We hear the roar of Thypon in the distance.
‘We must all go now! ‘Towards the ships!’ Damon shouts.
We shift into our wolves, and the little orcs and sprites are placed onto our backs. We race along the shoreline until we reach the docks where the ships are anchored.
I look at Magnus as we see they have been destroyed. We shift back and cautiously approach. I notice a lot of movement in the water beyond the destroyed ships.
‘There’s something in the water,’ I say, pointing at the ripples.
Everyone steps closer, and suddenly three-headed snakes emerge and slither toward us. They are between seven and eight feet tall.
‘Oh my!’ Vivian says in her posh accent, stepping back.
‘Tumultuous Volley!’ I shout, causing lightning to strike them.
‘Troika Snakes!’ Alec shouts.
I manage to strike them all as they come toward me, except for one. The three heads spit a green fluid toward me at once. Alec dashes toward me and pushes me out of the way.
‘They spit acid!’ he says as remnants burn holes through his cloak.
‘Repeliate!’ Yiselda says, sending the Troika Snake flying back into the ocean.
It returns from the water faster this time but with a dozen others.
Alec quickly stands and helps me up. I jump in front of him. ‘Inferno Flamo!’ I shout, creating a wall of flame in front of us. The snakes hiss and retreat into the ocean.
‘They seem to be afraid of fire,’ Yiselda says.
‘Good! Next time I’ll burn them to smithereens,’ I say to her.
‘They must have destroyed the ships,’ Alec says.
‘Where do we go from here then?’ Magnus asks.
Maia and I bite our lips. And look back toward Moonhowl Woods. We can see the flames and the smoke in the sky. I then look toward Emerald Island but know we can’t get there without a boat. So, I turn to the West, where the sky is still clear and bright.
‘What’s over there to the West?’ I ask.
‘There’s a village, Mystic Pride, and then not far from the village is the forest that divides Mysteria into Moon Crest and West Wallow,’ Maia says.
‘Here, I have a map,’ Damon says, passing me a small scroll.
I unroll it and can see where we are and the village Maia mentioned.
‘It’s probably going to take a couple of days to get there. I can see a small set of mountains along the way. We might be able to find a cave or some shelter along the way to rest,’ I say to them.
‘Okay, let’s go,’ Damon says.
We trek through the lands until we arrive at the small mountains. Damon has been awfully quiet. I can’t help but sense there is something else wrong.
‘King Damon, has something else happened?’ I ask him.
‘The warriors that stayed back at Moon Crest Castle to fight off the harpies. I can’t mind-link any of them. I’m afraid they might all be dead,’ he tells me.
‘They’re dead!’ Maia cries out.
‘I’m afraid so,’ he says, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Maia bursts into tears. Damon wraps her in his arms as I rub her back sympathetically.
We exit a small forest and stand before a vast field of flowers. Fern, Ria, Ela, Lilac and May kneel amongst the flowers and smell them as their familiars’ slither, skip, and run throughout the field. Reaper perches onto my shoulder, and I scratch his head before he flies up into the sky again.
‘So beautiful,’ I mutter under my breath.
‘That’s what I told myself the moment I saw you,’ Alec smiles.
I wrap my arm around his back and gaze into his eyes.
‘I thought you were extremely handsome too the moment we met,’ I say and kiss his cheek.
Magnus shifts into his wolf and ducks himself under me between my legs, so I end up on his back. I giggle and laugh as he runs through the field.
Suddenly we hear Reaper’s screeches and caws. Magnus halts, and we look up. I can’t see him, but a few black feathers float from the sky. I reach out and take one. Something is wrong.
‘Reaper?’ I mind-link him.
A burst of black shadows emerges through the cloud, and flames follow behind.
‘Reaper! What is that? What’s happening? Please tell me you’re, okay?’
Dozens of dragons emerge through the clouds, chasing Reaper. They are different colours, and all breathe different elements towards him. Some breathe fire, some ice, others electric bolts. A sooty-coloured dragon emerges, spitting a black liquid toward him—drips land near my feet. The grass and flowers it touches lose their colour before turning to ash.
‘Reaper! Tremendous Nebulous,’ I shout, turning the sky into a thick misty haze.
‘Electrous Flaros!’ Yiselda shouts.
Bolts of blue light strike through the sky, zapping the dragons.
‘Inferno Flamo!’ Fern and Lilac say simultaneously.
‘Ilumini!’ Ember says, creating a blinding light.
Suddenly Reaper falls from the sky in the distance. Some of the dragons fly lower toward us to attack.
‘Reaper, he’s hurt! Skedaddle Dash!’ I say, teleporting across the field.
I hold my hands out and catch him just in time. He’s alive but exhausted, and his right-wing appears broken. I hold him close against my chest with one hand, and with the other, I hold it up and shout, ‘Tumultuous Volley!’ forming a storm, striking lightning in the sky.
Maia forms balls of purple light, while Kadva forms balls of blue and aims them toward the dragons.
As some dragons land on the ground, Damon, Magnus and other werewolves shift into their wolf forms and lunge toward them.
Sir Hugo wields his sword as he runs toward them. All the little orcs follow his lead and wield their weapons of choice.
The dragons in the sky growl and zigzag, trying to miss everyone’s magic. They breathe fire, ice and electric bolts toward us. At least a dozen of us have been hit.
One of the werewolves whimpers and yelps as he is engulfed in flames. He tries desperately to roll to put out the flames.
‘Aqua Bedew!’ I shout.
My hand forms a beam of water and puts the flames out. The werewolf will survive, but it will take days for him to heal. He nods, grateful I saved his life.
Shards of ice fly through the air toward me. I place my arm above my head to brace myself, praying they miss, instead, without saying anything. They shatter above my head. I peer up to see I’ve somehow created a sheer but shimmering shield shaped like a dome around me, stopping the ice shards from hitting the wolf and me.
Alec and Magnus look at each other in surprise, then back at me, wondering how I did that. I stare back at them, shrugging my shoulders and showing I’m just as surprised as they are.
Suddenly the dragons dart down and randomly grab us one by one and fly away towards Moon Crest Castle. Except for Quinn, all the fae, sprite and orc children are successfully picked up and taken away by the dragons. A green dragon scoops her up, but she pulls a brown pouch out and blows fairy dust into its face. The dragon drops her and appears confused, flying in the opposite direction. She flutters her wings to break her fall, making a safe landing, but then she sees her mother, Nadia, being carried away by a red dragon.
‘Mummy!’ she yells and tries to fly after them, but I grab her ankle as she descends into the air.
‘Quinn, it’s too dangerous. Stay with me. I will help you get her back. I promise,’ I say to her.
She bursts into tears and hugs my leg crying.
Yiselda, Kadva and the other witches break free from the dragons using spells against them, but the werewolves and vampires can’t break free.
I look around, realising almost everyone has been taken away.
‘Alec! Magnus!’ I scream.
‘I’m here,’ Alec says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I turn and, with great relief, wrap my free arm around him a hug him tight.
‘Thank the Moon Goddess! Where’s Magnus?’ I ask, stepping away.
There isn’t a dragon insight. Yiselda, May, and Kadva help Fern, Lilac, Ela and Ria, whom all have minor injuries. Sir Hugo stumbles forward with Maia and Ember approaching behind him, but I can’t see Magnus. Only one wolf remains. He is badly burnt. He shifts into his human form. Maia rushes over to him and uses her power to help heal some of the burns.
Sir Hugo helps Maia stand.
‘Where’s Damon?’ she asks him.
‘I’m sorry, my Queen. The dragons took him with the others,’ he says, disappointed at himself for not saving his King.
She bursts into tears, ‘And what about Vivian?’ she cries.
‘I’m sorry, my Queen,’ he says softly.
My breathing becomes heavy as I realise Magnus isn’t here either. I turn to face Alec. He bites his lip and looks down with sadness, confirming my worst fear.
I hold back my tears and bravely step forward, looking into the distance. Everyone left stands silently by my side. Our hair moves around in the wind.
I declare to them all, ‘We will save them. All of them, and we will defeat Thypon with or without the help of our Gods.’
