Master of None: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

23.

Content warning: descriptions of warfare/violence

Shadowhunter

All we have to do is provide enough cover to get our dragons inside the city walls.

We just have to make it out of this alive.

The ground rumbles beneath us, the desert seeming to split in two. I spring up off the ground. For the most part, every other dragon in the battle does the same–but I watch as a few of Sharp-eyes's soldiers get sucked into the abyss.

I keep picturing my dad. I picture how he'd be fighting if it were me instead of him who was dead. How he'd tear through the enemy lines, how his magic would be strong enough to defeat any foe. How everything would be all right, so long as he was there beside me.

One of the soldiers springs out toward me; I shoot a blast of lightning to keep him at bay. Sheets of rain start to pour from dark, looming clouds, pooling almost instantly on top of the sand. Ember streaks through the sky in the corner of my vision,  her whole body surrounded by fire. She breathes a white-hot burst of flame. As soon as she does, her fire sizzles out suddenly. She frantically tries to summon it back again to no avail.

I want to help her, but I'm too busy grappling with my own opponent–impossibly big and impossibly strong, talons slicing into my shoulders. I'm still not used to the vulnerability–when the soldier cuts me, they draw blood. I twist out from under the massive metal dragon, and breathe a bolt of lightning. They freeze, and the moment of blank-eyed shock is all I need to get away.

I turn back, and Ember's fire has returned. Oh, thank the moons. 

"Go!" Permafrost shouts, hovering over the battle. I look up for just a second, only spotting the camouflaged netting for a moment before it fades from view. Another group of RainWings is headed for Scorpion Den.

I don't have time to watch, because there are three NightWings coming at me from all sides. They're bigger than me, they're stronger, and when I try to breathe more lightning, all that comes out is a pathetic spark.

Come on, come on...

A sharp gust of wind knocks into the enemy lines, sending black-armoured dragons falling from the sky and tumbling toward the sand.

And my heart is slamming in my chest. I'm thinking: Nothing's ever gonna happen to you. I hear it in my dad's voice. Droves of NightWings charge toward us. We outnumber them, but it doesn't feel like it. 

"Go!" Permafrost shouts. She's weaving through the melee, trying to reach the RainWings.

I can feel the slight whoosh of wind as another group of RainWings takes off, or maybe I'm just imagining it.

I shoot a blast of lightning at the soldier I'm fighting, and it hits their eye by coincidence. The electricity skids across their metal armour. It always seems to stun them—which is better than nothing, but I can't tell if it really kills them or not. All around me, vines ensnare the soldiers, pulling them toward the ground.

I stare at the waves upon waves of soldiers, then glance behind us. All the nets of food have been carried away now; the RainWings and a few of the Gifted safely inside the city walls. I can see them if I look closely, a ripple across the clouds.

"Retreat!" I shout.

***

We make it back to camp, exhausted and breathless but alive. A few of the NightWings pursue us, but I get everyone into the city right before they catch up.