Dragon Witch ✔️

64 - Muddy Dragon

Head spinning, I stumbled sideways. What just happened? Had Kyton attacked me? Was it some new monster? I shook my head. Another block of ice hit me in the temple.

"Stop it," Nissa shouted.

A third ice block flew toward me, and I dove to the side. It whistled over my head. Nissa shouted again, but I was distracted by the sudden muddy force pulling at my hind legs. My whole body zipped backward as the force dragged my legs and tail into a pit of quickmud.

I jammed my claws into the ground. The tops of my wings had claws, too, so I hooked them on the trees neighboring the pit.

"It's Lilly, you idiot. Stop hitting her." Nissa grabbed Kyton's arms and forced them down. An ice block fell out of the air a few feet from me.

His hands fell to his side. "Lilly?"

"Help me now, and I'll explain later." The quickmud was trying to pull me apart. My wing claws dug deep furrows in the trees.

Kyton didn't move from where he was standing. Even if he couldn't understand me, he should've noticed the danger I was in. What was wrong with him?

Nissa rushed to my side. She wrapped her arms around my neck and flew backward. I sunk deeper into the quickmud. This wasn't working. We needed Kyton's magic to get me out.

Piper stumbled out of her tent and rubbed her eyes. After seeing me, she ran back into her tent and came out with her tranq rifle. Before me or Nissa could protest, she shot me in the shoulder. It wasn't enough to knock me out, but I instantly felt woozy. My grip on the trees loosened. The mud rose to my armpits. Legpits? Whatever.

Nissa growled. "I saw her transform myself, morons. It's Lilly. Help her."

Still, Kyton didn't raise his hands. He took a step back. "If she fledged-"

I wished I could cover my ears so I didn't have to hear what he was about to say, but I couldn't afford to let go of the thick roots I was grabbing. Another wave of wooziness hit me, and my foot claws relaxed. The mud rose over my shoulders before I grabbed hold of more roots.

"-she must've killed a fairy. That's the only way." In a lower voice, only to himself, he said, "I can't believe it's true. The dream-"

"She hasn't fledged, idiot." Nissa's grip on my neck tightened, and her voice grew strained as she fought to pull me back. "She put on a shapeshifting crown. If you don't get her out, so help me, I'll pluck off your wings and feed them to a doppelgänger."

Kyton shook himself. A horrified light came on in his eyes, and he flicked his fingers at the mud pit. The mud loosened its grip on me, and I scrambled out of the pit. He was still standing there, just staring at me.

"You were going to let me die." Leaping on him, I pinned him beneath my claws. "You were going to kill me, just because-" What was I doing? He couldn't even understand me. I couldn't really blame him for wanting me dead. He'd thought I killed someone to fledge. I might've done the same thing if I'd been in his place.

But shouldn't he know that I would never do that? Didn't he know I didn't want to fledge? This was my worst nightmare made real. I'd always suspected he was really afraid of me. This proved it. If it weren't for Nissa, he would've let me die.

I retracted my claws and ran to my tent. It was obviously too small for me, so I tried to take off the crown and turn back to my changeling form. My stupid horns got in the way. They stuck out in an arc, not straight, so the distance between two of them was less at the bottom than at the top. No amount of clawing or rubbing my horns on a tree would get it off. I would probably have to break off a horn or break the crown to get it off.