Dragon Dance

chapter 10: unannounced visitors

"I'm sure they'll be blooming in no time! " Reema said excitedly as she digs a hole in the vegetable patch garden. 

"I'm sure" Lusty agreed giggling.  The sun was warm on their backs, blue skies stretch into the endless. It's radiant blue smiled at the world under it. 

Reema was working in the garden, planting cabbages and a few mints. The cockatrices happily clucked as they formed a line searching the garden for insects. 

Lusty had brought his materials for his bottled fire outside so he can watch Reema. The pine needles laid on the ground on a messy pile, along with a mound on dirty looking powered moss. A grass woven basket sat beside him, the tip of a crimson plume was showing above the brim of the basket. 

Lusty pulled a small jar from the basket and opened the lid, he placed the jar between his legs as he search more for his ingredients, he pulled out the crimson plume and a dried mushroom, and a bottle of an oddly colored oil - the colour of a dirty sapphire. 

He snipped the tip of the crimson plume and put it inside the jar, along with some parts of the mushroom and a few drops of oil,his ingredients laid at the bottom of the jar looking like the most mundane pile of things. 

Reema started humming ,she was watering her new seed with a wooden dipper. Lusty looked at her affectionately, his lips stretched into a large grin. While his fingers blindly worked on the jar. Using his wandtip, he set one of the pine needles afire. And dropped it on the jar, small cracks of fire ignited inside the surface of the jar. He grabbed a handul of the powdered moss and sprinkled it on the jar's mouth. Flames rised towards the sky, roaring like a beast.climbing it's way on too high the jar's brim. And just as fast as it had happened, the huge fiery beast vanished. 

Lusty stared at Reema wide eyed. His eye locking at hers that mirrored everything he did. He collapsed on the floor giggling. 

"What was that? " Reema walked towards him, she kneeled in front of him and ruffled his hair, chuckling herself too. 

"I might have used a bit too much of the powdered moss" Lusty breathed deep to stop his giggles. He tapped the contents of the jar out and carefully added a new batch of his ingredients ,it settled at the base of the jar like a sea of filth. Reema sat beside him to see what's going on, her eye stared through the glass's surface into the things piled inside.

"Now what? " she asked lowly, her eye not breaking from the jar's contents. 

"We light it " he said, as he picked a few pine needles, he lit the needle on fire by his wandtip, white smoke arised from the burning sharp pine leaves, dancing and bending like curtains of mist. Lusty carefully dropped the pine needle into the jar, the jar's inside ignite into life at the smallest touch of fire from the pine needle. Small fire crawled. From the dried mushroom into the oil. He took a pinch of the dark powdered moss and sprinkled it into the jar. The fire crackled and danced ,swirling like tornado of fire inside the jar. Lusty squeezed his palms, silently wishing he done it correctly this time. 

The tornado inside the jar slowly calmed down,revealing that it had burned everything completely clean,there is no trace of any of the materials Lusty had used, from it's vortex arrised another fire, but this time the fire was calm and graceful, it green base danced calmly, it's pink tip playfully reached to the brim of the jar. Lusty quickly screwed the lid on when the fire started to grow smaller. 

"Green? " Reema asked, not taking her gaze from the bottle. 

Lusty smirked at her, "I did it," he looked at his fire. "Every wizard has thier own fire, we can't change it's appearance, I know someone who has white".

Reema bobbed her head slowly. 

"I'll take this inside,this jar can never be opened ,the fire inside would die." Lusty held the jar on both hands and jogged into the hut. 

Reema stood up and studied her garden, she carresed the leaves of her vegetables, a soft wind blew on her hair. Cooling her neck. 

A hurried flapping of wings reached her ear, she looked around to see four winged men flying toward her direction. 

The men landed in front of her ,they sunk into a low bow.  The men had armours of steel, hiding any trace of skin. 

Reema stared at them frozen, her eye, traveled from their shiny Armour into the horns on the top of thier head that protrude from their skulls trough a hole on their helmets, she noticed thier horns are different from one another in a way, to the dark coloured wings that rest on thier backs. 

"Princess Reema" one of them said. 

"Wh... Who are you,  and... And how did you know my name?!" She shouted gripping the dipper tight on her hands. 

Lusty came running out. Before he could take form two of the men charged at him.  He made effort to summon his wand but he was knocked on the ground by a belly punch from the men. He slumped on the dirt holding his stomach. 

"No!  Lusty! " Reema ran to Lusty and held his hand, she threw poison glares at the men.  "Don't you dare touch him! "

Reema emitted a very high note, her voice was so high that even the air seemed to rub on tself.  The men fell down, yanking thier metal helmets out of their heads to cover their ears. Blood dripped from their noses, as they trembled on the dirt. Reema stopped to catch her breath. The cockatrices flapped thier wings, they grew in size and grew spikes.  Reema kept her gaze down as they shooted the men with beams of red light from thier eyes. The men crawled away and lifted themselves in the sky, retreating. Reema didn't took her eye off their figures as they slowly melt in the sky. 

"Who are they? " she asked him, as he lays his head on her palms. "Tell me"

"I... I dont know" Lusty painfully said, clasping his stomach with his arm.