Dragon Witch ✔️

79 - Escape

I had to take Clastor down now. The rest of the icorits had long since fled the clearing, so he was the only thing standing between us and escape from this awful arena. He'd proven that I didn't have a chance at beating him with brute strength. Beating him with powers was another matter entirely.

You can't hide from me that easily, he roared. Silver mist hissed out of his mouth, growing to a massive cloud. It filled the clearing.

My friends scrambled back before the mist could touch them, but I held my ground. If Clastor was immune to my venom, I should be immune to his mist. Right?

Kind of right.The mist wasn't so bad, but it still stung my eyes and nose. I gritted my teeth to keep from sneezing or coughing. Any distraction could make me drop my glamour and prove deadly. I needed to do more than hide. I needed to stop Clastor once and for all.

Come out, come out wherever you are, he taunted. Through the mist, a shimmer of silver scales passed me by.

Backing up, I stretched my glamour to the opposite side of the clearing and imagined myself, as a dragon. Gold-rimmed silver scales. Four clawed feet. Gossamer wing membranes and powerful wing ribs. A whip-like tail and serpentine neck. The illusion was so powerful that even I could see it through the mist. I made it roar.

Clastor roared right back and charged through the mist at Fake Me. I did the opposite of what I'd done with my personal glamour, making Fake Me emanate a draconic scent and act completely touchable. It was more than just an act. Clastor slammed into Fake Me and drove her to the ground. She sank her fangs into his ankle, and he jerked back like she'd actually hurt him. I made glamourized gashes on his leg to sell it.

This was working way better than I'd expected. Clastor favored the foreleg Fake Me had bitten as he attacked again. He dispatched Fake Me in a matter of seconds. Or rather, I let him dispatch her. Then I summoned another Fake Me. And another. And another. Fake Me's swarmed over him, tearing at every inch of scale. As the silver mist dissipated, very real screams of pain tore from Clastor's throat.

I almost felt bad for him. Then I remembered what he'd been planning to do to my friends. More Fake Me's popped into existence to bite his horns and drag his head to the ground. They tore bloody gashes in his neck.

He screamed, spasmed, and stilled. Ha, he must've passed out.

"That's enough," Nissa said as she moved to my side. She looked right at me; I must've let myself become visible without thinking.

I growled. I haven't done anything to him yet. After what he tried to do to you and the others, he deserves a hundred times more than this.

"He's dead, Lilly."

He can't be. I haven't touched him. What was she trying to do, trick me into turning my back so Clastor could attack me again? She wouldn't do that. She was an ally. But what if she'd been blackmailed or enchanted? She might trick me then.

"You gave him a heart attack. Look, he isn't breathing." She waved at Clastor. "Drop your glamour. We're going home."

I dropped my glamour just long enough to check if what she was saying was true. It was. He'd died. My glamour had killed him. I stumbled back. Exhaustion and guilt washed over me. I'd just killed someone without even touching him. He would never hurt anyone again. Shouldn't I be happy? Or relieved, at least?

Hollow. That was the only thing I felt. Hollow exhaustion and a gnawing hunger. The exhaustion was stronger. I fell to my knees, all four of them.

"No, no, don't do that," Nissa said. She knelt by my side. "We're so close. You have to get up. We can't carry you through the portal. Even if you were small enough, we need you awake to make sure the Dark One doesn't have us killed."