Dragon's Blood

Chapter Seven

        Wingbeats filled her ears and tousled her hair, and suddenly a pair of large claws slammed down, pinning Bou to the ground. The darkness dragon hissed, but the second dragon only continued to beat him with its wings.

"Akari...!" Delia's voice was barely above a whisper. "Akari, that's a wyvern."

"What?!" Akari's hair flew around her face as she struggled to make out the forms in the frantic struggle.

The reddish wyvern chomped down viciously on Bou's neck, and the black dragon rolled in an attempt to throw him off. Using his claws, Apple clung to him and kept his hold. Akari could see him bite down harder, and Bou let out a bellow of pain. He reared up, and Apple released him, flapping wildly to stay in the air. Bou vanished in a cloud of black smoke, and the wyvern let out a little bark before tumbling to the ground in a heap.

"Apple!" Delia rushed to his side and cradled his now reverted form in her arms. "Apple, are you okay?!"

He lay limp in her arms, but at the sound of her voice, his eyes fluttered open.

"Told you...I was an...early fledger." He grinned weakly, and in her relief, Delia's tears fell freely.

"Idiot..." She choked through her tears, and pulled him close to her chest. "Don't ever scare us like that again!"

At Bou's disappearance, Runa had a moment of distraction. Tetra took the chance to tackle her to the ground, biting viciously at her neck. Runa slapped the love eater with her tail, leaving long welts on the cream colored fur.

"We have to help Tetra!" Akari cried, but Delia shook her head.

"We need to run, Akari! Delph's not going to last too long against the Lich, and Apple is exhausted and hurt!"

As if on cue, there was a thud as Delph's back hit the ground, and the Lich's bellow blew the fur on his face back.

"Delph!"

Akari felt a surge of power flow from her core out to her fingertips. Her powers were controlled by her emotions, Sanguis had said. Seeing Tetra and Delph in danger had triggered something within her, and now psychic power was welling up. Her fingers sparked with psychic enegy which she quickly aimed at the love dragon. Carefully avoiding Tetra, she sent two pulses of dense energy directly at the enemy. Runa fell over, stiff and twitching as Akari assaulted her mind with a pyschological attack, and Tetra shook the dirt from her coat, tail lashing like a cat's. She snapped at Runa once more before transforming back to her human form, rubbing her arms where the red marks lay.

"Are you alright, dear?" Delia gently checked her injuries, but Tetra waved her off.

"I'm fine. Dirty fighting wench."

"What about Delph!?" Akari turned towards the two dragons still battling, but this time it was Albertine who stepped forward.

"I'll do it." He said aloud, surprising everyone.

"Teeny!?" Tetra threw out a hand to stop him. "Absolutely not!"

"It's okay, Tetra." He told her. "I can do it."

He strode off confidently, leaving all with stunned expressions.

"I don't think I've ever heard him speak so much." Delia blinked.

Albertine stood at the edge of the clearing, dwarfed by the two elder dragons battling it out in front of him.

"Delph!" He shouted, and the oracle dragon dropped to all fours. The Lich dragon, hearing his voice, turned towards Albertine, the holes where its eyes should be glowing a malevolent red.