Purple Dragon [REPUBLISHED]

Chapter 16: Ice Bound

Screams wracked the air as Icina Warriors charged. It was a bloodbath. Icina showed no mercy. The kills varied from young Servant dragonets to respected Justices.

Hatchets and swords gleamed as Thaborian and Icinians alike fell. Blood spurted in Amasya's face. The stench of warfare and it's cost filled her nostrils. She nearly choked.

But the purple aura of courage and power was still there, so she jumped into action. Slicing her claws through an Icinian archer like he was made of butter, she raced through the battlefield to find her friends.

She spotted Lidia and Laurel crounched together while Judd fought off two Icinian offenders. Rearing up his back two legs, he bellowed. He brought down his powerful forelegs onto the opponents heads. One lifted his sword to stab Judd before he fell, but Amasya leapt and attacked him.

"Find Everett and the others," Amasya ordered him. Judd nodded looking frightened of her. She remembered what Osma told her about when she fought. The shield of light and power was doing its job.

Turning, she roared angrily and plunged into the Icinian ranks. Her invisible shield repelled anyone who got too near. Swiping her claws at any dragon that got in her way, she plowed down the first line of Icinian infantry.

"Everett!" she cried. "Edin! Where are you?"

Sabra immediately materialized by Amasya's side. "C'mon!" she screamed. "This way!"

They dodged their way through the battle, balancing precariously on the edge of the camp. Wielding a silver dagger, Sabra plunged it into an enemy advancing on them.

The mountain kept on shaking. Fissures cracked in the stone, and Amasya watched as they got bigger and bigger.

"We're going to fall!" Amasya shrieked. "The whole mountain is going to collapse!" In abhorrence, Amasya remembered that Thabor was located on a lopsided, unstable ledge. The camp was just waiting to be swept off the mountain. It only took a push in just the right place.

She cursed Gadarine's stupidity. The now dead Gadarine. Amasya pushed away the thought. There would be time for remorse for what she'd done later. Her gut did clench at the thought of Achmetha's death.

Everett and Judd were up ahead as the cracks grew wider and wider. The ground beneath them rumbled violently. Huge chunks of rock slipped from the mountainside. Sabra snatched Amasya and rolled out of the way of the debris. Parts of the mountain came tumbling down, crushing dragons and pinning them down.

"We're not going to make it," Amasya panted, her muscles burning. The pack was shouting at her, screaming at her to run faster. Terror filled her. She wasn't running fast enough. The ground underneath her feet cracked and fell away as her paws pounded in an attempt to escape.

Slowly, the terrace that held the Thabor legion and a faction of Icina's army started to crumble and fall. Thousands of Thaborians and Icinians slipped over the edge. Eons of quarrying had nearly hollowed out the whole mountain, and it started to collapse

Amasya's paw slipped, and she felt her body start to fall. Sabra yelled at her, but screaming was pointless now. She simply let herself free fall. Silently, she said goodbye to her friends, but she wasn't scared. An overwhelming sense of peace washed over her head.

At least they're safe, was her last thought before she was snatched from thin air.

Amasya gasped. "Achmetha?"

Achmetha had turned into a large hawk and swooped in just in time. She cawed cheerfully and alighted on a hill where her friends were watching.

"You're alive!" Amasya exclaimed in glee.

Sabra hugged her fiercely. "Great Radisha, don't EVER do that to us again," she growled in Amasya's ear. "I thought you were dead!"

Cass rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, she's fine. Can we get going now? I'm not anxious to meet up with more Icinian troops." She stared as the battle started to dwindle.

"It's nice to see you too," Amasya told her. Edin tugged on her, his eyes wide.

"You should have seen Everett when he saw you were missing! We were all so scared, and he made us search for you! I, of course, didn't mind! I was SO worried, but Cass said that you left because no one liked you and that you should have left a long time ago! And we were so scared, and I was crying and so was Axella and...and.." he paused for a breath.

"Edin!" Cass barked. "Shut your snout!"

"Glad you're back," Darrock said. Batair grinned at her flirtatiously.

"Glad you're alive! I knew you'd be devastated without me." She laughed, and Everett gave her a sharp look.

Axella smiled with tears in her eyes. "I was so scared Amasya! Especially when you were fighting that monster, Achmetha. No offense Achmetha," she said hastily to the oversized bird next to her.

Achmetha gave a cacaw as if she was saying, None taken.

Everett stepped up, and his solemn brown eyes made her nervous. "You really made us scared, Amasya." Amasya lowered her head. His mouth twitched, his eyes twinkled. "But good job out there."

But she wasn't listening. Judd leapt for the hill and collapsed heaving. "Lidia and Laurel. Where are they?"

"DAD!" Laurel screamed. She was on the ledge as the crack in the land grew bigger and bigger. She bleated in fear.

"LAUREL!" he roared. He attempted to leap, but Everett crashed into him.

"You can't, Judd," Everett said. "You'll die."

Lidia was sobbing and hugging Judd as the stone crumbled before Amasya's eyes.

A tiny dragonet held onto Laurel's leg. The hatchling's eyes were wild with terror. An Icinian held them hostage. Amasya watched as Laurel comforted the trembling dragonet.

"Let her go!" Amasya screamed. "It's suicide to stay there! Why hold them there just so he could take them down with him?"

"Laurel!" Finian howled running to her. "LAUREL!" He shot an arrow into the Icinian's heart, and he collapsed off the side of the cliff. Batair tensed next to Amasya as he caught sight of his brother on the other side. The dangerous side.

She watched as Finian barreled toward Laurel, ready to jump to the other side with her. Sobbing Laurel nodded and grabbed the hatchling on her leg, ready to pry the dragonet off when the moment was right.

Tension crawled up Amasya's throat. The split was growing wider by the second. For a split moment, Amasya and Laurel's eyes connected. And there was peace in her eyes.

Finian jumped for her, but at the last moment Laurel shoved the hatchling into his grasp. Gasping with surprise, he tumbled onto the hill with the hatchling.

Squeaking in pain, the hatchling scurried up the hill.

"No," Finian said in a ragged voice.

Laurel sobbed on the other side as the whole mountain came tumbling down. And before she fell into oblivion, she mouthed the words:

I'm sorry.

She screamed as the world opened up beneath her paws and she fell with the rest of the Thabor camp into the darkness below.