🐲 Dragon and Phoenix (Path of Light and Fire Book #2) (Completed) 🐲

Chapter 22

A/N: Media is "Dancing with a Wolf" by All Time Low. It deserves a play for this chapter.

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Alaina glided through the air, watching Yulan's body tumble through the crowd. Most people got out of his way, but some were not fast enough or unsure of his trajectory and caught a flailing arm or leg for their troubles. There would plenty of work tonight for their healers.

Her heart pounded in her chest. After all the rational words she had offered, it had only taken one careless comment from Yulan to provoke her assault. Innocent people were getting hurt because she couldn't hold her temper.

Yulan's flippant demeanor towards Kianna's peril had enraged her, a rarity she would analyze much further later. Her sister had nearly died from his spear and he talked about her as if she were an irritating hangnail. Yet she had no plan other than 'make him apologize'.

He will learn some manners.

Yulan thrust his hands into the ground and regained his feet, dragging a jagged line through the dirt as he came to a stop. He growled and pulled a curved sword from the black, leather sling on which hung from his back. "A ka fanga bê bin kênê djeni!"

Alaina hovered several feet in the air, as the townspeople scattered, looking like a sea of bugs with a light suddenly shined on their gathering spot. Insane electric wielders and fire-spouting speedsters didn't provoke a strong reaction, but a human being hovering in the air spooked even those most seasoned to magic.

Even from her altitude, it was clear Yulan was not impressed.

I don't fear you either, Yulan.

"Caution is the rational associate of fear," Wade said. "Remember that."

Alaina jumped. She'd been so focused on Yulan that she'd forgotten she held the sentient sword-turned-dagger-turned-whip in her right hand. She was exercising sufficient caution. He could run as much as he liked, but he could not run on the air. The sky was her domain.

The veins bulged in Yulan's neck. "I ja...!" He paused for a moment and switched to Standard, his tone becoming less agitated. "What quarrel do you have with me, Wind Witch?"

"You harmed my sister and besmirched her name." It sounded even more stupid as she vocalized the feeling, yet she pushed forward. "Apologize for your words or I will beat one out of you." She uncoiled Whip-Wade and he hung in the air, still well out of Yulan's reach, even if he it were possible for him to jump like a gazelle.

Yulan snickered. "You overestimate your abilities to command such a thing from the Reincarnation of Yua. Come down here and I will show you why."

"You could come up here."

"Fair enough." He blurred in front of her, leaving a ripple in his wake as he sped to her left. By the time she turned her head, he was in the air, diving for her.

She shrieked and pushed out with wind. It send Yulan spinning through the air like he had on the ground.

It was a few moments before she regained her composure. Tumbling through the hard Hruh dirt probably hurt, a fall from this height would kill him.

Guilt wracked her. She had taken her first mistake and compounded it. His trajectory over the city buildings curved upwards in a way which was more horizontal than vertical, but any attempt to catch him with wind from her distance might hurt someone on the ground below. She needed to get closer.

So she flew as fast as she could, the air sending ripples along her billowing, off-white dress. She angled downward in a path that anticipated where he would fall. She was only a few feet from him when he stabbed his blade into the roof of a home. It slowed his free-fall, and he caught his footing along the roof's curved gray edge. Before she could react to the change, he'd sprinted across its surface and tackled her in midair.