the Rugar's shoulder—if it had one.

Its scales—azure, teal, violet, fuchsia and every shade in between—looked like they were made out of colourful crystals, and they shone so brilliantly it hurt her eyes. It was fantastically, outrageously magnificent. It had a long body, like a snake, and a vicious snarl on its face.

The Rugar frowned at the slowly circling dragon and—reluctantly—began to lower its hand to the ground. At the last moment, it tilted its palm ever so slightly, causing the three of them to fall off into a mess of grass and overturned earth.

Lotte barely noticed, she scrambled to her feet, head swimming and eyes not leaving the spinning dragon for a moment.

Down it came in looping spirals. It seemed as if it was landing, but at the same time, it was melting into a single point. All that light, colour and graceful motion spilled together, into a smaller form.

A man of sorts, with cool-brown skin and a neat pattern of scales adorning his cheeks. His blue-white hair carried in the freeze, twisting over his small horns.

"Blue?" Lotte said in almost a whisper.

He smiled.

"Blue!" she cried, heart leaping with joy. What was he doing here? How was this happening? Lotte didn't stop to wonder, she just ran, stumbling over the overturned ground.