The Order of Dragonfire

Chapter 17

Alex gazed through blurred vision at the ground far below. She could see for miles in every direction, out over the sea to her right and to the colossal mountain range far to her left. The thought of the mountains turned her stomach, it was a difficult obstacle even for her kind. Although some had faced it, few would return if they dared to cross over it.

Flames flew across the ground both to and from the crimson clad humans beneath her. Seeing them wielding dragonfire filled her with a passionate rage beyond her understanding. The mere idea that they thought themselves deserving of it, especially to use against her own kind, was sickening. She dived down towards them, feeling the wind rushing past  her body as she tucked her limbs in tightly. One of them had been separated from his friends, an unusual sight for this closely knit cohort. Easy pickings. With a swift motion of her wings she pulled up and hovered over him, knocking him backwards with the blast of air. The other humans were occupied defending one another from a circle of dragons slowly tightening around them.

The loner fumbled through some sort of satchel, clearly panicking as he did so. His scrawny form wouldn't make as good a meal as some of the others had but that wasn't the point anymore. She needed to defend her territory against these violent invaders, who had sought to fight her and her family using a wretched corruption of her fallen comrades' power. These creatures needed to be destroyed for the good of all of her species.

She inhaled deeply and launched a searing flame towards her target. Horror flashed across his face and he almost dropped the massive jewel he had pulled from his bag. It was far larger than the other magical stones these people had carried with them, and its power felt entirely different too. It radiated for a brief moment, so brightly in fact that it outshone the flames that were about to consume him. But almost as soon as the light had appeared it was gone, along with the young man. The jewel, growing much more dimly than it had been, fell to the floor and was entirely unaffected by as the dragonfire rolled over it. It gave out one last wave of light that pulsed outwards, but before she could even try to avoid it she felt something tugging at her consciousness.

"Alex?" A  familiar voice called to her, slowly and painfully pulling her from her dream.

"She's still not moving." Said another, female this time. "...we might have lost her. It's nearly been too long."

Pain shot through her head as she was roughly dragged back to consciousness. What had happened? Now she was too weak to even open her eyes, but a moment ago she had been soaring across the night sky... no, that bit had been a dream, she reminded herself. So what had really happened? She remembered fighting, but vaguely. A bolt had hit her; as she remembered it a pain flashed through her chest where it had struck, but it quickly vanished again. 

"Alex! Wake up!" Rain said, shaking her shoulder only to suddenly stop. She could hear some faint disapproval from someone else in the room, who apparently thought that touching her was a bad idea.

She groggily prised one eye open, only to clasp her hand over it when the sunlight stabbed it.

"She's awake." Rain sighed, relieved.

"Barely." Alex managed to murmur.

"It's okay my dear, you just stay there." Thorn's unmistakable voice accompanied a gentle pat on her arm.

For a little while longer Alex struggled to adjust to consciousness. She could feel the world spinning around her and she struggled to remember what was going on as her mind wandered aimlessly. Eventually the pain started to subside and things were slowly getting back to normal. She still didn't understand what was happening to her though. They had been in a fight with bandits. A fight that they were losing, at least until Alex had thrown a good chunk of them off the bridge.