Dragon Riders

Chapter 8: Putting on a Show

Serafina POV:

I watched as Aspen yanked Cade from my back. She felt his pulse to make sure he was indeed alive. She looked to me for help.

"What?" I asked. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nature Dragons can heal... Right? Heal him!" She ordered desperately.

"I can't," I admitted.

"What?" She stuttered. "But... But!" Then she burst into tears. I could feel her hopelessness building.

"Nature Dragons can only heal animals and plants," I reminded her, "not humans, but I know what to do!" She sniffed and wiped her runny nose.

"You do?" Aspen questioned hopefully.

"I do," I assured. I crossed over to her and wiped her tears away with a stroke of my claw. "Get back on dear," I crooned. "I've got Cade!" She nodded helplessly as I gathered his damaged body in one of my paws. Then, we took off once more. I was heading North, towards Beliu, but her sudden outburst stopped me.

"Wait!" She shouted. "We have to go back to Tura!"

"What?" I gasped in surprise.

"We have to get any stragglers out of the city!" The images of the charred bodies and limbs she had seen filled my mind. I felt sympathy for all the living and agreed.

Fine, I concurred. We'll go back! But we'll need to be very careful! I'm absolutely positive Inferno has a massive price on Cade's and my heads. And you... Well, let's just say he will be extremely pleased to have you in his grasp. I felt her gulp on my back. I turned and headed back towards the city. Once I saw the massive gate, I crouched down. One advantage to being a Nature Dragon is I can turn into whatever type of nature I want. I let Aspen slide off me and I stashed Cade in a bush. I then transformed into a fox and followed Aspen silently. She was aware of my transformation and was not surprised to see a fox trailing her.

We searched some fallen houses and found some refugees hiding in the rubble. We helped them out, gave them something to revive them, and sent them off towards Del. Del, although it was further that Lyo, had human civilization. We scoured the rubble for hours and rescued over a hundred hidden survivors. The sun had begun to rise over the hills of Lyo when we reached the final section of the city. No one survived in this region though, because the castle collapsed over this commercial section of the city. Then I heard a flap of wings and turned to see Axel fluttering above us.

"Are you really that stupid," he accused us, "that you would come back here when my father is out to kill you? Wow! I thought Dragons were supposed to be wise." He looked around for me, not realizing that I was a fox. "Where is your Teff anyways? Although Inferno would like her dead too, he will be ever most pleased that I found you." He boasted. As he basked in his glory, I slunk around a corner and turned back into my natural form. I then sent twenty vines his way, all latched around his throat. He could not burn through them all before his airways were blocked and he fell to the ground, unconscious. But, of course, he had somehow alerted his buddies who returned with Inferno.

"There's my little Viy!" He beamed. "And her Teff." He acknowledged my presence. "Dear Aspen, why don't we watch her die?" Aspen dove around the corner, escaping the grasp of his claw by a foot. She scrambled over to me and leapt onto my back. "Oh," He realized. "You want a chase?" He teased. "A chase you'll get!" We took off with them right on our tail. I sped over the remainder of the debris covered markets and soared into the residential regions. I lowered myself quickly to rip Cade from his hiding spot.

"Um, Teff!" Inferno asserted from behind. "You're going the wrong way! Your safe haven is to the North, not South!" I then banked and flew right underneath our pursuers.