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Pug and I fight for our lives, but we are soon overrun by Urgals. I make a flying leap for my dragon's back as she spins around, cleaving Urgals in half. I clutch onto Pugna's neck spike for dear life and manage to pull myself up. The attacking Urgals regroup and charge again.

At least a hundred arrows curve out from behind the city walls and aid the Urgals' efforts to drive us away from their city. The arrows pierce Pug's wings and clatter off her scales, bruising her skin.

Retreat Pugna! We are losing, I cry.

Pugna acquiesces and tries to prance back. However, the many Kull have conjured up chains from somewhere and they heave them with all their might over Pugna's back. They throw more and more chains until Pug is weighed down enough so that she can't fly away. One of the chains strikes my leg and pins it down. I shout in pain as I realize the chain is barbed.

Pugna whines as she's forced to her scaly knees. Angrily, I reach for my magic to throw all these Urgals into next week. However, Pug beats me to it.

I can feel the raw energy flowing through her body as she wordlessly casts a spell. I gasp as the flood of magic exits her and enters the air around us. A great gust of wind explodes from our spot, pushing Urgals back into trees and breaking their skulls and bones. The gates to the Urgal city fly off their hinges and the wooden walls to the sides of the gate start to buckle. Weaker trees fly out of the ground and smash against their older counterparts.

However, while this great torrent of air circles around us, we are rooted to the spot and the windstorm feels like a slight breeze. Slowly, the magic storm abates and I take in the extent of the damages.

All the Urgals are dead as a doornail. Some had smashed into trees, some were buried under falling trees, and still others had been stabbed by their own unsheathed weapons. No telling how many had perished in the city.

Somewhat guiltily, I spin around to face Pugna. She stares at me with a blank expression and collapses on the ground.

"PUG!!" I scream with both mind and body. I rush over to her and glimpse her injury. The last three or four feet of her tail have been severed, leaving a gaping hole through which blood pours. The ground beneath her tail is saturated with the red liquid.

Sprinting around her massive body, I kneel by Pugna's tail and begin whispering spells upon spells to stop the blood. Soon the flow of blood halts suddenly and new skin forms over the hole. Pugna whimpers at the strange feeling. I'm starting to rebuild the end of her tail when I collapse upon the ground in fatigue.

Lightheaded, I realize that I've used up most of my energy without noticing.

I've never run out of energy before though, I say to Pugna

Mm, she says, still shaken.

I don't think I can heal this today, I tell her.

It's okay...

You sure?

Yes. I will live. Thank you for healing me, she says tiredly.

'Course, what did you think I would do, leave you here to bleed out? I say, suppressing a smirk.

Mmph, she growls.

So what happened, I ask casually, pushing down my nausea.

An Urgal hacked at me, so I used magic to push him away, but I was not quick enough, she answers, shuddering.

Pug... Tears seep out of my eyes and I place a hand on her back.

I'm sorry, little one, I did not want to create so much damage. Do not cry, she nuzzles my head lovingly.

It is her remorse, her genuine remorse, that stops the tears. You did what you had to.

Watching the mountain of bodies before us, the sun sets lazily in the background.

|•|•|•|

After darkness falls in its entirety, Pugna twitches and says, little one, we should leave. I believe we are in the forest by Carvahall, and someone is bound to find us. Come, put this behind you. It is not your fault...

Mmph, I say, discreetly swiping the drying tears from my cheeks. Picking up my shining silvery white sword, which had fallen to the ground in the fight, I climb on Pugna's back. I strap myself into the saddle and she flaps away from the massacre.

Massacre.

The sudden violence and sadness associated with the word almost causes me to topple out of the saddle. Fresh tears adorn my cheeks like dew on a blade of fresh, green grass.

Peace, Sabrina. Says Pugna softly. I let out a choked sob.

Little one...

Tired from the day's events, and all that crying, prompts me to lay my head on Pugna's saddle and fall into the warm embrace of sleep. Before I drift off, Pugna's voice in my head says, I love you little one.

|•|•|•|

A girl with long, shiny, flaming red hair walks into the school. She looks lonely, and she carries her books in a self conscious type of way. She's not lonely though, nor is she self conscious. Disguised, a sheep among sheep. She is a hunter, searching for her prey. A fox, searching for its rabbit.

The bell rings and the girl sees a flash of brown fur. Her rabbit! The fox bounds after the rabbit, eliciting strange looks from the surrounding sheep. As she runs, even her face seems to elongate, becoming a snout, a snuffling snout, intent on the pungent scent of its prey. Then, with another step, the snout shortens again, returning the fox to its sheep costume.

The rabbit turns into a side door, and unbeknownst to it, the fox follows. Inside, the rabbit has transformed to a handsome, teenage boy. The boy sits at a desk, waiting for the rest of the class. He looks nervous.

Emerging from the doorway, the fox disguised as sheep reveals herself. To the fox, the rabbit glows a faint blue color. The color of magic.

"Hello, sorry, but could you tell me where Physics is? I'm sure I got lost," says the fox.

Pugna: An Eragon FanficWhere stories live. Discover now