Sapphire

  She fell through the fire, caught a fleeting glimpse of a scaled crimson underside, and smelled singed hair. She spun endlessly towards the earth, and felt like she couldn’t breathe from the force of the buffeting wind, or perhaps from sheer shock.

  I’m going to die.

  No flashes of memories or loved ones before her eyes, only the beating of her heart and the thought that every beat would be her last. She tumbled head over feet, her vision punctuated with sky, land, sky, land. Then dark rain clouds obscured everything. She was suspended in a soft blanket of gray until land appeared once again, far too close.

  I’m dead.

  Her hands tingled, and her gaze turned earthbound one more time to see a world of molochs. I’m falling into Hell. Every glowing fiery eye was fixated on her deadly descent. She wondered if it would be painful. Was this sacrifice enough? Was this what Sirrush wanted?

  She closed her eyes. She waited for impact, for everything to end. She almost welcomed it. The wind was not so strong anymore. Her lungs filled with air. Gravity was pulling at her in a different direction. She opened her eyes, ready to see the earth inches from her face. The thought made her spasm as if she’d already hurtled into the ground, but she hadn’t. A clawed hand was gently wrapped around her, slowing her fall, then her body was roughly jerked as the dragon turned its nose up mere feet from the leaping wide jaws of molochs.

  She saw a silver belly above her, then finally screamed when Sirrush turned onto his back to roar and unleash blue fire at the red dragon diving down at him. The collision was catastrophic. She was thrown from his grasp as the other dragon rammed into him, slamming their huge bodies into the ground. Molochs howled as the two dragons and their massive wingspans obliterated scores of them like an explosion.

  She opened her eyes to find herself face down in the mud. Her head throbbed, she tried to move and fell back to her hands and knees, too disoriented to stand. For a moment she didn’t remember how she had gotten there, didn’t remember the dragons or the molochs, but as her eyesight cleared she saw a ring of black-furred legs and claws. She looked up and saw another ring of burning eyes. All the eyes turned towards the rumblings of roaring and quaking earth, then with snarls and howls every single one tried to leap over another to escape.

  A dragon’s giant hind foot slammed to the ground only an arms length from her head, pulverizing the molochs still trying to climb over one another. Adrenaline pulled her to her feet, and she threw her head back to see silver dragon pitted against red dragon, both on their hind legs, tearing with vicious force at each other’s hides. She turned to run, but Sirrush lifted his foot and smashed it to the ground right in front of her. She slid then scrambled to turn and run in the opposite direction. A red foot crashed down like an asteroid and buckled her legs with the quake. Something wet and warm splashed onto her head and washed down her face with the rain. She wiped it away.

  Blood!

  She looked up as the enemy dragon lifted a hind leg again to regain balance, its tail swiping through the air, making her hair fly with a gust of wind. Sirrush was forcing the snapping, clawing, fire spitting dragon off balance, and just as she made a mad dash away from the fighting, he snaked his head around and sank his fangs into the dark red neck. The dragon’s roar gargled then was silenced as Sirrush twisted his head like a viper, tearing his foe’s neck, and throwing him to the ground. The molochs had turned and crept back but still kept their distance. All their hungry eyes were on Ava next to the silver dragon. She watched as the dying dragon crumpled, twitched, then fell still, its wings falling like limp sails. Sirrush had fallen to all fours, his own wings clawed and ragged, useless, his body covered in wounds.

  He began to morph back to his human form. Her legs shook as she stood and managed to stumble to him. The wall of molochs was inching closer. He looked only slightly better in his human body. His scaled armor-like clothing was shredded in many places. Blood trickled from various wounds as he sat hunched over, fists on the ground, head hanging.

  “Sirrush?” she whispered, carefully, slowly reaching out to touch him.

  He suddenly raised a hand and she jumped away. His fingers curled, and she felt an atmospheric pressure envelop the both of them just as the teeming mass of molochs launched themselves forward. A scream caught in her throat as she saw the monsters slow, struggle, then writhe in place as Sirrush’s mysterious power kept them at bay. He was far more powerful, dangerous, and devious than any of them could have imagined. She took a few more steps away from him and clasped the hilt of her crystal sword. It was amazingly still intact after the fall. She drew confidence from the weapon, though Sirrush had said belief was a far more deadly weapon. She no longer knew what to believe. She only knew she must survive and somehow protect those she loved.

  He lowered his arm but remained crouched, taking deep shuddering breaths. The effort to protect them was using what strength he had left, and she worried it wouldn’t hold the creatures back much longer. The red dragon stirred and she drew her sword like instinct. Sirrush’s head snapped up, but the dragon was only turning back into its true form. A body of a man lay lifeless in the blood-churned mud.

  “Gavan?” she said.

  She looked at the young man who had hunted her as ruthlessly as Lorna had. He had tried one last time with all his magic, with his most powerful form, to fulfill his task. A small spark of pity flickered in her heart for him.

  Surprised at her sudden pity, she looked away. He only did it because that’s all he knew. It was what he believed, and it killed him.

  A lump rose in her throat.

  Belief.

  Sirrush stood, squaring his broad shoulders as he towered over her. He stared at Gavan’s lifeless body.

  “That was interesting,” he said, indifferently. He turned to Ava. “I don’t have the strength to transform into another form again. I may not even have the strength to protect us before the others come.”

  Another form? She wondered if human and dragon were not the only forms he could take. Is he even truly a dragon? Or a shape-shifter like Gavan? Her eyes bore into his, but their icy depths revealed nothing. Or, is Gavan like him?

  His large hands snatched her by the shoulders, and she reflexively tried to pull away, but the intensity behind his eyes held her captive. “For your sake, for all of ours, believe in what you must do.”

  Her eyes played across his face trying to understand what he was telling her as the molochs were beginning to struggle through his barrier.

  “Think of how this all began,” he said with barely contained urgency. “Whatever happens, do not follow the path of your kin.” She could hear the moloch’s snarls growing. His fingers dug into her shoulders and she winced.

  “I thought you didn’t care?” she snapped back. “I thought you had it all under control.” She let her anger out no matter how much she feared his sorcery. Capella’s words rang in her ears, slippery as fish innards. She tried to twist away, not daring to use her own powers against him, but he held her fast.

  “Everything seeks to be balanced,” he said, releasing her. “The unicorn’s sacrifice must now be yours.”

  She stepped away from the madness emanating from him. The molochs were edging closer, wary of the dragon-man, but sliding nearer all the same. Sirrush looked down at his feet and spread his palms. After a few moments, two metallic curved blades rose from the earth. They were still hot, glowing bright orange and yellow, as he molded them from ores underground. The molochs nearest them stopped. He grabbed the cooling handles at the center of the blades and whipped them up and around himself like he was merely twirling ribbons.

  Ava raised her sword. The molochs rippled, looked larger all of a sudden, their growls growing like an oncoming avalanche. A streak of gold was bulleting through the air. Some of them leapt up to snap at it.

  “Lula!” Ava shouted, more happy than anything in the world to see her friend, though she had wished for her to stay behind.

  “The re
st of them are coming,” Lula said through gasps, flying over to Ava. “We saw what happened! Adhara and Warwick were fighting Gavan, but he turned into a dragon and there was nothing they could do.”

  Ava could only nod silently. Everything was twisting in on itself. The reality of her world dissolving into pure nightmare.

  “Hey,” said Lula. Ava looked up, the fear obviously showing on her face. “This isn’t good bye.” Lula smiled. “I know you’ll make it to that arch and you’ll come back through again. Everything will be okay.”

  “Maybe we should.” Ava hadn’t expected to say it but felt with all her heart that she meant it. “Maybe we should say good bye.” She couldn’t look at Lula’s stricken expression.

  Lula slowly pursed her lips and shook her head. “Well, I won’t.”

  Loud yells, roars, and sounds of fighting echoed nearby. All three of them saw incredible flashes of white and blue flame, red crackling lightning, and heard a high-pitched peal of laugher.

  “Sounds like at least that old hag is enjoying herself,” said Lula, trying to joke, but her voice quivered.

  Just then, the first moloch lunged at Sirrush.