The Dragon of Charred Scales

Fear, Duty, Fate

Oculeera

"They're gone," I whisper, looking at the entrance.

"He didn't convince her, did he?" Novayar asked, voice unsteady. I shrugged, unable to answer. We both heard the conversation. Jheecu is smart; she knows what she is doing. But she was once deeply in love with Harogbas and who knows if that still distracts her. I would guess no, for her anger at him burns like a wildfire. But I am not her.

"What do we do?"

I looked back at the conjurer. "He is alone, out of arrogance maybe. I feel no one else. Now is the time to strike."

"But he immobilized Mother. He'll do the same to us."

"We can still perform the spell. He seems to overlook some things. We have to trust we can catch him off guard."

"Or die trying."

"We'll die right here if we do nothing. Jheecu cannot defeat him on her own."

I looked Novayar in the eye, not letting him look away. He is very scared. We both are. "Your mother has just been captured, Novayar. You care about her. At the very least, we have to help her. Just fly near enough to Harogbas to begin chanting. Staying within a thousand feet should be good."

He does not answer right away. I start walking towards the entrance when he finally does say something. "We never really had a plan. Are you sure this will work?"

I nod. "He is alone. It's the best we could hope for, and we must take advantage. Jheecu has said she would fight him physically. Perhaps fight him enough that he cannot use magic as effectively. Multitasking properly may not have been gifted to him with his transformation."

"That's not a plan."

"It's improvisation. Wait long enough to make a plan, and Jheecu will probably be dead." That bit I said harshly. He flinched, but his expression saddened. Better than fear, I hope.

"Will you help me with the spell?" he whispered.

"Of course. Two is better than one. Any mistakes will get canceled out."

He rose and stretched his wings. "I don't want to do this. But... I have to."

"We have to. The prophecy mentions both of us, not just you."

A hint of a smile. "You're right."

"Of course I am. We fly invisible and try to sneak up on them. As we do, we tap into Raw Magic for the spell, and as soon as we are within range, we link and start chanting. We fly around them but separately so that he cannot focus on one target. Sound like a plan?"

His eyes narrowed. "Why does this kind of sound like something you would have done in jest to another young dragon?"

It is my turn to smile. "Because I have pranked my mother like that, alongside a fellow hatchling, when we first learned magic. She had no hatchlings at the time, so we snuck up and as soon as we were close enough, we set fire to the bedding under her. She tried to punish us by pinning us down, but there were two of us."

I turn invisible and walk out of the cave, followed by Novayar. I do not check to see if he is also invisible; he has plenty of sense. I take to the sky and search for the two strength dragons. A pit forms in my stomach when I find them. They are so high up and still rising. But we got to train in a thin air environment. With a few spells we could probably fly over Sharloka, much less low or mid cloud height.

As I detailed, I started to reach for Raw Magic, chanting a few words of protection and limitation. I spiral steeply, pushing my wings as hard as I can. Novayar overtakes me but does not stray far. Flying so high is a good way to quickly drain our strength. Better to pace ourselves a little.