My double blades clash against his heavy, Black Root sword. I jerk my leg out, aiming to kick him in his exposed stomach. He jumps backwards, sliding his sword away from mine before spinning to jab at me again. I block it with one of my blades and spin my body. This flicks his weapon out of the way whilst I try and slice him with my other blade. Before I can cut at him, he swings his leg out and slams it into my stomach. I growl as I role on the ground before quickly twisting as his sword buries into the soil where I was just lying. I swing my leg quickly, taking out his. He crashes onto the ground and I flip my body up so I am standing above him. I let out a grunt as I slam my sword toward him. He blocks with his own blade and twists. This causes me to stumble forward but I remain on my feet. He jumps up in an effortless, graceful manouver. I stare at him and put away my swords, pulling out my daggers. I lick my dry lips and charge. Our movements are fast as we slice at each other, just narrowly escaping major injuries. He targets the blade in my left hand as I struggle to grip the wapon because of my two missing digits. My breathing is heavy as he dissarms me. I don't give up. When I am thrown across the ground, I twist. As I do so, I pull out a throwing blade and launching it at him. I hear a pained grunt from beneath his helmet. He manages to block the small throwing knife from slamming into any major organs. He was to slow to stop it from digging into his shoulder though. I am about to charge at him again when a flash of red catches the corner of my eyes. I barely have time to pull my shield in front of me as the spell hits into it. My whole body rattles as the force hits the shield. I go flying, landing roughly on my back and turning up the grass as I do so. There is now black charred marks over the gleaming silver metal of the shield. Whatever the spell was, it was a powerful one. If it had hit me, I would have been ripped to shreads.
Toryn is above me and quick to haul me up. I am gasping for air and my mucles are bruised and aching.
"That was close!" Toryn shouts. I nod my head but frown. Looking around, I can see a few flashes of spells, but not many. Having magic was one of their biggest advantages over us, yet they seem to be using hardly any of it. My eyes widen as I realise why. The spell that the King is using to block our magic is a very strong one. He draws his magic from his people, they are all linked! So all their magic is going into blocking ours instead of the fighting soldiers. That means, if I break the spell, they get a lot of their magic back too. Toryn hands me my ice sword having managed to retrieve it from the Bone Crawler.
"Thanks," I say. Tanya, Iona and Oliver appear around us, fighting their way through NightShades to get to us. Oliver, like Toryn, still holds incredible strength even without the strength of the polar bear behind him. He seems to just throw NightShades aside with ease.
"Isla, you need to try again. We will protect you!" Iona shouts. I nod my head but can't help but look back from where I flew from. I see him. He is stalking back into enemy ranks, barking out orders to the NightShades.
"How are we doing?" I ask anyone who can hear me.
"Not good," Iona replies. "Our numbers are much less than the NightShades. They are slowly making their way around us. They are trying to trap us," she says.
"If I break the spell," I say. "Then they get more magic," I explain to her. She shrugs.
"But we also get three dragons!" she shouts back. "And our powers. My father and I could teleport right to King Harrison and end it," she tells us. I take a deep breath as the four of them all flank around me. Everything slows around me as I close my eyes. The sounds of battle fade into nothing but background noise. Then I let my mind expand as I imagine myself shifting. I let go of the fear I felt when I thought of the pain that would come with the shift. Instead, I embrace it. I want to be consumed by it. I want the dragon to be free and the power and strength to flow through my veins. The Heart warms on my cheast as I continue to imagine being in dragon form. It has been so long since I have shifted that I find myself longing for it. Craving the rush of being a dragon as I fly and fight. As the shards of ice fly over my tongue as I let out a huge avalanch of deadly shards. As my wings stretch as they carry me over great heights. I imagne the water tickling the scales over my stomach as I skim over a lake, the tips of my wings dancing on the surface and creating soft ripples over the calm waters. The thoughts continue to rush around my eyes until the Heart burns. It doesn't hurt, it is a good burn. One that sends excitement through my veins. I can feel it. I open my eyes and see my sword is glowing with more power. I also see the white scales forming over my skin. I smile and don't push back the feeling of the shift coming. Blue was right. The dragon form really is trying to force its way out in order to be better protected. My surge of adreniline and fear only makes the urge to shift stronger. I can feel my teeth sharpen and strength in my veins.
I am cut off by being thrown to the ground roughly after a huge blow to my head. Dizzyness sweeps through me as I sit up. I look around me, at the chaos. My siblings and friends viciously fight around me. Blood is everywhere. Over them and over the soil. There are torn limbs and grusome wounds and bodies are piling up high around us. I watch as a shifter battles a NightShade. The NightShades weapon slams into the shifters chest, the armour doing nothing to help as blood sprays over the NightShade and the body drops to the ground. NightShades and Shifters rush around me in a confusing, chaotic mess. They are so close and it is suffocating. I crawl up a pile of bodies. I try not to think about it as I step on the dead limbs of my own people. I stand once on the top and I can see over top of the ocean of fighting people. I take long, slow deep breaths as my eyes linger on the small podium the King stands on in the distance. I can see clearly now as more magic leaks through the blocking spell. I can see it as he stands, staring intently at a glowing red ball. A red ball which is cracked and through the cracks shines a bright white light. That is the spell. The one that is blocking us and it is being broken. I feel hope rise within me, but then I look around again. NightShade forces have almost surrounded us on all sides. We are having to fight from every angle and at they same time they are pushing us into smaller spaces and squashing us together. They are trying to cause panic and suffocate us at the same time. I look at my brother and sister who are still fighting. I then look back at the NightShade King. By his side stands his assassin. I growl as my eyes fall on his terrifying skeletal mask. He sees me and I know he is shouting out orders. Another cloud of black appears from behind them. They fly over their heads and then fall straight toward us.
"Arrows!" I shout, lifting my shild and ducking. I feel it every time they dent the shield and fall to my feet. It sends shudders through my body. I look behind me and see other shifters trying to duck behind shields and fight NightShades at the same time. I suppose that now they have us more squished together in one place, it is easier to kill from affar. A grunt escapes me as I stab a NightShade that crawls up the pile to reach me. Looking around, I see that more of them are crawling up the mountain of bodies I stand on. They swarm toward me like ants. I wildly swing at them as they crawl ever closer before I duck under my shield again as another wave of arrows decends upon us. This time, they don't stop. The twangs thumps against my shield warns me of that as I struggle to move without exposing myself to the direction of the oncoming Black Root tipped arrows.
A scream leaves my mouth as a huge crashing sound echoes right next to my ear. I barely move my head out of the way as a huge spear head crashes straight through my shield, dripping in the black poisonous goo and almost smashing into my face. It smashes against my helmet, distorting the metal aroudn my face. A grouna dn look at the shield. It is useless now and I throw it down. Looking around me again I see another wave of those huge spears heading straight for us. I can barely move out of the way as one of the spears skims my side and burries into the body I stand on. It sends me spinning down the mound however and I feel the burn as the Black Root enters the gash the spear head had oppened. The burn fills me instantly and I let out a pained cry as I dig my hand into the wound to pull it out, trying to surpress the memories of my poisoning. I pull the evil stuff out of me and throw it to the floor before standing slowly. I whipe my sticky bloody hands over my armour, though it doesn't do much good.
"Toryn! Tanya!" I shout in a panick. I crawl back up onto the mound. Though I know it is exposed, I need to see if I can spot my siblings. I see them instantly once I reach the top. They are fighting a Bone Crawler with Daniel and Iona. Oliver has been sperated and is fighting alongside some other shifters. I feel relief for a few moments, but it is gone when I look back at the sea of NightShades still ahead of us. The ones that protect the King and are in the way of our victory and safety. More arrows reign down on us, but I dodge out of the way. My eyes are focused directly on the King and his Assassin. The assassin who NightShades are parting way for as he walks toward me. I grip my sword tighter and stare at him. I can't let him enter the fighting. I gulp and lick my lips with nerves at what I am about to do. I remove my damaged helmet. Some of the metal had been distorted and was blocking my vision. I drop the dragon head helmet onto the ground next to me and watch.
I watch as the another wave of arrows fly toward us and taking a deep breath, I close my eyes.
YOU ARE READING
Waterfalls
Fantasy"The enemy will always cheat, Isla, you need to be prepared for anything." Isla and her siblings have lived in a cave for as long as they can remember with no memory of how they got there or who they were before. They only remembered two things...
