Trial By Fire (Avalon: Web of Magic #6) (10 page)

“They are using the magic of the mistwolves,”
Storm growled. “
The pack has fallen.”

“Form a circle!” Adriane shouted, her jewel sparking to fire.

Trying to stop shaking, Emily, Adriane, and Kara stood back to back, facing the impossible enemy.

Storm, Lyra, and Ozzie surrounded the trio, ready to sacrifice themselves to protect their friends. Dreamer stood between Storm’s front paws, growling and barking.

“Kara, stand between us,” Adriane ordered, moving Kara. “Focus, Kara! We hit the lead riders first!”

The imps stood their ground as the goblin riders approached.

“There’s too many!” Kara screamed.

“Kara, the horn!” Emily reminded her.

“Oo!” Kara reached into her pack and removed the unicorn horn. Diamond magic flared to life.

The lead goblin raised a clawed fist and pulled his steed to a halt. “You will come with us either way,” it hissed.

“Leave us alone!” Adriane ordered. “Or you’ll regret it!”

The goblin sneered with a deathlike grin.

“The imps!”
Storm roared.

Electrical sparks danced in the air as the imps swarmed from all sides. Flashing blue crackled along wide nets strung between them.

They were hopelessly outnumbered.

“Don’t be afraid,” Ozzie said to his friends.

“Emily,” Kara said, terrified as she pushed the horn into the red-haired girl’s hands.

“Hold it up, Kara!” Emily pressed it back toward Kara.

Trembling, the blazing star held the unicorn horn as high as she could.

“Lorelei!” The three girls called upon the magic of the unicorns. “Protect us!”

The sky exploded with fire.

The girls shielded their faces from the intense heat as flames flew overhead.

But it was not the fire born of magic jewels.

It was the fire of a tremendous winged creature, a flying monster.

The huge beast swooped in, its massive wings cutting through the smoke and flames, making it hard to see exactly what it was.

“Oh, no!” Emily cried.

“The manticore!” Kara screamed.

There was nowhere to go. They were completely surrounded. The magic of the horn had failed them.

P
ANDEMONIUM ERUPTED IN
the field. Blue lightning flashed as shadowy imps scurried through plumes of smoke. Screams, yells, snorts, and roars added to the chaos.

“Stay together!” Adriane commanded, swinging her arm, tearing swatches of bright gold light through the smoldering haze.

The girls remained in position, jewels glowing and ready.

“Hey! They’re running away!” Kara pointed.

The imps sparked with blue electricity as they retreated, their nets in tatters.

Ozzie jumped up and down shaking his fist. “And don’t come back—uh-oh.”

But the imps had only retreated behind the leading goblin riders. Night stallions reared, snorting flames, adding to the thick smoke flowing across the field. The riders held bright red staffs high as they bore down on the group, coming in fast.

Kara raised the unicorn horn as Emily and Adriane gripped Kara’s hands. Gold and blue flew from the rainbow jewel and the wolf stone, swirling into the horn.

Adriane pointed the unicorn horn at the ground in front of the incoming riders. Magic exploded forth. Four night stallions were blown off their feet, their riders flying as grass and dirt rained everywhere. Six more jumped the smoking fissure, lightning firing from their riders’ staffs.

Adriane and Storm leaped into the fire’s path, spinning a shield of sparkling gold. Mistwolf and warrior worked like a fine-tuned machine, whirling to block every bolt, sending them flying harmlessly into the air.

But the night stallions were strong and fast, thundering past Adriane straight toward Emily and Kara.

Another group attacked from the side, driving the healer and blazing star apart.

“Stay together!” Adriane ordered.

“Kara, look out!” Emily screamed.

A wave of imps ran between the riders and threw a sparking net over Kara.

Adriane leaped and spun, fists of golden fire slicing the nets to shreds.

Dreamer barked as he ran between the mages’ legs, barreling over Ozzie.

The girls scrambled together as another group of riders charged.

Roaring, Lyra pushed the girls behind her, teeth bared, wings unfurled, ready to absorb the crushing impact.

A huge red tail swept through the haze, knocking the goblins off their mounts. The mutant horses careened out of control, missing the group by yards. Emily and Kara felt their fiery breath as they passed.

The creature landed in front of the girls roaring defiantly at the goblins and imps. The attacking hoard dispersed over the far ridge, leaving, for now.

“That’s not the manticore!” Ozzie exclaimed.

“What is it?” Emily asked, trembling.

The fierce creature turned a horse-like head on its long sinewy neck. It was as big as a bus with a long tail covered in glimmering red scales. Large reptilian eyes narrowed dangerously as it snorted. With a rush, it stomped toward them on massive hind legs.

Something opened inside Adriane’s mind. Something familiar, strong, and right— feelings of love rushed through her mind and body, it was like… coming home.

“Dragon!” Ozzie screamed.

Kara grabbed for Emily’s and Adriane’s hands.

“No, wait!” Adriane cried.

The dragon lumbered toward them, practically stumbling on his enormous feet. When it was only a few feet away, it stopped, folding its shimmering, iridescent wings. Smoke drifted from its nostrils as it leaned forward, opened its huge mouth—

“Momma!”

—and licked Adriane so hard, she was lifted several feet into the air.

“Drake?” Adriane laughed as she landed on the ground. “It
is
you!” She threw her arms around Drake’s neck, hugging the dragon as tight as she could. Then she stepped back to look him in the eye. “Wow. You’ve really grown!”

The dragon was happily shuffling back and forth from foot to foot, tongue lolling out.
“Momma! Momma!”

Thud!

The ground shook as Drake rolled over onto his back, legs and arms akimbo, waiting for Adriane to scratch his belly.

“Tickle!”

Adriane giggled, reaching over to rub the great creature’s amazingly soft belly. “I missed you so much!”

The group watched, mouths opened in stunned silence.

“Well, now I’ve seen everything!” Ozzie stomped over to inspect the dragon.

Emily smiled. “It’s Adriane’s baby dragon.”

“Some baby,” Kara muttered as she nervously scanned the skies. For all she knew, full-sized dragons traveled in packs like the pesky dragonflies. She could
not
handle another fan club—especially not one with members as big as the Drake.

“Don’t worry,”
Lyra told her, reading her mind.
“The red dragons hatch only once every thousand years.”
She eyed Adriane and Drake.
“He’s imprinted on Adriane.”

“Everybody, this is Drake.” Adriane introduced the dragon to her friends.

“Hello!”
Drake snorted, sitting up. The dragon’s lips parted, revealing rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. Kara hoped it was a smile.

“Dragons grow very quickly,”
Storm observed.

“You can say that again,” Kara replied.

Adriane first met Drake when he was still inside his egg. When she left Aldenmor, he’d barely hatched. She knew that dragon magic was incredibly powerful, but she never expected her friend to grow so fast.

“Such a sweet boy,” Adriane cooed, playfully scratching Drake under his chin. The dragon laughed, shooting sparks out his nostrils. A small fireball shot out of his mouth.

Emily, Kara, and the others leaped back.

“AhH!” Ozzie shouted. “Try to keep it on low flame!”

“Sorry.”
Drake hung his head over Adriane’s.

“Drake, where’s Zach?” Adriane suddenly realized Drake had flown in by himself. She tried to keep the worry out of her voice.

“He went after Moonshadow and the mistwolves,”
Drake replied. He sounded worried himself. “
Zach told me to stay outside so witch would not capture me.”

“Wait, if that wasn’t Zach, then who—oh.” Kara flashed on B*Tween’s warning about the Skultum.

“That wasn’t Zach, and I’ll give you two guesses who it
really
was,” Adriane said grimly.

“That means Zach is captured, in a spell somewhere,” Emily said.

“I have not heard from Zach at all,”
Drake admitted.
“Then I heard Momma and came here.”

“The Dark Sorceress has the mistwolves,”
Storm said.
“That is the only way she could be using their magic.”

Dreamer snarled.

“But how is that possible, Storm?” Adriane asked.

“I do not know.
It takes very strong magic to capture or kill a mistwolf,”
Storm said.

Drake nodded, shuffling on his huge feet again.
“Have not heard from Zach!”

“If she has Moonshadow,” Adriane figured, “then she has his fairy map. And she must be using it to open the portals.”

“The map was given to Moonshadow,”
Storm insisted.
“He would guard that map with his life.”

“Perhaps he doesn’t have the strength to prevent it,”
Lyra said quietly.

There was a long moment of silence as the group considered this sobering thought—and another that nobody wanted to say aloud: maybe Moonshadow
had
defended the map with his life.

“They tried to capture Kara.” Ozzie paced. “Why? What has she got?”

“This.” Kara held out her backpack. “No, I mean, this!” She removed the fairy map. “B*Tween told me the Skultum would come after me.”

“Why does she still need Kara’s fairy map?” Emily asked.

“We stopped the Skultum before he finished his job,” Adriane stated.

“The sorceress still can’t find Avalon,” Ozzie said.

“So… I didn’t open all the portals,” Kara concluded.

“It’s possible,”
Storm said.

Adriane sighed. “Anything is possible.”

The three girls looked at one another but didn’t speak. They didn’t have to. They were all thinking the same thing. Anything was possible, but their task here on Aldenmor felt totally impossible. And they still didn’t have any real answers. Just possibilities.

“One thing is for sure,” Adriane finally said. “We have to go after Zach and the mistwolves.”

“Well, we can’t sit around here,” Ozzie agreed. “Those goblins will be back any second. Probably with some orcs or worse!”

“We can’t just waltz into the dark circle, either,” Kara pointed out.

“She already knows we’re here,”
Storm said.

“So if we can get into the lair before those riders and imps regroup, maybe we have a chance!” Adriane hit her palm with a fist. “We have to move fast.”

“Okay, but that’s gotta be, like, miles from here.” Kara gazed toward the desolate plains beyond the valleys. “How are we going to get there before the monsters attack us again?”

Adriane smiled and patted the dragon’s neck. “Welcome to Air Drake.”

“Oy, why did I think you were going to say that?” Ozzie groaned.