Too late. Our escape was cut off as a few of the weard flew over our heads and landed down-passage from where we stood. We were trapped. The chief Red Dragon stepped from their midst and smiled at us. “It seems you had but a brief respite from fate, Ferus Draco, but we really must be going. There is something I wish to show you.” Xander curled his lips back in a snarl as he narrowed his eyes. The Red Dragon wagged his finger at my dragon lord. “None of that now. You would not wish for your precious fae to be harmed, would you?” Several of the sword-wielding dragon men took a step toward me.
A cry of pain from Thatch made us all look at him. His face scrunched up as he clutched his stomach. Something like thousands of tiny pins shifted beneath his clothes. He threw his head back and screamed as they broke through, revealing themselves to be feather quills. Bright feathers the colors of the rainbow sprouted out of the ends of the hollow stems.
Thatch lifted his hands and his eyes widened as they transformed into long claws. He whipped his head to Drake who stood nearby with a sly smile on his face. “W-what have you done to me?”
The Red Dragon shook his head. “I have done nothing but give you what you desired, eternal life. Unfortunately-” he strode over to Thatch and knelt on one knee before the disfigured man as Thatch’s face elongated into a beak, “-that wish comes with a price. The phoenix is the only creature in our world that is immortal, so in order to become immortal yourself you must become one of them.”
“No!” Thatch screeched as his feet transformed into claws. He grabbed the front of the dragon’s shirt. “You must help me! Change me back!”
Drake frowned and whacked his hands away before he stood. “There is no reversing this ‘gift,’ so bear the start of your eternal life with some dignity, will you?”
Thatch narrowed his now-golden eyes and with an ear-piercing shriek he lunged at the dragon. Some of the weard rushed forward to protect their leader. Xander, Magnus and Alice each picked up one of the distracted guards and threw them into their comrades while Tillit grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the passage with the light.
Our other three companions soon joined us, but we weren’t followed. Thatch was giving all he got against Drake and the weard. He was now more bird than man-dragon, with feathers covering his body and his feet split into three talons. His terrible screeches vibrated my eardrums and the walls. Debris fell from the ceiling and the walls and ground began to shake. Large rocks began to litter the ground behind us and threatened to block off the tunnel at our backs.
Magnus slid to a stop and turned to face the fierce battle between bird and dragon. “Captain! Come with us!”
Thatch turned to us and smiled. “God speed, Captain Magnus, and may the winds ever be in yer favor.” He leaned back and let loose a harsh shriek that shook the earth so bad I clung to the walls.
Alice grabbed Magnus’s shoulders. “Get back!”
She pulled him backward just as the ceiling crashed down. The passage was filled with choking dust that filled our lungs and made us cough. I waved my hand in front of my face and squinted into the dirty fog. Magnus stood before a huge pile of stones that blocked the way we came.
Xander walked up to the old captain and set a hand on Magnus’s shoulder. “I am sorry about your friend.”
Magnus shook his head. “Twas his own doing. I expect he made his bed a long time ago, and now he’s lying in it.” The old captain raised his eyes to Xander and pursed his lips. “I’m just sorry ya got dragged into it, Yer Lordship.”
Tillit looked down the path available to us. It was a roughly-hewn corridor littered with puddles and mud. There were a few offshoots on either side. “We need to get going. It didn’t take those Red Dragons long to find us the first time and they’re sure to have a surprise waiting for us a third time if we don’t get out of here quick.”
Xander turned away from the pile of rocks and strode over to me where he grasped my upper arms. “Are you okay?”
I managed a weak smile and nodded. “I’m alive. I think.”
He returned my smile and guided me down the path toward the bright light. “We shall keep you in that state.”
Xander couldn’t keep his promise for long as out from the side passages came hordes of red-sashed dragons. My dragon lord pulled me behind him and grabbed the shirt of the first foe. He lifted him up and tossed him into his comrades, but others passed them and swarmed us. Magnus and Alice hurried up, cutlasses in hand, and joined in the fray in the cramped quarters. The passage was so narrow that none of the Red Dragons could get past us, but we couldn’t get past them.
I was pushed back as Xander retreated a step and my foot slipped into a deep puddle. The little pools of water were like stepping stones to our point of freedom. I stooped and dipped my hand into the cool, sludgy water and grimaced, but focused my eyes on the many puddles beneath the feet of our foes. Little dragons as thin as snakes burst from my puddle and leapt like dolphins into the next ones, growing larger and multiplying.
They slipped beneath the feet of the Red Dragons and came up with their wide, teeth-filled mouths open. My little pets latched onto the legs and arms of the men, and in some cases the family jewels, and slammed them down face-first into the rocky floor. There were dozens of screams of pain and terror as the men tried to grab the little dragons, but found themselves with their hands only full of water.
“Now!” Xander shouted as he grabbed my arm.
I yanked myself free of his grasp. “Don’t move me or they’ll get free!”
Magnus and Alice hurried past us and kicked and slashes their way through our preoccupied foes. Tillit drew up beside us and nodded at Xander’s sword. “Give her that so she can drag it from puddle to puddle.”
Xander dipped the tip of his sword into my puddle and soaked the surface with water that dripped back down into the puddle. I gingerly climbed my way up the sword, keeping contact with the water. I was able to stand and, with Tillit in front of me and Xander at my side, we rushed forward. The tip of the sword never left the wet ground so that my little dragons remained active in their duties.
We just barely left them behind and the exit was only twenty yards off when I was hit with an excruciating pain. The pain split my head in two. My vision blurred and I stumbled into the wall on my right. Xander swept me into his arms and ran down the passage. I let out a scream as my splitting headache turned into a full-body wracking pain. A bright blue light burst from my hands and shot upward. The pair of lights twirled around each other and called forth my familiar water dragons from the water around us. The creatures thrashed around like disobedient children, knocking into Xander and sending us both into the wall. Xander hit the rocks hard and fell to the floor. I landed on top of him.
My head ached like someone had hit me with an ax and I still couldn’t see very well, but I could see Xander’s pale face near mine. My eyes widened as I saw blood pour from a small wound along his temple. I climb to a seated position and, working through the pain, shook his shoulders. “Xander? Xander!”
His eyes flew open and zoomed in on me. “Miriam. Are you unhurt?”
I couldn’t suppress a snort. “I should be asking you that, but come-” One of the flailing bodies of the water dragons slammed into the wall to my left.
Xander grabbed the back of my head and forced us both to the ground as the other dragon dragged itself across the wall where he had just leaned.
Tillit had stopped five yards from us and faced us. “Behind you!”
I whipped my head back down the passage. My little dragons were gone so that our foes were back on their feet and had murder in their eyes. They stepped toward us, daring the wrath of my writhing dragons.
“Run!” Xander ordered him.
Tillit shook his head. “Not without you.”
“You are the only one who can decipher that book! You must run and lead others to the water!” Xander insisted.
“I’m not going-” Xander threw Bucephalus at our friend and it was lodged into the ground at Tillit’s feet.
“Keep that for when we meet again!” Xander promised.
Tillit plucked the sword from the ground and pursed his lips before he turned and fled down the path to the light.
Xander turned his attention to me. “Can you control your dragons?”
I clenched my teeth and shook my head. “I can’t even-ah!” I was struck with another blow of pain. This was cramped up my entire body.
That last thing I saw was the shadows of the Red Dragons as they descended on us.