Rainbow Magic (Dragon Rider #1) {EDITING}

Rogue Dragon Riders

The two rogue dragon riders were tall, and Sora could confirm they were downright scary. Their eyes were cold and fixed on their leader, ignoring the small whimpering of her and the rest of her team. Even just being in their presence was intimidating... well to everyone aside from Raelynn.

"Beat them up already Oz!"

Sora winced, watching as Silver slammed a hand to her forehead—soon clamping a hand over the blonde's filterless mouth. "Shut it, idiot!"

"Gerrof!" Raelynn hissed, her words muffled by Silver's well positioned hand.

"Do you want to die?!"

"That's a good question," one of the rogues said, smiling slightly.

"The forest!" Oz hissed. "Go. Now!"

Beatrice was the first to comply, sprinting off through the barren trees, dragging Callum behind her as she sprinted away.

"Come on." Silver scowled, pulling at Raelynn's sleeve.

"But Oz—"

Sora turned to their leader, blinking as he sprinted into the other side of the forest, his pursuer close on his tail and then they were alone.

With the other rogue dragon rider.

He smiled at them, cold burnished red eyes glaring down at them as a spark crackled to life in one hand. Flames roared to life and Raelynn's little salamander snarled to life. Sparks burst from the tiny dragon's lips, meeting the stream of fire that shot towards them.

Snarls above them made them freeze, and Sora glanced up, slowly backing towards the forest.

Above them were three dragons.

Adult dragons by the looks of them, and they were fighting two on one. Sora blinked, her eyes narrowing on the red-scaled beast above them, knowing in an instant whose dragon it was. She'd ridden on that scaled back a few days before—Oz's dragon. And it was winning, though only just about.

Still, it spoke volumes about their leader's prowess, as well as explaining why his punches hurt so badly.

He was good. Scarily good.

"Move!" Eir's shout pulled Sora's errant attention back to the fight brewing on the ground, and she could only watch as flames crackled towards them.

Sora reacted on instinct, shoving Raelynn to the side, throwing her arms up to cover her face. Fire licked at her skin, and she felt an odd tingling sensation but that soon vanished—replaced by an unbearable heat which blistered her forearms. She gritted her teeth, panting as the flames died away and left her staring at a perplexed man.

"You—" Raelynn's voice was a snarl, her eyes wide as she stared at Sora. "You hurt her!"

"Obviously."

Raelynn charged.

"Idiot!" Silver hissed.

"Guess I'll have to up the heat this time..." their assailant muttered, not even batting as eyelid as Raelynn's fist smashed into the practically invisible barrier between them.

"Silver!" Sora glanced back at the silverette, her mind working overtime in that one second and then she was sprinting towards the troublesome blonde only moments later—knowing her message had been delivered thanks to the silver sparks which crackled around her teammate's hands. "Rae!"

Raelynn dropped like a rock, hunching down as one foot planted itself on her back, Sora leaping over and down towards the shimmering blue air. Her burnt fist slammed into the barrier, shattering it like glass. It was far easier to break than the one before. Momentum carried her too far, and then she was faceplanting the ground, smirking as she heard the tell-tale sound of lightning crackling behind her.

Silver raised both hands, palms outward, bright silvery lightning sparking to life in a stream of whitish light that forked through the air.

He skidded backwards, obscured by the blinding light of Silver's magic which shot over Sora's head, the sheer intensity of the blast making her shiver as she climbed back to her feet well clear of the crackling ray of death... which apparently wasn't as deadly as they'd hoped.

He barely looked fazed—his slightly singed clothing the only evidence he'd ever taken the brunt of Silver's attack.

"Hit him again!" Raelynn's frantic shout made her attention waver and her eyes snapped over to their stoic teammate.

She wouldn't be able to attack again.

The look on her face told Sora that much.

Her hands did too.

They were burnt worse than Sora's own, her skin cracked and blistered, her face warped in pain as she stood there.

She bit her lip, her eyes falling down onto her own hands, wincing as her ankle throbbed. Not only were her hands messed up, but she'd landed in an awkward position when she fell, meaning her kicks and punches were out of the question.

She was powerless.

"I'll protect you."

The words rang out through her mind, her eyes widening at the strange warmth she could feel in her chest as she stood there and then he was there.

Oz smiled, his fist slamming into the rogue's side. "I made it in time..."

"You're late!" Raelynn grumbled, blinking as the pair vanished into the barren forest surrounding them.

Sora sunk to her knees, sighing in relief, while Silver collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

Oz was there. Oz would protect them—and he'd do it to his dying breath, because Oz didn't break his promises. He hadn't broken any of the smaller ones in training, and Sora doubted he'd break more important ones.

He was oddly similar to her in that respect.

She liked to keep her promises too.

"Are you all OK?" Oz asked minutes later, striding out from the trees. His opponent was nowhere in sight, thankfully—not that Sora had expected any less.

"We're fine," she said, resisting the urge to flop on the ground like a dead fish.

One eyebrow rose. "You count second degree burns on your hands as fine?"

"Well—"

"Get over here," Oz muttered, pulling a first aid kit out of his rucksack. "You too, Granny."

Neither of them put up much of a fuss, Silver less so—mainly due to the fact she was unconscious, much to Oz's displeasure. She sat in a daze as she listened to him asking his dragon to round up the rest of the 'motley crew', barely even registering the fact he was wrapping her arms in bandages. He was oddly skilled at first-aid but considering the fact he'd survived through the last Dragon War, Sora wasn't overly surprised. His dragon, Ran, was also skilled—especially at herding—so they were sorted and ready to go in under half an hour, though Oz's announcement caused a bit of a ruckus.

"We're going back to the Outer City."

Raelynn scowled, unable to go and attack the man thanks to Silver's dead weight strew across her back.

So she settled for shouting at him instead. "What?!"

"Your teammates are injured—take a good look around, Blondie." He shook his head. "We can't complete the mission like this... What if we run into more rogues? Or something worse..." A dark expression flickered over his face so quickly Sora could've swore she'd imagined it.

"Are we heading back now...?" Beatrice asked.

"First light," he replied. "We'll stop in this town up ahead." Oz gestured to the lights they could see only a short distance away, hefting Sora and her bad ankle further up his back as he walked towards the town. "I don't want to be travelling through the Wastelands after dark."

"Scared?" Raelynn smirked.

"You wish. Now get moving," he said, blissfully ignorant to the seed of doubt that was working it's way into his passenger's head. The closer they got to the town, the worse she felt, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. Her instincts were twitching, screaming at her as they checked into the nearest inn.

Something was wrong, and she had a horrible feeling she'd soon find out just what.